Career Technical Education (CTE) in each of our school districts provides North County students of all ages with the training, academic skills, and technical knowledge necessary to succeed in future careers. Our schools not only promote “Future Careers, Locally Grown” they support lifelong learning. Across the United States, nearly 12.5 million high school and college students are enrolled in CTE courses. CTE prepares these learners for the world of work by providing academic content, introducing workplace competencies, and exposing students to providing a hands-on context. The current high school graduation rate for CTE concentrators is about 90 percent, which is nearly 15 percentage points higher than the national average.
The San Luis Obispo County Office of Education established SLO Partners in 2014 to address college and career readiness among the county’s student population. SLO Partners’ mission is to engage business partners and educators in aligning workforce needs with career and college pathways and provide work experience opportunities to ensure that students have the skills and knowledge necessary for success in the workplace and businesses have the skilled workers required for a sound growing economy. SLO Partners is committed to collaborating with local businesses and education for pathways to opportunity and skilled local talent.
Templeton High School is one such example of a blossoming CTE program in our county that has built up their program pathways. Energy and Power Technology, taught by Jason Diodati, is one of the school’s most robust CTE programs. This pathway includes engineering, manufacturing and energy. Many CTE courses are dual-enrolled with Cuesta College, allowing high school students to earn college credit through their high school courses. The program fosters local participation with large businesses such as PG&E and smaller businesses such as Dale Evers Arts Studio. Programs originated through local efforts of the school districts, the San Luis Obispo County Office of Education and legislators.
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” ~Vince Lombardi