CTE - What do the numbers say?

Federal Funding for Career Technical Education and Core Indicator Data

Perkins Act

The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins IV) is a principal source of federal funding to states and discretionary grantees for the improvement of secondary and post-secondary career and technical education programs across the nation. The purpose of the Act is to develop more fully the academic, career, and technical skills of secondary and post-secondary students who elect to enroll in career and technical education programs. The Grossmont Union High School District receives Perkins funding to enhance and improve Career Technical Education Pathways.

Perkins IV requires states to conduct annual evaluations of the progress and efforts grant recipients are making toward achieving the core indicator performance levels established for the state’s CTE programs. California LEAs provide data to the CDE through the 101-E1 report in the fall and 101-E2 report in the spring, and these data are used to determine the core indicators. This section identifies the LEA’s actual performance on each of the Core Indicators of performance and indicates if the LEA has met the state-established performance targets.

1S1 Academic Attainment-Reading/Language Arts

Explanation:

In 14-15, schools participated in the first operational CAASPP administration (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress). Since the format and the standards tested were new to the students, it is difficult to compare the CAASPP results to the previous years of STAR testing which ended in July 2013. The CAASPP assesses standards that emphasize analytical thinking, problem solving and communication skills. This data shows results for 2015-16 CTE graduates who took this first administration in 14-15 as juniors. This assessment took place prior to the curriculum being fully aligned to the new CAASPP standards. Based on the CAASPP results, our CTE students performed lower than the state level in ELA in the 14-15 administration. In 15-16, however, 7 out of 10 of our schools showed improvement with the ELA assessment as our district worked to align the curriculum to the new standards and CAASPP assessments.

Strategy to Improve Performance Level:

Through meetings with our Educational Services Department, and discussions with the Directors of Curriculum, Title I, English Learners, and Special Education, the following district-wide strategies have been identified.

In an effort to address the ELA performance, the district has developed interim assessments and begun using the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) assessment tool to monitor student progress. Since teachers will be using the new NWEA and interim assessments, more differentiation can occur which will help all students and student subgroups.

To assist English Learners with the new ELA standards and assessment, there will be a change in expectations for course offerings in English Language Development (ELD). This is especially important for our district which has large numbers of refugees including English Learners from Iraq and Syria who have large education gaps due to war displacement and lack of access to formal education.

Planned Activities:

District-wide: Teachers will use the NWEA assessments in grades 9 and 10 to help teachers identify specific learning targets, differentiate instruction, and develop learning goals for all students. In grade 11, teachers will use the interim assessments aligned with the CAASPP format to target learning needs. With the improvement of interim assessment data, specific ELA instruction will improve and help students develop their ELA skills.

Beginning with the 2017-18 school year, every EL student will receive a designated ELD support class which will attend to their specific language needs. This Language Acquisition course will build academic language, sociolinguistics skills, and the application of language. This will help in CTE pathways as training will be provided for Integrated ELD in all content areas to teach strategies on how to teach academic language. This will help completion rates in CTE as students will have the academic language needed to access the high level of technical reading and writing in CTE.

Unified approach: All of the curriculum specialists in our district (CTE, English Learners, Science, Digital Learning, and Special Education) are working collaboratively to provide common literacy strategies to integrate into our professional development plans for 17-18. The areas of focus include the following: writing templates, speaking fundamentals, sentence starters/frames, note taking organizers, and text annotating. With a unified congruent approach, students will benefit from consistency in all of their classes.

CTE specific: In addition, within CTE, each pathway will complete an annual review of their programs of study. This will take place at the beginning of the school year to identify areas of need, set goals, and to align math and literacy plans to site and district initiatives. Each of our pathways has expected student learning outcomes. These include becoming effective communicators (listening, speaking, writing, and reading). One area of focus has been and will continue to be literacy in the CTE classroom and will include specific strategies to help our ELL population with reading and writing strategies such as using writing templates, sentence frames, and the use of graphic organizers. More in-depth training will be offered during our Summer Institute in the areas of literacy, Work-based Learning, and Project-based learning as strategies to teach CTE and Core content in an applied manner.

1S2 Academic Attainment-Mathematics

Explanation:

During the 14-15 school year, schools participated in the first operational CAASPP administration. Since the format and the standards tested were new to the students, it is difficult to compare the CAASPP results to the previous years of STAR testing which ended in July 2013. The new CAASPP tests standards that emphasize analytical thinking, problem solving and communication skills. This data shows results for CTE graduates of 2015-16 who took this first administration in 14-15 as juniors, before the curriculum had been fully aligned to the new CAASPP standards and assessments. Based on the CAASPP results, our CTE students performed lower than the state level in math during the 14-15 administration.

In 15-16, however, 5 out of 10 of our schools showed improvement in math as our district worked to align the curriculum to the new CAASPP tests.

Strategy to Improve Performance Level:

In an effort to address the math performance, the district has developed interim assessments and started using the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) assessment tool to monitor student progress. Since teachers will be using the new NWEA and interim assessments, more differentiation can occur which will help all students and subpopulations.

Curriculum and Professional Development: The Grossmont Union High School District will be transitioning to an Integrated Math Sequence beginning with the 2018-2019 school year.

Planned Activities:

District-wide: Teachers will use the math NWEA assessments in grades 9 and 10 to help teachers identify specific learning targets, differentiate instruction, and develop learning goals for all students. In grade 11, teachers will use the interim assessments aligned with the CAASPP format to target learning needs. With the improvement of interim assessment data, specific math instruction will improve and help students develop their math skills.

Curriculum and Professional Development for math: In 2017-18, the GUHSD plans to adopt new instructional materials for its transition to an Integrated Math Sequence. This will involve piloting two instructional materials programs in the fall of 2017. From the pilot, the district will select one program for adoption. In the spring and summer of 2018, staff will work with the publisher to provide the professional development teachers need for implementation. The GUHSD will only be implementing Integrated Math I in the Fall of 2018, and add the next two levels over the following two years, one each year. This transition will also involve professional learning for teachers who need additional support regarding the CA math frameworks, assessments, and corresponding instructional shifts to Common Core math standards and the eight mathematical practices.

CTE specific: In addition, in CTE, each pathway will complete an annual review of their programs of study at the beginning of the school year to identify areas of need and set goals and coordinate math and literacy plans with school-wide and district-wide efforts. Professional Development on using Project-based Learning as a tool for academic integration will be offered to all staff in the Summer Institute.

2S1 Technical Skill Attainment

Numerator:Number of CTE concentrators enrolled in a capstone CTE course who received an 'A', 'B', or 'C' grade in the course, or received an industry-recognized certification, or passed an end of program assessment aligned with industry-recognized standards.

Denominator:Number of CTE concentrators enrolled in capstone CTE courses during the reporting year.

LEA Level 2013-14:96.78 %LEA Level 2014-15:92.65 %LEA Level 2015-16:97.95 %

State Level 2015-16:92.00 %Required Target:82.80 %Met Target:Yes

Explanation: Students who are completing the pathways are passing their capstone classes at high levels and learning the technical skill required in their industry sector.

3S1 Secondary School Completion

Numerator:Number of 12th grade CTE concentrators who earned a high school diploma, or other state-recognized equivalent (including recognized alternative standards for individuals with disabilities).

Denominator:Number of 12th grade CTE concentrators who left secondary education during the reporting year.

LEA Level 2013-14:85.71 %LEA Level 2014-15:83.72 %LEA Level 2015-16:92.32 %

State Level 2015-16:94.00 %Required Target:84.60 %Met Target:Yes

4S1 Student Graduation Rate

Numerator:Number of 12th grade CTE concentrators who, in the reporting year, were included as graduated in the states computation of its graduation rate.

Denominator:Number of 12th grade CTE concentrators.

LEA Level 2013-14:85.71 %LEA Level 2014-15:83.72 %LEA Level 2015-16:92.32 %

State Level 2015-16:94.00 %Required Target:84.60 %Met Target:Yes

Explanation for 3S1 and 4S1: Students who are completing their CTE Pathways are engaged in their education and are graduating at higher levels.

5S1 Secondary Placement

Numerator:Number of 12th grade CTE concentrators who left secondary education during the reporting year and entered postsecondary education or advanced training, military service, or employment, as reported on a survey six months following graduation.

Denominator:Number of 12th grade CTE concentrators who left secondary education during the reporting year and responded to a follow-up survey.

LEA Level 2013-14:87.16 %LEA Level 2014-15:95.25 %LEA Level 2015-16:96.27 %

State Level 2015-16:95.00 %Required Target:85.50 %Met Target:Yes

Explanation: Student who are completing their CTE Pathways and graduating are using their skills in their post-secondary training.

6S1 Non-traditional Participation

Numerator:Number of CTE participants from underrepresented gender groups who were enrolled in a program sequence that leads to employment in nontraditional fields.

Denominator:Number of all CTE participants enrolled in a program sequence that leads to employment in nontraditional fields.

LEA Level 2013-14:31.09 %LEA Level 2014-15:28.34 %LEA Level 2015-16:28.31 %

State Level 2015-16:38.00 %Required Target:34.20 %Met Target:No

Explanation:

After analyzing the E1 data on non-traditional participation rates, while our LEA level was 28.31 %, our females were participating at 51.88% and the males were participating at 15.74%. The females met the state target level; however, the males did not. The total numbers of CTE participants from underrepresented gender groups who were enrolled in the pathways did increase from the prior year for both males and females.

In an effort to address non-traditional participation rates, students were encouraged to attend conferences and seminars that targeted certain audiences: women in NASA seminar, Educator’s Rising teaching seminar, a workshop on women in the trades, restaurant/hospitality conference, Men in Nursing, coding competitions, and engineering competitions. Barbering was added to our cosmetology pathway to attract more males to this pathway. We improved our district CTE website and worked with school sites to ensure that our marketing and recruitment materials were inclusive and diverse.

The female non-traditional participation rates and numbers of CTE participants from underrepresented gender groups is a positive reflection of the efforts teachers made in making their recruitment to be inclusive and have open access. After analyzing the data on non-traditional completion rates, it is clear that more work needs to be done with the male subgroups.

Strategy to Improve Performance Level:

We will continue our marketing and recruitment efforts to ensure they are inclusive and diverse, with a focus on improving male non-traditional participation rates as well as all special populations. When we bring our teachers together in the fall CTE professional development, we will examine the gender and subgroup enrollment and will help teams create plans that address the disparity in non-traditional participation rates. We will also highlight the pathways that have shown improvement in total numbers and participation rates in non-traditional genders and will share their best practices.

Planned Activities:

Fall CTE professional development Program of study review - review enrollment data, identify enrollment disparities, create recruitment action plan to address them.

Continue to provide student opportunities to participate in activities that highlight non-traditional careers.

6S2 Non-traditional Completion

Numerator:Number of CTE concentrators from underrepresented gender groups enrolled in a capstone CTE course that leads to employment in a nontraditional field who received an 'A', 'B', or 'C' grade in the course, or received an industry-recognized certification, or passed an end of program assessment aligned with industry-recognized standards.

Denominator:Number of all CTE concentrators enrolled in a capstone CTE course that leads to employment in nontraditional fields.

LEA Level 2013-14:34.46 %LEA Level 2014-15:29.18 %LEA Level 2015-16:25.91 %

State Level 2015-16:30.00 %Required Target:27.00 %Met Target:No

Explanation:

While the total numbers of CTE participants from underrepresented gender groups who were enrolled in the pathways did increase from the prior year, the numbers and percentages of completers who met 6S2 criteria went down. With the increased numbers of participants, it will be even more important to implement strategies that promote and encourage the retention of underrepresented gender groups to ensure they successfully complete the capstone class and pathway. Students from all special populations who complete the pathway are showing success in their graduation rates and post-secondary plans.

Strategy to Improve Performance Level:

We will continue to refine our work around increasing Awareness and Options in Career Exploration to include retention strategies once the students are in the pathways to ensure that all students are successfully completing the pathways.

Planned Activities:

Our continued action steps from increasing Awareness and Options in Career Exploration will include:

• Set up Diverse Speaker Pool to go to schools to highlight non-traditional career options

• Research and post links on CTE Teacher Resources site with short videos that highlight non-traditional career options

• Work with our Deputy Sector Navigators, East County Education Alliance (with Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges) business partners, and regional consortium to identify speakers and also to find materials and stories for us to share out with our CTE teachers and site staff to be used for pathway recruitment and retention.

New activity:

Through the pathway and district advisory meetings, we will get input from teachers, business partners and students on best practices to retain underrepresented gender groups and all special populations in our pathways.