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ACTE & NIOSH School Lab Safety Award Entries Due

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Sponsored by ACTE and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. To encourage a safe and healthy environment in school laboratories, NIOSH and ACTE are seeking entries from ACTE members on the subject of "Promoting Safety and Health in Career and Technical Education." One entry will be selected to receive an award of $750 to the author and $250 to the author’s educational institution. Entries are due Jan. 23, 2009.

Click here for more information!

ACTE’S Annual Convention Recognized Educators, Career Guidance

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) last week held its Annual Convention and announced today that 4,200 educators and exhibitors attended the event in Charlotte, North Carolina, December 4-6. During the three-day Convention, ACTE released a guidance Issue Brief; held a luncheon celebrating 100 years of career guidance; launched the Association’s new Web site; announced the 2009 Career and Technical Education Month PSA video and national award winners; and held more than 300 concurrent sessions that covered topics such as workforce readiness, career academies, curriculum integration, business partnerships and federal initiatives and legislation affecting CTE.

Birdville Media Tech Students Win ACTE PSA Video Contest, Promote CTE Month

The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) announced today that students from Birdville Media Tech, Birdville ISD in Haltom City, Texas, won the 29-second Public Service Announcement (PSA) contest by ACTE. The students, Yanina Gonzalez, Adrian Scarborough, Joseph Walsh and Philip Wilmut, developed a PSA called “Beyond A Textbook,” which will be used to publicize CTE Month during February 2009. ACTE debuted the video during its National Awards Ceremony at ACTE’s Annual Convention in Charlotte, NC.

ACTE Launches New Web Site Design, Features

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) unveiled its new Web site (www.acteonline.org) at its Annual Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. The new Web site allows members and visitors to find information quickly and effectively and to interact with professionals in the CTE community through new features that include blogs, public and private forums, personal pages and immediate access to the latest CTE news.

ACTE Praises Selection of Duncan as Secretary of Education

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) today commends President-elect Obama in naming Arne Duncan, chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools, as Secretary of Education. Duncan has worked on improving CTE programs in Chicago to ensure students graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills necessary to be prepared for postsecondary education and the workforce.

Phil Harrington Receives Association for Career and Technical Education’s Friend of Guidance Award ADEL, Iowa, Dec. 8, 2008 – The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), Guidance and Career Development Division, has announced that Phil Harrington, president, Kuder, Inc., is this year’s recipient of its prestigious Friend of Guidance award. The award was presented at a celebration luncheon held this past week during the Association’s annual conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. Since 2000, it is given annually to an individual or organization that has been instrumental in the growth and development of guidance and career development. The U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Army Recruiting Command and America’s Career Resource Network Association (ACRNA) are among some of the previous award recipients.

ACTE Releases Issue Brief Highlighting CTE, Career Guidance Brings Student Success

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) released a new issue brief today, entitled “Career and Technical Education’s Role in Career Guidance,” that explores the leading role career and technical education (CTE) plays in the area of career guidance and improving student success through career-development services. Although there are counseling structures in place within the educational system, challenges, including an average student/counselor ratio of 479 to 1, indicate that more needs to be done to provide students with strong career guidance and career development services.

New Administration + New Congress = New Opportunities
March 9-11, 2009 - Arlington, VA

With a new administration and a new Congress, the time is now for career and technical educators to bring their voices and stories to Washington, D.C., to inform current and new legislators on the importance of CTE. CTE programs are a vital component in the development and training of a productive national workforce. However, if these programs are not properly and fully funded, many of them won’t survive - and, in this economy, we can’t afford to have an undereducated or underprepared workforce.

Click here for more information and register today!

CTE_Month_2009_2 CTE Month 2009

February is CTE Month and ACTE hopes that you’ve started planning your festivities. This month-long celebration of CTE kicks off with National Job Shadow Day on February 4 and will conclude with National Entrepreneurship Week USA, which runs February 23 to March 1. Schools looking for promotional items can check out the Product Guide, which features products that can be customized to commemorate CTE Month. Visit the CTE Month Online Store to view the Product Guide and to purchase your promotional and commemorative items.

You can share CTE Month celebration plans over in the CTE Month forum of ACTE's new online discussion forums.

Video PSA Contest Winners Announced
ACTE is proud to announce the 2009 CTE Month Video PSA Contest winners. Learn more and watch the winning PSAs. You can also link to or embed the winning PSAs into your Web site.

Meet the 2009 CTE Month Logo Design Contest Winner
Michael Brandonisio of Gurnee, Illinois has been selected as the winner of the 2009 Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month Logo Design Contest. Brandonisio is an upcoming senior at Warren Township High School and he takes a graphic and Web design course at Lake County High Schools Technology Campus. He has already been accepted into the American Academy of Art in Chicago, where he plans to further his career as a graphic artist.

Logo Use and Restriction Agreement

Updates from ACTE blogs and from others in the CTE blogosphere.

ACTE's CTE Policy Watch Blog

Lunch meeting with Education Daily

One of my responsibilities as Media Relations Manager is to develop relationships with education reporters and share information on ACTE and what’s happening in CTE. Today, I met with Education Daily reporter Erin Uy, who covers CTE, assessments, STEM and other areas, for lunch. We talked about Convention, the new Web site (which she loves!) and the new appointment of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education. Read more ...

What Works Clearinghouse

Good morning. Jason, your friendly neighborhood researcher here, with an update from the What Works Clearinghouse meeting I went to on Friday. First, if you are going to a meeting at the Marriott near Metro Center, make sure you write down which one of the three Marriotts it is. I did not and got a lovely tour of two of the hotels. Second, for those who don't know, the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) is part of the U.S. Department of Education and reviews current education research to see what meets the Ed Dept. standards of evidence-based research. Read more ...

Convention 2008 Logo 1

ACTE 2008 Convention Blog

SchoolTube interview with blogger Joe Petrosino

Watch the video!

And It's A Wrap!

The convention is now officially over. It has been a long and busy day. I started off my day at the Strategic Planning meeting for the Business Education Division. Business Education is my primary membership and teaching area. Since I am very active at the state level I wanted to glean some of what happens at the national level so I can report back to my state newsletter group. Read more ...

Blogroll

The new year's first issue of Techniques, focusing on technology usage in the classroom, has been published and posted. Among the usual slate of fantastic articles is the 2008 ACTE Annual Report and a message from President Bryan Albrecht. Read today!

Legislative Alert - December 1, 2008

Contact Your Senators to Increase Perkins Funding!
During the month of December, House and Senate Appropriations staff will be working to negotiate the FY 2009 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill. The funding bill is expected to be one of the first orders of business when the 111th Congress convenes in January. Currently, the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee’s version of the funding bill includes a $20 million increase for Perkins Basic State Grants and a slight increase for the Tech Prep program. It is critical that CTE professionals contact their U.S. Senators during the month of December to encourage support of an increase to the Perkins program at no less than the House numbers.

ACTE thanks the Charlotte Convention Center and the presenters, exhibitors and attendees who all helped make the 2008 Annual Convention and Career Tech Expo a huge success. If you missed it (or just feel a little nostalgic), you can follow along with attendees on the Convention blog and forums, read through the Twitterstream, browse the photo gallery and watch videos with members, exhibitors and students recorded at the SchoolTube studio on the Expo floor. A Convention roundup will be available shortly.

The 2009 Annual Convention and Career Tech Expo will be held Nov. 19-21 at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville. The call for presentations is now open. The deadline to submit is March 2, 2009.