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2009-04-23 OHSP Memorandum - CTE Retooling
2009-04-23 OHSP Memorandum - CTE Retooling
David G. Gilligan
Chief High School Officer
Office of High Schools and High School Programs, 125 South Clark Street, 12th Floor · Chicago, Illinois 60603
Telephone 773/553-3540 · Fax 773/553-2148
Lydia C. Nantwi
Administrator
Memorandum
Date: April 23, 2009
The Office of High Schools and High School Programs’ Department of College and Career Preparation (DCCP) is
excited to announce a retooled strategy for Career and Technical Education (CTE) that will enhance our ability to
provide CPS students with viable pathways to college and careers.
Strategy Overview
• Building Career Academies: Starting with the 2009-2010 school year, we will begin a 5-7 year effort toward
developing a system of ~ 80 high-quality, ‘destination point’ Career Academies across the district, with the
expectation of housing these academies across 30-40 schools over the long-term. These academies will:
o Provide CTE training in high-priority industry areas based on local labor market needs (e.g., Health
Science, Information Technology, etc.)
o In most cases, offer multiple programs within a career cluster (e.g., a Construction Academy might
contain Architectural Drafting, Carpentry, Plumbing, and Electricity)
o Be well-distributed geographically across CPS high schools
o In many cases, be expansions of strong, existing CTE programs within our schools.
We anticipate development of ~15 academies across ~5 schools each year over the next 4 years, eventually
reaching ~80 academies within 5-7 years.
• Closing / Phasing Out CTE Programs: Concurrently, in an effort to focus our limited resources on building
bigger and higher-quality career academies in fewer sites than where we currently offer CTE programs, we
will also begin closing or phasing out existing CTE programs that are not prioritized to expand into
academies. We anticipate 30-40 program closures or phase-outs per year over the next 5-7 years. Over the
long-term, we do not expect to maintain standalone CTE programs – eventually, with few exceptions, all CTE
programs should be transformed into academies or phased out.
Additional defining characteristics of career academies may be identified as planning efforts continue, (for example,
if feasible, we may consider developing a career exploration course within career academies) – and we welcome
your input on additional ways to enhance the success of career academies going forward.
Finally, there are enhancements we plan to apply both to new career academies and existing CTE programs. These
will include but not be limited to:
• Aligned Assessments and Curriculum: DCCP plans to collaborate with external partners to incorporate third-
party validated assessments and curriculum into career academies and existing CTE programs in order to drive
ongoing student skill-attainment in alignment with industry standards.
• More Work-Based Experiences: Concentrating students at fewer sites will support efforts to build stronger
industry partnerships, and DCCP will set clearer expectations for partners to focus their efforts on providing
work-based experiences.
• More Pathways to College and Careers: CPS will focus greater efforts on building articulation agreements and
apprenticeship opportunities as well as creating awareness of industry credential opportunities. Financial
support for credentialing may also be provided to students in need.
Shared Costs
DCCP will continue to provide significant funding support for both existing CTE programs and new career
academies. However, some expenses previously covered entirely by DCCP will be shared by schools and DCCP
going forward – in particular, key changes are as follows:
• Career Development Facilitator (CDF) salaries and benefits will be funded 50% by schools and 50% by
DCCP beginning in the 2009-2010 school year.
• CTE Textbooks will be funded 50% by schools and 50% by DCCP in the 2009-2010 school year, and 100%
by schools in subsequent years.
These funding changes will ensure ongoing shared DCCP/school commitment to CTE programs and career
academies, and they will enable DCCP to provide a more robust set of supports across all CTE programs. Please see
attached Exhibit 1 for additional details regarding future CTE funding expectations for DCCP and schools.
Note: Because 2009-2010 SIPAAAs have already been submitted, if a school is concerned about being able to fund
textbook costs in 2009-2010, the Principal should contact Aarti Dhupelia for further discussion. Please also note
that in the coming weeks, DCCP will be reaching out to principals and CTE teachers to inventory their existing CTE
equipment and to assess CTE supply needs for the upcoming year – these processes will enable DCCP to better
support each school’s CTE needs.
Path Forward
Implementation efforts are already underway for fall 2009 and fall 2010 career academy openings, and planning for
fall 2011 and fall 2012 academies will also continue over the coming months. We will continue to provide you with
further information as it becomes available (e.g., career academy application form, future years’ program evaluation
rubric, etc.) In addition, we truly welcome your input regarding how to enhance this CTE strategy in any way – in
particular, in terms of how DCCP can best support your work (e.g., by providing more support in recruiting teachers,
coaching teachers, building industry partnerships, etc.) Going forward, we plan to organize focus groups and
administer surveys in order to hear your ideas, but in the meantime your feedback is welcome at any point.
We are excited to begin implementation of this new CTE strategy and look forward to working with all of you in the
coming months and years to build high-quality career academies for our students. Please direct any questions,
comments, or feedback to Bernard McCune (Acting DCCP Officer) at 773/553-4364 or Aarti Dhupelia (Acting CTE
Director) at 773/553-3903.
DGG / ad
Attachment
Exhibit 1: CTE Operating Costs – FY10 Funding Expectations for DCCP and Schools
DCCP is committed to providing a variety of additional funding supports to help schools develop and maintain
high-quality CTE opportunities for students. Examples of CTE program-specific items funded 100% by DCCP
include:
• Instructional software
• Supplies
• Food supplies for Culinary Arts programs
• Equipment
• Computers and printers
• Field trips
• Postage
• Printing
• Repair – computer-related
• Repair – non-computer