Christopher Nesmith’s Bio
Dr. Christopher Nesmith is a visionary education leader dedicated to redefining student success through early learning, mastery-based instruction, and equitable career and college readiness pathways.
He serves as Superintendent of Elma School District and is a national co-lead with AASA’s Career and College Readiness initiative, where he champions programs that empower all students to thrive in school and beyond.
Dr. Nesmith is a sought-after speaker and advocate for transforming K-12 education to ensure every student finds purpose, belonging, and a pathway to economic prosperity.
Our guest for this episode of College & Career Readiness Radio is Dr. Christopher Nesmith.
The episode starts with a conversation about trust between schools and industry partners, and Dr. Nesmith is candid about the need for schools to understand what the partner needs and not just what the school (and students) can get from a partner. This was a reminder of our episode with Kristy Volesky.
Chris says that the best case scenario is when the schools and the industry partners are united on a clear and common vision for what they’re seeking to accomplish.
He says that many partners will get involved simply based on philanthropic efforts, and starting with philanthropy is fine but that can’t be the end-point.
Don’t miss what he says about the two-way relationship regarding what students need to be work-ready. If there’s a mechanism for feedback, partners can tell schools how to better prepare students at the individual level.
Christopher says that we can capitalize on students’ skills and abilities in the workforce, including product development in a way that drives the future of a company using high school students and their creativity.
You’ll want to hear what he says about the pathways that his district supports and the details of what students earn as graduates.
He gives some really practical advice about governance and how to cut the red tape of work-based learning at the same time connecting students to the organizations that will credential their skills anyway.
Chris says that the fundamental reason why pathways, credentialing, and WBL aren’t scaling is because the money is funneled through grants and the grant awardees–whether school districts or nonprofit organizations–don’t understand the bureaucracies of the individual industries.
Listen to what he says about the problems with isolation. Higher education, K12, industry partners, and accreditation agencies need to come together for work-based learning to flourish.
Christopher explains what he learned in Switzerland and Germany about the divide between college and career and what they did to make sure it was a binary decision for students.
Dr. Nesmith says that one of the solutions is "permeability." In other words, career and technical education (CTE) shouldn’t just lead to a credential or a job, it should lead to a path into a 2- or 4-year university as well.
Chris describes what mastery-based learning and even credit acquisition can look like, and he calls for CTE teachers to lead the way in this work. We refer to ACTE several times in the show.
Christopher leads an AASA group called Redefining Ready, which studies state examples of work-based learning and pathways.
If you want to discuss work-based learning, industry partners, and other aspects of college and career readiness, book a time with the host of the show with the host of the show here.
If you want to see a solution for working with business partners and tracking WBL for students, book a demo here.
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