About this episode

Frank Polen discusses the importance of flexible educational pathways and collaboration in addressing workforce shortages.

Our guest for this episode of College & Career Readiness Radio is Frank Polen, assistant superintendent and director of adult education at the Buckeye Career Center in Ohio. Frank explains that Buckeye Career Center is a joint vocational school district and a career technical planning district serving 11 partner schools across three counties. Students can complete academics and career-technical training in one place, and the center also serves open-enrolled, homeschool, and digital academy students. He highlights Buckeye's flexible pathways for students, including full academics, lab time, credit-plus options, online coursework, and school-to-work opportunities. He emphasizes that students can earn industry credentials, graduate early, work in their field, or continue into more training and college credit. Frank stresses that CTE and college are not competing ideas. His view is that “training is for everybody,” and that education should be treated as a long-term pathway with multiple on-ramps and off-ramps. He describes the need for strong articulation between high school, adult programs, and higher education. He points to credit opportunities through certifications and…

People in this episode

Host: T.J. Vari

Guest: Frank Polen

Topics covered

• career technical education
• workforce development
• student pathways
• collaboration in education
• industry credentials

Keywords

• career education
• vocational training
• student opportunities
• industry credentials
• collaboration

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Buckeye Career Center

Places: Ohio

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