On December 11, I attended Achieve’s Annual Meeting for State Leaders and National Partners. The event includes many state personnel and school improvement advocates, and a lot of good information and conversation on topics such as standards, secondary-postsecondary transition and equity.
This year’s program featured an exceptional student panel, and I was pleased to see that SkillsUSA High School President Ahmad Shawwal was part of the discussion. As is usually the case, Ahmad’s remarks made me proud to be a CTE advocate as he discussed the value of SkillsUSA, career and technical student organizations (CTSOs) and CTE more generally. Ahmad and his fellow panelists made a compelling case for the need for multiple pathways and individualized instruction for students.
Ahmad also pointed out that he is taking five AP courses and is fully involved in CTE. His focus on the value of CTE-academic integration was reinforced later in the day by a panel that highlighted the work being performed by high-performing institutions such as Pathways in Technology Early College (P-TECH) High School, which began in Brooklyn, NY and has expanded rapidly across the nation with the support of IBM. These schools provide students with academic and work-based learning and are linked closely to postsecondary options.
The panel included Kate Blosveren Kreamer, who discussed how CTE has evolved and changed. She challenged attendees to visit CTE institutions such as P-TECH to gain a better understanding of CTE as it exists in relationship to challenging academic requirements and secondary-postsecondary opportunity. Stan Litow, IBM Vice President of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs, said that it is time we stop separating K-12 from higher education and urged that schools and programs better connect with the needs of employers.
Inclusion of CTE in conference agendas and in national discussions about school improvement is becoming more common. I have attended three large meetings of this type within the past month, which have all contained a significant CTE component.
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