The Office of Vocational and Technical Education (OVTE) promotes and facilitates career and technical education programs that prepare students for new jobs, roles, technologies and responsibilities in order to meet the challenge of training a competent workforce to support and enhance the Mississippi economy. The OVTE delivery system is effective and responsive to the changing needs of business and industry. OVTE programs are part of an integrated delivery system that reaches every secondary and post-secondary school district. The programs provided instructional services to 198,496 individuals in Mississippi last year.

Career, vocational, and technical programs in secondary, post-secondary, short-term adult, industry training, and business and industry partnership settings help students acquire the skills and abilities needed to achieve their occupational goals. Instruction is provided in Agriculture, Family & Consumer Sciences, Marketing, Trade and Industrial Education, Cooperative Education, Health, Technical Education, Business Education, Work-Based Learning, and Science and Technology. Short Term Adult Programs are provided to meet local needs.
 

SECONDARY PROGRAMS
 

Program	Number of Students Served	Program Information
The Mississippi Tech Prep Initiative
Career Discovery	35,444 seventh grade students	Two hundred fifty-seven (257) Career Discovery programs introduced students to career opportunities and the skills needed to develop and implement individual student career/educational plans reflecting student aptitudes, interests, and abilities. The programs provide experiences and activities that promote self-awareness, career exploration, and educational planning related to the needs and educational/occupational plans of students.
Computer Discovery	33,073 eighth grade students	Two hundred fifty-nine (259) Computer Discovery programs exposed students to a multimedia environment designed to provide an introduction to computers, keyboarding skills, operating systems using Windows, and file management skills. Real-world applications in word processing, graphics, databases, telecommunications, spreadsheets, and desktop publishing make the course exciting, relevant, and challenging.
Technology Discovery	32,009 ninth grade students	Two hundred twenty-four (224) Technology Discovery programs enabled students to explore technology resources, processes, and systems that lead to enhanced career development and advanced education. Students learned through researching, visualizing, modeling, designing, simulating, prototyping, keeping journals, preparing and making presentations and demonstrations, problem-solving, role-playing, and testing.
*The comprehensive career planning/counseling component of Tech Prep is designed to organize and expand career development strategies, activities, and experiences in order to assist all students in making realistic, achievable career plans. The career plans initiated in the seventh grade and updated annually through the twelfth grade help keep students focused on their goals.
Secondary Non-occupational Programs
Enrichment Programs	309 students	Six Enrichment Programs provided occupational exploratory experiences and information about technology and the world of work, consumerism, and the free enterprise system. These programs, five of which are 7th or 8th grade Family and Consumer Science courses (either Living Skills 7th grade, or Exploratory 8th grade), and the other program, Technology Education, foster leadership skills, increase the maturity level of students, decrease dropouts, and promote effective human relations skills, good work habits, and other life-management skills in school districts that are not participating in the Mississippi tech prep initiative.
Introduction to Agriculture Science	2,372 students	Sixty-five (65) Introduction to Agriculture Science programs served students.
Family and Consumer Sciences	34,032 students	Two hundred twenty (220) Family and Consumer Sciences Programs funded through H.B. 1467 served students with course offerings that included Family Dynamics in 9th through 12th grades and the optional addition of other courses such as Child Development, Family/Individual Health, Family Living & Parenthood, Foods & Nutrition, Nutrition & Wellness, Personal Development, and Resource Management.
Secondary Occupational Programs and Enrollment
Secondary occupational programs	Enrollment consists of students in grades 10-12. (See chart below.)	Secondary occupational programs are designed and operated to provide for the development of essential, program area specific, occupational and entrepreneurial skills. Instruction in these programs is accomplished through structured learning activities that integrate vocational and academic objectives. Upon program completion individuals possess marketable job skills and may choose to enter the workforce or pursue post-secondary education, in directly related or indirectly related occupational and technical areas with possibilities for advanced placement, or other post-secondary offerings.

The data presented above were collected by OVTE as Final Vocational Program Enrollment data for the 2000-2001 school year. The Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes were initially developed by the U. S. Department of Education (USDE) National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in 1980 and were revised in 1985 and 1990. Major changes have been made in the CIP-2000 revision. The implementation of the changes is incomplete at present and therefore correlated demand data for vocational-technical courses is not currently available. Care should be exercised in the use of these data for decision-making purposes.
 

POST-SECONDARY PROGRAMS
 

Special Post Secondary Occupational Programs
Program	Number of Students Served	Program Information
Work-Based Learning	650 students	A post-secondary program that combines classroom instruction (occupational and academic) with structured learning experiences at work sites to meet student objectives and the needs of business/industry. These programs are educationally sound, occupationally specific, and industry driven. Thirteen (13) Work-Based Learning programs helped students bridge the gap between school and the workplace, combine theory with practice, know what to do and why, and become workers.
Science and Technology	713 students	Ten (10) Science and Technology programs, designed as a curricular linkage to provide a smoother transition between secondary and post-secondary vocational programs, provided enhancement of student performance and the development of student competencies in scientific applications of current and emerging technology. The ability of employees to function well in an arena of applied science and emerging technology (and to stay on the cutting edge) is becoming more important to employers as the envelope of technology spreads to encompass and influence corporate success in an increasingly competitive economic environment.
Post-secondary Occupational Programs and Enrollment
Post-secondary occupational programs	(See chart below.)	Post-secondary occupational programs are designed and conducted to provide program-area-specific occupational and entrepreneurial preparation for skilled/technical occupations. Programs are offered at beginning, advanced, and technical levels. These programs are developed to reflect current and emerging technologies in order to address the needs of industry and other employers. State-of-the-art technology used in industry and integrated academic components are incorporated in the curriculum. Upon completion of a post-secondary occupational program, individuals are prepared to enter skilled/technical level occupations.

The data presented above were collected by OVTE as Final Vocational Program Enrollment data for the 2000-2001 school year. The Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes were initially developed by the U. S. Department of Education (USDE) National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in 1980 and were revised in 1985 and 1990. Major changes have been made in the CIP-2000 revision. The implementation of the changes is incomplete at present and therefore correlated demand data for vocational-technical courses is not currently available. Care should be exercised in the use of these data for decision-making purposes.
 
 

Accountability and Assessment

Vocational assessment program

The Mississippi Department of Education Office of Student Assessment, in cooperation with the OVTE, is developing and implementing a customized vocational assessment program that will provide the basis for determining progress in attaining educational goals.  OVTE selected American College Testing (ACT) to produce a customized assessment program for implementing a vocational (work readiness and occupation-specific) assessment component of the Mississippi Career Planning and Assessment System (CPAS). The following CPAS components were implemented for vocational assessment (work readiness and occupation-specific) in 2001:  1. Three (3) Work Keys components (Reading for Information, Applied Mathematics, and Locating Information). 2. Twenty-four (24) occupational program area performance assessments. 3. Forty-three (43) secondary and forty-three (43) post-secondary occupation-specific assessments tailored to meet Mississippi's needs.