Posts Tagged ‘Standards’

State-Driven Group Releases Next Generation Science Standards

Thursday, April 11th, 2013

A consortium of states released this week the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), a final set of internationally-benchmarked science standards that identify practices and content that all K-12 students should master in order to be college and career ready.

Teams from 26 states worked for 2 years with a writing team to develop the NGSS. The state-driven process was managed by Achieve and was primarily funded by the Carnegie Corporation.

The NGSS are based on a Framework for K-12 Science Education published by the National Academies’ National Research Council in 2011. Rather than focusing solely on practice, the standards also bring a stronger focus to science content and a greater emphasis to critical thinking. The NGSS are research-based and take into account research on how students learn science most effectively – striving for a more holistic, investigative approach to science.

Susan Codere, a project coordinator for NGSS in Michigan, emphasized the importance of preparing students to be both college ready and career ready. Codere said of the NGSS, “Our conversation about education always includes workforce training. Whenever we adopt a new set of standards we make sure to promote the opportunities the standards afford, not just in terms of college readiness, but in terms of workforce readiness. That’s particularly relevant with the NGSS.”

The NGSS can be viewed here.

Kara Herbertson, Research and Policy Manager

By admin in News, Resources
Tags: ,

NASDCTEc Webinar Common Career Technical Core Progress Update Recording and Power Point Now Available

Thursday, January 31st, 2013

NASDCTEc is pleased to share the recording and Power Point from the webinar: Common Career Technical Core (CCTC) Progress Update that was broadcast January 31, 2013. The webinar was designed to share an update on the progress toward implementation and use of the Common Career Technical Core (CCTC) through the planning and engagement phase.

Updated information about the gap analysis / alignment study process that will provide a state level policy scan, a pilot alignment study and a complete state-by-state gap analysis of CTE standards was provided as well. Attendees can hear from the collaborative partner about the timing and efforts to support information and implementation of the CCTC in the states as well as the proposed timeline of the study.

Dean Folkers, Deputy Executive Director of NASDCTEc, led the discussion.

Presentation Power Point
Presentation recording

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

By admin in Webinars
Tags: ,

NASDCTEc releases Request for Proposal

Friday, October 26th, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

 

Dean Folkers, Deputy Executive Director

By admin in Advance CTE Announcements, Career Clusters®
Tags: ,

New CRS Report Highlights NASDCTEc Work

Tuesday, October 9th, 2012

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

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

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

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

Nancy Conneely, Director of Public Policy

By admin in Public Policy, Publications
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Secretary Duncan Outlines Progress Made and Goals for the Future

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012

This afternoon Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke at the National Press Club about the state of American education. Duncan highlighted the Obama Administration’s achievements and challenges over the last four years and offered his take on the obstacles facing public schools in the years ahead.

Chief among the Department’s endeavors are raising standards, improving student performance, reducing dropout rates, and strengthening the teaching profession. But, as we in the CTE community know, education also plays an important role in strengthening the economy and closing the skills gap. Said Duncan: “With more than three million unfilled jobs in this country, [the public] understand[s] that we have a skills gap that will only be closed if America does a better job training and preparing people for work.” The public supports investing in education, but as Duncan pointed out, they worry about where the money will come from.

Duncan laid out the areas where there is still work to be done, including reforming CTE programs in high schools and community colleges, state-driven accountability, recruiting more math and science teachers, and closing the skills gap.

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Legislative Update: Alternative Certification, Career Academies

Friday, July 27th, 2012

House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Alternative Certification

The House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education held a hearing this week to examine alternative certification of teachers. The topic is a timely one given its connection to defining highly qualified teachers under the No Child Left Behind Act. In 2010, Congress passed legislation that allowed students enrolled in alternative certification programs to be considered “highly qualified teachers.” The House Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill seeks to extend this definition for two more years.

There was general support for alternative routes to certification on both sides of the aisle during the hearing. Chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Duncan Hunter (CA) had this to say:

Alternative certification routes help address teacher shortages in particular geographic areas and subject matter, as well as strengthen the overall quality of the teaching profession. While Republicans know there is no one-size-fits-all federal solution to help put more effective teachers in the classroom, supporting the availability and acceptance of alternative certification programs is one way the public and private sectors can join together to ensure more students have access to a quality education from an extraordinary educator.

Cynthia Brown, Vice President for Education Policy at the Center for American Progress, agreed that alternative certification programs hold a lot of promise, but that there need to be policies in place to ensure that they are “high quality, innovative, and effective,” which also holds true for traditional teacher preparation programs. She suggested that Congress focus on teacher effectiveness rather than alternative routes to certification.

More Details on Career Academies Proposal

Last week Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke at the National Academy Foundation’s NEXT Conference about the President’s FY13 budget proposal to invest $1 billion in career academies. Funding at this level could increase the number of career academies by 3,000 and serve an additional 500,000 students.

According to Duncan, $200 million in grants to states would be available in FY13, and $400 million would be available in both FY14 and FY15. Grants to would total $4 million each to states, and would be given over a three year period. States would distribute those funds competitively to locals.

As part of the grant program, the Department of Education is proposing a definition of “career academy” that each state must use for the in-state competition:

  1. A career academy is a secondary school program as organized as a small learning com­munity or school within a school to provide the support of a personalized learning environment.
  2. The academy must begin in ninth grade and combine credit-bearing academic and techni­cal curriculum.
  3. The academy must organize curriculum around a career theme like those proposed by NAF — hospitality and tourism, IT, health, sci­ence, and engineering — and be aligned with states’ college- and career-ready standards.
  4. The academy must provide work-based learning and career exploration activities through partnerships with local employers.
  5. The academy must articulate entrance re­quirements of postsecondary education programs to ensure students graduate from high school ready to pursue a higher education degree or credential.

Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

NASDCTEc Unveils Common Standards for Career Technical Education

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

Career Technical Education (CTE) State Directors unveiled the Common Career Technical Core (CCTC), a shared set of high-quality CTE standards. The CCTC is a state-led initiative to ensure that CTE programs are consistent and high-quality across our nation.

“Career Technical Education State Directors have put to action their vision for all CTE programs to meet consistent and rigorous standards by coordinating the development of the Common Career Technical Core,” said Dr. Patrick Ainsworth, President of the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium and CTE State Director.

“The CCTC, which was developed with input from education and industry experts, will help to ensure that our nation’s students are poised to meet the education and workforce demands of the global economy.”

States may voluntarily adopt the CCTC, which will complement and support other comprehensive college and career ready standards, such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English Language Arts and mathematics.

Over the course of the next year, NASDCTEc will launch an initiative to coordinate a comprehensive gap analysis to compare each state’s current course-level standards against the CCTC program-level standards to determine alignment. The gap analysis will be conducted by a team of third-party experts to ensure quality and consistency across the states.

DOWNLOAD the CCTC Standards here. 

Erin Uy, Communications & Marketing Manager

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By admin in Uncategorized
Tags: , ,

NASDCTEc Will Unveil the Common Standards for CTE at National Career Clustersâ„¢ Institute on June 19

Thursday, June 14th, 2012

The National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) will release the Common Career Technical Core (CCTC) — a set of rigorous, high-quality CTE standards to be shared by states– at the National Career Clusters â„¢ Institute  on June 19, 2012.

Forty-two states, Washington, DC and Palau participated in the development of the CCTC. The development of the CCTC was a multi-step process that incorporated input at various stages from approximately 3,500 individuals representing K-12 education, business and industry and higher education from across the nation.

Who:  National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium

What: Common Career Technical Core Unveiling

Where:   National Career Clusters ™ Institute at the Omni Shore, located at 2500 Calvert Street NW,  Washington, DC 20008

When:  Tuesday, June 19, 8 a.m. – 9 a.m.

The Institute is an annual summer event that offers a range of seminars and workshops highlighting model CTE programs across the country that are aligned to the National Career Clusters Framework™.  More than 800 secondary and postsecondary educators and administrators, workforce development and industry partners, and counselors will attend. The NASDCTEc Spring Meeting, an event in which CTE State Directors from across the nation convene to discuss public policy issues, will run concurrently with the Institute.

Media interested in attending the Institute or scheduling an interview should contact Erin Uy at [email protected] or 301-641-9358.

 

Erin Uy, Communications & Marketing Manager

By admin in Advance CTE Announcements, News
Tags: , ,

CTE in the News: Standards Exist for Career and Technical Education

Wednesday, June 13th, 2012

Students deserve access to CTE programs that educate and train to high standards and industry demands, and now is the time to support the adoption of a next set of CTE standards that will allow for more opportunities for students and our nation, said Dean Folkers NASDCTEc/NCTEF Deputy Executive Director in a recent editorial featured in Education Week (available only to Education Week subscribers). The editorial is featured in Education Week’s June 13, 2012 print edition.

“I agree with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who said that the largest federal career and technical education, or CTE, program “must be transformed if it is to live up to its potential,” he said.

“State CTE directors across the nation are taking action. We have united around a vision and developed the Common Career Technical Core, a shared set of standards that meet a quality benchmark for CTE programs, which will be released June 19.”

Forty-two states, the District of Columbia, and Palau supported the development of the CCTC, which will help to answer our need for consistent, rigorous standards that are essential to preparing students for college and careers, he noted.

Learn more about the CCTC, which will be unveiled at the National Career Clusters â„¢ Institute June 19:

Erin Uy, Communications & Marketing Manager

 

By admin in Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,

NASDCTEc Collects More than 1,700 Reviews of Common CTE Standards, Moving Development Forward

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

More  than 1,700 reviews  of the Common Career Technical Core (CCTC), a shared set of rigorous, high-quality Career Technical Education (CTE) standards, were submitted during the recent public comment phase. Input on the CCTC was collected from a broad range of CTE stakeholders, including educators, administrators, and business and industry representatives.

“Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders believed it was critical to engage leading experts in the education, industry and technical fields to help develop and validate CTE standards that truly reflect the timely education and workforce needs of today’s global economy,“ Dr. Dean Folkers, Deputy Executive Director of the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc).

“The robust participation by a broad range of CTE stakeholders demonstrates the desire to develop standards that prepare our students for the future.”

NASDCTEc is coordinating the CCTC initiative. Forty-two states, Washington, DC and Palau participated in the development of the CCTC.

The development of the CCTC was a multi-step process that incorporated input at various stages from approximately 3,500 individuals representing K-12 education, business and industry and higher education from across the nation.  The public comment period ran from April 30 – May 11, 2012 and was an opportunity for CTE stakeholders to participate in the development of the CCTC.

The final standards are slated for public release at the National Career Clusters ™ Institute  on June 19, 2012. Click here and learn more about the CCTC online or visit www.careertech.org.

By admin in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , ,

 

Series

Archives

1