State Profile For Connecticut

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

State Director

Ms. June Sanford, State Director
Career and Technical Education, Connecticut State Department of Education
165 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, CT 06106

CTE Web Site(s) as Applicable

Secondary: http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2678&Q=320802

Postsecondary: http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2626&q=320746

Additional Information: http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2626&q=320746

Mission

Career and Technical Education will provide educational opportunities for all students for academic and skill attainment and career development, as life-long learners, leading to postsecondary education and/or employment in a dynamic, technological, and global economy.

CTE Statistics

Number of Public High Schools:	160
Number of Public High Schools Offering Solely (or primarily) CTE courses:	17
Number of Students in Public High Schools:	177,037
Number of Secondary Students Enrolled in CTE:	149,149
Number of Public Community Colleges:	12
Number of Students at Public Community Colleges:	46,227
Number of Postsecondary Students Enrolled in CTE:	23,649
Perkins Funds Received:	$10,925,451

CTE Governance Structure

Perkins Eligible Agency:	Department of Education
Agency Administering Secondary CTE:	Department of Education
Agency Administering Postsecondary CTE:	Department of Education
Programmatic Control For Secondary CTE:	State Board of Education
Programmatic Control For Postsecondary CTE:	Board of Trustees of Community Colleges

CTE Funding: Non-Perkins

State Secondary Funding:
State Postsecondary Funding:
Local Secondary Funding:
Local Postsecondary Funding:

State Director Roles and Responsibilities

The State Director has the title of Perkins Grant Manager. The Director reports to the Bureau Chief of Early Childhood, Career and Adult Education in the Division of Teaching and Learning Programs and Services. The Director’s primary areas of responsibility include administration of the Carl D. Perkins grant for career technical secondary and postsecondary education, program compliance review, data quality management and reporting career pathways.

CTE Connections to Secondary Education and High School Reform

Career Technical Education plays a vital role in providing alternatives for high school students including relevant authentic learning, work experience and opportunity for dual credit. The State Director is providing support and taking part in conversations related to the state’s high school reform efforts.

Implementation of Career Clusters

Connecticut’s Career Pathways Initiative, implemented through the Bureau of Curriculum and Instruction, builds upon the foundation established through Connecticut’s School-to-Career Initiative and Legislation to connect secondary education to post-secondary education and careers within the context of career clusters. The Career Pathways Initiative offers all students opportunities to connect their classroom learning to possible careers, preparing them to make more informed decisions regarding secondary academic and elective course enrollment, postsecondary plans and, eventually, careers. The Career Pathways Initiative integrates vigorous academic courses and career-related electives with experiential learning and comprehensive school counseling. Student Success Plans, based upon the state’s 34 career pathways augmented by Individual Planning Portfolios (Appendix A of A Guide to Comprehensive School Counseling Program Development), organize each student’s secondary and post-secondary education in a flexible, evolving format. To see the Career Cluster Pathways Crosswalk to Areas of Concentration and Assessment for 2007-8, see Figure 4 in Connecticut’s State Plan

Connecticut has adopted the sixteen nationally recognized career clusters,and has identified thirty-four pathways to implement initially; they are shown on the Career Pathways wheel(listed below) organized under the sixteen clusters. These initial thirty-four pathways have been selected based on the current labor and economic needs of Connecticut and relate to growing careers across a wide business and industry spectrum in the state. For example, in the Finance cluster, career pathways include “Investing and Personal Finance” or Entrepreneurship; in the STEM cluster, pathways include Engineering and Technology or Science and Mathematics; and in the Arts cluster, pathways include both Performing Arts and Audio-Visual Tech and Film. New pathways will be added or revised to meet the dynamics of Connecticut’s education and economic landscape.

Implementation levels of programs of study

• Secondary: presently, all 16 clusters are implemented, with elective career and technical courses offered in the comprehensive high schools statewide for each of the 34 Connecticut career pathways


• 2-year PS: all clusters are implemented


• 4-year PS: Education and Training and STEM are implemented.

In addition, the Connecticut career and technical education assessment is administered annually to students attaining two or more credits in an elective area of concentration within a pathway. The
Connecticut Career Certificate (CCC) is awarded annually to students who have demonstrated academic and skill attainment as well as work experience in a career cluster.

Connecticut Career Pathways Wheel

Indicators

Source

The data in the above chart was taken from the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act Reports to Congress on State Performance (see below). The Consolidated Annual Report, or CAR, is a mandatory fiscal and accountability report submitted by each state to the U.S. Department of Education. It provides performance information on 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. CAR narratives for individual states are hyperlinked below.

Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act Reports to Congress on State Performance

State profiles for each of the core indicators (academic attainment, attainment of diplomas or degrees, placement and retention in further education or employment, and participation and completion of non-traditional training programs) for secondary and postsecondary programs. Also included are federal allocations, enrollment by gender, and a brief description of program improvement and data quality efforts for each state.

• Performance Program Year 2006-2007 (PDF, 2.6 MB)
• Performance Program Year 2005-2006 (PDF, 6.6 MB)
• Performance Program Year 2004-2005 (PDF, 1.8 MB)
• Performance Program Year 2003-2004 (PDF, 3.5 MB)

CAR Narratives for individual states

• 2003-2004
• 2004-2005
• 2005-2006
• 2006-2007

Last updated on 06/25/2009