Episode 15
CTAE: Not Your Grandpa's Vo-Tech!
CTAE, or Career Technology and Agricultural Education, offers students a pathway to acquire essential skills for high-demand careers, making it a valuable option for those navigating post-graduation decisions. David Owen hosts a discussion with Art O'Neill, the Supervisor of CTAE in Cobb, who explains the significance of these courses in preparing students for their future careers. The conversation highlights the various career clusters available, from agriculture to healthcare and the arts, as well as the importance of employability and industry-specific skills. O'Neill emphasizes the benefits of work-based learning opportunities, which allow students to gain real-world experience while still in high school. By the end of the episode, parents and students are encouraged to explore these educational pathways early, starting as early as kindergarten, to set the foundation for a successful career journey.
Guest: Art O'Neill, Supervisor of Career, Technical, & Agricultural Education
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Takeaways:
- CTAE offers students pathways to develop specific career and industry skills in high-demand areas.
- Engaging in CTAE courses allows students to gain practical experience while still in high school.
- Parents should start considering CTAE opportunities as early as kindergarten to align with students' interests.
- Work-based learning provides high school students real-world experience that enhances their education.
- The importance of career portfolios is emphasized, showcasing students' skills and achievements early on.
- Articulated credits enable students to earn college credit while completing their high school education.
Transcript
Ctae, where students learn skills and craft a future in high demand careers is our topic on this edition of the Inside Scoop.
David Owen:Hello and welcome back to the Inside Scoop.
David Owen:I'm David Owen.
David Owen:Today we've got a topic that may shed some light on more post graduation options for your student.
David Owen:If you find our discussion helpful, make sure you like subscribe.
David Owen:Click that notification bell so you'll be alerted to new episode releases.
David Owen:If you have a student who's still figuring out a general direction to go in life, this chat's for you.
David Owen:In fact, even if they already have a course plotted, you'll want to know about the benefits offered to students through our CTAE courses here in Cobb.
David Owen:Our expert on the subject is COBB, Supervisor of CTAE, Art O'Neill.
David Owen:Art, welcome to the podcast.
Art O'Neill:David.
Art O'Neill:Thank you so much for inviting me.
Art O'Neill:I'm excited to be here today.
David Owen:So we are in education, we are specialists and putting letters where words actually should be.
David Owen:Can you tell our audience what CTA is?
Art O'Neill:CTAE is Career Technology and Agricultural Education.
Art O'Neill:It's made up of a focus on 17 nationally recognized industry clusters and those clusters contain specific course or sequence of studies, whether we're talking at the middle school or high school level.
David Owen:Okay, so when you say sequence of studies, is that what you refer to as a pathway?
Art O'Neill:Yes.
Art O'Neill:A pathway at the high school level is a sequence of three courses that introduce a student to career specific skills as well as industry specific skills.
Art O'Neill:And there is a difference.
Art O'Neill:A career specific skill is what is often referred to as either employability.
Art O'Neill:Sometimes you may hear soft skills, durable skill, but that is a skill that every individual needs to be able to be successful in the industry setting.
David Owen:In any industry.
Art O'Neill:Any.
Art O'Neill:Yes sir.
Art O'Neill:And so but the industry specific skill that becomes specific to the pathway that the student is studying.
Art O'Neill:So if I'm in graphics, if I'm in healthcare, engineering, marketing, just go down the line.
Art O'Neill:That student is learning specific industry skill that will allow them to transition to an intermediate level position if that's their choice in that industry.
David Owen:Okay, so give us an example.
David Owen:You kind of touched on three of them right there.
David Owen:Tell.
David Owen:Can you tell us a little more about the general industries that CTAE touches on?
David Owen:Just to give us a ballpark picture?
David Owen:And are there more that you can tell us about?
Art O'Neill:Certainly the 17 clusters run from agriculture to you have government service, which includes your traditional jrotc plus also government, administration, architecture and construction.
Art O'Neill:That is more in line with a engineering, drafting and design as opposed to other industry areas that we also have, which is engineering and technology.
Art O'Neill:That's the more theoretical application of engineering.
Art O'Neill:We could also talk about arts and av, which is graphics and your audio video technology and film.
David Owen:Okay.
Art O'Neill:A very big element now in Georgia as that entertainment industry continues.
David Owen:Yellow wood is what we refer to here.
Art O'Neill:Outstanding, but so.
Art O'Neill:And then some very important ones.
Art O'Neill:Law enforcement and hospitality and tourism.
Art O'Neill:But I don't want to downplay the importance of education training which allows us to really emphasize for students interested in teaching to be able to build that platform before they transition to their post secondary experience.
David Owen:As a CTA course.
Art O'Neill:As a CTA course, wow.
Art O'Neill:You have two different, we'll call them tracks if you will.
Art O'Neill:In education and training.
Art O'Neill:You have early childhood, which is specific to toddler to three years.
Art O'Neill:And then you have education which picks up with your pre K all the way through the 12th grade year.
David Owen:Wow.
David Owen:Okay.
David Owen:So we've already learned something.
David Owen:Or at least I have.
David Owen:That's amazing.
David Owen:I had no clue.
David Owen: osh, I guess wood shop of the: David Owen:Caught my eye.
David Owen:That's something we do here in our department.
David Owen:So what are the ultimate benefits of a student taking CTAE courses?
David Owen:Can you give us an idea of why a parent and or a student would be motivated to move toward taking CTAE courses?
Art O'Neill:Well, there are several and we could, as we go into the weeds and talk potentially about being able to support my transition to post secondary study.
Art O'Neill:But I think the most important element of career education is that it provides that student that has an interest, an aptitude or even a passion for a particular area to accelerate their development, to be able to not only experience that skill specific opportunity, but also then transition to the industry where they're able to work and gain experience while still in high school to be able to determine do I really want to do this?
David Owen:What is the right time for parents to start paying attention to CTAE opportunities?
Art O'Neill:I would argue kindergarten.
David Owen:Kindergarten.
Art O'Neill:Kindergarten.
David Owen:I was expecting a sixth grade answer.
Art O'Neill:Well, the reason that I say elementary level is because that is when Cobb starts to provide students and parents with an inventory of a student's interest, their aptitude.
Art O'Neill:And we realize skill continues to grow well beyond the K5 setting.
Art O'Neill:But that's where the parent can see what students talent and skills inclination leans towards as it relates to potential program exploratory at their middle school.
Art O'Neill:And then from the middle school level.
Art O'Neill:Obviously, as I'm about to make that transition from fifth to sixth, it's going to be important for the parent to make sure that the student's program exploratory is part of their special schedule.
Art O'Neill:Because you know that the student is going to be doing the health personal fitness.
Art O'Neill:Many students are going to be doing the fine arts band application, which is amazing.
Art O'Neill:And then you have students that are focused on accelerated core content areas such as a world language or mathematics and science.
Art O'Neill:So within that, if the student has a particular interest in an industry area, they'll be able to also look at incorporating that into their schedule and then that sets the transition into high school.
David Owen:Yeah, yeah.
David Owen:I mean, the options are actually kind of mind boggling when you think of all the combinations of them.
David Owen:Tell us what exploratories are in this context.
Art O'Neill:What the middle school program exploratory does is it begins to introduce those durable or essential employability skills in the middle grade level.
Art O'Neill:It allows the student to begin to create their career portfolio.
Art O'Neill:And this is an important tool for the student to have because it not only allows them to have a single spot to house any credentials that they may, that they may achieve while in middle school or high school, but it also allows them to sort of focus the development of their brand, my resume, my summary of who I am and what I want to be, those type of things.
Art O'Neill:But the exploratory is more of a semantics because it provides that 30,000 foot picture of a career as opposed to when they transition into the high school where they're beginning to look at industry specific skill.
David Owen:So they're at high school level, they're moving in on the ones that capture their attention, capture their interest.
David Owen:Exploratories are kind of the menu, if you will, pictures on the menu to make it easier to understand what these various industries are and where they might be able to fit in.
David Owen:Is that a fair.
Art O'Neill:That's a great way to describe it.
Art O'Neill:That is very fair because the emphasis of that 30,000 foot view is career exploration.
David Owen:I have my own preconceived notion, but can you tell us a little bit about what work based learning actually is from CTA standpoint?
Art O'Neill:Well, to begin, I want to be transparent in that I believe the work based learning experience is the most important experience a career education student can have because what it does, it allows them to take the industry skill that they've been introduced in their high school program pathway and apply it in an industry setting.
Art O'Neill:It's not just, it's no longer where I am experiencing or exploring a career.
Art O'Neill:I have now stepped into that industry.
Art O'Neill:I've stepped into that career floor in a manufacturing plant, in a hospital, in a graphics house.
Art O'Neill:All of those things are now put in place where I'm working with an industry mentor in the industry.
Art O'Neill:And so work based learning is an opportunity available at the high school level to a student 15 years of age or older.
Art O'Neill:They do not have to complete a pathway to be part of work based learning because oftentimes what we find is students begin to combine that experience with the opportunity to also enhance the checkbook.
Art O'Neill:Yeah, that's always by looking for an experience that provides a paid internship.
Art O'Neill:Not required, but one thing that we are trying to develop for our students.
Art O'Neill:I am extremely proud of the work that the district's CTAE team has done in building work based learning.
Art O'Neill:When I moved in this position five years ago, we had eight high schools with work based learning program.
Art O'Neill:We now have programs at all 17 high schools with programs also at two district level programs.
Art O'Neill:And of those 17 high school programs, four have full time work based learning coordinators.
Art O'Neill:And that's what we want to work towards, is where that coordinator can provide this experience to the student across the whole day to give them more flexibility.
Art O'Neill:And I'll explain why that's important for a student interested in construction.
Art O'Neill:There aren't many opportunities to intern at 4:00 in the afternoon because the construction site is closed.
Art O'Neill:They don't want to work in the.
David Owen:Heat of the day.
Art O'Neill:So that student would take the first part of their day to work on site and then transition into the school for the second half of the day to continue with their course study.
Art O'Neill:Same in culinary.
Art O'Neill:All of your prep work is done before we open for lunch and dinner opportunities that provides the student with that flexibility.
Art O'Neill:And so we've also been able to add, and this may be interesting to parents who are always looking for something for the kids to do during the summer.
Art O'Neill:A summer work based learning opportunity, both at the district level.
Art O'Neill:And we now have expanded it to three high schools where their local coordinator is working with their students.
Art O'Neill:Our district program is for students at schools that we're still trying to build that summer experience.
Art O'Neill:It does not stop a student who's interested in participating in the summer work based learning from being a part of it because we have a district coordinator that works with that set of students.
David Owen:Wow.
David Owen:Okay, so now the whole notion of summer school but getting paid, it's a totally different perspective on that option.
David Owen:Just a minute ago you mentioned a portfolio, career portfolio for students.
David Owen:And we were in the middle of talking about middle schoolers.
David Owen:I can't even as A parent, the whole notion of thinking what's going to be on my child's resume when they're in seventh grade.
David Owen:I mean, that's not a normal way of thinking for a parent, but one who wants to look ahead.
David Owen:This is a great way to help beef up that resume, even if the child doesn't know exactly what they want to do.
David Owen:Right?
Art O'Neill:Exactly.
Art O'Neill:When you're talking about the middle school portfolio, you're looking more at that skills inventory.
Art O'Neill:The student lists on the resume, the skills they've acquired at the middle school level.
Art O'Neill:Those are most likely digital badges in the technology world.
Art O'Neill:Microsoft, your word, your PowerPoint, your Excel.
David Owen:So they can get certified on stuff like that.
Art O'Neill:They can earn credentials.
David Owen:Holy cow.
David Owen:At the middle school level.
Art O'Neill:In the middle school level, yes.
David Owen:I am so behind.
Art O'Neill:And so now we also have opportunities for students to initiate the high school study in eighth grade.
Art O'Neill:You see that in areas mostly in engineering and business programs.
Art O'Neill:And that's where you might see that resume start to take a little bit more definition.
Art O'Neill:But for the sixth grader, it emphasizes what experiences I've had.
Art O'Neill:There is an opportunity for the student to participate in a career technical student organization, CTSO for short.
Art O'Neill:In any of our career areas, you may know these or your audience may know them more as things like FBLA, DECA, SkillsUSA.
Art O'Neill:These are career organizations that allow the student to begin to network with industry professionals earlier.
David Owen:Wow.
Art O'Neill:They begin to network with peers across the state through competitions and leadership conferences, but they also get the opportunity to expand that experience through this platform.
David Owen:Yeah.
Art O'Neill:But we found is our post secondary partners, especially at the university system, have really enjoyed learning more about portfolios because it shows that that student's willing to complete a task.
David Owen:Oh yeah.
Art O'Neill:They're willing to build a skill that will help them be successful at that college or university level.
Art O'Neill:And so now these students are able to add that to their admissions packet, which gives them a leg up in that admissions process.
David Owen:Huge.
David Owen:Huge.
David Owen:I mean, how many teenagers do we know that have a little trouble just focusing on any one thing in life?
David Owen:I mean, you don't see that everywhere.
David Owen:That's amazing.
Art O'Neill:No, and I'm unabashed when I, when I celebrate Ctae in reminding our community we graduate.
Art O'Neill:99% of students that complete a high school career pathway.
David Owen:99.
Art O'Neill:99.
Art O'Neill:That is.
Art O'Neill:That's telling you, I think at least in my world, something right is going on.
David Owen:Yeah.
David Owen:Okay, so let's, let's touch on one last thing here.
David Owen:The phrase articulated credits has been bounced around lately.
Art O'Neill:Yes.
David Owen:Is this.
David Owen:Could I I'm hearing rumors of something new coming about in ctae.
David Owen:Can you give us the inside scoop, see how it works?
Art O'Neill:Certainly.
Art O'Neill:When you talk about articulated credits, that's one of three ways that a student can accelerate their high school experience to complete and then move on to the post secondary setting.
Art O'Neill:Okay.
Art O'Neill:Articulated credits are part of a agreement or a partnership between the local school district and the career technical college or the Department of Education and the technical College System of Georgia.
David Owen:Okay.
David Owen:So the first example of that would have been what Chet Tech.
David Owen:Chattahoochee Technical.
Art O'Neill:Chattahoochee Technical is Cobb's partner.
Art O'Neill:Partner technical college.
David Owen:And then the Technical System of Georgia.
Art O'Neill:Would be any technical college across the state.
David Owen:Georgia Tech.
Art O'Neill:No, that is a University of systems school.
Art O'Neill:You have Gwinnett Technical College.
Art O'Neill:You have Lanier Technical College.
David Owen:All right.
Art O'Neill:There are technical colleges across the state that service particular school districts in terms of the next opportunity outside of articulated credit, which is dual enrollment.
David Owen:Okay.
Art O'Neill:But the articulated credit allows the student to earn credit towards the completion of a technical college credential by completing a high school pathway.
David Owen:Okay.
Art O'Neill:And that's a part of that partnership agreement.
Art O'Neill:So the student is able to enter the school, retrieve those credentials, and start further along in the program, which gives them more flexibility to potentially use open scheduling opportunities for their core area to earn an associate.
Art O'Neill:Excuse me, an associates at the end of two years.
Art O'Neill:And so that really.
Art O'Neill:That offers them an amazing opportunity to accelerate if they choose then to transfer to a university assistant school to complete their bachelor's.
David Owen:It's similar actually to a dual enrollment scenario, right?
Art O'Neill:Very.
David Owen:But the difference is, you are.
David Owen:The student is doing their coursework in a COP school.
Art O'Neill:Yes.
David Owen:And then once they graduate from Cobb schools and go to one of these technical schools, then assuming they're accepted there, they can receive credit for work they've already done, applied toward their technical degree.
David Owen:Is that correct?
Art O'Neill:Yes.
David Owen:Okay, so you're talking about saving money here.
Art O'Neill:Without question.
Art O'Neill:And I don't know a parent that isn't excited about that.
David Owen:I wanted to make sure that I understood that.
David Owen:Right.
Art O'Neill:The biggest difference when bring up dual enrollment is dual enrollment offers the student an opportunity to take that experience to the college while still in high school.
David Owen:Right.
Art O'Neill:So that's the biggest difference is the student is experiencing that college level.
Art O'Neill:And when they complete the technical college course, they then receive high school credit.
David Owen:Okay.
Art O'Neill:So it allows them to continue on their path towards graduation, but at the end game, they're in the same position.
Art O'Neill:They're able to accelerate that course of study if they choose to matriculate to the technical college.
David Owen:How do you distinguish between ASETA and CTAE programs that are in all of the high schools?
Art O'Neill:The difference is in their similarity.
Art O'Neill:Both have a platform in career education.
Art O'Neill:What the Innovation Academy offers a student in Cobb is the opportunity to study in a high demand career area that the district could not put into a regular school because of the resource and equipment demands.
David Owen:It's just too expensive to put it all.
Art O'Neill:If I were to dilute that across the district, the student would not be able to have that same experience and then transition into these high demand areas such as healthcare, emerging technologies such as cybersecurity or networking.
Art O'Neill:And it allows a student that knows they have that passion to really get in depth.
David Owen:Yeah.
David Owen:Drill down into the nitty gritty of it all.
Art O'Neill:Without question.
Art O'Neill:And so they again, both in the same platform.
Art O'Neill:They're both looking at developing that career platform, those employability skills and those industry specific skills.
Art O'Neill:But those programs that SITA has done an amazing job developing and expanding, they would not be as successful in a local high school setting.
David Owen:Okay.
David Owen:So we understand also there is a second CETA being constructed.
David Owen:Are you a part of the planning for that so that all of these things work together instead of competing against one another?
Art O'Neill:Without question.
Art O'Neill:And I really appreciate leadership's focus on bringing stakeholders to the table and considering me to be one of those stakeholders.
Art O'Neill:Sure.
Art O'Neill:Because of my focus on career education and working with industry partners to identify these high demand workforce needs, both within the region and state, we're able to come to the table, have conversations about what the next Innovation Academy should emphasize.
Art O'Neill:One thing that we don't want to do is duplicate programs.
David Owen:Exactly.
Art O'Neill:Because that doesn't allow the student to have that experience.
Art O'Neill:I'm fortunate that the present CETA administration has really emphasized developing that partnership with the CTAE team.
Art O'Neill:Dr.
Art O'Neill:Barney and her team are amazing.
Art O'Neill:And I really appreciate the opportunity to have continued discussions about not only how the district can continue to support development of her program, future academies, but also how their program can help to develop programs at the local high school in regards to ancillary type elements.
David Owen:Yeah.
Art O'Neill:Health science, a major pillar at ceta.
Art O'Neill:And we then begin to look at health office management in our schools, which is something that requires a computer lab.
David Owen:That's true.
Art O'Neill:Very easily addressed in regards to expenditure of resources.
Art O'Neill:But it goes to serve what the programs at Cedar developing.
Art O'Neill:Specifically within the very unique elements, say of clinical lab, phlebotomy and surgical tech.
Art O'Neill:The student is the most important element in everything that we do.
Art O'Neill:And I know that often sounds cliche, but that truly is our focus and we serve this year.
Art O'Neill:We've just gotten over that 60,000 student limit.
David Owen:Wow.
Art O'Neill:Yeah.
Art O'Neill:So we are, we're very excited about the growth of career education.
Art O'Neill:Because you said earlier this is not your grandfather's VO tech.
Art O'Neill:This is an academically rigorous and important course of study for students to be able to have.
David Owen:Well, Art, thank you so much.
David Owen:This is.
David Owen:I've learned a lot and I'm sure parents who have students that are of the age to consider and I guess that would be kindergarten on up K12.
Art O'Neill:Yes, sir.
David Owen:Yeah, that sounds like this is something really informative that they can learn a lot from and have a better idea of how to guide their student in their future endeavors.
David Owen:Finding their sweet spot of education, so to speak.
David Owen:So thanks again.
Art O'Neill:Thank you for inviting me.
Art O'Neill:This has been awesome.
David Owen:Art and his folks have all sorts of resources on the district website that you'll find helpful.
David Owen:We'll be sure to make sure they're included in the show notes and the description on YouTube.
David Owen:And don't forget to pass this episode along to a friend.
David Owen:Everybody likes having options for their students.
David Owen:Thank you for listening to this edition of the Inside Scoop, a podcast produced by the Cobb County School.
