Three states – Arkansas, New Jersey and Virginia – are engaging in grand activities like rewriting mission statements, passing legislation and instituting quality control systems. Activities like this will help the brand to become more deeply incorporated in the state.
The Arkansas Department of Career Education used the CTE brand messaging, the CTE vision paper (“Reflect, Transform, Lead: A New Vision for CTE”) as the foundation of their state college and career ready legislation of 2011. Once it passed, this legislation gave the Department of Career Education direction for how they should move CTE forward, forming the basis of “Vision for Arkansas CTE 2015.”
Attempting to integrate CTE branding deeper in the their state, Virginia Office of Career and Technical Education Services leaders revisited their branded documents to ensure all met the brand promise.
They resolved to institute a system of quality control for all documents they create at the state level. The state graphic artist is now required to know all of the guidelines for logo usage, and applies them to affect strict quality control. The state is in the midst of a three-year plan to systematically and deliberately incorporate the logo on all documents after the documents have been revised to make sure they are communicating the brand promise.
The links below represent just a few of the resources Virginia CTE revised as a result of its quality control efforts.
- Monthly newsletter
- Trailblazer newsletter
- Completer Follow-Up Guide
- Business Career Cluster Snapshots
- Statewide Career Cluster Snapshot
CTE brand messaging inspired the New Jersey Office of Career and Technical Education to create a new mission statement to guide the department’s work.
The mission statement now reads: “Our mission is to provide leadership for innovative and performance-driven educational opportunities that promote equity and excellence for all students to become productive members in a global society.”
Aligning with the vision as well as the best practices, the new mission statement more closely connects employees and their work to a rigorous and uniform set of standards.
What can you do?
Consider working with your state leaders and stakeholders to create a new CTE mission and/or vision that incorporates the new CTE brand messaging; introduce legislation that can provide long-term direction for your state; or set up a system to establish quality control over all CTE resources created in your state. These actions can all have deep and lasting impact.
Do you have additional examples of next steps to greater brand alignment? Send your ideas here today!
