How has the concept of Career and Technical Education (CTE) changed over the last 20+ years, and what do you think makes this type of educational programming so relevant right now?
Once only auto and wood shop, CTE now represents a wide array of hands-on career curriculums that often have the added benefit of earning credentials and credits before leaving high school. In fact, we now see CTE offerings within a school district as the strongest student retention tool in these modern times of competition and budget reductions. The collective acknowledgement that post-graduation student success shouldn’t be reliant solely on college education has also helped shift this forward.
With the above in mind, what impacts to the overall educational environment can this programming have and what are some unique ways your firm has approached this?
The most powerful impact of CTE is simply that students have awareness of career path choices and can try them in a low pressure setting. At a large scale, our design of Roosevelt High School in Johnstown, Colorado infused the entire building with their 15+ career pathways, providing unmatched visibility of opportunities available. At a medium scale, we transformed an existing classroom wing at Northridge High School in Greeley, Colorado, into a mix of culinary and flexible labs that can shift and morph to support multiple types of programming.
Are there ways for school districts to incorporate new CTE programming without having to ‘start from scratch’ with new construction?
A wonderful example of smaller, more easily achievable steps is in our continued work at Summit High School in Frisco, Colorado. In 2016 we helped reimagine a few underutilized spaces within the existing school into new programs that were a reflection of the local economy, such as Ski Tune/Bike Repair and Welding. We are now working with them to continue to expand their offerings through a thoughtful and consensus driven CTE master planning process, which includes robust pathways such as Skilled Trades and Outdoor Leadership.
