Career and Technical Education Institute
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 3, 2010
Contact: Julie Pehkonen (951) 222-8026
Inland Empire Community Colleges Host a Career and Technical Education Institute
Desert Regional CTE Community Collaborative brings together Riverside and San Bernardino County Educators.
Rancho Mirage, May 3, 2010- In 2005, Senate Bill 70 (SB70) delegated $20 million dollars to the Governor’s Career Technical Education (CTE) Pathways and Workforce Development Program. As a result, the funds were distributed to fund CTE Community Collaborative across the state. According to the California Community College Chancellor’s office, “The collaboration education systems has yielded positive and effective outcomes for students by providing them with information about careers, as well as experiences, which assist students in developing educational plans that relate to career as well as academic success.” Funds are used for projects that bring together economic development initiatives and consortia composed of community colleges, high schools, and Regional Occupational Programs (ROPs).
On March 10-12, 2010, the Desert Regional CTE Community Collaborative hosted an innovative and one-of-a-kind professional development institute entitled, CTE: A New Generation of Professionals. It was held at the Westin in Rancho Mirage, California. The hosts included Barstow Community College, Chaffey Community College, College of the Desert, Mt. San Jacinto College, Riverside Community College District, and San Bernardino Community College District.
The goal of the institute was to, “provide an excellent opportunity to collaborate with colleagues because high school and colleges are faced with numerous barriers to sustaining and developing CTE courses and pathways.” Invitations were sent out in October of 2009 as there was a competitive application and not all who applied made the cut. In the spirit of collaboration, participation in the conference required each district/school to form a team that would work together at the institute. The team make-up varied and consisted of any of the following individuals: K-12 administrators, K-12 CTE faculty, K-12 academic faculty, K-12 counselors, ROCP faculty and administrators, Community College faculty and counselors.
The program included something for everyone. The event kickoff was a Keynote address by Katheryn Radtkey-Gaither, Interim Secretary of Education for the state of California. She discussed her experience as a community college student and the vital importance of the CTE Community Collaborative initiative. She expressed that the educators in attendance were the key to the success of students in both careers and college. Other Institute topics included business partnerships, program development, CTE leadership, CTE counseling, Staffing of CTE programs, programs of study, and Tech Prep. There was a movie premiere for Pressure Cooker, which profiled the lives of three high school seniors with the goal of winning scholarships to the country’s best culinary schools.
The biggest highlight of the CTE Institute was the live commercials. Teams were asked to create and perform a live commercial for CTE at the closing plenary session. After long days in educational sessions, the teams spent their “off conference time” in the evenings working in teams to create succinct and entertaining messages for their students and colleagues. All of the performers and ideas received rave reviews.
The CTE Institute not only addressed the objectives of the CTE Community Collaborative initiative, but it also provided an opportunity for team collaboration across school boundaries. As one teacher said, “This conference reinforces why we teach… to help students find the correct career path.”