Posts Tagged ‘technical skills assessments’

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Health Information Technology Education Grants Awarded

Friday, July 9th, 2010

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded $36 million in grants to five regional community college consortia to develop or improve non-degree health IT training programs that students can complete in six months or less. The grants were funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These grants will be used to establish or expand programs with the goal of training more than 10,500 new health IT professionals annually by 2012. This goal is in response to President Obama’s healthcare reform initiatives, specifically transitioning to electronic health records by 2014.

The grants will also fund the development of model curriculum materials and technical skill assessments based on validated industry standards. These new HIT careers will provide opportunities for students participating in programs of study in both health science and information technology career clusters.

For a listing of the consortia as well as all the individual participating community colleges and funding levels, please visit HHS’s health IT webpage.

By Nancy in News
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Institute Report Out: Closing General Session Highlights Employer Needs

Thursday, July 1st, 2010
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Tim Taylor, Colorado Succeeds

We closed out the 8th annual Career Clusters Institute with a panel discussion lead by Tim Taylor, President of Colorado Succeeds, a coalition of business leaders who focus on education and workforce policy. He explained to the audience that the business community is excited about career pathways because they provide the “why” to students who question the relevance and importance of high school and postsecondary. The panel included Gary Barbosa, Lockheed Martin; Elaine Gantz Berman, Colorado State Board of Education; and Tom Currigan, Kaiser Permanente. Expanding on Mr. Taylor’s point about relevancy, Mr. Barbosa of Lockheed Martin stated that businesses should be part of enticing students to their industries and should be developing talent rather than just being the consumer of talent. He suggested that businesses should offer programs such as internships for teachers as a way to help them teach relevant skills in the classroom.

Ms. Gantz Berman said that Colorado just revised their state education standards to focus more on workforce readiness and 21st century skills, with a big emphasis on CTE.  They are also working on assessments that will be able to test these areas. She was also passionate about the need to get Career Clusters into all of our high schools – to “mainstream it” as she said. But she was not sure how to accomplish this.

Finally, Mr. Currigan of Kaiser Permanente emphasized the need for a skilled workforce. When a company considers moving to region, the first thing they look at is whether there are skilled workers there. In order to keep the workforce in tune with the times, he said each Career Cluster must be continually refreshed to keep up with the changes and new demands from industry. But more important than the specific technical skills required by the job, employers want workers who are able to navigate complexity and who understand connections – skills that the foundational Career Clusters Knowledge and Skills statements help students master.

By Nancy in Career Clusters
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Data Quality Institute Posts Preliminary Outline, Shares Topics Being Considered

Friday, May 7th, 2010

According to the Perkins Collaborative Resource Network (PCRN), the 2010 Data Quality Institute (DQI) will be ‘virtual,’ spreading out over a several week time period in late 2010, rather than concentrated into a single block of 1 1/2 to 2 days. Content will be offered via general strands, with sessions currently in consideration that include:

  • Perkins Accountability 101 for new state staff
  • Common Reporting Mistakes in CAR report data entry
  • POS Evaluation Workshop
  • Performance–based funding in CTE
  • And many more topics

Refer to the PCRN Web site for more information.

PCRN is a resource of the Division of Academic and Technical Education (DATE),  within the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE).

By Ramona in Meetings
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ESEA Reauthorization Hearing: Standards and Assessments

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

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At yesterday’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, “ESEA Reauthorization: Standards and Assessments,” much of the focus was on common core standards, college and career readiness, computer adaptive testing and multiple measures.

In his opening statement, Chairman Tom Harkin (IA) stressed the need for high standards in part because the cost of remediation for students entering postsecondary is in the billions, and more than 50 percent of high school students entering the workforce do not have the skills they need to do their jobs. Ranking member Michael Enzi (WY) agreed that students need to be held to high standards that prepare them for college and careers. He also stated that it is important for states to use various assessment models that measure higher order skills and 21st century skills that employers value.

Regarding college and career readiness, Dr. Cynthia Schmeiser of ACT told the committee that they believe that college readiness and career readiness are one in the same – the math and reading skills that students need to enter their first year of postsecondary are identical to the math and reading skills high school graduates need to enter the workforce. This definition differs from NASDCTEc’s.  We believe that while there is overlap between the knowledge and skills individuals need to successfully transition into postsecondary education and into the workforce, additional competency will be needed depending on the path a student chooses.

During the question and answer portion of the hearing, much of the dialogue was related to CTE:

  • Sen. Enzi asked how the WorkKeys assessment system relates to the career ready standards. Dr. Schmeiser, whose group worked with CCSSO and NGA on the Common Core Standards, said that data from WorkKeys assessments were used as an evidentiary base to determine what skills students need in the workplace.
  • Sen. Enzi was concerned that students do not value tests, so scores may be lower, and he wanted to know how this can be changed. Dr. Steven Paine, Superintendent of Schools in West Virginia, responded that students take college entrance exams such as ACT more seriously, so would be important to “merge purposes” of the state tests and make them count for something. He also shared with the committee that in his state CTE programs are moving towards a 50 percent performance based component. Students will be judged by real people on their skills competencies. Doing so has better engaged students than pencil and paper tests.
  • Sen. Patty Murray (WA) asked for the panelists’ take on the difference between college readiness and career readiness, and how they are the same. Dr. Schmeiser stated that under the Common Core Standards college readiness and career readiness are the same, but the standards can be contextualized for career formats.
  • Sen. Lamar Alexander  (TN) wanted to know whether the focus of the common standards as on “college and career” or “college or career.” Dr. Schmeiser stated that not every student will go to college, but whether a student goes to college or workforce they will be educated to the same standards.
  • Sen. Kay Hagan (NC) asked panelists how the federal government can encourage states to promote 21st century skills. Dr. Paine said that one of the consortia, Smarter Balanced, formed to apply for Race to the Top assessments grants is focused to the adaptive testing process along with other types of measures.

By Nancy in Legislation
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CTE State Directors Take Helms of Opportunity, Unveil New Vision for CTE

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

June SanfordThe world is changing at a rapid rate and as a result the nation’s education system has a new range of issues to face. A confluence of occurrences — national fiscal challenges, a flattening globe, and the winds of technology – has given rise to new economic challenges that have been impacting all sectors of our society, including education.

But with those challenges also comes opportunity, particularly for career technical education (CTE) – a system that addresses the nation’s needs to educate and train the economy to success. Recognizing the responsibility we have as leaders in the CTE community to combat these challenges, State Directors across the nation have taken the helms of rethinking how CTE serves individuals, the economy and society.

Recently, we have undertaken a major revamp of the guiding principles that have mapped our course for CTE in recent years. Acknowledging global influences, the evolution of the economy and the interconnectedness of all education stakeholders – from secondary to postsecondary, and educators to industry leaders – State Directors have a created a formal, unified plan for the way we will lead CTE into this new era.

New Vision Cover IconThat new plan is laid out in Reflect, Transform, Lead: A New Vision for Career Technical Education, which is a vision paper that is designed to serve as a guiding document to lead a new, progressive course for CTE. While spearheaded by State Directors, the vision paper is a product of teamwork that involved educators and administrators of all education levels, a mix of education associations, student groups and industry leaders. The principles reflect the effort to include and align the priorities of our valued stakeholders, who are all needed to successfully take CTE to the next level.

This vision paper highlights the major areas in which we recognize CTE must transform in order to best serve individuals. However, this is more than just a call to action. Our vision paper includes specific tasks that we have imposed on ourselves and ask of our peer stakeholders to implement. The tasks and vision are framed around the themes of five principles:

  • Global competitiveness
  • Partnerships with employers
  • Student success in education and careers
  • Comprehensive programs of study aligned to the national Career Clusters’ framework
  • Results-driven systems

Already, CTE has played a leading role in equipping individuals for the jobs of today. While State Directors are looking to maintain our responsibility, we also accept the new, challenging task of preparing individuals for the jobs of tomorrow. A door has opened for CTE to showcase the value it holds for individuals and the nation as a whole. We have chosen not to squander this opportunity and the plan in our vision paper demonstrates just that.

June Sanford, President

By Erin in Public Policy, Uncategorized
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College and Career Readiness Goals Not Reflected in Most High School Accountability Systems

Friday, February 5th, 2010

In College-and-Career Ready: Using Outcomes Data to Hold High Schools Accountable for Student Success, the Education Sector reports that many districts rate schools solely on graduation rates and on student scores on basic-skills tests in a single year, but finds that most high school accountability systems fail to recognize college and career ready goals. The report suggests that states can do more to recognize college and career readiness goals by calculating the earnings of graduates who enter the workforce, broken down by occupation and industry sector.

By Ramona in Publications
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Data Quality Campaign Releases Annual Survey on Elements of Longitudinal Data Systems

Friday, February 5th, 2010

In order to track student progress and answer critical policy questions, states have been developing longitudinal data systems. The Data Quality Campaign’s Compendium report provides a national overview on state progress toward implementing the ten elements below:

  • Statewide student identifier
  • Student-level enrollment data
  • Student-level test data
  • Information on untested students
  • statewide teacher identifier
  • Student-level course completion (transcript) data
  • Student-level SAT, ACT, and AP data
  • Student-level graduation and dropout data
  • Ability to match student-level P-12 and higher education data
  • State data audit system

According to the report, data on course-taking and grades (element 6), college readiness test scores (element 7), and other feedback from post-secondary institutions (element 9) can help determine whether high school courses and graduation standards are aligned with college and workplace expectations.

By Ramona in Publications, Research, Uncategorized
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Raising the Bar: Technical Assessments for Secondary CTE Programs

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

The enactment of Perkins IV in 2006 elevated CTE standards and launched a new debate to the issue of technical skill assessments – a barometer used to measure new expectations for CTE programs, particularly at the secondary level. In a recent Techniques magazine article, a CTE-focused ACTE publication, NASDCTEc staff highlighted the challenges the CTE community faces when implementing these new assessments and the opportunities to maximize the efforts underway.

While some CTE stakeholders may look at a technical assessment as another component of the Perkins’ checklist, NASDCTEc staff suggests that the requirements present an avenue to elevate the value of CTE programs. Such an enhancement would be achieved by designing the assessments to have a direct and tangible benefit for students. “The assessments should serve as a signaling and credentialing tool for students entering the workplace and postsecondary education,” according to the article, Raising the Bar: Technical Assessments for Secondary CTE Programs.

Creating assessment and certification programs that are valued and recognized by industry and postsecondary education will require investment by and collaboration among all stakeholders – CTE state directors, industry, policymakers and other education stakeholders. Perkins offers education leaders the bully pulpit to enact the change needed to best serve our students with meaningful education and assessment programs that lead to successful careers. It is time to take advantage of this opportunity.

By Erin in Public Policy, Publications, Uncategorized
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US Department of Education Assessment Public Meetings

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Last month we let members know about a series of meetings the Department of Education had scheduled for November to gather input from practitioners on assessment.  As the time for these meetings draws near I just wanted to raise this critical issue with you again.  We all know how important assessment is as we have been wrestling with the issue in our offices here for some time, just as people in the field have. 

The goals of these meetings according to the Education Department is two-fold: to gather technical input to inform the development of a Race to the Top Assessment Competition and to enable states and the public to participate in and learn from these events.  The public meetings will be held over six days in three cities and will focus on the following topics. 

BOSTON, MA

Thursday, November 12 – Friday, November 13

Full-day panel (Thursday, Nov. 12, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.): General assessment

Half-day panel (Friday, Nov. 13, 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.): Technology & innovation

Half-day panel (Friday, Nov. 13, 1:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): High school assessment

 

ATLANTA, GA

Tuesday, November 17 – Wednesday, November 18

Full-day panel (Tuesday, Nov. 17, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.): General assessment

Half-day panel (Wednesday, Nov. 18, 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.): Assessment of students with disabilities

 

DENVER, CO

Tuesday, December 1 – Wednesday, December 2

Full-day panel (Tuesday, Dec. 1, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.): General assessment

Half-day panel (Wednesday, Dec. 2, 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.):  Assessment of English language learners

The meetings are open to the public.  The official notice, along with information on how to RSVP for the meetings, can be found at www.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-assessment.  The Department encourages the submission of written input (see details of submission process on the web site), and plans to post transcripts of every meeting session and all written input submitted to the agency at www.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-assessment.

If you are planning on attending any of these meetings I hope that you will let us know and share your thoughts and reactions with us here at NASDCTEc.

By admin in Meetings
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ACT scores increase, but college and career readiness needs improvement

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Students’ performance in the ACT’s 2009 college-ready assessment made a slight increase from previous years across all subject areas. However, education stakeholders say the modest upticks have yet to meet the growing need of the nation to prepare students for postsecondary education and their careers.

“The recent increase in college preparedness on the ACT is good news. But our students need to do dramatically better to guarantee their future economic success,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in an ACT-published statement.

The percentage of graduates ready to earn at least a “C” or higher in first-year college courses in all four ACT subject areas —English, math, reading and science—increased from 22 percent in 2008 to 23 percent in 2009. Student’s potential to earn that “C” is ACT’s measure of college readiness. The recent test outcomes were higher than in 2005 and 2006 and are the same as in 2007, when the pool of test-takers was likely less diverse in terms of academic preparation, according to ACT.

Further, ACT considers those same students career ready. By measure of ACT, students who are ready to earn at least a “C” or higher in first-year college are also prepared for success in their first year of most workforce training programs of fields in which they may earn a wage sufficient to support a family and have potential for career advancement.

ACT has issued the following recommendations on steps that states and school districts can take to better prepare students for college and career:
• Adopt fewer—but essential—college and career readiness standards as their new high school graduation standards.
• Adopt a rigorous core curriculum for all high school graduates, whether they are bound for college or work.
• Define “how good is good enough” for college and career readiness.
• Strengthen the rigor of their courses.
• Begin monitoring academic achievement early to make sure younger students are on target to be ready for
college and career.
• Establish longitudinal P-16 (preschool through college) data systems.

By Erin in Research
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