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Preparing for CTE’s Next Era: Celebrations from Advance CTE’s 2023 Annual Report

Monday, March 25th, 2024

Director of Membership Engagement and Professional Learning Dr. Stephanie Perkins shares Advance CTE’s progress in fully supporting members and elevating CTE in policy and practice in state and federal and policy.

Career Technical Education (CTE) continues to be a leading state and federal policy solution to both bridge and address transformations in learning and work. CTE’s next era requires maximizing its quality and innovation to remain a go-to experience that can reach and support every learner and community. As the oldest national association of State CTE Directors and related professionals, Advance CTE has continued to grow and adapt to meet the needs of our members and advance the work of CTE Without Limit for the CTE community.

Our newly released 2023 Annual Report highlights that progress and preparation for CTE’s Next Era for both our organization and our members.

Keep reading to see five ways Advance CTE continues to support our members while challenging the field by leading on equity, influencing federal policy, building community and knowledge, and providing impactful tools and resources.

Supporting CTE Leaders and Learners

As our members work to ensure that all learners have access to high-quality, equitable CTE, we strive to meet each state where they are in this journey. In 2023, our focus for supporting CTE leaders and learners focused on continuing our high-quality member experiences, building diverse CTE leadership and workforce pipelines, and elevating learner voice. Our members continue to see value in their membership and look for a variety of ways to engage.

Engaging and Connecting Members

Bringing together our members in person and virtually provides the opportunity to share best practices and lessons learned to address common challenges and improve outcomes for CTE learners. In Spring of 2023 we gathered over 200 CTE leaders to discuss opportunities, challenges, and shared solutions around various topics of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins V) in preparation for state plan revisions. Our members were very satisfied with the structure of these meetings, finding it a very useful space to work with their state teams on Perkins processes and gather ideas from their peers. In event evaluation, 100 percent of responding attendees reported that meetings were an “extremely valuable” or “valuable” use of their time.

Additionally, we provided direct support and engagement to 44 states through our technical assistance efforts and workgroups. These spaces allowed for innovations and resources that benefit the entire CTE community.

Leading National Conversations

In 2023, we continued to drive innovation in CTE policy and practice and position CTE as an essential strategy to meet education, workforce, and economic needs. Seventy-seven percent of Advance CTE’s recommendations for modernizing of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act reauthorization were reflected in a proposed reauthorization last fall. We also continued to build more CTE champions on Capitol Hill, where support for the CTE Month resolution has doubled since 2021.

Additional Resources

Advance CTE’s Annual Report is just one of the ways for our members to understand the impact this work has on the CTE community. We encourage you to continue to engage with us in various ways by staying up to date with future events found on the membership portal. Additionally, we have several tools for members to find resources through:

On behalf of the entire Advance CTE team, we look forward to engaging with you in the future!

Dr. Stephanie Perkins, Director of Membership Engagement and Professional Learning

By Stacy Whitehouse in Publications
Tags: Advance CTE Members, CTE Month, Federal Policy, learner voice, Perkins V, State Director, WIOA

Equip, Empower, Elevate: Advance CTE’s 2021 Annual Report

Thursday, April 7th, 2022

In June 2021, the Advance CTE and The Center to Advance CTE’s Boards of Directors unanimously approved a new three-year strategic plan with three key strategic priorities — to EQUIP Advance CTE to lead with a focus on quality and equity, EMPOWER members to realize the CTE Without Limits vision, and ELEVATE high-quality and equitable CTE.

As we reflect on 2021, we are excited to share the collective progress we made towards accomplishing these strategic priorities. In 2021, Advance CTE and its members:

Built and maintained community: Despite being virtual throughout 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic, Advance CTE endeavored to create inclusive and engaging spaces for our members. All told, Advance CTE’s 14 virtual professional learning events, which included our two annual meetings, webinars and lunch and learns, served more than 1,000 total attendees from 49 states and the District of Columbia.
Collaborated to design the future: In March 2021, Advance CTE released Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education, with the support of over 40 national organizations. To turn this vision into reality, we convened shared solutions workgroups on key priority areas identified in our vision, including learner voice, social capital, data quality and use, and credit for prior learning. Leaders from 42 states and the District of Columbia participated in Advance CTE workgroups, committees and kitchen cabinets in 2021.
Expanded capacity around data and equity: Data and equity are two of the most critical priorities among our members as they work to design and expand high-quality CTE programs that support all learners. In 2021, we launched the Career Readiness Data Quality Policy Benchmark tool microsite, offered direct technical assistance to a group of five states to build out data capacity, supported the first cohort of 10 states as they participated and then replicated an opportunity gap analysis workshop and released our Brave Dialogues discussion and facilitation guide to help state and local leaders lead conversations around racial equity in CTE.
Developed resources aligned with members’ needs: Advance CTE released over 50 resources in 2021, all accessible in our Learning that Works Resource Center, on key topics including equity and how to engage learners with special populations status, work-based learning, communicating about CTE, employer engagement and more, and featured replicable examples from leading states and communities.
Elevated CTE through effective communications and federal advocacy: Advance CTE continued to build the research base and tools needed to effectively communicate the value proposition of CTE to learners, families and employers. In addition, we helped to secure an additional $52.25 million for the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act’s basic state grant program, bringing the total funding level for the program to approximately $1.335 billion. Our advocacy was instrumental in ensuring that nearly $120 billion in allotted education funding in the American Rescue Plan included CTE programs and activities as an allowable activity.

Looking ahead to 2022:

Advance CTE will continue to EQUIP our members and ourselves to lead the CTE field with a fierce commitment to quality and equity through interactive and engaging professional development events and resources. We are particularly excited to launch our second cohort of the Postsecondary State CTE Leaders Fellowship — Sponsored by ECMC Foundation in the coming months.
We will also EMPOWER our members to advance and realize the principles and actions in CTE Without Limits. In early 2022, Advance CTE launched our Advancing CTE Without Limits initiative, providing direct technical assistance to three states and offering a community of practice to engage the cross-sector partners that need to be involved to realize the vision. We will also support two additional cohorts of states through our Opportunity Gap Analysis Workshops.
Finally, Advance CTE will continue our charge to ELEVATE high-quality and equitable CTE among federal and state policymakers, the media, learners and families and other key stakeholders. One way we will accomplish this is by hosting workshops for counseling professionals in 30 states to arm these champions with the messages and information they need to recruit learners into high-quality and equitable CTE programs of study.

View Advance CTE’s 2021 Annual Report: careertech.org/who-we-are

Kate Kreamer, Deputy Executive Director

By admin in Advance CTE Announcements
Tags: 2021 Annual Report, Advance CTE Members, data quality, Federal Policy, state policy

Advance CTE 2021 Fall Meeting Staff Reflections

Wednesday, November 10th, 2021

On October 27 and 28, over 270 state Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders gathered for Advance CTE’s 2021 Fall Meeting. Through timely plenary discussions, breakout and networking sessions, members and supporters were able to reflect on the transformations of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, gain knowledge on the latest research and promising practices in states, and create community by building networks with leaders in similar roles.

Advance CTE staff departed the meeting feeling energized and excited about the many ways our members are going above and beyond to advance the event theme, “Meeting CTE’s Moment”. This post shares top outcomes of Fall Meeting with reflections from Advance CTE staff.

1. Highlighting High-Quality, Equitable State Practices: Speakers from 22 states and 19 national organizations highlighted innovative state practices, and more importantly provided tangible lessons learned and first steps for leaders to implement the initiatives in their own state.

“The amazing work being shared by CTE leaders across the country was truly inspiring. The statewide mentorship program and New Teacher Institute in Missouri are best practices models for the nation to emulate. Allowing Local Education Agencies (LEA) to serve as an Educator Preparation Program (EPP) is an outstanding example of out-of-the-box thinking. Despite the crippling disparity in pay compared to the surrounding states, the program has yielded high retention rates by providing new teachers with the supports necessary to be effective practitioners. The jewel of the Fall Meeting, in my opinion, was South Carolina’s presentation on the combined efforts between the state’s CTE and Special Education departments to provide access to high-quality programs of study. The innovative process of evaluating the enrollment and performance of students with disabilities by specific disabilities is a model for developing equitable systems for all learners. I’m excited to see the strategies for improving academic success developed from the analysis and I hope the methodology becomes a national trend.” – Dr. Kevin Johnson, Sr., Senior Advisor

“One of my favorite parts of the Fall Meeting was the opportunity state leaders had to share challenges they were facing with top of mind topics and directly problem-solve with national CTE leaders. In a breakout session sharing the latest research on employer engagement, Director of Public Policy James Redstone from the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) offered advice to states on how to structure programs and outreach to better meet employer needs. In a session on connecting Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and CTE, renowned national SEL leader Dr. Scott Solberg was able to share best practices and common challenges gained from a network of over 20 states led by Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Despite limits to capacity, our members are always so eager to keep innovating. Hearing lessons learned in states from a national perspective is so valuable in order to make the most of the resources and take the work on these topics and more to the next level.” – Stacy Whitehouse, Senior Associate, Communications and State Engagement

2. Elevating Learner Voice and Learner-Center Systems: Fall Meeting featured a dedicated series of breakout sessions focused on elevating high-quality examples of national tool and state initiatives that centered learners in policy and practice. Sessions on Advance CTE’s recently released learner voice toolkit and social capital featured CTE learners.

“The 2021 Fall Meeting intentionally focused on leveraging the learner voice within state CTE decisionmaking. I was thrilled to witness Advance CTE being joined by two esteemed learners over the two-day meeting: Autumn Steffens and Daraja Brown. Secondary learner Autumn shared her hopes for future learner engagement, “It makes me feel seen as a learner and will help with my decisionmaking in the future.” Postsecondary learner Daraja shared how she has leveraged her social capital to advance through career pathways, “It is important for me to find the different professionals, teacher and mentors that I connect with on a personal level…someone that is in my corner and cares about me and my professional development.” Ultimately, it is important that state and local CTE leaders with the ability to influence CTE policy and programming leverage stakeholders from all levels, including learners. By these actions, state and local CTE leaders are taking every opportunity to advance CTE, particularly under the new shared vision, to ensure each learner achieves career success.” – Brittany Cannady, Senior Associate, Digital Media

“Beyond reconnecting with so many familiar faces, I always love the opportunity to hear from national researchers and partners about exciting or important work in the field, especially those that highlight inequities or illustrate how to better leverage the work we all do to support all learners. Timely research from Strada Education Network and the Urban Institute really demonstrated for me the importance of reaching out to learners at the margins of education, whether they are learners disrupted by the pandemic or learners who don’t have access to high quality postsecondary CTE due to gaps in technology access. At the same time, our members bring these learners to the forefront and are working to design CTE programs that are high-quality and equitable. I always leave our meetings excited about the future of CTE!” – Dan Hinderliter, Policy Associate

3. Building Community: Fall Meeting not only provided an engaging chat feature where attendees routinely shared ideas and celebrated their peers, but also featured two role-alike sessions where leaders networked by professional role, identity and stakeholder level. For the first time, leaders of color also had a dedicated space to connect.

“Advance CTE members are no strangers to virtual meetings, and yet no one felt like strangers to each other. The sense of community and camaraderie was apparent via warm “good to see you” chats and among presenters who were meeting for the first time or reconvening for the hundredth time in a breakout session. We know that members have missed being in person together, but I find encouragement and meaning in the Fall Meeting as a culmination of building a virtual community over the past two years.” – Sara Gassman, Senior Associate, Member Engagement & Professional Learning

“The highlight for me was watching our members shout out each other and other members of their team for their incredible work to advance high-quality and equitable CTE! It was heartening and refreshing to see so many old and new colleagues and peers recognize their fierce commitment to CTE and innovative practices for a wide array of policies, such as establishing standing up new advisement systems, expanding equitable early postsecondary opportunities, building local capacity for identifying and closing opportunities gaps, and recruiting and retaining a more diverse CTE workforce, to name a few! Our members are doing amazing work and I love seeing that work recognized and celebrated by their peers across the country.” – Kate Kreamer, Deputy Executive Director

4. Advancing CTE Without Limits and Exploring the Future of CTE: Fall Meeting was grounded in the five principles that comprise Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education (CTE Without Limits), and each series of breakout sessions sought to challenge the limits of state leaders to transform systems so that each learner can achieve success in the career of their choice.

“Just seven months after CTE Without Limits was released, it was incredible to see how state CTE leaders are thinking about operationalizing the principles. I had the privilege of listening in on Lisa Stoner-Torbert’s session on Delaware’s PIPEline for career success program for learners with disabilities, which demonstrates how flexible career pathways, aligned funding and cross-sector partnerships can provide historically marginalized learners the means to succeed in their chosen career pathways.” – Austin Estes, Data & Research Manager

“Another standout moment was during the Ensuring Access to CTE for All Learners Through Equitable Recruitment and Admissions Requirements session. The speaker, Ms. Tiara Booker-Dwyer, Assistant State Superintendent, Maryland State Department of Education, so eloquently shared the importance of diversity in advancing our vision for CTE through a visual “band” analogy. She explained the need to have “all instruments” represented in order to produce great music and how the lottery system in their state was not allowing for “all instruments” to have a chance to be part of the band. Her example provided the why behind the work as she shared policy and practices their state edited to create more equitable access to programs. The co-presenters for the session from the state of Massachusetts’ Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Cliff Chuang, Senior Associate Commissioner and Elizabeth Bennett, Associate Commissioner of CCTE, also incorporated CTE Without Limits in their concrete examples of how they have revised state policy and law to create a path for all learners to be recruited and admitted in high-quality CTE programs in their state.

It was great to hear and learn from state leaders and funders who believe and are invested in the CTE Without Limits vision. State leaders were inspired to innovate, be bold and take action to execute the vision without limits in their respective states.” – Nithya Govindasamy, Senior Advisor

5. Connecting Federal Policy to State Action: Fall Meeting attendees had the opportunity to receive updates on the latest federal policies and supports from senior officials at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE).

“The highlight of the Fall Meeting for me was the opportunity to facilitate a discussion with DOL on the lasting effects of the pandemic on the labor force and the future of work. The discussion elevated the necessity for alignment across secondary, postsecondary and the workforce and the opportunity for CTE to bridge that alignment. It was clear that DOL is supportive of the work our members are conducting in all states. and that the administration wants to continue to fund initiatives that support the economic recovery of our nation and challenge our limits on innovative programming and learner engagement in high-quality career pathways.” – Jeran Culina, Senior Policy Associate

If you were not able to attend the Fall Meeting, don’t worry – Advance CTE’s Spring Meeting is not too far away. Advance CTE is carefully considering the safety and needs of members as we determine the best format and capacity for this event, and more information will be coming soon. In the meantime, visit Advance CTE’s Learning that Works Resource Center to access the reports, resources and tools shared during Fall Meeting.

Stacy Whitehouse, Senior Associate Communications and State Engagement

By Stacy Whitehouse in Advance CTE Fall Meeting
Tags: Advance CTE Members, CTE Without Limits, Delaware, Equity, Federal Policy, Maryland, Program Quality, South Carolina, Stakeholder engagement

Reflecting on Advance CTE-Lumina Discussion on Human Work & CTE

Monday, December 21st, 2020

Last week, Advance CTE hosted a discussion with Lumina Foundation’s President & CEO, Jamie Merisotis, on his new book, “Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines” and what it means for Career Technical Education (CTE). The conversation between Jamie Merisotis and Kimberly Green, Advance CTE’s Executive Director, was far reaching, covering topics from how we help learners gain empathy to the unlikelihood of a robot, zombie apocalypse.

A couple of key points that really stood out to me were:

The need to break down the silos of “education” and “training.” As Merisotis put it: “Neither training devoid of broader learning nor education devoid of preparation for work is going to get people what they need.” The false dichotomy that training prepares people for work and education is a more “pure” endeavor is simply holding us back and making our systems less cohesive and responsive.
The importance of building deep and abiding service into our education pathways and workplaces. This goes beyond requiring or offering community service within a CTE program or as a corporate social responsibility effort, but rather making service part of the overall lifelong learning experience. By engaging directly with those being impacted by one’s work, individuals can gain empathy and understand how to better support and serve clients going forward.
Everything we build as advocates, policymakers, industry partners or practitioners needs to have a racial equity lens. If we don’t address racial equity head on – as we have failed to do for decades – the inequities and systemic racism will only worsen.
No, the robots are not coming to take all of our jobs! Technology always creates more jobs than it destroys and supports a broader “cycle of creative destruction and renewal,” according to Merisotis. CTE must continue to be nimble and focus on those skills, competencies and functions that are uniquely “human,” including how to work along side technology.

Following the discussion, Advance CTE members broke into small-group discussions to unpack the conversation and reflect on what it meant for them and their CTE programs and policies. One discussion focused on CTE’s role in the future of work and how CTE is well positioned to take on a stronger role in these conversations given our positioning at the nexus between education and industry. CTE should be spearheading these conversations and intentionally engaging with employers to discuss how they can value their human workers differently.

There was also some healthy discussion around how prevalent “human work” will be in the future, given how many examples we still see of human work being devalued in our current workforce and economy and the ever-growing attention to being more efficient and productive and the work regularly being shifted to machines.

Finally, members dug into the challenges related to technology, recognizing we still have a lot to learn about the role of technology in teaching and learning. We need to work through the ongoing fear many have of technology and what it means for work in the future, how much the CTE field still needs to learn about emerging and cutting-edge technologies, and the fact that technology was not in place to support the transition to remote learning during COVID-19. Members also discussed the importance of ensuring equity is attended to in the design of new technologies. For example, we must have measures in place so that the algorithms within artificial intelligence programs are not perpetuating discrimination or inequities.

A special thank you to Jamie Merisotis and his team at the Lumina Foundation for partnering on such a great event for Advance CTE members!

View the recording of the full discussion here.

Kate Kreamer, Deputy Executive Director

By Kate Blosveren Kreamer in Webinars
Tags: Advance CTE Members, Future of Work

NASDCTEc unveils new www.careertech.org

Friday, June 24th, 2011

NASDCTEc unveiled this week its new Web site, which will serve as resource for all advocates of CTE â€“ from administrators, to educators, to partners. The new Web site combines NASDCTEc member resources, Career Clustersâ„¢ and many resources to help those who want to learn about and support CTE. At www.careertech.org, you can:

â€¢ Access CTE brand assets
â€¢ Generate reports and analysis
â€¢ Order Career Clustersâ„¢ and CTE materials online
â€¢ Subscribe to the NASDCTEc blog
â€¢ Obtain research, white papers and CTE backgrounders

To get to the really good stuff, you must use your Member Login!
Many of the robust reports, functionality and resources on the new Web site are available only to NASDCTEc members. Additionally, discounts on eventsâ€”as well as access to the new CTE logo (both national and state versions) will be available only through the Member Login portal.

In order to access these member benefits, you will need to use the Member Login feature. Here’s how it works:

1. Go to www.careertech.org
2. Click on the green “Members” box in the upper right of the home page
3. When the Member Login page appears:

â€¢ Enter your Username (your first initial and full last name, all one word, all lower case)
â€¢ Enter Password: cte123
â€¢ Click “Log In”

4. Select “Member Resources” on the following screen and click on “Continue”
5. Select from the variety of options and resources available on the right-hand menuâ€”and start exploring!

Learn more about the exclusive members-only webinar

Who: NASDCTEc Members

What: Webinar for Members-Only New Website Orientation

When: Wednesday, June 29, 3 p.m. â€“ 3:45 p.m. Eastern

Why: NASDCTEc launches a robust website that will help members stay informed, engaged and mobilized to advocate for CTE.

NASDCTEc recently unveiled its brand new website. Not only does this site have a new look that reflects the look of our CTE: Learning That Works for America brand, it offers a range of completely new features and resources. The site is rich with members-only searchable databases, products limited to our members, and up-to-date news feeds to keep members informed about the policy world. This site will be a powerful new tool in which members will communicate and obtain valuable information and resources so they can serve as strong advocates for CTE and the organization. We highly encourage everyone to participate.
Register for this members-only webinar

By admin in Advance CTE Resources, News, Uncategorized, Webinars
Tags: Advance CTE Members

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