Cooperative Education is a structured program that integrates classroom-based education with practical work experience. During the Cooperative Education experience, commonly known as Co-op, students earn a competitive wage, gain additional marketable skills, experience academic success, and learn how to successfully make the school-to-work transition. The Greater Altoona Career & Technology Center utilizes the parallel model for the Co-op experience. In the parallel model, the students split their day between high school and the work site. The student will spend half of his or her day in school-based instruction and the other half of his or her day on the job in work-based instruction.  Co-op supports a curriculum that connects the world of academics to the world of work.

The Co-op program provides a practical, supervised work experience in the student’s selected trade area, field of technical education, and related to the student’s career goals. Students are given the opportunity to further develop the skills attained in the CTC classroom in an actual real world work environment.

In addition to the acquisition of the trade-specific skill-set, Co-op helps the student develop a positive work ethic and attitude, gain a sense of responsibility, develop self-awareness, and accomplish vocational maturity.