State leaders have a critical responsibility to ensure each learner has opportunities for career success and is supported in identifying and realizing his or her goals. To help state leaders identify and dismantle historical barriers and construct systems that support each learner in accessing, feeling welcome in, fully participating in and successfully completing a high-quality Career Technical Education (CTE) program of study, Advance CTE launched its Equity in CTE initiative last spring.
As part of this initiative, Advance CTE has committed to developing resources to help state leaders close equity gaps in CTE. To provide state leaders with promising practices, Advance CTE added three new equity-focused policy profiles to the Learning that Works Resource Center. These highlight effective practices at the state and institutional levels.
The new Advance CTE profiles explore promising programs in the following states:
- Louisiana: Building Employment Skills for Tomorrow (BEST) Pilot Program: Louisiana piloted the BEST program in 2018 to expand work-based learning opportunities for learners with disabilities.
- Oklahoma: Diversity and Inclusion Training Program: The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education created the position of state-level equity and diversity specialist in 2016 as part of its senior leadership team. The focus of this position is to provide diversity trainings in both the secondary and postsecondary systems.
- Wisconsin: Fox Valley Technical College Cultural Support Specialists: The Cultural Support Specialists in Wisconsin help learners transition from high school to college by advocating for and providing services to learners to help them overcome some of the structural barriers that can prevent at-risk learners from accessing and succeeding in college.
To learn more about promising solutions to help state leaders close equity gaps in CTE, read Advance CTE’s Making Good on the Promise series.
Brianna McCain, Policy Associate