This week, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) launched an alignment study to compare the Common Career Technical Core (CCTC) against state Career Technical Education (CTE) standards. The goal of the study is to assist states and territories in their effort to improve the quality of CTE programs. NASDCTEc is partnering with Global Skills Exchange (GSX) and The Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE) at The Ohio State University (OSU) to conduct the alignment study.
The CCTC is a state-led initiative to establish a set of rigorous, high-quality standards for CTE that states can adopt voluntarily. The CCTC, released in June 2012, was informed by state and industry standards and developed by a diverse group of teachers, business and industry experts, administrators and researchers.
The CCTC includes a set of standards for each of the 16 Career Clustersâ„¢ and supporting career pathways that encompass a comprehensive collection of industry-validated expectations of what students should know and be able to do after completing instruction in a program of study. The CCTC also includes an overarching set of Career Ready Practices that apply to all 16 Career Clustersâ„¢. The Career Ready Practices include 12 statements that address the knowledge, skills and dispositions that are important to becoming career ready.
NASDCTEc plans to publicly release the results of the alignment study in October 2013 during the fall membership meeting.
About NASDCTEc’s Partners
GSX was founded in 2003 to create a link between the world of work and the world of learning. Within education, GSX provides comprehensive solutions for educational institutions that strengthen the preparation of all students to meet the skills demand in the market economy. In collaboration with partners from industry and government, GSX develops solutions to drive the achievement of various student performance goals including college entry and completion, industry-based certification, gainful employment and career advancement. Using the context of regional labor market projections, GSX creates programmatic relevance for local K-16 education systems that prepares students to master skills in real time and for future demand. To learn more about GSX, visit <http://www.gskillsxchange.com>.
OSU CETE is one of the United States’ leading institutions for workforce and career technical education and training. Established in 1965, CETE is a full-service organization whose mission is to facilitate workforce improvement by providing leadership, curriculum, information, professional development, program evaluation, and learner assessment products and services for public and private clients throughout the world. To learn more about OSU CETE, visit <http://www.cete.org>.
 Erin Uy, Communications & Marketing Manager