Career & Technical Education

California Colleges, Districts Land Grant To Beef up CTE

• By Leila Meyer
• 03/31/16

California's Central Region Agriculture Education Career Pathway Consortium has been awarded $15 million in grant funds from the California Career Pathways Trust to expand and improve career and technical education (CTE) programs in 36 high schools and three community colleges in the region.

The consortium will use the grant money to incorporate CEV Multimedia's iCEV curriculum into high school and college agricultural science programs. iCEV is a cloud-based curriculum designed for 7-12 and higher education CTE programs. According to information from the company, it "offers practical, interactive learning with professional demonstrations to prepare students for postsecondary education and high-skill, high-demand careers." Teachers can use the platform's interactive lessons and assessments to monitor and track student progress, and students can use it to earn industry-backed certifications.

"Through the implementation of this grant, Agriculture Pathway instructors will be able to provide training to our students using new equipment while utilizing a modern curriculum from iCEV to supplement classroom instruction for a wide array of agriculture careers, preparing them for the next steps in their future," said Mark Anglin, director for the Central Region Agriculture Education Career Pathway Consortium, in a prepared statement.

Subjects covered in iCEV's Agricultural Science curriculum include animal science, plant science, power systems, judging, food science, natural resources, leadership and communications, agribusiness and careers. Students can earn industry certifications in food safety and science, plant science, fundamentals of animal science, principles of floral design, meat evaluation, principles of livestock selection and evaluation, professional communications, career preparedness and business office technology.

California's South Coast and North Coast region have already used grant money from the California Career Pathways Trust to implement the CEV Multimedia's iCEV curriculum into their programs.