CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

ACTE Releases Report on CTE During and After COVID-19

While COVID-19 has led to many challenges for CTE over the past year, the pandemic has also created opportunities for experimentation and innovation in delivery of CTE programs and programs of study. ACTE’s latest publication, High-quality CTE During COVID-19: Challenges and Innovations, generously sponsored by MajorClarity, describes these challenges, shares examples of innovative practices, and provides recommendations for how CTE leaders can better prepare the post-COVID-19 workforce and embrace lessons learned during the pandemic.

In response to surveys fielded to ACTE members in January and February 2021, CTE professionals report that the biggest challenges they are facing during the 2020-21 school year are motivating and engaging learners and providing hands-on learning and lab hours. Providing work-based learning experiences and preparing students for industry certifications and other performance assessments are also significant challenges. And about one-fifth of CTE professionals identified internet/technology access and supporting special and underserved populations as major issues.

In addition to these delivery challenges, CTE administrators report significant enrollment declines in many CTE programs this year as well as possible funding declines and CTE instructor shortages in the years to come.

In the face of these challenges, CTE educators have risen to the moment with flexibility, creativity and perseverance. This report describes many innovative practices in CTE from the past year, including but not limited to:

• The outdoor CTE classroom at Rockbridge County High School in Lexington, Virginia, enabled students to complete performance assessments and check off competencies in an open-air, socially distanced setup.
• YouthForce Internship, a project of New Orleans-based YouthForce NOLA, developed virtual "consultancies" in which students worked together to solve a business problem identified by an employer.
• Adult nursing students at Assabet Valley Regional Technical School in Marlborough, Massachusetts, are gaining experience and earning clinical hours by administering COVID-19 vaccines.
• Kansas DECA is organizing virtual challenges to continue to develop students' technical, employability and leadership skills.
• High school students at the Teacher Academy of Renton School District 403 in Renton, Washington, have been working remotely one-on-one with elementary students who need extra emotional or academic support.

As COVID-19 moves into a new phase, CTE educators are considering how lessons learned from this past year can support teaching and learning that is more equitable, more flexible, more diverse in its delivery and more focused on competencies in order to meet an anticipated surge in demand for CTE programs that prepare youth and adults with the skills and credentials needed in the post-pandemic workforce.

To make the most of this moment, ACTE recommends that CTE leaders pursue the following recommendations, which are further elaborated in the report:

• Reassess labor market alignment
• Skill and reskill the workforce
• Commit to equity
• Embrace innovative tools and delivery models
• Develop and support CTE professionals
• Advocate for CTE

Share Your COVID-19 Innovations!

CTE educators have a long history of creativity in delivering high-quality CTE programs and career development experiences to learners, and the 2020-21 school year is no exception. Whether your school, institution or district is open fully with social distancing methods, using a blended approach or continuing with remote learning, ACTE wants to hear about the innovative ways you are coping with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on CTE and career development.

Please fill out this short form to help ACTE learn more about how you are innovating during this challenging time. Examples are welcome from secondary, postsecondary and adult CTE programs as well as from career counseling and development activities. ACTE may publish your innovative practices on our website, in our blogs and/or in print.

Is your CTE program planning to transition between delivery models this school year, based on COVID-19 case counts in your area? If so, check out High-quality CTE: Planning for a COVID-19-impacted School Year, ACTE’s guide for helping CTE stakeholders identify the key considerations, guiding questions and emerging best practices that can shape planning across a variety of different scenarios.   

High-quality CTE: Planning for a COVID-19-impacted School Year

As the country continues to grapple with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, CTE stakeholders around the nation are thinking ahead to what education might look like in the future. Whether schools and postsecondary institutions will be able to open fully for the 2020-21 school year using social distancing methods, utilize a blended approach or continue with remote learning, there are significant implications for CTE programs, students and educators.

High-quality CTE: Planning for a COVID-19-impacted School Year is a guide for helping CTE stakeholders identify the key considerations, guiding questions and emerging best practices that should shape future planning. The guide is organized around the 13 elements of ACTE’s Quality CTE Program of Study Framework to capture the breadth of issues important to maintaining CTE program quality within any of the possible educational environments being considered for the new school year. It is accompanied by a webinar series that is exploring issues and sharing ideas from the field about CTE planning for the 2020-21 school year.

Read the full guide, or excerpts of particular sections, at https://www.acteonline.org/professional-development/high-quality-cte-covid-19-planning-guide.

High-quality CTE Series Continues with Brief on Student Career Development

ACTE is continuing its series exploring in detail each of ACTE's 12 elements of high-quality CTE with Defining Quality: Student Career Development.

Student Career Development 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 strategies that help students gain career knowledge and engage in education and career planning and decision-making, including comprehensive and coordinated career development across learner levels; individual academic and career plans; information about educational opportunities and workforce trends that students (and families, when appropriate) need to make informed decisions; job search information and placement services as students near the end of the program of study; and professional development for career guidance and advising professionals.

Defining Quality: Student Career Development describes the criteria within the Student Career Development element, recommends types of evidence that programs can consider when assessing their performance against these quality criteria, and shares case studies of school districts and institutions doing exemplary work to provide students with career exploration, guidance and planning services. This publication was generously supported by Xello.

Eventually, the series will include 12 briefs, one for each of ACTE’s 12 elements of high-quality CTE. In addition, 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.

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.