ctat
career & technology association of texas
CTE News CTE News CTECTECTE News
New CTE Discussion and Best Practice Forum
2010 - 2011 Graduation Requirements
Frequently Asked Questions for New Course Implementation
SBOE Moves Toward Approving CTE Courses for Academic Credit
SBOE Reset Indirect Cost Allowance for CTE Programs
Houston Chronicle Comments on CTE Legislation
The Soft Bigotry of High Expectations
President Obama Delivers Major Education Policy Address
Fiscal Year 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill Signed Into Law
Departments of Education and Labor Release Stimulus Guidance
Relative Advantages of Associate Degrees and Certificates
ACTE Releases Paper Highlighting Policy Trend to Support Recognition of Academic Credit for CTE Classes
Posted March 10, 2010
There is an exciting new venue to share information and to assist CTE teachers and administrators throughout the State of Texas. The CTE Community Forum at forum.cte.unt The goal to connect the CTE community electronically by providing a forum for the betterment of CTE in Texas.
Follow these procedures to register for the forum:
1. Go to the following website: http://forum.cte.unt.edu
2. Click "register" and create an account. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with your username and password. Please retain it.
3. Go to the discussion board and introduce yourself under the Introduction section in the CTE Community Forum.
There are four major categories in the community:
Support
Announcements (upcoming conferences, hot issues, legislative updates, etc.)
Information and Technical support (answers to problems)
Frequently Asked Questions
General
Introductions (your welcome to the community, the place for new members to be greeted)
General Discussion (open discussions for the community - hotels, jobs, and conference get together)
TEKS training (upcoming training dates)
Blogs (discussion of CTE articles)
Gallery (a chance for CTE to post pictures of happening - CTSO activities, brag about accomplishments)
Best of CTE (best practices, resources and solutions for all CTE teachers)
Classroom Basics
Curriculum
Professional Development
Teacher Certification
Special Populations
Administrator's Corner
Counselor's Corner
Specialized Info for all 16 Career Clusters
If you have any difficulties, please contact the Forum Administrator by sending a message through the forum or contacting through email:
Mariya Gavrilova (Mariya.Gavrilova@unt.edu)
Mary Chandler (Mary.Chandler@unt.edu, 940.565.3710)
Dr. Jeff M. Allen (Jeff.Allen@unt.edu, 940.565.4918, 940.453.9020 cell)
Updated February 12, 2010
2010 - 2011 Graduation Requirements
A side-by-side guide to 2010-2011 graduation requirements for the three graduation plans and a new FAQ are now posted on the website at
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/graduation.aspx
Updated February 12, 2010
SBOE Approves CTE Courses for Academic Credit
The State Board of Education showed support for more student choices in fulfilling required academic credits for graduation. CTE courses approved for academic credit include:
Recommended High School Plan:
MATH
Mathematical Applications in Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (not fourth year)
Statistics and Risk Management (fourth year)
Engineering Mathematics (fourth year)
SCIENCE
Advanced Animal Science (fourth year)
Advanced Plant and Soil Science (fourth year)
Food Science (fourth year)
Forensic Science (fourth year)
Advanced Biotechnology (fourth year)
Distinguished Achievement Plan:
MATH
Statistics and Risk Management (fourth year)
Engineering Mathematics (fourth year)
SCIENCE
Advanced Animal Science (fourth year)
Advanced Plant and Soil Science (fourth year)
Food Science (fourth year)
Forensic Science (fourth year)
Advanced Biotechnology (fourth year)
Additionally, the SBOE requested rules that would allow the following CTE courses to satisfy other graduation credit requirements.
Principles of Floral Design - Fine Art
Professional Communications - Speech
Business English - English on the Minimum Plan only
CTE courses currently approved for fourth year science credit will continue to satisfy that credit.
Human Anatomy and Physiology
Medical Microbiology (RHSP only)
Pathophysiology (RHSP only)
Scientific Research and Design
Principles of Technology (RHSP only)
Engineering and Design
Principles of Technology (Substitute for Physics)
In other business, the SBOE adopted requirements for the Recommended High School Plan as established in HB3, passed by the 81st Texas Legislature to provide more flexibility for students to pursue courses of interest to them, including up to 5.5 student selected enrichment and academic courses. Students are no longer required to earn one-half credit of Health, one-half credit of Speech and one credit of Technology Applications (Tech Apps). Students must earn only one credit in PE, not one and one-half credits.
The SBOE approved rules to provide the same flexibility in both the Minimum Plan and Distinguished Achievement Plan.
Updated February 12, 2009
Frequently Asked Questions for New Course Implementation
As a benefit to CTAT members, this list of questions and answers has been compiled in one place to assist you as you make decisions and plans for your CTE programs. As of the date of this list, answers or resources are not available for all questions.
Where can I find graduation plan changes outlined in HB3 passed by the 81st Texas Legislature?
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/graduation.aspx
Where can I find the new TEKS for high school CTE courses?http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/home/sboeadopt.html
Where can I find the new TEKS for middle school CTE courses?http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter127/ch127a.html
The newly adopted middle school courses became effective September 1, 2009 and can be found in Chapter 127 of the Texas Administrative Code 127.3 and 127.4 The career investigation course TAC 127.2 is still included in this link because it is effective for 2009-2010, but will be deleted for 2010-2011 school year. Be sure to check the effective date of each course.
Where can I find PEIMS numbers for the new courses?
At this link. CTE(1)
Where can I find suggested course sequences by cluster?
Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
Architecture & Construction
Arts, A/V & Communications
Business, Management & Administration
Education & Training
Finance
Government & Public Administration
Health Science
Hospitality & Tourism
Human Services
Information Technology
Law, Public Safety & Security
Manufacturing
Marketing, Sales & Service
Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
Transportation & Logistics
Are course sequences flexible?
Districts determine which courses will be offered and have flexibility in selecting the order of courses to match a student's program of study with available courses. Sequences are provided as suggestions and can be customized by districts as they plan offerings for students. Courses may also cross clusters as students build programs of study with coherent sequences of academic and CTE courses. The CTE programs of study found at www.AchieveTexas.org are being updated to reflect the new courses and the flexibility for the recommended high school program graduation requirements provided by HB 3.
Where can I find a crosswalk of old courses to new?
Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
Architecture & Construction
Arts, A/V & Communications
Business, Management & Administration
Education & Training
Finance
Government & Public Administration
Health Science
Hospitality & Tourism
Human Services
Information Technology
Law, Public Safety & Security
Manufacturing
Marketing, Sales & Service
Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
Transportation & Logistics
Where can I find a crosswalk of teacher certifications acceptable for each new course?
Click here for a draft crosswalk from TEA. Before becoming final, the State Board of Education must formally adopt proposed CTE courses to satisfy fourth year math and science credit requirements. The SBOE will consider possible adoption in January. Following SBOE action, the State Board for Educator Certification must approve the certification crosswalk in early 2010 prior to release. CTE courses that satisfy academic credit must be taught by teachers certified in the academic area or meet requirements established in the federal No Child Left Behind Act as determined by the district. To view Highly Qualified No Child Left Behind and CTE requirements - click here.
Will the courses continue to require that teachers have coordination periods?
The Student Attendance Accounting Handbook governs this question for Career Prep courses. http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/handbook/index.html
Will there be any training for administrators and counselors on the new courses and implementation?
CTAT will offer training sessions with timely topics appropriate to new course implementation at the Education Open Source conference Feb. 8 - 10. Teacher taining sessions on the new TEKS will be available at the summer Texas Career Education Conference for health science, business, marketing and finance teachers.
Will professional development be available for teachers prior to the fall of 2010?
TEA hosted workshops for approximately 400 teachers in the fall of 2009. These teachers are master trainers for the new courses and TEKS. Regional Education Service Centers, districts, SSAs and state CTE professional associations may organize and offer training utilizing the master teachers and training materials developed by agency. The TEA will have TEKS implementation professional development training posted on the TEA web site, so teachers and administrators will know of all the opportunities available for training in their cluster. TEKS implementation training is being developed for each of the 16 clusters.
Many larger districts are likely to host their own trainings. Smaller districts may want to inquire with larger districts and regional service centers about having teachers attend their trainings.
When will Advanced Technical Credit training be available?
All ATC approvals expiring July 31, 2009 will automatically be extended an extra year so that they will expire July 31, 2010. ATC certificates now reflect this extension. Training dates and locations will be posted on the ATC web site as they are scheduled http://atctexas.org/calendar.asp These steps will provide time needed for a careful review of the new TEKS and the development of the ATC Course Crosswalk for 2010 – 2011.
When and how will funding flow for the $50 per student codes as a 2 or 3 enrolled in an advanced CTE course?
The funds are appropriated for school years 2010 and 2011 and will be earmarked with intent Code 22 for CTE. It is expected that students coded as two or three who are enrolled in CTE courses will draw the subsidy. When funded, the subsidy will be for students who enroll and complete. Rules regarding the subsidy are to be determined.
Where is the list of certification exams eligible for the state subsidy?
The list is being developed by the Texas Workforce Commission in consultation with the Texas Workforce Investment Council. Once generated, the Commissioners of Education and Higher Education must approve the list before it’s implemented. The list of certifications that qualify will be those leading to high skill, high wage, high demand jobs as specified by law. The subsidy is effective for the 2010 and 2011 school years and will flow to districts directly as a reimbursement for the cost of the exam if the student passed and the district requests the reimbursement. This is funded for the 2010-2011 school year, not the 2009-2010 school year.
Can districts add graduation requirements in addition to state requirements, including Tech Apps?
School districts have authority to implement graduation credit requirements beyond what is required by state law and rule. This authority would allow districts to continue to require a technology applications credit, for example, even though the State Board of Education may no longer require this credit. These credit requirements should be considered separate and apart from the state requirements and local districts have complete authority over how they implement the requirements. The additional credit requirement could be satisfied by any course the district designates, including CTE courses. Section 28.002(g) of the Education Code states "Each district is encouraged to exceed minimum requirements of law and State Board of Education rule." It is understood that the details of such a requirement are also subject to local decision.
For additional questions concerning policy, please contact TEA.
Updated February 12, 2010
SBOE Set Indirect Cost Allowance Equal to Current Levels
The 81st Texas Legislature directed the State Board of Education (SBOE) per HB 3646 to review and adjust indirect cost allotments for the following programs - special education, compensatory education, bilingual education, and career and technical education (CTE). Currently, districts are required to spend at least 90% of the career and technical education allotment on direct costs for the program and 10% on indirect costs. In order to receive the same amount of earmarked funds for CTE programs, the indirect cost allowance must be set no higher than 40%.
The legislature increased the per student basic allotment, but did not intend for the increase to also extend to the weight for CTE. Hence the directive for the SBOE to adjust the spending percentage.
The additional $50 per student for career and technical education students coded as two or three in PEIMS as provided by HB 3646 will be in addition to the statutory special allotment for career and technical education and will flow through formula funding.
House Bill 3646: “Sec. 42.1541. INDIRECT COST ALLOTMENTS. (a) The State Board of Education shall by rule increase the indirect cost allotments established under Sections 42.151 (h) , 42.152 (c) . 42.153(b), and 42.154(a-1} and (c) and in effect for the 2008-2009 school year as necessary to reflect the increased percentage of total maintenance and operations funding represented by the basic allotment under Section 42.101 as a result of amendment of that section by H.B. No. 3646. Acts of the 81st Legislature, Regular Session, 2009. (b) The board shall take the action required by Subsection (a) not later than the date that permits the increased indirect cost allotments to apply beginning with the 2009-2010 school year. (c) This section expires September 1, 2010.”
Posted June 30, 2009
Houston Chronicle Comments on CTE Legislation
By AAMIR FARID
Houston Chronicle - June 29, 2009 / pg. B9
The Texas Legislature passed House Bill 3, a critical education reform bill that will help meet the diverse interests and career aspirations of our student population. Thanks to the support of many organizations, educational institutions and elected officials, this bill also will help our local industry to keep the workforce pipeline full — well into the future. Here’s why this educational reform bill is so important to our community.
The energy industry is a mature business — and so is its work force. Many of the employees who helped build the U.S. energy industry are reaching retirement age and soon will exit — or already have. They leave their legacy to a new generation, many of whom unfortunately have not been given opportunities to receive the education required to prepare them for energy-industry jobs.
This legislation can be the impetus that has been needed to create changes in our Texas educational system — changes that provide learning environments that encourage and challenge students, not only in math and sciences, but in the technical trades as well.
Some students may not even realize just how great the opportunities are for meaningful jobs right here in our community. The East Harris County Manufacturers Association is a 20-year-old alliance of more than 125 chemical manufacturers, refiners and supporting distribution facilities in the Greater Houston area that employs more than 35,000 workers throughout east Harris County and manufactures products that are essential to our everyday routine. Our organization is dedicated to supporting educational and other efforts that keep the industry pipeline full in order to sustain the critical economic contribution we provide to the Gulf Coast region.
A prosperous petrochemical industry is important to our local and state economies. Our organization members alone contribute more than $12 billion annually to the local economy through taxes, payrolls, purchases and capital expenditures. Collectively, member companies spend more than $5 billion annually on operating and capital improvement costs related to pollution control and abatement. Trained and educated employees make all of this possible. A study conducted in July to identify hiring needs of the petrochemical industry in Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston and Harris counties for the period 2008-2012 found that more than 10,000 new hires will be needed in operations, maintenance and engineering to counter attrition and fill new positions. The study, commissioned by the Economic Alliance Houston Port Region, also found that 80 percent of the petrochemical companies surveyed in the four-county region believe that it will be more difficult to fill these positions in upcoming years.
The East Harris County Manufacturers Association members applaud the Texas House and Senate on the passage of House Bill 3, which includes key Career & Technical Education (CTE) provisions. For instance, the bill provides for eight non-prescribed elective credits that enable students to select CTE curriculum offered by their school districts. It also creates a database of jobs and careers that can be shared with students and parents. Another important provision cuts the time for approval of new CTE courses to 180 days; previously, approval could take years.
We believe that providing a direct link between coursework and future career opportunities can help lower our state’s dropout rate of 31 percent, which is among the highest in the nation. This “opportunities option” also will prepare students for technical careers that will enable them to become contributors to our economy.
It is time for Texas to fully recognize that tomorrow’s labor market is dependent on education and curriculum moving toward a more flexible system, one that values all students and provides multiple education options, including those found in CTE programs. A curriculum that provides students technical training will not only help meet the future needs of Texas employers but also will provide a valuable pipeline of highly skilled workers to keep industry thriving.
We believe the moment to foster educational change is here. It is important that we not stop now but continue to push our educational system and the students of tomorrow to new heights. We have the most to lose — but we also have the most to gain. So do our state, our country and everyone who depends on our industry to provide essential goods and services that are needed worldwide. We encourage companies to continue their recruiting efforts and support of educational programs. We also hope that H.B. 3 is a jumping off place for our state’s education system to expand programs and opportunities for all students, allowing the next generation to access a wider range of meaningful careers — right here at home.
Farid is chairman of the East Harris County Manufacturers Association, an alliance of more than 125 chemical manufacturers, refiners and supporting distribution facilities in the greater Houston area. For more information visit www.ehcma.org.
Posted June 3, 2009
Lawmakers reward career and technical education (CTE) for making a difference
In spite of a $9.1 billion state budget shortfall, lawmakers boldly extended $46 million to support CTE.
The Jobs and Education for Texans grant program is established for two-year colleges to defray startup costs associated with new CTE programs and courses, including dual enrollment (HB3 Eissler). Funds may be used for constructing or renovating facilities, equipment and related expenses. Scholarships are available for CTE students in programs leading to high-demand occupations. Non-profits receive assistance to help low-income students headed to two-year colleges. Matching funds are required for grants.
SB1313 itself was a casualty of the Voter ID controversy, but key provisions of the legislation were included in other bills. These include $20 million annually in new funding for CTE (HB3646 Hochberg) and $500K annually in financial subsidies for licensure and certification exam fees leading to high-skill, high wage or high-demand occupations (HB2169 Chavez). High school CTE students coded as two and three now draw an additional $50 through formula funding and the state pays exam fees for students earning licenses and certifications regardless of their economic status. Unfortunately, guidance reform provisions were not passed this session.
In related legislation:
- Districts do not have to pay tuition, fees and other costs associated with the 12 college credit hours they are required to offer. Districts continue to receive ADA funding for these students. (HB3646)
- District may use textbook credits for the purchase of equipment, electronics and software from the conforming and non-conforming lists of approved instructional materials. (HB4294 Branch)
- Districts may contract with community and technical colleges for dual credit courses regardless of service delivery area if the local college is unable to provide the requested course. (HB2480 Hochberg)
- The state board of education must update CTE courses when corresponding courses in the Workforce Education Manual are updated. (HB3)
- A grant that requires matching funds is available for colleges to develop new CTE courses that satisfy math and science credits and lead to high-demand occupations. (HB3646)
- New flexibility in the recommended high school plan requires four credits each in the four foundational academic areas, two credits for languages other than English, one credit for fine art and one credit for PE, leaving six credits not prescribed by the state. Students are not required to earn credits for technical applications, health and speech. (HB3)
- Students are now required to complete at least one fine arts course in middle school. (HB3)
- The Texas Senate did not confirm Don McLeroy as chair of the state board of education.
- The commissioner of higher education is not required to establish a method for uniform GPA calculation that would exclude CTE courses. (HB3)
The governor has until June 20 to sign, not sign or veto legislation.
No longer an afterthought, CTE appeared in the two most significant education bills of the session – School Finance (HB3646) and Accountability (HB3). Lawmakers themselves diffused the myth that CTE is not just for kids who won’t make it in college. The complexity and value of CTE was revealed and lawmakers made a commitment to support it.
Yes, CTE programs lead to licensure and certification, serving as a lifeline to industries in desperate need of skilled workers. Yes, CTE students gain the most basic, yet highly valued workplace skills like critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork and effective communication. Yes, CTE is the practical side of academics. Yes, CTE helps struggling students find a reason to stay in school. But how does CTE contribute to students seeking their way to flagship universities and jobs that require degrees? The simple truth is that all jobs are vocations, no matter how much they pay or the pedigree required. When 85 percent of jobs require skills training and not a four-year degree, education that provides a return on investment becomes a priority.
Congratulations on being recognized for making a difference!
Posted May 29, 2009
Rod Dreher: The soft bigotry of high expectations
As the cost of a college degree spirals upward, The Chronicle of Higher Education anticipates that fewer young Americans will be going to universities, which have priced themselves out of the market. Write Joseph M. Cronin and Howard E. Horton, "There is a growing sense among the public that higher education might be overpriced and under-delivering."
That's good news. The idea that everybody ought to go to college is misguided at best and damaging at worst. It's a middle-class shibboleth that is overdue for debunking.
There's a practical case against the college push. Only about 60 percent of Americans who enter a four-year college graduate with a degree within six years – a rate that has been consistent for three decades, according to the Education Trust, a Washington-based nonprofit reform group. The organization advocates for higher graduation rates, which is admirable. But this assumes that everyone is equally capable of succeeding in college and that college is the right choice for everyone.
Not so, says Tom Pauken, head of the Texas Workforce Commission, who thinks that given the dismal college graduation rates, high school seniors who struggle academically should not allow themselves to be pushed into college. Says Pauken: "They'd be better off trying to become more self-sufficient and developing a skilled trade, something portable they can take with them but can also make a real living doing. As a plumber, electrician and so forth, there's still a way to make a good living, even in tough economic times."
Matthew B. Crawford understands the protection that tradesmen have in the global market. "If you need a deck built, or your car fixed, the Chinese are of no help," he writes. "Because they are in China."
Crawford makes a philosophical case for choosing the trades over college in his brilliant new book, Shop Class as Soul Craft, which launches an intellectually formidable attack on the way our culture has come to devalue manual labor. This bracingly countercultural book, written by a scholar who left white-collar work to open a motorcycle repair shop, defiantly rejects received wisdom about the meaning of work in America today.
Crawford, a University of Chicago-trained philosopher, offers an account for why "work that is straightforwardly useful can also be intellectually absorbing." He explains why work as a skilled manual laborer is far more intellectually engaging than many may suppose because it entails "a systematic encounter with the material world."
As its title suggests, the book is not really a career guide, but rather a philosophical inquiry into why so many of us are dissatisfied with our work. We have come to see labor as something we do in exchange for money and not as an expression of our intrinsic nature. Many a white-collar man works hard but lives in a world of soul-killing abstraction, where what he does, what he feels and who he is have little to do with one another.
"The work cannot sustain him as a human being," Crawford writes. "Rather, it damages the best part of him, and it become imperative to partition work off from the rest of life."
We have constructed an economy and a society based on the idea that work has no essential relation to human nature, and thus to human flourishing and human happiness. A good society, says Crawford (after Aristotle), is one in which men and women are free to pursue excellence, according to their individual natures. It's not like that with us. Say that a particular high school senior might be happier and more productive going to trade school than enrolling in college, and you risk being denounced for harboring the soft bigotry of low expectations.
Crawford denounces this as false egalitarianism. "The best sort of democratic education is neither snobbish nor egalitarian," he writes. "Rather, it accords a place of honor in our common life to whatever is best."
I have seen the truth of Crawford's observations lived out in my own family. My brother-in-law lasted one semester in college. Classrooms bored him. He really wanted to be a firefighter. He entered a big-city fire department, graduated at the top of his class and is now one of the finest firefighters in his city.
He could have, but did not, end up like my father, who is now a retiree. He's a mechanical genius who once wanted above all things to work with his hands. But in the 1950s, his working-class parents pushed him hard to go to college, to become upwardly mobile. Dad earned his degree, then spent decades stuck in a desk job he despised. On the weekends, he came alive, sweating and hustling, building, welding, repairing – and in one case, using his innate engineering intelligence to invent a hydraulic woodsplitter. This – not a desk jockey – is who my father really was and was meant to be.
In the twilight of his life, my gifted father mourns the road he did not take into the trades because he allowed himself to be cajoled by conformity into college. When I gave him a copy of Shop Class As Soulcraft, he couldn't put it down. He felt deeply vindicated, which is the only comfort left to him, having had his true vocation robbed by pushy parents in thrall to the college myth. But the same revolutionary book that's an old man's vindication stands to be liberation for young men (and women) whose parents and educators have the good sense to read it.
Rod Dreher is a Dallas Morning News editorial columnist. His e-mail address is rdreher@dallasnews.com. This will be his last column until mid-August; he is taking leave for a Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellowship in Science & Religion.
Posted April 13, 2009
Departments of Education and Labor Release Stimulus Guidance
Many people in the CTE community are anxious to know how the funds for the economic recovery will be distributed to states and then to local education agencies and postsecondary institutions. In the last few weeks, the Administration has been working diligently to develop the information necessary to address these questions and concerns. On March 4 and March 6 the Department of Labor released guidance on funding available through programs authorized by the Workforce Investment Act, including state-specific allotments. Major principles guiding the distribution and use of these funds include:
1. Transparency and accountability
2. Expedited and effective use of funds, with expenditures made concurrently with regular formula funds
3. Emphasis on training and innovative and invigorated service delivery strategies
4. Emphasis on services for hard-to-serve populations and needs-related payments
The Department of Labor sent amended Program Year 2008 agreements to state grantees in early March, and plans to obligate funding to states during the week of March 16. Funds appropriated for youth, adult and dislocated worker programs will be obligated as supplements to the Program Year 2008 allotments of states’ current grants, and must be expended by June 30, 2011. In order to facilitate the quick and effective use of funds, states must make funds available to local areas within 30 days. States will have to revise their state plans to incorporate Recovery Act funds by June 30, 2009, and the Department of Labor encourages states to require a similar modification by local areas. More details on financial and performance reporting requirements will be released soon. On March 7, 2009, the Department of Education also released new information <http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/03/03072009.html> regarding the education components the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This latest announcement reaffirms that $44 billion in stimulus funding will be available to states within 30-45 days, and a second round of funding is expected to be distributed between July 1 and September 30, 2009. The Department of Education is using four principles to guide the distribution and use of funds:
1. Spend funds quickly to save and create jobs
2. Improve student achievement through school improvement and reform
3. Ensure transparency, reporting and accountability
4. Invest one-time ARRA funds thoughtfully to minimize the "funding cliff"
The Department will release half of the funding allocated to Title I of No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by the end of March without requiring new applications from states. Also by the end of March, governors will be able to apply for the first two-thirds of the funding available under the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, which can be used for CTE activities allowed under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. Governors will receive their allotment of funding within two weeks of completing the initial application. To receive the first round of stabilization funding, states must make assurances that they are committed to advancing education reform in the areas below, provide baseline data and describe how they intend to use the resources provided. In order to receive the second installment of funding over the summer months, states must demonstrate that they have made progress toward meeting assurances, and lay out more detailed plans for addressing the following objectives: · Raise college and career-ready standards, including working to close the achievement gap · Establish better data systems by increasing transparency in tracking student progress over time · Improve and equally distribute qualified and effective teachers · Support effective strategies to assist the lowest-performing schools In addition to the available funds listed above, the Secretary of Education has reserved an additional $5 billion for innovation. This includes a $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” fund for states which have developed bold and new initiatives to improve student achievement, and $650 million for individual school districts and nonprofits which have a strong track record in improving student achievement. These funds will be distributed as competitive grants in the fall of 2009, and applications will be available later in the spring. ACTE is tracking the ARRA’s guidelines very closely, and will continue to update you as provisions and guidance are released.
For more information on the economic recovery package, please see ACTE’s Web site www.acteonline.org.
Posted March 26, 2009
Funding for CTSOs
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is pleased to announce the web-based grant application system will be available to apply for the 2009-2010 Career and Technical Education State Student Organizations grant beginning on or about Monday, March 30, 2009.
Description of Program
The purpose of this program is to provide funds to Texas Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) to provide curricular experiences that extend learning beyond the formal school day and recognize student achievement through Career and Technical Education (CTE).
As outlined in the State Plan for Career and Technical Education, the goals of this special project are to:
- increase participation by Texas students at student leadership
conferences and conventions - provide students the opportunity for leadership roles that will produce continuous improvement and innovation in CTE programs
Eligible Applicants
This grant opportunity is available for the following CTSOs:
- Association for Marketing Education (DECA)
- Business Professionals of America (BPA)
- Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA)
- Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)
- Texas Future Farmers of America (FFA) Association
- Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), Texas Association
- SkillsUSA, Texas Association
- Technology Students Association (TSA)
Project Period and Funding Amount
Applicants should plan for a starting date of no earlier than September 1, 2009, and an ending date of no later than August 31, 2010. It is anticipated that $323,103 will be available for funding the CTSOs during the 2009-2010 school years. Funding amounts may need to be adjusted upon receipt of final allocations from the USDE. Funding amounts are based on student memberships for 2008-2009. Project funding in subsequent years, if available, will be based on satisfactory progress of the previous-year objectives and activities and on general budget approval by the commissioner of education and legislative authority.
How to Apply
Eligible applicants must apply through the eGrants system. In order to apply, applicants must have appropriate Texas Education Agency Secure Environment (TEA SE) access. Applicants who do not have TEA SE access for eGrants should visit the TEA SE webpage at http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/opge/egrant/index.html and request access.
An overview of the TEA SE online request process can be found at http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/opge/egrant/eGrantsOverview.pdf.
If further assistance is needed, please call the eGrants Help Desk at (512) 463-7025 or email egrants@tea.state.tx.us
Availability and Due Date for the eGrants Application
The eGrants application system will be available beginning on or about Monday, March 30, 2009, for eligible applicants to complete the required forms. The eGrants application must be certified and submitted electronically by no later than Thursday, May 28, 2009, in order to have a project beginning date of September 1, 2009.
On-Line Resources
A complete set of on-line resources is available for applicants. Prior to March 30, 2009, the documents listed below should be accessed/viewed and/or printed from the TEA Grant Opportunities homepage at http://burleson.tea.state.tx.us/GrantOpportunities/forms/.
Under eGrants Toolbox:
- Apply for eGrants Logon
- Quick Reference: eGrants Form Navigation
- eGrants User Guide - a comprehensive guide to setting up your computer and navigating through eGrants.
- Part 1: General and Fiscal Guidelines - important guidelines that apply to all eGrants
- eGrants Troubleshooting Guide
- When the actual grant is available in eGrants, other resources will be
available and should be carefully reviewed by each applicant: - Part 2: Program Guidelines program-specific guidelines that apply only
to this eGrants. - Schedule Instructions detailed instructions for completing each
schedule/form in the eGrants application.
These documents can be accessed at
http://burleson.tea.state.tx.us/GrantOpportunities/forms/. In the Select
Search Options box, select the grant program. Scroll down to access these
documents in the Application and Support Information section.
For Further Information
For clarifying information about the eGrants application, contact Rebecca
Schroeder, Division of Discretionary Grants, Texas Education Agency, (512)
463-9269.
Posted February 11, 2009
The excerpts below are from an article published today in Inside Higher Ed about a longitudinal study which found that it is feasible for students who attend two-year colleges and do not go on to complete four-year programs to increase their earnings substantially by completing the courses needed to obtain a certificate. The results of this study may be worth sharing with students as they consider education and career planning. The full article can be accessed at this link.
Relative Advantages of Associate Degrees and Certificates
WASHINGTON — Many of the findings produced by a new in-depth study of the educational and employment outcomes of low-income students fell into the category, as the researcher Louis S. Jacobson described them, of "the truths your mother told you" — in other words, they mostly confirmed widely held suppositions about the links between education and work force success.
The study, which was conducted by the Center for Naval Analyses and the Hudson Institute and financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, also promulgated some findings that challenged the status quo, especially in suggesting that low-income students who struggle in high school get more of an earnings boost by earning a certificate than they do achieving an associate degree at a two-year college.
"Increasingly in this economy, some form of postsecondary education and training, degreed or not, is the prerequisite for middle class earnings now," said Anthony P. Carnevale, research professor and director of Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce. The only way to truly understand what sorts of education produces the best economic outcomes, he said, is "to understand the connection between what happens in the schools, particularly postsecondary, and what goes on in the labor market. Integrating educational and economic data to track outcomes, Carnevale said, "seems like a small and geeky thing, but it isn't."
The study, "Pathways to Boosting the Earnings of Low-Income Students by Increasing Their Educational Attainment," examined 225,000 students who were in public high schools in 1996 and follows them through 2007 — the authors are able to show how students from a range of economic backgrounds flow through that state's public colleges and into its work force, to see "what actually happened to them," said Diana Furchgott-Roth, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and co-author of the study. (The data are limited to those students who attended public high schools and stayed within Florida for college.)
Much of what they found reaffirms concerns that arise whenever policy makers look at the success of students from low-income backgrounds in higher education. Among their findings:
- Access to college depends heavily on students' financial backgrounds. Only 55 percent of students who qualified for free and reduced lunch (a federal proxy for low family income) attended college, compared to 62 percent of other students. Twenty-five percent of free and reduced lunch students attended college within two years (compared to 39 percent of other students) and 17 percent completed a year's worth of college, compared to 30 percent. Non-free and reduced lunch students were also more than twice as likely as their less-wealthy peers to earn a college credential within six years.
- High school grades also appear to have a significant influence on college outcomes. Of students who earned an A average in high school and attended college within two years of graduation, 52 percent earned a B.A. or graduate degree, 17 percent a certificate or associate degree, and 31 percent no credential at all. A full 82 percent of C students who entered college within two years earned no credential. In addition, students with a C average were significantly likelier to attend community colleges than were those with A averages in high school.
- Those who achieved a higher credential earned more money. Students who earned a certificate had median earnings that were 27 percent higher than than those with no college credential; those with a bachelor's degree earned about 35 percent more than those with no credential; and those with graduate degrees made about 62 percent more. Interestingly, though, students with just an A.A. degree did only 8 percent better than those with no credential at all — quite a bit less well than those with certificates.
- Student earnings varied greatly by discipline, most acutely for those with certificates and associate degrees. The median income for students in health-related fields was higher than the 75th percentile for all other fields, including the so-called STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math) and professional fields such as communications and management. (Among bachelor's degree earners, the fields were much more closely grouped, except for the humanities, which lagged.)
The finding that students who earned certificates earned more than those with an associate degree, and another suggesting that students who earned a C in high school were only slightly less likely than A students to earn a credential in health-related and other higher-paying fields, were arguably the most surprising of the study. "Together these two results suggest that it is feasible for students who attend two-year colleges and do not go on to complete four-year programs to increase their earnings substantially by completing the courses needed to obtain a certificate," the study's authors wrote.
Jacobson, of the Center for Naval Analyses (which is known for this kind of work because of its extensive experience crunching huge data systems for the military), said the study was not designed to argue that students should be directed toward more-practical certificate programs rather than the more academic liberal arts disciplines at community colleges.
"All we're trying to do is find what C students can do most productively at the point they leave high school," he said. "The investments we're currently making in the two-year-college system are extremely important, and the message that comes across very clearly is that too many students are leaving high school without having a terrific high school experience, then are going to community colleges and repeating some mistakes they've already made."
The experts who analyzed the Hudson study seemed most intrigued by the finding on certificates. Chester B. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, said that to people like him "who tend to focus only on degrees," the findings about the earnings value of community college certificates suggested "evidence that better information regarding postsecondary possibilities might boost the prospects of low-income students."
Most students who end up with only an associate degree in English or comparable fields do so "either because they stumbled into it, didn't know what they would do, were misinformed, or didn't complete their goals," said Thomas Bailey, the George and Abby O'Neill Professor of Economics and Education and director of the Community College Research Center at Columbia University Teachers College. "There is very little return to a student who has an English associate degree, and that's it." The pool of people who get associate degrees in non-technical fields and don't go on to transfer to a four-year college, Bailey noted, is very small.
In many ways, the assembled experts said, the study's specific findings were less important than the promise that such data-driven studies hold for policy makers — if they can get their hands on good longitudinal data like those from Florida. But that will be impossible unless more states — often over the objections of college officials — begin stitching together data from the elementary and secondary schools, postsecondary education systems, and work force agencies, said Georgetown's Carnevale.
Posted February 11, 2009
ACTE Releases Paper Highlighting Policy Trend to Support Recognition of Academic Credit for CTE Classes
ALEXANDRIA, VA –As states increase the number of academic credits required for high school graduation, they are developing new ways of integrating academic content with content from CTE courses to help students meet these requirements. One trend that is emerging is the state and local support for the recognition of academic credit for career and technical education (CTE) courses. A new paper released by the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) entitled, "Joining Forces for Student Success: The Emergence of State and Local Policies to Support the Recognition of Academic Credit for CTE Coursework," highlights findings from a state survey, describes innovative ways states and localities are employing this strategy, and offers recommendations on how to effectively implement and systemize course development.
In 2008, ACTE and Meeder Consulting Group, LLC worked together in assembling information on each state's CTE system through a series of state profiles, and they discovered a variety of innovation in CTE systems around the country. Along with the state profiles, Meeder Consulting Group developed and distributed a survey to the state leaders responsible for CTE and the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006. The survey asked how states were helping, supporting and guiding the recognition of CTE classes for academic coursework. Of the 44 states (including the District of Columbia) that responded to the survey, 36 of the states indicated they allowed for the awarding of credit at either the state or local level.
The paper outlines how states are awarding academic credit for CTE courses through a state-driven approach, locally driven approach, or a blend of the two, and it provides insight into how they implemented their policies. The paper has examples of states' and localities' efforts, including:
- Warren Tech High School, located in Jefferson County School District in Colorado, created hybrid academic/CTE courses for joint credit with various stakeholders engaged and ensured the academic rigor of classes.
- Washington State has a law requiring high schools or local school districts to develop procedures to approve CTE courses for whole or partial academic credit. A CTE advisory committee was established to provide assistance to local school districts and created an online toolkit as an implementation guide for the districts.
- New York State allows local school districts the flexibility to develop CTE courses that are counted toward academics and students can earn up to four integrated credits.
- Kentucky has developed 11 interdisciplinary CTE courses, which students can be awarded academic credit. Based on self reporting, Kentucky has an estimated 82 high schools that currently offer at least one of these courses.
"As schools face pressure to increase academic achievement, it is important for states and local school districts to understand the value of CTE courses in providing an engaging, rigorous, and relevant education that provides students with the skills and knowledge that business and industry are looking for," said ACTE Executive Director Jan Bray. "This paper presents examples for policymakers of ways to recognize CTE classes for academic credit and how to implement successful policies at both the state and local level."
Click here to obtain a copy of the issue brief.
