CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

The Role of Community and Technical Colleges in Workforce Education

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to accelerate changes in the labor market, community and technical colleges are increasingly seen as essential institutions to provide workforce education. While two-year institutions have the reach, scale and infrastructure to deliver the upskilling that will be needed in years ahead, policymakers are challenged with a lack of data on workforce education. To address this information gap, Opportunity America, in collaboration with the Lumina Foundation and Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, recently published a report on noncredit and credit workforce education programs using survey responses from more than 600 public two-year institutions.

Student characteristics: More than half of students at the community colleges that responded to the survey are enrolled in for-credit or noncredit job-focused programs, with an estimated 3.7 million students (35%) enrolled in noncredit programs. Additionally, noncredit programs have a larger share of older adult learners and students enrolled in occupation-focused programs than credit programs. The report also notes that community colleges collect little data on noncredit students, such as race and ethnicity, making it difficult to determine how well these programs are equitably serving learners.

Program characteristics: Both credit and noncredit programs are increasingly preparing students for industry certifications and 36% of colleges’ employer partners provide on-the-job work experience. Furthermore, while noncredit fields of study vary by college and state, health care is the most common field overall.

Transfer: The findings reveal that very few colleges provide transition opportunities from noncredit to credit education and less than 20% of students make this transition. The report noted that articulation agreements between credit and noncredit programs and increasing support for adult learners who return to college can improve transition opportunities.

Financing and accountability: Currently, noncredit workforce programs are ineligible for federal aid and three-quarters of noncredit workforce programs are shorter than 150 clock hours, excluding them from bills like the JOBS Act aimed at expanding workforce program funding. Therefore, students and employers largely cover the cost of noncredit programs. The report also details that most colleges use employer input and labor market data to assess noncredit workforce program quality, but rarely utilize employment outcomes.

Based on these findings, the authors suggest that state lawmakers undertake the following recommendations:

• Improve data collection on noncredit workforce programs
• Allocate funding based on programs’ labor market alignment and employment outcomes
• Use incentives, data and frameworks to create pathways between noncredit and credit workforce programs

Read the report here or view the Opportunity America’s virtual release here.

Research Roundup: Funding, Data and Accountability

Challenges in Sharing State Data: According to a report by the Data Quality Campaign (DQC), the pandemic has caused disrupted post-high school pathways, high levels of unfinished learning and low levels of student enrollment and engagement in secondary schools. Using public opinion polling of principals and parents, the report reveals disconnects in data that prevent school faculty and parents from addressing these challenges. The report outlines the following key findings and recommendations state leaders should take to improve access and use of data:

• Although 80% of principals feel confident that teachers can properly use data, teachers report they do not have sufficient support or training. State leaders should work with districts to implement data training and incorporate data literacy skills into teacher preparation programs.
• Most parents want data from state assessments and support resuming state assessments that were suspended during COVID-19, but 80% of principals think locally designed assessments are more accurate. This perception is driven in part by how long it can take to receive state assessment data on the local level. State leaders can improve the sharing of state assessment data with local leaders, educators and families by reporting this data as soon as possible and in an easy-to-understand manner.
• Few parents know where to find data about post-high school transitions. In addition, only 46% of principals report knowing where to find all the data they need to understand how well their school prepares students for their post-high school education and careers. State leaders should promote cross-agency collaboration to create high quality longitudinal data systems as well as include disaggregated data in reporting.

In 2020, Advance CTE and ACTE released two resources that can help state and local CTE leaders respond to data sharing challenges. Beyond the Numbers: Design Principles for CTE Data Reporting provides nine principles for developing effective and accessible CTE data reporting tools. Beyond the Numbers: A Toolkit for Communicating CTE Data includes models and templates that users can download to build their own engaging infographics, presentations and other materials to communicate their data.   

Post-pandemic Recruitment and Financial Aid Strategies: With enrollment down by 9.5% at community colleges across the country, an article by Inside Higher Ed covers innovative strategies colleges are employing to attract students for the fall 2021 semester. While many colleges reported using traditional on-campus registration and information events, some institutions are attempting to re-enroll former students who dropped out before graduating. For example, Blue Ridge Community College in North Carolina has seen re-enrollment strategies paired with scholarship opportunities increase enrollment by more than 13% compared to fall 2019. Other institutions established and marketed new programs that fill workforce needs, and a few community colleges reported implementing financial incentives for students using federal stimulus funds.

Pandemic Impacts on Accountability: The COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on the economy and financial aid policies are likely to impact federal higher education accountability metrics such as student loan repayment and earnings. In an Urban Institute report, researchers predict how each federal accountability metric will be affected by the pandemic. Most relevant to CTE, metrics on the College Scorecard, such as program-level earnings and employment rates, are predicted to decrease and could affect the decisions of prospective students.

The authors propose several options for helping learners make informed decisions using College Scorecard data, such as preserving pre-pandemic earnings data in lieu of or along with pandemic-era earnings data, excluding data from the first six months of the pandemic or providing additional context. In the longer term, data could be cushioned from the swings caused by temporary economic disruptions by averaging across more years of data or across multiple cohorts of students.

Performance-Based Funding and Student Earnings: In response to growing concerns about the value of public postsecondary education, some states adopted performance-based funding (PBF) systems to hold colleges accountable for student success metrics and labor market outcomes. InformEd States published a working paper to determine if PBF has impacted student earnings by analyzing federal data on post-college outcomes between 1997 and 2009. Researchers outlined the following key findings:

• PBF systems resulted in an average 1% earnings increase for students who attended four-year institutions, with larger increases for low-income students. For two-year colleges, there were no increases in earnings.
• PBF systems subject to equity metrics, such the academic success of low-income students, showed some increase in earnings, while workforce metrics had little impact.

The authors call for additional research and suggest that colleges serving large numbers of students of color may be disadvantaged by PBF owing to systemic labor market discrimination against people of color.

Updated: Biosciences Sector Sheet

ACTE recently updated its Sector Sheet on CTE’s role in developing the biosciences workforce with current labor market projections, information about how CTE prepares the workforce for this sector, and examples of exemplary programs in the biosciences.

The biosciences field has been absolutely critical to combatting COVID-19, and a continued demand for research and development of treatments and vaccines for infectious diseases will drive a projected rise in employment. The sector expanded its workforce in 2020 and opportunities for lab technicians are expected to grow by at least 9% through 2029. In addition, the pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing sub-sector is projected to grow its workforce by about 19% through 2029 owing to production of vaccines and other pharmaceuticals.

CTE programs are at the forefront in preparing youth and adults for bioscience careers. On the secondary level, Carlmont High School in Belmont, California, is home to the Biotechnology Institute, a three-year, cross-curricular small learning community. The biotechnology coursework culminates in a college-level biomanufacturing course in which students follow the path of a drug from inception to a final, marketed product. In addition, learners interact with biotechnology professionals through guest speakers, industry tours, mentorships and job shadowing. On the postsecondary level, InnovATEBIO is a National Science Foundation-funded initiative that is developing the biotechnology technician workforce. It assists 119 community college programs in 38 states with curriculum, professional development and other supports. In addition, InnovATEBIO builds bridges across the biotechnology workforce pipeline through relationships with industry leaders, four-year colleges and K-12 schools.

ACTE’s Sector Sheet series is generously supported by Pearson.   

Research Round-up: Improving Credential Quality and Data

Credential Quality and Transparency: With nearly one million unique credentials issued by 500,000 providers in the United States, both data transparency and credential quality assurance are essential for learners to make informed decisions about their futures. The National Skills Coalition (NSC) has released a toolkit providing a guide for how states can help to improve credential quality and transparency. The toolkit recommends states use a four-criteria framework developed by NSC to assess the quality of non-degree credentials and map results to an open-access tool, currently being built by Credential Engine, that learners can access to obtain trusted information on credentials.

State Authorization for Short-term Credentials: The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) released a report intended to assist states in developing authorization and regulatory policies for short-term credential programs. The researchers examined legislative documents and interviewed leaders from state agencies and private organizations in five states that have already implemented these regulatory policies, including California, Georgia, Illinois, New York and Washington. Their findings informed the following recommendations for policymakers and state authorizing agencies to consider when crafting short-term credential regulatory policies:

• State authorizing agencies should collect and publish outcome data on all postsecondary credentials in the state and create a database of high-quality short-term credential programs.
• Policymakers should develop a state longitudinal data system that includes employment and earnings data.
• State authorizing agencies should assist credential programs in the authorization process and encourage postsecondary institutions to accept stackable credentials toward an associate or bachelor’s degree.
• Policymakers should expand Pell Grant programs and state-based financial aid to support non-degree skills training and incentivize institutions to forge relationships with employers.

Improving Career Education Pathways into California’s Workforce: The Public Policy Institute of California released a research report detailing challenges faced by career education students and programs in the California community college system. The study looked at the trajectories of nearly one million students who have pursued career education at the state’s community colleges and interviewed stakeholders. Researchers described the following key findings:

• On average, it takes 2.5 years to complete a credential. Black, Latino and younger students are less likely to earn a credential.
• Students who complete at least one full-time term or who received Pell Grant funding have significantly higher completion rates.
• While only 25% of students who pursued career education earned a credential and 5% completed a stackable credential pathway, many students re-enrolled within three years of completing their first credential, indicating a desire to further their education.
• Stakeholders cited challenges to partnerships with employers and stated that current programs do not provide enough support systems for adult learners.

The report offered five priorities to ensure student success and high-quality workforce training in California’s community college system: provide support systems to help students complete credentials, address equity gaps in student achievement, increase understanding of students’ goals, improve collaboration among colleges and employers, and create statewide coordination and goals.

Which College Programs Give Students the Best Bang for their Buck: Third Way published a report outlining which college programs give students the best return on investment (ROI). The report analyzed nearly 2.2 million graduates from 40,000 college programs using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Researchers determined a program’s ROI by calculating how long it takes to recoup the costs of earning a credential, based on the earnings premium the typical graduate obtains after completing a program. The report describes the following findings:

• Nearly half of all college programs find their graduates earning enough to recoup their costs in five years or less and two-thirds do so by 10 years after graduation. But almost one quarter of all programs show their graduates fail to earn enough to recoup their costs within 20 years after graduation.
• While a larger portion of bachelor’s degree programs have positive ROI for graduates, students who earn an associate degree have the highest likelihood of recouping their costs within the first five years. Similarly, almost half of all certificate programs experience a high likelihood of recouping costs in the first five years.
• Programs at public institutions have the highest likelihood that graduates will be able to recoup their costs within five years (56%) and 10 years (73%) and over half of private non-profit institution programs show that graduates are able to recoup their costs within 10 years. Conversely, nearly half of programs at for-profit institutions show no ROI at any point.
• Bachelor’s degree and associate degree programs see higher ROI in higher-paying fields such as science, engineering and health. Certificate programs report higher ROI in fields with high-demand skills such as trucking.

Engaging Families & Communities in CTE

ACTE’s latest publication, Engaging Families and Communities to Support Special and Underserved Populations in CTE, describes strategies for communicating with, collaborating with and supporting CTE learners’ families and communities, particularly for learners and communities who have been historically underserved.

Research has demonstrated that family and community engagement in education has short- and long-term benefits related to program quality and learner success. In addition, stakeholder engagement is a major theme and required component of the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V). In response to these requirements and the evidence of the benefits of stakeholder engagement, local CTE programs and career development initiatives are deepening their connections with representatives of special and underserved populations such as family members and community groups to improve CTE programs, better serve students and help communities in need.

This publication describes general strategies for engaging families and communities, more specific strategies aimed at breaking down barriers to engagement for particular special and underserved population groups, and examples of CTE and career development programs doing promising work in this area, including:

• PrepareRI ambassadors (Rhode Island)
• Clark County School District’s #GirlsinSTEM #GirlsinTech initiative (Nevada)
• FBI Adopt-a-School program and Waipahu High School (Hawai’i)
• Monument Valley High School’s Veterinary Science program (Arizona)
• Butler Technology and Career Development Schools’ Project LIFE® program (Ohio and replication sites nationwide)

Updated: U.S. Military & Veterans Sector Sheet

This August, ACTE has updated its Sector Sheet on CTE’s role in developing future service members for the U.S. military and helping veterans succeed in the civilian workforce. This Sector Sheet features details about military occupations and earnings, information about how CTE prepares people with the skills needed in the military, and examples of exemplary programs that prepare future service members and veterans for the next stage in their education and career pathways.

Each service branch – the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy and Space Force – continually seeks new recruits, as service members are promoted through the ranks, retire or leave the military. There are hundreds of different occupations across a variety of Career Clusters for enlisted personnel, who comprise 82% of the Armed Forces, and for officers. In-demand occupations vary across branches and over time, but STEM jobs often top the list.

CTE can help prepare people for careers in the military and for life after they complete their service. On the secondary level, Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) programs such as Army JROTC foster leadership skills in high school students, whether or not they choose a career path in the military. In Alabama’s Mobile County Public School System, Director of Army Instruction retired Lt. Col. Robert F. Barrow has been recognized by the Army for helping to bring JROTC under the state’s CTE umbrella and for incorporating more emphasis on STEM education in JROTC through the VEX Robotics program and an annual STEM Leadership Academy. On the postsecondary level, Central Community College (CCC) in Nebraska has been recognized frequently by the Military Times as a top two-year college in the nation for veterans. CCC operates a Veterans and Military Resource Center at four campuses, providing services for learners who are veterans and current service members that range from the practical logistics of enrollment and financial aid to counseling and peer support.

ACTE’s Sector Sheet series is generously supported by Pearson.  

Research Round-up: Bridging the Gap Between High School and Postsecondary Education

A Stronger Nation: The Lumina Foundation recently updated their data tool, A Stronger Nation, which measures the nation’s postsecondary education attainment rate. It provides data by national, state, county and metro level and disaggregates the data by race/ethnicity, age and credential type. The tool also measures the nation’s progress toward closing racial equity gaps in postsecondary education. The country’s current postsecondary attainment rate is 52% – 8 percentage points lower than Lumina’s 60% goal – and rates are much lower for Black Americans at 32%, Hispanics at 26% and American Indians and Alaska Natives at 11% due systemic inequities in education.

Blurring the Lines: For many students, postsecondary attainment is hindered by misaligned pathways between high school, postsecondary education and the workforce. After interviewing over 50 leaders from education and workforce sectors, JFF envisioned an innovative model that combines grades 11 through 14 to establish a pathway toward postsecondary credentials and career preparation. Institutions under the model would expose youth by the age of 16 to careers and offer two free years of college that provide valuable credentials, allowing young adults to enter the workforce or further postsecondary education. JFF describes four key features that would support this or similar models:

• Incentives driven by accountability metrics based on student success in work-based learning and employment outcomes, and financial rewards that provide funding to programs that assist students in the transition to postsecondary education, such as dual enrollment courses.
• Alignment of high school and college curriculum starting in grade 11, building on existing curricular alignment across CTE programs of study in high-demand career fields.
• A governance system, such as a state cabinet-level team, that oversees, secures funding and supports unified grade 11 through 14 structures.
• Staffing structures that equip specially trained educators and leaders to teach learning and work experiences for students in grades 11 through 14.

Pathways Matter to Families: ExcelinEd released a report to assist state policymakers and education leaders to increase awareness of education-to-workforce pathways. The report emphasizes that greater awareness can empower students and families to advocate for high-quality pathways. Researchers surveyed young adults and parents of middle schoolers, high schoolers and young adults and found the following:

• Parents and young adults agree that gaining skills and work experience set up learners for success after high school, but 20% stated that they are unaware if CTE is offered in their district.
• Schools do not advertise CTE to both groups as frequently as honors and advanced coursework. One-third of parents and young adults said they do not receive CTE information from their schools, and 45% of parents and young adults stated that they want more information about CTE.
• Information relevance and quality matter more than quantity when educating parents and students about pathways.

The report offered three solutions for states, districts and schools to increase awareness of education-to-workforce pathways: establish clear definitions and metrics for high-quality pathways, empower families with information and ensure high-quality pathway navigation support.

Invest Forward: The Education Strategy Group recently created the Invest Forward initiative to equip district and state education leaders with strategies to use their American Rescue Plan funds in ways that support postsecondary and career success. The website provides resources for district and state leaders and outlines four areas of potential investment:

• Building college and career momentum early in high school.
• Providing students with knowledge, experiences and relationships necessary for career success.
• Implementing opportunities to earn college credit or stackable credentials before graduation.
• Enrolling students in postsecondary programs leading to credentials with labor market value.

Similarly, the Alliance for Excellent Education released a policy guide outlining how states and school districts can use funding from coronavirus relief packages to support transitions from high school to postsecondary education. The guide emphasizes the following four key strategies:

• Implement enhanced college and career advising, develop strategies to assist low-income and first-generation college students during the college application process, and create summer bridge programs, which prepare students for college during the summer after graduation.
• Expand dual enrollment and early college high schools to expose students to postsecondary coursework and use as a credit-recovery strategy for those who struggled with virtual learning.
• Adopt college and career pathways that integrate rigorous academic coursework, CTE, work-based learning and support services to increase engagement and create pathways through postsecondary education to the workforce.
• Redesign high schools to include early warning systems to identify students at risk, opportunities to earn college credit and systems of support.

ACTE proposed similar strategies and provided additional CTE-specific ideas for deploying coronavirus relief funding in our spring 2021 publication High-Quality CTE During COVID-19: Leveraging Federal Relief Funds at the Local Level.

The COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on Postsecondary CTE

The Urban Institute, in collaboration with the CTE CoLab coalition, published a report this spring discussing COVID-19's impact on postsecondary CTE. Researchers surveyed staff representing eight CTE programs in 69 colleges across 30 states to compare shifts in instructional delivery during the pandemic. The report found that:

• In-person instruction rates were predicted to be lower following the pandemic for six programs: early childhood education; welding; automotive repair; licensed practical nursing; manufacturing technologies; and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
• In contrast, IT was expected to have the same in-person instruction rate of 5% and business administration was expected to increase from 3% to 5%.
• Automotive repair and welding programs were predicted to have the highest in-person instruction rates at 68% and 63%; this is a 10% and 8% decrease, respectively, from prior to the pandemic.
• Large shifts toward hybrid instruction were predicted, particularly for licensed practical nursing programs. 

The report also detailed opportunities, challenges and other factors that impacted whether college staff planned to offer CTE coursework online. Key findings include the following:

• 42% of respondents noted that hands-on activities and labs are difficult to implement online, and the same percentage said that work-based learning and employer partnerships were also challenges.
• 37% cited their main concern with offering CTE coursework online was maintaining enrollment levels, and 11% indicated that availability of funding would determine their method of instruction.
• Although 19% cited access to technology as a way to lower barriers for students, 32% stated that student access to technology makes online learning and teaching difficult.
• 32% said online programming is an opportunity to offer more courses.

Trends described in this publication align with survey results found in ACTE’s March 2021 report on high-quality CTE during COVID-19. As with the Urban Institute report, ACTE also found that CTE administrators were concerned with enrollment decreases. In addition, ACTE respondents reported similar challenges with hands-on activities and labs as well as work-based learning.

As postsecondary CTE programs begin for fall 2021, some of the Urban Institute’s predictions on instructional delivery have been fulfilled while others have not. Some colleges are reverting to remote or hybrid instruction models temporarily as the COVID-19 Delta variant spreads through the United States. Other colleges plan to return to in-person instruction with COVID-19 vaccine mandates. As of writing, 773 colleges have required students or faculty to receive a vaccination and nearly 50% are encouraging or incentivizing students to get vaccinated.

Research Round-up: Equity and Access in Postsecondary Education

Amplifying Equity in Perkins V: In February 2021, the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity completed its first Equity Leadership Academy for States. The academy focuses on helping state postsecondary education agencies to center equity in the Perkins V comprehensive local needs assessment (CLNA) implementation process. Stakeholders and students from 10 states completed training sessions, technical assistance sessions and focus groups within a six-month period. Results from the academy provide recommendations to postsecondary leaders interested in amplifying equity in the Perkins V CLNA process:

• Adopt changes in equity at the internal level before implementing system-wide change.
• Develop frameworks of equity and define a shared equity vision across departments.
• Engage students and community members.
• Create a culture of shared accountability to center equity beyond the CLNA process.

Free College Tuition Programs for Adults: States have increasingly developed free college tuition programs to encourage people to pursue postsecondary education. However, many of these programs are aimed at recent high school graduates rather than adult learners. The American Institutes of Research scanned websites in spring 2021 to identify active adult-eligible free college tuition programs and adult-friendly features of these programs. Programs that were classified as adult-friendly included features such as allowing participants to have prior postsecondary experience and allowing students to enroll part-time. The scan found 67 active adult-eligible programs in 22 states. Of the 67 programs:

• 57 programs were offered at community colleges and only 4 programs were open to adults exclusively.
• 30 programs allowed prior postsecondary experience and 18 programs allowed part-time enrollment.
• 63 programs required participants to apply for financial aid and 18 programs required demonstrated financial need.
• 9 programs required participants to pursue education for in-demand career fields.

Postsecondary Data Equity: A report from the Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) outlines how improvements to data on race and economic status can help design policies aimed at closing equity gaps in postsecondary education. Postsecondary data on race and economic status are limited owing to challenges in accessing, linking and disaggregating key metrics. Recommendations to improve data equity include implementing reforms to support postsecondary equity more generally; expanding federal data collections; enacting the Bipartisan College Transparency Act, which would create a new, privacy-protected federal student-level data network; and creating a federal-state funding partnership that incentivizes states to improve data systems. TICAS also created a sample equity data dashboard to illustrate how a more equity-focused data approach would look.

The Transfer Reset: The Tackling Transfer Policy Advisory Board – an initiative of HCM Strategists, the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program and Sova – recently released a report describing the inequities students face when transferring from one postsecondary institution to another. The report emphasizes that current policies are not designed for the multiple directions students take in response to changing workforce patterns. Although 35% of students transfer to another postsecondary institution, transfer students lose an estimated 43% of their credits. The board created a framework titled “The Transfer Reset” which offers policy recommendations to address transfer inequities and covers three topics:

• Using data to portray the importance of transfer student success, hold institutions accountable and equip students with information to make informed decisions.
• Maximizing credit applicability (the application of incoming transfer credits toward a student’s requirements at the receiving institution) and adopting policies to create a simplified transfer process.
• Investing in transfer student success through institutional funding and federal and state aid.

Updated: Aerospace & Defense Sector Sheet

Recently, ACTE updated its Sector Sheet on CTE’s role in developing the aerospace and defense workforce for 2021 with current labor market projections, information about how CTE prepares the workforce for this sector, and examples of exemplary programs in aerospace and defense.

The U.S. aerospace and defense industry is a global leader in the development and operation of air, space and defense systems, creating products and services that support commercial businesses and the Armed Forces. More than 60,000 jobs are expected by 2036 in large unmanned systems, and the Federal Aviation Administration projects that remote pilots will outnumber traditional instrument-rated pilots in the next few years. Also needed are IT experts to develop, maintain and protect national security and commercial systems, along with workers with expertise in additive manufacturing (3D printing) and aviation maintenance technicians.

CTE programs are at the forefront in preparing youth and adults for aerospace and defense careers. On the secondary level, 50+ high schools and skills centers across Washington state have partnered with Boeing to implement the company’s Core Plus curriculum that includes foundational manufacturing skills and aerospace-related courses such as fiber optics, advanced composites and robotics. Core Plus Aerospace provides students with opportunities to receive an industry-backed certificate of competency and participate in a paid internship. On the postsecondary level, Mountain Empire Community College (MECC) offers an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) program to develop the workforce for 94 aviation-related companies in the region. The program has grown to include an associate degree program and two Career Studies certificate programs in the field of smart farming, which explores how drones and other technologies can tackle agricultural challenges. The MECC UAS program has a 94% pass rate for the FAA Small Pilot Certificate.

ACTE’s Sector Sheet series is generously supported by Pearson.