Thank you for your interest in participating in the 2025 State Department of Education’s CTE Summer Professional Development Conference. This year’s conference is July 23-25, 2025, in-person at the Mobile Convention Center in Mobile, AL. This event provides attendees with valuable opportunities to engage in meaningful discussions, participate in in-depth training sessions, and learn from leading experts in the field of Career and Technical Education for a dynamic start to the 2025–2026 academic year.

This professional learning experience is intentionally designed to strengthen the leadership capacity of Alabama’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) directors. The purpose of this series is to support directors in improving student achievement and fostering a strong, positive school climate for students enrolled in CTE programs. Through focused professional learning, CTE directors will engage in strategies that promote effective decision-making regarding the allocation of resources. Emphasis will be placed on aligning resources with identified needs, as well as developing systems to actively monitor their utilization and evaluate their impact on student outcomes.

This regionally facilitated session provides CTE administrators with a research-informed framework for understanding and addressing student performance through data-driven decision-making. Aligned with Perkins V priorities and grounded in current best practices, this interactive session will guide participants in utilizing participant and concentrator data to analyze local CTE performance and strengthen overall program effectiveness. Administrators will examine student outcomes across key federal indicators, with a targeted focus on special population groups, including students with disabilities, English learners, migrant youth, youth with a parent in the military, and economically disadvantaged students.

Newly appointed administrators in Career and Technical Education (CTE) will participate in a structured series of professional learning sessions designed to establish a comprehensive foundation in the principles of CTE and the legislative framework of the federal Perkins V Act. Participants will be equipped with the essential leadership competencies needed to effectively administer high-quality CTE programs and to support ongoing efforts to ensure compliance with the Alabama Administrative Code, which stipulates that new CTE administrators must complete the New Administrator Academy within the first 18 months of their appointment.

The 6-hour professional learning session is designed for returning building-based math coaches and their principals. It is a required session for all state-funded coaches and their principals. In the session, we will provide essential updates related to the duties and responsibilities of state-funded building-based coaches and principals.

The 6-hour required professional learning opportunity is for new building-based math coaches and their principals. The goal is to prepare new coaches and their administrators to meet the expectations of the Alabama Numeracy Act. Regional Coordinators from the Office of Mathematics Improvement will facilitate the session. Participants will leave with a greater understanding of the duties and responsibilities of a building-based math coach and the required documentation. 

A four-session virtual book study using Making Sense of Mathematics for Teaching the Small Group by Dixon, Brooks, and Carli. Each session lasts 90 minutes and will be repeated four times. Please purchase the book from your favorite book retailer. 

This professional learning provides an opportunity for building administrators in Alabama public schools to participate in quarterly sessions designed to address distinct needs of building level administrators within all Alabama schools catering to students in kindergarten through fifth grade.  Through these professional learning sessions, participants will develop foundations required to build strong awareness of Evidence Based Practices required during mathematics instruction.  Participants will deepen their understanding of screeners and how to use the data to provide provided intensive mathematics interventions recommended by the Elementary Mathematics Task Force to address specific needs.​ Included in this course will include in-person (6 hours) and virtual opportunities (1.5).

Topics include: Climate & Culture Leadership, Instructional Leadership, Managerial and Operational Leadership, Relational Leadership, and Innovational Leadership. Each session is interactive and built around participant input and needs, ensuring relevance and direct application.

Our Blackbelt Cohort will focus on the Four Domains of Rapid School Improvement. Participation will encompass five face-to-face sessions throughout the school year with school follow-up visits to support the hands-on work leaders will be required to complete. The Black Belt Cohort is not just job embedded professional development, but also a network of Blackbelt leaders working together with a team of experienced administrators to develop, support and implement action steps that will improve academic achievement and retain qualified staff.