Posts Tagged ‘skillsusa’

Advance CTE 2024 Spring Meeting Sponsor Blog – Gold Sponsor SkillsUSA | The Skills Gap May be Wider Than You Think… But We’ll Close It Together

Wednesday, April 17th, 2024

The views, opinions, services and products shared in this post are solely for educational purposes and do not imply agreement or endorsement by Advance CTE, nor discrimination against similar brands, products or services not mentioned.

As a state Career Technical Education (CTE) leader, you’ve likely heard the phrase “skills gap” many times. We hear it often at SkillsUSA, too, especially from our current and prospective industry partners looking to secure their future workforce. At more than 400,000 student and teacher members, SkillsUSA is the largest Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) in the U.S. devoted to the skilled trades, and that’s one of the reasons we describe ourselves as “the #1 workforce development organization for students.” Another reason is our approach to closing the skills gap, one that focuses on the development of more than technical skills alone.

Yes, most discussions around the skills gap center around the need for hands-on technical skills, and understandably so. After all, the manufacturing industry alone forecasts more than 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030, and other industries offer their own daunting predictions. In fact, according to a recent report from McKinsey and Company, 87% of companies worldwide claim to either be experiencing a skills gap now or expecting to experience one in the next few years. Viewing the skills gap as mainly a shortage of technical skills is so pervasive because that shortage is such a clear and present threat to our global economy.

But there’s another aspect of the skills gap that’s just as big a threat. When we speak with industry, we hear repeatedly that entry-level employees also lack what are often called “employability” or “soft” skills. These are skills such as communication, teamwork, integrity, professionalism, and more that set employees apart as leaders, achievers, and difference-makers, which can foster success in any career… and in life itself.

Those are exactly the types of skills we work to develop in our SkillsUSA students as we accomplish our mission: to empower students to become skilled professionals, career-ready leaders, and responsible community members. When students combine those life skills with their hands-on skills, their potential is truly limitless.  

One of our teachers, Amanda McClure of Union Grove High School in McDonough, Georgia, says it best: “SkillsUSA transforms timid students into leaders, disinterested students into competitors and self-centered students into team players. I have seen the positive changes SkillsUSA makes in my students’ lives and witnessed their success in college and careers as a result of involvement.”

According to the recent “SkillsUSA Advantage Report,” released by the Student Research Foundation in 2022, SkillsUSA members consistently outperform their peers not enrolled in a CTSO in seven essential areas: earning a license or certification, meeting potential employers, being excited about their chosen career, gaining work experience, understanding the work environment, being excited about school, and connecting school to the real word. 

Those results are further proof that CTE is at its strongest and most impactful when it’s shaping the whole student into a confident, focused leader and contributor, one who’s uniquely skilled to succeed both personally and professionally. Showing the nation that CTE is unrivaled when it comes to setting students up for fulfilling, successful futures is how we put—and keep—“CTE at the Forefront” of workforce development discourse. In fact, many are already catching on about the amazing opportunities CTE programs provide. SkillsUSA’s membership numbers—the highest in our nearly 60-year history—are a testimony to that fact, and that’s thanks in large part to the life-changing work our state SkillsUSA directors perform each and every day on behalf of their student members. I know that same dedication is shared by all state CTE leaders, and as we commit ourselves to developing the whole student in all our programs, we make it clear—through the inspiring success of our students—what “CTE Without Limits” truly means.

Chelle Travis

Executive Director, SkillsUSA

By Layla Alagic in Advance CTE Spring Meeting
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This Week in CTE: SkillsUSA Creating a CTE Without Limits

Friday, February 11th, 2022

While stakeholders across the Career Technical Education (CTE) continuum celebrate CTE Month®, Advance CTE will join in the celebration by uplifting Career Technical Student Organization (CTSO) student leaders and their national advocacy weeks. 

These organizations are a powerful model for learner-centered and learner-led education, and Advance CTE is pleased to be joined by seven national CTSOs in supporting the national vision for CTE. Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education (CTE Without Limits) places CTE as the catalyst for achieving a cohesive career preparation ecosystem that is responsive to each learner’s needs for college and career success. 

Throughout February, the This Week in CTE blog series will highlight the activities of several CTSOs and their alignment with the five interconnected principles of CTE Without Limits. Today, we highlight National SkillsUSA, who celebrated their national week February 7-11, 2022, with the theme “United as One” and social hashtag #SkillsUSAWeek.

 

Each learner engages in a cohesive, flexible and responsive career preparation ecosystem

On Recognition Day, SkillsUSA took to social media to recognize and honor members, advisors, administrators, business partners, community leaders and supporters who are impactful in the career preparation ecosystem and within their local SkillsUSA chapters. Honorees were presented with a SkillsUSA Certificate of Appreciation.

Each learner feels welcome in, is supported by and has the means to succeed in the career preparation ecosystem

On Advocacy Day, National SkillsUSA officers advocated for policies that are inclusive of CTE and career readiness opportunities for all learners at the U.S. Department of Education. 

Complementing national advocacy efforts by the CTSO, many SkillsUSA state associations hosted their own CTE Days on Capitol Hill, as seen by SkillsUSA Iowa.

Each learner skillfully navigates their own career journey

In California, Dinuba High School’s SkillsUSA Advisor Nikki Gerner is highlighted for keeping real-world skill building at the core of her instruction for learners. During the 2021 school year, despite the challenges of remote learning, membership at Dinuba increased from 150 to more than 450 active members. New chapter members gained access to the SkillsUSA Framework to make informed decisions while navigating the career preparation ecosystem. 

View this video to learn more about Gerner and her impact on the learners she teaches. 

Each learner’s skills are counted, valued, and portable

On Partner Day, National SkillsUSA asked state associations and local chapters to connect with partners in their communities. National SkillsUSA hosted a live interactive session for CTSO members to engage with business and industry leaders. Learners were able to hear what it means to be workforce ready and which skills are valued by employers that ultimately lead to career success in their respective industries.

Each learner can access CTE without borders

National SkillsUSA has a free and accessible podcast for chapter members across the nation. The SkillsUSA podcast focuses on delivering basic “how to” information for learners to be successful at skills competitions. View more on the podcast here

Visit Advance CTE’s vision page for communication and implementation tools for state and local CTE leaders to bring CTE Without Limits to life. 

If you would like to share how your CTE program or CTSO creates limitless opportunities for each learner in this blog series, please email Brittany Cannady, [email protected]

Brittany Cannady, Senior Associate for Digital Media

 

 

By admin in Uncategorized
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This Week in CTE

Friday, May 7th, 2021

Developed with input from nearly 200 national, state and local education and workforce development leaders and supported by 40 national organizations, Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education lays out five inter-connected and equally critical principles.

Only through shared commitment and shared ownership among leaders and practitioners at all levels can we realize the possibility and aspiration of a new career preparation ecosystem that provides each learner with limitless opportunity. The This Week in CTE blog series will highlight state and local examples where CTE Without Limits has been made actionable. If you would like to highlight how your CTE program creates limitless opportunities for each learner in this blog series, please email Brittany Cannady, [email protected]

 

This Week in CTE: May 3-7, 2021

Each learner engages in a cohesive, flexible, and responsive career preparation ecosystem 

CTE programming in Phenix City, Alabama is anchored by credentials of value and includes opportunities for work-based learning leading to careers defined by high-skill, high-wage and in-demand. Congratulations Kiara and all other learners who are now certified! 

 

Each learner feels welcome in, is supported by, and has the means to succeed in the career preparation ecosystem

Pickaway-Ross Career & Technology Center’s (Ohio) SkillsUSA members will advance to the national competition this year with the help of local industry leaders! CTSO members were able to use skills gained from on-the-job training to compete, virtually, on the state level in leadership and skills-building activities. Through industry collaboration, learners were able to utilize industry machinery in their respective events.

“PRCTC, overall, was well represented by some amazing competitors and delegates,” said Jennifer Widdig, one of Pickaway Ross’ SKillsUSA advisors. “I loved seeing the excitement in the students and how proud they were to show off their skills and trades.”

Read more in this blog entry published on the Pickaway-Ross district blog. 

 

Each learner skillfully navigates their own career journey

As seen in CTE Without Limits, stakeholders across the CTE community must intentionally develop processes to allow labor market information (LMI) to reach learners in ways that are transparent, reliable and filled with real-time information on career opportunities, earnings, and how their educational decisions will impact their access to support services.

This week Advance CTE, in partnership with Education Strategy Group through JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s New Skills ready network, released Practical Guidance for Aligning Career Pathways to Labor Market Data in the Time of COVID-19. This policy brief is the first in a series designed to help build better pathways and offers promising practices for enhancing the career preparation ecosystem locally and state-wide by leveraging LMI to align programs to high-skill, high-wage and in-demand occupations. 

More LMI resources can be found in the Learning that Works Resource Center

 

Each learner’s skills are counted, valued, and portable

This week we celebrated National Skilled Trades Day! 

Each learner can access CTE without borders

Advance CTE released a new policy brief that provides recommendations for CTE leaders on how to address short-and long-term priorities with the new funding authorized through the American Rescue Plan (ARP). Now, there is an opportunity for states to put in place transformative and bold solutions to support each learner in the career preparation ecosystem without limitations. State CTE leaders have a strong foundation to build upon, having recently done the hard work of crafting their Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) state plans. These new federal investments present a one-time opportunity to accelerate change, incubate innovation, disrupt systems that perpetuate inequities, and redesign with intention. States must strategically approach how to operationalize these funds to create a career preparation ecosystem that ensures each learner can access limitless opportunity.

Read the full resource and other COVID-19 state resources here.

Brittany Cannady, Senior Associate Digital Media

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This Week in CTE

Saturday, January 9th, 2021

We have compiled a list of highlights in Career Technical Education (CTE) from this week to share with you.

CTE PROGRAM OF THE WEEK

Michigan Great Lakes Virtual Academy, a virtual K-12 academy in Michigan, has seen an increase in enrollment for CTE courses. As a result of the pandemic, many students have responded to local labor market needs, and taken an interest in the health science Career Cluster®

One Health Science Instructor at the academy, AJ Krey, mentions, “it’s a program for all students that are interested in anything medicine.” More information can be found in this article published by WBKB-TV 11. 

WEBINAR SERIES OF THE WEEK

The Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of Career and Technical Education announced their upcoming webinar series on CTE in the middle grades. The first of two webinars will be held on January 27, 2021. Click here for more information and to register. 

CTSO OF THE WEEK

SkillsUSA has opened their application window for the National Technical Honor Society/ SkillsUSA Scholarship. Both organizations strive to uphold the other’s mission by providing learners with scholarship opportunities that contribute to their educational experience.

SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce and that each learner excels. SkillsUSA provides educational programs, events and competitions that support CTE in the nation’s classrooms.

More information on the scholarship and how to apply can be found here

VIDEO OF THE WEEK 

This week, the Ohio Association of Career-Technical Superintendents shared this video to aid in career exploration and the awareness of Ohio‘s 49 career centers.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE OF THE WEEK

Last week the omnibus bill that was passed by Congress to provide federal funding for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21)- which includes Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS-Ed)- was signed into law by the president. Importantly, this included an increase of $52.25 million for the Perkins basic state grant, bringing the total to approximately $1.334 billion. Overall, the bill included an increase of approximately $785 million for education programs and an increase of approximately $122 million for labor programs.

View more Legislative Updates from this week here

RESOURCE OF THE WEEK

The State of Career Technical Education: Employer Engagement in CTE examines the ways in which states can foster and sustain meaningful employer engagement to strengthen their CTE systems for all students. States can use this resource to evaluate best practices and strategies for engaging the employer community.

The report drew from a survey of 47 State CTE Directors as well as a dozen interviews to understand how and in what ways employers were engaging with CTE across the country and to illuminate the state’s role in fostering employer engagement.

View The State of Career Technical Education: Employer Engagement in CTE in our Learning that Works Resource Center.

Brittany Cannady, Digital Media Associate

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High School Senior, Brian Elvidge, Shares How CTE and SkillsUSA Helped Him Get Back in the Game

Thursday, January 3rd, 2019

For any athlete an injury can throw off more than just your season. For Brian Elvidge, a senior at Durango High School in Colorado, injuring his knee as a sophomore brought his athletic season to a halt. He had to have surgery and his vision for the future was dimming daily including his overall interest in school. He did the minimum required to remain eligible to stay on the football team.

Elvidge’s friend and co-president of the Durango High School SkillsUSA chapter suggested he join SkillsUSA, a national nonprofit student organization that serves students enrolled in Career Technical Education (CTE) programs. Career Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) like SkillsUSA provide learners with the ability to hone their knowledge and technical skills and demonstrate them through regional, state and even national competitions. He decided to join.

“SkillsUSA got me out of a rough time and gave me hope,” said Elvidge when asked about his experience after joining his high school chapter. Durango high school is one of 13,000 school chapters in all fifty states and four U.S. territories.

Over the next two years, Elvidge also enrolled in CTE courses starting with welding. He enjoys working with his hands and believes CTE coursework could be used in the future not only as preparation for his future career but in his life.

His junior year, he decided to try another CTE course — carpentry. He was aware that there was a woodshop on campus and thought he should utilize the opportunity to gain hands on learning in carpentry, electric and plumbing right on campus. Before enrolling, he did his own research by asking his peers about the course, and finding that they spoke highly of the instructor, Shaun Smith, who also serves as the SkillsUSA advisor.

Smith has over twenty years of teaching experience and received the additional training necessary to lead a new pre-apprenticeship program. This program incorporates the Home Builders Institute PACT curriculum. One hand on experience includes constructing a life sized and livable “Mini Home.” Throughout the build, learners gain employability and real-world skills, through a meaningful work-based learning opportunity that mirrors what they would be doing in the workplace. Elvidge, along with his classmates, can graduate high school with the Home Builders Institute (HBI) Pre-Apprenticeship Certificate. To date, he has already earned the home builder association basic knowledge and safety certificate.

After his knee healed, he returned to the football field. However, he didn’t stop his participation in SkillsUSA and at his first regional competition; he placed third in a carpentry competition.

Elvidge continued to challenge himself and applied to become the SkillsUSA state officer. “It gave me something to work for and I learned about being a leader,” said Elvidge.

Now in his senior year, he is a leader on and off the football field. “I know what I want to do with my life now and I can prepare for my future,” Elvidge shared. He understands that the skills and certificates he earns now can always be used toward his future in whichever path he decides to follow.

Nicole Howard, Communications Associate

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SkillsUSA: How Industry Collaboration Creates Opportunity for the Future of CTE

Tuesday, June 28th, 2016

SkillsUSA ConstructionFor students in high-skill career pathways, winning an invitation to the SkillsUSA national competition is one of the biggest honors in their field. Not only does the annual competition give students an opportunity to showcase their talent in different trades but it also demonstrates what the future of Career Technical Education (CTE) can be: a coordinated, cross-sector effort to put learner success first.

This year’s SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Kentucky — the 52nd annual competition — featured more than 6,000 competitors, 4,000 teachers and advisers, and 600 national industry leaders from across the United States. In two days of fierce competition, students took to the exposition floor to demonstrate their mastery in a variety of skilled trades: Automated Manufacturing Technology, Culinary Arts, Health Occupations, Mechatronics, Web Design and Welding, to name a few.

What stood out throughout the conference was not only the passion from competitors and their advisers, but also the relationships that students, educators and conference organizers had with industry leaders in each field. Business and industry representatives were highly engaged, contributing generous prize packages for winners in each category, partnering with SkillsUSA National to align competition criteria to industry standards, and providing judges for each competition. Further, many industry leaders could be seen on the exposition floor throughout the week, observing competitions and scoping out future hires.

While students demonstrated their skills on the competition floor, SkillsUSA allowed CTE thought leaders to demonstrate their own wins through SkillsUSA University sessions. In one such session, Dan Belcher of the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) laid out a 12-step plan for facilitating cross-sector collaboration, informed by his experience in the construction industry. He suggested that organizations can start by identifying their needs: the specific skills and knowledge they want to teach their students. This will prepare them to discuss and maximize areas of collaboration with industry partners. On the industry side, organizations should evaluate the resources — equipment, mentorship, strategic guidance, etc. — that they are willing to bring to the table. Such cross-sector collaboration will help streamline pathways from education to career and ensure future success for CTE students. Other sessions included discussions on engaging nontraditional students, engaging the community, and adapting to new assessments.

Advance CTE’s updated Vision, Putting Learner Success First: A Shared Vision for the Future of CTE, describes a future in which CTE programs are held to the highest standards of excellence and all systems work together to support learner success. The SkillsUSA conference provides an encouraging snapshot of what this world will look like, with industry experts and educators alike working together to prepare students for their futures. The task remains to take this successful model and apply it nationwide so that all students can access the opportunity that CTE provides.

Austin Estes, Policy Associate

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This Week in CTE

Friday, June 24th, 2016

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Advance CTE staff was spread across the country this week with two staff members attending the exciting SkillsUSA competition in Kentucky bringing together thousands of students from across the country to compete.

RESOURCE OF THE WEEK

This week, Advance CTE launched the Learning that Works Resource Center where you can find all the latest reports, case studies, tools, guides and policies on CTE and career readiness. Be sure to check out the new Resource Center and let us know if you have any materials that should be included! The Resource Center was developed as part of the New Skills for Youth initiative, a partnership between Advance CTE, CCSSO and Education Strategy Group, funded by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

INFOGRAPHIC OF THE WEEK

WDQC’s new infographic highlights examples of state legislation that requires colleges and universities to report on employment and earnings of program graduates.

WEBINAR OF THE WEEK

Transportation: A natural vehicle for integrated STEM learning will explore STEM learning in programs using a transportation lens through informal educational settings and will build off of the findings from the 2015 National Research Council’s report on productive STEM programs in out-of-school settings.

Katie Fitzgerald, Communications Associate

By admin in Advance CTE Announcements, Advance CTE Resources, Meetings and Events, Resources, Webinars
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CTE Research Review: The Workforce Edition

Thursday, October 29th, 2015

Transforming Workforce Development Policies

A new book from the Kansas City Federal Reserve calls for a comprehensive restructuring of the nation’s workforce development policies and programs to better meet the human capital demands of employers. This compilation of submissions from some of the most prominent thought leaders in workforce development policy today, the Federal Reserve is wading into a relatively new area of research but one where it plans to continue being actively involved.

“Transforming U.S. Workforce Development Policies for the 21st Century,” provides thoughtful perspectives on the system itself as well as how to redesign these strategies and evidence-based policies and practices.

The Role of CTERoleCTE

What and who has the greatest impact on students and their career choices? This is the central question of a new report, “Attracting the Next
Generation Workforce: The Role of Career and Technical Education,” from The Manufacturing Institute, SkillsUSA and Educational Research Center of America. The study, which surveyed more than 20,000 high school students enrolled in CTE programs of study, also aims to provide insight into students’ perceptions of the value of CTE preparation.

Overwhelmingly (64 percent), students cited their own interests and experiences as the greatest influence on their future careers. The second and third greatest influences were a student’s father (22 percent) and mother (19 percent). Perhaps surprisingly, guidance counselors accounted for 3 percent –the least important influence on a student’s career choice.

So how did students perceive the value of CTE preparation for the future careers? While 47 percent of all CTE students surveyed said that CTE has helped make their career choices clearer, that number rises significantly for CTE students who also participate in a CTSO or are members of SkillsUSA. Also, those students engaged in CTSOs are nearly 50 percent more likely to pursue a technical career in the field they are studying, according to the survey.

Check out the report to learn about how students are exposed to future employers as well as educators’ perceptions of CTE.

Also new from The Manufacturing Institute is a tool that can help educators make the case for work-based learning and employer partnerships. The tool – a return on investment calculator – is designed to help manufacturers calculate the cost of open positions within a company by factoring in costs across several categories including training, recruiting, human resources and operations.

Also Worth the Read:

Andrea Zimmermann, State Policy Associate

By admin in Research
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NASDCTEc Goes to SkillsUSA’s National Leadership and Skills Conference

Friday, June 26th, 2015

This past week, NASDCTEc had the privilege of attending SkillsUSA’s 51st annual National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC). The conference is the group’s largest annual convening of its national and state membership and is one of the premier opportunities for Career Technical Education (CTE) students to showcase the impressive technical and employability skills they’ve acquired through participation in the Career Technical Student Organization (CTSO) and theirInline image 1 respective CTE programs.

More than 16,000 people, including students, their families, teachers, advisors, and business partners from across the country took part in the weeklong event which began last weekend with intensive leadership training for national SkillsUSA student officers and advisors. On Tuesday, the Opening Ceremony took place where Snap-On CEO, Nick Pinchuk, who delivered a powerful keynote address on the importance of CTE and the significant contributions SkillsUSA has made to the CTE enterprise over the past fifty years.

However, the most impressive component of NLSC took place on Wednesday and Thursday where more than 6,000 exceptional CTE students competed in the national SkillsUSA Championships. These students, all qualifying from related statewide contests, competed in over 100 different technical, trade, and leadership fields ranging from the culinary arts, robotics competitions all the way to public speaking and performance in mock interviews with real employers. These timed and judged competitions provide a hands-on way for these CTE students to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and competencies that they’ve acquired throughout their CTE careers which were put on full display for families, friends, and even prospective employers.

In addition to this national contest, members of the SkillsUSA World Team participated in the the event— a select few of the best students from across the nation who will be competing on behalf of the United States later this year in Brazil at the annual WorldSkills competition. NASDCTEc applauds the incredible work that SkillsUSA, and especially its students, have done and continue to do.

Steve Voytek, Government Relations Manager

By Steve Voytek in News
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SkillsUSA Championships Highlight Career Ready Students

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

Career Technical Education (CTE) students from across the nation recently were nationally recognized for their demonstration of occupational preparation and their employability skills — assets of high demand in today’s economy. Those students competed in the SkillsUSA Championships, which involved state competitions and an overall national event.

SkillsUSA estimates that 10,000 local-and state-level contests are held annually. More than 5,800 students competed representing every state and several territories during the national SkillsUSA Championships. Contests are designed, managed and judged by industry using industry standards to assess student mastery of technical, academic and employability skills.

The competition and the overall work of SkillsUSA aligns to the emphasis on industry certification in the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, and the broader notion of preparing students to enter the workforce career ready.

Erin Uy, Communications & Marketing Manager

By admin in News
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