Expanding Opportunity Through Vocational Education “After Dark”

Demand for vocational technical education among high school students in Lawrence is far more significant than the Greater Lawrence Technical School (GLTS) can meet during its regular school day. There simply aren’t enough seats.

In close partnership, leaders from GLTS and Lawrence High School designed a solution — share students and change the school day schedule to allow GLTS to serve more students.

With our support, they built a pilot program with 20 students.

Students went to Lawrence High in the morning for their academic courses. They took a bus to GLTS in the afternoon, which were the “dark” hours when the building and equipment were unused. This allowed students to get their technical education in advanced manufacturing.

Students thrived and school leaders were thrilled.

They later added a second technical program — HVAC — and served even more students.

They are now adding more technical programs (construction, robotics, information technology, and beyond) and will be providing technical education to hundreds of Lawrence students who would not otherwise have the opportunity.

School leaders across the Commonwealth are adopting the Lawrence model. Within a few short years, there will be thousands of additional students enjoying high-quality technical education programs (which is equivalent to building a new high school).

We are proud to invest in expanding these opportunities.