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District reports growth in dual credit access, internships and CTE pathways; Reed High highlighted
Summary
District officials said dual-credit enrollment and internships increased substantially after targeted funding and program expansion. Reed High School principal and a student described high participation and success in concurrent enrollment courses; CTE leaders outlined plans to expand programs and internships.
Washoe County School District officials presented milestones on Feb. 25 showing growth in dual credit and concurrent enrollment, expanded career and technical education (CTE) offerings and a rapid increase in student internships.
Chief Academic Officer Dr. Troy Parks and Reed High School Principal Josh Rosenblum said Reed's program has expanded to about 17 concurrent-enrollment courses, serving roughly 400 students with high success rates in college-level classes taught at the high school by district teachers working with university partners. Rosenblum said the school moved from AP English Language to UNR English 101 and reported near-universal pass rates in the first semester of that course: "This past semester, we had all but 1 student pass 101 first semester."
Reed senior Kaylana Wallace described her experience taking multiple dual- and concurrent-enrollment classes and said she will enter the University of Nevada, Reno with many prerequisites complete and a presidential scholarship. "I will have done 7 courses by the end of this year," Wallace said, and added that early college credit "encourages students to be more involved in school life."
Kendra Fox, director of secondary curriculum and instruction, said district funding for concurrent enrollment led to a substantial increase in students receiving college credit. She noted the program targets underrepresented groups: Hispanic students, free-and-reduced-price lunch (FRL) recipients, English learners and special-education students all showed gains in participation compared with the prior year.
Fox and other staff noted program differences across institutions of higher education complicate counselor workload. The district covers a $75 fee per concurrent-enrollment course for students where the district partners with an institution; Fox said concurrent enrollment fees are district-covered while separate dual-enrollment courses taken directly at a college campus can carry different student costs and textbook or parking fees.
CTE Director Josh Hartzog described two tracks to expand work-based learning: "layering on more of the same programs across several of our high schools" (adding additional offerings at existing sites) and "broadening the underlying base of overall options" by adding new programs such as Aviation Tech, Law Enforcement, Practical Nursing and Certified Nursing Assistant pathways. Hartzog said the district is working with employers and community partners to grow options and practical-training pipelines.
The district reported that internships have grown quickly: 16 students participated last year, staff said, about 90 are participating this year with a projection of 200 students next year. Hartzog described the district's internship coordinator's role in clarifying compliance paperwork, training principals and counselors, and building an internship web portal at washoschools.net/internships.
Officials said the district will continue to scale concurrent enrollment and CTE programs and work to align policies statewide through committee work with the Nevada System of Higher Education to reduce barriers and disparate institutional requirements.
