Career and Technical Education
Building the Bridge for Tomorrow’s Workforce
Department of Education’s Vision
CREATING A WORLD
CLASS EDUCATION
SYSTEM FOR ALL
CHILDREN
Secondary Career and Technical Education
Program Areas
Agriscience
Business
Family and Consumer Science
Health Occupations
Marketing
Technology
Trade and Industry
Career Clusters
• A broad group of career areas that
represent a scope of employment.
Career Clusters
• The U.S. Department of Education has identified
16 career clusters representing career
opportunities for the 21st century economy.
• High schools should be organized around career
clusters to prepare students to meet the
demands of postsecondary education and the
expectations of employers.
Louisiana’s Career Clusters
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
Architecture & Construction
Arts, A/V Technology & Communications
Business, Management & Administration
Education & Training
Finance
Government & Public Administration
Health Science
Hospitality & Tourism
Human Services
Information Technology
Manufacturing
Marketing, Sales & Services
Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
Transportation, Distributing & Logistics
Area of Concentration (AOC)
• A coherent and focused sequence of rigorous
academic and career/technical courses
commencing in the ninth grade and leading to
postsecondary education and/or work.
Areas of Concentration
• 2009-10--sixty-eight areas of concentration
offered throughout Louisiana.
• A list of the sixty-eight AOC, including the
approved primary and related courses for each
area of concentration, can be found on the LDE
website at http://www.louisianaschools.net
under Career Options in the Career and
Technical Education section.
Primary Courses
• Courses must emphasize core knowledge needed for the
student to demonstrate qualifications, address foundation
competency skills as they pertain to the related areas of a
concentration, and must not be core academic courses
required for graduation.
• There must be a minimum of four approved primary
credits to meet approval requirements for primary
courses.
• Any selection of four credits from the approved primary
courses offered must address core knowledge and/or
foundation competencies/skills in the area of
concentration.
Related Courses
• Courses must enhance competencies/skills
needed in the area of concentration.
• There must be a minimum of two approved
related credits to meet the approval
requirements for related courses.
Career Cluster:
Area of Concentration:
Primary Courses:
Government and Public Administration
Law and Order
American Government
*Business Law
Education for Careers
Internship (Non-CTE)
*Law Studies I
Psychology
Sociology
Speech I, II
(must complete a minimum of 4 credits)
Students can only count one work-based learning program toward completion of primary credits.
Students must complete at least one competency course credit, as designated by an asterisk.
Senor Project has to be related to the student’s career major and area of concentration.
Related Courses:
(must complete a minimum of 2 credits, one must be a
computer course credit, unless 5 credits are completed
from the
Primary Courses and students complete one computer
course credit)
Accounting I
Admin. Sup. Occ.
Business Education Elec.
Entrepreneurship
Financial Math
Fine Arts Survey
Keyboarding
Keyboarding Apps.
Medical Terminology
P.E. III
Principles of Business
Principles of Marketing I
All computer courses approved by BESE
All foreign language courses
Students cannot use courses that meet the core graduation requirements as part of their area of concentration.
Senior Project has to be related to the student’s career major and area of concentration.
Statewide Articulation Courses:
None currently being offered
Industry Based Certifications:
Related Certification(s):
None currently being offered
Postsecondary Education Programs:
Law
Occupations:
Lawyer
Paralegal
Probability/Stat.
Psychology
*Senior Project
Sociology
Western Civilization
World History
How to Submit Changes to an Area
of Concentration?
• Local Education Agencies have the opportunity
to submit proposed new areas of concentration
to the existing AOCs.
• Superintendents receive notification via mail for
proposed new AOCs that have been approved
by their local school board.
• The AOC Review Committee will review the new
areas of concentration submitted and make
recommendations for approval or non-approval
to BESE.
Career Pathways
• A Career Pathway is a coherent articulated
sequence of rigorous academic and career
courses, commencing in the ninth grade and
leading to an associate degree, and/or an
industry-recognized certificate or licensure,
and/or a baccalaureate degree and beyond.
Louisiana Pathways
• 25 Courses Articulated from secondary to postsecondary through Statewide Secondary to
Postsecondary Articulation Agreement (STArt).
Industry-Based Certification
Industry-based Certification-a portable
recognized credential (tangible evidence) that
an individual has successfully demonstrated skill
competencies on a core set of content and
performance standards in a specific set of workrelated tasks, single occupational area, or a
cluster of related occupational areas.
Locally Designed Industry-Based
Certifications
• Developed to meet the unique employment
needs of specific districts/regions
• Utilized in the Pre-GED/Skills Options Program
• There are approximately 85 certifications
Types of IBCs
• International
• National
• State
• 45 IBCs Approved by BESE
Why IBCs?
• Provides recognized employment credentials
• IBC courses may result in dual enrollment or
articulated credit
• Provides a “jump start” for post-secondary
pursuits
• Adds points to the school index score (140)
Graduation Index
Student Results
Points
Academic or CTE Endorsement
180
TOPS Opportunity Award
160
BESE approved IBC or TOPS Tech and Dual
Enrollment or TOPS Tech and Articulated
Credit
140
Regular High School Diploma
120
Skills Certificate/Certificate of Achievement
60
Attender
30
Dropout
0
Inter-Discipline Alignment
Specific CTE courses can be substituted in
LA Core 4
Examples:
Animal Science
EMT-B
Business Computer Apps.
Science
Science
Applied Arts
Funding
• Carl Perkins—High Demand, High Wage, High
Skill
• Dual Enrollment—BOR, CTE State Funds, & Local
Funds
• Special Projects—PLTW & Innovative HS
ACT Workkeys®
•
•
•
•
Purpose
Support Data
Funding
Benefits to students and employers
Research conducted by the National Research Center for Career
and Technical Education resulted in the following :
Dual Enrollment• Benefits many students
• Leads in positive outcomes for participating students
• Increases academic rigor of high school curriculum
• Helps low achieving students meet high academic standards
• Provides more academic and elective opportunities
• Reduces high school drop-out rate
• Increases student aspirations
• Helps students acclimate to college life
• Reduces the cost of college for students
Research conducted through Achieve Texas 2007
study revealed the following: “Earning an
industry certification has many benefits. It gives
students a sense of accomplishment, a highly
valued professional credential, and helps
students become more employable with higher
starting salaries. Valid reliable certifications are
also evidence of technical skill attainment.
Industry certifications, therefore, are an
important component of a CTE program of study.”
CTE Making a Difference
• The reducing the Dropout Rate Through Career
and Vocational Education Overview ERIC Digest
No. 63 revealed that students exposed to
college and career ready activities will have an
increase in attendance, a decrease in being
tardy to class/school, and will contribute to the
increase in high school completion rates.
Well designed CTE programs lead to impressive results:
Study of Career Academies in San Francisco (compare
CTE Students with Non-Academy Students)
•GPA .5 of a point Higher
•Test scores are 30-40% Higher
•Drop-out rate is 50% lower
•8.2% more go to 2 to 4 year colleges
•15.9% more go to 4 year colleges
Louisiana Data
CTE Concentrators: 44.5% become first time
freshman (CATE)
Non-CTE Concentrators: 22.2% become first
time freshman (CATE)
56% of Students who are CTE Concentrators
receive TOPS (CATE)
14.5% of Non-CTE Concentrators receive TOPS
(CATE)
Professional School Counselor
&
Career & Technical Education
• Providing information to students/parents
• Assisting students with dual
enrollment/articulated credit opportunities
• Providing up-to-date information in nontraditional AOC
• Active involvement in the district’s advisory
committee
• Providing career awareness/exploration
activities (career fairs etc.)
CTE Advisory Committee
• Statewide
– Attendance Policy
– CTE Diploma Endorsement
• District
– Recommends programs of study that meet the
needs of business/industry
– Must announce meetings and invite the public to
attend
Questions
James R. Owens
LA Department of Education
Office of Career & Technical Education
James.Owens@LA.GOV
225-219-9333
Patricia Felder
LA Department of Education
Office of Career and Technical Education
Patricia.Felder@LA.GOV
225-342-4141