Educators shared best practices and honed their skills to improve services provided to students in New Hampshire.
PLYMOUTH, NH – More than 130 educators that serve nearly 10,000 career and technical education (CTE) students in New Hampshire attended a professional development and networking conference in mid-August. The New Hampshire Department of Education co-sponsored the summer conference, the second of its kind in the state, which was expanded in 2018 from two to three days. The conference, according to organizers, supported the state’s demand for increased student participation in CTE programming and provided educators and administrators the opportunity to collaborate with their peers.
Speakers included Frank Edelblut, the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Education, state Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, and Dr. Kathleen C. McCabe, who helped facilitate work developing professional communities of practice around the state.
In New Hampshire, there are 26 CTE centers and satellite programs. Students attending CTE classes and programs gain technical skills in a variety of high wage, high demand career pathways that support the state’s labor markets. The Granite State currently has record-low unemployment as well as solid economic growth. Combined with the retirement of baby boomers, many good jobs are not being filled. The CTE community supports young people interested in these career pathways.
The NH-CTE Summer Conference provided a forum in which educators could come together with industry leaders, post-secondary partners, and other experts in the field of education to share best practices and hone their skills to focus on continual improvement of the services provided to students.
Industry partners at the conference included NH’s Sector Partnership Initiatives, the NH Lodging and Restaurant Association, Associated Builders and Contractors NH/VT, Methuen Construction, Silvertech, Graphicast, and TurboCam.
Attendees also toured the Plymouth Regional Applied Technology Center renovation project and gathered ideas for their own future renovation projects.
Conference attendees noted that the event was very organized and it helped educators connect and share resources.
Conference resources are available in this NH-CTE Summer Conference 2018 Google doc.
For more information about the conference, contact Courtney Ritchings at Courtney.Ritchings@doe.nh.gov or 603-271-3809.