Career Pathways
Career Pathways
Each comprehensive high school will offer four Career Fields with at least one Career Pathway for each field. Career Fields allow students to gain foundational career knowledge and skills. Career Pathways at Central, Como, Harding, Highland, Humboldt, Johnson, and Washington are: Medical, Engineering, Community Justice, and Business.
The offerings in pathways will have beginner to advanced offerings (e.g. AP, IB, Concurrent, PLTW courses). Career Pathways are design around high wage and in-demand areas in St. Paul. Courses will be added and changed pending the needs of our students and community.
Students will have the opportunity to declare a pathway to explore at the end of 9th grade to help guide their course planning. Students may find out that the career pathway is not for them and switch pathways and we celebrate that discovery just as much as a student finding out they want to continue with the same pathway.
All courses, starting with 9th grade level, will begin to have relevant career units built in that relates to the standards they are learning. This is called Career Curriculum Integration. Students will be directed back to their own Personal Learning Plans to document and research these experiences to help them better discover themselves and build their post-secondary plans. Building Career Pathways along with Personal Learning Plans and Career Curriculum Integration will allow our teachers and staff to:
- Build deeper connections with students
- Document Social and Emotional Learning
- Validate students’ experiences
- Connect concepts and standards to students’ interests
- Find relevance for students
OWL, Creative Arts, AGAPE, Gateway, Gordon Parks, and Focus Beyond students have career pathway courses geared to their school's mission. All students have access to internships and Career Seminar Portfolio through their Workbased Learning Teacher and the many opportunities through the Districtwide Career Pathways Program.
Questions can be directed to Anna.Morawiecki@spps.org.