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Ann Arbor highlights CTE expansion, national competition wins and homebuilding program proceeds
Summary
District CTE leaders told the board the number of CTE programs has grown to 39, students won regional and state competitions, and the homebuilding project sold a student-built house listed around $700,000, with proceeds recycled to fund future builds through a nonprofit partner.
Tom Precher, the district's career and technical education director, told the board that Ann Arbor Public Schools now offers 39 CTE programs across elementary, middle and high school levels and is "twice the size of the rest of the county combined" in some measures. He highlighted students who advanced to state and national competitions in robotics, HOSA (health sciences), DECA and other CTSOs and said many programs are open to AAPS students regardless of their home high school.
Precher described the district's long-running homebuilding program (this year the program built a roughly 3,600-square-foot, five-bedroom house listed for about $700,000) and said profits from the sale are managed through a nonprofit partner (the Ann Arbor student building industry program) to seed future builds: "Those profits from 1 house move to the next house," he said.
Precher emphasized new and expanding pathways including computer science, cybersecurity, aviation/drone technology, engineering and a forthcoming Fundamentals of Construction class. He said Project Lead The Way (PLTW) is embedded in elementary and middle grades and that the district was again designated a PLTW distinguished school district.
Precher also described grant support for new programming, including awards from the NASA Michigan Space Grant Consortium and KLA Laboratories (approximately $30,000 and $15,000 apiece) to run a summer camp on flight and drone technology and to seed new PLTW courses. He said career pathways use work-based learning and articulation agreements with Washtenaw Community College and local unions provide direct-admit pathways to apprenticeship for some trades.
Trustees asked how house-sale proceeds are used; Precher said the nonprofit provides property and materials and the program partners with unions and contractors who support student learning on site. Trustees also asked what drove enrollment growth; Precher attributed it to post-COVID labor shortages, the addition of higher-tech programs, and word-of-mouth.
The district invited the community to a PLTW/CTE expo at Skyline Commons on May 13 to showcase programs and partner organizations.
