The Delaware State Board of Education (SBE) begins discussing how the Delaware Pathways program can better support the creative economy, abiding by a formal call to do so from the General Assembly.
The request is outlined in Senate Concurrent Resolution 109, which the state legislature passed in June, asking the Delaware Department of Education (DOE) to explore expanding apprenticeship programs and pathways for careers in the creative economy.
These include professions under categories like visual and performing arts, digital media, writing, entertainment, fashion and design.
The call is based on the Creative Economy Advancement & Tourism Expansion (CREATE) Plan, an initiative led by the Delaware Arts Alliance (DAA), that "engages Delawareans in shaping a shared vision for a thriving, inclusive, and interconnected creative economy."
Research from that plan shows that Delaware’s creative economy is a contributor to economic growth, tourism and cultural vibrancy, having generated $3.7 billion in economic output and contributed $2.2 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) and rebounded with a notable 9.5% growth in 2021, exceeding its pre-pandemic level.
The resolution asks DOE to work with local education agencies (LEAs) — school districts and charter schools — and the DAA to inventory both Career and Technical Education (CTE) and non-CTE career pathways that are associated with the creative economy.
Delaware Pathways is a high school program that links education and workforce development efforts to provide immersive work experience in the classroom, leading to postsecondary education and careers.
From there, DOE is to outline the next steps to develop student participation in state-approved CTE pathways associated with the creative economy through supplemental CTE courses and support for non-CTE pathways.
Delaware’s Director of CTE Jon Wickert catered to this point at SBE's Thursday strategic planning meeting, noting that several Delaware schools already have arts-related pathways, but they are not currently regulated by the state since they are non-CTE programs.
“You have this huge part of your high school population that's coming through these pathways that we have no line of sight on, and we can't actually say if they're of any type of quality or lead to the post-secondary employment or education outcomes we want for Delawareans," he said.
In order to be considered a CTE pathway, the related job must be middle to high skill, middle to high wage and in demand, and Wickert explains arts careers often do not meet the job market demand threshold necessary to qualify based on labor market information.
CTE careers often fall within the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), business and finance and skill trades.
“The demand side of it is not necessarily high enough to meet the threshold to say that this is an in-demand industry or occupation in many cases in the state of Delaware. Even with a 45-minute commute drawn beyond the borders of Delaware, we're still — many, not all — from a demand standpoint, are coming in below that threshold," he said.
But Wickert believes this is because arts careers are mainly self-employed, which is not taken into consideration when gathering labor market data.
DOE’s Visual and Performing Arts Education Associate Lauren Conrad says one of the recommendations they would consider sending to the General Assembly is giving DOE the capability to vet these arts pathways in some capacity since they do not fall under CTE pathway guidelines.
Wickert explains there are some arts-adjacent pathways that are CTE approved, including a digital communication technology pathway and a hospitality and tourism management pathway.
He also says the office is exploring how to update existing CTE programs to find ways to bridge the gap between existing job paths and the arts.
"[A] person in our entrepreneurship class might want to own their own business that's based in the arts, so how can we talk to them in that class about how they could bridge those things together?"
Wickert says Delaware hosts the largest system of CTE in the country, noting its programs reaches over 50% of all seventh and eight graders in the public school system and about 70% of all public high school students are in a CTE pathway.
While he has ambitions to get high school participation to 80% and middle school participation into the same range, he notes the CTE program may not be for every student and does not want to influence a reduction of non-CTE arts pathways.
"Ultimately, a student needs to have options that align with their individual life goals. Sometimes that's CTE, sometimes that's not CTE, and that's okay. And so I think the last thing I would like to see is a system where by expanding one part of the system, we actually took away opportunities for students that maybe didn't fit so well into what was created. I'm a big believer in providing lots of opportunities, making navigation clear and providing unfettered access to the extent that you can," he said.
SBE will continue to explore ways to integrate creative economy awareness into the public school system, and DOE will provide a summary report to the General Assembly and other stakeholders by Feb. 1, 2026.
