|
CTE Newsletter
December 2023
This update is provided by the Career and Technical Education Team at the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. We welcome your support in encouraging anyone who would benefit from the information to join our listserv. Individuals can sign up here. Questions can be shared with CTE@che.in.gov.
A Note from State Director Anthony Harl: As the semester concludes, a quick thank you to everyone who works to advance CTE across Indiana. It’s been an eventful year for the state CTE team with our transition to the Commission for Higher Education, the passage of HEA 1002-2023 and the continued implementation of NLPS.
After the transition to the Commission, a new Career and Technical Education logo has been developed that is shared here. The logo was intentionally designed with a similar feel as the Commission’s Learn More Indiana and 21st Century Scholars logos. Additionally, the symbols of the gear and electrical schematic honors our traditional trades programs while giving a nod to some of our newer programs like IT, healthcare, business and smart manufacturing. Going forward, this logo will help you to identify information that is coming from our team.
|
I couldn’t help being excited this week with the publishing of the course titles and descriptions and the approval of the funding memo (both of which are shared below and include some exciting new changes for next year). For the first time, we can focus solely on the Next Level Programs of Study courses and have completed the transition from prior courses. I’m appreciative of everyone who worked together to make NLPS a reality and the patience and flexibility from our schools and career centers over the last few years as the transition has progressed.
As proud as I am of what has been accomplished and the outcomes already occurring with NLPS, I am even more excited about the future of CTE in Indiana. As many of you know, we are currently working on a long-term strategic plan for CTE and an accompanying Perkins State plan. Feedback is currently being gathered from stakeholders, including listening sessions with students across the state. Please fill out this survey if you’d like to share ideas to inform the development of both plans. Early in the new year, we will be analyzing this feedback and working to identify key priorities and strategies aimed at continuing to better serve CTE students.
I am fortunate to have a great team that is passionate about CTE and providing quality opportunities for students. We look forward to working alongside each one of you in 2024 and beyond. And lastly, I hope that you have the chance to reflect on the great things that are already happening in your schools and classrooms, and look forward to the amazing possibilities that exist in the new year.
Happy Holidays!
2024-2025 CTE Funding Memo
The CTE funding memo for the 2024-25 school year was approved at the December State Board of Education meeting and can be found here. The memo is developed annually by the Department of Workforce Development in consultation with the CTE team at the Commission for Higher Education.
This year’s memo includes the addition of Career Exploration Internship (0530) as a funded course that will receive work-based learning (WBL) funding ($500). The funding memo also includes additional courses for 8th-grade CTE funding eligibility. These courses are:
- Introduction to Advanced Manufacturing and Logistics
- Introduction to Business
- Introduction to Computer Science
- Introduction to Construction
- Exploring Education Professions
- Introduction to Health Science Careers
- Introduction to Transportation
The changes described above and additional changes from the prior year are summarized in this memo.
2024-2025 Course Titles and Descriptions
The 2024-2025 Course Titles and Descriptions were released last week by the Indiana Department of Education and can be found here. The 2024-2025 school year marks the first year that courses not maintained through the transition to Next Level Programs of Study (NLPS) are no longer available. In the 2023-2024 Course Titles and Descriptions, CTE courses expected to be phased out were listed in “Part 2.” As planned, all courses in Part 2 have been removed.
- Should a school or career center desire to offer a previously existing course that is not included within NLPS, this can be done by making a non-standard course waiver request for a Special Topics course. Instructions for completing this process in InTERS can be found here.
The CTE section of the Course Titles and Descriptions begins on Page 201, and a summary of changes can be located below or on Page 202.
Changes to the CTE section of the 2024-2025 Course Titles and Descriptions include:
- Addition of an education and training introductory course – Exploring Education Professions – aimed at providing students an introduction to the available education pathways with broader information before they choose a pathway to pursue
- Addition of a second Capstone course option in both the Industry 4.0 pathway and the Electronics and Computer Technology pathway. The course names are Semiconductor and EV Battery Manufacturing and Semiconductor Fabrication and standards/competencies are still in development for both courses.
- Addition of the Aviation Maintenance pathway in the Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics career cluster
- Addition of the Social and Community Services pathway in the Human Services career cluster.
- Addition of a Principles of Pharmacy Tech course that will be used in place of the Principles of Healthcare course for the Pharmacy Tech pathway. This change will not impact students currently enrolled in the Pharmacy Tech pathway. The new sequence of courses should be used for new enrollments in the Pharmacy Tech pathway in the 2024-2025 school year.
NLPS Review Document
The NLPS Review Document has been updated and the latest version can be found here. Changes to the document since the last released version (shared in July) are outlined on Page 1 of the document. Updates include any changes that have resulted from the release of the Course Titles and Descriptions and CTE Funding Memo. Our team anticipates releasing another version of the document early in 2024 with a few additional updates, including standards/competencies for newly created courses and updates to dual credit alignment.
Preparing for College and Careers Update: The Review Document includes updated standards for the Preparing for College and Careers (PCC) course. PCC standards have been updated to allow the course to meet the Career Awareness Course requirement in HEA 1002-2023. These updated standards were approved by the State Board of Education at their December meeting. A memo Board members received summarizing the requirements outlined in HEA 1002-2023 and the changes made to PCC standards can be found here.
Reminder – Online/Virtual CTE Policy
The policy document for online/virtual CTE courses was updated from the version shared in the fall of 2022 and can be found here. The updated document now reflects the additional programs approved for virtual delivery added since last spring (Agriscience, Biomedical, Engineering and Criminal Justice). Other minor language updates were made throughout the document to ensure maximum clarity, including around the definition of a hybrid course offering.
Schools and career centers are reminded the classroom instruction portion of any program of study, virtually approved or not, may be offered virtually if the in-person requirements are met through any one of a variety of options (Hybrid/Blended Model). These options include:
- Lab time at the home high school;
- Completing courses with in-person and/or lab requirements by attending sessions in-person at a career center, postsecondary institution or eligible training provider; or
- An employer-provided work-based learning program.
Credits in Online Courses: As stated in the policy document, credits attained in NLPS courses taught online only count toward concentrator status if the program of study/course has been approved for virtual delivery or the course is taught online through a postsecondary dual enrollment agreement.
External Opportunity: Indiana Work-Based Learning Conference
Registration is open for the Indiana Work-Based Learning Conference. This event is hosted by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s Institute of Workforce Excellence and includes the annual IMPACT Awards where Hoosier students engaged in WBL, employers, innovative programs and more are celebrated. To learn more about the event and register, click here.
|
