(Describer) A person in a helmet welds a pipe. A young woman leads a horse. A student in a lab coat peers through a microscope. A title: Finding Your Pathway: How Parents Can Help -- Episode Three: Today's Career Technical Education. The student turns microscope dials.

[upbeat music]

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(narrator) Today's career tech education, also called CTE, looks a lot different than it did a few decades ago. Back then, it was called vocational education. Vocational classes were often limited to auto mechanics, woodworking, or home economics. It was light on academics and wasn't designed to prepare students for further education. Today's career technical education includes rigorous academic coursework along with skills training. Students have many career options to consider, and the preparation they receive is closely aligned to the needs of business and industry.

(Describer) A robotic arm.

(speaker) So career technical education has grown into this variety of workforce skills, where we still have some of the old industrial maintenance. We still have that because it's an integral part of our workforce, but it's also now involving what we call almost the gold-collar worker-- the high-tech, high-skilled employee in almost every career field.

(narrator) This is Dave Campbell. He's worked for Butler Tech for 24 years, watching the changes firsthand. What I'm starting to see now is the influx of new programming. There's programming in drones. There's career technical education program in equine sciences, veterinary tech. There's landscape architecture, landscape design classes. There's courses in masonry. There's construction technologies classes. There are courses that are strictly driven towards the financial industry, where they're doing financial work and business management. An important part of career technical education is the integration of our academic work along with our lab work, and what we'll find is that a lot of our students find passion with what they're doing as a career, and so, in that case, we have a very active classroom environment.

(narrator) Coursework in modern CTE classes include science, technology, engineering, and math offered in the context of a career. The rigorous coursework prepares students for the real world of work and paves the way to higher learning.

(Describer) A service dog in a classroom.

Career courses can be college-level and can count towards college credit while a student is still in high school.

(Describer) Examining dental X-rays.

In some cases, students can even earn a full associate's degree by the time they graduate high school, while also earning an industry-recognized credential. Each one of the career pathways have options that connect the student, and they can earn a credential.

(narrator) This is Nancy Mulvey. She's the Director of Student Services for Great Oaks Career Campuses.

(Mulvey) For parents, I think it's important for them to know that you can earn both. You can earn a credential, and you can go to college.

(narrator) In addition to working with local colleges, CTE centers partner with businesses. Local companies provide students with opportunities for co-ops and internships while still in high school, giving them real work experience that can lead to that first job.

(Describer) Dave Campbell.

(Campbell) All of our career programs have a business advisory council. This business advisory council keeps our programs in touch with the changes in industry and the changes in any of our career fields, and that partnership keeps our programs finely tuned to what is needed in the companies that are hiring our students when they graduate.

(narrator) Through exposure to the world of work, CTE programs help students decide on a career pathway before they go to college.

(Campbell) We save money for parents because it's a two-year exploratory experience where our students can test an idea that they have, that, "Hey, maybe engineering is for me." Instead of waiting until they go to college to find out it's not, they can take the career technical education program now for free and get that great valuable experience and perhaps learn, "Okay, this isn't for me." Career technical education definitely saves a person money. To give an example-- is cosmetology. If a student comes to a career technical center through their high school, they will have the opportunity to earn their state license. If the student wanted to go to a private school for cosmetology, you're looking approximately about $25,000.

(Campbell) I just think it's important for students to evaluate what makes them happy, what they're passionate about, and what they're curious about, because that should drive their career.

(narrator) When thinking about the future, there are multiple pathways to a well-paying field. A CTE pathway can help a young person discover what they want to do and save money while preparing for an in-demand field. It's all about finding the right pathway for each student. Accessibility provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

(Describer) Logos appear, including: American Graduate; Corporation for Public Broadcasting; and Ohio Broadcast Educational Media Commission. Copyright 2019. Accessibility provided by the U.S. Department of Education.