1. Connecting CTE to the Futureby
Robert G. Sheets
Business and Industry Services
Northern Illinois University
June 2005

2. The Challenges for CTE
Responding to the skill requirements of the new economy
Communicating results to key stakeholders

3. Responding to the New Economy
Sources of Competitive Advantage
Business agility
Product and process innovation
Transition to New Workplaces
New Skill Requirements for Career Success---Balancing Depth and Breadth

4. Balancing Depth and Breadth
Depth: Expert Occupational Performance
Beyond routine job performance
Strengthening academic/technical knowledge and skills
Breadth: Career Entrepreneurs
Business entrepreneurship
Business process innovation
Career and learning management
includes occupations not usually found in in vocational or career tech education. Such as scientific research and government. In Arts Audio Visual and Communications we are looking at the Performing Arts.
Our charge is to develop these clusters into an organizing tool to help schools and to help students and parents make better career choices and to better prepare students for postsecondary education and work and help students advance at a faster pace.

5. Solution: Career Clusters
Depth: Career Specialties
Connecting to degrees/certificates and industry certifications with market value
Breadth: Foundations and Pathways
Foundations—career management, business systems, new workplace basics, academic and technical knowledge and skills
Pathways---managing business processes and more focused and integrated skill applications

6. Next Steps for Career Clusters
Improve Curriculum Frameworks
Improve clarity and consistency
Establish coherent programs of study
Establish assessment systems
Identify and align credentials with market value
Make Strategic Connections
State/local economic and workforce development cluster/sector initiatives
State/local career pathway(adult education) initiatives
K-12 school improvement and P-20 initiatives
Communicate Results
Define key stakeholders—who should get what
Develop reporting and communication strategies

7. Communicating Results to Key Stakeholders
New Accountability Environment
Invest limited resources in what is working
Continuous improvement in results
Consistent measurement and data quality
Key Stakeholder Requirements
Students/parents—guidance and investment information (consumer information)
Employers—managing skilled worker pipelines
Federal/state/local funders—reporting program and system results

8. Solution: Performance Management Systems
Performance Measurement
Perkins performance accountability system
Perkins alignment with education and workforce development
Managing Continuous Improvement
Multi-year reporting
Using data to manage improvement
Reporting and Information Systems
Federal reporting system
State reporting systems
Career information systems

9. Next Steps in Performance Management
Define who we are accountable for—improving standardization of state concentrator definitions
Improve standardization of state Perkins measures and approaches with strong data quality standards
Develop new strategies for measuring career and technical skill attainment and identifying and aligning credentials with market value
Improve consistency with education (e.g., NCLB) and workforce (e.g., WIA) performance measures
Expand capacity to use data for managing continuous improvement
Improve reporting systems to key stakeholders

10. Coordinating Next Steps
Defining concentrators and programs of study for participation and completion
Assessing career and technical skill attainment
Defining degrees/certificates, industry certifications, and other types of credentials with market value
Reporting and communicating information to key stakeholders