Special Projects and Initiatives
The MN Career and Technical Education Unit often collaborates with other organizations, locally and nationally, to work on special projects focusing on a variety of areas related to career and technical education. This is a list of our current and on-going projects.
Minnesota FastTRAC
The purpose of the FastTRAC resources is to improve collaborative service delivery for improving education and employment outcomes of adult Minnesotans, particularly adults who lack the basic and foundational skills to enter and complete postsecondary education, including occupational skill training. There are too many Minnesotans with a high school diploma or an equivalent level of education who cannot enroll and complete occupational training without first mastering basic skills (such as math, reading and writing) and literacy in English.
For more information, contact Mary Schmidt, MN FastTRAC Director (651) 259-7571.
Pathways to Success Parent Guide: Helping Your Minnesota Teen with College and Career Decisions
A guide for Minnesota parents. This guide can help you take an active role in helping your tean explore the worlds of education and work, the career development process and today's labor market. A collaborative effort with 
Download this publication in English, Hmong, Spanish or Somali languages at
Minnesota is a member of VTECS (A Consortium for Innovative Career and Workforce Development Resources) has a thirty-year history of operating as a consortium of states where members pool resources to develop competency-based career and technical education products that are validated by industry and labor. In order to develop these products, VTECS employs a complete occupational analysis system whereby data is collected from incumbent workers for the specified occupational areas.
Are you eligible for free software? If your school receives Perkins funding, you could be eligible for both Connect and Direct software programs.
For more information, contact Al Hauge, Career Development/Work-based Learning/Transition Disabled Specialist from the Minnesota Department of Education (651) 582-8409
STEM Equity Pipeline Project
Minnesota is one of 13 states that will be working over 5 years on the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity Education Foundation's STEM Equity Pipeline Project. Minnesota State Colleges & Universities and the Minnesota Department of Education are the major collaborators for this project, which focuses on gender equity in STEM-related career and technical education.
The project focuses on increasing the capacity of faculty developers in the areas of STEM to integrate research-based best practices on increasing the participation of women and girls in STEM. The project will use the Five-Step Program Improvement Process (document performance results, identify root causes, select best solutions, pilot test and evaluate solutions, and implement solutions) to help guide state and local efforts to increase the participation and completion of women and girls in STEM-related career cluster programs of study.
For more information, contact Brenda Lyseng, STEM Project Specialist (651) 649-5773.
The New Look Project
The purpose of the New Look Project is to assist secondary and postsecondary career and technical educators in identifying, developing, and strengthening aspects of programming for special populations learners.
Formerly the NTO (Nontraditional Occupations) Look, the New Look Project has an expanded goal to assist CTE educators in strengthening programming for all special populations learners, though an emphasis on nontraditional for gender occupations is still a driving force in this Project. This award-winning program improvement model supports career and technical education programs at several different levels of investment through monetary awards, technical assistance, and professional development. MORE...
For more information, contact Eva Scates-Winston, Perkins Program Director (651) 297-3792.
Great Lakes Girls Collaborative Project
Minnesota regional member and team - network and resource for recruiting and supporting girls in STEM. The Great Lakes Girls Collaborative Project (GLGCP) will connect state affiliates of national educational equity-oriented organizations and the small organizations that are already implementing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related projects for girls in the region. More...
For more information, contact Eva-Scates-Winston, Perkins Program Director (651) 297-3792.
GESA/SAGE (Student Achievement Grounded in Equity)
The Generating Expectations for Student Achievement Program (GESA) for administrators, educators and counselors. Beginning in January 2010. More...
For more information, contact Eva Scates-Winston, Perkins Program Director (651) 297-3792.
