One Philadelphia School is Creating a Ground-Breaking CTE Model

A new, innovative program aimed at helping to produce the next generation of educators is being offered at the historic 90-year-old Dimner Beeber School building in West Philadelphia. Science Leadership Academy (SLA) at Beeber has been building a teacher pathway program since 2020 and is on the precipice of becoming one of the first schools to offer a state-certified career and technical education (CTE) K-12 program for teaching.

Launched during the pandemic, SLA@Beeber—an inquiry driven, project-based-learning middle and high school that focuses on developing students’ skills in our core values of inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection—has offered high school students exposure to teaching through Dual enrollment programming with Temple University and Community College of Philadelphia an elective course using the Liberation Academy curriculum produced by the Center for Black Educator Development; and in-school teaching assistant opportunities, where high-school students are paired with teachers to support their younger peers. These programs are all aimed at orienting students toward education as a potential career pathway.

In total, about 100 high school students were engaged in at least one form of programming during the 2022-23 school year.

• 54 high school students participated in the elective course produced by the Center for Black Educator Development with the Liberation Academy curriculum that is designed to introduce them to the role of schools and educators in society and their agency as community members in shaping the institutions.
• 12 students earned college credits for successfully completing a teaching course led by SLA@Beeber staff members Gabe Kuriloff and Mary Connaghan that mirrored what would be offered to Temple University education students.
• 25 students fully participated through the iTeaching Assistants program where students supported lead teachers in 5th to 10th grade classrooms, with around 10 students running mini-course offerings.

This work by SLA@Beeber and partners created an important foundation and readiness to create a full pathway program to prepare future teachers. In February, the Pennsylvania Department of Education launched the CTE program in K-12 Teaching.  SLA@Beeber  became the first public school in Philadelphia, and one of potentially only a handful in the entire state, to apply to the State of Pennsylvania for certification to offer a career and technical education (CTE) pathway for their students in Teacher Education.