State Profile For Alaska

Data sources used in this profile (MSWord,54Kb)

State Director

Mrs. Helen Mehrkens, State Director
Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
P.O. Box 110500
Juneau, AK 99811-0500

Web Site

http://www.eed.state.ak.us/tls/CTE/123

Mission

The mission of the Alaska Career and Technical Education staff is to assist schools in providing students with skills necessary for a successful transition to postsecondary education or work and a desire for life-long learning in a global society.

CTE Statistics

Number of Public High Schools:	224
Number of Public High Schools Offering Solely (or primarily) CTE courses:	2
Number of Students in Public High Schools:	39,602
Number of Secondary Students Enrolled in CTE:	18,549
Number of Public Community Colleges:	2
Number of Students at Public Community Colleges:	1,340
Number of Postsecondary Students Enrolled in CTE:	17,064
Perkins Funds Received:	$4,578,000

**Many postsecondary students enrolled in CTE are taking courses through the University system, not just two year public institutions.

CTE Governance Structure

Perkins Eligible Agency:	Department of Education
Agency Administering Secondary CTE:	Department of Education
Agency Administering Postsecondary CTE:	University of Alaska
Programmatic Control For Secondary CTE:	State Board of Education
Programmatic Control For Postsecondary CTE:	Board of Regents and the Labor/Workforce Board

CTE Funding

State Secondary Funding:
State Postsecondary Funding:
Local Secondary Funding:
Local Postsecondary Funding:	N/A

State Director Roles and Responsibilities

The State Director has the title of State Program Director, Career and Technical Education. The State Director’s primary areas of responsibility include all areas resulting from responsibility for Perkins administration and leadership. The state does not have designated state funding for CTE, it is funded at the local level through a general foundation formula or budget appropriation from the legislature to the school district or institution and subject to local control.

CTE Connections to Secondary Education and High School Reform

Career technical education plays a minimal role in high school reform efforts. Alaska does not have a high school reform initiative at this time. Interest is growing, however, and CTE staff has been asked to take the lead on some pilot projects.

Implementation of Career Clusters

Alaska believes that Career Clusters offer an infrastructure for a seamless educational transition between all learner levels. The state sees Career Clusters as a method to improve the quality of CTE and as a tool for students seeking more guidance on career opportunities.
In order to effectively implement Career Clusters, Alaska has effectively integrated Career Clusters into the state plan. They have also required local Perkins plans to incorporate Career Clusters, required accountability information to be collected by Career Clusters, and benchmarked existing program standards against Career Cluster knowledge and skill statements. Alaska has also used Career Clusters to support effective transitions between secondary and postsecondary education.

Indicators

The data for 2003-2004 in the above chart was taken directly from the Consolidated Annual Reports (CAR Report 2003-04). The CAR is a mandatory fiscal and accountability report submitted by each state to the U.S. Department of Education. It provides performance information on 14 Perkins indicators. A red X means a state did not meet its adjusted level of performance and a green checkmark means that the state did meet its goal.A blue bar in the Secondary Indicators table means that the state does not offer students the opportunity to earn both a high school diploma and other credential (e.g., a skill certificate) or that the data was not otherwise provided by the state. A blue bar in the Postsecondary Indicators table indicates that the state did not provide data.

The data for 2004-2005 was taken from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998, Report to Congress on State Performance, Program Year 2004-05, Washington, D.C., 2007.

Last updated on 02/21/2008