Guest: Chris Brida, District Administrator, Career & Technical Education (CTE), Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate at Portland (OR) Public Schools.
A returning guest, Chris is building systems-level, boundary-spanning partnerships that tie K–12 CTE to real pathways in higher ed, industry, and community—while bringing AI into both the classroom and the collaboration process.
Episode Summary:
CTE isn’t “shop class” anymore. Chris Brida returns to map how AI is reshaping CTE on two fronts: AI in CTE (a cross-cutting skill every pathway needs) and AI for CTE (a co-pilot for partnership design and management). He explains “boundary spanning leadership”—innovation that happens in the gray space between systems—and shows it in action through the Albina D-Lab, a seven-year pipeline linking Portland Public Schools and Portland State Engineering to community partners serving Black student excellence. We also dig into student aptitudes, why literacy looks different in CTE (think schematics and blueprints), and why deeper, interdisciplinary learning is the antidote to anxiety about a fast-changing world.
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