ACTE

Brenda Dann-Messier, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education, Department of Education
Dr. Brenda Dann-Messier is currently the president of Dorcas Place, an adult and family learning center in Providence, Rhode Island. Prior to coming to Dorcas Place, she worked at the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University. She also previously served the Department of Education as Secretary Richard Riley's regional representative for Region I in Boston, Massachusetts. Before going to work for the Clinton Administration, Brenda directed two TRIO programs, the Rhode Island Educational Opportunity Center (1987-1993) and the Educational Talent Search Program (1991-1993) of the Community College of Rhode Island. Dr. Dann-Messier is a member of the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education and chairs the Academic and Student Affairs subcommittee for the board. She received her BA and her M.Ed from Rhode Island College and her ED.D. in Educational Leadership from Johnson and Wales University.

ACTE will be releasing more information about Dr. Dann-Messier's background as it becomes available and will be reaching out to offer our support as she leads the nation's CTE and adult education systems.

Signatures to date: 1,761

Sign Petition to Increase Perkins Funds!

ACTE is partnering with Participant Media, a Los Angeles-based entertainment company that focuses on socially relevant, commercially viable feature films, documentaries and television, to increase awareness of the value of CTE and the need for additional state and federal investments to support CTE programs that meet national economic and workforce needs. The partnership is centered around the documentary Pressure Cooker, which profiles the lives of three high school seniors from northeast Philadelphia, each with unique hardships but with the shared goal of winning scholarships to the country's best culinary schools.

Joint activities will include movie screenings and a petition that will ask Congress to increase funding for the federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins Act) in FY 2010. Sign the petition and add your name to the growing list of signatures asking for an increased allocation for the Perkins program. Feel free to share this link with your colleagues and other CTE stakeholders—our goal is to gather 100,000 signatures by August!

Pressure Cooker's Wilma Stephenson and one of her prized pupils appeared on National Public Radio's "Tell Me More" program May 20 and were asked in closing, “Do you think this kind of practical education, culinary arts, carpentry, is valuable to students, or do these classes distract students from core subjects like English and math? Is this, what some people call vocational education, an opportunity or a trap? Especially for kids from more disadvantaged backgrounds?” What do you think? Read more on the CTE Policy Watch blog and sign the petition to increase Perkins funds!

ACTE's CTE Policy Watch Blog

 

Going Back in Time With NAEP

Ever wonder why the NAEP does not assess more than just academics or why other important aspects of education like teamwork, leadership, or critical thinking skills are not measured? Read more ...

The Grass Is Not Always Greener ... in Greenland

If you think that the United States is alone in its challenges related to education, you might be surprised to learn that there are many similarities between our country and other nations. ACTE staff met with Michael Binzer yesterday. He is the CEO of Air Greenland and a businessman who is concerned with the rigor and quality of Greenland’s education system. Read more ...

Secretary Duncan Says He's "a Big Fan" of CTE

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan appeared on NPR’s Diane Rehm show to discuss reforming the nation's schools while containing costs. You can listen to the interview online from NPR’s site. He covered a wide range of topics, from the California budget crisis to early childhood education, dropouts, the stimulus, college access, charter schools and much more. Most interesting was the very public support and interest he showed in high school CTE programs Read more ...

Pennsylvania Is "Greening"

On my way to the Pennsylvania Career and Technical Education Conference (PA CTEC) this week, I passed huge new windmills only 15 miles or so from the conference site – a pretty stunning site to pass on the highway and other evidence that Pennsylvania is working to be a part of the new green economy. I was able to attend a few sessions of the conference, in addition to delivering a keynote speech, and learned a lot. One of the breakouts focused on training workers for new weatherization careers. Read more ...

Educating Israeli and Palestine Delegation About CTE

Today Cara (from our Communications Department) and I met with a delegation from Israel and Palestine to discuss CTE, the Perkins Act, current trends and our advocacy efforts. We met with a Director of a Vocational Training Center, President of the League of Vocational Education and Training Association from Palestine, and a CTE consultant. They were intrigued by how we deliver CTE Read more ...

 

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