Below is a guest blog from one of our partner sponsors, NOCTI. They will share information on their upcoming sessions at Achieving Excellence in CTE: The National Career Clusters Institute.

Continuous improvement is a core component of successful programs. We recently released a new book entitled: “Putting Your Data to Work: Improving Instruction in CTE” in collaboration with ACTE. The book focuses on using research-based strategies to keep classrooms moving toward understanding data and achieving technical competence. The book discusses the importance of utilizing technical assessment data as the basis for improving CTE instructional programs. Readers will also learn a bit more about the implications of “Big Data” and “Open Badges” as well as suggestions for improving teacher training. Each chapter of the book contains “key learnings” and multiple citations regarding the research base of each component of the system. It is a great resource for any CTE teacher that is focused on continuous improvement of student competency.
NOCTI, a not-for-profit entity governed by an unpaid board elected by the State CTE Directors in all 50 states and several territories, works solely for the CTE community to provide the data and support that schools and students need. NOCTI has close relationships with ACTE, NRCCTE, NASDCTEc, and the National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS) just to name a few. We have many new collaborations and initiatives underway. Here are a few worth mentioning:

• Open Badges: NOCTI has created an open badge system for NOCTI SkillBadges™. Five states recently participated in a beta test. NOCTI will be offering the option for ALL students to earn an Open Badge this coming fall.
• Online College Courses: Agreements have been established to provide CTE students the opportunity to take online college courses, resulting in potential college credit, free of charge, on their own time.
• College Credit: College credit recommendations are now available to CTE students for over 100 NOCTI assessment titles as well as credit recommendations for one of our certification partner’s assessments- the American Culinary Federation.
• Student Growth Measures: A Student Growth Measure program has been developed as a tool for the new teacher evaluation requirements that many states put into place as a result of the Race To The Top.
• Banners: NOCTI banners are available to show pride in your school’s program quality.
• Publications: Work is underway to start our second book, focusing on helping new teachers not only survive, but also thrive! We are looking for stories from the field. If you have a story about how you survived your first years of teaching, send it our way.

Contact us at [email protected] to see how we can help you. NOCTI is also a Platinum sponsor of the 2014 Achieving Excellence Institute; be sure to stop by our booth and say hello!
Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager