Technical Skill Attainment
Full Interim Report
Presentation by Hans Meeder
In 2009, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System (Office of the Chancellor) and the Minnesota Department of Education launched a collaborative pilot project among Minnesota’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs offered in community colleges and high schools to develop an assessment system that will provide teachers, administrators and policymakers with accurate and useful information about student technical skill achievement. This assessment system will provide information that is useful for improving program quality, creating strong connections between high school and postsecondary programs, and communicating to employers and policymakers the value of career and technical skill programs of study in preparing students for college and work readiness. The system will be developed in phases and implemented over multiple years.
Minnesota's Progress in Developing a Technical Skills Assessment System
In Minnesota, the two partner agencies, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System (MnSCU) and the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), are implementing the provisions of Perkins 2006 addressing Programs of Study and Technical Skill Assessment. These two provisions are being developed in a way that is complementary, simultaneously supporting the developing of Programs of Study (career pathways) ) and assessment mechanisms that will provide measures of student learning in these pathways at the secondary and postsecondary levels.
One of the most important changes underway is the formation of 26 formal consortia of secondary and postsecondary partners established to receive funds and jointly administer and support CTE programs. To support cross-system collaboration, about 20 percent of local funds are allocated to develop and improve the consortium structure.
Developing common expectations for Technical Skill Assessment
Previously, MnSCU and MDE had not established any statewide expectations of what knowledge, skills and attributes were to be taught in various CTE programs. Before any work can commence on development or identification of Technical Skill Assessment, the State Partners have decided to lead a process of identifying measurable CTE competencies that are (or should be) present in each of the CTE programs. After the competencies are identified for each pathway, the State will guide a process to determine the best means of assessment.
To begin the process, the State Partners selected a number of potential CTE pathways for the pilot phase by reviewing enrollments for CTE programs at the secondary and postsecondary levels, and also applying criteria for high wage, high skill and high demand career fields. When the initial pathways were selected, the partners invited the 26 regional consortia to nominate teachers and faculty members to participate in the pilot phase of the project.
The following career pathways were identified for initial development under this project
- Business, Financial Management and Accounting in the Business, Management and Administration Cluster)
- Health Therapeutic Services (part of the Health Science Cluster)
- Law Enforcement (part of the Law & Public Safety Cluster)
- Network Systems (part of the Information Technology Cluster)
- Plant Systems (part of the Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Cluster)
For more information about how Minnesota is addressing Technical Skill Attainment or if you have comments & suggestions, contact:
| Postsecondary | Secondary |
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JoAnn Simser
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Dan Smith
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