New e-book from iCEV provides guidance on CTE-based workforce development to meet local community needs
As school districts nationwide continue to expand Career and Technical Education (CTE) programming to address the looming workforce gap and provide students with career-ready skills, district leaders will inevitably face space constraints—especially when it comes to supporting CTE pathways that require larger equipment and bigger workspaces than a traditional classroom affords. iCEV’s new, downloadable e-book, “Building High-Impact CTE Centers: Lessons from District Leaders,” provides practical insights, advice, and best practices from industry professionals and districts across the country to help fellow district leaders successfully tackle this challenge.
“CTE programs evolve very quickly and you always want to make sure you have a space that is equipped to change with them,” said Dusty Moore, CEO of iCEV. “So many districts are looking to open centers and this e-book can help them determine how to create learning spaces that can adapt to what the community needs in the future.”
The e-book features success stories and advice from district leaders across the country and from various types of districts. Districts in the e-book include: Culpeper County Public Schools in Virginia, Littleton Public Schools in Colorado, Montgomery Independent School District in Texas, Payette River Tech Academy in Idaho, and Roanoke City Public Schools in Virginia. It also features insights from industry leaders Dusty Moore, CEO of iCEV, and Chuck Amos, CEO of the Amos Group, which is the parent company of SchoolBondFinder and SchoolNetwork.
“One of the questions to ask when redesigning spaces for a CTE center is how is it going to be different?” said Mike Montgomery, natural resources teacher for Littleton Public Schools’ Explorative Pathways for Innovative Careers “EPIC” Campus. “If it’s just labs they did at their high school, why are students going to come here? It has to be different and you have to identify opportunities to get students out of the classroom and into situations where they’re doing work that is relevant and meaningful.”
This new e-book guides districts through every stage of developing a new CTE center from initial planning and designing to staffing and recruiting, including:
- Funding a CTE Center: Learn how to navigate a variety of funding options such as bonds and grants.
- Building a New CTE Center: Learn about various planning considerations and how to meet the requirements of each CTE pathway, allow for future expansion, and integrate industry-standard technologies.
- Converting an Existing Space into a CTE Center: Understand renovation considerations and how to transform outdated school buildings or old office spaces into modern CTE centers.
- CTE Centers in a Rural or Urban Setting: Recognize planning considerations and how to use out-of-the-box thinking to create successful CTE offerings in unique settings.
“At iCEV, we are constantly visiting CTE centers all over the country and it’s great to see how they are being creative and utilizing different spaces to make programs that students love,” said Moore. “It doesn’t matter if it’s an existing space they’re reconfiguring or a brand-new space, it’s about what they’re actually doing in the space that matters.”
