What happens when Career and Technical Education stops operating in silos and starts acting like a true regional partner? In this leadership conversation, Jason Lucia shares how he is redesigning CTE to expand access, strengthen district collaboration, and connect students directly to meaningful, high-wage career pathways. From innovative shared-campus programs to deep industry partnerships, this episode offers a bold vision for what CTE can become when leaders put kids first and challenge the status quo.

1. CTE as a Place for Reinvention
   Jason describes CTE as a space where students can walk through a “magic door”—leaving behind labels, past academic struggles, or fixed expectations—and redefine who they are. CTE provides alternative pathways where hands-on learning, purpose, and relevance drive student success.
2. Breaking Down District Silos
   Rather than pulling students out of their home schools, Jason’s team partners with districts to embed CTE programs directly inside existing buildings. Programs like Aspiring Educators allow students to remain in their schools while gaining CTE credit, aligning standards, and engaging in authentic project-based learning.
3. Real Workforce Outcomes for Students
   Students in Central Westmoreland’s programs are graduating with job offers, paid internships, and industry credentials. Examples include lineman students earning $65,000–$70,000 starting salaries and welders transitioning into paid internships with full benefits before graduation. These outcomes redefine what postsecondary readiness looks like.
4. Industry Partnerships Built on Trust
   Jason explains how industry partners gain access to students by actively participating in the learning process. Through a structured VIP partnership model, businesses engage early, build relationships with students, and experience the program firsthand—creating a true two-way partnership rather than a transactional pipeline.
5. Leadership That Starts with Stories
   Change doesn’t start with policy—it starts with people. Jason emphasizes the importance of collecting and sharing student success stories to build buy-in with superintendents, boards, and community partners. One strong story can open the door to collaboration that scales across an entire region.

• Where are CTE opportunities siloed in your system—and what would it take to open access?
• How might partnerships with districts and industry expand opportunities without adding new buildings or programs?
• What student success stories are you ready to tell to move the conversation forward?

Start building a portfolio of student success stories—academic, personal, and career-based. Use those stories to initiate conversations with district leaders, community partners, and industry about what’s possible when you design CTE around students instead of systems.

PBL Readiness Scorecard: Assess your school or district’s readiness for Project Based Learning and receive personalized next steps at pblscore.com

As the year comes to a close, great leaders don’t just move on—they pause, reflect, and intentionally prepare for what’s next. In this episode, Ryan Steuer shares a powerful four-bucket reflection protocol used at Magnify Learning to help leadership teams identify what’s working, what’s broken, what’s confusing, and what truly mattered most.

This simple but effective structure can be used at the end of a school year, quarter, or major initiative—and it creates clarity, trust, and momentum for the future.

Leaders begin by naming the practices, systems, and initiatives that genuinely moved the work forward.

Examples include:

• Improved meeting structures or rhythms
• Classroom walkthroughs that led to visible instructional shifts
• Communication strategies that strengthened alignment
• Initiatives with a clear beginning, middle, and end

This step reinforces progress, boosts morale, and helps teams identify what should continue.

Next, teams openly name systems or processes that didn’t work as intended.

These might include:

• Meetings that lack purpose or impact
• Communication processes that vary across schools
• Initiatives that sounded good but fell flat in practice

This bucket invites honest feedback without judgment and signals that leadership is listening—and willing to improve systems, not blame people.

Confusion often hides beneath the surface, especially in complex systems. This bucket creates language for naming unclear expectations or mixed messages.

Common examples include:

• Conflicting directions about autonomy vs. compliance
• Overlapping initiatives with unclear priorities
• Communication that unintentionally sends mixed signals

Addressing confusion strengthens trust and prevents frustration from turning into disengagement.

The final bucket captures what filled people’s cups—the moments that mattered most.

Favorites often include:

• Powerful PBL units and student exhibitions
• Community partnerships that exceeded expectations
• Student stories that reminded teams why the work matters

This bucket reveals what motivates the team and where leaders should invest more energy moving forward.

• Encourages honest, structured reflection
• Creates shared language for feedback
• Improves systems without defensiveness
• Strengthens culture and psychological safety
• Helps teams get 1% better through clarity

Ryan emphasizes that many issues—especially confusion—can be resolved immediately once surfaced. Over time, this protocol becomes part of the team’s culture, not just an annual exercise.

• End of the calendar year or school year
• Quarterly leadership reflection
• After a major initiative or rollout
• With district teams, principals, or coaches

Leaders can run it individually first, then with teams to maximize insight and impact.

PBL Readiness Scorecard: Assess your school or district’s readiness for Project Based Learning and receive personalized next steps at pblscore.com

When the building is quiet but the work isn’t done, what should leaders actually be doing? In this episode, Ryan Steuer breaks down how top-tier school leaders use those “in-between” days—when students and teachers are gone, but administrators are still on contract—to create clarity, momentum, and renewal.

Rather than reacting to email or busywork, high-performing leaders use this rare space to plan long-term, reconnect with key relationships, and rest in ways that genuinely refuel them. This episode is a practical guide to using quiet seasons to strengthen leadership impact and prepare for what’s next.

Top leaders use quiet days to focus on deep, strategic work—not inbox cleanup. Ryan challenges administrators to identify the one thing that would move their work forward 5x or 10x, rather than reacting to urgency.

• How to find the “signal” in the middle of constant noise
• Why long-range planning gets pushed aside—and why that’s a mistake
• Aligning district strategic plans with real, day-to-day work
• Using coaching or consulting conversations to gain clarity and direction

Leadership can unintentionally sideline important professional relationships. These quieter days offer rare opportunities to reconnect with trusted peers, mentors, and thought partners.

• Why meaningful relationships often get canceled during busy school weeks
• How to intentionally reconnect with other high-capacity leaders
• Using these conversations to test bold ideas and innovative thinking
• Creating space for both personal and professional reflection

Rest looks different for driven leaders. Ryan reframes rest as something intentional and personal—not just doing nothing.

• Why “doing nothing” isn’t always restorative
• Defining what actually refills your energy
• Examples of active, reflective, and creative rest
• How clarity and purpose reduce stress more effectively than downtime alone

• Quiet days are leadership opportunities, not leftovers
• Clarity reduces stress more than productivity hacks
• Relationships fuel long-term leadership success
• Rest must be defined personally to be effective

• Identify one strategic priority that deserves deep focus
• Schedule at least one meaningful leadership conversation
• Define what true rest looks like for you—and plan for it intentionally
• Use quiet seasons to prepare for the demands of the year ahead

PBL Readiness Scorecard™: Assess your school or district’s readiness for Project Based Learning and get targeted next steps at pblscore.com