CTE Fuels Student Success at St. Landry Parish School Board

A welder in a dark helmet leans over a table, concentrating on the bright light as they stick weld on a flat surface. In another room, a pastry chef in a floured apron rolls out dough on a chilled surface in a gleaming, professional kitchen. Down the hall, a nurse in scrubs assists a figure in a hospital bed to shift onto their side.

Although these people are performing professional skills, they’re still students. In fact, they’re high school students taking classes at Eunice Career & Technical Center in the St. Landry Parish School Board. It is one of three career centers in this Louisiana district.

St. Landry Parish School Board gives their students many opportunities to experience different careers. They offer more than a dozen Career and Technology Education (CTE) options, from cosmetology, to robotics, to Certified Nursing Assistant and even the only pipe fitting high school CTE classes in the state.

“When you start younger, they are less afraid to try new things. It builds their confidence,” says Therese Ellender Ed.D., Supervisor of STEAM at St. Landry Parish School Board.

It also helps students identify what career pathway works for them. She says; “We give students exposure to different careers so they know if they like it. We've saved families a lot of money and heartache by having students interested in medicine take medical assistant or CNA classes before heading to university or a job in the field.”

 

Their Community Values Career Skills

Dr. Ellender has worked at St. Landry Parish School Board for over a decade. The district is in the heart of cajun country, with traditional mardi gras celebrations and events held in French. It is a rural area, covering the largest geographic area of any district in the state.

“Trade skills are in big demand in this area. By learning technical skills, students can stay close to home and make a great living,” says Dr. Ellender.

Dr. Ellender designs the programs so that students have the opportunity to find a career they love and learn in a way that works from them.

She adds: “CTE is great for kids who struggle with ‘sit and get’ learning. But, we don’t make the CTE programs easier. The courses are hard. It’s just a different kind of rigor.”

In addition to trade and career skills, students learn math as part of carpentry, communications skills as part of nursing and chemistry in culinary classes.

“Academics and career and tech go hand-in-hand. Each one supports the other,” says Dr. Ellender. “And when kids are doing something they love, they are excited to come to school. We find it reduces dropouts.”

All students, whether they take the TOPS Tech Diploma or TOPS University Diploma pathway, take CTE classes starting in 9^th grade. Not only can students start banking Carnegie units that count towards graduation requirements, but it opens up so many career options they didn’t even know existed.

 

iCEV Powers St. Landry Parish’s CTE Programs

“iCEV is a powerful tool. We were amazed at the number of certifications iCEV has,” says Dr. Ellender.

Because St. Landry Parish School Board offers so many different CTE options, the iCEV site license was the right choice for them. Students and educators can access the curriculum and certification testing for every subject that iCEV offers.

Thinking of the district’s teachers, Dr. Ellender also saw the opportunity to make their lives easier: “It’s a two-fold platform, with testing and a curriculum in the same place. It is so much better for educators not to have to log into another system.” 

The iCEV curriculum feature media-rich presentations, detailed lessons plans, projects, activities, assessments and more that complement hands-on learning. The courses can be used in face-to-face, self-paced or virtual learning, enabling districts like St. Landry Parish that offer virtual academies to have all students using the same course materials.

 

Funding for CTE

Dr. Ellender is always on the lookout for new funding sources for the CTE programs so they can put in non-slip floors to make the commercial kitchen even safer or to give the HVAC program their own lab. She used American Rescue Plan Act Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) funds to cover the new curriculum and testing program. She also suggests Carl Perkins Grant federal funds as an alternative to general funds.

But first, she recommends getting other educators on board: “Part of your job as a CTE instructor is educating your principals, teachers, board and superintendent on the value of CTE. Once they understand your vision, then the money comes.”

When the state first implemented Jump Start a few years ago, Dr. Ellender held meetings with every principal and counselor to share her plan for their school.

“I made it a point to educate my principals and my counselors first. I knew their teachers. I knew what they could offer through their teachers and through the career centers. I explained why we were doing it. I broke down how you get points and the impact on school performance scores and therefore district scores,” she says.

Through her vision, others saw how CTE can fuel every students’ success. She adds: “Every child can do something. It is your job as an educator to find out what they can do.”