HARTFORD, Conn. (WTIC Radio) - Hartford Public High School is looking to boost its efforts in establishing workforce pipelines for students with Career Pathways, a set of programs that prepares students for certain industries.
The school currently offers a well-established Engineering and Green Technology pathway with about 130 students enrolled, according to Hartford Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez.
Last year, the school partnered with Hartford HealthCare and ReadyCT to establish the Allied Health Pathway to prepare students for careers in the healthcare industry.
Around 44 students enrolled in the Allied Health Pathway. Torres-Rodriguez said the goal is to double that in its second year with the new round of registration.
The pathway offers hands-on learning and certification courses. For the first time this year, CPR certification classes were offered for Allied Health Pathway students and OSHA Medical certification classes are set to begin in April for the rest of the year, Principal Flora Padro said.
Students in Career Pathways programs also have opportunities to practice interviewing skills, work on their resumes and apply for summer internships, Padro said.
"We have a robust student ambassadors program for both pathways. These are students that represent the school at various events and they actually will be going into the middle school system to speak to the younger generation of future Hartford Public High School students and be able to really promote these programs and let them know everything that we offer," Padro said.
According to Torres-Rodriguez, research confirms that students who engage with these kinds of programs have a higher academic success rate, especially among those that show early warning indicators, like chronic absenteeism.
"When we look through that filter, we know that students involved in Career Pathways stay in school and they graduate at a higher rate," she said.
Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA) President and CEO Chris DiPentima is calling for every Connecticut school system to provide programs like Career Pathways because he said he believes it is the solution to the ongoing workforce shortage.
"Right now, we have 117,000 job openings in the State of Connecticut. Our workforce has shrunk by 83,000 people since pre-pandemic which is a big number, but to put it in context, that shrinkage represents 14% of the total U.S. workforce shrinkage and we're only 1% of the population," he said.
Career Pathways, he said, is instrumental in addressing the crisis.
