Donna Crocker told us that Jim Brescia is the SLO County Superintendent of Schools
and a clinical faculty member in the Educational Leadership and Administration
Program at Cal Poly. He has served as the County Superintendent of schools since
2015 and has been re-elected to serve a second four-year term. He enjoys teaching
organizational theory, educational leadership, educational finance, school site
leadership, and instructional evaluation. Dr. Brescia’s writing and research interests include school leadership, instructional leadership, problem-solving-based training of educational leaders, and, most recently the issue of recruitment and retention of teachers. He is an avid supporter of Career Technical Education and Arts in Education initiatives.
Dr. Brescia told us that there are 34,000 K-12 students in SLO County schools, including 3 charter schools. The schools provide almost half a billion dollars in economic contributions to the county.
He explained that students in our county need to be prepared for future careers that increasingly require creativity, critical thinking and complex problem solving.
Arts Outreach: Jim explained that Paso schools participate in an Art & Design Program where students work directly with artists to learn to deal in public in a gallery setting and get advice from the artists. Students get to display and sell their art at the Paso Robles USD Art Gallery in Studios in the Park. Students work in the gallery on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons.
Career & Technical Education (CTE) is a program of study that involves a multiyear sequence of courses, integrating core academic knowledge with technical and occupational knowledge to provide students a pathway to postsecondary education and careers. The technical, academic and employability skills that students gain in CTE programs, through career and College Pathway courses, work-based learning, career and technical student organizations and duel enrollment, are essential for college and career success.
Career and College Pathways: Aligned with industry standards, labor market demands and college expectations, the Pathways are sequenced into three levels of courses: Introduction, Concentration, and Capstone. Due in part to the strong business partnerships the courses have with local industry sectors, Pathway Completers are poised to enter the workforce in their desired career, whether it is immediately after high school graduation, or after completion of trade school, Community college program or university degree.
Dual Enrollment applies to students in Grades 9-12 concurrently enrolling at Cuesta College while in high school. Over the past several years, Cuesta College has implemented dual enrollment courses at every SLO County public high school, serving more than 3,000 students annually.
Thank you Dr. Brescia for such an informative presentation. It appears our students are in good hands!