Career technical education (CTE) and community colleges are grappling with the same issues brought by global competitiveness and the economy, said Frank Chong, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges at the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE).

But those issues may have also fostered an opportunity for CTE to demonstrate why it can be the “lynchpin in economic recovery,” he added.

Speaking to NASDCTEc members at the Spring Meeting earlier this month, Chong, highlighted his positive experiences as a former CTE student.  He went on to note that the association’s new vision to transform all of CTE into programs that prepare students for college and career aligns with the Obama Administration’s goals of doubling the number of students who earn postsecondary credentials in the next 10 years. In turn, that would lead to filling the pipeline with qualified workers ready to fuel the global economy.

While Chong did give a nod to the vision paper’s emphasis on breaking down silos across education tiers and among stakeholders, he did note that there is no “consistent standard model “of how to collaborate with CTE. Under the direction of the Obama Administration, collaboration is major theme that all agencies are encouraged to integrate, Chong said. For instance, the Department of Agriculture is collaborating with STEM-education groups to determine how their goals align. He encouraged the CTE community to collaborate with others and connect the dots in order to underscore the value of CTE in the economy and nation.

“It’s time to crash the party and advocate for your students,” Chong said.

“Alignment” is a key word used when addressing the important issue of seamless transitions in education systems. That alignment must occur among all stakeholders – secondary and postsecondary educators and administrators, business and industry, policymakers, etc. And it must occur in all that they do – through curriculum frameworks, policy and articulation through grade levels. At last week’s Spring Meeting, panelists shared their insight on what to keep in mind when moving forward to effectively align learner levels among education and training programs.

The heart of effective alignment rests with the individuals who come together in this work and it is a federal, state and local responsibility to both create opportunities to establish a framework that allows for this and to actively participate towards the common goal of effective alignment.

Betsy Brand, Executive Director of American Youth Policy Forum, urged us to not forget about structures that are already in place and are designed to link secondary and postsecondary. For example, dual credit opportunities (like dual enrollment, IB, credit transfer, etc.) exist, but there are several challenges that must be met to ensure that these programs align properly with others. Brand focused largely on the issue of dual credit:

• With dual enrollment, programs must be college level, not just college like. For the most part, we are finding that the necessary rigor is not there.
• Credits must be transferable across a broad spectrum of community colleges, state universities and colleges. This should include general credit transfer when students switch majors.
• Students must have equitable access to textbooks, transportation, etc., the particular factors that keep them from participating.
• Partnerships should be not only between high schools and postsecondary institutions, but also with business.
• A particular challenge dual enrollment faces is that there is no universal way to measure college rigor. Brand suggested the following questions to ask when determining the level of rigor of courses: what kind of instructor is there? Is it a high school teacher certified to teach the class or a college professor? Does the syllabus look the same for the dual enrolled course?
• One mistake made with dual enrollment courses: trying to teach one college course in the same amount of time at the high school level.

Brand noted that many of the challenges impacting the alignment of dual credit programs fall under the umbrella of state policy.

Providing another perspective, Johan Uvin, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Vocational and Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education, touched on broader issues that should be addressed from the local to the national level. She addressed the challenges that exist, however noted that examples of successful strategies are sprinkled across the nation:

• The bar has been set high by international expectations. There are promising practices, however, that are meeting this challenge, including the Math in CTE initiative, California Linked Learning initiative and extended learning time.
• The transition between secondary and postsecondary is especially bumpy. There are many examples around the country, however, of both sectors collaborating to design curriculum together and map out dual enrollment and credit transfer.
• Curriculum must be responsive to changes and development in industry. In order to realistically prepare students for a career, we must use industry standards in assessments and include industry as part of initiatives. The standards and programs must be agile to reflect the changes occurring in industry and the economy.
• Postsecondary programs must keep in mind the different needs of students. Adults, for instance, demand different experiences and resources than their younger peers. Adults entering a postsecondary career technical program often do so because qualifications, over time, lose credibility and recognition. Many adults, however, are not ready for the “college experience” and cannot be in programs that are full time or designed for younger people at a different stage in their lives.

A reason why our NASDCTEc Spring meetings are so successful is because of the support of our sponsors. We want to salute them this week, and today we will highlight XAP Corporation and Home Builder’s Institute.

XAP Corporation’s online career and educational planning solutions are used in more than half of the country in over 20,000 schools.

XAP’s Choices Planner is a comprehensive, award-winning CTE resource that helps students to learn about careers and their career clusters and applying them to educational opportunities.

XAP’s newest CTE offering, Guidance Central, is the essential state and district resource for helping students to develop 4-year plans and automating reporting requirements of Perkins/ Tech Prep Programs of Study.

• Provide relevant, localized information that integrates seamlessly with your graduation program
• Empower students with a self-directed process to effortlessly build more meaningful 4/6/8 year plans
• Develop personalized portfolios that communicate with school SIS’s to upload and download plans to meet accountability guidelines
• Enable schools to anticipate course demand by viewing students’ plans years in advance
• Enhance accountability with 24/7 parent and educator access to students’ planning progress
• Improve administrator efficiency with automated reporting
• Coherent CTE methodology using online resources and portfolios to automate reporting requirements of Perkins/Tech Prep Programs of Study

For more information, visit corp.xap.com or contact [email protected].

 

Home Builder's Institute

Home Builders Institute (HBI), the workforce development arm of the 175,000 member National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), is dedicated to the advancement and enrichment of education and training programs serving the needs of the residential construction industry.

Career exploration assistance, industry-education partnership development and standards-based instructional materials (including instructor and student certification) are among the vast offerings of HBI.  HBI’s programming allows individuals the opportunity to see the benefits of embarking on the challenging and profitable career paths that the industry has to offer. 

Visit us on the web at www.buildingcareers.org. For more information contact Deanna Lewis, Director for Career & Certification Services, at [email protected] or 202-266-8927.

Don’t forget to register for the upcoming webinar on statistics relevant to the CTE community.

When: March 10, 2 p.m. EST

You must register to attend. Register at least 24 hours in advance.

 Event number: 200 009 917   Event password: input

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) staff will provide a brief background on the CTE data and statistics that NCES currently collects, and will seek your input on how they can do better. When: March 10, 2 p.m. EST You must register to attend. Register at least 24 hours in advance. Event number: 200 009 917 Event password: input The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the US Department of Education, is currently broadening the focus of its CTE Statistics program, from examining participation in CTE courses to education’s role in workforce preparation. More generally, the Center is adopting a more comprehensive view of postsecondary education, CTE, and adult learning as key determinants of workforce preparation. To guide this transition, NCES is seeking input on the issues and questions that their data should address. During this webinar, NCES staff will provide a brief background on the CTE data and statistics that NCES currently collects. But their main interest is to hear from you on how they can do better. They will ask for your input on the questions that should be addressed by statistical data, to improve the data’s usefulness for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners interested in the interplay of education, training, and working life. One caveat: As you reflect on this topic, it is helpful to keep in mind that NCES relies on descriptive data from nationally representative sample surveys and institutional records data. While these data are useful for describing and monitoring important aspects of education systems, they also have their limitations, i.e. they are not useful for evaluating programs or curricula. This webinar presents a rare opportunity to guide the direction of federal statistics. Please join us to make your voice heard, and to ensure that the federal government provides the data we all need.

Providing a glimpse into what the White House would like to see in the overhaul of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, President Barack Obama today proposed to tie Title I funds with requirements for states to implement college- and career-ready standards.

President Obama pitched his proposal at the White House this morning to the National Governors Association, which is spearheading a college- and career-ready national standards reform movement. The White House proposal is of particular interest to the CTE community as the definition of career ready remains varied across education groups.

President Obama said the standards would address the shortcomings found in the most recent iteration of ESEA, which he said allowed states to set varied standards and achievement expectations for the nation’s children. The new standards proposal would allow states to again set their own standards, however they must demonstrate that students who meet them are ready for higher education, he said.

CTE, through comprehensive programs of study, can play a strong role in achieving both of President Obama’s college- and career-ready goals as they provide students with career pathways and skill development, and a charted transition to postsecondary education. The resources and strategies to meet these new standards are available if states are seeking how to answer to the President’s proposal.