ADVANCE CTE SUPPORTS NEW SKILLS FOR
YOUTH INITIATIVE, CAREER TECH PD, AND ADVOCACY

Advance CTE, a nonprofit organization supporting improvements in career technical education (CTE) pathways at the state level, is among the partners coordinating the New Skills for Youth (NSFY) initiative, which supports ten states in expanding high-quality career pathway opportunities. Formerly known as the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education, Advance CTE also supports CTE improvement in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories, through professional development, advocacy, and research.

The NSFY initiative, which includes the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and Education Strategy Group (ESG) as well as Advance CTE, supports innovation in vanguard states, to identify and promote best practices in providing high quality career pathways. Ten states—Delaware,  Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin—were each awarded $2 million over two years, funded by JPMorgan Chase & Co., to build new, and expand existing, career pathways in high schools, community colleges, and technical centers. 

One area of focus is pushing beyond access to promote career advising that helps students identify pathways most suited to their interests and aptitudes. States are also developing ways to evaluate career readiness; forty states currently include measures of career readiness in their state or federal accountability systems. Finally, the ten states in the NSFY initiative are exploring strategies to increase employer engagement in planning and implementing career pathways. Since the work is still underway, NSFY uses interim criteria to gauge success: new state CTE policies, new funding, and new pathway opportunities for young people. The six NSFY objectives are:

~ Demand-driven and employer-led processes

~ Rigor and quality in career pathways for all

~ Career-focused accountability systems

~ Scaled pathways that culminate in credentials

~ Aligned state and federal funding streams

~ Cross-institutional alignment.

In addition to the NSFY initiative, Advance CTE intensively supports state CTE leaders through communications and professional development. It holds two national conferences each year and offers a year-long leadership program for new state CTE directors. A program currently underway expands its geographic reach by “training trainers”: career counselors, selected from an applicant pool, attend workshops preparing them to serve as regional or state CTE champions assisting key district and school personnel to improve career counseling practices.

Advocacy and research are the other facets of Advance CTE’s work. The organization recently helped pass the “Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act” (aka Perkins V), providing $1.3 billion a year for CTE through 2024 and requires programs to address local workforce alignment through a local comprehensive needs assessment process. On the research side, Advance CTE has developed a broad menu of case studies, reports, and analyses highlighting promising practices and recommendations in a variety of policy areas. Topics include improving CTE data quality, recruiting CTE teachers, providing meaningful career counseling, expanding CTE to the middle grades, and ensuring equitable access and success in CTE.

While local leaders are responsible for program implementation and creating learning opportunities to foster career success, state-level policies help these programs move forward. Advance CTE focuses on helping state-level leaders fulfill their crucial role of setting the agenda:

~ Expanding access to high-quality CTE

~ Promoting equity by addressing historical barriers (e.g., socio-economic disadvantages, race and gender bias, rural isolation)

~ Securing funding

~ Setting up data processes

~ Providing high-quality professional development and

~ Holding programs accountable.