Jessie Kalloo is a networking teacher at Thomas Edison CTE High School who knows how to connect with his students. Not long ago, Kalloo attended school here himself, but thanks to the city’s innovative Success Via Apprenticeship program, he now teaches in the same classroom where he was once a student.
“Once you're a student at Edison, this is your school, and becoming a teacher, it's still my school,” Kalloo said. “I've got a lot of pride in the building, a lot of pride in our program, a lot of pride in our students.”
The SVA program was established in 1984 as a joint venture by the United Federation of Teachers, New York City Department of Education and City University of New York to address a looming Career and Technical Education teacher shortage. The five-year program, which prepares prospective students to be CTE teachers in their chosen fields of study, includes courses at CUNY’s New York City College of Technology, and rotating classroom/industry apprenticeships. SVA students obtain two years of classroom experience and three years of industry experience by the time they complete the program. During their enrollment, students earn 90 percent of a starting teacher’s salary as well as benefits.
“The SVA program has turned out some of the best educators that we have in the city,” said Leo Gordon, UFT vice president for CTE. Gordon, a former graphic design professional and teacher, is himself a graduate of the program. “It's funny. They say that I went from apprentice to architect. That's what the SVAs are; they are apprentices who become the architects of that trade.”
When it comes to building tomorrow’s workforce, SVA teachers know the value of learning by doing.
“In CTE, we're not only teaching students their subject matter, we’re creating the next leaders of our workforce,” said Kalloo.
As an IT networking professional, Kalloo is adept at setting up systems to exchange data and share resources, and as a networking teacher, he brings many of those same principles into his instruction.
For example, Kalloo’s IT students run the high school’s computer network, top to bottom. “They’re the network technicians. They’re the help desk support. They’re the cybersecurity analysts. So, whatever they’re learning in the classroom, they’re able to take it out into the field and use it.”
During a recent high-profile Ted-Ed Student Talks event at the school, Kalloo’s IT students also served as the audio-visual team, coordinating audio engineering, presenter support and livestreaming the event. “The entire project is student led from start to finish,” he said.
“Having the students take charge and be that leader of the school, I think, really makes them feel proud of what they're doing,” Kalloo added.
CTE programs at schools like Edison also depend on strong public-private partnerships and industry experts sit on advisory councils to help guide curriculum and best practices.
“Industry pivots a lot faster than public education can pivot, so it's really important that we dig into those industry partnerships and have the industry guiding education as opposed to education dragging industry along,” said Gordon.
By dividing instructors’ time between classroom instruction and industry apprenticeships, SVA ensures that teachers are teaching to the latest standards, something that is especially relevant in technology fields. “We want to make sure that our students are getting the skills that they need to enter the workforce, and the technology we’re giving them is relevant,” Kalloo said.
Edison high school students can choose courses from several different sequences, including networking and cybersecurity, and all coursework aligns with industry-recognized certifications: CompTIA, Cisco, and Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC3).
Kalloo said knowing personally where his students come from helps him meet them where they’re at, and he hopes that ultimately, it will help his students get a leg up. “I sat in the same seats that the students are sitting in now, walked the same hallways,” he said. “Being on the student side and then being able to come back and strengthen what you were a part of really means a lot to me.”