Career Tech High School is a workplace simulation. This means that students are "hired" for a quarter at a time. At the end of each quarter, students meet with their family and school staff for a performance evaluation. We examine productivity (credits earned), attendance, behavior, and employability skills. Students who are making adequate progress are invited to return. Most students make adequate progress. Students who are not earning minimum credit requirements are placed on a work plan for the next quarter. If a student is unable to maintain minimum progress for two quarters, we work with the student and family to find a different school program that more closely matches their needs.

A bit of history: Back in 1999, Career Tech was called First Resort, and was an alternative high school serving a high risk population of students who were not being successful in a regular high school environment. In 2000, the school changed to a charter high school, with the charter granted by the Lincoln County School District and the charter held by Community Services Consortium, a non-profit community action agency that serves Linn, Benton, and Lincoln counties. CSC is a parent organization that funnels federal, state, and grant funds to effectively serve low income residents of these counties. In the years since becoming a charter high school, CTHS has been continually redefining itself and improving its focus, which is to be a technology based workplace simulation that provides students with engaging, relevant courses that prepare them for a diploma and train them for success.