Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Career Technical Education topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Jefferson Union expands CTE pathways, secures grants and creates two new grant-funded CTE roles
Summary
District CTE leaders reported increased participation, new industry certifications and dual-enrollment growth, and the board approved two new grant-funded CTE job descriptions to support expansion and industry partnerships.
Jefferson Union High School District CTE leaders told the board that Career Technical Education participation and credentialing have grown markedly this year, and the district approved two new CTE positions paid for by grant funding to support continued expansion.
CTE presenters Christina Lewis and Corinne Baca told the board that students now complete more dual-enrollment courses and industry certifications across Jefferson, Westmore, Terra Nova and Oceana high schools. “A CTE pathway is a series of two or more related courses within an industry sector,” Christina Lewis said, adding that pathway completers “finish with a C or better, experience at least one semester of dual enrollment, and often complete internships or work-based learning.”
The presentation outlined several funding streams supporting the work, including the California Technical Education Incentive Grant (CTIG), Perkins (federal CTE funds), Strong Workforce funds, CCAP and Golden State Pathway grants. Presenters said the district is “managing over a million dollars in grant funding” to support equipment, dual-enrollment agreements, industry certifications and CTE professional development.
District staff shared concrete program metrics: 36 field trips, 23 guest-speaker events, five work-based learning programs and three campus career tours this year. The number of students completing pathways rose from 218 to 356 over recent years, the presenters said, and the district reported year-over-year gains among students learning English and socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Presenters attributed gains to targeted supports and scheduling changes that allow students to complete two-year sequences.
The board voted to approve two new job descriptions to support CTE expansion: Career Technical Education Assistant and Career Technical Education Associate. Both positions were described by staff as funded out of existing CTE grant allocations; the assistant role targets recent graduates or current students supporting site programs, while the associate role is intended for candidates with some industry experience.
Trustees praised the outreach and equity focus in the program, noting growth in dual-enrollment at multiple campuses and efforts to increase certifications (ServSafe, OSHA-10, Adobe, and others). Board members also asked about new industry certifications under consideration, including cloud-provider certificates (AWS and Microsoft Azure) and cybersecurity pathways.
District staff described next steps: piloting a third-year CTE work-experience class at Jefferson and Westmore; expanding dual enrollment with community colleges; increasing industry-expert classroom mentorship; and deploying a data platform (supported by a Strong Workforce grant) to track CTE metrics and student outcomes.
Board members and staff noted the central role of grants and community-college partnerships in scaling the program and flagged staffing and teacher qualifications as ongoing constraints for expanding dual-enrollment offerings.
The new CTE job descriptions were approved by motion during the consent/action portion of the meeting; motions were seconded and adopted by voice vote.
