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Dear Colleagues:
Today I want to touch on February being Career and Technical Education (CTE) month.
CTE is a valued and vital part of education in our schools. CTE educators work with employers all over the state to fast-track Kentucky students into careers that fuel economic growth. Today’s approach to career and technical education is transforming how we create a qualified workforce for employers by streamlining programs to make every credit count through a rigorous, career-focused, K-12 and postsecondary curriculum.
Kentucky sets the standard for quality CTE at the national level. In the 2021-2022 school year alone, 71% of Kentucky’s high school students participated in CTE. That’s nearly 140,000 students in grades 9 through 12 whose education was enhanced by CTE experiences and coursework across the Commonwealth.
These students are preparing for careers in virtually every workforce sector, including many of the state’s most in-demand, high-wage occupations.
As part of the CTE month celebrations, there will be a 2022-2023 CTE Showcase at the Capitol tomorrow, Feb. 21. The showcase will take place from 1:30 to 4 p.m. ET. Displays will be set up around the mezzanine level for legislators, guests and the general public to tour and speak with the students. A second opportunity for schools to share their displays will take place at the KSBA Annual Conference on Feb. 24, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET at the Galt House. I hope you’ll be able to stop by and visit with students at one of these events.
Thirty-two schools from across Kentucky received grants to support their appearance at the showcase. These grants were made possible through KDE’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds (ESSER II).
Students will display their skills with metal work in machine tools and welding, a school news channel and a hydroponics program that supports the community. Visitors also will see how CTE is combatting the teaching shortage.
Speaking of teacher shortages, I am scheduled to be on Kentucky Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET today on KET to discuss the teacher shortage and what we can do as a state to help support and grow the teaching profession. I hope you can tune in and join us in the effort to strengthen the educator workforce.
Kind regards,
Jason E. Glass, Ed.D.
Commissioner and Chief Learner
Round 2 of KDE Calming Space Grant Applications Round 2 Now Open
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has received a total of $180,000 funding from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief II and III funds to enhance social-emotional skills, specifically for self-management within schools. This money will be distributed to eligible schools to support self-management strategies for all students.
Nine schools/districts currently are using the first round of this money to implement calming spaces. The second round of funding is now available for nine additional schools/districts (one from each cooperative region), which will be chosen to receive $10,000 each for the 2023-2024 school year.
For more information, visit the KDE Competitive Grants webpage. Please direct any questions to KDERFP@education.ky.gov.
Deadline Extended: KDE Requests Nominations for Supportive Responses to Substance-Involved Youth
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (KDBHDID) are working with the national Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety to identify a handful of schools in the Commonwealth that are using positive, equitable and inclusive responses to students involved with substances.
“Substances” refers to drugs, alcohol or tobacco and “involvement” includes possession, distribution and use.
Research and practice show that such responses – as opposed to exclusion and punishment – are more likely to result in protecting students’ opportunity to learn. These positive responses improve student connectedness and engagement, reduce racial gaps in school discipline and ultimately promote higher rates of academic achievement and lower rates of substance use, school absenteeism and early sexual initiation.
When these schools are identified, interviews with their leaders will be recorded to learn more about their effective, evidence-based practices for positive, equitable and inclusive discipline responses.
The project’s goal is to disseminate promising practices with other schools and districts, which may then adapt and implement them. Over time, these recorded interviews may be supported by online professional learning opportunities and other companion materials.
Please nominate schools that you believe are doing exceptional work to provide positive, equitable and inclusive responses to substance-involved youth. Project leaders will follow up with those school leaders to gather their initial responses to key questions about their work, including the details of their prevention practices, who those practices intend to serve, who is involved in offering them, how they prioritize equity and how they know the practices are working.
Please submit your nominations using this form by Feb. 28. You may submit as many nominations as you would like.
For more information, email Christina Weeter (KDE) or Vestena Robbins (KDBHDID).
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