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President's Message
Hello Everyone!
We sincerely hope that your summer is going well and that you’ve taken some time to recharge your batteries. I was fortunate enough to spend some time in Central America and happened to be there when the U.S was competing against Ghana in the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament. I watched the game in a local restaurant and was surprised that 90% of the folks watching with me (I was the only American) were cheering for the U.S. I struck up a conversation with a fellow spectator and asked why there was so much support for the U.S. team. He explained that the U.S. team never gave up and had been continuously trying to improve their game throughout the tournament. He also mentioned that we play fair. His comment about trying to improve parallels our attitude at NOCTI. We too are committed to continuous improvement and we hope you can see that reflected in our service and commitment to the field of Career and Technical Education.
This quarter began with our board meeting which was held at ACTE headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. We wanted to hear first-hand about policy initiatives in our field and we were fortunate enough to have a number of discussions with Kim Green from the National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education, Jan Bray from ACTE, Dr. Brenda Dann-Messier, assistant secretary for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), and Sharon Miller, director, Division of Academic and Technical Education, OVAE. For more details about the discussions with Dr. Dann-Messier and Kim Green, see the Board Chair message by Dr. Jo Kister in this newsletter. We also had a special visit by Dr. Carl Schaefer, the last surviving founding board member of NOCTI, who turned 90 in April. You can see some highlights of our board meeting at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AABlOgbu4A.
In June, we had some internal excitement – NOCTI broke its annual test sales record again AND we were able to break it about six weeks earlier than last year! Due to increases in staff, we have again added new office space. We take this as a sign that our clients are pleased with the work we are doing and that we are providing a valuable service.
In the last few months, staff members have attended conferences/meetings in Minnesota, Florida, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania to name a few, and we are moving forward with a number of different arrangements with a variety of partners. We recently signed an agreement with the Worldwide Interactive Network (WIN) and are working with the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) and the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) to deliver even more certification assessments. We have worked with the state of Ohio and the City of Chicago to submit Investing in Innovation Fund (I3) grants. For more information on I3, go to the US Department of Education website: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/index.html.
On the international front, we have been working with CTECs (formerly VTECs) on a potential project with Azerbaijan, and with both CTECs and Kuder on a possible project in Mongolia. In addition, we have been asked to speak at an international conference (TVET) with our friends at Ohio State.
Our study with the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education on the power of data-driven, end-of-program technical assessment and professional development continues. In fact, our research has evolved into a proven model for CTE professional development and it will be offered nationwide as a technical assistance program from the NRCCTE.
NOCTI’s new Instructional Improvement Initiative Assessment Offer was developed for states and large educational systems. We are offering a pathway assessment partnership that substantially reduces the cost of end-of-program testing. The program offers assessments in each pathway area, provides supplemental study guide information, is offered online only, and requires the client to dedicate a staff member to collaborate directly with NOCTI. Contact Amie Birdsall (amie.birdsall@nocti.org) if you would like more information.
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John Foster
President/CEO
NOCTI and The Whitener Group
Measuring What Matters |
Thank you for trusting in NOCTI to deliver quality assessments, certifications and test data to help you improve your programs! We look forward to continued service to the CTE community and are anxious to show you how we can help even more this coming school year! On behalf of the entire NOCTI staff, I hope you have a terrific start to the 2010-2011 school year! |
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