Alabama's Best Kept Secret

Alabama Career/Technical Education (CTE) is a statewide program designed to prepare students for college and a variety of career opportunities in the fields of Agriscience, Business/Marketing, Family and Consumer Sciences, Health Science, and Technical Education. This is accomplished by providing hands-on experience, internships, apprenticeships, and cooperative education.

Typically, when business professionals look for qualified employees, they search for candidates that are highly skilled, have excellent communication skills, and leadership training. Often, high school students struggle to get the kind of experience required for many of today's top career opportunities. This is why the primary focus of CTE is to work with local and international businesses in different career fields to ensure students are equipped with the skills needed for lifelong success.

In January 2005, the Alabama Department of Education made national and international news when it issued official resolutions to movie and television actress Courteney Cox, Heisman Trophy winner and all-star athlete Bo Jackson, and Grammy award winning entertainer Lionel Richie, for their participation in the Celebrities of Distinction poster campaign. This campaign, designed by the CTE section of the Alabama Department of Education, identifies Alabamians who have had notable success in their professions, communities, and personal lives. These selected "celebrities of distinction" serve as role models for Alabama's students and future CTE graduates.

To create more awareness of Alabama's career/tech programs among students, parents, and state residents, the CTE section also has developed a detailed communication plan, released radio and television public service announcements (PSAs), started the TALENTS Portfolio newsletter, and launched this new Web site, www.alcareertech.org.

In 2004, the Alabama Department of Education released its first-ever Career/Technical Education Annual Report. This sixty-one-page report revealed promising information regarding the academic performance of students who participate in Alabama's CTE programs. Data in the report showed that 12th-grade African-American and Hispanic CTE concentrators, which are students who earn two credits in a sequenced CTE program, outperformed their nonconcentrator counterparts by a considerable margin. The report also revealed that overall, 12th-grade CTE concentrators performed better in the subjects of reading and math than their counterparts. To view a copy of this report online, visit the main page of Alabama's career/tech Web site at www.alcareertech.org.

Currently, one out of every two high school students in Alabama participates in a CTE program. These students have an opportunity to explore their career options in more than 215 courses offered statewide and can earn advanced diplomas and college credit. The Alabama Department of Education is the only state-level educational agency in the nation to receive certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for its business/industry certification (BIC) process, used to certify CTE programs for industry compliance.