CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

Data Driven: CTSOs Are Key to Engagement, Achievement

The more students participate in career and technical student organization (CTSO) activities, the higher their academic motivation, academic engagement, grades, career self-efficacy, college aspirations and employability skills.[i]

For CTE Month, let’s celebrate the important role CTSOs play in engaging and preparing students for their futures. The finding above is from original research published by the National Research Center for CTE that compared high school students in CTE classes with a CTSO, CTE classes without a CTSO and non-CTE classes. The researchers found a positive association between CTSO participation and a wide variety of college and career readiness indicators.

When meeting with policymakers, pair this research with success stories from CTSO students in your school or district. Highlight their academic achievement, technical and employability skills, and postsecondary and workforce plans or attainment. Better yet, bring these students to meet policymakers! You can also remind legislators that CTSO activities are often eligible for funding through the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. Therefore, the benefits these organizations provide are dependent on continuing support for Perkins.

You can access CTE facts and figures online any time you need them with ACTE Fact Sheets.

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[i] Alfeld et al., Looking Inside the Black Box: The Value Added by Career and Technical Student Organizations to Students’ High School Experience, National Research Center for CTE, 2007.

OCTAE Tackles Adult Skill Deficiencies

The need to upskill adults is the focus of a new Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE) report.

Encouraged by the recent OECD Survey of Adult Skills and informed by the White House’s Ready to Work report and elements of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), OCTAE has been spearheading a national response to adult skill deficiencies through a full-year study and engagement with key stakeholders. Making Skills Everyone’s Business: A Call to Transform Adult Learning in the United States recommends seven strategies for improving adult skills—recommendations not focused on specific agencies or policies, but founded in cross-collaboration:

1. Act collectively to raise awareness and take joint ownership of solutions.
2. Transform opportunities for youth and adults to assess, improve and use foundation skills: Methods include competency-based models, online delivery and other options that are flexible and/or accelerated.
3. Make career pathways available and accessible in every community: The report cites the joint letter between the Departments of Education, Labor and Health and Human Services supporting career pathways. It also describes the OCTAE Moving Pathways Forward project, as well as its Advancing Career and Technical Education project to provide technical assistance and coaching to five states to build the capacity to integrate CTE programs of study within their career pathways systems.
4. Ensure that all students have access to highly effective teachers, leaders and programs: The publication suggests professional development that supports teachers with evidence-based instructional techniques, best practices for teaching online and the latest industry-specific knowledge and skills.
5. Create a “no wrong door” approach for youth and adult services:  To support the goal of people receiving the help they need, no matter where they enter the system, cross-collaboration is again encouraged, such as through the WIOA unified state plan.
6. Engage employers to support upskilling more front-line workers: Apprenticeships and on-the-job training are key methods outlined here.  
7. Commit to closing the equity gap for vulnerable subpopulations.

The publication features a number of local, state and national examples of initiatives that support these recommendations.

How Do States Form Perkins Consortia?

An analysis of consortia formation under Perkins Title I conducted by the National Innovation Center for CTE (NCICTE) found that consortia—collaborative groups of Perkins subgrantees—are more prevalent on the secondary level and, in 2009-10, received 22 percent of Perkins Title I grants on the secondary level.

The current Perkins Act allows local school districts and postsecondary institutions to join with other grantees in consortia if they are not large enough to qualify for a minimum grant or if they feel they can more efficiently deliver CTE services by partnering with other grantees. Authors Sandra Staklis and Steve Klein found that almost 60 percent of secondary and about 10 percent of postsecondary subgrantees were part of consortia in 2009-10. In addition, consortia are more likely to be in rural areas, to have fewer students than stand-alone subgrantees and to include a mixture of secondary subgrantees with higher and lower allocations.

The report also explains that almost all consortia are either on the secondary or the postsecondary level; only two states require or encourage consortia with secondary and postsecondary participants. The Department of Education has proposed that, in future reauthorizations of Perkins, secondary-postsecondary consortia be mandatory to receive Perkins funding. However, many in the CTE community are concerned that mandatory consortia could undermine partnerships that have already been developed.The NCICTE researchers note that states and programs have created effective partnerships outside of Perkins consortia for collaboration, secondary-postsecondary alignment and responding to industry needs.

You can learn more about this issue with the NCICTE’s Training Center module on consortia formation. Three of 5 units in this training module are published, with two more to come. Unit 1 provides a national overview, while units 2-4 profile six states that are taking differing approaches to allocating their Perkins IV funds. The last unit will be a live webinar with researchers and state representatives.

 

Department of Labor Highlights Program Alignment in WIOA Guidance Letter

Earlier this year, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that draft regulations expected in January would be delayed until later in the spring, at which point several different Notices of Proposed Rulemaking will be released.

In absence of the expected regulations, however, work continues on WIOA implementation. Last week, DOL issued Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 19-14, which provides an overview of implementation activity. The TEGL includes three purpose statements; it:

• lays out the department’s vision for a revitalized transformed workforce system as a result of implementation
• encourages workforce system leaders and partners to take action now to support successful implementation to fully realize the vision of WIOA
• provides an overview of upcoming guidance and technical assistance to support effective implementation

In presenting the department’s vision, three key ideas are presented:

• The needs of business and workers drive workfroce solutions.
• One-stop Centers (or American Job Centers) provide excellent customer service to jobseekers and employers and focus on continuous improvement.
• The workforce system supports strong regional economies and plays an active role in community and workforce development.

Throughout these vision statements, strategies such as work-based learning, career pathways, sector partnerships and apprenticeships are highlighted. Shifting to the process of implementation, the department emphasizes alignment across programs and with economic development needs, more strategic investments, data-driven decision making, and strengthening partnerships, including with CTE educators and programs under Perkins.

Most of the WIOA provisions (with the exception of the accountability system and some state plan requirements) will take effect in Program Year 2015, which starts on July 1. In addition to the expected Notices of Proposed Rulemaking, additional guidance, including Operating Instructions, will be issued this spring by DOL. The latest information on WIOA implementation can be found at www.doleta.gov/WIOA. 

ACTE Joins Thousands of Organizations in Fighting Cuts to NDD

Recently, NDD United, a coalition of national organizations working together to protect nondefense discretionary (NDD) funding, sent this letter signed by more than 2,100 national, state and local organizations to Congress and the president urging them to work together to replace sequestration with a balanced approach to deficit reduction.

NDD programs, like Perkins, affect millions of Americans and have been impacted by cuts resulting from sequestration and reductions in funding levels in recent years. Despite the wide range of important services provided through NDD programs, they represent less than one fifth of the federal budget and have been subject to disproportionate cuts in recent years as lawmakers work to reduce the deficit.  The continued threat of cuts to NDD funding has been the focus of the coalition and prompted thousands of stakeholders from across the country to send this letter. The letter emphasizes the importance of NDD programs, the harmful effects of budget cuts to date, and the need to protect defense and nondefense programs equally. ACTE has been an active member of NDD United since its creation in 2012 to ensure that our nation’s investment in CTE is protected from harmful cuts. A copy of the letter is available here.

Leaders Nationwide Recognize CTE Month

As CTE Month continues throughout February, ACTE members, students and policymakers have been doing their part to build awareness of and recognition for CTE programs across the country. Earlier this month, Congressmen Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Jim Langevin (D-RI) took to the House floor to provide remarks recognizing CTE Month and discussing their work as the House CTE Caucus co-chairs. In addition, we’ve seen other organizations including our partners at NCCER and Smartbrief stepping up to get the word out, and there are news articles coming in every day from across the country about the work ACTE members are doing to recognize classroom innovators in their communities.

Another important stakeholder to reach out to during CTE Month is your state’s governor. We were thrilled to hear that both Governors Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) and David Ige (D-HI) have recently conducted activities to recognize CTE Month in their state. Governor McAuliffe met with students from SkillsUSA and DECA on February 14, to sign a formal proclamation recognizing February as CTE Month, while Governor Ige issued a proclamation recognizing Leeward Community College’s CTE programs’ “outstanding contribution to [Hawaii].” In doing so, both Ige and McAuliffe have brought important public attention to CTE in their states and helped to build support for these vital programs’ role in preparing students for college and career success.

There’s still time left to recognize the classroom innovators in your community this CTE Month! To access ACTE’s sample proclamation or learn about other ways you can get involved, click here.

States Recognize Career-ready Measures

An Achieve publication reviewing states’ progress in college and career readiness, while heavy on the college, does not neglect measures of career-ready progress such as CTE diplomas and endorsements. As the report notes, some states make these awards available to students who meet criteria such as completing a career pathway, participating in work-based learning, attaining an industry certification and/or earning college credit in a CTE field of study.

The paper applauds states that are paying attention to career as well as college readiness, and references ACTE’s definition of career readiness—a three-pronged approach including academic skills; employability skills such as critical thinking and teamwork; and technical, job-specific skills—as described in our paper, What is “Career Ready”?.  

State policies that recognize CTE as a rigorous pathway to graduation are increasingly prevalent, according to State Policies Impacting CTE: 2014 Year in Review. ACTE recently released this publication, co-authored with NASDCTEc, to provide an overview on state CTE policy trends in 2014 as well as a state-by-state deep dive on relevant legislation and other action.

Report Finds American Millennials Ill-Equipped for Global Workforce Competitiveness

On Tuesday, February 17, the Education Testing Service (ETS) released a new report titled, America’s Skills Challenge: Millennials and the Future. The report specifically examines the performance of “millennials” (individuals born after 1980) on assessments included in the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), which is conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development to measure “key cognitive and workplace skills needed for individuals to participate in society and economies to prosper.” The report data indicates that millennials in the United States are significantly less equipped with basic adult skills necessary for college and career success than their global peers, ranking last in numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments among the 22 countries included in the study.

In addition, the report notes that increased educational attainment among millennials does not correlate to higher performance on the assessments, however, millennials whose highest level of educational attainment was high school or less fared among the poorest in every participating country. Irwin Kirsch, Director of ETS’s Center for Global Assessment, stated in a press release that, “If we expect to have a better educated population and a more competitive workforce, policymakers and other stakeholders will need to shift the conversation from one of educational attainment to one that acknowledges the growing importance of skills.”

CTE plays a critical component in skills education by providing students with the contextualized learning and practical application opportunities they need to succeed in college and careers. To learn about how you can build awareness and support for CTE, visit the ACTE Advocacy Toolkit here.

Employers Spend $600 Billion Each Year to Educate Workers

A Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce analysis of programs across education institutions, government services and employers finds that $1.1 trillion is spent each year on education and training beyond K-12: about 60 percent through formal programs (including postsecondary education, apprenticeships and certification training, federal job training and employer-provided training) and almost 40 percent through informal, on-the-job training.

According to the report, employers spend $177 billion annually for formal education programs for their employees—up more than a quarter since 1994—and $413 billion for on-the-job training. Taken together, employers spend more on training and education than all other sources.

Most of these formal training dollars are spent on workers who already have postsecondary credentials, indicating that employer training programs are rarely a substitute for education beyond high school.

In addition, within employer-provided formal training, one-third is contracted out to colleges or other providers, 16 percent goes to tuition reimbursements and 46 percent is in-house training. As you probably know, community colleges are doing great work in supporting local businesses through providing formal education to their employees.  

Ask Your Senators to Sign the CTE Month Resolution

Happy CTE Month! Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rob Portman (R-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA), co-chairs of the Senate CTE Caucus, have invited their colleagues to sign a resolution officially recognizing February as CTE Month in the United States. We need your help to encourage your Senators to sign the resolution, so our leaders in Congress will be aware of CTE Month and the many benefits that CTE programs bring to America’s students!

Take action by contacting your Members of Congress using the CTE Action Center or by phone through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and tell them to add their name to the resolution to officially recognize February as CTE Month!