State Profile For Arkansas

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

State Director

Mr. William Walker, Jr., Director
Department of Workforce Education
Three Capitol Mall
Little Rock, AR 72201

Web Site

http://dwe.arkansas.gov

Mission

To provide the leadership and contribute resources to serve the diverse and changing workforce training needs of the youth and adults of Arkansas.

CTE Statistics

Number of Public High Schools: 284
Number of Public High Schools Offering Solely (or primarily) CTE courses: 23
Number of Students in Public High Schools: 132,713
Number of Secondary Students Enrolled in CTE: 94,513
Number of Public Community Colleges: 23
Number of Students at Public Community Colleges: 41,702
Number of Postsecondary Students Enrolled in CTE: 29,705
Perkins Funds Received: $13,921,379

**Source: Arkansas Department of Education 2003-04 - the Number of Public High Schools and the Number of Public High Schools Offering CTE.

CTE Governance Structure

Perkins Eligible Agency: Department of Workforce Education
Agency Administering Secondary CTE: Department of Workforce Education
Agency Administering Postsecondary CTE: Department of Higher Education
Programmatic Control For Secondary CTE: Department of Workforce Education
Programmatic Control For Postsecondary CTE: Department of Higher Education

CTE Funding

Key: Increased Funding  Small_green_arrow_up    Decreased Funding   Small_red_arrow_down    Funding Maintained   Small_blue_arrow_both
State Secondary Funding: Small_green_arrow_up
State Postsecondary Funding: Small_blue_arrow_both
Local Secondary Funding: Small_green_arrow_up
Local Postsecondary Funding: Small_blue_arrow_both

State Director Roles and Responsibilities

The State Director has the title of Director of the Office of Workforce Education. The Director is a political appointee who reports to the Governor. The Director’s primary areas of responsibility are secondary CTE, postsecondary CTE, and rehabilitation services.

CTE Connections to Secondary Education and High School Reform

Career technical education plays a very high role in high school reform efforts. Arkansas CTE was involved in the statewide high school reform initiative and has attended national high school reform meetings with the state’s general K-12 agency staff. The CTE department has co-sponsored a number of reform efforts/initiatives with the K-12 agency.

Implementation of Career Clusters

Arkansas believes that Career Clusters are the basis for high school reform and provide the infrastructure for a seamless educational transition between all learner levels. Career Clusters are also seen as a tool for career guidance, a platform to organize sequences of courses around, and a way to improve the quality of CTE.
In order to effectively implement Career Clusters, Arkansas has adopted a state policy that supports Career Clusters. In addition, the state is using several strategies to support the implementation of Career Clusters. For example, Career Clusters are being used to support effective transitions between secondary and postsecondary education. Arkansas requires that all accountability information is collected by Career Clusters and is using Career Cluster knowledge and skills to benchmark existing programs, as well as, redirecting state resources and personnel to support Career Clusters.
Several delivery methods are being used to implement and deliver Career Clusters, including National Academy Foundation academies, High Schools That Work and Tech Prep.

Indicators

Secondary Indicators

Indicator Yes/No
Source: CAR Report 2003-4 2004-5
Academic Achievement Small_green_check Small_red_x
Vocational Skills Small_green_check Small_green_check
Diploma Equivalent Degree Credential Small_green_check Small_blue_line
Diploma With Proficiency Credential Small_blue_line Small_blue_line
Total Placement Small_green_check Small_green_check
Nontraditional Participation Small_green_check Small_green_check
Nontraditional Completion Small_green_check Small_red_x

Post Secondary Indicators

Indicator Yes/No
Source: CAR Report 2003-4 2004-5
Academic Achievement Small_red_x Small_green_check
Vocational Skills Small_red_x Small_green_check
Diploma Equivalent Degree Credential Small_red_x Small_green_check
Total Placement Small_green_check Small_red_x
Retention Small_green_check Small_green_check
Nontraditional Participation Small_green_check Small_red_x
Nontraditional Completion Small_red_x Small_green_check

Key:

  • Small_green_check - Yes
  • Small_red_x - No
  • Small_blue_line - Data unavailable

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 02/25/2008