Date: June 21, 2005
Contact: Irene Cromer
Community Relations Supervisor
703-791-8720

COUNTY’S ENGINEERING PROGRAM ACHIEVES CERTIFICATION

The Rochester Institute of Technology has officially certified Woodbridge Senior High School's pre-engineering and technology program. Certification signifies that the program has met the stringent standards set by the college for a Project Lead The Way (PLTW) program. “Woodbridge High School has demonstrated its commitment to the quality standards of the PLTW program by having teachers of pre-engineering trained during the summer and by teaching the PLTW courses using the latest computer software,” says Dr. Robert Dorn, Regional Director for Project Lead the Way.

The certification process included a self-assessment of the school’s PLTW program and a one-day site visit by Dorn and George Wilcox, Virginia Department of Education Technology Education Specialist. The site visit committee met with teachers, administrators, counselors, students, and community members, and reviewed students' course portfolios.

Project Lead The Way is a national program which is offered in over 45 states in over 1,300 schools from New York to California and Michigan to Florida. It was begun to address the national shortage of engineers and engineering technologists. For more information on Project Lead The Way programs, go to www.pltw.org.

The Woodbridge Senior High School program, in its fourth year, contains five engineering courses: digital electronics; introduction to engineering, drawing and design; principles of engineering; civil engineering and architecture; and the “capstone” course being implemented, engineering design and development. With PLTW supervision, Woodbridge’s program has become more rigorous, math-centered, and more structured and organized. After a student successfully completes a course they take a college level exam to receive college credit for the course.

Offered only at Woodbridge, students from other county schools apply to transfer into the engineering program which currently has about 75 students. For more information or to submit an application, go to www.pwcs.edu/cte/pltw.htm.