Chandler Unified unveils MITE course, expands internships and business partnerships to boost CTE pathways

Patrick Brown, the district’s workforce development coordinator, told the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board on April 23 that the district will launch a new, yearlong career-preparation class called MITE (Mentorships, Internships and Careers) in fall 2025 aimed at juniors and seniors who are CTE completers.

Brown said the MITE course will be a two-semester sequence: the first semester focused on career planning, communication, workplace professionalism and basic financial literacy; the second semester will place students in paid or unpaid internships. Per Arizona requirements cited by Brown, students must complete 130 hours of internships to earn academic credit.

Brown told the board the MITE course will be taught by six CTE teachers across six high schools and is intended to increase employer engagement, improve student readiness and expand internship capacity. He said businesses helped shape the curriculum during a superintendent-level business advisory meeting; employers emphasized the need for reliability, communication, problem solving, collaboration and basic digital skills.

Brown described recent partnership-building: the district has developed roughly 19 new employer relationships over the past two years, and hosted a second annual Build for Tomorrow career expo with about 56 exhibitor organizations. He said placements rose from about 23 internships last year to roughly 30 this school year across fields such as agriscience, culinary, digital photography, marketing, media and film, sports medicine and software/app development.

Brown and staff highlighted a mix of employer types: national firms accessible through ElevateEd (Bank of America, Mayo Clinic, Honeywell were cited as examples ElevateEd partners maintain), local small businesses recruited through chambers of commerce and a prospective tech distribution company that raised intellectual-property and NDA concerns. Brown said the district is pursuing a project-based model for that technical partner so students can work on design projects without onsite access to secure company systems.

CTE staff clarified the district’s eligibility requirements for MITE: students must be CTE program completers (two to three years depending on the pathway) and will generally be juniors or seniors. Teachers will be the primary on-campus contact for interns, will visit internship sites at least three times during the placement and will be the liaison for employers and families. Brown said the district has produced a business partnership handbook and an attorney-reviewed internship manual to address liability and paperwork requirements.

Board members asked about transportation and equity. Brown and other staff said transportation is currently the responsibility of families; district staff and partners (including ElevateEd and the Chandler Foundation) are exploring supports such as district-provided rides or partnerships with local flexible-ride services. The presenters also noted hybrid and remote project-based internships are being used to increase access when onsite transportation is a barrier.

Brown called the district’s workforce development work a second-year refinement of a role that began with relationship-building, professional development for teachers, and creation of systems teachers and students can use to find internships. He said the program aims to produce students who are "self-directed learners" and prepared to adapt to changing labor markets.

Board members and staff emphasized that this is an early-stage expansion: MITE will launch in fall 2025 with initial cohorts expected to be small on some campuses, with the goal of growing participation in year two once rosters and employer pipelines are established.