Sessions of 2026 Connection Conference: Kimberly McCroy
McCroy, Kimberly, NBCT, M.Ed.
Premier Series Instructor
Pima County JTED #11
Currently serving as a Professional Development Specialist at Pima Joint Technical Education (CTED), Kimberly is dedicated to empowering CTE teachers, fostering professional growth, and driving transformative change within Career and Technical Education. As a Premier Series presenter, Kimberly brings a unique blend of expertise and innovation to her role, inspiring CTE educators through engaging presentations and collaborative initiatives. Holding a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) designation, Kimberly is committed to elevating teaching practices and fostering excellence within the educational community. Utilizing her MEd from Northern Arizona University, Kimberly collaborates with CTE teachers and administrators across the state, leveraging her specialized knowledge to enhance educational outcomes. Outside of work, she enjoys exploring nature with her husband, three children, and two dogs.
Sessions:
[5750] Premier Series: Grading & Assessments
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Westin La Paloma
- Education and Training
- Interdisciplinary
Assessing and grading are two different actions. Learn a variety of formative and summative assessment techniques. A major focus is how to assess student work using rubrics. This class will help you create a clear grading policy and develop a variety of ways to assess student learning. How should students in CTE be assessed? How do we set up a fair grading system for both teachers and students? Learn about the wide variety of options that address both of these issues to help you develop both your own philosophy for grading as well as effective strategies for multiple ways to assess student learning and progress. You will also leave with a greater understanding of how to align testing and evaluation to your course outcomes and grading policies that will increase effective feedback for students. Upon successful completion of the course, which includes submission of homework, participants will receive an ADE certificate for 15 professional development clock hours which equates to one (1) semester hour of coursework.
[5753] Premier Series: Rubrics to Increase Student Success
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Westin La Paloma
- Education and Training
- Interdisciplinary
CTE courses are driven by student-created projects. Rubrics are an evaluation tool that can increase the quality of those student projects while simultaneously giving the teacher a quicker, fairer way to assess their quality. Come to this workshop with one or two student projects that you would like to assess more easily, and you will leave with an excellent rubric that you personalized for your classroom and the confidence and skills to create additional rubrics for the other student projects in your curriculum. Upon successful completion of the course which includes submission of homework, participants will receive an ADE certificate for 15 professional development clock hours which equates to one (1) semester hour of coursework.
[5477] AI-Driven CTSO Solutions
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Loews Ventana Canyon
- Administration
- Interdisciplinary
How much time are you spending on CTSO logistics and paperwork instead of building students' leadership skills for the future—and wouldn't you prefer that balance to flip next school year? Discover how innovative use of artificial intelligence can transform career and technical student leadership. This session will explore best practices for leveraging student organization support to reduce teacher workload, streamline program monitoring, and enhance overall program success. Attendees will gain practical strategies to harness cutting-edge AI tools that simplify compliance, improve efficiency, and empower student leaders, freeing teachers and administrators to focus on driving innovation and growth. Join us to learn how to modernize your career and technical student organization (CTSO) with proven approaches that deliver measurable impact.
[5494] Results, Respond, Improve
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Loews Ventana Canyon
- Interdisciplinary
Join this session to learn simple, practical ways to respond when a test shows your students’ performance is not meeting industry expectations. We will start by looking at what your results tell you in combination with what classroom observations add. Together these results give a clearer picture about how responding to results is both an art and a science. Then we will show easy, classroom-ready ways to act on that information. The main activity uses realistic CTE data scenarios: work in small teams to read results, pick responses, create a one-week plan, and leave with steps you can use right away. Great for CTE teachers who want straightforward, usable strategies to help students improve.
[5478] Take Your Teaching to the Next Level
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Loews Ventana Canyon
- Administration
Discover the impact of National Board Certification on Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. Board-certified teachers, proven to advance student learning, contribute significantly to increased achievement—equating to an extra one to two months of instruction. This session explores how CTE administrators can harness these benefits for their schools. Uncover the profound impact of National Board Certification on teacher effectiveness and retention, supported by robust research. Join us to understand how integrating certified educators into your CTE faculty enhances student outcomes and cultivates a culture of excellence in your program.
