Notice of Grant Opportunity

09-AG73-G06

CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP Grant:

ENHANCING TEACHING AND STUDENT LEADERSHIP

IN THE CAREER CLUSTER OF:

MARKETING, SALES & SERVICE

Lucille E. Davy

Commissioner of Education

Jay Doolan, Ed.D.

Assistant Commissioner

Division of Educational Standards and Programs

Marie Barry

Director

Office of Career and Technical Education

Division of Educational Standards and Programs

April 2009

Application Due Date: June 3, 2009

NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

P.O. Box 500

Trenton, NJ 08625-0500

http://www.state.nj.us/education

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i.  STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

JOSEPHINE E. HERNANDEZ ……………………………………. Union

President

ARCELIO APONTE ……….……………………………………… Middlesex

Vice President

RONALD K. BUTCHER ………………………………………….. Gloucester

Kathleen A. Dietz ……………………………………………. Somerset

EDITHE FULTON …………………………………………………. Ocean

ROBERT P. HANEY ……………………………………………… Monmouth

ERNEST P. LEPORE ……..………………………….……………. Hudson

FLORENCE McGINN …………………………………………….. Hunterdon

ILAN PLAWKER ………………………………………………….. Bergen

DOROTHY S. STRICKLAND …………………………….………. Essex

Lucille E. Davy, Commissioner

Secretary, State Board of Education

It is a policy of the New Jersey State Board of Education and the State Department of Education that no person, on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, age, sex, handicap or marital status, shall be subjected to discrimination in employment or be excluded from or denied benefits of any activity, program or service for which the department has responsibility. The department will comply with all state and federal laws and regulations concerning nondiscrimination.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

When responding to this Notice of Grant Opportunity (NGO), applicants must also access the "Discretionary Grant Application (DGA)" for additional information governing the grant program. See www.nj.gov/njded/grants/discretionary/apps/ or call the Application Control Center (ACC) at 609-633-6974.

SECTION 1: GRANT PROGRAM INFORMATION PAGE

1.1 Description of the Grant Program 4

1.1.1 Background 6

1.2 Eligibility to Apply 8

1.3 Federal Compliance Requirements (DUNS, CCR) 9

1.4 Statutory/Regulatory Source and Funding 9

1.5 Dissemination of This Notice 10

1.6 Technical Assistance 11

1.7 Application Submission 11

1.8 Reporting Requirements 12

1.9 Assessment of Statewide Program Results 13

SECTION 2: PROJECT GUIDELINES

2.1  Project Design Considerations 14

2.2  Project Requirements 15

2.2.1  Project Abstract 18

2.2.2  Statement of Need 18

2.2.3  Project Description 18

2.2.4  Goals and Outcomes 18

2.2.5  Project Activity Plan 21

2.2.6  Organizational Commitment and Capacity 21

2.3  Budget Design Considerations 21

2.4  Budget Requirements 23

SECTION 3: COMPLETING THE APPLICATION

3.1 General Instructions for Applying 24

3.2 Evaluation of Single Year and First-Year Applications 24

3.3 Application Component Checklist 26

APPENDICES: Appendix A: Resources Guide

Appendix B: Sample Annual Work Plan for CTSO Activities

Appendix C: New Jersey Career and Technical Student

Organizations Policies and Procedures Manual

Appendix D: CTSO Annual Equipment Inventory Form

SECTION 1: GRANT PROGRAM INFORMATION

1.1  DESCRIPTION OF THE GRANT PROGRAM

The Career and Technical Education Partnership (CTEP) grant program is a critical initiative to galvanize positive, productive links among public education, business, industry, labor and workforce development and institutions of higher education to create opportunities for enhancing quality secondary and postsecondary career and technical education (CTE) programs in New Jersey. In response to national and state initiatives, the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) has developed this grant program to create a systemic approach to engage these stakeholders in an ongoing process in order to address the following four priorities:

  1. identification and/or development of resources, tools, strategies and sample curriculum related to the identified career cluster(s) to assist secondary school districts statewide in developing quality CTE programs and programs of study that include challenging academic and technical content, aligned to the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards (NJCCCS) and industry standards in order to prepare students for successful entry into a career or postsecondary studies. The resources will include models for developing integrated academic and CTE courses. This will be accomplished in conjunction with the creation of a statewide Career Cluster Advisory Committee.
  1. creation of a statewide model (including curriculum) for at least one new CTE program of study within the career cluster(s) identified in this NGO with focus on high–skill, high-wage or high-demand occupations based on labor and workforce development information;
  1. delivery of high-quality professional development for secondary school districts with approved CTE programs and postsecondary CTE programs within the identified career cluster(s), for teachers, administrators, counselors and college faculty related to integrating academic and technical skills and aligning secondary and postsecondary CTE and academic curriculum; and
  1. administration and leadership for the identified Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) in order to ensure that the student organization’s co-curricular activities, competitive events and student leadership activities are aligned to NJCCCS and to industry standards.

Through this grant program, the Department of Education will address many of the state leadership requirements identified in the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins IV). The intent of Perkins IV is to develop more fully the academic and career and technical skills of secondary and postsecondary education students who elect to enroll in CTE programs.

States receiving Perkins funds are required to provide activities in order to:

·  develop, improve or expand the use of technology in career and technical education;

·  provide professional development on effective integration of academics and CTE;

·  meet the needs, expectations and methods of industry;

·  develop rigorous and challenging integrated curriculum aligned with academic standards; and

·  support partnerships among local education agencies, institutions of higher education, adult education providers, and, as appropriate, other entities, such as employers, labor organizations, intermediaries, parents, and local partnerships.

CTE Program of Study

Perkins IV requires all states receiving funding under the Act to develop CTE Programs of Study. A CTE Program of Study consists of a coherent sequence of academic and career and technical courses offering students the opportunity to earn an industry-recognized credential or certificate at the secondary or postsecondary level, or an associate or baccalaureate degree related to the focus of the program of study. CTE Programs of Study include the following specific features, according to Perkins IV and New Jersey’s Five Year State Plan for CTE:

·  Incorporate secondary education and postsecondary education elements;

·  Includes coherent and rigorous content, aligned with challenging academic standards, and relevant career and technical content in a coordinated, non-duplicative progression of courses that align secondary education with postsecondary education to adequately prepare students to succeed in postsecondary education;

·  Must include the opportunity for secondary education students to participate in dual or concurrent enrollment programs or other ways to acquire postsecondary education credits; and

·  Leads to an industry-recognized credential or certificate at the secondary or postsecondary level, or an associate or baccalaureate degree.

Student Leadership Development - Career and Technical Student Organizations

Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) are an integral part of career and technical education instructional programs. These organizations provide students with the opportunity to enhance their career, employability and leadership skills through a variety of activities, such as conferences, award programs and competitive events. Events and activities are conducted at the local, state and national levels. CTSO programs and competitive events reflect current standards and competencies for the education programs that they support. Teachers infuse the organization’s activities into the instructional programs, thereby enabling students to see and immerse themselves in the real world connections to their academic studies.

There are seven CTSOs recognized by the NJDOE as intra-curricular in nature and in practice. Each organization plays a significant role in providing opportunities for students to learn and practice leadership development, academic and technical skills and community involvement. The programs are also designed to provide professional development activities for teachers. The organizations serve to motivate students toward greater accomplishment and provide a system to reward excellence in student and teacher performance. The seven CTSOs are:

·  DECA-DEX for students studying marketing, management and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality and marketing sales and service (http://www.deca.org/);

·  Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) for family and consumer sciences students (http://www.fcclainc.org/);

·  FFA Organization for students preparing for careers in agriculture (http://www.ffa.org/);

·  Future Business Leaders of America – Phi Beta Lambda (FBLA-PBL) for students preparing for careers in business (http://www.fbla-pbl.org/);

·  Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) for allied health students (http://www.hosa.org/);

·  SkillsUSA for students preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations (http://www.skillsusa.org/index.shtml);

·  Technology Student Association (TSA) for students preparing for careers as engineers, scientists and technologists (http://www.tsaweb.org/).

The CTEP grant is a comprehensive statewide initiative to address implementation of all 16 career clusters and related CTSOs, through six distinct but related NGOs. This specific NGO will focus on the systemic statewide planning and implementation of activities related to the CTE programs in the following career cluster:

·  Marketing, Sales & Service

The related CTSO for this NGO is DECA-DEX.

1.1.1 BACKGROUND

Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006

CTE has undergone a transformation to meet the requirements of the reauthorized Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins Act) and the New Jersey Five-Year State Plan for Career and Technical Education (Five-Year Plan), which seek to broaden the concept of career and technical education beyond training students for specific occupations to include preparation for college and other postsecondary education and training opportunities, while at the same time maintaining a clear focus on educating students for high-wage, high-skill, or high-demand occupations and careers.

Career and Technical Education in the 21st Century

Career and Technical Education (CTE) provides students with rigorous academic and technical knowledge and skills required to prepare for postsecondary education or training and for careers in emerging and established professions. CTE includes competency-based applied learning that contributes to the academic knowledge, higher-order reasoning and problem solving skills, work attitudes, general employability skills, technical skills, and occupation-specific skills, and knowledge of all aspects of an industry, including entrepreneurship. CTE programs include a coherent sequence of courses with academic and technical content designed to prepare students to meet the demands of a changing workforce in this knowledge-based global economy

States’ Career Clusters Model

New Jersey has adopted the States’ Career Clusters model which represents groupings of occupations based on commonalities that link what students learn in school with the knowledge they will need for success in postsecondary education and training and in careers. As such, the NJDOE implements CTE programs of study consistent with this model, their associated pathways, and the corresponding 79 pathways, as developed by the States’ Career Clusters Initiative (www.careerclusters.org). The 16 Career Clusters are:

·  Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources

·  Architecture & Construction

·  Arts, A/V Technology & Communications

·  Business, Management & Administration

·  Education & Training

·  Finance

·  Government & Public Administration

·  Health Science

·  Hospitality & Tourism

·  Human Services

·  Information Technology

·  Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security

·  Manufacturing

·  Marketing, Sales & Service

·  Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM)

·  Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

Intent and Spirit of Career and Technical Education

Today, career and technical education demonstrates the capacity to actively engage students choosing to participate in CTE programs with learning that integrates rigorous academics with relevant, project-based learning drawn from the real world of work. Using the States’ Sixteen Career Clusters as an organizing tool for grouping occupations and careers, New Jersey has introduced Standard 9.4 in NJCCCS in order to identify a common set of knowledge and skills for success within each broad cluster and career pathway. This framework has been reviewed nationally by teams of business, industry, labor, education and higher education representatives to encompass industry-validated knowledge and skills that individuals should know and be able to do in order to succeed in their careers. The National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education Consortium established the States’ Career Cluster Initiative and convenes national advisory committees to keep this information current. As such, New Jersey is recommending these knowledge and skill statements as the foundation for creating local curricula and authentic performance assessments.

The proposed CTE standards reflect the best thinking of many national leaders regarding the potential of CTE. These national recommendations call for States to adopt policies and practices to more fully address the alignment and integration of academic content standards to elevate the role of CTE and more fully engage students in rigorous programs. This call to action is reflected in reports by the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), the National Governors Association (NGA), the US Chamber of Commerce, and Achieve, Inc.

Proposed New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards http://www.state.nj.us/education/aps/cccs/2009/ for career and technical education based upon the States’ 16 Career Cluster knowledge and skill statements will:

o  create the framework for developing secondary and postsecondary CTE programs and programs of study;

o  include model classroom activity documents that integrate technical skills and academic skills, including cross-curricular content;

o  and provide guidance to districts for secondary and postsecondary CTE program approval and re-approvals.

Implementation of activities outlined in this NGO utilizing the Career Cluster framework and CTE standards will result in the transformation of CTE programs statewide. As of the issuance of this NGO, there are more than 2000 approved secondary CTE programs in New Jersey.

These programs can be viewed on the NJDOE website at:

http://www.nj.gov/education/voc/pubvoc.htm

Postsecondary (collegiate) CTE programs are posted on the NJDOE’s Web site at:

http://www.nj.gov/education/voc/clusters/

1.2  ELIGIBILITY TO APPLY

The Career and Technical Education Partnership (CTEP) program is a limited competitive grant program open to public 2-year and 4-year institutions of higher education in the State of New Jersey. Prospective applicants may apply for one or more grant opportunities offered under the CTEP grant program. Separate applications are required for each grant opportunity. The grantee may sub-grant, at the applicant agency’s discretion, with a secondary school district or postsecondary partner in order to accomplish the grant goals.