North Providence expands CTE pathways, airs recruitment ads and reports rising enrollment

Melissa Caffrey, North Providence School District’s director of multiple pathways, updated the School Committee on April 23 about expansion and outreach for the district’s career and technical education (CTE) offerings, including two 30-second commercials placed through Cox Communications and a separate spot aimed at recruiting Air Force Junior ROTC cadets statewide.

Caffrey said the commercials are running on several nationally distributed channels and are targeted to families with children ages about 10–17 in selected zones. “We filmed two 30-second commercials that are currently being aired on ESPN, NESN, Fox News, Hallmark, MSNBC, TNT, and a few more,” she said. She also showed a longer feature produced by Cox’s local documentary outlet (referred to in the meeting as Cox Channel 4) that includes student and teacher interviews and a QR code linking to the district’s redesigned CTE webpage and online application portal.

The commercials are part of an effort to raise the visibility of the district’s programs, Caffrey said. She credited state categorical CTE funding for supporting program needs and said the district currently offers seven CTE pathways at North Providence High School, six of which are accredited. She told the committee the district plans to add an eighth pathway in the fall: a performing and visual arts program that will include theatre, dance, music and art.

Caffrey provided enrollment and outcome figures she said the district is tracking: 538 students are currently enrolled in CTE pathways; the district’s total enrollment is about 1,104 students, meaning “a little bit less than half” of students participate in CTE, she said. Based on current applications, she said the district expects roughly 620 students across eight pathways next year. She reported program enrollments she said were near these levels: Air Force JROTC close to 60 cadets (enough to avoid probation under the service’s enrollment rules); business/financial management about 82 students; pre-engineering about 78; and the P-TECH health science pathway projected at about 170 students next year. Caffrey also said this year 16 seniors will receive an associate degree before their high school diploma.

On the Air Force JROTC program, Caffrey said North Providence is the only school in the state to house an Air Force JROTC program and that the district produced a separate commercial to support statewide recruitment. She said per U.S. Air Force guidance a unit is expected to reach 50 cadets to avoid probation and reported the program is close to 60 cadets.

Committee members asked how the ads were targeted and where students are coming from. Caffrey said she worked with Scott Roberts of Cox Communications on audience targeting and placement; she described receiving calls from residents who saw the ads during regional sports broadcasts. She said the district is seeing more out-of-district applications, naming Providence and Pawtucket among places applicants listed.

Caffrey described scheduling and credentialing challenges and opportunities. She said the statewide RISE mandates for foreign-language instruction affect scheduling because many freshmen and sophomores have only one elective slot; students with IEPs who need academic support may not be able to start pathways in ninth grade and often begin in 10th grade. She described the district’s rotating schedule and local efforts to create block times for hands-on pathways, and she said the consortium arrangement and P-TECH structure (which offers an associate degree with workforce connections) helps attract students from outside the district.

“The work is all worth it when you hear the students and what you hear them speak about,” Caffrey said, describing the documentary and commercials.

Caffrey ended by thanking teachers and staff involved in the pathways and said she remains focused on program growth and scheduling changes to better accommodate students.