CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

Perkins V Needs Assessment: Guide for Local Leaders

One of the most significant changes in Perkins V is the new requirement for local eligible recipients to conduct a comprehensive local needs assessment and update it at least every two years.

To help local CTE leaders conduct a needs assessment that is a valuable tool for program improvement and spending decisions, without undue burden, ACTE has published Maximizing Perkins V’s Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment & Local Application to Drive CTE Program Quality and Equity: A Guide for Local Leaders.

This brief describes the foundations of a rigorous assessment process and translates needs assessment language in Perkins V into meaningful action items, including suggestions on materials to review, stakeholders to consult and questions to ask to further your analysis.

The guide includes links to resources from ACTE and organizations, such as Advance CTE and the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity, that can support needs assessment. One of these tools is the ACTE Quality CTE Program of Study Framework Self-evaluation Instrument, which includes nearly 100 criteria across 12 elements of high-quality CTE. This tool can help you evaluate your programs to determine strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement and efficiently and comprehensively fulfill this Perkins V requirement.

High-quality CTE Series Launched

This month, ACTE is launching a new series exploring in detail each of ACTE's 12 elements of high-quality CTE with the first brief in the series, Defining Quality: Business and Community Partnerships.

Business and Community Partnerships is one of 12 elements in the ACTE Quality CTE Program of Study Framework, a comprehensive, evidence-based set of quality standards for CTE programs. Criteria within this element address business and community partner recruitment, partnership structure and the wide variety of activities partners should be engaged in to support the program of study and ensure programs are aligned with workforce needs.

Defining Quality: Business and Community Partnerships describes the criteria within the Business and Community Partnerships element, recommends types of evidence that programs can consider when assessing their performance against these quality criteria, and shares case studies of programs and institutions doing exemplary work to develop and leverage partnerships. This publication was generously supported by Stratasys.

Upcoming publications in the series include Defining Quality: Student Career Development and Defining Quality: Access and Equity. Eventually, the series will include 12 briefs, one for each of ACTE’s 12 elements of high-quality CTE. In addition, in 2019 we will be sharing a series of micro-webinars presenting short case studies on success within each element.

You can access all our High-quality CTE Initiative tools and resources at www.acteonline.org/high-quality-CTE.  

ACTE Releases Updated Quality CTE Framework and Program Self-evaluation

As part of its ongoing work to help CTE educators and administrators develop and improve the quality of their CTE programs, ACTE recently released the 2018 version of its Quality CTE Program of Study Framework.

High-quality CTE has become a national catchphrase in use by policymakers, practitioners, and education and workforce development stakeholders. But what is high-quality CTE? To bring clarity to this conversation, ACTE has created an evidence-based framework defining high-quality CTE across 12 elements:

Standards-aligned and Integrated Curriculum Sequencing and Articulation Student Assessment Prepared and Effective Program Staff Engaging Instruction Access and Equity

Facilities, Equipment, Technology and Materials Business and Community Partnerships Student Career Development Career and Technical Student Organizations Work-based Learning Data and Program Improvement

The 2018 version of the framework is the culmination of research, several rounds of feedback and pilot testing. It is accompanied by a program self-evaluation instrument, which can be completed in print or using our new online evaluation form. If filled out online, users can receive automatically calculated scores, save and print their results, and be connected to the High-quality CTE Tools online library for areas identified as needing improvement.

In addition to being a voluntary tool for self-assessment and program improvement, the Quality CTE Program of Study Framework also serves as a guide for ACTE’s work in disseminating best practices and providing professional development. ACTE will be releasing additional quality resources in 2019 and 2020, including a new Techniques column, a new paper series and an expanded rubric that will more specifically describe what progress and success looks like for each of the criteria. ACTE will also institute a revision process for the framework, so that we can keep it up-to-date as the CTE field evolves and changes.

High-quality CTE Tools Library Launched

In this fourth year of our High-quality CTE Initiative, ACTE is concluding a pilot test of our comprehensive, research-based quality CTE program of study framework. We will be releasing a finalized framework and evaluation rubric this fall, and we have already begun integrating the 12 elements of high-quality CTE into our recognition and professional development activities.

For instance, this summer ACTE has built a High-quality CTE Tools section on our website. This online library features resources that support success in each of the 12 elements. The emphasis is on practitioner strategies, case studies and toolkits to help educators and administrators implement high-quality CTE programs of study. In the future, this online library will be linked to an online version of the rubric, so that programs completing the assessment can access resources for areas identified as needing improvement.

Learn more at www.acteonline.org/high-quality-CTE-tools.