ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) announces today a partnership with the Home Builders Institute (HBI) and Habitat for Humanity Las Vegas to host the Association’s first-ever Day of Service on Saturday, December 4, at ACTE’s Annual Convention and Career Tech Expo. During the Day of Service, career and technical educators will utilize their technical skills to build homes for needy families in Clark County.

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) announces that Ian Jones from Willingboro, New Jersey, has won the 2011 Career and Technical Education Month Logo Design Contest. Jones will receive a check for $250, and the logo will be used to promote the 2011 CTE Month theme, CTE: Learning Today, Earning Tomorrow. ACTE received 85 entries for this year’s contest.

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) announces the 2011 Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month theme: CTE: Learning Today, Earning Tomorrow. CTE Month is a celebration of CTE that occurs each February. ACTE is looking for a student-designed logo that illustrates how students learning CTE today will be successful in the future. The contest is open to all CTE students. The designer of the winning CTE Month logo will receive a check for $250.

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) has launched a strategic partnership with Worldwide Interactive Network (WIN) that will help educators analyze workforce and economic data to better align education and training with future labor-market needs. The partnership will kick-off with introductory and feedback sessions being held at the ACTE Region V conference in Anchorage, Alaska.

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) today released a paper titled “What Is ‘Career Ready’?” that outlines three broad sets of skills students need to be career-ready: core academic skills, employability skills and technical skills. ACTE created the paper to broaden the national discussion around the term "career readiness."

Recently, the Obama Administration and groups like the National Governors Association, Council of Chief State School Officers and other national and state policymakers have discussed the importance of high schools preparing students to be “college- and career-ready.” However, the discussion has mostly centered on college readiness, with little focus on actual career readiness. The question remains, “What does it mean to be career-ready?”

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) today announced Jessica Newbold of South Jordan, Utah, as secondary category winner, and Deanna Prufert of Moore, Oklahoma, as postsecondary category winner for the 2010 Cliff Weiss Memorial Essay Contest. The winners wrote essays on the topic, “How Is CTE an Investment in Your Future?” ACTE received 177 entries, and each of the winners will receive an award of $250. The essays will be published in the September issue of Techniques magazine.

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) announced today the election results for new members of the organization’s Board of Directors who will take office on July 1, 2010 and July 1, 2011. The new Board members were elected by members of the Association during its annual election.

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), the largest national education association dedicated to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for careers, agrees with President Barack Obama that a world-class education is a prerequisite for success, and is pleased that the president has initiated a proactive “Blueprint for Reform” to improve and reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) today announced Mark D. Threeton, Ph.D., a professor at Pennsylvania State University in the workforce education and development program, as this year’s NIOSH School Lab Safety Award recipient. The ACTE and NIOSH Safety Award is given to a teacher or professor who promotes occupational safety and health in school laboratories.

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) today announced Rep. George Miller (D-CA) as the 2010 Policymaker of the Year (POY) and Sen. Edward Kennedy with a Special Lifetime Achievement Award. The POY award is presented annually by the ACTE Board of Directors to nationally-recognized policymakers who have made significant impacts on policy related to career and technical education (CTE) during the past year or extended career of public service. ACTE is recognizing Kennedy’s advocacy and his numerous contributions to CTE during his Senate career.

ALEXANDRIA, VA—On Tuesday, March 9, the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Foundation will host an awards luncheon to announce Siemens Industry Inc., Building Technologies Division as the National Business Advocate of the Year, and State Farm President & CEO Edward Rust as National Business Leader of the Year. The awards recognize a company and business leader that have worked to improve education, especially career and technical education, in the United States. The CTE Foundation will present the awards at the Leadership Awards Luncheon during the Association for Career and Technical Education’s (ACTE) National Policy Seminar from 12:00 p.m.-1:30 p.m. at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia. Press is invited to attend, and the deadline to reserve a seat is March 3.