It's Back!

After an all-too-long hiatus, the Center on Education and Training for Employment is happy to resume publication of the Centergram.

For those of you who do not have a long acquaintance with the Center, let us introduce ourselves. The Center was established at The Ohio State University in 1965 by the late Dr. Robert Taylor. Through the years, it has been known by various names: Center for Vocational and Technical Education, Center for Vocational Education, National Center for Research in Vocational Education. But whatever the name, our focus has remained the same: workforce preparation, professional development of educational leaders, evaluation, information synthesis and creation, and policy development. This has involved research and development of assessment and evaluation instruments and cutting-edge curriculum, as well as the dissemination of information, to name but a few services.

The Centergram will be published quarterly and distributed primarily electronically. It will feature news on current work; upcoming special events, such as workshops and seminars; publications; and information on staff expertise that you might want to tap into.

We hope this issue is of interest to you. If you have received this issue of the Centergram by way of the U.S. mail and wish to continue receiving it, please send us your e-mail address. If any of your colleagues would be interested, they are welcome to send us their e-mail addresses also. E-mail addresses and comments or questions can be sent to Judy Cohen at cohen.5@osu.edu or Steve Chambers at chambers.2@osu.edu.

LearningWork Connection: Serving Those Who Serve Youth

Because every youth deserves a life of unlimited possibilities…

With that vision in mind, the LearningWork Connection (LWC), located at the Center on Education and Training for Employment, links people with the knowledge they need to build an effective youth development system. Offering a variety of programs and services, LWC provides information and professional development to Workforce Investment Act (WIA) youth councils and other organizations that serve youth. Sharing the vision for youth, these clients seek to create communities where young people are valued and are given opportunities to make positive, significant contributions.

LWC's work is based on four principles:

• It is within communities that young people's lives are transformed.
• Young people are resources for communities now, not problems.
• Every community has unique needs and assets.
• Youth must have active and meaningful roles in their communities.

The strong focus on youth development is evident in the four broad categories of LWC services:

1. Providing online and print resources

On LWC's website (http://www.ohiolearningwork.org/) are a variety of full-text publications, including youth development system-building tools, articles of interest to youth development professionals, and reviews of other useful resources. Recent topics include afterschool programs and strategies for serving out-of-school youth. Many of these publications are available in HTML, PDF, and paper formats.

The website also offers—

•Ohio Success Stories that celebrate the achievements and progress (great or small) of youth in programs across Ohio.

•Resources for Ohio Youth, a searchable database being developed to provide information on training programs and resources for youth and youth workers in Ohio. The first phase consists of occupational skills training programs and resources that lead to industry-accepted certification, primarily in information technology (IT).

•Signup information for LWC's listserv, to receive the newsletter and announcements

2. Delivering professional development for system building

Recent workshops sponsored by LWC include a series on What Works for youth programs, with topics based on the needs of youth-serving organizations; resource mapping, and working with youth with disabilities. A new publication series, Focused Futures, provides youth development system building information and tools.

3. Convening gatherings of practitioners to share effective practices

Regional Learning Exchanges are designed to allow WIA youth councils, youth service vendors, and other youth-serving organizations an opportunity to share information and promising practices with other youth practitioners in their areas. The exchanges also feature current information about WIA reauthorization as it affects youth programming.

4. Sponsoring innovative projects that pilot new ways of engaging youth in their communities

The All-Ohio Youth Leadership Summit held in February was attended by more than 300 youth and their chaperones from high schools, youth employment programs, and community agencies from all over the state. After panel discussions and workshops on youth leadership, citizenship, and community service, young participants completed commitment cards on which they wrote concrete actions they intend to take in their communities. LWC staff will mail these cards back to the youth in 4-6 months as a reminder of this day and their commitment. This highly successful event also generated a host of young volunteers to help plan next year's Summit.

Resource Mapping is a process through which communities identify their assets and resources, including people's knowledge, skills and personal and professional relationships, that can contribute to community building. LWC is piloting resource mapping projects across Ohio, providing financial support and technical assistance to Ohio communities in using Community YouthMapping™, which gives young people the opportunity to take the lead role in promoting positive youth development within their community.

LWC was recently awarded continued funding for 2004-2005. In addition to continuing development of publications, web resources, resource mapping projects, and the third youth leadership summit, activities for the coming year include planning and delivering the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services state conference on youth, providing on-demand training in local areas, and developing a listing of appropriate assessments for youth in WIA programs.

Co-directed by Darcie Slanker-Milazzo and Diana Jackson, LWC is a continuation of the School-to-Work/Workforce Development Clearinghouse, created in 1996 as part of the State University Education Deans of Ohio (SUED) Systems Integration Coalition. LWC is currently funded by a grant from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Academy for Excellence in Teaching

The Academy for Excellence in Teaching (AET) offers unique opportunities for school administrators, teachers, and organizations to solve educational problems though building communities of practice. AET provides customized training and other professional development interventions to improve the performance of educators who support Ohio's career-technical education and workforce development systems. The focus is on creating professional development offerings customized to district needs. Offerings include noncredit, workshop, credit courses, and other services such as evaluation and assessment to enhance the productivity of a skilled workforce in Ohio. This effort at CETE is led by co-directors Deborah Bingham Catri and Maria Hruby Moore.

The Ohio State University's College of Education ranking in vocational-technical education, the National Dissemination Center for Career and Technical Education, and the Center on Education and Training for Employment have outstanding resources, leadership in career-technical education, and access to research and knowledgeable personnel to produce top quality educational services and programming. School districts often collaborate to bring AET programs locally to their teachers. In Fall 2002 AET introduced PRAXIS II: Principles of Learning and Teaching (7-12) test preparation to support career-technical teachers in gaining licensure to teach in Ohio. AET has served over 150 teachers from 25 different school districts at the end of the June 2004 school year from this program alone. Support for PRAXIS III-Mentoring for Entry Year CT teachers, course of study, learning styles, career development, etc. have been provided.

AET's website, http://www.academy-excellenceinteaching.org provides a general list of services and offerings that can then be customized. AET works primarily though CETE's Publications Office for noncredit offerings and the College of Education's Office of Outreach and Engagement with OSU credit requests. School districts will identify a problem or "need" and a proposal will outline the various solutions with related costs. The goal of the AET is to provide high-quality education and a "win-win" human resource strategy of retention of their career-technical teachers while helping teachers to obtain the professional development opportunities they require and desire.

New Publications from CETE

Four new papers from the Center on Education and Training for Employment provide fresh perspectives on research in career and technical education, adult education, and distance learning.

Equity Issues in Career and Technical Education

Compared to 2 or 3 decades ago, students in career and technical education (CTE) programs increasingly represent gender, racial, and cultural diversity. Students with disabilities from a wide range of backgrounds are entering the work force and respective CTE programs. This paper, edited by Michael L. Scott, takes a critical look at equity issues in career and technical education, with a focus on issues related to individuals with disabilities, gender, race and ethnicity, and individuals for whom English is a second language. Leslie Annexstein gives an overview of why CTE programs are important for women and girls. Eileen Ordover provides a legal framework for developing high-quality, just, and equitable CTE systems for individuals with disabilities. Levon Esters and Blannie Bowen offer a thoughtful discussion of equity issues involving race and ethnicity. Equity issues facing immigrants or those for whom English is a second language in career and technical education are addressed by Edward Reeve. This paper is among the last publications by Mike Scott, whose untimely death in April 2004 saddened colleagues in technology education at the Ohio State University and beyond.

Equity Issues in Career and Technical Education by Leslie T. Annexstein, Eileen L. Ordover, Levon T. Esters, Blannie E. Bowen, and Edward M. Reeve, edited by Michael L. Scott (order no. IN 390, 54 pages, $8.50)

Opportunities and Limits: An Update on Adult Literacy Education

The context for adult basic education has changed dramatically in recent years with the passage of the 1991 National Literacy Act, the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, and the 1998 Workforce Investment Act. Taking a fresh look at the field since the 1992 publication of Hanna Fingeret's Adult Literacy Education: Current and Future Directions. An Update, this paper analyzes the major milestones in research and practice that have occurred since then. Alisa Belzer of Rutgers University and Ralf St. Clair, a literacy researcher and consultant based in Vancouver, British Columbia, explore major aspects of the infrastructure that support the field—research and practice related to policy, assessment and accountability, and professional development. They depict the state of teaching and learning in adult literacy and conclude with thoughts on the ways in which the milestones challenge the field of adult literacy to keep growing, developing, and asking complex and difficult questions.

Opportunities and Limits: An Update on Adult Literacy Education by Alisa Belzer and Ralf St. Clair (order no. IN 391, 60 pages, $9.00)

Adult Learning Theory: A Primer

This primer for practitioners in adult education describes the origins, tenets, and criticisms of the foundational theories of adult learning while challenging some of the assumptions made in Western perspectives on these theories. Lisa M. Baumgartner, Northern Illinois University, provides an overview of the theory of andragogy and Ming-Yeh Lee of San Francisco State University, critiques the assumptions of andragogy through the eyes of foreign-born adult learners. Next, Baumgartner presents several perspectives on transformative learning theory and introduces models of self-directed learning. Susan Birden (SUNY-Buffalo State College) examines critical and postmodern theory and their impact on adult learning. Doris Flowers (San Francisco State University) takes an Afrocentric view of adult learning theory, examining race and its intersection with class and gender as it applies to learning theory and African Americans' learning processes.

Adult Learning Theory: A Primer by Lisa M. Baumgartner, Ming-Yeh Lee, Susan Birden, and Doris Flowers (order no. IN 392, 62 pages, $9.00)

From Chautauqua to the Virtual University:
A Century of Distance Education in the United States

Although some people think distance education began with the invention of the computer, the origins of some of the most important ideas and the methods we use in distance education today are found in experiments and innovations that have occurred throughout the past century. A century of experience of teaching at a distance using earlier technologies can help educators take advantage of new technology. Michael Grahame Moore (Penn State University), founder of the American Journal of Distance Education, tries to adjust the widely lopsided view of the history of distance education in the United States in this paper. He recounts early practice and scholarship in distance education. Then he explores the question of whether today's "new era" in distance education—the era of e-learning, distributed learning, blended learning, and open learning—is really so different from what came before. The paper ends with three short essays in which invited scholars from the University of Missouri, Athabasca University, and the University of Oregon build on the foundation provided in the earlier sections with insights derived from their own studies of this history. Von Pittman suggests the usefulness of this history for university distance education. Terry Anderson urges the critical examination of practice. Cheris Kramarae advocates the resolution of equity issues in distance education.

From Chautauqua to the Virtual University: A Century of Distance Education in the United States by Michael Grahame Moore; reaction papers by Von Pittman, Terry Anderson, and Cheris Kramarae (order no. IN 393, 70 pages, $10.00)

TO ORDER: Prices do not include shipping and handling. Shipping costs are figured at 10% of total order. Priority shipments charged at actual costs plus $10 handling. Call for quantity discount information (614/292-4277). Send orders to Publications, Center on Education and Training for Employment, 1900 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1090.

Events

September 13-17 or October 25-29, 2004: DACUM Training Institute. Developing A Curriculum: an occupational analysis performed by expert workers in the occupation, resulting in an occupational skill profile that can be used for instructional program planning, curriculum development, training materials development, and other purposes. Location: CETE, Columbus, OH. Registration fee $1,195.

October 11-15, 2004: SCID Workshop (Systematic Curriculum and Instructional Development). Improve the quality of your instructional programs with this process of curriculum analysis and design. Location: CETE, Columbus, OH. Registration fee $995.

Contact Dr. Robert E. Norton, Workshop Director, 800/848-4815 or 614/292-4353 ext. 2-8481 or 2-9934; fax 614/292-1260; e-mail: norton.1@osu.edu; or Debbie Weaver, weaver.22@osu.edu. See http://www.dacum.com/ohio/ for details and a registration form.

Professional Development Speaker Series, multimedia webcasts presented by the National Dissemination Center for Career and Technical Education. All of the following begin at 3pm EST. See http://www.nccte.org/webcasts/index.asp for information on how to view live or archived webcasts.

August 5, 2004: What Makes a Community College Responsive to Its Labor Market? Robert Harmon, Westat, and Keith MacAllum, Academy for Educational Development

August 11, 2004: The State Scholars Initiative and Integration with CTE, Drew Scheberle, National Center for State Scholars

August 19, 2004: How States Are Building CTE Student Success, Jim Kadamus, New York Department of Education, and Katherine Oliver, Maryland Department of Education

August 26, 2004: Strategies for Integrating Technical, Employability, and Academic Skills in Career-Technical Education, panel discussion

September 2, 2004: Role of Community Colleges in Preparing CTE Teachers, Cheri St. Arnauld, National Center for Teacher Education

September 9, 2004: Using Advanced Placement in Career Pathways, Jim Chancey, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools

September 15, 2004: Importance of Three Different Skill Sets, Jim Jacobs, Macomb Community College, and Michael Rush, State of Idaho

CETE Contacts

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