October 17 Elert Now Available

Dr. Roger Utman is the new State Director for Iowa. Dr. Utman is the new division administrator of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation. He can be reached at roger.utman@iowa.gov or 515-281-8260.

Ms. Lisa Danley is the new Administrator and State Director for Career and Technical Education for the New Hampshire Department of Education. She can be reached at lisa.danley@ed.state.nh.us or 603-271-3867.

Member News

Please welcome new organizational member Realityworks, from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Representing Realityworks are Ms. Deborah Severson (deb.severson@realityworks.com or 715-858-7162) and Mr. David Dardano (dave.dardano@realityworks.com or 715-858-7182).

Publications

Measuring Up 2008 by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, is scheduled for release December 2008. A report card on higher education, Measuring Up 2008 will provide information on performance across states over the past eight years, giving an analysis on college access, affordability and completion rates.

21st Century Skills, Education & Competitiveness, A Resource and Policy Guide is from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a national advocacy group focused on infusing 21st century skills into education. Policy recommendations that impact CTE include enactment of a national workforce development policy in which every aspect of the workforce pipeline is infused with the same set of 21st century skills. The group calls for the systemic infusion of 21st century skills into:

K-12 programs including the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
2-year, 4-year and post-baccalaureate higher education programs, including the Higher Education Act
Adult education programs and worker retraining programs including the Workforce Investment Act
Teacher preparation programs for preK-12, postsecondary, adult and workforce education

21st Century Skills Leadership States include: Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

Facts, Figures and...

Other Good Stuff

Programs and Practices That Work: Preparing Students for Nontraditional Careers, a project of the Association for Career and Technical Education, the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity, the National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education and the National Women's Law Center, aims to recognize local and state educational agencies or schools across the country that have implemented strategies for improving student access to and success in pursuing training for careers that are nontraditional for their gender. Applications are due October 31, 2008.

The National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) Education Foundation announces the addition of Iowa and Minnesota to the states participating in the STEM Equity Pipeline Project, whose purpose is aimed at increasing the participation of females in secondary and postsecondary STEM programs. Iowa, led by the Iowa Department of Education and Minnesota, led by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and the Minnesota Department of Education, join California, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin as part of this initiative.

Advisory Group for International Benchmarking Formed: The National Governors Association (NGA), Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and Achieve, Inc. have joined to provide states a roadmap for benchmarking their K-12 education systems to those of top-performing nations.

The Advisory Group will help partner organizations identify the need for international comparisons as well as provide guidance for benchmarking state education system practices in areas such as standards, accountability, educator workforce and assessments. The Advisory Group plans to release a report in late October.

From the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES): Postsecondary Career/Technical Education: Changes in the Number of Offering Institutions and Awarded Credentials from 1997 to 2006: trends were examined in the three educational sectors (public 2-year institutions, for-profit less than 2-year institutions, and for-profit 2-year institutions) which collectively account for 87 percent of the less than 4-year institutions that offered CTE in 2006. Findings for the 1997-2006 time period include:

The number of less than 4-year institutions offering CTE increased 3 percent
The number of sub-baccalaureate CTE credentials awarded increased 24 percent

Public 2-year institutions awarded 58 percent of CTE credentials for 2006 while for-profit 2-year and less than 2-year institutions combined awarded 35 percent.

***

Encouraging Girls in Math and Science, a new Institute of Education Sciences (IES) practice guide from the US Department of Education, offers the following recommendations to improve the aptitude of girls, underrepresented in the areas of physical sciences, engineering, or computer science:

Teach girls that their academic abilities are expandable and improvable--that they are capable when they think they are not
Provide prescriptive, informational feedback to improve motivation and performance
Expose girls to successful female role models in math and science
Pique interest in the classroom by incorporating (as much as possible) real-life settings, the use of technology that provides students with choices, group work, and the use of contexts that students find engaging

Managing an Identity Crisis: Forum Guide to Implementing New Federal Race and Ethnicity Categories from NCES, seeks to clarify data reporting standards changes and improve the quality of data gathered for determining race and ethnicity, a requirement in the Perkins IV Consolidated Annual Reports (CAR) for states. The CAR database is now open through December 31, 2008 for each state to submit their PY 2007-2008 narrative, fiscal and accountability program data. OVAE will be issuing PIN numbers via email soon to State Directors to facilitate log-in to the CAR reporting website.

Career Clusters

NCTEF Board has announced Liaison Position for Associate Member

Deadline for submissions is October 22.

A liaison position to the National Career Technical Education Foundation (NCTEF) Board of Directors shall be established for an Associate Member representative in order to achieve greater interaction and communication between the membership and NCTEF, an affiliate organization of NASDCTEc which manages the States' Career Clusters Initiative.

If you are interested in putting your name forward as a nominee for the Liaison position, please carefully read and consider the information below, then complete the application form and email it to Shelli Wyckoff no later than October 22, 2008. The Board will select from the list of nominees in November. The Liaison will be invited to join the NCTEF Board meeting at the Spring Meeting in April in Washington, DC.

Application Form

Role of the Liaison

The liaison will represent the interests of, and share information about, the NASDCTEc associate membership as it relates to issues and topics in common with NCTEF and Career Clusters. The liaison will provide a formal update to the NCTEF Board at each meeting. If the liaison is unable to attend a scheduled NCTEF Board meeting, he or she should either a) designate a substitute, to be approved ahead of time by the NCTEF Board, or b) submit a written report if no substitute is available. Any expenses incurred in connection with a liaison's participation in NCTEF Board of Directors meetings shall be the sole responsibility of the liaison's organization.
Criteria:
1. The Associate Member liaison shall be a non-voting participant.
2. The Associate Member liaison shall actively participate in all NCTEF Board meetings.
3. The Associate Member liaison shall be an Associate Member of the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) in good standing. Vendors are ineligible to serve as an Associate Member Liaison.
4. The Associate Member liaison shall be nominated by the Career Clusters Committee and approved by the NCTEF Board of Directors.
5. The Associate Member liaison shall serve on a rotation basis, with a term of two (2) years, or until deemed not appropriate by the NCTEF Board of Directors.
6. The Associate Member liaison shall be bound by the same policies and duties as other NCTEF Board members (Code of Ethics Policy, Conflict of Interest Policy, confidentiality, etc.)

All liaison positions are subject to NCTEF Board approval.