This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the National Career Clusters Institute. Guest bloggers are among teachers, faculty, researchers, and other experts that will present at the national gathering in Fort Worth, TX in June. Today’s guest blogger is Amber O’Casey, the Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security (LPSCS) and Government and Public Administration (GPA) Career Cluster Specialist at the University of North Texas.

LPSCS and GPA Resources from the Texas Education Agency and the University of North Texas

Would you like to save time and money? Are you looking for lesson ideas, project-based activities, or professional development? Are you an LPSCS or GPA educator? Then join us as we discuss the Texas Education Agency (TEA) Educational Excellence grant resources and instructional materials provided on the University of North Texas (UNT) Career and Technical Education (CTE) website.

Here are some of the materials that we will discuss:

• Professional development modules that are based on research and experience and focus on “best practices” in education
• Over 180 GPA and LPSCS secondary lesson plans that are standards- and project-based
• Elementary and Middle School GPA/LPSCS career awareness curricula
• Cluster-specific Implementation Guides
• Cluster-specific Scope and Sequence documents
• Tools for accommodating learning differences
• And more…

All of the session attendees will leave with an understanding of the GPA and LPSCS resources and hardcopies of a GPA lesson, an LPSCS lesson, and a quick guide to our lesson plan template.

Amber’s breakout session, “LPSCS and GPA Resources from the Texas Education Agency and the University of North Texas” is Tuesday, June 11, 3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.

More about the National Career Clusters® Institute

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the Career Clusters ® Institute. Guest bloggers are among teachers, faculty, researchers and other experts that will present at the national gathering in Fort Worth, TX in June. Today’s guest blogger is Heather Singmaster, the Senior Program Associate of the Asia Society.

CTE is Global

The local is global. You hear it all the time. But what about the global dimensions of CTE? Some are obvious, like agriculture: someone recently said to me, if you don’t know the global dimensions of agriculture, you will never succeed in the field. In Mathis, TX, the high school CTE coordinator is installing cameras on the garden area and in the animal pens to share practices with students in other parts of the country and world to expose his students to international agriculture. 

In hospitality and tourism, if your students speak Chinese, they are practically guaranteed a job: the number of Chinese tourists visiting the United States is expected to double from the record-setting number of 1.1 million in 2011 and companies are scrambling to cater to them. [LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/business/global/american-brands-seek-favor-with-wealthy-chinese-tourists.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1367589978-qVrs/H/mutYbNDlh2nRR0w]

Then there are the less obvious clusters. Manufacturing? Well, talk to Schaefer Ventilation, a small Minnesota based firm. They are seeing success exporting to the Middle East and adding local jobs in the process. And another Minnesota company, Datacard, which prints ID cards, needs employees who speak a second language or know how to work with customers and salespeople in markets like China and Brazil. [LINK: http://www.startribune.com/business/147376655.html?refer=y]

Architecture? Law? Engineering? Students studying all of these areas at Phelps Architecture, Construction, and Engineering high school in Washington, DC are getting ahead of the curve by studying Chinese and traveling to China during the summer months. Lyric Carter, a pre-law student said of her trip to China, “This event was a life transforming experience; not only was I able to enhance my Chinese language skills, I was also able to learn first hand about a country for which my country has and will have an important relationship…I’ve been more open and willing to try new things and participate in activities that take me out of my ‘comfort zone.’ Most important, this trip has taught me more about myself as a person.” [Access link: http://www.dc-cgel.org/sites/default/files/u15/Carter-State-Board-Testimony-12-15-10.pdf]

And global doesn’t just mean working with people in other countries. What about the growing diversity here in the United States? Healthcare workers deal with this on a daily basis.  There is job growth in marketing to Hispanics/Latinos—the largest minority group in the U.S. and the fastest growing population according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Says Gonzalo Perez, owner of research firm Motivo Insights, understanding this growing market will require workers to “be comfortable with the complexity of today’s young Latinos. They have this contextual identity, and they’re not all the same….”

I could go on, but you get the picture – no matter what clusters are offered in your programs, teachers and students need a global focus – it is a key to the economic reality of an interconnected, global world. 

Heather’s breakout session is titled: Preparing a Globally Competent Workforce – Resources and Strategies; presentation date is Wednesday June 12. Her co-presenter is Jennifer Manise, the Executive Director of the Longview Foundation.

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the Career Clusters ® Institute. Guest bloggers are among teachers, faculty, researchers and other experts that will present at the national gathering in Fort Worth, TX in June.

Today we are sharing the final installment of the Institute Pre Sessions. Attendees can register for a Pre Session and attend the Sunday or Monday before the Institute begins. There is a nominal fee to attend these sessions and registration can be made in addition to general registration online. There are several topics to choose from.

Highlighted Pre Session: Partner Series: Partnerships in a Career Pathways System  

The Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD) and the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) recently collaborated on the development of the book, The Career Pathways Effect: Linking Education and Economic Prosperity. CORD and NASDCTEc have developed a series of professional development workshops based on the major themes of the book to support practitioners in the implementation or improvement of career pathways. The preconference “Partnerships in a Career Pathways System” is from the Partner Series Workshops. A career pathways system requires multiple partnerships within a community. This workshop is designed to help you develop or improve your partnerships. Workshop topics include:

• Partnership Advantages
• Partner Identification
• Goal Setting
• Model Structures
• Partner Roles and Responsibilities
• Action Plan Development
• Partnership Management – Operating and Sustaining

Participants identify strategies and processes to improve their partnerships. Different stakeholders from your local partnerships are encouraged to attend this workshop together but it is not a requirement. Participants will also receive a copy of The Career Pathways Effect: Linking Education and Economic Prosperity book as a participant.

Fee: $200

Date and Time: Monday, June 10 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Already registered? You can add a Pre Session even if you’ve already registered. If you have questions, please send them to institute@careertech.org and we will be happy to add a Pre Session to your registration.

The National Career Clusters® Institute is June 9-12 at the Omni Fort Worth, 1300 Houston Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102

More information about the National Career Clusters® Institute

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the Career Clusters ® Institute. Guest bloggers are among teachers, faculty, researchers and other experts that will present at the national gathering in Fort Worth, TX in June.

Today we are sharing an Institute Pre Session. Attendees can register for a Pre Session and attend the Sunday or Monday before the Institute begins. There is a nominal fee to attend these sessions and registration can be made in addition to general registration online. There are several topics to choose from.

Highlighted Pre Session: Become a Career Advising Idol  

Make colleagues idolize your commitment to excellence and clients worship the guidance you give, simply by engaging in professional development that focuses on career advising. No matter your occupation or intended level of understanding career guidance, Kuder, Inc. will help you quickly grow with flexible online training.

By attending this session, you’ll learn about Kuder’s new Career Advisor Training program that offers three course options to fit the schedules of busy professionals. The program covers the 12 core competencies of career development, which are also used by the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and Kuder^® Career Development Facilitator Training™ curriculum, in a fast-paced, condensed format requiring an investment of only 10, 30, or 40 course hours. This signature training program lays the foundation for supporting and guiding students and adults in making informed career decisions throughout their lifetimes.

Fee: This is a seminar; there are no fees to attend.

When: June 9, 2013

Time: June 9, 1 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Already registered? You can add a Pre Session even if you’ve already registered. If you have questions, please send them to institute@careertech.org and we will be happy to add a Pre Session to your registration.

The National Career Clusters® Institute is June 9-12 at the Omni Fort Worth, 1300 Houston Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102

More information about the National Career Clusters® Institute

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the Career Clusters ® Institute. Guest bloggers are among teachers, faculty, researchers and other experts that will present at the national gathering in Fort Worth, TX in June.

Today we are sharing an Institute Pre Session. Attendees can register for a Pre Session and attend the Sunday or Monday before the Institute begins. There is a nominal fee to attend these sessions and registration can be made in addition to general registration online. There are several topics to choose from.

Highlighted Pre Session: Lessons Learned in Seven States  

Recent state-wide evaluations were completed of school counseling programs in six states. Results showed that when more fully implemented programs and practices were in place, student results showed significantly higher achievement on NCLB and Perkins accountability measures. School guidance and counseling programs do make a difference! This pre session will focus on evaluation results completed by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Additionally, New Jersey implemented a pilot program for implementing Personalized Student Learning Plans (PSLPs) in 2009, and has learned many valuable lessons from participating schools. A PSLP is defined as a formalized plan and process that involves students setting learning goals based on personal, academic and career interests, beginning in the middle school grades and continuing throughout high school with the close support of adult mentors that include teachers, counselors and parents. New Jersey’s Personalized Student Learning Plan Pilot Program has focused on exploring meaningful, creative and flexible ways to personalize the learning environment for students in a variety of settings. Come learn about the successes and challenges in implementation of PSLP from the experiences of participating pilot schools and the results of an evaluation study completed by Rutgers University.

Presenters:

Ms. Marie Barry, Director, Office of Career and Technical Education, New Jersey Department of Education
Ms. Donna Hoffman, Nebraska Department of Education, School Guidance and Counseling Programs

Date: Sunday, June 9, 2013
Time: 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Fee: $100

For more information, please Donna Hoffman at donna.hoffman@nebraska.gov

Already registered? You can add a Pre Session even if you’ve already registered. If you have questions, please send them to institute@careertech.org and we will be happy to add a Pre Session to your registration.

The National Career Clusters® Institute is June 9-12 at the Omni Fort Worth, 1300 Houston Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102

More information about the National Career Clusters® Institute

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the Career Clusters ® Institute. Guest bloggers are among teachers, faculty, researchers and other experts that will present at the national gathering in Fort Worth, TX in June.

Today we are sharing an Institute Pre Session. Attendees can register for a Pre Session and attend the Sunday or Monday before the Institute begins. There is a nominal fee to attend these sessions and registration can be made in addition to general registration online. There are several topics to choose from.

Highlighted Pre Session New Tools for Beginning CTE Teachers

CTE schools require industry experience of their teachers and in some cases, the tradeoff for that experience is limited preparation in teaching pedagogies. The culmination of the needs of the CTE community and current research have brought together university experts, researchers and NOCTI to produce several modules designed to provided new teachers with research based information about assessments, certifications and third party testing.

This pre-session will explain the evolution, the collaboration and walk participants through one of the 2 modules. This information could also be used as professional development information. Each participant completing this training session will be rewarded with $100.00 gift certificate for pre test use!

Presenters:

Dr. John C. Foster, john.foster@nocti.org

Amie Bloomfield amie.bloomfield@nocti.org

Time Slot: June 9, 2013 1 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Fees: $125 NOTE: on-site rate $150

Already registered? You can add a Pre Session even if you’ve already registered. If you have questions, please send them to institute@careertech.org and we will be happy to add a Pre Session to your registration.

The National Career Clusters® Institute is June 9-12 at the Omni Fort Worth, 1300 Houston Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102

More information about the National Career Clusters® Institute

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the Career Clusters ® Institute. Guest bloggers are among teachers, faculty, researchers and other experts that will present at the national gathering in Fort Worth, TX in June.

Today we are sharing an Institute Pre Session. Attendees can register for a Pre Session and attend the Sunday or Monday before the Institute begins. There is a nominal fee to attend these sessions and registration can be made in addition to general registration online. There are several topics to choose from.

Highlighted Pre Session CTEDDI: Instructional Improvement for Individual CTE Sites Now Available  

A new opportunity now exists to opt for CTEDDI professional development at a single CTE site! The CTEDDI (Career Technical Educators Using Data-Driven Improvement) model developed by NOCTI through the National Research Center for Career Technical Education (NRCCTE) is a research-based professional development program designed, piloted, and implemented to help administrators and CTE teachers use assessment data to improve programs and to target individual and group instructional needs in the secondary-level CTE classroom.

Previously available only on a statewide basis, now school participants can arm themselves with the tools to collect and analyze data and the skills necessary to develop an action plan to enhance instruction in areas in need of improvement.

Each participant completing this training session will be rewarded with $100 gift certificate for pretest use! Gain a great head start toward CTEDDI implementation.

Presenters: Dr. Sandra G. Pritz, sandypritz@aol.com and Dr. John C. Foster, john.foster@nocti.org

Pre session offered Monday, June 10 from 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. at the Omni Shoreham, site of the National Career Clusters® Institute.

Fee: $125; NOTE: On-site rate is $150.

Already registered? You can add a Pre Session even if you’ve already registered. If you have questions, please send them to institute@careertech.org and we will be happy to add a Pre Session to your registration.

The National Career Clusters® Institute is June 9-12 at the Omni Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX, Omni Fort Worth, 1300 Houston Street Fort Worth, TX 76102

More information about the National Career Clusters® Institute

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the Career Clusters ® Institute. Guest bloggers are among teachers, faculty, researchers and other experts that will present at the national gathering in Fort Worth, TX in June.

Today we are highlighting the Institute Pre Sessions. Attendees can register for a Pre Session and attend the Sunday or Monday before the Institute begins. There is a nominal fee to attend these sessions and registration can be made in addition to general registration online. There are several topics to choose from.

Highlighted Pre Session: Introduction to Career Clusters® and Pathways 101: Using the Updated Implementation Tool Kit

This is the starting place for all things Career Clusters® for first time attendees or for those who are looking for tools to take back to begin implementing Career Clusters® in your system, campus or school. This session is definitely for people that are new to Career Clusters® and are looking for a resource to use to teach others brand new as well.

Together, we will:

• Explore the Career Clusters® Framework and key components
• Define the benefits of utilizing Career Clusters®
•  Discuss the core tenets of Career Cluster® implementation
•  Map a strategy for implementing Career Clusters® in phases
• Identify the tools and resources available

This workshop will help you connect all the parts and pieces related to CTE, Perkins, Programs of Study, technical skill assessment, career guidance, workforce development, industry partnership, certification, high school reform, and seamless transitions.

Use this pre-session to get the most out of your Career Clusters® Institute attendance.

Attendees will receive the new Career Clusters® Implementation Tool Kit, a $75 value.

Fee: $150

Time slot: Sunday, June 9, 12:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Already registered? You can add a Pre Session even if you’ve already registered. If you have questions, please send them to institute@careertech.org and we will be happy to add a Pre Session to your registration.

The National Career Clusters® Institute is June 9-12, 2013

Location: Omni Fort Worth, 1300 Houston Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102

More information about the National Career Clusters® Institute

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the Career Clusters ® Institute. Guest bloggers are among teachers, faculty, researchers and other experts that will present at the national gathering in Fort Worth, TX in June.

Today we are introducing the Institute Pre Sessions. Attendees can register for a Pre Session and attend the Sunday or Monday before the Institute begins. There is a nominal fee to attend these sessions and registration can be made in addition to general registration online. There are several topics to choose from.

Highlighted Pre Session: The Creative Brain and Entrepreneurship

This interactive pre session explores teaching entrepreneurship and the creative brain. The focus will be on mindsets and how to teach to inventive thinking. Participants will receive a book entitled “Developing an Understanding of How We Learn,” which was written by Dr. Carol Folbre and Sandy Mittelsteadt. Everyone will leave with sample project-based activities, both individual and group, for their classroom.

Presenters:
Sandy Mittelsteadt: sandra.mittelsteadt@gmail.com
Dr. Carol Folbre: carol.folbre@gmail.com

Fee: $130
Time slot: Sunday, June 9 from 1 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

For more information, please contact Sandy Mittelsteadt at sandra.mittelsteadt@gmail.com.

Already registered? You can add a Pre Session even if you’ve already registered. If you have questions, please send them to institute@careertech.org and we will be happy to add a Pre Session to your registration.

The National Career Clusters® Institute is June 9-12, 2013

Location: Omni Fort Worth, 1300 Houston Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102

More information about the National Career Clusters® Institute

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager