High-quality, sustained, intensive and classroom-focused professional development: the new professional development requirements represented a shift in focus for many CTE programs, which began to look for ways to replace single, isolated workshops or seminars with professional development activities that allow for interaction, feedback and continuous improvement over time.

Hyslop, Alisha

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT HAS LONG BEEN A FOCUS OF FEDERAL INVESTMENT IN CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION (CTE) through the Perkins Act. In the 2006 Act, this was no exception, and language related to professional development was strengthened. Professional development is a required use of Perkins funds at the state and local levels for teachers, faculty, administrators and career guidance counselors, as it has been in the past; but new language is added to the law requiring this professional development to be "high quality, sustained, intensive and focused on instruction." There is also additional emphasis on professional development that promotes the integration of academic and CTE content, one of the key themes overall of the 2006 Act.

The new professional development requirements represented a shift in focus for many CTE programs, which began to look for ways to replace single, isolated workshops or seminars with professional development activities that allow for interaction, feedback and continuous improvement over time. During the development of its Perkins five-year plan, the state of Oregon formed a Professional Development Task Force to make recommendations on new professional development programs. One of the recommendations to come out of this task force was to "tie a percentage of local Perkins funds to professional development" in order to ensure a sustained investment. The state not only followed through on this suggestion, but made professional development one of the five benchmarks that will guide the state's implementation of the 2006 Perkins Act.

Each year, eligible Perkins grant recipients will be required to invest an amount equal to l0 percent of their Perkins Basic Grant allocation specifically for professional development. The professional development activities and budget have to be explicitly laid out in the local recipient's Perkins plan, and each local program must work toward meeting two goals by the 2012-2013 school year:

1. Ninety-five percent of CTE teachers reinforce naturally occurring, embedded academic content within their technical instruction.

2. Ninety-five percent of secondary CTE teachers follow a formal professional development plan focused on instruction; and 95 percent of postsecondary CTE teachers participate annually in formal, program-related professional development focused on instruction.

Some of Oregon's professional development activities thus far have included monthly professional development for its CTE Leadership Network, which includes 18 regional coordinators and 17 community college deans, and sponsorship of cohorts of "Math-in-CTE" to implement the train-the-trainer academic integration model across the state. As in most places around the country, the CTE teacher shortage will significantly impact Oregon's ability to sustain current programs and develop new ones. In May 2007, the Oregon Department of Education and the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development sponsored a summit on CTE teacher shortages. As a result of the summit, as well as recommendations from the task force, a variety of new initiatives are under way to support teacher preparation, training, recruitment and retention.

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For example, community colleges are currently exploring short duration, immediate need, intensive training in the pedagogy necessary for CTE teachers who already have a depth of industry experience. The state believes this short-duration approach will be an incentive in the recruitment and retention of CTE teachers. For the first time, workshop sessions on CTE are being included in the statewide Education Pathways for Teachers Conference. This opportunity will provide greater visibility for CTE across a variety of teacher education programs. Perkins-funded programs will require teachers entering CTE from business and industry to focus professional development on instructional activities. Licensed teachers acquiring a CTE endorsement will focus on industry or other workplace experiences in their professional development.

Other states are taking innovative steps to implement the new professional development requirements as well. In Texas, the Texas Network for Teaching Excellence in Career and Technical Education, a postsecondary Perkins-sponsored leadership project, coordinates and implements a statewide CTE professional development system that connects people to each other and to institutions, resources and ideas. To accomplish this, a system of partnerships is being created between professional organizations and colleges. This project establishes a central network and repository for past and future professional development projects and modules.

In Idaho, the Division of Professional-Technical Education, in collaboration with the University of Idaho and Idaho State University, is offering a course titled "Improving Academic Achievement through Professional-Technical Education" to enhance academic integration. The course assists teachers, administrators and counselors in acquiring skills needed to develop curricula and teaching practices, including sample lesson plans, to integrate Idaho's core academic standards into CTE programs. It involves 46 hours of content and is available for graduate/undergraduate academic credit or graduate/undergraduate in-service credit. The division will provide a $250 personal incentive stipend to high school CTE teachers who complete the course, and the state department of education will also provide the stipend to other teachers, such as academic teachers, who wish to take the course along with their CTE counterparts.

Finally, many states are looking at ways to utilize summer professional development conferences, such as those sponsored by state ACTE associations, to help educators meet the Perkins requirements. Each summer, the Louisiana Department of Education offers the "Super Summer Institute," a statewide, intensive professional development experience. The institute is comprised of multiple tracks of intensive professional learning experiences that help educators implement new curriculum, strengthen classroom management or teaching skills, and gain new knowledge of trends in specific industries or in education reform. Each track lasts one to five days, and prior content has included a five-day experience for new CTE instructors and a two-day experience in understanding and implementing career pathways.

You can read more about states' efforts to enhance professional development through ACTF's CTE State Profiles at www.acteonline.org/StateProfiles.aspx.

Alisha Hyslap is ACTE's assistant director of public policy. She can be contacted at ahyslop@acteonline.org.