| Announcements: December 3, 2008 - February 10, 2009 | |||||
Tech Prep Tuesday Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium Transition and Transfer February 10, 2009 Advanced Technical Credit (ATC) Program Update At an ATC Facilitator Training session last week in Houston, the following information was shared regarding the program: • Bob Lucas will be the new ATC director for the state. Dr. Bill Wilson will continue to do the teacher approvals. • The ATC Leadership Committee will meet this month to make additional recommendations for the program. • Because of the TEKS revisions, the ATC crosswalk will be revised to reflect these changes and will go into effect for the 2010-2011 school year. The new crosswalk is scheduled to be released as early as January 2010. • The unique PEIMS numbers with the “T” for the ATC courses will be going away once the revisions are in effect. The “A” code, however, will continue to be used for both local and ATC courses on the high school transcript. If the articulated course is from a local agreement, the name of the college will be listed on the transcript, generally on the back. If no college is listed, it will be assumed that the course is an ATC course. • About 75% of the state’s two year colleges participate in the program currently. The ATC leadership group is researching ways to appeal to the other colleges to increase participation. • The ATC website, www.atctexas.org, is scheduled to be revised in the near future. Spring Visits Tech Prep staff members will begin Spring visits later this month and will be calling to set appointments in the near future. As part of the visit, staff members will conduct a short survey to gather input from partners as the Consortium’s Five Year Plan is being updated. Mentoring Program Coordinator Workshop Heart of Texas Tech Prep Consortium, TSTC- Waco, and OP-TEC are sponsoring a Mentoring Program Coordinator Workshop Friday, February 13, from 8 AM to 4 PM at Texas State Technical College in Waco. This workshop is designed to support secondary and post-secondary educators, career and technical education coordinators, counselors, and others committed to developing mentoring programs for female high school and college students that encourage participation in advanced and emerging technologies, STEM, and non-traditional programs. The one-day workshop will teach coordinators how to develop and sustain mentoring programs in their regions. Please contact Carol Lance at carol.lance@templejc.edu if you would like to receive additional information about this opportunity. ============
Tech Prep Tuesday Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium Transition and Transfer January 13, 2009 Local Articulation Workshop Scheduled for February 12 The Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium is organizing a Local Articulation Agreement Workshop on Thursday, February 12th from 1:30 – 3:30 pm at the Temple College Pavilion for the following clusters: Health Science; Human Services (Child Development & Educational Personnel); and Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security (Criminal Justice). This will be an opportunity for area teachers to meet college faculty and establish or update articulation agreements for their students. College faculty and secondary teachers will look at individual course objectives in an attempt to align secondary curriculum with college course standards so that students will be able to receive college credit for career and technical courses. Teachers and counselors within the Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium are welcome to attend the articulation workshop; however, secondary teachers are encouraged to be present when meeting with the college faculty. The consortium will provide member district’s teachers up to $50 per teacher per day for substitute reimbursement. Teachers that are interested in registering for the local articulation agreement workshop should email Misty Harrell at mharrell@templejc.edu with the following information: 1. Name of District 2. Name of Individual, and position 3. Cluster (example: Health Sciences) 4. Courses taught Registration deadline is February 9th. New Online Professional Development Tool – “The Network” The Network is a new, online resource developed for the unique professional development needs of career and technical education faculty, counselors and administrators across Texas. By connecting people to people, institutions, resources and ideas, this site provides a centrally located network of professional development programs from live training events to on-demand training modules. The first site of its kind nationally, this Perkins-funded project can be found at www.txpod.org. Upcoming CTE Workshops at Region 12 ESC January 26 GO Force Session # 30447 January 29 & 30 IC3 & MOS Certification Session # 30722 February 5 New and Emerging Careers Session # 29050 ============
Tech Prep Tuesday Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium Transition and Transfer January 6, 2009 Opportunity for Feedback for Revisions to the CTE TEKS Available until January 13 In May 2007, the 80th Texas Legislature passed a bill requiring the State Board of Education (SBOE) to revise the essential knowledge and skills for career and technical education not later than September 1, 2009. The SBOE appointed writing teams to make recommendations for the revisions, and writing teams have been working since Spring 2008 to review the current CTE TEKS and make recommendations for revisions. Drafts of the recommendations are listed by career cluster and include a course crosswalk comparing the 1997 courses to the draft recommendations for 2008 courses. These draft TEKS and crosswalks are posted on the TEA website at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/teks/cteTEKS.html . Also provided on the site is an informal feedback form. Comments need to be sent in by January 13 before teams meet again. Comptroller of Public Accounts Issues Report on Need for Technical Education in State Last month, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Susan Combs issued a 147 page report calling for state leaders to support a system of education that ensures Texas students have the range of technical skills needed to pursue a successful career. In the document, Combs reports a serious imbalance emerging between the demand for skilled workers and the state’s ability to supply them. Combs also challenges policies that create barriers and disincentives for students to pursue career and technical education at both the K-12 and postsecondary level and encourages the use of data to quantify the economic benefits of CTE. The full report can be accessed at http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/workforce/. Uniform GPA Issue According to CTAT Executive Director Robin Painovich, in the 81st Texas Legislature, law makers are expected to address the issue of a uniform GPA as a direct result of statewide backlash from parents, educators, civic leaders and business representatives that expressed concerns about the proposed rules. A previously scheduled special meeting of THECB to consider proposed rules on January 5 has been cancelled. Although THECB will hold its regular meeting on January 29, it is widely expected that a ruling on uniform GPA will be postponed indefinitely. Districts will continue to work with students, parents and postsecondary institutions to provide appropriate college readiness measures and an accurate assessment of the high school transcript and grade point average. Upcoming Counselors’ Council Workshops at Region 12 ESC January 13 – How Data Can Help School Counselors – Session #28985 January 21 – Achieve Texas for School Counselors (TETN) – Session #30139 January 26 – GO Force – Session #30447 ============
Tech Prep Tuesday Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium Transition and Transfer December 16, 2008 CATEMA Reminder for First Semester Classes!!! Classes and students should be entered into CATEMA by now for one semester courses coming to a close. As a reminder, students MUST enter their own information and register for classes in order for the school district and consortium to be in compliance with the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Therefore, students should register for either locally articulated classes or classes in which the teacher has ATC training prior to the end of the semester. For more information please contact Misty Harrell at 254.298.8483 or mharrell@templejc.edu. Upcoming Activities The next in a series of articulation/cluster meetings for this school year is tentatively scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday, February 12 at Temple College. Cluster areas offered may include Health Science, Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security (Criminal Justice), and Human Services (Child Development). Details will be announced in January. For more information please contact Misty Harrell at mharrell@templejc.edu. AchieveTexas Update: Best Practices and New Guide in Spanish An initial summary of best practices with AchieveTexas is compiled in one document and represents all 16 clusters. This document is available on the AchieveTexas website at www.achievetexas.org in the Implementation section. Dr. Karen Alexander announced during her presentation at the consortium sponsored Counselors’ Network Workshop last Friday that school districts can submit examples for inclusion in two new documents coming this summer. One will be implementation for local districts and the other best practices for counselors in local implementation. Check out the new Spanish Language College and Career Planning Guide for AchieveTexas by clicking on the Programs of Study section on the website. The guide features the 16 careers cluster profiles, guides for creating the Texas Achievement Plan (TAP) and a guide for planning postsecondary education. An electronic magazine version and ordering information for the Spanish language guides will be posted to the website soon. Education Open Source Conference Reminders The deadline for presentation submissions for the Education Open Source Conference is Friday, December 19 and the deadline for early bird registration is Wednesday, December 31. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year from the Tech Prep Staff! Sherry, Misty, Carol ============
Tech Prep Tuesday Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium Transition and Transfer December 2, 2008 Friday is Deadline to Register for Counselors’ Network Workshop Remember, Friday is the deadline to register for the December 12th Counselors’ Network Workshop. Organized by the Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium, the workshop will feature AchieveTexas, area workforce information and roundtable discussions. The workshop is scheduled from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM and will be held at the Temple College Pavilion. Cost is $10 and includes refreshments, lunch and materials. To register, contact Carol Lance at 254-298-8480 or carol.lance@templejc.edu. CATEMA Reminder!! Districts should begin entering classes and students into CATEMA for the 2008 – 2009 school year. School districts that have not participated in CATEMA in the past but have a local articulation agreement with Central Texas College or Temple College, or have a teacher that is eligible to teach Advanced Technical Credit (ATC) courses, may participate in CATEMA. Teacher training on CATEMA is available for member school districts. Training can be given during a teacher In-service, in which it could be combined with additional Tech Prep information, or if you are with a larger district a training date can be scheduled where each teacher meets with the CATEMA trainer throughout the day during his/her conference period. For more information please contact Misty Harrell at 254.298.8483 or mharrell@templejc.edu. Education Open Source Conference A limited amount of funding is available for Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium partners to attend the Education Open Source Conference scheduled for early February in Houston. Information has been sent to each Tech Prep district contact about this opportunity. Deadline to apply is Friday. The amount for each attendee will be $350 and only a few awards are available. Contact Sherry Hollinger at shollin@templejc.edu for questions. Tech Prep Subcontracts The Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium subcontract review committee met recently and awarded a little over $50,000 to partner districts and colleges for projects this school year. Forty requests were received totaling over $120,000. Eight school districts and two colleges received awards. ============ |
