Narrative: b. 8.

Secondary: The Minnesota Department of Education maintains program specialists in five career and technical education fields who also serve as regional contacts for all career and technical education programming under the Perkins Act. These individuals will be first contacts for providing technical assistance, and will bring issues to the State career and technical education team so that recurring needs are addressed in a timely manner and in a consistent fashion.

Postsecondary: The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System Office has two full-time program directors, who report to the State Director of Career and Technical Education. In addition, several other staff from other divisions in the Office of the Chancellor have responsibility in the areas of accountability and finance. All these individuals work with perkins-eligible colleges and Perkins consortia to improve programs and services eligible under the Perkins Act.

Joint Perkins IV Planning: Staff members from the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Office of the Chancellor have met regularly for nearly two years to plan for Perkins IV. A Leadership Team comprised of senior administrative staff representing state level agencies responsible for secondary and postsecondary CTE and including the State Director for CTE has also met regularly. The Leadership Team has conceptualized and approved the new direction Minnesota will take under Perkins IV.

With the Perkins Act now enacted, the joint planning has focused on Basic and Tech Prep local planning. The joint planning has resulted in all recipients, Secondary Basic, Postsecondary Basic, and Tech Prep, using the same format for the local application and a common operational handbook. Frequently asked questions (FAQs), be they from secondary or postsecondary, are answered in a single document. All documents, materials and resources produced in preparation for informing local eligible recipients on the intent of the new law, Minnesota’s new direction, Minnesota’s five Perkins IV goals, and Minnesota’s rationale for the new consortium structure are available on www.cte.mnscu.edu.

Future Planning and Technical Assistance: Formal training sessions have been provided on local plan development in five regions of the state. Additional sessions are planned on partnership building, programs of study, technical skill attainment, and accountability. Training on other topics will be provided as needed. Individual assistance will be provided as requested or will be scheduled for each consortium.

Professional development is provided as a result of consortium monitoring visits, specific requests by consortium and on a routine basis delivered by state staff usual in concert with local coordiantors. The second Thursday of each month is set aside for specific state-wide webinars which provide instruction to fulfilling requirements such as completion of the APR, negotiation of local targets or completion of the local applications; trend information such implementation of new legislation or changes to student profiles; topics to support new personnel; and general Perkins 101. In addition, regional sessions are held to provide technical assistance- the workshops providing specific resources and promising practice of recruiting and retaining non-traditional students would be an example. Face-to-face team support or one-on-one phone conferences are also methods of providing local educational agencies with technical assistance.