Attention Techniques readers: To provide a more pleasurable reading experience, we have switched online production of our award-winning magazine to an e-book format. Clicking the links below will take you to the article in an interactive product much more like reading a magazine. If you prefer to read the whole magazine or wish to leaf through the pages, click here. For your comfort, we have also included the PDF files below. Questions or comments? Visit the forums and sound off! Techniques Theme—A Global Look at CTE
Assessing the Value of Education
The issue of assessment in U.S. education is one that is wrought with conflict because there are many kinds of assessments being used—in various configurations—from district to district and state to state. Contributing writer Susan Reese looks at various assessments, including those being used in career and technical education classrooms, and the value of the information they provide about student outcomes. (PDF) Raising the Bar: Technical Assessments
for Secondary CTE Programs
Perkins IV brought new attention to the issue of technical-skill attainment. Kim Green and Erin Uy of the National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education Consortium note that secondary CTE has the greatest gap to close when it comes to measuring technical-skill attainment; they review several options for assessing students' technical skills as the CTE community works toward a collaborative solution. (PDF) Improving Technical Competence:
How the CTE Community Is Responding
The National Occupational Competency Testing Institute's John C. Foster notes that there is a growing sophistication on the part of schools and states across the country in their understanding of data and its effective use in program improvement. He takes a look at how some states are changing their assessment strategies to improve students' technical competence. (PDF) Survey Delves Into Educators' Use of Assessment Data
A recent survey administered by the Pennsylvania State University Survey Research Center (commissioned by the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute) sought to answer important questions: How are secondary CTE educators using technical-assessment data to improve programming? How have they learned to make use of the data? What types of professional development have they received, if any, to aid in this endeavor? This article looks at the findings. (PDF) Techniques Features
Career Academies as Instruments
of School Reform and Change
For
many, today's classroom is a relic of an industrial-age school system
that, perhaps, has outlived its usefulness. Educator Joel Blomenkamp
suggests that the career academy model is one way to enter a new age of
education and learning—one in which students are excited about the
acquisition of knowledge because they are learning in a dynamic
environment that fosters both academic and technical-skill competency. (PDF) Sustainability: The Next 21-century Workplace Skill
At Virginia Beach Public Schools, the three pillars of sustainability—environmental, economical and social—are very much ont he minds of educators and administrators. It is so much that the school system has
selected sustainability as one of its 21-century skills—one that all
68,751 students in the system must learn. (PDF) Techniques Departments
Leading Edge—November/December 2009 (PDF) Classroom Connection—November/December 2009 (PDF) Leadership Matters—November/December 2009 (PDF) Capitol View—November/December 2009 (PDF) Q & A—November/December 2009 (PDF) Research Report—November/December 2009 (PDF) Inside ACTE—November/December 2009 (PDF) Career Curve—November/December 2009 (PDF) E-Connect—November/December 2009 (PDF) |