Part 1: Key Facts
Student & Teacher Information
According to 2004-2005 data from the U.S. Department of Education (the latest numbers publicly available), the total number of CTE students inWyoming was 16,089. This includes the following:
- Secondary: 9,652
- Postsecondary: 6,437
Delivery System/School Information
Wyoming offers career technical education (CTE) to students in forty-eight secondary districts, seven community colleges, one university and one Bureau of Indian Affairs school.
Funding/Financing for CTE
Federal: Wyoming is expected to receive approximately $4,214,921 from the Perkins Basic State Grant and $233,729 from Tech Prep in FY 2008. Wyoming will include Tech Prep funds in its Basic State Grant distribution; 60 percent of funds will be allocated to secondary CTE programs and 40 percent to postsecondary CTE programs. This split of funds will be reevaluated annually.
State: State funds, provided under Wyoming Statute 21-13-309, also provide for new program implementation and improvement of existing programs to supplement the federal investment made through Perkins.
Since 2003, local education agencies have been provided a 1.29 weight for each FTE student in CTE studies, compared with a 1.0 weight for a student in regular education classes. The legislature also has approved additional funding for the purchase of CTE equipment and supplies. The current formula provides districts with $7,731 per FTE CTE instructor, an amount roughly equivalent to the average district expenditure for these purposes in the 2001–02 school year, adjusted for inflation.
Part 2: State Administration
Key State CTE Contacts
Ms. Teri Wigert
Technology, Careers and Data Director
Wyoming Department of Education
2300 Capitol Avenue, Hathaway Building, 2nd Floor
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Phone: 307-777-7708
State Agencies
The designated eligible agency responsible for the administration of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 is the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE). The Wyoming State Board of Education, which also serves as the State Board of Vocational Education, in concert with the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, ensures that all students are provided the opportunity to participate in CTE programs in preparation for careers which enable them to become productive citizens.
The WDE State Director of Career Technical Education has oversight of the secondary CTE staff. The CTE staff, including the Director, consists of a supervisor, three consultants and one administrative specialist.
The Wyoming Community College Commission is a coordinating board of seven commissioners appointed by the Governor. The mission and purpose of the Commission is to provide coordination, advocacy and accountability for the Community College System on behalf of the state of Wyoming.
State Standards for CTE
Wyoming has adopted CTE content and performance standards specifying the workplace skills that students are expected to know and be able to demonstrate before they graduate. There is a single set of standards that apply across all CTE program areas. The standards do not dictate curriculum or classroom activities, but instead provide a framework for organizing the academic and technical concepts that all CTE instructors should address.
Standards are identified for grades K–4, 5–8 and 9–12 with performance benchmarks specified at grades 4, 8, and 11. These standards are reviewed and updated on a five-year cycle. The standards have been organized into six major strands:
- Resources: Students effectively manage time, money, materials, facilities, and human resources.
- Interpersonal Skills: Students acquire and demonstrate interpersonal skills necessary to be successful in the workplace.
- Information: Students acquire and use workplace information.
- Systems: Students demonstrate an understanding of how social, organizational, and technological systems work.
- Technology: Students demonstrate the ability to use a variety of workplace technologies.
- Careers: Students develop skills in career planning and workplace readiness.
The state is also working to add a strand of “Technical Skills” standards to the current six strands. These standards would, unlike the others, require some program-specific knowledge.
Program Approval/Quality Control
Criteria for approval of funds is guided by Wyoming Statute 21-9-101: “Educational programs for schools; standards; core of knowledge and skills; special needs programs; class size requirements; co-curricular activities.” Under this provision, CTE content in all courses must be aligned to, and all students must meet, state mandated content standards for both CTE and academic content.
The specific courses approved within the Career Programs of Study and thus, eligible for funding though the Perkins Act, will be guided by state statute and an established process of course review. Wyoming Statute 21-13-309 requires CTE programs offered in grades nine through 12 to consist of a sequence of three or more CTE courses within a career cluster. However, for the purposes of Perkins, courses offered on-campus at a postsecondary institution for dual enrollment credit will be accepted.
New courses will be developed to address the need for sequential courses and to address Wyoming’s workforce needs.
“Perkins IV Program Guidelines” require CTE programs in Wyoming to have local advisory committees that oversee the planning and implementation of quality programs. These advisory committees will be made up of parents, academic and CTE teachers, administrators, faculty, career guidance and academic counselors, local business (including small businesses), and labor organizations. The existence of such an advisory committee will be reported on the annual consolidated grant application.
Wyoming maintains a statewide data collection, analysis and reporting system for its CTE programs which allows for monitoring of student progress on key program indicators, overall and by all subpopulations. This statewide data collection system has built-in features designed to ensure that data collected is complete, accurate and reliable.
Wyoming has identified other measures that will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of CTE programs. Additional outcome measures to be embedded into the annual evaluation will include measures of the quality and extent of career counseling available; the existence and utilization of articulation agreements in the state; the impact of participation in articulation programs on students; and measures of the extent to which CTE and academics are being integrated.
Part 3: CTE Initiatives & Related Policies
State Education & Workforce Agenda
The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services recently developed a plan to partner with the Wyoming Department of Employment, economic development agencies, industry, and others to craft solutions to issues the state is facing. They have identified five industries to target: Energy, Construction, Hospitality and Service, Technology and Health Care.
The Wyoming Department of Education, using cross-walk data from the Occupational Network, aligned all occupations within the O*NET system with Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) Codes and aligned the CIP Codes with Secondary Classification for Exchange of Data (SCED) codes. This alignment gave the Department of Education and the Department of Workforce Services the ability to choose virtually any occupation and analyze the most logical postsecondary and secondary coursework for entry into that occupation.
In 2007, Wyoming developed a strategic plan for CTE programs, titled “New Directions for High School Career and Technical Education in Wyoming.” This document contains background on the CTE system, goals for the future, and essential policy considerations for moving forward.
High School Redesign
The Hathaway Scholarship Program is a new initiative, created by the Wyoming Legislature in 2005, to give merit-based aid to high-achieving Wyoming students seeking participation in postsecondary education and training. Part of the program is the requirement that all eighth-graders create a high school graduation plan with a career component. Through a collaborative effort among offices within the Wyoming Department of Education responsible for CTE and high school achievement, the sixteen Career Clusters are the foundation for the required Career Plan of Study.
The 2007 Hathaway Scholarship legislation also requires all Wyoming eleventh-graders to take the ACT or WORKKEYS exam at the expense of the state. Data from these tests will provide additional information regarding student performance to the Wyoming Department of Education for all Wyoming students.
The 2008 Wyoming Legislature initiated and funded a CTE Demonstration Project grant program for the purpose of redesigning CTE in Wyoming. A school district, business, industry, community college or the University of Wyoming may apply for funds associated with the following: 1) planning, 2) development, and 3) implementation of a demonstration project as a new or expansion of any existing high school CTE program within the school district.
Awardees must create a core consortium that includes no less than a high school, community college and a business or industry. The purpose of the consortia is 1) to prepare student for a full range of postsecondary options, including two-year and four-year college, apprenticeship, military and formal employment training; 2) to connect academic and technical curriculum grounded in academic and industry standards; 3) to provide innovative strategies for ensuring student access to career choices, as well as opportunities for work-based learning and dual enrollment in related postsecondary education courses; and 4) to support workforce, education and economic needs of Wyoming.
The submitted proposals must focus on systemic development of career clusters, career pathways, career guidance, course sequencing, integration and curriculum alignment. The project must lead students from all education levels to the workforce, certificate, credential, or college in critical areas of Wyoming economic and workforce need.
CTE-Related Graduation Requirements Summary: According to the Education Commission of the States, Wyoming students must choose between CTE and another course option to meet graduation requirements.
Career Academies
Secondary school districts in Wyoming are beginning to plan and implement career academies.
Role of Career Clusters
Wyoming has adopted sixteen Career Clusters as defined by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium and the U.S. Department of Education. The following Career Clusters are being used as CTE Programs of Study for Wyoming:
- Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
- Architecture and Construction
- Arts, AV Technology and Communication
- Business Management and Administration
- Education and Training
- Finance
- Government and Public Administration
- Health Science
- Hospitality and Tourism
- Human Services
- Information Technology
- Law, Public Safety and Security
- Manufacturing
- Marketing, Sales and Service
- Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
- Transportation, Distribution and Logistics
Using the sixteen career clusters as programs of study, the WDE is promoting a broad-based approach to CTE. Industry and workplace knowledge and skills are taught in grades 9-10, pathway specific knowledge and skills in grades 10-12, and occupational specialties at the postsecondary level.
In 2006, the Wyoming Department of Education, in collaboration with the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, the Wyoming Business Council, the University of Wyoming and Wyoming Community College Commission, developed a Career Cluster Guide book set that defines the model for CTE in Wyoming. These guides help students identify technical coursework which aligns with postsecondary education and employment goals. Also, the guides provide examples of high school coursework and college-level programs which must be completed for the students to realize their career aspirations.
Academic & CTE Integration
The predominate methodology for instruction in academic integration consists of identification of the math and language arts competencies within the existing CTE curriculum, with enhanced emphasis on the quality instruction of those competencies. Various overlay programs like “Reading across the Curriculum” are well established within Wyoming’s schools as a result of the efforts to improve instruction and accountability for academic measures.
In addition, integration with other core areas will be monitored. Technical skill competencies that are developed for the Perkins assessment will be cross-walked with Wyoming’s core area standards.
Academic integration, particularly the integration of mathematics and language arts skills into the CTE curriculum, will continue to be an emphasis of professional development in Wyoming.
Secondary/Postsecondary Linkages
Career Programs of Study have been developed for each of the sixteen clusters. Sample courses have been included in the matrixes that include CTE and academic content. These Programs of Study were developed by the Wyoming Department of Education in a format that can be modified by the local district to include their specific courses and options. Challenging academic standards are a part of each Career Program of Study.
The Career Programs of Study, as well as the state course reporting process, encourage and track articulated courses. The Secondary Classification for Exchange of Data (SCED) system from the National Center for Education Statistics is being phased in for a variety of reasons, including an improvement in the articulation process. Future development of Career Programs of Study will include transitions to postsecondary through improvement of the articulation agreement process, and development of common criteria for adjunct faculty. All Programs of Study lead to certification, or an associate or baccalaureate degree as indicated by the matrixes in the Career Cluster Guide publications.
Currently, a regional concept with a wide variety of implementation exists for Wyoming’s community colleges. However, for the purposes of articulation agreements and dual enrollment credits, the Wyoming Department of Education anticipates development of a statewide system and policies to provide uniformity in the process and the outcome. This will be accomplished through the development of common language and templates, professional development and providing venues for demonstration of promising practices.
The Wyoming Department of Education has chosen to merge Tech Prep funds into the Basic State Grant. However, as a requirement of the transition plan, postsecondary institutions (in consultation with, or collaboratively with the Wyoming Department of Education and the Wyoming Community College Commission) will be tasked with the development of programs of study according to the “Tech Prep” model.
This objective will be accomplished through the alignment of Program of Study models between secondary and postsecondary and the development of “linking courses.” These linking courses will be offered by a college instructor for dual enrollment credit or by a high school teacher through an articulation agreement and will be made available to all secondary schools that offer the same Program of Study statewide through articulation agreements. Postsecondary institutions will collaborate in the development of at least one “linking” course for each Program of Study.
Career Guidance & Advisement
Programs of Study will be the emphasis of career counseling, and Career Program of Study templates are available on the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) and Wyoming Department of Workforce Services Web sites.
All eighth-graders in Wyoming are required to experience a five-hour unit of study focused on career awareness and development and to create a Career Plan as part of Wyoming’s Hathaway Scholarship Program. The WDE is currently using the Wyoming Career Cluster Guides and the “American Careers Planner” publication in the eighth grade as the basis for this career unit of study, and through this, all students are made aware of Programs of Study.
The WDE, as a part of the Hathaway Scholarship program, conducts regional training for guidance personnel statewide to acquaint them with the use of the Career Cluster Guides and career publications. The WDE plans to enhance career guidance efforts by additional training in the use of these materials by secondary and postsecondary institutions.
Efforts are underway to increase the role of the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services (DWS) in career counseling. These include DWS participation in the development of the Career Cluster Guides, development of a Career Cluster Web site, and a Request for Proposal issued in 2006 for secondary schools to cooperate with the DWS “Workforce Service Center” personnel in career counseling initiatives. Efforts are underway through the University of Wyoming to create the “Wyoming Futures” Web portal to standardize the career guidance process.
Technical Skills Assessments
Wyoming uses the Wyoming Career and Technical Assessment (WyCTA) to monitor the skill proficiency of CTE concentrators. This is a state-developed instrument that assesses students’ work readiness skills. Assessment tasks are locally determined, but the state developed a set of testing rubrics, instructions, and sample prompts that instructors consult when administering exams. The following areas are measured: Applied Communication, Applied Math, Affective and Thinking Skills, Technology, Pre-Employability, and Employability.
The Wyoming Department of Education is developing technical skills assessments to assure a degree of comparability and consistency of learning across regions of the state within each career cluster. The technical skill competencies will include those needed for current and emerging employment opportunities as well as entrepreneurship.
Business & Industry Involvement
Business and industry representatives serve on an advisory committee to provide input into the development of a statewide technical skills assessment.
Educator Development
Wyoming will work in concert with the Professional Teaching Standards Board (PTSB), school districts, higher education, government agencies and Department of Education (WDE) staff to create a comprehensive and continuous program of professional development for CTE educators. Procedures will be developed to allow teachers to transition to high skill, high wage, and high demand instructional areas, not only from a standpoint of development of technical skills but also from the standpoint of certification.
To accomplish a continuous program of professional development, WDE will create a statewide advisory council that will meet no less than twice per year to assist the WDE with development and implementation of professional development in Wyoming. The advisory council will provide its recommendations for professional development to the WDE on an annual basis. Professional development programs will be promoted via the WDE Web site so all agencies, educators, and people outside the system can access what is offered on an annual basis.
The statewide advisory council for professional development will create and implement professional development programs within the following areas: career guidance; integration of core and CTE; CTE/core content pedagogy within programs of study; statewide articulation; alignment of curriculum between secondary and postsecondary; entrepreneurship; and literacy and externships for teachers to gain knowledge and skills within industry/business.
WDE will also develop new procedures to update both secondary and postsecondary teacher skills through demonstration and sharing of best practices, appropriate professional development, apprenticeships for teachers, internships and advisory committees. Much of the training for these new procedures will be delivered during conferences such as the annual CTE conference and the semi-annual School Improvement Conference.
Emphasis will be placed on professional development for secondary and postsecondary instructors to facilitate improved instruction aligned with the competencies within the programs of study; and on reaching students with various learning styles and effective use of project based instruction.
Recently the University of Wyoming instituted an Industrial Technology teacher training partnership with Casper College on the Casper Campus. The need for teacher certification programs could be met with similar programs at Wyoming’s community colleges in the other CTE endorsement areas.
Part 4: Results
Coming Soon!
This state profile was developed by the Association of Career and Technical Education with the assistance of the Meeder Consulting Group, LLC. If you need further information or more specific details, please contact ACTE. Customized reports can be developed on specific topics or entities.
Last Updated 7/18/08
