State Profile For Colorado

Data sources used in this profile (PDF,177Kb)

State Director

Mr. Scott Stump, Dean
Career and Technical Education, Colorado Community College System
9101 East Lowry Boulevard
Denver, CO 80230

CTE Web Site(s) as Applicable

Secondary/Postsecondary : http://www.coloradostateplan.com/index.htm

Career Readiness Certification Program: http://www.coworkforce.com/emp/career_ready.asp

Summary Report: Engineering the Future--Career and Technical Education Redesigned for Today’s Students: http://www.coloradosucceeds.org/images/ColoSucceedsCTErpt_v3.pdf

Mission

Vision: Colorado CTE delivers proven pathways to lifelong career success!

Mission: CTE ensures a thriving Colorado economy by providing relevant and rigorous education that is connected, responsive and real.

CTE Statistics

Number of Public High Schools: 328
Number of Public High Schools Offering Solely (or primarily) CTE courses: 5
Number of Students in Public High Schools: 234,985
Number of Secondary Students Enrolled in CTE: 81,917
Number of Public Community Colleges: 15
Number of Students at Public Community Colleges: 79,803
Number of Postsecondary Students Enrolled in CTE: 2,442
Perkins Funds Received: $16,964,396

CTE Governance Structure

Perkins Eligible Agency: Colorado Community Colleges System
Agency Administering Secondary CTE: Colorado Community Colleges System
Agency Administering Postsecondary CTE: Colorado Community Colleges System
Programmatic Control For Secondary CTE: State Board for Colorado Community Colleges and Occupational Education Board of Directors
Programmatic Control For Postsecondary CTE: State Board for Colorado Community Colleges System and Occupational Education Board of Directors

CTE Funding: Non-Perkins

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

State Director Roles and Responsibilities

The State Director has the title of Dean of Career and Technical Education. The Director is a career position and is responsible for all secondary and postsecondary CTE program areas, such as approval, funding (Perkins administration and compliance), and data collection.

CTE Connections to Secondary Education and High School Reform

Career technical education plays a minimal role in high school reform efforts. The Colorado Community Colleges System is not linked with the efforts of high school reform because the governor has appointed another agency to lead the reform and there is not a statewide effort that includes CTE as part of the team.

Implementation of Career Clusters

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has created a state-wide vision that calls for a seamless education system leading students to high-wage, high-skill, or high-demand careers. As part of the Colorado vision, a P-20 Council has been formed to address issues of transition and student success. The Colorado Community College System is beginning an initiative called “Bridges to Opportunity through Career Pathways.” This initiative is based on the national work of Career Clusters and Pathways and Plans of Study and emphasizes the need for seamless transitions for students between secondary and postsecondary education using the Plans of Study as an implementation tool. Additionally, it focuses on the need for greater collaboration between education systems, within education systems and between education and business and industry. The first effort at articulating this initiative is included in the CTE report “Bridges to Opportunity through Career Pathways”.
The Colorado Community College System (CCCS) is aligning its Career Clusters framework to “The Colorado Promise” as described by Governor Bill Ritter; “The Colorado Promise” is a comprehensive strategy to grow a well-educated and highly-skilled workforce in Colorado, one that is competitive in the global economy.


CCCS has organized Colorado’s existing CTE programs within a Career Clusters framework including 17 Clusters and 81 Pathways. Colorado’s 17th cluster is Energy. The Plans of Study will use the Colorado Career Cluster Model. This model categorizes the 17 different Career Clusters into six more general categories:

Implementation levels of programs of study