Purposes of the Act

1. Purposes of the Act • Develop challenging academic and technical standards and related challenging, integrated instruction • Increase opportunities for individuals to keep America competitive • A focus on high skill, high wage, high demand occupations • Provide increased flexibility • Conduct and disseminate research and information on best practices • Promote partnerships (education, workforce boards, business, industry, etc.) • Provide technical assistance and professional development

2. Allocation ($13.7 million for 07-08) Funds to Local Recipients $600,000 of the 75% is reserved for special projects

3. Concentrator A concentrator is a student who completes a minimum of three units of credit, including the core required courses, in a CTE program of study. [These units are in grades 9-12.] A completer is a concentrator who successfully completes three units of credit, including all of the core required courses, in a CTE program of study and graduates.

4. Performance Indicators • Academic attainment (reading/language arts and mathematics) • Graduation (according to NCLB) • CTE skill attainment • Completion of diploma or GED • Placement • Nontraditional enrollment • Nontraditional completion

5. Negotiation of Performance Levels and Sanctions • States required to ‘negotiate’ performance levels with all local recipients every 2 years, if local does not want to accept the state’s target. • Improvement plans are required in the first year after a local recipient fails to attain at least 90% of any performance indicator target. • Sanctions possible if locals: • Fail to implement improvement plan OR • Fail to show performance improvements once an improvement plan is in place OR • Fail to meet 90% of the same measure’s performance target 3 years in a row

6. Expenditure Considerations • Programs in high skill, high wage and high demand occupations in current or emerging professions • How will we measure student success in these programs • What are the knowledge and skills students must know • How do we improve the quality of CTE teachers, faculty, administrators and counselors • How will we utilize professional development to promote integration, applied learning and curriculum planning for both CTE and academic teachers • How will we increase the percentage of teachers that meet teacher certification • How will we increase academic knowledge and understanding of industry standards • How will we increase the knowledge of CTE teachers to know how to access and utilize data

7. Expenditures – con’t • How will we coordinate Perkins professional development activities with NCLB professional development activities • How will we involve parents, academic and CTe teachers, administrators, faculty, counselors, local business, labor organizations – in all aspects of our CTE programs • How will we make information available about CTE programs of study • How will we provide students with understanding of all aspects of an industry • How will we expand and improve access to appropriate technology in our programs • How will we recruit and retain CTE teachers and guidance counselors for underrepresented groups and from business/industry

8. Review Questions for DWE Staff • How does the activity provide a direct link to CTE Teachers? • How does the activity promote sustained behavioral changes for teachers? Will CTE/academic teachers make long term positive teaching/classroom changes? • What data will be used to indicate that the activity increased performance on the core indicators? • If equipment is purchased, how will each piece/item increase performance on the core indicators? (Need specific information) • Has this activity been previously supported with school district funding? If it has been previously supported, it should not be funded with Perkins. • Is the school district providing this or a similar activity for non-CTE students? If so, it may be inappropriate to require Perkins to pay for it.