Introduction

ince the release of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 (Perkins IV), Illinois’ eligible Perkins agency, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), and their partner at the postsecondary level, the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB), have been engaged in multiple activities to prepare for implementation of Perkins IV. Reflecting the Perkins IV requirement for increased coordination between secondary and postsecondary entities, ISBE and ICCB have approached planning and implementation as a collaborative effort, convening staff to discuss opportunities and identify effective practices. This article provides an overview of the various efforts that state agency staff and their partner, the Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) have engaged in to plan for successful implementation of Perkins IV.

State Coordination

In anticipation of changes inherent in Perkins IV, ISBE and ICCB commissioned OCCRL to facilitate the planning process and provide research and technical support. Beginning about one year ago, in spring 2007, in an effort to stimulate local participation and receive input from Perkins recipients, ISBE, ICCB, and OCCRL partnered to engage the field in five regional meetings that drew over 150 secondary and postsecondary participants from across the state. The regional meetings provided a forum for guided discussion related to five key areas: programs of study, instructional support, stakeholder collaboration, technical assistance, and assessment of technical skills attainment. In fall 2007, Debra Bragg, director of OCCRL, summarized feedback from the regional meetings and presented it to state staff and posted it on the OCCRL website. A copy of the summary is available at: http://occrl.ed.uiuc.edu/Projects/perkins/files/Meeting1/3-Perkins_IV_Executive_Summary.pdf

In addition to the regional meetings, ICCB, ISBE and OCCRL invited a representative group of secondary and postsecondary practitioners to serve as an initial advisory group for the programs of study (POS) element of Perkins. The advisory committee was charged with reviewing initial ideas for implementation of POS and contributing local perspectives to the state’s federal Perkins IV implementation plan. Meeting twice in fall of 2007 (September and December), the advisory committee provided valuable feedback and recommendations to the state agencies.

In addition to the work of the advisory committee, ISBE and ICCB staff along with OCCRL staff have met on a regular basis to draft implementation strategies; share information gathered from other states; and draft and revise models, components, and terminology related to POS. This work is ongoing and will continue through the first several years of implementation of POS to ensure a successful roll-out of the new legislation at the state and local levels and to monitor progress and make needed adjustments.

Planning and Implementation

Since the fall of 2007, the state has made a number of vital decisions pertaining to the Perkins IV legislation and the implementation of POS including, but not limited to, the Perkins Title I and Title II, the career cluster model,¹ and the identification of Partnerships for College and Career Success. These three vital areas are instrumental to the future of ensuring quality education extending from the secondary to the postsecondary level throughout the state.

Perkins Title I & II: In the new Perkins IV legislation, states have the option to merge Tech Prep (Title II) funds with the Basic Grant (Title I) or keep funding streams separate.² Currently, nearly half of the states have indicated an intention to merge Titles I and II, and half have declined to do so (Meeder, 2008). Similar to Illinois, a few states are exploring options to maintain Tech Prep while considering possibilities for increased collaboration between secondary and postsecondary entities to support the further development of POS. On January 29, 2008, ISBE and ICCB released a joint statement with a decision to continue Title II funding through Fiscal Year 2009 in an effort to encourage collaborative work between the secondary and postsecondary levels and support the implementation of POS. Local leaders responsible for planning and conducting Tech Prep will rename consortia “Partnerships for College and Career Success,” with Title II funding being directed toward the development, implementation, and assessment of POS and career pathways.

Career Clusters: Larry Warford, Project Director, College and Career Transition Initiative (CCTI), was the keynote speaker at the Fall 2007 Forum for Excellence and met with the Perkins IV POS Advisory Committee to explain the advantages of using the federally recognized, 16 career cluster model as an organizing tool for implementation of the state’s POS initiative. Subsequent information has been provided to the advisory committee and state staff by OCCRL. According to the States Career Clusters website at http://www.careerclusters.org/definitions.php, Career clusters are “groupings of occupations/career specialties used as an organizing tool for curriculum design and instruction” (for more information, see States’ Career Clusters, 2008). Within the 16 career clusters, occupations and career specialties are grouped into 81 career pathways that each share a common set of knowledge and skills. At a meeting in late March, both ISBE and ICCB agreed the state would adopt the 16 Career Cluster model and provide a cross-walk of the secondary career-technical education (CTE) areas administered by ISBE.

Partnership for College and Career Success (PCCS): To reflect emphases in Perkins IV that call for a coordinated effort and smooth transition for students among education levels, Partnerships for College and Career Success will engage in a number of self-reflective planning activities over the next several months. Among these activities is an assessment of CTE curriculum to identify career pathways and assess current level of implementation. Existing POS curriculum will be aligned and/or curriculum will be developed to include cluster level knowledge and skills as well as pathway level knowledge and skills. In early April 2008, the ICCB released the FY2009 grant guidelines charging Partnerships with addressing college and career success by providing students with a coordinated effort to achieve academic and technical competencies and foster smooth transitions from secondary to postsecondary education. As a part of this initiative, the state is planning to employ Pathway Development Teams (PDTs) to develop state-level career pathway models that will be disseminated to the field. Fundamentally, these career pathway models will be tasked with reducing remediation, increasing curriculum alignment, supporting dual credit, and improving student success, e.g., retention and educational credentialing as well as placement in related employment. These critical components are foundational to POS development required by the Perkins IV legislation.

In April 2008, the ICCB staff conducted three regional meetings to explain the new Partnerships for College and Career Success (PCCS) grant guidelines. Materials and professional development activities to support the new Perkins implementation strategies are being planned to aid local efforts to achieve rigorous and relevant educational programming that Illinois students deserve.

¹ More information on the federally recognized career clusters is located at http://www.careerclusters.org

² The full Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Act of 2006 is located at http://www.ed.gov/policy/sectech/leg/perkins/index.html

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Jason Taylor is a graduate research assistant for OCCRL at UIUC and a member of the OCCRL team working with the state agencies. He can be reached at taylor26@uiuc.edu

Debra Bragg is professor of higher education and director of OCCRL. She can be reached at dbragg@uiuc.edu dbragg@uiuc.edu..

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References

Meeder, H. (2008). The Perkins Act of 2006: Connecting career and technical education with the college and career readiness agenda. Achieve, Inc.

States’ Career Clusters. (2008). National sample definitions. Retrieved March 13, 2008 from http://www.careerclusters.org/definitions.php