Submitted by iCEV, Diamond Sponsor of the Advance CTE 2021 Spring Meeting

This is an excerpt from a white paper published by the iCEV Certification Testing Platform. Read the full article here. 

As the neon lights of “OPEN” signs dimmed across the nation in the spring of 2020, the promise of sustained job growth for the U.S. economy slipped away. Before March 2020, the U.S. had experienced the most prolonged era of job growth in modern history with nearly 10 years of sporadic but sustained increases, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Yet, the sudden onset of COVID-19 and the associated business closures dramatically shifted the nation’s economic outlook. The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy reported the U.S. lost 20.6 million jobs between March and May 2020. According to the Pew Research Center, the unemployment rate jumped from 3.8 percent in February 2020 to 14.4 percent in April 2020. 

While it is easy to observe the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, it is impossible to accurately predict the long-term effects, not only on the U.S economy but also on the next generation of workers. The decrease of employment opportunities, combined with a dramatic shift in instruction delivery, will undoubtedly impact how today’s young adults function in a postsecondary environment and the workforce. To compensate for the loss of educational experiences and employment prospects, young adults will need to be skilled in their fields and pursue career development opportunities. 

Even before the coronavirus, the U.S. workforce was facing a lack of skilled workers. The National Skills Coalition reported 52 percent of jobs require skills training beyond a high school diploma; however, only 43 percent of workers meet the necessary skill training level. Additionally, a multi-generational focus on college readiness rather than career readiness led to a lack of emphasis on skill development in secondary and post-secondary settings. These factors have culminated in a lack of skilled workers prepared to meet workforce demands.

To increase their marketability in a post-pandemic environment, students and working professionals can earn an industry certification in their field of choice. Industry certifications are tangible evidence of knowledge and skills in a specific area or field. Despite a rapidly evolving education system and labor force, industry certifications allow students and workers to align their knowledge and skill base to current employer needs, thereby shrinking the skills gap. 

Due to their specialized skill set, certification earners are more qualified to enter the workforce and stand out from other applicants during the hiring process. Industry certifications act as a signal to employers, letting them know the applicant has extensive training in the field and has actively sought and achieved career development opportunities. The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) discovered individuals who have earned industry certifications are more likely to be employed one year after earning an industry certification than workers without a certification. Business Wire reported certification earners are twice as likely to receive a raise or promotion within six months of earning a certification compared to their non-certified coworkers. Workers who receive a raise due to earning an industry certification reported pay increases between 20 and 40 percent. According to a study conducted by the Institute for Credentialing Excellence, 47 percent of millennials report earning an industry certification helped them in their career journey. 

To recoup from the economic fallout the coronavirus caused, the U.S. will need to develop a pipeline of skilled workers. Industry certification earners are more qualified and prepared to enter or transition within the workforce due to their extensive background knowledge and proven skillsets. In a struggling economy, employers need to easily identify experienced applicants, and industry certifications function as a hiring signal. 

While some fluorescent “OPEN” signs have once again begun to light doors and windows of businesses across the nation, the U.S. workforce’s trajectory has been irrecoverably shifted. As the country works toward economic recovery, it is imperative young adults take advantage of career development opportunities, such as earning an industry certification. Young workers will be the key to rebuilding the American economy, and it is essential they have the training and experience required to meet employer and industry demands. By earning an industry certification, young workers can upskill or reskill as needed, therefore strengthening their resume and increasing their employability. An investment in skills training for current students and young adults through industry certifications will bolster the workforce, shrink the skills gap and propel the U.S. toward economic recovery.  

Visit the iCEV website to learn more about the industry certifications hosted on the iCEV Certification Testing Platform and the role they can play in training the workforce and rebuilding the economy.

Visit iCEV’s virtual booth at the Advance CTE 2021 Spring Meeting! Registration is open. More information and the interactive agenda can be found here. 

In an effective career readiness data ecosystem, silos between and within state-level agencies are broken down to allow for data alignment across agencies and learner levels. This is critical to understanding a learner’s experience along the K-12, postsecondary and workforce continuum.

In 2012, New Jersey was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop a statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) that would create a unified data warehouse between the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE), the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education (NJOSHE), and the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJLWD). This new SLDS would make it easier for the aforementioned agencies to share data amongst each other; link data at the individual learner level; and improve governance, policymaking, and the performance of education and workforce initiatives.

New Jersey used its grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop the New Jersey Education to Earnings Data System (NJEEDS), a SLDS aimed at helping educators, workforce program operators and other stakeholders make data-informed decisions to improve student learning and labor market outcomes. NJEEDS is designed to be a centralized data hub where state secondary, postsecondary and workforce data are securely stored and made available to the associated agencies. NJEEDS is under a multi-state agency governance structure with two governing bodies: 1) the Executive Leadership Council comprised of designees from NJOSHE, NJLWD, NJDOE, and the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority; and 2) the Data Stewards Work Group that is co-chaired by executive level representatives from the three state agencies.

NJEEDS pulls data from various sources including the New Jersey Standards Measurement and Resource Training Data System (NJ SMART), the state’s K-12 data warehouse; Student Unit Record (SURE), the state’s higher education data warehouse; and the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) wage record system. However, New Jersey faced a common challenge for state data systems — linking learner-level data once learners exit the K-12 system. New Jersey found a creative strategy to fill in the gaps and reliably link learner-level data across education levels by using data from the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission when a common identifier is not available. NJEEDS uses a complex matching and validation process to ensure that learner records are as complete and accurate as possible. This process has resulted in an 82% match rate.

NJEEDS illustrates what states can do when silos are broken and agencies work together, share data, and find creative solutions to link learner-level records across education and workforce agencies. 

Read the Advance CTE Case Study New Jersey: Education to Earnings Data System to learn more about how New Jersey developed its SLDS to align data across agencies and learner levels. For additional resources on improving the quality and use of career readiness data, check out the Career Readiness Data Quality microsite.  

This is the third edition in a series of Advance CTE data quality blogs to accompany Advance CTE’s latest releases, Career Readiness Data Quality and Use Policy Benchmark Tool and Data Quality Case Studies. For more resources on data and accountability in CTE, please visit the Learning that Works Resource Center.

Brian Robinson

Policy Associate

Work-based learning provides learners an opportunity to reinforce and deepen classroom learning, explore future career fields, and demonstrate their skills in an authentic, real-world setting. Through experiences such as internships, apprenticeships, job shadowing and student-led enterprises, work-based learning connects learners’ classroom experiences to their future careers. Given its vital role in a learner’s career development, leaders in education, workforce and public policy must ensure work-based learning opportunities are equitable. This means that every learner regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, ability or geography can access high-quality work-based learning opportunities and are provided the necessary supports to be successful. 

Work-based learning is a critical strategy to level the playing field for historically marginalized learners who tend to lack social capital, or a network of relationships that can be mobilized to improve an individual’s power, status and authority.  Advance CTE’s latest publication, Connecting Every Learner: A Framework for States to Increase Access to and Success in Work-Based Learning, suggests five strategies states can take to build, implement and scale high-quality work-based learning experiences — with a specific focus on expanding equitable access and supporting success for historically marginalized learners such as learners with disabilities, economically disadvantaged learners, Black, Latinx, Native American and rural learners, and learners pursuing nontraditional career paths. Each section of the report describes what the strategy looks like in practice, offers a rationale for each strategy, and provides state and local examples of best practices across the country. Those strategies include:

Establish a statewide vision for equity in work-based learning by establishing a policy environment that incentivizes high-quality work-based learning experiences, build the infrastructure for stakeholders to realize the vision and set intentional goals. For example, Tennessee has set a goal to double the number of learners participating in work-based learning experiences by 2025, with an emphasis on economically disadvantaged learners. Tennessee is leveraging youth apprenticeships, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding, and targeted wraparound supports to realize this goal.

Enable intermediary organizations to equitably expand work-based learning through funding, building formal partnerships or even tasking state-level organizations to serve as intermediaries. For example, the Connecting Activities network in Massachusetts is made up of state workforce boards that connect employers and schools to support work-based learning and career development education opportunities for learners. 

Use data to advance equity and program quality by developing data systems that allow for reliable, valid and complete collection of work-based learning data; require work-based learning providers to collect demographic data on learners and leverage data to track learner participation and success in high-quality work-based learning opportunities; and ensure data is actionable. For example, Washington State requires Registered Apprenticeship sponsors to collect demographic data on apprentices as part of their “equal employment opportunity plan.” 

Engage and support employers to offer high-quality and inclusive work-based learning experiences by supporting and incentivizing employers to provide equitable and inclusive work-based learning opportunities; building the infrastructure for engaging employers at scale and making the case for them to participate in work-based learning; and supporting employers and the education sector in understanding legal liability associated with youth work-based learning experiences. For example, the Denver Public Schools’ Career and College Success – Career Development Programs partner with the business community to provide high school learners with expanded access to relevant learning opportunities in the classroom and in workplace settings. 

Scale successful programs using an equity lens by braiding funding from multiple federal and state sources; enacting policies to create an incentive structure that supports high-quality work-based learning; meaningfully engaging stakeholders across systems and sectors; and building processes for monitoring progress and making changes as needed. For example, West Virginia’s Simulated Workplace program transforms learners’ classrooms and programs into business to create an authentic environment where they can develop and practice both technical and employability skills. 

Work-based learning is an essential component of any high-quality Career Technical Education (CTE) program. As state leaders begin implementing their Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) plans, they have a responsibility to ensure any work-based learning policies and practices are rooted in equity. Specifically, the policies and practices must be rooted in identifying and dismantling barriers to work-based learning  participation by and outcomes of historically marginalized groups. This report, and the strategies included, is one tool designed to support state leaders in this endeavor. 

Visit Advance CTE’s Learning that Works Resource Center for more resources on work-based learning and access and equity to CTE. 

Brian Robinson, Policy Associate

It is my honor to join the talented and passionate team at Advance CTE in the role of Senior Advisor. As a former State Director of Career Technical Education (CTE), I am excited to lead and contribute to major initiatives and projects including Advance CTE’s Postsecondary CTE Leaders Fellowship Program and Advancing the Framework, a multi-year project to revise the National Career Clusters® Framework. I will also support Advance CTE’s federal advocacy, state policy and technical assistance efforts.

My journey to Advance CTE started as a CTE student and teacher in northeastern Indiana where I witnessed firsthand the difference we as a CTE community make in the lives of learners of all ages and backgrounds. My early CTE experience led service to the National FFA Organization, the state of Colorado and the Colorado Community College System, Vivayic (a learning solutions provider devoted to helping individuals, organizations and corporations do good in the world) and the United States Department of Education as the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE). As the assistant secretary for OCTAE, I served as the principal adviser to the Secretary of Education on all matters concerning high school, career, technical and adult education as well as community colleges, the workforce and economic development.

Without question, collaborating with state and national leaders and organizations on the implementation of the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) was the most meaningful work to me over the past two years. Early in the process we asked states to “Rethink CTE” by questioning everything to ensure that nothing limits a student’s ability to be ready for what’s next in their life and career.

Wherever opportunities and travels have taken our family over the past few years, home is a small ranch in Stoneham, Colorado.  As a parent, I am proud that all of my children are products of CTE.

Scott Stump, Senior Advisor