Topic: Career and Technical Education

Overview

CTE and Career Pathways

SREB’s leadership in career and technical education spans decades and includes the nation’s largest school improvement network, turnkey curricula like SREB’s Advanced Career pathways, research, and statewide policy recommendations. SREB helps states, districts and schools design and build career pathways for the critical transition from high school to postsecondary studies and the workplace.

Career pathways have the power to close critical credential attainment and skills gaps.

Publication May 202020 pages

Designing a Ready Workforce
Opportunities for state leaders to align ESSA, Perkins V and WIOA funds

The federal Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century (Perkins V), Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and Every Student Succeeds Act statutes have recently been reauthorized, giving states an opportunity to coordinate education and workforce development efforts. To support states as they finalize their new Perkins V and WIOA plans and consider updates to their ESSA plans, SREB reviewed a sample of states’ existing plans and identified six ways states have missed opportunities in the past to align work funde

Publication September 2019 | 20 pages
Shared-Time Technology Centers: A Study of Six State Funding Systems. Special Report for the Kentucky Career and Technical Education Task Force Southern Regional Education Board. SREB.org. September 2019

Shared-Time Technology Centers
A Study of Six State Funding Systems

Students need learning experiences connected with the world of work to equip them to enter the workforce and secure good jobs. This report provides an overview of funding for career and technical education and a detailed look at CTE funding models in Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West Virginia. Produced by SREB for the Kentucky Career and Technical Education Task Force, it also offers considerations for actions to improve CTE.

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Publication Gene Bottoms Kirsten E. Sundell October 201712 pages(17V18)
This image is the cover of the Valuing Both Cs in College- and Career-Readiness Accountability Systems publication.

Valuing Both Cs in College- and Career-Readiness Accountability Systems
How states can use career pathways to close credential attainment and skills gaps.

This publication explores how state accountability systems currently address college readiness and academic and technical career readiness and offers recommendations and examples of policies and practices that incentivize and reward districts and schools for preparing more students to earn credentials and degrees in high-demand career fields.

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Publication January 20186 pages16V02 (R)

College or Career?
Why not both?

High schools are challenged like never before to prepare students better for a wide array of postsecondary options. This brochure introduces the eight STEM-based AC programs ready for your school or system to adopt.

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Blog post Gene Bottoms, SREB Senior Vice President
Male STEM students examines a molecure model.

STEM Is Not Too Hard for Students — When It’s Done Right

It is no secret that in the modern economy, STEM fields are in constant need of qualified workers. There simply are not enough people with STEM skills to fill vacancies, even though those who hold STEM degrees make 26 percent more than their contemporaries who hold non-STEM degrees. Countless studies have chronicled various reasons why too few students participate in STEM education; however, a new survey from Pew Research Center finds that the number one reason students are not studying STEM might be that they view these fields as too difficult.

Blog post Gene Bottoms, SREB senior vice president

Inspiring Students to Explore STEM with SREB’s Advanced Career Courses
How AC’s nine pathways connect classrooms, college and the careers of the future

As you know, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills are in high demand in today’s fast-paced, technology-driven economy. Leading employers prize job candidates with strong communication and teamwork skills who anticipate workplace problems and can apply literacy, math and technical know-how to solve them. (Learn more in this Business Roundtable report).

Publication Tim Shaughnessy Kirsten E. Sundell May 201717 pages(17V12)
Beginning the Bachelor of Science in Nursing in High School - Report Cover

Beginning the Bachelor of Science in Nursing in High School
How Kentucky Created a 120-Credit Hour Nursing Career Pathway

Beginning the Bachelor of Science in Nursing in High School: How Kentucky Created a 120-Credit Hour Nursing Career Pathway describes how SREB spent a year working with a coalition of Kentucky educators and health-care employers to develop a seamless sequence of courses and credentials that help students transition from high school to community and technical college programs, the BSN and employment as nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and registered nurses (RNs).

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Blog post
Career map

Valuing Both Cs in State Accountability Systems
SREB helps states set and meet bold goals for student achievement and credential attainment

SREB has long held that high-quality career and technical education transforms how students learn by connecting the classroom with the real world of work. Our nine Advanced Career curricula exemplify the power of CTE. Each four-course AC career pathway is built around hands-on, project-based assignments that challenge students to apply academic knowledge, technical know-how and teamwork skills to solve the same problems faced by industry professionals.

Blog post Gene BottomsSenior Vice President, SREB
Photo of a female CTE student operating a drill press.

West Virginia: Leading-Edge Career-Tech Showcased in The New York Times
State's partnerships with SREB go far beyond adoption of Advanced Career Energy and Power pathway.

A recent article in The New York Times describes how West Virginia’s career and technical education programs are preparing students for degrees and careers in the state’s high-tech, high-demand industries. “Far from being strictly a job training program for teenagers, classes like Advanced Career Energy and Power require math and physics instruction as rigorous as in the College Board’s Advanced Placement track.”

Here are six ways the state partners with SREB in CTE and readiness.

Publication July 9, 2016 | 7 pages | (16V18)Gene Bottoms and Kirsten Sundell

Career Pathways
Accelerating Access to the Middle Class

More and more jobs require some education past high school, yet we are not preparing enough students for college, careers or both. Career pathways from middle and high school through college and into the workplace can accelerate access to the middle class.

Publication February 201545 pages(15C02)
Report cover: Community Colleges in the South

Community Colleges in the South: Strengthening Readiness and Pathways
Report of the SREB Commission on Community Colleges

The full report of SREB’s Community College Commission offers 21 recommendations for states and community colleges. It presents findings on readiness, placement, math standards and structurally guided pathways to help students clearly see entry, exit and re-entry points to continue their education. Recommendations ask states to commit increased funding and hold colleges accountable for improving student services and completion. The goal: increase college access and success so more students earn postsecondary credentials and enter careers in demand in their communities.

 

FULL REPORT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY