State Profile For Massachusetts

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

State Director

Mr. Jeffrey Wheeler, State Director for Career/Vocational Technical Education
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education , Office for Career/Vocational Technical Education
75 Pleasant Street
Malden, MA 02148

CTE Web Site(s) as Applicable

Secondary/Postsecondary : http://www.doe.mass.edu/cte/

Mission

The mission of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education – Office for Career/Vocational Technical Education is to strengthen the Commonwealth’s public education system so that every student is prepared to succeed in postsecondary education, compete in the global economy, and understand the rights and responsibilities of American citizens.

CTE Statistics

CTE Governance Structure

CTE Funding: Non-Perkins

Key: Increased Funding      Decreased Funding       Funding Maintained  

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

State Director Roles and Responsibilities

The State Director has the title of State Director of Career/Vocational Technical Education, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education – Office for Career/Vocational Technical Education. The Office for Career/Vocational Technical Education administers the state law governing vocational technical education programs in public school districts and collaboratives. The Office for Career/Vocational technical Education also administers the federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act that provides support to school districts, collaboratives and the Commonwealth’s public two-year colleges.

CTE Connections to Secondary Education and High School Reform

Massachusetts has developied Vocational Technical Education Frameworks that form the basis for developing the assessment system for the award of the Massachusetts Certificate of Occupational Proficiency.
The Education Reform Act established the Certificate of Occupational Proficiency. The statute – M.G.L.c.69 section 1D (iii) states: “The certificate of occupational proficiency shall be awarded to students who successfully complete a comprehensive education and training program in a particular trade or professional skill area and shall reflect a determination that the recipient has demonstrated mastery of a core of skills, competencies and knowledge comparable to that possessed by students of equivalent age entering the particular trade or profession from the most educationally advanced education systems in the world. No student may receive said certificate of occupational proficiency without also having acquired a competency determination. Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit a student from beginning a program of vocational education before achieving a determination of competency. Such vocational education may begin at grade nine, ten or eleven. No provision of law shall prohibit concurrent pursuit of a competency determination and vocational learning. There shall be no cause of action for a parent, guardian or student who fails to obtain a competency determination, a certificate of mastery or a certificate of occupational proficiency.”

Implementation of Career Clusters

The Massachusetts Vocational Technical Frameworks were developed to include career cluster knowledge and skills and are organized by the following ten career clusters in order to provide instruction in broader, more durable and transferable knowledge and skills. Massachusetts plans to add Law and Public Safety as a career cluster:

• Agriculture and Natural Resources


• Arts and Communication Services


• Business and Consumer Services


• Construction


• Education


• Heath Services


• Hospitality and Tourism


• Information Technology Services


• Manufacturing, Engineering and Technological


• Transportation

Implementation levels of programs of study

• Secondary and 2-year Postsecondary: the 16 nationally-recognized career clusters are implemented except for Finance, Government & Public Administration, Human Services, and Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security.

Indicators

Secondary Indicators

Indicator	Yes/No
Source: CAR Report	2003-4	2004-5	2005-6	2006-7
Academic Achievement
Vocational Skills
Diploma Equivalent Degree Credential
Diploma With Proficiency Credential
Total Placement
Nontraditional Participation
Nontraditional Completion

Post Secondary Indicators

Indicator	Yes/No
Source: CAR Report	2003-4	2004-5	2005-6	2006-7
Academic Achievement
Vocational Skills
Diploma Equivalent Degree Credential
Total Placement
Retention
Nontraditional Participation
Nontraditional Completion

Key:

• - Yes
• - No
• - Data unavailable

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 09/17/2009