| Announcements: November 16, 2005 - February 14, 2006 | |||||
Tech Prep Tuesday Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium Transition and Transfer February 14, 2006 Career Clusters & Career Pathways Following is an update from the CTAT Conference held recently in Austin: • Texas is transitioning from CTE Programs to 16 clusters. • A career cluster is a grouping of occupations according to common knowledge and skills for the purpose of organizing educational programs and curricula. • A career pathway is a coherent, articulated sequence of rigorous academic and career/technical courses, commencing in the ninth grade and leading to an associate degree, baccalaureate degree and beyond, an industry recognized certificate, and/or licensure. (Sounds like Tech Prep!) • In 1999, the U.S. Department of Education created 16 broad career clusters to begin to address problems in American high schools such as the high dropout rate. • In January of 2005, Texas Tech University was awarded a grant to coordinate the statewide transition to career clusters and pathways. Other universities involved include Texas A&M University, University of Houston, University of North Texas and University of Texas-Tyler. • Others states have already launched successful ventures in this area. (See education websites for the states of Maryland, Kentucky, Arkansas, South Carolina and Alabama.) • Career Clusters Transition Plan for Texas: o 2006 State Conference Initial promotion and marketing of career clusters and pathways. Provide professional development to districts on statewide clusters initiative. o 2007 State Conference Promotion and marketing of individual career clusters and pathways. Provide professional development to districts on statewide clusters initiative o 2009/2010 Identify gaps in existing clusters and pathways and add new courses as needed. Crosswalk cluster pathways to CTE instructional materials. Transition PEIMS data codes/business rules to clusters. Eliminate/redirect “old” courses when it is the appropriate time to refine and align TEKS. Rationale for Career Clusters: Often, careers are treated as an interest area rather than emphasized. For students in the neglected majority, the focus of careers provides a valuable context in which they are better able to learn challenging concepts in academic areas. Career clusters are not a vehicle for tracking students or channeling them into narrow job training in high school. Rather, students are prepared with the social, academic, and employability skills that will provide for numerous postsecondary opportunities. ============
Tech Prep Tuesday Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium Transition and Transfer January 24, 2006 P-16 Conference: Partnering for Student Success – April 24-26, 2006 Funds are available to Consortium partners to attend the April P-16 Conference: Partnering for Student Success. This conference will be a combination of the Seamless Transitions Conference and the Recruitment and Retention Conference and will this year encompass five states. Requests for funding should be made on school/college letterhead and state how attendance at the conference would benefit your school’s Tech Prep programs and students. Requests granted will be on a reimbursement basis. Up to $300 per person will be offered on a limited basis. Contact Sherry Hollinger at 254.298.8482 for more information. ATC (Advanced Technical Credit) training will be offered at the conference. Please see the following website for details about the conference: www.TexasP16slc.org. ============
Tech Prep Tuesday Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium Transition and Transfer January 10, 2006 Happy New Year! New Staff Member Please join the Central Texas Tech Prep staff in welcoming Carol Lance as fulltime Administrative Assistant for the Consortium! Carol can be reached by calling 254-298-8480 or by email at carol.lance@templejc.edu. Articulation Meetings In conjunction with the Consortium goal of assisting partners in updating and adding articulation agreements, we plan to schedule a series of meetings between high school teachers and college faculty members in the coming months. If you are interested in participating, please send us the following information to help us better plan: Suggested dates between mid-February and early April Dates to avoid due to holidays and testing Subject area of interest Please send suggestions to Sherry Hollinger at shollin@templejc.edu. Counselors’ Network Workshop Opportunity The Heart of Texas Tech Prep Consortium will sponsor a Seamless Transitions workshop on Thursday, January 26, 2006, at TSTC Waco. Counselors from the Central Texas area are invited to attend. The agenda includes Eighth Grade Aptitude Testing, Graduation Plans Roundtable, and the New 16 Career Clusters. Following lunch, there will be an optional TSTC Waco tour. To receive a workshop flyer and registration form by fax or email, please call 254-298-8482 or 254-298-8480. TEA Deadline Approaching for Innovative Courses From TEA Correspondence at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/taa/curr010606.html: “If you wish to submit an application for approval of a new innovative or magnet course to be taught Fall 2006, or an evaluation and/or application for renewal of a course that is currently approved, please submit your application and/or evaluation by February 16, 2006.” ============
Tech Prep Tuesday Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium Transition and Transfer December 5, 2005 CATEMA System Update Career And Technology Education Management Application (CATEMA™) is a system that helps manage Tech-Prep information relating to courses, classes, school districts, high schools, teachers, counselors, college registrars, college advisors, and students. The Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium is in its second year of using the CATEMA system. Seventeen school districts participated last year, and over 5,000 students were entered into the system. There were a few improvements made to the system this fall, but it is now ready for teachers and students to enter their classes. The Consortium is scheduling training for those districts interested in participating in CATEMA for the 2005-2006 school year, or to give “refresher” training to those who participated last year but might need a quick review of the system. If you would like to schedule training for your district please contact Misty Harrell at mharrell@templejc.edu. CTAT Winter Conference The CTAT Winter Texas Career Education Conference is scheduled for January 31-February 2, 2006, at the Renaissance Austin Hotel in Austin, Texas. For more information, please visit the following website: http://www.ctat.org/ctat_winter%20conf_2005%202006.html Happy Holidays from the Tech Prep Staff! Sherry & Misty ============
Tech Prep Tuesday Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium Transition and Transfer November 15, 2005 News Items from Quarterly Tech Prep Directors’ Meeting Held November 9 & 10 Upcoming Conferences – Registration for the state conference, Partnering for Student Success: The P-16 Conference is set to begin the middle of this month. The website should be operational around Thanksgiving. It will combine the best of the Seamless Transitions and Recruitment and Retention conferences and is scheduled for April 24-26, 2006, at the Austin Convention Center. Additional information will be featured in later additions of this newsletter. The National Tech Prep Network Annual Conference will be in Texas next year! Scheduled for November 1-4, the conference will be at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Dallas. GO Center/Campaign – Full-time specialists have been hired to work in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, San Antonio and South Texas areas. Eight part-time field specialists will cover the rest of the state and should be in place in early 2006. Perkins Update – Although the joint congressional committee has not yet been appointed, legislative aides have been meeting regarding the Perkins bill. If a vote takes place soon, the new Perkins law would take effect September 2007. Several federal programs may be eliminated, but currently it appears that the main part of Perkins will remain intact. Test Prep Resources – Two new free resources are available to Texas students. One is TOPCAT – Texas Online Preparation for College Admissions Tests. Developed with joint funding from TEA and THECB, the program features test preparation for the ACT, SAT and GRE. The website is http://testprep.collegefortexans.com. The other standardized test prep resource is from the Army and is called March 2 Success. The website is www.march2success.com. ============ |
