Technology Centers

Overview

Technology Centers

Shared- and full-time technology centers fuel economic growth in their states and communities by offering specialized CTE programs leading to advanced credentials and degrees in high-tech, high-demand fields.

SREB’s Making Schools Work school improvement process supports the unique needs of the nation’s technology centers.

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Technology Centers That Work
Jump start credentials and careers

SREB’s school improvement design for technology centers — Technology Centers That Work — helps leaders and teachers adopt continuous improvement practices that foster rigorous academic and career pathway curricula, project-based instruction, work-based learning and personalized supports.

With SREB support, leaders and teachers collaborate with sending high schools and community and technical colleges to design and implement career pathways that close critical workforce gaps. They also use our problem-solving process to address problems of practice.

What Makes It Work – 10 Key Practices

We’ve invested over 30 years of research to identify 10 key practices that positively impact student effort and achievement. These practices give students the purpose, direction and support they need to achieve college and career readiness.

Customizable Support

TCTW sites gain access to our full range of support services, Advanced Career, our exciting project-based career pathway curricula, professional development and coaching services, and surveys for center students and teachers that generate valuable data for improvement planning.

SREB encourages states, districts and centers to join our national network of TCTW sites for the most cost-effective access to services.

We invite TCTW sites and their partners to attend our annual TCTW Leaders Forum, a national convening focused exclusively on quality CTE and the critical role centers play in their states’ educational and workforce development systems. Most sites also attend our annual Making Schools Work summer conference to network and learn with thousands of educators nationwide.

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Technology Center Key Practices

Making Schools Work engages the entire center community — teachers, leaders and staff working together in a distributed leadership structure — in addressing SREB’s five focus areas (leadership for continuous improvement, aligned curriculum, engaging instruction, career exploration and systems of support) and taking ownership of their improvement efforts.

By combining this process with the 10 Key Practices below, career and technology centers build their capacity to continuously address problems and meet clear targets for student success. 

Download the Key Practices: Download the PDF

Download an 11×17 poster of our process and practices: Download the PDF

Download a 24×36 poster of the practices: Download the PDF

Download a grid of SREB’s Key Practices and Focus Areas across K-12: Download the PDF

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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