Career-Technical Teacher Education
Street Address
150 Terrace Dr, Kent, OH 44242Mailing Address
800 E. Summit St.Kent, OH 44242
Career-Technical Education is the contemporary term that describes educational programs designed to prepare Ohio high school students for careers in trade areas. This term replaced the term "vocational education" some years ago. Career-Technical Education programs prepare students for specific occupations or a career cluster in a wide variety of career areas. Many programs prepare students for initial entry into a specific occupation. In addition, some programs prepare students for further post-secondary study. These programs are referred to as Tech Prep. Career-Technical Education is different than Technology Education which refers to the former Industrial Arts. It is also different than Instructional Technology or Technical Education.
CTTE at Kent State University is one of a small number of teacher education programs in Ohio designed to prepare teachers as educators primarily in Ohio Schools in Career-Technical Programs. The KSU program is the only program in Northeast Ohio serving the Career-Technical Education community. The program is comprehensive offering teacher licensure programs, baccalaureate and graduate degrees, and a national occupational testing site.
The primary path to becoming a licensed teacher in a Career Technical trade area is through the 2-Year Provisional or One-Year Supplemental licensure path.. Each path offers specific licenses. Work experience and/or teaching experience is the employment criteria. This option requires a teacher to be hired by a school district into a teaching position in their trade area then joining the KSU CTE licensure program.
All Career-Technical teachers must be licensed by the State of Ohio. Teachers with academic licenses must add a Career Technical teaching field code specific to the trade area they teach through the KSU Career-Technical Educator licensure program.
Undergraduate and Graduate advising is directed by Dr. Davison Mupinga: dmupinga@kent.edu
NOCTI is the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute. Kent State is a certified test site for NOCTI. This institute provides testing to verify occupational competency in various occupations. Teachers who are licensed through Industry Option can take NOCTI exams in two parts: a written test (held in a classroom setting on the main Kent campus) and a performance component (in a lab setting) with a proctor in the trade area being tested. This enables the teacher to earn from 12 - 24 college credit-by-exam hours which can be applied to a bachelor's degree in Educational Studies.
The written exam is proctored twice a year on a Saturday morning on the Kent campus - usually the second Saturday in March and October (Fall and Spring semesters only). You will find these dates on the Important Dates and Events page. The performance exam is given on an as-requested basis during the academic year and may be scheduled after taking and passing the written part of the exam.