95th Annual Illinois Association for Career and Technical Education Conference

This session provides leaders with tools and strategies to facilitate updated Career and Technical Education (CTE) information to staff, focusing on recent policy shifts, the PaCE Framework, and enhancing the local impact. Attendees will learn how to engage staff in understanding CTE pathways, community partnerships, and employability skill development. Through interactive techniques, data-driven storytelling, and practical resources, participants will leave equipped to inspire their teams, fostering a unified vision for CTE success. This session includes brainstorming exercises, key resources, and real-world examples to guide effective staff presentations and drive program improvement.

Many educators struggle preparing and understanding what retirement is all about. This session will discuss challenges and strengths of retirement from a "retiree" perspective. We will look at planning, view TRS documents and listen to a short interview with a financial advisor. In addition, the audience will have a chance to ask questions. At the conclusion of this professional teaching and learning workshop, participants will be better able to understand how to prepare for retirement as an educator.

Creating an inclusive classroom allows CTE teachers to recognize the importance of including students from all cultural backgrounds in all aspects of their learning. CTE teachers will learn strategies to incorporate culturally responsive teaching into their classrooms by making learning culturally relevant, building relationships, and planning lessons.

Providing opportunities for students in rural school districts while navigating policy changes can pose unique challenges, but know that it is POSSIBLE! Our session focuses on how our efforts to collaborate with not only our school districts but industry partners and post-secondary institutions have provided our regional students with experiences and exposures that help our districts meet the PaCE Framework requirements at both the middle school and high school levels. This session will allow participants to see how to collaborate on events such as the Welcome to the Real World and Career Exploration Day, utilize ISBE Career Guides and Transfr VR Headsets for career exploration, dive into all that the CiS360 free online platform has to offer from 6th grade on, build College and Career Pathway Endorsements for students in our region, and recap our experiences collaborating with our community on the Education pipeline. The session will wrap up with resources on who to collaborate with to support putting the PaCE Framework into practice!