The value of advocacy.

The value of advocacy. ALL OF THE ADVOCACY WORK INITIATED BY ACTE ACTE Association for Career and Technical Education (formerly American Vocational Association)ACTE Association of Corporate Travel ExecutivesACTE Approvals Committee for Terminal EquipmentACTE Anodal Closure Tetanus is effective only ifsupported and promoted by the membership at large. The ACTE staff spendsa lot of time communicating with congressional staff, federal agenciesand other audiences, but that messaging is useless if disconnected frompractitioner experience. Congress is most interested in hearing fromyou, the constituents they represent. Representing Members' Interests During the past few months, ACTE staff has visited with staff ofMembers of Congress who serve on the Labor, Health and Human Services Noun 1. Health and Human Services - the United States federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979Department of Health and Human Services, HHS and Education Appropriations Subcommittee sub��com��mit��tee?n.A subordinate committee composed of members appointed from a main committee.subcommitteeNoun to request an increase inPerkins funding. We are also visiting and communicating with Members ofCongress serving on other committees to talk about No Child Left Behind(NCLB NCLB No Child Left Behind (US education initiative)), the Higher Education Act The Higher Education Act may refer to an Act of either the Congress of the United States or of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Higher Education Act of 1965, an Act of the Congress of the United States which was supposed to strengthen the resources of colleges and (HEA HEA Higher Education Academy (York, UK)HEA Higher Education Act of 1965HEA Higher Education AuthorityHEA Health Education AuthorityHEA High Energy AstrophysicsHEA Happily Ever AfterHEA Hockey East Association ), the Workforce Investment Act(WIA WIAabbr.wounded in action ) and issues related to science, technology, engineering andmathematics. These visits inform Congress about the value of CTE (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) The difference between the way two materials expand when heat is applied. This is very critical when chips are mounted to printed circuit boards, because the silicon chip expands at a different rate than the plastic board. , andlet legislators know the viewpoint of the CTE practitioner related tothe formation of federal policy. ACTE has produced numerous written materials that back up ourdirect advocacy. This year, the organization issued a postsecondarypolicy paper, NCLB recommendations and legislative language, WIArecommendations, HEA recommendations, an appropriations backgroundpaper, and has responded to notices in the Federal Register. ACTE is in the process of producing a series of issue briefs thathighlight the value of CTE related to important topics. Our hope is thatdecision-makers will read the issue briefs to gain a betterunderstanding of what CTE can offer to solve or improve policychallenges. Issue briefs on the subjects of competitiveness, dropout (1) On magnetic media, a bit that has lost its strength due to a surface defect or recording malfunction. If the bit is in an audio or video file, it might be detected by the error correction circuitry and either corrected or not, but if not, it is often not noticed by the human prevention and recovery, and secondary to postsecondary transitions arealready posted on our Web site and more will be available later thisyear. We encourage you to download and use them in your ownconversations. ACTE has distributed the briefs to Members of Congress,governors and a host of other policy contacts who have the potential toinfluence debate on these topics. Creating Partnerships for Support Another major initiative includes the formation of a newCongressional CTE Caucus caucus:see convention. in the House of Representatives which ACTEhopes will galvanize gal��va��nize?tr.v. gal��va��nized, gal��va��niz��ing, gal��va��niz��es1. To stimulate or shock with an electric current.2. support for CTE and spread the CTE message toMembers of Congress who do not fully understand the benefits of theseprograms. We encourage you to ask your Representative to join the caucusif they are not a member! An updated list of members can be found on the"CTE Caucus" page on ACTE's Web site. Partnering with allied organizations is another way to leveragesupport for our programs. ACTE meets regularly with Washington-basedorganizations to strategize strat��e��gize?v. strat��e��gized, strat��e��giz��ing, strat��e��giz��esv.tr.To plan a strategy for (a business or financial venture, for example).v.intr. about how we might work collaboratively toinfluence policy decisions. Coalitions such as the Committee forEducation Funding (which works to increase the overall federalinvestment in education) and the National High School Alliance (whichadvances policies that are aligned with ACTE's high school reformviews) are two examples of this type of collaboration. Media and Research And let's not Let's Not is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in Boston University Graduate Journal in December 1954. It was written for no payment as a favour to the journal, and later appeared in the collection Buy Jupiter. forget the media, which appears to be moreinfluential than ever. Since March, ACTE has been mentioned at least 63times in the media, and many are the result of placements that ACTE hasinitiated via interviews, press releases, teleconferences and directcontact. This year, we plan to launch an even more proactive media drivethat will feature several emerging industries and CTE student successstories in these industries. All of these advocacy activities are underpinned by the researchthat shows CTE is making a positive difference. ACTE recently launchedthe Research Clearinghouse and the Promising Programs and Practices Webpages to document both data and exemplary programs that are making adifference. This information is updated on a continuing basis and theinformation is used to support our advocacy work. A research guide isavailable on the Web site to help members better understand how to useresearch as an advocacy tool. ACTE's knows that advocacy from both the Association and themembership will lead to improvements in legislative and regulatorypolicy and increases in funding for our programs. Many more constituentsappear to be advocating today than in previous years. The CongressionalManagement Foundation reports that in 2004, Congress received 200million e-mail communications, four times more than in 1995. Thisincrease suggests that CTE needs more advocates to amplify our message. Get involved and if you are already an advocate, encourage yourcolleagues to join you. Inform ACTE about advocacy-related informationthat could improve your work, and visit the public policy and researchpages on ACTE's Web site to learn more about what the Associationis doing to support you. Stephen DeWitt is senior director of Public Policy at ACTE. He canbe reached at 703-683-9311, or by e-moil at sdewitt@acteonline.org.