Workforce Forsyth

2026-2027 FCS Career Technical Education

Workforce Forsyth

In 2014, Forsyth County Schools {FCS), in partnership with the Forsyth County Chamber, Lanier Technical College, and the University of North Georgia, launched Workforce Forsyth, a community initiative focused on developing strategies to support Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education {CTAE) in the district. Key next steps for the partnership focused on aligning career education efforts, guiding pathway creation, expanding classroom participation, and enriching curricula.

Workforce Forsyth is also the outcome of Forsyth County Schools partnership with business and industry throughout the community to promote job growth by determining business needs and developing solutions that included the following components:

Components
Workforce Forsyth 2.0 Priorities from 2022-2026

Components

Academics: teaching curricula for career pathway courses built from corporate training materials and other in-kind donations, strengthened post-secondary relationships among Lanier Technical College, the University of North Georgia, and other post-secondary institutions
Work-Based Learning: overseas cultural experiences, externships, clinical, and other work-based learning and job shadowing opportunities
Employment Pipelines: workforce needs assessments, Chamber of Commerce/local economic development support, and online systems to match students to job opportunities.

Building on the initial efforts, FCS completed a community workforce development plan with guidance from UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government in June 2018. These efforts built on the initial Workforce Forsyth plan from 2014 and led to the creation of a roadmap to guide CTAE programing within the school district over the last few years through 2022. This plan provided priorities to guide investments in and strategies for
workforce development. During the 2021-22 school year, the district worked with UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute on the latest Workforce Forsyth Strategy for our future workforce to guide the district over the next four years.

Elementary CTAE
CTAE Success Stories of Former Graduates
GaDOE Economic Development Partnership Program
Internal Monitoring for Lambert HS

Focus for the 2026-27 School Year:

Vertical Alignment of Pathways in Clusters
Continuation of CTAE Connect
CTAE Excellence Guide Benchmarking
Creating Experiential Learning Experiences
Business Partnership Focus/Evaluation/Training with Stakeholder Summit
Internal Monitoring/Review Process for High Schools: Denmark HS and West Forsyth HS
Self-Reflection:
- Does your classroom reflect local business/industry, and how are you involving them into curriculum, projects, and daily discussions?
- Are you infusing local business/industry needs or situations into project-based application as often as possible in the classroom and with your CTSO?
- How many students from your program areas are involved in Internship and Mentorship?

Workforce Forsyth 2.0 Priorities from 2022-2026

Priority 1: In Demand Job

Short-Term Strategies

Keep program equipment and labs up to date; assess existing equipment
Evaluate program offerings to ensure alignment to local economy

Long-Term Strategies

Consider design and development of a skilled-trades program accessible to all Forsyth County students offered at a centralized location

Priority 2: Continuous Quality Improvement

Short-Term Strategies

Encourage teacher use of CTAE Excellence Guides as framework for their programs
Seek additional ways for more planning time with middle/high school by pathway offerings and vertical teams

Long-Term Strategies

Evaluate current participation for teacher externships and encourage participation; Explore ways to reduce administrative burden placed on teachers through additional administrative support, process improvements, and policy changes.

Priority 3: Grow and Enhance CTAE Partnership

Short-Term Strategies

Fully implement a customer relationship management system (CRM) with Salesforce

Long-Term Strategies

Assess existing partnership relationships and look for areas that are lacking deep partnerships; Work with Chamber and other community stakeholders to recruit and engage more partners; fully leverage the CRM for managing lifecycle of CTAE partners

Priority 4: Outreach and Marketing

Short-Term Strategies

Develop a comprehensive outreach and marketing strategy with areas such as website improvements, showcasing success stories, increase social media presence, and showcase students and parents the many career opportunities that exist in Forsyth County.

Long-Term Strategies

Target outreach and marketing efforts in elementary and middle school; showcase benefits of pathways to parents; host annual Stakeholder Summit and ongoing conversations around workforce development.