Host a Scholarship Golf Tourney

Looking for ways to help students continue their education? Whether you are a college or technology center scholarships are a huge help to students who might not otherwise be able to continue their education. A college can offer scholarships to Tech Prep students for continued college work or a technology center can offer scholarships for students in their "13th Year." Here is one example out of Weathorford, TX of a Tech Prep Golf Tourney.

FAFSA Night

January 1 is the first date that students can begin completing the Free Application for Student Aid for the 2008-2009 school year. Your seniors should complete the application as soon as possible as the more information that they have the better decisions they can make regarding their college future.

Why not turn the FAFSA into a recruitment opportunity? You can help students who might need a little assistance by hosting a FAFSA Night.

Hold an evening on the Technology Center campus inviting parents and students from your sending schools, regardless of if they are a current student or not, to attend an event where financial aid experts from the tech center, colleges and high school guidance counselors are in attendance and offer to assist in the completion of the FAFSA and provide other college advice. The evening could be a part of a larger college and career fair or a stand alone event specifically aimed at providing assistance where needed.

NASFAA provides some great resources for putting together a FAFSA Night. Visit their Financial Aid Night section of their website.

Take me to the FAFSA website.

Tech Prep News

Stars, Stripes and Social Media, What You Can Learn from the Presidential Candidates and Their Web Strategies.
An interesting article liking web strategies to a starfish. Read the article

Review of Additional Time Proposal – State Dept of Ed

Recruiting Idea
Why not try a Cinema Admissions Event? Get kids to come watch a movie and apply at the same time. Read Article

College Transition

National Association College Admissions Counseling College Preparatory Pamphlets (you can order free copies)
Tips for Parents With Middle School Teens
Tips for Parents with high School Teens

VOCES A Profile of Today’s Latino College Students

OSRHE News (includes updates to OHLAP)

College Connection
A weekly audio program of the State Regents. Listen to archived programs here and find stations and airtimes here.

Preparatory Services

Middle School rigor meant to prepare future AP students

Internet access transforms bus into virtual classroom

Oklahoma Collage Project

If you don't know, Hideaway Pizza is a restaurant that started here in Stillwater. They are kicking off their newest collage project in 2008. Each year the Oklahoma Collage Project organizers select a different theme to pique the interest and imaginations of the participants vying for part of the $10,000 prize money. The 2008 theme is Field, Forest and Stream: Oklahomans and the Outdoors and expectations are high that entries will be just as creative in its ninth year as they have been in the previous eight.

Happy Holidays

Just a quick note to you wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays and safe travels. We hope that you have enjoyed reading our news over the last year, that you have shared us with your friends and that you will come back next year.

Tech Prep News

Thought I would share a few more links before the end of the week. Hope that you enjoy.

More Holiday Videos: Eckerd College 2007

Outcomes Linked to After School Programs

Teens Still Talk Face to Face

One Stop Collaboration for Adult Learners

College Should Invest More in Admissions Websites

Tech Prep News

Neilson’s Top Ten Social Networks

Students Plan Virtual Rescue

Word of Mouth vs. Highly Connected Influencers
Old-fashioned “word of mouth” might be more useful in advertising than previously thought, especially in digital media, according to collaborative research by a Miami University faculty member and his colleagues.

Enrolment Projections
The US Dept of Education released a report entitles “Projections of Education Statistics to 2016”. Oklahoma student enrollment is expected to increase by 8.2% between 2004-2016 to 681,000 P-12 students. Oklahoma is one of forty states with an expected increase with Nevada leading at 36.6%. It is also projected that Oklahoma will be one of 28 sates to have a decrease in the number of high school graduates with -.2% or 36,710 graduates. Enrollment in higher education is expected to increase all cohorts, both public and private. The number of associate degrees is expected to increase 2% for men and 14% for women.

Keeping Kids in School and Out of Gangs

The Educational Bonus of an AP Payoff


Adult Education Brings Hopes to Young Dropouts

New Institute to ask Race Question in Higher Ed
To address the disparities that exist in higher education for underrepresented minorities, the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) is slated to form in 2008 the new Institute on Equity Research Methods and Critical Policy Analysis.

OK Task Force on School Testing

Speed Matters
A state by state report on internet speed in America

Learning for Life

A few months back we presented to the Tech Centers the concept of Scouting CareerTech as a way to help recruit students into career and technology education. How about an innovative way to get students engaged?

The Learning for Life program, and more specifically the Explorer Program, may be a great addition to your current extra curricular activities. The Explorer Program us the work site based learning component of Learning for Life.

Areas of concentration include Arts & Humanities, Aviation, Business, Communications, Engineering, Fire Service, Health, Law Enforcement, Law & Government, Science, Skilled Trades and Social Services.

Great Plains Technology Center currently uses the Fire Service and Law Enforcement Post with their programs. Scholarships and competitions are also available through the program.

Ok Tech Prep News

New York City's Small Business Manufacturers Encounter Dearth of Skilled Employees
http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/90153

More Time in Class Equals Better Math Skillshttp://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-12-10-math-class-time_N.htm

Shining a Spotlight on 2 Year Collegeshttp://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/12/11/community

Using Wiki’s in a Classroom
http://www.techlearning.com/blog/2007/11/stretching_with_wikis.php

Intel Schools of Distinction Award
Math and Science awards for outstanding schools.
http://www.intel.com/education/schoolsofdistinction/index.htm?iid=sciencemath+soda

Holiday Cards
Here are more Holiday Cards. More ideas with what you can do in recruitment with data and email contacts.

Eckerd College
In the theme of Jib Jab
http://www.eckerd.edu/holiday/

Red River College Holiday Card
If you are a fan of The Office then you will enjoy this card.
http://www.rrc.mb.ca/files/flash/HolidayCard/holiday.html

Yale Open Courses
Have you ever wanted to take a course at Yale? Yale University now has an open course website where the public can download class lectures, notes and even video. The first release includes 7 complete courses. Maybe they include something that your instructors would find interesting?
http://open.yale.edu/courses/index.html

Parents Should Plant College Going Seed in Middle School
http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_10391.shtml

Aspiration to Actionhttp://www.ihep.org/assets/files/publications/a-f/From_Aspiration_to_Action.pdf

Numbers and Rates of High School Dropouts: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2008/2008305.pdf

Better Alignment for Adult and Post Secondary Educationhttp://www.nationalcommissiononadultliteracy.org/content/strawnbriefrev101807.pdf.pdf

Tech Prep News

OSU Institute of Technology-Okmulgee
There is a new name for the Okmulgee campus of Oklahoma State University. The school will now be known as Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology-Okmulgee. http://osu.okstate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=838&Itemid=90

Governors Council
On Friday, December 7, the Governors Council on Workforce and Economic Development met. Among the speakers present, the Council heard from Donna Elmore, Associate Vice President of Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College in South Carolina. Donna spoke about the state’s Personal Pathways System. One of the websites presented was www.palmettopathways.org. The system was developed as a result of the South Carolina’s Education and Economic Development Act and mandates that by 2010 all South Carolina schools be organized by the High Schools That Work (or comparable) model. Some of the key requirements of the act include connecting student education to careers, articulation agreements for K-16 and increasing the number of guidance staff. Resources related to the EEDA can be found at www.teachscpathways.org or www.scpathways.org/news.html.

GrowOklahoma.com
The OK Department of Commerce is releasing its newest website, www.growoklahoma.com (aka www.mycareerplan.com). At the Grow Oklahoma website you will find resources for exploring careers, planning your education, finding a job, starting a business and much more. The website will be integrated with OKCIS and a username to either website will work with the other.

New center trains educational eye on an electronic world
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--digitaleducation1206dec06,0,5828276.story
The Brand Gap
An interesting slide show about what a brand is and isn’t. http://www.slideshare.net/coolstuff/the-brand-gap

Adult Education Bringing Hope to Young Dropouts
An article from South Carolina: http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/dec/10/adult_education_bringing_hope_young_drop24563/

Why AP and IB Scholars Soar
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/21/AR2007052100975.html?hpid=sec-education
The Preuss School
Map of Top 100 Schools (2 in OK)

Ashland University Virtual Christmas Card
Need another excuse to email your students using the PLAN data? View this Christmas card from Ashland University. Ashland is a mid-sized regional teaching university, historically related to the Brethren Church. You can use this concept for Holiday cards, birthdays, the first day of finals or the first day of school. The possibilities are endless.
http://ecard.ashland.edu/index.php
http://ecard.ashland.edu/index.php?ecardYear=2006adm
http://ecard.ashland.edu/index.php?ecardYear=2004adm
http://ecard.ashland.edu/index.php?ecardYear=2003adm

PS-Their President even has a Blog!!

Jobs With a Future
A map indicating Chances for Success from EdWeek

US News Top 100 High Schools


Word of Mouth Marketing
An interesting article on word of mouth marketing including estimates of cost at $3.7 billion dollars by 2010.

Tech Prep News

News and Information

Carl Perkins Input Request
Now is your opportunity to provide input for the Carl Perkins act in Oklahoma. Please provide your input to 7 different questions. The online form is located on the Federal Legislative Assistance website.
http://www.okcareertech.org/fla/ph.htm

Sequence of Courses
The updated Sequence of Courses and Course Development Guides are now available on the Oklahoma Career Clusters website. These documents are valid through March 1, 2008. The plans are to update the instructional framework on an annual basis each March thereafter. The documents published October 1st are archived on the website and may be used for reference or comparison purposes only. Please direct specific content questions to the Career Cluster Team Leader listed on the website as well as each Course Development Guide.
www.okcareertech.org/careerclusters

PLAN ACT Info
We have contacted ACT and we might be making the PLAN ACT Purchase in mid January.

Fact Sheets
New Fact Sheets are in for the CareerTech System. Tech Prep coordinators will be given a copy at the January 8 QTA meeting. It includes facts about our 585,087 enrollments, demographics, counties served and student placement data.

Holiday Marketing
Earlier we sent an example of what can be done through PLAN ACT data, email and a web page. What about putting together something that includes video? The University of Maryland has put together an awesome holiday video.
http://www.holidaygreeting.umd.edu/

Doing What Works
Launched by the Education Department on Nov. 2, Doing What Works is found online and aims to help educators and administrators put into practice research-based educational techniques.
http://dww.ed.gov/,

New Blogs
The Tech Centers That Work and Business and Industry Services have new Blogs!! Sign up for their feeds and keep up to date starting today!!
TCTW: http://oktctw.blogspot.com/
Business and Industry Services: http://okbis.blogspot.com/

Technical Innovations ConferenceDon’t forget the Tech Innovations Conference on January 23. Get the registration form on the Tech Prep calendar

Alliance Partners Meeting
A joint meeting of CareerTech and State Regents will be held February 20th at the State Regents office in Oklahoma City. Tech Prep Coordinators, Alliance Coordinators and College Partners are encouraged to attend. The Regents office is located south of the state capital at 655 Research Parkway, Suite 200. There will be a later email with the online registration.

Friend of CTEECRoberta Scott was selected as the 2006-07 recipient of the Friend of CTEEC Award from the Career Technical Education Equity Council. Roberta was selected for this award because of her outstanding commitment to equity in CareerTech education. She will be recognized at the ACTE conference in Las Vegas on Dec. 14 at a reception held at the Hilton Hotel.

Tulsa Community College Opens New ProgramBy providing outreach centers in area neighborhoods, Tulsa Community College’s (TCC) goal is to reach prospective students who have traditionally been underrepresented in higher education or who would be the first in their family to graduate from college. TCC recently opened the Education Outreach Center (EOC) to make higher education facilities more approachable and programs more accessible. EOC staff can communicate with current and potential students in English, Spanish, and Korean. The center is a model program that TCC hopes to replicate in other neighborhoods and communities.

Upcoming on Oklahoma HorizonsOklahoma Exports - Emerging markets in Asia are key to Oklahoma's continued success in aviation.
China Trade - Former Ambassador to China James Lilley discusses intricacies of working with the Chinese.
World Trade - China, one of the fastest growing export markets, is still well behind traditional Oklahoma customers Canada and Japan who purchased close to $4.5 billion last year from the state.
Ag Trade - Few sectors are more dependent on international markets than the agricultural sector with more than half of all the wheat grown in Oklahoma, as well as an increasing amount of meat being exported.
Ag Leadership - Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program Director Joe Williams discusses the program designed to help potential leaders better understand local economies and place in the global market.
Afghan Business Women--The Peace Through Business initiative is a national effort to help bring peace to the Middle East by equipping Afghanistan women with entrepreneurial skills. Five Afghan businesswomen spent a week in Oklahoma where the idea for the program was born.


Reports
Numbers and Rates of Public High School Dropouts: School Year 2004-05: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2008/2008305.pdf

More International Students Study at US Colleges: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20071205-1120-foreignstudents.html

CareerTech Blogs
Tech Prep: http://oktechprep.blogspot.com/
Pre-Engineering: http://okpreengineering.blogspot.com/
TCTW: http://oktctw.blogspot.com/
Business and Industry Services: http://okbis.blogspot.com/

Technology Center BlogsCaddo Kiowa: http://cktcnews.blogspot.com/

Upcoming Dates: http://okcareertech.org/techprep/calendar.htm

BREAKING TRADITIONS AWARD

Nominations for the BREAKING TRADITIONS AWARD PROGRAM (Non-Traditional Awards) in all course areas will be accepted until February 8.

The award information, application, video release form and judging form are located at this web site: http://www.okcareertech.org/guidance/Equity/award.htm

Tech Prep News - December 5

U.S. Students Fall Short in Math and Science: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/12/04/14pisa_web.h27.html?tmp=416845403

Additional School Days in 2021: http://newsok.com/article/3175360/1196421792

SchoolReach Webinar
If you missed the first rounds of webinars, you have a second chance tomorrow, December 6th at 2:00 pm by sending an email to reserve your place. To join the webinar you will need a computer with Internet access and browser directed to http://www.schoolreach4.glance.net/, telephone and conference bridge info, which will be emailed to you in your confirmation. Make your reservation by email (bpitcher@schoolreach.com) or by phone 800-983

Promising Practices Network: http://www.promisingpractices.net/
This is a listing of several initiatives with research about them. Maybe a tool that you can use as inspiration for drop out recovery?

Regents Hour Policy
Some have brought this up in past meetings. The policy that legislates the total number of hours a high school student can be concurrently enrolled can be found at http://www.okhighered.org/policy-proced/2006-policy/Chapter3/Chapter%203-2007%20Final.pdf and from there you will need to go to 3.10.6.I.1 Concurrent Enrollment of High school Students. The policy outlines the total number of hours as well as the formula used to calculate the workload.

College Prep 101
This website was developed by Lance Millis, an OSU College of Education Academic Advisor and former Pistol Pete!! It has been around in various forms since 1996 and it is something that we referenced during academic presentations for help in preparing for college. He has now expanded it. http://www.collegeprep101.com/

Keeping Pace with K-12 Learning
An article about online learning: http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=196604801
The complete report: http://www.nacol.org/docs/Keeping%20Pace%20with%20K-12%20Online%20Learning%202006.pdf

College Worrisome to First Generation Students: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071130/LOCAL/711300478/1006

US News Top 100 High Schools: http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/high-schools/2007/11/29/gold-medal-schools.html?s_cid=related-links:TOP

Community College Aim, Preparing Student for Life: http://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2007/1123/Community/020.html


OK Council of Public Affairs Scholarship Opportunity
Which U.S. president had the greatest impact on American culture? The answer to that question will net some high school seniors a college scholarship. The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs will award $12,000 in scholarships to essay contest winners. The deadline is Feb. 28. For more information, visit http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_326002545 or http://www.ocpathink.org/.

Wal-Mart Scholarships
Wal-Mart will give more than 5,000 college scholarships to high school seniors nationwide in April. Students can pick up applications for the $1,000 Sam Walton Community Scholarships at Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market and Sam's Club stores or by going to The deadline is Jan. 14, and winners will be announced in April.

Tech Center students build truck to be driven into tornadoes: http://newsok.com/article/3176518/1196688080

TPS Career Tech in on-line publication

Thought I would share a story about Tulsa Public Schools and how they have been bringing parents and students together through Individual Career Planning Conferences. Check out the compete story at the National Career Development Association Web site. The TPS CareerTech division even has their own website, check it out here.

Caddo Kiowa News Blog

Want to be able to get news about all the Oklahoma Technology Centers in one place? We are one step closer to it!! Wouldn't it be a great asset for other Technology Centers to incorporate blogs or RSS feeds into their communications? Then, people who were interesed in CTE could subscribe to those feeds and get all that information sent to their reader.

Congratulations to Susan Biddy, at Caddo Kiowa, who has put together the first Tech Center news blog that I know of. I would like to share: http://cktcnews.blogspot.com/

Do you know of a OK CareerTech Blog? Let me know and I'll help spread the word.