Posts Tagged ‘Connecticut’

Funding Career Technical Education: Making State-Level Investments to Support Unique Elements of CTE

Tuesday, February 27th, 2024

Advance CTE released the 2023 State of CTE: An Analysis of State Secondary CTE Funding Models to highlight how states and the District of Columbia provide high-quality Career Technical Education (CTE) through various secondary CTE funding models and approaches. This blog, the fourth in a series, describes ways states invest in CTE programs through line item appropriations to support unique elements of CTE. This blog unveils new information not available in the State of CTE Funding release.

Overview

States make significant contributions to CTE programs through non-categorical, line item appropriations. Programmatic funding is distributed through periodic, legislatively established authorizations that are contingent on the availability of funds. States often place conditions on how money should be spent or used to promote state priorities. Additionally, a programmatic line item appropriation can be a recurring or a one-time investment. This blog highlights appropriations in industry-recognized credentials, Career Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs), career advisement, and educator preparation for fiscal year (FY) 2022. You can read more about categorical funding in the first blog in this series, Funding Career Technical Education: Secondary CTE Funding Basics

These key state investments often pilot new programs, sustain existing programs, provide training to educators and professionals, or allow purchases for needed equipment and supplies. These investments certainly allow Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to scale and improve program quality, which aligns with Advance CTE’s vision for the future of CTE where continuous improvement is needed at all levels within systems.  

Investing in Unique Elements of CTE

State funding through non-categorical, line item appropriations is incredibly common; 80 percent of state leaders surveyed in summer 2022 reported some line items for CTE programs. 

Industry-recognized Credentials

Helping learners have access to and earn industry-recognized credentials can make them more competitive for future work and educational opportunities. States may offer reimbursements to the learner, educator, or local institutions for the completion of credentials. There are expenses associated with industry-recognized credentials such as exam fees, materials, books, or supplies. 

Thirteen state leaders reported appropriations for industry-recognized credentials in FY 2022. 

CTSOs

CTSOs allow learners to gain academic, workplace, and technical skills, build networks, and pursue leadership experiences that are needed to succeed in today’s global workforce. 

Twelve state leaders reported line item appropriations for CTSOs, with appropriations ranging from $125,000 to $2.52 million per year in FY 2022. Most states allocated the funds toward one or more of the 11 CTSOs specifically authorized in the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins V). 

Career Advisement

Offering comprehensive and connected career advisement systems helps all learners get the support and guidance to gain skills and explore future careers. 

Nine state leaders reported line item appropriations for career advisement in FY 2022. 

Other states have made one-time investments to help pilot programs and offerings. 

Other states focused on providing resources for professionals who help with career advisement and planning. 

CTE Educator Preparation

There remains room for improvement in CTE educator preparation as only Georgia, Minnesota, and Virginia reported line item appropriations for CTE educator preparation in FY 2022. 

You can learn more about identifying funding streams that support CTE educator diversity by reading Advance CTE’s State and Local Strategies for Diversifying the CTE Educator Workforce

Recommendations

Programmatic line item appropriations are additional sources of funding to leverage to support important components of career preparation ecosystems. State leaders should take the following action steps:

Additional Resources

Be sure to read the other blogs in this series: 

We also encourage you to watch the Exploring State Secondary CTE Funding webinar.  

Dr. Laura Maldonado, Senior Research Associate

Dr. Laura Maldonado is a Senior Research Associate with Advance CTE. In this role, Laura directly supports Advance CTE’s policy research and technical assistance initiatives, data quality initiatives and internal data strategy.

By Layla Alagic in Public Policy, Research
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A Look at Connecticut’s Reshoring Strategies and Apprenticeship Growth in CTE

Tuesday, December 12th, 2023

This blog is the second in a series on promising practices and emerging policies in reshoring. In the first blog in this series, Reshoring is Only Possible with High-Quality Career Technical Education, we elevated promising practices for Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders that enhance employer participation, program quality and learner outcomes. This blog will provide an example from Connecticut on how messaging, policy and leveraging current and expanded partnerships can increase access to work-based learning opportunities for all learners.

Connecticut state outlineConnecticut’s 2019 Senate Bill 356 “An Act Establishing the Connecticut Apprenticeship and Education Committee” (Public Act No. 19-68) established the Connecticut Apprenticeship and Education Committee with the express purpose of better informing middle and high school learners about careers in manufacturing. The committee is also charged with identifying potential pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship training program integrations for smoother transitions for learners. Additionally, the committee works as an intermediary between CTE programs within high schools and higher education institutions and various industry partners to identify opportunities for alignment, thereby helping the programs qualify for grants and additional funding opportunities.

Prior to the formation of the committee, this work was led by the Connecticut Manufacturing Committee. In 2018 the Manufacturing Committee published Introducing Students to Manufacturing: Best Practices Guide and Program Resources as a resource for districts working to engage learners with manufacturing. Some suggestions from the report were: 

Promising practice: Expand partnership capacity among small businesses and local systems

The Apprenticeship and Education Committee’s makeup is structured to support continued partnership and collaboration among state, local and industry stakeholders, pulling from a wide range of public and private sector partners to ensure that the program is well-informed:

Promising practice: Provide transparency across programs to help learners make informed decisions for work-based learning options

Annually, the committee compiles an annual report of the available apprenticeship programs at public and independent institutions of higher education in the state that offer manufacturing training.  In consultation with the manufacturing industry, the committee must report whether these apprenticeship programs are meeting workforce needs. This report includes:

This important information helps to provide learners with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions for their work-based learning choices. The annual report is available through the state’s Department of Education website and a print copy is distributed to each local and regional board of education. 

Promising practice: Provide exploratory programs for experiential learning that can help learners connect their interests to available pathways

Another important component of the policy mandates that there must be exploratory programs such as hands-on learning opportunities for students in middle and high schools to learn about careers in the manufacturing industry. These types of experiential learning opportunities help learners better connect available pathways with their interests.  

Connecticut has seen a 43% increase in participation in work-based learning programs

All of these efforts and supports have been paying dividends as Connecticut has seen strong growth in participation in work-based learning programs. From 2020 to 2021 participation rose by 43% to more than 1,000 learners across Connecticut’s 17-school CTE system. Continuing to enhance the knowledge of available apprenticeships and industry partners is important to support growth in work-based learning participation. 

For more reading on apprenticeships, check out the following publications in the Learning that Works resource center:

Paul Mattingly, Senior Policy Associate

By Layla Alagic in Public Policy
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Legislative Update: ED Proposes New Gainful Employment Rule While Debt Limit Impasse Continues

Friday, May 19th, 2023

This week top congressional leaders continued to try and find consensus on the need to raise the nation’s statutory borrowing authority, while lawmakers in the House examined recent congressional budget requests from the Biden administration for the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Elsewhere, ED has proposed new rules for certain postsecondary programs and new priorities for competitive grants for Career Technical Education (CTE). 

Debt Limit Deadline Nears 

For the last few weeks, congressional leaders and President Biden have been intensely debating whether and how to raise the nation’s statutory borrowing authority, known informally as the debt limit or debt ceiling. Current forecasts estimate that the federal government will breach this borrowing authority—which is intended to pay for debts Congress has already incurred—in early June. Failure to raise the debt limit would have catastrophic consequences for the nation’s economy. This week, lawmakers continued to meet and negotiate but have made little progress.

More recently, these discussions have been limited to senior staff representing the Biden administration and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy—a development that has been widely viewed to mean that these discussions are narrowing a potential set of issues that could compose a compromise. These issues reportedly include a number of Republican priorities including permitting reform, work requirements for social safety net programs and, of particular note for the CTE community, potential caps on the overall size of the federal budget for the next several years. As shared previously, House Republicans are insisting on concessions from Democrats on these topics in exchange for raising the debt limit. As of this writing, these discussions remain extremely fluid.

Advance CTE is closely monitoring this situation and related developments, particularly for the potential impacts it may have on CTE and the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act as amended by the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V). 

Secretary Cardona Testifies in the House

On Tuesday, May 16, the House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing examining the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) federal fiscal year 2024 (FY24) budget request and related priorities. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona testified before the panel regarding a wide range of topics including recently proposed Title IX rules, critical race theory, parent’s rights and many other hot-button education issues. While lawmakers on both sides of the aisle disagreed on many of these issues, the need to reform postsecondary financial aid policies– primarily by expanding federal Pell Grant eligibility for shorter-term, high-quality postsecondary CTE programs– was a rare area of agreement which was also echoed by Secretary Cardona. Advance CTE has also long championed legislation that would achieve this. 

During the hearing, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) highlighted a recent visit he and Secretary Cardona made to a local CTE high school noting that “. . . they are turning away hundreds of kids who would love to take advantage of the benefit of career and technical education” due to a lack of capacity and related resources. Rep. Courtney highlighted the importance of formula funding for Perkins V, which he noted the administration has proposed to increase by $43 million in FY24. Despite this encouraging aspect of the President’s budget request, ED has also requested $200 million in funding for the creation of a new competitive grant program. Advance CTE and partners have previously shared concerns regarding this proposal, which ED estimates would only serve 32 programs in total, particularly given growing demand for CTE programs across the country. An archived webcast of the hearing, including opening statements, can be found here.

ED Outlines Priorities for Perkins I&M Grants

On Monday, ED published proposed priorities for Perkins V’s Innovation and Modernization (I&M) grant program. Last year, Congress provided an additional $25 million for Perkins V’s I&M account to advance innovative approaches to delivering CTE programs. The priorities proposed by the Department include career advisement and counseling, dual and concurrent enrollment, work-based learning and industry-recognized credentials. These priorities align with ED’s wider “Career Connected High Schools” initiative, which is conceived using these same priority areas. As mentioned elsewhere, ED has been seeking an additional $200 million for this initiative in the ongoing FY24 appropriations process. ED is inviting feedback on these priorities for the next 30 days. More information can be accessed here.

ED Proposes New Gainful Employment Rule 

Earlier today, ED proposed a new and highly-anticipated “gainful employment” (GE) rule as part of a wider package of other postsecondary regulations recently negotiated by the department and other stakeholders last year. The regulations would apply to certain postsecondary career education programs and determine their eligibility for federal student financial aid from Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) based on programs meeting certain performance standards related to graduates’ earnings and ability to pay back student loans. Earlier iterations of this rule were first proposed by the Obama administration over a decade ago and finalized in 2014 which were later rescinded by the Trump administration a few years later after a series of legal challenges. 

This newly proposed GE rule would require certain postsecondary programs to demonstrate that at least half of their graduates earn higher wages than a typical high school graduate in their state within a three-year period. The rule would also apply a debt-to-earnings ratio, similar to previous versions of GE rules, which would require a graduate’s debt to amount to no more than eight percent of a graduate’s overall earnings and no more than 20 percent of their discretionary income. Programs would be evaluated using both of these performance measures and those that fail to meet these thresholds twice within three years, would lose access to federal student aid funding derived from HEA. Based on this current timeline, ED is likely to promulgate a final GE rule by November 1, 2023, which could take effect July 1, 2024.

In addition, ED is also proposing supplementary data collections from all postsecondary institutions and programs, including those not covered by GE, to develop a new website providing learners and families with more information regarding these programs. This proposal is related to a recent request for information from ED earlier this year regarding the potential creation of a list of “low financial value” postsecondary programs. The regulatory package also includes changes to existing ability-to-benefit rules, which govern how learners without a high school diploma can qualify for federal student aid as they pursue postsecondary education. Currently, this rules package is open for public review and feedback until June 20, 2023. 

Steve Voytek, Policy Advisor 

By Jodi Langellotti in Public Policy
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Welcome Kyllie Freeman as the new State CTE Director in Connecticut!

Wednesday, May 17th, 2023

The Connecticut State Department of Education has named Kyllie Freeman as the State Director of Career Technical Education. The Department oversees all secondary and postsecondary Career Technical Education (CTE) programs as well as CTE for justice-connected individuals and youth and pre-apprenticeship programs.

Kyllie discovered her passion for CTE in the classroom as a culinary instructor of 15 years and fondly recalls seeing her high school learners’ “faces [light up] when they made something” as they gained valuable skills in her classes. “Some [learners] hadn’t even washed a dish before.”

Originally a nutritionist major in college, Kyllie switched to culinary arts to continue a career connected to food and nutrition without the intense focus on math and science. During her teaching tenure, Kyllie worked on her district’s grant for the Strengthening Career Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) which led to her taking a Perkins Grant Manager role at the state level. Kyllie oversaw the Hospitality and Tourism and the Information Technology, Education and Training Clusters®, explaining “I wanted to keep supporting Perkins but in a different role. ”

In her new role as State Director, Kyllie is excited to increase partnerships, aligning school districts, community colleges and industry partners to increase accessibility to high-quality CTE and success for learners across Connecticut.

In the year ahead, Kyllie is focused on supporting districts by remapping CTE School Courses for the Exchange of Data (SCED) codes to better align with the National Career Clusters Framework®, giving districts more flexibility in how they award credit. Kyllie is excited to offer technical assistance to district administrators to facilitate this process.

Kyllie is also focused on helping learners know more about the college and career opportunities available to them through CTE. She plans to accomplish this by better aligning course selection with learner interests. Kyllie will also support learners by updating the Student Success Plan and embedding CTE into the plan for better alignment with the opportunities available to learners.

One of the biggest challenges for CTE in Connecticut, teacher recruitment and retention, is not unique to the state; it is a national issue. The availability of qualified teachers in a particular pathway dictates where certain courses can be offered, thereby limiting course offerings for learners where teachers are in short supply.

In addition to addressing the top challenge of CTE instructor recruitment and retention, an issue facing CTE programs nationwide, Kyllie would also like to help change the perception of who should be participating in CTE. This shift would raise awareness that learners should be focused on college and career readiness, not just readiness for college. “CTE is huge and so many [skills] are transferrable.”

Coming from a long line of restaurant owners, Kyllie loves cooking outside of her State Director role. While she will “cook anything,” Kyllie enjoys cooking Italian food the most. Outside of the kitchen, Kyllie enjoys kayaking.

Welcome Kyllie to Advance CTE!

Jodi Langellotti, Communications Associate

By Jodi Langellotti in Uncategorized
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Legislative Update: Advance CTE Board President Testifies Before Congress

Friday, March 31st, 2023

This week Advance CTE’s Board of Directors President Laura Scheibe testified on Capitol Hill. Elsewhere, efforts to fund federal programs later this year continue while the House examines the U.S. labor market and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) makes a series of new announcements. 

Advance CTE Board President Testifies Before Congress 

On Wednesday, March 29, Laura Scheibe, Advance CTE’s Board of Directors President and South Dakota’s State Director for Career Technical Education (CTE), testified before the House Appropriations, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS-ED) Subcommittee regarding rural workforce development issues and the role her state’s technical college system has in providing more quality CTE opportunities for learners. The Labor-HHS-ED Subcommittee is the primary entity in the House with responsibility for overseeing funding for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education as amended by the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) as well as other federal education and workforce development programs falling under the purview of these agencies. Scheibe highlighted South Dakota’s CTE successes, including increased demand for programs, high completion rates, alignment with industry, and other key elements of the state’s CTE system that provides a high impact for its learners, many of whom reside in rural communities. 

Scheibe’s appearance also highlighted the importance of the federal investment, made through Perkins V, that helps to make much of this possible. “This federal investment means our students learn on modern, industry-grade equipment so they come out workforce ready,” she noted in her testimony. She also highlighted the critical role Perkins has in supporting learners, noting “Perkins-funded Student Success Coordinators meet not just educational counseling needs, but transportation, affordable housing and navigating postsecondary as a first-generation student. For learners facing barriers, this can make all the difference to move from poverty into a family-sustaining career.” Scheibe also emphasized the important impact flexible Perkins funding can have to meet unique state and local needs saying, in part, “Additionally, our state’s Reserve Fund, a flexible portion of Perkins, is a critical tool that allows us to further expand activities benefiting our rural communities. At the secondary level, this funding supports innovation and equipment not otherwise possible for small districts.” 

A full recording of the hearing can be found here, along with her written testimony. In recent weeks, Advance CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) has also submitted written testimony to the Labor-HHS-ED Subcommittee calling for increased investment in Perkins V’s basic state grant program. 

Take Action on FY24 Perkins Funding

Written by Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE). Original post can be found here

Each year, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) lead a “Dear Colleague” letter to be sent to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee requesting robust funding for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins) in the FY 2024 Labor, Health, and Human Services appropriations bill. We need your help again to secure an increase for Perkins that ensures CTE can continue to meet urgent workforce needs and serve as a critical part of the country’s economic growth. CLICK HERE to ask your senator to sign the “Dear Colleague” letter!

House Holds Hearing on Employment

On Tuesday, March 28, the House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing titled “Unleashing America’s Opportunities for Hiring and Employment.” Witnesses included economists and employer representatives who discussed the current state of the American labor market and debated policies that could directly impact current economic conditions. Of note, witnesses and committee members frequently highlighted the importance of high-quality educational pathways that lead to further opportunity and greater economic growth. In particular, members highlighted the importance of CTE programs and related pathways as a primary way to address ongoing labor shortages in key sectors of the economy. More information on the hearing, including an archived webcast, can be found here

ED Unveils Work-Based Learning Grant Challenge 

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) formally launched the “Career Z Challenge”—a new grant competition intended to surface innovative approaches to expanding learner access to work-based learning opportunities. The multiphase grant competition will seek to identify promising best practices that can be scaled elsewhere in the nation. Local education agencies and schools that receive federal Perkins V funding are eligible to apply and to share their ideas for how to improve and expand work-based learning. More information on the challenge can be found here.   

Senate Appropriations Outlines Hearing Schedule

In anticipation of further Congressional efforts to advance federal fiscal year 2024 (FY24) legislation this year, the Senate Appropriations Committee announced a series of hearings to examine the Biden Administration’s Congressional budget request. A hearing examining the U.S. Department of Education’s FY24 budget proposal is currently scheduled for May 11. A date has not yet been set for the U.S. Department of Labor. The full list of hearings can be found here

ED Issues Teacher Pipeline Guidance

Recently the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) issued a “Dear Colleague” letter outlining ways state and local leaders can leverage federal funds to strengthen teacher pipeline efforts. Specifically, the guidance outlines ways that resources from the Perkins V can be used to support various teacher recruitment, retention and development initiatives. The letter can be found here.

 Steve Voytek, Policy Advisor 

By Jodi Langellotti in Public Policy
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The Case for State Investment in Youth Apprenticeship Programs

Thursday, March 30th, 2023

Our newest brief, released in partnership with the Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship (PAYA), explores the current landscape around state funding models to support youth apprenticeship (YA) programs. Equipping state and local Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders with the knowledge and tools to advance YA programs aligns with Advance CTE’s vision for each learner’s skills to be counted, valued, and portable.

YA programs are an important component of a fully developed career preparation ecosystem. High-quality YA programs allow learners to explore career pathways and develop skills that are relevant to industry needs to improve the overall health of the local economy. State Funding Models to Support Youth Apprenticeships evaluates the landscape of state YA funding models and highlights practices in Georgia, Michigan, Utah and to equip states to adopt funding strategies that enable these programs to be fully embedded in states’ career preparation ecosystems. 

Benefits for State Investment 

States are uniquely positioned to invest in and implement high-quality YA programs, and in doing so can systematically expand access to and quality of growing YA programs. These investments allow learners to access a complete spectrum of work-based learning experiences to gain in-demand skills and credentials and enter the labor market prepared for the world of work.

Additionally, investment at the state level is a strong signal to industry to initiate or expand employer participation in these programs.1 Employers in IT, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, business, finance, education, and many other industries have found that YA delivers a positive return on their investment by helping them build a pipeline of young, diverse talent and fostering a culture of learning and innovation that attracts and retains employees.2

States have the power to align CTE programs of study with YA programs to create seamless pathways for learners and in some cases earn college credit simultaneously. For example: 

In State Funding Models to Support Youth Apprenticeships, we also share findings on how states are providing funding for work-based learning programs and make recommendations for how state investment in YA programs represents a critical part of the career preparation ecosystem. 

For more information about PAYA’s work and resources for building your own YA program, visit Advance CTE’s Learning that Works Resource Center.

Amy Hodge, Policy Associate

By Jodi Langellotti in Publications
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CTE Research Review: Q&A with Shaun Dougherty on the Impacts of CTE Access on Learner Outcomes in Connecticut 

Wednesday, June 15th, 2022

This research review series features interviews with three CTE researchers— Julie Edmunds, Shaun Dougherty, and Rachel Rosen — to highlight new and relevant Career Technical Education (CTE) research topics being pursued and discuss how state CTE leaders might leverage these to make evidence-based decisions. This series is conducted in partnership with the Career and Technical Education Research Network, which is providing new CTE impact studies and strengthening the capacity of the field to conduct and use rigorous CTE research.

For the final post in this series, Advance CTE caught up with researcher Shaun Dougherty to learn more about the outcomes of his study, The Effects of Career and Technical Education: Evidence from the Connecticut Technical High School SystemThis study took place at The Connecticut Technical High School System (CTHSS), an independent district of choice composed of 16 high schools where all students who attend the school participate in some form of CTE. The technical high schools in this study offer between 10 and 17 programs of study compared to the two to four typically offered at traditional comprehensive high schools. These findings suggest that student participation in CTE programs can improve graduation and college enrollment rates, and labor force participation, especially for male students. These findings should be meaningful to state leaders who are interested in improving CTE data quality to improve programming and learner supports.

How do your research findings advance the CTE field’s understanding of ways to better serve learners?

My findings in Connecticut and an earlier study in Massachusetts suggest that increasing access to high-quality CTE-focused schools can improve high school graduation rates, test scores, and early workforce experiences (earnings especially). These findings suggest that ensuring access to high-quality CTE is important, especially in areas where there is high demand for it among students. In Connecticut, we show that the benefits accrue to males only, but in Massachusetts, the impacts are broader-based and larger for students who come from less financially advantaged backgrounds. 

What is also important about both of these contexts is that students are attending CTE-dedicated high schools, which is the least common form of CTE instructional delivery in the United States. Students explore multiple programs in 9th grade and then make an informed decision about what program of study to pursue for the rest of their high school experience. Within the program they choose, they then have a relatively stable set of peers and instructors, and there is alignment between content in the state graduation requirements, such as math and English Language Arts (ELA), and their technical area of study. Each of these dimensions of the experience tends not to exist in CTE delivered in comprehensive high schools or regional technical centers.

What findings would you highlight for state CTE leaders in particular?

In particular, I’d highlight the following:

You find male students enrolled in Connecticut’s Technical High School System (CTHSS) are more likely to graduate high school and experience a notable wage increase compared to males attending traditional high schools, yet this effect is not seen among female students. What do you make of this finding? 

There are two things worth noting here:

Can you tell me about how you were able to leverage the state’s longitudinal data system, the value that this process brought to your work, and about any limitations you encountered??

We matched the CTHSS admissions records to the Connecticut State Department of Education’s (CSDE) longitudinal data system sequentially using the following criteria: SASID, exact match on first and last name plus birth year, first initial and exact match on last name plus birth year and month, and exact match on last name plus exact birth date. The reason for the sequential match process is reporting errors in the CTHSS application file on birth dates, spelling errors and uses of nicknames in the application file that parents and/or students fill out by hand. A failure to match after applying all of these criteria leads to the observation being omitted from the sample. Our resulting match rate was 95 percent yielding a final sample of 57,658 student applications.

From the CSDE longitudinal data system, we obtained information on each student’s race, gender, free or reduced-price lunch status, English learner and special education status (i.e. presence of an IEP).

The CSDE data also provided information on short- and medium-term educational outcomes including standardized test scores prior to and during high school, attendance, and high school graduation, as well as information on college attendance drawn from the National Student Clearinghouse.

Further, through the P20Win process, students in our sample were matched to Connecticut State Department of Labor (CSDOL) data. This CSDOL match is facilitated by Department of Motor Vehicle records that contain gender, birth date, and first and last name and is matched to the CSDOL data using social security numbers. CSDOL personnel then matched the resulting data to the CSDE data using an exact match on birth date and gender and a fuzzy match algorithm on the student’s name.

Failure to match applicants in the CSDOL data may have been driven by several factors including never having a driver’s license in the state of Connecticut, name changes due to marriage or other factors, moving out of state prior to or upon the completion of high school or failure to participate in the labor market after high school perhaps due to college attendance. Our labor market data ends in the 1st quarter of 2018. Therefore, we restrict this sample to the years 2006 to 2012 so that we have a potential for at least six quarters of data on each applicant.

Without the matching to the workforce outcomes, we would be left to wonder or speculate about what happened to most students, since there is no real evidence of impact on college-going (nor should we expect it early on for students who attended schools that emphasize manufacturing and skilled trades). Thus, the linkages were critical to being able to provide policymakers with relevant, detailed answers  

The primary limitation is that we cannot see workers who moved out of state, who were employed by the federal government, who work for unreported wages, or who are independent contractors. However, our takeaway is that our findings are likely an underestimate of the benefits of CTE. 

What new questions has this work raised for you that could be applied to future research?

The two biggest questions this work has raised for me so far are:

Visit the Learning that Works Resource Center for additional publications examining career-centered education models and Advance CTE’s 50-state report on equity in CTE early postsecondary opportunities (EPSOs) released earlier this year.

The work of the CTE Research Network Lead is supported by the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education with funds provided under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act through Grant R305N180005 to the American Institutes for Research (AIR). The work of the Network member projects is supported by the Institute. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.

Amy Hodge, Policy Associate

By Stacy Whitehouse in Research
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State of CTE: Dual Enrollment in Perkins V State Plans

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2021

In October 2020, Advance CTE released “The State of Career Technical Education: An Analysis of States’ Perkins V Priorities,” which examines how states have leveraged the development of the Strengthening Career Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) state plans to expand quality and increase equity within their Career Technical Education (CTE) systems. 

Perkins V is an important federal education statute that charges states to develop high-quality programs of study that build coherent, options-rich connections between middle, high school, college and careers. A high-quality program of study should offer on and off-ramps for learners along their pathways and create seamless transitions between K-12, postsecondary institutions and the workforce. One key aspect of quality that is a priority within states’ plans is the expansion of dual/concurrent enrollment. These early postsecondary opportunities are critical because they help CTE learners understand their post-high school options and earn degrees or credentials faster, saving them time and money and prioritizing their individual needs.  

Approximately one-third of high school graduates take courses for postsecondary credit at some point during their educational careers. Historically, about a third of all dual credits earned have been in CTE courses. Participating in these opportunities can lead to higher rates of college enrollment and success, as they demonstrate to learners that they are prepared for college-level work and enable them to get a head start on their credential or degree. Ensuring there is equitable access to these programs is an important part of building educational cultures where each learner, especially learners of color, can see college as a viable option.

One foundational way that Perkins V elevates the focus on dual/concurrent enrollment is through the introduction of a new secondary program quality indicator. States can choose from three options — work-based learning, recognized postsecondary credentials (credentials of value) and postsecondary credit attainment (dual/concurrent enrollment and articulation). 

Advance CTE’s analysis of state Perkins V plans found that states largely took up the mantle of supporting and expanding early postsecondary opportunities. Generally, many of these state decisions represent a continuation of prior commitments to programs of study and ensuring seamless transitions between secondary and postsecondary. 

State Strategies to Advance Dual/Concurrent Enrollment and Articulation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Key Innovations

The Work Ahead

Most states’ focus within their Perkins V plans was around providing secondary learners early postsecondary credit opportunities. While these efforts are critical to help learners transition from secondary to postsecondary education, more can still be done to facilitate transitions at the postsecondary level. States should continue efforts to develop additional pathways to help postsecondary and adult learners translate experiences in non-credit programs to pathways that provide credit, through efforts such as credit for prior learning. 

Similarly, state Perkins V plans rarely included efforts to support transitions from two-year institutions to four-year institutions. One of the best ways to achieve this goal is through statewide articulation agreements to ensure full transferability of any credits that are earned by learners. Yet only a third of states are prioritizing the creation of statewide articulation agreements in their Perkins plans, including some states that previously had such agreements in place.  

Finally, states need to continue to ensure that dual/concurrent and articulation opportunities are meaningful, equitable and fully aligned to a learner’s program of study. For instance, only about half of states that are using postsecondary credit attainment as their secondary CTE program quality measure explicitly require that these credits be related to a learner’s CTE program of study or wider career pathway, which is required by the law. States need to make intentional decisions about which courses count and how many credits are earned and collect and use the data on which credits are actually articulated, by which learners, across institutions.

Resources

Christina Koch, Policy Associate
Amy Williams, Executive Director, National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships

By admin in Public Policy, Research, Uncategorized
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This Week in CTE

Friday, July 3rd, 2020

We have compiled a list of highlights in Career Technical Education (CTE) from this week to share with you.

State CTE Director of the Week

Welcome Craig Statucki to Advance CTE! In his new role as State CTE Director, Craig is excited to lean on his experience building relationships between state and local CTE stakeholders to lead Nevada through change. Read more about Craig on our blog

CTE Completers of the Week

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) recognized eight North Carolina CTE high school graduates as Advanced Career (AC) STEM Pathway completers or scholars. The AC program of study has prepared these graduates for college and career opportunities in a high-demand STEM field critical to the nation’s economy. You can learn more about the qualifications these learners met to be recognized here.

Learners were recognized at their school’s graduation ceremony and received the distinguished SREB Advanced Career STEM Pathway Academy certificate of completion, AC Scholar recognition and graduation chords specially made for this unique honor.

Video Competition of the Week

JFF hosted the Horizons Virtual Conference a few weeks ago and announced the winner of their  “Why I Apprentice” national youth apprenticeship video competition. Congratulations Brenden Rohland of Wisconsin! View his video submission here.

“Why I Apprentice” is a national video series that celebrates the stories of youth apprentices. A compilation of all the video submissions from youth apprentices across the United States can be viewed here.

Legislative Update of the Week

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced this week the approval of the final wave of Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) state plans by the Department of Education. In this wave, we celebrate the approval of the following states and territories: Alaska, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, West Virginia and Puerto Rico. View all approved Perkins V state plans and resources here.

Resource of the Week

Enrollment in CTE programs has remained stagnant over the last decade while demand soars for skilled employees in today’s global economy. If we are to prepare all learners for success in the careers of their choice, more parents and students need to understand all that CTE has to offer them.

Advance CTE, with support from the Siemens Foundation, commissioned focus groups and a national survey to explore the attitudes of parents and students currently involved in CTE, as well as prospective CTE parents and students, to better understand the promise and opportunity of CTE.  View the results here.

Brittany Cannady, Digital Media Associate

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New Research Shows Positive Employment Outcomes for CTE Learners

Tuesday, March 10th, 2020

One of the most important considerations for learners choosing to enroll in secondary and postsecondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs is whether that pathway will lead to a successful career and a good salary. The new Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) requires states and local recipients to set goals around post-program outcomes for CTE concentrators. Several recent studies suggest that learners are finding gainful employment and increased salaries after completing CTE programs. 

A study in the Community College Journal of Research and Practice analyzed data from the California Community Colleges CTE Outcomes Survey. Using three years of survey data from over 46,000 former CTE participants, the researchers found that these learners reported positive employment outcomes and obtained greater increases in wages than they were earning before beginning their program.

Another study using administrative data on a cohort of high school CTE concentrators from Washington State found that CTE learners who go on to college, compared to non-CTE learners, are significantly more likely to enroll in and complete vocational programs. They are also more likely to earn postsecondary credentials such as associate degrees and industry certifications, especially in the applied Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and public safety fields. Additionally, secondary CTE learners who do not go on to college are also more likely to obtain full-time employment within the first three years after graduation compared to non-CTE learners. 

Lastly, a study of admissions and learner outcomes within Connecticut’s system of 16 stand-alone CTE high schools found that males who attend a technical high school are 10 percentage points more likely to graduate than comparable males who attend a traditional high school. Male learners attending technical high schools in Connecticut also have approximately 31 percent greater post-graduation quarterly earnings, higher 9th grade attendance rates and higher 10th grade testing scores than comparable males. There was no evidence that female learners had significantly different outcomes based on the type of school attended. 

As CTE month comes to a close and states finalize their Perkins V plans and invest substantial resources in CTE programs, the findings in these three studies highlight the value that CTE programs have in positive academic and employment outcomes for learners. Additionally, these findings reaffirm the value CTE programs have in preparing learners for the real world and the many postsecondary paths they can pursue. The Washington State and Connecticut studies found that CTE concentrators were slightly less likely to go on to college than comparable learners but still more likely to earn vocational credentials, obtain full-time employment with higher earnings, and have better attendance and test scores than comparable learners. State leaders are encouraged to continue investing in these programs proving to work for learners in their states. 

Other Notable Research 

A report on Idaho’s education and earnings gap revealed that those with bachelor’s degrees earn substantially more in income than those with less education. Among its recommendations, the report suggests the state adopt explicit policies encouraging school districts to develop secondary CTE course sequences or certified programs focusing on two to three specific career pathways that play to their local strengths. 

Brian Robinson, Policy Associate

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