From the Director

Vocational education upgrade: Chicago schools roll out 7-year makeover

The Chicago Public Schools system is overhauling its Career and Technical Education program to provide about 25,000 teens the skills they'll need to land well-paying jobs -- such as those in the medical or electrical fields -- right out of high school.

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Other ways of winning (kudos to Ken Gray)

With a 10 percent national unemployment rate looming, the race is on to create jobs quickly and to skill-train the workforce so the next recession hurts less. President Obama's policy is to help millions more young people and laid-off workers attend community colleges.

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Newest professions, growing salaries: 12 jobs that didn't exist until recently

The latest directory of job titles from Occupational Information Network (O*Net) features a variety of new entries that many people have never heard before.
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Want the latest updates about the Center's research and news from the field? Send your name, email address, and/or mailing address to nrccte@louisville.edu.

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Center Research Featured in Techniques

An article by Corinne Alfeld, principal investigator of the NRCCTE's Mature Programs of Study: A Longitudinal Analysis project, is featured in the January 2010 issue of Techniques magazine. "POS: Observations on Process and Structure" details early findings from her on-going examination of programs of study in well-established sites. To read more, download the article (PDF document) or visit Techniques online.

Programs of Study: Supplemental Podcast on the Omaha Public Schools Experience Now Available!

Learn how one district is implementing Programs of Study. The NRCCTE visited the Career Center, Omaha Public Schools (OPS), and talked to staff from the Career Center and the OPS department of Career Education. OPS has streamlined its CTE programs through curriculum audits that have allowed it to focus its resources on providing quality programs of study that include rigorous academic and technical content, dual enrollment opportunities, postsecondary articulation, and rich practical applications of knowledge and skills learned in CTE classrooms. Click here to watch the video, download the archived  webinar and presenter PowerPoints, and learn more Programs of Study in OPS.

 

The response to the POS webinar was so strong that the NRCCTE conducted a follow-up interview using questions from the webinar audience and others submitted later. In this podcast, Catherine Imperatore of ACTE spoke to Ken Spellman, DeLayne Havlovic, and Karen Spencer-May of OPS along with Corinne Alfeld and Ivan Charner of the Academy for Educational Development (AED) and Kim Green of the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc).

Our Latest Podcasts

Featured Report: Systematic Reviews of Research: Postsecondary Transitions - Identifying Effective Models and PracticesValentine Transitions Paper

This systematic review of the literature on transition programs for youth to postsecondary education sought to identify models or programs of transition, establish a definition of successful transition, discover how models or programs are evaluated, and examine the impact of such transition programs, specifically those that aim to facilitate transition from an educational system to another educational system, to program completion, or to specific career-related employment for disadvantaged youth. 

The study's authors are Jeffrey C. Valentine, Amy S. Hirschy, Christine D. Bremer, Walter Novillo, Marisa Castellano, and Aaron Banister. Download the full report here (PDF document).

Read more News from the Field and the NRCCTE.

Upcoming Events

New Podcast from the Promising and Practitioner Wisdom Practice Project!

In our latest podcast, Carol Ann Duke, the High Schools That Work Director of the Texarkana, Arkansas School District, spoke to Catherine Imperatore of ACTE about the Passport program (PDF overview) she spearheaded, which was identified as a practitioner wisdom practice by ACTE and the NRCCTE through the Center's Promising and Practitioner Wisdom project, an on-going search for innovative practices created by practitioners in their own classrooms or schools to meet the needs of their students.

Other Recent Podcasts:

Travis Park shared study findings he presented and feedback he received at this year's ACTE convention: Update from the 2009 ACTE Convention - A Podcast with Travis Park of the Authentic Literacy Project

The Center's latest multimedia content is always available on our Webcasts and Podcasts page. Listen to our researchers'  updates on their on-going projects related to programs of study, curriculum integration, and more, all available for free through the iTunes storefront or direct from the Center's page at Podbean.com.

Featured Report: Community College Access and Affordability

The purpose of this review of community college agency and state legislative websites for all 50 states was to examine what types of initiatives exist to increase access to and affordability of postsecondary education, especially in community college programs that lead to occupational advancement. The report's authors are Marisa Castellano and Laura T. Overman of the NRCCTE. Read more.

chat iconThe IDEA Center

Join us in the new Promising and Practitioner Wisdom Practices chat area, the IDEA Center (coming soon). We'll be discussing our latest find, the Texarkana, Arkansas School District's Passport Project, the subject of one of our latest podcasts.

Want to nominate a potential promising or practitioner wisdom practice for consideration? Email nrccte@louisville.edu and visit the project's overview page for more information.