Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1476161
Students in Eric Harrelson's auto shop class at Golden Sierra Junior Senior High School in Garden Valley. El Dorado area educators envision bright future By Sherry Posnick-Goodwin Charting CTE's Course How can schools create and expand CTE programs with new state funding? Should Career Technical Education curriculum be taught in elementary and middle schools? Can schools make CTE programs more equitable — serving the needs of all students? T H E S E T O P I C S and more were explored by educators committed to the future of CTE in their communities. "A Forum to Talk About CTE Program Expansion," sponsored by the El Dorado County Leadership Academy (consisting of CTA chapter leaders from the region) coin- cided with the governor's announcement to spend $1.5 billion for CTE over the next four years. e May 6 event was held at a charter school site in the El Dorado Union High School District. A t t e n d e e s i n c l u d e d m e m b e r s o f : B l a c k O a k Mine Teachers Association, Buckeye TA, San Joaquin County Educators Associa- tion, El Dorado Union High S c h o o l D i s t r i c t Fa c u l t y A sso ciation , Camino FA, Gold Oak TA, Placer ville E l e m e n t a r y E A , Mo t h e r Lode TA, South Tahoe EA and the Elk Grove EA. S o m e m e m b e r s w e r e accompanied by their administrators and school board members. Such collaboration is necessary for high quality CTE offerings, agreed participants. "It's one example of how CTA is working with school leadership in multiple districts to help make CTE more accessible to all our students," said Lance Gunnersen, a CTE woodworking and engineering teacher at El Dorado High School, who helped organize the event. "It's great the fact that CTE teachers are often not recognized for the skills and talents they have. e inequity between CTE and academic teachers has also been a huge fac- tor in keeping good instructors out of the classroom." Unlike multiple subject or single subject creden- tialed teachers, who must hold a college degree, CTE instructors are required to have a high school diploma and 3,000 hours of industry experience (and complete a CTE preparation program) to receive a CTE desig- nated subject credential. "They have years of relevant industry experience prior to teaching, yet face inequities in salary schedule placement and advancement," says Lockhart. "Unfor- tunately, CTE credential holders are frequently placed on Step 1, Column 1 without ever making movement to Column 2 and beyond." e influx of federal, state and local funding toward developing and sustaining CTE pathways is creating an urgent need to develop methods for appropriate placement and movement of CTE credential holders on salary schedules, says Lockhart, who helped nego- tiate a more equitable pay scale for Beaumont Unified School District CTE teachers over a five-year period. "CTA is working to help CTE teachers. By removing these inequities, we can entice experienced profes- sionals from recognized industry sectors into the teaching profession and prepare our students to be successful in the future." 30 cta.org Josh Keane