Southern
Regional
Education
Board
Joining a College-Ready Academic Core with Intellectually Demanding
Career/Technical Courses
A multi-state consortium to develop curricula, assessments, instructional materials and teacher/counselor training that provide more students with relevant and challenging career/technical courses.

Project Vision/Mission
Southern
Regional
Education
Board
Preparation For Tomorrow (PFT) will develop project- and problem-based curricula that will prepare students for college and advanced training for
21st-century careers through career/technical courses with embedded college- and careerreadiness standards.
SREB Legislative & Governor 09-23-11 2

Southern
Regional
Education
Board
Preparation for Tomorrow
Advances a Broader Concept of Rigor that
Recognizes and Values:
 Application-based learning of essential academics in reading, writing, mathematics and science
 Project/problem-based learning that grounds students in the real-world use of academic knowledge
 Rich contextual curriculum that enables students to reach greater depths of understanding through handson learning
 Program of study that joins college-ready academic core with quality CT courses in a high-demand, highwage field
 Assessments that measure students’ depth of learning
 Commitment to relevance that connects learners to the meaning and purpose of school
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Southern
Regional
Education
Board
Why is Preparation For Tomorrow
Important?
 Expands the concept of rigor to include CT studies
 Allows students to take challenging courses geared to their interest and aptitude
 Provides a different way for students to improve performance on exams
 Causes students to believe that school is relevant
 Contributes to lower drop out rates by connecting school studies to future career and educational goals
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Southern
Regional
Education
Board
 Aerospace Engineering
(AL)
 Global Logistics (NJ)
 Futures in Science and
Technology (AR)
 Project Management
(NC)
 Manufacturing, (GA)
 Automated Materials
Joining Technologies
(OH)  STEM Education and
Training (KS)  Health/Informatics (OH)
 Informatics (KY)
 Construction Design
 Renewable Energy
Technologies (SC) and Management (MD)  Energy and Power
 Food and Nutritional
Sciences (NE)
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Southern
Regional
Education
Board
 SREB and NI have formed a partnership to incorporate authentic, affordable, sustainable technology into each STEMrelated PFT pathway.
 NI engineers will design miniaturized simulations, replicas of actual STEM workplace equipment and tools built with readily available, inexpensive materials meeting the exacting requirements of the academic and technical content standards in these STEM-related courses.
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Motor/generator set serves as steam turbine/generator or water turbine/generator
Transmission
Lines
9v battery serving as a
Power Plant
(nuclear-fossil-hydro)
Solar collector providing supplemental power.
National Instruments data
Education
Board instrumentation
3 houses with LEDs—Electrical
Load
And
Blue switches to engage electrical loads, simulating circuit breakers
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Common Core Standard: Create equation that describes relationships. Rearrange numbers in formula to highlight a quality of interest using the same reasoning as in solving an equation.
For example, rearranging Ohm’s Law V = IR to highlight resistance R.
Southern
Regional
Education
Board
SREB Legislative & Governor 09-23-11 8

Southern
Regional
Education
Board
How is PFT structured?
Phase I: Describe Courses, Identify Technical and
Academic Standards (State Common
Core and National Science Standards)
Phase II: Design Assessment Specifications,
Course Syllabi and Project/Problem Units
Phase III: Design the End-of-Course Exams
Phase IV: Design and Implement Professional
Development
Phase V: Conduct Iterative Evaluation of Field Test
Curriculum, Training and Assessment and Revise Materials Based upon
Evaluation
Phase VI: Curriculum Implementation and Conduct
Outcome Evaluations
SREB Legislative & Governor 09-23-11 9

Southern
Regional
Education
Board
• Better join academics and CT studies
• Improve HS achievement, graduation rates & readiness for college
• Align CT courses with college- and career-readiness standards
• Course syllabi & instructional material for a sequence of CT courses with authentic projects & assignments, and end-of-course assessment
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Southern
Regional
Education
Board
• A sequence of academic & CT courses essential for students to achieve industry-recognized credentials and enter some type of postsecondary education
• Professional Development materials and training to prepare CT teachers to implement the courses
• A repository of field tested and revised materials for new CT courses
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