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Posts Tagged ‘Career Clusters®’

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NASDCTEc releases Request for Proposal

Friday, October 26th, 2012

The National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to identify a contractor to conduct an alignment study to compare the Common Career Technical Core (CCTC) against state Career Technical Education (CTE) standards.

The CCTC, released in June 2012, includes a set of standards for each of the 16 Career ClustersTM and supporting career pathways, a comprehensive collection of industry-validated expectations of what students should know and be able to do after completing instruction in a program of study. The CCTC also includes an overarching set of Career Ready Practices that apply to all 16 Career Clustersâ„¢. The Career Ready Practices include 12 statements that address the knowledge, skills and dispositions that are important to becoming career ready.

To help states facilitate the adoption and implementation of the CCTC, the NASDCTEc Board of Directors has called for a comparable, uniform evaluation of current state and territory standards against the CCTC. The purpose of the alignment study is two-fold. First, to provide feedback to individual states and territories about alignment to inform the development of an adoption plan and an implementation plan. Second, to provide a broad understanding of the needs of states and territories in adopting and implementing the CCTC so that NASDCTEc can develop targeted technical assistance and resources. NASDCTEc also anticipates that the results of this study could contribute to the development of assessments in the future.

NASDCTEc plans to publicly release the results of the full gap analysis in October 2013 during the fall membership meeting. NASDCTEc plans to share each individual state or territory report with the respective CTE State Director by August 31, 2013, prior to the public release.

The RFP and Budget Template can be found online at: http://www.careertech.org/career-technical-education/cctc/cctcrfp.html.

 

Dean Folkers, Deputy Executive Director

By admin in Advance CTE Announcements, Career Clusters®
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New CRS Report Highlights NASDCTEc Work

Tuesday, October 9th, 2012

The Congressional Research Service (CRS), which provides reports and analyses to Members of Congress on a variety of policy issues, recently released a new report on Career Technical Education. The goal of the report, Career and Technical Education: A Primer, is to “support congressional discussion of initiatives designed to rationalize the workforce development system.”

The report provides an overview of CTE, walks through the delivery and structure of CTE at the secondary, postsecondary, and adult learner levels, and raises several issues facing CTE stakeholders. For example, according to the report, there are four concerns that may hinder CTE delivery at the secondary level: (1) what is the goal of CTE – to broaden the students’ education and provide early exposure to several career options or to ensure students are prepared to enter the workforce, (2) the expense of maintaining and updating the instructional resources and equipment, (3) whether CTE adds value to a college preparatory high school curriculum, and (4) that the common core standards do not define career-ready and thus may not provide immediate career preparation.

While explaining the National Career ClustersTM Framework, the report references data from NASDCTEc’s 2011 issue brief, Career Clusters and Programs of Study: State of the States. The data for this issue brief was culled from the 2010 State Profile survey. We administer this survey to our members every other year to collect a wealth of information to be used in updating the State Profiles, and to provide the basis for a number of issue briefs. We are pleased that CRS was able to utilize our data in their report!

In the section “College- and Career-Ready Standards and CTE Standards” the report highlights NASDCTEc and NCTEF’s work around the Common Career Technical Core (CCTC) as one of the two set of standards impacting CTE students. As stated in the CRS report, the CCTC was developed by 42 states, the District of Columbia, Palau, business and industry representatives, educators, and other stakeholders, and it provides standards for each of the 16 Career ClustersTM and their career pathways.

Nancy Conneely, Director of Public Policy

By admin in Public Policy, Publications
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Reminder: Register Now for NASDCTEc Webinar Tomorrow: CTE Trend Analysis

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

Every other year, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) conducts a survey of the membership to gauge trends in Career Technical Education (CTE) across the country. Based on analyses of this year’s survey results from 50 states and territories, and comparisons to surveys administered in 2008 and 2010, NASDCTEc has authored a series of synopsis papers that describe trends in four key areas: Career Clusters™ and Programs of Study, CTE Teacher and Faculty Shortages, Governance, and CTE Funding.

This month’s webinar will focus on the first two synopsis papers: Career Clusters™ and Programs of Study and CTE Teacher and Faculty Shortages.

Kara Herbertson from NASDCTEc will give an overview of trends in these areas. Collie Wells from the Alabama Department of Education will discuss Alabama’s Business and Industry Certification, awarded from the International Organization for Standardization (IOS), and how the certification ensures high quality CTE programs. Also, Linda Milstein from Brookdale Community College will discuss an alternate route for certifying CTE teachers.

Please join us for this informative webinar tomorrow, Thursday, October 4th at 3:00 pm ET. Register now!

Kara Herbertson, Research and Policy Manager

By admin in Advance CTE Announcements, Webinars
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NASDCTEc Webinar: CTE Trend Analysis: Career Clusters/Programs of Study, CTE Teacher Shortages

Friday, September 21st, 2012

Every other year, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) conducts a survey of the membership to gauge trends in Career Technical Education (CTE) across the country. Based on analyses of this year’s survey results from 50 states and territories, and comparisons to surveys administered in 2008 and 2010, NASDCTEc has authored a series of synopsis papers that describe trends in four key areas: Career Clusters™ and Programs of Study; CTE Teacher/Faculty Shortages and Recruitment Initiatives; Governance; and CTE Funding.

This month’s webinar will focus on the first two synopsis papers: Career Clusters™ and Programs of Study and CTE Teacher/Faculty Shortages and Recruitment Initiatives.

Kara Herbertson, NASDCTEc’s Education Policy Analyst, will give an overview of trends in these areas. Collie Wells from the Alabama Department of Education will discuss Alabama’s Business and Industry Certification, awarded from the International Organization for Standardization (IOS), and how the certification ensures high quality CTE programs. Also, a representative from New Jersey will discuss an alternate route for certifying CTE teachers.

Join us for this informative webinar on Thursday, October 4th at 3:00 pm ET. Register now!

Kara Herbertson, Education Policy Analyst 

By admin in Meetings and Events, Public Policy, Research, Webinars
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CTE Courses: Creating Commonality with SCED

Tuesday, September 18th, 2012

One of the challenges of CTE for national policymakers has been the difficulty of comparing information about program performance around the country. While there is much valuable data and research available about CTE, more high-quality research is always helpful in advocacy and program improvement benchmarking. One of the contributing factors is inconsistent and out-of-date information about CTE courses identified in the national School Codes for Exchange of Data (SCED) system. The course coding system is often used for national research studies and student transcript work across the country as a common set of courses.

An effort to update these course names and descriptions is underway and this e-mail serves as an invitation to consider participating in the project specifically for Career Technical Education courses.

The “CTE Courses: Creating Commonality with SCED” project will include input from the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc), ACTE, the Department of Education (DOE) and, most importantly, practitioners in the field. Working groups of 6-8 people per Career Cluster™ will work together to update and align CTE course names and definitions with the help of resources provided by the steering committee of ACTE, NASDCTEc and DOE representatives.

CTE teachers, administrators, teacher educators, state education agency consultants, or local education agencies and postsecondary institutions, are all qualified to participate. Ideally, each working group will include a variety of participants across the profession and across states.

Check out the SCED webpage for more information on the project and if interested please complete the online volunteer application at https://www.acteonline.org/content.aspx?id=18105&terms=sced.

Applications accepted through October 22.

 Dean Folkers, Deputy Executive Director

By admin in Career Clusters®, Research
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Virginia High School Students Engage in Aerospace Exploration

Friday, September 7th, 2012

As the Rover Curiosity travels across the surface of Mars, Virginia high school students are able to explore careers and opportunities in the aerospace industry, including Mars studies, with the Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars (VASTS) program, an interactive on-line science, technology, engineering and mathematics learning experience highlighted by a seven-day residential summer academy at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) in Hampton, Virginia. In this competitive program, students selected to participate are immersed in NASA-related research through interaction with scientists, engineers and technologists.

At the summer academy, which recently concluded in early August 2012, students were grouped into four teams; Getting There, Living There, Working There, and Mission Integration. Teams worked collaboratively to design a feasible human mission to Mars. At the end of the week at NASA Langley Research Center they presented details of their mission to NASA scientists, engineers, and technologists in addition to aerospace industry representatives during a Mission Design Review Panel and then to NASA administrators, state legislators, parents, and other VIPs at the Closing Ceremony.

Students were eligible to receive up to four college credits, at no cost to them, from Thomas Nelson Community College depending upon their successful completion of the online course and Summer Academy program.

The program is a partnership between the Virginia Space Grant Consortium and NASA Langley Research Center with assistance from the Virginia Department of Education. Online application for the 2012-2013 program is available beginning today.

Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics is one of 16 Career Clustersâ„¢ designed to provide students with relevant contexts for studying and learning. Career Clustersâ„¢ link school-based learning with the knowledge and skills required for success in the workplace.

More information about the Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars Program

The colorized shaded relief map of Gale Crater (pictured), shows the general landing area for Curiosity on the northwestern crater floor (accessed from Wikimedia). At the Academy, as students design a feasible human mission to Mars, we can all share in the rover Curiosity’s first steps in a mission that will someday help prepare for human exploration.

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

By admin in Career Clusters®, News
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CTE in the News: Wisconsin Program Preps Students for College and Career

Friday, August 24th, 2012

All students should be prepared for college and career, say Wisconsin educators who are leading a program to help improve students’ graduation rates, transition services, and post-school outcomes, according to a recent Education Daily article.

The Wisconsin Career Pathways program was designed to serve all students. Starting in ninth grade, students are asked to choose a career to study and take classes in their chosen field.  The Wisconsin Technical College System partnered with the state department of instruction to develop the program, which is web-based and modeled after the National Career Clusters ™ Framework.

“The idea is that students are making their own plan to prepare for the future,” said Marge Rubin, director of College and Career Pathways at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wis.

“Research shows that students who have plans are more successful than those who don’t.”

The program intends for students to explore different jobs within the career of their choice so they understand the academic and technical requirements, demands and outlook for those jobs, and what postsecondary options within the state can help them achieve their college and career goals.

“There was this great divide. Students either had to choose between preparing for college or a career,” Rubin said. “All students need to be prepared for both.”

Education Daily is an online publication available only to its subscribers.

Erin Uy, Communications & Marketing Manager

By admin in News
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Register NOW for Upcoming NASDCTEc Webinar on Infusing Green and Sustainability Knowledge and Skill Statements

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

Announcing NASDCTEc webinar on Infusing Green and Sustainability Knowledge and Skill Statements

This webinar will present an overview of the process and resources associated with the development of Green and Sustainability Knowledge and Skills statements in six Career Clustersâ„¢ that are now available for use by states and local school districts.
Participants will learn the details of how the statements were developed, review the set of statements, and be provided information about how to access additional resources. The project was funded through the US Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education and managed by MPR Associates.

When: July 17, 2012 at 3 p.m. Eastern
Register NOW

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

By admin in Webinars
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May “CTE Monthly” Newsletter: Tools for Calculating Return on Investment; Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources Career Spotlight

Monday, May 21st, 2012

CTE Monthly, a collaborative publication from the Association for Career and Technical Education and the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, features the latest news on Career Technical Education (CTE) from across the nation for CTE stakeholders and Members of Congress.

This month’s issue discusses the Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Career Cluster™ including its varied career options and labor market projections. Read more about the Regional Agricultural Science Technology School in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where CTE students excel while learning about Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources with a marine-related focus.

The May edition also highlights a TIME Magazine article, “Learning That Works,” that presents a compelling snapshot of CTE today.

The CTE Monthly for May is available online now!

Kara Herbertson, Education Policy Analyst

By admin in News, Public Policy, Publications
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April “CTE Monthly” Newsletter: Report Assesses Progress toward Postsecondary Credential Attainment; Arts, Audio/Video Technology and Communications Career Spotlight

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

CTE Monthly, a collaborative publication from the Association for Career and Technical Education and the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, features the latest news on Career Technical Education (CTE) from across the nation for CTE stakeholders and Members of Congress.

The April issue highlights the Arts, Audio/Video Technology and Communications Career Cluster™, an area that is expected to see an increase in jobs over the next decade. A CTE high school in Dallas, Texas, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, is featured in this month’s newsletter.

Also highlighted is a report from the Lumina Foundation, A Stronger Nation through Higher Education, that assesses the nation’s progress toward postsecondary degree and credential completion.

Access the April edition of CTE Monthly, and view past newsletters on our advocacy tools Web page.

Kara Herbertson, Education Policy Analyst

By admin in News, Public Policy
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