NASDCTEc Blog

Legislative Update: House Releases Draft 302(b) Allocations for FY14

May 20th, 2013

House Draft 302(b) Allocations for FY14

The House Appropriations Committee this week released their draft FY14 302(b) allocations which suggest devastating cuts for programs with funding allocated under the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS-Education) including Career Technical Education (CTE). Each Committee receives a single 302(a) allocation and divides it up among its subcommittees through 302(b) allocations. The 302(b) allocations establish a cap on spending for each of the appropriations bills.

The House draft 302(b) allocation would cut funding 18.6 percent below the FY13 sequestration levels for Labor-HHS-Education, leaving the U.S. Department of Education with an overall cut of more than $12 billion. It is unclear at this time how the proposed cuts would impact individual programs including CTE.

Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Ranking Member on the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee, is strongly opposed to the cuts and has called on Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) to hold a full committee markup of the subcommittee’s draft FY14 bill.

While the Senate is unlikely to agree to the levels proposed by the House, our staff will continue to monitor the bill. We are working closely with the Committee for Education Funding, a coalition of education advocacy groups including NASDCTEc, to urge the House Appropriations Committee to reject these proposed cuts.

Senator Merkley Introduces STEM Bill Including CTE Grants

We previously reported that Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) has been working on a bill, the STEM Education for the Global Economy Act, that would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to help improve instruction in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects.

Senator Merkley recently introduced the bill which would also provide grants for CTE in middle schools and high schools. Senators Mark Begich (D-AK), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Al Franken (D-MN) co-sponsored the bill. The CTE grants would seek to:

Increase collaboration between education institutions and employers
Develop and enhance programs of study
Assess how well CTE programs meet workforce needs

Access the text of the bill here.

Kara Herbertson, Research and Policy Manager

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Congressional CTE Caucus Event Seeks to Increase Support for CTE

May 15th, 2013

This morning, Steve DeWitt (ACTE), Sasha Pudelski (American Association of School Administrators) and I presented at an event hosted by the U.S. House of Representatives Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus co-chairs Representatives Jim Langevin (D-RI) and G.T. Thompson (R-PA). The event, titled “CTE 101: The Nuts & Bolts of Establishing a Qualified Workforce” provided attendees with:

an overview of CTE,
the benefits of CTE,
the range of students served,
the myriad of CTE delivery systems,
the spectrum of CTE programs offered,
the importance of business/education partnerships, and
the impact and importance of federal support for CTE.

Each presenter shared examples of high quality CTE programs and discussed potential considerations for federal policy related to CTE, including the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Workforce Investment Act and the Higher Education Act. Congressman Thompson and Langevin both shared the sentiment that CTE is “a tried and true solution for creating jobs, retraining workers, and ensuring that students of all ages are career- and college-ready.” For a current list of members of the CTE caucus, please visit here.

Representatives Langevin and Thompson have worked tirelessly to promote CTE and to protect Perkins funding. As we reported in this blog post, they hosted a “Dear Colleague” letter supporting funding for CTE, which was signed by 61 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Sasha also shared that the latest publication from AASA focuses exclusively on CTE. This free on-line publication can be found here.

Kimberly Green, NASDCTEc Executive Director

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Career Clusters® Institute Blog Series: Building Strategic Alliances with Business/Industry, Workforce Development, and Economic Development

May 14th, 2013

This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the National Career Clusters® Institute. Guest bloggers are among teachers, faculty, researchers, and other experts that will present at the national gathering in Fort Worth, TX in June. Today’s guest blogger is Gregg Christensen, Entrepreneurship and Career Education Specialist, Nebraska Department of Education, Lincoln, NE.

Building Strategic Alliances with Business/Industry, Workforce Development, and Economic Development

Nebraska Career Education
SYSTEM

Business-Industry Linkages…

Partnering with Workforce Development and Economic Development

Stakeholder Involvement…

Do all these sound like familiar themes related to Career Technical Education? It’s easy to give lip service to them, but difficult to make a reality in effective and efficient ways.

Bringing together key partners to achieve buy-in, support and advocacy for important career technical education initiatives and projects has never been more crucial. The bottom line for many business and industry professionals is that they feel called upon for money, equipment, and advice, but not really “heard.”

Workforce Development and Economic Development agencies have different missions, different measures of success, and different “alphabet soups” of programs and initiatives. Bridging that divide is difficult but doable.

Engagement of key stakeholders has to be more than a surface “bring ‘em in, talk at ‘em and let ‘em go” exercise to meet a state or federal requirement. Identifying who needs to be at the table, why they would want to be there, and what they (and you) will gain from working together is crucial, but an often overlooked step.

This session will share best practices for building strategic alliances with diverse group and review examples of strategic alliances built by the Nebraska Career Education (NCE) team and explore the tangible outcomes of these NCE system-driven collaborations including:

Nebraska Standards for Career Ready Practice
Career Readiness Modules
Professional Development Modules
H3 Website
Preparation for Tomorrow Food and Nutritional Sciences project

Gregg’s breakout session, Building Strategic Alliances with Business/Industry, Workforce Development, and Economic Development is Monday, June 10 from 3:35 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

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Career Clusters® Institute Blog Series: Exposing and Engaging Students in Careers

May 13th, 2013

This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the National Career Clusters® Institute. Guest bloggers are among teachers, faculty, researchers, and other experts that will present at the national gathering in Fort Worth, TX in June. Today’s guest blogger is Terry Carlile, Director, TLC Workforce Solutions.

How are you preparing students in the competitive job market? Whose pipeline are we filing? Gaining the effective partnerships of local employers for workforce exposure and training remains the key attribute of successful career programs. Learn how youth’s career interest assessment and the local high demand career outlook was meshed together to provide a training platform. 40117489_scaled_137x189

How to partner with workforce, educators and businesses for win-win-win scenarios will be the highlight of this subject. I’ve worked in the trenches of at-risk youth workforce programs and will share the reality of “how to”. It’ll be a fast, fun, informative and practical 1 hour and 25 minute excursion.

Resource: www.tlcworkforcesolutions.com

Terry Carlile’s breakout session, Exposing and Engaging Students in Careers, will be held Wednesday, June 12 from 8:30 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

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New NASDCTEc Publication on Career Academies

May 13th, 2013

Career academies are a proven way of delivering high-quality Career Technical Education (CTE). Through small learning communities, college-preparatory curriculum, and strong partnerships with local employers, career academies offer work-based learning opportunities and rigorous pathways to postsecondary education and careers. Research strongly supports the efficacy of career academies in increasing the academic success, attendance levels and future earning potential of participating students.

Learn more about these dynamic academies in our latest publication, Career Academies: An Investment in Students, the Workforce and the Economy. An archived webinar on this topic, featuring representatives from the national, state and school levels, is now available here.

Kara Herbertson, Research and Policy Manager

Tags: career academies
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Legislative Update: FY14 Perkins Estimates, FY14 Budget, ESEA Hearing

May 10th, 2013

FY 2014 Perkins Estimates

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education shared state-by-state budget tables for all programs under its jurisdiction. This includes estimates for both FY13 and FY14. At the time of the release, the tables included incorrect information for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins). The tables have now been updated and can be found here. Perkins information can be found on page 21.

The FY13 estimates reflect sequestration reductions. It is important to note that the estimates for FY14 assume the President’s budget request is approved, which restores funds to pre-sequestration levels and for Perkins, assumes enactment of the U.S. Department of Education’s Investing in America’s Future: A Blueprint for Transforming Career and Technical Education. This proposal withholds $100 million in funds from the states to create an innovation fund managed by the federal government. The authority to withhold these funds and create the innovation fund would have to be enacted into law before it could occur; therefore, NASDCTEc recommends against using the FY14 estimates for planning purposes.

For more information on the President’s FY14 budget proposal and its potential impact on CTE, revisit this blog post and this blog post.

FY 2014 Budget Update

Last month, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) called for the creation of a budget conference committee to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate budgets. As reported in previous blog posts, the House budget would lead to an 11.7 percent reduction in nondefense discretionary spending for FY14 which would result in significant reductions to Perkins funding. The Senate budget would repeal the sequester and restore funding to Perkins and other nondefense programs.

This week, Senators Reid and Patty Murray (D-WA) attempted again on the Senate floor to appoint conferees on the Budget Resolution. Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) objected. Staff will continue to monitor any progress made on the FY14 budget.

House ESEA Hearing Discusses CTE

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) has been eligible for reauthorization for more than six years, and members of Congress are again looking at how the expired law can be updated and improved. This week, the House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing called “Raising the Bar: Exploring State and Local Efforts to Improve Accountability” to discuss the federal role in accountability for education.

CTE became part of the discussion when Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN) highlighted the importance of preparing students who are both college and career ready by aligning CTE and academic courses. Education stakeholders who provided testimony at the hearing included Louisiana State Superintendent of Education, John White, and Superintendent of Northfield, Minnesota Public Schools, Chris Richardson. White and Richardson agreed that better alignment between CTE and traditional academic courses is necessary. White described Louisiana’s efforts to include more measures – including dual enrollment credit, employment attainment, and Advanced Placement scores – in addition to using proficiency and graduation rates.

Another panelist, Eric Gordon of Cleveland Metropolitan School District in Ohio, discussed his district’s commitment to preparing students for postsecondary education and careers through CTE.

The discussion at this hearing on academic and technical skill integration illustrates the need for greater alignment between ESEA and Perkins. Some Members of Congress have indicated that ESEA reauthorization will begin in late summer, and staff will continue to provide details as they become available.

Kara Herbertson, Research and Policy Manager

Tags: budget, NCLB/ESEA
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EdWeek Article: States Expand High-Quality Career Pathways

May 10th, 2013

More states are embracing career pathways to increase the relevance of education for students and provide more opportunities for postsecondary credential and degree attainment. A recent article from Education Week highlights states’ work in this area and Tennessee Career Technical Education (CTE) State Director Danielle Mezera’s approach to funding career pathways.

Many states implement career pathways but the strategy recently received a greater push due to the release of the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Pathways to Prosperity report and initiative. With the assistance of Harvard and Jobs for the Future, eight states are creating higher-quality pathways that link to labor market demands. For example:

In Tennessee, education leaders are planning to begin CTE as early as 7^th grade. The state is also working on regional projects that better link programs of study. As CTE State Director, Mezera has changed Tennessee’s reserve fund from the Carl D. Perkins Career Technical Education Act into a competitive grant for regions implementing career pathways that meet high-level criteria. Tennessee is also working to close CTE programs that are no longer preparing students for relevant careers.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo is working to replicate the successful model used by Pathways in Technology Early College High School in 10 additional schools.
In Georgia, the state board of education recently approved a new requirement for all freshmen to take at least one introductory course in a Career Cluster®, such as energy or information technology.
In Illinois, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) Learning Exchanges are being created to engage more secondary students in jobs in high-growth STEM fields. The learning exchanges serve as intermediaries between education partners and businesses and industry to develop curricula, provide training for educators, and to provide educators with input on course content and structure.

The article also highlights the necessity of strong business partnerships to implementing successful career pathways. Of note, several state partners are looking into the Swiss model that relies on professional associations to help identify student competencies, which would provide more consistency in student preparedness across the state.

Access the article here.

Kara Herbertson, Research and Policy Manager

Tags: career pathways
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Career Clusters® Institute Blog Series: A Vision for the 21st: Industry and High School Collaboration in Optics

May 10th, 2013

This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the National Career Clusters® Institute. Guest bloggers are among teachers, faculty, researchers, and other experts that will present at the national gathering in Fort Worth, TX in June. Today’s guest blogger is Logan Newman, Ophthalmic Fabrication Teacher at East High School in the Rochester City School District, New York.

Having been teachers in the Rochester City School District in New York for 12 years there are specific things we have noticed about our economically troubled area. Below are some important facts:

Fact: According to New York State data, 45.5% of students who start 9^th grade graduate high school after 4 years (2008 data)

Fact: According to NYS education department data only 5% of students are college or career ready

Fact: Students who participate in a Career Technical Experience (CTE) program are 3 times more likely to graduate from High School than a student with no CTE classes.

Fact: The Monroe County workforce data states that 39% of the current workforce and 26% of new hires have basic skill deficiencies

Fact: As many as 60 percent of the children described as “problem learners” have vision problems (American Optometric Association)

Fact: Students from economically disadvantaged families (we have the highest poverty rate of all school districts in NYS) who need glasses have opportunities to get free ones, but it requires they miss time from school, resulting in greater loss of education.

Fact: A teacher at our building (me) had experience and an associate’s degree in opticianary, but no materials to make glasses and no class was offered or developed to teach it

Taking these facts together gave us some insights into what we could do to make a difference within our school and community. Our community needs skilled workers to work in the ophthalmic fabrication industry and our students need both skills for available jobs and glasses to be able to see and improve their education classes. Unfortunately, funds to purchase the tools for these programs aren’t in most education budgets. Fortunately, a grant was offered to us that did allow us to develop our plan.

Using the money from the grant we purchased materials for an ophthalmic fabrication lab (photo of lab at right). We taught a small group of students the skills of opticians and developed a full year class curriculum.

During this full year course students have learned about the shape of the eye, why people need glasses, how to correct vision with glasses, and how to make glasses. They have learned about face shape and frame selection, as well as lens selection and needs for patients.

Students in the program are working with students within the building who need eyeglass repair and fitting. Within the next several months they will begin manufacturing glasses for students who need vision correction help.

Erie Community College in Williamsville, NY has one of two Ophthalmic Dispensing degree programs in New York State. Seven of the 20 graduating seniors who have taken the high school course applied, and were accepted, into the ECC program. Because of the partnership we have formed with ECC they will be forgiven a second semester fabrication class, helping the students save time and money.

tour Students have also had the opportunity to talk with employees of Rochester Optical, as well as touring their production facility and dispensing shop. Students stated the time was useful because they got to see the skills they were using in class in use as a job. (Photo of group tour at right)

Our next step is to enroll juniors into a second year of the program and have them work with optometrists and student-patients. This second year will focus on making glasses for students who need them, learning how to deal with patients, and preparing for job opportunities. (In photo below, students are practicing taking pupillary measurements)

I’m hoping that, as you read this, you thought to yourself: “Wow! This is a great idea and I can see something like this in my area!” Your assignment between the time you read this and the time we meet is to look for local industry in your area and see what you might be able to link to your school to help your students.

Logan Neman’s breakout session, A Vision for the 21st: Industry and High School Collaboration in Optics, will be held Wednesday, June 12 from 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. Newman’s co-presenter is Paul Conrow, Teacher of Precision Optical Fabrication.

East High School is an urban high school in Rochester, NY that is collaborating with local optics companies to help meet the high demand for optical technicians in the local economy. With state grant money, the school has created two lab spaces where students may learn ophthalmics (making prescription glasses) or precision optical fabrication (machining precision lenses for telescopes, cameras, etc.) using the machines and instruments found in industry. High school courses designed with input from local experts can simultaneously help students and the local economy succeed.

More about the National Career Clusters® Institute

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

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Career Clusters® Institute Blog Series: LPSCS and GPA Resources from the Texas Education Agency and the University of North Texas

May 9th, 2013

This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the National Career Clusters Institute. Guest bloggers are among teachers, faculty, researchers, and other experts that will present at the national gathering in Fort Worth, TX in June. Today’s guest blogger is Amber O’Casey, the Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security (LPSCS) and Government and Public Administration (GPA) Career Cluster Specialist at the University of North Texas.

logoTEA

LPSCS and GPA Resources from the Texas Education Agency and the University of North Texas

Would you like to save time and money? Are you looking for free lesson ideas, project-based activities, or professional development? Are you an LPSCS or GPA educator? Then join us as we discuss the Texas Education Agency (TEA) Educational Excellence grant resources and instructional materials provided at no cost on the University of North Texas (UNT) Career and Technical Education (CTE) website.

Here are some of the materials that we will discuss:

Professional development modules that are based on research and experience and focus on “best practices” in education
Over 180 GPA and LPSCS secondary lesson plans that are standards- and project-based
Elementary and Middle School GPA/LPSCS career awareness curricula
Cluster-specific Implementation Guides
Cluster-specific Scope and Sequence documents
Tools for accommodating learning differences
And more…

All of the session attendees will leave with an understanding of the GPA and LPSCS resources and hardcopies of a GPA lesson, an LPSCS lesson, and a quick guide to our lesson plan template.

Amber’s breakout session, “LPSCS and GPA Resources from the Texas Education Agency and the University of North Texas” is Tuesday, June 11, 3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.

More about the National Career Clusters® Institute

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

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Community Colleges in the Spotlight

May 8th, 2013

This week, the National Center for Education and the Economy released a new report at a day-long event in Washington, DC. The report – “What Does It Mean to Be College and Work Ready?” – explores the first-year expectations for students across nine different disciplines (Accounting, Automotive Technology, Biotech/Electrical Technology, Business, Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Education, Information Technology/Computer Programming, Nursing, and General Studies) in mathematics and English Language Arts, and finds that there is a misalignment between what students learn in high school and what they need to know for success in their first year at community college.

Specifically in mathematics, the report finds that the first-year expectations are rarely above the Algebra I bar and largely focus on mathematics taught in middle school. The report identifies some key content areas that are typically untaught in high school, namely schematics, geometric visualization, and complex applications of measurement. One recommendation is to refocus K-12 mathematics instruction so students can gain a deeper conceptual understanding of the foundational knowledge and skills in elementary and middle school mathematics rather than rushing them to, and through, advanced course-taking in high school.

In English, the report finds that while the texts assigned in the first-year of community college programs are at the 11^th and 12^th grade level, the assignments and tests demand little from students by way of reading comprehension or writing – or, in other words, there is high text complexity but low test rigor. The Common Core State Standards’ focus on discipline-specific literacy, reading informational texts, and writing from evidence should help shore up students’ abilities in these areas, but community colleges will need to adjust their instruction in kind.

Over the course of six panel discussions, a number of topics were explored, but two themes came up time and again, the first being the tradeoff between community colleges shifting their mission away from providing open access to all students to the accountability-driven goal of retaining students. The question was raised, but largely unanswered, of whether this shift has led community colleges to lower their expectations and standards for incoming students to ensure more stay enrolled and complete. On the other hand, remediation has long been an issue among community colleges and hasn’t dramatically improved since institutions have begun to focus on completion.

The other major theme discussed was the need for more curricular pathways for students in high school, particularly in mathematics. While the report recommends that Algebra II no longer be required for all students, most of the panelists agreed that Algebra II still had value to students, but that there need to be more contextualized learning opportunities for students, based on their learning styles and post-high school interests.

What struck me about the event is that Career Technical Education (CTE) has long been tackling the challenges and opportunities raised in the report and event including building partnerships between K-12 and community college and between community colleges and employers, and offering contextualized learning pathways to students. While CTE was barely mentioned (explicitly) over the course of the day – and is not mentioned at all in the report – it is a major component of any strategy to address students’ readiness for college and careers.

Click here to read the report and watch video from the release event.

Kate Blosveren, Associate Executive Director

Tags: college and career readiness, community colleges
Posted in Meetings and Events, Public Policy, Research | Comments Off

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