Innovative Career and Technical Education Curriculum Grant

Grants to Indiana regional councils for the development of technical education curricula for schools and universities to support the needs of Indiana businesses and to expand effective career education and development initiatives. Applicants can propose creating new curricula based on existing course descriptions or create entirely new career pathways and courses.

Specifically the purpose of this grant application is to foster and scale the most innovative and effective CTE curriculum models in the state. These models may be either pedagogical or programmatic in nature. For instance, there is much evidence to indicate that certain instructional models (e.g. project-based learning, flipped instruction, or work-based learning) hold great promise for ensuring learning is relevant and rigorous in nature.

There is also a growing body of evidence that indicates that new program models (e.g. polytechnic institutes, early college, new tech, etc.) might be leveraged to address the growing technical skills gap that exists in Indiana. CECI is seeking grant proposals that leverage evidence-based practices in the development of innovative Career and Technical Education (CTE) Curriculum at the local level.

CECI’s guiding principles include:
- Supporting integrated service delivery that is student- and adult worker-centric, and is focused on defined outcomes.
- Ensuring Indiana’s educators are given the necessary freedom, support and flexibility to succeed in the classroom, and are rewarded for their successes.
- Fostering, identifying and scaling the most innovative and effective education and workforce models, tools and resources.
- Holding students, adult workers, educators, schools, higher education institutions and workforce programs accountable for their progress through rigorous, fair and transparent accountability systems.
- Eliminating silos and aligning resource allocation efforts in collaboration with public and private sector partners, providers and employers.

Innovative Curriculum may be developed and approved in two ways:

(1) Creating new curriculum under existing Indiana State Approved Courses Titles and Descriptions (Appendix E). As an example, the following courses may be utilized:
- CTE Pilot Course;
- Work Based Learning (Multiple Pathways or Subject Specific); or
- Interdisciplinary Cooperative Education.

(2) Developing an entirely new career pathway that has not yet been approved by the SBOE. New pathways must adhere to both academic standards, industry competencies, and have the possibility of dual credit with higher education institutions.