While I’ve held a variety of positions at the state leader level in Florida, Washington and Arkansas including my current role as the Florida Department of Education’s Chancellor for the Division of Career, I began my career in the classroom as a teacher. From the local to the state level, I’ve seen first-hand the impact high-quality CTE has in preparing students for meaningful careers, and have spent my career advocating so that all students have access to CTE opportunities.
The rebrand of Advance CTE allows the field – from classroom teachers to state leaders – to unify under a common message about who we are and how we value CTE. While CTE directly engages policymakers, businesses, state leaders and educators, in many cases there is still the perception of CTE as the “vocational†education model of previous days. The Advance CTE brand is fresh, new, and forward thinking, and represents the CTE of today and the future, while still honoring our past.
This rebrand process was an exciting opportunity to hear from the membership and Board of Directors who represent CTE across the nation about what Career Technical Education represents to them, and where we are headed. In the end, we were able to come together as a unified Board around a new brand that will certainly propel us into the future. On a personal note, as someone who has been an associate member, a state member and now the President of Advance CTE’s Board of Directors, it has been a particularly exciting journey to me.
Rod Duckworth, Chancellor, Division of Career and Adult Education, Florida Department of Education, Advance CTE Board of Directors President