Celebrate Career and Technical Education Month with San Juan School District

Each February, the San Juan School District joins districts and schools across the state and nation in acknowledging Career and Technology Education Month, a month designated to celebrate Career and Technology Education (CTE) opportunities and accomplishments.
CTE programs and courses provide rigorous and relevant career and technical education to students, preparing them for future college and career opportunities.
This February the San Juan School District invites all stakeholders - parents, guardians, students, community members, businesses, industry professionals - to participate in CTE Month by providing input that can shape CTE opportunities within the school district and the State of Utah. Providing stakeholder input takes minimal time and can have a positive impact on students.
The Utah State Board of Education has created stakeholder surveys to collect stakeholder input. CTE stakeholder surveys can be found at southeastutahcte.org and are available for business and industry, families and community, secondary and post-secondary, and state and government agencies.
Just a few moments of time to complete a survey can provide valuable information for CTE programs. The San Juan School District values stakeholder input that can help shape CTE programs in San Juan County and throughout Utah.
Input gathered from business, industry, family, community, and state and government agencies is used to guide CTE Career Clusters, CTE Pathways, and CTE courses in the district and in Utah.
CTE clusters, pathways, and courses are industry-driven, changing with the demands of state and local needs. It is imperative for industry and community stakeholders to provide guidance for CTE programs that are designed to be high-demand and industry-driven.
A career cluster is a group of jobs and industries that are related by skills or products. Careers with common features are in the same cluster and can be used during career exploration as a way to find a student’s best career match.
The Utah State Board of Education has approved 13 career clusters that align with and are categorized by the National Career Clusters. Stakeholder input guides career clusters approved for Utah students.
Each career cluster includes one or more CTE career pathways. A CTE Pathway is a sequence of courses in one area of interest, connecting high school to post-secondary education for a certificate, degree, and/or career in any given career cluster. Students take a series of CTE courses that build upon each other to provide relevant knowledge and skills to prepare students for careers or college in the designated career cluster.
Pathways are industry-driven and can be based upon local industry needs, another reason stakeholder feedback is vital.
Courses within a CTE pathway are strategically planned to provide students with opportunities to explore a career pathway by taking explorer courses before taking concentrator courses, in which students dive deeper into course content.
After taking explorer and concentrator courses, students can take a completer course, in which students participate in capstone courses and/or internships in the pathway.
Stakeholder input can provide valuable insight for course content, ensuring our students are learning the most relevant, up-to-date information.
This school year, teachers throughout the district have provided students with the opportunity to enroll in 87 CTE courses, including 7 concurrent enrollment courses.
Many students have enrolled in multiple CTE courses, with a total of 3,594 students on CTE rolls. Courses offered this year are included in 10 Career Clusters, with 22 CTE Pathways for students to complete.
It is exciting to note that two of these courses are newly designed and approved as part of an Electro-Mechanical Pathway created specifically for the San Juan School District in collaboration with the district and local industry.
Please celebrate Career and Technical Education opportunities in San Juan County by completing a stakeholder survey found at southeastutahcte.org.