Early Investments in Career and Technical Education Paying Off with Higher Graduation Rates, Local Job Opportunities
At the peak of the Great Recession in 2008-09, school districts across Oregon faced difficult decisions in the face of tight budgets.
Students and teachers rallied outside the State Capitol as some districts pondered and considered eliminating days or weeks from the school year. Administrators grappled with reduced funding for programs, including career and technical education (CTE).
Tricia Mooney, Hermiston School District Superintendent, said the focus at the time was maintaining CTE local programs in the district. Not only do students who complete CTE programs have a higher graduation rate than their peers, but they present opportunities outside of a four-year college to gain critical job skills in family-wage industries.
For rural communities like Hermiston, this also means more students are able to find work locally close to home in trades such as construction, health care, hospitality, or business management, rather than being forced to leave for larger cities.
That decision is now paying dividends, Mooney said. While other districts across the state are only just beginning to invest in CTE programs, Hermiston has developed a robust, multi-disciplinary approach with six career areas and 11 programs of study.
The result, Mooney said, is more career pathways for students, and a more highly qualified, ready-to-go workforce for employers.
“If we don’t create pathways for our kids, then we’re not thinking about the future at all,” she said. “CTE provides a connection that I think, across the board as an education system, is one of the best things we can do to not only keep kids engaged but also help businesses and communities down the road.”
"If we don't create pathways for our kids, then we're not thinking about the future at all. CTE provides a connection that I think, across the board as an education system, is one of the best things we can do to not only keep kids engaged but also help businesses and communities down the road."
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"If we don't create pathways for our kids, then we're not thinking about the future at all. CTE provides a connection that I think, across the board as an education system, is one of the best things we can do to not only keep kids engaged but also help businesses and communities down the road."
-Dr. Tricia Mooney, Hermiston School District Superintendent
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Real-World Learning
At Hermiston High School, CTE pathways are split into six career areas totaling 11 programs of study. The breakdown includes:
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Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resource Systems
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Arts, Information, and Communications
Art & Design Computer Science
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Business and Management
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Health Sciences
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Family Consumer Sciences and Human Resources
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Industrial and Engineering Systems
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Roger Berger, CTE Coordinator for the district, said the programs allow students to apply what they’re learning in the classroom to real-world projects and settings. For example, students participating in the Columbia Basin Student Homebuilders Program have completed 10 homes in the community, working under the oversight of local professionals. That program was spurred by a $400,000 CTE grant in 2014.
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Berger, who also teaches business at the high school, said he also oversees five student-run businesses, including the Dawg House student store, Java Dawg coffee, and Dawg Prints print shop. He describes the businesses “as real as it gets on a small scale.”
“I was the kid that always asked, ‘Why are we doing this?’” Berger said. “I think that’s the advantage of CTE. It’s real stuff. We’re actually welding, we’re actually building a house, we’re actually out in the fields doing soil samples. That is the real power for this age group, that they get to see what they’re learning is impactful and has meaning.”
Each program of study has its own advisory board that includes industry professionals who offer guidance for what classes should be teaching, and what equipment they should be using. That equipment can quickly add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, Berger said, requiring sustained and consistent investment to keep pace with rapidly evolving technology.
“If we are doing what we say, if we’re actually building career exploration if we’re training students for the future, we have to stay current,” he said. That’s obviously expensive. We just have to decide, as a community, are we going to make that investment for our kids?”
Real-World Benefits
Data Research shows that across the state, CTE is having a positive effect on student success across the state.
For every 1% increase in the percentage of students completing CTE programs in Oregon, there is expected to be a 0.131% bump in the statewide graduation rate. Those in CTE programs also graduate at a 13.15% higher rate than their peers, based on the 2023-24 graduation rates.
Along with higher graduation rates, Mooney said CTE is critical because it provides opportunities for students outside of college to develop job skills and land local family-wage positions locally, which helps communities — particularly rural communities — to grow and prosper.
“It’s about helping kids to think differently,” Mooney said. “It’s about the partnerships between K-12 and post-secondary education, and building opportunities in your community.
“We call it skilled labor for a reason,” she added. “We need to teach our kids skills for the future.”
Berger, who has been teaching in the district for over 20 years, said CTE is part of the character of Hermiston.
“I think the nature of it being hands-on, making things, doing the work, it kind of fits in the community,” he said. “It’s a hard-working community. It’s kind of a blue-collar community. And they just valued that type of work and that opportunity for their kids.”
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