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ACTE Conference

January 1st, 2011

SkillsUSA had a good ACTE conference overall. There was a lot of traffic at our booth and a great deal of interest in the Skill Connect Assessments. SkillsUSA staff did five presentations during the conference – including two on the assessments – and national officers Loree Hayden and Vanessa Mendez took greetings to many of the meetings.

We continued a SkillsUSA annual holiday tradition on December 1. The first stakeholder appreciation dinner was held at the ACTE convention in 2001, and it has become an event to look forward to. We had 29 individuals attend this year’s dinner. As always, we had a diverse group of stakeholders around the table including student officers, teachers, school administrators, state association directors, corporate members, business partners and staff. A decade later, I’m still honored to be surrounded by this group of work force and education champions.

I had a great meeting with the Chicago Public Schools CTE Director Aarti Dhuypelia regarding the establishment of SkillsUSA chapters in the newly restructured CTE system in Chicago. She is also interested in advisor training for chapter management and in the Skill Connect assessments. Sarah Morton will schedule a demonstration of assessments and teacher training in the spring.

The Association for Skilled and Technical Sciences (ASTS) had a successful pre-convention training series that included a “mini Chapter Management Institute” for SkillsUSA instructors taught by Dr. Chip Harris. Two technical training seminars were also held, and ASTS rolled out the “Certified Career and Technical Educator” recognition program and announced the first two honorees. Board member Dr. John Gaal was one of the two inaugural recipients.

I participated in the well-attended Trade and Industrial Policy and Planning meetings. Here, John Gaal started to transition next year’s responsibilities to incoming VP Jeff Johnson. Jeff also participated in the board of directors meeting.

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Pepsi Refresh Program

October 15th, 2010

The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) wants to mount an effective image campaign for career and technical education and is competing for a grant award of $250,000 in the Pepsi Refresh Program in October 2010.

Grants are awarded by popular vote and ACTE has asked for SkillsUSA member and stakeholder support. You can vote up to once each day from a specific e-mail address and can vote online or via text. To vote, go to ACTE’s Web site at www.acteonline.org or go to the link below and once you are in, click “Vote for this idea.” A further description of the project is available on the Pepsi Refresh site.

We strongly support ACTE’s efforts to create a positive image campaign for CTE. Please spread the word to your members, clients and constituents and urge them to vote every day. Please also promote this opportunity at any and all in-person events or conferences you have during the month of October. We know the CTE community is passionate about what they do and we want to make sure everyone gets the message.

To help you accomplish this, here is the vital information you need:

URL: www.refresheverything.com/cteimage
Text* 103403 to Pepsi (73774)

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Highlights

October 1st, 2010
  • On September 7, three representatives of organized labor met with us here at the national center. The thrust of the meeting was to explore ways the AFL-CIO and SkillsUSA could be working together more closely, particularly, in image building for the skilled trades and recruitment of our students into apprenticeships. As they said: “These are the people we want to hire.” Leading the meeting was Robert J. Pleasure, special assistant to the president of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO. He was joined by Eric L. Packard, training specialist with the UA (United Association of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters) and our old friend, Rick Sullivan, from the Ironworkers. The meeting began with a presentation by two of our national student officers, Robin Cronbaugh, Region V vice president, and Sam Soto, college/postsecondary president.
  • The National Coordinating Council for the Career and Technical Student Organizations met in Reston, Va. on September 15. Included with the regular business meeting was a special presentation on social networking called “socialnomics.” We know that as student organizations, we have a lot to consider with social networking as a way to reach students, but also to protect our brand. It was a great presentation by ACTE (Association for Career and Technical Education) and FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America). Other SkillsUSA staff attended the session as well.
  • We’re working on our Vision 2020 goal of reaching one million people per year. I spoke recently with Richard Grimsley of Project Lead the Way (PLTW) and Rosanne White of the Technology Student Organization about marketing for Engineering Alliance (EA). PLTW has a goal of reaching into 15,000 middle and high schools by 2015. If EA takes off, SkillsUSA will be connected to those schools too.
  • On September 10, YDF member Bill Maddox of N.E.W. took a group of our staff members to a Washington Nationals baseball game, and we got to watch from the N.E.W. suite at the ballpark. Bill is looking to secure the box for next season to offer it as a SkillsUSA membership mega prize.
  • The SkillsUSA CEO Champion of the Year dinner is shaping up nicely and the pledges are coming in. The award is going to be special too. The design is based on the SkillsUSA Championships gold medallion. I’m looking forward to the presentation.
  • SkillsUSA WorldTeam is coming together as well. Our goal is to compete in 20 contests, so that means 22 students will fill out the team for 2011. We have 16 selected thus far. News releases should be going out by early October.
  • Staff reports alumni membership has now reached 17,000 and four states – New York, Texas, Maine and Ohio – have held meetings to establish state alumni associations.
  • Staff reports that the Work Force Ready System Web site had been updated and made more customer-friendly. He says several states have inquired about state purchases of assessments for both pre- and post-testing and that we’re now offering more extensive state reporting.
  • And, we just finished the Washington Leadership Training Institute (WLTI), and it was a huge success. We had about 240 people registered including 151 student leaders, 73 instructors and 12 SkillsUSA state association directors. Board President Russ Hoffbauer joined the national officers and me on visits in Washington. I’ll be reporting more extensively about WLTI next time.

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ACTE’s Video PSA Contest

September 15th, 2010

Foster Future Filmmakers: Encourage your CTE students to submit to ACTE’s video PSA contest. Videos should be 29 seconds in length, promote CTE and include the 2011 CTE Month logo. Get all the rules and details on the submission process, including how to upload PSAs to ACTE’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/actecareertech and where to mail a hard copy and required forms, at www.acteonline.org/psacontest.aspx.

PSAs must be uploaded to ACTE’s Facebook page by October 27, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. EST A broadcast-quality hard copy on DVD and required forms must be mailed to ACTE with a postmark date of October 27, 2010.

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2010 ACTE Trade and Industrial Education Division Awards

September 15th, 2010

Trade and industrial educators and administrators are invited to submit nominations for the ACTE National Trade and Industrial Education Division Awards. Individuals or groups may nominate qualified people. You may also nominate yourself. Please inform the person you are nominating.

Nominees will be contacted by the Trade and Industrial Education Division Awards Committee chairperson regarding the additional information required and the format to be followed. Materials to be submitted will include letters of recommendation, a statement of personal philosophy, photos and supporting evidence such as newspaper clippings, certificates, etc.

Awards will be presented at the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) Convention.

The deadline for nominations is September 30, 2010.

For more information and to submit your nomination, visit www.skillsusa.org/educators/acte.shtml

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Coordinating Council Compares Notes

August 1st, 2010

The National Coordinating Council of Career and Technical Student Organizations (NCC-CTSOs) met at the Office of Vocational and Adult Education in Washington, D.C. on the 21st. The early part of the meeting was a proposal by the National Research Center for CTE to conduct additional research on the CTSOs. Specifically, the research would be modeled on the math study done by the center a few years ago to demonstrate the value of CTE in teaching mathematics. This would focus on CTSOs as an intervention model and would include professional development for advisors as the math study did.

In our round table discussion, we heard that ACTE and the National Association of State Directors of CTE consortium (NASDCTEc) believe that Congress will go ahead with level funding for CTE next year. NASDCTEc is pushing to have CTE written into the Elementary and Secondary Education Act particularly in light of career clusters. And, speaking of career clusters, SkillsUSA also received congratulations for the great job SkillsUSA Kansas State Association Director Ann Wick did showing how CTSOs fit into the career cluster model during the NASDCTEc Career Clusters Institute in Denver last June. Representatives of ACTE and NASDCTEc were pleased with the opportunity to present during the Call to Action session at conference.

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Highlights

May 1st, 2010
  • On April 16, I went to Hershey, Pennsylvania where I had a great time at the 44th annual SkillsUSA Pennsylvania State Conference. State Association Director Jeri Widdowson told me this was the largest conference held in the state since she became director. There were 1,400 registrants, but with volunteers she’s estimating there were 2,000 people in attendance. They had great competitions and some wonderful teachers. I shook hands with every medalist, and I also had a chance to visit with another champion, board of directors member, Gerald Tylka.
  • There’s a lot of movement in career and technical education (CTE) to capture a common vision of the role played by CTE in education and preparation for employment. As a matter of fact, there’s a lot of discussion that education, as a whole, should start to take on more aspects of CTE. That means students should be “college ready” (not requiring remediation at the postsecondary level) and “career ready” among many other things. The National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) has released a vision paper for the field, and I believe it is worthy of a great deal of discussion. The link to read it is http://careertech.org/show/new_vision.
  • The week of April 12th, the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) released a two-page definition of “Career Ready.” They say career readiness involves three major skill areas: academic skills (and the ability to apply those skills to concrete situations), employability skills and technical, job-specific skills. It’s an excellent addition to the discussion and certainly makes the case for CTE’s role in education overall, and by inference, the value of the student organizations. To give it a review, just click on http://acteonline.org/uploadedFiles/Publications_and_Online_Media/files/Career_Readiness_Paper.pdf.

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Highlights

February 1st, 2010
  • SkillsUSA staff is collecting items for relief efforts in Haiti. In addition, our office will be a drop-site for local residents looking to assist in the Haiti relief efforts. Staff is collecting goods from the community on February 11 and goods will then be taken to Catholic Relief Services and The Greater Washington Haitian Relief Committee for distribution in Haiti. The effort was organized by a friend of a staff member who has worked closely with the Haitian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
  • On January 25, SkillsUSA sent out the news release announcing CTE Month in February on behalf of the CTE community. This is the release prepared by the Association of Career and Technical Education, The National Association of State Directors for Career and Technical Education consortium and all of the student organizations to celebrate CTE Month and makes a unified case for CTE. We used the VOCUS system for distribution, and the release went not only to the news media but also to all of the major internet sites such as Google and Yahoo… so it should get really good exposure and pick up. Here’s just part of the message. “As America continues to tackle economic, education and workforce issues, recent research illustrates the critical need to earn a high school diploma and complete some form of postsecondary education or training. For instance, The Economic Benefits of Halving the Dropout Rate: A Boom to Businesses in the Nation’s Largest Metropolitan Areas, a report released this month by the Alliance for Excellent Education, examines the impact of cutting a single class’s dropout rate in half. The report states that more than 30,000 jobs could be created in one year based on increased spending and investments, with an estimated $5.3 billion boon to local economies by the time this one class of graduates reaches the midpoint of their careers.”
  • Finally, Region I Board Member Holly Harriel submitted her resignation this week effective February 1, 2010. She’s leaving the Rhode Island Department of Education to fill a leadership role at Brown University. We wish her continued success and thank her for her service.

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CTE Month and SkillsUSA Week

January 15th, 2010

February is Career and Technical Education Month and February 7-13 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 Web site. SkillsUSA offers downloadable public service announcements at: www.skillsusa.org/educators/skillsusaweek.shtml.

For SkillsUSA clothing or gifts go to www.skillsusastore.org. Our supply service can also help you with custom items for your state conference or other events. Call Steve Korker at 703-716-3330, Ext. 137 or e-mail: skorker@egroup-inc.com.

On February 10 at 3:00 p.m., SkillsUSA will be holding a live teacher event at the SkillsUSA National Leadership Center. On February 11th at 11:30 a.m., SkillsUSA will be holding a Web conference. Both the event and the Web conference will be held to announce the release of the new ASK: Advisor ‘s Success Kit and the newly updated PDP Online. Attendees at the teacher meeting at the National Leadership Center and those who register in advance for the Web conference will receive a free copy of the new ASK: Advisor’s Success kit and other SkillsUSA materials (total value of $50 or more). I will give a SkillsUSA organization update, and members of the SkillsUSA training team will also update teachers on various SkillsUSA resources.

All state directors and instructors are welcome to attend the teacher meeting and/or participate in the Web conference. To attend the teacher meeting, please RSVP to Niki Clausen at nclausen@skillsusa.org. To participate in the Web conference, go to the following link on February 11 at 11:30 a.m. EST: http://web.ganconference.com/?meeting=3663486 To dial in for audio, call: 888-222-0475 Attendee Code: 6837807.

ACTE also offers excellent resources related to Career and Technical Education Month, which is celebrated the entire month of February. Go to: www.acteonline.org for more information.

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Message from ACTE

January 15th, 2010

CTSOs are great advocates for career and technical education throughout the year. It is a student’s experience in career and technical education programs that bring to life the decisions legislators make regarding CTE.

The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) wants to be sure federal legislators make those connections between their decisions and student experiences. ACTE invites students to attend the National Policy Seminar, March 8-10, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va. A special student rate and specific student content will make this a worthwhile event for students to learn how they can better participate in advocacy efforts.

For more information and to register go to: www.acteonline.org.

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