OK CareerTech In-House Publishing Center Celebrates 40 Years

By Ann Houston
Oklahoma Department of CareerTech

Some 40 years ago vocational education and training curriculum was difficult to find anywhere in the United States. When it was found, the quality was inconsistent and the price was often high. Teachers often resorted to developing their own classroom or shop materials.

Today, Oklahoma produces most of the curriculum it needs through the CareerTech system’s own publisher, the Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center.

The CIMC develops, prints and ships instructional products to all 50 states and internationally. With its primary customers Oklahomans, CIMC products are found in high schools and technology centers, junior and community colleges, proprietary schools and government agencies.

CIMC will be celebrating its 40th anniversary Aug. 1-3 at the 40th Annual Oklahoma Career and Technology Education Summer Conference at the Tulsa Convention Center .

“In 1966, CIMC was the late Francis Tuttle’s brainchild,” said Kimberly Sadler, instructional systems coordinator at the state CareerTech agency. “Dr. Tuttle is known as the ‘architect’ of Oklahoma’s CareerTech system, serving as the state ‘vo-tech’ agency director from 1967-1985.”

Tuttle also wanted Oklahoma to produce its own curriculum.

So, curriculum was developed for all on the seven CareerTech occupational areas including Agricultural Education, Business and Information Technology Education, Family and Consumer Sciences Education, Health Careers Education, Marketing Education, Technology Education and Trade and Industrial Education.

“We started producing curriculum because there was a lack of reasonably priced curriculum for vocational programs in the United States,” Sadler said. “By producing our own curriculum, we provided more structure to what is now known as CareerTech education. And, it cost half as much to Oklahomans as products from other textbook companies.”

The first year Oklahoma began developing curriculum, the CareerTech agency had four specialists who produced five books. At that time curriculum taught a specific trade with a very defined set of skills. The final product was paper curriculum that had passed through the hands of a writer, a specialist and an editor – multiple times – often including hand-drawn artwork. Training videos were sometimes included as a supplement.

While the basic philosophy has stayed the same, much has changed during the past 40 years.

Now, CIMC offers some 2,000 products from its warehouse in Stillwater. Textbooks and videos are still included, but now media such as DVD and CD-ROM, as well as products from other vendors.

The scope of CIMC products has also grown to address, not only occupational skills, but life, teaching, problem-solving and employability skills as well as math and science concepts.

Then, in response to industry demand, in 1982 Oklahoma’s CareerTech agency developed testing that aligns with curriculum to measure competencies according to industry standards. Today, the CareerTech agency’s Testing division provides some 120 tests to Oklahomans for free, and to other states for a fee ranging from $30 to $500.

“We are one of the very few in-house, government agency publishing companies that includes curriculum and testing development, creative services, printing and distribution within one entity,” Sadler said.  “Other states don’t make that investment, normally. They go to outside resources.”

At the 2007 CareerTech Summer Conference, the CIMC will showcase its latest products to about 3,500 teachers and administrators. Among those products will be curriculum that has long set the standard for instruction in the state and nationally, including “Agricultural Education I,” which has remained the CIMC’s top seller since 1968.

“Oklahomans contribute tax dollars to get exactly what they want in curriculum for CareerTech programs,” said Oklahoma CareerTech Director Phil Berkenbile. “We don’t have to settle for what another state wants us to have. Some of the curriculum is even legislated for programs such as micro-pigmentation and the private security.”

However, very little state and federal money is actually used.

More than 70 percent of the CIMC customers are Oklahoma schools and agencies, providing more than 70 percent of the funds needed to keep operations going. Prices to customers in other states – states that have not made the investment that Oklahoma has – are considerably higher.

Competition is a greater challenge in today’s curriculum development arena than it was in 1967.

“There’s a lot of curriculum out there, now,” Sadler said. “We are looking for the ‘training holes’ to fill for industry. Because of that, we are involved in many industry partnerships. Teams direct the curriculum development and are comprised of instructors, industry representatives, a project manager and one or more writers.

“We have changed from employing subject-matter specialists to technical communication generalists,” she said. “Industry now tells us what people need to know in jobs/careers. It’s not just one subject matter expert’s opinion. This approach allows us to provide many more career choices for Oklahomans.”