Dan Corley, director of district data and system efficiency, told the Hardin County Board of Education that the district is offering more career and technical education options and that student participation has grown.

"We have 42 total pathways that students can choose from," Corley said, and he said the district counts about 171 distinct course options across those pathways. Corley reported that roughly 81.1% of Hardin County high school students are enrolled in some type of career and technical education class this year, up from about 79.8% the prior year. He said the Early College and Career Center (EC3) serves about 1,766 different students.

The presentation outlined recent additions — dental assisting, engineering design, and environmental science and natural resource sciences — and described dual-credit partnerships with several institutions, including Jefferson Community & Technical College, Bluegrass, ECTC, Eastern Kentucky University, Murray State and Western Kentucky. Corley said many students take courses both at their home high school and at EC3, which produces overlap in the participation numbers.

A board member asked for clarification about a slide labeled "homeschool," and another board member said the presentation used district internal terminology: in that slide "homeschool" was intended to denote one of the district’s three traditional brick-and-mortar high schools, not parental home schooling.

Board members also discussed gender balance in pathways and co-op participation; Corley told the board that 247 students were enrolled in co-op courses providing workplace experience. Corley said he had emailed an interactive version of the presentation to board members so they could explore pathway-level demographics and course lists.

Why it matters: District leaders said expanded CTE offerings and dual-credit agreements give students more postsecondary options and workplace experience without delaying graduation. The board did not take formal action on the presentation; it served as an informational briefing.

Next steps: Corley encouraged board members to review the interactive materials he emailed and to contact him with follow-up questions.