Supporting Learners with Disabilities: Although CTE coursework can improve employment opportunities for learners with disabilities, many face barriers to access and success in CTE programs. A recent Advance CTE brief examines survey responses from state CTE directors to determine how states are leveraging Perkins V to support learners with disabilities. The following summarizes some of the survey’s key findings:
- About 84% of state CTE directors plan to leverage Perkins V to improve access and success for learners with disabilities. The top-reported strategies include partnering with state special education offices, providing training on learner recruitment and reviewing disaggregated data.
- While most state CTE directors reported state and local collaboration with special education offices, they were less likely to take such actions as braiding funding or conducting cross-agency training.
- Barriers to enrolling students with disabilities in CTE programs include lack of coordination with special education, lack of educator training, hesitancy related to behavioral plans and safety, and admissions requirements.
- Only 13% of state CTE leaders share data by disability type with local recipients.
- Less than half of state CTE directors reported providing accommodations to learners with disabilities for credential examinations.
Although the findings uncovered challenges, they also revealed CTE leaders’ desire to improve outcomes for learners with disabilities. To act on this, the brief recommends fostering relationships with special education offices through Perkins V, providing decision-makers with CTE data disaggregated by disability type, creating cross-training opportunities with special education agencies, and utilizing accommodations to help learners succeed.
Barriers to Skilled Trades Careers: According to a survey by Stanley Black & Decker, 85% of young people value a skilled trades career, but only 16% are very likely to consider such a career. The survey interviewed high school sophomores, juniors and seniors; parents of students in these grades; and skilled trades professionals to gain a better understanding of misconceptions and factors that prevent youth from entering skilled trades careers. The following highlight the survey’s key findings:
- Only 42% of young people believe skilled trades workers earn at least $50,000. In reality, half of skilled trades workers with less than 10 years of experience earn at least $50,000 upon starting.
- Many young people don’t have an accurate idea of the required skills. For example, 23% said that skilled trades jobs don’t use cutting-edge technology when most workers stated they do.
- Underrepresentation of women in the industry plays a role. Young women were 15 percentage points less likely to report considering a skilled trades career.
- About 37% of young people reported never having a conversation with anyone about careers in the skilled trades, signifying a lack of exposure to these career options.
Keeping Pace with Workplace Innovations: The Community College Research Center and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology interviewed over 200 administrators, faculty and staff at eight community colleges with strong workforce programs to determine how community colleges are adapting their programs in response to workplace innovation, including changing skill demands and equity-related concerns. The report uncovered that workforce programs are making greater use of digital technologies, partnering with industry professionals, aligning short-term and long-term programs, and providing scholarships for short-term certificate programs in high-demand fields.
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