ACTE
November 29, 2011
TO: ACTE State Association Leadership
FROM: Jan Bray, Executive Director
RE: Strengthening Our Future
ACTE is taking bold steps to strengthen its leadership in keeping our workforce educated, prepared, adaptable, and competitive in a fast-changing world. We take tremendous pride in our 85+ years of serving students, educators, and employers. But we can’t stop now. CTE has never been more crucial to the success of individuals, our communities, and our country.
The ACTE Board of Directors spent the past year studying the factors impacting our profession, our members, and the globally competent workforce we are working to create. As a result, the Board has determined that the time for bold action is NOW.
As wemove forward, we are embarking on a mission to create something new, visionary, and extraordinary. To accomplish this, the Board reached two major decisions at its meeting in St. Louis: ACTE’s Preferred Future and CareerTechVISION 2012.
ACTE’s Preferred Future
To best support educators, students, and employers, ACTE has identified four (4) milestones to reach by 2015. These milestones were identified following extensive surveys, interviews, discussions, and review of a market analysis authored by a leading economist. These four key statements—known collectively as ACTE’s Preferred Future—will guide the activities and allocation of our resources over the next several years.
A copy of the ACTE “Preferred Future” publication is here. A working group of membersand staff has been appointed to develop a comprehensive action plan to achieve each milestone. This group will be working over the next 90 days and will present its implementation plan (including strategies, timelines, and responsibilities) at the March Board of Directors meeting.
CareerTechVISION 2012
ACTE has commenced a journey to reposition its Annual Convention and to create an annual event that is new, exciting, and impactful to everyone in the CTE community. It will bring an international focus to excellence in Career Tech education, and will be called:
CareerTechVISION 2012: An International Summit on Excellence in Career Tech Education
Dynamic and compelling, the groundbreaking format of this event will bring industry and education together. The CTE community will “see, touch, feel, and experience”the exciting new tools, latest information, and targeted learning of the future—all of which will be specially selected by industry experts. The new format will focus on what industry has been asking the CTE community to teach in order to produce workers that meet the ever-changing demands of the workplace. In additions, the new format will align with the strategic improvement activities of institutions at both the secondary and postsecondary levels.
In other words, CareerTech VISION 2012 will be about th eneeds of the educator and not the needs of the organization or its structure.It will focus on professional development and growth rather than organizational business. It will be about the members!
Once again, the Board has appointed a working group of members and staff to develop the details of the new format. They will complete their work within the next 60 days.
Don’t miss this exciting event! Plan now to join us at CareerTech VISION 2012: An International Summit on Excellence in Career Tech Education in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 29–December 1, 2012.
Moving Forward
ACTE serves as a leader in connecting education and industry, and increasingly our role has been bridging the gap between the two sectors. ACTE effectively fulfills this role for three (3) reasons:
- The extensive network of state associations across this nation
- The ability to reach thousands of educators via our membership database
- Our willingness to constantly look toward the future and change as the world around us changes
You are a critical part of our shared success. Together we will spread the message of CTE and the value it brings to this country. Together we will demonstrate the pride we take in our profession. Together we will make a difference.
Stay tuned!
JanetB. Bray, CAE
Executive Director
Association for Career and Technical Education
1410 King Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-683-9398
Fax:703-683-9360
E-mail:jbray@acteonline.org
