State Profile For Connecticut

Data sources used in this profile (MSWord,54Kb)

State Director

Ms. June Sanford, State Director
Career and Technical Education, Connecticut State Department of Education
165 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, CT 06106

CTE Web Site(s) as Applicable

Secondary: http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2678&Q=320802

Mission

Career and Technical Education will provide educational opportunities for all students for academic and skill attainment and career development, as life-long learners, leading to postsecondary education and/or employment in a dynamic, technological, and global economy.

CTE Statistics

Number of Public High Schools:	185
Number of Public High Schools Offering Solely (or primarily) CTE courses:	0
Number of Students in Public High Schools:	177,344
Number of Secondary Students Enrolled in CTE:	149,149
Number of Public Community Colleges:	12
Number of Students at Public Community Colleges:	47,193
Number of Postsecondary Students Enrolled in CTE:	23,649
Perkins Funds Received:	$10,147,898

CTE Governance Structure

Perkins Eligible Agency:	Department of Education
Agency Administering Secondary CTE:	Department of Education
Agency Administering Postsecondary CTE:	Department of Education
Programmatic Control For Secondary CTE:	State Board of Education
Programmatic Control For Postsecondary CTE:	Board of Trustees of Community Colleges

CTE Funding

State Secondary Funding:
State Postsecondary Funding:
Local Secondary Funding:
Local Postsecondary Funding:

State Director Roles and Responsibilities

The State Director has the title of Perkins Grant Manager. The Director reports to the Bureau Chief of Early Childhood, Career and Adult Education in the Division of Teaching and Learning Programs and Services. The Director’s primary areas of responsibility include administration of the Carl D. Perkins grant for career technical secondary and postsecondary education, program compliance review, data quality management and reporting career pathways.

CTE Connections to Secondary Education and High School Reform

Career technical education plays a significant role in high school reform efforts. Since its inception, the Connecticut CTE unit has been a partner in the agency high school initiative. Career Technical Education is a contributing member to the developing high school blueprint that is scheduled for completion in 2006. The state committee is investigating methods that high schools can implement to ensure adequate preparation for postsecondary experiences and opportunities connected to career pathways to stimulate student learning and make the high school experience, including the senior year, more productive.
The committee is expected to issue a preliminary draft suggesting potentially dramatic changes in high schools, possibly including off-campus experiences, college-level courses or student projects designed to pump new life into secondary education in Connecticut. Members of the advisory committee directed by the commissioner have talked about creating alternatives, including some off-campus options, for high school seniors. Career Technical Education plays a vital role in providing alternatives for high school students including relevant authentic learning, work experience and opportunity for dual credit.

Implementation of Career Clusters

Connecticut’s Career Pathways Initiative, implemented through the Bureau of Curriculum and Instruction, builds upon the foundation established through Connecticut’s School-to-Career Initiative and Legislation to connect secondary education to post-secondary education and careers within the context of career clusters. The Career Pathways Initiative offers all students opportunities to connect their classroom learning to possible careers, preparing them to make more informed decisions regarding secondary academic and elective course enrollment, postsecondary plans and, eventually, careers. The Career Pathways Initiative integrates vigorous academic courses and career-related electives with experiential learning and comprehensive school counseling. Student Success Plans, based upon the state’s 34 career pathways augmented by Individual Planning Portfolios (Appendix A of A Guide to Comprehensive School Counseling Program Development), organize each student’s secondary and post-secondary education in a flexible, evolving format.

Connecticut has adopted the sixteen nationally recognized career clusters,and has identified thirty-four pathways to implement initially; they are shown on the Career Pathways wheel(listed below) organized under the sixteen clusters. These initial thirty-four pathways have been selected based on the current labor and economic needs of Connecticut and relate to growing careers across a wide business and industry spectrum in the state. For example, in the Finance cluster, career pathways include “Investing and Personal Finance” or Entrepreneurship; in the STEM cluster, pathways include Engineering and Technology or Science and Mathematics; and in the Arts cluster, pathways include both Performing Arts and Audio-Visual Tech and Film. New pathways will be added or revised to meet the dynamics of Connecticut’s education and economic landscape.

Implementation levels of programs of study

• Secondary: presently, all 16 clusters are implemented, with elective career and technical courses offered in the comprehensive high schools statewide for each of the 34 Connecticut career pathways


• 2-year PS: all clusters are implemented


• 4-year PS: Education and Training and STEM are implemented.

In addition, the Connecticut career and technical education assessment is administered annually to students attaining two or more credits in an elective area of concentration within a pathway. The
Connecticut Career Certificate (CCC) is awarded annually to students who have demonstrated academic and skill attainment as well as work experience in a career cluster.

Connecticut Career Pathways Wheel

Indicators

The data for 2003-2004 in the above chart was taken directly from the Consolidated Annual Reports (CAR Report 2003-04). The CAR is a mandatory fiscal and accountability report submitted by each state to the U.S. Department of Education. It provides performance information on 14 Perkins indicators. A red X means a state did not meet its adjusted level of performance and a green checkmark means that the state did meet its goal.A blue bar in the Secondary Indicators table means that the state does not offer students the opportunity to earn both a high school diploma and other credential (e.g., a skill certificate) or that the data was not otherwise provided by the state. A blue bar in the Postsecondary Indicators table indicates that the state did not provide data.

The data for 2004-2005 was taken from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998, Report to Congress on State Performance, Program Year 2004-05, Washington, D.C., 2007.

Additional Information

Tech Prep Website

Last updated on 10/01/2008