Last Tuesday, the Senate CTE Caucus, in conjunction with the Afterschool Alliance, hosted a briefing titled: “Making the Most of Middle School Career Exploration in CTE.” The panelists began by discussing the work community stakeholders are already doing to expose students to different career pathways, develop soft skills necessary to be successful in the workforce, and provide other benefits to students outside of traditional school hours to help them become college and career ready.
The conversation then shifted to the new community stakeholder involvement provisions added to Perkins V, like the requirement to involve stakeholders in the local needs assessment and the public comment and review period for performance targets, among others. They spoke at length about the importance of state and local agencies fostering stronger relationships with community stakeholders to ensure there is cohesion between what students are learning in school and in afterschool programs, and how to effectively provide students with more holistic, high-quality middle school CTE exploration opportunities.
The Panelists included:
- Regina Sidney-Brown, Director, Delaware Afterschool Network, United Way of Delaware
- Luke Rhine, Director, Career and Technical Education and STEM Initiatives, Delaware Department of Education
- Daniela Grigioni, Executive Director, After-School All-Stars, Washington, DC
- Andrew Coy, Executive Director, Digital Harbor Foundation, Baltimore, MD
- Jacob, Student, Digital Harbor Foundation, Baltimore, MD
In 2018, ACTE put out a report titled, “Career Exploration in Middle School: Setting Students on the Path to Success.” Click here to view the report and learn more about the benefits, and potential barriers, to having programs that allow students to explore career opportunities in middle school.
To view the briefing in its entirety, click here.
Comments