Posts Tagged ‘agriculture’

Partnership Powers Progress | 2024 Fall Meeting Diamond Sponsor: NCAE, CEWD

Friday, October 18th, 2024

The National Council for Agricultural Education (NCAE) and the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) have been working together to prepare for the new Energy and Natural Resources Career Cluster and the modernized Agriculture Career Cluster. Both clusters are part of the proposed Cultivating Resources Cluster Grouping that will be released this month.

Here’s what we have learned: 

In partnerships there is strength.

This lesson has remained constant in our collaboration. We have focused on the power of what will be created from two Clusters and how our industries can partner to benefit learners, educators, and each industry. We don’t look at the new Cluster structures as an either/or, but rather an opportunity for powerful integration of careers and workforce development NCAE and CEWD are exploring how they can collaborate beyond the clusters so that “one plus one equals the power of three” for two industries essential to our country. 

What’s old is old again, until it’s new.

NCAE has shared learnings from “energy and natural resources” sitting historically within the agricultural cluster, preparing CEWD to take the baton for the new stand-alone cluster. CEWD, in turn, is using those lessons to make adjacent recommendations for the new Cluster, creating a Framework that will be familiar to instructors and learners. Meanwhile, NCAE is focusing on supporting state and local leaders, as well as agriculture educators with essential resources. While both groups are allowing history (the old) to guide the future, this watershed moment will infuse fresh and modernized teachings (the new) into what will soon be two clusters. A national Framework for the new Energy and Natural Resources Cluster for high school classrooms is expected to be available by the end of 2024 or early in 2025. The Framework for post-secondary and K-8 classrooms will follow shortly thereafter.

Similarities are more significant than differences.

Differences between agriculture and energy are obvious on a broad level. The similarities between the two are less apparent, but notable in comparison.

NCAE and CEWD are proud of the lessons we are learning and the impact that will be felt as we collaboratively build skilled diverse talent pipelines for the future.

The views, opinions, services, and products shared in this post are solely for educational purposes and do not imply agreement or endorsement by Advance CTE, nor discrimination against similar brands, products, or services not mentioned.

By Layla Alagic in Meetings and Events
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House Lays Out Next Steps for FY25 | Legislative Update

Friday, May 24th, 2024

Over the last two weeks, lawmakers in the House laid out next steps for the the federal appropriations process while Congressional leaders elsewhere made announcements related to artificial intelligence (AI) and workforce development. Elsewhere, lawmakers are considering a new Farm Bill proposal while a new cohort of Presidential Scholars was recently announced. 

House Lays Out Roadmap for FY25 Appropriations

House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) announced in recent weeks preliminary allocation totals for each of the 12 individual appropriations bills that compose the federal budget for the upcoming 2025 federal fiscal year (FY25). Known as 302(b) allocations, these topline funding totals are used by appropriations leaders on the committee to craft FY25 funding legislation later this year. This includes the Labor-HHS-ED funding bill which provides support for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins V) among other education and workforce development programs. The proposed 302(b) allocation for the Labor-HHS-ED funding bill is significantly lower than the total provided for this component of the federal budget in FY24. This means that the House Appropriations Committee is likely to propose significant cuts to domestic programs falling under this legislation as the Committee put forward last year.

In addition, Chair Cole released a tentative schedule to consider each of the dozen appropriations bills. The Labor-HHS-ED measure is expected to be considered at the subcommittee level on June 27 and by the full Appropriations Committee on July 10. This week the full House Appropriations Committee approved these 302(b) allocations on a party line vote 32-21. Similar announcements are still forthcoming in the Senate. As these efforts take shape, Advance CTE will continue to advocate for the significant funding needs of the Career Technical Education (CTE) community and other key education and workforce priorities this year.  

Senate Releases New AI Roadmap

A bipartisan group of Senators led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD), Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Senator Todd Young (R-IN), released a long-anticipated report regarding AI. The report or “roadmap” lays out a vision for future federal policymaking efforts, including a set of recommendations for Congress and the Biden administration to consider as AI technologies continue to mature and expand in their use. The report covers several policy areas including workforce development, encouraging the development of career pathways that lead to opportunities in AI. The roadmap also recommends that policymakers consider new regulatory frameworks to mitigate the potential negative impacts AI technologies may have on incumbent workers and ways to promote worker skills training opportunities in this area. Broadly, the report calls on the federal government to invest at least $32 billion on an annual basis to support the further development of AI technologies, promote wider innovation, and ensure wider equitable adoption and use of these emerging technologies.

View the AI Roadmap

Department of Commerce Unveils Workforce Policy Agenda

Recently the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announced a Department Administrative Order (DAO) that establishes a workforce policy agenda for the agency. The agenda is intended to assist DOC in the ongoing implementation of several broad federal investments including the CHIPS and Science Act which contains several workforce development components to support the legislation’s broader aims of developing a more robust advanced manufacturing and semiconductor capacity here in the United States. The DAO lays out a set of principles to guide workforce development investments as well as wider Biden administration goals of developing quality employment opportunities for a broader cross-section of Americans.

Read the DAO

House Examines HHS FY25 Budget

Last week, the House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing to examine the policies and priorities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The hearing featured testimony from HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra who spoke to the Biden administration’s recent federal fiscal year 2025 (FY25) budget request. Secretary Becerra responded to a wide range of questions including the importance of policies and investments supporting access to quality childcare as well as wider healthcare workforce needs.

View an archived webcast of the hearing, including the Secretary’s written testimony and related opening statements from lawmakers

CTE Presidential Scholars Announced

This week the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars announced the 60th cohort of U.S. Presidential Scholars—an initiative that annually recognizes 161 high school seniors for academic, career and technical and artistic achievements. The selection process takes into consideration a number of criteria including transcripts and test scores. Each year, this program features 20 CTE scholars for their outstanding achievements and recognizes related accomplishments.

View the full list of scholars 

House Agriculture Committee Plans Vote on Federal Nutrition Programs

The House Agriculture Committee considered the 2024 Farm Bill this week, a $1.5 trillion legislative package that includes significant changes to federal agriculture and school nutrition programs. The legislation, unveiled by Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson (R-PA) earlier this week, includes major components of the Creating Access to Rural Employment and Education for Resilience and Success (CAREERS) Act (H.R. 7015)—legislation that Advance CTE supported and endorsed earlier this year. Advance CTE has expressed support for the inclusion of the CAREERS Act among other aspects of the proposal. The committee considered the legislation yesterday and approved measure by a margin of 33-21. 

DOL Unveils New AI and Worker Well-Being Principles

This week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a set of principles on AI and worker well-being. The principles were developed in response to an earlier Executive Order (EO) from President Biden on AI last year and are intended to support workforce development professionals and employers in the deployment, development, and subsequent use of AI and related technologies. The principles focus particularly on mitigating potential negative impacts on workers of AI while balancing the need for innovation and economic growth.

Read the principles 

Steve Voytek, policy advisor

By Layla Alagic in Public Policy
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Advance CTE 2023 Fall Meeting Sponsor Blog: Platinum Sponsor, CareerSafe – CareerSafe Offers Comprehensive Online and On-Demand Safety Training

Tuesday, October 10th, 2023

CareerSafe was founded in 2003 under the core belief that no job is worth a young worker’s life. CareerSafe has expanded their focus to include the whole worker. From safety and health training to employability skills and cybersecurity awareness, CareerSafe is focused on providing the foundational skills workers need to launch successful careers.

Starting with Safety

A first step of safety training can occur as soon as middle school or freshman year, with CareerSafe’s StartSafe program. A site-license specific training will provide five (5) hours of core content, as well as the opportunity to explore additional pathways. StartSafe is the perfect introduction to OSHA and workplace safety, covering topics such as:

OSHA 10-Hour Training 

The next obvious step in each learner’s safety training is OSHA 10-Hour Training in either General Industry or in Construction with several industry-specific pathways including: 

OSHA 10-Hour training is purchase per seat and registered through the U.S. Department of Labor, granting each student a recognized OSHA General or Construction Industry card. 

Cyber Safety Awareness

Technological advances have made the digital world an integral part of everyday life. Unfortunately, that means online risks for young people are also becoming more prevalent. The CareerSafe Cyber Safety Awareness Library contains courses with grade-level focused topics for 6th-12th grades and covers situations like cyberbullying, sexting, and the consequences of school threats. This is a site license program as well. 

Employability Skills

The final step on preparing learners for workplace readiness is the CareerSafe library of Employability skills. 

These courses are available per seat or by site license and they provide quality resources and techniques for building essential skills and strategies applicable in all professional fields. Topics include:

When you add in CareerSafe’s best-of-class customer service, innovative online curriculum, and effective teacher tools, there are numerous ways to educate your learners. 

By offering the whole suite of CareerSafe products, from StartSafe to OSHA 10-hour training, cyber security training to employability skills, the result is a well-rounded, educated young worker who is capable of staying safe in the workplace. 

Scaling Across Your State 

CareerSafe believes that all students deserve the right to a safe and fair workplace. What better way to prepare your students to remain safe in the workplace than to equip them with the knowledge and understanding of OSHA safety training while still in high school. Because our courses easily integrate within your teacher’s existing CTE curriculum and are created to align with the National Career Clusters Framework this opportunity allows for states to scale this course across all pathways for every student. We have Account Executives available across the country to walk you through how to get set up today. Let us help you set your students on a path to success. 

Sherry Pruitt, Executive Director of CareerSafe

[email protected]

careersafeonline.com

888-614-7233

By Layla Alagic in Advance CTE Fall Meeting
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Legislative Update: Agriculture Education Rule, Appropriations

Friday, May 11th, 2012

Proposed Rule Affecting Agriculture Education Withdrawn

As we told you late last year, the Department of Labor proposed a rule relating to the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which would eliminate the student learner exemptions, particularly related to agriculture experiences. These changes would limit the opportunities for students to participate in hands-on learning experiences in agriculture programs.

The Department recently announced that they were withdrawing the proposed rule “in response to thousands of comments expressing concerns about the effect of the proposed rules on small family-owned farms.” We are pleased to see the change that can occur because of grassroots advocacy. The CTE and agriculture communities mobilized to voice their concerns with the proposed rule, their voices were heard!

House Passes Sequester Replacement Bill

The House passed H.R. 5652, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act which, we told you about last week. This bill would replace cuts to defense spending with reductions to food stamps and other mandatory social programs. The bill passed 218-99, along party lines. Nearly all Republicans supported the bill (16 opposed it), and no Democrats supported it.

The Democratically-controlled Senate is so opposed to the bill that they have said they will not even vote on it. President Obama released a Statement of Administration Policy which indicated his plan to veto the bill if it reached his desk because it “would impose deep budget cuts that cost jobs and hurt middle class and vulnerable Americans – especially seniors, veterans, and children.” While the bill has very little chance of passing Congress, it could serve as a marker for Republicans during budget negotiations later this year.

Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager

By admin in Legislation, Public Policy
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Legislative Update: FFA Before Congress, American Jobs Center

Friday, March 16th, 2012

FFA President Testifies before Congress

Yesterday, National FFA President Ryan Best testified before the Senate at a hearing on the 2012 Farm Bill. During his testimony, Best highlighted the successful projects being done by FFA students across the country. He also spoke about the importance of agriculture education and its role in preparing students for postsecondary education and careers in the agriculture industry. Best said that the Farm Bill should support farm programs that strengthen agriculture eduction.

Best is a junior at New Mexico State University majoring in agricultural and extension education.

American Jobs Center

In his State of the Union address in January, President Obama spoke about streamlining the workforce system in order to get people back to work more quickly in the jobs that exist today, and better prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow.  He said that he wants “to cut through the maze of confusing training programs, so that from now on, people…have one program, one website, and one place to go for all the information and help they need.”

To that end, the President is proposing the creation of the American Job Center, designed to be a single point of access to information and services from across the government for companies and individuals. This would include access to job retraining and education opportunities, skills and career development and counseling.

 

Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager

By admin in Public Policy
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ACTION ALERT – Child Labor Laws Regarding Agricultural Labor

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued proposed regulations relating to the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which eliminate the student learner exemptions, particularly related to agriculture experiences. These changes would limit the opportunities for students to participate in hands-on learning experiences in agriculture programs. While the comment period on the proposed regulations has ended, some members of Congress are mobilizing to stop the changes from going into effect. But we need your help!

The National Association of Agriculture Educators has more information on how you can help by asking your member of Congress to sign on to a Dear Colleague letter. Information on the Senate letter is here; information on the House letter is here.

Please note, the timeline is very tight. The deadline to get your Representative to sign on Rep. Rehberg’s letter is close of business Thursday December 15, 2011. The deadline to get your Senator to sign on to Sens. Moran and Nelson’s letter is close of business Friday December 16, 2011.

Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager

By admin in Legislation
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