February celebrates Career Technical Education classes at Missoula County Public Schools

The month of February places focus on the many opportunities that students in Missoula County Public Schools have in Career Technical Education (CTE) fields. February is "Career Technical Education Month" and this year’s theme is "Careers through Education." In honor of CTE month, MCPS would like to highlight several programs and how they are making a difference for students.

Career Technical Education classes include agricultural education, business, family/consumer science, and industrial technology and health occupations. These classes prepare students for a wide range of careers and further educational opportunities. Careers may include industry-recognized credentials, postsecondary certificates, and two- and four-year degrees. In the 2010-11 school year, CTE classes served more than 1,260 students in Missoula’s four high schools. CTE classes have proven to engage students in authentic "real world" learning and improve overall student achievement.

A few of the exciting current CTE projects at MCPS include:

§ "Designing for the Future: Alternative Energy" is the title of a project that is allowing Industrial Arts students to design and construct a portable weather and energy data collection trailer which will be used by Earth Science students to evaluate locations in and around Missoula for their wind and solar energy potential. For more information, contact Craig Messerman and David Burtch at Sentinel High School, 728-2400, ext. 7529.

§ CANstruction, an engineering design and drafting program that allows students to creatively design large structures out of canned goods, is scheduled for mid-April at Southgate Mall. This year’s event is titled "Solving Problems of Hunger with Good Turns." The event benefits the Montana Food Bank Network. For more information, contact Vic Loya at 728-2400, ext. 7084.

Twenty Culinary 3 students from Hellgate, Sentinel and Seeley-Swan have passed the Servsafe training and exam at the University of Montana. This certification is known as the "Gold Standard" across the food service industry. The certification is good for five years, and is endorsed by the National Restaurant Education Foundation, which in turn is accredited by the American National Standards Institute Conference for Food Protection. For more information, contact Laurie Bryn at 728-2400, ext. 7618.

§ Students in the Early Childhood Education 2 class have the opportunity to be certified in First Aid and CPR. This gives students an advantage if they apply for childcare positions after they complete their practicum work during the second quarter of the semester. The American Heart Association certification is good for two years. For more information, contact Lois Reimers, 728-2400, ext. 7666.

§ Students in the Pre-Construction Program, with the help of Home ReSource, are building storage sheds. Home ReSource is providing a portion of the necessary building materials. For more information, contact Keven Schooler at 738-2400, ext. 7682.

§ The automotive class "Power Tech III" is rebuilding a 1976 GMC 4×4 truck, which will be raffled to raise funding to support the Montana Automotive Technologies program. The program provides an opportunity for students to learn to repair automobiles from bumper to bumper. Students work with local businesses to such as Town and Country Auto Body and Karl Tyler Chevrolet in Missoula. For more information, contact Tom Leik in Industrial Arts, 728-2400, ext. 8704.

§ MCPS has a team of high school students working to prepare a robot for competition in the U.S. FIRST Robotics competition, April 5-7. For more information please contact Chris Jacaruso at Big Sky High School, 728-2400, ext. 8658.

For more information, please contact Dave Burtch at 406-728-2400, ext. 7529.

ACTE logo_black_Trans_bkgdFacts About Career and Technical Education

Career and Technical Education (CTE) is crucial to providing the strong workforce training needed to fill the good-paying jobs vital to restoring the economic health of our nation. CTE programs also produce strong educational returns, strengthening student engagement in school, achievement in academics and technical skills, and transitions from high school to postsecondary education and from education to careers.

CTE-Related Jobs Are in High Demand

· According to the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, 30% of the 46.8 million job open­ings created by 2018 will require some college or a two-year associate degree. (Carnevale, Anthony, et al, Help Wanted: Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements Through 2018, Center on Education and the Workforce, Georgetown University, 2010, p. 13)

· The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that middle-skill jobs (jobs that generally require some significant education and training beyond high school but less than a bachelor’s degree) will account for about 45% of all job openings projected through 2014. (BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011 Edition)

· Of the occupations requiring postsecondary education, those requiring an associate degree are projected to grow the fastest, at about 19 percent. (BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011 Edition)

· Nearly one in six "hot jobs," jobs paying above the median wage and having above average growth, will require an associate degree or some postsecondary training. (American Association of Community Colleges)

· By 2018, the U.S. will need at least 4.7 million new workers with postsecondary certificates, according to the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. (Carnevale, Anthony, et al, Help Wanted: Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements Through 2018, Center on Education and the Workforce, Georgetown University, 2010, p. 1)

CTE Meets Individual and Community Economic Needs

· Participation in skills-training programs increased wages and earnings, raised the probability and consistency of employment, and led to work in higher-quality jobs, according to Public/Private Ventures. (Maguire, Shiela, et al, Job Training That Works: Findings from the Sectoral Employment Impact Study, 2009)

· A person with an associate degree or two year credential will earn, on average, over $5,000 a year more than a person with just a high school diploma and a person with a CTE-related associate degree or credential will earn between $5,000 and $15,000 more a year than a person with a humanities or social sciences associate degree. (Jacobson, L., et al, Pathways to Boosting the Earnings of Low-Income Students by Increasing Their Educational Attainment, Gates Foundation/Hudson Institute, 2009)

· According to the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, 43% of young workers with Licenses and Certificates earn more than those with an associate degree, 27% of young workers with Licenses and Certificates earn more than those with a bachelor’s degree, and 31% of young workers with associate degrees earn more than those with a bachelor’s degree. (Center on Education and the Workforce, Valuing Certificates, Presentation, 2009)

· According to the Florida Department of Education, recent graduates who earned a career-focused associate degree or postsecondary certificate from a Florida community college are earning up to $11,000 more than bachelor’s degree recipients from the state’s eleven public universities. (Florida Department of Education, 2011)

· According to the state of Washington, for every dollar spent on secondary CTE students, federal and state governments will receive seven dollars back in social security, Medicare and federal and state taxes. (Washington State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, Workforce Training Results-2006, January 2007)

CTE Engages Students and Lowers the Dropout Rate

· In a 2009 report for the Gates Foundation, 81% of respondents said that more learning opportunities which make the classroom relevant to the real world would have helped them to finish high school. (Bridgeland et al, The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2006)

· A ratio of one CTE class for every two academic classes minimizes the risk of students dropping out of high school. (Plank, S. et al, Dropping Out of High School and the Place of Career and Technical Education, The National Centers for Career and Technical Education, 2005)

· The more students participate in Career Technical Student Organization activities, the higher their academic motivation, academic engagement, grades, career self-efficacy and college aspirations–factors often linked to high school graduation. (Alfeld, C., et al., Looking Inside the Black Box: The Value Added by Career and Technical Student Organizations to Students’ High School Experience, National Research Center for CTE, 2007)

CTE Increases Student Achievement

· Students using the National Research Center for CTE’s Math-in-CTE model, which uses highly integrated CTE and academic teaching methods and courses, scored significantly higher on two national math assessments than students using traditional teaching methods. (Stone, J., et al., Building Academic Skills in Context, National Research Center for CTE, 2006)

· Students who complete a rigorous academic core coupled with a career concentration have test scores that equal or exceed "college prep" students. These dual-concentrators are more likely to pursue postsecondary education, have a higher grade point average in college and are less likely to drop out in the first year. (Southern Regional Education Board, "Facts About High School Career/Technical Studies")

· CTE students were significantly more likely than their non-CTE counterparts to report that they had developed problem-solving, project completion, research, math, college application, work-related, communication, time management and critical thinking skills during high school. (Lekes, N., et al., Career and Technical Education Pathway Programs, Academic Performance, and the Transition to College and Career, National Research Center for CTE, 2007)

· Students in programs that blend basic skills and occupational training to generate more contextualized learning are far more likely to improve basic skills and earn college-level credits, according to researchers at the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College. (Jenkins, David, et al., Educational Outcomes of I-BEST, Washington State Community and Technical College System’s Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training Program: Findings from a Multivariate Analysis, 2009)

Lesli Brassfield, MPA

Director of Public Affairs

Missoula County Public Schools

[email protected]

Phone: 728-2400, ext. 1024

Fax: 406-542-4009

http://www.mcps.k12.mt.us

Join MCPS on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Missoula-County-Public-Schools/106051672780044