Earlier this  month, we held the 2017 Advance CTE Spring Meeting, which brought over 200 participants from across the country together to dive into all things CTE. From digging into new research to updates on federal policy, hear what our staff had to say as they reflected on this year’s meeting in this three-part series. 

This year’s Spring Meeting was one of Advance CTE’s largest to date, and featured a strong, forward-looking agenda that covered the biggest issues in CTE today. We had not one – but two keynote speakers and a range of panels and small group discussions designed to support leaders in strengthening their state systems and increasing access and opportunity for all learners.

More than 200 national, state and local leaders came together from across the country, including 41 State CTE Directors. We saw attendees – many of whom are Advance CTE members – from 48 states, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This great turnout is a personal point of pride for me as the staff person in charge of our professional development offerings and member engagement.

It also makes me excited for our future meetings. Starting on July 1, the Advance CTE state membership will expand to include up to five individuals. So far, 41 states have exercised this new member benefit, which will cover 136 additional individuals along with the State Directors. Nearly two-thirds of these individuals are new members of Advance CTE, and hail from across the continuum of CTE.

The prospect of these new members make it an exciting time to be a part of Advance CTE, and bring with them the opportunities for us to connect members based on their role in CTE to bring new dimensions to the cross-state sharing and networking that is the cornerstone of our organization.

Not yet a member? Today is the perfect day to join “the family”! Member benefits include discounted meeting registration, which you can use at our next in-person meeting.

We hope to see all of you October 16-18 at our Fall Meeting at the BWI Marriott just outside Baltimore, Maryland!

Andrea Zimmermann, Senior Associate, Member Engagement and Leadership Development

Over the past few weeks, I have had the great pleasure of interviewing our 11 Excellence in Action award winners about their amazing programs of study, bringing their applications to life (you can read the two-pagers we created for each program based on their interview here). What is clear is that every program is led by dedicated and enthusiastic educators and administrators that deliver innovative and rigorous programs of study uniquely tailored to their students. These programs provide their students with the ability to find their passions while still in high school, all while earning credits, certifications, and networking with employers.

Earlier this month, we honored these 11 programs at our awards ceremony during the 2017 Spring Meeting. Hailing from 10 states and spanning 11 Career Clusters, they collectively serve over 1,500 students by providing high-quality programs that prepare learners for future success in their education and career goals. 25 program leaders representing education and industry came from as far as California to be recognized by Advance CTE and the over 200 state leaders in attendance.

State CTE Directors introduced each program, and recognized them for seamlessly combining academic coursework and real-life, hands on experiences with industry experts; supported transitions from secondary to postsecondary education, all backed up by incredible data. I encourage you to read more about each program, and look to them as models in the country.

Katie Fitzgerald, Senior Associate, Communications

Last week, we held the 2017 Advance CTE Spring Meeting, which brought over 200 participants from across the country together to dive into all things CTE. From digging into new research to updates on federal policy, hear what our staff had to say as they reflected on this year’s meeting in this three-part series. 

As the topic of career readiness continues to gain prominence in state policy conversations, state and local CTE leaders have been increasingly interested in career advising and counseling as strategies for improving career readiness. In response to that interest, Advance CTE had two sessions at our Spring Meeting on counseling.

The first was our keynote speaker on the second day of the meeting, 2017 School Counselor of the Year, Terri Tchorzynski. Terri, a school counselor at the Calhoun Area Career Center in Battle Creek, Michigan, spoke about how she uses data to plan interventions that support students’ needs not just emotionally, but academically as well. For me, it was informative to hear her discussions on the stigmas and perceptions facing both CTE and counseling, and her superhero examples led to an unofficial theme for the day – describing the people who do this work on the ground in schools as true superheroes.

The second session that day on counseling was a breakout led by Jill Cook, Assistant Director of the American School Counselor Association. In her session, Jill led a discussion with our members on the role counselors can and should play in schools, and how they can support CTE. This information seemed particularly relevant given the report just released on the attitudes of students and parents when it comes to CTE. I’m excited to continue this conversation and find ways for counselors and CTE leaders to work together and help learners.

Ashleigh McFadden, State Policy Manager

At last year’s spring meeting we debuted new candies printed with the brand-new Advance CTE logo. We jokingly referred to these as “Advance-mints” in recognition of the new name.

Candy-related puns aside, advancement was a clear and unspoken theme at the 2017 spring meeting. This year’s conference explored thorny issues, celebrated exemplar programs and continued to advance an ambitious agenda centered around the organization’s Putting Learner Success First vision for the future of CTE.

On Tuesday afternoon, Advance CTE coordinated five concurrent workshop sessions, building on a new idea introduced at the October convening. These sessions were designed to help participants go deep on a particular issue and work through challenges with experts in the field. Each session took a different approach — some included panel discussions, while others required participants to roll up their sleeves and work on material they could take back to their states. But the aim of each session was the same: to inspire deep thinking and idea sharing and advance the caliber of the field.

The topics for the five sessions included:

• Determining Quality Industry-Recognized Credentials
• Driving Continuous Improvement through Meaningful Local Program Evaluation
• Finding the Right Message for Students and Parents
• Input Session: CTE Program Approval Policy Framework
• Using Career Readiness Data to Drive Student Success

I attended “Driving Continuous Improvement,” which was developed and run by Sandra Staklis and Laura Rasmussen Foster at RTI International. Through a technical assistance contract with the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE), RTI has been working with different states to identify relevant metrics and design rubrics to support monitoring and accountability at the local level. In North Carolina, RTI helped design a CTE program evaluation instrument that local districts have since been using to evaluate the quality and health of their programs. In Wyoming, a similar rubric is being used to facilitate regional conversations, using data to explore continuous improvement opportunities.

In the session, we unpacked trends RTI uncovered in their work, and helped participants explore potential metrics to use in their own states. At my table, we decided to prioritize student success outcomes, pulling out metrics such as the “percentage of CTE students enrolling in postsecondary without requiring remediation” and “percentage of CTE students employed in high wage, high demand fields after graduation.” Although these indicators are often the hardest to measure, they are no less important in determining program success.

Austin Estes, Policy Associate

This post is written by CompTIA, a Platinum Level sponsor of the 2017 Advance CTE Spring Meeting.

Currently, there are more than 500,000 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!  Is there any industry that doesn’t have IT needs?

Did you know:

• Median IT job salaries are nearly $40,000 higher than non-IT jobs
• By the end of 2017, the global IT industry will exceed $5 TRILLION
• 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 new CompTIA sponsored website  www.CyberSeek.org.  This new 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 a recognized 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
• Our certifications are recognized globally
• We are the largest vendor-neutral IT certification body in the world
• Our Academy Partner Program works with secondary and post-secondary schools to support their efforts to train and certify 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.