Today Arlington Career Center (ACC), a regional Career Technical Education (CTE) facility, hosted Congressional staff and other interested stakeholders who had the chance to get a first-hand look at a number of CTE programs in action. Located in Arlington, Virginia, the center is nestled near the urban areas of Northern Virginia. The visit was organized by the Association of Career Technical Education (ACTE) and was a great opportunity to showcase ACC’s commitment to rigorous and engaging CTE programs which serve over 1,100 students in the district.

The visit began with a demonstration from the Culinary Arts program, where students were hard at work baking cookies for an upcoming holiday event. Chef Michael Natoli, the instructor of the program, highlighted the many careers his students have been able to pursue thanks to the training they received in his classroom. Alumni of the program have gone to some of the top culinary institutes in the country and many have pursued rewarding careers in the field.

After wrapping-up with the student chefs, visitors were taken on a tour of the rest of the center.  The automotive technology and auto body repair programs were visited next. Instructors there stressed the value of the program’s relationship with local businesses and highlighted the experiential learning opportunities many area employers are able to provide students during and after program completion. The Mercedes dealership in particular has a strong affiliation with ACC where some students have gone on to earn well over a six-figure salary with credentials and certificates earned through the center at no cost to students or their families.

Throughout the tour similar partnerships and other best practices were shared with those visiting. For instance, ACC’s communication and information systems programs help graduates become certified with Adobe for the company’s suite of software. Students in other programs have the opportunity to learn the technical skills for television and video production and have been able to put them to use later on in their education and careers. Many ACC students have the opportunity to earn college credits while still in high school which has helped them transition to other postsecondary opportunities in their field. Every program provided rigorous, hands-on, content and quite a few afforded students the opportunity to “test drive” their career of choice before graduation. This was the case for many health science students who, in conjunction with the local emergency services, are expected to go on ride-along trips with career mentors in their prospective area of study.

At the conclusion of the tour a panel discussion was convened where students, faculty, and state officials discussed ACC’s ongoing successes and focused on the many opportunities these programs have given students.  On the whole, the visit to ACC was a great experience for everyone involved and truly helped to showcase the important and lasting impact CTE programs have on students and their surrounding communities. As Congressional interest in federal CTE legislation intensifies, these types of visits will be an essential part of highlighting the importance of federal investment in CTE through the Carl D. Perkins Act. NASDCTEc and its partners in the CTE community look forward to this process and applaud the great work on display at ACC today.

Steve Voytek, Government Relations Associate 

Yesterday Kim Green, Executive Director of the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc), participated in a Congressional briefing on the Carl D. Perkins Act (Perkins). Hosted by the bipartisan Congressional Career Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, the briefing provided information on Perkins and CTE more generally. Policymakers, their staff, and other relevant stakeholders attended the standing room only event which consisted of a panel discussion on these topics. Johan Uvin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education and Eric Gearhart, Director of Research and Foundation Relations at SkillsUSA, also participated in the briefing.

The panel was spurred by the House Education and Workforce Committee’s ongoing consideration of the reauthorization of the Perkins Act. Deputy Assistant Secretary Uvin began the discussion by framing his remarks around a recent OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) which found that adults in the United States are lagging behind their peers internationally for literacy, numeracy, and problem solving. Uvin argued that CTE is one of the best ways to address this problem. He contended that improving the delivery system and ensuring consistent quality of CTE programs throughout the United States was an important task that the reauthorization process for Perkins must address.

Eric Gearheart organized his remarks through the perspective of the students SkillsUSA, along with other Career Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs), serve on a daily basis. He pointed out that CTE is a great strategy for student engagement and “is essential to enfranchising students throughout the country.”  Gearheart emphasized the mutually beneficial relationship between businesses and CTE programs and argued for tax incentives for the private sector to help encourage these connections.

Green organized her presentation around NASDCTEc’s vision paper Reflect, Transform, Lead: A New Vision for Career Technical Education which helped to contextualize Gearheart and Uvin’s earlier observations. Green spoke about the history surrounding the Perkins Act, areas in current law that are being considered for improvement, and other insights into the reauthorization process. She also highlighted NASDCTEc’s recent national report on individual state CTE standards.  Green linked the report’s findings to the overall discussion on how to leverage federal investments from the Perkins Act to continue to promote innovation and improve the quality of CTE programs throughout the country.

A question and answer session followed the panel’s presentations where members of the audience posed a series of questions to the panelists. Among the many questions asked, the status of Perkins reauthorization was a recurrent theme throughout. Panelists shared updates on their work to help renew the law, but ultimately agreed that only a concerted bipartisan effort from both chambers in Congress would result in a new iteration of the Carl D. Perkins Act. The House Education and Workforce Committee seems to have earnestly considered this message— following the briefing the committee scheduled a hearing on the Perkins Act for next Tuesday, November 19^th.

Please check our blog for more details as this process unfolds.

Steve Voytek, Government Relations Associate 

Is college ultimately worth the time, effort, and other assorted costs associated with it? A new paper released yesterday by College Summit and Bellwether Education Partners seeks to answer this question and put the persistent “Is College Worth It?” debate to rest. The whitepaper, funded by Deloitte LLP and titled Smart Shoppers: The End of the “College for All” Debate, reaffirms the value of a postsecondary education and argues that students and parents need additional tools to help them navigate the increasingly opaque marketplace for postsecondary education. The publication was released yesterday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. where a group of distinguished speakers discussed the wider implications of the report’s findings.

J.B. Schramm, founder of College Summit and moderator of the event, emphasized the value of college throughout the morning saying that, “it’s important that we’re arming them [students] with the tools to select the postsecondary education that is the best fit for their individual needs.” He went on to highlight how his organization’s research, “shows time and time again how college is the single best investment young adults can make in their future.” These statements come at a time when the college wage premium is at an all-time high and according to some studies is over 80 percent higher than those with only a high school diploma.

Smart Shoppers also goes to great lengths to conflate the term “college” with the broader idea of postsecondary education. As the authors point out, “Part of the misunderstanding is that to many people ‘college’ suggests a four-year bachelor’s degree” but that is not “what college looks like for the majority of students in the U.S.” The paper goes on to highlight the important role community colleges, remote learning, and postsecondary career technical education (CTE) programs have within the space many collectively refer to as “college” or “higher education.”

This distinction, along with the significant positive impact college has for students over the long-term, was a recurrent theme throughout the event. Industry and business representatives echoed these sentiments and underscored the link between a robust postsecondary education system— one that serves every member of society equitably— and their continued need for a skilled workforce.

The full report can be found here.

Steve Voytek, Government Relations Associate 

Today marked the 11^th day of the federal government shutdown, and many federal agencies and programs remain closed. Congress has been unable to come to an agreement over a temporary spending bill, known as a Continuing Resolution (CR), which would fund the federal government at current levels for a short period of time. This week, House Republicans proposed and passed a series of “mini CRs” that would fund certain portions of the federal government, but Senate Democrats and the Obama Administration have reiterated their demand for a “clean CR” which would instead fund the entire federal government and contain no additional provisions unrelated to spending.

Earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew testified before the Senate about the need for Congress to raise the statutory debt limit or face severe economic consequences when the debt ceiling is reached on October 17th. Secretary Lew’s testimony, combined with increasingly unfavorable polling data for the Republican party, has made both sides increasingly amenable to negotiations over these issues.

Last night, President Obama met with the Senate Democratic Caucus and later with a smaller contingent of House Republicans. After these meetings, a new GOP proposal surfaced which would create a six-week extension for the debt limit and set up a framework for negotiations to reopen the federal government. While promising, these proposals fall short of the preconditions Senate Democrats and the White House have set, and it remains unclear how the process will unfold. Negotiations are set to continue and the House will remain in session through next week, canceling a previously scheduled recess.

Check our blog for updates on this evolving situation.

Steve Voytek, Government Relations Associate 

This week, the Business Roundtable (BRT) released a report detailing the organization’s approach to ensuring the competitiveness of the U.S. workforce. The report draws on interviews with over 30 experts in education and workforce development, including NASDCTEc’s Executive Director Kimberly Green and Associate Executive Director Kate Blosveren. The report, Taking Action on Education and Workforce Preparedness, identifies five priorities for achieving the group’s objective:

• Fully adopt and implement the Common Core State Standards
• Encourage students to study and pursue careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)
• Develop more effective teachers
• Expand access to high-quality early learning programs
• Ensure that postsecondary education and workforce training programs align with employer needs

The report offers a wide range of policy solutions for each of these priorities and includes   recommendations for the CTE community. For instance, the report is supportive of competency-based learning models as a way for students to better demonstrate mastery of skills and knowledge. It also promotes skills-based assessments, and incentives for completing credentials that are industry-recognized and valued by prospective employers.  CTE programs across the country continue to be excellent models for how these goals can be achieved.

BRT also encourages policy makers to include the expansion of pathways between education and careers through the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. This legislation has historically served as a catalyst for many of these policy recommendations and aspects of it, such as Rigorous Programs of Study, have been successful models in helping students transition from the classroom to the workplace.

The full report can be found here.

Steve Voytek, Government Relations Associate

Career Technical Education (CTE) is helping our nation address key challenges – from workforce development to student achievement, from economic vitality to global competitiveness. CTE programs in high schools and post-secondary institutions are leading change, transforming expectations and making a difference. When states use the CTE: Learning that works for America® logos customized for their state, They are affirming their commitment to the CTE brand promise and the five vision principles that guide CTE. This blog will share the Massachusetts logo story.

Massachusetts had a thoughtful plan in promoting their state logo. A task force was formed, comprised of administrators and teachers. They held a 2-hour long meeting, discussing the purpose of the logo, why it is important to CTE programs, and ways the logo can be used. They crafted a major marketing plan to share use of the logo throughout the state. The group decided that the purpose of the logo is to use it as a recruitment tool – to tell students that they should feel good about being part of CTE because it is a source of pride and sense of belonging. The task force formed a message that was part of the branding and went out to share.

The task force members went to professional development meetings (such as the Association of Vocational Administrative instructors; MAVA) and disseminated information various ways:

• They showed the CTE video CTE: Making the Difference
• At the Connecting for Success conference, they had a breakout session to promote use of the logo.
• Gave out flyers, providing valuable context (the ‘why’ we want to use the logo)
• Talked to people to get them excited about using the logo
• Showed people how to sign on to use the logo – had a booth at the Connecting for Success conference; in the photo at right, task force members Lisa Weinstein(seated in blue) and Marnie Jain (seated in pink) assisted Maura Russell
• They had a laptop handy and signed up people on the spot online. People who signed up got a button
• A group email went out announcing posters showing how to use the logo, what it means to the state
• Email correspondence a great dissemination tool
• The marketing group really studied the user guide to make sure they were using the logo correctly and were able to share use guidelines with others

How the logos are being used in the state:

• emails
• brochures
• e-billboard

The group shared other example of use:

• when schools go to offsite construction areas,  the logo could be on the sides of the van, promoting the logo as they drive around town
• On the state website

The ‘next steps’ plan is to reach out to all districts and ask ‘how do you access the logo?’ and ‘how are you using it’ – the marketing team will provide ways to use the logo creatively. They are also going to promote ‘kid art’ – art design that incorporates the logo, showing learning in action. Here are two design examples of the logos available.

Special thanks to Lisa Weinstein and Marnie Jain, who contributed the steps they followed in implementing the state-wide dissemination plan.

Learn more about the CTE: Learning that works for America® logos for your state!

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager

Though the 2008 economic recession officially ended in June of 2009, the United States has still been experiencing a consistently high level of unemployment during its recovery. This is a subject of critical national concern that policymakers and stakeholders alike must address as we continue to put America back to work. This past Monday, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) held a panel discussion titled “The Labor Market Today: Is Unemployment Cyclical or Structural?” to better address and explain the nation’s struggle with unemployment. Peter Diamond, Nobel Prize-winning economist and keynote speaker at the event, expressed the urgency surrounding this perennial topic saying, “The issue of unemployment is to my mind a crisis in this county.”

Dean Baker from the Center of Economic and Policy Research and AEI’s Kevin Hassett joined Diamond on the panel to discuss whether unemployment is a product of the natural business cycle or if there are structural components at work hindering job growth.  Diamond in particular argued that current trends in unemployment stem from a lack of aggregate demand and recommended further investments in education, training, and infrastructure to spur growth along with other fiscal and monetary stimuli. Alternatively, Hassett highlighted the negative consequences of long-term unemployment as a result of the recession.  Each of the panelists agreed that more work is needed to reconnect unemployed individuals with in-demand jobs.

Career Technical Education (CTE) rests at a critical juncture between many of these potential areas of improvement and was spoken about positively. Diamond’s suggested fiscal policies promoting education and training were particularly useful in connecting the dots between investments in CTE and positive returns-on-investment later in the labor market. Along with this, the panel also recommended that keeping students, workers, and the unemployed consistently engaged with the labor market was of critical importance.  CTE does this exceptionally well, providing students with practical workplace experiences along with the academic and technical skills needed to successfully compete in the workforce. Work sharing programs like those seen in Washington State and Germany were also mentioned as potential models for improving the national unemployment situation.

A summary of the event, related presentations, and an archived video can be found here.

Steve Voytek, Government Relations Associate 

It is important to take into account that workers with higher levels of education tend to have greater earnings and lower unemployment rates than workers with lower levels of education. It is a hard economy and post-secondary education is going to play a vital role is securing good jobs for low-income adults and long-term unemployed workers. These individuals require access to effective post-secondary programs and training.

Profiles of adult workers in need of better skills and wages from all 50 states have been developed by COWS (Center on Wisconsin Strategy) and CLASP. The research reflects every state’s profile estimating the number of adult workers (ages 25-64) who are without two or four-year college degrees or has limited English skills and who make less than the state median wage or are in the labor force but have been employed for the last one year.

Career pathways are connected education and training services that make it possible for students to advance gradually to higher levels of education and employment in an industry or field of their choice. States have adopted Career pathways help adults and youth gain the postsecondary education and training they need for high demand and better-paying jobs.

The data in the profiles serves as a great resource for setting goals and designing policies and strategies to meet the unique requirements of this demographic that can be effectively used by policymakers and advocates. Developing strategies based on private and public funding sources, such as the Workforce Investment Act, Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, the Higher Education Act, and state and local funding should be the focus of policy makers. It is the need of the hour to address this issue and help more workers secure credentials and family-sustaining employment.

Please visit here for state profiles and data for all 50 states.

Kimaya Dixit, Communications & Marketing Manager