Implementing High-quality CTSOs to Increase Student Achievement

Course Facilitator Contact Information

Mary Rodman, maryerodman@gmail.com,  412.554.1753.  Texting is the best option.  Please feel free to contact me with any issues throughout the course. I am available to help you complete the requirements of the course as best I can. 

New Users

If  you are new to Canvas as a student-user, please take 20 minutes to watch this video on navigating through Canvas.  It will save you time and answer most, if not all, of your questions related to navigating through this course.  

https://instructure.instructuremedia.com/embed/622f1ff9-566b-4f69-94b9-9f5b5b9824c8-184

Course End Date

The course will conclude by May 31, 2026.

Introduction

Career and technical student organizations are a required part of every PDE Bureau of Career and Technical Education (BCTE) approved Program of Study (POS).  But all CTSOs do not function to the full potential of meeting the needs of students to which they are capable.  Some CTSOs serve only those students selected because of their high level of technical skill to compete at the regional, state, or national level.  This practice occurs more often than not depending upon the fiscal resources, involvement, and expectations of the administration and the accountability placed upon the CTSO advisor.  In this case, the CTSOs serve students who least need a CTSO to reach their full potential in academic, technical, career education and work, and leadership skills.

This course is delivered through about nine hours of pre-recorded lessons and 21 hours of job embedded assignments.  The pre-recorded lessons are grouped by section into three-like topics:  (1) increasing student participation in each of the co-curricular career and technical student organizations (CTSO); (2) increasing the quality of each co-curricular CTSO through the creation of a broad range, annual Program of Activities and the selection of an effective CTSO advisor; and (3) using CTSOs to increase student achievement of technical, academic, career education and work, and leadership skills through collaboration between the CTSO advisor and CTE teacher. 

At the end of each pre-recorded lesson, you will complete and submit a Concept Check Reflection Activity to which the course facilitator will respond and provide feedback.  There will be one significant job embedded assignment due at the completion of each of the three major sections.  At the conclusion of Section 1, you will work with CTSO advisors and students to overcome deterrents to student participation and, as a result, increase the number of students reaping the academic, technical, leadership, and career education and work benefits of the CTSO.  At the conclusion of Section 2, you will create a job description that identifies the administrative expectations of the role and responsibilities of the advisor.  In addition, you will collaborate with CTSO advisors to create and implement a broad range of activities (in addition to technical skill competition) through a written annual Program of Activities.  At the conclusion of Section 3, you will collaborate with career and technical teachers, OAC members, and Board Members (JOC or otherwise) to include academic, leadership, and career education and work tasks to each career and technical Program of Study task list (technical are already a part of each Bureau of Career and Technical Education (BCTE) Program of Study (POS).

Assignments

All of the assignments and requirements for this course are indicated below.  There are three sections and each section has three presentations. 

The Culminating Project is the only assignment with a hard deadline of May 31, 2026.  This is why it is included in the Introductory Preview to the course, even though it is not due until the end of the course.  All of the assignments may be completed at any time between registration and May 31.  All requirements of this course MUST be completed by May 31, 2026. 

As you begin collecting the information through the concept checks and job embedded assignments, you will see that by the end of the lessons, you will have all that you need to complete the culminating project. The concept checks are not required, but they assure me that you are progressing toward course completion, and more importantly, the concept checks prepare you to complete the job embedded assignments. However, depending upon your experience with CTSOs, feel free to jump to the job embedded assignment without completing the concept checks for that section.

All of the due dates are pretty much one week apart to keep you on track to completing the course  But don't worry about the deadlines, other than May 31 to complete.   

Please plan to complete the assignments no later than May 31.

Registration

Completing the Act 48/45 Registration is extremely important because it includes your PPID.  This is necessary to report your Act 45/48 hours to PDE.  Use the Google Form at this link:  https://forms.gle/b1Q37Nk2ZAu7fdsg6 

The program is set up for 9 hours of presentations.  This time includes the pre-recorded presentations and the time it will take to complete the Concept Check/Reflection Activity required at the end of each presentation.  In many cases, the pre-recorded presentation in PowerPoint or the interview is only 15-20 minutes in length.  The time estimated to complete each Job Embedded Assignment is also included for each of the three assignments.  Together, the three assignments should take approximately 20 hours.  Pay no attention to red late notices.  They have no impact upon your course completion.  They are a function of the Canvas system when I assign due dates.  They have no value as long as all assignments are submitted by May 31.

Questions or Assistance

If you have any questions or concerns throughout the course, please do not stress.  Please call 412.554.1753 or email maryerodman@gmail.com. 

Mary