Posts Tagged ‘California Career Pathways Trust’

Getting to Know… California

Thursday, March 8th, 2018

Note: This is part of Advance CTE’s blog series, “Getting to Know…” We are using this series to help our readers learn more about specific states, State CTE Directors, partners and more.

State Name: California

State CTE Director: Donna Wyatt, Director, Career and College Transition Division, California Department of Education

About California: California is a state that doesn’t just give lip service to career readiness; it fully commits to preparing learners for meaningful careers. Last summer, the Career and College Transition Division underwent a significant reorganization that elevated the role of career readiness within the Department of Education. The state legislature has also appropriated more than $1.4 billion in the past few years to support Career Technical Education (CTE) and career pathways across the state through various initiatives and grants.

In California, CTE is delivered through comprehensive high schools, career academies, community colleges and 74 Regional Occupational Centers and Programs (ROCPs). California recognizes 15 industry sectors loosely organized around the National Career Clusters framework, including state-specific sectors such as fashion and interior design. While programs are developed and administered locally, there are seven technical assistance centers across the state that support local districts to evaluate and improve their program offerings. These efforts are guided by a framework of 11 elements of a high-quality CTE system that are outlined in the state’s Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins) state plan.

Notable in California – College and Career Indicator: In 2016, the California Department of Education unveiled a new school dashboard with various measures of school performance to provide transparency for students, families and communities. The dashboard is designed to satisfy school accountability requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Included in the dashboard is a College and Career Indicator to rate schools on their success in preparing learners for post-high school transitions. Currently, schools are evaluated on only three levels — prepared, approaching prepared and not prepared — that include measures such as CTE pathway completion and dual enrollment.

While the dashboard was implemented with only three levels for this indicator, efforts are underway to define what it takes for students to be “well prepared” for college and careers. State leaders in California are working to define this level and are exploring options such as work-based learning participation and industry-recognized credential attainment.

Notable in California – California Career Pathways Trust: The California Career Pathways Trust (CCPT) is a multi-million dollar grant program authorized in the 2013-14 state budget to accelerate the development of regional 9-14 career pathways. Between 2014 and 2015, grants of up to $15 million were awarded to 87 sites, which include partnerships between high schools, colleges and businesses.

According to a 2017 evaluation of CCPT, more than 800 discrete school-level pathways were developed or strengthened in the first year of the initiative, including in both community colleges and high schools. Many of these included CTE course sequences, work-based learning and student support services. Further, many sites reported that the partnerships established through their CCPT work led to lasting relationships and collaboration with key industry leaders.

While selected sites are continuing to receive funding through CCPT, the program was designed as a one-time investment to accelerate regional career pathways work. Day-to-day CTE programs and career readiness activities are supported through the CTE Incentive Grant program and the Local Control Funding Formula.

Austin Estes, Senior Policy Associate

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Unpacking Putting Learner Success First: Commitment Across Systems

Friday, August 11th, 2017

A little over one year ago, Advance CTE launched Putting Learner Success First: A Shared Vision for the Future of CTE. This document, which was developed using input from a broad array of stakeholders, calls for a systematic transformation of the education system grounded in five principles. This blog series will dive into each principle, detailing the goals and progress made in each area.

For more resources related to Putting Learner Success First, including state and local self-assessments, check out our Vision Resources page.

All systems work together to put learner success first.

In order to deliver high-quality CTE for all learners, state systems must work together at every level. Secondary and postsecondary must work together and with agencies that handle workforce and economic development issues. All of those agencies must also engage with employer partners and local districts and institutions to inform the design, validation and implementation of CTE programs.

This engagement should include a common vision and goals, along with shared terminology and data, so that each system can function together efficiently.

Those who have signed onto the principle have committed to accomplishing this objective through the following actions:

Since the launch of Putting Learner Success First, Advance CTE has been conducting research and policy scans to raise up examples and promising practices related to this principle. Now, when state leaders place their focus on cross-sector coordination, they have access to multiple resources related to secondary and postsecondary partnerships, governance, accountability systems and statewide longitudinal data systems.

Principle in Action

Relevant Resources

Ashleigh McFadden, State Policy Manager

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Measuring Career Readiness in State Accountability Systems: Where to Start

Thursday, March 23rd, 2017

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) affords states the chance to strengthen their accountability systems by adopting multiple measures of school success rather than relying on an antiquated test-based system. Buoyed by this flexibility, state agencies across the country are exploring strategies to integrate career readiness indicators into their accountability systems. While some states have made considerable progress in this arena, others are left wondering where do we start?

To help states navigate this new territory, Education Strategy Group and the Council of Chief State School Officers convened a workgroup of accountability experts and tasked them with identifying and recommending robust metrics to measure career readiness. Their recommendations, released earlier this month in a brief titled Destination Known: Valuing College AND Career Readiness in State Accountability Systems, detail four possible measures of student career readiness:

The brief further outlines strategies for measuring and valuing each of these measures, demonstrating how states can implement and gradually increase the sophistication of their measurement indicators. Lessons are also drawn from states such as Ohio, Kentucky and California that have made headway toward adopting and implementing career-focused accountability indicators in recent years.

Moving forward, JPMorgan Chase & Co. aims to support state efforts to adopt these recommendations and enhance their career-focused accountability through New Skills for Youth, a cross-state initiative to dramatically increase the number of students who graduate from high school prepared for careers.

Expanding Access to Postsecondary Learning

Separately, students who earned dual credit in Oregon schools were more likely than their peers to graduate from high school, enroll in college and persist through their first year. That’s according to new research from the Research Education Lab at Education Northwest examining dual credit participation between 2005 and 2013. While the study reveals a correlation between dual credit attainment and positive outcomes, the authors note equity gaps in participation across student subgroups. Dual credit earners in the study were more often white, female and not on the federal free and reduced lunch program.

Equitable access to higher education is not a new issue, but it can often be exacerbated by performance-based funding formulas. Without careful design, such formulas can encourage two-year and four-year colleges to be more selective with who they admit into their programs. According to the Center for Legal and Social Policy (CLASP), states should adjust their postsecondary formula weights to counteract selectivity and encourage more open access to postsecondary education.

Odds and Ends

Austin Estes, Policy Associate

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