Happy Spring Everyone!

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Happy Spring Everyone!

It’s great to start feeling the winter thaw, but that also means getting ready for the work ahead this year. These are exciting times with the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century (Perkins V) Act reauthorized by Congress and renewed interest in Career and Technical Education in our country.

As all veteran educators know the pendulum always shifts and now it is swinging towards practical and career preparation again. Sure, it’s time to celebrate, however we need to roll up our sleeves to help build capacity of our Workforce Development infrastructure to fill the labor needs of today and the future. We need to be cognizant not to miss a generational opportunity the shape Technical Training for the next hundred years, just as Taylorism helped to usher in the Technological Revolution in the early 20th Century.

To spread the news of the changing face of Career and Technical Education, the Illinois Association of Career and Technical Education (IACTE) has embarked on a bold strategic plan to:

  • develop a proactive legislative agenda
  • expand our professional development
  • better engage our membership at the local level

The task is not easy. It means bringing all stakeholders and community interests together to build education infrastructures that will carry us forward into the next century.

In the following months, we will be reading about the different activities our national association is part of. Take some time in this season of rebirth to look for opportunities our organization can offer you. When I was a Chicago State University CTE undergraduate student 17 years ago, my Professor Dr. Rathnau made sure to make the point that if I want to see change, then I need to get off the sidelines and participate in a professional organization. I listened to his wise advice and now I am here, for that I am grateful.

Don’t forget the ACTE Region III Conference in Lisle, Illinois June 12-14, 2019, a chance to network with professionals from 6 states to learn what is new and exciting with CTE in the Midwest.

See you there…