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Providence school CTE leaders tout new programs and high completer graduation rates
Summary
District CTE officials told the school board the program is expanding into AI, medical imaging and event production, projecting 1,761 students in CTE for 2026–27, a 528-person wait list and a CTE completer graduation rate near 92% — higher than the district average.
Ricardo Pimental, the district’s executive director of Career and Technical Education, laid out an aggressive expansion plan and performance update for Providence’s CTE system at the April 29 board meeting.
Pimental said the district will add production design and event experience at Hope High School and a data science and AI pathway at Mount Pleasant in fall 2026, and launch medical imaging at JC and a premedical pathway at Classical pending RIDE approval. “We’re adding programs that reflect emerging industries,” Pimental said.
The presentation included metrics the district uses to justify the expansion. Pimental told trustees that for 2026–27 the district projects about 1,761 CTE students (1,246 in grades 10–12 plus 515 ninth graders) and said 528 applicants currently remain on wait lists. He attributed a year‑over‑year enrollment dip in state reports to coding corrections after finding some students had been counted as CTE enrollees while taking a single elective course.
On outcomes, Pimental highlighted completer and graduation statistics. Of 311 seniors enrolled in CTE sequences in 2024–25, 154 achieved completions and 100% of those completers graduated high school; the district’s overall CTE graduation rate was reported at about 92% versus a 78% district-wide rate. “CTE is an important factor in our students attending school and graduating,” he said.
Pimental also described the district’s five-part recruitment approach — middle school assemblies, high-school nights, district fairs, parent outreach and social media — and said 985 eighth-graders applied this year; the district has placed 515 and has 470 students on the waiting list (58 applied late and were added to the wait list). He singled out cosmetology, culinary, electrical and pre-engineering at PCTA as programs with especially long wait lists.
On employer partnerships and pipelines, Pimental pointed to the General Dynamics Electric Boat sign-on program: 119 students attended an application day, 109 received offers and 97 students accepted positions, a sign the office says helps move students straight into local employment after graduation.
Board members pressed on equity and selection processes. Pimental said students name first and second program choices and the district uses coding and data checks and explicit equity guardrails in placements so that program rosters reflect district demographics. He added that the district is adding two work‑based‑learning coordinators to increase placement capacity and that some programs (for example cosmetology) have industry‑specific hour requirements.
The presentation closed with a call for more business and post‑secondary partnerships to expand internships and apprenticeships; Pimental said the district is already partnering with local employers and hopes to scale capacity to reduce the wait list.
What’s next: the district will finalize program approvals with RIDE where required, continue recruiting partners for work‑based learning, and report updated enrollment and completer data after end‑of‑year certification.
