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Beltway News
Photo source: Wikimedia Commons
Due to the rapidly changing news from Washington, please go to our website www.careertech.org to get the latest updates and reports. We will use our website and member list serves as the forum to release up-to-the-minute news.
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Our address is:
8484 Georgia Avenue,
Suite 320
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910
The Mission of NASDCTEc is to provide leadership for career technical education's role in education, workforce preparation and economic development. |
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Upcoming Conferences
Save the Date
2009 Spring Meeting
April 6-10, 2009
Lodging at the Hilton Washington, with meetings to be held at the adjacent AED Conference Center
2009 Career Cluster Institute
June 15-17, 2009
Omni Hotel, currently under construction
Ft. Worth, TX
Call for Presenters Now Open For the 2009 Institute
Theme: The Building Blocks of Change
This year's Career Clusters Institute will focus on how states and local institutions are addressing the 15 Critical Components of Career Clusters' implementation. We are currently seeking proposals for presentations. Proposals may be submitted online. The deadline for submission is January 9, 2009.
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| Dear State Directors
As the year draws to a close, the NASDCTEc staff wish you a safe and enjoyable holiday season. It may be cold outside (for many of us!) but as activities continue to heat up in Washington and around the country, we will continue to keep career technical education positioned at the forefront of the discussions surrounding education and workforce policy. Happy holidays and see you in January 2009!
The next Elert will be published on January 23rd, 2009.
Member News
Please welcome the following new associate members:
- Dr. Ray Perren, Assistant Commissioner, Technical College System of Georgia in Atlanta. Dr. Perren can be reached at 404-679-1614 or rperren@tcsg.edu.
- Mr. John Gugerty, Researcher, Center on Education and Work, UW-Madison. Mr. Gugerty can be reached at 608-263-2724 or jgugerty@education.wisc.edu.
- Dr. L. Allen Phelps, Director, Center on Education and Work, UW-Madison. Dr. Phelps can be reached at 608-263-2714 or aphelps@education.wisc.edu.
- Mr. V. Scott Solberg, Assistant Director, Center on Education and Work, UW-Madison. Mr. Solberg can be reached at 608-265-4178 or ssolberg@education.wisc.edu.
- Dr. Steve A. Brown, Executive Secretary, National FFA Organization in Alexandria, VA. Dr. Brown can be reached at 703-838-5882 or sbrown@ffa.org.
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Publications
- Ensuring Successful Student Transitions from the Middle Grades to High School looks at research that emphasizes the freshman year as a predictor for high school success, specifically transition model policies. The report lists the following predictors of failure in high school, followed by a predictor of success:
- Each course that a student fails in 8th grade decreases the odds of moving up from 9th to 10th grade by 16 percent.
- Attendence is a high predictor of course failure.
- Students attend class more often when they have strong relationships with their instructors and when they see school and courswork as relevent and important to their future
Strengthening Parents' Ability to Provide the Guidance and Support That Matter Most in High School cites that parents can be more involved by helping their children identify, explore and understand the requirements of post-high school education, training, and employment options.
Improving the Skills and Knowledge of the High School Teachers We Already Have examines components to strengthen existing teachers' professional development at the high school level, providing state policy suggestions for each. These components include:
- Deepening conceptual knowledge
- Integrating college and workforce readiness into teacher expectations and instruction
- Communities of practice and mentorship
- Using assessments and differentiated instruction
- Organizational professional development tools
- Use of technology to leverage learning
ECS has also released Landmines P-16/P-20 Councils Encounter - and How They Can Be Addressed (or Avoided Altogether), such as difficulty finding focus; funding, staff and public awareness issues; and lack of continuity when leadership changes.It describes what states have done to overcome these issues. Also available is the database Recent State CTE Policies and Activities, showing the content and status of bills from 2000-2008 that impact CTE in specific states. |
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Facts, Figures and...
Other Good Stuff
- Produce research that builds knowledge about approaches, models and interventions with K-12 youth and teachers
- Develop, implement, study and evaluate strategies that encourage students to devlop an interest in and be prepared for STEM careers
The deadline is January 12th for letters of intent; with 40 awards ranging from $300,000 to $5 million.
Bill Gates echoes President-elect Barack Obama's approach to stimulus package, encourages increased spending at a speech given at George Washington University. Gates was encouraged with President-elect Obama's remarks about the stimulus package, indicating he wanted it to not only deal with the immediate crisis, but also to lay the groundwork for long-term, sustained economic growth. Gates responded, saying that "I support this approach. In a crisis, there is always a risk that you take your eyes off the future - and you sacrifice long-term investments for near-term gains. In my view, you have to seek both, and there are two sets of long-term investments that pay dramatic returns."
Gates promoted the need to invest in science and technology, saying "Scientific research will determine what tools we have to solve our biggest problems - in health, information technology, education, energy, or just about any other area. If we keep investing in science and technology, we will discover the tools we need to build a better future."
Gates stressed the need to continue supporting investments in education, particularly for low-income and minority students, saying "if we don't make these people part of our investments, when the economy comes back, they won't be coming back with it." |
Career Clusters 
Check out the 2008 Knowledge and Skills Statements now on the Career Clusters website.
In 2008, Two clusters have had name changes that are reflected in this version: The comma was deleted from Business Management & Administration; and Marketing, Sales and Service is now just Marketing. There are also some pathway title changes and/or consolidations in the Business Management & Administration, Finance, Marketing, and Information Technology clusters. There are now therefore 79 pathways instead of 81.
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