Making assessing CTE programs meaningful.

Making assessing CTE programs meaningful. THE WORD "ASSESSMENT" USUALLY GIVES PEOPLE the chills. Weassess our students with formative and summative assessments, and weassess our performance on our annual evaluations. As a requirement ofgrants we must assess our career and technical education (CTE) programsannually too. Why not make this process a meaningful one? The PeoriaUnified School District's (PUSD) Career and Technical Educationprogram has set out on just this journey--to make our annual assessmentmeaningful. Taking the Steps to Meaningful Assessments Our first step was to make sure we had the right people as a partof the process. We invited almost anyone in a position to say"no." Invitees included teachers (CTE and non-CTE),administrators, counselors, alumni, parents, advisory councilmembers--and the list continues. What did we invite these people to do?We invited them to be a part of our next strategic planning process.PUSD CTE had already completed its initial strategic plan implementing95 percent of the plan, resulting in systemic change through neworganizational systems, new programs and new thinking. Our second step was to create the new strategic plan. More than 130stakeholders attended general sessions to help create the strategicplan. There was brainstorming on the vision statement, missionstatement, beliefs statements, and goals (results are on the PUSD CTEWeb site at www.peoriaud.k12.az.us). Four task forces (Student Learning,Capacity Development, Community Connectedness and Data Driven DecisionMaking) took the results from the brainstorming and refined thesuggestions into tactical plans and subsequent measurable objectives. The third step was to create a plan that would measure each aspectof the strategic plan and the effectiveness of each CTE program. TheData Driven Decision Making (DDDM) task force was pivotal in this goal.This task force was chaired by an advisory council member, Mike Woodard,director of research for Arizona Blue Cross and Blue Shield.Representatives included employees from DeVry, PUSD research, PUSDInformation Technology Management, a school board member, and PUSD CTEstaff. The DDDM task force had two objectives: (1) measure the strategicplan and (2) measure the effectiveness of the CTE programs.CTE Program Analysis2009-2010Delivery of Total CTE Program Model CHS CeHS IHS LHS eCampusAccounting 40% 64% 76% 88%Agricultural BusinessManagementAllied Health Services (Medical 68% 80%Assisting)Allied Health Services (Sports 64% 76%Med and Rehab)Audiovisual Tech (Media) 64% 84% 72% 80%Business Management and Admin 84% 84%ServicesConstruction Tech (Building 92% 72% 80% 76%Trades, Woodworking)Culinary Arts 60% 72% 84% 72%Design and Merchandising 60% 68% 88%Early Childhood Education 68% 60% 76% 68%Education Professions 60% 60% 72% 76%Engineering Sciences 76% 72% 72% 64%Financial Services 72% 56%Fire ScienceInformation Tech (Hardware, 76% 72% 52% 80%Networking, Software)Law, Public Safety, and 48% 52% 48% 68%SecurityMarketing 92% 68% 72% 88%Nursing Services 88% 96%Transportation Tech (Auto) 48% 68% 60%District 66.86% 70.86% 72% 76.36% 56% PHS KHS SMHS DistrictAccounting 68% 40% 60% 62.29%Agricultural Business 76% 76%ManagementAllied Health Services (Medical 72% 80% 76% 75.2%Assisting)Allied Health Services (Sports 52% 52% 84% 65.6%Med and Rehab)Audiovisual Tech (Media) 92% 76% 68% 76.57%Business Management and Admin 60% 72% 75%ServicesConstruction Tech (Building 92% 84% 82.67%Trades, Woodworking)Culinary Arts 88% 80% 40% 70.86%Design and Merchandising 80% 60% 71.2%Early Childhood Education 76% 68% 76% 70.29%Education Professions 72% 88% 64% 70.29%Engineering Sciences 72% 84% 72% 73.14%Financial Services 64%Fire Science 72% 72%Information Tech (Hardware, 48% 68% 84% 68.57%Networking, Software)Law, Public Safety, and 44% 52% 52% 52%SecurityMarketing 68% 96% 60% 77.71%Nursing Services 96% 93.33%Transportation Tech (Auto) 84% 60% 64%District 71.5% 72.31% 68.27% 70.84%Status to TargetTrending to Meeting Target >75% Not Meeting Target <60%Area of Concern 60-75% Under DevelopmentPeoria Unified School District's CTE district-wide scorecard showing70.84 percent for the Delivery of Total CTE Program Model strategy forstudent learning strategic goal. Annual Program Analysis The measurement of the strategic plan at the district levelincludes data compiled from CTE program analysis, in addition toinstructional profiles, placement surveys, state technical assessmentdata, promoter scores, turnover rate, teachers' years ofexperience, and participation rates in a professional developmentprogram called CTE Master Teacher Program. The measurement of CTEprograms through the Annual Program Analysis is the biggest change, yetthe most meaningful. If a program strives to achieve its own tacticalplan, the district's strategic plan will be accomplished, and CTEstudents benefit as a result. The Annual Program Analysis has two parts:(1) the analysis of the CTE program by school and (2) the districtprogram gap analysis with the advisory council. The analysis by the CTEprogram includes a rubric in the following areas: * Student Learning * Academic integration * Seamless transition into and out of high school/ECAP (Educationand Career Action Plan) * Delivery of the Total CTE Program Model * Curriculum development, instruction and assessment * Community Connectedness * Marketing to all stakeholders * Recruiting and retaining partnerships * Capacity Development * Recruiting quality CTE teachers * Retain quality CTE teachers * Quality of CTE teachers' skills [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Each school program will be assessed based on this rubric createdby the DDDM task force and vetted with the CTE Leadership Team. Fromthese rubrics a report can be generated showing how the district mayhelp each program. Making data meaningful reinforces the purpose forcollecting it in the first place, and results in providing thefoundation for making solid program improvement decisions. Each school program will set its target level for three focusedareas--one area should be emphasizing what works to maintain thatstrength, one area for improvement, and the last is the choice of theprogram. The district-wide program gap analysis is conducted withadvisory council members and the program teachers. This team assesseswhat the program already supplies and what the market demands; then theprogram creates one goal that will impact the program, a course, a unit,or improve existing links. CTE teachers will have their school'sCTE program scoreboard displayed in a mouse pad as a daily reminder (seeabove). Providing Excellence in CTE This process was a meaningful one that has allowed multiple visualreminders (program scoreboard and district scoreboards) of where westand currently and where we want to go in the future. By engaging inthis process, the Peoria Unified School District is well on its way toaccomplishing its task: to not just collect data, but to make itmeaningful in providing excellence in CTE. Patti Beltram, Ed.D., is director for Career Services, PeoriaUnified School District, Arizona. She can be contacted atPBeltram@peoriaud.k12.az.us.