About the AZ CTE Leadership Continuum

The Leadership Continuum grew out of a committee of dedicated Arizona Career and Technical Education professionals who wanted to build capacity and ensure sustainability of CTE leadership in the classroom ranks, school administration, post-secondary leadership and business & industry. Work began in December 2010 with the charge in determining how best to grow leaders who know and understand CTE.

In February 2011, this same committee began the discussion of a “leadership continuum,” a series of trainings and experiences that would enable an individual to enter into the CTE profession and to rise up to positions of leadership within the profession and in the state.

In May and June 2011, the committee identified a series of professional standards in teaching and administration for CTE success in the CTE profession.

In December 2011, a sub-committee then began work on a “new teacher track”– a series of courses for those individuals new to teaching designed to provide them with the leadership and pedagogical skills necessary for success in our profession. This “track” was would later become the Premier Series because it is the foremost training for CTE teachers.  It is now identified as the “Teacher Series”.

The “Administrator Series” was developed by and for CTE Administrators. ACOVA, the professional association whose mission is to build community, advocacy and leadership for Arizona Career and Technical Education (CTE) Administrators, sponsors professional development opportunities throughout the school year covering such topics as Mentoring, Curriculum and Instruction, Operations, Staff and Student Management and Current Topics.

In July, 2014, the concept of the “Ambassador Series” was born–a series of trainings and experiences designed to shape the knowledge and opinions of stakeholders and the public regarding CTE.

In February 2015, the Leadership Continuum composed these four series –Teachers, Administrators, Counselors and Ambassadors–was unveiled at the Arizona CTE Mid-Winter Conference in Prescott, Arizona.

Throughout spring 2015, the Leadership Continuum dedicated itself to designing a website, acteaz.org, as the one-stop access to all things CTE in Arizona.  Information on all four Series as well as other relevant information is located on this site.

What is the Purpose of Career and Technical Education?

  • Educate students for a range of career options through 16 Career Clusters® and over 79 pathways-Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE)
  • Fulfill employer needs in high-skill, high-wage, high-demand areas-ACTE
  • Prepare students to be college- and career-ready by providing core academic skills, employability skills and technical, job  specific skills-ACTE
  • Help students identify and prepare for careers that they have always wanted or perhaps never even realized were available to them-ACTE
  • Ensure a dynamic workforce by fully developing every student’s career and academic potential-Arizona Department of Education CTE Vision
  • Prepare Arizona students for workforce success and continuous learning-ADE CTE Mission
  • Provide applied learning opportunities that contributes to the academic knowledge, higher-order reasoning and problem-solving skills, work attitudes, general employability skills, technical skills, occupation-specific skills, and knowledge of all aspects of an industry, including entrepreneurship of an individual-[Carl D. Perkins Act of 2006, Section 3(5)]

 

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