VOCATIONAL TRAINING

The purpose of our vocational program is to facilitate students’ successful transition to life after leaving Ocean State Academy Learning Center. To achieve this goal, we develop individual transition plans, provide transition education, and promote vocational training based on each student’s needs, abilities, independent living skills, personal interests, and goals.

Here are some of our offerings in vocational/transitional planning:

Learning for Life

OSALC operates a “mock apartment” in which students learn to properly care for a home in preparation for independent living. They practice such tasks as cleaning, making a bed, doing laundry, organizing spaces, basic cooking functions, and performing general home maintenance.

Our students also learn personal responsibility by taking care of our pet fish and maintaining the school garden.

The focus of each class in our life skills curriculum is tailored to suit the varied needs of our students of all ages and skill levels. This degree of customization allows us to offer opportunities for developing social skills and independent living skills while students simultaneously learn and build upon growing skills, safety practices, and vocational expectations—all while having a lot of fun!

School-to-Work Learning Opportunities

OSALC hosts several school stores and businesses to offer students simulated on-site workplaces to apply their social skills, improve their vocational skills, and prepare for employment in the outside world.

• Shark Bait Convenience is our primary school store, where students learn to operate the cash register, work with money values, practice customer service duties, take inventory, and stock and shelve.
• Under the Sea Rental offers a variety of items for rent—like board games, puzzles, LEGOs, and books—providing students with an opportunity to learn how to sort and organize returned items, use a computer tracking system, and advance their customer service skills.
• Bait & Tackle Mobile Service is a catalogue service that runs throughout the school, allowing students to place orders from both Shark Bait Convenience and Under the Sea. In this way, students learn to itemize merchandise, interact and engage with their customers, and carry out order fulfillment.
• Leatherback Delivery ensures that orders are properly delivered to the correct classrooms and people.
• Sea Cucumbers Cleaning not only equips students with best practices and effective techniques for cleaning jobsites, but models professionalism and industry standards.

Additionally, some of our older students leave campus during the school day to work at various jobsites in the surrounding communities, such as the local food bank, fast-food restaurants, clothing stores, and the public library. Whenever possible, we arrange suitable placements for our students and lend them all the support and encouragement to hold a meaningful and fulfilling position in the neighboring workforce.