New Hampshire’s Department of Education is pushing for a new approach to improve the pipeline from high school to industries, starting with four “pilot” school districts.

The program, funded by the Out-of-School Time Career Pathway Grant program and intended to be run by the New Hampshire Learning Initiative, would use $1.7 million over two years to develop “expanded learning programs” in Conway, Hinsdale, Laconia and Manchester. Participating students can enter into an apprenticeship program following high school graduation.

Those programs would allow students to earn “a recognized postsecondary credential” that could follow an apprenticeship or an “industry-recognized certification.”

Students in the schools could partner with Brattleboro, Vt.- based G.S. Precision; Fryeburg, Maine-based Eastern Slopes Aviation; Londonderry-based Aviation Museum of New Hampshire; Northwood-based EPTAM Precision Solutions; or Jaffrey-based Graphicast. The initiative would cover internships and apprenticeships within those companies.

The four school districts have been billed as “pilot schools,” but Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut has indicated an interest in expanding the initiative to other schools in the future.

— ETHAN DEWITT/NEW HAMPSHIRE BULLETIN