The guest for this episode of College & Career Readiness Radio is Dr. Tyler Love from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

The show starts with Tyler explaining the pathways for non-traditional teachers, including CTE teachers, to become certified to teach. He describes the types of courses that CTE teachers take in the State of Maryland.

Tyler talks about the value of a state wide program that supports CTE teachers so that they can learn from one another regarding the different initiatives across the state rather than just in the districts local to them.

Dr. Love discussed the teacher shortage and what it means to find and hire teachers from industries like computer science.

He talks about the supports that are in place at the university level so that second career teachers don’t burn out, especially as they go back to school at night to earn their credential.

Tyler discusses a study about teacher preparation when it comes to CTE teachers. First, the quality of the preparation program matters. Second, teachers who go through traditional programs feel more prepared than those who go through these alternative routes.

He talks about the efficacy of career coaches and counselors who have to help students with making college and career choices. He explains some of the problems with hiring teachers to be career coaches who don’t have a CTE background.

Tyler discusses the difference between R1 schools and schools like UMES and other historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). He mentions a documentary published by PBS.

His call to action to end the show is to ensure that 4-year institutions are at the table for the K-12 pathway, WBL, and general college and career readiness conversation.

If you want to discuss CTE with the host of the show, book a time here.

If you want to see a solution that supports career exploration for the career coaches that Tyler mentions, book a demo here.

Our guest for this episode of College & Career Readiness Radio is Kristy Volesky.

Kristy starts by defining work-based learning and explaining why other definitions might be too broad, limiting the outcomes of a specific WBL experience.

Don’t miss what she says about the “before, during, and after” of WBL that educators and business partners should be clear about to prepare students for the experience.

She says that we ought to implement WBL in elementary schools, and she gives some detailed examples of how to do that.

Project-based learning in schools is a great scaffold for WBL. It’s not just about sending kids to work; they need preparation ahead of time. Kristy describes some of the durable skills that students can learn before they go to work.

She says that anyone who wants to start a WBL program should find the easiest entry point. We don’t need to scale it until some of the partnerships are operating without a lot of support.

Listen to what she says about using a current CTSO to apply a project to a local business.

One of the outcomes that Kristy explains is the social capital that students gain from WBL, including their network that they’re building on-the-job and the growth they experience for further upward mobility in the future.

She talks about missed opportunities associated with “fake” WBL experiences versus real internships and solid placements. We call this “the network effect of WBL.”

Kristy provides examples of how WBL can unfold at every level–elementary, middle, and high school.

She redefines what a middle school career fair can be, providing them exposure before they make their four-year academic plans.

Her final thoughts about the support that schools need to do this work are important. We have to overcome the barriers to WBL to progress the work for students.

If you want to discuss work-based learning with the host of the show, book a time here.

If you want to see a solution for working with business partners and tracking WBL for students, book a demo here.

Our guest for this episode of College & Career Readiness Radio is Sylvester Chisom.

Sylvester says that experiential learning is the future of career and technical education.

He tells listeners that interest assessments are critical to help students think about career options, and using assessments and other exploration tools should start in elementary school.

Sylvester brings up the concept of skills-based hiring, and schools can train and verify students in skills that they can use in their career path. The answer is not the grading system but rather a portfolio of work and competency-based learning.

Don’t miss what he says about portrait of a graduate (PoG) and grading changes associated with the skills on the PoG.

Listen to the conversation about measuring skills and earning badges in all disciplines.

Sylvester says that we need to highlight the durable skills that students are gaining so that everyone understands when they’re using certain skills, what they are, and how to transfer them in the future.

He reveals some of the key uses of AI in education, and tells listeners that we can’t be so loyal to some of the old ways of teaching in schools.

He gives an entrepreneurial example of how students can use AI to help them with their business development. And, he says that AI can help free up more time in the curriculum.

Sylvester says that as industries progress, education has to change too. We have to prepare students for a future world, not today or yesterday.

Don’t miss what he says about building curiosity and learning to ask really good questions.

Sylvester references the College & Career Readiness Radio episode with Adam Welcome where Adam talks about schools blocking important tools and the need to be more progressive with technology.

He shares several great examples of using project-based learning and notching it up to entrepreneurialism.

His notion about building students’ confidence through authentic projects is incredible.

A highlight from the conversation is the benefit of having students travel for work-based learning, which was a finding in a dissertation published by Principal-EL.

Book a time to discuss college and career readiness with the host of the show, Dr. T.J. Vari.