CTE vs. Voc

Over the last several years our state has endeavored to change our image and title to coincide with the National movement in vocational education. The new name that the vocational programs go by are Career and Tech Ed.

To be able to get approval by the state a CTE program has to show that they are following the "Industry Standards" for the program that they are seeking approval for. Every class has an attached CIP (Curriculum Instruciontal Program) code as identification to the state that we are teaching to that CIP's competencies and Industry standards. The teacher of that CTE class also has to be CTE certified. Some CTE teachers have their certification based on their years of experience. In order to qualify for and industry route for certification you have to be able to show that you have 6000 hours in the field. That teacher would only be able to teach in the particular CIP code that they have been approved for. All classes must have a leadership component in their curriculum of student club. They have to be able to compete regionally, statewide and nationally as part of the accepted approval process. There are many state frameworks that are attached to CIP codes, if there is not a state model, a school district must create a framework and send along with the request for approvals. Other areas we have to identify are Employability skills, Scans Skills, Thinking Skills and Core Leadership Skills. A class is either identified as Exploratory or Preparatory. Preparatory leads to certification, either by industry certification or a Tech Prep route.

This is not everythig, but as we use our new terminology we hope you will be able to learn our new name and that the face of the old voc classes have changed. If you have concerns about what your student is learning please e-mail the instructor and the CTE Director if you need more clarification on anything involving your student's CTE classes. Looking forward to a great year.