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September- October 2008

 

Welcome to CTE Connections! This will be a monthly update from the CTE Center. We want to keep you posted on legislative news, current events, valuable research studies, resource materials, and, of course, alert you to our own products, resources, and services as they become available. For past postings, please see our archives page.

 

CTE Center Update

Hawai'i Awarded Grant to Create Statewide Articulation Agreements.

The Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Division of Academic and Technical Education (DATE), awarded two-year competitive grants totaling $1.25 million dollars to six states to assist them in developing and promoting rigorous programs of study (POS) through the implementation of statewide articulation agreements.  The six grantees will form partnerships among secondary and postsecondary education, state workforce agencies, and employers to construct a POS in one or more of the sixteen career clusters and accompanying articulation agreements that will allow students to gain college credit in high school and transfer credits to and between postsecondary institutions on their way to a certificate or degree. Grantees will engage in ongoing communication and collaboration to identify a common set of course standards that are fully aligned with the expectations of postsecondary institutions.  Grantees will also document their work over the course of the 24-month grant period to capture promising approaches to the creation of effective partnerships and development of articulation agreements that could be replicated by other state and local education agencies.

The six states are:

  • Indiana

  • New Hampshire

  • South Carolina

  • Hawai’i

  • Nebraska

  • Florida

The Office of the State Director for Career and Technical Education (on behalf of the State Board for Career and Technical Education) received approximately $173,000 and will be working closely with the Hawai‘i State Department of Education, University of Hawai‘i Community Colleges, and workforce partners over the next two years as specified under the grant terms.  According to Scott Hess, Chief of the College and Career Transitions Branch, there will be a grantees conference in October for the six states to initially plan, prepare, and roll out the terms, conditions, and sharing of their grants.

New Product Alert!

Digital Careers in the Computing Age is a DVD and a companion brochure that will inform students about information/computer/electronics related occupations.  These occupations are nontraditional for women, thus particular emphasis is made at featuring local female role models.

 

To order this new DVD and companion brochure submit the online order form.

Coming in October

 

Connecting CTE to Special Populations

Aside from teaching career skills, CTE teachers also need to accommodate pregnant students, those with limited English, and others with mobility impairments.  To support Special Population students in CTE, the Career and Technical Education Center has developed a series of instructional monographs that offer specific suggestions for working with each of the special population student categories.  Nontraditional, English as a Second Language Learners, Students with Disabilities, Single Parents, Displaced Homemakers, and Economically Disadvantaged are the six groups that are included in Perkins CTE legislation.  Booklets can be ordered as a set or individually for a specific category of student, and will be available in early October. 

 

CTE in the Community

Hawai'i teachers fault 'No Child' law; candidates favor reforms

The Honolulu Advertiser (8/11, DePledge) reports that many isle educators say that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law’s progress goals are unrealistic.  NCLB, passed in 2002 as one of President Bush’s first legislative accomplishments, requires public schools to make progress toward the goal of having all students proficient in reading and math by 2014. The law is intended to reduce the achievement gap, often linked to race, ethnicity and income, by measuring student performance through standardized tests and holding schools accountable for the results. In Hawai’i 60 percent failed to make annual targets. Read more about what local principals, legislators and both the Obama and McCain campaigns say on the NCLB law.

 

 

Publications and Research

Career and Technical Education in the United States:1990 to 2005, a new report by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), is a massive report which addresses CTE at the secondary, postsecondary and adult levels, and examines the following questions:

  • What institutes provide CTE?
  • What is offered?
  • Who participates and what courses and majors do they select?
  • Who teaches CTE?
  • What are the outcomes associated with CTE participation, including academic attainment, postsecondary education, and employment and earnings?

 

Findings include:

  • Just over 90 percent of public high school graduates from the class of 2005 took at least one occupational course in high school. About one in five graduates took at least three courses within one of the 18 CTE occupational program areas.
  • Business, health care and computer science were ranked highest in occupational programs offered.
  • At the postsecondary level, more credential-seeking undergrads majored in business and marketing and in health care than any other career field in 2005.
  • Among students who started postsecondary education in 1995-96, 70 percent of CTE completers working in 2001 reported their job was relevant to their field of study.

 

National News

California county revamps CTE curricula.

The San Diego Union-Tribune (9/1, Moran) reported that "schools across San Diego County are developing a new brand of education that is a hybrid of college-prep and job training, a series of classes that will equip high school graduates to simultaneously impress employers and university admissions counselors." According to the Union-Tribune, the "more sophisticated job-training classes have emerged as a response to calls from industry for a skilled, homegrown workforce and the rising awareness of a dropout epidemic among students who don't find school relevant." Scott Himelstein, a former member of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) administration, pointed out that the governor "has presided over an 18 percent increase in funding for career technical education (CTE) over the past two years." Himelstein said that he believes CTE "is crucial to training students for jobs in emerging industries and to lowering dropout rates."

Texas program aims to increase number of engineering students.

Texas's Austin Business Journal (8/29, Zaragoza) reported that, "for the first time in Texas, high school students taking engineering courses are able to earn college credit thanks to a new articulation program developed by the E3 Alliance, a regional education collaborative." For the program, "Texas Tech University, Texas State University in San Marcos, and Austin Community College have agreed to offer high school students credit for completing standardized engineering courses offered at more than 100 middle schools and high schools in the state, including 12 high schools in the region." According to the Business Journal, the "engineering courses are designed and accredited by Project Lead the Way." E3 Executive Director Susan Dawson explained that the "articulation program is part of the organization's strategic plan called 'The Blueprint for Educational Change,'" which "aims to put more students on a postsecondary education path that aligns with the region's workforce needs." Sandy Dochen, an executive at IBM, "believes the articulation program is a much-needed step toward getting students to look more seriously at engineering careers."

 

 

 

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