Program Overviews

18 Online Program

18 Online - A Graduate Initiative for High School Teachers
Providing the 18 credits needed to teach concurrent enrollment.

Graduate tuition for Spring 2024, Summer 2024, Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 will be covered by LCSC. Learn more!

Lakes Country Service Cooperative (LCSC) has partnered with Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) to bring you 18 Online. 18 Online is a program that provides the 18 credits High School Teachers need to become a qualified content area concurrent enrollment instructor. It’s the result of Minnesota House of Representatives bill H.F. 3326 and Senate bill S.F. No. 3062, which appropriated $3 million to provide curriculum development for the Northwest Regional Partnership continuing education program.

Alternative Teacher Prep

In October 2018, Lakes Country Service Cooperative (LCSC) was approved by the Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing & Standards Board (PELSB) as the first alternative teacher preparation provider under Minnesota Statute § 122A.2451. In addition, LCSC was awarded a $150,000 Alternative Teacher Preparation Grant from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education to build career and technical education (CTE) licensure programs for incumbent teachers to obtain additional CTE licenses or endorsements.

LCSC strives to create an efficient, affordable, attainable, results-oriented, competency-based licensure program that is a clear pathway to obtain a license, yet nimble enough to provide individualized programs of study based on the identified needs of the licensure candidate. The intention is to offer these high-quality experiences on-demand to candidates without the traditional confines of the academic year.

Licensure programs include the Career and Technical Education Core program, Teacher Coordination of Work-Based Learning, Construction Careers, Transportation Careers, and Manufacturing Careers.

Candidates are recruited, admitted through a defined process, appointed an advisor/mentor who will stay engaged with the candidate throughout the program, work with their advisor/mentor to determine their individualized licensure program needs, and obtain necessary content through micro-credential stacks and field experiences. Once the individualized program is complete, the candidate and advisor/mentor will go through a program completion review and licensure requirement review before finally obtaining a recommendation for licensure. Even at the point of licensure recommendation, the candidate is asked to continue providing information and data related to continuous program evaluation and improvement.

For more information or to enroll in the program, contact Troy Haugen, Director of Career & College Readiness at thaugen@lcsc.org.

Career and Technical Education

Career and Technical Education: 100 Years of Advancing the USA

Since 1917 with the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act, federal and state legislation has provided leadership for the implementation and improvement of educational programs that prepare youth for careers and vocations, advancing our economy and society.

Just as there are three domains of learning, the foundation of any successful CTE program is based on three inseparable, equal, and interdependent components: classroom instruction, Social-Emotional Learning/student leadership, and Work-Based Learning.

Academic Development Through the Classroom & Laboratory

Career and Technical Education prepares students for high wage, high skill, and in demand jobs and careers. It integrates science, math, economics, and art graduation credit, while earning college credits and industry certifications.

CTE education includes courses in agriculture, food, and natural resources; business and marketing; family and consumer sciences; health science education; and trade and industry.

Social-Emotional Learning Through a Student Leadership Organization

Leadership is a skill and it can be taught. In CTE students learn and practice leadership and social-emotional learning in programs called CTE Student Organizations (CTSO).

CTSOs are not clubs. They are an intracurricular (i.e., within the curriculum) and integral (i.e., necessary, essential) part of the program.

CTSOs develops relationship and career skills through a variety of service events, career development competitions, and leadership conferences and conventions.

Technical Development Through Work-Based Learning Experiences

Students learn best by doing. A work-based learning project is an extension of the classroom, where students develop specific technical and career knowledge that prepares them for their future.

A WBL experience is different than academic instruction and often, it is more relevant to the student. WBL includes internships, entrepreneurship, research, service learning, apprenticeship, and school-based enterprises.

LCSC Career & Technical Education Staff:

Troy Haugen
Director of Career & College Readiness
218-737-6511
EMAIL

Dr. Zane Sheehan
Program Leader, Initial Licensure
EMAIL

Tom Leuthner
Program Leader, Trade & Industry
EMAIL

Dustin Steenblock
Program Leader, Work-Based Learning
218-737-6516
EMAIL

Dr. Lavyne Rada
Recruitment and Retention, TIP
218-737-6558
EMAIL

Siri Livdahl
Admissions and Advising
218-737-6551
EMAIL

Carl Perkins Project

Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE)

ECFE Consortium

Lakes Country Service Cooperative’s ECFE Consortium works to enhance ECFE/School Readiness programming encouraging cooperative planning, sharing of resources and helping provide linkages for interagency coordination and collaboration. The Regional ECFE Coordinator facilitates networking meetings, plans professional development, meets with participating district staff, provides on-site observations of new teachers, and serves as a liaison to the MN Dept of Education’s Early Learning Network. LCSC’s regional ECFE Coordinator disseminates evidence- based research and works with staff to identify and plan professional development. Professional development is offered for teachers who work in public school ECFE, School Readiness, Voluntary PreK, Home Visiting and collaborative and grant funded programs.

The Regional ECFE Coordinator provides consultation to coordinators, teachers, districts, and local advisory councils. Districts who join the ECFE Consortium may contract for staff through LCSC. This provides recruiting, interviewing, orientation and support for new staff. There are 23 licensed teachers who work as coordinators, early childhood educators, parent/family educators, and home visitors currently contracted through LCSC.

Paraprofessional Assessment

About the ParaPro Assessment

The ParaPro Assessment measures the reading, writing, and math competency of prospective and practicing paraprofessionals. It also measures the ability to apply these competencies when assisting in classroom instruction.

Title I Paraprofessionals in the state of Minnesota must be certified. Lakes Country Service Cooperative offers the ParaPro Online exam throughout the year. A passing score of 460 is required for the state of Minnesota.

Paraeducator Online Training

We also offer Paraeducator Online Training through The Master Teacher. Get access to 150+ self-paced courses covering general education and special education environments. Training and assessments certify your paraeducators to meet Title I requirements. Click here for more information. Contact us for a discounted price.

To schedule a ParaPro Assessment or purchase Paraeducator Online Training, contact:

Jolene King
Education Services Assistant
218-737-6521
EMAIL

PD4Me

PD4ME: Professional Development you need, when you need it.
What's Included:

Easy to use, online site
Ability to host your customized content and training modules
Easy reporting and tracking completed for you
Topics:
- Legal Training
- Health & Safety
- Technology Integration
- License Renewal
- New content as created

Yearly subscription for staff based on student enrollment numbers.

Technology Integration

Technology Integration Services

We offer a variety of trainings and services customized to each school/district, including:

For information on technology integration training offered onsite at LCSC, please check our workshops page. If you would like us to provide a customized workshop with your specific needs in mind, click here for a list of possible training topics. For information on having technology integration training at your facility, please contact one of the following:

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