CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

Research Round-up: Annual Survey on U.S. Perceptions of Higher Education, Informing Policymakers About Quality Credentials, Student Outcomes in Indiana and Minnesota CTE Programs

Annual State Higher Education Finance Report: The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association recently released their annual State Higher Education Finance report. It includes policy decisions affecting higher education funding levels and funding distribution levels both statewide and nationally. Between 2019 and 2020, some of the key findings of the researchers include: 

• There was a 0.6% decline in full-time student enrollment, with the declines concentrated in community colleges (even before the impact of COVID) 
• Appropriations to higher education institutions increased in 41 states and DC, however the increases have not been large enough to make up for the decline in appropriations during the last two recessions.  
• Student financial aid increased by 7%, with 33 states awarding more aid to students attending four-year institutions. 

Annual Survey on U.S. Perceptions of Higher Education: New America published their fifth annual survey on American’s perceptions of the value of higher education. Some of the relevant findings include: 

• Approximately 80% of respondents believe education after high school offers a good return on investment. 
• Over half of the respondents believe the quality of online classes is as good as in-person classes, and the majority of respondents believe online classes should be cheaper. 
• 96% of all respondents believe it is important for higher education institutions to provide public data on student outcomes. 
• 41% of respondents believe some form of tuition-free college option should be a priority. 

New Advocacy Resource for Dual/Concurrent Enrollment and Early College: The first in a series of fact sheets, published by the College in High School Alliance, provides talking points for advocates to use when working with policymakers to highlight the benefits of dual enrollment, concurrent enrollment and early college high school for students, high schools, colleges, the workforce and states. The fact sheet is accompanied by a plain text document that can be adapted or modified to match the purpose of your meeting when advocating. 

Informing Policymakers about Quality Credentials: Credential Engine released a new policy brief on actionable steps for state leaders to take to make information about quality credentials more accessible and valuable to policymakers, legislators and/or education leaders. In order to increase the value of credentials and communicate the effectiveness of credentials to policymakers, researchers describe five key components that are needed, including: 

• Common definitions of educational outcomes and ways to measure them.  
• Consistent language describing the outcomes data that learners, employers and policymakers use to judge the quality of programs.  
• Frameworks that provide the tools, resources and measures to gauge quality.  
• Platforms and policies that can incentivize programs that provide quality credentials.  
• State leaders to align the pieces of this work to serve learners and employers.  

A Global Perspective on Microcredentials: Microcredentials are becoming more popular globally and will likely be a large component of postsecondary education world-wide, according to a report from the Nondegree Credential Research Network. The researchers found that the credentials that are particularly in-demand are those in IT, business, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing and health care programs. The researchers also identify key successes as well as challenges associated with these microcredentialing programs around the world.   

Analyzing Student Outcomes in Indiana and Minnesota CTE Programs: The Regional Education Laboratory Midwest, part of the Institute of Education Sciences, examined the education and workforce outcomes of high school graduates in Indiana and Minnesota to determine the outcomes CTE concentrators compared to graduates that did not take these courses. The researchers found: 

• Rural students were more likely to be concentrators compared to urban and suburban students. 
• Concentrators were more likely to enroll in two-year colleges compared to non-concentrators. 
• In the first five years after high school, concentrators were employed at higher rates and had higher earnings compared to students who took fewer CTE courses or non-concentrator students. 

ACTION ALERT – Ask Your Rep. to Support Robust Funding for CTE in FY22!

Following the release of President Biden’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 budget request, congressional appropriators in the House will begin consideration of the Administration’s funding priorities later this month. While the Perkins Basic State Grant Program received a $20 million increase over the FY 2021 enacted level, this increase is smaller than included in FY 2021 and not enough to meet the growing needs of CTE programs as the country emerges from the pandemic. We need your help to put pressure on your representatives for a more robust increase to the Perkins Basic State Grant and keep up the fight for CTE!

Your advocacy has been instrumental in securing funding increases for CTE for the past several years, and your voice is critical to ensuring policymakers in Washington understand the many benefits of high-quality CTE programs.

The House of Representatives is expected to begin its appropriations markup process on June 24, 2021, so now is the time to act!

ACTION NEEDED:

• If your representative IS a member of the House Appropriations Committee, CLICK HERE to send a letter asking them to support additional funding to strengthen CTE.
• If your representative IS NOT a member of the House Appropriations Committee, CLICK HERE to send a letter asking them to contact the Appropriations Committee and express their support for additional funding to strengthen CTE.

Additionally, if you have met with a staff member during NPS or at another time and have a direct contact, feel free to call or email directly rather than using the Action Center link. You can also call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and an operator will connect you to your requested House office. Please contact your representative today!

Senate Passes China Competitiveness Bill Without Short-Term Pell Provision

On Tuesday, the Senate passed a sweeping proposal that would provide more than $200 billion to aid American manufacturing, technology, research and development, in an effort to quell China’s growing economic influence worldwide.

As we reported last week, an amendment introduced by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Rob Portman (R-OH) that would expand Pell Grants to short-term CTE programs was accepted into a larger package of amendments that was closely negotiated between party leadership. The goal was to have them included into the larger manager’s amendment offered by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), by making a simple unanimous consent (UC) procedural request, then passing everything in the final bill. Unfortunately, the package that included the short-term Pell amendment was defeated when Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) objected to the UC request offered by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and the bill moved on to final passage without the amendment package.

Although the short-term Pell amendment, one of ACTE’s top priorities, was not ultimately included, there was another provision that was included in the bill related to dual enrollment. The provision would create a new grant program that would provide states with grants to expand STEM pathways for high school students into postsecondary education through expanding advanced coursework like dual enrollment and early college. The program is a re-write of the state grant component of the Fast Track to and Through College Act introduced by Senators Hassan (D-NH) and Young (R-IN), which ACTE publicly endorsed. The original bill has been changed by focusing the funding on expanding STEM pathways and removing the provisions around expanding Pell eligibility for high school students taking dual enrollment. 

Next Steps

The House is expected to take up the proposal in late June or July and it is likely to be split into smaller pieces rather than as one package. Past that, it is unclear whether House leadership will write their own version of the legislation or take the more tradition route of trying to negotiate the differences between the chambers through a conference committee. As for the short-term Pell amendment, there is no indication as of now if the House plans on trying to include it in their version of the legislation, or if the Senate tries to revive it in conference or pursue another vehicle. Continue to check the CTE Policy Watch Blog for any updates related to the bill and for any advocacy requests in an effort to include short-term Pell in the final proposal.

DC Digest: May 31-June 6

Congress was out of session last week, but that did not mean that it was a slow week in DC. There was continued focus on the Administration’s budget release, and continued negotiations on infrastructure dominated most of the week. A number of proposals were discussed, however, there has yet to be any consensus between the Administration and Republicans in Congress. Here are a few other notes from last week: 

• Democrats Introduce Highway Bill: On Friday, House Democrats introduced a five-year, $547 billion highway bill that would potentially be included into the ongoing infrastructure talks. The bill would boost funding to projects to fix bridges and roads, increase funding for rail systems and build electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and contains a few workforce development-related provisions. This could become the foundation of a broader infrastructure proposal in the House, depending on the progress of negotiations.  

• Department of Education Releases COVID-19 Handbook for Higher Education: On Friday, the Department of Education released the third volume of their COVID-19 handbook, Strategies for Safe Operation and Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education Students, Faculty, and Staff. This latest volume provides strategies for higher education institutions to safely and equitably reopen institutions for in-person learning. The Handbook highlights ways to mitigate and prevent the spread of COVID-19 on campuses, as well as strategies to utilize relief bill funding for student needs, boost vaccination efforts and address inequities brought on by the pandemic. 

• Department of Education Launches COVID-19 College Challenge: The Department of Education announced details on the COVID-19 College Challenge, a challenge intended to encourage postsecondary institutions to get students, faculty and staff vaccinated. This move is part of President Biden’s goal of getting 70% of the U.S. population vaccinated by July 4th. In addition, efforts are underway to establish vaccine clinics on community college campuses.  

• Senators Request Update on Student Loan Repayment Freeze: Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the ranking members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and House Education and Labor Committee, sent a letter to Education Secretary Cardona requesting and update on the Department of Education’s plan to transition student loan borrowers from the repayment freeze in effect during the COVID-19 pandemic to an active repayment status. The committee members urged the Department not to continue the payment freeze.  

Research Round-up: 2021 Condition of Education Report, Positive Impacts from Accelerated College Credit Programs, Transfer Enrollment Trends in Postsecondary Education

2021 Condition of Education Report Released: The Institute of Education Sciences recently released the 2021 Condition of Education. This annual report contains key indicators for all levels of education, labor market outcomes and international comparisons. The biggest changes in the report this year include two spotlight indicators to examine the preliminary educational impacts of COVID-19 on online learning and on secondary and postsecondary education. Key findings from the report include: 

• Two-thirds of K-12 students used online resources in a distance learning environment in September 2020. 
• In 2018-19, the average cohort graduation rate for high school students was 86%, the highest rate since first measured in 2011. 
• 66% of 2019 high school graduates enrolled in postsecondary education. 

Report on Inequalities in Access to Technology: A new report from the Institute of Higher Education Policy examined polling data from New America and Third Way to highlight the inequalities different student populations face regarding technological challenges. The disparities in access to technology, such as lack of reliable internet access and sharing devices with others in the same household, disproportionately affect students of color, students from low-income backgrounds and students who are caretakers, which limits the learners’ ability to participate in higher education opportunities. To overcome these barriers so all students have access to high-quality education, the researchers provide recommendations for higher education intuitions and the U.S. Department of Education. The recommendations are: 

• Including technology costs in financial aid and cost of attendance 
• Collecting and publishing disaggregated data on student access to reliable internet and technology 
• Strengthening broadband and technology supports for students 

Positive Impacts from Accelerated College Credit Programs: Accelerated college credit programs have positive effects on student outcomes in Rhode Island, according to a new study from the Institute of Education Sciences' Regional Educational Laboratory Program. To understand the effect of these programs on high school completion rates and postsecondary outcomes, the researchers analyzed participation in dual enrollment, concurrent enrollment and AP testing programs using data from the 2013-14 9th grade student cohort in the state. They found that almost half of all students participated in at least one accelerated college credit program, however, students of color, male and lower income students were underrepresented in these programs. Another finding showed overall statistically significant, positive effects of participating in accelerated college credit options on students’ graduation rates, enrollment in postsecondary institutions and avoiding enrollment in developmental education courses during the first year of postsecondary education.  

New Transfer Enrollment Trends in Postsecondary Education: Transfer enrollment in postsecondary institutions declined during COVID-19, according to a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Researchers found that overall enrollment of postsecondary transfer students declined by 10% in spring 2021 compared to a year ago. These transfer declines were largely concentrated in community colleges, which saw a 16.3% decline in transfer enrollment. Four-year institutions only saw a 1.5% decline in enrollment transfers. Upward transfers from community colleges to four-year institutions increased by 1.5%.  

Webinars on Implementation of Practices from Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges: In March of this year, the Institute of Educational Sciences’ What Works Clearinghouse released a practice guide, Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges, that provides community colleges with recommendations for supporting postsecondary occupational skills through career pathways. Since the release of the guide, the Clearinghouse has hosted three of six webinars on the implementation of practices from the guide. The first webinar covered recommendations and strategies from the guide and included the experts who contributed to the guide. The subsequent webinars each cover a practice guide recommendation and feature practitioners sharing their experiences implementing the recommendation. The first recommendation is to intentionally design and structure career pathways to enable students to further their education, secure a job, and advance in employment. The second recommendation is to deliver contextualized or integrated basic skills instruction to accelerate students’ entry into and successful completion of career pathways. Webinars on the third, fourth and fifth recommendations will be released later this year. 

DC Digest: May 24-29

Congress had a busy week last week before a long Memorial Day weekend. The week was capped off on Friday, when President Biden released his full FY 2022 federal budget proposal. The total budget proposal included $6 trillion, including funds for FY 2022 appropriations, as well as a breakdown of proposed spending under the previously released American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan. A $20 million increase was proposed for the Perkins Basic State Grant. You can read more about the proposed budget in our full blog post. Here are a few other notes from last week:  

• Senators Reintroduce Legislation to Increase Student Success and Career Readiness: Co-chairs of the Senate CTE Caucus Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Todd Young (R-IN) reintroduced the Assisting Community Colleges in Educating Skilled Students (ACCESS) to Careers Act. The bill would establish a community college and career training grant program to provide funding for states and community colleges to increase student success and career readiness, such as increasing work-based learning opportunities, ensuring students have access to support services and creating career pathways for in-demand jobs. ACTE supports this legislation.  

• Education Secretary Discusses Importance of Pell Grants for Incarcerated Students: On Tuesday, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona hosted a virtual roundtable discussion with current and former incarcerated students to discuss the importance of Pell Grants. The discussion centered around the students’ stories and potential strategies for providing access to high-quality postsecondary education opportunities to incarcerated students in the future.  

• Department of Education Announces Public Hearings on Postsecondary Regulations: The Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education announced it will host virtual public hearings to receive stakeholder feedback on potential issues for federal rulemaking, including ability to benefit, gainful employment, protections for students, loan repayment, targeted loan cancellation programs and other postsecondary issues. The purpose of this feedback is to help identify topics for the establishment of negotiated rulemaking committees to prepare proposed regulations for programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act. The hearings will be held on June 21, 23 and 24. 

• HELP Committee Holds Labor Nomination Hearings: On Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on the nominations of Rajesh Nayak for Assistant Secretary of Labor for Policy, Taryn Mackenzie Williams for Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy, and Doug Parker for Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. The committee will next vote on whether to confirm these nominees to their respective positions.  

• Education and Labor Committee Holds Hearing on WIOA Reauthorization: On Wednesday, the House Education and Labor Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee held a hearing titled, “Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Reauthorization: Creating Employment Pathways for Dislocated Workers.” The hearing was intended to share strategies to support dislocated workers and help workers avoid future displacement through lifelong learning. 

• Department of Education releases new COVID-19 Funding FAQs: On May 26, the Department of Education released a new set of frequently asked questions for states and school districts related to the use of American Rescue Plan funds for K-12 education, including through the Education and Secondary Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund and the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund. Don’t forget, you can find more info on using these funds to support CTE in our recent publication, “High-quality CTE During COVID-19: Leveraging Federal Relief Funds at the Local Level.” 
   
• Infrastructure Proposal Moves Froward: On Thursday, Senate Republicans made another counteroffer on the Administration’s infrastructure plan, this one totaling about $928 billion, still far short of the president’s goals. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that negotiations have been healthy between Republicans and the White House. Negotiations will continue for now, but a decision will be made soon about whether to continue bi-partisan negotiations or move forward with the proposal in Congress. 

Potential Movement on Short-term Pell

Late last week, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced an amendment to the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, S. 1260, that would expand Pell Grants to short-term CTE programs. The amendment was accepted into a broader, bi-partisan package that could be added to the underlying bill, which is a large proposal designed to counter China's economic competitiveness. Unfortunately, a variety of procedural roadblocks delayed consideration of the bill and this package of amendments. Debate is expected to resume when the Senate reconvenes next week.

The amendment was modeled after the JOBS Act, a bi-partisan bill that had been introduced and championed by these Senators over the past few years. It has been one of ACTE's top policy priorities and this is the closest we have been in quite a while to seeing Pell Grants expanded to short-term programs!

For a full review of the components of the amendment, see this article from Community College Daily. Stay tuned for updates and any action needed as the situation evolves!

President Biden Releases Full FY 2022 Budget Request to Congress

Earlier today, President Biden released his full Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 federal budget proposal. While the Administration had released a “skinny” budget in April, it only included overview information and few specifics. The budget proposal released today includes full details of the Administration’s priorities for both mandatory and discretionary spending, including spending details for both his American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan that were previously released.

Overall, the discretionary request would restore non-defense discretionary funding to 3.3% of GDP, or $769 billion, which is approximately the historical average over the past 30 years. More specifically, the request includes $102.8 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Education, a $29.8 billion or 41% increase over the 2021 enacted level. Further, it includes $14.2 billion for the Department of Labor, a $1.7 billion or 14% increase over the 2021 enacted level.

Many of the largest increases, especially for education, were concentrated on just a few programs, including Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and Pell Grants. A $20 million increase was proposed for the Perkins Basic State Grant, which represents a smaller increase than it received in FY 2021. In addition, the budget included a proposal for an additional $108 million for Perkins National Programs to fund a competitive grant for middle school and high school CTE innovation projects and related technical assistance and evaluation.

In addition, the budget documents outline $1 billion per year in new mandatory funding for the next 10 years as part of the Administration's proposed American Jobs Plan. This would fund a new CTE program to "support the development and implementation of high-quality career pathway programs in middle and high schools, with a priority on programs that connect underrepresented students to STEM and in-demand sectors and help increase the capacity of community colleges to offer high-quality workforce training programs.” It is important to note that this proposal is not likely to be considered through the regular congressional appropriations process, but instead through efforts to pass the American Jobs Plan.    

The president’s budget proposal is not binding, and it will be up to Congress to allocate funds to individual programs through the appropriations process, but is a reflection of the Administration’s priorities for the year and can serve to inform congressional negotiations over spending decisions and new policy proposals.

Specific funding levels relevant to CTE in the Biden Administration’s FY 2022 budget include:

• Perkins Basic State Grant: $1,354,848,000, a $20 million increase over FY 2021
• Perkins National Activities: $115.4 million, a $108 million increase over FY 2021
• Adult Education State Grant: $675 million, the same level as in FY 2021
• Workforce Innovation and Opportunity (WIOA) state grants: $3.7 billion, a $203 million increase above FY 2021 enacted levels
• Federal Work-Study: $1.19 Billion, the same level as in FY 2021
• Registered Apprenticeship Programs: $285 million, a $100 million increase above FY 2021 enacted levels
• Pell Grant: $6,895 maximum grant, a $400 increase above FY21 enacted levels (with an additional $1,475 proposed through the American Jobs Plan, bringing the total to $8,370 for the maximum grant)

We will be releasing more detailed analysis and information soon about how you can advocate with Congress for a more robust increase for the Perkins Basic State Grant, and for the inclusion of CTE-specific resources in the American Jobs Plan. Additional resources on the budget can be viewed on the White House’s website, as well as on the Department of Education’s website.

New Report on Strategies for Improving Equitable Postsecondary Credential Attainment

COVID-19 had a disproportionate, negative impact on employment rates for Black, Hispanic and Native American workers, and a new report from the Community College Research Center seeks to address this impact. Based on interviews with state policymakers, community college leaders and subject experts between November 2020 and January 2021, researchers came up with strategies to address the needs of racial minority postsecondary learners pursing education and training programs for re-employment, better jobs and/or higher incomes.  

The researchers argue that community colleges are the most obvious option for individuals to look at for upskilling and training opportunities leading to employment and higher pay, however, community colleges are struggling, especially since COVID-19, with attracting and retaining Black, Hispanic and Native American adults. Emphasis on job development and placement, providing wraparound support services to learners, and creating an inclusive environment for all leaners are three areas where research has shown community colleges need to improve upon to meet these students’ needs. 

In an effort to rectify these shortcomings, the researchers provide three studies within the report that show promising approaches to addressing these equity challenges, including one on aligning short-term credentials with community college degree programs, one on bundling and sequencing student support services, and a final study on culturally sustaining supports and instruction.  

The first study on aligning short-term credentials with community college degrees examines ways to make short-term programs more equitable, and presents stackable credentials as a solution to these equity challenges. Stackable credentials are certificates or industry certifications that allow students to quickly earn occupation-specific educational credentials over time. Within the report are three best practice examples from Virginia, Wisconsin and Texas to show how these states are creating and scaling opportunities to earn valuable credentials that lead to associate or bachelor’s degrees. 

The second study focuses on student support services, and highlights ways community colleges can improve the design and delivery of advising and support services to aid learners in achieving their education and employment goals. To address the challenges of providing support services, the researchers highlight efforts including bundling—the integrated delivery of academic and nonacademic supports, and sequencing—the aligning of supports with students’ needs through each stage of their college journey, to redesign how they deliver supports. The researchers provide three models of advising and student services frameworks that seem most relevant to Black, Hispanic and Native American learners, and examples of colleges who have implemented these frameworks. 

The final study on culturally sustaining supports and instruction presents strategies for maintaining and building upon a campus environment that intentionally rectifies historical and current discrimination against Black, Hispanic and Native American populations in order to create a welcoming environment. The researchers provide recommendations for creating and maintaining a culturally engaged college environment, case studies of strategies colleges have used, and strategic actions to consider when creating this environment. 

Updated: IT Sector Sheet

ACTE has updated its Sector Sheet on CTE’s role in developing the information technology (IT) workforce with the latest on labor market demand, the role CTE plays in preparing the future IT workforce and exemplary IT programs. 

The demand for IT jobs is growing at a faster rate than occupational demand in other industries. Currently, there are about 5.2 million jobs in IT with an expected increase of at least 15% over the 2020-2030 period. The need for new web applications and enhanced digital security will drive job growth for information security analysts, software and web developers, database administrators, IT support specialists, and software quality assurance analysts and testers. In particular, cybersecurity employment is expected to increase by 31% through the next decade.  

CTE programs are rising to meet the needs of the IT labor market. For instance, on the secondary level, at the Cybersecurity Networking Academy at the Applications and Research Laboratory — Howard County, Maryland’s area CTE center — students learn to analyze and mitigate cyber threats related to hardware, software, operating systems and networking through National CyberWatch Center and Cisco-certified curricula. On the postsecondary level, Green River College in Auburn, Washington, is expanding access to education and careers in software development, cybersecurity, data science and networking to students in the region. Green River College is committed to equity through continuous analysis of program data and practices, flexible scheduling and a partnership with a Tribal college to provide more access to IT education to underserved student populations. 

ACTE’s Sector Sheet series is generously supported by Pearson.