TDHS adding 7th CTE program

When Evans started with the school district in 2005, the high school only had two or three such programs, he said. Now it has six: automotive, graphic arts, woods construction, welding and blueprints, computer technology and culinary arts.

Some in the community have the belief that CTE programs, what used to be called vocational education, aren’t offered at the high school anymore.

“Sometimes people don’t realize what we have in these areas,” Evans said. “There’s an assumption there’s no hands-on classes.”

As for the seventh program, health occupations, the high school has long taught several health-related electives, including first responder and medical terminology. In the spring trimester, a new health professionals course will be added, which will prepare students to go into a hospital summer internship program. The program is in the first of three years of development, Evans said.

The high school is partnering with Mid-Columbia Medical Center in developing the new program.

The state recognizes a CTE program once it offers three years of coursework, which offers “a career pathway” that students can study all through high school, Evans said. Some programs have as many as 12 classes and offer on-site job internships.

“When those kids do that, when they go through three years of any of these programs, the skill sets they have, they can step straight into those industries,” Evans said. “So that’s part of the program: providing opportunities for them to step right into a profession.”

He said, “We’ll just hear stories of a kid getting a programming job and $85,000 a year right out of high school.

“They’re great programs and the kids benefit a lot from them and we’re just trying to keep growing them.”

He added, “I like the exploratory piece. Even if the kid jumps around a bit, even if they realize they don’t like it, that’s a lot. If you realize that’s not the career for you, that’s as much of a victory as realizing what you do want.”

State recognition of a CTE program is key since it makes the school eligible for various funding streams. Usually the money is used to pay for equipment or staff training, Evans said.

The high school was able to add health programs with funds made available through Measure 98, which provided funding to boost CTE courses.

Students who take just one credit of a CTE program, which amounts to two trimesters of classwork, have a 95 percent graduation rate.

He said CTE courses are different from traditional electives, such as ceramics, music or weight lifting, because the courses are aligned with various industry standards.

The high school doesn’t have the space to house all of its programs, and the welding program is located at Columbia Gorge Community College. The health occupations program will be housed at the high school.

The CTE classes are popular, culinary courses in particular. Students can ask for electives as they sign up for classes, and last year, Evans added up all of the course requests for culinary “and it was over 700 course requests and there’s only 800 students in the whole high school. That just gives you an idea of the popularity of some of these programs. They’re hugely popular.”

CTE programs also offer alternate routes for teacher licensure. “If they have a certain amount of industry experience and education, they can qualify for a temporary teaching license and then they have three years to obtain their permanent CTE license, so they can get licensed while they’re working,” Evans said.