This school year promises to be an exciting one.  The CTE (Career and Technical Education) teachers are working along side the counselors to lead your student to the next endeavor: Life.    We believe in Bradley County that every student should leave high school prepared for postsecondary and career.  If you asked parents, most would say one day they would like for their son or daughter to be independent, successful and a contributor to our economy.   We agree, but how does this happen and what steps are being taken to insure the success of our students in Bradley County?

In Career and Technical Education, we have a wide variety of programs that prepare our students for entry into college, technical school, and the workplace.  Our programs are comprehensive and include the following elements that make CTE the answer to preparing students for the future as well as building character and leadership.

Integration

Integration is including academic skills into the "vocational/occupational" class.  Math, English, Writing, Science and History are included in every Career Technical class.  According to William Daggett with the International Center for Leadership in Education, CTE textbooks are written on a higher reading level than any other subject in high school.  If you do not believe this to be true, try reading an auto technology or electrical manual.  Therefore reading for comprehension is a very important component to all of our programs.  All teachers work with academic teachers to develop projects that bring the core class to life with real-world application.  Whether developing a modern version video presentation of Caesar, using chemistry to create cosmetology products, creating a school wide plan to prevent the spread of swine flu, or writing, producing, and recording a Christmas album, last year CTE brought life to high school academics.  To find out the academic subjects needed for your student's career choice please log on to the Career Pathways Website. 

Rigorous Instruction

This year the CTE programs will develop lesson plans using a CTE rubric.  A copy of this rubric will be given to each CTE student and is available on this website in an attached document.  The purpose of the rubric is to assure that your student is receiving rigorous classroom instruction.  Our students now compete in a global market place.  Their competition may be located half way around the world.  To make our students competitive our curriculum must include current industry standards, technical skills and the ability to work within a team.  Our students must be problem solvers with the ability to analyze situations with known and unknown outcomes.  CTE classroom and labs/shops provide these experiences and more.  The CTE rubric is aligned with national proficiency tests.  There are four levels: Below Basic, Basic, Proficient and Advanced.  Our goal is that all students master the classroom competencies with a proficient or advanced level.

Relevant Labs

Every CTE program has a laboratory, "hands-on" experience.  This is the point where the classroom theory or lecture meets real world application.  Some examples of these labs include:

Culinary, the Bistro

Nursing, CNA certifications

Broadcast Media, The Spill and VOX

Technology and CAD, The CAD Academy

Our goal in Bradley County is for students to have the opportunity to leave high school with a diploma plus skills or certification that leads to a career.

We are incorporating industry certifications into the CTE department.  This year will include the business department, culinary arts and the health science department.  More will be posted as these opportunities develop.  We want our students to have the skills necessary to compete in business and industry.

Relationships and Leadership

Activities in CTE classes include building relationships through exposure to business, industry, community, postsecondary, student organizations, and work based learning.   The career and technical student organization is a unique component of the class.  Through the organization, DECA, FBLA, FCCLA, FFA, HOSA, Skills USA, TSA, students are able to make connections between the classroom and the community.  Many of our current local and state leaders were members of career and technical associations.  Opportunities for leadership as well as personal and professional growth are given to the CTE students of Bradley County.  Links to the various organizations are located on the resource page.

The year is off to a great start.  Future possibilities are exciting for our graduates.  It is our goal in Bradley County to provide students with the tools needed for the opportunities that await these students.  Rigor, Relevance and Relationships, we have it all in CTE.

Arlette Robinson

CTE Director, Bradley County Schools.