East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools serve more than forty-one thousand children and families in a mid-sized urban district. As the leader of this district, I am constantly thinking about the ways to best serve them to prepare them for the world after they leave our classrooms. I care about bringing dreams closer to students. The East Baton Rouge Parish School System (EBRPSS) has recently embarked on a plan to bring dual enrollment opportunities to every high school student across the district while expanding students’ exposure to real-world STEM learning through expanded partnerships with business and industry partners.
Pathways to Bright Futures
The goal of the District has been to provide more opportunities and access for students and their families. Under my direction, the EBRPSS has embarked on an ambitious and rewarding plan to bring dual enrollment opportunities to all students across the district. Dual enrollment allows students to simultaneously satisfy core coursework and obtain college credit. Through the Pathways to Bright Futures initiative, students can choose from one of five pathways of study. This begins in their ninth-grade year. This ultimately provides each graduating senior with the opportunity to graduate high school with the college credit equivalency of an associate’s degree or an industry-based credential (IBC) in a high-demand, high-wage job.
Bringing Dreams Closer to Students
Each pathway has been developed in partnership with the local Chamber of Commerce. They align with those careers that will allow students to enter into a high-wage, high-growth career in their own community. Each student will choose from the following pathways: Technology, Pre-Med & Allied Healthcare, Construction & Manufacturing, Transportation & Logistics, or Liberal Arts and Management. There is a clear delineation in the pathways coursework. This allows students to progress through a STEM or non-STEM pathway. Coursework will be designed in such a way that students will begin the divergence in their junior years. This provides them the opportunity for exploration and alignment of their own aptitudes and interests.
An Abundance of Work
What we discovered in creating the pathways is that many jobs are available in STEM-related fields. Unfortunately, there was and is a persistent gap in a ready, local workforce and talent pool to fulfill those roles. This means that employers are often forced to recruit talent from out-of-state and internationally. The Baton Rouge Capitol Region presents another unique facet when considering talent recruitment. The overwhelming majority of Louisiana residents born in the state remain in the state with very little outward migration. This in itself presents a unique opportunity. We can ensure that the school system is built to meet the current and future needs of citizens and employers.
In essence, we have the opportunity to design a school system geared to meet the needs of the future workforce. Additionally, we will meet the needs of our students and employers across the capitol region for years to come. By creating a system that provides a direct pathway to employment in high-demand and high-wage jobs or providing the opportunity for students to earn multiple, transferable college credits from Louisiana higher education institutions, we ensure that our young adults are able to envision a future for themselves where they can remain successful and contribute to the success of their families for generations to come.
Giving Students a Headstart
The beauty of the Pathways to Bright Futures Initiative is that it will allow students to obtain college credits in general education courses. This gives them a head start, whether they are college-bound or pursuing a career immediately upon graduation from high school. By scaling the Pathways to Bright Futures work to reach students district-wide, we also work to close the pervasive equity gap that plagues large urban districts and provide more opportunities to expose those students who are under-represented in STEM careers to a pathway to career and prosperity.
Creating Space for STEM
Baton Rouge, like most urban centers, is a resource-rich city. We are home to three major hospitals, several industrial, petrochemical, and manufacturing plants, and three major secondary education institutions. The opportunities we can provide for our students through thoughtful partnership should be accelerated, coordinated, and integrated. Across the city, we must strive to innovate and coordinate our STEM partners in the teaching and learning environment.
As we adapt classrooms to meet the needs of the learners of the 21st century, it has become abundantly clear that students must see the relevance in their coursework. Math and science concepts in particular should not be relegated to the world of the abstract. In order for students to understand STEM concepts, they must see firsthand how those concepts can and do function in the real world. One strategy that our school system has employed is to explore how each dual enrollment pathway is purposefully integrated with an external business or organization, capable of partnering with the system to foreshadow real-world experiences.
A Practical Examination
Let’s examine for a moment how this looks in practice for a group of students from East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools over the summer of 2021. EBRPSS is home to the EBR Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC). Students attend classes at CTEC as part of their supplemental coursework. They focus on a career pathway, often earning certifications and credentialings in their chosen career paths. Examples of these career paths include IT Networking and Programing, Manufacturing, Instrumentation, and Allied Healthcare fields. During the summer of 2021, five EBRPSS students from across the district, who were pursuing coursework at CTEC, were given the opportunity to participate in paid internships, in their chosen field, with industry partner ExxonMobil. Students put the STEM concepts they learned in the classroom into practice in the real-world and were compensated for their time, talent, and expertise.
The goal now is to explore how it would look for students across the district to be exposed to these types of hands-on learning opportunities, both inside of the school building or on-site in the real world. Our city is one that remains resource-rich with a wealth of business and industry partners. Additionally, we offer wrap-around services, community organizations, and support.
By leveraging existing resources, forging new partnerships across the city, and creating openings for the private and non-profit sectors to connect within the school system, we can and have continued to provide real-world exposure and opportunities for students to lead through hands-on work. We can actively engage in bringing dreams closer to students.
The Future of STEM
The goal of the Pathways to Bright Futures initiative has always been to bring children’s dreams closer to them. Additionally, we aim to support them in seeing themselves in a career beyond the four walls of their K-12 education. We do this in a way that is concrete and not led by abstract concepts. By creating STEM pathways that align with tangible jobs in a child’s community, students in the EBRPSS can envision themselves as the future of STEM.
The field of STEM study in practice is one that is often hands-on and interactive for students. It often takes the classroom outside or offering hands-on lessons. By introducing a child to a STEM-related pathway, rigorous and relevant dual enrollment coursework, and job exposure opportunities, we have made the field of STEM attainable and sustainable. Simultaneously, we empower a work-ready talent pool. Access and opportunity should never stand as a barrier for a child. Exposure to a STEM curriculum and a potential career in a STEM field can open a world of opportunities.
By exposing students early to relevant and appropriate STEM education through dual enrollment opportunities and providing real-world experience for them in high-demand, high-wage STEM careers, we continue to prepare the workforce of tomorrow and equip our students with the tools they need now for the STEM careers of tomorrow. Ultimately, we are bringing dreams closer to students.
About the Author
SITO NARCISSE, ED.D.
Dr. Sito Narcisse serves as the Superintendent of Schools of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. Dr. Narcisse most recently worked as the Chief of Secondary Schools of the District of Columbia Public Schools. He understands the challenge of being a young student trying to learn English and living between two cultures. At the same time, he was adapting to the US public education system. The son of Haitian immigrants, Dr. Narcisse moved with his family to Long Island, New York, in the pursuit of a better life for himself and his siblings.
As an English language learner, Dr. Narcisse learned to navigate the social and academic obstacles confronting millions of students today. His success as a student led him to enroll at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. Seeing his second language as a strength, Dr. Narcisse graduated with a degree in French. He then pursued a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University in secondary education. Doctoral studies led him to the University of Pittsburgh. There, he earned a doctorate in educational administration policy studies and leadership.
Serving as both a teacher and a principal, Dr. Narcisse opened a high school in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. He led turn‐around efforts in a Boston public high school. Dr. Narcisse has also been a director of School Performance and acting Chief School Improvement Ocer for Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, an Associate Superintendent overseeing school improvement efforts for 74 schools in Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland, and the second officer in charge as Chief of Schools for Metro Nashville Public Schools with 159 schools.
