Career & Technical Education
Teacher Preparation Programs
Recruitment and Retention Plan
Fall 2014
Student Recruitment and Retention Plan
Mission
Identify established recruitment activities and initiate new or innovative recruitment ideas that target the
educational needs of the career and technical education (CTE) programs and community.
Background
The professional degree in Education with a major in Career and Technical Education provides the
opportunity and relevant skills, knowledge, and dispositions to enable teachers, administrators, and business
and industry personnel to work effectively with today's youths, adults, and organizations. Learners benefit
from the realistic relationships between course experiences and work required by educational institutions,
business, industry, agriculture and family life.
Teaching degree emphases within the Career and Technical Education (CTE) major include:
 Business & Marketing Education
 Engineering & Technology Education
 Occupational Education in the College of Education
The program is delivered through a variety of modes including face-to-face, online, hybrid, and a mix of faceto-face and online classes. The courses are offered throughout the state at our Moscow Campus and centers
in Boise, Coeur d’Alene, and Twin Falls.
The College of Agriculture prepares teachers for Agricultural Education (Ag Ed) and Family and Consumer
Sciences (FCS). These programs are housed in the College of Agriculture, and both Ag Ed and FCS pre-service
teachers complete educational core and PTE pedagogical courses through the Department of Curriculum and
Instruction.
Recruitment and Retention Vision
The University of Idaho’s CTE teacher preparation program seeks to become a national and regional leader.
To achieve this we seek to recruit, admit, and enroll a diverse, adept student population. Once enrolled, we
seek an ongoing data review and personal contact plan to insure student interest and retention until
graduation. Key to this is establishing and continuing an exciting and defined recruitment and retention
program.
Recruitment and Retention Plan Overview
Recruiting students for the CTE program involves identifying viable populations of potential students, raising
an awareness of teaching opportunities within CTE, educating them on program offerings and removing
barriers to program enrollment. Effective recruitment strategies include being visible to students and
creating open dialogue and the exchange of information.
This plan seeks to identify the best populations for our recruiting efforts. Then to plan and execute
recruitment events reaching out not only to potential students but, to school principals, guidance counselors,
community leaders, government assistance organizations and teachers.
2
To accomplish this we need to create/obtain contact lists, presentations, and recruiting materials that can be
used by all program staff to recruit for all programs. The next steps are establishing an event timeline and
executing it.
Once students have been recruited we need to have programs/plans in place to maximize retention until
graduation. This plan will seek to identify and implement the proven best retention practices in use.
The plan below is flexible. We will seize new opportunities as they emerge and modify the plan as better
information or practices become available. Resources and primary efforts will be aimed at in-state
recruitment. At the same time, efforts will be made to recruit nationally and internationally.
Potential Recruit Population
 High School Students
Sources for reaching this population:
 Students themselves
 Parents
 Other family members
 Counselors
 CTSO program
 Teachers
 Principals/other school staff
 Idaho PTE
 Teachers




Occupational specialists
Needing renewal credits
Leverage “STEM”
Wanting a graduate degree
 Transfer students
 Students in other majors



Business students who could add teaching certification
Engineering students who could add teaching certification
Students changing majors
 Adults in career transition




Veteran’s Organizations
Department of Labor
Vocational Rehab
Community leaders
Recruitment Goals
 Increase the enrollment of qualified and diverse first-year students and transfer students to
meet the cohort enrollment goals of the individual CTE programs.
3
 Meet a program goal of 35 Idaho PTE teacher candidates by the beginning of the 2018-19
academic year.
 Recruit academically talented students to achieve University of Idaho’s goals of increasing the
entering student academic profile.
 Expand recruitment programs to attract an increased number of out-of-state students and
international students.
 Engage the services delivered by staff members of the Office of Admissions at UI and the College
of Southern Idaho (CSI).


Focus priority on those who are the first points of contact; namely, the reception desk, the
call center, and campus tour guides.
Provide on-going training and make changes as necessary.
 Develop relations with the College of Western Idaho, Lewis and Clark State College, and
Northern Idaho College counselors.
 Continue to infuse technology in all stages of the recruitment and admission process.
 Move from a “be everywhere approach” to a targeted strategy.
 Inventory existing scholarships and design strategy to use them to help enrollment and
retention.
 Design, fund, and implement new scholarships to maximize student enrollment and retention.
Retention Goals
 75% retention of graduation of students successfully completing their first semester.
 Increased instructor contact
 Increase advisor contact
 Develop resources and data collection and analysis to assist efforts to retain students
throughout their college experience.
 Become a contact and resource point students’ parents
 Collaborate with colleagues in the academic colleges and student service offices to promote
"student-first" environment and policies
 Provide programs and services that integrate new students into the UIdaho academic
community.
 Foster students' success in the academic environment

Key Recruitment Strategies and Action Plans
The following recruitment strategies and action plans will be implemented in varying stages through
2014-2018. Action plans may be changed, updated, and even eliminated as factors that influence
enrollment change, as budgets dictate, or as evaluations of specific programs or activities warrant. These
actions will be coordinated and tracked by the Coordinator, Career and Technical Education Programs.
4
1.
Create a logo and marketing campaign for business/marketing education.
2.
Develop a plan to reward Teaching Assistants in high schools Dual Credit.
3.
Advertise
Locally – radio, flyers, PBS, university and college publications
National – professional publications
International through University program
4.
Identify the best populations from which to recruit
High school students through:
 Students themselves
 Parents
 Other family members
 Counselors
 CTSO program
 Teachers
 Principals/other school staff
 Idaho PTE
Teachers




Occupational specialists
Needing renewal credits
Leverage “STEM”
Wanting a graduate degree
Transfer students
Students leaving other majors
 Engineering students who could add teaching certification
 Business students who could add teaching certification
 Students changing majors
Adults in career transition/displaced workers




Veteran’s Organizations
Department of Labor
Vocational Rehab
Community leaders
5.
Identify student needs
6.
Plan and participate in recruitment events
Identify existing events




UIdaho (Vandal Friday, Student organization fair, ASUI events, etc.)
NIC, CWI, CSI, UIdaho
High schools
Career Fairs
5
 State - DOL, Vocational Rehabilitation
 Professional-Technical Student Organization events, locally, in-state, and out-of-state
Presentations/visits to
 Potential students
 School principals
 Guidance counselors
 Community leaders
 Government assistance organizations
 Teachers
Self-hosted events




Open houses
Demonstrations
Teaser classes – low credit or Community Education
Summer events
• Free class – in program up to 3 credits
• iSTEM
• Scholarship competitions
7.
Create/obtain contact lists of high school teachers, counselors and other people/organizations in
contact with potential recruits
8.
Develop a mailings/email/phone program follow-up on potential recruits
9.
Find and partner with alumni
10. Create presentations, and recruiting materials that can be used by all program staff to recruit and
advice for all programs. [Note: Work with Allison Stormo on this.]
Examples are the publications listed at http://www.nabte.org/publications.html in the Business of
Teaching section

Identify the most attractive features of the programs and explain how the completion of
the program will help a student achieve academic, professional and/or personal goals
Provide details on student life at UI, Boise, and CSI – include Testimonials from students,
teachers, alumni
Address how to enroll
Be visual – pictures and/or videos – of hands on training
Virtual tours
Folded business card to be distributed to all employees





Program info and contacts on front
Space for employee info and student contact info on part 2
Reward/contest for employee’s whose name is returned
Employees include other program instructors, admin
Separate programs for NIC, CSI, CWI
Posters, banners, buttons, t-shirts, pens, Frisbees, food, t-shirt for each student in their mid6
first semester and junior year (retention and advertising)
11. Educate and provide recruiting materials to UI, CSI, CWI, and NIC recruiting programs
12. Seek opportunities and funding for program specific scholarships
13. Develop/implement plan to concentrate on retention efforts
a. Contact current students at least twice a semester
b. Survey students who dropped
c. Ask current students for ideas
14. Recruit out of state
a. ITEEA website
b. Other professional association websites
15. Recruit international students

Maintain and improve communication with recruiting agents
Provide recruiting agents with specialized recruitment training in targeted countries
7
16. Create plan for online recruiting, including continuing to infuse technology in all stages of the
recruitment and admission process
YouTube
UIdaho Website [Note: Needs much improvement.]

Financial aid estimator to learn how much money they might receive in aid

Improve scholarship information

Complete a tuition cost calculator to see how much school will cost

Request a campus visit by completing a form tied to specific CTE program

Instant message to a program counselor

Complete a form to RSVP for a campus event

View a virtual tour

E-mail a faculty member
 Read a profile of a faculty member
Explore other Internet options

Purchase targeted popups

Link on CTEI website

Link on IBEA website

Link on other association websites

Explore using QR codes

Improve search results for “business and marketing teacher preparation” and “ETE” or
other likely searches
17. Explore using Facebook
18. Develop a coordinated travel plan between the programs
19. Survey of schools and counselors on how to generate interest
20. Reward students going home to give presentations to high schools
21. Purchase UI logoed material for remote personnel offices– signs, banners, shirts, posters, and so
forth
22. Publications and events to promote website visits, office contacts, and campus visit opportunities
23. Establish a working/recruiting relationship with the College of Business and Economics
24. Establish a working/recruiting relationship with the College of Engineering
Key Retention Strategies and Action Plans
1. Assign faculty advisor as soon as a student has been accepted
a. Prepare and approve a program of study by the midterm of a student’s first semester
b. Meet with each advisee two times a semester
2. Designate a departmental recruiting and retention focal point
3. Incorporate a retention discussion into department and program meetings
8
4. Focus on student needs
a. Provide scholarship information to students
b. Work with the state and University to explore financial aid possibilities for non-traditional,
non-degree, and non-Moscow pre-service and in-service teachers
5. Continually improve the quality of programs/courses
6. Develop and distribute clearly marked pathways to student success
7. Present an improvement-oriented ethos
8. Share responsibility with students for educational quality and student success
9. Develop and implement tutoring programs to help struggling students recover
10. Review assessment to insure better student understanding and uniformity
11. Engaging student learning through cooperative/ collaborative teaching strategies, and learning
communities
12. Collect, compile, and analyze pertinent retention-related data, information
13. Conduct research to aid retention-related planning and strategizing
a. Determine when students drop out
b. Determine why students drop out
c. Prioritize what is important to students
14. Develop and provide retention guidelines for instructors and advisors
15. Implement early identification/alert systems and intervention strategies
a. ID high-risk students
i. Academic
ii. Personal issues
b. ID and improve high risk courses
16. Develop Career Guidance Practices
a. Provide mentorship in determining pre-internship and internship experiences
b. Evaluate on a regular basis the pool of available schools and cooperating teachers for teacher
candidate internships
c. Create an online link from the UI-CTE website to local, state, national, and international job
placement websites
d. Develop improved means of assisting students obtain employment after graduation
e. Improve student awareness of job opportunities
9