ACTE PACE Summit 2024

CTE professionals are in an educational class by themselves and require a different set of pedagogical skills and background knowledge. A high percentage of CTE teachers are recruited directly from industry, and schools face on-boarding and ongoing professional development for a very diversely prepared population. Validating and credentialing CTE professional knowledge has benefits for both schools and individuals and can be used to develop professional development plans that are based on a data-driven gap analysis. Northern Arizona University will share its pilot experiences using the NOCTI nationally validated CTE teaching assessments, which include topics such as student management, instructional delivery, student assessment, employer relationships, and instructional improvement in its teacher-educator program. NAU’s experience will be translated into integrating the assessment data from these credentials into educator professional development plans to target areas for improvement of teacher professional knowledge with the goal of increasing teacher retention. Administrators of CTE programs can use this validated and normed assessment tool as part of data-driven professional development to target and promote quality CTE programs of study through prepared and effective program staff.