On Thursday, January 22, the Senate CTE Caucus organized a briefing for Senate staff titled “Investing in America’s Heartland: The Role of Career and Technical Education in Rural Communities.” The event featured an expert panel to discuss CTE’s role in preparing students from rural communities for college and career success, and highlighted the best practices, challenges and opportunities facing rural CTE programs.
Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), co-chair of the Senate Career and Technical Education Caucus, kicked off the event with remarks about his commitment to serving rural constituents and work on CTE-related legislation, including the recently reintroduced Educating Tomorrow’s Workforce Act which he has spearheaded with Sens. Portman (R-OH) and Baldwin (D-WI). Upon his remarks’ conclusion, ACTE Deputy Executive Director Steve DeWitt moderated the panel, which highlighted many of the special circumstances that shape rural CTE programs – including challenges around student engagement, connecting students with business and industry for meaningful workplace learning experiences, and technological barriers.
Dr. Alice Davis, an ACTE member and Executive Director of the Susquehanna County Career and Technology Center, highlighted in her panel remarks how her experiences serving rural students has shown her the importance of rural CTE programs in readying them for college and career success. In addition to Dr. Davis, Matt Lohr, the Director of the Farm Credit Knowledge Center and a former national FFA officer, spoke on the importance of career and technical student organizations in helping students to engage with their academic studies by providing practical applications. Lohr and Davis were joined by Lucy Johnson, U.S. Department of Education (ED) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Rural Outreach, and Johan Uvin, Acting Assistant Secretary, with ED’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, who helped to bring a federal policy perspective to the panel and spoke on the Obama Administration’s efforts to address rural communities’ needs.
In addition to assisting in the event’s coordination, ACTE has also published a new Issue Sheet specifically about the role of CTE in rural communities. ACTE will continue to work with our champions in the Senate to address the needs of rural educators and students, as well as the broader CTE community.
Update: ACTE released a revised version of the Rural Issue Sheet published in August 2015.
Many thanks to the 40 Moore County businesses and organizations who attended the Pinecrest High Career and Tecnical Education Career Fair in Novembef 2014!
Posted by: Karen Beasley Raliski | 01/24/2015 at 09:31 AM