Dayton Public Schools outlines 2025 course of study, expands career-technical offerings

Keisha Sheehy, the district’s chief academic officer, and Erin Dooley, chief of college and career readiness, presented Dayton Public Schools’ 2025 course-of-study changes at the Feb. 18 board meeting, saying the updates aim to raise postsecondary readiness and increase course rigor.

The district will emphasize Advanced Placement and College Credit Plus offerings and eliminate honors courses in English language arts and math in order to reduce duplication and improve alignment, Sheehy said. “The AP track and the honors track…hadn’t much difference,” Sheehy said, explaining the district wants standardized, postsecondary-aligned content.

The change follows a curriculum audit by ABL Integrated Insights that identified “low course intensity” in classes predictive of postsecondary success. As part of implementation, the district plans in-day reading labs and algebra labs at high schools, reading labs in middle schools, and expanded multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) interventions to help students access advanced courses and improve GPAs.

Dooley said College Credit Plus enrollment reached the district’s highest level this year, with about 255 students taking CCP courses this semester. The district will continue reviewing course effectiveness and “actively monitoring student enrollment in advanced courses” while recruiting more students for higher-level pathways.

Dooley also outlined planned expansions and new career-technical programs for next school year, naming specific schools and offerings: Belmont High School — metal fabrication (sheet metal), medical assisting (planned), and a teacher academy; Paul Laurence Dunbar — entrepreneurial pathway, urban agriculture, phlebotomy, early childhood education; Meadowdale — aviation plus existing programs; Mound Street — patient care technician, phlebotomy, early childhood education; Thurgood Marshall — proposed legal studies pathway plus existing phlebotomy and early childhood programs; Stivers — continuing three current programs. The district plans to keep industry-credential programs such as phlebotomy and to grow innovative pathways including braiding and entrepreneurship.

Board members asked how students apply and enroll. Dooley said applications are live and that applicants are admitted when seats are available; when more students apply than seats exist, the district uses a lottery. She said the district emails offers and gives families a two-week window to accept; staff follow up by phone when there is no response. For students entering high school next year, Dooley said eighth graders should be applying now.

Discussion also covered grade levels for pathways: many programs start in grades 10–12, some are 11–12, and a few programs will enroll students as early as grade 9 in future state-driven changes. The metal-fabrication track will start at grades 10–11 and intends to offer work-based learning in grade 12, including a pre-apprenticeship model.

Board members and staff discussed staffing and facilities. Superintendent Dr. Lawrence and board members noted the district plans to recruit qualified instructors, sometimes tapping experienced district employees (for example, tradespeople) who could teach while continuing other work. Scaling some programs, they said, may require future board action to formalize positions and partnerships.

District staff said a printed program study booklet is “in production” and will be distributed once complete, and they cautioned that some proposed programs are contingent on state requirements and instructor availability.

While board members welcomed the emphasis on postsecondary alignment and increased access to credentialed programs, several asked for clearer communications and deadlines so families can plan where students should enroll in ninth grade if pathways begin later. Dooley and Dr. Lawrence said the district will work on external communications and on building “crosswalks” from middle school into high-school CTE pathways.

The presentation did not include a board vote on the course-of-study changes; district leaders framed the session as an overview of curriculum and program planning and as the start of implementation work to be monitored in upcoming months.