Posts Tagged ‘enrollment’

Advance CTE Fall Meeting Sponsor Blog: Diamond Sponsor, YouScience – Moving forward together: The Southern Oregon Education Service District aligns CTE programs with local job demands

Thursday, October 6th, 2022

The Southern Oregon Education Service District (SOESD) is taking a proactive approach to better align CTE programs with learners’ abilities and local economic needs. 

The SOESD covers 13 school districts in three counties. It set out to determine if area Careeer Technical Education (CTE) programs were aligned with labor needs. It found strong alignment with some of the area’s most in-demand jobs, for example, between CTE offerings and the area’s demand for truck drivers (via transportation CTE courses) as well as for advanced manufacturing. But it found a deficit between CTE programs and the need for healthcare and construction workers.

It set out to tackle how to fill programs with the most-interested learners. Previously, some courses were full while others had enrollments as low as 30 percent. 

Maximizing recruitment for CTE programs

To maximize recruitment and show learners they could excel at and enjoy careers they may have never pictured themselves in, the SOESD moved away from traditional interest-based college and career readiness solutions to YouScience Discovery, an aptitude-based solution.

Learners take the Discovery assessment — starting in the eighth grade — to uncover their work-based aptitudes, interests, and matching career pathways. The assessment revealed that learners in Oregon have more aptitude than interest in high-demand area careers.

Learners in Oregon have more aptitude than interest in high-demand area careers. Data based on anonymized internal YouScience Discovery results for 2,420 learners in Oregon from the 2021 school year.

Educators access reporting to see learners’ aptitudes- and interests- based career pathways and recruit learners into best-fit high school CTE programs. 

A sample YouScience Discovery Clusters Match report that shows educators a learners’ top three career cluster matches by aptitudes and interests and that can be used to recruit learners to CTE programs.

“We meet individually with each learner, and we can say ‘here’s what you’re good at and here’s what you’re interested in,’” said Adam Randall, CTE coordinator for Henley High School. “So, when the counselors come in, they can say ‘here are all the entry-level freshman classes you should sign up for and in this order, based on your aptitudes and interests.’”

The result of using aptitudes to guide CTE enrollments resulted in some entry-level classes filling past capacity at Henley High School where Randall is based. Area enrollment overall has increased up to 160 percent. 

A repeatable approach to driving CTE enrollment

The SOESD’s approach of driving CTE enrollment with aptitude-based guidance can be replicated anywhere. Discovery is available for schools nationwide. And a national student ability report points to a wide gap between learners’ aptitudes and interests that school boards and educators can leverage to ensure learners are on their best-fit educational and career pathways. 

Learn more about the SOESD using YouScience Discovery, request a demo, or contact YouScience.

Kelly McNulty, Content Marketing Manager, YouScience

By Stacy Whitehouse in Advance CTE Fall Meeting
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5 Steps to Refresh Career Technical Education Program Recruitment Plans This Summer 

Thursday, June 10th, 2021

The impending summer season is a great time for state and local Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders to take a step back and evaluate how existing recruitment plans and practices reach each learner and family to achieve an effective and equitable recruitment process.

As conversations continue about potential national investments in the career preparation ecosystem, it is essential that communications about CTE align with what matters most to families in their education, and address in detail the opportunities provided through CTE to meet those needs. Recruitment processes and communications must also address lingering stigmas, lack of knowledge and systemic barriers that have prevented learners of color, learners experiencing low income and other historically marginalized populations from participating in and fully benefiting from the potential of CTE programs. 

Today, Advance CTE released a second round of tools to help state and local CTE leaders implement updated communications research released in April 2021 on tested messages and messengers for CTE that resonate with learners and families. The research also details equity considerations and message tailoring for Black and Latinx families and families experiencing low income so that each learner feels welcomed, supported and has the means to succeed in CTE programs. 

Developing and  executing a recruitment plan can seem like a big undertaking, but Advance CTE is here with simple steps to help you get started. 

Here are five easy ways to put this research into action this summer using messages and tools from Advance CTE: 

  1. Learn the key messages that resonate with families and learners about CTE, and message tailoring considerations to reach Black and Latinx families and families experiencing low income. Our core messages resource provides three top messages for all audiences and additional messages for historically  marginalized populations. 
  2. Evaluate your current communications tools, including newsletters, digital media, website and printed materials. Do the materials include these tested messages? Have steps been taken to remove barriers to each family accessing and fully understanding information about CTE programs? Our messaging card provides a starting point for effective use of messages. 
  3. Inform your colleagues about key messages, and develop a plan of action to share these messages with stakeholders to ensure consistent communication both during and after CTE recruitment season. Our newly updated communications advocacy guide provides five keys to success and a step-by-step process to develop a plan.  Advance CTE has created a ready-made slide deck and talking points that make it easy to share these findings in a 20 minute presentation.
  4. Engage your ambassadors and trusted sources to receive feedback about current recruitment practices and communications materials.  Advance CTE’s newly updated parent engagement tool provides seven steps and assessments to evaluate current practices and fully leverage your team and ambassadors in the recruitment process.
  5. Reintroduce the value and impact of CTE to families through digital media this summer as you make plans to align messaging and equitable outreach across all communication channels. Advance CTE’s social media guide and ready-to-use graphics assist leaders in navigating the differences among digital platforms and keep messages about the impact of CTE front-of-mind for families this summer.

 

Visit our Engaging Families and Learners web page for the full research report and list of communication and implementation resources. Visit Advance CTE’s Learning that Works Resource Center for additional resources on communication, career advisement and access and equity. 

Advance CTE is here to help leaders fully realize and leverage this research and their state and community. Email info@careertech.org with questions or to receive assistance in putting this research into action.

By Stacy Whitehouse in Communicating CTE, Uncategorized
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Low College Completion Rates for Students Pursuing Certificate, Associate, and Bachelor’s Degrees

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

Despite increases in college enrollment rates, too few students are making it through certificate, associate and bachelor’s degree programs to attain a credential, according to a report released this week.

Complete College America (CCA), a national non-profit organization working to increase the number of Americans with a college degree or credential, presents new comprehensive state and campus college completion data in Time is the Enemy.

The federal government only requires colleges and universities to report data on first-time, full-time students. However, 40 percent of public college students attend part-time and, therefore, are often overlooked in federal data. Others have been overlooked as well, according to the report:

“Start full-time and then transfer to a different institution? You haven’t been counted. Older students, students trapped in remediation, students pursuing valuable career certificates… all have been virtually invisible to policy makers, elected officials, and taxpayers.”

Unlike most federal data, the report’s data shows rates for part-time and full-time students and those pursuing a certificate, 2-year degree or 4-year degree. CCA analyzed this data with the cooperation of governors from 33 states. Unfortunately, these newly-available statistics are sobering:

In Texas, 79 percent of college-going students enter 2-year public colleges full-time or part-time. Of these students, only 2 percent graduate on time. After 4 years, only 7 percent total will graduate with a degree.

Many other states showed similarly discouraging results. To view your state’s results, click here.

The report states that “students who are poor, older or of color struggle the most to graduate.” Some barriers include remedial coursework and inconvenient scheduling.

Programs that yield high student completion rates are also highlighted, such as Tennessee’s Technology Centers and the City of New York’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs. Strategies for increasing graduation rates, such as block scheduling and on-campus jobs for commuter students, are also described.

View the full report and helpful visuals on the Complete College America website.

Kara Herbertson, Education Policy Analyst

By admin in News, Research, Resources
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New NCES Report Shows Major Enrollment Increases in Postsecondary Education

Friday, May 27th, 2011

Enrollment at private for-profit postsecondary institutions has quadrupled in the last decade, according to a report released yesterday by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

The Condition of Education 2011 is a congressionally-mandated report analyzing 50 indicators that impact all levels of education. The report examines enrollment, degrees conferred, and other areas that provide a closer look at the current condition of postsecondary education in America and how it has evolved. While much of the report focuses on postsecondary education, NCES also shows that private, religious school enrollment has plunged while public charter school enrollment is increasing. Other findings include:

Click here to view the report.

By admin in News, Research, Resources
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