Hayfield Secondary School's Education for Employment (EFE) is the only special needs career- focused program of its type offered through the Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) Department in Fairfax County Public Schools.  Education for Employment is a two-year sequential course offering. Students that complete both EFE 1 and 2 with a "B" or better can receive a CTE Seal on their diploma.  Hayfield has always offered three Education for Employment course sections with level 1 and 2 students combined in all classes.  The EFE program with its concurrent cooperative education component allows students to transfer the knowledge/skills learned in the simulated workplace environment of the classroom.  The cooperative education internships scheduled during the afternoon blocks or afterschool provide additional graduation credit(s) based on the number of hours of work experience. Previously, Education for Employment classes were limited to 15 students; however, given the current budget constraints, enrollments of 20 students per class is the norm.  Although not ideal, the larger class size is managable and does not seem to detrack from students' success.  The 9th -12th grade EFE population is varied to include the "academically at-risk" students, students lacking motivation and/or parental support, the financially disadvantaged, ESOL students with language barriers, and "special needs" students with specific learning disabilities, emotional disorders, and/or mental retardation.  The lower class size allows the instructor to provide more individualized instruction and maximize student success in the classroom and workplace. 

The following is a summarization of the overall structure of the Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) Department, which incorporates Education for Employment electives. Hayfield Secondary School's Family and Consumer Sciences Department is an integrated elective program of family and career focus classes for students in grades 7-12.  The total department consists of six full-time teachers (four high school and two middle school staff), with classes ranging from 28-32 students.   We are proud to be the largest FACS department in the County based on instructors, courses offered, and student enrollment. Renovation was completed on the department in 2003 and there are nine “state of the art” classrooms to accommodate students' curriculum needs.  The classrooms include two multi-purpose instructional rooms, two food laboratories, a demonstration kitchen, fashion lab, an early childhood careers preschool, preschool observation room, and an Education for Employment classroom/computer laboratory.  In addition to the classroom facilities, Hayfield FACS teachers are fortunate to have two additional spaces to work on planning and implementing the curriculum -- a Family and Consumer Sciences Conference Room and Faculty Office.  

The varied high school course offerings include Life Planning, Fitness and Foods, Introduction to Interior and Fashion Design, Child Development and Parenting, Gourmet Foods, International Hospitality, Relationships, Virginia’s Teachers For Tomorrow (local name "Teacher Cadet 1"), Career Applications (local name "Teacher Cadet 2"), Early Childhood Careers I, Early Childhood Careers 2, Education for Employment 1, Education for Employment 2, Education for Employment Cooperative Internship for 1 credit, Education for Employment Cooperative Internship for 2 credits, Peer Helping, and Peer Mediation.  Specific course descriptions of the Education for Employment elective options are attached below.

See Attached Syllabus

Education for Employment students 1 and 2 are taught with the same course outline, but instruction is differentiated to correspond with the specific course competencies for the two levels (EFE1 and EFE 2) and accomodations for special needs students.   Integrating EFE 1 and 2 students together in one class allows for the flexibility of creating collaborative activities/projects specifically for EFE 2 students to utilize their advanced knowledge on particular units as peer leaders, or in employment terms "shift leads," for the EFE 1 students. Remediation and reinforcement of basic writing skills is emphasized for EFE 2 students to accomplish competence in areas such as job applications, resumes, cover letters, letters of resignation, and business correspondence.

Various industry certifications are offered for EFE 1 and EFE 2 students, depending on the credentials earned in previous CTE courses, beginning chronologically with CareerSafe (OSHA), then National Professional Customer Service (National Retail Federation), and finally, National Professional Certification in Sales (National Retail Federation). 

General Goals of the Education for Employment program are as follows:

1. To provide a quality curriculum comprised of academic rigor, relevance, computer literacy, and skill-based performance.
2. To create student awareness of individual assets, interests, aptitudes, talents, and current work readiness skills.
3. To prepare students to investigate career clusters, occupational opportunities, and continuing post-secondary education and other training related to students' selected career pathway(s).
4. To enhance student mastery of the Workplace Readiness Skills.
5. To raise student awareness of current and future industry trends.
6. To provide industry certification opportunities for students.
7. To enhance student development of problem-solving skills in real-world problems in the school and in the workplace.
8. To help students focus on balancing his/her role of student, worker, family member, and citizen.

Specific Objectives based on the general goals for Education for Employment are as follows:

1. Each student will complete an electronic portfolio including a job application (hard copy and online), a resume, cover letter, interview thank you letter, and letter of resignation with 100% accuracy.
2. Each student concurrently enrolled in EFE and cooperative education will gain employment.
3. Those Education for Employment students taking the CareerSafe credentialing will have a 100% pass rate. 
4. The pass rate of Education for Employment students taking the Customer Service and Sales Certification will increase by 5%.
5. Active participation in the co-curricular career and technical student organization, Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America, will be promoted and encouraged.
6. The program will strive to have an Education for Employment student(s) compete for the first time in the district FCCLA competition on February 1, 2010 in the Job Interview Event.  If an Education for Employment student is able to place first at the district level competition, funds will be raised to send that representative to compete at the State FCCLA Competition in the Spring.