Tech Directions - August 2007 - (Page 6) funding for CTE to expand courses, eliminate coursework duplication between high schools and community college requirements, increase professional development, and raise CTE’s academic profile. ● Include the skills employers demand in state standards, assessment, and accountability systems. State education agencies, for example, should consult with industry and postsecondary leaders to ensure that academic standards reflect workplace expectations such as “soft skills” that include critical thinking, problem solving, and communications. Pennsylvania has adopted new standards that incorporate life skills, beginning in 3rd grade. Kentucky has developed 10 interdisciplinary courses that merge CTE content with state academic standards. The NGA paper, however, notes that a reverse transfer is needed—the incorporation of relevance into Algebra II instruction, for example. ● Base CTE curricula around state standards. In Arizona, CTE teachers developed curricula based on the state’s math and science standards. As a result, students who took two or more CTE courses outperformed the general high school population on reading, writing, and math portions of the state tests. Project Lead the Way, now used in 1,700 schools, reinforces math and science instruction with project-based, real-life engineering situations. ● Improve the quality of CTE teaching. States need to reduce the wide variation in alternative teacher certification programs by requiring all CTE teachers to have at least an associate’s degree and/or to regularly update their industry certification. States also need to change how they invest in teacher professional development by giving more emphasis to the integration of academics and technical subjects. Maine, for example, is combining professional development sessions for math and CTE teachers. ● Design quality control measures to promote rigorous programs. State leaders can weed out weaker programs by offering financial incentives (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Indiana), using an approval process (Vermont), or focusing on student credit (New York). ● Require high school students to declare a course of study. With the elimination of tracks in high school, students are faced with an overwhelming array of choices. They could use help in charting a purposeful route through high school. South Carolina and Florida now require entering high school students to select a career major. ● Eliminate duplicated coursework between high school and postsecondary systems. States should have articulation agreements between high schools and community colleges and should assign common course numbers across all twoand four-year campuses. NGA notes that a handful of states has eliminated less demanding CTE programs, and more useful programs are taking their place, such as the information technology academies created by CISCO. Still, 6 techdirections ◆ AUGUST 2007 http://www.intelitek.com
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