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Administrator’s Corner by John Double

February is CTE Month, and we are excited to share more of the work our school district is doing to create our pathways.  Our purpose in creating these pathways is to guide students towards their careers and post-graduation options. We are in the development phase of a publication to share this information with students and families.

The courses used in our pathways are the elective courses students can take during their time at Albert Lea High School. Each of our pathways has courses broken down into three sections: Elective courses, advanced electives and culminating courses. The courses listed represent a variety of different levels to accommodate student interests from entering employment following high school all the way to post-secondary education. 

The six broad career sections we are using come from the Minnesota Department of Education career wheel:

• AFNR — Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources

• ACIS (three possible pathways) — General Arts; Expressive (Writing/Acting); and Computer/Video Based

• METT (four possible pathways) — Manufacturing, Construction and Power; Engineering and Design; Technology; and Transportation

• HST — Health Science Technology

• HS — Human Services

• BMA — Business, Management and Administration

Students looking to focus on a pathway will take 10 to 12 credits of courses identified for that content area. Included in that total is one of our culminating experiences focused on the specific pathway.  The culminating experiences have either a work-based learning focus or is one of our career specific experiences. Our students have the ability to move between the pathways and many classes can be found in multiple pathways allowing students to pursue multiple pathways of interest.

We are excited about the possibilities that this pathway focus will provide our students to better prepare themselves for their future careers.

John Double is an administrator on special assignment with Albert Lea Area Schools.