ROANE COUNTY, TN.  – The Tennessee Department of Education recently announced that Roane County Schools added seven high school career Certified Pathways to bring its total to 22 offered to students.  Roane County's Certified Pathways represent 7.5% of Tennessee's 281 Certified Pathways in 136 high schools.  Launched in 2019, the Tennessee Pathways Certification sets clear expectations for alignment, advisement, and partnerships that define strong education-to-career pathways.

"We are pleased to have these Certified Tennessee Pathways for our students," said Career and Technical Education (CTE) Director Lance Duff, Roane County Schools. "We have several more pathways in our schools, but not all of our pathways are certified.  Not all of the different pathways are offered at all five high schools due to the lack of equipment and other resource requirements.  We are continuing to work to create additional pathways and having as many as possible be certified. To certify a pathway, we work closely with our college and business partners."  

The partnership of Roane County Schools, Roane State Community College, Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Harriman, and the Roane Alliance works to increase the number of CTE programs, career pathways, and Certified Pathways available to high school students across all five high schools.  These programs will provide students a skills foundation to enhance their future career and employment opportunities.

Tennessee Pathways are structured around three key elements shown to increase seamless enrollment and success in postsecondary programs:  

• High-quality college and career advisement throughout K-12 

• Rigorous early postsecondary and work-based learning opportunities in high school 

• Seamless vertical alignment between K-12, postsecondary programs, and career opportunities as a result of effective partnerships among school districts, higher education institutions, employers, and community organizations 

For a pathway to be certified, it must meet the following minimum requirements:

• a minimum of three courses in a specific area of elective focus or program of study at the high school level,
• a minimum of two early postsecondary opportunities aligned to the identified pathway
• a partnership agreement with at least one postsecondary institution, and
• a spectrum of career-related experiences and advisement for grades 9-12 that includes a partnership with at least one employer providing career-related experiences for students.

Our business partners provide valuable career-related experiences.  Some of our business partners for the STEM Technology Pathway are CoorsTek, Denso, Dienamic Tooling Systems, and J R Global Manufacturing.  For the Health Science Pathway, we partner with the Harriman Care and Rehabilitation Center, Renaissance Terrace, Covenant Health's Roane Medical Center, Roane County Anti-Drug Coalition, Roane State Community College, and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Harriman.

Roane County high schools offer 22 Certified Career Pathways; the seven recently added are bolded:

Harriman High:

• Health Science Pathway– Advanced

• STEM Technology

• Dual Enrollment Middle College Pathway – Advanced

Midway High:

• Health Science Pathway– Advanced

• Dual Enrollment Middle College Pathway – Advanced

• Business Pathway – Certified

• STEM Technology

• Welding

Oliver Springs High:

• Health Science Pathway– Advanced

• Dual Enrollment Middle College Pathway– Advanced

• Business Pathway – Certified

• Machining Technology

• STEM Technology

Roane County High:

• Health Science Pathway – Advanced

• Dual Enrollment Middle College Pathway – Advanced

• Business Pathway– Certified

• STEM Technology

• Welding

Rockwood High

• Health Science Pathway– Advanced

• Dual Enrollment Middle College Pathway – Advanced

• Business Pathway– Certified

• STEM Technology

 "The efforts of the Partners in expanding opportunities for our Roane County students is exceptional," said Allen Lutz, Director of Education and Workforce Development for the Roane Alliance. "This also fits into the county's ThreeStar goals to expand the offerings to our students to develop additional talent to build a strong workforce pipeline with our community."

The Roane Alliance's mission is to create an environment and a unified voice that promotes job creation, economic development, enhanced quality of life, education, and workforce.  To learn more about the Alliance and its partners, please call 865.376.2093 or visit www.roanealliance.org.