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Posts Tagged ‘Public Policy’

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Webinar Recording is now available for Sustaining Career Pathways: Funding, Policy, & Professional Development

Friday, February 21st, 2014

This webinar is the fourth in the Youth and Adult Pathways (YAP) series, Sustaining Career Pathways: Funding, Policy, & Professional Development, focused on sustaining your career pathways programs through funding, policy and professional development.  Subject matter expert lead was Debbie Mills. Event themes included:
·         Overview of Funding-public, private, and profit
·         Career Pathway Funding Team
·         Constructing a Plan for Career Pathway Success and Sustainability
·         Policy Implications
·         Professional Development in a Career Pathways System

The webinar recording is now available at http://youtu.be/sRP-0Vd7BqA

All materials will be available for download at:  https://community.lincs.ed.gov/group/career-pathways

More about the YAP Event Series

The YAP Event Series is designed to bring together professionals with a shared interest in connecting youth and adult learners with career pathways.  Presenters are experts in their fields, and events are designed to enhance your knowledge and give you usable information in each area.  While the live webinar is the central event, each topic is presented as a month-long “microgroup” within the Career Pathways community on the LINCS site and will include ongoing engagement and discussion before and after the live events.  

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

By admin in Webinars
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CTE Research Review

Wednesday, December 4th, 2013

Research Image_6.2013Yesterday, results from the 2012 Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) were released. PISA assesses literacy in mathematics, science and reading for over 500,000 15-year olds from across over 60 countries. The major takeaway is that U.S. students’ scores have remained flat from the last assessment, released in 2009, although scores are largely remained unchanged since 2000. However, as the U.S. stood still, other countries demonstrated progress, surpassing the U.S.

On the math portion, 28 countries tested better than the United States, including Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Korea, Japan, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Poland, France, Germany, Slovenia and others. In reading, 19 countries had higher scores than U.S. students, while 22 countries posted better results than the United States in science.

For the first time, three states — Massachusetts, Connecticut and Florida — participated in the test and were ranked as if they were individual countries to see how their students compared internationally. Students in Massachusetts and Connecticut scored above the U.S. and PISA average in all three content areas, while students in Florida lagged in math and science and was on par with the U.S. and PISA average in reading.

Education Week created an interactive tool for comparing PISA results, found here.

A new report out of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research by Tamar Jacoby, President and CEO of ImmigrationWorks USA calls on the private sector to engage in Career Technical Education (CTE). Vocational Education 2.0: Employers Hold the Key to Better Career Training makes the case that CTE can provide reliably effective pathways to skilled and well-paying careers, but only with strong engagement and support from the business community. The policy paper tracks the evolution of CTE from old-school vocational education to a more rigorous career-focused set of programs and explores the role CTE is playing as more attention is put on middle-skill jobs, or those that require some education and training beyond high school, but less than a four-year degree.The paper lays out a few models for business engagement in CTE; from Germany’s apprenticeship model and ProStart, which is supported by the National Restaurant Association among other companies, to the National Center for Construction Education and Research, which provides standardized assessments and credentials in the construction trades.

The Data Quality Campaign (DQC), of which NASDCTEc is a partner organization, released its annual state progress report: Data for Action 2013. Data for Action tracks states’ progress on the adoption and implementation of its 10 State Actions to Ensure Effective Data Use, which include linking data systems across the K-12, postsecondary and workforce systems; developing funding and governance structures; implementing systems to provide timely access to information for stakeholders; creating progress reports using individual student data to improve student performance; among others. For the first time, two states (Arkansas and Delaware) have met all 10 Actions, while most other states continue to make progress, including 15 states that have met eight or nine Actions.

However, only 19 states have linked their K-12 and workforce data, leaving the majority of states limited in their ability to measure districts’ and schools’ success at supporting students’ career readiness.

The College & Career Readiness & Success Center at the American Institutes for Research has developed the CCRS Interactive State Map, which provides snapshots of each state’s key college and career readiness initiatives, including CTE programs of study, dual enrollment and early college high schools, progress on state longitudinal data system and many others.

Kate Blosveren, Associate Executive Director

By Kate Blosveren Kreamer in Research
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CTE Research Review

Tuesday, November 5th, 2013

Research Image_6.2013Over the past few weeks, a number of critical reports and research papers came out with wide-spreading implications for Career Technical Education (CTE). Below are summaries of a few that caught our attention.

The Center for Great Teachers and Leaders released 21st Century Educators: Developing and Supporting Great Career and Technical Education Teachers, a new special issue brief focusing on the human capital management policies impacting CTE educators: certification, performance evaluation and professional learning opportunities. The issue brief, which NASDCTEc had an opportunity to review, provides a comprehensive overview of the current policies in place across the country and raises issues for greater consideration as states refine their certification, evaluation and professional development systems. The brief also contains a useful glossary of key terms.

The Center for Education Policy issued Career Readiness Assessments across States: A Summary of Survey Findings, the result of a survey of 46 State CTE Directors on the range of assessments used in their states to measure students’ career readiness and how those assessments are used, which NASDCTEc also had the opportunity to review. Some key findings from the report include:

U.S. States in a Global Context: Results from the 2011 NAEP-TIMSS Linking Study offers an analysis that allows state scores on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) to be compared. In short, the study found that 36 states were above the TIMSS average in mathematics (with only six states lower) and 47 were above the TIMSS average in science for 8th-grade students. While this is heartening, it’s also important to note that Massachusetts was the only state to reach the “high benchmark” rating on TIMSS, defined as “students can apply their understanding and knowledge in a variety of relatively complex situations,” joined by five high-performing countries.

Similarly, in science, eight states (Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin) reached the “high benchmark,” defined as “students can reason with information, draw conclusions, make generalizations and solve linear equations.”

The first of its kind OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills presents the initial results of the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), which evaluates and compares the skills of 166,000 adults from 24 countries. A major component is the direct assessment of key information-processing skills: literacy, numeracy and problem solving in the context of technology-rich environments.

A new report by the Brookings Institute – Standardized Testing and the Common Core Standards: You Get What You Pay For? – explores the (very minimal) impact states leaving either the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium or Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers have on the price of those assessments per student. The paper makes a strong case to states to not sacrifice test quality by presumably leaving either consortia, in order to save $10 or $20 per student – a drop in the bucket of an education system that spends more than $10,000 per student annually.

The Hamilton Project, out of the Brookings Institute, released a policy brief on Redesigning the Pell Grant Program for the Twenty-First Century, calling for three major structural reforms to a policy that has largely remained unchanged over the past forty years since it was first launched:

  1. Augmenting the Pell program’s financial support with tailored guidance and support services that have been shown to improve academic and/or labor-market success (which has implications for One-Stop Career Centers);
  2. Simplifying the eligibility and application process to ensure that the program reaches those who need it most;
  3. Strengthening incentives for student effort and timely completion, including providing more flexibility for when and how students earn credits

 

Kate Blosveren, Associate Executive Director

By Kate Blosveren Kreamer in Research, Resources
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Fall Meeting Recap: State Policy Update

Thursday, October 24th, 2013

Earlier this week, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) held its annual Fall Meeting, which had a strong focus on state policy. To lay out some of the major trends being led by legislatures, state agencies and state boards across the country impacting Career Technical Education (CTE), Amy Loyd, from the Pathways to Prosperity Network at Jobs for the Future, Jennifer Dounay Zinth, from the Education Commission of States, and Robin Utz, from the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) at the U.S. Department of Education participated in the State Policy Update session.

Dale Winkler, Associate Commissioner, Kentucky Office of Career and Technical Education, moderated the panel and opened by describing three major pieces of legislation passed over the last few years in Kentucky impacting CTE, strengthening the state’s CTE standards and accountability, pathways and governance. Jennifer Dounay Zinth provided an overview of cross-state legislation and governors’ agendas citing five overarching trends: career-ready performance indicators, governance structures to facilitate better CTE and industry alignment, finance through accountability and incentives, CTE pathways or industry-based credentials being embedded into high school graduation requirements, and greater coordination between K-12, postsecondary and workforce development/industry.

Amy Loyd shared some highlights from the eight states working within the Pathways to Prosperity Network to better connect their education and workforce development systems to support more seamless student transitions. An early takeaway from that work is the importance of cross-agency efforts. The most successful states are those that bring together the major state agencies – such as state departments of education, higher education commissions, workforce development boards, governors’ offices, and economic development commissions – to develop common language, common goals and metrics, and even common funding as possible.

Finally, Robin Utz discussed some of the work OVAE is supporting in states and trends emerging around career pathways and programs of study. Specifically, she mentioned performance-based funding, graduation requirements recognizing or even requiring programs of study, legislative support for Career Technical Student Organizations, and dual and concurrent enrollment as some of the major levers being pulled across states in support of CTE. She, along with the other panelists, all agreed that this widespread interest in CTE and improving career pathways is the result of the economic uncertainly and persistent skills gap, along with the broader support for the college- and career-ready agenda, which has led to CTE being “invited to the adults’ table.”

Among the common themes that emerged as policy areas that still need more attention were dual/concurrent enrollment, credit transfer and articulation agreements, career guidance and counseling, and structures and incentives for more work-based learning experiences.

Kate Blosveren, Associate Executive Director

By Kate Blosveren Kreamer in Advance CTE Fall Meeting
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Reminder to Register for Upcoming NASDCTEc Webinar Legislative Update Back to School Edition: Policy and Funding

Thursday, August 29th, 2013

This is a reminder to sign up for our next webinar providing a Legislative Update – Back to School Edition: Policy and Funding

Join Kara Herbertson, NASDCTEc’s Research and Policy Manager, and Steve Voytek, NASDCTEc’s Government Relations Associate, as they walk you through the latest policy happenings in Washington.

Chalkboard with words "back to school"After years of anticipation, Congress has taken steps toward reauthorizing several pieces of legislation that impact CTE including the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, the Workforce Investment Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and the Higher Education Act. In addition to updates on these key pieces of legislation, we will discuss sequestration and debates over the FY14 budget.

Are there specific questions you would like us to address? Email Kara at kherbertson@careertech.org and we will be sure to address your question during this webinar.

Time: September 26, 2013 at 3 p.m. Eastern

Register NOW

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

By admin in Legislation, Public Policy, Webinars
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State CTE Policy Updates

Monday, August 26th, 2013

State MapOregon closes out its legislative session with a number of Career Technical Education (CTE) related bills and Ohio make a decision on a measure of students’ early college and career readiness.

Oregon’s Career and Technical Education Advisory Committee & CTSO Grant Program
Oregon passed HB 2912 requiring representatives from the Department of Education, the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development, and the Bureau of Labor and Industries to meet at least four times each year to promote collaboration between the agencies on issues related to career technical education. The Advisory Committee is tasked with making sure CTE programs are available in public schools; developing regional centers that create partnerships between K-12, community colleges, public universities, and business/unions; encouraging the establishment of local advisory committees; and addressing barriers to CTE students transitioning to postsecondary education and the workforce.  This bill also establishes the Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) Grant Program within the Department of Education, allotted at $500,000 over two years, to encourage student participation in CTSOs.

Oregon’s Accelerated College Credit Programs
Oregon also established an Accelerated Learning Committee, comprised of the Chief Education Officer and appointees selected by the Governor, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House, and charged with examining methods to encourage and enable students to earn more college credit while enrolled in high school. The focus will be on the alignment of funding, assessments and policies between high schools and institutions of higher education. SB 222 also requires every community college district to implement and make available at least one two-plus-two, dual credit and/or another accelerated college credit program to every K-12 district within their community college district by 2015.

Oregon’s STEM Investment Council and Grant Program|
Lastly, Oregon created a STEM Investment Council via HB 2600 to help develop and oversee a long-term, statewide science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) strategy. The council will consist of nine members from the private sector to be appointed by the Chief Education Officer to aid and advise the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Commissioner for Community College System and the Chancellor of the Oregon University System on policies and programs, including the STEM Investment Grant Program. This new grant program will provide funds to districts, community college districts, public universities, relevant state agencies and any combination of these eligible recipients to support STEM education inside and outside of the classroom. The legislation notes that a STEM Investment Grant Account will be established in the State Treasury, separate and distinct from the General Fund, but no amount is noted or appropriated in this bill.

Specifically, the Council and grant program are focused on helping the state meet these two goals by 2024-25:

Ohio Requires the PSAT for All Students
The Ohio Department of Education, in partnership with the Ohio Board of Regents, has officially selected the PSAT as the statewide “college-career readiness assessment.” Beginning in October 2014, all sophomores will be required to take the PSAT. The goal of this policy is to provide information to students earlier about their readiness for postsecondary-level coursework so they can adjust accordingly while still in high school.

New Research/Resources
Jobs for the Future released What It Takes to Complete High School: A Shifting Terrain of Course and Diploma Requirements, a policy brief describing trends in states’ graduation policies (which NASDCTEc has begun tracking here, here, and here).

The New York State Association for Career and Technical Education issued a position paper in July entitled Recommendations for Developing College and Career Ready Students that offered the following six recommendations:

  1. Adopt a unified definition of College and Career Ready (that fully includes academic, employability and technical skills);
  2. Affirm the Common Core State Standards, Career Development and Occupational Studies and Next Generation Assessments to converge career and academic content and instructional practices;
  3.  Avoid imposing additional math and science course requirements;
  4. Link learner levels by restructuring existing middle-level and early high school CTE;
  5. Set goals for increasing the number of students who have Technical Endorsements to their diplomas; and
  6. Enact policies that assist all students to develop knowledge of career pathways leading to specific occupations and to have a personal career plan with flexible career goals.

Kate Blosveren, Associate Executive Director

By Kate Blosveren Kreamer in Legislation, Public Policy
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New Book for State Leaders Highlights CTE and NASDCTEc

Thursday, July 18th, 2013

The Council of State Governments (CSG), a forum that encourages the exchange of ideas that help state officials shape public policy, releases The Book of States annually to serve as a resource for state leaders and a catalyst for innovation and excellence in state governance. This year, CSG featured an article written by National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) to highlight initiatives that are underway to transform and guide Career Technical Education (CTE) programs across the nation.

The six-page article includes an overview of CTE, the CTE: Learning that works for America® campaign, and Reflect, Transform, Lead: A New Vision for Career Technical Education. The article also describes current projects that support each principle of the State Directors’ vision for CTE. Lastly, the resource includes a table of CTE State Directors including contact information and Common Career Technical Core participation status as of April 2013.

Access the article on CTE and NASDCTEc here.

The Book of States includes chapters that consist of several articles and in-depth tables and cover the following areas: State constitutions; Federalism and intergovernmental relations; State legislative, executive, and judicial branches; State finance; State management, administration, and demographics; Selected state policies and programs; and State pages.

Read the full The Book of States here.

We encourage you to review the book and use it as a reference tool for accessing relevant, timely information and state comparisons.

Kara Herbertson, Research and Policy Manager

By admin in News, Public Policy, Publications, Research, Resources
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State CTE Policy Update: Five States Adopt the Next Generation Science Standards

Monday, July 1st, 2013

Last week, Maryland and Vermont joined Kansas, Kentucky and Rhode Island as the first five states to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

The NGSS were released in Spring 2013 after a 3-plus year development effort. The effort began when the National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academies of Sciences, developed The Framework for K-12 Science Education (released  in July 2011), which identified the key content all K-12 students need to learn in science based on research and input from scientists, science educators, and science education standards and policy experts.

The Framework was the guiding document for the NGSS and set the content and much of the organization of the NGSS, including the intersection of content (core ideas), scientific and engineering  practice, and cross-cutting concepts. For more on the NGSS and their development and design, see www.nextgenscience.org

The NGSS have a clear  relationship with and impact on Career Technical Education (CTE), including, but not limited to, a renewed opportunity to integrate traditional science courses with CTE courses in engineering, health sciences, and agriculture. Our State CTE Policy Updates will monitor progress on state adoption and new resources relevant to the CTE field in the coming months.

Kate Blosveren, Associate Executive Director

By Kate Blosveren Kreamer in Public Policy, Uncategorized
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State CTE Policy Updates: Texas Edition

Tuesday, June 25th, 2013

State Map

Earlier this month, Governor Perry of Texas signed into law five major education bills all of which are related to or directly impact Career Technical Education (CTE) in the Lone Star state. Below is a high-level summary of each of the bills.

HB 5
The most significant bill is the 100+ page HB 5, which addresses a wide array of issues, many of which have a direct impact on Career Technical Education in the state.  The most significant changes are that students now only need to take five end-of-course exams for graduation, down from 12 exams, and revisions to the high school graduation requirements. While the end-of-course assessments used to count towards 15% of a student’s grade, a student’s performance on the assessments can no longer be used for this purpose or to determine class rank (which is significant given Texas’ policy of open access to public institutions of higher education for those students in the top 10% of their class or “the 10 percent rule”).

As far as the changes to the graduation requirements, currently, all students are automatically enrolled into the Recommended High School Program, a curriculum set at the college- and career-ready level and aligned with most admissions requirements at the state’s public four-year institutions. Students can choose to opt down into a lower diploma track. Texas was the first state in the country to adopt such graduation requirements at the college- and career-ready level for all students.

Under the new system, however, students will be automatically enrolled in the “Foundation” program, requiring four years of English; three credits in mathematics (including Algebra I and geometry), science (including biology and chemistry or physics), and social studies; two credits in the same language (including computer programming languages); five elective credits; and one fine arts credit.

Students can also pursue CTE-focused endorsements in STEM, Business and Industry, Public Services, Arts and Humanities, and Multidisciplinary Studies, which requires a fourth year of math and science (or advanced CTE courses), two additional elective credits, and some concentration of CTE courses, which is largely undefined in the legislation. Students can also graduate with “distinguished level of achievement” by completing the Foundation requirements plus a fourth year of mathematics (including Algebra II), a fourth credit of science, and an endorsement.  Importantly, only students who graduate at the “distinguished” level will be able to take advantage of the automatic state college admissions under the top 10 percent rule.

A few other key provisions include:

HB 2201: Increase in Advanced Technology and Career-Related Courses
This bill requires that the State Board of Education identifies and approves at least six advanced CTE and/or technology application courses that may satisfy the fourth credit of mathematics (required for endorsements and the distinguished-level diploma.  The Act specifically mentions personal financial literacy as one option of an acceptable course.

The law also changes earlier language, allowing students to substitute their third and fourth years of mathematics and science courses with “advanced career and technical course[s] designated by the State Board of Education as containing substantively similar and rigorous and academic content.” Finally, this bill directs the State Board to establish a process for reviewing and approving applied science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses to count towards students’ mathematics and science requirements, after they have completed Algebra I and biology. [Note: This bill has been wrapped into HB 5].

SB 441: Texas Fast Start Program
This bill requires the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to identify and develop models to support “fast start” programs at Texas’ junior colleges, state public colleges, and public technical institutions that effectively enable students to obtain postsecondary certificates and degrees at an accelerated pace. The fast start programs can incorporate competency-based learning techniques, must be accessible to a range of adult leaners, and must be deployable statewide.

HB 3662: Texas Workforce Innovation Needs Program
This bill establishes the Texas Workforce Innovation Needs Program to provide districts and institutions of higher education opportunities to create and offer innovative programs designed to prepare students for high-demand careers. The awarded programs must focus on student engagement through competency-based learning anchored in the goal of students earning postsecondary certificates or degrees and incorporate CTE dual enrollment or early college opportunities. A major goal of this bill is to develop model programs and practices that can be shared statewide.  The Act takes effect in September 2013; it is unclear exactly when sites will be selected.

HB 842: CTE & College Credit
This bill clarifies and broadens the state’s current dual enrollment policy to allow students to earn concurrent academic credit for a course or activity, including an apprenticeship or another training program, that leads to an industry-recognized credential, certificate or associate’s degree and is approved by the Texas Higher Education Commission.  The bill goes into effect for the 2013-14 school year.

HB 809: Employment Information for Secondary School Students
This bill requires the Texas Education Agency to provide employment projection data to school districts in support of CTE planning based on data received on a quarterly basis from the Texas Workforce Commission.

There has been significant coverage of these policy changes – some positive, some not-so-positive (including this piece from Representative Mark Strama: Why I Voted Against HB 5) but now the hard work begins of implementing the education overhaul.

 

Kate Blosveren, Associate Executive Director

By Kate Blosveren Kreamer in Public Policy
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On Track & Moving Forward: Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium Update

Friday, April 26th, 2013

On April 25, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) hosted a briefing in Washington, DC, on the progress of the 26-state consortium.

Smarter Balanced is one of the two Race to the Top-funded consortia of states working to develop K-12 assessment systems aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The assessments – in mathematics and English Language Arts/Literacy – will be administered online and will provide students with an early signal of their readiness for college-level credit-bearing courses. The Smarter Balanced assessment system will include required summative assessments, optional interim assessments to be administered locally through each school year, and a series of formative tools and processes to be used at the classroom level.  The summative assessments will utilize computer-adaptive testing with the goal of providing greater precision and efficiency in measuring students’ proficiency on the Common Core State Standards.

Joe Willhoft, Executive Director of Smarter Balanced, provided an overview of the assessment system, including an update on the pilot test occurring right now in over 5,000 schools and reaching about 1 million students. Willhoft also shared newly released cost estimates that peg the cost per student to be approximately $22.50 for just the summative assessment, which is actually less than what about two-thirds of Smarter Balanced states currently spend on assessments. He noted that about 70 percent of the cost will go towards the (human) scoring of the performance-based items included in the assessment used to measure problem solving and deeper analytical skills.

Willhoft also discussed the option states and districts will have to use paper-and-pencil tests for the first three years of administration as a strategy of easing the transition to the computer-based assessments, noting that the results from the paper test will be comparable with the online assessments.

Jacqueline King, Director of Higher Education Collaboration for Smarter Balanced, spoke on the role higher education has been playing throughout the design and development process. Specifically, she pointed to the college content-readiness policy released last month that will facilitate the use of the high school assessments by institutions of higher education. Students who score a three or above on the high school summative assessment will have a portable score that can be used by colleges and universities to exempt them from remedial education and place them into credit-bearing courses. Looking ahead, Smarter Balanced will continue to engage with higher education to build awareness and support for the assessment system.

King also mentioned that Smarter Balanced would be exploring the idea of what the assessments mean insofar as students’ academic “career readiness” in coming months.

Kate Blosveren, Associate Executive Director

By Kate Blosveren Kreamer in Public Policy
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