Before being tapped to serve as the Ohio State CTE Director in March 2016, Emily Passias spent about three years working in the state Department of Education’s data and accountability unit. It was there that she had her first “aha moment” in CTE. Prior to her stint in the state accountability office, Passias admits that much of her exposure to CTE had come from her eighth grade field trip to her local Career Center.
Passias said she believes strongly in using data to drive decision making, so it makes sense that her “aha moment” would come while looking at student outcomes data, where she saw how CTE improves graduation rates, keeps students in school and provides a pathway to further education as well as employment. From there, she learned about the state’s career counseling efforts and multitude of initiatives to advance high-quality CTE.
This caused her to reflect on her time spent teaching sociology at the Ohio State University, about how many of her students still felt directionless by their junior or senior year of college, and how so many of them would have benefited from being having more robust career exploration at a much earlier age. While finishing her doctorate at Ohio State, Passias joined the Department of Education, where she worked on several notable initiatives including the K-12 value-added accountability system to measure college and career readiness, the state’s CTE report cards and implementation around the newly passed legislation that created a CTE pathway to graduation.
While working in the data office, Passias increasingly found herself working on CTE initiatives, which helped ease her transition to State Director. Passias said she plans to continue using data to drive decision making as well as using that data to communicate the value of CTE and its many initiatives, including the ongoing implementation of the new graduation requirements. Though her new position is sure to keep her very busy, Passias also serves as a Strategic Data Project Fellow with the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University.
Andrea Zimmermann, Senior Associate, Member Engagement and Leadership Development
Tags: Ohio