learner voice « Advance CTE Blog

Empowering Futures: Delaware Learners Thrive in Career Technical Education Programs

Tuesday, August 6th, 2024

In the ever-evolving landscape of education, Career Technical Education (CTE) programs stand out as beacons of opportunity, providing learners with practical skills, real-world experiences, and a sense of belonging. Recently, Policy Associate Velie Sando had the privilege of speaking with three remarkable learners from Delaware who are blazing trails in their respective CTE programs. Their stories not only showcase the transformative power of CTE but also highlight the inclusive and supportive environments these programs can foster.

Finding Voice and Advocacy in Educators Rising

Leilani Carrera, a fourth-year learner and state president of the Educators Rising Career Technical Education Student Organization (CTSO), embodies the resilience and determination that CTE programs can instill. Despite facing homelessness twice during her high school career, Leilani found the courage to speak up about her challenges. “To belong, you kinda have to put yourself out there. You need to be at the table, and put a little bit of yourself on the table,” she reflects.

Leilani’s experience underscores the importance of creating supportive environments in CTE programs. Her advisors and educators responded with empathy and practical support, arranging transportation, providing necessities, and ensuring she could participate fully in her program activities. “My advisors were super helpful with me. They made sure that I could get to school, they waited for me, they made sure that I had professional clothing so I could compete, and they arranged time slots for me after school so I could prepare,” she explains. This level of support not only helped Leilani overcome personal obstacles but also empowered her to become an advocate for other learners facing similar challenges.

Bridging Passions in Agriculture and Business

Jennae Overton’s journey through both the Natural Resources and Business CTE programs illustrates how CTE can cater to diverse interests and skills. Drawn to both National FFA (formerly known as Future Farmers of America) and Business Professionals of America (BPA) in middle school, Jennae found a way to pursue both passions in high school through her CTE programs. “Being able to translate learning into real-life situations is super helpful, which is why CTE is so important,” Jennae explains. Her experience highlights the hands-on nature of CTE programs, where classroom learning is immediately applied in practical settings. This approach not only enhances understanding but also makes learning more engaging and relevant.

Jennae’s story also touches on the importance of flexibility in CTE programs. While her CTE programs aligned with her interests and she learned from teachers who were experts in the field, Jennae shares that this is not an experience that all of her peers have. “It can be scary being in a pathway where everybody knows what they want to do and you don’t, so being able to rely on your teachers and for them to say ‘this doesn’t have to be for the rest of your life’ is really beneficial because that makes it feel more comfortable,” she shares. Jennae emphasizes the importance of clear communication about the flexibility of CTE programs, highlighting that learners need to understand how CTE can support various future career choices when deciding which program to pursue.

Breaking Barriers in Teacher Education

Helen Ramos, a first-generation Hispanic learner in the Redesign Teacher Academy and member of the Educators Rising CTSO, brings attention to the evolving landscape of representation in education. Her experience highlights the progress made in diversifying the teaching workforce while also pointing out areas for improvement. Helen notes that while her English proficiency sometimes led to assumptions about her understanding, she also became a valuable resource in helping English Language Learners (ELLs) in her program. “My friends would get papers that were translated and the teacher would tell us to help them and I would volunteer,” she shares. Helen’s journey underscores the need for CTE programs to be mindful of language barriers and cultural differences.

Helen shared an insight about the name of her CTE program, “Teacher Academy,” highlighting that it may potentially limit participation to learners interested in pursuing teaching as a career when in fact the program equips learners with essential skills that are applicable to various professions beyond education. “People used to think that our program is just for future teachers but we would tell them that it’s also for people who want to build on learning to communicate”, she shares. Helen raises an important point about marketing CTE programs and opportunities, emphasizing the need for clear communication about the broad applicability of skills learned in these programs.

The Unifying Power of CTE

While each learner’s story is unique, several common threads emerge that highlight the strengths of CTE programs:

Supportive Environments: All three learners emphasized the crucial role of supportive teachers and advisors in their success.
Hands-on Learning: The practical, applied nature of CTE programs was consistently cited as a major benefit, helping learners connect classroom concepts to real-world situations.
Skill Development Beyond the Classroom: From public speaking to advocacy, learners gained valuable life skills that extend far beyond their chosen career paths.
Inclusivity and Representation: While challenges remain, CTE programs are making strides in creating inclusive environments where learners from all backgrounds can thrive.

As these Delaware learners demonstrate, CTE programs are more than just career preparation – they are launchpads for personal growth, advocacy, and community building. By continuing to support and expand access to high-quality CTE programs, we can ensure that more learners have the opportunity to discover their passions, develop crucial skills, and build the confidence to succeed in any path they choose.

For more information about leveraging learner voice and designing a learner-centered CTE program, visit the following pages on the Advance CTE website:

Learn more about intensive technical assistance opportunities to get help developing learner-centered CTE programs by completing the Technical Assistance Interest and Request Form

Velie Sando, Policy Associate

By Layla Alagic in Public Policy
Tags: Access and Equity, CTSOs, Delaware, Educators Rising, English language learners, FFA, learner voice

Realizing CTE Without Limits: An Interview with Colorado State CTE Director Dr. Sarah Heath

Wednesday, March 27th, 2024

This month, Advance CTE celebrates the 3 year anniversary of the release of Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education (CTE Without Limits), supported by over 40 national organizations. As part of the celebration, Advance CTE is highlighting the initiatives, outcomes and lessons learned of current and former states who have participated in technical assistance opportunities to conduct the challenging but necessary work to fully realize the vision in their state.

Senior Director of Policy Nithya Govindasamy interviewed Colorado State CTE Director Sarah Heath to revisit the impact of technical assistance on realizing a more cohesive, flexible, and responsive career preparation ecosystem.

**How has the CTE Without Limits influenced the mindset and priorities for CTE in your state?**

CTE Without Limits has influenced the mindset and priorities in Colorado in terms of alignment. Our team has examined our goals and determined how we can better serve learners and how we can get learners ready for things that are connected geographically.

CTE Without Limits has also been central to goals and actions that can be taken to infuse the principles in the Perkins State Plan and strategic plan to ultimately support local leaders and educators. In Colorado, we are trying to connect the principles in the vision and the foundational commitments when evaluating our current goals and the gaps in our goals. We have used it to “check ourselves” and integrated it to support our stakeholder outreach and continue to use it as a bar and checkpoint.

**What do you consider your state’s most impactful work in progress as a result of the CTE Without Limits vision?**

For Colorado, the most impactful work has occurred in our equity-centered work, specifically empowering locals through the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA) and tying it to CTE Without Limits through the Opportunity Gap Analysis (OGA). In particular, we’ve focused on sub-populations indicators and “checking ourselves” to ensure we were not being too generic in measuring success. Principle 2: Each learner feels welcome in, is supported by, and has the means to succeed in the career preparation ecosystem, pushed us to identify tangible tools to help locals; it also pushed our state team to view data differently and get comfortable with data. Tools like the heat map ease people into the work without the “equity stigma”.

We are also using tools to analyze local performance and to inform local decision making. For example the OGA data was linked to school performance frameworks and school finance to show the intersections. We are training principals and need to train middle-management leaders in our schools to help them to make data-driven decisions to help all learners be successful.

In Colorado, working directly with locals to be more impactful has been a priority. We held a session about this work at CACTA (Colorado Association for Career and Technical Administrators, the Admin Division of ACTE in Colorado), where the designated CTE Directors attend for each district and they are empowered to engage the principals. Rural school districts are supported by Boards of Cooperative Educational Services or BOCES (typically fiscal agents for Perkins) and each have a Superintendent Council, so our team has taken the opportunity to use their meeting structure and support to offer more CTE services.

Additionally, Colorado has taken a “near-peer approach” and is leveraging the relationships with the BOCES and helping the state team connect with local leaders who are not always the designated CTE Director. The Colorado CTE Team is also reflecting on their experiences to ensure the best presenter or connector is available to support these cohorts. For example, the state Program Director for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy was a principal in a rural school district prior to being on the Colorado CTE Team so it makes perfect sense to connect her to projects where we are expanding the knowledge of our local principals in how to connect CTE data to their school performance data and goal setting.

Colorado participated in the inaugural cohort to provide vision-related technical assistance to states. What is one part of that work (highlighted here) that you have been able to build upon over the past year, and how?

Of the work highlighted in last year’s blog, we focused on Goal 3: “Building Local Leader Data Literacy: Leverage Advance CTE’s Opportunity Gap Analysis (OGA) 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.” In order to increase the data literacy of locals and teachers, we are offering professional development with a panel of local CTE directors. We are using the CLNA and OGA for action planning, and conducted needs assessment in-person during a statewide CTE roadshow.

In terms of what is next for us, we are intentionally incorporating learner voice into our work. We are focused on “how are we empowering local leaders and their data literacy” and helping them with storytelling. For example, our CTE concentrator graduation rate is 98% while our overall Colorado high school graduation rate is 83%. Elevating these data points and integrating into our storytelling on the local level will assist in destigmatizing CTE. CTE is being seen all over Colorado as a new strategic move in high school education. We are seeing Designed Career and Technical high schools being built in school districts who market their four-year college going culture. We are seeing most districts “up” their CTE programs and want to better serve learners across the board by offering multiple off ramps from industry credentials, Apprenticeship, and college credit.

We’ve been able to engage with families by going to the PTA conference and enhancing their data literacy. We are working with the entire ecosystem to empower local leaders, administrators, principals, parents/guardians, family members and learners and “empower” local communities by equipping them with better information to make more informed decisions. We are also helping connect education to the overall ecosystem through regional level conversations about industry needs and alignment.

What resources or support has been most helpful in moving this work and mindset forward?

For the Colorado team, the technical assistance and the actual resources, such as the Pushing the Limits Roadmap, has been the most helpful. We have used this resource to develop goals, to conduct an assessment of our current system, and develop an action plan. The tools were helpful in identifying the areas that need to be improved and we were able to use the tool to help locals assess their own system.

Another helpful resource was the With Learners, Not for Learners: A Toolkit for Elevating Learner Voice in CTE. We walked through the toolkit and tackled issues such as not “tokenizing” learners by just having them on advisory committees.

Having the tools, resources and support was definitely helpful when determining how to use the various pieces to help locals.

What principles and areas of work connected to the vision are you planning to focus on this year?

Colorado is currently focused on Principle 4: Each learner’s skills are counted, valued, and portable. We are centering this mindset in our work by leaning into Credit for Prior Learning (CPL), portable credit and policy change and matrix, faculty qualifications, and counting all learning that happens. In 2020, Colorado passed HB 20-1002, which enables students and adults to earn postsecondary credit for prior work experience, including work-based learning. A landscape report on CPL was released in 2021 that guides our work:

Through our team that supports concurrent enrollment as well as our work on the Colorado “Student Bill of Rights”, we are working to ensure learners are receiving the correct credit for earned Industry Recognized Credentials when they matriculate to an institution of higher education as well as their CTE high school experiences, even if it does not include concurrent enrollment, and assisting learners with understanding how to link these experiences to their college credits through articulation.

Colorado’s Governor has set a Skills-Based hiring expectation and as a team, we are using this expectation to help our employers who serve on our CTE advisory committees better understand how to post jobs to ensure they are attracting talent based on their skills.

Additional Resources

To learn about how to begin implementing CTE Without Limits in your state or community, read Colorado, Nebraska, and South Carolina’s origin and impact journeys so far.. Resources to learn about and implement the vision can be found on our CTE Without Limits webpage.

Nithya Govindasamy, Senior Director of Policy

By Stacy Whitehouse in CTE Without Limits
Tags: Access and Equity, Colorado, Concurrent Enrollment, Credit for Prior Learning, CTE Without Limits, Data Literacy, learner voice, Opportunity Gap, Stakeholder engagement, state policy

Elevating Learner Voice Through Youth Participatory Action Research in Kentucky

Tuesday, March 26th, 2024

How prepared do learners feel to use the certification they have earned through their CTE program? Do learners feel their certification will increase their chances of employment after graduation? A group of learners in Kentucky are working with Advance CTE and the Kentucky Student Voice Team to find out. In this blog, Membership and Policy Associate, Amy Hodge introduces this new initiative.

In September 2023 , Advance CTE launched an exciting new pilot initiative to engage state Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders in the youth participatory action research space. This project centers the belief that CTE programs should be designed with learners, not simply for learners, as learners are too often left out of key conversations about what access, quality, and success look like. Youth participatory action research (YPAR) is an exciting approach for engaging learners in policy and practice decision-making.

The CTE Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project is a collaboration between the Kentucky Student Voice Team (KSVT), the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), the Kentucky Postsecondary Council on Education (CPE), and Fayette County Public Schools. This pilot is generously funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and aligns with Advance CTE’s vision for the future of CTE where learners have agency and feel empowered to advocate for high-quality CTE programs.

Advance CTE helped recruit a group of 15 high school-aged learners to receive training from the Kentucky Student Voice Team on designing their own YPAR project. Learners came from three career academies in Fayette County, KY, including Tates Creek High School, Bryan Station High School, and Frederick Douglass High School. These school teams receive bi-monthly training from the Kentucky Student Voice Team to learn about different youth research strategies, survey design, and how to use these findings to become more effective advocates for high-quality CTE programs in their state.

After they’ve designed and collected responses from their school community, learners will have the opportunity to present their findings and recommendations to state-level leadership and inform future policies. Throughout this first phase of the work, Advance CTE will identify ways to scale this process in other states and communities in the future and make recommendations for state CTE leaders looking to incorporate more learner voices into how programs are designed and delivered.

The academy teams have completed sessions about the fundamentals of YPAR, reviewing different pathways for students to have a voice and seat at the table in education decision-making, research fundamentals, and survey question design, construction, and distribution. Themes have begun to emerge as these learners narrow in on the focus of their research questions. These themes include:

Certification effectiveness now and in the future
CTE’s preparation for learners’ career and life after graduation
Additional CTE programs that aren’t currently available to learners
Learners’ understanding of and comfort with CTE
Learners’ perceptions of educator and school support in CTE [programs]

Questions that learners identified through their preliminary exploration include:

How prepared do learners feel to use the certification they have earned through their CTE program?
How connected do you feel with your teachers at school?
How much do you feel your certification increases your chances of employment after graduation?

Advance CTE Members will be able to learn more about this project when the school teams present at Advance CTE’s Fall Meeting in October.

Learn more about KSVT!

The Kentucky Student Voice Team (KSVT) is an independent, youth-led nonprofit that works to co-create more just, democratic Kentucky schools and communities by partnering with research, policy, and advocacy partners across the state.

For more information and tools to design a learner-centered CTE program, visit Advance CTE’s Learning that Works Resource Center.

With Learners, Not for Learners: A Toolkit for Elevating Learner Voice in CTE: This toolkit provides state and local CTE leaders with actionable resources, guidance and tools to ensure CTE learner voices are elevated and heard for the improvement of CTE policies and practices.

Amplifying Learner Voice: How WisCORE Champions Equity Through Learner-Led Conversations: Explore how Wisconsin is amplifying learner voice in this recent blog.

Amy Hodge, Member and Policy Associate

By Jodi Langellotti in Research
Tags: Kentucky, Kentucky Student Voice Team, learner voice, youth participatory action research, YPAR

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

Amplifying Learner Voice: How WisCORE Champions Equity Through Learner-Led Conversations

Wednesday, March 6th, 2024

Five states, including Wisconsin, took part in the Leveraging Learner Voice to Strengthen CTE technical assistance cohort hosted by Advance CTE and ACTE. Inspired by CTE Without Limits: a Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education, they’re using the With Learners, Not for Learners toolkit to involve learners in the design, delivery, and implementation of CTE programs and policies. This post focuses on Wisconsin’s “WisCORE” conference, where learners lead conversations and drive change in diversity, equity, and inclusion across the state’s technical colleges. For this post, Haley Wing, senior policy associate with Advance CTE, interviewed Colleen Larsen, education director for student success at Wisconsin Technical College System, a member of the Wisconsin state team for the Leveraging Learner Voice to Strengthen CTE technical assistance cohort and the coordinator for the state-wide WisCORE Conference planning and execution committee.

WisCORE: Where Learner Voices Spark Change in Race and Ethnicity Conversations

In October 2023, the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) convened learners, staff, and faculty from across the System for the Wisconsin Technical College System Conference on Race and Ethnicity (WisCORE), a transformative conference dedicated to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the system’s colleges.

The WisCORE conference facilitates collaboration among WTCS colleges, enabling shared effective DEI strategies and building system-wide capacity for creating more inclusive campuses. By emphasizing the voices and experiences of learners, employees, and community members, the conference ensures that DEI efforts are informed by the perspectives of those most impacted, leading to more equitable and sustainable practices.

The WisCORE event and the Wisconsin state team’s work in the Leveraging Learner Voice to Strengthen CTE technical assistance cohort align seamlessly with the principles of CTE Without Limits, ensuring that every learner feels welcomed, supported, and empowered to succeed within the career preparation ecosystem. The conference and its outcomes elevate learners’ voices, prioritizing inclusion and equity, while establishing accountability and continuous improvement processes.

Student Caucus from WiSCORE

LEARNER TESTIMONIAL

“WisCORE 2023 was my first experience, and it was a pleasant experience. Being able to attend and be involved meant a lot for me as a student. I got to hear other students share their personal stories and experiences within the college setting, as well as within their community. It was reassuring to hear students share similar thoughts and possible solutions on how colleges can improve on how they can create a welcoming space of diversity, equity, inclusion, self-advocacy, and cultural competency to better serve their student population. It’s nice to know that I was not the only student who wanted to advocate in those DEI areas and that the attendees, both staff and student, have a similar inspiration, which is to hear student voices for a sense of direction on how colleges can improve and better serve their students.”

Building Bridges, Brick by Brick: The Collaborative Journey to WisCORE

The idea for the WisCORE conference was borne out of multiple leaders and learners in the Wisconsin Technical College system attending The National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE). Attendees of this conference reported rave reviews, and the requests for additional participants from each technical college quickly increased. During the NCORE 2018 conference in Portland, Colleen attended with others from her state and requested a Wisconsin-dedicated room for their state team. During their debriefing and unpacking the learning from the conference, she asked, “What would you like to do to bring this learning back to our state?”

From that conference room, the team, which included learners, staff and faculty, insisted that Wisconsin needed a dedicated convening to center belonging, connections and solutions to challenges learners frequently face. Leveraging a grant from Jobs For the Future centered on equity, the planning committee, which included learners, created the first WisCORE conference. Leveraging the demand from learners and support from faculty members, the collective advocacy across the state resulted in all 16 technical college presidents agreeing to submit $1,000 from each college budget to support the development and execution of the WisCORE conference. After the second conference, more faculty and learners took an interest in the event and requested that the conference occur annually, which the presidents agreed to support. This sustainable funding ensures the event is possible each year.

Grit and Grace: Lessons from WisCORE’s Road to Success

Planning and successfully executing an event like WisCORE comes with several benefits: learners are in the driver’s seat to lead meaningful change; faculty are made aware of learners’ experiences and opportunities to improve their supports in programs; and learner feedback and input are actualized in changes to policies, practices and more. Understanding these benefits is helpful when navigating the challenges and barriers that may come up when replicating a similar event. Colleen shared the following tips to support this work in Wisconsin and beyond:

Support and develop a culture that values learners as partners: Colleen, other members of her team and learners across the technical college system have clearly articulated the need to center learners’ feedback and input on their educational experiences. Learners came up with the idea for WisCORE and System and college staff coordinated resources to support their vision. Learners facilitate the conference, lead break-out sessions, facilitate caucuses and serve as keynote speakers. Learners have been at the table at every stage of development for the WisCORE conference. The System created a video at the event highlighting the importance of learner voice.
- This environment fosters greater learner engagement and learners are empowered to consult and offer feedback to leaders within the education system. Aligning everyone within your state agency, institution, or organization on the definition, meaning, and value of authentic learner engagement is a great way to ensure everyone is working towards the same goal and feels empowered to take action. Additional resources and recommendations are also in the With Learners, Not for Learners toolkit for beginning meaningful learner engagement work.

Structure opportunities that foster equitable learner engagement: The WisCORE conference is designed with each college in the System invited to attend with a team. The team is required to be at least 50% learner-led. Learners are crucial to the makeup of college teams to ensure they are seen as leaders and have space to facilitate conversations and solutions that impact learners’ experiences most. To create enough space for all learners attending to share their experiences during the conference, each team is limited to 10 members (160 total conference attendees). While the interest is high, the WisCORE Planning Committee considers the space constraints; each year, the WisCORE conference is hosted at a different technical college campus. Given the space available at the colleges, 160 participants for the conference is the max.
- Another equity component of the WisCORE conference and similar learner engagements is the availability and accessibility of attending an in-person conference. If a learner cannot attend the conference in person, the team has previously leveraged hybrid options. This sufficed for the time, however, Colleen mentioned the difficulty of ensuring learners feel included and part of the team when joining sessions virtually. For the 2023 WisCORE conference, the team leveraged Encore Sessions: virtual sessions held after the conference that allows others to engage across the System. In these Encore Sessions, learners present and facilitate topics included in the in-person conference. This adaptability allows for equitable engagement if a learner cannot attend the conference in person.

Focus your efforts to ensure you’re meeting learners’ needs: Events like WisCORE, and similar learner engagement opportunities, emerge from the ground up to inform the collective of opportunities for improvement. When engaging in grassroots work, the swath of information and perspectives can make it challenging to focus efforts. When encountering this challenge with the WisCORE Planning Committee, Colleen elevates choosing a specific engagement theme. For example, for the WisCORE conference, each year, the Planning Committee determines a theme with the inclusion of learner feedback and input. Simply asking learners what they care about and what they would like to discuss when it comes to their CTE experiences is a great way to begin developing a theme and ensuring learners’ needs are met. During the planning process for WisCORE, Colleen mentioned mental health came up as an important theme, as did the representation of indigenous learners and learners with disabilities. This input from learners informed the design of the conference sessions and speakers.
- When learners design programs and strategies alongside us, we create initiatives that genuinely resonate with their needs and break down barriers to their success. Leaders interested in meaningfully engaging learners can begin with a group of learners and ask them what they want to see, implement, develop, and more. If a group of learners is not easily accessible, meeting learners where they are and simply listening to their ideas and input can be a great place to start. While listening to learners, determine where to leverage your resources, capital and more to actualize learners’ ideas for increasing inclusion and closing gaps in access and success metrics.

LEARNER TESTIMONIAL

“I learned the value of advocating for yourself and for others and that there are many out there who are likely facing the issue like us. And how important it is for each individual to be responsible and respectful.”

Beyond Conversation, Beyond Collaboration: WisCORE’s Tangible Impact

As a result of the WisCORE conference, learners and faculty members across the state report the impact of the conference:

Learners across the state are more deeply and meaningfully engaged: The Wisconsin team has seen an increase in learners’ engagement on college campuses. This includes learners serving on committees and interacting with leaders within their college. Due to the high-impact nature of the WisCORE conference, direct action items are addressed and implemented, such as creating dedicated seats for learners on each of the technical college’s president executive committees or boards. Learners on these committees meet with their college’s president’s committee or board to discuss important issues affecting learners and provide input on solutions. Colleges in the state have also designated learner spaces on DEI committees.

Learners are actively shaping conversations about their educational experiences: During the inaugural WisCORE conference, the staff helping to plan the event held an assumption that learners would not be able to ‘handle’ seeing data across the state technical college system. Learners on the planning committee advocated, that in the first year, the conference engaged learners at the conference in a data dive for their college campus. This activity allowed learners to share their feedback and input on root-cause analysis. After this model, some colleges returned this practice to campus and included learners in data reviews. The Wisconsin state team has also seen learners included in regional Perkins needs assessments. Learners are great partners for discussing the root-cause analysis of various data points.

Learners drive diversity, equity, and inclusion on college campuses: The WisCORE conference empowers learners to be agents of change in their colleges’ DEI efforts. Through student panels, breakouts and keynote speeches, learners dive deep into DEI and brainstorm solutions. The highlight is “team time” where learners collaborate with their colleagues to create concrete action plans with at least three actionable steps to advance DEI on campus. This event challenges the traditional top-down approach, prioritizing learner voices and fostering meaningful collaborations for lasting impact.

Looking Ahead: Amplifying Learner Voices Beyond the Conference Walls

As the Wisconsin team looks forward, they continue to leverage learner voice to strengthen CTE. In addition to their work with the WisCORE conference, the team continues to share and elevate promising practices and approaches related to their learner engagement work in the Leveraging Learner Voice to Strengthen CTE technical assistance cohort. With all learner engagement work across secondary and postsecondary systems, the team continues to center learners and their experiences, support learners as they engage to improve their educational experiences and create sustainable structures to help shift mindsets and practices as it relates to learner engagement work.

For additional information about leveraging learner voice, please visit the following pages on the Advance CTE website:

Haley Wing, Senior Policy Associate, Advance CTE

By Layla Alagic in CTE Without Limits
Tags: Access and Equity, CTE Vision, CTE Without Limits, inclusivity, Learner Engagement, learner voice, wisconsin

Delaware CTE Youth Leaders Take the Mic

Thursday, December 7th, 2023

Last month, I had the privilege of attending a briefing at the U.S. Department of Education, led by a group of Career Technical Education (CTE) learners from the state of Delaware. Their expertise and passion demonstrated the true power, inspiration and innovation that can come from centering learners in matters of policy and practice within CTE.

Over the last year, Delaware participated in Advance CTE’s Leveraging Learner Voice to Strength CTE’s technical assistance cohort and this visit to Washington DC was a culmination of this effort. Over the year, Delaware recruited CTE youth leaders to participate in two cohorts:

One cohort is working to redesign their state’s teacher preparation program of study. Going forward, Delaware is committed to ensuring learners are engaged in the development and re-approval of CTE programs of study as those directly experiencing those pathways, and this group of learners is providing input into both the teacher pathway and the policy and process going forward. As Dr. Jon Wickert, State CTE Director for Delaware noted, “We are looking to CTE youth leaders in how we name programs, how we design programs. Programs should be designed in the ways learners want them to function.”
The other cohort, focused on building capacity around Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in CTE classrooms and Career Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs), co-designed and co-led the state’s 2023 Fall Leadership Conference, which had over 750 middle and high school CTSO learners participating. As Madison Retzlaff, one of the youth leaders and the state president for Educators Rising, shared, “Every voice matters…and everyone should feel a sense of belonging in CTSOs and CTE.”

To prepare these learners to serve as leaders at both the state and local levels, Delaware worked with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago to provide training around culturally responsive instruction and practices.

Presenting to senior leadership within the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE), including Assistant Secretary, Dr. Amy Loyd, learners explained the construct of culturally responsive teaching practices that they collectively developed and refined as the CTE Youth Leadership Team and how they are individually committing themselves to the implementation of culturally responsive teaching in their roles as CTSO leaders and CTE peers. Jennae Overton, state president of Business Professionals of America (BPA), led the presentation and Ahmad Edwards, who participates in Future Health Professionals (HOSA), offered thoughts on what culturally responsive teaching means to him as a CTE youth leader, noting “I will implement culturally responsive practice [by] honoring each student’s voice. I want every student to be able to open up and express how they feel about a certain topic.”

Armed with a greater understanding of culturally responsive practices and the ins and outs of CTE in Delaware, the learners are now engaging their school-level leaders and teachers on how they can improve access and equity at the district, school and classroom levels. Dr. Wickert reflected that “As a result of this work, we have become more thoughtful on local engagement,” adding that even though the state has invested dollars to encourage a greater focus on equity at the local level, it wasn’t moving the bar as quickly or as far as they had hoped. “With the learners driving this mission and work, I believe it will have a greater impact at the classroom level,” said Dr. Wickert.

As Dr. Michael Hill-Shaner, the Education Associate/Culturally Competent Workforce Lead at the Delaware Department of Education regularly says, “It’s our job to build the stage, turn on the lights and pass the mic.” This briefing and the arc of the last year demonstrate the true power of passing the mic. I personally cannot wait to see what these learners do next and how Delaware and other states continue to live up to the promise of the second principle of CTE Without Limits so that each learner can truly feel welcome in, be supported by and have the means to succeed in the career preparation ecosystem.

Additional Resources:

Kate Kreamer, Executive Director

By Layla Alagic in Achieving Equitable and Inclusive CTE
Tags: Access and Equity, CTE Without Limits, Delaware, Department of Education, learner voice, OCTAE

Elevating CTE’s Impact in Improving Workforce Development

Tuesday, September 26th, 2023

Career Technical Education (CTE) equips students with in-demand skills and knowledge, preparing them for successful careers in diverse career pathways. State CTE Directors are tasked with the crucial duty of promoting the integral role of CTE in improving workforce development efforts and subsequently their state economies. CTE is a pathway to a skilled and competitive workforce and below are strategies to effectively advocate for CTE’s potential impact.

Work-based learning experiences, such as internships, apprenticeships and on-the-job training, bridge the gap between classroom learning and practical application. Partnering with local businesses and community organizations is critical to expanding work-based learning opportunities for CTE learners. Demonstrating the tangible benefits of such experiences, including increased employability and a smoother transition into the workforce, reinforces the value of CTE as an effective workforce development pathway.

This can be accomplished through elevating learner voice. Nothing speaks louder than success stories. State Directors can actively showcase the achievements of CTE alumni who have excelled in their careers after completing CTE programs. Featuring these success stories on websites, social media platforms and in local media can inspire current and prospective learners, parents and community members to view CTE as a viable path to achieving their career goals.

To strengthen CTE’s position as a workforce development pathway, an investment in modern infrastructure and technology is critical. Up-to-date equipment and technology not only enhance the learning experience but also demonstrate a commitment to providing learners with the necessary tools to succeed in the workforce. Additionally, leveraging workforce and economic trends to develop career pathways that are relevant to current labor needs creates the symbiosis needed for a properly functioning CTE ecosystem. State Directors can engage in outreach initiatives to build strong partnerships with stakeholders, highlighting CTE’s contributions to economic growth and prosperity. Engaging in conversations with employers and policymakers helps foster a shared vision and commitment to supporting CTE as a critical workforce development strategy.

Promoting CTE as a pathway to improving workforce development efforts is essential to creating a skilled and competitive workforce that meets the demands of a rapidly evolving job market. State Directors have the unique opportunity– and responsibility– to lead this transformative charge. By emphasizing industry-relevant skills, facilitating work-based learning opportunities, building strong partnerships, showcasing success stories and investing in modern infrastructure, CTE can remain at the forefront of workforce development initiatives.

For additional information, resources and tools on promoting CTE as a pathway to improving workforce development, please visit:

The Learner Voice Toolkit which provides state and local CTE leaders with actionable resources, guidance and tools to ensure CTE learner voices are elevated and heard for the improvement of CTE policies and practices.
Shifting the Skills Conversation: Employer Attitudes and Outcomes of Career Technical Education which provides tangible data points on employer attitudes toward Career Technical Education (CTE) and the positive return on investment CTE experiences provide for business and economic growth.
The State Work-Based Learning Toolkit Innovation Tracker Analysis highlights key elements of the tracker and promising practices in six states. The accompanying tracker captures these toolkits in an effort to provide state and local leaders with real-life examples to adapt and implement in their own states and communities.

Brice Thomas, Former Policy Associate

By Layla Alagic in Uncategorized
Tags: Apprenticeships, internships, learner voice, work-based learning, workforce development

States Make Progress in Strengthening Meaningful Learner Engagement in CTE

Tuesday, August 22nd, 2023

Career Technical Education (CTE) programs must be designed with learners, not simply for learners, to be responsive to their diverse needs at every stage of the CTE continuum. Being responsive to diverse learner needs can occur only if learners have direct and ongoing input into the design and delivery of CTE programs and experiences. This blog provides an overview of the Leveraging Learner Voice to Strengthen CTE Technical Assistance cohort; highlights the states in the cohort that are meaningfully engaging CTE learners to inform CTE programs and policies; and shares links to resources to support states in engaging CTE learners.

Over the past seven months, Advance CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) provided training, resources and coaching to help states identify opportunities to engage learners more meaningfully in the design and delivery of CTE programs and experiences. The cohort of states (Colorado, Delaware, New Hampshire, Oregon and Wisconsin), engaged in six 90-minute virtual sessions and individual coaching sessions to work through the Learner Voice Toolkit to develop and execute on strategies for leveraging learner voice in CTE policies and programs.

Over the course of the technical assistance sessions and coaching calls, each state team developed a comprehensive Action Plan to leverage meaningful learner engagement in the development of CTE programs and policies. The Action Plans are guiding the states’ actions over the next year to improve and systematize their learner engagement.

Action Plan Development

The development of the Action Plan took place in stages. States first completed an organizational capacity assessment to understand the existing structures, policies, relationships and resources that can support the expansion of learner engagement practices.

States then identified high-level goals in which they envisioned what meaningful learner engagement would look like in their states to support CTE program improvement, CTE policy development, learner supports, Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA) process improvement with learner engagement and more. After identifying the goals, states mapped the actions that needed to be taken in order to achieve their goals.

Through the development of each state’s Action Plan, states included learners’ feedback and input. States engaged learners in focus groups, interviews, surveys, advisory board meetings and more to capture their input and reflect their thoughts in the Action Plans. States in the cohort were supported by Advance CTE with a pool of funds to compensate learners for their time and expertise engaging with state agencies. Over the course of the Action Plan development phase, states in the cohort engaged more than 400 learners.

Early Areas of Success

Prioritizing learner engagement in the development of Action Plans is not a common practice, however, states in the technical assistance cohort are already seeing the value of more meaningfully engaging learners in CTE program development and improvement.

Wisconsin learned from learners in their state the type of communication they prefer for engagements, the compensation rate they need to engage in events and meetings, the areas of CTE that student voices are most needed and the roles they are most interested in engaging in.

New Hampshire leveraged the input from learners from their statewide survey to develop a toolkit for regional and local practitioners to improve learner engagement at their CTE centers.

Colorado and Oregon engaged learners in a mix of focus groups and surveys to learn what they enjoy about CTE, challenges they experience in CTE programs and ways their state agency can do a better job of incorporating learner voice. Both states focused on engaging learners who were not typically included in focus groups or surveys to ensure they had a broad range of voices.

Delaware leveraged learners’ input and leadership and now has two simultaneous learner-led cohorts supporting the development of a new teacher preparation program of study and leadership training for Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) leaders. The learners leading the cohorts support the state agency and foster deeper engagement with their peers across their state to expand the reach of meaningful learner engagement.

Looking Ahead

As the official cohort technical assistance sessions come to a close, states in the cohort will continue to engage in coaching sessions with Advance CTE and ACTE to actualize the goals they identified in their Action Plans.

Additionally, Advance CTE will continue to hold space for state leaders to come together to discuss opportunities to improve meaningful learner engagement in CTE in Community of Practice sessions. These one-hour sessions will be held bimonthly from August 2023 through February 2024 and will be open to all states interested in learning more about meaningful learner engagement in CTE. To register to attend the Leveraging Learner Voice to Strengthen CTE Communities of Practice, please fill out the form on this page.

Haley Wing, Senior Policy Associate, Advance CTE

By Layla Alagic in CTE Without Limits
Tags: Colorado, Delaware, Equity, inclusivity, Learner Engagement, learner voice, New Hampshire, Oregon, program improvement, Stakeholder engagement, wisconsin

New Skills ready network Highlight Blog: Leveraging Learner Voice to Strengthen Career Pathways

Wednesday, July 26th, 2023

The New Skills ready network (NSrn) is part of JPMorgan Chase’s substantial portfolio in support of an inclusive economy and workforce. This five-year commitment is part of the New Skills at Work initiative to prepare people for the future of work and their $30 billion commitment to advance racial equity. With a dedication to building equitable career pathways, the New Skills ready network connects six sites — Boston, Massachusetts; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Nashville, Tennessee — with local partners with the intentionality necessary to build a strong workforce ecosystem for all learners.

Denver, Colorado’s vision for the NSrn initiative, aims to “dramatically increase the number and diversity of students who complete selected high-quality career pathways that start in high school, continue into and through higher education, and lead to good jobs in Denver’s labor market.”

Over the past three years, the project team has achieved significant milestones in the development of high-quality, equitable career pathways including building a shared data framework, aligning work-based learning opportunities within high-quality career pathways and enhancing the learner experience when transitioning from secondary to postsecondary institutions. Under the leadership of the site lead, The Attainment Network, the project team leverages strategic cross-sector partnerships while centering equity and learner voice to enhance and improve their career pathways work.

A critical component of the Denver, Colorado, site work includes centering and leveraging the voices of learners to understand their experiences, barriers and opportunities and shaping career pathways aligned with their needs.In April 2023, The Attainment Network held their second annual Learner Voice Symposium which brought together an audience of educators, employers and policymakers to hear directly from Colorado learners what they seek in career-connected pathways and how they define success.

Haley Wing, Senior Policy Associate, Advance CTE, interviewed Rana Tarkenton, Chief Operating Officer, The Attainment Network to discuss the importance of leveraging learner voice in career pathways and how others might replicate their efforts to meaningfully engage learners in the design and implementation of career pathways.

Overview of the Learner Voice Symposium Event

The purpose of the Learner Voice Symposium is to elevate highlights from learners’ diverse perspectives and backgrounds and provide actionable insights to improve and expand pathways for all learners. The Symposium serves as a reminder to partners of the reason why they engage in this work and elevates the voices of learners who are not always invited to the table when developing and implementing career pathways. Learners, who are not simply the receivers of the work of career pathways, but rather the experts in their experiences, provide critical feedback to leaders.

The Symposium fills a gap in the career preparation ecosystem in Colorado; leaders developing career-connected pathways are continuously striving to improve the system and learners are disconnected from the leaders who need to hear their voices most. The Attainment Network identified this gap and provides career pathway partners the space to listen to and reflect learner voices in their work in the form of The Symposium.

The Symposium held virtually on Zoom, included a keynote speaker who is a practitioner that engages with learners frequently and specializes in community engagement, and breakout sessions that are co-led by learners who are compensated for their time and expertise. The Symposium is attended by a wide audience including practitioners in secondary and postsecondary education, college and career advisors, state agency providers, policymakers and employer partners.

Participants have the opportunity to attend breakout sessions of their choosing covering topics like authentic youth engagement in career pathways, immigrant and undocumented learner experiences, non-traditional learners and pathways and more. Presenting organizations that support the sessions include Ednium, The San Luis Valley Boys & Girls Clubs, Emily Griffith Technical College, MSU Denver and more.

All of the information shared during The Learner Voice Symposium is centered on elevating the experiences of learners and incorporating their voices in the development of career-connected pathways. At the close of The Symposium, The Attainment Network announced their Learner Voice Grants that organizations and institutions can apply for to support and enhance their meaningful learner engagement efforts.

Impact of The Learner Voice Symposium on the New Skills ready network

The learner engagement in The Learner Voice Symposium supports the Denver, Colorado, New Skills ready network team in their communications strategies as they develop materials and messaging to better connect learners and families to career-connected pathway opportunities. Additionally, Denver Public Schools (DPS), a secondary partner for the New Skills ready network site, and the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) are two of the grantees for the Learner Voice Grant. DPS and CDHE leverage the grant funding to support their learner engagement work in the development of local and state-level career pathways.

With more than 175 attendees of The Symposium, The Attainment Network models meaningful learner engagement for its system-wide network. The Network, being a statewide intermediary, supports strengthening the career pathway ecosystem and strengthens relationships with system partnerships that impact learners.

Further, the Denver, Colorado, project team also elevates the voices and feedback from learners in state-level policy. The Attainment Network, alongside the Colorado Department of Education and the Colorado Community College System, led an effort to design, collect, and report on community input to inform the HB22-1215 Secondary, Postsecondary and Work-Based Learning Integration Task Force (Study of Expanding High School Programs).

Recommendations delivered to the Task Force focus on equitable access to and successful expansion of high school programs across all regions of Colorado with a focus on traditionally underserved populations and those who have not accessed relevant programming in their educational experience. The discovery process of community feedback collection leveraged community organizations, educational organizations, and local partnerships.

Replicating Meaningful Learner Engagement

Leveraging learners’ input and feedback in the development of career pathways, CTE programs and policies is a valuable component of program improvement. Leaders who are interested in replicating The Learner Voice Symposium should prioritize including learners whose voices are historically underrepresented, leveraging partners who can support recruiting learners to bring them to the table and co-creating the event with partners and learners to ensure the content fills the needs for the ecosystem.

The Attainment Network engages in the planning and execution of The Symposium with an equity lens to ensure a diverse representation of learners, speakers and attendees. The Network also backward plans by prioritizing the outcomes they want the event to achieve from the start of the planning process to ensure there are sessions with meaningful outcomes and takeaways for attendees.

The planning and execution of an event of this size includes a lot of logistics and leaders should consider adequate staffing, preparation that helps to keep audiences engaged and ensuring the videos and notes from the event are accessible once the event is over. The addition of a visual scribe enhances the experience for attendees throughout the session, as well as providing engaging artifacts to further share learnings after the event and marketing for future events.

Looking Ahead

As The Attainment Network enters year four of the New Skills ready network, the project team is working towards holding more learner and community engagement events to continue the work of leveraging learner voices, input and feedback in the design and delivery of career pathways. The Network team is currently working on analyzing themes from The Learner Voice Symposium to inform the design of their Colorado Pathways Conference on September 19 – 20. The two-day conference will focus on pathways-focused education-to-workforce systems across the state and country.

Haley Wing, Senior Policy Associate

By Jodi Langellotti in CTE Without Limits
Tags: Access and Equity, career pathways, Colorado, Colorado Community College System, community colleges, Learner Engagement, learner voice, New Skills ready network, pathways, The Attainment Network

Research Round-up: Leveraging Data for Equitable Education and Workforce Alignment

Wednesday, July 26th, 2023

Advance CTE’s “Research Round-Up” blog series features summaries of relevant research reports and studies to elevate evidence-backed Career Technical Educational (CTE) policies and practices and topics related to college and career readiness. This month’s blog highlights the different data sources that can be leveraged to identify and address any inequities that are present in postsecondary CTE programs. These findings align with Advance CTE’s vision for the future of CTE where each learner feels welcomed and has the means to succeed in the career preparation ecosystem.

Credential Engines’ Equity Advisory Council (EAC) report, and the subsequent recommendations, present a tiered approach for using data to ensure that CTE programs are equitable for all learners.

Overview

The primary questions that this report sought to address were twofold:

What are the data points that students and workers need to know–and that providers should make public–in order to make their most informed decisions about whether a program and credential can lead to an equitable outcome for them?
Which data use principles should be incorporated into counseling, guidance, navigation and pathway tools and services to ensure that data are the most effective for students and workers to achieve their most equitable outcomes?

This report groups data into three tiers based on the complexity level to analyze or publish the data.

Tier 1: These are data points that all providers should be able to analyze and publish now.
- EX: Compliance data, enrollment, completion, etc.
Tier 2: These are data points that all providers should be actively working on being able to analyze and publish.
- EX: Credential transparency, financial return on investment, placement information, etc.
Tier 3: These are data points that point to where the field is headed, and providers should be assessing how to build capacity to analyze and publish them.
- EX: Transfer and credit mobility, support and tutoring services, labor market alignment of the credentials that learners are earning, etc.

These “critical equity data points” are important to track in order to advance understanding and action about equitable pathways, transfer and recognition of learning. While each consecutive tier may require more in-depth analysis, this work will be critical in building a complete understanding of the learner experience and learner outcomes in these pathways.

Recommendations

In their report, the EAC also identified key principles to help maintain equitable data practices. These included:

Adopt data practices to foster an environment where outcomes are improved for every learner
Disaggregate data (such as program’s earnings and employment outcomes) through publically available channels
Emphasize credentials of value that are relevant for learners
Consider learner voice and need when designing tools to ensure data is accessible and inclusive
Provide professional development for those interacting with the data, and leveraging the value of linked open data

These principles rely on a statewide commitment (inclusive of workforce, industry, educational institutions, and government leadership) to making data accessible to ensure that every learner has the opportunity and information required to make the best decision about their career trajectory.

Advance CTE’s Career Readiness Data Quality and Use Policy Benchmark Tool also supports state leaders’ use of accurate, timely, and disaggregated data to investigate barriers to access and take action to ensure equity, access and success for historically marginalized learners.

To access additional resources on data quality and use, please visit Advance CTE’s Learning that Works Resource Center.

Amy Hodge, Membership & Policy Associate

By Jodi Langellotti in Research
Tags: Access and Equity, Credentials of Value, CTE Data, Data Collection, data quality, industry credentials, learner voice, Research

Posts Tagged ‘learner voice’