Analysis of State Work-based Learning Policies: Working to Learn and Learning to Work, a report from American Student Assistance, is a state-by-state analysis of high school work-based learning policies. The researchers found six key themes:
- State high school work-based learning policies largely fall into two categories: centralized and decentralized.
- Most states have eligibility standards to participate in secondary work-based learning opportunities, while only a few make these opportunities accessible to all students.
- Only a small number of states have developed policies or programs to support high-need students and removed barriers to access and success in these opportunities.
- Federal funds for work-based learning are largely used to fund high school work-based learning. Only a few states provide dedicated state funding, incentives and other infrastructure supports specific to work-based learning.
- Only a few states communicate available high school work-based learning opportunities well.
- Few states have set up clear quality and accountability expectations or developed systems to collect and use data on high school work-based learning for program improvement.
Report on Certification and License Findings: People 25 and older are more likely to have attained a certification or license and have higher earnings with a certification or license than people younger than 25, according to new findings from the Labor Market Information (LMI) Institute. Additional findings confirmed what other reports have already noted regarding licensure and certification, such as employed people with a certification or license tend to have higher earnings and employed people with higher levels of education are more likely to have obtained a certification or license.
Equity in CTE Research: Most CTE research does not disaggregate outcome measures by student subgroups to better explore equity issues, a new literature review and framework on equity in CTE reveals. In addition, most CTE research addresses equity by looking at access and participation measures, such as high school graduation rates and GPA, and the research is usually limited to a single state, district or school. The researchers provide best policies and practices to address these issues and recommendations for future research.
Guidance on State Accountability Systems During the Pandemic: COVID-19 caused much uncertainty about how to meet federal and state accountability requirements, but offers an important opportunity to improve on the existing state accountability systems, according to a brief from the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE). CRPE convened a group of education policy experts to discuss what state accountability should look like in 2021 and beyond.
Expanding Opportunities for Work After COVID-19: Across eight of the world’s largest economies, 107 million workers, 60-70% of those low-wage workers, will need to find a different occupation by 2030 due to disruptions caused by COVID-19, according to a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute. To combat these challenges, CTE and work-based learning opportunities, such as technical training, apprenticeships and credentialing, need to be greatly expanded to secondary students.
Perceptions on Using CTE to Upskill: 34% of all Americans believe that they will need to acquire new skills to advance their careers, and more than half of Americans under 40 believe they will need to upskill, according to a new survey from the Charles Koch Foundation and the SkillUp Coalition. In order to gain these skills, 36% of respondents said they would acquire them through CTE, and 70% said they believe the country would benefit from an increase in enrollment in CTE programs. Additionally, 13% of respondents answered that they would encourage a student just graduating high school to enroll in a CTE program, which was the second highest-rated answer, just below encouraging graduates to enroll in a traditional, residential four-year college.
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