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‘We Must Move Beyond Compliance’: Top Moments from Advance CTE June Meeting Series Day One!

June 13th, 2022

On June 8, Advance CTE held the first of three events that encompass our Virtual June Meeting Series. The series offers three opportunities to equip Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders with the latest research and innovations, empower them to succeed, and elevate their work to raise awareness of the value of CTE.

The first week ‘s sessions centered around the theme EQUIP: Building Our Capacity to Lead With A Focus On Quality and Equity. Attendees heard from inspiring keynote speaker Drexell Owusu, Chief Impact Officer for the Dallas Foundation, followed by content-rich breakouts and discussions to build connections and knowledge. Each breakout session was aligned to one of the five foundational commitments of CTE Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education.

Keep reading for top moments and quotes from the day!

Keynote: Pursuing Next-Level Collaboration to Jumpstart Systems Change

“(We are in) a game of influence. I can’t tell an employer what to do … and I can’t tell my school district, or city, or county what to do. This is all about making the case for change through data management and influence through relationships.” – Drexell Owusu

Dallas Foundation Chief Impact Officer Drexell Owusu was candid about the equity and quality of life challenges facing residents of Dallas. However, he was equally optimistic about the role that CTE can have in providing high-quality pathways to maximize recent economic growth and increase the number of young adults achieving a living wage to 50 percent within one generation. He identified five strategies that comprise the Dallas Thrives initiative to achieve this goal.

Taking Dallas’ learnings and applying them to a state audience, Owusu shared that state CTE leaders are crucial in using existing convening levers to connect systems and share information; bringing and keeping employers and staff beyond the CEO at the table; providing capacity to analyze and share data; and “democratizing” information about CTE programs.

Data Breakout: Developing Data Policies and Procedures to Monitor, Evaluate and Improve Postsecondary CTE Programs

“So much data use is focused on compliance and descriptive analysis. That’s not all that actionable. We can do so much more to deepen analysis if we make the time and space.” – Miriam Greenberg

Miriam Greenberg, Director of the Strategic Data Project at the Harvard University Center for Education Policy Research, shared their Strategic Data Project CTE Diagnostic Tool as a means to evaluate current data components and how that data is being used. Montana State CTE Director Jacque Treaster shared how their state team leveraged Advance CTE’s Opportunity Gap Analysis Workshop to transform their professional development, cross-team collaboration and staff structure to create a data-informed culture.

Equity Breakout: Equity in Education: Building Inclusive, Equitable, and Responsive CTE Programs

“In the 1980s, we heard a lot about diversity. We still have a challenge there. But we realized it’s not simply getting folks around the table or in the classroom. It’s also ensuring that those who are there are fully engaged, are welcomed and have the opportunity to use all their skills and talents.” – Dr. Kumea Shorter-Gooden

Advance CTE’s Equity Coach, Dr. Kumea Shorter-Gooden, led a nuanced and timely discussion on today’s challenges in conducting meaningful equity work. She guided attendees on the differences between equity and equality and emphasized the crucial triangle of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Lane Community College Director of High School School Connections and Advance CTE-ECMCF Fellow Justin Chin led an illuminating presentation on Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) learners and their unique assets and barriers to achieving college and career success. In particular, he focused on how the ‘Model Minority Myth’ and the concept of social capital impact this this population’s perception of CTE, and provided culturally responsive strategies to help these learners see themselves in CTE.

Public-Private Partnerships Breakout: Cultivating Public-Private Partnerships to Maximize Learner Access, Social Capital and Opportunity

“We quickly realized that we need to bring people to help speak to students in a way they understand and connect with. That’s part of the shifting that industry and adapting that we had to do to make. We had to personalize the experience for the students.” – Gabe Madison

Thomson Reuters Director of Community Relations Gabe Madison shared an industry perspective on strategies that states can pursue to help employers personalize their interactions with learners and maximize feedback loops, such as convening industry leaders organized by sectors to gather feedback on program design. She also broke down Thomson Reuter’s partnership Dallas Independent School District (ISD) P-Tech program and their focus on helping learners explore careers and build social capital.

Quality Breakout: Designing Learner-Centered Career Navigation and Support Structures for Marginalized Learners

“[Our institution] is driven by five lenses: student focus, success focus, future focus, work focus and community focus.” – Deanna Strauss Hersko

Lorain County Community College Manager of Career Technical Pathways & Programs Deanna Strauss Hersko framed improving CTE program quality as a focus on five lenses and tailoring supports to meet both learners and staff where they are. She provided a rich breakdown of institution-level supports, such as the Careers by Design badge to support each learner in exploring careers, reducing barriers to participating in CTE programs and informing learners on education options.

Ohio Department of Education Program Administrator Catherine Allen shared the state’s innovative approaches to building cohesive and responsive career preparation ecosystems that engage all stakeholders. This includes a tax incentive pilot for employers to expand work-based learning experiences and a program quality focus group that is exploring innovative CTE delivery models.

Systems Alignment Breakout: Systems Alignment that Benefits Learners Through Collaboration and Coordination of Federal Policy

“We recognize this work cannot happen overnight but will require a shared commitment and shared ownership among our leaders ….across education, workforce development, industry and philanthropy. Only together – through persistence, resilience, bravery, boldness, and commitment – can we realize the possibility and aspiration of a new career preparation ecosystem that provides each learner with limitless opportunities.” – CTE Without Limits

Systems alignment is a seemingly elusive yet long-sought after goal among federal education and workforce programs. New America Senior Policy Advisor Lul Tesfai and National Governors Association Program Director Amanda Winters shared best practices from states like Arizona, Indiana, and Pennsylvania and others that have leveraged funds provided through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) to meet complex learner and worker needs through multiple systems and programs. In particular, they encouraged centering decisions and investments on the needs of learners and workers and including their voices in system redesign. Advance CTE has the following related resources available: Coordinating across WIOA and Perkins and State Uses of ARP Funds.

It is not too late to register for the remaining Empower and Elevate session of the June Meeting Series, scheduled for June 15 and June 22 from 2 to 5 p.m. ET, respectively. Visit the June Meeting Series event webpage to view the full agenda and to register.

Stacy Whitehouse, Senior Associate Communications and State Engagement

Tags: Access and Equity, American Recue Plan, Data, data quality, employer partnership, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, postsecondary, Program Quality, Sector Partnerships, Stimulus Funding
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Recap of Without Limits: Reflections on a Shared Vision for the Future of CTE

March 19th, 2021

This week, Advance CTE released its third shared-vision, Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education, which calls for a cohesive, flexible, and responsive career preparation ecosystem that will close equity gaps in educational outcomes and workforce readiness, and leverage CTE as a catalyst for ensuring each learner can reach success in the career of their choice.

This vision is supported by 38 national organizations that represent the full continuum of CTE learners and stakeholders. It lays out five inter-connected and equally critical principles:

Each learner engages in a cohesive, flexible, and responsive career preparation ecosystem
Each learner feels welcome in, is supported by, and has the means to succeed in the career preparation ecosystem
Each learner skillfully navigates their own career journey
Each learner’s skills are counted, valued, and portable
Each learner can access CTE without borders

To celebrate the release of this new vision, on Thursday, March 18th, Advance CTE hosted a live virtual event, “Without Limits: Reflections on a Shared Vision for the Future of CTE” featuring leaders across workforce, philanthropy, education administration, and higher education to share their perspectives on vision themes and impact.

Advance CTE Executive Director, Kimberly Green, kicked the event off with opening remarks, centering the importance of shared-commitment and shared-ownership to realize the possibility and aspiration of a new career preparation ecosystem, “This vision reminds us of our responsibility as leaders to have courageous conversations, challenge tradition and status quo, and to take the risk of trying to do new things. It takes us working together across systems, across states and across sectors to realize the aspiration and the hope of this vision.”

For the remainder of the event, Sara Allan moderated the panel composed of Dr. Adrienne Battle, Emily Fabiano and Dr. Nicole Smith, focusing on the areas of the vision the speakers were most excited about, work they are doing related to the vision and advice for how to get started. Major themes discussed were the importance of alignment across K-12, postsecondary, workforce and industry sectors, attending to equity, and the need to take an integrated approach to providing opportunities to learners. Emily Fabiano stressed the importance of leadership in driving this vision forward: “We can as leaders bring organizations together – the programs, the data and the priorities – to do the backend work to create those seamless pathways.” Nicole Smith commended the strong focus on equity, sharing “in many ways the shared vision has redefined equity. It includes all dimensions of equity – educational, racial, socio-economic, gender and geographic.”

The speakers also pointed to our country’s current reality. In the past year, the pandemic and economic recession have highlighted existing disparities between who has and does not have access to opportunities. Now more than ever, learners need practical and efficient educational options to successfully enter the rapidly changing workforce. This vision has the potential to do right by learners and provide the opportunities they need to learn career skills that will launch them into a promising future. As Sara Allan noted, “This blueprint for action couldn’t come at a more important moment.”

In closing, Dr. Battle reminded listeners to, “be courageous, be willing to not have all the answers and to know you will fall down before you walk or run. Despite all of that, we have to stay the course. This work will take time, collaboration and investment of time, talent and resources.”

To get started, visit careertech.org/without-limits to read the vision, view the vision supporters and sign on to stay engaged as this ambitious and bold shared-vision is implemented in states, districts and industry sectors across the country.

Special thanks to our 38 national partners for supporting this vision and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Strada Education Network for making this event possible.

Christina Koch, Policy Associate

Tags: CTE Vision
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Recap of CTE Forward: A Summit on CTE’s Impact & Promise

October 14th, 2020

Last month, Advance CTE and nine organizations representing education, workforce and employers hosted CTE Forward: A Summit on CTE’s Impact and Promise. The virtual event spanned two days and brought together nearly 200 leaders representing the Career Technical Education (CTE) continuum to collaborate, reimagine and contribute to a bold vision for CTE.

The CTE Forward Summit built on Advance CTE’s previous national Summits – held every five years – and will lead to the development of a shared vision for CTE. This vision, which must be both daring and measurable, will serve as the “true north” for the CTE community and its key partners in the coming years as we work to raise the quality of CTE pathways, ensure each learner has access to and the supports needed to be successful in those pathways and provide economic opportunity for everyone.

To kick off the event, participants were asked to examine the many disruptions impacting all aspects of the nation’s systems today – from the economy to technology to the education system – unpacking the innovations that can and should be generated from disruptive forces impacting our society and CTE.

Participants also discussed the foundational commitments, or the non-negotiable elements of high-quality and equitable CTE that are essential to meeting the needs of learners and employers and supporting our nation’s continued economic vitality, competitiveness and growth in the future.

As sessions built on each other over the two days, the group discussed desired outcomes where they visualized a stronger, more responsive and more equitable CTE system and began to lay out a roadmap to build that system. These forward-looking, bold and daring ideas gathered during those sessions will define CTE’s impact and promise in the future.

“We have to look at things from a systems perspective, recognizing that the systems have been set up to get the outcomes they get. If we want different outcomes, then the systems have to be reimagined.”

“That CTE means more than just Perkins and Perkins funding.”

“Everyone is ready for a true system transformation.”

“This is the way we’ve always done it, well we shouldn’t do it this way anymore.”

Our Partners

We were incredibly thankful for the amazing participation from not only the Summit contributors but also from our co-convenors:

Association for Career and Technical Education
Council of Chief State School Officers
National Association of State Boards of Education
National Association of State Workforce Agencies
National Conference of State Legislatures
National Governors Association
National Skills Coalition
State Higher Education Executive Officers
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation

This also wouldn’t have been possible without support from the Summit Sponsors:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Siemens Foundation
ECMC Foundation
Strada Education Network
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Lumina Foundation

You can hear about why they chose to support the CTE Forward Summit in the short videos linked above.

Next Steps

Over the coming months, Advance CTE, with input from the co-conveners, will develop a vision for CTE and release it in Spring 2021. This vision will be used by state leaders to continue to ensure that no matter what the country looks like now and in the future, CTE remains high quality, forward-focused, and equitable so that each and every learner has the opportunity for career success.

Katie Fitzgerald, Director of Communications and Membership

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Reflections on Perkins V Implementation Meetings

October 30th, 2019

Baby, It’s Bold Inside

Last year, within three months after the reauthorization of Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21^st Century Act (Perkins V), Advance CTE partnered with the Association for Career & Technical Education (ACTE), the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) to host four regional Perkins V implementation meetings across the country to unpack the new law and help states get a jumpstart on their planning.

Building on interest from our members – and support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Joyce Foundation – we decided to host another round of three Perkins V implementation meetings, joined once again by our excellent partners. Over the course of three months, we brought together about 300 leaders from across 44 states and Washington, DC, along with invited national CTE and workforce development experts from over 20 partner organizations, including National Skills Coalition, National Governors Association, ExcelinEd, Council of Chief State School Officers, New America, Education Strategy Group and others, to help states:

Collaborate with peers from other states to share ideas and solutions on major strategies within their Perkins V state plans, with a focus on quality, equity, data, systems alignment and career advisement;
Work with their state team to review and strengthen their Perkins V plans based on input from national experts, peers and in-state stakeholder engagement; and
Leave with clear next steps for strengthening their Perkins V state plans to advance a statewide vision for CTE that is innovative, bold and prioritizes quality and equity.

At each meeting, states had the chance to present on their draft plans and strategies and get direct, actionable feedback from their peers and the invited partners. State leaders dug in deeply on issues including improving the quality of CTE programs/programs of study, closing equity gaps, leveraging the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment to drive local innovation and learner-focused programming, aligning CTE and workforce development, and meaningful engagement of key stakeholders, such as Tribal communities and employers.

It was truly inspiring to learn so much from states, see how BOLD they were willing to be and have the opportunity to give real-time input into states’ Perkins V plans!

Kate Kreamer, Deputy Executive Director

*Photos courtesy of Bob Witchger

Tags: Perkins, Perkins V
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Tackling Rural CTE Challenges on Capitol Hill

August 2nd, 2018

What can state leaders do to expand access to high-quality career technical education (CTE) in rural communities? That was the focus of an event held last Thursday by the Congressional CTE Caucus, in coordination with Advance CTE.

The event featured state and local leaders from diverse geographies, who shared their experiences with delivering CTE in rural communities, highlighting both barriers and best practices. The co-chairs of the Congressional CTE Caucus, Representatives Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Jim Langevin (D-RI), also stopped by the event to provide remarks about the value of CTE and weigh in on the state of rural CTE.

As Representative Thompson (R-PA), who comes from a largely rural area in Pennsylvania, noted at the beginning of the event, “CTE restores rungs on the ladder of opportunity. We need to make sure that we are dealing with the barriers,” so that CTE can help close opportunity gaps and extend a bridge to lifelong career success. However, rural communities often face obstacles like scarce resources, critical teacher shortages and a limited employer base that make it difficult to deliver high-quality CTE at scale. As Advance CTE found through their interviews with state CTE leaders, these challenges are common across geographies, yet they are often exacerbated in rural communities (find all of the briefs in the CTE on the Frontier series here).

How can state and local leaders tackle these challenges? During the event, Dr. Marcie Mack — state CTE director for Oklahoma, spoke about Oklahoma’s career-tech system and the value of employer partnerships in rural CTE, particularly with Oklahoma’s technology center districts, which deliver CTE programs to high school, postsecondary, adult and justice-involved students.

We were pleased to also feature on the panel a 2018 Excellence in Action award winner, Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District Career-Tech Center. Stephanie Long, curriculum supervisor for TBAISD, shared about the difficulty of connecting learners from rural districts with the high-quality CTE programming her career-tech center provides. The center serves a region as large as the state of Delaware, with many students traveling hours a day to get to and from classes. The center provides buses during the day and bus passes after school hours to help these learners access high-quality CTE.

Jan Hanlon, executive director for the Mountain State Education Service Cooperative, discussed how West Virginia is tackling access challenges through Simulated Workplace programs. Through Simulated Workplace, more than 24,000 students annually develop real-world skills by participating in a realistic classroom-based company where they have to meet expectations for attendance, safety, sobriety and professionalism, just as they would need if employed by a local business. Representative Langevin (D-RI) of Rhode Island wrapped up the discussion with an important closing thought: “We can’t expect businesses to grow if we don’t have the workforce available.”

As the event’s panelists underscored, CTE is a critical strategy to help rural America adapt to the 21st century economy. The aftershocks of the Great Recession are still being felt in rural America today, where many learners are disconnected from opportunities to reskill and prepare for the jobs of tomorrow. CTE can help these learners build the skills they need for lifelong success and equip them with the knowledge and abilities to adapt to an ever-changing economy.

Austin Estes, Senior Policy Associate

Tags: Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson, Congressman Jim Langevin, Michigan, Oklahoma, rural, Simulated Workplace, Traverse Bay, West Virginia
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Advance CTE Spring Meeting Sponsor Blog: CompTIA is at the Forefront of Helping Prepare Students to Become Job-ready

April 2nd, 2018

This post is written by CompTIA, a Diamon Level sponsor of the 2018 Advance CTE Spring Meeting.

Currently, there are more than 600,000 open IT jobs and not nearly enough qualified candidates to fill them. Does anyone anticipate this number going down? We certainly don’t. As everything becomes more and more connected—lightbulbs, appliances, smart grids—the need also increases to maintain and secure these connections. In addition, IT is everywhere! There is NO industry which doesn’t have IT needs.

Did you know:

Median IT job salaries are nearly $40,000 higher than non-IT jobs
The global IT industry now exceeds $5 TRILLION and is expected to grow 5% in 2018
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the IT Security Analyst position is the fastest growing job they have ever seen
85 percent of executives indicate there is an IT skills gap in their business

A great way to visualize the size of the skills gap is to visit the website www.CyberSeek.org. This site was developed from a grant from the National Initiative for CyberSecurity Education (NICE) and data from Burning Glass. The site includes very recent job data to illustrate the need for qualified cyber workers by state, region and nation. There is also a cyber pathway tool that shows specific cyber jobs, salaries and openings in the US.

We need to work together to help students and educators understand the vast opportunities in technology careers. Employers are looking for candidates that can demonstrate the skills needed to fill technology positions in almost every industry sector.

Providing students with the proper preparation AND an industry-recognized credential will help them stand out during their career search. Keeping skills current and relevant is a challenge, but one answer is to ensure that they obtain Industry-Recognized Certifications. More than 72 percent of businesses say they believe IT skills certifications are becoming more important.

CompTIA is at the forefront of helping prepare students to become job-ready:

We have certified more than 2 million individuals worldwide, and are the largest vendor-neutral IT certification body in the world
Our certifications are recognized globally
Our Academy Partner Program works with secondary and post-secondary schools to support their efforts to train and certify students
We now have our own CompTIA Training Strategies Group, which can do custom training for trainers or students

What can you do NOW to help properly prepare students for a rewarding IT career? It must first start in our high schools:

Instructors need to be certified in the certifications they are teaching
Help students understand the importance recognized certification credentials;
Certifications=Jobs, and most colleges provide credit for industry-recognized certifications towards a degree
Combine classroom-based instruction with work-based learning opportunities—apprenticeships, visits to local businesses, etc.

CompTIA is here to help! Our Academy Partner Program (free to schools) provides:

Complimentary instructor vouchers and CertMaster online learning companion
Significantly discounted certification vouchers for students
CompTIA Instructor Network community to network with other teachers and provide webinars on how to teach our certifications.
Research, posters, case studies and other resources

Working together, we can help students get started towards an exciting career in the tech industry. Please stop by our tabletop to learn more.

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Advance CTE Spring Meeting Sponsor Blog: Oracle Academy Reflects on CTE

March 14th, 2018

This post is written by the Oracle Academy, a Diamon Level sponsor of the 2018 Advance CTE Spring Meeting.

One of the many advantages of being the North America Oracle Academy Regional Director, is the opportunity to spend time talking with education leaders at the State, K12 District, school site, and post-secondary level from all over the nation. I spend time learning, sharing ideas, celebrating successes, and understanding challenges that these leaders face each day. These conversations and experiences are often the most exciting yet humbling part of my job. February is celebrated as CTE Month and this year, I found myself reflecting on the impact that Career Technical Education (CTE) has on our students both now and in the future. A few thoughts to share are:

Reflection #1: CTE continues to evolve to meet changing needs. State and District leadership continue to strive to build sustainable and real-world CTE Pathways that lead our students to college and career success. It’s the CTE leadership that can both anticipate and leverage, through research and relationships, the corporate workforce need and then translate that need into CTE pathways for students to pursue. Many of these pathways include applicable industry certifications, apprenticeship/internships, and defined articulation programs with feeder post-secondary institutions. At Oracle Academy, we work to ensure our resources continue to support the needs of CTE leadership through curriculum and certification opportunities that reflect industry needs.

Reflection #2: Collaboration between local industry and education leadership continue to drive CTE student success. This isn’t a new concept but what I’ve noticed is an uptick in our education and industry leadership working together to create applicable internships, apprenticeships, and mentorships to support the interest of our students. I’ve heard over and over again the importance that these roles play in supporting and creating sustainable CTE programs. At Oracle Academy, our role revolves around building the best classroom resources for the student and teacher so that their content knowledge and often times, confidence, is foundationally strong so that attainment of first time internships and/or apprenticeships are successful.

Reflection #3: A focused effort and persistence will prevail! As we all know, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act is critical to ensuring that quality and sustainable CTE programs meet the changing needs of learners and employers. This act works to improve the academic and technical achievement of CTE students, helps to strengthen the bridge between secondary and post-secondary, and balances the student need with that of a new economy. As parents, educators, and leaders, it’s our duty to encourage organizations, like CareerTech, that advocate on behalf of CTE programs as well as the teachers and students dedicated to CTE success. Oracle Academy supports this mission by continuing to provide our world-class student-facing curriculum and educator professional development – aligned to the IT Career Cluster Pathway – for FREE.

For those of you not familiar, Oracle Academy is Oracle’s flagship program in education philanthropy, currently supporting more than 3.5 million students annually in 120 countries. We advance computing technology education to increase knowledge, skills development, innovation and diversity in computing fields by providing:

free academic curriculum (database and Java),
free teacher professional development,
free software licenses for teaching and academic, not-for-profit research

Two years ago, we introduced Oracle Certified Junior Associate certifications in database and Java; these certification exams align to our Java Foundations and Database Foundations courses and are specifically designed with students in mind to help support internship, summer job, and first job applications.

Oracle Academy exists to improve the computing technology skills of young people, globally! If we strengthen the computing technology pathway between secondary, post-secondary, and career, we are essentially strengthening the future for our children!

Career Technical Education holds a very special place in my heart and I hope this blog reflects both the love and respect that I have for CTE programs and its significant impact on student achievement!

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Two Webinars Digging into Federal and State Policy: Register Today!

January 18th, 2018

CTE & Federal Policy: Recapping the Highlights of 2017
Date: January 25, 2018
Time: 1 – 2 p.m. ET

Last year marked a big year for Career Technical Education (CTE) in the federal policy arena. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career Technical Education Act of 2006, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce passed the “Promoting Real Opportunity, Success and Prosperity Through Education Reform” (PROSPER) Act, an update to the Higher Education Act, and states submitted their plans for implementing The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Amidst all this activity, an omnibus appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2017 passed Congress and a sweeping tax reform bill was signed into law.

Join us on for a webinar to recap the federal policy highlights of 2017 and their impact on CTE. Participants will hear from Kimberly Green, Executive Director of Advance CTE, Kathryn Zekus, Senior Associate for Federal Policy at Advance CTE, and Debbie Mills, Director of the National Career Pathways Network.

State Policies Impacting CTE: 2017 Year in Review
Date: January 31, 2018
Time: 2 – 3 p.m. ET

The national profile of CTE continued to grow in 2017, with nearly every state adopting new policies related to CTE and career readiness. From redesigning accountability systems to expanding apprenticeship opportunities, state leaders are working to connect learners at all levels with seamless pathways to meaningful careers.

This webinar from Advance CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education will unpack findings from the State Policies Impacting CTE: 2017 Year in Review report. The webinar will explore recent trends in state CTE policy and examine how the CTE policy landscape has changed over the past few years. Participants will also hear from state leaders and explore policy developments in their states.

Katie Fitzgerald, Senior Communications Associate

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Register Now for the 2018 Spring Meeting

January 10th, 2018

Join us April 4 – 6 in Washington, DC for the 2018 Advance CTE Spring Meeting to learn, network and engage with more than 200 Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders from across the country. This year’s conference is poised to be one of Advance CTE’s best, where you can expect to:

Hear the latest about Congress’ efforts to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act and the Higher Education Act;
Network with CTE leaders from the local, state and national level;
Collaborate with your peers to share best practices and find cross-state solutions to common CTE challenges; and
Celebrate innovative and effective programs of study during our 5th annual Excellence in Action award ceremony and luncheon.

Katie Fitzgerald, Senior Associate, Communications

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Recapping the 2017 ACTE CareerTech VISION Conference (Part 1)

December 13th, 2017

Note: Once again this year, Advance CTE attended the CareerTech VISION conference hosted by our partners, the Association for Career and Technical Education. What follows are our staff’s highlights and favorite moments.

Career Clusters at CareerTech VISION

Every year, ACTE and Advance CTE join forces to provide attendees with the opportunity to engage in informative sessions featuring best practices in program and policy, lessons learned and innovations within the Career ClustersⓇ, a national framework for organizing quality CTE programs and cultivating collaboration between secondary and postsecondary CTE. This strand, which is curated by Advance CTE, included a number of sessions digging into compelling topics and providing resources that are useful to national, state and local leaders across the country. Here are a few of our favorites:

Selling CTE to Parents and Students

In the session, “Selling CTE: Strategies to Attract Students to High-quality CTE,” staff presented the results of our research study released earlier this year in, The Value and Promise of Career Technical Education: Results from a National Survey of Parents and Students, providing an overview of the following takeaways:

Students and parents involved in CTE are overwhelmingly more satisfied with their education as compared to those not involved in CTE.
Finding a career passion was the most important critical selling point for parents and students (over 90 percent) – even surpassing having a career that pays well;
The vast majority of parents and students (85 percent) continue to value college as the post-high school aspiration;
CTE has an awareness challenge;
Across the board, CTE programs are most valued for their ability to provide real-world skills within the education system, offering concrete and tangible benefits related to college and career success; and
Counselors, teachers and CTE students and alumni are among the most trusted sources of information for students and parents alike.

The session room was packed with more than 70 teachers and administrators seeking to learn how state and local leaders are tackling the CTE perception challenge. One state example included Maryland, which recently released a social media guide to be used in districts across the state.

Sharing CTE Excellence

Additionally, we were excited to put together a session that highlighted two of the 2017 Excellence in Action award winners, hailing from Tennessee and Mississippi. The award, which recognizes innovative and impactful programs of study across the 16 Career Clusters, provides Advance CTE with the opportunity to highlight exciting programs that serve students with the academic and technical knowledge and skills they need to be successful in careers of their choosing.

Tyra Pilgrim, CTE Coordinator for Rutherford County Schools, presented on Oakland High School’s Mechatronics program and winner in the Manufacturing Career Cluster. The Mechatronic program, in its fourth year, was developed through collaboration with the school district and employers including Bridgestone and the Manufacturing Leadership Council. Pilgrim cited partnerships with postsecondary education and industry leaders as a key component to a program that provides students with pathways to both college and careers. She backed up the program’s success with compelling data demonstrating student achievement, including all students earning postsecondary credit and graduating high school, and 94 percent enrolling in postsecondary education and earning industry recognized credentials.

Eric Williams, Assistant Director, Emergency Medical Technology, Jones County Junior College (JCJC), followed Pilgrim’s presentation with an overview of Jones County Junior College’s Emergency Medical Technology program, a winner for the Health Sciences Career Cluster. JCJC, a model for rural postsecondary education in the south, requires learners to participate in 500 hours of training under the direct guidance of an industry expert and offers seven industry recognized credentials. Williams boasted that students have a 90 percent first-time pass rate on the professional qualifying exam, which far exceeds the national average of 60 percent.

Williams similarly highlighted partnerships as a critical component, not only with industry and secondary education, but also with community organizations. Throughout the year, he attends events ranging from blood drives to Halloween parades to get the word out about JCJC and more effectively market the program. This has resulted in an increase of participation from two students when Williams took over the program, to a yearly participation rate of 25, the cap for the program of study.

Both award winning programs provided attendees with two examples of exemplary programs and insights into how to effectively build a successful program of study.

Katie Fitzgerald, Austin Estes, Kate Kreamer, Kimberly Green, and Andrea Zimmermann — Advance CTE staff

Tags: ACTE, Mississippi, tennessee
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Baby, It’s Bold Inside

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