Posts Tagged ‘Nevada’

Welcome Marie Falcone to Advance CTE!

Tuesday, November 21st, 2023

My name is Marie Falcone and I am incredibly excited to join the Advance CTE team as a Policy Associate. In my role on the Data and Research team, I will support and contribute to Advance CTE’s data quality and initiatives to promote data-driven decision-making among state Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders and within the organization.

I completed my undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and participated in a public policy minor program in collaboration with the Washington, DC-based Brookings Institution. Through the program, I worked on policy advocacy and research relevant to the Mountain West region at my university’s think-tank, specifically in education policy. After interning at the Brown Center on Education Policy, I was confident that educational research and its impact on learner outcomes was the space I wanted to be in for years to come.

Emboldened and excited by the work, I moved to Washington, D.C. to complete a master’s in education policy studies at The George Washington University. Throughout this experience, I worked on a research evaluation team for a federal grant and in Fairfax County Public School’s Office of Research and Strategic Improvement, helping to produce the district’s annual Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) III data report. I am thrilled to continue my journey in educational research at Advance CTE to support learners in career and growth opportunities through CTE!

I was born and raised in Las Vegas, home to some of my favorite hikes and the best hockey team. I am a big reader, love running and always look for new places to eat in DC!

By Layla Alagic in Our Staff
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Innovating State Systems through CTE Without Limits

Thursday, June 1st, 2023

Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education (CTE Without Limits) was released in March 2020 with the support of over 40 national organizations. In October 2021, Advance CTE launched a technical assistance opportunity called Advancing CTE Without  Limits, which sought to support states in a project to coordinate systems, improve equity goals, strengthen policy or otherwise align with a CTE Without Limits principle. The year-long Advancing CTE Without Limits project ran from March 2022 to March 2023. This blog series shares the details, outcomes and lessons learned from projects across the three participating Pushing the Limits state teams – Colorado, Nebraska and South Carolina. 

Over the past year, three states – Colorado, Nebraska and South Carolina – leveraged CTE Without Limits in their states to improve Career Technical Education (CTE) practice through technical assistance and strategic planning. Each state took a different approach and focused on a different CTE Without Limits principle, but ultimately each state centered its project around leveraging tools and resources already at its disposal to realign and refocus state practice for all CTE learners. All three states took an innovative approach to revitalizing existing policy and strategy and the alignment work vital to their year-long projects is already paying dividends. For more information about each state’s project check out the previous posts in this blog series.

This year, Advance CTE is continuing to help states innovate their state systems through CTE Without Limits. Earlier this year, we opened an application for technical assistance to help states specifically interested in strategic planning and alignment support. Four states – Indiana, Nevada, Oregon and Rhode Island – are working with Advance CTE and Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) coaches to build strategic goals, centered around a statewide theory of action, or revamp state plans for the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V). The initiative, Innovating State Systems through CTE Without Limits, will run from June 2023 to June 2024.

While previous technical assistance efforts were focused on individual state projects, this year’s project builds specifically on the strategic planning process. Each state will create a 12-month action plan and will have opportunities to begin to pilot some of the initiatives embedded in their new strategic plans. Each state will build a statewide team made of stakeholders within and outside of their CTE agency to ensure their strategic goals meet the needs of learners, families, educators and administrators statewide. Participating state team members will also engage in quarterly cross-state sharing sessions to discuss insights and lessons learned. 

Advance CTE Senior Advisor and project lead Eliza Fabillar hopes the value of this technical assistance opportunity will be clear: “The Innovating State Systems initiative will help participating states develop and implement strategic priorities to strengthen the career preparation ecosystem for all learners, which will lay the groundwork for continued quality implementation after the project period. Advance CTE members will also benefit from lessons learned, which will be shared with the CTE community.”

Kickoff meetings with each state’s State CTE Director have already started and progress will continue throughout the next year. Stay tuned for future updates about this project. 

For more information about CTE Without Limits, visit https://careertech.org/without-limits. To begin processes like this in your own state or locality, view our CTE Without Limits roadmaps and view this resource recap to see how to use these tools step-by-step. 

Dan Hinderliter, Senior Policy Associate

By Jodi Langellotti in CTE Without Limits
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State CTE Policy Update: A Glimpse at the Year to Come

Tuesday, March 28th, 2023

While Advance CTE and The Association for Career Technical Education (ACTE)   Year in Review is a powerful tool to reference policies passed across the nation in 2022, new legislative agendas are constantly being designed and implemented. The 74, a non-profit education news organization, released Teacher Pay, School Choice, Literacy: Top Priorities for 44 Governors in 2023, highlighting the educational priorities of 2023 for the head executives of each state. 

Notably, the teaching process and workforce development were identified as priorities for many governors across the country. This blog elevates some of the policies mentioned that specifically speak to Advance CTE’s shared vision of ensuring that each learner is able to engage in a flexible and responsive career preparation ecosystem.  

While this is only a taste of the legislative agenda for 2023, it does show that several governors are committed to providing strong CTE opportunities to their constituents. In addition to CTE-specific policies, governors have established a commitment to improving teacher pay and building teacher pipelines, removing barriers to practice within the healthcare profession and improving access to mental healthcare for learners.

With the first quarter of the year ending, Advance CTE will be monitoring see how these agendas fare among state legislatures. Advance CTE will be providing updates via the member newsletter and a comprehensive list of all passed legislation in the Year In Review for 2023.

With many governors focused on policies related to credentialing and dual enrollment, The State of CTE: Early Postsecondary Opportunities is a great resource for more information on these topics.

Brice Thomas, Policy Associate

By Jodi Langellotti in Public Policy
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This Week in CTE

Friday, December 4th, 2020

We have compiled a list of highlights in Career Technical Education (CTE) from this week to share with you.

SCHOLARSHIP OF THE WEEK 

A new scholarship opportunity for learners seeking college funding, a mentorship and have an interest in transportation has been announced. The purpose of The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)’s Diversity Scholars Program is to grow underrepresented populations’ participation in the transportation profession by supporting increased diversity at the undergraduate level. Diversity in the transportation industry is critical as practitioners seek to fully understand the transportation needs of communities and develop equitable mobility improvements to many areas of our society. 

This program is open to any U.S. high school student of Black; Native American, Alaskan, and Hawaiian; or Latinx heritage with an interest in a career in transportation and who is seeking to study transportation engineering, planning, or in a related-field at a school with an established ITE Student Chapter. 

For more information and to apply, click here. Applications are due March 15, 2021.

CTE PROGRAM OF THE WEEK

One Nevada school has been responsive to industry changes in their area and adopted a new manufacturing program tying in curriculum from Project Lead the Way and Intelitek. Palo Verde High School will have a four-year program teaching learner 3D modeling, applied physics, computer-integrated manufacturing and engineering design. 

Stephen Turbie, Engineering Instructor, says, “Automation is an essential part of any manufacturing business. Learning about automation and manufacturing provides good training for many future technical careers.”

Learn more about the addition of this manufacturing program in this article published by SmartBrief. 

CTSO OF THE WEEK

Despite the challenges states have faced with offering work-based learning opportunities during the pandemic, students from King City High School’s (King City, California) agricultural pathway and members of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) have worked diligently to utilize social media to overcome barriers and continue to have their work-based learning opportunities, Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), externships and virtual career fairs for the current school year.

Learn more in this article on how CTE teachers and students in California are working together despite the virtual learning challenges. King City High School FFA students are also ranked number one in the region and third in the state of California.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE OF THE WEEK

Following the retirement of House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey (D-NY), Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) was voted to be the new committee chair. DeLauro’s win came after her endorsement by the Democratic House Steering and Policy Committee earlier this week. Currently, DeLauro serves as the Chair of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS-ED) Appropriations Subcommittee so she is well versed in Career Technical Education (CTE), education and workforce funding.

View more Legislative Updates from this week here

RESOURCE OF THE WEEK

Recent calculations suggested that 32-42 percent of job losses that have resulted from the COVID-19 (coronavirus) may be permanent. CTE can reskill and upskill learners and prepare them for reentry into the workforce by offering industry-recognized credentials of value. 

Credential Currency: How States Can Identify and Promote Credentials of Value is a roadmap for how states can identify which credentials have labor market value, and recommended strategies and opportunities to advance learner attainment. This roadmap is informed by national, state and local CTE leaders from K-12 education, postsecondary education and industry. 

View Credential Currency: How States Can Identify and Promote Credentials of Value in our Learning that Works Resource Center.

Brittany Cannady, Digital Media Associate

By admin in Uncategorized
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This Week in CTE

Friday, July 3rd, 2020

We have compiled a list of highlights in Career Technical Education (CTE) from this week to share with you.

State CTE Director of the Week

Welcome Craig Statucki to Advance CTE! In his new role as State CTE Director, Craig is excited to lean on his experience building relationships between state and local CTE stakeholders to lead Nevada through change. Read more about Craig on our blog

CTE Completers of the Week

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) recognized eight North Carolina CTE high school graduates as Advanced Career (AC) STEM Pathway completers or scholars. The AC program of study has prepared these graduates for college and career opportunities in a high-demand STEM field critical to the nation’s economy. You can learn more about the qualifications these learners met to be recognized here.

Learners were recognized at their school’s graduation ceremony and received the distinguished SREB Advanced Career STEM Pathway Academy certificate of completion, AC Scholar recognition and graduation chords specially made for this unique honor.

Video Competition of the Week

JFF hosted the Horizons Virtual Conference a few weeks ago and announced the winner of their  “Why I Apprentice” national youth apprenticeship video competition. Congratulations Brenden Rohland of Wisconsin! View his video submission here.

“Why I Apprentice” is a national video series that celebrates the stories of youth apprentices. A compilation of all the video submissions from youth apprentices across the United States can be viewed here.

Legislative Update of the Week

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced this week the approval of the final wave of Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) state plans by the Department of Education. In this wave, we celebrate the approval of the following states and territories: Alaska, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, West Virginia and Puerto Rico. View all approved Perkins V state plans and resources here.

Resource of the Week

Enrollment in CTE programs has remained stagnant over the last decade while demand soars for skilled employees in today’s global economy. If we are to prepare all learners for success in the careers of their choice, more parents and students need to understand all that CTE has to offer them.

Advance CTE, with support from the Siemens Foundation, commissioned focus groups and a national survey to explore the attitudes of parents and students currently involved in CTE, as well as prospective CTE parents and students, to better understand the promise and opportunity of CTE.  View the results here.

Brittany Cannady, Digital Media Associate

By admin in Uncategorized
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This Week in CTE

Friday, June 26th, 2020

We have compiled a list of highlights in Career Technical Education (CTE) from this week to share with you.

VIRTUAL CONFERENCE OF THE WEEK

Nebraska Career and Technical Education (CTE) held a Virtual Symposium, which was the first of its kind for the state. There were more than 700 CTE district, state and national level attendees. Among them were Commissioner Matt Blomstedt and Scott Stump, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education for the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education.

During the symposium, winners of the annual Nebraska Excellence in Career and Technical Education Awards and Richard Katt Outstanding Nebraska Career and Technical Educators Awards were announced. Read more about the symposium and learn more about the award winners here

STUDENT OF THE WEEK

In Michigan, one student has shown great leadership by joining Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Return to Learn Council. Dominic Gonzalez is one of the district’s dual enrollment learners, which allows him to attend a local community college and earn college credit while still in high school. Dominic will be tasked with providing Governor Whitmer and the council a student perspective of what returning to school should look like in the fall. Read more in the article published by The Detroit News.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Texas CTE students did not let graduation or the pandemic stop them from completing one meaningful project. Engineering and veterinary science students developed a prosthetic paw for a local puppy who suffered complications at birth. View this video for highlights from the project, prototypes of the prosthetic paw and the student’s stories. 

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE OF THE WEEK

The U.S. Department of Education approved four more state plans under the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V): Arkansas, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee. 35 state plans are approved in total so far. Check out this chart to see which states have been approved, and links to the state plans.   

RESOURCE OF THE WEEK

Launched in 2016, JPMorgan Chase & Co. New Skills for Youth is a $75 million, five-year global initiative aimed at transforming how cities and states ensure that young people are career ready. The local investments from across the world – Innovation Sites – aim to identify and implement the most promising ideas in career education, with a special focus on communities with the greatest needs. Over the past year, Advance CTE has released a series of snapshots documenting the progress of the local investments. This week, Advance CTE released the final two snapshots featuring investments in the Greater Washington Region and Germany.

Brittany Cannady, Digital Media Associate

By admin in Uncategorized
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Strengthening Career Readiness Systems through New Skills for Youth: A Look Back at States’ Impact

Wednesday, December 11th, 2019

Under Kentucky’s new program approval and review process, schools and districts can use state and federal funding to support career pathways only if their programs are aligned with priority industries or top occupations. This is just one of the strategies Kentucky used under the New Skills for Youth (NSFY) initiative to transform and phase out virtually every career pathway that was not well aligned with labor market demand.

From 2016 through 2019, Kentucky and nine other states in the NSFY initiative received $2 million and hands-on technical assistance and coaching to strengthen their career readiness systems. As part of the NSFY initiative, a $75 million national initiative developed by JPMorgan Chase & Co, the Council of Chief State School Officers, Advance CTE and Education Strategy Group worked with states to improve their career readiness systems.

Through NSFY, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Wisconsin took action to:

The impact of these states across the entire initiative is highlighted in the NSFY Impact Snapshots and NSFY Impact Summary, which examines the state role in catalyzing and transforming career readiness opportunities for youth.

Through NSFY, 10 states demonstrated the importance of strong state leadership to advance career readiness by setting a clear vision and agenda, catalyzing and scaling pathways and work-based learning, and ensuring access and equity in career readiness opportunities. As a result, the impact of the states was far-reaching. For instance, under NSFY Delaware was able to develop 19 career pathway programs in high-demand occupations and Tennessee was able to ensure that 100 percent of high school students have access to at least four early postsecondary courses.

To learn more about the work states completed under the NSFY initiative, register for Advance CTE’s A Look Back at States’ Impact through the New Skills for Youth Initiative webinar, which will take place on December 12 from 1-2 p.m. EST, and download the NSFY Impact Snapshots here.

Brianna McCain, Policy Associate

By admin in Publications
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How New Skills for Youth States are Defining Criteria for High-quality Career Pathways

Thursday, May 10th, 2018

What defines a high-quality career pathway? Is it alignment to labor market needs and career opportunities? The quality and qualifications of teachers and faculty? Access to meaningful, aligned work-based learning experiences? Perhaps all of the above?

Defining the the components of high-quality career pathways is a critical priority of the 10 states participating in New Skills for Youth (NSFY), an initiative to transform career pathways and student success by expanding options for high school students. NSFY is a partnership of the Council of Chief State School Officers, Education Strategy Group and Advance CTE, generously funded by JP Morgan Chase & Co.

Today, Advance CTE released a series of snapshots highlighting promising practices and achievements of the 10 NSFY states, including the different approaches each state is taking to define and promote high-quality career pathways.

In Massachusetts, a cross-sector committee developed criteria for high-quality college and career pathways (HQCCP), part of an effort to improve career-readiness opportunities for students in the commonwealth. Massachusetts plans to identify, designate and support two types of high-quality secondary pathways: early college pathways, which enable students to earn up to 12 college credits in high school, and innovation pathways, which are aligned with high-demand industries. The joint committee set a high bar to designate each type of pathway. To officially be recognized as a HQCCP, pathways must:

In 2017, Massachusetts began accepting applications to designate HQCCPs, and plans to announce designated sites shortly. These sites will receive support, and in some cases, funding, from the state, and will work together as a community to strengthen meaningful career pathways that are aligned to the joint committee’s HQCCP criteria.

Other NSFY states chose different approaches to defining quality career pathways. Ohio designed a framework for local program administrators to evaluate program quality and make informed decisions about which programs to scale up and which to phase out. The framework is designed using four dimensions: learning environment and culture, business and community engagement, educator collaboration, and pathway design.

Wisconsin took a regional approach through its Pathways Wisconsin pilot. Through the project, which has been rolled out in four regions across the state, regional Pathways Wisconsin directors are working with key stakeholders in their community to identify and recognize different career pathways within priority industry areas.

Defining criteria for high-quality career pathways was a common priority across the NSFY states. Other priorities include:

To learn more about the pursuits of the NSFY cohort, read the 2017 NSFY Snapshot Executive Summary or download individual state snapshots.

Austin Estes, Senior Policy Associate

By admin in Publications, Resources
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Analysis of Labor Market Information is Incomplete without Effective Dissemination of Results

Thursday, November 9th, 2017

Many states, school districts and postsecondary institutions use labor market information (LMI) to justify the creation of new Career Technical Education (CTE) programs and to inform program design. This information, which includes data on the current and projected number of openings in specific industry sectors, as well as data on salary and any technological or policy advancements that may affect the Career Clusters®, can also be used at the state, regional, local and even student levels for career awareness and exploration in priority sectors.

However, the dissemination of LMI has often been carried out in an ad hoc and not a strategic way, hurting the effectiveness of the data itself. Today, Advance CTE released a guide about the effective dissemination of LMI, which will help states think through this process more strategically. The guide highlights work done in Nevada, Kentucky and Washington and their dissemination of LMI to employers, districts and learners, respectively, and poses guiding questions for states to consider for each of those audiences.

This guide was developed through the New Skills for Youth initiative, a partnership of the Council of Chief State School Officers, Advance CTE and Education Strategy Group, generously funded by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

In Nevada, the state leveraged newly restructured Industry Sector Councils to create the 2017 In-Demand Occupations and Insights Report, which lists industries’ job growth and salary information for identified priority sectors along with a crosswalk for employers and CTE practitioners that identifies which occupation titles fall into which career pathways. This allows industry partners and CTE practitioners to communicate about LMI with a common language.

Kentucky similarly worked with industry partners to create a common language and used various data visualizations to share that information with school districts. When sharing LMI with district superintendents and CTE coordinators, the state was deliberate in how it presented the information so the LMI would have the most impact on policy with the least amount of confusion or varying interpretations.

Washington takes the state’s LMI straight to individual learners with Career Bridge, an online portal that allows students to explore career pathways and how they tie directly with job projections within the state. Additionally, the portal lists educational providers for specific career pathways and details student outcomes and other relevant data so that students have as much information as possible about their desired pathway.

All three of these state approaches disseminate LMI in various ways, but each is deliberate and thoughtful in both audience and messaging so that LMI can have the greatest positive effect for CTE programs. Read more about these strategies and examine your state’s approach by accessing the guide here.

Ashleigh McFadden, State Policy Manager

By admin in Advance CTE Resources, Research
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And They’re Off! Early ESSA Plans Signal Enthusiasm for Career Readiness

Thursday, April 6th, 2017

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), reauthorized in 2015 under President Obama, affords states great opportunity to promote career readiness by updating state accountability systems, providing supports for teachers and leaders, and ensuring students can access a “well-rounded education,” including opportunities such as Career Technical Education (CTE). With the first submission window for ESSA plans now officially open, several states have stepped up to the plate, signaling a new era of career readiness.

Amid Transitions in Washington, States Move Forward as Planned

This week’s submission window comes after recent changes to the ESSA plan submission process threatened to derail the timeline. After Congress exercised its rarely-used Congressional Review Act authority earlier this year to revoke certain ESSA regulations, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urged states to stay the course and continue their implementation efforts as planned. Earlier in March, Sec. DeVos released an updated template reorganizing the structure of the state plan and eliminating a few requirements from the Obama administration’s version, providing additional flexibility to states. While this reduced the turnaround time for states to prepare their final plans, states are permitted to submit plans as late as May 3 to provide the governor 30 days to review the final version, as required by statute.

States took these changes in stride, though some are reconsidering their approach to public data reporting. The accountability regulations repealed by Congress earlier this year encouraged the use of a “summative rating” to differentiate school performance. Now that the rule no longer applies, many states are rolling back A-F school report cards in favor of multi-measure dashboards. These changes are largely a response to criticism from local superintendents and other stakeholders who claim that summative reporting is overly simplistic and fails to provide a nuanced picture of school quality.

At Least Ten of First Eighteen States to Count Career Readiness in their Accountability Systems

Eighteen states have signaled they will submit ESSA plans during the initial review window, which opened on April 3. Of those, nine have already submitted plans to the U.S. Department of Education. While Montana and Ohio originally opted to submit by the April 3 deadline, they have since delayed their plans to allow more time for stakeholder engagement. They, along with the remaining states, will submit in September.

A review of draft public-comment plans reveals some promising strategies to strengthen CTE and career preparation opportunities. Of the 18 states submitting plans this week, at least ten plan to use some form of career readiness indicator in their accountability systems. These include:

Other states such as Colorado plan to adopt additional indicators a later date once better systems have been developed to reliably collect and report data. Colorado plans to convene its accountability workgroup again this spring and will explore possible measures of career readiness, including completion of advanced coursework, students graduating with college credit or an industry credential, and post-graduation employment. 

Additional career readiness strategies are present throughout state draft plans. In North Dakota, state policymakers singled out ESSA’s “well-rounded education” requirements to promote CTE, competency-based learning, personalized learning and Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) programs. The state plans to use ESSA’s Student Support and Academic Achievement Grants (authorized under Title IV Part A) to strengthen well-rounded education opportunities and prepare students for postsecondary success.

And in Maine, the Department of Education plans to continue its ongoing Intersections Workshops, which bring together academic and CTE teachers to identify intersections across different content standards. This work was originally started after the state adopted a competency-based education system in 2012.

The first round of state ESSA plans indicates enthusiasm and willingness to leverage federal policy to support career readiness. And even states that do not currently have the technical capacity to do so are taking steps to adopt such measures. With months remaining until the second submission deadline in September, we encourage states to examine ESSA’s increased flexibility and seize the opportunity to strengthen career readiness systems statewide.

Austin Estes, Policy Associate

By admin in Legislation, News, Public Policy
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