Career Technical Education (CTE) pathways provide students with an opportunity to receive real-world career experience in an academic setting, and earn a certification for this work at graduation. Poway Unified offers an impressive 12 different pathways. 

According to the Director of Poway Unified College and Career Technical Education Lynn McConville, CTE is not just a locally-based program, but rather a state-recognized curriculum with course standards in 15 industry sectors and 58 career pathways. 

She said that these career pathways are determined as growing quickly and in high need by the state of California.

As these pathways are gradually expanding, The Nexus would like to outline our hopes for the growing program within our district. 

First, we are excited to see that many pathways, particularly those that are STEM-related, have a variety of courses to choose from for students to earn CTE certification. In pathways like Design, Visual, and Media Arts, however, there are only general courses available like Photography, Graphic Design, and Studio Art. 

Just as the Engineering pathway has courses like Digital Electronics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing, and the Information and Communication pathway has courses like Mobile App Development offered, we would like to see more nuanced, career-specific courses available in these humanities-based pathways. We see this kind of promise in courses like Theatre Arts Study and Performance 7-8.

Additionally, developing CTE pathway courses on each Poway Unified campus hinges on available staffing and facilities, which isn’t feasible for all school sites. For this reason, we encourage the district to open existing pathways like Child Development (which is available exclusively at Del Norte) and Agriscience (which is available exclusively at Poway) to all PUSD students, meaning that they are able to travel within the district to take the necessary courses. 

By doings this, Westview are able to access the courses available at other schools to fulfill these pathways: Biology and Sustainable Agriculture 1-2, Veterinary Science 1-2, Chemistry and Agriscience 1-2, and Art and History of Floral Design, Child Development and Psychology 1-2 and 3-4. As one of CTE’s goals is to fulfill needs in the California workforce, we believe making more pathways realistically accessible can help achieve this.

McConville said that a unique unit in the Child Development course focuses on child development and education. During this unit, students get to work at internships at Design39 and work side by side with teachers to develop lesson plans and help with instruction. 

We’re thrilled by such interactive classes that could educate a future generation of teachers, but above all, courses that provide students with on-the-job experience.

Finally, we encourage students to advocate for pathways they’re passionate about to our administrators. By doing so, the district can work with our administration to develop pathways and identify teachers and facilities to create pathways informed by student voice.

McConville said that the district hopes to take existing pathways, such as education, and serve additional types of careers within the industry. For example, in addition to offering courses on teaching, they hope to create courses for textbook writers, curriculum developers, and site administrators. We fully support this dedication to the inclusivity of various career paths. 

Overall, The Nexus views the CTE pathways that PUSD offers as a promising step to prepare students for their future career endeavors. It is our hope that Poway Unified will continue working to ensure their CTE program is inclusive of all students and their career goals.