This year’s Spring Meeting covered an array of exciting topics. Advance CTE staff reflects on the meeting in this three-part blog series. 
Being Bold in Perkins V Planning
Trying something new is a risk but we did just that at the Advance CTE spring meeting! You see we have been encouraging states to be bold in their approach to crafting Perkins V state plans. And while the mantra of ‘being bold’ has taken hold, we have continued to get the question – what does being bold look like? To answer this question, we decided to try a mini case study approach. We often see that the lesson for oneself is found when offering advice to others.  So, we created a fictional state called “Bolder” and shared out a set of facts and data – demographic, labor market, performance, student outcomes, etc. and asked participants to identify the most pressing opportunity related to equity, quality, career advisement, data, and systems alignment, and how Perkins V can be leveraged to best address these important topics. The goal was to help attendees break free of the strictures of their own state and to ideate, create and incubate bold ideas in a fictitious but reality-based state.
I was encouraged to see the engagement of attendees, who easily jumped in to identify the challenges and opportunities. It got tougher when attendees were asked to rethink or leverage Perkins V to address the challenge or opportunity. In the end, we probably didn’t walk out with a ready-to-replicate set of bold ideas but I do think participants flexed their creative muscles and hopefully will take that creativity back home and do something different as a result – look at their data in a different way, ask a tough question, push a bit harder, reach out to a new stakeholder, revisit an antiquated policy or program, commit to using a new lever in Perkins – that is what being bold is all about!
Kimberly Green, Executive Director
Problems of Practice
At last year’s Advance CTE Spring Meeting we introduced the Problems of Practice session, and it was exciting to see how that session grew in size and scope during this year’s Spring Meeting. This time, we were able to feature 16 different table topics spanning middle school, high school, postsecondary education and workforce development. All those at the table had the opportunity to hear from a state leader about what that particular issue looked like in their state, and then the table had the chance for an intimate conversation about common barriers and strategies for success. I enjoyed not only observing states making progress in thinking through common goals, but also forming new relationships with others at the table. Many state representatives and organizational partners exchanged contact information so that they could keep the conversation going outside of this session. It was great to see states working together to advance shared goals!
Meredith Hills, Policy Associate
Let’s Double the Investment in CTE!
Earlier this year, Advance CTE and the CTE community launched an effort to double the federal investment in CTE. During the Spring Meeting, we held an engaging session where the Advance CTE regions competed to see which one could commit to securing the most employer signatures. Region B won with a total commitment of 5,175 signatures and all of the regions together committed to over 17,000 signatures. While 26 states and every Career Cluster® are represented in the list of signatures from employers, we still need more signatures to meet our goal.
State and local CTE leaders are critical partners in helping us achieve our ambitious goal. How many employers from your state can YOU get to sign on to the campaign? Sign up to receive information about the campaign here. For more information about the campaign and how to get the word out, visit the share page to find sample Tweets, graphics, email blurbs, and more to help you communicate about the campaign.
Katie Fitzgerald, Communications Manager