Electrician Trainee Program
2025-2026 Program Review

The Electrician Trainee Program at American River College helps students complete the classroom hours required by the State of California to become a certified electrician. In our classes, students learn electrical theory, safety, and the National Electrical Code while gaining knowledge they can use on the job. The number of units in the program is set to closely match the state’s required training, so students can meet certification requirements and stay on track in their careers.

Based on a review of both federal and internal metrics, several groups have been identified as disproportionately impacted within the Electrician Trainee unit. According to the Perkins V Core Indicator data, there is a significant enrollment gap for female students, who make up only 4.33% of the program against a state goal of 16.20%.

On school data dashboard, we see different success gaps: in ELTRN 121, White students are disproportionately impacted with a 69% success rate, while in ELTRN 180, students living below the poverty line have a success rate of only 62% compared to the 90% success rate of higher-income students.

These figures should be interpreted with caution due to the program's unique 3.5-year structure, in which students typically complete only one course per semester. Because Perkins and institutional metrics often utilize narrow tracking windows, many students are likely misidentified as 'non-completers' simply because they are still progressing through their multi-year sequence. Furthermore, in the electrical trade, students frequently secure full-time employment and exit the program prior to earning a formal certificate. While data systems record these exits as a failure to complete, they represent a professional success for the student. Consequently, the program’s long-term design may artificially depress success and completion rates, masking the actual progress being made by these student groups.

At this time, no specific equity-advancing actions have been implemented at the program level for this reporting cycle. The Electrician Trainee program has recently undergone a significant transition with the hiring of a permanent, full-time position to oversee the program’s rapid growth. As the program settles into this new leadership structure, our primary goal is to conduct a thorough evaluation of our current student data to identify specific barriers to success. While no formal actions have been launched yet. We are currently in the planning stages of identifying outreach strategies for non-traditional students and academic support interventions for our disproportionately impacted groups."

To address the enrollment gap for female students, we will develop outreach partnerships with local high schools and "Women in Trades" organizations. 

For students identified as economically disadvantaged, the unit will work to strengthen the bridge between the program and the college’s Basic Needs Center. This includes helping students access stipends for tools, textbooks, and transportation

To eliminate disproportionate impact, the unit requires institutional support to coordinate outreach and formalize partnerships with local K-12 districts. Specifically, we need assistance in organizing school visitations that target existing CTE and construction pathways to more effectively recruit non-traditional (female) students. Furthermore, we need college leadership to facilitate "district-to-district" communication with high school administrators and CTE directors to ensure the electrical program is a prioritized option for graduating seniors. These strategic partnerships, supported by the college’s administrative weight, are essential to building a diverse pipeline and providing the long-term guidance necessary for our DI student groups to successfully navigate our 3.5-year program sequence.

The primary concern currently facing our unit is the disconnect between rapid program growth and our existing resource allocation. Despite high student demand, we are operating with insufficient FTE faculty, which limits our capacity to offer enough course sections and effectively manage our growing waitlists.

 Furthermore, our physical lab space has reached its capacity, creating a critical bottleneck for the hands-on training essential to the electrical trade. To address this, we need institutional support to optimize our current footprint by reclaiming and converting underutilized or empty space into functional lab areas. Expanding our lab capacity and increasing our FTE allocation are vital steps to ensure we can accommodate more students while maintaining the high safety and instructional standards required for their 3.5-year progression through the program.

 Beyond physical space, maintaining instructional quality is a major concern; faculty require ongoing support for updated industry training to remain relevant in a fast-paced field, particularly in Fire Alarm systems, Low Voltage, HVAC integration, Code Compliance (NEC), and emerging tool technologies. Lastly, there is an urgent need for a dedicated Instructional Assistant. Given the high-risk nature of electrical work, an IA is essential to provide the attentive oversight required during lab processes to ensure student safety, while also managing the complex organization of specialized equipment and materials required for our many program components.