CTE Without Limits « Advance CTE Blog

Pushing the Limits: Colorado

Wednesday, May 10th, 2023

Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education (CTE Without Limits) was released in March 2020 with the support of over 40 national organizations. In October 2021, Advance CTE launched a technical assistance opportunity called Advancing CTE Without Limits, which sought to support states in a project to coordinate systems, improve equity goals, strengthen policy, or otherwise align with a CTE Without Limits principle. The year-long Advancing CTE Without Limits project ran from March 2022 to March 2023. This blog series shares the details, outcomes and lessons learned from projects across the three participating Pushing the Limits state teams – Colorado, Nebraska and South Carolina.

Project Focus

Colorado has taken significant steps to improve equity in Career Technical Education (CTE), with a focus on ensuring that all students have access to high-quality CTE programs and opportunities.

The Colorado State CTE team made a concerted effort to better align their CTE Strategic Plan with the CTE Without Limits vision principles by conducting a review of their strategic plan through the lens of Principle 2: Each learner feels welcome in, is supported by and has the means to be successful in the career preparation ecosystem.

Colorado’s team focused on three key objectives:

Needs Assessment: Conduct a needs assessment to identify strengths and gaps of the current CTE system and identify the CTE-specific actions that need to be taken to close gaps and remove barriers for learners.
Internal, Equity-Focused Professional Development: Elevate the commitment at the state level to ensure equity within CTE through convening an internal team to develop a plan and participate in professional development on equity utilizing the Brave Dialogues resources.
Building Local Leader Data Literacy: Leverage Advance CTE’s Opportunity Gap Analysis process to increase data literacy of local CTE administrators and educators and in doing so improve data-focused storytelling of learners’ outcome and identification of program participation and success gaps.

Project Outcomes

Through technical assistance sessions with Advance CTE staff, Colorado developed an equity strategy to help bridge the current CTE strategic plan and work on their next State Plan for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (expiring in 2024). Colorado has shared their equity plan and progress with local CTE Directors at a kickoff meeting where the Opportunity Gap Analysis process and Brave Dialogues training was conducted. Colorado will continue to create spaces to execute implementation of the plan grounded in Principle 2 at their CTE administrators’ convenings during this year.

Colorado established internal team-level goals around each action step within Principle 2 and embedded them into individual performance goals. The Colorado team elevated their focus on CTE program equity, access, and inclusion by settling on an overall goal that is connected to the state CTE strategic plan’s foundational elements and “job-specific” goals to promote a culture of shared growth around competency in equity.

Colorado launched the Opportunity Gap Analysis Workshop training and the Brave Dialogues equity training at The Colorado Association for Career & Technical Administrators (CACTA) conference. Colorado had an overwhelming response from the field about how much they appreciated being “called in” to the conversation and supported through professional development.

Colorado state CTE leaders continue to work towards advanced implementation of Principle 2 and were able to meet certain benchmarks over the course of the year:

The Colorado CTE team provided feedback about their increased comfortability and feeling of competency to lead conversations and conduct a gap analysis that leads to achieving Principle 2: “Each learner feels welcome in, is supported by and has the means to be successful in the career preparation ecosystem.”
Colorado achieved a more than 5 percent increase in work-based learning participation for learners who have identified as Black, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian/Pacific Islander and Latinx.

Lessons Learned

To address the identified gaps in CTE enrollment, Colorado is working on targeted marketing materials and campaigns to increase awareness about CTE to bolster the pipeline of interested learners. They have made tremendous strides with some school districts and colleges to address barriers to increase enrollment. Colorado is building a team of champions who can advocate for the importance of expanded access and equity for all learners in CTE and articulate the numerous benefits both for the state’s economy as well as for Colorado’s future workforce.

Colorado stressed that the sustainability of this work will be achieved through the continued utilization of the Opportunity Gap Analysis tools as part of Colorado’s Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA) process and through building intentional linkages between Principle 2 work and the CTE strategic plan to further benchmark and establish goals tied to CTE data and local performance. Colorado’s team is also committed to work on their own language, implicit bias, personal and professional growth and development as equity-minded leaders.

Stay tuned for future updates about Colorado’s continued efforts or for more information about other states’ Advancing CTE Without Limits projects. For more information about CTE Without Limits, visit https://careertech.org/without-limits.

To learn more about planning and implementing the principles of CTE Without Limits in your state, check out Pushing the Limits: A Roadmap for Advancing CTE Without Limits.

Nithya Govindasamy, Senior Advisor

By Jodi Langellotti in CTE Without Limits
Tags: Colorado, CTE Data, CTE Without Limits, Perkins V, professional development

Six Focus Areas to Actualize CTE Without Borders

Thursday, May 4th, 2023

In March 2021, Advance CTE released Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education (CTE Without Limits). This vision put forth a bold vision for a cohesive, flexible and responsive career preparation system that aims to close equity gaps in educational outcomes and workforce readiness and leverage Career Technical Education (CTE) as a catalyst for ensuring each learner can reach success in their career of choice. CTE Without Limits lays out five inter-connected and equally critical principles – Principle 5 in CTE Without Limits describes that all learners can access CTE without borders.

To truly meet the needs of learners, we must remove the geographic barriers that limit access and opportunities, particularly for learners in rural communities. CTE policies and programs should enable, not limit, mobility and access and states should come together to develop and expand new models of collaboration by investing in open-access systems that enable access within and across states.

Advance CTE’s upcoming release, the CTE Without Borders Policy Playbook, developed in partnership with the Southern Regional Education Board and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, and with input from more than 100 national, state and local leaders, highlights six focus areas to help states, secondary and postsecondary institutions actualize CTE without borders with expanded access to high-quality CTE and work-based learning within and across states. The six focus areas include:

Aligning partners, values and vision;
Driving decisions with data;
Incentivizing access with flexible and sustainable funding;
Capturing learners’ credits, credentials and experiences;
Optimizing the conditions for virtual and hybrid learning opportunities; and
Informing and supporting learners and families.

The policy playbook features promising state and local practices from across the country including Colorado, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Texas and more; strategies to actualize each focus area; and resources to support state and local leaders in providing expanded access within and across states.

Review the CTE Without Borders Policy Playbook series in the Learning that Works Resource Center when it’s released later in May to learn about the ways your state can meet the needs of all learners regardless of where they live.

Haley Wing, Senior Policy Associate

By Jodi Langellotti in Publications
Tags: Colorado, CTE Without Limits, Equity, hybrid learning, North Dakota, online learning, rhode island, rural, texas

Pushing the Limits: Nebraska

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023

Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education (CTE Without Limits) was released in March 2020 with the support of over 40 national organizations. In October 2021, Advance CTE launched a technical assistance opportunity called Advancing CTE Without Limits, which sought to support states in a project to coordinate systems, improve equity goals, strengthen policy, or otherwise align with a CTE Without Limits principle. The year-long Advancing CTE Without Limits project ran from March 2022 to March 2023. This blog series shares the details, outcomes and lessons learned from projects across the three Pushing the Limits state teams – Colorado, Nebraska, and South Carolina.

Project Description

Nebraska has long been a state built around collaboration for Career Technical Education (CTE), particularly in ensuring systems are working toward a common goal and limiting duplication. When reviewing the opportunity to apply for technical assistance for implementation of a CTE Without Limits principle, state leaders looked to specific special populations to help better understand where gaps existed or where collective conversation could lead to better alignment of initiatives. For this reason, Nebraska leaders focused on CTE Without Limits Principle 3: Each learner skillfully navigates their own career journey. Immediately, learners with disabilities jumped out as a population already benefiting from high-quality CTE that, with an interconnected system, could be better served by a combined focus on aligned resources, tools, trainings and supports to make their own career decisions.

Nebraska built a highly collaborative team, composed of staff from the Nebraska Department of Education’s Departments of Career, Technical & Adult Education and Special Education, Nebraska Vocational Rehabilitation and local Educational Service Units, to ensure all state level groups impacting learners with disabilities in CTE were present at the table. Nebraska State CTE Director Dr. Katie Graham echoed the value of this collaboration and importance of this project: “CTE Without Limits has helped Nebraska create a north-star relative to supporting all students in high-quality CTE programs! We’ve strengthened partnerships already in place and, leveraging the Vision, moved from sharing updates to active collaboration to ensure every student has access to CTE Without Limits!”

With the support of Advance CTE coaches, Nebraska’s team focused on five key objectives:

Develop a state-level, sustainable collaborative network that supports students with disabilities in career and technical education and future educational transitions.
Identify related and overlapping state and local policies, practices and resources to create cohesive structures and supports.
Identify extant and needed data elements (including student, program, district and financial) and process to strengthen State Education Agency and Local Education Agency data-based decision making for students with disabilities participating in CTE.
Develop and implement a communication strategy through messaging and building local capacity via professional learning.
Develop policy and funding recommendations and aligned strategies to address gaps in access and outcomes for students with disabilities in CTE.

Project Outcomes

Developing a coordinated goal: After an initial kickoff workshop, the Nebraska project team started in earnest, standing up multiple workgroups, including a data team, a policy team, and a communications team. All members of the team co-constructed a theory of action to serve as a “north star” for all project work moving forward: “All students deserve a high-quality education that prepares them for future success. To realize this vision, students with disabilities must have equitable access to the full rigor of grade-level instruction, access and enrollment in career technical education programs, and opportunity to receive pre-employment transition services in preparation for earning, learning and living.”

Determining the current state of assets: Throughout the year-long project, the Nebraska team identified an inventory of policies, initiatives, resources and tools used by all three departments to determine where awareness could be raised internally and externally about existing practice. This also helped inform where new and improved practices could be elevated to close gaps. The team examined data policy to better understand what data elements were collected across programs and to determine the feasibility of creating new CTE reports with data disaggregated by disability type or connected to Vocational Rehabilitation data to determine delivery areas most in need of attention. Because of the work of this project, these never-before-produced reports will help inform opportunity gaps and how to better support learners across the age and disability spectrums each year.

Promoting progress: The project team also focused heavily on communications efforts to ensure practice was communicated effectively statewide to both educators and families alike. Leveraging their policy and practice inventory, the team determined training and supports needed for inclusive practices and developed a repository of already existing resources that could be put in use immediately. The team is also updating promotional videos to better communicate the value of CTE to learners and families living with disability.

Training for success: Finally, the project team developed a professional development plan to help support professional learning to include key functions of this project. Supporting learners with disabilities became a focus of Nebraska’s annual CTE conference, with keynotes and breakouts revolving around ensuring all students, including and especially those with disabilities, can skillfully navigate their own career journey. The team also created consistent messaging for including CTE conversations into Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) meetings and determined various funding opportunities or incentives for continuing to support learners with disabilities in CTE programs.

Lessons Learned

After a year, the Nebraska Pushing the Limits team has both made abundant progress and learned valuable lessons that will impact the sustainability of this project long term. First, progress happened naturally; because leaders knew this project was happening, additional alignment opportunities naturally came to light, and group members were invited to other conversations in other agencies. Second, the formal collaboration helped groups take ownership of project components not normally under their purview, resulting in direct action and awareness that would have been much more difficult otherwise.

Stay posted for future updates about Nebraska’s collaborative project or for more information about other states’ Pushing the Limits projects. For more information about CTE Without Limits, visit https://cte.careertech.org/sites/default/files/CTEWithoutLimits_Vision_2021.pdf

To learn more about planning and implementing the principles of CTE Without Limits in your state, check out Pushing the Limits: A Roadmap for Advancing CTE Without Limits.

For additional information on improving access and outcomes for learners with disabilities, we suggest the following resources:

Making Good on the Promise: Improving Equity and Access to Quality CTE Programs for Students with Disabilities

Advancing Employment for Secondary Learners with Disabilities through CTE Policy and Practice

Unlocking Potential: A State Policy Roadmap for Equity and Quality in College in High School Programs for Students With Disabilities

Dan Hinderliter, Senior Policy Associate

By Jodi Langellotti in CTE Without Limits
Tags: CTE Without Limits, Equity and Access, Nebraska, students with disabilities

Advance CTE and ACTE Release 10th Annual Year in Review Report

Thursday, February 9th, 2023

This month, Advance CTE, in partnership with the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE,) has released the 2022 Year In Review, the tenth report of its kind. This report is a snapshot of Career Technical Education (CTE) legislation around the country, passed in 2022 through states’ respective legislatures. Designed to support state policymakers and other interested stakeholders, the Year In Review report offers the opportunity to see what solutions to common themes have been implemented and where.

Containing 123 policies enacted in 36 states, the report elevates innovative and particularly effective legislation across common policy themes, with healthcare being particularly prevalent with policymakers. As per previous reports, the Year In Review also lists highlights from the top five policy areas from 2022 which are:

For a more in-depth look at all of the enacted policies for this year, we have provided this accompanying online tracker, which allows users to search and filter for the policies they are looking for.

CTE leaders are encouraged to use the tracker and state highlight to consider how to apply these innovations in their states and communities to realize the CTE Without Limits vision framework. The following policies align with two principles where state leaders have expressed interest in increased action policy in both policy and practice:

Principle 4: Each learner’s skills are counted, valued, and portable

West Virginia mandated that the State Board of Education shall establish, develop, and maintain a program where students can earn up to six elective course credits for extended learning opportunities that take place outside of the traditional classroom setting. These experiences must be approved by the State Board of Education, and all teachers are required to have a background check. Each extended learning program will be evaluated at the end of its first year; if it meets the requirements, it may be approved for an additional five years. Students may receive transfer credits for extended learning programs.

Principle 5: Each learner can access CTE without borders

Kentucky established a virtual computer science career academy, implemented by nonprofit group WeLeadCS, to prepare high school students for careers in computing, particularly in the field of data science. The program will be delivered by teachers in a virtual, synchronous manner and will provide opportunities related to dual college credit, industry certifications and work-based learning. WeLeadCS must recruit and train certified teachers; collaborate with the Kentucky Center for Statistics to define workforce needs and opportunities; partner with employers, K-12 and postsecondary educations to develop initiatives to raise awareness of the program; and advise students in the academy about postsecondary degree opportunities, among other responsibilities.

Read the report to explore 18 state policy highlights and a longitudinal view of CTE policies passed in the last ten years. To celebrate this milestone, Advance CTE will be taking a look back at some of these policies and analyzing their effect on their CTE landscapes specifically through our CTE Without Limits vision framework throughout the year.

The 2022 Year in Review can be found here. Previous Year In Review reports may be found here.

Brice Thomas, Policy Associate

By Stacy Whitehouse in Advance CTE Resources, Public Policy, Publications
Tags: CTE Data, cte funding, CTE Without Limits, Kentucky, state policy, West Virginia, work-based learning, Year in Review

Interview: CAST Researcher Dr. Amanda Bastoni on Supporting Rural CTE Learners

Monday, November 21st, 2022

As part of ongoing blog topics aimed at supporting all learners in the realization of the national vision for the future of Career Technical Education (CTE), CTE Without Limits, Dr. Amanda Bastoni, Educational Research Scientist at CAST and Dr. Tunisha Hobson, State Policy Manager engaged in a discussion to highlight the importance of providing support for CTE learner success in rural areas. CAST is a nonprofit education research and development organization, and Dr. Bastoni has conducted multiple research projects on rural learner access and engagement in STEM-focused programs. [Note: this interview has been edited for length and clarity].

Considering your wealth of experience in this area, how do you think states should approach learner access to CTE in rural areas?

State leaders should create policies that support small rural employers’ participation in CTE. A quick way for states to support rural learners is through work-based Learning. One example, in New Hampshire (RSA 188 –E: 9-a), employers of any size can be eligible for a tax credit against business profit taxes up to 50 percent for salaries of students and supervisors participating in work-based learning experiences and up to 100 percent for supplies and equipment donated for related use to an educational program offered by the regional CTE center when they make donations of time, money and goods for CTE centers.

Learner access can also begin with large scale remote career day programs and intentional employer engagement in the local and broader communities. There is a rural community in Arizona that is conducting school-wide career days where the whole school engages with different employers in activities and conversations about the experiences of working in that field.

Additionally, I think there is an opportunity to engage employers and industry partners in rural areas by preparing them for filling roles with learners. Many rural employers are willing to support work-based learning experiences, but there is a need to equip them with the right tools for success. Equipping employers with tools describing the work-based learning continuum provides an opportunity for employer engagement from small sized companies to larger corporations in understanding the experiences that can be provided to learners in rural communities.

What are some best practices states can use to support rural learners to access equitable opportunities in CTE?

Equip educators through professional development: Communicating the complexities of rural learner experiences is reliant upon the messenger. The most well meaning practitioner may not understand the challenges rural learners encounter, so it is important to find research based professional development that encourages engagement for rural learners. Ultimately, teachers can leverage their community relationships to connect learners to additional resources and opportunities.

Access CTE Without Borders while considering the digital divide: Using asset-based learning approaches to meet the needs of rural learners is important. State leaders should consider innovative approaches to realizing career pathway experiences. One example, simplistically, consider designing experiences where learners can leverage cell phones rather than laptops or computers they may not have access to. Additionally, consideration for STEM through outdoor recreation related career pathways and experiences invite rural learners to engage in CTE without borders.

Build social capital for underrepresented rural learners, particularly for careers they do not see in their community: Family engagement and inclusion of learner voice is a foundational requirement for decision making and helping learners build their social capital. Policy makers and practitioners are critical to move the work forward, but the voices of learners will drive effective change in communities. Efforts to elevate learner voice can include sharing strategies, analyzing information, and developing solutions can not only help rural learners understand how social networks are being developed but also help build positive self-identity.

Encourage and support virtual work-based learning experiences within the classroom: Embedding virtual work-based learning experiences in CTE coursework bolsters learner exposure to careers beyond their communities. Examples like BioFab Explorer from CAST, which aims to broaden the participation of underrepresented populations in rural communities in biofabrication and biomanufacturing, embeds a components of career guidance curriculum, including work-based learning simulations and activities that teachers can use to help students explore careers and develop and demonstrate industry skills, to dual enrollment opportunities.

What guidance can help states remove barriers with postsecondary program persistence in rural areas?

Rural learners need access to transportation, childcare, and paid work-based learning experiences to support their families and encourage persistence in a career pathway. Offering paid apprenticeships and internships related to outdoor recreation through postsecondary programs are critical in rural areas. According to research, many rural regions are currently experiencing declines in traditional resource-extractive industries such as mining and timber harvesting.

Like many “amenity/decline” regions, New Hampshire was significantly impacted by the loss of paper mills in the 1990s followed by the 2008 recession; however, the region has also seen steady growth in outdoor recreation. In 2020, outdoor recreation represented a higher percentage of New Hampshire’s GDP (2.6 percent) than the U.S. average (1.8 percent), ranking it 11th nationally (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2021). Similar rural states across the country are leveraging the outdoors as a significant positive asset for recreation and employment through legislation which creates opportunities in career pathways for learners. In 2021, New Hampshire joined 13 other states including Maine, Vermont, North Carolina, Oregon, Montana, Virginia, and West Virginia, in committing to establish State Offices of Outdoor Recreation Industry Development (Confluence of States, 2018).

Additional Resources

With Learners, Not for Learners: A Toolkit for for Elevating Learner Voice in CTE

CTE on the Frontier: Rural CTE Strategy Guide

Dr. Tunisha Hobson, State Policy Manager

_______________________________________________________________________

About- Dr. Amanda Bastoni

Dr. Bastoni is a former CTE teacher and Director. While currently employed as an Educational Research Scientist at CAST, some of her research projects have included:

Inclusion, Access, Equity and Diversity (IAED) National coordinator for ACTE
Principal Investigator on new National Science Foundation (NSF) iTEST Grant working with rural CTE teachers to investigate if drones can be used to increase access to STEM careers for middle school girls and rural learners.
Principal Investigator on an NSF AISL feasibility Grant focused on understanding how asset-based approaches can be leveraged to increase rural learners’ engagement in STEM-based careers

By Stacy Whitehouse in Public Policy
Tags: CTE Without Limits, Employer Engagement, Postsecondary Attainment, Rural CTE, work-based learning

Vision Spotlight: Implementing CTE Without Limits at the Local Level

Tuesday, September 27th, 2022

In March 2021, Advance CTE released Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education (CTE Without Limits) to empower “leadership at all levels to reflect on, refine and even rebuild many of the systems and structures that are limiting learner success.” Later that year, we subsequently released Pushing the Limits: A Roadmap for Advancing CTE Without Limits to help leaders assess, prioritize and implement strategies for one or more vision principles.

One school district – Utah’s Davis School District (DSD), just north of Salt Lake City – has taken both CTE Without Limits and Pushing the Limits to heart. DSD is recognized across the state for strong pathway programs. After their Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA) process revealed achievement and enrollment gaps for special populations in CTE, DSD administrators sought bold solutions and turned to CTE Without Limits as a framework to close these gaps. Leveraging these resources, DSD supported professional district training and strategic school plan development with the express purpose of increasing equitable enrollment in CTE programs districtwide.

Implementing CTE Without Limits

Once DSD administration began conversations with educators and staff, they recognized the need to create schoolwide “Without Limits Teams,” comprised of a school administrator, special education staff, school counselors, and the school’s CTE coordinator. Last spring, school staff from each of the 25 DSD schools were each brought together in full day district-wide workshops structured on the five CTE Without Limits principles and designed using Advance CTE’s CTE Without Limits implementation assets. After the training, the teams were asked to create a Without Limits plan to implement these principles in their building; 19 of the 25 have already submitted their plans as a result of the training.

The plans were created using a district-wide rubric to help sharpen and focus action areas. Learner voice was also incorporated into the conversation, with the district conducting twelve focus groups with 54 students, asking similar questions as the workshops for district staff. The district also conducted pre- and post-surveys to help develop priorities for these action plans and help administrators learn where schools need the most support.

Collaboration is Key

In a recent interview with Advance CTE staff, Davis School District CTE Supervisor Tim Peters and Without Limits Project Lead Melanie Allen reiterated the value that the collaborative nature of these Without Limits Teams has for CTE district-wide and with state and community partners. Because of the composition of the Without Limits Teams, the cross-departmental work has become a key strength of this initiative. The Layton High School team gave high praises to the Without Limits initiatives and said, “The impact of everyone being on the same page can’t be overestimated for the teachers and the students. We are already seeing growth in course requests for welding tech, accounting and computer programming.” Local CTE Coordinator Kristen Davidson noted, “We’re having conversations now that we’ve never had before, and it’s changing the way we serve students.”

Utah State CTE Director Thalea Longhurst is a strong supporter of DSD’s model. “Davis School District is leading our state in focusing on truly embedding CTE Without Limits in their daily work,” she shared. “Their work is led by strong leaders who understand the importance of collaborative conversations and truly using data-driven decision making to improve programs. They have shown that even small changes can be incredibly impactful while still considering and implementing larger systemic changes. Their work is exactly what we hope others will follow as we all strive to implement this vision for the future of CTE.”

Lessons Learned

After their first iteration of workshops, DSD shared a few lessons learned that they hope other Utah school districts or other districts nationwide consider before starting this work in earnest.

Plans don’t have to make world-changing shifts. Instead, these workshops and subsequent action planning helped the district see the small, most impactful changes that could happen first while working toward larger systemic changes.
Workshops also revealed the necessity of reviewing data as a part of the process. Because the district considered their data and opportunity gaps in conjunction with action planning, they could focus their efforts on learner populations that require the most support.
A shared framework and regular collaborative conversations served as a forcing event to share important, consistent information with school educators and staff, disseminate resources, and provide updates about CTE programs. This allowed for opportunities to address myths about CTE programs and initiatives.

Next Steps

As a result of the workshops, plan feedback, and learner focus groups, the district is working on a toolkit to support the school plan action steps. DSD administrators also hope to make this an iterative process, conducting ongoing training and coaching to help their Without Limits Teams revise and refocus their plans on a yearly basis.

For more information about CTE Without Limits as well as communication and implementation resources, please visit the CTE Without Limits page on our website.

Learn more about Career Technical Education at Davis School District in Farmington, UT.

Dan Hinderliter, Senior Policy Associate

By Stacy Whitehouse in CTE Without Limits, Uncategorized
Tags: CTE Without Limits, Data and Accountability, Equity and Access, Utah

State CTE Policy Update: Examining CTE Instructor Compensation Strategies

Thursday, September 22nd, 2022

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) released its report “State of the States 2022: Teacher Compensation Strategies” earlier this month. This report takes a deep dive into the compensation strategies each state and the District of Columbia use to continue to recruit and retain talented instructors.

Instructors are the backbone of high-quality Career Technical Education (CTE) and are essential to ensuring that each learner is fully supported by the career preparation ecosystem of their state. “Teacher Compensation Strategies” divides compensation strategies into three different categories: 1) Differentiated pay; 2) Performance pay, and 3) Pay for prior work. While the first two offer their own merit, and all can perhaps be used in some combination, pay for prior work may offer an elegant solution for staffing CTE teachers.

A common barrier to CTE teacher recruitment and retention is matching instructor salaries, which are historically lower than industry salaries talented CTE instructors often transfer from. In an effort to reduce the gap, states can offer instructors an increase in pay based on experience from non-school related careers relative to the subject matter they are teaching. This strategy embraces the promise to capture and value all learning that occurs, wherever and whenever it occurs. Below are some highlights from the report on the current application of this strategy::

When it comes to paying for prior experience, only five states—California, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, and North Carolina—grant extra pay for relevant prior experience in another industry and allow administrators the discretion to determine its relevance.
Six states—Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Texas, West Virginia—allocate pay for prior experience in non-academic industry in selected cases only. The majority of those states limit this extra pay to teachers of CTE only. Hawaii limits this extra pay to those who have prior military experience.
Thirty-nine states make no mention of adjustments in starting salary for prior relevant experience for individuals entering teaching from other professions.

Of the states currently using pay for prior experience strategies, North Carolina and Louisiana took two different approaches. North Carolina, per the report, awards one year of credit per two years of relevant, non-education work experience pre-bachelor degree, and a one-for-one exchange post attaining a bachelor’s. Louisiana school districts are required to develop compensation plans that take into account effectiveness, experience, and demand with no one factor being given a weight of more than 50 percent. The report highlights that language surrounding this particular strategy is often vague which makes it hard to track if it is being enacted.

With teacher attrition at unprecedented levels and teacher recruitment levels dropping, state CTE leaders have the opportunity to provide innovative solutions to teacher compensation. You can read the full report here: State of the States 2022: Teacher Compensation Strategies. Advance CTE’s Learning that Works Resource Center provides additional tools on embedding credit for prior learning and other state approaches to fully documenting skills.

Brice Thomas, Policy Associate

By Stacy Whitehouse in Public Policy
Tags: Alabama, Credit for Prior Learning, CTE Teacher pipeline, CTE Without Limits, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, texas, West Virginia

CTE Without Limits Spotlight: Panel Highlights Leadership Priorities for Vision Implementation

Wednesday, May 25th, 2022

On Friday, May 13, attendees at Advance CTE’s Spring State Leadership Retreat heard from three State CTE Directors participating in Advance CTE’s state cohort to begin implementation of Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education (CTE Without Limits). Moderated by Advance CTE Senior Advisor Nithya Govindasamy, panelists shared how CTE Without Limits has inspired meaningful cross-sector conversations, and key leadership lessons to build trust, center learners and sustain partnerships.

Background

The panel consisted of three state directors: Sarah Heath of Colorado, Katie Graham of Nebraska and Maria Swygert of South Carolina. At the start of the panel, each leader provided a brief overview of the focus of their initial vision implementation work.

Colorado’s focus is Principle 2: Each learner feels welcome in, is supported by, and has the means to succeed in the career preparation ecosystem to empower state and local leaders to have knowledgeable and meaningful conversations about equity gaps in data. Heath shared “we saw the work isn’t working,” that too many leaders could interpret the data but didn’t feel empowered to discuss and act on it. Through participation in the cohort, Colorado strives to build will and support for change through a statewide equity action plan with a focus on expanding equity-focused professional development opportunities for state and local CTE leaders.

Nebraska’s focus is advancing Principle 3: Each learner skillfully navigates their own career journey with a focus on learners with disabilities. State CTE staff will partner with special education and vocational rehabilitation services agencies to scale strong existing state collaboration to the local level. This includes alignment of policy, communications and professional development initiatives.

South Carolina’s focus is Principle 1: Each learner engages in a cohesive, flexible, and responsive career preparation ecosystem to achieve ‘next-level collaboration’ through more uniform processes and local support for conducting the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA) process. This will be accomplished through an assessment survey to each of their twelve cross-sector regional teams consisting of secondary, postsecondary and workforce leaders, as well as a state-level meeting to create an action plan based on survey results.

Building and Sustaining Meaningful Cross-Sector Partnerships

Each leader shared strategies they found to be effective in building and sustaining meaningful cross-sector partnerships. State Director Katie Graham emphasized the importance of cultivating personal relationships with leaders before you need them for project work. She shared that her choice to focus on learners with disabilities was inspired in part by her strong personal relationships with state staff connected to special education and vocational rehabilitation that simply started with conversations about their work years ago, rather than a specific request to share funding or resources.

State Director Sarah Heath elevated that building partnerships requires several steps, and should not begin with an ask for shared funding. Using a “gather, train, then share” approach, Colorado began their partnerships by finding shared goals and planning meetings and initiatives together. This was followed by providing mutual support on logistics and information, including conversations on common definitions, data collection and use, and data metrics to find common ground.

The directors also highlighted the importance of establishing intentional strategies that build trust and provide information that reinforces shared goals. State Director Maria Swygert shared that each quarter her office compiles a two-page report connecting the latest employment, graduation, placement and other key data points. This tool is shared with more than 70 partners statewide to reinforce the shared goal of improving learner and workforce outcomes. Graham shared that the growth of her partnership with those serving learners with disabilities resulted in a meeting where 19 needs assessment plans, including the CLNA, were streamlined to reduce the burden on local leaders and make connections among the data being collected.

Leadership Lessons Learned

Each leader was asked to share leadership lessons learned as a result of this work to build and sustain meaningful, learner-centered partnerships. Acknowledging and addressing capacity issues rose to the forefront. For states that may view the vision as yet another item for their to-do list, Heath emphasized that CTE Without Limits should not be seen as a separate approach, but rather a ‘value-add’ that takes the intent and goals of existing strategic plans, state vision statements, and other planning document to the next level and keeps learner needs at the center of all conversations.

Heath also shared that vision implementation work made her more comfortable with learning to let go of work, even though it may be important, that did not specifically advance learner needs or their state strategic plan. Swygert shared that the relationship-building conducted through this cohort allowed her to feel more comfortable not doing all the work alone and trusting the expertise and leadership of other state staff serving learners, including those not directly involved in CTE.

Each leader emphasized the value of vulnerability, transparency and honesty, especially in the early stages of relationship building with other state leaders, so that no damaging assumptions are made. Heath shared her mindset of “we all have room to grow in the work, and we want to grow together.” Graham shared a conversation she had with a state leader where she was only seeking to learn more about their role, but the latter assumed they were seeking funding instead of a meaningful partnership. So additional time was needed to build the trust to share the desired information.

Additional Resources

The CTE Without Limits cohort will receive funding, individual coaching and intensive technical support from Advance CTE through October 2022. An additional CTE Without Limits Community of Practice is open for state leaders to participate in bimonthly cross-state calls to share challenges and solutions aligned to the five vision principles. Sixteen states are currently participating — those interested in joining can contact Senior Policy Associate Hinderliter at dhinderliter@careertech.org.

For additional conversations with state and national leaders on advancing CTE Without Limits, visit Advance CTE’s webinars page for recordings of a spring virtual learning series aligned to each of the vision’s five principles.

Visit Advance CTE’s vision page for awareness and implementation resources, including its step-by-step assessment and action planning guide, Pushing the Limits: A Roadmap for Advancing CTE Without Limits that will be the basis for Advance CTE’s state cohort work.

Stacy Whitehouse, Senior Associate Communications and State Engagement

By Stacy Whitehouse in CTE Without Limits
Tags: Access and Equity, Colorado, CTE Without Limits, leadership, Nebraska, Sector Partnerships, South Carolina, students with disabilities, systems alignment

CTE Without Limits Spotlight: Q&A with Nancy Hoffman of JFF on ‘No Dead Ends’

Wednesday, May 18th, 2022

Earlier this year, Jobs for the Future (JFF) issued a policy brief, “No Dead Ends: How Career and Technical Education Can Provide Today’s Youth With Pathways to College and Career Success.” This resource aligns with the current vision for the future of Career Technical Education (CTE), Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education where each learner is able to navigate their journey to career success without limits.

“No Dead Ends” offers a series of federal and state policy considerations that are informed by the insights of leading secondary and postsecondary practitioners. The brief also spotlights several states with strong policy conditions.

Advance CTE spoke with college and career pathways expert Nancy Hoffman of JFF to learn more about the report. Below, she shares her reflections, research, and policy recommendations for how state and local CTE leaders can realize the mindset of “without limits.”

The Advance CTE team encourages members to draw on the ideas and evidence in this blog to advance aims around equity, economic mobility, and systems alignment.

Advance CTE: It’s great to speak with you, Nancy. Can you share what a “without limits” vision means to you and how it ties into JFF’s call for “no dead ends”?

Nancy Hoffman: The first time I heard the phrase “no dead ends” was in 2005 on a tour of Switzerland’s vocational education and training (VET) system. Swiss VET engages the majority of Swiss teenagers in a mix of school and paid apprenticeships with two to three days of paid work each week. The VET system is designed to provide youth with multiple pathways (see graphic and page 6 of this report). All progression routes are open to all youth “without limits” as aligned with the CTE Without Limits vision, and the system is “permeable,” meaning there are “no dead ends” to pathways that a 15-year-old VET student chooses. Career exploration begins early with all middle schoolers spending a week with an employer in an occupation of interest. Students get help understanding choices in the school curriculum as well as in each town’s career advising center. The apprentice may end up, as many do, with a bachelor’s degree from a university of applied sciences, even a Ph.D., and may change from one field or company to another.

While the United States has come a long way in embracing a new narrative about career and technical education (CTE), dismissive attitudes remain. Unlike in Switzerland, our public discourse separates going to college from career preparation, despite the fact that everyone goes to college to get a career—whether pursuing an industry certification or a Ph.D. JFF’s No Dead Ends publication takes a hard look at how to remove the remaining stigmas seen in policy, in practice, and in the public perception that CTE students are “not college material” and are in a “remedial” pathway that will lead to jobs with low wages demanding only basic skills.

To continue to move CTE perceptions in a positive direction, the JFF brief requires action on three levers: higher visibility for CTE, better allocation of resources, and incentives that reward CTE programs in the same way as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and other such markers of readiness for postsecondary education. No Dead Ends also demands that all programs for college and career preparation be assessed with an equity lens. Ironically, the institutional racism that historically funneled students of color and low-income students into CTE is now shutting them out in some states. In many regions, CTE is becoming an attractive way for privileged students to get hands-on experience in high tech, engineering, health care, and the like.

Advance CTE: JFF’s No Dead Ends report emphasizes the importance of “career identity,” which corresponds to Principle 3, “Each Learner Skillfully Navigates Their Own Career Journey.” What does career identity mean, and how can it be supported for each learner?

Nancy Hoffman: As we have come to learn, career advising is not the same as supporting a young person’s journey to career or vocational identity. At JFF, we define career identity as the link between a person’s motivations, interests, and competencies and their potential career roles.

Child development researcher Dr. Robert Halpern has written extensively on the need for schools to nurture the vocational identities of teenagers. He notes how little support most schools provide in helping young people “attend to their vocational selves: to confirm and disconfirm interests; think about and understand vocation (and vocational knowledge) in deeper, more differentiated ways; learn about vocational possibilities and understand what it means to be prepared for specific kinds of work; and understand how to prepare for work and the length of time that requires.” Halpern put it, “When thinking about career paths, young people are asking not simply ‘what do I want to do?’ but ‘who do I want to be?” Young people begin to ask such questions as early as middle school, but most middle school curriculum does not integrate the study of careers and career exploration into the curriculum. Indeed, this gap inspired JFF to create Possible Futures, a program for grades 6 through 10 that provides a fun and engaging career exploration program, helping young people gain the foundational knowledge, skills, and experiences they need to make critical decisions about their future with confidence.

Advance CTE: No Dead Ends tackles how to make sure all high-quality pathways are accessible to each learner. Looking through an equity lens, what issues commonly arise with CTE generally and work-based learning experiences, more specifically?

Nancy Hoffman: As the Gates Foundation’s Striving to Thriving project powerfully documented through thousands of interviews, Black and Latinx young people see their race or ethnicity as an asset. Yet our education and employment systems are sending them contradictory signals about what their proper aspirations ought to be, where they will be welcomed, and most important, whether they will be welcomed for who they are.

As researcher Nat Malkus notes, schools may fail to notice the “hidden tracking” within CTE. Students headed to four-year colleges tend to enroll in what Malkus calls “New Era CTE” (e.g. computer science, engineering, health care) and students wanting a certification or unsure of their next steps, are guided toward traditional trades course– not all of which provide access to well-paying jobs. The distribution of students within CTE can mirror the domination of an occupation by a particular race/ethnicity, gender, or other personal characteristic. This means, for example, populating IT and computer science courses with college-bound white males, while young women of color take internships in helping professions.

Local and state leaders must be alert to sorting mechanisms within CTE. Do privileged students get the high-tech internships while low-income students take on jobs where there may be a lot to learn? And then do they continue on such a path to a career that almost guarantees low wages? Equity gaps widen especially when schools lack a placement system and ask students to find their own employer-supported internship. Most challenging is how schools identify, respond to, and take action to prevent placing students in unwelcoming or even racist workplaces or unwittingly reinforcing occupational segregation. A recent JFF blog, “Identifying the ‘Fruit and Root’ of Systemic Racial Inequity,” notes the pernicious use of the word “fit,” which can be a cover for racism, as in “she won’t fit into our company’s culture.” The authors argue that “the seemingly neutral concern about “fit” has proven to be problematic, and tends to cover for a preference for a homogenous culture in the workplace. Employers want to hire people of color, but the people of color they hire are subtly forced to conform to existing norms—of dress, behavior, speech–to truly belong.”

Advance CTE: No Dead-Ends lays out several key policy considerations for strengthening college and career pathways, supporting career identity developing, and expanding access to high-quality work-based learning experiences. To conclude our conversation, could you share a couple of these policy recommendations?

Nancy Hoffman: Defining a high-quality CTE program is a foundational step for developing state systems that better serve learners. In No Dead Ends, JFF suggests that states should consider clearly articulating key quality standards for “fundable” CTE programs. States should also consider tying funding eligibility to these quality standards to ensure resources are used effectively. For example, Delaware not only created a statewide definition of CTE but required each program of study to adhere to three key principles: (1) prepare students for career success and post-secondary education; (2) align with workforce needs and are developed in partnership with relevant stakeholders; and (3) improve student achievement by connecting academic and career success measures. However, states don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Perkins V has a good definition for CTE, and states can use that as a jumping-off point to ensure high-quality programming.

In the brief, JFF also recommends that the federal government define career identity development and give states guidance on how to operationalize this aim. Current definitions coming out of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE) note that a high-quality program of study includes career and academic guidance. However, while advising is critical, policy must more deeply encourage the development of career identity which should be framed as a key aspect of adolescent development overall. When Perkins is reauthorized in a few years, JFF believes the law should include a definition of this term, and OCTAE should release clearer guidance. These efforts will help promote more robust college and career coaching for students.

Visit Advance CTE’s website to learn more about the CTE Without Limits vision, and the Learning that Works Resource Center for more guidance on advancing equity in CTE experiences.

Nancy Hoffman, JFF and Stacy Whitehouse, Advance CTE

By Stacy Whitehouse in Public Policy, Research
Tags: Access and Equity, Communicating CTE, CTE Without Limits, Program Quality

Getting to Know Advance CTE’s Strategic Priorities: Equip, Empower, Elevate

Thursday, May 5th, 2022

The “Getting to Know” blog series will feature the work of State CTE Directors, state and federal policies, innovative programs and new initiatives from the Advance CTE staff. Learn more about each one of these topics and the unique contributions to advancing Career Technical Education (CTE) that Advance CTE’s members work on every day.

Meet Kimberly Green! Kim is the Executive Director of Advance CTE. Kim’s role at Advance CTE is to provide strategic direction to all of the organization’s workstreams to ensure Advance CTE is boldly advancing toward the accomplishment of the strategic priorities and theory of action, both of which aspire to ensure equitable career success for each learner.

Q: Given your history and tenure at Advance CTE and in the field, how have you seen the organization evolve into what is now the 2021-2024 strategic plan?

A: January 2023 will mark 30 years for me at Advance CTE; that is a lot of time and tenure to have seen things change. The name of our organization changed (NASDCTEc to Advance CTE). We expanded state memberships to cover a “team” rather than just one individual from each state. Internally, our staff has grown significantly, with our team members living and working literally across the entire country. The breadth and depth of our work shifted to reflect the evolving needs of our members and the CTE community. We deepened and expanded our federal policy work and added in robust state policy, communications, data/accountability, equity, etc. research, professional development and technical assistance. We launched revolutionary and impactful streams of work like the National Career Clusters Framework ® and the CTE: Learning that Works for America campaign, etc.; these efforts have incubated and supported a significantly increased level of support and interest in CTE and career readiness among the public and state policymakers.

What hasn’t changed is our steadfast commitment to serving our members. For nearly every year of these 30 years, all states were members of Advance CTE. This is something I am extraordinarily proud of! We are steadfast in our commitment to supporting leaders, encouraging transformative leadership and “be(ing) the change we want to see in the world” (quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi). Our efforts to coalesce our community and stakeholders toward a common, bold vision is a hallmark of who we are at Advance CTE. We don’t shy away from taking on the important and difficult work, like efforts to address the legacy and currency of racial equity gaps in CTE, all the while remaining vigilant to hold the bar high in terms of quality expectations.

Q: If you had to choose, which accomplishment from 2021 are you most excited about?

A: This is hard! There is much to choose from but I’d probably have to say releasing CTE Without Limits, which is a north star for our work and launching the Postsecondary State Career Technical Education Leadership Fellowship at Advance CTE – Sponsored by ECMC Foundation which will help to strengthen and diversify the pipeline of talent to fill state leadership positions in CTE.

Q: What do you see as the major priority for the organization moving into the second quarter of 2022?

A: We are getting ready to host our Spring State Leadership Retreat this month (May 2022). I am excited to see our members again – in person! I am also excited to re-connect and build new relationships, strengthen existing relationships, and to learn from and alongside our members.

Q: CTE Without Limits states that the work ahead will require commitment and shared ownership from all stakeholders. Are there any upcoming opportunities that will equip, empower and elevate the field?

A: Our Virtual June Meeting Series is going to be amazing! This three-event series will offer premier professional content to inspire attendees and arm them with replicable polices and practices to advance high-quality and equitable CTE, plus the opportunity to build their peer network across the country.

Every day, I am honored to serve our members in the CTE community. I am inspired by their commitment to be bold, lead change and to do the work that requires a deep and abiding persistence. In some ways their work is hidden; learners and other stakeholders often don’t know the important role that state leaders have in setting policies that close equity gaps or ensure their classrooms have qualified instructors and latest equipment. They don’t know the advocacy efforts state leaders lead to to build supportive environments in order to secure the investments needed so that more learners can have access to CTE. But I see the work our members do … and I am grateful.

Kimberly Green, Executive Director

By admin in CTE Without Limits
Tags: CTE Without Limits, June Meeting Series

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