Twitter icon
Facebook icon
LinkedIn icon
YouTube icon



Posts Tagged ‘Oregon’

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Maryland Strengthens Quality of Apprenticeships; Iowa, Oregon Advance Governors’ Initiatives

Wednesday, July 11th, 2018

As most legislative sessions have come to a close, states have adopted policies to expand opportunities for learners. Maryland and Iowa took steps to improve apprenticeship programs, and Oregon passed a bill that would help to encourage construction workers to start their own businesses and expand the talent pipeline.

Maryland Passes Bills to Strengthen Access and Quality of Apprenticeships

In Maryland, Governor Larry Hogan signed two bills in May related to apprenticeships that strengthen the quality and accessibility of the programs to learners. HB1216 authorizes the State Department of Education to adopt regulations requiring the award of credit toward high school graduation for time spent in certain apprenticeship programs and expands state financial aid for apprenticeships.

By allowing time spent in an apprenticeship program to count towards credit for high school graduation, this law prevents students from having to choose between work-based learning opportunities and the completion of high school credit requirements. Additionally, the expansion of financial aid will allow more students to access apprenticeship programs and gain the real-world experience needed to be successful in an ever evolving job market.

Governor Hogan also signed HB1234, which authorizes county boards of education to award credit to high school students for work-based training or classroom instruction completed under a Registered Apprenticeship Program and prohibits certain institutions from referring to certain courses as an apprenticeship or apprenticeship training course unless the course is part of a Registered Apprenticeship training program.

Since Registered Apprenticeship programs are registered with the United States Department of Labor (DOL) and must meet federal and state requirements, this law will help to ensure that apprenticeship programs in Maryland are high-quality and culminate with learners receiving portable, industry-recognized credentials.  

Oregon and Iowa Advance Governors’ Initiatives

In Iowa and Oregon, governors took steps to advance their offices’ initiatives, both of which aim to build a talent pipeline to address the skills gap in their respective states.

In Iowa, in alignment with Future Ready Iowa, Governor Kim Reynolds announced an online High School Apprenticeship Playbook, a guide that provides detailed steps for Iowa high schools, employers and students interested in establishing a Registered Apprenticeship program. This guide is meant to help scale apprenticeships in Iowa and provide a model from which schools can develop apprenticeship programs so that they don’t have to start from scratch.

In Oregon, as part of the Future Ready Oregon initiative to turn wage earners into job creators, Governor Kate Brown signed HB4144, which aims to help mid-career construction professionals start their own business, and provides incentives to attract and retain new, young talent into the workforce through providing funding to new businesses and waiving all state fees and formal education requirements for aspiring entrepreneurs who have worked in the construction industry for more than eight years for certain construction licenses.

Brianna McCain, Policy Associate

By admin in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,

More Evidence Demonstrates How Postsecondary Credentials Can Help Learners Unlock Career Opportunities

Monday, June 11th, 2018

Earning a credential of value is still the surest path to success for American workers. A recent New America poll released last month finds that 80 percent of American adults believe there are more opportunities for those who pursue education after high school, compared to 14 percent who think it is better to enter the workforce right away.

For adult learners, the connection between education and careers is even more important. According to Public Agenda, 71 percent of adult prospective students — those who are actively working to go back to school — say that their primary motivation is either to get ahead in their current career or to get the skills they need to start a new career.

Studying the return on investment for credential earners can be quite an undertaking, however, considering the vast number and types of credentials on the market today. Credential Engine, a nonprofit dedicated to counting and cataloging every credential, estimated in April that there are more than 330,000 individual credentials available in the United States today, and only a fraction of them are available at four-year institutions. That count includes nearly 67,000 postsecondary certificates, 13,600 Registered Apprenticeships and 5,400 certifications.

It is well understood that a university education can improve career opportunities. But where to start? Does major matter? And what is the return on investment for other sub-baccalaureate credentials like associate degrees, postsecondary certificates and industry certifications?

More Advanced Credentials Lead to Higher Earnings, but Field of Study Matters

With so many credentials on the market, how can learners navigate the education marketplace and find the credential that best suits their career interests and economic goals?

New research out of the Georgetown Center for Education and the Workforce helps us begin to demystify the credential marketplace.

The report finds that, while median income rises with more advanced credentials, the field of study matters a lot. A bachelor’s degree in architecture and engineering, for example, will land you a median salary of $85,000, far above the $46,000 median salary for education majors. Further, less education can even lead to higher earnings, depending on the field of study. Associate degree holders who study science, technology, mathematics and engineering (STEM) earn a median salary $13,000 higher than workers with bachelor’s degrees in psychology & social work. Certainly, credentials help learners unlock career success and earn a family sustaining wage, but field of study is far more important than level of education.  

A separate Georgetown study puts a magnifying glass up to one particular type of credential,  postsecondary certifications, examining earnings for individuals who earned a certification at an Oregon community college. The study finds that, on average, certification earners experienced a 19 percent increase in earnings. And Pell students experience an even larger premium, more than 50 percent of their wages prior to enrollment, further demonstrating the power of short-term certifications to provide an on-ramp to a sustainable career.

How Can States Help Learners Navigate the Credential Environment?

As the universe of postsecondary credentials continues to grow, learners will need support and guidance to help determine which credentials to pursue and where to pursue them. Already, a number of states have developed protocols to review, verify and publish a list of high-quality, industry-recognized credentials for secondary and postsecondary students. A new 50-state scan from the Workforce Data Quality Campaign finds that 30 states identify or plan to identify credentials of value at the state level. However, only 23 states report that they analyze employment and earnings outcomes and only 21 seek regular employer input.

If credentials are going to deliver on their promise, the credentialing system must be transparent and learners must be able to know which credentials are valued in the marketplace and recognized by employers. It is important for states to set up systems to regularly gather and put to use employer input. The evidence is encouraging, but there is still a lot of work to do to help demystify the credentialing marketplace and empower learners to achieve their career goals.

To learn more about credentials of value or state strategies to promote high-quality credentials, visit the Learning that Works Resource Center.

Austin Estes, Senior Policy Associate

By admin in Research, Resources
Tags: ,

Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina Expand Career Readiness, CTE Efforts

Thursday, March 15th, 2018

At the beginning of this year, governors delivered their State of the State addresses and highlighted the 2018 policy priorities for their states. Many of this year’s State of the State addresses underscored the importance of workforce development and Career Technical Education (CTE). According to the Education Commission of the States (ECS), 23 governors encouraged expanding workforce development efforts, 19 governors mentioned the need to improve postsecondary affordability, and 16 governors identified modernizing CTE as a priority. Unsurprisingly, as the 2018 legislative session moves forward, governors have recognized and announced new initiatives that highlight the importance of job readiness and CTE.

In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds recognized the recent launch of the Work-based Opportunity Regional Referral Consortium (WORRC), a partnership with the Iowa Community Colleges and the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) to expand and improve work-based learning in the state. The 15 Iowa Community Colleges and more than 1,500 member companies represented by the ABI will partner together to increase the number of work-related learning opportunities, such as internships and apprenticeships, available to learners. According to ABI, the partnership aims to:

In addition to addressing the demand for highly skilled workers, the WORRC will collaborate with Gov. Reynold’s Future Ready Iowa initiative, which focuses on building Iowa’s talent pipeline, to implement workforce recommendations from the governor’s initiative.

Oregon’s Gov. Kate Brown launched the Future Ready Oregon initiative, which aims to address the “skills gap” in Oregon and provide jobs and skills training to adults and students. Currently, middle skill jobs, which require some post-secondary education and training, account for 50 percent of Oregon’s job market, but only 45 percent of workers in Oregon are qualified for those jobs. This governor’s initiative recognizes that CTE can address this “skills gap,” and involves dedicating $300 million to CTE classes in the 2019-2021 state budgets, expanding existing apprenticeship opportunities, and introducing legislation that will help mid-career construction professionals start their own business. The initiative also places a significant emphasis on equity and access, calling for an investment in rural areas, communities of color, and Oregon’s nine Native American tribes, an increase in affordable housing supply in rural Oregon, and for hands-on learning to be available in every school district in Oregon.

In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper recently announced NC Job Ready, a job readiness initiative that aims to equip North Carolinians with the skills, employer guidance, and economic opportunities necessary to secure high wage, high demand careers. This governor’s initiative consists of three core elements: skills and education attainment, employer leadership, and local innovation. Governor Cooper’s calls for improved skills and education attainment in North Carolina comes after a recent report ranked the state’s public schools 40th in the nation, a worse ranking than the year before. NC Job Ready aims to make North Carolina a top ten educated state and focuses on increasing public awareness about job growth in local areas and training programs that can provide North Carolinians with the skills for high-demand jobs. The initiative draws on North Carolina’s already existing 27 Certified Career Pathways to increase the accessibility of job training.

NC Job Ready recognizes that obtaining a quality education is just one part of the equation to ensuring success for North Carolinians. The initiative focuses on the importance of employer-led job training programs and utilizing the partnerships among workforce and economic development agencies to advance career-readiness. The initiative also will support innovation and replication funds so that local leaders may pilot new ideas for local workforce development, which if successful can be replicated in other parts of the state.

These recent governors’ actions are just some examples of governors’ plans to leverage existing and new programs and partnerships in their states to promote CTE and workforce development.

Brianna McCain, Policy Associate

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: , , , , ,

Welcome to Laura Foley, Oregon’s New State CTE Director!

Wednesday, October 4th, 2017

Laura Foley, Oregon’s new State CTE Director, has viewed her entire professional career, which has included being a social worker, a small business owner and an educator, through a social justice lens.

“My equity lens is always, ‘Who’s paying attention?’” Foley said.

That’s because Foley, who was the first in her family to graduate from high school, was once a child who fell in between state systems and supports. She said she graduated high school with a 4.0 grade point average though sleeping through most of her classes and working 40 hours a week to help her family pay the bills. Her school guidance counselors focused on students deemed on the “college track.”

“I looked at college as a place for rich kids that was just about reading a bunch of books,” she said.

Instead, the local public library was the place she would go to teach herself what she wanted to know – for free. After a number of years, Foley would eventually go on to college, where she finished her undergraduate and master’s degrees in two and a half years.

Foley said she has spent her career trying to find the way to help the most people she can reach.

She first started working in social services, but quickly realized that the work was more reactive and intervention-focused than it was proactive. That realization led her to become a teacher, which instantly felt like a natural fit and could reach up to 300 students and their families each year.

Over the next 18 years, Foley would continue to expand her reach and impact as an instructional coach, then as an administrator and a teacher trainer. Whenever she saw a need, she would work to find a way to fill it, which is why she is now one of five K-12 reading specialists in the state and also once started her own business to design clothing for people with disabilities.

So when the position of State CTE Director became available, moving into the state administration was a natural next step for Foley. In this new post, she plans to use that same approach to ensure equity and opportunity for all students by asking “who’s paying attention” and identifying gaps that need to be filled. She sees the state’s chronic absenteeism and low graduation rates as symptomatic of larger issues.

Foley said she wants to expand career readiness so that students as young as elementary school begin to have authentic exposure to careers. Then during middle school, students are engaging in hands-on, authentic curriculum that encourages them to be creative.

“By the time they get out of high school, they should have a viable plan that they have tried for a while and have received guidance for postsecondary education to help them decide where they want to go and have a good idea what it’s going to take [to get there],” Foley said.

Foley comes into this role at an exciting time, as Oregon has made historic investments in recent years in CTE as well as science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Foley said she plans to better connect these two disciplines because there are so many natural collaboration and integration opportunities.

Andrea Zimmermann, Senior Associate, Member Engagement and Leadership Development

By admin in Advance CTE State Director
Tags:

CTE Research Review: Work-Based Learning, Teacher Shortages and Longitudinal Data

Wednesday, May 11th, 2016

In this week’s Research Review, we take a deep dive into New York City’s CTE movement, examine state teacher shortages, and explore strategies and challenges to building longitudinal data systems.

Work-based Learning and Industry Credentials in New York City

The Manhattan Institute released a new report looking at the state of Career Technical Education (CTE) in New York City, titled “The New CTE: New York City as a Laboratory for America.” While the authors largely praise the success of New York City’s instructional CTE programs — which have demonstrated less variable attendance and higher graduation rates — they offer two policy recommendations to further improve the quality and effectiveness of the system:

How are states responding to teacher shortages?

The Education Commission of the States’ (ECS) new series on staffing policies, “Mitigating Teacher Shortages,” provides an optimistic outlook on the national staffing crisis. The number of schools reporting a vacancy is down 15 percentage points overall since 2000. However, ECS finds there is a struggle to fill positions in hard-to-staff subject areas and in high-poverty, low-achieving, rural, and urban schools. This five-part series examines research on teacher shortages and recommendations from state task forces, finding five common policy interventions to address staffing shortages: alternative certification, financial incentives, induction and mentorship, evaluation and feedback, and teacher leadership. Each brief explores extant research in each focus area and provides state examples and policy recommendations.

Stitching together Longitudinal Data Systems

Two new reports — one from the Workforce Data Quality Campaign (WDQC) and the other from New America — explore how states can align data systems to better track student outcomes after high school.

Austin Estes, Policy Associate

By admin in Research
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

CTE Research Review: Leveraging CTE within Competency-Based Education

Thursday, August 20th, 2015

CBPA new brief from Achieve and NASDCTEc argues that states can and should leverage CTE when considering how to move K-12 education toward a system marked by mastery, not time. The paper, “Building a Strong Relationship between Competency-Based Pathways and Career Technical Education,” identifies the opportunities for collaboration and strengthened relationships as well the challenges of creating an integrated system.

Competency-based pathways (CBP) have the potential to open new opportunities for students to learn and demonstrate their learning in meaningful ways. To do this, students should be able to access engaging learning opportunities that are grounded in application and relevant to their career goals – a central focus of CTE. This is why state leaders should consider how to ensure that CBP and CTE systems are aligned and mutually reinforcing.

In fact, states that intentionally include CTE in their vision for CBP can use its inherently competency-based elements to help break down the classroom walls that separate academics from CTE, and by doing so, can value learning where it happens and create opportunities for teachers to collaborate and innovate.

Leverage points can include:

The brief also offers key points of consideration for states moving toward an integrated CBP system:

The brief includes state examples from Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Read more about how states are implementing CBP here.

Andrea Zimmermann, State Policy Associate

By admin in Research
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

State Policy Update: Workforce Development, Job-driven Training and More

Thursday, July 30th, 2015

This week, the National Skills Coalition released its roundup of this year’s major state legislative actions aiming to close the middle-skills gap across the country. Be sure to check out the full paper and related webinar, which includes deep dives on new workforce development efforts in Virginia and Minnesota, to learn more.

Here are some of the workforce-related highlights from this year’s legislative sessions:

Andrea Zimmermann, State Policy Associate

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

State Policy Update: New CTE Briefs Feature Ohio and Massachusetts; Legislatures Send New Money to CTE

Thursday, July 9th, 2015

Today, Achieve released two new briefs highlighting academic and CTE integration in Ohio and Massachusetts. Achieve also released a helpful compendium of its CTE resources, many of which NASDCTEc helped produce. Download the PDF compendium here.

In “Seizing the Future: How Ohio’s Career-Technical Education Programs Fuse Academic Rigor and Real-world Experiences to Prepare Students for College and Careers,” we learn about the changing face of Ohio CTE, which now focuses on integrating academics in a rigorous and relevant curriculum in high-skill, high-demand Career Clusters® and pathways and includes strong connections to postsecondary education and employers.

“Career-tech now integrates rigorous academic preparation with career education,” says Steve Gratz, senior executive director at the Ohio Department of Education and NASDCTEc member. “We are ‘mashing up’ college and career. This is a shift from the past and one that we are serious about.”

In “Best of Both Worlds: How Massachusetts Vocational Schools are Preparing Students for College and Careers,” we learn more about state policies that promote strong programming, including the state’s college- and career-ready course of study, incentives for rigorous academic standards in its accountability system, and capacity-building support for locals. The brief also highlights some of the state’s vocational-technical schools for their impressive student outcomes.

Finally, the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) has also released a new brief that examines the efforts of six states — Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, New Jersey, and West Virginia – to modify their existing science standards or adopt new benchmarks such as the Next Generation Science Standards. It also explores each state’s unique path to adoption and implementation as well as the common strategies and activities used to engage stakeholders.

———

State Legislative Update

With more than two thirds of state legislatures adjourned for the year, CTE has had some big wins in statehouses across the country. You can catch up with our last legislative update here. In the last few weeks, there have been a few more notable developments.

Andrea Zimmermann, State Policy Associate

By admin in Legislation, Public Policy, Research
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Catching Up With … State Legislatures (Part 3)

Thursday, June 26th, 2014

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series that will highlight some of this year’s major state legislative Catching Up Seriesactivity as it relates to Career Technical Education (CTE). Further explanation of the series can be found here and the previous installments here and here. For a comprehensive look-back at the 2013 legislative sessions, check out the “2013 CTE Year in Review,” which was published jointly by NASDCTEc and the Association for Career and Technical Education in March.

Workforce development received a lot of attention from state legislatures this spring as lawmakers across the country created new apprenticeship programs, and called on state workforce boards, businesses and education entities to collaborate in order better address local labor market needs and skills gaps.

Apprenticeships, Career Pathways and Tax Credits

Several states created or expanded their apprenticeship programs in an effort to create a stronger pipeline of skilled talent in specific fields. Both Indiana and Connecticut seized on tax credits as a means to encourage businesses to offer qualified apprenticeships.

In Indiana, school districts and charter schools can now receive grants to support career pathways for high-wage, high-demand jobs that require an industry-recognized credential and includes a cooperative agreement with a business. Also, an employer that hires a student who has completed such program is eligible for a tax credit. Indiana also set aside an additional $5 million for its Pathways for Academic Career and Employment, a program first started in 2013 to provide partnerships between community colleges, industry and nonprofits.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad’s proposed apprenticeship program also passed the legislature, committing about $6 million for the Apprenticeship Training Program Fund and a job training program.

Sector Partnerships, Alignment and Coordination

Several state legislatures directed their workforce investment boards and other entities to determine local and regional workforce needs and to better align their work with counterparts in education and commerce.

In Alabama, the state’s workforce board was allocated $4.3 million for regions to determine local skill needs, develop seamless educational pathways and align funding with identified local workforce needs. The law also sets aside $600,000 for career coaches and an additional $200,000 for regional leadership planning efforts. In a separate bill, the state also created a workforce council to promote industry-focused coordination between businesses and its P-12 and higher education systems.

Kentucky lawmakers required the state’s Office of Education and Workforce Statistics to gather and disseminate employment and earnings data of public, postsecondary graduates. Meanwhile Oregonian lawmakers passed a bill to define “a robust and effective workforce system” by promoting coordination and collaboration of the state’s employment, economic development, job training services and education sectors – in particular community colleges and public and private universities.

Connecticut’s manufacturing industry received a boost from the state legislature through the new Manufacturing Innovation Fund, which can be used to support public and private education and training programs.

States also called upon their workforce boards, education systems and businesses to create sector partnerships in order to better provide industry-driven career pathways and address local and regional skills gaps.

Andrea Zimmermann, State Policy Associate

By admin in Legislation, Public Policy
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Catching Up With … State Legislatures (Part 2)

Thursday, June 12th, 2014

Catching Up SeriesEditor’s Note: This is part of a series that will highlight some of this year’s major state legislature activity as it relates to Career Technical Education (CTE). Further explanation of the series can be found here and the first installment here. For a comprehensive look-back at the 2013 legislative sessions, check out the “2013 CTE Year in Review,” which was published jointly by NASDCTEc and the Association for Career and Technical Education in March.

With more than 80 percent of high schools now enrolling students in dual enrollment coursework, it’s not a huge surprise that dual enrollment continued to expand its reach during the 2014 legislative sessions across the country.

In Alabama, the governor signed a bill that seeks to incentivize a CTE dual enrollment scholarship program. The scholarship program was first proposed by Gov. Robert Bentley’s College and Career Ready Task Force in January and further championed in the governor’s State of the State address.

The scholarship program is intended to be funded by private donations from businesses and individuals, who in turn would receive a 50 percent tax credit on their donations. The law sets aside $5 million dollars for tax credits each year, providing $10 million in scholarships for 9,500 students each year. Additionally, businesses that donate to the program can direct up to 80 percent of their donation to train students for a particular field.

In Alaska, this year’s legislative session was dubbed “the education session” by Gov. Sean Parnell in his State of the State address in January. Whether that focus was achieved still appears unclear, but one large omnibus education bill did pass both chambers and was signed by the Governor last month. Expanded CTE dual credit options were among the bill’s final contents. Institutions that receive funding through the state’s Technical and Vocational Education Program (TVEP) must establish and maintain partnerships with Alaska schools for dual credit in high school and toward certification.

Florida and Oregon also expanded eligibility for dual enrollment. Now, Florida students can begin enrolling in dual-credit courses starting in the sixth grade, and in Oregon, students in the 9th and 10th grades are now eligible.

Finally, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock announced recently that educators who teach dual enrollment classes will earn coupons to pay for their own college credits. Gov. Bullock said the program is designed to increase the number of dual credit courses available by providing an incentive to instructors themselves. Under this new credit-for-credit program, which will be funded by the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, an educator with a master’s degree teaching a dual-credit course will receive a coupon that can be used toward classes in the Montana University System as well as tribal and community colleges. These credits are also transferrable, meaning teachers can give these credit coupons to friends, family or even their students. The pilot program will start this fall and end in spring 2016.

Andrea Zimmermann, State Policy Associate

 

By admin in Legislation, Public Policy
Tags: , , , , ,

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

 

Series

Archives

1