Shools in South Oklahoma City
From kindergarten to college to specialty training programs, educational facilities in and around South Oklahoma City meet every need. Families have access to top-quality public schools, a variety of private schools, a local community college and a technology training center. At all educational stages, technology, critical thinking and collaboration are incorporated into the curriculum, giving students the tools they need to succeed in the work force and beyond.
Oklahoma City Community College
Oklahoma City Community College offers the first and only Anesthesia Technology applied science degree program in Oklahoma. Anesthesia Technology health professionals assist the anesthesia provider in the safe and efficient care of patients receiving anesthesia. The Anesthesia Technologist is a vital member of the anesthesia care team whose responsibilities include maintaining, cleaning, calibrating, testing and troubleshooting anesthesia and patient monitoring equipment.
The college’s Anesthesia Technology curriculum prepares students to pass the American Society of Anesthesia Technologists & Technicians (ASATT) National Certification Examination to become certified as an Anesthesia Technologist. These technologists work in various clinical settings including hospital operating rooms, radiology, intensive care units and emergency rooms. According to ASATT, depending on the job setting, the projected starting salary for a Certified Anesthesia Technologist is $36,000 to $55,000 annually.
For additional information about this and other technical degree programs at Oklahoma City Community College, visit www.occc.edu or call (405) 682-1611.
Francis Tuttle Technology Center
Francis Tuttle Technology Center’s Network Technology program offers tracks for both beginners and experienced IT professionals. Each option prepares students to install, configure and troubleshoot computer hardware, software, operating systems, cloud computing and more on a variety of stand-alone and networked computers.
Following the Microsoft Academy Curriculum, students also have the opportunity to install, configure and securely manage their own Microsoft network infrastructure, and learn how mobile devices are integrated into an enterprise environment. Courses are designed to prepare students for highly regarded industry certification exams, including CompTIA’s A+, Network+, Cloud+ and Microsoft Certified Professional.
Francis Tuttle’s Network Technology program, coupled with these third-party certifications provide excellent opportunities for employment in the Information Technology industry. For more information, go to www.francistuttle.edu.
Metro Technology Centers
Metro Tech’s PN Select program will prepare high school students to transition into the Practical Nursing program offered at Metro Tech. This is one of only two program of its kind in Oklahoma and offers an innovative way for high school students to get a head start in a growing career field. Practical Nursing will prepare students to become a licensed practical nurse, an important member of the health care team. Students will learn the role of the LPN and how to care for a variety of patients.
Students will learn how to identify patient problems, identify appropriate interventions and evaluate nursing care. Graduates of this career major will be eligible to take the NCLEX-PN and become licensed through the Board of Nursing. Students will begin this major as high school seniors and will continue this career major as adults after high school graduation. For more information, visit www.metrotech.edu/course-programs/health-science/pn-select.
Moore Norman Technology Center
Established in 1972, Moore Norman Technology Center is viewed as one of the nation’s premiere educational training institutions within Oklahoma’s globally-recognized CareerTech System. Serving the communities of Norman, Moore and south Oklahoma City with two campuses, the Technology Center provides high school and adult students a quality, affordable technical career education. The Center also provides business and industry training and certification to help area companies shore up their workforce and achieve their business goals.
Moore Norman Technology Center has won the Gold Star School Award 16 times and, in 2018, was honored with the Oklahoma Quality Foundation’s Achievement of Excellence Award.
Oklahoma City Public Schools
Since 2016, Oklahoma City Public Schools has been part of the Summit Learning Program, a personalized approach to teaching and learning inspired by the vision to equip every student to live a fulfilled life. Through the free Summit Learning Program, approximately 330 schools have implemented and tailored Summit Learning for their communities, reaching more than 54,000 students across 40 states.
Summit Learning has three pillars to the student experience:
- Project-based learning: Students spend the majority of their time working alongside teachers and classmates on rich, real-world projects.
- One-on-one mentoring: Students meet weekly with a mentor to ensure daily actions and progress align with long-term goals.
- Individualized pathways: Students are empowered to set goals and deeply understand content by consuming it in a way that is best for them.
Oklahoma City Public Schools continues to build expertise to grow its implementation of the Summit Learning Program, currently in six elementary and four middle schools across Oklahoma City.
Moore Public Schools
Moore Public Schools is proud to foster an educational environment that promotes creativity, collaboration and critical thinking for students, teachers and parents. One core component of this is providing all employees and students with a Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus account that not only allows students and teachers to collaborate, but also gives each account holder five full downloads of the Microsoft suite of applications to their personal computers. This allows parents to save money and the student to create professional documents, presentations and more.
Whether it’s a classroom Mystery Skyping or teachers collaborating on lesson plans with OneNote, what students do in the classroom ultimately transfers beyond Moore Public Schools, so knowing that 90 percent of the business market requires fluid understanding of Office products is just one of the many ways Moore Public Schools helps prepare students for what they will need to know and do next.
Western Heights Public Schools
Western Heights Public Schools educates a diverse student population across southwest Oklahoma City. With over 3,400 students attending eight different school sites, Western Heights is uniquely positioned as an educational leader with state of the art buildings and educational resources.
A big part of its instructional model are portable computer labs in all elementary schools and hand-held PCs and tablets across secondary schools. The 150-seat training facility provides computer terminals and a global interface for all teachers. Fiber optic cable interconnects all school sites, and the district has broken ground on a new technology, science and fine arts high school opening in 2020. In addition, digital resources will be the cornerstone of the districts new English language learner center opening 2020.
Lastly, digital resources are driving the districts’ reading and math curriculum. A nationally supported model for improving educational outcomes is financially supported by the Oklahoma State Department of Education through a multi-million dollar grant.
Antioch Christian Academy
Antioch Christian Academy is a distinctively Christian school that educates preschool through high school students. It is a Christ-centered academic program of excellence that supports actively involved parents in their God-given responsibility to train their children to glorify God and to be fully equipped as moral, intelligent, productive and responsible citizens to serve and witness to the world in which they live.
Antioch has a student-to-teacher ratio of 15-to-1 as well as student aides that assist in the classrooms. In addition to the traditional classes, students participate in computer coding, music, art, foreign language and physical education classes. Student test scores are above average grade levels compared to the public schools in the district. The school also offers a before care and after care program that parents can utilize to accommodate their work schedules.
Mount St. Mary Catholic High School
Mount St. Mary Catholic High School offers a well-rounded college preparatory experience for its 427 Rocket students. While enjoying a small community feel, students have a wide variety of curriculum from which to choose.
A class unique to the 115-year-old school, Video Productions educates students on script writing, camera angles, lighting, directing, producing and editing through hands-on experience. Students use professional video and editing equipment that simulates the “real world” of video production. The material created by the Video Productions class is used on the school website, on school social media and is placed on the school YouTube channel. After Video Productions, students move on to TV and Webcast Productions class. Students in webcasting have the opportunity to serve several different roles in the production process: producer, writer, director, editor, camera man and reporter. With a number of electives to choose from, Mount St. Mary students have the opportunity to explore interests and prepare for their future career.
St. James Catholic School
Code.org is at the forefront in spreading computer science in the classroom. This past summer, the computer teacher at St. James, Mrs. Hargrove, participated in the CS Discovery workshop developed by Code.org to teach middle school students computer science. The sixth- through eighth-grade students will be taught how to create their own website, develop apps and computer games among other aspects of computer science all while writing code in HTML, CSS and Javascript.
This is an amazing opportunity for the middle school students attending St. James Catholic School. This class may spark an interest in some students to pursue college work and a lucrative career in computer science.