CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

President Signs STEM Education Bill

The STEM Education Act, a bipartisan effort by members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, was signed into law by the president last week. The legislation establishes a definition for STEM education, specifically incorporating computer science among science, technology, engineering and math subjects, for the purposes of providing funding opportunities that support STEM education through federal agencies like the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Department of Energy and NASA.  This will not impact grant funding provide thought the U.S. Department of Education. The new law directs NSF to continue to award competitive grants for STEM education programs in afterschool or “informal” STEM learning environments, which may include libraries, museums and science centers. Additionally, it expands the educator recruitment and training grants under the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program to include eligible computer science teachers. Many states already include computer science in their STEM education efforts, as well as STEM-focused CTE programs.

Who Takes Noncredit Courses?

Recent research adds to our limited knowledge on noncredit community college students and coursework.

Based on a sample of almost 400,000 course enrollments across nine institutions in one state community college system, analysts from the Community College Research Center determined that about 38 percent of enrollment is in noncredit courses. Nearly half of these enrollments are in occupational courses, rather than adult basic skills or English as a second language, and the most common fields of study are health care, business and protective services.

In addition, the research indicates that noncredit students are typically a bit different than for-credit students: usually older, from a lower socioeconomic background and attending school part time.

Interestingly, noncredit occupational courses have a similar completion rate as for-credit courses—76 versus 78 percent in the researchers’ sample. These high completion rates may indicate that most noncredit students are getting what they need from their noncredit CTE courses. However, the 8 percent of noncredit students who intended to transfer to for-credit education did not have much success in doing so.  

Bipartisan Senators Introduce Legislation to Strengthen Opportunities for CTE Teacher Preparation

Last week, a bipartisan group of Senators took steps to strengthen pathways to the classroom for new CTE teachers by reintroducing the Creating Quality Technical Educators Act. The legislation, introduced by Senate CTE Caucus Co-chairs Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), would create new opportunities for schools to recruit and train professionals for critical CTE educator positions that schools nationwide struggle to fill. By expanding eligibility to the Higher Education Act’s (HEA) Teacher Quality Partnership Grants for partnerships of high-need secondary schools and postsecondary CTE teacher preparation programs, the legislation would create new teacher residency programs that bring new professionals into CTE classrooms and ensure that they are prepared for success.

"The Association for Career and Technical Education applauds Senators Kaine, Portman, Baldwin and Capito for the reintroduction of the Creating Quality Technical Educators Act," ACTE Executive Director LeAnn Wilson said in her statement endorsing the bill. "Their efforts will pave the way for the development of a new generation of educators, while helping to address our nation's critical shortage of CTE professionals... We urge Congress to adopt this legislation as part of a comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education Act."

The legislation utilizes existing funds under HEA, and requires that a needs assessment is conducted of participating secondary institutions to ensure that grant recipients will fulfill the needs of local communities. Furthermore, the legislation would deliver ongoing support for these new teachers by providing mentorship and professional development opportunities in addition to pedagogical and technical training. To learn more, click here to access the full press release on Sen. Kaine’s website.

Senator Portman Pens Op/Ed on Manufacturing Skills Gap

Earlier this week, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) published an op/ed in the Piqua Daily Call on the challenges facing Ohio’s manufacturing sector, including the growing national skills gap, and strategies he is pursuing in the Senate to overcome them. Portman noted the concerns he has heard from his constituents about the disconnect between the careers available in Ohio (many of which are in advanced manufacturing) and the more than 250,000 individuals who are currently looking for work. Portman cites these concerns as motivation for his work on the Senate CTE Caucus and on legislation to strengthen our nation’s CTE systems and close the skills gap, including the ACTE-endorsed Educating Tomorrow’s Workforce Act.

“My Educating Tomorrow’s Workforce Act would allow Ohio to create more schools like Max Hayes [High School, a career academy] and is a step in the right direction toward helping all young Americans acquire the skills they need to connect with a job,” Portman writes. “Among other things, this legislation would allow states and localities to use Perkins grant funding to establish CTE-focused academies like Max Hayes.”

Policymakers and other education stakeholders often draft op/eds like Senator Portman’s to express their views on pressing issues in the news and their ideas for solutions. To learn more about the Educating Tomorrow’s Workforce Act, click here, and click here to learn how you can draft your own op/eds!

More Students Stacking Credentials

More students in recent years are getting multiple postsecondary credentials, including certificates and degrees, while the percentage of students earning their first undergraduate credential has dropped.

According to the National Student Clearinghouse, the percentage of undergraduates getting their first credential dropped from 75 percent in 2011 to 71 percent in 2014, while the percentage of students getting an additional credential increased from 25 to 29 percent.

It’s not clear from the data how many students are earning additional credentials in a new field, and how many students are “stacking” credentials in the same career area. However, it’s likely stackable credentials are fueling part of this increase. 

In addition, you can find updated statistics on CTE students online from the National Center for Education Statistics. Data highlights include:

• About 13 percent of 2- and 3-credit CTE concentrators who graduated high school in 2004 had earned a postsecondary credential in the same career field by 2012, while 38 and 35 percent respectively had earned a credential in a different field.
• High school CTE concentrators who graduated in 2004 were more likely in 2012 to be employed in the following fields: business operations, management and administrative support; education and library, community, social, legal and protective services; health care practitioners, technicians and support; and installation, maintenance, repair, transportation and materials moving.       
• High school CTE concentrators who graduated in 2004 were earning more in 2012 than non-concentrators, at the certificate and associate’s degree level of educational attainment.
• 30 percent of 2004 high school graduates have a license or industry certification.

White House Releases Details on Reach Higher Mobile App Challenge

During the White House event celebrating CTE innovation this summer, First Lady Michelle Obama announced that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and her office’s Reach Higher Initiative would partner to launch a mobile app development competition to create a tool for students to learn more about career pathways and their educational options. Earlier this week, ED released further details on the challenge and the process for submissions, as well as the availability of $225,000 in prizes for the top entries.

“Now, we all know that to succeed in today’s world, our young people will need more than just a high school diploma,” the First Lady said in a video message about the challenge. “And career and technical education, or CTE, is one of the best ways for young people to learn cutting edge skills and prepare themselves for the jobs of the future. That’s why I’m proud to launch the Reach Higher career app challenge to help students across the country find a CTE program that fits with their passions and their career goals.”

Those entering the competition must create a mobile application that can help others learn more about career options and the educational path that aspiring professionals must pursue to succeed. Entries will be judged by a panel of expert stakeholders from the business, education and technology communities based on a series of criteria, such as the app’s content, scalability and differentiation from other tools already in existence.

The top five submissions will each receive $25,000, and the grand prize winner will receive an additional $100,000. Submissions must be received before December 6, 2015, and finalists will be announced in February just in time for CTE Month! To learn more about the challenge, visit its official website here.

17 States Join CCSSO Career Readiness Project

Seventeen states have signed up for a Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) initiative to support and expand CTE and career pathways. Based on CCSSO Career Readiness Task Force recommendations, the initiative will focus on CTE and career pathway rigor, labor market responsiveness and business partnerships, and incorporating career readiness into accountability systems.

The 17 states are working on detailed plans to implement task force recommendations, including state accountability indicators for career pathways, work-based learning and credentials. The participating states are California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

In addition, all states will able to benefit from an online CCSSO resource center with case studies, self-assessment tools, best practices and communications materials.

Sec. Duncan Leaving Department of Education

Friday, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that he will step down from his position at the end of the year. Duncan is one of the last remaining members of President Obama’s original cabinet—holding the top post at the department since 2009. Prior to joining the Administration, Duncan served as the chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools for seven years. Duncan will be replaced by John B. King Jr., who has been overseeing preschool-12 policy at the department in the role of deputy secretary since January 2015. King is also the former commissioner of education for the state of New York. ACTE’s statement on Sec. Duncan’s announcement is available here.

During his tenure at the department, Duncan has lead the Administration’s efforts on Race to the Top and other competitive education grant competitions, providing states with ESEA flexibility waivers, implementing new regulations in higher education, and promoting early-childhood education. In his remarks at ACTE’s Career Tech VISION 2013, Duncan discussed the importance of CTE. “We know high-quality CTE is a great strategy to bring learning alive for all students across America's increasingly diverse student population. It is hands-on, it is engaging, and it is relevant,” said Duncan. “CTE students want to come to school, and they want to succeed. They know why their education is important to them.”

The Future of the HVACR Workforce

With an estimated 21 percent growth in jobs through 2022 and 115,000 new workers needed, heating, air conditioning, ventilation and refrigeration (HVACR) occupations are a great bet for students.

According to a recent, comprehensive series of reports on supply and demand in the HVACR profession from the HVACR Workforce Development Foundation, for which ACTE provided information and feedback, job postings in HVACR advertise salaries of almost $50,000 per year, and these jobs stay open 12 percent longer than similarly skilled jobs. Given this demand, how is our nation developing its supply of HVACR-trained workers?

To answer this, one of the three reports, The Next Generation of HVACR Installers and Technicians, digs into the results of an online survey of HVACR instructors across secondary, postsecondary and union/corporate programs. The findings pinpoint several difficulties that HVACR teachers encounter:

• recruitment challenges
• students that lack key skills
• confusing certification, licensing and degree options
• difficulty keeping current with the industry
• variable quality of employer partnerships

On the positive side, many HVACR students have positive outcomes. For instance, 67 percent obtain professional certifications, while 56 percent are employed in HVACR within a few months of completion. However, these numbers leave room for improvement.

The report concludes with several recommendations:

• Ensure sustained, in-depth and high-quality professional development, including developing a database of qualified HVACR professional development providers and supporting industry involvement in professional development
• Streamline credentials, through the creation of a universal set of standards for a uniform HVACR license and the investigation of alternative routes to the HVACR workforce
• Improve programs and student qualifications, through enhanced work-based learning and aligned standards

ACTE Continues Advocacy on Competitive Food Rules on Capitol Hill

ACTE recently provided comments to the House Education and the Workforce Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee on the reauthorization of federal child nutrition programs. As we have previously reported, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 authorized the federal government to issue new nutritional standards for schools nationwide. In addition to creating enhanced requirements for reimbursable meals sold in school cafeterias, the law also established the first-ever national nutritional standard for “competitive foods” sold in schools, which went into effect in the 2014-15 school year. These regulations not only impact foods sold in vending machines, a la carte lines and school stores, but also CTE programs that operate school-based enterprises, such as student-run cafés, bakeries and restaurants.

In June, the House Education and the Workforce Committee held hearings on a range of topics being considered in this reauthorization, including regulatory compliance issues, additional administrative burdens and costs for school districts associated with the new rules, and concerns about food waste. With certain provisions in the law expiring on September 30, it was expected that both chambers would work to pass a bill this fall. The Senate Agriculture Committee had planned to unveil its reauthorization bill for a committee markup in September, but that bill has not yet been released and the markup has been indefinitely postponed. Despite the inaction, the committee’s chairman remains optimistic about producing a bill with bipartisan support. “I am continuing negotiations with Ranking Member [Debbie] Stabenow to get a bipartisan, budget-neutral agreement to move forward with child nutrition reauthorization,” said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS). However, his counterparts in the House have also been unable to move a reauthorization proposal forward. No draft legislation has been publicly released by the Education and the Workforce Committee, and they have no plans to hold further hearings on the subject. For now, reauthorization efforts on Capitol Hill remain at a standstill.