Deemed one of U.S. News and World Report’s best high schools in America, Metro Tech has made the transition from vocational school to comprehensive high school, maintaining superb CTE programs in diverse Career Clusters while simultaneously reintegrating academic classes to offer students a comprehensive high school in addition to their extensive CTE offerings. The result is high-quality CTE with deep integration between academic and career-oriented instruction.

Featured programs include the Protégé College of Cosmetology program, which runs a working salon open to the public; the Floral Design and Business Operations program, which combine fresh flower design and business office skill development through its student-run flower shop; the Banking and Finance program, which operates a student-led credit union from the school; and the culinary arts program, which serves food prepared by students with ingredients grown (in part) on site.

Spots are filling up quickly for the Achieving Excellence Institute, taking place June 16-18, 2014! Save your spot here!

One of the all-new tours on offer at Achieving Excellence in CTE: The Career Clusters Institute will take attendees to SUMCO Corporation’s Phoenix plant.

A multinational employing thousands of workers worldwide, SUMCO’s advanced manufacturing puts its workers–many former students of Career Technical Education themselves–at the cutting edge of both the STEM and Manufacturing Career Clusters.

Dependent upon a skilled workforce of dynamic employees, the company knows the benefit of the highly skilled lifelong learners that walk out of CTE classes every day. The SUMCO tour will put participants face-to-face with the type of workplace CTE graduates may eventually spend their career, giving you a CTE experience to remember, and to recount to parents, students, faculty and other CTE stakeholders in months and years ahead!

Don’t miss this and the countless other incredible professional development opportunities at this year’s Achieving Excellence Institute. Build your school, district or state’s CTE team and register today!

Evan Williamson, Communications Associate

Achieving Excellence in Career Technical Education: The National Career Clusters® Institute will take place June 16-18, 2014, and is full of new features to offer the best professional development and networking opportunities in CTE today.

Today we are pleased to announce our pre-sessions (pricing and registration information is available here), designed to prepare attendees for the Achieving Excellence Institute and provide a deeper look at topics affecting how you deliver high-quality CTE today. Beginning June 15, 2014, pre-sessions at the Achieving Excellence Institute include:

• Teaching for Success: An interactive workshop focused on maximizing student outcomes by teaching to Career Pathways. Integrating recent research in neuroscience, case-studies of effective CTE instruction practices and contextual learning, all CTE stakeholders can benefit from this session’s lessons, either in half-day or an extended full-day form.
• Counseling for Success: Investigating the crucial role of adequate counseling services in ensuring student success, this session will integrate counseling best practices alongside data on student outcomes and how they can improve through innovative counseling methods. From career guidance to mentorship programs, Counseling for Success provides a comprehensive overview of effective counseling’s role in delivering high-quality CTE.
• Partnership Opportunities: With the conversation surrounding employer and community engagement in the delivery of CTE gaining steam, the Partnership Opportunities session will offer insight on the evolving relationship between employers, community groups, government and educators in establishing long-term partnerships that improve the quality and continuity of CTE programs.
• Building Programs of Study: Many states, districts, institutions and educators are in the process of updating programs of study (POS), or are delving into POS for the very first time. This session will give participants practical examples of quality POS from around the country, built along the framework of the National Career Clusters Framework and The Career Pathways Effect.
• Career Pathways Overview: Designed to help participants learn to develop career pathways that fit their schools’ and students’ unique needs, the Career Pathways Overview covers a host of topics that will help you integrate career pathways into your educational framework.

Each pre-session registration includes a copy of The Career Pathways Effect and excellent networking opportunities with fellow CTE stakeholders from across the country. Don’t wait: register today!

Evan Williamson, Communications Associate

We are excited to invite state and local secondary and postsecondary educators, administrators and leaders, as well as workforce and economic development partners to join us at the premier Career Technical Education (CTE) professional development event of the year - Achieving Excellence in CTE: The National Career Clusters Institute.

The Achieving Excellence Institute includes engaging hands-on workshops and interactive breakout sessions offering new perspectives and techniques on cultivating high-quality CTE in your school, district, and state.

• Hear from our Excellence in Action Award Winners who were selected for exemplary performance in the implementation of a Career Cluster-related program of study.
• Get to experience excellence in action hands-on by visiting business and educational institutions at the cutting edge of CTE.

Session Topics 

A sampling of robust breakout sessions will include:

• Best practices/models of exemplary Career Cluster programs of study design and implementation
• Perkins reauthorization
• Leveraging data
• Effective strategies for building and sustaining business-education partnerships
• Integration of the Common Core State Standards and CTE
• And other sessions not-to-be-missed!

Exciting Pre-sessions

We are pleased to be featuring both half-day and full-day pre-session workshops exploring The Career Pathways Effect: Linking Education and Economic Prosperity.
Full pre-session descriptions

General Session Speaker Dr. Mark Milliron

Dr. Milliron will present a framework for thinking about technology in education and how enormous changes and challenges in the digital age impact us every day – and how we can meet these challenges.

 Great Hotel Rates

Attendees of the Achieving Excellence Institute will stay at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs resort at a special group rate of $79 per night.
Reservation Information

When and Where is the Achieving Excellence Institute?

When: June 16-18, 2014

Where: Achieving Excellence in CTE: The National Career Clusters Institute is at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix, AZ

Where Do I Register?

Register by April 8, 2014 to get the Early Bird rate!  REGISTER NOW

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

This is a reminder that the Call for Presentations is NOW OPEN for Achieving Excellence in Career Technical Education: The National Career Clusters^® Institute.

We are looking for sessions that feature high-quality programs of study, with proven track records of success; offer strategies for successful collaboration, implementation and innovation at the classroom, district or system level; and/or provide opportunities for participants to engage in interactive and hands-on learning activities.

MORE DETAILS

• Where: Point Hilton Tapatio Cliffs, Phoenix, AZ
• When: June 16-18, 2014
• Registration is slated to go live mid-February.
• Watch for details on our website at www.careertech.org.

Calling all Presenters!

The Call for Presentations is NOW OPEN for Achieving Excellence in Career Technical Education: The National Career Clusters Institute.

We are looking for sessions that feature high-quality programs of study, with proven track records of success; offer strategies for successful collaboration, implementation and innovation at the classroom, district or system level; and/or provide opportunities for participants to engage in interactive and hands-on learning activities.

• Where: Point Hilton Tapatio Cliffs, Phoenix, AZ
• When: June 16-18, 2014
• Registration is slated to go live mid-February.
• Watch for details on our website at www.careertech.org.