Tech Thursday: CAPS via Career Pathways is Still CCSS!

Back on March 1, 2015 I shared with you a bit about how the educational deck of cards (so to speak) is continually being stacked in favor of Common Core or any of its other arms: Career Tech Ed, Career Pathways, College, Career Readiness, etc. So, today’s article is a follow up to more of the same stacking via Education Week publication.

First, an excerpt:

Being such a research ‘nut’, I have all kinds of ‘pro CCSS’ stuff AND ‘anti CCSS’ stuff hit my inboxes or social media feeds. One such is “Ed Week”. I knew it was supportive of the Core, but I just didn’t know HOW much. Here’s my ‘confession’ as it appeared in the original article. If you don’t read this original one before you read today’s article, be sure to have it ready to access as a reference point of importance. (see: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2015/03/01/rmt-why-is-the-deck-still-being-stacked-to-serve-ccss/)

“When I first subscribed to this online newsletter, I had no idea it was funded by so many of the same big name foundations supportive of CCSS. Thus, making almost everything reported vented toward CCSS. When I did discover this fact, I was able to discern the lies from the truth much more easily.”

I can happily say that since the discovery of those pro CCSS groups using Education Week as a front, I know right away any webinar, conference, or other resource I’m invited to participate in or use, will ALL be to help further the CCSS Machine.

The Conference I Passed Up:

For as long as Education Week has held an annual “Leaders to Learn From” Conference, Washington, D. C. has played host city. The group of “Leaders” are reader nominated for their best practices, proven models of what works in today’s classrooms. Here’s how it was promoted in an email, “Leaders To Learn From 2015 is your one chance to join more than 150 of the most influential education leaders from across America to gather in one room and celebrate outstanding leaders in K-12 education: the practical innovators who have found frontline, effective solutions to the challenges facing today’s districts.” This conference happens each March. As you already know, I passed up attending. Why? My registration fee of almost $2,000.00 would help fund the CCSS Machine. In case you’re interested in discovering who the Keynote speakers were or any of the other details from March 2015’s event: http://leaders.edweek.org/event-details/

Among the 2015 Most Influential Education Week Leaders:

Here’s a short video to watch which was to celebrate those 2015 leaders. Listen for the educratic buzzwords we know mean CCSS/CCR/CTE.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igMYlsyoDhc&w=560&h=315]

For the rest of the article, I’m focusing on the leader of AND the program called CAPS.

Dr. Tom Triggs and his Center for Advanced Professional Studies. You’ll find Dr. Trigggs in Kansas. You’ll find many folks who reside in Kansas (as well as in other states) really like this program. I’ll admit, it is impressive, however, it’s still Career Pathways, Career Tech Ed and most definitely Common Core aligned!

Here are Dr. Trigg’s 3 most important “Leadership Lessons”:

• Real-World Relevance: Many comprehensive high schools understand the new three R’s—including the need for rigor and the importance of relationships. The third “R,” relevance, is the most difficult to implement. Involve business and industry partners to provide relevance.
• Expertise, Not Money: Instead of approaching partners to ask for money, ask them to share their expertise and human capital. The business community is eagerly waiting for school districts to approach them.
• High Expectations: Don’t underestimate your students. You can expect them to consistently exceed the expectations of the district’s business partners.

Education Weekly happily shared with readers that Dr Trigg has been named a Kansas Superintendent of the Year; that CAPS has been honored with not only awards, but other states replicating his program. WHAT Education Week didn’t share was Dr. Trigg serves on his local Chamber of Commerce Superintendents’ Forum and other community leadership roles. He’s a sought after member of the WSBC (Western States Benchmarking Consortium); the AASA (American Association of School Administators); under his ‘watch’ all those high stakes assessment scores have appeared impressive; Kansas state legislators take his words to heart. (see his entire bio: http://www.aasa.org/uploadedFiles/Programs_and_Events/Awards_and_Scholarships/SOY2011/Tom-Trigg-info-sheet.pdf )

As far as how AASA is CCSS friendly: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2015/02/13/fom-friday-ccss-cant-be-wrong/ (I featured AASA as one of the big supporters of all things CCSS)

As far as how WSBC is CCSS friendly (click to enlarge the screen shot):

Here’s Education Week’s featured video of Dr. Trigg and CAPS:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHlURDMpgtA&w=560&h=315]

The CAPS:

The comprehensive high school offers students 6 strands (hey, wait isn’t CCSS plan ‘clusters’ or ‘pathways’?) From the FAQ page, here’s their description, “Blue Valley Schools’ Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) is a nationally recognized, innovative high school program. Students fast forward into their future and are fully immersed in a professional culture, solving real world problems, using industry standard tools and are mentored by actual employers, all while receiving high school and college credit. CAPS is an example of how business, community and public education can partner to produce personalized learning experiences that educate the workforce of tomorrow, especially in high skill, high demand jobs.”

As for those Common Core aligned Career Clusters? Yes, they are embedded in CAPS ‘strands’. See page 7 of the 2016 CAPS Vision document. caps_visioning_for_web_site Other things you’ll find in the Vision include how MIT (a known CTE/CCR/CCSS developer) helped ensure the school’s benchmarking component; how this particular CAPS is to become the flagship for a global network of such programs.

The Business partners of CAPS are many in number. If you’re interested in seeing just which local and national businesses have joined in on the alignment, http://www.bvcaps.org/s/1403/index.aspx?sid=1403&gid=1&pgid=322 *Note, you’ll have to access each business per CAPS strand. For example, if you want the Human Service Strand’s group of supporting businesses, you’d click on the live link marked “Human Services Strand”. In doing so myself, I was able to spy at least 3 national CCSS businesses which have chosen to align with CCSS. One example, Lego Education.

Lastly, If You Aren’t Familiar with Career Tech Education or Career Pathways:

Here are the links to my other articles on each:
https://www.commoncorediva.com/page/2/?s=career+pathways+career+clusters (contains 2 pages of research)

From Prevent Common Core’s website, my published research:
http://preventcommoncore.com/?p=1187

About the Career Pathways National Network:
https://www.commoncorediva.com/2015/01/08/tech-thursday-national-career-pathways-network/