Resources and Best Practices

The following links serve as useful tools to gather information and discover resources to support career and technical education in the classroom and beyond.

Links to websites are provided for your convenience and do not constitute an endorsement.

Advanced Technical Credit

Upcoming training sessions for ATC: Texas Career Education Conference 2012

The ATC crosswalk for the 2012-2013 school year is available www.atctexas.org

Best Practices

Cooking With Connally - Where You Become The Chef! is a high school culinary arts cooking show series produced, developed, and cooked by the culinary arts students at John B. Connally High School and edited and filmed by the CHS video tech department ( http://www.CHSCougar.TV).

Guide to Selecting AchieveTexas Best Practices

Career and Technical Education - Understanding the Language

Discovery Education Free Teacher Resources, Lesson Plans for STEM

Funding and Carl D. Perkins Resources

2011-2012 Program Guidelines and Use of Funds

Innovative Uses of Perkins Reserve Funds

Funding Through CTE Good Financial Sense for Districts/CTE Funding Calculator

CTE Funding Calculator

Reports and Presentations

CTE Course Enrollment by District 2010-2011

CTE Statewide Enrollment by Course by Cluster 2010-2011

Advocacy Two-Pager: CTE Statistics

Certified Nurse Aide Student-Teacher Ratio

Presentation: Pathways to High School Graduation (19 slides)

Graphic: Texas CTE Statistics

National Policy Issues

Read background information on key issues within the education and workforce development policy environments here.

College and Career Readiness

The National Career and Technical Education Foundation (NCTEF) and Microsoft Corporation's U.S. Partners in Learning program have partnered to develop this guide for the series, "College and Career Readiness Program." The series showcases success stories of high schools that are creating a different kind of learning experience. The goals are to engage and educate students and successfully overcome the challenges of students dropping out and lack of preparation for college and career. These schools implement meaningful and relevant programs of study for students aligned to career clusters and 21st century skills. They provide examples and inspiration for other school leaders looking for best practices to guide the same success.

Source: States' Career Clusters Initiative

Six sectors are projected to account for 85 percent of new jobs in the United States through the end of the decade. Are current CTE programs preparing students for jobs in these high-demand sectors? Take a look at NASDCTEc’s latest fact sheets to find out, and to view other compelling reasons to support CTE!

Fact sheets and other resources are available in the Advocacy Tools section of the website.

from Kara Herbertson ,NASDCTEc Education Policy Analyst

Redesigned Career Cluster logos are available for download and use. Each entity must complete and submit a user’s agreement, agree to the terms and conditions for use, and follow the instructions in the user’s guide (linked from the user’s agreement web page). For more information: http://www.careertech.org/

A user agreement for the “CTE: Learning that works for America” logo is available for download. This logo is available to be customized for Texas, to read “CTE: Learning that works for Texas”.

Tech Prep

Lower Rio Grande Valley Tech Prep Consortium:

Labor Market Data and Analysis

Find data and analysis on current labor market trends and its impact on education policy.

Texas Education Agency LISTSERV

There is no quicker way to get current information “hot off the press” than to be a member of one or more of the TEA curriculum LISTSERVS. A College Preparation LISTSERV has recently been added. To join a LISTSERV, follow these simple steps:

  • Go to http://miller.tea.state.tx.us/list/
  • Click on “Select a List” for the pop-up menu of listserv names
  • Scroll down, select an area such as “ELA-Reading”, and click on “Join the List”
  • Enter your e-mail address
  • Enter your name
  • A confirmation e-mail will be sent to the e-mail address listed
  • Respond to the confirmation e-mail with “OK”.

Curriculum Resources

  • Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources; Transportation, Distribution and Logistics - Texas Agrilife Extension
  • Hospitality and Tourism, Education and Training, Human Services - Stephen F. Austin State University
  • Architecture and Construction; Arts, A/V Technology & Communications; Business Management & Admininstration; Finance; Government and Public Administration; Health Science; IT; Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security; Manufacturing; Marketing; Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics - University of North Texas

College and Career Planning Resources