BOARD POLICY - 6178
The Board of Education desires to provide a comprehensive career technical education (CTE) program in the secondary grades which integrates core academic instruction with technical and occupational instruction in order to increase student achievement, graduation rates, and readiness for postsecondary education and employment. The district's CTE program shall be designed to help students develop the academic, career, and technical skills needed to succeed in a knowledge- and skills-based economy. The program shall include a rigorous academic component and provide students with a strong experience and understanding of all aspects of an industry.
The district's CTE program shall focus on preparing students to enter current or emerging high-skill, high-wage, and/or high-demand occupations.
The Board shall review and approve all district plans and applications for the use of state and/or federal funds supporting CTE.
The Board shall adopt district standards for CTE which meet or exceed the state's model content standards and describe the essential knowledge and skills that students enrolled in these courses are expected to master. The course curriculum shall be aligned with district-adopted standards and the state's curriculum framework.
At least every three years, the Board shall compare the district's curriculum, course content, and course sequence of CTE with the model state curriculum standards. (Education Code 52376)
The Superintendent or designee shall systematically review the district's CTE classes to determine the degree to which each class may offer an alternative means for completing and receiving credit for specific portions of the course of study prescribed by the district for high school graduation. The Board shall ensure that these classes are equivalent in content and rigor to the courses prescribed for graduation. (Education Code 52376)
The Superintendent or designee shall develop partnerships with local businesses and industries to ensure that course sequences, career technical and integrated curriculum, classroom instruction and projects, and assessments have real-world relevance and reflect labor market needs and priorities. He/she also shall work to develop connections with businesses, postsecondary institutions, community organizations, and/or other employers to provide students with actual or simulated work-based learning opportunities.
The Superintendent or designee shall collaborate with postsecondary institutions to ensure that the district's program is articulated with postsecondary programs in order to provide a sequential course of study. Articulation opportunities may include dual or concurrent enrollment in community college courses.
The Superintendent or designee shall inform all secondary students and their parents/guardians about the CTE experiences available in the district, CTE courses that satisfy college admission criteria, and, if applicable, CTE courses that satisfy high school graduation requirements. In addition, secondary students shall receive individualized career guidance and academic counseling which provides information about academic and CTE opportunities related to the student's career goals.
The Superintendent or designee shall ensure that teachers of CTE courses possess the qualifications and credentials necessary to teach their assigned courses. He/she also shall provide teachers and administrators with professional development designed to enhance their knowledge of standards-aligned CTE and shall provide opportunities for CTE teachers to collaborate with teachers of academic courses in the development and implementation of integrated curriculum models.
The Superintendent or designee shall provide counselors and other guidance personnel with professional development that includes, but is not limited to, information about current workforce needs and trends, requirements of the district's CTE program, work-based learning opportunities, and postsecondary education and employment options following high school.
Upon written request from a nonprofit private school within the geographical area served by the district, the Superintendent or designee shall consult with private school representatives in a timely and meaningful manner and may provide for the participation of private school secondary students in the district's programs and activities funded under the federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. To the extent practicable, the Superintendent or designee also shall, upon request, permit participation of CTE teachers, administrators, and other personnel from private schools in the district's in-service and pre-service professional development programs funded through the Perkins Act. (20 USC 2397)
The Superintendent or designee shall regularly assess district needs for facilities, technologies, and equipment to increase students' access to the district's CTE program.
Nondiscrimination
The district's program shall provide equal access to and shall not unlawfully discriminate against students who are members of special populations. Special populations include, but are not limited to, students with disabilities; students from economically disadvantaged families, including foster youth; single parents and single pregnant females; displaced homemakers; students with limited English proficiency; and students preparing for nontraditional fields. Nontraditional fields include occupations or fields of work, including careers in computer science, technology, and other emerging high-skill occupations, for which individuals from one gender constitute less than 25 percent of the individuals employed in each such occupation or field of work. (20 USC 2302, 2354, 2373)
Prior to the beginning of each school year, the Superintendent or designee shall advise students, parents/guardians, employees, and the general public that all CTE opportunities are offered without regard to any actual or perceived characteristic protected from discrimination by law. (34 CFR 100.B, 104.8, 106.9)
The above notification shall be disseminated in languages other than English as needed and shall state that the district will take steps to ensure that the lack of English language skills will not be a barrier to admission and participation in the district's CTE program. (20 USC 2354; 34 CFR 100.B)
School and Community Involvement
The Board shall appoint a CTE advisory committee to develop recommendations on the district's CTE program and to serve as a liaison between the district and potential employers. The committee shall consist of at least one student, teacher, business representative, industry representative, school administrator, member of the general public knowledgeable about the disadvantaged, and representative of the field office of the California Employment Development Department. (Education Code 8070)
The district also shall involve parents/guardians; students; academic and CTE teachers; administrators; career guidance and academic counselors; representatives of tech prep consortia if applicable, business and industry, labor organizations, and special populations; and other interested individuals in the development, implementation, and evaluation of CTE programs. (20 USC 2354)
Program Evaluation
The Board shall monitor the achievement of students participating in the district's CTE program in order to determine the need for program improvements. The Superintendent or designee shall annually report to the Board and the California Department of Education on program enrollment and completion rates, including enrollment and completion of programs in nontraditional fields as defined in 20 USC 2302; student academic assessment results; attainment of career and technical skill proficiencies; attainment of a high school diploma or equivalent; graduation rates; and subsequent placement in postsecondary education or advanced training, military service, or employment. Data shall be disaggregated, in accordance with 20 USC 2323, by race, ethnicity, gender, disability status, migrant status, English proficiency, and economic disadvantage status and for each special population as defined in 20 USC 2302 and listed in the section "Nondiscrimination" above.
Legal Reference:
EDUCATION CODE
1205 Classification of counties
8006-8155 Career technical education
17078.70-17078.72 Career technical education facilities
33430-33432 Health science and medical technology grants
35168 Inventory of equipment
41540-41544 Targeted instructional improvement block grant
44257.3 CTC recognition of study in linked learning teaching methods
4260-44260.1 Designated subjects career technical education credential
44260.9 Designated subjects career technical education credential
48430 Legislative intent; continuation education schools and classes
48980 Parental notifications
51220-51229 Courses of study, grades 7-12
51760-51769.5 Work experience education
52300-52499.66 Career technical education
52519-52520 Adult education, occupational training
53080-53084 School-to-career initiatives
53086 California Career Resource Network
54690-54699.1 California Partnership Academies
54750-54760 California Partnership Academies, green technology and goods movement occupations
56363 Related services for students with disabilities; specially designed career technical education
66205.5-66205.9 Approval of career technical education courses for admission to California colleges
88500-88551 Community college economic and workforce development program
GOVERNMENT CODE
54950-54963 Brown Act
LABOR CODE
3070-3099.5 Apprenticeships
CODE OF REGULATIONS, TITLE 5
1635 Credit for work experience education
3051.14 Specially designed career technical education for students with disabilities
10070-10075 Work experience education
10080-10092 Community classrooms
10100-10111 Cooperative vocational education
11500-11508 Regional occupational centers and programs
11535-11538 Career technical education contracts with private postsecondary schools
11610-11611 Regional adult and vocational education councils
CODE OF REGULATIONS, TITLE 8
200-240 Apprenticeships
UNITED STATES CODE, TITLE 20
2301-2414 Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006
6301-6578 Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged
CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS, TITLE 34
100.B Appendix B Guidelines for eliminating discrimination in career technical education programs
104.1-104.39 Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
106.1-106.61 Discrimination on the basis of sex, effectuating Title IX
Policy Adopted: April 18, 2017