CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

New Resource: Maximizing Access & Success for Special Populations and Underrepresented Learners in CTE

ACTE and Advance CTE have released the first set in a new series of joint publications that address how to support each of the nine Perkins V special populations and other underserved learner groups.

The Maximizing Access & Success for Special Populations in CTE series features strategies, reflection questions and case studies for supporting each special population as well as other key populations that have been a focus of state and local support. 

Part I, released last week, includes an introduction to the series and briefs on supporting the following special populations: 

• Nontraditional learners
• Foster youth
• Out-of-workforce individuals

A second set of briefs describing how to support additional populations will be released in February.

Research Roundup: Recent Postsecondary and Workforce Development Trends

Credential Transparency: Judging the Return on Investment: The American Enterprise Institute recently published a report exploring the major shortage of highly skilled workers across the nation and the actions that state leaders and policymakers can take to close the talent gap through increased credential transparency methods. Researchers found that 26 states across the nation are working on increasing Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) adoption and registries within their territories. The analysts focused particularly on Texas, Indiana and Arkansas and found the following:

• Texas is publishing in-house data about credentials, competencies, program quality and student outcomes across three states agencies that hold responsibility for education and occupational credentials in an effort to widen its registry.
• Indiana’s Commission on Higher Education is working to increase transparency and publish information on more than 3,600 state credentials like certificates, degrees, apprenticeships, micro-credentials, occupational licenses, industry certifications and more.
• Arkansas created the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet and appointed local workforce leader Mike Rogers from Tyson Foods as the chief workforce officer to jointly spearhead creating an easily navigable Employment Record (LER) System for workers and employers that will match the two parties based on job skills using digital technology.

New Measures of Postsecondary Transfer: A report recently published by the U.S. Department of Education analyzes recent transfer and completion rates for community college students to better understand the barriers that learners face and inform leaders and policymakers working to change transfer policies and practices. Researchers discovered that only 16% of students who start in community colleges go on to earn bachelor’s degrees within six years, with lower rates for individuals of color and individuals from low-income backgrounds.

Researchers looked at both the community college with the highest transfer-out rate and the four-year institution with the highest transfers’ bachelor’s completion rate in each state and found the following:

• The average community college transfer-out rate was 38%, ranging from a high of 71% to a low of 19%.
• The average transfer bachelor’s completion rate at four-year institutions was 66%, ranging from a high of 89% to a low of 30%.
• Dyad completion, the rate at which students transfer and graduate between specific pairs of institutions, was 8%, ranging from a high of 20% to a low of 1%.
• Having high-performing dyads in a state is significant to learners’ overall transfer performance with Virginia and California topping the list for the best-performing states.

Three Ways States Can Lead on Postsecondary Education Reform: The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity recently published a brief that analyzes the current state of the postsecondary education landscape by focusing on outcomes-based funding (OBF), state authorization reform and state-imposed degree requirements as three key policy areas for immediate state reform consideration.

The report describes recent trends for each policy area across multiple states, including the following:

• At Texas State Technical College (TSTC), alumni wages have increased by 42% over the past 10 years thanks to an OBF formula. The “Returned-Value’’ formula calculates the difference between former students’ wages and the minimum wage, with a portion of that added value returning to TSTC as state funding for instruction and administration.
• Maryland is one of the first states in the country to remove degree requirements for employment within the state executive branch. This initiative led to a 34% increase in job applications from individuals with relevant skills and experience, which emphasizes the need to expand these types of measures across the board.
• State authorization reform is the policy area making the slowest progress. As demand for postsecondary education increases, the number of degree-granting institutions is stagnant owing to logistical hurdles.

White House Releases Playbook Identifying Effective Workforce Investments

The White House recently released a playbook centered around effective workforce development strategies utilized by states and local governments through funding from the American Rescue Plan. It encourages leveraging the $350 billion State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program (SLFRF) to invest in evidence-based registered apprenticeships programs, community college programs and supportive services, and it shares a series of models from across the country. 

The playbook emphasizes the importance of Registered Apprenticeship programs stating that 90% of those who complete an apprenticeship program obtain employment. It cites Harris County, Texas’s $10.9 million investment in its Apprenticeship Advantage Initiative, which provides the opportunity to join union apprenticeships and technology programs to over 1,000 low-income residents. Additionally, it highlights programs from Louisville, Kentucky’s workforce development board including Kentuckiana Builds, which provides pre-apprenticeship programs in the construction trades to underrepresented populations; and Reentry Works, which administers career guidance and support to formerly incarcerated individuals. Lastly, it shares how Maine’s $11 million investment in its apprenticeship program is expected to double its number of apprentices through the expansion of apprenticeship opportunities within 14 state-selected organizations. 

Shifting to identifying exemplary investment strategies within community and technical colleges, the playbook emphasizes their importance as “a linchpin of our nation’s education and workforce training system.” It highlights Oklahoma's Nursing Workforce Expansion Program, which includes $80 million in funding toward developing a larger and more highly trained nursing workforce in response to nursing shortages. Additionally, it cites Indiana Ivy Tech’s investment in construction of a technology-driven lab to provide valuable hands-on training opportunities to manufacturing workers. 

The White House intends for these programs to serve as models across the country in investing American Rescue Plan funds to implement high-quality workforce development approaches. To learn more about these programs, read the full report here.

A Deep Dive into 2021-22 Perkins V Data

The U.S. Department of Education has released data for program year 2021-22, the second year that states reported performance data under Perkins V.

In a previous blog post, we announced the data release and shared high-level takeaways. This post will offer a more in-depth look at the new data, which is accessible through the Perkins Collaborative Resource Network. This data hub includes national- and state-level summaries, a dashboard of national- and state-level performance data and the customizable Perkins Data Explorer tool.

CTE Participants: In 2021-22, there were 11.5 million CTE participants nationwide, including more than 8.1 million secondary participants and more than 3.3 million postsecondary participants. The number of male and female CTE participants is divided roughly evenly, with slightly more males at the secondary level (53%) and slightly more females at the postsecondary level (54%). The data disaggregated by race and ethnicity provides the following insights:

• 2 million CTE participants identified as white
• 3 million identified as Hispanic/Latino
• 7 million identified as Black or African American
• Over 600,000 identified as Asian
• Almost 500,000 identified as two or more races
• About 155,000 identified as unknown race
• Approximately 109,000 identified as American Indian or Alaska Native
• About 43,000 identified as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

In addition, below are several highlights of participation by special population status:

• 3 million CTE participants identified as individuals from an economically disadvantaged family
• 6 million were preparing for career fields nontraditional to their gender
• Over 1 million identified as individuals with disabilities
• More than 700,000 were English learners
• About 500,000 were out-of-workforce learners
• More than 150,000 were individuals experiencing homelessness

CTE Concentrators: School year 2021-22 recorded 2.8 million concentrators and approximately 1.8 million postsecondary concentrators nationwide for a total of about 4.6 million CTE concentrators. Similar to CTE participants, the percentages of male and female concentrators were roughly equal, with more male CTE concentrators at the secondary level and more female concentrators at the postsecondary level. Disaggregated data by race and ethnicity provides the following insights:

• 3 million CTE concentrators identified as white
• 2 million identified as Hispanic/Latino
• Over 600,000 identified as Black or African American
• Over 200,000 identified as Asian
• Almost 200,000 identified as two or more races
• 65,000 identified as unknown race
• About 42,000 identified as American Indian or Alaskan Native
• About 16,000 identified as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

The following are highlights of the data when disaggregated by special population status:

• Approximately 2 million CTE concentrators identified as individuals from an economically disadvantaged family
• 1 million were preparing for career fields nontraditional to their gender
• Over 380,000 identified as individuals with disabilities
• More than 200,000 were English learners
• Over 90,000 were out-of-workforce learners
• About 46,000 were individuals experiencing homelessness

Note that cross-state comparisons should be proceeded with caution since states have different ways of operationalizing the legislative definition of concentrator in Perkins V.

Concentrator Performance: 2021-22 marked the second year that local recipients and states reported CTE concentrator performance on the Perkins V accountability indicators.

Secondary Performance

• School year 2021-22 saw an average graduation rate across the nation of approximately 96%, the same as in school year 2020-21.
• 40 states out of 53 states, districts and territories met their targets for reading and language arts proficiency, 35 met targets for mathematics proficiency and 34 met targets for science proficiency.
• 47 states met their targets for post-program placement, defined as concentrators who are in postsecondary education, advanced training, military service, national service, the Peace Corps or are employed after graduation.
• 41 states met their targets for nontraditional program concentration, measuring the percentage of concentrators from underrepresented gender groups studying for career fields in which individuals of that gender comprise less than 25% of the workforce.
• 20 out of 22 states, districts and territories met their targets for attainment of recognized postsecondary credentials.
• 11 out of 12 states met their targets for attainment of postsecondary credits.
• 24 out of 29 states met their targets for participation in work-based learning experiences.

Postsecondary Performance

• 49 states out of 53 states, districts or territories met their targets for postsecondary placement, which is defined as concentrators who remain enrolled in postsecondary education or pursue advanced training, military service, national service, the Peace Corps or employment after graduation.
• 50 states met their targets for attainment of recognized postsecondary credentials.
• 46 states met their targets for nontraditional program concentration.

Cross-state comparisons and data aggregated across states should be interpreted with caution due to different measurement approaches and definitions.

Research Roundup: Equity in Dual Enrollment

The Community College Research Center (CCRC) recently published a series of reports to accompany its Dual Enrollment Equity Pathways (DEEP) framework, a new initiative that aims to rethink dual enrollment (DE) as an equitable ramp to postsecondary programs that can lead to good-paying, family- and self-sustaining careers for learners who might not have otherwise pursued education after high school. The framework centers around the following four areas of practice:

• Outreach to underserved students and schools
• Alignment to college degrees and careers in fields of interest
• Early career and academic exploration, advising and planning
• High-quality college instruction and academic support

Redesigning Dual Enrollment as a Purposeful Pathway to College and Career Opportunity: The initial report of the series presents the DEEP model and draws on the authors’ conclusions from institutions that were early adopters of whole-college guided pathways (GP) reforms. Researchers identified that approximately one in five school districts nationwide have closed the racial equity access gap to DE, indicating the importance of scaling and sharing program strategies happening at the local level.

The following list spells out key strategies that leaders can use to implement the DEEP framework in their DE programs:

• Engage in outreach to low-income students and students of color beginning in middle school to make learners aware of DE opportunities when they reach high school.
• “Backward map” all programs to ensure that they lead to a good job, an associate degree or a bachelor’s degree.
• Provide separate advising and planning assistance to DE students to better assist them and reduce the work of overburdened high school advisors.
• Expose learners to postsecondary instructional methods that help them improve academic performance and assimilate to college norms and expectations.

Rethinking Dual Enrollment as an Equitable On-ramp to a Career-path College Degree Program After High School: The second report presents findings that researchers gained through field research at six community college-K-12 partnerships across Florida and Texas that have achieved positive results in expanding postsecondary access to underrepresented learners and economically disadvantaged individuals through the reforming and extension of GP practices and DE offerings. Researchers found that more than 1.5 million high school students take DE courses each year, but the majority of these courses are à la carte with no opportunity for specializing.

The following list contains strategies and recommendations that community college-K-12 partnerships can use to implement GP reforms and increase participation opportunities for underserved individuals:

• Embed program-specific DE coursework into high school CTE programs to market DE to learners, building on existing career-focused academies and programs.
• Create more efficient and streamlined pathways to teaching careers for high school students by aligning DE with teacher education pathway programs.
• Set high expectations across the board and provide essential supports such as tutoring, advising and purposeful pathways to ensure learner success.
• Frame DE pathways as a route to facilitating upward mobility and creating productive citizens when marketing to underserved communities.

Researchers also shared a key recommendation gleaned from the partnerships that they engaged with: Using current academy and DE students as ambassadors to describe DE opportunities to elementary and middle school students and families.

Research Roundup: CTE Funding Models, Postsecondary Equity and Social Capital in CTE

State of CTE Funding: Advance CTE recently published the 2023 State of CTE report, which provides an overview of secondary CTE funding models across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It also serves as a resource for those interested in conducting side-by-side state comparisons of funding models and related factors. One of the report’s key findings is that CTE funding models are deeply varied and complex due to the reliance on a mix of federal, state and local policies to provide funds for secondary CTE.

More findings from the report below:

• The categorical student-based funding approach, which distributes funds relative to the number of CTE learners enrolled, is the most common model used by states (23).
• States have increased their CTE funding over the past 10 years, with an average state increase of over $180 million, reflecting the growing focus and attention on CTE by policymakers.
• Secondary CTE programs of study used state funds to support equitable access (65%), program of study completion (56%) and the purchase of equipment and resources (54%).
• Maine was the state with the highest amount of CTE funds per FTE in FY 2022 with a range of $7,500-7,999.

The report recommends that CTE leaders actively look for opportunities for continuous improvement to better their models in areas such as ongoing policy and practice, formula design and innovation and incentives.

Lessons in how to build students’ social capital through career-connected learning: The Christensen Institute recently published a report that offers field-tested strategies for building learners’ social capital through existing CTE pathways by increased networking opportunities and personal and professional relationships. After an 18-month pilot initiative conducted with partner organizations like Education Strategy Group, researchers developed 10 crucial social capital building lessons for school leaders.

The following list highlights some of these lesson topics. Leaders can implement these lessons to help learners expand their networks and engage in more networking opportunities:

• Embed social capital into your infrastructure. Hiring the right staff can help foster change but embedding practices into curricula, roles and data systems helps maintain it.
• Prioritize building curricula and allocate time and resources for social capital training instead of purchasing poorly fit off-the-shelf products.
• Adapt practices to cultural norms. Social capital requires cooperation between students and staff. Tailor your strategies to align with learner backgrounds.
• Take a show-not-tell approach to teaching about social capital. Rather than adapting it as a subject matter, immerse students in experiences that build their understanding.

Increasing Equitable Postsecondary Value: A report recently published by the Institute for Higher Education Policy tackles the issue of equitable value in postsecondary education by exploring policy interventions that aim to break down barriers and assess the economic value of postsecondary credentials through publicly available data that estimates a minimum economic return to students. Researchers discovered that approximately 88% of public two-year or less-than-two-year institutions provide students with at least a minimum economic return on their investment.

To go beyond the threshold of minimum return, school leaders, administrators and policymakers must address the shortcomings and inequities that underserved learner groups face nationwide. Researchers made the following recommendations to help institutions address these issues and strive further toward equitable value:

• Invest in first-dollar free college programs to increase affordability value by maximizing aid for high-need students.
• Assist low-income background students with non-tuition expenses to reduce affordability barriers and facilitate completion.
• Make financial aid more feasible for low-income students by avoiding restrictions on part-time status, enrollment age, state background and transfer status.
• Advocate for changes in federal and state law to decrease time-to-degree and increase completion rates.

Perkins V Resources: Data Sharing & Analysis

State and local CTE leaders need accurate data to identify problems, iterate solutions and make informed decisions about programs and funding. Perkins V allows states to invest additional resources in building their data and reporting systems and requires more data-informed decision making through the comprehensive local needs assessment.

As we close this week celebrating Perkins V’s fifth birthday, we’re sharing tools and resources that ACTE has developed or co-developed to support data reporting, analysis and sharing:

• Beyond the Numbers: Design Principles for CTE Data Reporting: This Advance CTE and ACTE report describes principles for reporting, sharing and communicating data. A related toolkit includes a data communications planning tool and numerous templates for CTE data tools.

• Achieving Inclusive CTE Goal-setting Tool: This Advance CTE and ACTE tool can help state and local CTE leaders assess learner group data to recruit, engage and support underrepresented learner groups.

• High-quality CTE Library: Data and Program Improvement: ACTE’s online library of resources contains publications and tools for CTE data reporting, analysis and sharing and how to use data to close gaps and support continuous improvement.

State and local leaders can use these resources to enhance their data reporting systems and maximize their understanding of how data leads to better CTE implementation. ACTE and Advance CTE have also collaborated to provide targeted technical assistance to states and local CTE programs focused on effectively using and sharing CTE data.

ACTION ALERT: Ask Your Members of Congress to Support the Senate’s FY 2024 Education Funding Bill!

On July 27, the Senate Appropriations Committee considered and approved its Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill on a bi-partisan basis, which contains a $40 million increase to the Perkins Basic State Grant program, and provides significantly more resources to education and workforce development programs than the House version of the bill does.

The appropriations process will continue once Congress returns in September, and we want to let Members of Congress know that we support the Senate bill and its higher funding levels! Your advocacy will be critical throughout August to share this message!

ACTION NEEDED: CLICK HERE to urge your Members of Congress to support the Senate’s $40 million increase for Perkins and overall higher funding levels! 

You can send a message directly using the ACTE Action Center. You can also call or email directly any personal contacts that you have in your Members’ offices, such as from a meeting at NPS, or call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and an operator will connect you to your Member of Congress.

The Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact Would Allow Teaching Licenses to Transcend State Borders

Seeking to address strains on the teacher workforce, legislation newly adopted in ten states aims to make it easier for teachers to move to a new state. The Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact eliminates additional training and testing requirements for teachers seeking to obtain a teaching license in a different state. With the adoption of the compact, if a teacher holds a bachelor’s degree, has completed a state-approved teacher licensure program and holds a full teaching license, they are eligible to receive an equivalent license from another participating state. 

The compact notes CTE teachers as an exception to these requirements. CTE teachers are not subjected to the bachelor’s degree requirement since they can often obtain their original licenses without holding this degree. However, the participating states reserve the power to select which program or subject areas to apply this agreement, and the inclusion of CTE licenses will be decided on a state-by-state basis. 

In the last few months, ten states have adopted the compact which ratifies the agreement. These include Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Nevada, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah. Additionally, legislation is currently pending in California, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The status of the legislation can be tracked here. 

The Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact receives funding from the Department of Defense which partnered with the Council of State Governments and the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) to develop the agreement. The Department of Defense launched this initiative originally to assist military spouses who face obstacles to maintaining a teaching profession as they frequently move between states, but it has a much more far-reaching impact. In the midst of a national teacher shortage, the compact eliminates barriers for military spouses and all other educators seeking to work in another state.

As more states consider this legislation, the agreement will likely continue to expand. Updated information and further details can be found here.

ACTION ALERT: Ask Your Representative: Support Perkins in FY 2024 Appropriations!

Earlier this week, House leaders announced that instead of allocating the amount of funding agreed to in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 for FY 2024 appropriations bills, which would have essentially provided level funding to domestic programs, they would write appropriations bills to the lower FY 2022 level requested by the most conservative House members.

While we are still awaiting the official topline funding level for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill, early reports estimate that the bill could be cut by almost 30%. The impact on Perkins funding and CTE programs could be significant. As the House starts to consider their appropriations bills, we need to generate as much support for CTE as possible to ensure the highest possible level of funding for Perkins within these tight caps.

ACTION NEEDED: CLICK HERE to ask your representative to support robust funding for Perkins CTE in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill!

You can send a message directly using the ACTE Action Center. Additionally, if you have a direct contact in your representative’s office, such as from a meeting with a staff member during NPS earlier this month or at another time, we urge you to call or email directly. You can also call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and an operator will connect you to your requested House office. Please contact your representative today!