State Profile For Pennsylvania

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

State Director

Dr. Lee Burket, Director
Bureau Career-Technical Education, Pennsylvania Department of Education
333 Market Street, 11th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17126

CTE Web Site(s) as Applicable

Secondary/Postsecondary : http://www.education.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/career___technical_education/7335

Career Readiness Certification Program: http://crc.pcworksplus.com/CRCInfo/Default.aspx

Mission

A career and technical education system that prepares each individual for highly skilled employment, postsecondary training and education, and lifelong learning.

CTE Statistics

Number of Public High Schools:	688
Number of Public High Schools Offering Solely (or primarily) CTE courses:	85
Number of Students in Public High Schools:	595,529
Number of Secondary Students Enrolled in CTE:	91,543
Number of Public Community Colleges:	17
Number of Students at Public Community Colleges:	124,077
Number of Postsecondary Students Enrolled in CTE:	76,533
Perkins Funds Received:	$49,236,115

More detailed data for CTE Statistics can be found on the Pennsylvania CTE website

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:	Pennsylvania State Board for Vocational Education
Programmatic Control For Postsecondary CTE:	Sate Board for Vocational Education

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 State Director of Career and Technical Education. The Director is a political appointee who reports to the Secretary of Education. The Director is primarily responsible for secondary and postsecondary career and technical education, which includes accreditation of career and technical centers, technical institutes, nurse aide training, Perkins administration, industry partnerships, assessment, data analysis, content expertise, professional development, technical assistance, state regulation, program approvals, teacher preparation/certification, administrator preparation/certification, career education and guidance.

CTE Connections to Secondary Education and High School Reform

Career technical education plays a very high role in high school reform. In Pennsylvania, basic education and CTE are sharing resources in the true sense of collaboration. Grant guidelines reiterate expectations for CTE and academic achievement. The Technical Assistance Program icludes assistance for the joint career and technical centers and the participating school districts. The emphasis of the assistance is on academic achievement of CTE students. Technical assistance is provided to district instructional staff and focuses on infusing reading and numeracy strategies in the classroom. Other sessions that are provided include: developing guidance services plans, transcript and master schedule analysis.

Implementation of Career Clusters

Pennsylvania works closely with the Pennsylvania Department and Labor and Industry to align each recognized classification of instructional program to high priority occupations. High priority occupations are defined by the Center for Workforce Information and Analysis within the Department of Labor and Industry, or another occupation determined to meet regional workforce needs.Each occupation is aligned to an industry cluster. The industry cluster is not the same as the 16 Career Clusters identified by the U.S. Department of Education.
An industry cluster consists of a group of industries that are closely linked by common product markets, labor pools, similar technologies, supplier chains, and /or other economic ties. Clusters can take on strategic importance because activities that benefit one group member will generally have positive spillover effects on other members of the cluster. Nine industry clusters, with critical sub-clusters, have been identified for workforce strategies. These nine clusters account for nearly 69% of all employment in the Commonwealth.

• Life Sciences


• Business and Financial Services


• Education


• Advanced Materials and Diversified Manufacturing


• Building and Construction


• Agriculture and Food Production


• Information and Communication Services


• Logistics and Transportation


• Lumber Wood and Paper

Implementation levels of programs of study

• The development of statewide POS continues through 2013. Each POS is related to the Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) Codes that align to the PA Department of Labor and Industry’s High Priority Occupations list. Currently, 22 POS have been developed by the Bureau of Career and Technical Education (BCTE) and are available for access on the Pennsylvania Department of Education website.

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 03/15/2010