CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

House Education and Appropriations Committee Membership Changes

As we continue to settle into the 117th Congress, committees have been announcing changes to the rosters, including the addition of new Freshman members. Over the last few days, three House committees important to CTE – the Appropriations Committee, Budget Committee, and the Education and Labor Committee – have announced changes which we summarize below. 

Appropriations Committee 

As we mentioned in a previous blog, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) replaced Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) as the full committee chairwoman upon Rep. Lowey’s retirement last congress. In the minority, Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) will remain as the top Republican, in the role of ranking member. New members to the committee are as follows: 

• Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) 
• Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA) 
• Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) 
• Rep. David Trone (D-MD) 
• Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) 
• Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) 
• Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) 
• Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) 
• Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) 
• Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) 
• Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) 
• Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) 

As for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees CTE funding, Rep. DeLauro is retaining her chairmanship, and Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) is returning as the ranking member. All the Democratic members of the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee are returning, and two new Democrats are joining: Reps. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI) and Josh Harder (D-CA).  The Republicans haven’t announced their subcommittee assignments yet, but continue to check the CTE Policy Watch Blog for updates!  

Budget Committee 

The two top leaders of the Budget Committee, Chairman John Yarmuth (D-KY) and Ranking Member Jason Smith (R-MO) remain the same as last Congress. The full Democratic roster is here, and the Republican roster is here.  New members are listed below: 

• Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) 
• Judy Chu (D-CA) 
• Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) 
• Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) 
• Lauren Boebert (R-CO) 
• Ben Cline (R-VA) 
• Byron Donalds (R-FL) 
• Randy Feenstra (R-IA) 
• Bob Good (R-VA) 
• Ashley Hinson (R-IA) 
• Jay Obernolte (R-CA) 

Education and Labor Committee 

Just like the Budget Committee, the two top leaders for the Education and Labor Committee, Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-NC) remain the same. It is still unknown as to who will replace the retired Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA) as the chair for the Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee, which oversees postsecondary CTE proposals. Once an announcement is made, we will update the blog. An updated full committee membership list has not been posted on the committee website yet, but below are the new members to the committee: 

• Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY)  
• Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM)  
• Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC)  
• Rep. Frank Mrvan (D-IN)  
• Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) 
• Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) (returning) 
• Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI)  
• Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ)   
• Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) 
• Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) 
• Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) 
• Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) 
• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) 
• Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) 
• Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) 
• Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) 
• Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) 
• Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) 
• Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) 

Chairman Scott Introduces National Apprenticeship Act Reauthorization

Earlier this week, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott introduced H.R. 447, the National Apprenticeship Act of 2021, which would reauthorize and update the existing 1937 law. The bill mirrors similar legislation introduced last Congress.  

The bipartisan National Apprenticeship Act of 2021 (H.R. 447) would amend the existing national apprenticeship program to include both pre-apprenticeships and youth apprenticeships, while also defining guidelines for registered apprenticeship programs. Additionally, it would codify the Office of Apprenticeship within the Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor, specifies that it is to be headed by an Administrator, and outlines the responsibilities of the Office. It would also create a National Advisory Committee on Apprenticeships. To fund the provisions under the proposal, it authorizes over $3 billion between fiscal years 2022 and 2026. It is estimated that this proposal would lead to the creation of one million new apprenticeship opportunities, while yielding over $10 billion in net benefits to the American taxpayer. 

In the press release, Chairman Scott states, “Congress must use every tool we have to address the widespread unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Apprenticeship Act is an important part of our renewed effort to help workers get back on their feet and build back a better economy.”   

ACTE has endorsed the National Apprenticeship Act of 2021 and Is actively advocating for its passage. 

DC Digest: January 18-24

Last week, most of the activity in DC was focused on the inauguration of President Biden  as the 46th president of the United States. In his inauguration speech, the biggest nod to education was when President Biden spoke about getting students safely back to schools for in-person instruction. He also signed several Executive Orders related to education, which you can read more about here. In Congress last week, cabinet confirmation hearings began, with the first confirmed cabinet member being Avril Haines as the director of national intelligence. More cabinet member hearings will take place in the coming days and weeks, although no schedule has been released for the confirmation of the secretary of education or labor. Here are a few other notes from last week:

• Webinar on Access and Equity in CTE: The Hunt Institute hosted a webinar titled,  “Engaging Historically-Underserved Students Through Career and Technical Education.” The panelists, who included the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, the Chief Executive Officer of Baltimore schools and the executive director at Advance CTE, discussed key issues in Maryland and ideas and strategies that strengthen CTE by providing students access to and equity in high-quality CTE programs.
• Deputy Secretary of Education Announced: The Biden Administration has selected Cindy Marten as the next deputy secretary of education. Martin was a teacher for 17 years before she was a vice principal, principal, literacy specialist and then ultimately the superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District. Her confirmation hearing has not yet been scheduled, but will likely not occur until after cabinet-level positions have been confirmed. 
• Department of Education Announces Additional Political Appointees: In addition to the deputy secretary, the Department of Education announced several more senior political appointees within the department. These 13 appointees will lead various aspects of the Department during the duration of President Biden’s term. No appointees to the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education have been announced. 
• Recipients of Workforce Grants Announced: The Department of Labor announced the recipients of $145 million for workforce training for key economic sectors. The grants provide funding for upskilling workers and training for workers entering the workforce in key industries such as IT, advanced manufacturing and transportation. 
• Grant Applications Available for Native Hawaiian Career and Technical Education Programs: The Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) announced  the availability of applications for new awards to be granted to Native Hawaiian Career and Technical Education Programs for FY 2021. The deadline for applications is March 22, 2021, and OCTAE will be hosting an informational webinar for prospective applicants tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, February 2, 2021, at 2:00 pm EST.

Biden Administration's Education-related Executive Orders & Actions

Since taking office on January 20th, President Joe Biden has already signed 30 executive orders and taken various other actions aimed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, rejoin the Paris Climate Accord,  and deal with the ongoing economic crisis. There were also a number that dealt with education and workforce training. Below is a list, with short explanations, of those actions most relevant to CTE.

• Student Loan Payments – On his first day, President Biden requested that ED extend the pause on federal student loan repayments and collections and to also keep the interest rate at 0%.
• School Re-opening – This executive order focuses on the Administration’s role increating the conditions for safe, in-person learning as quickly as possible and ensuring high-quality instruction and the delivery of essential services to students and young children at school, institutions of higher education, childcare providers and Head Start programs. Specifically, it directs the Secretary of Education to work with the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop evidence-based guidance to help schools and postsecondary institutions decide whether and how to reopen and how to safely conduct in-person instruction, among a number of other provisision.
• Ensuring a Sustainable Health Care Workforce – This executive order includes a provision that focuses on understanding the challenges the health care industry faces in pandemic response efforts, including challenges recruiting and training sufficient personnel to ensure adequate and equitable community-based testing.
• Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government – This executive order revoked former President Trump's Executive Order 13950 on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping, which restricted the types of equity-related training and professional development federal agencies, contractors and grant recipients (including Perkins recipients) could provide, potentially impacting the work of CTE educators to close equity gaps. 

Additional orders are expected this week with a series of themed days covering racial equity, climate, health care and immigration. We will continue to update the CTE Policy Watch Blog to ensure that you remain aware of actions taken as they relate to education and CTE.

DC Digest: January 11-17

News in Washington this week continued to be dominated by the fallout from the attack on the Capitol. On Wednesday, the House voted to impeach President Trump for a second time for incitement of insurrection. It was a 232-197 vote with 10 House Republicans joining Democrats voting in favor of impeachment. The impeachment articles will now be sent to the Senate where Senators would need 67 votes to convict the president. In the meantime, the Presidential Inauguration will take place this Wednesday, January 20, with extremely heightened security throughout DC. Here are some other happenings from last week:

• President-elect Biden Reveals COVID-19 Relief Plan: On Thursday evening, President-elect Biden unveiled a $1.9 trillion economic COVID-19 relief package proposal. Included in this relief package is $170 billion for K-12 schools and higher education, including $130 billion for schools to safely reopen. Also included is funding for a national vaccine program, increasing vaccine distribution and expanding COVID-19 testing, as well as funding for small businesses, state local governments and $1,400 individual stimulus checks. 
• Additional College Scorecard Updates: The Department of Education announced additional updates to the College Scorecard. These updates include information on how well borrowers from postsecondary institutions are progressing in repaying their federal student loans, as well as how well student cohort borrowers are doing at certain intervals in the student loan repayment process. 
• New COVID-19 Funding for Postsecondary Institutions: On Thursday, the Department of Education announced that more than $21.2 billion for COVID-19-related emergency relief funding is now available to support postsecondary institutions during COVID-19. These funds were initially provided by Congress in the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021, signed into law in late December. More details and in-depth analysis of the application process will be coming soon!
• New Strengthening Community College Training Grants: The Department of Labor announced the winners of $40 million in Strengthening Community College Training Grants, which are designed to help Community Colleges address the needs of the workforce. These grants aim to help displaced workers to gain skills to transition to new employment, thus also benefiting local employers. The grants will also help community colleges build capacity to address challenges due to the pandemic, such as online learning. 

CTE Educators Need in 2021: Early Results

Many thanks to the more than 570 ACTE members who have participated in our survey on CTE educator needs! If you haven’t responded yet, please complete the survey—there’s still time, and it should take you less than 10 minutes.

Here is a sneak peek of some early findings:

• Survey respondents report teaching in a variety of educational settings this school year. More rural and small town respondents are starting the new semester this January with almost all students learning in person, while respondents from cities and suburbs are more likely to be starting with all remote learning.
• Motivating and engaging learners is the biggest challenge this school year, followed by providing hands-on learning and/or lab hours.
• Other challenges include providing work-based learning experiences and preparing learners for industry certifications and other performance assessments. More than half of respondents report that their CTE programs are a little less effective or much less effective than in prior years at providing these program elements.
• By far the top priority for professional development this school year is around engaging instruction, followed by professional development related to facilities, equipment, technology and materials.
• Most respondents have consistently reliable access to the Internet and online technology, but characterize their students’ access as only somewhat reliable. Rural respondents are much more likely to report that their students' Internet and online technology access is not at all reliable.
• Most instructors feel very or somewhat supported by their leadership this school year.

Stay tuned for more results! In addition, please check out our new Techniques column chronicling the innovative ways that CTE continues to engage students as lifelong learners and prepare them for rewarding careers.

State of CTE: CTE Instructors in Perkins V State Plans

In October 2020, Advance CTE released “The State of Career Technical Education: An Analysis of States’ Perkins V Priorities,” which examines how states have leveraged the development of the Strengthening Career Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) state plans to expand quality and increase equity within their Career Technical Education (CTE) systems.

Attracting and retaining qualified and diverse CTE instructors remains one of the most persistent challenges facing states. Last year, ACTE held a Teach CTE Summit to more closely examine teacher pipeline challenges, surfacing numerous key issues and recommendations. According to previous Advance CTE research on this issue, 86 percent of State Directors reported a moderate or severe CTE teacher shortage in at least one Career Cluster at the secondary level, and a further 60 percent indicated the same at the postsecondary level.

The underlying causes for these shortages most often relate to the difficulties CTE programs have in competing with the private sector for the same pool of qualified instructors, along with the fact that many universities have closed their CTE teacher preparation programs in recent years. As is the case in other sectors of the economy, the CTE teacher workforce is also aging rapidly.

At the same time, the demands on CTE instructors are rigorous. CTE instructors need strong technical knowledge and industry expertise, effective classroom management and pedagogical skills, and cultural competency to support and engage each learner on an individual basis.

Without a qualified pool of CTE professionals, one that is responsive to the needs of each learner, our country cannot effectively educate learners and prepare the future workforce. Attracting, retaining and fully developing a strong cadre of CTE professionals is therefore a crucial ingredient CTE systems need for success, and this need is reflected throughout states’ Perkins V plans.

Based on Advance CTE’s analysis of state Perkins V plans:

• Nearly three-quarters of all states (36 total) are providing targeted professional development for specific groups of educators, administrators or other CTE professionals.
• Forty-five percent of states are including quality instructors in their definitions for size, scope and quality (SSQ).
• Forty-seven percent of states are going beyond the requirements laid out in the law to prioritize supporting CTE professionals in their comprehensive local needs assessment (CLNA).
• Twenty-seven percent of states are developing explicit CTE instructor recruitment plans.
• At least seven states are addressing licensure barriers and/or are developing new pathways to licensure as an approach to strengthening CTE instructor pipelines.

Key Innovations

• Oregon aims to recruit teachers from cultural and linguistic backgrounds that reflect the state’s learner population. To achieve this goal, the state plans to partner with the Educator Advancement Council, a statewide education network focused on ensuring that the state has high-quality, well-supported and culturally responsive educators. Through this partnership, Oregon aims to create a comprehensive strategy focused on recruitment efforts in underrepresented and underserved communities. In addition to this work, the state is clarifying alternative pathways that lead to the CTE teaching profession as a means to attract industry experts and potentially further diversify the field.
• Oklahoma is dedicating more than half a million dollars annually to provide targeted scholarships for individuals seeking teacher and administrator certifications. As part of its wider efforts in this space, the state has developed a new teacher institute that provides a full year of training, coaching and mentoring for new CTE instructors. Oklahoma also makes use of a statewide learning management system — CareerTech’s Master Educator platform — to structure and provide professional development that promotes continuous learning and improvement of its CTE teachers. Finally, the state is working with local universities to provide shorter-term courses and online programs conducive to incumbent CTE teacher needs.

The Work Ahead

One area of future work is ensuring that the CTE instructor workforce is representative of the learners they serve. Only five states included any explicit recruitment activities focused on diversifying the CTE teaching field in their Perkins V plans.

Recruiting, developing and retaining qualified teachers and faculty are critical for CTE programs to be successful. As noted previously, instructors are among the most important in-school factors that contribute to the success of learners. No single policy or strategy will fully address

the challenges facing states with regards to this issue. Some of these challenges have to do with issues outside the realm of CTE, such as broader terms negotiated by labor and management (e.g., teacher/faculty pay scales or tenure requirements), lack of teacher preparation programs at universities, and accreditation requirements or limitations. Only through a coordinated set of approaches can states begin to make progress on this critically important topic. Through the Perkins V planning process, states have certainly started to make significant progress in this area.

Resources

• Advance CTE Resource Center: Instructor and Leader Quality
• The State of Career Technical Education: An Analysis of States’ Perkins V Priorities
• Policy Benchmark Tool: CTE Program of Study Approval
• The State of Career Technical Education: Increasing Access to Industry Experts in High Schools
• CTE on the Frontier: Strengthening the Rural CTE Teacher Pipeline
• ACTE Quality CTE Program of Study Framework

This blog is cross-posted on Advance CTE’s blog.

DC Digest: January 4-10

We, like all of you, watched with horror as events unfolded at the Capitol last week. As members of the DC community, who have walked the halls of Congress and who have friends and colleagues who serve our country there each day, the attacks on the Capitol were deeply personal. These reprehensible attacks violated one of the most important pillars of our democracy, the peaceful transition of power, and laid bare many difficult realities around issues of racism, national security, the perception of truth and the importance of our words and actions. We hope that conversations around these issues in the coming weeks will allow our country to emerge stronger than ever and forge a new path forward. Ultimately, even with a large group of lawmakers still objecting, Congress did certify Joe Biden early Thursday morning as the 46th president of the United States, and his inauguration will be on January 20, 2021. Despite the magnitude of last Wednesday’s events, there were a few other things happening throughout the week. Here are a few other notes:

• Cabinet Members Resign: In the aftermath of Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol, several members of President Trump’s cabinet resigned, including Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Education Secretary, and Elaine Chao, the U.S. Transportation Secretary. 
• Extending Student Loan Deferral:  Officials from the incoming Biden Administration have stated that President-elect Biden will instruct the Department of Education to continue excusing student loan payments for an additional period of time, potentially into the fall or even later. He has also called for Congress to pass legislation providing $10,000 in loan cancellation for each borrower. 
• COVID-19 Funding for Education Now Available: The Department of Education announced on Tuesday that more than $54 billion of COVID-19-related emergency relief funding is now available to support K-12 schools for learning during the pandemic. Additionally, over $4 billion was released to governors for the Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund. Both of these pots of money are from the joint appropriations and COVID-19 relief bill that was passed and signed into law on December 27, 2020.
• Results of Georgia’s Runoff Senate Election: The runoff elections in Georgia were officially called on Wednesday after both the Democratic challengers to the Senate seats defeated their Republican counterparts. Read more on our full blog.

Democrats win control of Senate after Georgia runoffs

On Tuesday, Democrats defeated the Republican incumbents in both of Georgia’s runoff elections, securing enough seats to control of the Senate after President-elect Biden’s inauguration. Democrat Raphael G. Warnock will become Georgia’s first Black senator, after defeating Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA). Warnock is currently the Senior Pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. He initially became involved in politics by campaigning to expand Medicare under the Affordable Care Act. According to his campaign website, Warnock “understands that that college isn’t for everyone and that we should be providing more options for people to make a good living for themselves and their families that don’t require college degrees.” He asserts he will support vocational training, trade schools and apprenticeship programs. 

In the other runoff election, Democrat Jon Ossoff defeated incumbent Senator David Perdue (R-GA) by less than a percentage point. Prior to his election to the Senate, he served as a national security staffer for a Georgia congressman and as CEO of an investigative television production company. On his campaign website, Ossoff calls for a greater emphasis on vocational training and vows to fight to make vocational and trade school free. 

The election of these two senators brings the balance of power in the Senate to 50-50, and after the Biden Inauguration, the tie will be broken by Vice President Harris, giving control of the chamber to the Democrats. At that time, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) is expected to become chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. We’ll have more information on committee changes and implications of the shift in balance of power in the coming weeks! 

Research Round-up: Embedding Certifications into Bachelor’s Degrees, Meeting Adult Learners’ Needs, COVID-19 Impact on Women’s Employment

Making Online Learning Effective: A new report details evidence and recommendations for high-quality online learning during the COVID-19 crisis. The researchers offer 10 ways to make online learning successful, including providing teacher supports, connecting and building relationships between students, identifying and supporting underserved students and special populations, and others. Enacting these recommendations will help schools to provide access to more equitable, engaging and effective learning. 

Embedding Certifications into Bachelor’s Degrees: Workcred, in partnership with other stakeholder groups, released a new report identifying challenges and successes of current programs that integrate high-quality industry certifications into bachelor’s degree programs. To better understand the current models and practices of the programs, the researchers met with stakeholders in the health care, cybersecurity, manufacturing and liberal arts sectors, as well as representatives from postsecondary institutions. Out of these meetings, the researchers outlined three key findings:

• Support better understanding between participants, certification bodies and higher education institutions by creating a common language to facilitate communication and understanding of embedding certification into bachelor’s degrees. 
• Foster an emerging community of practice between postsecondary institutions and certification bodies to create an arena of collaboration and innovation.
• After collaborating, synthesize the convening outcomes and themes into a framework that identifies certification-degree pathway examples, challenges and opportunities associated with building these pathways. 

Meeting the Needs of Adult Learners: Strada Education Network conducted research with more than 350,000 participants to examine adult learners needs during their postsecondary education experiences. Three barriers identified for adult students returning for more education and training: competing obligations and logistics, self doubt and cost. The report outlines four key elements that adult learners need to succeed when returning for extra training and education:

• Guidance, mentoring and confidence
• Relevant coursework toward a meaningful career
• Applied learning experiences
• A completed degree

Data on Dual/Concurrent Enrollment: A new report from the National Center on Education Statistics uses data from the 2017-18 National Teacher and Principal Survey to examine participation and funding for dual and concurrent enrollment in grades 9-12. Some of the key findings include: 

• 82% of public schools offered dual and concurrent enrollment opportunities
• 90% of rural schools offered dual/concurrent enrollment opportunities, compared to 73% of schools located in cities, 80% of schools in the suburbs and 83% of schools in towns
• 78% of dual/concurrent enrollment funding came from the school, district or state
• In rural areas, funding was more likely to come from families or the students themselves, compared to other communities

Job Opportunities for Skilled Workers Without Degrees: Opportunity@Work in their new report found that across 292 occupations, 100 million projected job openings over the next decade could be filled by skilled workers who do not hold four-year degrees, but are Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs). In the report, the researcher identified several key findings:

• Low-wage jobs often require skills that are also needed for middle- and high-wage jobs.
• 71 million workers, or almost half of the working population, are STARs, and about 70% of STARs have the necessary skills to earn more than they are currently making.
• STARs have multiple pathways to increase their wages.
• Opportunity gaps exist among Black, Hispanic and women STARs, who are less likely to transition to higher paying roles.

The researchers call on employers, industries and workforce development leaders to reduce barriers for workers to get into high-paying jobs without a traditional four-year degree. 

New High School Benchmark Data: The eighth annual High School Benchmarks report released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center has new data on high school graduates’ postsecondary enrollment, retention and completion outcomes, as well as a special analysis of COVID-19 and the impact on postsecondary enrollment rates for 2020 high school graduates. Researchers found a limited impact of COVID-19 on graduation rates for high school students; however, there was a 21.7% decrease in high school graduates enrolling immediately in postsecondary institutions. Graduates from high-poverty, low-income and urban high schools were less likely to immediately go to postsecondary institutions after graduating, and the decline in enrollment at postsecondary institutions was disproportionately higher among low-income high schools during the pandemic. 

Impact of COVID-19 on Women’s Employment: The Congressional Research Service examined the long-term effects on women in the labor market during COVID-19 in their new report, The COVID-19 Pandemic: Labor Market Implications for Women. During the pandemic, women’s employment declined more than men’s, and the decline was even more drastic for Black women and Latinas. The researchers found two factors for the decline in employment:

• The industries that have been hit the hardest during the pandemic are those with higher shares of female employees..
• Women have increased caregiving responsibilities due to school closures, family illness and other family needs during the pandemic.

The researchers say the long-term impacts of these losses could be enduring. How long these losses will persist depends on how long the recession lasts, the speed and robustness of the subsequent recovery, how current employment status affects future job opportunities, and whether changes in choices about caregiving are lasting.