Webinars

Advance CTE hosts webinars on a variety of topics and pressing issues of interest to the CTE community and others. These webinars bring Advance CTE staff together with leading experts from across the nation to share their expertise on issues including policy, research and best practices. Participants can take full advantage of these opportunities by asking questions during the live session, or you can follow up with comments and questions afterward.
 

Upcoming Webinars 

How to Use Social Media in Your Communications Efforts 
Tuesday December 18, 2018 
Social media is a low-cost way to reach audiences from learners to employers. In this webinar, Advance CTE will highlight effective state and local social media campaigns that make the case for CTE. Additionally, the Maryland State Department of Education will highlight their innovative model to support local school districts in their social media efforts, as well as discuss the nuts and bolts of their own social media strategy and implementation.

Speakers: 

Register today here. 

Recent Webinars 

Insights into the 2019 Excellence in Action Award 
Thursday, November 1, 2018 
Advance CTE's annual Excellence in Action award recognizes and honors superior Career Technical Education (CTE) programs of study from across the nation. Want to apply? Listen to this webinar and learn all about the application process from Advance CTE staff. You will also hear from a 2018 award winner, the Building Construction Technology program of study at the Dauphin County Technical School in Pennsylvania. Learn more about what makes an award-winning program and get tips on how to fill out your application directly from an award winner! 
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Engaging the Media
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Engaging and building relationships with the media in your state can be a key component of your communications plan. Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education (CTE) has been successful in creating strategies to effectively promote their CTE Programs of Study and learner success stories through local and state media. Paula Bowles, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer of the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, will share how to build a media engagement strategy, pitch and write op-eds, and build relationships with the media. Catherine Gewertz, a reporter on CTE for Education Week, will provide her insight as a member of the media.
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The State’s Role in Communicating About CTE 
Thursday, September 20, 2018 
In this webinar, Advance CTE highlights the important role the state plays in communicating effectively about CTE. Idaho Career and Technical Education will discuss how they created a statewide brand, introduced storytelling as a major component of their communications plan, and the tactical strategies they used to better communicate about the value and promise of CTE across all audiences.
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CTE on the Frontier: Lessons and Strategies for Reaching Rural Learners
May 17, 2018
To help states unpack the challenges and potential approaches to expanding access to quality Career Technical Education (CTE) programs in rural communities, Advance CTE - in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers and Education Strategy Group, through the New Skills for Youth initiative - released a series of briefs titled CTE on the Frontier. The series explores some of the most pressing challenges facing rural CTE, including program quality, access to the world of work, program diversity and the CTE teacher pipeline.

This webinar unpacks key lessons and strategies from the series and provides a framework for state leaders to develop a comprehensive rural career readiness strategy. The webinar also explores how Idaho is working to address access gaps in rural communities.
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Career Advising and Development
February 20, 2018
Career advising and development is an increasingly prevalent topic in policy conversations but too often only focuses on high school strategies. Students should see a clear line through their education from career awareness to exploration to planning, and this can only occur if strategies and initiatives are aligned across grade levels and policy initiatives. Anecdotally, many state and local leaders assume this is not happening to the extent it should be, but there has not yet been an in-depth examination of the data.

State Policies Impacting CTE: 2017 Year in Review
January 31, 2018
The national profile of Career Technical Education (CTE) continued to grow in 2017, with nearly every state adopting new policies related to CTE and career readiness. From redesigning accountability systems to expanding apprenticeship opportunities, state leaders are working to connect learners at all levels with seamless pathways to meaningful careers. This webinar from Advance CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education unpacks findings from the "State Policies Impacting CTE: 2017 Year in Review" report. The webinar exxplores recent trends in state CTE policy and examines how the CTE policy landscape has changed over the past few years. Also featured on the webinar is special guest Dr. Charisse Childers, state CTE director at the Arkansas Department of Career Education, who discusses recent policy developments in her state. 
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Leveraging ESSA's Momentum to Advance Career Readiness
January 17, 2018
The Every Student The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) marked a watershed moment for career readiness, with 49 states including at least one strategy in their ESSA plans to support career preparation in high school. Of those, 35 states included a measure of career readiness in their federal accountability systems. That said, many states left opportunities on the table, falling short of fully leveraging all that ESSA has to offer.

This webinar will unpack the findings from Advance CTE and Education Strategy Group's full analysis of ESSA state plans and explore trends across all states. Participants will also hear from two states leaders who are using their ESSA plans to build and capitalize on momentum around Career Technical Education (CTE) and career readiness.
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How to Sell CTE to Parents & Students: States Share Lessons Learned
September 7, 2017 
In the spring, Advance CTE released The Value and Promise of CTE: Results from a National Survey of Parents and Students, exploring motivations and barriers for students and their parents to consider CTE as an option for their education. Additionally, the report detailed how state and local leaders can better communicate about CTE with these critical audiences. Four states piloted the research findings and messages through a series of on site and virtual recruitment activities. Hear from New Jersey and Maryland on how they used the research in their communications strategies.
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Connecting ESSA to Your State's Vision for Career Readiness
July 20, 2017
This spring, sixteen states and D.C. submitted plans to the U.S. Department of Education describing their strategies to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The remaining 34 states will submit their plans in September. While career readiness strategies were featured throughout the first round of state plans, specifically in state accountability systems, several state plans fell short of maximizing all of the opportunities the law provides. 

The Value and Promise of CTE: Results from a National Survey of Parents and Students
May 16, 2017
Advance CTE walks through recent findings from the report, The Value and Promise of CTE, while diving into how to use the research in your own work. 
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State Policies Impacting CTE: 2016 Year in Review
January 25, 2017 
It’s that time of year again! The annual State Policies Impacting CTE Year in Review report, a joint publication between Advance CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), will be released at the end of January. Now in its fourth year, the report highlights state legislation, board rules and executive actions impacting CTE across the states. Along with the release of the report, we are hosting a webinar on Wednesday, January 25 at 2:00pm ET to unpack notable policies and discuss trends. 
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State of Career Technical Education: Increasing Access to Industry Experts in the Classroom
January 9, 2017
As interest in Career Technical Education (CTE) continues to increase, the need for experts qualified to help ensure students gain the real-world experiences they need for success increases as well. Individuals with industry expertise provide a perspective to students that traditional academic teachers may be unable to do, and can also help students explore and connect with particular career opportunities. Unfortunately, there is currently a national shortage of these experts working in schools.

• Andrea Zimmermann, NASDCTEc State Policy Associate  
• Kathy DePiro, Logistics Materials Program Instructor at the Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
• Jeanine Gallina, Career Program Developer/Coordinator at the WEMOCO Career and Technical Center at Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES in Spencerport, New York. 
• Shirley C. McCall, Director of the TransSTEM Academy at Francis L. Cardozo Education Campus in Washington, DC.

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Building a Strong Relationship Between Competency-Based Pathways and CTE
November 5, 2015
NASDCTEc and Achieve co-hosted a webinar to highlight our recently released brief, Building a Strong Relationship Between Competency-Based Pathways and Career Technical Education. This webinar will provide an overview of the many leverage points between CTE and CBP to support states' adoption and implementation of integrated CTE and CBP. The webinar also explored Connecticut's and Oregon's strategies for integrating CTE into their CBP and the opportunities and challenges faced along the way. This webinar is for anyone looking to learn more about CTE, CBP and their potential when implemented together. 

Speakers include:

• Suzanne Vita Loud, Associate Consultant, Connecticut State Department of Education
• Tom Thompson, Education Specialist, Oregon Department of Education
• Steve DeWitt, Association for Career and Technical Education
• Kate Blosveren, NASDCTEc
• Alissa Peltzman, Achieve 
• Andrew Valent, Achieve

Simulated Workplace: Changing CTE in West Virginia
June 25, 2015
Hosted by NASDCTEc and the Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center (ARCC), this webinar explores how West Virginia’s Simulated Workplace is reinventing Career Technical Education (CTE) by bringing the workplace inside the four walls of a CTE classroom for a student-centered simulated experience. 

• Kathy D’Antoni, West Virginia Associate Superintendent, Career and Technical Education
• Doug Sands, Machine Tool Technology Instructor
• Jan Hanlon, Secondary Education Director, Logan County Schools, West Virginia
• Austin Coffey, Student, Industrial Equipment Maintenance Career-Technical Program
• Gary Clay, Business Leader, West Virginia Manufacturing Association
  Watch the recording, PPT Presentation PDF and Q&A
   

Employer Engagement: State Perspectives
February 10, 2015
Take an in-depth look at how specific states and employers inform, align and enhance their CTE systems at the secondary and postsecondary levels. Speakers included:

• Dr. Philip C. Cleveland, Alabama State Director of CTE and Workforce Development
• George Clark, President and CEO of Manufacture Alabama and Chairman of the Alabama Workforce Investment Board
• Keven Ward, Public Sector Consultant, Trane 
• Dr. Blake Flanders, Vice President of Workforce Development, Kansas Board of Regents
• Andrea Zimmermann, State Policy Associate, NASDCTEc
• Steve Voytek, Government Relations Manager, NASDCTEc

Watch the recording & PPT Presentation PDF

Strategies for Financing CTE
January 15, 2015
Authors of the new report, “State Strategies for Financing CTE,” unpacked the study’s important findings. Co-hosted by the National Conference of State Legislatures, this webinar explored the ways in which states are financing CTE at the secondary and postsecondary levels using state and federal funds, including a closer look at performance-based funding approaches. For an overview of the report, check out our Learning that Works blog. Speakers included: 

• Steve Klein -- Director, Center for Career & Adult Education and Workforce Development, RTI International/Principal Investigator for the National Center for Innovation in Career and Technical Education
• Laura Rasmussen Foster -- Program Director, RTI International/National Center for Innovation in Career and Technical Education
• Suzanne Hultin -- Policy Specialist, Education Program, National Conference of State Legislatures
• Andrea Zimmermann -- State Policy Associate, NASDCTEc

Watch the recording link & PPT Presentation PDF

The State of Employer Engagement in CTE
December 3, 2014
From its earliest roots, employer engagement has been a part of CTE's legacy. Yet little is known about what is really happening consistently and systematically across the country, and what state leaders can do to accelerate effective engagement.  

Over the summer, NASDCTEc conducted a survey of the State CTE Directors to better understand how and in what ways employers are engaging in CTE today. This webinar unpacked the survey's results and illustrated the employer engagement landscape with a particular focus on the ways in which states are and can foster and sustain meaningful employer engagement to strengthen their CTE system for all students.

Watch the recording link & PPT Presentation PDF

The Common Career Technical Core, Programs of Study & Industry-Based Standards
July 29, 2014
In 2012, NASDCTEc released the Common Career Technical Core, a set of standards developed by states, that lay out what a student should know and be able to do upon completion of a program of study. Since the Common Career Technical Core (CCTC) were released, a common question asked is how do the CCTC relate to industry-based standards? This webinar features NASDCTEc's report, The Common Career Technical Core, Programs of Study & Industry-Based Standards, which analyzed a range of industry-based standards to help clarify how they might fit into a program of study undergirded by the CCTC, the methodology used, and its implications for the field.

Watch the recording & PPT Presentation PDF