The document provides guidance for developing a promotional plan for a Career and Technical Education (CTE) program. It includes identifying perceptions to convey to different audiences about the program, promotional tools to use, parts of the program to highlight, school events that could feature program promotion, and examples of promotional plans targeting various situations. The overall goal is to effectively promote the CTE program to students, teachers, guidance counselors, administrators, and parents to build understanding and interest in the opportunities it provides.

1. CTE Program Promotional Plan
Due Date: July 18th
In Drop Box by Midnight
To assist you in developing ideas about promoting your program, the Virginia
Department of Education, Office of CTE Services has developed an excellent publication
entitled Career and Technical Education Cooperative Education Handbook. One of the
sections of the publication is entitled “Promoting Cooperative Education Programs.”
Although the section emphasizes promoting cooperative education, it can also give
you ideas concerning how to promote your entire program. Please read this portion
of the handbook before completing the items below.
Go to http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Instruction/CTE/co-op/
1. Identify the perceptions you would like each audience listed below to believe
about your CTE program.
a. Students – Marketing Education is more than just an easy A class. There
are real world topics being covered in the class that can go hand in hand to
help learn SOL topics, but in a different setting than the core classrooms.
There will be possible chances to enroll in co-op positions, but the class is
not a job placement class. In the end, class will be enjoyable, but we will
be looking to accomplish a lot each day.
b. Teachers – There will be opportunities to work together to accomplish
their largest accountability goal of SOLs. Almost every unit of instruction
we go through in marketing education will mesh with another SOL core
subject area. We can plan our lessons to work in parallel around difficult
SOL topics, and in exchange I may be able to enter their classrooms for
extended learning or take students away from their classrooms for DECA
events or marketing field trips. I do not want to put off the idea that I am
in a more difficult class than they are, but I definitely want to justify my
class to prove that we are not in any way a useless elective class. These
are real world objectives for students, and there is a lot to cover for each
class.

2. c. Guidance Counselors – Let them know what type of material we will be
covering in each class, and what we expect from students who enter the
class (interests, age, motivation). These areas will allow guidance
counselors to better filter students into the appropriate CTE classes. We
do not ever want the marketing education class to turn into a dumping
ground for students. Let the guidance counselors know about co-op
opportunities for students, but make sure they know the class is not a job
placement classroom.
d. School Administrators – Justify each marketing education class. Remind
the administration of the real-world application of each unit and task,
show off DECA and community integration, and get teacher feedback
about SOL topics that are built into the curriculum. Administration needs
to understand the large time commitment necessary in order to be
successful in marketing education, so they should not feel they can make
the class room sizes extraordinarily large, push multiple extracurricular
activities on marketing education teachers, or assume that we do not need
our planning periods. Let school administrators know about the
promotional opportunities that marketing education projects can bring in
for the school and possibly the entire school district.
e. Parents – Parents need to know the overall objectives about marketing
education, and to understand if their preconceived perceptions about the
class do not match up to the true nature of the course. Many of the parents
will assume that CTE courses are not for students who want to go to
college, CTE courses are only job placement electives, or they do not see
the benefit of these classes at all. It is important to show off the successes
of previous years and programs to get parents involved in the course.
Parent interest can lead to student interest in many of the community
oriented programs and projects. Parents need to understand that some
extra time may be necessary outside of the classroom, and their children
may have more homework from CTE classes than they would expect.

3. CTE Program Promotion Plan Continued…
2. Identify various types of promotional tools you plan to use to promote your CTE
program (ie. brochures, bulletin boards, news articles, presentations, etc.).
- Prepare a program of studies to show off
- Invite guidance counselors to regularly scheduled departmental meetings
- Prepare a program brochure
- Present cooperative education at a faculty meeting.
- Prepare an annual report
- Arrange social functions
- Present an assembly program explaining programs using the cooperative method
and their benefits to students.
- Distribute student-interest surveys to middle and high school English classes.
- Encourage present cooperative education students to prepare a brochure to be
presented to middle and high school students.
- Assist current cooperative education students in preparing bulletin boards at the
middle and high school levels
- Supervise current cooperative education students in preparing a monthly
newsletter
- Encourage cooperative education students to visit middle schools
- Invite interested middle school students to visit cooperative-education related
classes.
- Submit articles and pictures to the school newspaper or school magazine
- Arrange for non-cooperative education students to visit businesses
- Invite cooperative education employers to explain job opportunities
- Host an Open House during Career and Technical Education Week
- Maintain file cards for each cooperative education student enrolled in your
classes.
- Use cooperative education students and graduates as guest speakers
- Set up displays
- Use the public address system
- Post job openings
- Sponsor competitive events
- Make a conscientious effort to recruit special populations.
- Help your current students succeed in the classroom and at their training stations!

4. 3. Identify parts and events of your CTE program you can promote (ie., SOLs
taught, courses taught, coop placements, CTSO activities, etc.)
- SOLs taught to teachers (English, Science, History, Math)
- Intro to Marketing
- Real Estate Marketing
- Internet Marketing
- Business Policy and Strategy
- Entrepreneurial Education
- Sports and Entertainment Marketing
- Community Co-op opportunities to get experience and attach real world ideas to
what is presented in the classroom
- DECA events and competitions to get students motivated

5. CTE Program Promotion Plan Continued…
4. Identify school events/activities and seasons of the year you can use as themes
around which to promote your CTE program (ie. welcome back to school,
sporting events, forensic event, Thanksgiving, scheduling of classes, etc.)
- DECA dress sale before the big dance
- Sponsorships for the school store on the morning announcements
- Working with local businesses on community outreach programs
- Work on marketing plans for school sports teams
- Help the school district do marketing research for website
5. Read the scenario and provide a logical and affordable promotional plan utilizing
at least three within school promotional methods. Remember to involve students
as much as possible. Lastly, be creative!
a. You want to make high school faculty aware of the courses you teach. Hopefully, they
will be able to identify potentially interested students.
a. Give out brochures to upcoming middle schoolers and freshman high schoolers
b. Sponsor sporting events or pep rallies for freshman students
c. Go on the morning announcements for the week before students choose classes
and role play a fun scenario for each marketing education class you offer.
b. Five of your students win 1st place at district competition. Congrats! Now get the word
out!
a. Talk to the local newspaper and television statement and get an interview
scheduled with the winners
b. Get in touch with the yearbook staff and make sure the winners get a full spread
in the upcoming edition
c. At the next school assembly, talk about the district competition winners at the
same time as the sports teams are being recognized
c. You have just received approval to offer a new course sequence in your program area
beginning next year. SWEET! Now get the word out to the school!
a. Talk to students in your similar classes and get them excited about the new class.
b. Get teachers interested in the new classes by letting them know the benefits of
SOL integration in the classes

6. c. Talk to parents about the new courses and let them know how they are related to
jobs available in the market
d. Your students have come up with a great fundraiser that is targeted towards the entire
school. You administrator has approved it and your paperwork has been submitted. Now
what?
a. Get on the morning announcements with skits and other creative ideas
b. Get input from the students of what kind of items they would be willing to
purchase from the school store and let them know in advance.
c. Talk to the Student leaders of the graduating class and get them involved with the
big dance and get the fundraiser to be a part of it.
e. You want the entire school to know where your student trainees are working.
a. Make a large map with strings showing where each of the students have gone
b. Create a wiki that the students and employers can access to add information and
photos
c. Get the yearbook staff to follow periodically with the trainees to show off the
work.
f. It is almost February and students are beginning to think about what courses they would
like to sign up for next year.
a. Advertise using brochures and summer newsletters to be sent out to students with
the summer required readings for English.
b. Be a part of the community with summer sports and talk to parents in the stands
about new classes.
c. Show off the end result of many of the classes that are upcoming and the
eventual job offering associated with each one.
g. In order to show the rest of the school that you are “doing your part” to help standardized
test scores, you would like to promote the fact that your courses teach SOLs. How are
you going to accomplish this task?
a. Next to each of the core SOL classes, put up a chart of the different SOLs being
covered in different marketing education classes
b. Talk to the guidance and administration about how you are covering SOLs and
bring it up during teacher conference days and assemblies

7. c. Talk to local teachers and tutors about SOL training associated with marketing
education to extend the learning to outside the normal classrooms
h. In an act of benevolence, you decide to promote your courses using institutional
advertising.
a. Talk in classes about Billy winning an award at the local DECA competition
b. Go on the morning announcements and show off the newest DECA award.
c. During the prom, while announcing king and queen, tell the students who just
won that great DECA award