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CTE: Education for a Strong Economy

June 26th, 2009

We collaborated with ACTE to produce “CTE: Education for a Strong Economy,” a leave behind that we will use to inform legislators and their staff on the Hill about the benefits of CTE and how CTE can help build and sustain our economy.  You can access it here.

It begins with a brief overview of the beginnings of CTE and how the 2006 reauthorization changed the landscape of CTE.  It then delves into the benefits of CTE – both for students and for the economy.  These include dropout prevention, better career prospects, preparation for 21st century careers, and helping the unemployed.   Please feel free to use this document to inform policymakers and legislators in your state about the benefits of CTE!

State Innovations in Career Technical Education: Building a Clean Energy Workforce

April 23rd, 2024

To solve pressing climate-related challenges including droughts, forest fires, sea level rise and others, the nation needs a workforce prepared to address those challenges. The clean energy sector, in particular, helps provide solutions for the future of the planet, and the economic case for expanded investment in clean energy jobs is clear: in 2022, clean energy jobs grew in every state and, with a national 3.9% job growth, outpaced national employment growth.1 To prepare young people for the future of this emerging economy, states and local education agencies are turning to Career Technical Education (CTE) to develop both the technical and academic skills needed while providing specialized training to ensure learners are environmentally aware and can enter into environmentally-focused careers.

Some states focus on a broad strokes approach that expands access to the sector as a whole. Last year, Massachusetts created a Clean Energy Innovation Career Pathway, to “inspire the next generation of clean energy experts in Massachusetts by providing students experiential learning opportunities in the field.” In September 2023, six high schools began piloting this pathway. The state also announced multiple financial investments in the development of training opportunities, including a $2.5 million grant to Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology to create their Center for Energy Efficiency and the Trades and achieve a goal of connecting 50% of graduates to climate-connected occupations by 2026.

Other states developed more focused career-specific pathways in close collaboration with industry partners. Georgia, for example, developed an electric vehicle career pathway in response to a $5 billion investment from electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian, who seeks to hire 7,500 workers across four counties in Georgia. This type of approach reveals the importance of employer partners who can demonstrate and speak to the value of CTE training programs for the clean energy sector.

Local education agencies are also adopting hyperlocal programs in response to hyperlocal need. The Urban Assembly New York Harbor School focuses on preparing learners specifically for maritime careers, and is focused heavily on careers centered on the clean workforce, including in marine biology research, aquaculture, and ocean technologies, among other pathways. They have partnered with the Billion Oyster Project to provide learners with hands-on experiences and direct connection to mentors in the industry, in turn developing young practitioners eager to engage in this space. The Billion Oyster Project reports engaging with over 11,000 New York City students since 2014.

Environmental education, climate literacy, and exposure to workforce opportunity are vital to recruitment and retention of young people in the clean energy space. To prepare for the economic future of this emerging space, high quality and equitable CTE needs to remain at the forefront to ensure that all young people can find, decide on and engage in these types of future careers.  


Advance CTE is currently doing work in environmental education by partnering with the Delaware Department of Education to explore the future environmental literacy competencies within and across Delaware Pathways. Read about the project

Read more about policies enacted in CTE Clean Energy and Renewables and other CTE-related policy trends of 2023 in State Policies Impacting CTE: 2023 Year in Review.

Dan Hinderliter, associate director, state policy

Advancing Equity in CTE: Elevating the Knowledge of a New Generation of Leaders

August 8th, 2023

Advance CTE is excited to introduce a collection of briefs that feature the original research conducted by select Fellows from our inaugural cohort of The Postsecondary State Career Technical Education (CTE) Leaders Fellowship – Sponsored by ECMC Foundation (Fellowship). These briefs cover different topics within the CTE landscape and alignment with Advance CTE’s CTE Without Limits’ principles for advancing equitable, high-quality CTE programs for every learner. 

The Fellowship strives to address the growing shortage of state postsecondary CTE leadership by closing racial representation gaps and removing equity barriers to leadership advancement. Through individualized supports, intentional networks and a real-world fellowship project, Advance CTE-ECMCF Fellows gain the skills and network to pursue leadership positions and advance high-quality, equitable state postsecondary CTE systems. The Real-World Project is a capstone of the Fellowship. By highlighting selected projects and citing Fellows’ research as contributions to the national CTE landscape, we aspire to elevate a new generation of CTE leaders. 

The first brief, Career and Technical Education and the Justice System: State Strategies to Improve Outcomes for Justice-Involved Learners in CTE Programs, features research from Fellows alumni Richard Crosby and Janelle Washington.

High-quality education opportunities for justice-involved learners have demonstrated a strong economic return; a study produced by the RAND Corporation found that, for every $1 invested in prison education programs, there is a $4-5 reduction in incarceration costs during the first three years post-release of a prisoner. Despite these benefits, only seven states are currently opting to allocate the maximum allowable amount of state leadership set-aside funds to improving outcomes for this population of learners. This brief offers actionable recommendations for state leaders to address systemic barriers through changes to funding, administrative and program quality policies to have a long-term and lasting reduction impact on recidivism.

 

The second brief, a Policy Review of the Impact of House Bill 444 on Career and Technical Agricultural Education Dual Enrollment at Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) Institutions, highlights the research of Fellowship alumni Dr. Kristin Corkhill.

Dual enrollment is a popular education initiative that has contributed to increased postsecondary enrollment across the Technical College System of Georgia. These programs represent early opportunities for learners to gain industry-aligned skills and develop confidence and awareness of how to be successful in postsecondary programs and generate a highly skilled workforce pipeline to continue to grow the state’s economy. This brief offers recommendations for state leaders on how to continue to support improved enrollment trends.

 

The third brief, Non-Traditional Learner Participation in Postsecondary Career and Technical Education Programs features research by Fellowship alumni Jean Claude Mbomeda.

The non-traditional gender occupational divide weakens state economies by decreasing economic productivity and reducing diversity in decision-making. By creating gender parity in which “women participate in the labor force at the same rate as men, work the same number of hours as men, and are employed at the same levels as men across sectors,” the United States would see an estimated $4.3 trillion increase in the gross domestic product in 2025.1 Check out this brief to learn ways that state leaders can strengthen policies to ensure equitable access and outcomes for every learner and better meet the needs of the state’s economy and labor market. 

These briefs are the first part of the larger Building a Diverse Leadership Pipeline series, set to be released later this year, that aims to increase leadership stability and achieve more demographically representative state CTE leadership, by providing resources, tools and examples to help state leaders establish a talent pipeline and provide training, mentorship and opportunities for aspiring CTE leaders.

Amy Hodge, Membership & Policy Associate

State of CTE: CTE Instructors in Perkins V State Plans

January 14th, 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. 

Attracting and retaining qualified and diverse CTE instructors remains one of the most persistent challenges facing states. Last year, ACTE held a Teach CTE Summit to more closely examine teacher pipeline challenges, surfacing numerous key issues and recommendations. According to previous Advance CTE research on this issue, 86 percent of State Directors reported a moderate or severe CTE teacher shortage in at least one Career Cluster at the secondary level, and a further 60 percent indicated the same at the postsecondary level. 

The underlying causes for these shortages most often relate to the difficulties CTE programs have in competing with the private sector for the same pool of qualified instructors, along with the fact that many universities have closed their CTE teacher preparation programs in recent years. As is the case in other sectors of the economy, the CTE teacher workforce is also aging rapidly.

At the same time, the demands on CTE instructors are rigorous. CTE instructors need strong technical knowledge and industry expertise, effective classroom management and pedagogical skills, and cultural competency to support and engage each learner on an individual basis.

Without a qualified pool of CTE professionals, one that is responsive to the needs of each learner, our country cannot effectively educate learners and prepare the future workforce. Attracting, retaining and fully developing a strong cadre of CTE professionals is therefore a crucial ingredient CTE systems need for success, and this need is reflected throughout states’ Perkins V plans.

Based on Advance CTE’s analysis of state Perkins V plans:

  • Nearly three-quarters of all states (36 total) are providing targeted professional development for specific groups of educators, administrators or other CTE professionals. 
  • Forty-five percent of states are including quality instructors in their definitions for size, scope and quality (SSQ).
  • Forty-seven percent of states are going beyond the requirements laid out in the law to prioritize supporting CTE professionals in their comprehensive local needs assessment (CLNA).
  • Twenty-seven percent of states are developing explicit CTE instructor recruitment plans.
  • At least seven states are addressing licensure barriers and/or are developing new pathways to licensure as an approach to strengthening CTE instructor pipelines. 

Key Innovations

  • Oregon aims to recruit teachers from cultural and linguistic backgrounds that reflect the state’s learner population. To achieve this goal, the state plans to partner with the Educator Advancement Council, a statewide education network focused on ensuring that the state has high-quality, well-supported and culturally responsive educators. Through this partnership, Oregon aims to create a comprehensive strategy focused on recruitment efforts in underrepresented and underserved communities. In addition to this work, the state is clarifying alternative pathways that lead to the CTE teaching profession as a means to attract industry experts and potentially further diversify the field.
  • Oklahoma is dedicating more than half a million dollars annually to provide targeted scholarships for individuals seeking teacher and administrator certifications. As part of its wider efforts in this space, the state has developed a new teacher institute that provides a full year of training, coaching and mentoring for new CTE instructors. Oklahoma also makes use of a statewide learning management system — CareerTech’s Master Educator platform — to structure and provide professional development that promotes continuous learning and improvement of its CTE teachers. Finally, the state is working with local universities to provide shorter-term courses and online programs conducive to incumbent CTE teacher needs.

The Work Ahead

One area of future work is ensuring that the CTE instructor workforce is representative of the learners they serve. Only five states included any explicit recruitment activities focused on diversifying the CTE teaching field in their Perkins V plans.

Recruiting, developing and retaining qualified teachers and faculty are critical for CTE programs to be successful. As noted previously, instructors are among the most important in-school factors that contribute to the success of learners. No single policy or strategy will fully address the challenges facing states with regards to this issue. Some of these challenges have to do with issues outside the realm of CTE, such as broader terms negotiated by labor and management (e.g., teacher/faculty pay scales or tenure requirements), lack of teacher preparation programs at universities, and accreditation requirements or limitations. Only through a coordinated set of approaches can states begin to make progress on this critically important topic. Through the Perkins V planning process, states have certainly started to make significant progress in this area.

Resources

Christina Koch, Policy Associate
Alisha Hyslop, Senior Director of Public Policy, Association for Career and Technical Education
Catherine Imperatore, Research Manager, Association for Career and Technical Education

 

This Week in CTE: Celebrating CTE Month!

February 28th, 2020

This month has been full of celebrations in honor of #CTEMonth! Below are some highlights.


This afternoon, @CongressmanGT lead a floor speech to help commemorate 100 years of Advance CTE as an organization, along with the support of #CTEMonth. We are incredibly thankful for all his work on being an amazing CTE advocate.

TOP #CTEMONTH TWEETS

Did you miss the #CTSOChat hosted by Association for Career & Technical Education (@ACTEcareertech)? Check out what you missed here.

https://twitter.com/DeidrePendley/status/1230322428393422849?s=20

 

VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

CTE students in many states have demonstrated their proficiency in industry-related skills by producing CTE Month Videos. Check out one from Westwood High School.

NOCTI held their annual CTE Month video contest. Check out this years’ award winner here.

QUOTES OF THE MONTH

Talent must never be the factor that holds our economy back. America’s students need access to programs in high school and beyond that will lead them to these jobs, and states are best positioned to lead the way.“- Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush

Read more on Gov. Jeb Bush’s thoughts on how states can help innovate robust CTE programs here.

National CTE Month underscores the importance of the many successful programs that create opportunities for hard-working Americans to succeed by connecting them with hands-on training and skills” – Congressman Langevin

Read more on Congressman Langevin’s resolution recognizing National CTE Month here.

BLOG OF THE WEEK

Many state policies are prioritizing Career Technical Education, and the California School Boards Association has shared how local legislation has moved in favor of CTE. Read more here.

RESOURCE OF THE WEEK

ExcelinEd has published its newest Policy Playbook during CTE Month. The Developing High-Quality State Work-Based Learning Programs playbook aids in states developing and implementing work-based learning programs. View the resource here.

POLICY UPDATE OF THE WEEK

The National Skills Coalition has released a new fact sheet to help support Workforce Development Advocates on increasing their knowledge around the new version of the Public Charge Rule. Read more.

Brittany Cannady, Digital Media Associate

This Week in CTE: Happy 100 Years!

February 24th, 2017

HAPPY CTE MONTH!
Thursday marked the 100th anniversary of the Smith-Hughes Act, the foundation for today’s Career Technical Education! As we reflect on this important milestone for CTE, we’re excited to share how states, districts, schools, educators, students, parents and employers have lifted up powerful CTE success stories throughout the month, demonstrating how far CTE has come in the last century. Below are some innovative ways they have raised awareness about the value of CTE through a variety of channels.

 

RAISING AWARENESS & MYTH BUSTING
Social media has been an incredible way to raise awareness and share stories about Career Technical Education. A number of advocates used social media to dispel common myths about CTE, such as it is a program for ‘other kids’ or doesn’t prepare students for the breadth of educational and career opportunities. To combat these negative stereotypes, many states and schools focused on fact-based infographics to get the word about what CTE looks like today highlighting how CTE leads to higher graduation rates, postsecondary education, and higher earnings.

Orange Tech College infographic

29 Oregon districts with approved programs of study had CTE concentrator graduation rates of at least 95%

 

SHARING STUDENT SUCCESS STORIES
A number of CTE Month advocates have used Twitter as a platform to share what CTE means to them and their preparation for the future.

The Technology Center of Dupage shared the importance of CTE to their students through their “TCD is…” photo campaign with testimonies from students themselves highlighting things that make CTE unique like the opportunity for career exploration, hands-on learning and dual enrollment. Milton Hershey School and McMinnville School also ran similar campaigns sharing students experiences in CTE programs.

 

 

 

 

 

 
MAKING THE CASE TO POLICYMAKERS
A critical audience during CTE Month is policymakers. A number of states, cities and towns have recognized CTE Month through proclamations voicing their support for CTE in their communities. Local and state leaders including city councils, mayors, governors, and members of Congress have used CTE Month to demonstrate their commitment to CTE.
For policymakers who may not be convinced, students, as part of a variety of Career Technical Student Organizations have used CTE Month as a way to make the case for CTE, and its role in their success. Additionally schools across the nation invited their local policymakers for site visits and career fairs to demonstrate CTE programs in action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katie Fitzgerald, Senior Communications Associate 

This Week in CTE: It’s Apprenticeship Week!

November 18th, 2016

We’re celebrating apprenticeship week this week honoring the role apprenticeships play in helping businesses train accomplished employees, and offering a way for learners to gain the skills they need to be successful in the workplace, while earning a wage while doing so. Below you’ll find a number of resources highlighting the importance of supporting apprenticeships at the national, state and local levels, to ensure learners are prepared for a lifetime of career success.

RESOURCE OF THE WEEK

Connecting the Classroom to Careers: Leveraging Intermediaries to Expand Work-based Learning, brief explores the role of intermediaries at the school, region and state levels, who coordinate between educators and employers to develop critical work-based learning opportunities for students. Learn more about South Carolina’s Apprenticeship Carolina program, which provides critical support to education institutions and employers around the state’s growing Registered Youth Apprenticeships and adult Registered Apprenticeships.

POLICY OF THE WEEK

Tech Ready Apprentices for Careers in Kentucky (TRACK) is a youth pre-apprenticeship program that stands out as an innovative example of effective collaboration between the Kentucky Labor Cabinet, the Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of Career and Technical Education, employers and labor to strengthen students’ career pathways and the talent pipeline. Learn more about TRACK through a webinar we held with Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center.

PROGRAM OF THE WEEK

Upper Valley Career Center in Piqua, Ohio, is a two-year full-time academic and technical high school that includes a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) program of study, with a pre-apprenticeship fully embedded into the program. The pre-apprenticeship program offers students the option of continuing on in a Registered Apprenticeship or non-registered apprenticeship, full-time employment, or additional postsecondary education and training, depending on the opportunities provided by the employer sponsor and student choice. Students have access to apprenticeships with 23 employers, providing them with a multitude of paths to continuing into a career of their choice, such as Cammi Clement, who graduated from UVCC, became an apprentice at Emerson Climate Technologies, and was offered full-time employment and tuition reimbursement upon completion of the program.

EVENT OF THE WEEK: Save the Date!

Save May 4th-5th, 2017 for Apprenticeship Forward, a national conference of leading practitioners from the apprenticeship field including industry associations and employers; unions and labor-management partnerships; community-based organizations; community colleges; high schools; and workforce boards, as well as federal and state policymakers from throughout the country. The event will focus on three critical challenges facing the expansion of apprenticeship:

  • Increasing industry engagement across a range of sectors and firms;AF logo large
  • Addressing equity while diversifying the apprenticeship pipeline; and
  • Implementing new public policies that can take apprenticeship to scale.

Apprenticeship Forward will feature engaging plenaries and breakout panels as well as interactive discussions between attendees about their efforts within specific industries and with specific groups of students and prospective workers.

Sponsoring Partners include:  National Skills Coalition, New America, AFL-CIO Working for America Institute, Advance CTE, National Association of Workforce Boards, National Fund for Workforce Solutions, National Governors Association, and Urban Institute

Katie Fitzgerald, Senior Associate, Communications

This Week in CTE: Happy Manufacturing Day!

October 7th, 2016

TWEET OF THE WEEK

ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals makes the case as to why CTE, STEM education and apprenticeships are key to the American workforce, economy and manufacturing industry. Read more in their piece, The Economy of Manufacturing and Community.

RESOURCE OF THE WEEK

Visit our Learning that Works Resource Center for the latest research, policies and reports on CTE and career readiness, including the Manufacturing Institute, SkillsUSA and the Education Research Center of America’s report, Attracting the Next Generation Workforce: The Role of CTE, which found that personal industry experience — through involvement with Career Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs), internships, summer jobs and co-op study programs — can impact students’ future career interests.

PROGRAM OF THE WEEK

Desert View High School’s precision machining and mechanical drafting program of study is a model program in the Manufacturing Career Cluster, demonstrating the incredible impact a strong employer and educational partnership can have on the community. A 2016 Excellence in Action award winner, this program of study was developed in partnership with the Tucson, Arizona business community to build a pipeline of skilled and qualified employees.

“When an industry comes forward and tells a district or administration, ‘our community needs this program, and we will support you,’ this becomes the leverage for change that enables the school to make those difficult decisions, to prioritize your program. Companies are moving to Tucson because they see a pipeline and workforce being built. This program has created an economic development change for our community,” said Kathy Prather, Director of CTE at Sunnyside Unified School District.

p.s. If you haven’t already, join 4,000 of your peers and cast your vote to include CTE in the next presidential debate on Sunday, October 9th!

Katie Fitzgerald, Senior Associate, Communications 

 

Inside International CTE: China

February 18th, 2016

Vivien Stewart, Senior Advisor for Education, Asia Society, shares what China’s education system is doing to raise the quality of its workforce. This post part of our ongoing partnership with Asia Society’s Global Learning Blog on EdWeek. 

The Shanghai Construction School
Last fall members of Asia Society’s Global Cities Education Network (GCEN), including representatives from Denver, Hangzhou, Hiroshima, Houston, Lexington, Melbourne, Seattle, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, and Toronto met in Shanghai. Their focus: how to implement 21st century competencies in their schools. One of the site visits was to a school run by the Shanghai Construction Group. The 16th largest construction company in the world, the Shanghai Construction Group has built some of China’s most spectacular skyscrapers, in collaboration with the world’s most famous architects, and increasingly works outside of China as well. It recruits more than 1,500 employees a year, about half from university and half from its own upper secondary vocational school and college. Students who attend the vocational school and college are drawn from those who did not do well enough in school to pursue an academic route to university. Most are from poor backgrounds, including rural students who board at the school. The curriculum includes math, Chinese, English, construction engineering, computer-aided design, and mechanics. In the third year, students do practical work in the company, rotating through several departments and receiving a stipend. The company employs about one third of the graduates of the school and college and many other companies come to the school to recruit its highly regarded graduates.

GCEN members were impressed that students work on the most up-to-date equipment, for tunnel construction for example, and use leading edge construction simulations. Teachers in the school include construction managers from the company as well as regular teachers with backgrounds in academic engineering, who work in the construction company in the summer to keep their knowledge up to date. The school’s curriculum is constantly adjusted to follow new developments in the construction industry, including those from the company’s own research center on innovation in construction. Shanghai Construction Group is a strong believer in lifelong education and graduates of the secondary vocational school can rise through the ranks and may eventually be sent by the company to get a BA or MBA, often at institutions abroad.

China’s economic and skills transition
All in all, the Shanghai Construction School is an impressive model of vocational education – imparting modern skills in high demand and providing social mobility to its graduates. But not all vocational and technical education in China is like this. “Made in China” has become a ubiquitous label as China has become the manufacturing workshop of the world, powering three decades of astounding economic growth. But the label is often synonymous with low quality and China’s surging economic growth has come at huge costs in terms of environmental degradation and inequality. The global recession of 2008-2009 caused massive unemployment in China and created a sense of urgency about the need to shift from an economy based heavily on low-cost, low-skill manufacturing for export to an economy based on higher quality goods and services. To achieve this transition, China needs to massively ramp up its skill levels. Critical shortages of skilled workers, qualified technicians, and service providers exist in many industries including electronics and information technology, steel and equipment manufacturing, automobile repair, and hotels/tourism. Where are these skilled workers to come from?

Innovations in China’s VET system
China’s vocational and technical education system has been plagued with problems, many of them similar to those here. It is widely viewed as a weak link in the education system and has low status in the public mind. As in the U.S., many of China’s VET schools have had a narrow curriculum, relatively weak connections to industry, and lower funding than academic education. Teachers typically lack industry background and there are few pathways between vocational education and academic education. In China, there is a huge mismatch between employer expectations and the skills of graduates of both the academic and technical education systems—especially with regard to their inability to apply their knowledge.

Read the full article here. 

Inside International CTE: South Korea

January 26th, 2016

This is part of our ongoing series examining international education systems in partnership with Asia Society’s Global Learning blog on EdWeek 

Last week Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker proposed an increase of $83.5 million for career and technical education (CTE or VET—vocational education and training—as it is called in most other countries around the world) in his state. In Oregon where I live, Governor Kate Brown authorized $35 million last year to improve CTE programs. These are just two examples of how policymakers, at the urging of business and industry, are turning to CTE to fill the skills gap and improve our economy.

South Korea once had a strong vocational education system—so powerful it rebuilt its shattered economy. But today that is no longer the case. As we work to improve our CTE system in the United States, it behooves us to look at why VET lost favor in South Korea and examine the innovative solutions that are being implemented to improve education, training, and career options there.

From High Demand to Low Demand
After the Korean War, the economy of the newly divided Korean peninsula was devastated. However, you would never know it when you look at South Korea today. Gleaming skyscrapers dominate the Seoul skyline, internationally famous songs invoke the high life, and high-tech industry proliferates throughout the country.

It was no easy path to get this far in such a short period of time. It took comprehensive reforms that were anchored in education, and more specifically, vocational education and training.

In the 1970s and 1980s, vocational education in South Korea was more than socially acceptable, it was the primary way to succeed in obtaining a steady job with a decent income. Forty-five percent of students were enrolled in VET programs* compared to 11.4 percent in universities. With the shift to a more knowledge-based rather than industrial economy (known as the “tiger years”), the university degree grew in prominence to employers and, therefore, parents.

Current Situation
Today, the perception of VET has quickly fallen, and in 2013, only 18 percent of students were enrolled in VET programs.* Part of this is due to the prestige of university—affluent families can afford the tutoring that is now required for students to pass the entrance exam and be able to attend college. Students from families who cannot afford these tutors simply have fewer options in higher education.

Read the full article on Education Week’s Global Learning blog. 

 

Katie Fitzgerald, Communications Associate 

 

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