This is the second installment in our series on successful rural Career and Technical Education (CTE). In our first blog, we presented evidence of the effectiveness of CTE, explored how rural schools have embraced CTE at remarkable rates, and identified some challenges and opportunities it creates in rural areas. Today, we’re hearing directly from veteran educator Dan Read about his experiences supporting CTE in rural eastern Washington.
With 34 years in education, including 20 years as a superintendent, Dan Read brings a wealth of experience to rural CTE. Now serving as a consultant for several districts in eastern Washington and working with the local Educational Service District (ESD), Read supports approximately 20 rural school districts across a region that spans from the Canadian border to Oregon.
“The small and rural [districts] are faced with different challenges, mainly because of finance and the number of classes they can offer, but I think a lot of them are really trying hard to expand offerings,” said Read.
What labor market information should education leaders look at when planning CTE programs?
Read said that a direct connection to employers through CTE advisory committees can help schools stay responsive to workforce needs. In Washington state, CTE courses must be approved through a rigorous process that includes input from local advisory committees. These committees allow employer representatives to provide guidance on curriculum alignment and necessary skills.
While some rural communities may have limited local industries, even small towns typically have representation from key employers—”a store owner or shop owner or a farmer or somebody from the local hospital,” said Read.
This approach has led to modernization in traditionally strong rural CTE areas.
“Some of the ag programs that you used to see were ag mechanics and introduction to ag, but now they’re expanding,” Read explained. “Two of the districts I’m working with are working on a crop management program, so they’re using drones to gather data for soil and where to spray.”
And when it comes to CTE champions, local businesses are at the forefront.
“Those are the partners you’ll see come to the table from business and industry. They’re the ones that will give you advice on what classes you want to teach, what they want to see in their employees,” Read explained.
Tell us about a strong CTE partnership with a local business or other community partner. What makes it work so well?
Successful partnerships in rural eastern Washington connect schools directly with the industries that plan to eventually employ their graduates. Business partners provide more than just industry guidance and work-based learning, Read explained—they donate supplies and materials, provide guest speakers, and host field trips.
“There’s a couple districts, Wilbur and Odessa, that have been working very closely with a couple of the main manufacturers of tractors and farm equipment,” said Read. “Those are the people that are really saying ‘hey these are the soft skills and the skills we need from our kids.'”
Notable partners also include a craft boat manufacturer north of Spokane that helps ensure welding programs align with industry needs.
Some districts find additional opportunities through relationships with Indigenous tribes. Read said these tribal partners offer both financial support and access to learning from professionals working on tribal lands, such as biologists who run fisheries.
Now let’s address some of the traditional challenges for CTE in rural areas. Have you found a need to adjust schedules or find transportation solutions to help rural students access work-based learning?
Without the ability to send students to centralized skill centers due to distance challenges, rural districts are getting creative.
“We’ve been talking about our small districts maybe sharing some programs,” said Read. “Odessa and Wilbur are approximately 45 minutes apart, so we’ve been talking about other avenues—sharing teachers perhaps, where a teacher can teach some hands-on stuff one day and then maybe do some remote learning with another school for another day.”
Resource pooling is another solution. Read said they bought some Commercial Driver’s License simulators through the ESD that allow students to train for operating and driving equipment including trucks, tractors, forklifts, and cranes—but they cost around $125,000 each. These are shared among the smaller districts that couldn’t afford it on their own.
And for students without transportation or unable to transport themselves to work-based learning, Read has hired paraeducators to drive them, but “by the time most those kids are 16 or so, they have their own car so they can drive to their own sites.”
Have you noticed some student groups have less participation in your CTE programs and if so, what strategies have you implemented to improve their access?
While Read noted that the eastern Washington region has a fairly uniform demographic composition, schools focus on ensuring access for all, including students in poverty and female students in traditionally male fields.
Aside from school counselors encouraging students to take part in CTE opportunities, a key strategy is eliminating financial barriers.
“The kids in poverty—we want to make sure that they have the same opportunities as kids that are not in poverty,” said Read.
This often means eliminating shop fees that might prevent participation, and local business partners also often step in to help cover cost of materials.
“I don’t see as many shop fees as I used to in the past,” Read observed.
What is the rural broadband situation like in your area? Have you needed to address challenges to help ensure CTE students can get connected to access online learning?
While connectivity has improved for schools themselves, access remains inconsistent for many rural families.
“The schools themselves all have some kind of fiber or satellite delivery now. Some of the people living out in the community, that’s very spotty,” said Read. “In Almira where I worked as a superintendent, the town was perfect. But you go three, five miles out of town, and you may not get anything, including cell reception.”
This digital divide became especially apparent during COVID-19, when remote learning was necessary.
“We had hotspots at every school kids could pull up to and use, or have labs open,” Read shared.
How do you balance online learning with hands-on work in CTE? What seems to engage students most?
The physical nature of many CTE programs means hands-on learning remains essential, but Read and his districts are exploring innovative ways to incorporate technology.
“We also looked at some satellite skill centers, so we might have something in a remote area that’s offered during the summertime so that students from various schools may be able to come for blocks of time—maybe a two-month chunk during the summer month or six weeks, whatever it might be,” said Read.
Beyond regular funding, what’s your most innovative or creative way of getting equipment or expertise for CTE? What other funding pathways are you considering?
“You get very little money for CTE, so a lot of our small districts are using levy dollars, their local tax money, to help pay for those programs,” Read said.
Grant opportunities are another important funding source. While a federal Carl Perkins grant might only yield $1,500–$2,000 for a small district, Read encourages schools to apply anyway: “You’re not going to get a whole lot of money out of this Carl Perkins, but if you apply for it, it opens the doors for these other pots of money that are out there.”
Other grants in Washington state include Core Plus Construction grants that provide $15,000–$20,000 for shop equipment and supplies, Read added.
Community donations also play a role.
“There’s a lot of donations from people in the communities—business owners, manufacturers—that help out the small districts,” noted Read.
What’s worked best in your district for attracting and retaining CTE instructors?
Staffing remains one of the biggest challenges for rural CTE programs.
“In smaller districts, you often have a teacher that’s wearing multiple hats,” Read said.
Smaller districts also struggle to compete with larger districts’ ability to offer additional compensation: “A lot of the larger schools can afford to pay those extra days. So an ag teacher may be getting 20 summer days to participate in fairs or whatever it might be, where a small district doesn’t have enough student enrollment to generate the funds to pay for that extra stipend.”
To help address staffing, Read’s districts use Washington’s conditional certification program, which allows industry professionals to teach for two years while working toward full certification.
However, Read noted that the smaller class sizes in rural districts can be a competitive advantage, keeping instructors’ workloads more manageable. Read also said that he sees more student engagement in his districts, which can create a more fulfilling teaching environment.
“In the small school districts … it’s kids that really want to be in those classes,” he observed. “Whereas in some of the larger districts, sometimes a counselor will throw a kid into a class that they don’t necessarily want to take.”
How do you measure the success of your CTE pathways?
Read said success measurement comes in multiple forms: ”It’s really those students that complete a pathway that you either can get into a work-based learning experience, or there are programs where you’re tracking employment trends. When did they graduate? Did they finish a pathway? Did they get 360 hours in a certain area?”
He said the state of Washington also requires program evaluations and four-year plans, which are developed with input from advisory committees.
Let’s close this interview with some advice. If a rural district is just beginning to develop or expand their CTE offerings, what is the most important advice you would offer to their leadership team?
For rural districts looking to develop or expand their CTE offerings, Read emphasized the importance of administrative support.
“The challenge for a lot of our small districts is they do not have a CTE director per se,” explained Read. “The larger districts have somebody that’s either full-time or they get a couple hours during the day to manage programs. In the smaller districts, that duty falls upon the principals or superintendents.”
Read recommends seeking outside support and resources: “I think the biggest thing that can help out with those small districts is just providing the resources, the information, the support they need, the ‘phone a friend’ type stuff.”
Despite its hurdles, Read sees tremendous value in rural CTE.
“I’ve been doing CTE for pretty much my entire time in one capacity or another … I want the students in my districts to see all the possibilities for careers and exploration,” he said. “Not every single student is going to be college bound, but you want to provide an experience for those kids that they’re going to find a career and a job that they’re happy with.”
Stay tuned for more insights and practical strategies that can help your district build or expand CTE that prepares students for career success. Explore the full Secrets to Successful Rural CTE series.
