Career and Technical Education is offered in almost every high school in our area, but most people know little about it and the purpose behind it.  CTE offers the community an opportunity to engage in the development of educational programs that meet the unique needs of its community workforce in high-demand, high-wage fields.  Every CTE course falls into one of 16 “career clusters.” A cluster is a group of jobs and industries that are related by skills or products. Some examples are: Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, Hospitality and Tourism, Manufacturing and Health Science.  In addition to traditional programming requirements, CTE programs have a local advisory structure, requires staff to attain CTE certification, requires approval of course offerings through the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and also must connect those offerings to a recognized Career and Technical Student Organization.

CTE programs are fostered through an advisory committee structure.  Each program area staff member works with a Program Advisory Committee.  This PAC is made up of community members employed in the industry who give input and support to that specific school program.  This allows staff to provide current programming and skills to students and for employers to have candidates who are prepared to enter the workforce with minimal additional training required.  One member of each PAC then serves on the General Advisory Committee.  The role of the GAC is that of general oversight, approving new courses and texts before engaging in the district approval process, approval of course frameworks, approving conditional certification of staff who do not have their CTE credentials and serving as the conduit of information between the programs and the community. One of the most important roles in the spring of PAC is to complete an evaluation of the program being offered to students and help set goals and next steps for program development.

These evaluations are then taken to the GAC for a comprehensive review of our overall CTE program and its alignment with the economic development needs for Snohomish County and our local community.

While there are 16 recognized career clusters, there are many courses offered under each cluster. For example, Medical Careers is a course that Arlington High School offers under the Health Sciences career cluster.  To develop a course, CTE staff must create a “framework” for each course that outlines the units of instruction and assessments.  These are aligned to the Common Core Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, Industry

Standards for that area, and 21st Century Skills. Washington state’s recent contracting with Precision Exams, allows CTE instructors to assess students’ progress toward industry standards, and gives students the opportunity to earn a certificate of competency on those skills and can be shared with employers.  Many CTE courses are articulated with the local community colleges, allowing students to earn Tech Prep credit (college credit) at no cost to the student.

Opportunities to continue to learn and develop their skills are facilitated through the Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) connected to courses.  CTSOs that we offer in Arlington, and are familiar to our community, are Future Farmers of America (FFA), Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA), Technology Student Association (TSA) and Skills USA.  Students in these programs contribute to our community through service and participate in competitive events at a district, state, national and international level.

As we work to ensure Career and College Readiness for all students, CTE plays an integral role. It allows students to evaluate their strengths and interests and develop their skills they are passionate about while supporting the economic needs of their community. We are so blessed and thankful to have the time, commitment and energy of the community members involved in our CTE advisory committees. It is their support and collaboration with our dedicated CTE instructors that allows the program to embrace a culture of continuous improvement and innovation and benefits the overall Arlington community.