Advanced Career Initiative
TXCC will partner with Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) to support TEA's development and implementation of project-based curricula for a coherent sequence of 4 CTE courses. Anticipated project duration: Spring 2013–Summer 2017.
Previous Work Updates
2015
September
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) continues to work with the Advanced Career (AC) project in which the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) trains educators to write two Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses on oil and gas. The courses are content correct, as planned, by the project deadline of September 30, 2015. Final editing for format and grammar may occur after the deadline by SREB and the Texas Comprehensive Center (TXCC). The distribution and use of the course materials have not yet been determined.
August
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) continues to monitor the Advanced Career (AC) project in which the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) works with educators to write two Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses on oil and gas. There is some concern expressed by the SREB project facilitator that project drafts for Course 2 may not all be completed by the September 30 deadline. Senior SREB leadership will join September discussions. The TXCC continues to provide project management support to TEA by monitoring timelines and deliverables, facilitating conferences with SREB and TEA, and providing action items to both TEA and SREB to ensure clarity of responsibility and next steps.
June
The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) is directing the writing of two Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses on oil and gas during the summer months of 2015. Each course will be comprised of project-based learning and include essential elements from reading, writing, mathematics, and science. In addition, the courses are aligned to college and career standards and include real-world technical and academic knowledge on oil and gas. Teacher training, focused on how to implement rigorous project-based courses with embedded academics, is also a component that SREB recommends be included in the work. TXCC continues to design project management documents for TEA and provide notes and action items to TEA and SREB to ensure clarity of actions and next steps.
May
The Southern Regional Education Board’s (SREB) will be directing the writing of two Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses on oil and gas during the summer months of 2015. The Texas Education Agency (TEA), with the support of the Texas Comprehensive Center (TXCC), will consistently review the process and the work. The TXCC will provide both TEA and SREB notes and action items to clarify communications and next steps as the process is implemented.
April
The Texas Comprehensive Center (TXCC) continues to consistently support the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in its work with the Southern Regional Education Board’s (SREB) Advanced Career Initiative (ACI) to write Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses on the topic of oil and gas. In particular, TXCC staff crafted notes to document the work, recorded action items to facilitate next steps, and considered timelines to ensure the awareness of the processes and products by all stakeholders.
March
The Texas Education Agency (TEA), Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), and Texas Comprehensive Center (TXCC) participated in frequent communications concerning the writing of Courses 1 and 2 on the topic of oil and gas. TEA staff, Jessica Snyder, has been in regular contact with SREB in determining details for the contract. The TXCC has maintained consistent support for TEA throughout this process. SREB staff, Beth Green, has been hiring, training, and preparing writers to complete skeletal projects for the first two courses. Weekly communications have kept all parties informed as the work progresses.
February
The Texas Education Agency (TEA), Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), and Texas Comprehensive Center (TXCC) had numerous February communications on the planning of the second Expert Panel meeting scheduled for February 26 and 27, 2015 at SEDL Headquarters. As a result of the conference calls and emails, the TXCC constructed the agenda, the organizational PowerPoint, the folder of SREB handouts, and other meeting documents. TEA staff, Jessica Snyder and Ron Whitson, welcomed panel members and guided the initial activities and communication sharing. During the meeting and under the direction of SREB staff Tom White and Beth Green, the twenty-four panel members developed drafts for authentic projects that may become part of Courses 1 and 2 of the oil and gas curriculum. In addition, planning and recruitment for both the curriculum writers and the summer teacher training sessions were conducted. Project Manager Beth Green solicited names of writing team members to join the four lead writers in attendance at the meeting. Jeff Parks, Dean at San Jacinto College (the location of the summer training), shared dates and organization details with TEA staff. To ensure that the writing process stays on schedule and that the planning and implementation of the summer training for Course 1 is completed during the summer of 2015, TEA and SREB are working to finalize the contract for this work.
January
The Texas Advanced Career Initiative (ACI) project team from TEA, SREB, and TXCC have been collaboratively planning for the second Expert Panel meeting scheduled for February 26–27. Aspects of the planning included defining the components of the agenda to ensure attainment of the objectives; drafting an introduction with TEA to help set the context and importance of the work to the meeting participants and designing a process to review the work from the first panel meeting. In addition, TXCC developed and shared a revised project timeline that generated action items and deeper thinking regarding the need for advanced planning, revisions to the project budget, and timely project implementation.
2014
December
During December, the TEA and SREB staff initiated contact with additional oil and gas representatives through the assistance of several Expert Panel members. Based on their experiences in the field as well as their educational backgrounds, the additional representatives will be invited to join the project’s panel of experts who will help refine the ACI project ideas. With the addition of more panel members, the second Expert Panel meeting has been rescheduled for February 26–27, 2015. Project team members agreed that although the writing and training timeline is constrained due to the shift in the second expert panel meeting, both could still be accomplished successfully. The TEA, SREB, and TXCC also began planning for this next meeting.
November
The TEA, TXCC, and Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) project staff welcomed 15 representatives from the oil and gas industry and related educational institutions to the Expert Panel meeting on November 17–18, 2014, held at SEDL Headquarters. The tasks completed during the two-day sessions consisted of (a) identifying knowledge and skills necessary to prepare students for college and careers in oil and gas, (b) ranking industry topics by importance, and (c) developing projects by courses. The project development work will continue during a meeting scheduled for January 13–14, 2015. Work on a skills matrix by course will be included on the agenda. In the near future, course writers will be identified to develop drafts for the first two courses. Ongoing communications among project staff continue to ensure the coordinated and cohesive implementation of the project.
October
The TXCC and TEA project staff welcomed SREB staff members, Beth Green, Tom White, and Marna Young to the ACI team. In preparation for the first Expert Panel Meeting, scheduled for November 17-18, 2014, all partners have been participating in biweekly conference calls. Since SREB already has existing protocols and processes for the meeting, it was essential that they join the ongoing project planning and communications. The Expert Panel meeting scheduled for November will be held at SEDL Headquarters. Panel members will include representatives from the oil and gas industry and from secondary and post-secondary education. The goal of this meeting will be to determine what students need to know and be able to do in the career field of oil and gas as well as to brainstorm authentic projects for students in the four career pathway courses.
September
The TXCC collaborated with TEA’s Advanced Career Initiative lead, Jessica Snyder, several times during September. The interactions centered on the refinement of TEA’s contract with SREB as well as scheduling tasks to be completed during TEA’s fiscal year of September 1, 2014 to August 31, 2015. TXCC staff shared multiple planning documents and timelines designed to help facilitate this process. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) previously provided by SREB presented very detailed information that was located in the timeline, narrative, or both. After careful analysis of the MOU, several possible documents on which to build the contract were discussed. While the contract is in the process of being finalized, a November expert panel meeting for the oil and gas industry, the first event of the project year, is being discussed.
August
The TXCC convened Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) Advanced Career Initiative (ACI) Focus Group meeting on August 8, 2014. Presentations and program materials had been designed collaboratively and were presented by TEA and the TXCC staff. SREB’s Senior Vice President, Dr. Gene Bottoms, shared an overview of the ACI consortium’s activities. The Focus Group was comprised of chancellors from several higher education institutes, organizations such as the Texas Workforce Commission and Career and Technology Association of Texas, public school educators representing CTE interests, and industries like National Instruments. After sessions that included data gathered and summarized by the TXCC, the group determined that the career field that best represented the economic needs of Texas was oil and gas. The career field title may be edited and the career field content may be adapted to include other energy sources as well as an emphasis on information technology. Following the successful focus group meeting, collaborative planning was initiated between TEA staff member, Jessica Snyder, and the TXCC staff on the project timeline for 2014 – 2015 and the next set of meetings with a newly formed group, the Expert Panel. The Panel, over a series of meetings, will brainstorm authentic projects for the four CTE courses in the area of oil and gas, establish course standards, write course descriptions, and begin the development of skeletal project descriptions.
July
The TXCC has been collaborating with the TEA and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) in preparation for the first meeting of the Advanced Career Initiative, a focus group session scheduled for August 8. Texas will be joining nine other states that are creating multiple paths to college and careers that keep academic and upper-level job options open. The two purposes for the session are to 1) determine the career field for the initiative's courses, and 2) recommend focus areas within the career field. Staff from all three organizations, TEA, SREB, and TXCC, will be leading sessions at the meeting for the focus group members, who represent a diverse group of business and education organizations. Data from this session will identify the Texas career fields choice for this initiative, with project activities scheduled through 2017.
June
In June, the project was renamed the Advanced Career Initiative to maintain consistency with SREB’s new title for this work. TEA and TXCC continue to plan the focus group meeting that will result in the selection of a career field focus for the Advanced Career Initiative curriculum.
May
TEA program coordinator, Jessica Snyder, and TXCC project leads began planning the meeting of industry experts who will select a career field for the Texas Pathways to Tomorrow curriculum. The meeting is tentatively scheduled to occur in June. A draft agenda for the meeting was proposed and is being reviewed and revised. The selection of committee members is in progress.
April
In April, TEA worked to finalize its contract with the Southern Regional Education Board for work on the Texas Pathways to Tomorrow Project. TXCC and TEA staff met to discuss the next steps to identify state, industry, and postsecondary representatives who will convene to select a career field for the curriculum.
March
During March, the TXCC director and project leads met with TEA Associate Commissioner Monica Martinez and program coordinator, Jessica Synder to discuss next steps for the Texas Pathways to Tomorrow project. Upon approval of the project contract, a committee of stakeholders will be identified and convened to identify and select an industry to be the focus of the project curriculum.
February
TEA Associate Commissioner Monica Martinez identified Jessica Snyder in the TEA Curriculum Division to oversee the Texas Pathways to Tomorrow project. A meeting between TEA and TXCC project leads has been scheduled for March 17 to discuss the next steps of the project.
2013
October
TXCC leaders met with TEA Acting Associate Commissioner Monica Martinez to discuss next steps for the Texas Pathways to Tomorrow Project, including the agency's timeline and collaboration with the Southern Regional Education Board and TXCC. TXCC staff reviewed the timeline for the project and provided feedback to TEA addressing the feasibility of the timeline, especially during the upcoming year. In addition to this feedback, TXCC also offered considerations and recommendations on the timeline, as well as on a possible configuration of partner roles.
August
During the summer, TXCC staff provided copies of its report on high-need, high-skill, high-wage occupations in Texas to TEA’s chief deputy and leaders in the department of Standards and Programs. Follow-up with leadership in the curriculum division regarding the initiation of this project will occur in September.
February
A meeting was held with SREB’s Senior Vice President, Gene Bottoms; TEA’s curriculum leaders; and Educate Texas leaders to explore opportunities for Texas to become the twelfth state participating in SREB’s Preparation for Tomorrow consortium. Dr. Bottoms agreed to provide TEA with additional information. The TXCC agreed to research high-demand, high-skill, and high-wage occupations in Texas in preparation for selection of a career field focus for the project. Due to the current session of the Texas Legislature and the resulting demands on TEA, additional decisions on this project are postponed until June.
