Welcome from the Founder

The reason most CTE programs cannot defend themselves is that they cannot measure themselves. Not because the data does not exist — it does, in spreadsheets and student information systems and learning management systems and credential vendor portals — but because the measurement framework most programs use was designed for compliance reporting, not for understanding whether the program is doing its job.

This course is about the second thing.

I am Dr. Tennyson Johnson. Across two-plus decades in CTE and IT, I have seen programs win and lose budget arguments, win and lose accreditation reviews, win and lose advisory board confidence — almost always determined by the quality of their outcomes story. The programs that have a clear, evidence-based story stay alive and grow. The programs that do not have one rely on the goodwill of administrators, and goodwill is a depleting resource.

Across six hours, this course works through what to measure and what to ignore: outcomes that actually matter, enrollment and access measurement, persistence and completion, credentials and competencies, and post-program employment outcomes. Each module produces a working artifact — a metric audit, an access improvement draft, a persistence dashboard outline, a credential signal review, and your full outcomes dashboard plan.

The artifacts you produce here are the artifacts that defend your program in board meetings, that hold up under CLNA review, and that allow you to make curriculum decisions on evidence rather than impression. That is the deal.

Let us start.

— Dr. Tennyson Johnson