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 Dr. John Foster, President/CEO of NOCTI, Big Rapids, MI.
States have varying requirements for certification of Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers who enter the system from alternative paths. In some states, these teachers fall into an “alternative certification†category. Regardless of whether these individuals have received college-level coursework, they rarely have had extensive preparation to become a teacher, much less a CTE teacher. Schools hiring these individuals to teach their programs require current industry experience and many times, the trade-off is an individual with limited preparation in teaching pedagogies.
There are many other topics that individuals who go through a traditional teacher certification track are exposed to, including student assessment which focuses on how to use assessments for instructional improvement. As times have changed, there are additional alternative uses for assessments such as the more formal inclusion of assessments in states’ teacher evaluation models.  Assessments play a key role in each of these areas.
Thanks to a combination of universities, current needs, and NOCTI board members, modules have been developed providing research-based information about assessments. Though module development was led by NOCTI, the majority of the content it is applicable to any third-party technical assessment. These modules are available free of charge as a service to the CTE community we serve and focus on two areas:
1) Understanding CTE assessment/certification systems; and
2) Understanding and preparing for teacher and student level competency tests.
While our session is not intended to be a formal training in traditional teaching pedagogy, it will provide helpful information about important components of a classroom setting including assessments, psychometrics, and utilizing data within the classroom. With a high demand for high quality CTE teachers, providing resources for training these individuals to prepare tomorrow’s workforce is extremely important.
Our session will include a review of the developed CTE Teacher Modules and suggest module implementation ideas as part of a professional development workshop, an in-service for newly hired teachers and/or as a portion of a university course. Stop by this session to learn some basics about assessment and take your skills to a new level!
Dr. Foster’s breakout session is Tuesday, June 11, 2013 in Session C, 8:45 a.m.-9:45 a.m. Co-presenter is Mrs. Amie Bloomfield, Customer Care and Outreach Manager, NOCTI, Big Rapids, MI.
Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager
For more information, please go to www.nocti.org
Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager
Tags: Career Clusters®