Massachusetts
New Skills for Youth
Grant Application
Phase I Submitted
March 2, 2016
Table of Contents
Overview………………………………………………………………………………………
1
Narrative Section 1: State Background, Project Goals, and Objectives………………………
2
Narrative Section 2: Commitment and Capacity of Cross-Sector Team……………………...
6
Narrative Section 3: Intensive, Diagnostic Needs Assessment………………………………..
7
Narrative Section 4: Collection of Data on Defined Set of Indicators………………………...
7
Narrative Section 5: Development of Career Readiness Action Plan…………………………
9
Narrative Section 6: Prior and On-Going Work………………………………………………
12
Supporting Documents………………………………………………………………………...
13
I.
II.
III.
Budget Proposal
Letters of Support (not included in this copy)
Memorandum of Understanding (alphabetical by last name)
Appendices………………………………………………………………………………….…
A.
Dual and Concurrent Enrollment Advisory Group
B.
Career Vocational Technical Education Program List
C.
Career Development Education Tool
D.
Career Vocational Technical Education Credentials
E.
Cross-Sector State Leadership Team Biographies
F.
Career Development Education Metrics and Targets
G.
Elementary and Secondary – Higher Education Data Sharing MOU
H.
Career Vocational Technical Education Program Quality Assessment
45
Overview
There is an emerging consensus across the country and here in Massachusetts that academic proficiency alone is no
longer enough to prepare students for success in the 21 st century economy. Increasingly, educators, policy makers and
citizens agree that all students need career preparation, integrated with rigorous academic preparation, to be ready for
success after high school. Consistent with this understanding, Massachusetts has been deeply engaged in a multifaceted effort to expand and enhance ways students are offered and receive career preparation. 1 The obsolete notion
that students are either going on to college or a career after high school has long past. We must prepare all students to
be ready for both. The failure to integrate college and career readiness in our public schools will result in more
students being unprepared to successfully navigate the demands of the workplace, while continuing to accrue a
mountain of debt. Further, there is a deep awareness of the skills gap that exists in the state’s labor market, the needs
of workers to secure a family-sustaining wage, and the struggles of employers to fill high skill, high demand
vacancies to ensure the competitiveness of Massachusetts in the larger economy. These challenges must be met with
a transformational approach to programs and policies that offer students meaningful career preparation.
The New Skills for Youth (NSFY) initiative arrives at an opportune time for Massachusetts. Governor Charlie Baker
has recently made the expansion of career pathways and vocational education a major priority of his administration.
On February 26, 2015, Governor Baker signed an Executive Order creating the “Workforce Skills Cabinet”,
comprised of three of the Commonwealth’s eight Cabinet Secretaries- Secretary of Education James Peyser,
Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Ronald Walker II, and Secretary of Housing and Economic
Development Jay Ash. These three Secretaries meet twice a month to align and coordinate the work of their
respective agencies, and recently announced a series of new initiatives to support career and technical education,
including $83.5 million proposed between the Governor’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 budget recommendation and new
capital grant funding filed in an economic development bill. With this leadership and commitment, and our state and
country at an economic crossroads, Massachusetts now more than ever has a real opportunity for the system change
envisioned by NSFY. We envision the creation of a substantial and scalable system in the state that expands
opportunities for all of our students to complete career pathways leading to postsecondary degrees and/or industry
recognized credentials with real currency in the labor market.
With NSFY funding, we anticipate that these resources, both at the planning and implementation stages, will enable
the state to accelerate our career preparation work, incorporate key ingredients not now in active development, and
grow capacity to deliver a comprehensive career preparation system scaled up for all students.
The Massachusetts Context: In June 2012, the Integrating College and Career Readiness Task Force (the Task
Force), convened by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), issued a final report, titled
From Cradle to Career: Educating Our Students for Lifelong Success. The Task Force, composed of leading
educators, employers, academic, and labor experts, called for a renewed focus on career readiness to better prepare
all students for success beyond high school and to produce a more college and career ready workforce ca pable of
driving future growth in the Massachusetts economy. To achieve these goals, the Task Force developed twenty-one
recommendations and called for the creation of a comprehensive statewide system comprised of structured, aligned,
and strategic partnerships to support students’ “fluid movement” through elementary, secondary, and higher
education into successful careers.
The Task Force work led to a more comprehensive definition of college and career readiness in Massachusetts, which
was adopted by both the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Board of Higher Education. The
definition established that all students should have “the requisite knowledge, skills, and experiences in the academic,
workplace readiness, and personal/social domains to successfully navigate to completion an economically viable
career pathway in a 21st century economy.” This definition is grounded in a fundamental notion of selfdetermination, and anchored in the expectation that every student will be supported in the development of a
personalized and student-centered pathway.2
1
See From Cradle to Career: Educating Our Students for Lifelong Success, Report of the Integrating College and
Career Readiness Task Force, June 2012.
2
See, for example, Massachusetts Guide for Implementing Individual Learning Plans (ILP) ; Solberg, V. S., Wills,
J., Redmond, K., & Skaff, L. (2014). Use of Individualized Learning Plans: A Promising Practice for Driving
College and Career Readiness Efforts. Retrieved from National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability website:
http://www.ncwd-youth.info/use-of-individualized-learning-plans; Test, D.W., Fowler, C.H., & Kohler, P. (2013).
1, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
There are three major initiatives that drive the Massachusetts career preparation landscape that are particularly
critical to our current and proposed efforts:
The Career Vocational Technical Education System: Massachusetts has a highly regarded Career Vocational
Technical Education (CVTE) system, which is a cornerstone for the plans we put forth in this proposal. CVTE
programs are governed either by MA General Law Chapter 74, or the federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical
Education Law (the Perkins Act). The students enrolled in our CVTE programs participate in a well -designed
sequence of experiences and courses that constitutes the kind of career pathway envisioned in the NSFY RFP.
Approximately 60,000 high school students, a little over 20% of the total, are currently enrolled in CVTE programs .
School-to-Career Connecting Activities: The Massachusetts initiative known as Connecting Activities (CA), launched in
1998 and led by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE), is a state funded system
linking education, business, and workforce development partners throughout the state to provide career development
education (CDE) opportunities for students. The sixteen local Workforce Development Boards (WDB) work in partnership
with local district/schools to prepare and place students in career awareness, exploration and immersion (internship)
activities while recruiting employers to sponsor these CDE opportunities. Over its 18 year history, Connecting Activities
has provided an average of 15,000 students per year with work-based learning experiences that support their preparation
for college and career. An average of 6,000 employers have sponsored work-based learning experiences each year. Over
half of the state’s 393 high schools participate in CA, offering students CDE opportunities.
Early College Models: There is an ongoing and significant effort to expand access to early college career pathways
for students. The Massachusetts Landscape of Early College describes the entire spectrum of early college models
implemented throughout the Commonwealth. Early college programs offer all students, and especially first
generation and underrepresented students, the opportunity to engage in college-level work, develop a deeper
understanding of the college experience, and envision themselves as college students. Closely aligned with this
work, the Department of Higher Education (DHE) has recently convened a Dual and Concurrent Enrollment
Advisory Group (DCEAG) to help develop a policy framework for the state that will allow students greater access to
dual and concurrent enrollment opportunities by addressing scalability, sustainability, transferability, and equity (see
Appendix A).
Narrative Section 1: State Background, Project Goals, and Objectives
The Commonwealth has ambitious goals for the NSFY initiative, which dovetail with our ongoing efforts to create a
comprehensive and integrated approach to college and career readiness for all students. Through this initiative, the
Commonwealth intends to expand access to career pathways and career development education for all students,
leading to postsecondary degrees and/or industry recognized credentials that have value in the labor market. This
section addresses our state goals and related work for each of the initiative’s six objectives.
Key Objective 1: Demand Driven and Employer Led Processes
Massachusetts is focused on the creation of a systemic and sustainable process to identify high skill, high demand
industry sectors. This process will guide the state’s career pathway design, ensuring that decisions are driven by
employers and based on labor market information (LMI). We envision a system that has a permanent place in our
education domain, replacing the current sporadic use of LMI reports with an ongoing, dynamic research -based
approach. There are a number of current efforts that will support improvements in this area, including:
 A presentation of national, state, and sub-state LMI data from national databases, including Bureau of
Labor Statistics, by the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development on its website.
 Data that the Governor’s Workforce Skills Cabinet is collecting to address skill gaps across the state.
 Using federal State Longitudinal Data System grant funds to build analytic tools that connect data on
educational attainment with data on future earnings.
 New regulatory requirements that districts seeking approval for a new CVTE program provide LMI to
support their application.
 Continuing development of early college career pathways in industry sectors identified by regional WDB
based upon regional LMI.
 ESE’s new Labor Market Information Primer and related training to support educators’ analysis of LMI.
 Efforts in the state to address new requirements in the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
concerning use of LMI to inform programming.
2, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
These tools and practices offer a promising start, but NSFY will help to institutionalize and formalize processes to
ensure that these tools are used to align career development programming to high skill, high demand industries. To
accomplish our goal, we will need to create a permanent method of generating LMI data, with the support and input
of LMI data experts and the Massachusetts employer community.
Key Objective 2: Rigor and Quality in Career Pathways for All
Currently, Massachusetts has a number of career pathway programs for students enrolled in CVTE programs and for
those students in academic and comprehensive high schools who are not pursuing a technical specialty through
CVTE. Career pathways have been defined as programs that provide an organized scope and sequence of academic,
technical/technological, and work-based learning experiences through which students achieve high academic
standards while exploring career choices. These pathways continue to grow at the local level.
The Massachusetts CVTE system provides students with a rigorous academic course of study, technical skills, workbased learning experiences, career planning, and industry recognized credentials. The quality of CVTE programs is
enhanced by the Vocational Technical Education Frameworks, which delineate the knowledge and skills standards,
spanning all aspects of industry, to be taught in each of the 44 individual program areas (see Appendix B). These
Frameworks were developed by teams of technical and academic teachers, as well as representatives of business,
industry, and postsecondary education. 3 As demonstrated by the wait lists for many programs, there is high demand
for access to CVTE programming in the state. Funding through the NSFY initiative will allow the Commonwealth
to plan an incentive grant process to promote the creation and/or scaling of innovative models for expanding access,
particularly for underserved populations.
ESE also recognizes that CVTE programs should be driven by and aligned with state and local labor market needs,
as well as student interest. In recognition of the importance of that alignment, the BESE approved revisions to the
Vocational Technical Education regulations, effective March 27, 2015 that improve quality by requiring applicants
to provide clear evidence of secondary student and labor market demand as a condition for approval of new Chapter
74 programs.4 At the statewide planning level, the Workforce Skills Cabinet is aligning plans across the Secretariats,
so that CVTE and higher education expansion plans draw from the regional and statewide plans required by the
Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act (WIOA), and the WIOA plan is in turn aligned with the
Commonwealth’s Economic Development Plan.
For students not enrolled in CVTE programs, there also exist locally-developed career pathways, including those
using early college models. Additionally, Massachusetts has developed models for offering career pathways through
career development education (CDE) at many high schools. CDE offers students a framework for gaining the
knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary to prepare for a wide range of careers. Our CDE model is based on
three stages of career development: awareness, exploration and immersion. In a recent video produced by ESE, called
“Preparing Massachusetts Students for Successful Careers,” Commissioner Mitchell Chester describes the
importance of career preparation, and especially career immersion, for students’ future success, citing Connecting
Activities as a key system for delivery of this. Many schools have one or two but not all three elements of CDE, and
typically the programs they do have are only available to some students. The Connecting Activities initiative offers
professional development and technical assistance to help schools and districts continually expand and improve
these efforts.5 (See Appendix C for a CA tool used to assess the scale of CDE at partner high schools.)
As previously noted, Governor Baker has made the expansion of career pathways and vocational education a
priority. His recent FY17 budget proposal and related plans include:
3
The Frameworks were also vetted by the Program Advisory Committees (PACs) established for all programs in
every district throughout the commonwealth. This engagement of business in defining the essential skills to be
taught in each program contributes to the success of the CVTE programs. These PACs work with district staff on an
ongoing basis to ensure that programs remain current in both content and equipment. The Frameworks also provided
the foundation for the establishment of state-wide articulation agreements between all state-approved CVTE
programs and all Massachusetts community colleges.
4
Whereas the previous language of the regulation called for demonstration of the labor market outlook for the
program, the regulation now requires that the applicant provide “clear evidence of…labor market demand...”
5
See the CDE Guide and Glossary from more information.
3, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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$75 million over five years: new capital authorization to fund grants for equipment to expand and improve
career technical education programs, building on a new $9.2 million Skills Capital grant program launched
in FY16.
$7.5 million: work-based learning grants, including nearly doubling support for school-to-career
Connecting Activities to $5.5 million, and doubling support for Dual Enrollment to $2 million, to expand
and replicate STEM-focused early college career pathways.
$1 million: new Career Technical Partnership Grants, funded through federal Perkins Act grants, to
strengthen relationships between vocational schools, comprehensive high schools, and employers.
Key Objective 3: Career-Focused Accountability Systems
Massachusetts is now poised to enhance its accountability system by considering incentives for districts to expand
the structures and systems in place for student career preparation. This would be a significant new direction for the
state, requiring thoughtful design. Massachusetts is a “local control” state and as a general rule, there are very few
graduation requirements that have been imposed on districts by the Commonwealth. One critical requirement for
graduation is student competency in English language arts, mathematics, and, more recently, science.6 Students are
required to pass the standards-based high stakes tests to earn their diploma. That accountability system anchors our
college and career readiness work, and provides a guarantee that a high school diploma represents at least a
minimum degree of competency in these key academic areas. Several years ago, the state modified its accountability
system to address the importance of ensuring that students complete high school, by adding new elements to its
accountability formula relating to graduation and dropout rates, contributing to improvements in those areas.
In the context of NSFY, Massachusetts would use the planning and implementation periods to develop, test, and pilot
a new enhancement to our accountability system – the use of bonus points to reward districts using a robust set of
career-focused indicators, such as a specified number/percent of students achieving certain key career readiness
outcomes (e.g., completion of a career pathway by graduation). Massachusetts will closely study related systems that
have been adopted in other states (e.g. Kentucky and Georgia) and will investigate the challenges and impact of
incorporating these bonus points into our accountability system. Additionally, we envision adapting our public data
reporting to publicize positive student outcomes related to career pathways. Our data reporting system has been
continuously improved to ensure that the data received by the state is made available to all stakeholders; presenting
data showing student outcomes with respect to career pathways will be an important result of the NSFY work.
ESE seeks to offer districts a system for measuring their progress with respect to numbers of students participating
in career development activities and to incentivize that progress. Essential to these accountability reforms will be a
parallel effort to develop enhanced data collection methods. There are a number of structures already in place that
will support the collection of additional CDE data:
 The existence of CVTE accountability measures for Perkins and state funding that are data-driven.
 The Governor’s new policy priority around career pathway development relating to high skill, high need
sectors of the economy, focusing on the expansion of CVTE and greater access for students.
 Massachusetts’ receipt of a $7 million federal State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) grant, which
includes data analysis to examine students’ postsecondary outcomes and income after high school.
 The new focus in the state’s Connecting Activities initiative on our high schools’ career development
education systems, including the Connecting Activities internal accountability system, which has driven
growth and quality improvement for many years.
 New performance measures under development by ESE’s CVTE unit, including metrics around the use of
LMI to address program viability and better measures of the quality of program delivery.

E SE’s Car ee r Develo p me nt E d uca tio n G uid e , which is widely used to support the expansion of
students’ career preparation. ESE intends to update the Guide in FY17 to enhance the definitions of certain
career development activities, making it easier to track these activities in ESE’s existing data collection
processes.
Key Objective 4: Scaled Pathways that Culminate in Credentials
Through the NSFY initiative, the Commonwealth intends to expand access to career pathways and career
development education for all students. The state’s CVTE programming already offers a number of credentialing
6
In addition to passing the high stakes test referred to as the “MCAS,” Massachusetts only requires civics education
and physical education, with details about that to be determined by the districts.
4, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
opportunities. Students enrolled in CVTE programs are able to access articulated credit toward associate’s degrees
through statewide articulation agreements with all of the Commonwealth’s community colleges in 14 program areas.
Many CVTE students also have the opportunity to attain industry-recognized credentials, as well as significant
credit toward professional licensure (see Appendix D). These students also have access to high quality work-based
learning through cooperative education, internships, clinical placements, and outside construction projects, as well
as the industry simulated experiences provided in-school, such as restaurants, banks, and IT help desk services.
While these CVTE programs can be strengthened and expanded where they now exist, the larger challenge is
extending career education, early college programming, and access to credential attainment to all secondary students
in the Commonwealth. Through this grant opportunity, ESE plans to increase the number of quality CVTE programs
offered at our comprehensive high schools and to encourage high schools without formal CVTE programming to
add opportunities for technical skill development.
ESE supports efforts to include career development planning into the work of guidance staff. ESE is collaborating
with the Massachusetts School Counselors Association (MASCA) to develop an updated framework for counselors,
called Massachusetts Model for Comprehensive School Counseling 2.0, which will include a suite of electronic
tools/resources to promote career development education. ESE also seeks to increase the number of districts utilizing
Individual Learning Plans (ILPs), which offer students ownership over their college and career planning.
Massachusetts aims to expand the number and type of credentials attained by secondary students, particularly those
not in traditional CVTE programs. Some districts have been approved as CISCO academies. Others offer ProStart
and Adobe certifications. Through the needs analysis and asset mapping conducted as part of this grant, ESE will
acquire better data on the breadth of current offerings and opportunities for expansion.
ESE also plans to expand the Connecting Activities effort to offer high quality work-based learning experiences to
more students, often their first job and first chance to deeply explore a career interest. These experiences emphasize
skill gain in “Foundation” skills, elsewhere often called “soft” skills, which are universal to all careers.
Massachusetts uses a well-designed assessment tool called the MA Work-Based Learning Plan, in use for about 15
years, which enables staff to assess student skill gain in the areas of professionalism, communications, teamwork,
and other 21st century skills. Employers frequently identify these as the most important for students. We also
encourage methods of credentialing work readiness based on acquisition of Foundation skills. 7
Additionally, most high schools in Massachusetts offer some form of early college programming that supports
college credit accumulation through initiatives such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and
articulated coursework. Massachusetts high schools also collaborate with higher education institutions to provide
college courses in which students earn both high school and college credit (dual enrollment). As mentioned earlier,
the Department of Higher Education (DHE) is currently convening the Dual and Concurrent Enrollment Advisory
Group (DCEAG) to help develop a policy framework that will allow students greater access to dual and concurrent
enrollment opportunities in the Commonwealth.
Key Objective 5: Align State and Federal Funding Streams
ESE seeks to ensure that funding streams from federal and state sources are aligned, so that we can efficiently scale
up the quality and extent of career preparation for all students. This goal reflects our larger vision of enhancing
intra- and inter-agency coordination to support the development of a well-designed system of career pathways and
early college models. The funding streams that we will continue to align and coordinate include:
 Federal Perkins funding and State funding for CVTE, both through “Chapter 74” funding and any new
CVTE funding that would result from the Governor’s FY17 budget, as approved by the legislature.
 Increased state funding for early college and dual enrollment and for career readiness activities that are
brokered through Connecting Activities, also expanded in Governor’s budget for FY17.
 Special Education funding for “Transition” work for students with disabilities.
7
Many regions in the state are already offering industry-recognized credentials for career readiness based upon
students’ successful completion of a significant work-based learning experience. For example, employers in Western
Massachusetts are partners in the development of this kind of credential, which has been an initiative of the
Berkshire Workforce Development Board CA initiative. This will form part of our career pathway system.
5, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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Federal funding for the new State Longitudinal Data System (“SLDS”), which will track student
postsecondary education and wage outcomes.
State funding for youth employment experiences (i.e.“YouthWorks” program)
Federal funding through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act for youth services.
State funding for Community Colleges and Adult Basic Education programs.
State and capital bond funding for economic development grants.
The substantial funding now pending in the Governor’s FY17 budget, coupled with a new capital grant program for
vocational equipment, will be part of this alignment effort. In addition, the Workforce Skills Cabinet will continue to
align funding to meet Governor Baker’s priority to expand CVTE, building on the FY16 consolidation of separate
grant programs that had been administered by different Secretariats, but were both funding equipment grants to the
same CVTE programs. NSFY funding will support efforts like this, focusing multiple funding streams more
effectively toward the common goal of expanding career-focused programs.
Key Objective 6: Ensure Cross-Institutional Alignment
ESE’s commitment to cross institutional alignment is evident through the implementation of a number of key
initiatives, including collaboration between secondary and postsecondary education to provide college credit through
articulation agreements, early college models, and work that allows secondary schools to provide credit toward
apprenticeship programs. Additional collaboration with business and industry has resulted in an expansion of the
credentials available for students. One example is the work being done through the Manufacturing Advancement
Center Workforce Innovation Collaborative (MACWIC), a partnership between manufacturers and education
providers. MACWIC representatives worked in collaboration with the team revising the Machine Tool Vocational
Technical Education Framework to ensure alignment with the Applied Manufacturing Technology Pathway
Certification they developed. MACWIC also provides curriculum to schools to support student acquisition of the
skills required to attain the certification.
While there have been significant achievements through existing relationships, there is opportunity for strengthening
and expanding such collaboration. In recognition of the importance of increasing collaboration among educat ional
institutions –both secondary and postsecondary –and the workforce development system, the Governor has
established a Workforce Skills Cabinet. The Governor’s Workforce Skills Cabinet was created by executive order
on February 25, 2015 to align education, workforce, and economic development strategies across the state. Governor
Baker tapped Education Secretary James Peyser, Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Ronald Walker II, and
Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash, who have been engaging with business leaders and
educators around the state to find ways to create partnerships between the employer community, the state workforce
system, and education sector in order to increase job opportunities and appropriate training and education here.
Narrative Section 2: Commitment and Capacity of Cross-Sector Team
As reflected in the attached Memoranda of Understanding (see supporting documents), Massachusetts has
constituted a powerful, cross-sector team, with members from three Cabinet Secretaries, K-12, higher education,
school district leadership, workforce development and business and industry. Led by the Commissioner of
Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell Chester, and facilitated by Deputy Commissioner, Jeff Wulfson, the
state team will include:
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Deputy Commissioner Jeff Wulfson and Acting Associate Commissioner Keith Westrich.
The three Secretaries from the Governor’s administration who together lead the state’s Workforce Skills
Cabinet: Secretary of Education James Peyser; Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Ronald
Walker II; and Secretary of Housing and Workforce Development Jay Ash.
Superintendents from four districts plus a School Committee member: Superintendent Richard Rege,
Chicopee Public Schools; Superintendent Andre Ravenelle, Fitchburg Public Schools; Superintendent Sheila
Harrity, Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School District; Superintendent Robert Dutch, Upper
Cape Cod Regional Technical School District and President Elect, Massachusetts Association of Vocational
Administrators (MAVA); and Alice DeLuca, Parent and School Committee member from Minuteman
Regional Vocational Technical School District.
Significant state business and industry leaders from a range of high skill, high demand industries: Nicholas
Fintrilakis from MassMutual Life; Dr. Deborah Harmon Hines from University of Massachusetts Medical
6, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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School; Susan Mailman, CEO, Coghlin Electric; and Mark Erlich, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, New
England Regional Council of Carpenters.
Key representatives of higher education: Dr. Carlos Santiago, Commissioner, MA Department of Higher
Education; Pam Eddinger, President, Bunker Hill Community College; Javier Cevallos, President,
Framingham State University and Incoming Chair of State University Council of Presidents.
Leaders from workforce development: David Cruise, Executive Director of the Hampden County Regional
Employment Board; Neil Sullivan, Executive Director of the Boston Private Industry Council, Nancy
Snyder, President of Commonwealth Corporation; and Marybeth Campbell, SkillWorks.
This group of accomplished leaders, each of whom has a history of deep involvement in career readiness work, will
ensure an effective cross-sector collaborative effort. Deputy Commissioner Jeff Wulfson, is a highly regarded senior
leader at the agency who has, over many years, led major initiatives at ESE that have resulted in improvement in
student outcomes. He oversees a substantial body of ESE’s work, including that of the units that guide CVTE,
Connecting Activities, dropout prevention and graduation rate improvement, and the early college career pathway
work. He monitors ESE’s delivery system, through which the agency holds itself accountable for our goals and
strategies, and our metrics for preparing all students for success after high school. He will be responsible for
convening the state team four to six times during the six month planning phase, and ensuring that a well-designed
action plan drives the work. He will deploy ESE staff as needed, engage key partners in other organizations and state
agencies as-needed, and tap the team members’ expertise in between meetings to ensure a successful completion of
the planning phase.
Having such a wide range of leaders from state government, K-12, business, postsecondary, and workforce
development also ensures that each of these sectors will be fully represented in the development of the three year
plan. Their input will support the development of a universal system of career readiness that is of high quality and
accessible to all students (see Appendix E for team members’ titles, organizations, and short biographies).
Narrative Section 3: Intensive, Diagnostic Needs Assessment
NSFY offers a powerful opportunity for Massachusetts to document and better quantify the current state of career
preparation in the state. The Commonwealth will engage the services of an external consultant to conduct a needs
assessment of our career preparation system, focusing on the key objectives of the NSFY initiative. This assessment
will build on existing data and information compiled by the Workforce Skills Cabinet related to workforce
development and CVTE, and will build on work already completed by ESE to identify where career pathways and
career development education (CDE) programming is already underway.
Last summer, ESE conducted a survey of all high school programs of study to determine which courses include CDE
content. ESE also collects data on a number of CDE metrics, including the number of: schools offering CDE,
students engaged in CDE, and the number of employers offering CDE activities (see Appendix F for baselines and
targets related to these measures). ESE’s longitudinal data display, in EDWIN Analytics, also includes a new report
that provides data on students enrolled in postsecondary programs related to their secondary technical program, their
retention in the postsecondary program, and their degree/credential attainment.
The NSFY needs assessment will allow the cross-sector team to expand on ESE’s work to date by mapping existing
career pathway programs by type, quantifying participation, including demographic information to the extent
possible, and quantifying completion of secondary pathway programs. This exercise will provide information on
offerings available geographically and for particular populations. To assist this effort, the external consultant will
survey guidance counselors to determine the current level of CDE, and to identify needs for professional
development and barriers to engagement in CDE. The needs assessment will include analyzing labor market data to
assess current program offerings and identify potential gaps or redundancy. Additionally, the needs assessment will
include a review of current funding streams, potential new funding streams, and opportunities for alignment.
Narrative Section 4: Collection of Data on Defined Set of Indicators
The following section details the extent to which Massachusetts already collects data regarding the indicators
outlined in the NSFY grant and plans to strengthen and expand data collection on the specified indicators.
1.
Which data about the defined indicators already exists?
7, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Currently, Massachusetts has relevant data addressing these indicators for a large number, but not all, of the students
across the state’s high schools. The Massachusetts Student Information Management System (SIMS), through which
ESE gathers student demographic information (name, date of birth, gender, race, special education and ELL status,
etc.), as well as data about CVTE participation. ESE also receives voluminous data through its Student Course
Schedule (SCS) data collection, which captures all of the courses taken by students across the state. Through these
data systems, ESE is able to address most but not all of the NSFY indicators. The state’s Edwin Analytics system
facilitates the use of data, and it offers reports that specifically look at many of these key indicators.
The indicators outlined in the NSFY grant opportunity are most widely available for our CVTE students. All the
indicators presented by NSFY can be found in SIMS for CVTE students, except the postsecondary completion
information, which can be found in the Edwin Analytics system for public colleges and through the Graduate
Follow-Up Survey. For the state’s approximately 60,000 CVTE students, we can also disaggregate the outlined
indicators by subgroup. For the remaining approximate 240,000 high school students, available data is more
piecemeal, and new systems will need to be built to improve the collection of the data specified metrics. Below, is
an assessment of the status of existing relevant data, by NSFY indicator.
Access to, and completion of, career pathways: Outside of the CVTE realm, there are an increasing number of
academic and comprehensive high schools that offer quality career pathways, with articulated coursework and workbased learning experiences. However, any data that establishes student access to these structures is retained locally
and not submitted to ESE. Similarly, the state’s longstanding Connecting Activities initiative delivers a very large
number of work-based learning experiences to many high school students, over 10,400 in 2015, and that initiative
captures significant data about those experiences. But the Connecting Activities data system is separate from district
student record systems. Generally, no data elements in the state’s SIMS or SCS systems capture this data.
Attainment of industry-recognized credentials: Attached in Appendix D is the listing of credentials that are offered
through CVTE programs. Data on broad categories of credentials attained by CVTE students is captured by a data
field in the SIMS system (though not at the level of detail reflected in the attached list). Outside of CVTE programs,
there are opportunities for students to earn credentials –and increasing awareness of the value of offering these
credentials –but there is no state-level data system to capture that information.
Completion of dual enrollment courses: One state funding stream that supports dual enrollment, the Commonwealth
Dual Enrollment Partnership (CDEP), captures a portion of the landscape of dual enrollment. For CDEP students,
Massachusetts has student-level data about participation. Furthermore, ESE’s own SCS system, which identifies
many of the high school courses that offer college credit, is also a potential source when used accurately at the
district-level. Additionally, through recent collaboration between ESE and DHE and pursuant to a new
Memorandum of Understanding, DHE is providing additional data to ESE from its enrolled student records about
students receiving college credit through dual enrollment, which can be matched to ESE’s existing student records.
This new data sharing MOU will provide a much more detailed assessment of the extent of dual enrollment
statewide (see Appendix G for MOU). In summary, we are now developing a fairly complete picture of this indicator
and are in a position to accomplish the desired disaggregation by subpopulation for many participating students.
Enrollment in postsecondary education or employment in high-skill, high-demand sectors within 12 months of
high school graduation. With respect to data about postsecondary outcomes, Massachusetts fares well, with a
significant body of data regularly collected about postsecondary enrollment through ESE’s work with the National
Student Clearinghouse (NSC). Information on CVTE students is collected through a follow-up survey conducted
within 9-12 months of graduation. Massachusetts will be even better positioned in regard to collecting
postsecondary data soon, as the state received a State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) grant. Work under the
grant will include linking education and workforce data to examine career outcomes.
2. How effectively does the state use the data it collects now?
The Commonwealth aspires to a more strategic use of current data. We do make excellent use of several of these
core data sets: CVTE data informs policy, technical assistance, and monitoring. Similarly, data about postsecondary
outcomes is actively used to improve student transition to postsecondary education. For example, ESE is making
thoughtful use of its postsecondary data, disaggregated by subgroup, to set priorities for underrepresented groups
pursuing postsecondary education. Also, ESE sponsors a significant amount of training for the field, through
8, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
webinars and local, regional, and statewide conferences, covering a wide range of topics, including support for data
use in the field. These offer a venue for wide dissemination of data, and better use of it locally.
With respect to some of our other data sources, the efforts to improve outcomes operate in more discrete realms, and
would profit from integration. For example, the state uses our Connecting Activities performance data to evaluate
the performance of the program’s funded awardees, and we initiate technical assistance for those whose
performance is below target. Using data for continual improvement has helped improve the overall quality of the
Connecting Activities initiative and results in more students participating in work-based learning.
Finally, there are clear areas where we are at the beginning stages of data analysis, such as the extent of career
pathway participation outside of CVTE. We will need better data collection systems to help make strategic decisions
regarding growth of career pathways for all students.
3. Which data are not already connected? Which barriers will need to be overcome?
As mentioned, some of the relevant data that is now available exists in several separate systems, and new
approaches will need to be devised to make stronger connections among them and/or to replace them. The main
barrier to the creation of a well-integrated system of data collection is the legitimate concern about imposing any
new data collection burdens on already heavily burdened district personnel. Care will have to be taken to equip
district personnel to record and report any new information, and attention must be paid to ensuring that the state is
collecting data in a way that is feasible for district staff.
As a central element of the planning phase, we will look at new data collection ideas with an eye toward ease and
efficiency. Rather than mandating the adoption of these new practices, we plan to incentivize their adoption, largely
by demonstrating how their adoption will be positive for districts and more importantly, their students. We will also
offer technical assistance to demonstrate that the new data elements will enable districts to take full advantage of the
accountability system’s “bonus points” mentioned earlier.
There will also be methodological challenges associated with efforts to link separate data systems effectively, and
costs associated with modifications of data collection systems. The Commonwealth will seek to align multiple
funding sources for information technology projects to meet these challenges, and seek additional funding as
necessary beyond this grant opportunity to ensure that future CVTE expansion is data-driven and informed by
analytical information at the school, district and state agency level.
Narrative Section 5: Development of Career Readiness Action Plan
1. What career readiness strategies are in place now?
For purposes of a three year action plan, Massachusetts will build upon a strong foundation. We have several of the
core elements of the system we envision now, along with the motivation to pull the disparate pieces together to form
the integrated and aligned system of career preparation for all students that the NSFY grant promotes. Through the
work of the ICCR Task Force and ESE’s internal delivery system, strides have been made to develop and pursue
metrics relating to student participation in CDE, as well as school and employer participation in student career
preparation. These metrics are already drivers of this work, and will help launch this effort.
As previously noted, Massachusetts has a highly regarded CVTE system, which offers most of the elements this
solicitation emphasizes for enrolled students. That system serves about 60,000 of the state’s 280,000 high school
students, and it is poised for growth now due to new resources and supports being put in place by the Governor.
However, there is a significant limit to the expansion of that system as now designed; many of the high quality
CVTE programs now offered are costly to launch and maintain, and it will take time and substantial resources to
grow the most capital intensive of them to reach many more students. This NSFY initiative would support the
exploration of innovative models for increasing access to programs.
Massachusetts has several other initiatives that round out our career preparation picture, which, if expanded in
combination with an expanded CVTE system, would be able to reach more students, and in innovative ways that
would appeal to a wide swath of students and families. Those include our Connecting Activities (CA) initiative,
already active in over half of the state’s 393 high schools. CA students regularly report that their work experience
sets them upon a career pathway and guides their choice of postsecondary setting and employment. The large
network of field partners in the CA initiative provides the boots on the ground for the creation of the desired scaled-
9, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
up and systemic approach to the provision of career pathways and CDE programming more generally. As previously
mentioned, CA has been targeted for a substantial increase in the Governor’s budget.
Additionally, ESE has partnered with key stakeholders for the past several years to grow the number of early college
career pathways, supported by dual enrollment dollars and related grant funds and is seeing these gain traction around
the state. For example, the state is working collaboratively with Jobs for the Future and three Massachusetts
communities as they implement a $4.9 million Youth CareerConnect grant to expand and implement rigorous career
pathway models providing students with industry credentials and an associate’s degree in high demand fields.
Another key piece of the puzzle is continuing work to reform guidance services, led by the MA School Counselors
Association (MASCA), a forward-thinking body that envisions CDE more fully integrated into guidance services.
In addition, the ESE and the Executive Office of Education are working with the Massachusetts Educational Finance
Authority and the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development to redesign two online career guidance
tools- Your Plan for the Future and the Massachusetts Career Information System (MassCIS).
Our action plan will build upon these elements to achieve the desired comprehensive and fully scaled model.
2.
What ambitious, specific, measurable objectives are likely to be built into the action plan?
a. What LMI processes are ongoing now and how can they be strengthened?
The Commonwealth has been refining our use of Labor Market Information (LMI) in the past several years,
especially in the workforce development world. We are now ready to design a state-level system that would offer
regular reports from ongoing research about LMI to inform state, regional, and local decision-making about career
pathways and related training and education programs. Already, CVTE regulations have been strengthened to ensure
that CVTE programs are justified by LMI. The Connecting Activities initiative has developed a set of training
materials about LMI for educators and counselors and is actively training interested leaders in their use.
Additionally, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the Commonwealth Corporation and the 16 Workforce
Development Boards have all generated LMI analyses in the past to guide decision-making about both adult and
youth training programs. It is because of effective research around LMI to date that sectors such as advanced
manufacturing and health care have been identified for skill gap response, among others.
As an element of the three year plan, we envision the development and roll out of an institutionalized approach to
LMI, one that more deeply involves the employer community through an improved outreach and recruitment
process. We envision a process that continuously yields real time results about needs for high skilled workers in high
needs sectors, along with a wealth of other LMI. We plan to continuously train key staff members in accessing and
using this data. In the planning phase, we will develop a timetable for this work that starts early enough in the
implementation cycle to be the driver of new pathway development. Our three year plan will incorporate specific
objectives for the development of this new system. We imagine that Year One would yield an LMI collection process,
guided by an advisory group. Year Two will see the production of deliverables from that process, in the
form of reports that advise about needed skill training across the state, with related suggestions about new or
enhanced career pathways. Year Three will include a fully scaled approach to the use of LMI to drive decisionmaking. During Year Three, other stakeholders will have begun working on pathway development based on Year
Two information, taking advantage of the new LMI information.
b. Extent of secondary-postsecondary career pathways that culminate in credentials? Currently
in Massachusetts, many students participate in career pathways that span secondary to postsecondary education,
primarily in the CVTE realm. Outside the CVTE realm, there are an increasing number of career pathways being
developed around the state at high schools that include a connection to a local institution of higher education, most
commonly community colleges. To underscore the importance of secondary to post secondary pathways,
Massachusetts requires that colleges receiving Perkins funding dedicate 20% of that funding to linkage activities
with secondary schools. Some institutions use this funding to support dual enrollment in CTE courses at the college,
allowing students who might not have access to CTE in their high school, begin their career pathway earlier. There
are currently 60,000 students enrolled in CTE programs in those colleges. As mentioned, we have an ongoing
initiative, partnering with Jobs for the Future (JFF), a locally-based national expert about early college models that
offers guidance about best practices, to pilot and grow this work, through their initiatives referred to as “Pathways to
Prosperity” and “Youth CareerConnect.” More generally, DHE and ESE regularly meet to collaborate about dual
enrollment and early college models, with the goal of expansion.
10, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
In addition, all of the Governor’s CVTE initiatives focus on incentivizing partnerships between secondary and
postsecondary institutions in support of career pathways culminating in credentials. Two key examples of this focus
are the Skills Capital Grants and the Career Technical Partnership Grants. The Skills Capital Grant application
required grantees to partner with other institutions and/or employers to qualify for up to $500,000 towards the
purchase of equipment to expand CVTE programs.
Our three year plan will contain measurable goals related to these programs, and related increases in student
participation in dual enrollment and early college career pathway models, as well as the acquisition of related
credentials, including associate and bachelor degrees, apprenticeship enrollment, industry-recognized credentials in
specific fields, along with a more generalized work readiness credential.
c. What indicators in the current K-12 accountability system address career readiness?
We plan the development, testing, and piloting of a new element in our state accountability system that would
incentivize districts to implement high quality career preparation for students. The scale of student outcomes
required to earn this bonus, as well as the data systems needed to collect the related data, will be critical work for the
state team. This work would span the entire three year period. We envision a structured sequence of activities,
starting with the development of a system for awarding points, accompanied by a method of collecting the requisite
data elements that would document local performance. We would then enter a testing phase, accompanied by
communication to the field about this effort. We envision a substantial pilot of these additions to our accountability
system in Year Three. This will be an iterative process, requiring deep participation by many stakeholders, both
internally at ESE and externally at schools and districts and will be undertaken with great care and attention to
detail, in light of the possibility of unintended consequences.
3.
What are the primary barriers to achieving planned objectives?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Reluctance on the part of some districts and high schools to tackle a challenging new body of
work about building career pathways and CDE, especially when they are struggling with several
high priority state and federal requirements, such as preparing for the next generation of the our
statewide student assessment (MCAS), performing educator evaluation, and other significant
bodies of work.
Overcoming the belief of some educational leaders that preparing students for college is sufficient
for preparing them for career.
Ensuring that there is an adequate system of technical assistance and support to help schools and
districts roll out new high quality career preparation curriculum, instruction and related structures.
Difficulties at the local-level in developing structures for high quality career pathways, due to
scheduling and staff constraints.
Overcoming resistance to changing the current data and accountability systems with concerns
about expense, time, and potential complexity.
Forming/sustaining partnerships at the local-level to reduce competition for students between
secondary schools that offer CVTE programs and those that don’t.
4. Massachusetts’ Experience with Implementation of Action plans with fidelity
Massachusetts is fortunate to have several very substantial state-level initiatives directly relevant to this proposed
body of work, each with influential state leaders across sectors that have been executed successfully:
a. ESE’s own internal strategic planning work, referred to as “Delivery”: Our Delivery process
drives action planning and monitoring, using feedback loops and other processes to ensure that the
work gets done. If funded, the delivery team will incorporate the NSFY initiative into its regular
routines, which are designed to help teams reach performance goals by monitoring implementation
progress and supporting mid-course corrections based on data.
b. The ICCR Task Force: The Task Force, as described earlier, involved a 30 person team of highlevel state leaders from education, workforce, and industry. The work performed was very
comprehensive, and the quality of leadership offered credibility and urgency to the work.
c. Vocational Technical Education Frameworks Revisions Project: This project involved engaging
district administrators, academic and technical teachers, business and industry, postsecondary
education, and licensing boards to collaborate on teams and in the vetting process to review and
11, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
update the standards for the skills and knowledge that should be taught for each of the 44 separate
program areas. Teams also identified industry-recognized credentials attainable by students.
Narrative Section 6: Prior and On-going Work to Enact Key Policy and Programmatic Reforms and Build
Sustainability
There are significant strengths in the existing systems of CVTE and CDE in the Commonwealth that establish a
strong foundation for the success of the NSFY initiative. Many policy and programmatic changes are already
underway to improve delivery of CVTE and CDE in Massachusetts, and the needs assessment outlined in this grant
will further inform this work. In Phase I, we will make demonstrable strides in these areas.
As has been described in earlier sections, an increasing emphasis has been placed on the engagement of employers, as
exemplified in developing the Vocational Technical Frameworks and the ongoing work of the Program Advisory
Committees. Strategic partnering with employers is deeply integrated into the CA initiative as well. Significant work
has already been undertaken to build use of LMI across the state. Use of LMI to inform program approval has been
uneven and somewhat informal in the past. Work on the development of the LMI Primer and the delivery of training
on its use is one initiative that is already underway and can be expanded during the grant period.
The demand for Career Technical Education has increased substantially, and discussions have been underway for
quite a while regarding how to increase access to technical training. Recognizing that expanded access should be to
high-quality programs, work has begun on defining high quality and the development of rubrics as tools in that
process (see Appendix H for draft rubrics). ESE is also exploring ways to strengthen the pipeline of technical
teachers, which is key to expanding access to technical training. ESE has been engaged in evaluating the current
technical teacher certification process to determine potential barriers and to recommend refinements that would
improve the process while maintaining quality standards.
Funding through the NSFY initiative will allow the Commonwealth to plan an incentive grant process to promote the
creation and/or expansion of innovative models for expanding access to technical programming and career pathway
development, particularly for underserved populations. Massachusetts will use the planning and implementation
periods of NSFY to develop, test, and pilot a new enhancement to our accountability system, exploring the use of
bonus points to be awarded for key career readiness outcomes. New methods for data collection will be developed so
that we can track progress. During phase one, a consultant would be engaged to gather information on current related
data collection in districts and at the state-level to report on the feasibility both in terms of cost and effort of
gathering CDE data (see budget narrative for more details). A detailed analysis of student participation will give us a
baseline for growth, to increase the number of students completing career pathways.
Significant efforts have been made, in collaboration with business and industry and postsecondary education, to
make transitions between secondary and postsecondary preparation for careers more seamless by establishing
articulation agreements, early college opportunities, and credential attainment. The work to expand access to all of
those approaches will continue in Phase One and beyond. Alignment of state and federal funding streams to ensure
the most effective use of funds to expand career pathways is essential. Removing barriers and ensuring cross institutional alignment is important in these efforts and the work of the newly constituted Workforce Skills Cabinet,
bringing together major players from government, industry, and education is a powerful and positive development.
Governor Baker has made the expansion of career pathways and vocational education a top priority. The increasing
commitment to expanding career technical education, career pathways, and career development education,
evidenced by the creation of new structures such as the Workforce Skills Cabinet and the increased funding included
in the Governor’s proposed budget, bodes well for the sustainability of these initiatives beyond the grant period. The
NSFY funds will be used strategically to establish missing system elements, especially by front-loading the nonrecurring costs of planning and then implementing new data collection methods, accountability systems and
expansion of quality career pathway development. The new systems built under NSFY will be sustained through
realigned resources at the district level, through ESE oversight and support from our traditional resources, and
through continuing innovation. We have a long horizon for this work, and intend that students for years to come will
benefit. The NSFY opportunity will catalyze work that will dramatically improve students’ readiness for success
after high school, which is the mission of ESE.
12, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Supporting Documents
I.
II.
III.
Budget Proposal
Letters of Support
Memorandum of Understanding (alphabetical by last name)
13, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Budget Proposal
Staffing
(include salaries and benefits)
-
Consultants
(e.g. contracting services; analysis expenses)
$95,000
Subcontractors
(e.g. contracts for services provided)
-
Travel and Meetings
(e.g. air and ground transportation; per diem; space rental; audio visual rental;
food and beverage)
$5,000
Communications
(e.g. consultants, media, design)
-
Office Rent
-
Office Supplies
-
Technology & Teleconferencing
-
Printing & Duplication
-
Other Program Costs
(specify
)
-
Indirect Costs
(may not exceed 10%)
-
GRANT TOTAL
(may not exceed $100,000)
$100,000
Budget Narrative
Virtually all of the funding available from NSFY, $95,000 of the $100,000, will be used to retain the services of
consultant(s) to support the large body of work identified in our proposal. In the short period of time at issue, April
through September, it is unrealistic for existing staff members in the core partners of this work to tackle the new
tasks that are essential to the planning period. The funding would serve the essential purpose of supplying some of
the human capital needed, described below.
The remaining $5,000 is allocated for the costs of convening the State Team and any subcommittee or working
meetings that support the State Team, including travel costs and rental rates for conference space. We anticipate the
need for meeting space for 4-6 meetings, at an approximate cost of $600 per meeting, for a total of $3,600 in rental
fees. The remaining $1,400 would be retained for the travel expenses of State Team members and their staff
attending the meetings, and related travel.
Regarding the consultant services, the Commonwealth will engage external consultant services to support two
central bodies of work to be completed during the Phase I planning stage of NSFY. They are:
1.
To conduct a needs assessment and gap analysis of all of the existing elements of our career
preparation system, focusing on the key objectives of the NSFY Initiative, including its emphasis on
14, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
career pathways that prepare students for high skill high demand fields. This assessment will build on
work that has already been done by ESE to identify where career pathways and career development
education (CDE) already exists across the state. The deliverables will take the form of written reports that
capture the results of the assessment. The assessment will include:
a. Mapping existing career pathway programs, in Career Vocational Technical Education and Career
Development Education, programs by type
b. Identify missing elements and programs through a gap analysis
c. Analyzing existing bodies of data and supporting information as a starting point for the assessment
d. Quantifying student participation, including demographic information to the extent possible, in
existing programs
e. Quantifying student completion of secondary pathway programs
f. Developing and implementing a survey of guidance counselors will be conducted to
i. determine the level of career development education currently taking place
ii. identify needs for professional development or barriers to engagement in CDE.
g. Analyzing labor market data in relation to current program offerings to determine the extent to
which they are based upon LMI, and to identify potential gaps or redundancy in program offerings
h. Reviewing current funding streams and potential new funding streams for career pathway
development
2.
To conduct an assessment of the current status of data collection with respect to all relevant student
indicators relating to participation in career pathways and CDE, and develop an analysis of existing
student level data to create a dashboard of student career readiness in the Commonwealth. This will
include capturing the student demographic information needed for disaggregation by subpopulation. The
consultant will provide a report that presents an analysis of the available data to show the number and
percent of all students in the Commonwealth, disaggregated by subgroup, with access to high quality career
pathways in high-skill, high demand sectors, as further detailed in the NSFY Request for Proposal. The
report will also summarize the current state of data collection, and idenfy gaps and needs with respect to
data collection, as further detailed here:
a. Review and summary of data needs for all identified student outcomes and indicators required by
the NSFY
b. Review of all potential sources of data submitted to the Commonwealth by districts through SIMS
and SCS, and by DHE relating to dual enrollment, that capture elements of the data needed,
including but not limited to
i. All data elements relating to Career Vocational Technical Education in SIMS
ii. All data elements in SCS relating to CDE and dual enrollment
c. Review of data collected by the Connecting Activities initiative in its separate data system, as well
as CVTE data stored outside of SIMS
d. Assessment of the local student information management systems in use across the
Commonwealth,
i. to determine the capacity of those to address career pathways and CDE, and the extent to
which they are now utilized to collect relevant data
ii. to estimate costs to districts of introducing new data elements, in order to inform a
feasibility analysis about modifications locally
e. Outreach and survey of a large sample of districts to determine what data elements are stored
locally but not submitted to ESE that capture student information relating to the indicators
f. Assessment of the kinds of codes and variables captured in local systems that are relevant to the
data needed
g. Summarizing all findings relating to local data to inform the implementation phase of NSFY
h. Creation of a data report that establishes a career readiness profile of the state, depicting in
quantifiable terms the extent to which Massachusetts is positioned through policy and student
achievement outcomes to prepare students for 21 st century career opportunities
15, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Appendices
A.
Dual and Concurrent Enrollment Advisory Group
B.
Career Vocational Technical Education Program List
C.
Career Development Education Tool
D.
Career Vocational Technical Education Credentials
E.
Cross-Sector State Leadership Team Biographies
F.
Career Development Education Metrics and Targets
G.
Elementary and Secondary – Higher Education Data Sharing MOU
H.
Career Vocational Technical Education Program Quality Assessment
16, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Appendix A: Dual and Concurrent Enrollment Advisory Group (DCEAG)
Massachusetts is one of a few states in the nation that do not have state-level policies on dual and concurrent
enrollment. Access to dual enrollment courses varies across the Commonwealth, and there are several
programmatic and logistical differences that impact program availability. Programming varies by size, focus,
how courses are paid, who teaches the courses (high school vs. higher education faculty), and if the college
credit obtained transfers towards a major. Engaging district and campus-level experts on dual and concurrent
enrollment will assist the Department of Higher Education (DHE) in developing a policy framework that
addresses scalability, sustainability, and equity for all students regardless of their location in the
Commonwealth.
The DCEAG is charged with providing actionable recommendations towards the following goals:






To recommend statewide policies that will broaden access to dual and concurrent enrollment programs
based on research and best practices in Massachusetts and other states.
To increase enrollment of students who represent communities with historically low college
participation rates.
To develop financial sustainability and cost equity measures for dual and concurrent enrollment
activities that are adopted statewide.
To ensure that all public institutions accept dual and concurrent enrollment credit as transfer credit.
To strengthen communication efforts to parents and students about dual enrollment and early college
programming.
To inform and engage union leaders from the Massachusetts Teachers Association on benefits and
issues related to expanding dual and concurrent enrollment efforts.
The DCEAG includes secondary and higher education administrators from across the Commonwealth, the
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education.
Representative Sean Garballey, an avid champion for dual enrollment, will also be invited to be a member of
the advisory group. The DCEAG is co-chaired by a pair of secondary and higher education administrators
recommended by the Commissioner. Angela Coletta-Acevedo, Assistant Director of Access and Success
Strategies, will serve as convener of the group and will be responsible for assembling the advisory group’s
recommendations.
Please see the full list of advisory group members and co-chairs below:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Karen Hynick, Vice President of Academic Affairs, North Shore Community College, Co-Chair
Dana Brown, Principal, Malden High School, Co-Chair
Joseph DaSilva, Vice President of Administration/CFO, Springfield Technical Community College
Scott Greenberg, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Framingham State University
Michael Bullock, Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Services, Berkshire Community
College
Sarah Morell, Dean of Access and Transition, Bristol Community College
Lori Weir, Director of K-12 Partnerships, Northern Essex Community College
Thomas Scott, Executive Director, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents
Ruth Carrigan, President, Massachusetts School Counselors Association
Bob Packard, Extended Campus Coordinator, Massachusetts Association of Vocational
Administrators
Anna O’Connor, Early College Pathways Coordinator, Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education
Linda Noonan, Executive Director, Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education
Representative Sean Garballey
17, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Appendix B: Career/Vocational Technical Programs
Agriculture and Natural Resources Cluster
Agricultural Mechanics
Animal Science
Environmental Science & Technology
Horticulture
Arts and Communications Services Cluster
Design & Visual Communications
Graphic Communications
Radio & Television Broadcasting
Business and Consumer Services Cluster
Business Technology
Cosmetology Fashion
Technology Marketing
Construction Cluster
Building & Property Maintenance
Cabinetmaking
Carpentry
Construction Craft Laborer
Electricity
Heating—Ventilation—Air Conditioning & Refrigeration
Masonry & Tile Setting
Painting & Design Technologies
Plumbing
Sheet Metalworking
Education Cluster
Early Education and Care
Health Services Cluster
Dental Assisting
Health Assisting
Medical Assisting
Operating Room Technology (postsecondary only)
Practical Nursing LPN (postsecondary only)
Hospitality and Tourism Cluster
Culinary Arts
Hospitality Management
Information Technology Services Cluster
Information Support Services & Networking
Programming & Web Development
Legal and Protective Services Cluster
Criminal Justice
18, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Manufacturing, Engineering and Technological Cluster
Biotechnology
Drafting
Electronics
Engineering Technology
Machine Tool Technology
Metal Fabrication & Joining Technologies
Robotics and Automation Technology
Stationary Engineering
Telecommunications - Fiber Optics
Transportation Cluster
Automotive Collision Repair & Refinishing
Automotive Technology
Diesel Technology
Marine Service Technology
Power Equipment Technology
19, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Appendix C:
Massachusetts Self-Assessment of District/School Implementation of Career Development Education (CDE)
Definition of Career Development – The process through which an individual comes to understand his or her place in the world of work. Career Development Education
offers students a framework for gaining the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary to navigate the multitude of career options available for post-secondary success.
Students identify and begin to plan for careers through a continuum of career exploration, career awareness and career immersion that helps them to create their own
career path. Career development encompasses both education and career related choices; optimally it is progressive, sequential and deliberate, and is guided by
supportive adults with relevant expertise. In districts or schools, an optimal approach to CDE involves curriculum, instruction and well-planned activities that take place
over a number of years, starting ideally no later than middle school. CDE offers students a broad-based career pathway, and supports their choice of college and career.
Self-Assessment. This tool is designed to facilitate a district or school’s effort to assess its own stage of implementation with respect to CDE. In an exemplary CDE model,
students will participate in a well-designed sequence of CDE activities, moving from awareness to exploration to immersion, that become progressively deeper and more
intensive as the students gain skills and maturity. CDE also addresses student attitudes and beliefs about their future selve s, ensuring a personalized approach to their
learning process. Optimally, the district has implemented a process for students to create Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) that support CDE.
Stages of Career Development:
Career Awareness – Activities designed to make students aware of the broad range of careers and/or occupations in the world of work.
Career Exploration – Activities designed to provide more in-depth exposure to career options for students.
Career Immersion – Activities that provide actual in-depth contextual learning experiences connecting teaching and learning back to the classroom.
More information about Career Development Education may be found in the Career Development Education page of ESE’s website:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/connect/cde/. That page also provides a link to ESE’s CDE Guide and Glossary, which offers details about the specific activities.
Specific Examples of CDE Activities for each stage of Career Development
Career Awareness





Career Speakers
Career Days/Fairs
Career Interest Inventories,
personality surveys and
advising
Company Tour
College and Career Plans
Career Exploration






Career Exploration Classes
Job Shadowing
Opportunities
Job Rotation
Local Labor Market Review
Informational
interviews/mock
interviews
Assemble job skills
portfolio including resume




Extended Community Service
Leaning Opportunities
Contextual Learning
Coursework using “real world”
examples to teach content
Labor Market or occupational
research (this should be
coupled with an interest or
skill inventory) and
presentation of findings
Early college, dual enrollment
experience
Career Immersion





Internships (school year
and summer) with a MA
Work-Based Learning Plan
Interdisciplinary Capstone
Project completed and
refereed (judged) by adults
(i.e., faculty, business,
peers)
Entrepreneurial Enterprise
Clinical Experiences
Part-time private or public
employment



Active leadership in a
“Career Club”
Career, Vocational
Technical Education
(CVTE) experience
with Cooperative
Education resulting in
an Industry
Recognized
Credential
Apprenticeship
Prepared by MA Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education, Connecting Activities Initiative. To learn more, visit: massconnecting.org
49, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Assessment of School Implementation
Name of Workforce Region:
District:
Circle the stage that best describes the district’s stage of overall CDE development in relation to universal participation by all students
Rubric for District or School SelfAssessment re stage of CDE
Implementation overall
Stage 1
Minimal implementation of
CDE; no effort for scale
Stage 2
Early Stage – Pilots and small
numbers of participants in CDE
Goal: All students participate in
Career Development Education
(CDE) activities starting at Grade 7
in order to promote student
engagement, enhance academic
achievement, develop career
awareness and provide workplace
readiness skills



District has not begun any
career readiness programs
in middle school
Few students in high school
participate in CDE
experiences, which are
available only through
small scale
electives/programs


District has some elements of
career development
education for some students,
in both middle and high
school
More students are
participating (less than 50%)
No structure in place for
scaling up CDE for all students
Stage 3
CDE Structure exists for
participation by all students – Many
but not all are involved

District has designed a structure
that offers a sequence of CDE
for all students 7-12, which is at
an early stage of
implementation

Many but not all students are
participating, at both the middle
and high school level
Stage 4
All students involved in CDE (by
grade or other comprehensive
measure)

Well-designed structures are in
place from middle through
high school to offer all
students a progressive and
sequential approach to Career
Development Education,
including work-based learning
for older students

All students involved
Assess the extent of implementation of CDE at each grade level (middle and high school), by filling in this chart (identify specific activities & %)
Career Awareness
Grade
Level
6th
Identify Career Awareness Activities
offered (e.g. career interest inventories,
career speakers)
Career Exploration
Scale (% of
students in
grade
participating)
Identify Career Exploration Activities
offered (e.g. job shadowing, labor
market research)
Career Immersion
Scale (% of
students in
grade
participating)
Identify Career Immersion Activities
offered (e.g. internships, capstone)
Scale (% of
students in
grade
participating)
7th
8th
9th
10
th
11th
12th
50, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Appendix E. Cross-Sector State Leadership Team Membership
Name, Title
SEA Leaders
Mitchell
Chester,
Commissioner
Keith Westrich,
Acting
Associate
Commissioner
Jeff Wulfson,
Deputy
Commissioner
Organization
Bio/Job Description
Department of
Elementary and
Secondary
Education
Dr. Chester began his career as an elementary school teacher in
Connecticut, and later served as a middle school assistant principal and
district curriculum coordinator. From there he moved to the Connecticut
State Department of Education where he oversaw curriculum and
instructional programs. In 1997 he was named the Executive Director for
Accountability and Assessment for Philadelphia, where he headed the
offices of Assessment, Research and Evaluation, Student and School
Progress, and Pupil Information Services. In 2001, he served as the Senior
Associate Superintendent for Policy and Accountability for the Ohio
Department of Education, where he oversaw standards, assessments,
accountability, policy development, and strategic planning. Dr. Chester
began serving as Commissioner of the Massachusetts public schools in
May 2008.
Department of
Elementary and
Secondary
Education
Westrich currently serves as the Acting Associate Commissioner for
College, Career, and Technical Education. Previously, Mr. Westrich led
the Department’s Connecting Activities initiative providing resources and
technical assistance to the 16 local Workforce Investment Boards and
local School to Career Partnerships supporting the development and
implementation of the state’s work- based learning agenda for
districts/schools participating in school to career programs across the
Commonwealth. Prior to his work at the Department, Mr. Westrich served
as the Director of the Boston Private Industry Council’s nationally
recognized ProTech program which laid the foundation for the integration
of school and work- based learning designed to give students the academic,
workplace readiness and personal/social skills necessary to compete in
higher education and high performance workplaces.
Department of
Elementary and
Secondary
Education
Jeff Wulfson is currently the Deputy Commissioner of the Massachusetts
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. He has been with
ESE since 1995, previously serving as the Department's Chief Financial
Officer and as Associate Commissioner for School Finance and District
Support. Prior to joining ESE, Jeff was the director of administration for
the Department of Revenue's Division of Local Services, where he also
served as chairman of the finance control boards for the cities of Brockton
and Lowell. He is a member of the American Finance Association and a
past president of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Society for
Public Administration
Leaders from State Agencies Responsible for Youth Workforce Development & Career Pathways
Jay Ash,
Secretary
Executive Office
of Housing and
Economic
Development
Jay Ash serves as the Secretary of Housing and Economic Development
for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Secretary Ash is responsible for
directing and executing Governor Charlie Baker’s agenda on housing and
community development, job creation, business development, consumer
affairs, and business regulation.
58, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
James Peyser,
Secretary
Ronald Walker,
Secretary
Executive Office
of Education
As Secretary of Education, Jim Peyser directs the Executive Office of
Education which is responsible for early education, K-12, and higher
education in Massachusetts. Secretary Peyser sits on each of the boards
governing the Commonwealth’s education agencies – Department of
Early Education and Care, Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education, and Department of Higher Education as well as the University
of Massachusetts system. He is Governor Baker’s top advisor on
education and helps shape the Commonwealth’s education reform agenda.
Executive Office
of Labor and
Workforce
Development
Secretary Ronald L. Walker, II oversees five labor and workforce
development regulatory agencies: the Departments of Unemployment
Assistance, Career Services, Labor Standards, Industrial Accidents, and
Labor Relations. In addition, Secretary Walker manages Commonwealth
Corporation-- the Secretariat’s quasi-public state agency charged with
administering work force training funds and the Joint Task Force on the
Underground Economy and Employee Misclassification, which
coordinates the efforts of multiple state agencies to eliminate fraudulent
employment activities and level the playing field for all employers.
Minuteman
Regional
Vocational
Technical
School District
Ms. DeLuca serves on the School Committee for the Minuteman Regional
Vocational School district and is a former Chair of that Committee. She
has also served on the Vocational Education Advisory Council to the
Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for the past seven years.
President Elect,
MA Association
of Vocational
Administrators
Dutch has held the position of superintendent for the Upper Cape Code
Regional Technical School District since 2012. He began at Upper Cape
Tech in 2004 as an assistant principal and became principal in 2006. He
has previously worked in the Middleboro and South Shore Vocational
Technical systems. Dutch also serves as a member of the New England
Association of Schools and College’s Committee on Technical and Career
Institutions.
Montachusett
Regional
Vocational
Technical
School District
Harrity is the current superintendent of Montachusett Regional Vocational
Technical School District and a former Principal at Worcester Technical
High School, where she was named the 2013 Massachusetts Principal of
the Year, and 2014 National High School Principal of the Year. In 2013,
the school received the National Blue Ribbon School distinction for
outstanding student achievement by the U.S. Department of Education
and was the only high school in the nation in 2014 to host President
Obama as a commencement speaker. Dr. Harrity was appointed to the
Board of Higher Education in March 2015 by Governor Baker.
Fitchburg Public
Schools
Ravenelle, Superintendent of Fitchburg Public Schools for 10 years, has a
life-long dedication to educational excellence for students of all abilities
and from all socio-economic backgrounds. His educational leadership
career has spanned private and public, urban and suburban, affluent and
economically challenged educational communities. He currently serves a
President of Massachusetts Superintendent's Association and on the Board
of Fitchburg Art Museum, the Fitchburg State University Professional
Development Board as well as the Governor’s Task Force on After School
Programs.
District Leaders
Alice DeLuca,
School
Committee
Member/Parent
Robert Dutch,
Superintendent
Sheila Harrity,
Superintendent
Andre
Ravenelle,
Superintendent
59, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Richard Rege,
Superintendent
Chicopee Public
Schools
Rege graduated UMass Amherst in 1974 with a degree in Elementary
Education and certification as a Reading Specialist. He went on to teach at
all three levels over the next six years before becoming a casualty of
proposition 2 ½ in 1980. He left education for work in the private sector
for thirteen years before reentering the field of education in 1993. He then
taught middle school English for three years, became a middle school vice
principal for five years, then a middle school principal for four years
before being appointed as Superintendent in 2005. Rege has overseen the
building of two new high schools and supervised the $38 million
renovation of the old Chicopee High School into a new middle school. He
is a passionate advocate for art and music education as well as career-tech
programs in the Chicopee Public Schools.
Influential Members of Business and Industry
Mark Erlich,
Executive
SecretaryTreasurer
Nicholas
Fyntrilakis, Vice
President,
Community
Responsibility
Deborah
Harmon Hines,
Vice Provost for
School Services
New England
Regional
Council of
Carpenters
With a bachelor's degree from Columbia University in history and
sociology, Erlich has spent most of his career in carpentry, labor
organizations, and politics. He began his career with the Boston
Carpenters Union in 1974, then served as Field Director for the 1988 "No
on 2" campaign, a successful effort to defeat a referendum that would
have repealed Massachusetts' prevailing wage law. From there, he quickly
became manager of Carpenters Local 40, which eventually restructured
into the organization he heads today.
MassMutual
Life Insurance
Company
Fyntrilakis grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts and earned a double
major in Environmental Science and Resource Economics from the
University of Massachusetts Amherst. As the Vice President of
Community Responsibility for MassMutual, Fyntrilakis drives the
company’s charitable giving, community outreach, and government
relations. Fynthilakis also leads the career pathways work with local high
school students.
University of
Massachusetts
Medical School
Deborah Hines Harmon is the head of the School Services Department of
University of Massachusetts Medical School, which is home to PreMatriculation Programs and Matriculation Services at the Medical School.
Pre-Matriculation programs include Outreach Programs to students from
disadvantaged backgrounds and groups under-represented in
biotechnology, biomedical research, and the health professions, as well as
professional development for K-12 STEM teachers in Massachusetts.
Matriculation Services are: Student Financial Aid, Registrar’s Office,
Student ADA Accommodations, Room Reservation and Weather Watch.
The UMASS Medical School represents a major employer in the Central
Massachusetts region, and implements a substantial internship program
for students in the Worcester public school system.
60, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Susan Mailman,
CEO
Coghlin Electric
Susan Mailman is the fourth-generation Coghlin to preside over Coghlin
Electrical Contractors and Coghlin Network Services. The company was
founded in Worcester in 1885 by her great-grandfather. A union electrical
contractor, Coghlin works on large-scale electrical construction projects
such as the Worcester Trial Courthouse, UMass Medical School, and
WGBH. Ms. Mailman is very active in professional, community and
educational organizations having served as the board chair of the YWCA
and United Way; Vice-Chair of the Worcester Chamber of Commerce,
Central Massachusetts Chapter President of the National Electrical
Contractors Association (NECA), she is a management representative for
IBEW Local 96 Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (JATC). Ms.
Mailman serves as a Council Member on the Massachusetts
Apprenticeship Advisory Council and serves as a member of the board of
the Associated Subcontractors of Central Massachusetts. She has also
been very active in support of Worcester Technical High school and on
the board of directors of the Quinsigamond Community College
Foundation.
Influential Members of Workforce Development Boards and Agencies
Marybeth
Campbell,
Executive
Director
David Cruise,
President and
CEO
Nancy Snyder,
President
SkillWorks
Campbell is the executive director of SkillWorks, an ambitious effort on
the part of philanthropy, government, community organizations, unions,
and employers to create a workforce development system that helps lowskill, low-income residents move to family-sustaining jobs and helps
employers find and retain skilled employees. Most recently Campbell
served in a role as the Commonwealth’s first cross-secretariat Director of
Education and Workforce Development advising the Patrick
Administration’s cabinet secretaries in the Executive Offices of
Education, Labor and Workforce and Housing and Economic
Development on workforce and education policy development, program
strategy and implementation.
Hampden
County Regional
Employment
Board
The Regional Employment Board of Hampden County named Cruise its
president and CEO in December 2013. Cruise had been the Regional
Employment Board’s director of Business and Employment Services. The
Regional Employment Board brings together educational institutions,
industry and government to improve work-readiness and economic
opportunity with an annual budget of $12.3 million in state and federal
funding. The Regional Employment Board funds one-stop career centers
with unemployment benefits, job listings and help with interviewing and
resume skills, and offers its vocational training through those centers.
Commonwealth
Corporation
Nancy Snyder was appointed as the President & CEO of Commonwealth
Corporation in 2007. Ms. Snyder served as Interim Secretary of Labor and
Workforce Development November 2009-January 2010. Prior to joining
Commonwealth Corporation, she served as Deputy Director at the Boston
Private Industry Council from 1995-2007. Prior to her work with the
Boston PIC, Ms. Snyder held leadership positions in Boston city
government, including Staff Director to former Boston Mayor Raymond
L. Flynn, Deputy Assistant Commissioner at the Department of Health &
Hospitals, and Director of Jobs and Community Services for the City of
Boston.
61, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Neil Sullivan,
Executive
Director
Boston Private
Industry Council
The PIC serves as Boston’s Workforce Investment Board under state and
federal law, chartering the city’s three one stop career centers and
directing the distribution of workforce development funds, in
collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Jobs and Community Services.
The PIC also leads Boston’s school-to-career initiative – organizing
employers to provide jobs and internships for public high school students.
Before joining the PIC in 1992, Sullivan served as chief policy advisor to
Boston Mayor Ray Flynn for ten years, as a community organizer and
policy strategist for Massachusetts Fair Share in Worcester and Boston for
six years, and as a high school teacher in the Chicago area for three years.
Higher Education Leaders
Pam Eddinger,
President
Javier Cervallos,
President
Carlos Santiago,
Commissioner
Bunker Hill
Community
College
From 2002 to 2005, Eddinger served as an administrator at MassBay
Community College first as vice president of academic affairs and dean of
the faculty (2002-2004), then as executive vice president (2004-2005). In
2005, she began her tenure at Moorpark College, a 15,000-student,
comprehensive community college, serving as executive vice president
from 2005 to 2008. Eddinger assumed the presidency of Bunker Hill
Community College in July 2013.
Framingham
State University,
also representing
the incoming
Chair of State
University
Council of
Presidents
Dr. Cervallos began his career in education in 1981 as an assistant
professor of Spanish at the University of Maine at Orono. In 1984, he
moved to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he was
promoted to associate professor in 1988 and to full professor in 1992. In
1994, he was asked to serve as faculty advisor to the provost. In 1996 he
was selected as a Fellow by the American Council on Education (ACE)
and spent his fellowship at Wesleyan University, in Middletown,
Connecticut. Upon his return to UMass, Cevallos became chair of the
Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Soon after, he was appointed Vice
Chancellor for Student Affairs, a post he held until 2002, when he became
President of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania for many years, until
beginning his tenure as President of Framingham State University.
Department of
Higher
Education
Santiago brings over 30 years of experience in public higher education.
Past academic appointments include that of Chancellor of the University
of Wisconsin – Milwaukee (Wisconsin’s second largest research
university), chief operating officer at the University at Albany, (SUNY),
and professor of economics at UWM and SUNY-Albany. Santiago was
appointed as Commissioner of Higher Education for Massachusetts by
Governor Baker in July 2015.
62, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Appendix F. Career Development Education Metrics and Targets
As the Integration of College and Career Readiness (ICCR) initiative moves forward, the Department is
responsible for gathering data to measure progress toward the three goals of engaging more schools,
students and employers in career development activities to support career readiness:
Schools
Increase the percent of
high schools offering
career development
activities
Students
Increase the number of
students participating in
career development
activities
Employers
Increase the number of
employers sponsoring
career development
activities
See following pages for metrics and targets
63, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
SCHOOLS: By 2017, at least 70% of high schools will offer opportunities for any and all students to
participate in active career development activities
64, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
STUDENTS: By 2017, at least 100,000 9-10th grade students will participate in career awareness and
exploration activities and 75,000 11-12th grade students will participate in a career immersion activity
65, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
EMPLOYERS: By 2017, 3,000 employers will sponsor career awareness and exploration activities and
6,000 will sponsor career immersion activities
66, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
76, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Table of Contents
Student Safety & Health
4
Program Design
13
Safety and Health Planning
Safety and Health Plractices
Safety and Health Training
4
4
5
Community Involvement
6
Advisory Committee Role
Advisory Committee Membership
Advisory Committee Operations
Community Partnerships & Resources
6
6
7
7
Career Development
Program of Study
Curriculum Content
Instructional Delivery
Student Assessment
Student Organizations and Leadership
Work-Based Learning
13
13
14
15
16
16
17
Resources
19
Personnel
8
Educator Licensure
Professional Development
Professional Organizations
8
8
9
The Learning Environment
Curricular and Instructional Resources
Equipment
19
19
20
Support Services
21
Program Awareness and Accessibility
Program Support
Career Guidance and Counseling Program
21
21
22
Program Administration
10
Local Program Administration
Financial Responsibilities
10
11
Program Assessment
12
Program Assessment Practices
12
Performance Targets
12
77, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
— Student Safety & Health—
Foundational Elements
Elements of Emerging Quality
Elements of Established Quality
Safety and Health Planning
 A plan exists outlining policies and procedures
for the overall vocational technical program
 Each specific program is guided by a shopspecific safety and health plan that outlines
procedures and practices for that shop
 Emergency evacuation and lockdown plans
have been developed and are regularly
reviewed
 The program-wide safety and health plan is
regularly reviewed and updated
 Program-specific safety and health plans are
regularly reviewed and updated
Administration reviews safety and health plans
against a common rubric or standard to ensure
comparability of policy and practice across all
programs [see “Program-Specific Safety Plan” in
Application Package for Vocational Technical
Education New Program Approval M.G.L.c.74
(revised 2016) for one such rubric].
Safety and Health Practices
 Staff and students routinely adhere to the
practices outlined in both the broad program
safety and health plan and the shop-specific
plan
 Shop equipment is properly installed and
maintained and is shielded, guarded, and
ventilated as necessary
 Equipment is in place to address fire safety,
materials storage, and waste disposal
 Environmental factors are maintained at safe
and appropriate levels
 Environment is clean, orderly, properly
maintained, and safe and includes prominently
displayed safety signage
 Emergency evacuation and lockdown
procedures are regularly practiced
 Students can articulate on demand the proper
practices around any procedures or
equipment on which they have been trained
and the reasons for those practices
 Students routinely remind and correct fellow
students who are not adhering to safety and
health practices without prompting from the
instructor
 Program administrators and program
instructors regularly review shop facilities and
shop equipment to ensure ongoing student
safety and health
 Administration designs and implements a
comprehensive shop safety and health system,
regularly evaluates program practices on key
safety and health indicators, and tracks
performance within and across shops over
time
 Administration and/or program staff routinely
examine environmental factors as part of a
comprehensive shop safety and health system
 Systems and structures exist to assess
students regularly on their safety and health
practices
Safety and Health Training
78, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
 All staff are properly trained in shop-specific
procedures and equipment prior to
implementation/operation
 Processes and procedures exist to ensure that
all new staff are promptly trained in shopspecific procedures and equipment
 All students are properly trained and tested in
shop-specific procedures and equipment prior
to implementation/operation
 Training and assessment employs various
modalities to address the needs of diverse
learners
 Program staff are trained in their duties and
responsibilities in responding to emergency
evacuations and lockdowns
 Staff and students regularly undergo refresher
safety and health training
 Training in safety and health is guided by a
comprehensive plan
79, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
—Community Involvement—
Foundational Elements
Elements of Emerging Quality
Elements of Established Quality
Advisory Committee Role
 The program is guided by a General Advisory
Committee (GAC) that provides advice on all
CTE programs in order to maintain overall
quality and relevance and to strengthen
support from the community [applicable only
in the case of multiple programs within the
overall program]
 Each specific CTE program is guided by a
Program Advisory Committee (PAC) that
provides program-specific advice on
curriculum content, equipment, and facilities
 The GAC and PACs routinely review labor
market data and use that information to make
recommendations to administration
 The GAC and PACs leverage additional
financial resources for programs
 The GAC and PACs leverage additional
instructional resources for programs
 The GAC and PACs leverage opportunities for
work-based learning and employment from
the surrounding community
 The GAC and PACs promote and advocate for
CTE in the surrounding community
 The GAC and PACs develop and maintain
systems to assist in long range planning for the
CTE program and its constituent programs
 The GAC and PACs, in conjunction with
administration, identify key program quality
metrics, systematically monitor progress
against those metrics, and make data-based
recommendations as appropriate
 The GAC, in conjunction with administration,
develops and implements a community
outreach strategy to keep stakeholders
apprised of the performance of the CTE
program
 Industry representation on each PAC reflects a
range of different occupations
 Representatives from postsecondary
educational institutions are able to broker
secondary-postsecondary linkage
arrangements
 The GAC and PACs effectively implement a
comprehensive committee recruitment
strategy that ensures regular change in
membership and committee composition
representative of the community
Advisory Committee Membership
 The composition of the GAC and PACs meets
regulatory guidelines
 Written plans exist to recruit members
representing racial/ethnic minorities,
individuals with disabilities, and if applicable,
members who are nontraditional for their
gender in the industry or profession they
represent
80, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Advisory Committee Operations
 The GAC and PACs meet formally with a
planned agenda at least twice a year
 GAC and PACs record minutes of their
meetings, and keep meeting minutes and
agendas on file
 GAC and PAC agendas are available on a
school or program website
 An organizational structure, including specific
member roles and a set agenda format, guides
GAC and PAC operations
 The GAC and PACs meet more often that twice
a year as necessary to conduct business
 The GAC and PACs maintain open dialogue
with program stakeholders, including
administration, staff, parents, and students
 The GAC and PACs conducts regular selfevaluation of its own effectiveness
 The GAC and PACs implement a committee
professional development plan to ensure
continued growth in the committees’
collective competence
 The GAC and PACs establish and maintain
written operating guidelines and procedures
Community Partnerships & Resources

Ongoing communication and networking takes  Outreach to potential business partners is
place between CTE staff and business partners
based on strategic needs of the program
and potential partners
 Program partners include area industry,
business, workforce development,
government, and higher education entities
and institutions
 Administration allows staff time to develop
and maintain partnerships
 As feasible, the program shares resources with
the wider community and provides service to
that community
 Systems and structures exist to foster and
nurture partnerships and relationships with
the wider community
 The program offers a progressive array of
opportunities for individuals, businesses, and
institutions to become involved
 A system exists to evaluate opportunities for
partnership in the context of the program’s
strategic needs and overall mission
81, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
—Personnel—
Foundational Elements
Elements of Emerging Quality
Elements of Established Quality
Educator Licensure
 All staff are appropriately licensed as
educators or have been granted a temporary
waiver of license
 Instructors in programs that require
occupational licenses (e.g., electricity,
plumbing, cosmetology) possess those licenses
 Administration annually reviews staff licensure
to ensure that all staff are appropriately
licensed
 Cooperative education is overseen by a
licensed coordinator*
 If there are five or more vocational technical
programs, those programs are overseen by a
licensed CTE director*
 All staff members are appropriately licensed
 Staff members with less than Professional
licensure can provide evidence of efforts to
earn full licensure
 Teaching staff obtain and maintain
professional skills certifications related to
their industries as applicable
 Administration provides incentives and
supports to encourage teachers’ National
Board certification and/or exemplary practice
 Administration provides professional
development tied to individual, program,
school and district goals and objectives
relevant to desired student outcomes
 Professional development opportunities for
staff are relevant, extend over time, and
include opportunities for staff to implement,
practice, and receive formative feedback, all in
the service of achieving desired student
outcomes
 Professional development design and
implementation reflects good pedagogical
practice and understanding of adult learning
theory
 Professional development priorities are
determined through data-driven analysis of
student needs and educator needs
 Data is collected on the effectiveness of
professional development in meeting student
needs and educator needs
 Systems and structures promote collaboration
among educators to encourage sharing of
ideas and working together to achieve
identified student outcomes and educator
outcomes
Professional Development
 Staff acquire professional development,
including any PD required as a condition for
continued licensure
 All educators possess professional
development plans as required
82, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
 Professional development is designed and
delivered by individual(s) with a strong
knowledge and skill base in the identified
objectives
Professional Organizations
 CTE staff are aware of professional, industry,
occupational or other organizations
 CTE staff are familiar with both resources and
professional development opportunities
available through these organizations
 CTE staff are active in professional
organizations and participate in conferences,
workshops, meetings, and activities
 Administration actively supports CTE staff
members’ participation in professional
organizations
 Formal structures exist to ensure that
resources and learning from participation in
professional organizations is shared within
and across programs as appropriate
83, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
—Program Administration—
Foundational Elements
Elements of Emerging Quality
Elements of Established Quality
 Administration seeks advice from and
communicates with CTE staff and advisory
committee(s)
 Administration initiates partnership initiatives
with postsecondary institutions (including
apprenticeship programs) and with industry
partners
 Administration plays a leadership role, along
with program personnel and advisory
committees in the development of CTE
program plans
 Administration develops and maintains
systems and structures to regularly evaluate
programs for their effectiveness in
generating/improving positive student
outcomes
 Administration involves internal and external
stakeholders in reviewing data on positive
student outcomes and on equal access and
participation of special populations and
solicits input into policy and programmatic
changes as necessary
 Administration develops and maintains
systems and structures to foster positive
relationships with postsecondary institutions
(including apprenticeship programs) and with
industry partners
Local Program Administration
 Administration exhibits an understanding of
school law and finance, including the
permissible use of funds
 Administration develops and maintains
systems and structures to routinely
communicate with CTE staff and advisory
committee(s)
 Administration submits required reports in a
timely manner
 Administration monitors the development of
grants to support CTE programs
 Administration reviews data regarding equal
access and full participation of special
populations in CTE programs and initiates
policy and programmatic changes as
necessary
 qualifications and oversees the retention,
recruitment and replacement of staff
 Administration develops and periodically
reviews policies that ensure equal access and
full participation of special populations in CTE
programs
 Administration helps establish and supports
effective working relationships with
postsecondary institutions (including
apprenticeship programs) and industry
partners
 Cooperative education is overseen by a
84, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

licensed coordinator*
If there are five or more vocational technical
programs, those programs are overseen by a
licensed CTE director*
Financial Responsibilities
 Plans, forms, and grants are designed,
amended, and monitored properly
 Funds are used in accordance with federal
and/or state rules and regulations
 Administration maintains records required for
internal and external audits following record
retention rules
 Administration develops and maintains an
inventory control system to record and
monitor purchases involving federal and state
funds in accordance with law and regulation
 Administration ensures that staff meets
 The program has access to financial resources
sufficient to operate the program in
accordance with law and regulation and to
ensure a safe environment
 Administration requests input from CTE staff
and advisory committee(s) prior to the
development of program budgets
 Administration verifies that program budget
expenditures are aligned with local program
plans
 Administration keeps staff involved in the
budgeting and budget management process
 Administration routinely pursues outside
funding to support programs
 Administration develops and maintains
systems and structures that routinely gather
input from CTE staff and advisory
committee(s) prior to the development of
program budgets
 Administration develops and maintains
systems whereby staff and advisory
committee input into program budgets aligns
with local program plans
 Administration develops fundraising systems
and structures to support programs
 Administration uses the program’s fiscal
resources strategically to improve or expand
programming?
85, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
—Program Assessment—
Foundational Elements
Elements of Emerging Quality
Elements of Established Quality
 The program implements a process of data
analysis and action as a mechanism to drive
program improvement
 Data review involves disaggregation of data by
mandated subpopulations and by other
groupings of interest to the program
 The program establishes additional
performance targets as needed
 The program involves teachers and GAC/PACs
in reviewing performance data and in
developing interventions as necessary
 Administration allocates funds to support
program assessment and improvement
 The program establishes a comprehensive
program assessment system that examines all
facets of the program and establishes rigorous
performance targets
 The program assessment process includes
multiple stakeholders, including parents,
students, staff, and industry and community
partners
 The program ties its professional development
to program assessment and improvement,
targeting efforts to areas of greatest need
 The program’s intervention efforts are
research-based and effective
 The program meets all mandated targets
 The program demonstrates progress in
meeting additional targets established by the
program
 The program demonstrates progress,
sustained over several years, in meeting
rigorous performance targets
Program Assessment Practices
 The program routinely reviews its
performance against mandated targets, shares
results with teachers and, as appropriate, with
others such as Program Advisory Committees
(PACs) or General Advisory Committees (GACs)
and formulates intervention plans as
necessary
 Data review involves disaggregation of data by
mandated subpopulations
Performance Targets
 The program meets all mandated performance
targets or develops and implements
intervention plans to address disaggregated
populations that do not meet targets
 The program sets performance targets beyond
those legally mandated
86, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
—Program Design—
Foundational Elements
Elements of Emerging Quality
Elements of Established Quality
Career Development
 Program prepares students for careers in
current or emerging professions
 Program provides students with technical skills
proficiency, an industry-recognized credential,
a certificate, or an associate degree
 All students possess career plans tied to their
vocational technical area of study [a 4-year
plan in Chapter 74 approved programs]
 Parents/guardians are involved with the
development of 4-year career plans
 Career plans are available in languages other
than English for parents and students with
limited English proficiency
 Program provides career guidance and
placement services, including career
assessments and assistance with the
development of a four-year career plan
 Program provides students with an
opportunity to develop career portfolios
 Community partners provide direct career
development links for students
 Program encourages students to be selfreflective in career planning and expects
students to assume ownership of plan
documents and the planning process
 Program maintains a staffed career resource
center at the school that is open to students,
families, and community

 Program’s sequence of courses is coherent
and developmental
 Career and technical student organizations
enhance students’ understanding of programs
of study
 Students are strongly encouraged to explore
programs nontraditional for their gender
 Formal mechanisms exist to review programs
of study on a regular basis, and programs of
study are updated as necessary to remain
current with industry trends, skills,
knowledge, labor market demand, and career
options
 Formal mechanisms exist to ensure continued
congruence between practices and activities
of career and technical student organizations
All students have developed career portfolios,
and portfolios are routinely updated and used
by students
 The district actively encourages parents and
students to use the staffed career resource
center for career research and planning
Program of Study
 Program includes a sequence of courses , both
academic and technical, organized
sequentially in order to develop students’
skills and knowledge
 Program of study reflects both academic and
technical learning
 Formal mechanisms exist to inform students
and families of available technical programs of
study
87, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
 Program of study permits students to explore
and/or prepare for a variety of career options
within an industry
 Program of study allows students the
opportunity to explore programs and careers
nontraditional for their gender
 Program includes both secondary and
postsecondary elements; linkages exist
through articulation agreements that are
annually reviewed and approved
 Program includes state-approved vocational
technical education exploratory program*
 Programs of study are informed by labor
market demand and student demand*
and programs of study
 Systems, structures, and supports create an
environment where students may safely
choose career paths that are nontraditional
for their gender
 All students, regardless of gender, are
exposed to the full array of career possibilities
available in the program
 Schools actively and routinely seek out
partnerships with postsecondary educational
institutions and other community institutions,
organizations, and businesses in order to
provide students with rich programs of study
Curriculum Content
 Program curriculum provides opportunities for







students to gain a thorough understanding of
all aspects of an industry
Content is coherent and rigorous and aligns
with challenging academic standards and
relevant technical knowledge and skills
Program contributes to students’ higher-order
reasoning and problem-solving skills
Program provides students with general
employability knowledge and skills
Program provides students with occupational
safety and health knowledge and skills
Program provides students with management
and entrepreneurship knowledge and skills
Program provides students with technology
knowledge and skills
Curriculum provides at least one credentialing
option for students (e.g., articulated dual
enrollment credits, industry-recognized
 Program has developed and implemented
interventions and supports as needed to help
students transition to postsecondary
education and/or employment without the
need for remediation
 Curriculum provides students with multiple
credentialing options
 Curriculum is reviewed and revised regularly
to reflect new competencies, new
technologies, changing labor market needs
and current and/or emerging teaching
strategies/pedagogical approaches

Program successfully prepares all students for
transition to postsecondary education and/or
employment without the need for
remediation
 Upon completion of the program, all students
have earned as least one major credential
and/or transferable college credits
88, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
credential)
 Program is based on the Massachusetts
Curriculum Frameworks and the applicable
Massachusetts Vocational Technical
Framework*
Instructional Delivery
 Differentiated instruction is routinely
employed to ensure that students are
provided with the conditions for program
success
 Program includes competency-based applied
learning
 Program staff provides and documents safety
instruction to students prior to use of
equipment and ensures that students employ
overall safety practices and operate
equipment in a safe manner
 Program implements effective classroom and
shop routines and procedures to maximize
instructional time
 Instruction is based on clear objectives and
includes relevant measurable outcomes
 Instruction promotes equity across all
subpopulations and supports high
achievement for all students
 Instruction includes learning supports to meet
the diverse needs of all students
 Instructional plans incorporate student career
decision-making and employability skills
 Instruction aligns Vocational Technical
Education Frameworks standards with the
Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks*
 Program provides students with access to and
opportunities to develop proficiency with a
range of technologies used in the field
 Students are aware of both the skills and
competencies they are expected to master at
each stage of their program and their
performance with respect to those skills and
competencies
 Program makes use of industry partners as an
instructional resource
 Instruction is continually modified to
maximize student attainment of assessed skills
 Program secures access to state-of-the-art
technology based on industry trends
 Instruction is informed by regular analysis of
student-level achievement and performance
data
89, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Student Assessment
 Program assesses students for the acquisition
of knowledge and skills in the following areas:
o safety and health
o a vocational technical discipline,
including embedded academics
o employability
o management and entrepreneurship
o technology
 Program tracks student competency
attainment
 Program uses performance-based assessment
tools and processes to determine student
skills and competencies
 Program uses assessment data to determine
students’ readiness for postsecondary
education and remediates as necessary
 Program uses industry standards to assess
students’ skill acquisition
 Program uses a competency tracking tool or
procedure to monitor students’ skill and
knowledge attainment and regularly analyzes
aggregate and disaggregated data to improve
curriculum and instruction
 Program regularly shares data from
competency tracking with students and with
other key stakeholders, including Program
Advisory Committee
 Stakeholders and the wider school community
assist in assessing students through rigorous
exhibitions and/or portfolio reviews
 Program provides to students and parents a
summative student competency profile upon
completion of the program
 Program provides students with opportunities
to develop leadership skills through
involvement in career and technical student
organizations and/or through other planned
activities
 Program devotes resources to the
establishment and maintenance of career and
technical student organizations, including
providing funds for faculty advisors and travel
to competitions
 Program demonstrates a recognition that
career and technical student organizations are
integral components of students’ overall
career and technical education
 The program invites a broad range of students
Student Organizations and Leadership

Students have opportunities to participate in
student organizations and clubs that enhance
their vocational technical skills
to participate as stakeholders in program
improvement efforts
 Institutional structures ensure that students
play meaningful roles in program
improvement through participation on
program advisory committees
Work-Based Learning
90, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
 Work-based learning, implemented when
feasible, operates in accordance with
applicable laws, regulations, and policies
 Work-based learning is guided by school
district-created policies, procedures and forms
 Students are regularly evaluated by their site
supervisors on their attainment of and/or
practice of customized and agreed upon
competencies as captured by a Work-Based
Learning Plan or other similar tool, and these
evaluations are shared with the student and
program staff
 Communication among the student, the
supervisor, and the program is regular and
ongoing, and procedures exist to address
problems or conflicts at the earliest possible
point
 Parents are not required to waive legal rights
as a condition of their child’s participation in
work-based learning
 Students are supervised during work-based
learning in order to ensure that the work is
safe and provides a meaningful learning
experience
 Cooperative education, implemented when
feasible, operates in accordance with
applicable laws, regulations, and policies*
 Cooperative education is guided by school
district-created policies, procedures and
forms*
 Unpaid off-campus construction and
maintenance projects are appropriately
implemented per Massachusetts regulation*
 The program engages in ongoing efforts to
establish and maintain positive working
relationships with new and existing workbased learning partners
 Program administrators routinely examine
work-based learning data to improve program
design and outcomes
 Program administrators routinely examine
work-based learning data to ensure equity in
access to WBL
 A classroom component (WBL Seminar) is
provided for all students involved in long-term
worksite placement (e.g., cooperative
education, internship), and that classroom
component is directly connected to students’
work experiences
 Work-based learning is envisioned as a central
component of a capstone experience, and
students are expected to exhibit evidence of
their work-related learning in a rigorous and
authentic demonstration
 Long-standing and mutually advantageous
relationships exist among all partners
participating in work-based learning
 Structures and systems exist to ensure that
meaningful data on work-based learning is
shared with program advisory committees
and/or other stakeholders
91, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
—Resources—
Foundational Elements
Elements of Emerging Quality
Elements of Established Quality
 Facilities meet recommended industry and
educational standards
 Program staff undergo routine training
regarding environmental issues in the learning
environment
 Administration and/or program staff routinely
examine environmental factors as part of a
comprehensive shop safety and health system
 Program has a wide array of resources and
materials that provide for challenging and
enriched learning
 Program ‘s curricular and instructional
resources reflect technological advances in
technical content areas
 Program maximizes access to instructional
resources by developing and maintaining
partnerships with local businesses, industries,
and institutions
 Affected staff are trained in any new
curriculum and/or instructional materials prior
to implementation
 Administration develops and maintains
systems and structures to ensure that the
program’s materials are routinely replaced
and updated to remain current
 Program stakeholders, including parents,
students, and PAC members are involved in
vetting curricular and instructional materials
prior to procurement
 Administration develops systems and
structures to review materials and resources
routinely for cultural inclusivity and absence of
bias
 Systems and structures exist to ensure that all
affected staff are proficient in the use of any
new curriculum and/or instructional materials
The Learning Environment
 Facilities provide an environment that is
conducive to learning, free of barriers, and
supportive of curriculum goals and objectives
 Class size and instructional staffing (teacher :
student ratio) are suitable to provide safe
student learning
 Environmental factors are maintained at safe
and appropriate levels
 Environment is clean, orderly, properly
maintained, and safe and includes prominently
displayed safety signage
Curricular and Instructional Resources
 Program has basic resources available to
permit students to acquire skills and
knowledge with respect to:
o safety and health
o a vocational technical discipline,
including embedded academics
o employability
o management and entrepreneurship
o technology
 Curricular materials are culturally inclusive and
free of bias
 Curricular and instructional materials are
available to meet individual student needs
92, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Equipment
 Program has basic equipment available to
permit students to acquire skills and
knowledge with respect to:
o safety and health
o a vocational technical discipline,
including embedded academics
o employability
o management and entrepreneurship
o technology
 Shop equipment is properly installed and
maintained and is shielded, guarded, and
ventilated as necessary
 Equipment is in place to address fire safety,
materials storage, and waste disposal
 PAC members are involved in vetting
equipment prior to procurement
 Program ‘s equipment reflects technological
advances in technical content areas
 Program maximizes access to equipment by
developing and maintaining partnerships with
local businesses, industries, and institutions
 Affected staff are fully trained in any new
equipment prior to implementation
 Administration develops and maintains multiyear prioritized plans, developed in
conjunction with program PACs and the GAC
(if applicable) to ensure that the program’s
equipment is routinely replaced and updated
to remain current
 Affected staff must demonstrate an
appropriate level of proficiency with any new
equipment prior to use with students
93, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
—Support Services—
Foundational Elements
Elements of Emerging Quality
Elements of Established Quality
 Program environment honors diversity and
respects all students
 Program promotional, curricular, and
instructional materials reflect diversity with
respect to race, color, religion, national origin,
disability, sex, sexual orientation and gender
identity
 Outreach and promotion involves students
who reflect diversity with respect to race,
color, religion, national origin, disability, sex,
sexual orientation and gender identity, as well
as students who are English language learners
 Program regularly reviews data to determine
whether program enrollments reflect a diverse
student population and/or the student
population of the communities it serves and
whether obstacles exist to student access
 Program develops and maintains systems and
structures to promote diversity and equality of
access and fosters a culture where diversity is
embraced and celebrated
 Program staff regularly consult with student
support staff (including Special Education
staff) to address individual student needs
 Program staff regularly access professional
development and technical assistance services
in order to enhance their ability to address
individual student needs
 Dialogue between program staff and student
support staff is open and ongoing and reflects
a shared concern with promoting success for
all students
 The program identifies and collects data in a
comprehensive system designed with the
specific purpose of identifying and helping
Program Awareness and Accessibility
 Program provides equal access to all students,
including members of special populations
 Program has written policies and procedures
to ensure the learning environment is barrier
free
 Program makes basic accommodations that
allow participation of all students
 Program outreach and promotion is designed
to be free of bias and discrimination
 Program promotional, curricular, and
instructional materials are accessible to
English language learners and parents with
limited English proficiency
 Program accessibility for all students to
facilities, equipment, and curriculum is
ensured through modifications and
accommodations as needed
 Program presents a broad range of career
options to all students, regardless of race,
color, religion, national origin, disability, sex,
sexual orientation or gender identity
Program Support
 Administration has programs in place to
support all learners, including special
populations and English language learners
 Program staff are provided with opportunities
to be involved in the development and
implementation of Individualized Education
Plans
94, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Program staff are actively involved in the
development and implementation of
Individualized Education Plans
 Program staff are actively involved in the
development and implementation in their
classrooms and shops of support practices to
maximize student success
 Program uses vocational technical
paraprofessionals as needed to provide
additional support to students
 Program staff use available data to monitor
student success and to develop interventions
and supports

students in need of support
Administration provides resources to ensure
that program staff are adequately trained to
provide effective support to students
Career Guidance and Counseling Program
 Program ensures that all students possess a
career plan tied to their vocational technical
area of study [a 4-year plan in Chapter 74
approved programs]
 Program staff work with guidance and
counseling staff in the provision of college and
career counseling to students
 Program staff works with guidance and
counseling staff to provide student access to
career assessments, student organizations,
and other tools to investigate career options in
order to make informed decisions
 Program involves parents in students’ career
planning
 Guidance and counseling staff are sufficiently
well informed about vocational technical
education to provide advice to students
regarding course selection, articulated college
dual enrollment options, articulated
apprenticeship opportunities, and college and
career options
 Administration provides access to professional
development to program staff and guidance
and counseling staff to improve career-related
counseling
 Guidance and counseling staff regard
vocational technical education and/or career
development education as a valuable
component of all students’ programs of study
 Program’s career guidance and counseling
program seamlessly integrates the efforts of
all school-based service providers, program
partners, and parents in a holistic effort to
guide students’ postsecondary planning
 Program develops, collects and routinely
examines data to determine the effectiveness
of its career guidance and counseling efforts
95, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education