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CFCC Awarded Grant for Career Academy Training

May 6, 2008

Central Florida Community College has been awarded a Perkins Professional Institute grant from the Florida Department of Education. The $500,000 grant will facilitate the development of student academic, career and technical skills through the training and certification of the 500 to 1,000 Career and Technical Education instructors who educate them.

The state Division of Workforce Education has created a Professional Development Institute that will assist Career and Technical Education teachers to obtain industry certifications by developing, administering and implementing mini-grant awards.

“State law requires that all school districts have career academies and there is a need for faculty to be industry certified,” said Dr. Cheryl Fante, associate vice president for Career and Technical Education at CFCC. “The college will play a critical role in educating those educators.”

In announcing the award, the Florida Commissioner of Education, Dr. Eric J. Smith, noted that “skilled, educated talent is key to Florida’s economic success for high-wage jobs and innovation.”  Building such a workforce necessitates that CTE instructors acquire the highest industry certifications ensuring that their students are accurately taught the skills required by business and industry. There are more than 10,000 CTE instructors in Florida; 6,000 are in public high schools and 4,000 are in public, postsecondary schools and state colleges.

Teachers will be nominated for the mini-grants by their institution. Selection will be based on priorities set by the FDOE Career and Technical Education Professional Development Committee. First priority will be given to teachers who need certifications to work in the new academies required by the Career and Professional Academy Act (SB1232). Other factors will be local student enrollments, nontraditional career and technical programming, and locally high-wage, high-demand careers.

In addition to setting up the institute and the mini-grant application procedures, the $500,000 grant will support CFCC’s efforts to run professional development workshops for many of the 10,000 Career and Technical Education instructors employed throughout the state. The Florida Association for Career and Technical Educators will join in this effort.