Career/ Technical Education Builds Bridges

 Multiple Pathways Approach Helps All Students Succeed

The Alameda County Office of Education has worked consistently to provide opportunities for all students to learn and grow through multiple pathways to college and careers. The career/technical education (CTE) system provides alternatives to traditional pathways to higher education and careers through courses that develop foundational academic skills and technical training.

 

CTE programs

Students from ACOE's Youth Leadership Institute create a metal sculpture in honor of Cesar Chavez

offer an alternative to students who are attracted to project-based learning. It also engages local business and community in significant ways in the design and implementation of programs and the placement of students in meaningful, living-wage work. The old system of tracking relegated many poor students and students of color towards low-wage factory or agricultural jobs.  Students were not challenged academically and not afforded the opportunity to pursue college or work toward a meaningful career.

Today, the two paths (career/technical education and college preparation) are not counterposed and can be complementary parts of a menu of options for different students at different points of their educational journey.  Today the trades require high-level thinking and advanced technological skills.  Successful pathway programs combine rigorous academics with demanding technical training and hands-on experience.  Such an approach has proven to reduce high school drop out rates, increase academic achievement, and increase job opportunities and the future earning power of participants.
 

The need for robust CTE programs is particularly salient here in the Bay Area as a regional center for the emerging "green" economic sector. Considerable new resources are becoming available to the region through innovative technologies and construction projects.  In this environment of change, it is imperative that we prepare our youth for these new opportunities and bridge the gap between hopelessness and independence.

 

Building bridges to future opportunities is an important part of our education system. This includes access to an enriched curriculum that meets the diverse needs of students and prepares them for the demands of college, careers and adulthood.  Please join me and other educators, legislators, community members and business leaders to support expanding opportunities for multiple pathways from school to college and careers.

For more information on the merits of career/ technical education please check out the following excellent resources.  You too can be a leader to advance CTE programming in our communities.  Get involved today.