Pathway Development

If you are new to CTE, you may want to start with this quick 10 minute video, Career Technical Education: What is CTE? (Slide deck here)

This Intro to CTE webinar is a great place to dive deeper into CTE, and here are a few great resources you can use to guide your pathway development: 

Use the California Department of Education 11 elements of a high quality pathway self study, which will be required to apply for state funding, as a guiding document for your pathway goal setting. 

Explore the Career Development Continuum at each level to find out recommendations for Standards Based Curriculum, Career Research and Planning Activities, Work-Based Learning and Post-Secondary Engagement 

• Middle School Career Development Continuum
• High School Career Development Continuum 

There are many sources of funding you can use to support your Career Technical Education programs, but they must begin with incorporation of CTE in your Local Control and Accountability Plan. The CDE has provided an fact sheet to support CTE leaders. 

Currently there are three main sources of funding for CTE. These funds often require you to match $2 for every $1 granted, so you still have to make your own investments in the program. CTE programs need to align to the 11 elements of a high quality pathway, follow state recommended guidelines and be taught by an instructor with a CTE credential in order to be eligible for the following grant funds. Click on the following link to gain a better understanding of each program and your eligibility. 

• Perkins
• CTE Incentive Grant
• K12 Strong Workforce Program

There are many additional ways to fund CTE programs, including industry partnerships, local grants and braiding initiatives to leverage other funding as match. 

CTE pathways are designed to connect students to industry. To be effective the programs should be informed by industry experts, students should be exposed to industry professionals, and the program should align to the labor market needs of your region. 

Advisory Committees are an essential component of a high quality pathway, and can be a productive way to build relationships with industry partners in your community. These meetings take place a few times a year, and the committee is able to advice on curriculum, industry grade equipment and materials, and give feedback on the program. For more information, explore this resource from our community college regional consortium: CTE Advisory Committees: Strategies and Best Practices

Labor Market Information is the basis of CTE. Understanding the current labor market and the predictions of where they expect growth ensures that CTE programs are designed to prepare students for high wage, high growth jobs in your community. You will need to utilize labor market information to support your grant applications, inform new pathway development, and ensure your pathway stays up to date with industry needs and best practices. You can find detailed labor market information and resources on our work-based learning page.

Work-Based Learning exposes students to industry experts and workplaces through a variety of experiences both on and off the school campus. Incorporating work-based learning as a meaningful component of any pathway is essential. Ideally, students have multiple WBL experiences every year. You can explore these opportunities on our work-based learning page. 

When working to develop a new pathway or enhance a previous pathway, designating funds to transportation for work-based learning is essential. Building relationships with a few key industry partners can help fill your advisory committee and offer students experiences year after year. These connections help to keep your programs connected to industry, and give industry partners a chance to give back and guide the education and skill building of their future employees. 

There are a few models of pathways that go beyond the CTE course, and build a learning environment that connects students to industry across all of their classes. 

Most of these are focused on combining core academic concepts, CTE standards and industry concepts and standards. Our video, A Quick Look at Integrated Curriculum is a great way to get an overview of how to break down the silos between classrooms to better mirror the world of work in an educational setting.  (Slide Deck)

California Partnership Academies are a grant funded program run by the California Department of Education that have specific parameters for cohorting students between their CTE and core classrooms, and providing career themed coursework in their core classes. The number of these pathways is limited and opportunities to start a CPA come very rarely. 

Linked Learning pathways tie multiple courses together in an integrated model, where students are often cohorted and have career themes in their coursework of multiple core classes that tie into their CTE class. Any school can decide to pursue this model and high quality pathways may be eligible to be Linked Learning Certified. 

Project Lead the Way is an adoption of a particular curriculum, which often includes core science classes as well as technical CTE courses. The fees to participate support the rigorous professional learning and curriculum. 

Small Learning Communities can take many formats. In some cases you might see wall to wall pathways, in other cases a single school may break into smaller campuses that each have a career theme. As you explore the ways to provide strong college and career readiness opportunities for your students, these are excellent models to explore, and may incorporate a number of transformational models within the school.

Recruitment and Marketing builds an understanding of your pathway, drives student engagement, and is key to ensuring access and equity in your CTE program. 

It generally comes down to three areas of focus: 

Pathway Messaging - Clarify course sequencing and requirements and build a suggested program of study. Use this information to develop brochures, infographics and a website that clearly messages what it means to be in the pathway, what courses should be taken and what the benefits are. 

Collaboration and Communication - Build your own team! Gather your administrators, counselors at the high school and middle school, and ensure they understand the pathway messaging and have access to your marketing materials. This is the team who will do most of the outreach and it is essential to engage them in understanding your programs. Taking these stakeholders on a tour of CTE programs and inviting them to CTE showcases is a great way to ensure they are champions for your CTE programs.  

Outreach - Ensure that students have the information they need to make an informed decision about joining a pathway. Clearly message the multiyear sequencing, community learning and benefits of the program. While many districts wait until students are registering for classes, you might consider building relationships that bring high school pathway students into the middle school earlier in the year to work together on projects or talk about the pathway so that students have plenty of time to explore their options. You may also be able to incorporate related work-based learning experiences at the middle school level to better engage students in understanding their interests and options. 

For more ideas explore this CTE Marketing and Recruitment Strategies slide deck.

The College/Career Indicator is part of the California School Dashboard and covers a number of metrics that are aligned to Career Technical Education. 

Resources to support your work to address the CCI: 

• CALPADS reporting resources
• College/Career Indicator one-pager pdf
• Template - College/Career Indicator Document - adjust as needed for your district/charter/school
• Are you Future Ready pdf
• Template: Are you Future Ready - adjust as needed to align to your goals

For more support on the CCI please contact Jewyl Alderson