State Profile For Tennessee

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

State Director

Mr. Ralph Barnett, Assistant Commissioner
Career Technical Education, Tennessee Department of Education
710 James Robertson Pkwy., 4th Floor
Nashville, TN 37243

CTE Web Site(s) as Applicable

Secondary: http://www.state.tn.us/education/cte/

Postsecondary: http://www.state.tn.us

Career Readiness Certification Program: http://www.state.tn.us/labor-wfd/et_services_crc.html

Mission

Preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s opportunities.

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 Assistant Commissioner for Vocational-Technical Education. The Director is a political appointee who reports to the Commissioner of Education. The Director’s primary areas of responsibility are all secondary CTE programs High Schools that Work Jobs for Tennessee Graduates Work Based Learning Field Service Centers
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CTE Connections to Secondary Education and High School Reform

Career technical education plays a very high role in high school reform efforts. Tennessee is working cooperatively with teaching and learning and the State Board of Education to redefine high schools. This includes addressing structure, virtual education, and career clusters/career pathways/model sequence of courses. The State Director is a member of the state’s high school reform leadership team.

Implementation of Career Clusters

Tennessee believes that Career Clusters provide the basis for high school reform by offering an infrastructure for seamless educational transition between all learner levels. Through Career Cluster implementation, the quality of CTE will improve, and students will benefit from career guidance and organized sequence of courses.
In order to effectively implement Career Clusters, Tennessee has adopted a state policy that supports this effort as well as integrated Career Clusters into the state plan. The state has also redirected state resources and personnel to support effective transitions between secondary and postsecondary education.
Several delivery methods are being used to implement and deliver Career Clusters, including career academies, High Schools That Work, and High School Reform Efforts.
Tennessee’s secondary CTE system has adopted the States’ Career Clusters model of 16 career clusters and programs of study. Tennessee previously had seven career clusters:
Arts and Communication; Business and Marketing; Health Care; Hospitality and Tourism; Human Services; Manufacturing, Construction and Transportation; and Science and Technology.

Implementation levels of programs of study

• Secondary: all 16 nationally-recognized career clusters are implemented.


• 2-year Postsecondary: 8 of the 16 nationally-recognized career clusters are implemented: Architecture & Construction, Arts, A/V Technology & Communications, Health Science, Human Services, Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security, Manufacturing, STEM, and Transportation, Distribution & Logistics.


• 4-year Postsecondary: 10 of the 16 nationally-recognized career clusters are implemented. Architecture & Construction, Education & Training, Government & Public Administration, Human Services, Manufacturing, and Transportation, Distribution & Logistics are not implemented.

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 09/22/2009