From the Director

As Arizona goes, so goes the nation?

Vocational education used to be where you sent the dumb kids or the supposed misfits who weren't suited for classroom learning. It began to fall out of fashion about 40 years ago, in part because it became a civil rights issue: voc-ed was seen as a form of segregation, a convenient dumping ground for minority kids in Northern cities...
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A jobless future?

As we think about how to help young people prepare to become successful adults, the question of technology's impact is becoming more important.  The NYT reported on this phenomenon last March in an article entitled, "Armies of Expensive Lawyers, Replaced by Cheaper Software."

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U.S. manufacturing sees shortage of skilled factory workers

The shortage of skilled workers was noted before the recession, but the phenomenon has become more acute with the recent recovery.

Through a combination of overseas competition and productivity gains, the United States has lost nearly 4 million manufacturing jobs in the past 10 years. But many manufacturers say the losses have not yielded a surplus of skilled factory workers.
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Want the latest updates about the Center's research and news from the field? Send your name and email address to nrccte@louisville.edu.

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The NRCCTE at NACTEI 2012

NACTEI's 32nd annual conference, being held at the Benson Hotel in Portland, OR, from May 14-18, has a great program this year, including sessions featuring NRCCTE researchers plus appearances by the NRCCTE's colleagues John Foster, CEO of NOCTI, Kim Green, Executive Director of the NASDCTEc, Alisha Hyslop of ACTE, and William Symonds, director of the Pathways to Prosperity project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Learn more.

NRCCTE Welcomes Delegation from Russian Federal and State Technical Universities

On Friday, April 27, the NRCCTE welcomed a delegation of Russian educators interested in the multifunctional role of community colleges in offering higher education and workforce development. Jim Stone, NRCCTE director, spoke about the Center's areas of research and activity. Learn more.

U.S. Dept. of Education Releases Blueprint to Transform CTE

Thursday, April 19, Ankeny, IA - Today U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will visit the Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny, Iowa, to release the Obama Administration's blueprint for transforming CTE, by reauthorizing the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006. Secretary Duncan will hold a town hall to discuss how the Administration's plan will ensure the education system provides high-quality job-training opportunities that reduce skill shortages, spur business growth, encourage new investment and hires, and spark innovation and economic growth. Read more from the press release.

The NRCCTE at AERA 2012, Vancouver, BC

Attending the 2012 annual conference of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in Vancouver, British Columbia? NRCCTE staff and researchers presented the latest results of Center research at sessions throughout the conference. Learn more here.

Watch the NRCCTE Math-in-CTE Video Series, Archived Webinar

An Introduction to the Math-in-CTE Curriculum Integration ModelIn response to hundreds of requests from CTE educators and school administrators for more information about the Math-in-CTE curriculum integration professional development model, the NRCCTE has launched five videos about the model.

Filmed in schools, classrooms, and other sites in Arlington, VA, Detroit, MI, and Eugene, OR, the five videos include a comprehensive introduction to Math-in-CTE, an in-depth look at the experiences of the Arlington Career Center in implementing the model, and three sample lessons (Aviation, Information Technology, and Cashiering) taught by real Math-in-CTE teachers demonstrating the model in action with their students.

Watch the videos and view the archived March 29 webinar with model developers and video participants.

NRCCTE at NPS 2012 - State Career Clusters Report Session and Archived Webinar

NPS 2012 On Tuesday, March 6, from 1:30-3:00 p.m., the NRCCTE held a special session for NPS 2012 attendees entitled, "Using Labor Market Information Within a Program of Study Context." The session featured a discussion of Career Clusters: Forecasting High School through College Jobs, 2008-2018, along with a companion webinar.

Learn more about the session and the archived webinar (now available).

NRCCTE Programs of Study Research Featured in Special Issue of the International Journal of Educational Reform

For the past five years, the current NRCCTE has sponsored three scientifically rigorous longitudinal studies of POS-the only such studies in the United States-with the goal of informing the field about how and under what conditions POS impact student engagement, achievement, and transition to postsecondary education and employment. Four articles by the principal investigators of these studies are featured in a special issue of the International Journal of Educational Reform (Spring 2012, Vol. 21). Learn more about the issue and the articles.

NRCCTE Personal Pathways Study Featured in the Journal of Mixed Methods Research

A Mixed Methods Sampling Methodology for a Multisite Case Study, by Julia L. Sharp, Catherine Mobley, Cathy Hammond, Cairen Withington, Sam Drew, Sam Stringfield, and Natalie Stipanovic of the NRCCTE's South Carolina Personal Pathways project, appears in the January 2012 (Vol. 6, pp. 34-54) of JMMR.

Visit the journal website to download the article (subscription required).

Videos, Presentations Now Available: NRCCTE Sessions from the 2011 ACTE Annual Convention and ACTER Research Conference

Miss a session at ACTER or ACTE? Videos of and PowerPoints from the NRCCTE's presentations at ACTE in St. Louis are now available online. Learn more here.

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Miss an NRCCTE/OVAE Webinar? Archives Available

#3 - Promoting College and Career Readiness: Bridge Programs for Low-Skilled Youth and Adults - April 26th: An archived version of this presentation and PowerPoint presentation (PDF) are now available. A transcript is coming soon.

#1 - Community Colleges and Employer Partnerships Webinar: An archived version of this presentation, transcript (PDF), and PowerPoint presentation (PDF) are now available.

#2 - Improving Alignment between Secondary and Postsecondary Career and Technical Education: On March 26th, OVAE hosted the second in a series of webinars based on the findings from the White House Summit on Community Colleges, the Regional Summits that followed, and the Virtual Symposium on Community Colleges. This webinar will build on the President's recent State of the Union address, particularly, its focus on strengthening the pipeline between high school and college for all students. Read the full announcement, download the archived event, or download the PPT presentation.

Miss Our CTEDDI Data Use Webinars? Access the Archived Versions

CTEDDI Logo

Interested in learning more about the NRCCTE's CTEDDI professional development model? NOCTI recently presented two webinars about this research-based model. CTEDDI (Career Technical Educators using Data-Driven Improvement) is focused on helping both administrators and teachers find and interpret data and apply data-based plans to their programs to enhance teaching and learning.

The first webinar, held on Thursday, February 9, emphasized postsecondary implementation of the CTEDDI model (partial recording); the second webinar, held on March 8, emphasized use of the model at the secondary level. Download the PPT (PDF).

Catch Up with Math-in-CTE and Literacy-in-CTE

Catch up on all the news from the Center's Math-in-CTE and Literacy-in-CTE implementations around the country in the September 2011 edition of the Technical Assistance Newsletter. Stories include updates on Literacy-in-CTE implementation in Oregon, the professional development experiences of Missouri math and Business and Health Occupations teachers, Maine's extension of Math-in-CTE to Culinary and Auto Tech, and Utah's regional expansion plan.

Center Research in Techniques Magazine

Techniques Magazine Cover September 2011

NRCCTE researchers and faculty actively publish in Techniques magazine, the award-winning official magazine of the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE).

Read more on our Techniques page.

CTE-Related Jobs

Click here to learn more about current jobs at:

  • SREB
  • Virginia Tech
  • Temple University
  • The National Dropout Prevention Center
  • The University of Maryland Eastern Shore
  • Texas Tech University
  • The University of Akron

The Idea Center

The Idea Center

Join us on the new Vanguard, Promising, and Practitioner Wisdom Practices webpage, the Idea Center. We'll be discussing our latest finds,the Hot Air Balloon project, the Wellness Project, and the Inquiry-Based Learning project, the subjects of our latest podcasts.

Want to nominate a potential promising or practitioner wisdom practice for consideration? Visit the Idea Center for more information.