The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has designated February as Career and Technical Education Month to shine a spotlight on the important role Career and Technical Education (CTE) plays in preparing students for college and careers. The School District of New Berlin’s holistic approach to career and technical education ensures that all students are offered a wide variety of CTE-related opportunities throughout the year as part of the district’s College and Career Readiness programming.

“When we refer to career and technical education, we are talking about the variety of ways students can personalize their education to support the goals they set for their future. This includes rigorous academics including courses which develop technical skills, college in high school programming, work-based learning options to gain experiential learning experiences, industry certifications, and career and technical student organizations, which allow students to extend their learning outside of the classroom,” said Kelli Kwiatkowski, Director of Secondary Teaching & Learning.

“We then supplement these offerings with purposeful events such as Career Day, classroom speakers or our Careers In Action Industry Tours to help provide students with increased exposure to a variety of in-demand occupations.”

Much of the career-related programming offered in the district is only possible through collaboration with post-secondary and area industry partners. Input from these resources assists with determining new courses or updating content material for existing courses to include the latest industry or technological advances. Three new courses which the district began offering this year - Applied Analytics: Advanced Data Science; Construction III; and How Machines Work with Industry 4.0 - are the results of intentional and ongoing conversations with these partners.

"Having our students graduate college and career ready is central to our ‘Vision of the Graduate’,” Superintendent Joe Garza said. “Providing relevant coursework that supports career pathways is critical if we are to help our students cultivate the diverse skill sets needed to contribute and succeed as part of tomorrow’s workforce. We’re thankful to the community members who share our vision and are willing to join us in the collective work of preparing our students for the projected economy.”

In addition to the new courses that support career pathways, other CTE highlights this past year include:

• The New Berlin Blitz robotics team qualified to compete at the FIRST World Championship event for
  the first time since its debut season in 2014.
• Advanced Innovation & Design (iAID) students held their 2nd annual ‘Pitch Night’ where they presented
  solutions to challenges in technology, global/social, engineering, healthcare and retail innovation
  strands as part of this entrepreneurial capstone course.                     
• West’s Justin Prividera, took second place at the SkillsUSA nationals in the middle school job skill
  demonstration.
• Our on-site Certified Nursing Assistant program marked the completion of its fourth year.
• Several Advanced Placement Computer Science A students were chosen for a summer internship at
  SafeNet Consulting in Milwaukee.
• Students participated in the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Summer Healthcare
  Academy where they had the opportunity to rotate through departments during the two-week program.
• The district hosted an Industry 4.0 community information night with the help of regional partners.
• Construction III students built a house through a new partnership with Tim O’Brien Homes.

Another point of pride for the district is the overall data trend across a number of career indicators used to measure college and career readiness among graduates. A key indicator being tracked is success in career-related coursework. Seventy-five percent of the 2018 graduating class earned either an A, B, or C in three or more career-related high school courses, up from 39 percent only three years ago. Complete information, including the district’s college and career ready data dashboard can be found at
www.nbexcellence.org/district/ccr-progress.cfm.