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Regional PDP, CMI and CSEP Training Seminars

January 30th, 2013

State Farm Insurance is, once again, generously sponsoring regional Professional Development Program (PDP), Chapter Management Institute (CMI) seminars and Career Skills Education Program (CSEP) seminars. There will be one training session (CMI, PDP or CSEP) per region. All materials and training will be free to participants. The only cost is $30 for lunch and breaks. PDP participants will receive a complete set of PDP materials and free licenses for each level. CMI participants will receive an Advisor’s Success Kit (ASK) CD, a SkillsUSA Leadership Handbook and the SkillsUSA Championships Technical Standards CD package. CSEP participants will receive one free CSEP license.

If you would like to sign-up for or to host a regional PDP, CMI or CSEP training seminar, please contact Stephanie Bland at 703-737-0622 or sbland@skillsusa.org. A minimum of 25 participants is needed to conduct the training. For the latest seminar information, go to: www.skillsusa.org/educators/training.shtml.

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Interstate Batteries Fundraiser Reminder

January 30th, 2013

Interstate Batteries logo

As you recall, SkillsUSA announced a new partnership with Interstate Batteries and a fundraising program for local chapters.

This is a great opportunity for your chapters to raise funds in partnership with a company whose mission and product align very closely with SkillsUSA. Through this partnership, local chapters can now sell Interstate Batteries’ products, and they will receive 50% of the sales.

Below is the link for your chapter to sign up today. This is a great program to participate in as you seek to raise funds for district and state events and for leadership development activities and materials. For more information, go to: www.Interstatebatteries.com/fundraising/SkillsUSA.

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Work Force Ready System Updates

January 30th, 2013

Work Force Ready System

NEW! Teacher Preparation Guides:
Teacher Preparation Guides are now available to assist teachers in preparing students for the Skill Connect Assessments. The first six were released in January: Carpentry, Cosmetology, Criminal Justice/Crime Scene investigation, Television (Video) Production, Nurse Assisting and Welding. The guide will be included as part of the assessment purchase and will be accessible online in the test system to the instructor.

Additional guides will be available in the next school year.

Coming Soon! PrintED Student Certification
Coming soon for this spring testing, a student who achieves a passing score on any of the SkillsUSA/PrintED Co-branded assessments will be awarded a PrintED/SkillsUSA Student Certification in that subject area, valid for two years. The certification, which does not require work experience, is designed to be the initial step for students seeking to build a career in the graphic communications industry. Additionally, responding to the growing emphasis on accountability in education, this student credential provides a means for graphic communications courses of study to measure and demonstrate their success. The certificate can be printed online immediately after a student achieves a passing cut-score. Student Certifications are available for the following assessments – Advertising Design, Digital File Preparation & Digital File

For information on our assessments, visit our Work Force Ready System website at: www.workforcereadysystem.org, contact us at 703-737-0633, ext. 1 or email us at skillconnect@skillsusa.org.

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Staff Planning 2013

January 15th, 2013

Every year in January, SkillsUSA staff takes a week for strategic planning. Staff worked diligently last week developing the goals, objectives and tactics for the FY 14-15 strategic plan. We’ll be making our first report on new objectives to the state association director executive committee at their meeting later this month.

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White House Networking

January 15th, 2013

On Tuesday, December 11th, the White House Business Council extended an invitation to SkillsUSA and “our networks” to join a conference call with senior administration officials on the president’s plan for the budget and the “fiscal cliff.” A staff member and I joined the call, and I extended an invitation to business partners on the board and YDF to join as well. Representatives from Bosch, CAT, Snap-on and State Farm all joined. We again placed this opportunity in the “nice to be asked” category as it confirms that SkillsUSA is on the list of thought-leaders regarding the nation’s future.

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SkillsUSA Highlighted during Washington Symposium

January 15th, 2013

Board member Joe Pietrantonio of Air Products served as a panelist at the Talent Driven Innovation – Best Practices Symposium on November 28th at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. The Symposium was sponsored by The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte and was moderated by The Manufacturing Institute’s Jennifer McNelly, a member of our Youth Development Foundation Committee. Joe participated in a discussion on “How Global Businesses Operate Public-Private Partnerships.” Joe used Air Products’ positive experience with SkillsUSA extensively in his remarks, and his fellow panelists from Toyota, Alcoa Foundation and Haas Automation also spoke on the benefits of their respective company’s relationships with SkillsUSA. There were positive references to SkillsUSA throughout the Symposium, but especially during the above-referenced panel. Joe said he was pleased with how much positive reaction occurred after the panel discussion, including the enthusiastic support of Assistant Secretary of Labor Jane Oates.

In a related development, in December Deloitte requested additional information about SkillsUSA and our partnerships for a report entitled “Manufacturing for Growth” that Deloitte and the World Economic Forum will premiere at the Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland this month. SkillsUSA was recommended to Deloitte as an example of a best-practice, public-private partnership “based on conversations we have had with leaders around the world.” We sent in all of the information. This will be one more step toward being “internationally known” as we say in Vision 2020.

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WorldTeam Debriefing

January 15th, 2013

We held a WorldTeam conference call on December 19th including the technical experts, competitors and some state association directors. The experts and competitors who attended WorldSkills Americas in Brazil gave overviews of what they experienced. The key take away was that the competition was intense and that this is actually “a very big deal.” Sharing their insights with those experts and competitors who could not attend will help set the stage for the rest of the training and meetings the team will be undergoing.

We also discussed what materials and other things experts and competitors will need. We will do all that we can to accommodate their needs based on budget. And, we talked about getting the whole WorldTeam to the national office for additional training and visits to D.C. this coming spring. A decision will be made in February pending budget.

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Highlights

January 15th, 2013
  • On December 17th, members of the Office of Business Partnership and Development and Education, Training and Assessments Office joined me for a visit with the CEO of ASE (National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence), and the executive directors of NATEF (National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation) and AYES (Automotive Youth Educational Systems) to talk about strengthening our mutual alliance and capitalizing on a shared vision of our business partners. We also discussed customizing the Professional Development Program (PDP) to make the curriculum auto industry specific. NATEF wants to include employability skills in its curriculum and believes this is a way to do it. We’ll be meeting again soon and will seek funding to design and publish the polished up PDP.
  • Staff reported last week that we’ve secured a $50,000 grant from the Alcoa Foundation for the purpose of informing youth about careers in manufacturing in two communities where Alcoa has facilities. We’ll be informing state associations of the locations once Alcoa has determined them.
  • We now have state association support for four additional demonstration competitions during this year’s Championships: Community Action Project; Graphic Imaging Sublimation (graphic imaging); Humanoid Robotics (programming robots for dangerous tasks); and, Urban Search and Rescue (a RoboRescue Challenge). This will take us to six demonstration contests and a total of 98 contests overall.

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CTE Month and SkillsUSA Week Events

January 15th, 2013

February is Career and Technical Education Month and February 10-16 is SkillsUSA Week. SkillsUSA Week activities are a great way to highlight the good work your state association and local chapters are doing. For SkillsUSA Week ideas, see the Chapter Management section on the SkillsUSA website. SkillsUSA offers downloadable public service announcements at: www.skillsusa.org/educators/skillsusaweek.shtml.

On February 12th, at 1 p.m. EST, SkillsUSA will be holding a Web conference to kick off SkillsUSA’s week of celebration. Hear from your national student leaders and SkillsUSA leaders on the state of the organization. You will also have the opportunity to ask questions. All state directors, instructors and members are welcome to participate in the Web conference.

 

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Free Webinars in 2013

January 15th, 2013

Free national Web conferences are scheduled for 2013. It’s your chance to hear from and communicate with national staff. We’ll provide some training and information on professional development, some updating and motivating advice and tips on being a national leader.

Please join us for one or both of these events and encourage your state leaders and chapters to participate. Invite students, officer teams, key advisors, instructors, alumni and others. The links will be available soon. Please check the website for the links.

SkillsUSA Week: Prepared with the Skills America Needs – February 12, 2013, 1 p.m. (EST)
Use this webinar to help kick off SkillsUSA Week celebrations. Hear from your SkillsUSA leaders on the state of the organization. Listen to what it means to be “Prepared with the Skills America Needs,” which is this year’s theme. You will also have the opportunity to ask questions. To participate, go to: www.skillsusa.org/educators/skillsusaweek.shtml and click on the link. The meeting number is 46844558 and the participant passcode is 5892.

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