students’ skills shine for cte month By Diane L. Godwin
February is national Career and Technical Education Month, and this year, several organizations’ constituencies amped up activities to spread the word about the value of CTE. The U.S. Department of Education, the Association for Career and Technical Education, the National Association for State Career and Technical Directors Consortium, and students, educators, and other stakeholders from across the country joined together to celebrate CTE. Their message was unified: CTE programs help students excel in college and careers and therefore are essential to building America’s economy. On Wednesday, February 13, several representatives of the 113th Congress shared comments from the house floor. As reported on capitolwords.org, Congressman Jim Langevin (R.I.) initiated the conversation: "CTE is an investment in the
future of our economy, our workforce, and our country. From skills training in high schools
to community colleges and professional programs, CTE plays a critical role for workers of every age.”
The prior evening, President Obama called for more support for CTE in his State of the Union address, stating that in order to close the skills gap and fill 48 million high-tech jobs predicted to be available in 2018, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, which for the past three years has received no increases in funding, should be reauthorized. Education, business, and industry experts concur: If our nation is to meet the
CTE CAPITOL DAY
needs of a modern economy, education that trains workers for high-skilled fields is a must. To spearhead the national celebration, the ACTE launched a nationwide CTE Month campaign entitled “Career and Technical Education Works!” The organization provided downloadable logos, fact sheets, news-release templates, and talking points for CTE student organizations and others to use for messaging at the state and local levels. The organization even launched a social media advocacy campaign, encouraging educators and students to post on legislators’ Facebook walls, to share students’ CTE experiences on the ACTE blog, and to tweet relevant CTE messages with suggested Twitter hashtags, #CTEMonth, #EdReform, and #Skillsgap, to facilitate the nationwide CTE advocacy conversation. In addition, they conducted the 2013 CTE Month Student Video Public Service Announcement Contest; the winning team received $750, and the second-place team was awarded $250. Both videos were posted on the ACTEonline.org/ctemonth Web page. Like many other states, Mississippi participated in this national advocacy month on the state level as well. Sponsored by the Mississippi Department of Education Office of Career and Technical Education, the annual Mississippi CTE Capitol Day convened in the State Capitol rotunda, where invited students and teachers showcased their programs, demonstrated their skills, and shared their CTE success stories. CTE Capitol Day’s primary goal is to educate both legislators and citizens about opportunities that are available to students in Mississippi in the areas of CTE. Kendra Taylor, state supervisor for technology education and science, technology, engineering, and math programs, organized the event. “CTE Capitol Day is important to the state CTE programs because
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Connections Spring 2013