This year, as we have been moving forward with the vision for Career Technical Education (CTE), several State Directors have shared with us a mix of implementation stories that been enlightening, fascinating, and moreover, we believe to be very useful to share with other State Directors as a wealth of information, loaded with ‘toolbox’ strategies to use as they make the journey within their own states.
Mike Raponi, State Director from Nevada, has submitted his journey in his own words, which will now be shared with you.
 “I have felt as though I am in a very interesting position. I have worked in CTE at the Department of Education for over 20 years and have served a long stint as acting director. I have now been in this job officially for about six weeks and things feel very different, much different than I thought they would. It is very exciting.
Looking at things from 30,000 feet now, I am very anxious to move forward on some initiatives to really help CTE in Nevada. What we hope to accomplish would transcend all goals of the new vision for CTE. A few key areas are shown below:
- Improve and expand state-approved skill standards;
- Develop a system using technical assessments to measure skill attainment and as a means to drive improved instruction;
- Add value to program completion through credentialing;
- Develop a system of industry partnerships for each sector (career cluster);
- Fully utilize industry partnerships (possibly in the form of councils) to validate standards;
- Expand our CTE accountability system to look at new windows of opportunity to report outcomes (above and beyond Perkins Act measures);
- Develop a program review model that ensures ongoing constructive reviews to ensure state standards are fully taught through local curricula; and
- Establish criteria to change, improve and develop CTE programs based on real and projected labor market needs.
We would also like to accomplish a move from program areas to career clusters and market CTE systematically through planned, ongoing promotions, information bulletins, and accountability briefs.â€
 Submitted by: Mike Raponi, Director
Office of Career, Technical & Adult Education
Nevada Department of Education
Thank you, Mike, for sharing your story. State Directors, if you would like to share your vision implementation story, please e-mail Ramona Schescke, NASDCTEc Member Services Manager at rschescke@careertech.org.
Tags: vision