#69 How Portland Is Reimagining CTE with AI and Community Partners (with Chris Brida from Portland Public Schools)

Guest: Chris Brida, District Administrator, Career & Technical Education (CTE), Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate at Portland (OR) Public Schools. A returning guest, Chris is building systems-level, boundary-spanning partnerships that tie K–12 CTE to real pathways in higher ed, industry, and community—while bringing AI into both the classroom and the collaboration process.Episode Summary: CTE isn’t “shop class” anymore. Chris Brida returns to map how AI is reshaping CTE on two fronts: AI in CTE (a cross-cutting skill every pathway needs) and AI for CTE (a co-pilot for partnership design and management). He explains “boundary spanning leadership”—innovation that happens in the gray space between systems—and shows it in action through the Albina D-Lab, a seven-year pipeline linking Portland Public Schools and Portland State Engineering to community partners serving Black student excellence. We also dig into student aptitudes, why literacy looks different in CTE (think schematics and blueprints), and why deeper, interdisciplinary learning is the antidote to anxiety about a fast-changing world.Key Topics:AI in CTE vs. AI for CTE—and why both matter nowBoundary spanning leadership as a template for real partnershipsThe Albina D-Lab: a systems-level model for equity and engineering pathwaysStudent aptitudes, durable skills, and invention educationDeeper learning and the end of siloed “90 minutes of math”Resources Mentioned:Advance CTE (national career clusters; AI as cross-cutting)Oregon Clean Energy Workforce Coalition (statewide clean energy pathway)Albina Vision TrustPortland State University — College of EngineeringMESA (engineering, human-centered design)The Lemelson Foundation (invention education)PPS Center for Black Student ExcellenceConnect with Chris Brida:LinkedInConnect with Banyan Global Learning:banyangloballearning.com If this conversation sparked a new way of thinking, share it with a colleague or leave a review—more educators will find what’s possible when learning goes global.