Board approves USU ITLS 2500 course and moves to pilot CAPS programs with Bridgerland partnership

The Box Elder School District Board on Tuesday approved a new concurrent-enrollment course, referred to in materials as USU ITLS 2500 (technology-enabled instruction through Utah State), as a first step toward piloting Centers for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) offerings for district students.

District presenter Ben Wiley told the board the CAPS model shifts learning from a “sit-and-get” classroom to lab- and workplace-style projects developed in partnership with local industry and housed in shared facilities. For the pilot year 2025–26 the consortium expects to pilot two CAPS tracks: business and marketing, and an aspiring-educators (introduction to education) track. For the education track, district staff said the expectation is to enroll seniors for the pilot year.

Wiley said the Bridgerland campus will house the consortium’s CAPS program and that the Cache County School District had already reserved the building and fronted the director’s salary under a five-year arrangement; Box Elder’s participation will not require a separate, immediate facility payment beyond normal student costs to attend Bridgerland. Students completing the course will have an opportunity to take a paraprofessional exam and could be hired as paraprofessionals in the district or other local districts.

“At the end of this course, they will be given the opportunity to take the paraprofessional exam, and we can actually hire them in our district or in Cache or Logan or anywhere in the state,” Wiley said. He added the CAPS program’s capstone experience can be structured as concurrent enrollment, and the district is negotiating course and capstone numbers with Utah State to secure concurrent-enrollment credit for the capstone experience.

The presenter described the CAPS facilities the delegation visited — including labs with 3-D printers, laser engravers and drone workspaces — and said the hands-on structure had resulted in students receiving industry certifications and job offers prior to high school graduation in other communities the delegation toured.

Board members asked about program capacity, grade-level eligibility and local business partnerships. District staff said preliminary materials listed juniors and seniors as typical CAPS participants, but the pilot will prioritize seniors for the education track; Cache County has begun registration steps for students, and counselors will coordinate student selection if the board’s approval proceeds.

Wiley emphasized industry mentorship is essential for the model: students work on real projects with local businesses, sometimes spending time at industry worksites rather than in a classroom. The board approved the USU ITLS 2500 course by motion; staff said future approvals may be needed to finalize concurrent-enrollment numbers and additional capstone courses for other tracks.