Proposed State Budget will include monies to improve Career Technical Education programs

The governor's proposed 2007-08 budget includes $52 million to improve Career Technical Education programs by enhancing curriculum, increasing teacher recruitment and training, and maximizing bond funds for new facilities.

The ultimate vision for career technical education (CTE) is a continuum of training and work, starting with exposure to careers in middle school, continuing with a blend of job skills and applied academics in high school, and then branching off to work or to advanced courses in community and four-year colleges.

CTE is much more than shop classes. In fact, the building trades and construction is only one of 15 industry sectors in career technical education. Others include finance and business, engineering and design, manufacturing and product development and health science and medical technology.

Yerba Buena High School (Eastside Union High School District) has a construction technology academy that exposes the 54 students in the program to all facets of building construction. Each summer, 25 students are paid interns for school district contractors doing work funded by state and local school bonds. When they graduate, they can move ahead in the line for apprenticeships to become carpenters, electricians, plumbers or heavy machine operators. Or they can continue on to college, perhaps for a four-year degree in construction management at Cal-Poly or San Jose State.

Campaign to encourage low-income and first-generation students to take steps needed to attend college is launched.

The Lumina Foundation for Education, the Ad Council, and the American Council on Education have announced a joint national public service advertising (PSA) campaign to encourage low-income and first-generation students to take the steps needed to attend college, launched on January 19th, 2007.

The KnowHow2Go campaign (www.knowhow2go.com) will combine partnerships with education groups, communities, and governments to raise awareness among low-income students about college and what it takes to get there. The multi-media campaign features television and radio PSAs, outdoor and print advertising, and an interactive Web site that provides guidance to students, parents/adults, and organizations. In addition to the media campaign, KnowHow2Go will utilize a network of grassroots partners, including mentoring and youth-serving organizations that will reinforce the campaign in local communities.

"This campaign is critical now because America has slipped in comparison to other countries in the proportion of young people who are earning college degrees," said Lumina Foundation president and CEO Martha D. Lamkin. "Even more important, the attainment gap between income groups is widening at the same time that low-income students constitute a growing share of the college-age population. We must reach out to these low-income students, so they can earn better opportunities, and so that America will have the educated population to sustain its economic and social vitality."

"Lumina Foundation, American Council on Education, and the Ad Council Launch Unique College Access Campaign." Lumina Foundation Press Release 1/17/07.

Broad Foundation Opportunity for Urban School Principal Training Programs

The Broad Foundation plans to increase its investments in training programs that develop strong, high-quality principals in urban schools and is seeking proposals.

Mounting evidence shows that strong school leaders are a critical lever for increasing student achievement. The Broad Foundation will accept proposals from school districts, charter school management organizations, nonprofit organizations, and universities to develop, implement, or expand high-quality aspiring principal programs that recruit, train, place, and support school leaders.

Eligible organizations have two opportunities to submit proposals:

Round II: Submit a four- to six-page "concept paper" by June 15, 2007. Select programs will be asked to submit full proposal by August 24, 2007. Select programs will begin receiving funds by January 2008.

For details about the Request for Proposal process, including guidance on eligibility and instructions on how to complete and submit a concept paper, visit the Broad Foundation Web site.

Free Website! Connect to resources focusing on school change

Register today on a free website -- SchoolsMovingUp.net --designed by the experts at WestEd to create an on-line community and connect to resources focusing on school change. WestEd states that the website is “targeted to busy administrators who are working to improve achievement in underperforming schools and districts, the SchoolsMovingUp website sorts and summarizes new education research and introduces colleagues around the nation who have found ways to implement effective reforms.”

Key Features of the Website:

• Schools on the Move: profiles schools that have improved student achievement;

• Tips to Go: Specific strategies and programs that are easily implemented to assist in school improvement efforts;

• Special section: provides articles, tools, services, and selected information from the U.S. Department of Education related to the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB);

• Reading Room: featuring abstracts on articles summarizing pertinent research, so that busy administrators can get a quick sense of the article and then, if interested, link to the full text’

• In Focus: spotlights each week, a new report, study, or service, as well as monthly updates on new school profiles; and

• Interactive On-line Events: Highlights events such as “How to make science instruction accessible to English learners”.

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