Klamath County School District’s Adam Randall has been named Oregon ACTE Administrator of the Year for his work expanding Career and Technical Education programs of study and securing industry and community partnerships so students can experience career connected learning.
Randall, a full-time CTE coordinator for Henley High School who also helps coordinate expansion of programs at other KCSD high schools, received the award earlier this month during the Oregon Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE)’s annual conference. Nominees were evaluated on their contributions to the overall success of educators and students, innovations in CTE programming, and their leadership in CTE community.
“Adam’s ability to take one success, engage those around him in his excitement, and then build upon it for even greater success for all is unique,” said Brian Robin, CTE regional coordinator for Region 8. Robin has worked closely with Randall since September 2020. “Adam is simply irreplaceable.”
Over the past few years, Randall has been instrumental in the expansion of CTE programs not only at Henley, but across the district, helping bring in industry partnerships and grants for new initiatives and pathways.
Randall is credited with implementing YouScience, an aptitude testing platform, at Henley middle and high schools that led to “an explosion of student engagement” and is now leading to the creation of new CTE programs of study across the district. After Henley eighth-graders took the aptitude test, there was a 200% increase in CTE enrollment for the following school year, prompting the addition of three new CTE programs of study at Henley – digital media, pre-teaching, and construction.
The aptitude testing is now being used at other KCSD schools and was made available statewide through the Oregon Department of Education based on Randall’s successful pilot of the program.
But the aptitude testing was just the start, said his nominators, Karla Clark and Brian Robin from the STEM/CTE Southern Oregon Regional Offices.
Randall also was a founding member of the Klamath Basin Career Connected Initiative and a driving force behind enlisting local industry partners to support CTE programs of study – offering pre-apprenticeship opportunities and expanded industry tours.
Randall has degrees in engineering and worked as a manufacturing engineer for Gerber Legendary Blades before entering education. He started as an advanced math teacher at Henley High School while also serving as a CTE coordinator at the building level. In 2021, he took a full-time CTE coordinator position with Henley, but also works with other KCSD schools to establish programming and industry partnerships.
His passion for CTE is driven by wanting to see all students succeed.
“If you couldn’t afford college, there were no clear pathways to a good job and a good life,” he said. The emerging CTE model promotes multiple pathways to high-wage work such as apprenticeship, earn-to-learn programs that start in high school, direct-to-career based on technical training in high school as well as community college and four-year universities.”
He believes CTE programs need to collaborate with core classes such as English to provide more meaningful, real-life experiences to the curriculum.
“In order to truly transform our community, CTE programs need to embrace the simple truth that all students are headed for a career and all teachers and school support staff are teaching students valuable skills relevant to their future careers every day,” he said.
Randall’s experience in the private sector gives him an insight into industry that many educators don’t have.
“Our communities and local industry are asking us to do school differently and we need to answer that call to ensure our daily educational experience is relevant to our students so our communities have the skilled employees needed across all sectors,” he said. “Our work is driven by the school district’s strategic plan and Southern Oregon Regional Needs Assessment. KCSD has identified goals through strategic planning, our team identifies the barriers to achieving those goals, and then the team eliminates those barriers one by one by writing grants, forging community partnerships with industry, KCC, and OIT, creating quality programming at the middle school and high school levels, and recruiting and hiring qualified teachers.”
Some highlights:
- Randall spearheaded a Bureau of Labor Industries (BOLI)-approved pre-apprenticeship construction program at Henley High School. The program is expanding to Bonanza and Lost River with plans to serve Mazama High School next year. To implement the program, all three schools, with Randall’s help, applied for and received state CTE revitalization and Bureau of Labor Industry grants that provided equipment and supplies. The pre-apprenticeship programs provide direct pathways to internships in the skilled trades.
- Randall has partnered with Klamath Community College to create detailed career pathway maps for both KCSD and Klamath Falls City Schools. The maps provide program specific information on career exploration opportunities that lead to certificates, degrees, and specific careers that Klamath Basin Career Connected Initiative industry partners are offering in Klamath County.
- Randall worked with Sky Lakes Medical Center’s training and development team to create an Earn to Learn pipeline for high school seniors to bolster local workforce development and provide more access to high wage, high demand jobs, to more community members. The medical center hires the students while they are still in high school and provides monthly career counseling, providing a pathway that then pays for training and education for students to advance their medical careers debt free. The medical center, Henley High School, and Mazama High School also have partnered to create work-based learning experiences for students, exposing students to a wide range of health care careers. This model is being expanded to other schools in Klamath County.
- Randall is working with the district on implementing a work-based learning (WBL) tracking system that will match students with opportunities in the community.
When Randall is not working on improving student success through CTE programming, he can be found with his wife and three children spending time outside hiking, biking, hunting, fishing, camping, and “burning s’mores.”