Today’s “Tech Thursday” post has us look up close at the big name Common Core aligned publishers and their venture into the educational realm beyond high school.
Post Secondary Textbook Publishers:
Cengage Learning, supports Career and Technical students. They also participate in the SkillsUSA competitions (secondary and post secondary schools: public, proprietary, or private). Aside from Cengage name itself, other Cengage subsidiaries are ‘Chilton’, ‘Delmar’ covering the automotive field via the Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics Cluster. If you’re not familar with “Delmar” if you have an ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) mechanic or are one, “Delmar” is the test prep provider. ‘Delmar’ is in the Architecture/Construction Cluster as well. ‘Milady’ is Cengage’s contribution to the cosmetology trade (in the Human Services Cluster) According to their “Cengage Learning” website, their publishing subsidiaries include: “Cengage Learning’s brands include Brooks/Cole, Course Technology, Delmar, Gale, Heinle, South-Western and Wadsworth.” If you’d like to see Cengage’s higher education economics course (called “Mind Tap”): http://assets.cengage.com/pdf/wp_mindtap_econ.pdf
Click to enlarge to see which companies Cengage considers competition
If you’d like to see more about Cengage’s Higher Education page: http://www.cengage.com/search/showresults.do?N=16 If you’d like to search their “Common Core Support” results, http://www.cengage.com/search/showresults.do?N=16&Ntk=APG&Ntt=common%20core%20support&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial
Pearson Publishing’s Higher Ed:
http://home.pearsonhighered.com/, so much information is here, you may be a bit overwhelmed, at first. However, pick a spot that interests you and jump in. For example, since you’ve been following my blog, you’ve been able to see how the Workforce is tied to Common Core in a post secondary way. So, I chose “Workforce” from the selections offered at the bottom of the page (look for the dark gray portion). Here’s what I got in return. A bit of information and a short video. Check both out: http://pearsonworkforceeducation.com/agency/learn.php If you’d like a sample chapter of how Pearson ‘sell’s the Career Tracking throughout a student’s education, http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/product/Career-Trek-The-Journey-Begins/9780131193048.page
Back in 2013, here’s one of the things Pearson was up to, “Released in 2013 and in response to a growing demand for career education, Connections Education’s more than 20 Career and Technology Education courses allow students to explore a variety of careers and gain career-specific knowledge in fields such as sociology, criminal justice, law, astronomy, finance and more. Linking school-based learning with workplace knowledge and skills, the courses include engaging multi-media content, personalized study guides, interactive exercises, and more. The courses are organized in 16 different “Career Clusters®” developed by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) and span STEM, Law, Public Safety, and Corrections & Security. The courses are offered as electives to high school students enrolled in Connections Academy virtual schools; school districts and other organizations may purchase the courses from Connections Learning by Pearson.” To access Pearson’s on-line CTE “Connections Academy” page, http://www.connectionsacademy.com/curriculum/career-technical-education.aspx You might want to know that Connections is not like you think it may be. What do I mean? Read this, “Connections Academy is a leading, fully accredited provider of high-quality, highly accountable virtual schooling for students in grades K–12. Through tuition-free public schools, full-time and part-time private school programs, and turnkey online courses for brick and mortar schools.”
One last thing, Pearson Publishing has a plethora of subsidiaries. DK Books, Penguin, the Financial Times, and many others. So each of this are more than likely aligned in CCSS content as well.
MacGraw-Hill’s Higher Education:
From their report about Career Core Technical Education (CCTE) that is tied to Common Core via the Career Clusters,
- “A new industry sector approach to job training called “Career Pathways” that has been tried and proven successful at increasing employment in several cities and states;
- A multi-state consortium that has established common standards for a Career
Readiness Certificate that employers count on to validate work and job-training
readiness; and - A new approach from McGraw-Hill Education — Contemporary Workforce
Connects™ — that coordinates and connects for the very first time all facets of
the search for work with the resources and curriculum necessary to acquire basic
skills, contextualized to specific occupations, which applicants need for
workplace success.” See the rest of the report, http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/user-media/New-approaches-to-building-careers-white-paper.pdf
From McGraw-Hill’s “Common Core” page, ‘As a trusted partner in adult education, Contemporary/McGraw-Hill Education is committed to providing adult educators and students with the instructional materials, resources, and professional development tools needed to raise the bar for College and Career Readiness and meet the requirements of groundbreaking reforms such as the Common Core State Standards and new and emerging exams being used to assess high school equivalency and College & Career Readiness.‘ Access the rest, http://www.commoncoresolutions.com/adult_education.php
A glimpse at how McGraw-Hill has promoted their ‘new’ ways:
On a related Career Tech topic:
One of the main groups responsible for promoting and helping organize Career Tech Ed that’s been aligned to CCSS is hosting a National Policy Seminar in March 2015. “Skills for the Hill”. Prices are hefty, but you’ll get the absolute latest in all that is going on in post secondary, secondary, and related CTE news. March 2-4, 2015 in Washington, D.C. Here are just a few of the reasons why those fighting CCSS at the adult level should be there
‘Cultivate your advocacy skills and make a direct impact on Capitol Hill at the National Policy Seminar 2015!
- Join more than 400 education professionals from across the country to show policymakers that CTE programs provide the skills students need
- Hear the latest updates on legislative and regulatory issues impacting CTE
- Influence CTE-related policy initiatives, legislation and funding
- Educate your congressional leaders about local CTE programming needs
If you’d like to learn more about attending OR make reservations to be a voice of truth among all the lies:
https://www.acteonline.org/nps/#.VId4FTHF-hR
I know Chilton does other stuff besides auto. I co-wrote a book about Comic Book Artists for the company I worked for, and Chilton was the publisher of the book. But Delmar has me intrigued given that I live in Delaware and there is so much called Delmar around here given our close proximity to Maryland. I’ll have to check them out…
I’m glad if the article was able to help you. Please keep me posted as to what happens next. It would be very telling for those of us fighting CCSS if you could find it in the comic book world. Thanks for your message!
Gosh, I think Common Core is just GREAT. Imagine… a set of English standards and the lead writer (David Coleman) has no degree in English, no degree in Education, and has never been a teacher. Prior to this, he never even had anything to do with writing standards ! What could POSSIBLY go wrong ?!?