Career Exploration « Advance CTE Blog

Increasing FAFSA Completion Rates and Postsecondary Plans with Iowa’s College and Career Transition Counselor Initiative

Thursday, August 24th, 2023

Iowa’s College and Career Transition Counselors (CCTCs) are filling a need within school counseling and admission programs for learner-centered, one-on-one support for postsecondary planning and career exploration for Iowa’s learners. Providing learners with the skills to navigate their own career journey helps to ensure that each learner can have success in the career of their choice. The Iowa CCTC program is an example of how local-level innovation can lead to state-wide scale with positive impact on learner outcomes and success. This blog will present an overview of the structure and funding of the CCTC Initiative with considerations and recommendations for state leaders to take first steps towards implementation in their own state.

In 2015, David Ford, Future Ready Coordinator, Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency (MBAEA) and Director of the Area Education Agency Postsecondary Readiness and Equity Partnership (AEA PREP), was recruited to the Eastern Region of Iowa because of his research on secondary to postsecondary transitions. At the time, the region had the lowest postsecondary enrollments in the state and historically poor postsecondary outcomes. In partnership with Eastern Iowa Community College, Louisa-Muscatine and Columbus Community Schools and with support from the Future Ready division of MBAEA, the College and Career Transition Counselor (CCTC) position was created in 2017. Over the course of a few years, significant improvements were shown in Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion rates and college intention as well as overall positive postsecondary outcomes for the learners who were part of a CCTC’s roster.

Source: Partnerships that Work: College and Career Transition Counselors a Case Study from Eastern Iowa

Thanks to the success of the Eastern Iowa program, David was asked to present to college presidents statewide and when the demand for CCTCs across additional community colleges and high schools grew, David partnered with the Iowa Department of Education, Bureau of Career Technical Education to scale the CCTC program. Using the Eastern Iowa program as a model, the Department of Education launched its statewide CCTC Initiative in the 2021-2022 school year.

The time and effort required to establish a CCTC program is well worth it; Iowa has seen continued improvement in FAFSA completion rates and postsecondary intention. For the class of 2022, the overall FAFSA completion rate for the high schools served by a CCTC was 59.3%, up from 41.5% for the class of 2021. David Ford states that the CCTC Initiative is “one of the few strategies that I’ve come across that is directly improving outcomes for first-generation students.”

Read on to learn more about how the Iowa CCTC Initiative is structured and funded as well as for considerations and recommendations for implementing a similar program.

The Eastern Iowa Model

While districts and community colleges have flexibility in how they structure their CCTC position(s), the majority of the current programs in Iowa follow the Eastern Iowa Model. Within this model, a community college forms a partnership with two high schools within their local area to share a CCTC. The CCTC is an employee of the community college, however, they work within the high schools as well as on the community college campus. It is important to note that the number of schools sharing a CCTC can vary based on the needs of each specific partnership. A community college may form multiple partnerships with local area high schools, employing multiple CCTCs, to best meet learner needs. For the 2023-2024 school year over 50 CCTCs will serve learners in over 100 high schools employed across all 15 community college regions in Iowa.

The Role of the CCTC

The CCTCs serve as a liaison between the secondary and postsecondary partners while providing direct support to the learners on their roster; they complement the school counseling department and can go deeper into postsecondary options and opportunities than school counselors are able to. Danielle Sampson, a former school counselor and CCTC, now Community Engagement Specialist with Iowa College Aid, part of the Iowa Department of Education and a CCTC initiative partner, explains that “the CCTC does things that school counselors don’t have the time to do.” Additionally, while school counselors are tasked with serving the entire student body, the CCTC can target learners who need more support in developing and pursuing a postsecondary plan.

The CCTC’s roster (caseload) is capped at 300 learners and is often generated by targeting first-generation college students, learners who are economically challenged and English learners (ELs). Danielle believes that most families have a need for additional support, however, as admission processes and post-secondary options have changed drastically in the last 20 years. Learners generally begin working with a CCTC in their junior year (11th grade) and continue working with the CCTC through their first postsecondary year.

A typical week for a CCTC could involve a wide variety of activities including career exploration field trips, coordinating career expo events, college campus visits, apprenticeship tours, working with military recruiters, a parent FAFSA night, individual student meetings, teaching a “How College Works” class, paperwork for concurrent enrollment, connecting with Iowa Intermediary Network or work-based learning coordinators, helping learners with test preparation, small group meetings, and meetings with families which could include helping them to complete FAFSA or other paperwork.

State Role in Striving for Consistency in Scale

In order to create consistency and alignment with the general role and responsibilities of CCTCs across the state, the Iowa Department of Education brought on Erica Wood-Schmitz, a former school counselor who has first-hand experience working alongside a CCTC, to oversee the CCTC program as Education Program Consultant: Academic and Career Planning.

To further increase consistency and alignment across the state, the CCTC Steering Committee, which Erica oversees, was formed and is comprised of community college supervisors, representatives from the Iowa Department of Education, school counselors, representatives from local districts, Iowa College Aid and AEA PREP.

The CCTC Steering Committee created a standard job description of the CCTC including clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Additionally, the CCTC Steering Committee created competency statements that would guide the training of the CCTCs. Realizing the need for a greater voice from the CCTCs themselves, a CCTC Leadership Team, comprised of CCTCs from the field, was formed to help create the training plan and to inform the competencies, roles and responsibilities.

Qualifications and Training

At the inception of the state-level CCTC Initiative, a CCTC was required to have a master’s degree with a license or endorsement in school counseling. This is still the preferred education requirement, however, in order to better meet demand, those with a related master’s or a bachelor’s degree are now eligible. If a partnership will require the CCTC to teach a college success course, they must have a master’s degree.

To best train and meet the individual learning needs of the CCTCs, the CCTC Initiative uses a cohort model. Currently, there are three cohorts:

Cohort 1 – CCTCs that were part of the original Eastern Iowa program and new CCTCs for the 2021-2022 school year
Cohort 2 – new CCTCs for the 2022-2023 school year
Cohort 3 – new CCTCs for the 2023-2024 school year

CCTCs create their own Individual Learning Plan (ILP) relative to their districts’ needs and receive support from the CCTC Leadership Team and Erica. They attend a two-day training held in August for cultural competency development, data and goal setting. Iowa College Aid plays a large role in providing training and resources for the CCTCs.

Funding

To incentivize and help districts and community colleges create a CCTC program, the Iowa Department of Education has used its Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act Reserve Funds (Perkins Reserve Funds) to create a three-year tiered grant for which CCTC partnership schools can apply. The districts split the cost of the shared CCTC with the community college, estimated to be $65,000-75,000 annually with benefits. The tiered grant is structured as follows:

Year 1 initial Iowa Department of Education grant funding: Perkins incentive support (up to $40,000 per position*). *Funding amounts are subject to change.
Year 2 Iowa Department of Education grant funding: Perkins support ($7,500).
Year 3 Iowa Department of Education grant funding: Perkins support ($2,500).

School districts may also be able to access operational sharing dollars and federal grants to help fund the CCTC program. To continue to scale the initiative the 15 community colleges across Iowa received federal grant funding to add 15 new CCTCs for the 2023-2024 school year bringing the state total over 50.

Source: College and Career Transition Counselor Program Toolkit

Challenges

There are some challenges that the CCTCs have faced that create additional barriers to serving the learners on their roster.

Clear communication among faculty and between the institutions sharing a CCTC. Within the districts, CCTCs can receive push-back from school counselors who do not understand the CCTC’s role. In order to overcome this hurdle, clear information on the role of the CCTC and how they complement, and not compete, with the counseling department is needed.
Different interpretations of the role of the CCTC between institutions. Districts may see the CCTC as another school counselor while community colleges may see them as an addition to their admissions team. The CCTC is not intended to be a recruiter for the community college and while enrollment may increase as a result of their work with learners, college is not the only path after high school graduation. To this end, it is important for CCTCs to broaden their understanding of what college is. Danielle Sampson explained it well, “college is anything a student does to build a skill set after high school – apprenticeship, military, trade school or a two or four-year college.”
Difficulty navigating the competing schedules between buildings and this is where communication between the partnering institutions is key. The CCTC is truly a shared position and the administration across institutions must be willing to work together to help set the CCTC up for success. “The partnership and the relationship between the community college and high schools that share the counselor are paramount to the success of the program,” shared David Ford. “If the relationship isn’t there, it will really hinder if not destroy the program.”

Considerations and Recommendations

For states that may be interested in trying to create their own CCTC initiative, Iowa State CTE Director Dennis Harden emphasized the importance of building relationships between local districts and community colleges. Dennis shared that it is Iowa’s strong dual and concurrent enrollment programs that laid the foundation for these relationships and the early success of the CCTC Initiative.

Dennis along with Erica Woods-Schmitz, David Ford and Danielle Sampson have the following recommendations for those considering starting a CCTC program:

Intentionally create opportunities and incentives for relationship building between districts and colleges.
Target districts driven by data to serve as pilot programs. The districts must understand their data and using additional data beyond FAFSA completion will allow for better overall tracking of program results.
Create an oversight or governing body to ensure consistency in training, roles and responsibilities (i.e. steering committee, leadership team).
Have a clear understanding of how districts and colleges can braid funding, including Perkins Reserve Funds to fund the program long term.
Partner with intermediaries (like Iowa College Aid and AEA PREP); these partnerships are integral to success as they can help facilitate the program and train CCTCs.
Encourage colleges to find the right match between the CCTC and the high school(s) they will be serving.
Encourage CCTC programs to evaluate the highest times of need for a CCTC and consider a 10-month period that may not fit exactly within the standard school year. This may allow the CCTC to be available over the summer when learners transitioning out of high school and into their postsecondary path have a need for guidance.

For more information on Iowa’s College and Career Transition Counselor Initiative, please visit the following resources:

Jodi Langelotti, Communications Associate

By Layla Alagic in Public Policy
Tags: Career Exploration, Carl D. Perkins Act Funding, CCTC, community college, FAFSA, First-Generation Students, Iowa, Learner Outcomes, Postsecondary Planning

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
Tags: Career Exploration, CTE Fall Meeting, enrollment, Oregon, Sponsor

New Skills ready network Site Highlight: Boston, Massachusetts Dual Enrollment Programs

Wednesday, June 1st, 2022

In 2020, JPMorgan Chase & Co. launched the New Skills ready network across six domestic sites to improve student completion of high-quality career pathways with a focus on collaboration and equity. As a national partner in the New Skills ready network, Advance CTE strives to elevate the role of state capacity and resources in advancing project priorities and gain a unique perspective on promising practices to strengthen state-local partnerships across the country.

This blog post continues a series that highlights innovative tools and initiatives produced across Boston, Massachusetts; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Nashville, Tennessee, that advance the initiative’s four key priorities and serve as a guide for state leaders in their work to create cohesive, flexible and responsive career pathways.

For this post, Senior Policy Associate Haley Wing interviewed Nuri Chandler-Smith, the Dean of Academic Support and College Pathway Programs at Bunker Hill Community College, and Liya Escalera, the Vice Provost for Academic Support Services and Undergraduate Studies at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Boston, who is also on the leadership team for the New Skills ready network. The interviews sought to learn more about the dual enrollment and early college programs within their respective schools, with a focus on learner engagement and cultural wealth.

Background

Dual enrollment programs at Bunker Hill Community College and UMass Boston enable learners within Boston Public Schools to earn college credit and gain early exposure to college experiences on campus while in high school, including during the summer months. The partnerships are coordinated centrally through Boston Public Schools and extend learning from the school building to the university campus. The expansion of accessible dual enrollment programs in Boston helps to advance one of the project priorities of the New Skills ready network initiative to improve learners’ seamless progression from secondary to postsecondary education. Through supporting the expansion of dual enrollment opportunities and supporting policies and procedures that facilitate equitable access to these programs, Boston Public Schools, Bunker Hill Community College, and UMass Boston are ensuring learners have the tools and experiences to make fully informed decisions regarding their postsecondary coursework and path to career success.

Dual Enrollment Programs at Bunker Hill Community College

Bunker Hill Community College (Bunker Hill) dual enrollment programs stand out because of their commitment to improving access to and success in these programs through seamless communication and intentional program connections between secondary and postsecondary programs. Bunker Hill is working directly with guidance staff at high schools, especially Charlestown High School, to make sure learners are aware of the dual enrollment and early college programs that are available. Strategies to increase awareness include pre-recorded dual enrollment info sessions tailored explicitly for flexible use by practitioners with learners and families during workshops and advisories, and one-on-one course mapping exercises with learners to build their mindset for multi-year access to dual enrollment at Bunker Hill. Guidance teams work closely with teachers to utilize multiple measures in identifying learners for dual enrollment. This includes prior academic preparation, attendance, study habits, and willingness to take responsibility for their learning process. Charlestown’s practices are consistent with the district-wide open-access dual enrollment policy. This spring, they are working to cohort learners into advisories, based on their pathways, to provide more targeted academic and career planning needed for increased persistence throughout the dual enrollment course experience.

Bunker Hill has a unique partnership with Charlestown High School. Charlestown High School has a program for learners that allows them to take an exploratory course in the ninth grade to expose learners to various pathways that lead to high-wage and high-demand careers as a prerequisite to dual enrollment courses. Through this course, school leaders strive for learners to make more intentional choices about their course selections in dual enrollment and feel more prepared to complete these programs. Launched in 2018, learners in Charlestown High School can access designated pathways in technology and business. Access to a third early college pathway, allied health, opened a year later. For Charlestown’s graduating class of 2021, learners in the early college cohort completed with more than 300 combined college credits.

Charlestown learners participating in these programs can also access expanded course options — this include 17 unique courses across the Bunker Hill catalog ranging from Principles in Engineering to Human Biology/lab. Strong staff relationships between Charlestown and Bunker Hill have allowed the teams to re-envision supports for learners, including pivoting to a cohort model for learning that enables learners to more successfully participate in coursework. The New Skills ready network grant has facilitated increased communications and partnerships with industry partners, which has created the conditions for additional support structures where learners now have access to mentors practicing in fields aligned to the learners’ pathways.

Dual Enrollment Programs at the University of Massachusetts Boston

UMass Boston’s dual enrollment programs stand out for their focus on cultural wealth using place-based learning and intense learner support through an alumni-based mentorship program. UMass Boston has a collection of dual enrollment classes decentralized across the university – some classes are a part of precollegiate programs, while others are partnerships between UMass Boston’s individual departments and local high schools. UMass Boston utilizes this unique system because it allows faculty to focus more time on co-designing secondary and postsecondary coursework with partners in the Boston Public School system to better support learner transitions.

UMass Boston has centered its program design on valuing cultural wealth. This includes creating culturally-sustaining programs that draw upon the strengths of learners, their families, and their neighborhoods, and taking into account the issues that are important to learners. Tapping into learners’ individual experiences within their communities is important to take seriously, emphasized UMass Boston Vice Provost for Academic Support Services and Undergraduate Studies Liya Escalera. When learners’ place-based experiences and strengths are integrated into learning, they can use skills gained to be uniquely positioned to find solutions to challenges facing the city. Escalera also highlighted that enrolling in dual enrollment courses demystifies the content and rigor of postsecondary coursework and demonstrates to learners that they have the ability to succeed in college.

Additionally, UMass Boston has piloted a program where mentoring and tutoring are embedded in dual enrollment spaces. UMass Boston utilizes graduates who are not only recent alumni but also participated in dual enrollment courses at the institution. In addition to providing one-on-one mentorship outside the classroom, UMass Boston alumni attend classes to ensure the assistance they are providing to learners parallels the material they are learning. UMass Boston has stressed the importance of ongoing support for learners’ continued academic success, especially considering the learner population they serve, including low-income, first-generation, and racially underrepresented learners.

Program Highlights, Successes and Lessons Learned

The New Skills ready network grant has enabled an expansion of dual enrollment courses, particularly within the emerging pathways of business, finance and environment science in the site’s focus schools. The New Skills ready network grant has also allowed postsecondary institutions in Boston to focus on learner flexibility. For example, UMass Boston has redefined what it means to be a successful learner aligned to their career goals. Boston partners are using resources available thanks to the New Skills ready network initiative to create a more uniform inclusion of career-specific skills into courses, including public speaking and leadership into the dual enrollment curriculum in addition to academic skill-building.

As the secondary and postsecondary partners in Boston, Massachusetts, continue to refine their dual enrollment opportunities for learners, they engage in critical reflection to ensure they are meeting learners’ needs. Since its early start in 2015, Bunker Hill has added career and pathway exploration opportunities aimed to offer learners multiple on-ramps to participation in early college and to provide learners with a foundational understanding of the options before selecting a pathway. Bunker Hill Community College replaced its original offering of college courses for first-year high school learners with an exploratory program for ninth-grade learners which was successful and provided learners and families with opportunities to understand the early college pathway option. If learners are still undecided about the pathways they want to pursue after tenth grade, they can continue to take classes at Bunker Hill Community College throughout high school to ensure the pathway they choose is one they are passionate about and prepares them for their careers.

At UMass Boston, dual enrollment courses that were too specific in their curriculum caused learners who transferred into different career pathways to experience a loss of credit, which prevented acceleration in their postsecondary experiences. Instead, UMass Boston has moved towards ensuring all pathways encourage learners to pursue coursework that interests them without fear of falling behind in coursework requirements.

Visions for the Future

Looking forward, Bunker Hill is focused on sustainability to ensure learners will continue to have access to high-quality dual enrollment programs. This involves ensuring that all learners, regardless of their socioeconomic status and backgrounds, have access to wraparound supports and to remove barriers to success. There is an understanding that the racial disparities seen in dual enrollment programs and in higher education, in general, are not because learners are choosing not to access resources, or because they do not have the skills or ability to succeed, but rather because the institutions are not serving them to the level they need for success and they need to embody a new equity-minded and asset-based paradigm that can facilitate learners’ success. At UMass Boston, a priority for the future is flexibility. Learners should be allowed to make mistakes and change their career goals while still being ahead of the game. UMass Boston is embedding work-based learning into transferable general education courses. Additionally, creating a sense of belonging and community with an emphasis on cultural wealth within their dual enrollment programs is paramount.

The Boston, Massachusetts team is committed to supporting policies and procedures that will enable learners to more readily participate across the district, beyond the focus schools. Within its Postsecondary transitions working group, partners across sectors have coalesced around priorities for strengthening systems and structures that will enable more effective dual-enrollment partnerships and increase access for all learners.

Tejas Shah, State Policy Intern

By Stacy Whitehouse in Uncategorized
Tags: Access and Equity, Career Exploration, dual enrollment, Massachusetts, New Skills ready network, Postsecondary Attainment, secondary to postsecondary, Student Supports, systems alignment

Communicating CTE: Washington’s Statewide Initiative for Secondary Career Exploration Empowers Educators and Learners

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021

The third post in the Communicating Career Technical Education (CTE) series will focus on creative initiatives for career exploration for secondary learners by highlighting Washington’s State of Innovation Challenge. This is particularly timely as states continue to grapple with the difficulties of supporting long-term career exploration experiences in an environment of sustained uncertainty and student disconnect in virtual learning environments.

Background

The State of Innovation Challenge, launched in November 2020 and open through March 2021, is a statewide initiative led by the Washington’s STEM Education and Innovation Alliance in partnership with the Office of Governor Jay Inslee, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Career Connect Washington. The initiative invites learners to offer solutions to policy issues related to hunger, mental health and community resilience that have emerged from the COVID-19 (coronavirus) global pandemic while also exploring pathways to careers and postsecondary education.

Becky Wallace, Executive Director of Career and Technical Education at the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, shared that her office was inspired to join this initiative because of the widespread evidence that instructors were overwhelmed with the transition to virtual learning and did not have the capacity to fill the void of a lack of hands-on learning. The things that make CTE unique including work-based learning, real-world skill attainment and application have been challenging to replicate in a hybrid and virtual environment. As such, the Office saw this as an opportunity to elevate project-based and experiential learning for learners in all types of programs, empower the learner voice and leverage statewide resources to expand the career path students can name and see as a possible passion.

The initiative proposes challenge cases covering three major policy areas questions:

“The Food Chain”: Facilitating access to healthy, affordable and sustainable food during the pandemic, particularly for households that experience low income.
“Responding to COVID-19”: Supporting the mental health of teens and the elderly
while practicing social distancing, and ensuring access to accurate information about coronavirus and its spread while protecting privacy.
“Our Communities after COVID-19”: Building more resilient communities in the aftermath of COVID-19 through improvements to housing, education, community planning and economic policy.

More detailed subtopics are given for each challenge case that can be aligned to CTE programs. For example, learners that choose the Food Chain case can develop projects addressing school nutrition, food waste, food production or restaurant and hospitality impacts that connect to the associated career pathways.

Learners in middle school, high school, alternative education and out of school youth programs are able to participate. The initiative is also accessible for programs beyond the traditional classroom setting such as Career Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs), community organizations such as 4-H Washington and Junior Achievement, and specialized programs like the Road Map Project that supports homeless and foster youth.

Julia Reed, Senior Consultant for social impact consulting firm Kinetic West that guided the formation and implementation of the initiative, shared that the biggest concern was convincing educators that this initiative could enhance, not burden, their virtual instructional goals. Flexibility and variety in lesson plan offerings were prioritized to make sure the initiative was easy to participate in and would enhance student engagement in their classroom.

In the Classroom

After choosing a challenge case, students and educators take several steps to develop a policy solution: viewing videos created by teen filmmakers connected to each policy question; selecting one of the provided subtopics for their chosen challenge case; exploring careers associated with the policy area; and executing a lesson plan and policy tool that can range from one day to one or more months in duration.

The project solutions themselves encourage exploration and skillbuilding across a variety of career pathways, as students are allowed to record videos, create apps, design websites and computer programs, write business plans and more as part of a proposed solution. Educators are provided instructional guides for each challenge to assist building lesson plans, and are able to share their lessons through a group lesson bank and submit final projects for state recognition.

Students are able to directly interact with employers and learn about career pathways within industries through virtual weekly industry engagement webinars. Past employer engagement sessions include interactions with high-tech manufacturers, firefighters and government agencies all based within Washington.

Exploring Postsecondary Pathways

Students are able to build on their exploration of policy, skillbuilding activities and careers by researching postsecondary opportunities for further education. Rather than recreating the wheel, this initiative elevates pre-existing state college preparation and financial aid resources, including Career Connect Washington’s Career Launch paid learning program, Washington College Access Network’s College Knowledge Materials with handbooks in five languages for grades 9 to 12 on planning for a postsecondary education path, and Washington Student Achievement Council’s Ready, Set Grad step by step online portal.

Marketing and Equity Considerations

Reed emphasized that marketing this initiative focused on building sustainable partnerships and reaching underserved populations by utilizing existing peer-to-peer networks. More than 40 organizational partnerships were established with additional intentional outreach to underserved communities, particularly learners of color, learners in rural communities, and Native American learners.

Equity was a major consideration not only in marketing but the design of the initiative itself. Several strategies pursued include:

The creation of a general secondary educator advisory group and an ‘open doors’ educator advisory group to ensure project utility for all learners;
Industry engagement recruitment seeks to feature employers and career paths that would be relevant to students in more remote rural communities;
Challenge case videos intentionally pursued diverse casting and script copy that emphasized the unequal distribution of impact of coronavirus on different communities;
Submission criteria for challenge projects includes an equity category: “You’ve thought about how this problem impacts people of different races or ethnicities, genders, abilities or income in different ways. How does your solution help address those different impacts?”

This initiative reflects the enormous potential of states to scale up local efforts to connect learning to work and bring these experiences to more learners. Additionally, the inclusion of lesson plans and engagement opportunities provides timely support for educators and local systems that face unprecedented burdens in coronavirus response.

Additional information and resources for this initiative can be found on the State of Innovation website.

Communicating CTE is a new series where Advance CTE is exploring how states are leading the way in communicating about the value and benefit of CTE to key stakeholders. Read the previous posts in this series.

Stacy Whitehouse, Senior Associate Communications and State Engagement

By Stacy Whitehouse in Communicating CTE
Tags: Access and Equity, Career Exploration, career pathways, college and career readiness, Employer Engagement, Washington State

Can Afterschool Programs Help Address CTE’s Equity Challenges?

Tuesday, July 9th, 2019

Afterschool programs can give students access to enriching career exploration opportunities outside of the school day, but many of these programs are not accessible to all middle schoolers. Last month, the Senate Career Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, in partnership with the Afterschool Alliance, organized a panel on making the most of middle school career exploration. This panel’s particular focus was the important role that afterschool programs can play in exposing students to career pathways.

The panel included:

Regina Sidney Brown, Director of the Delaware Afterschool Network
Luke Rhine, Director of CTE and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Initiatives for the Delaware Department of Education
Daniela Grigioni, Executive Director of After-School All-Stars for Washington, D.C.
Andrew Coy, Executive Director of the Digital Harbor Foundation in Baltimore
Student panelist Jacob, participant in a Digital Harbor program

Afterschool programs encompass a wide range of activities that keep students engaged in their own learning outside of the regular school day. When students participate in an afterschool program in middle school, they are more likely to graduate high school. These programs offer opportunities for students to improve their skills in subjects ranging from computer science to agriculture. Learning these skills and interacting with professionals in a variety of fields allows students to explore and pursue different career paths of interest.

Expanding Access to High-quality Career Exploration After School

Despite all these programs have to offer, there are still major barriers to creating and expanding access to high-quality, career-focused afterschool programming in middle school. When panelists were asked about the largest barriers facing afterschool programming, their responses ranged from the difficulties of creating community partnerships to the lack of funding. Andrew Coy—whose organization, Digital Harbor, focuses on developing technology skills like computer programming, video game design and 3-D printing— summed up these issues as the need to have “formal support for informal learning.” This problem remains largely in communities of lower socioeconomic status, limiting access to enriching learning opportunities for students who could benefit the most.

The impacts that these programs have on middle schoolers make them worth the investment. Student panelist Jacob excitedly talked about the experiences he had with Digital Harbor—such as going to museums, participating in the White House science fair and learning to 3-D print—showing how important it is to give students a place to be creative. Jacob even earned certifications in Information Technology through the program. Having such a space outside of the classroom to encourage hands-on learning and career exploration allows students like Jacob to develop real world skills and get a leg up on both college and their careers.

Afterschool programs can also help close equity gaps by equipping learners with skills that may not be offered in the regular classroom but are highly valued in the job market. Exposing learners to new and different career pathways allows for diversity in these fields as more students can see themselves inhabiting those roles. Panelist Daniela Grigioni discussed how her organization, After-School All-Stars, engages middle schoolers, predominantly students of color, to help them build skills through programs in business and STEM. Early introduction to career exploration can help promote more equity within these fields.

By expanding career exploration in and out of the classroom, state leaders can foster creativity and passion among middle school students. This opens a pathway for students to imagine careers for themselves by giving them a sense of their options and what they do and do not want to do at an earlier age.

To read more about middle school CTE, check out Advance CTE’s report, Expanding Middle School CTE to Promote Lifelong Learning Success.

Jordan Dreisbach, Policy Intern

By admin in Uncategorized
Tags: afterschool programs, Career Exploration, Equity, Middle school CTE

Illinois, Missouri and Pennsylvania Adopt New Policies to Help Learners Graduate Career Ready

Tuesday, June 27th, 2017

Long after the tassels are turned, the podiums are packed away, and the diplomas framed and positioned on the wall, state policymakers are hard at work devising new policies to help the next class of high school students graduate career ready. Whether through career readiness expectations, Career Technical Education (CTE) graduation endorsements or alternative CTE graduation pathways, helping learners build the skills they need to be successful in their future careers is a priority for policymakers in Illinois, Missouri and Pennsylvania.

In Illinois, a new Postsecondary and Career Expectations (PaCE) framework comes on the heels of 2016’s Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act. That legislation, designed to enhance the Illinois education system to better prepare learners for college and the workforce, adopted a number of strategies including a competency-based learning pilot, college and career pathway endorsements, and supports for educators and district leaders. Specifically, the law directed the Illinois State Board of Education and other state agencies to identify expectations for students between grades 8 through 12 to be prepared for success after high school. Under the law, these expectations would need to focus on career exploration and development; postsecondary institution exploration, preparation and selection; and financial aid and financial literacy.

Earlier this month, the Illinois State Board of Education formally released the newly-developed PaCE framework, outlining guidelines for college- and career-focused activities at each grade level. Many expectations are aligned to a student’s self-identified career pathway. By the end of 10th grade, for example, students are expected to participate in a mock interview, create a sample resume, and identify an internship opportunity related to their career pathway. However, career exploration is emphasized in earlier grades through Career ClusterⓇ interest surveys and career exploration days. Though use of the framework is voluntary, it is designed to empower local educators and administrators to better target supports to students to ensure they are on track for success after graduation.

Missouri’s New CTE Diploma Endorsement Celebrates Student Achievement

Meanwhile, the Missouri State Board of Education outlined requirements for the state’s new CTE graduation certificate. The certificate program, authorized under 2016’s SB620, is designed to recognize the value add that CTE provides, helping equip students with the technical and employability skills to be more competitive in both college and the workforce. The legislature specifically called on the State Board of Education to work with local school districts to ensure the certificate program does not incentivize tracking, or “separating pupils by academic ability into groups for all subjects or certain classes and curriculum.” Rather, the legislation emphasizes program quality, encouraging local school districts to rely on industry-recognized standards, skills assessments and certificates.

In June, the Missouri State Board of Education finalized requirements for a CTE diploma to recognize students who, in addition to completing their core graduation requirements, focus in a CTE area of study. True to the intent of the law, the requirements above all emphasize achievement. Students are only eligible to receive a CTE endorsement if they, among other requirements, maintain a 3.0 GPA in their CTE concentration, earn an industry-recognized credential or a passing score on a technical skills assessment, complete at least 50 hours of work-based learning, and maintain an attendance record of at least 95 percent throughout high school. By prioritizing student success and achievement, Missouri’s CTE diploma requirements appropriately recognize that CTE enhances the traditional high school experience.

Alternative Assessments for CTE Concentrators in Pennsylvania

Finally, CTE students in Pennsylvania will have more flexible pathways to graduation after lawmakers amended a yet-to-be-implemented examination requirement. The change comes in response to a 2014 State Board of Education rule that required students to pass Keystone examinations in Algebra I, Biology and Literature before graduating. Although the requirement was scheduled to apply statewide for the graduating class of 2017, the legislature last year decided to delay implementation to give the Department of Education enough time to identify alternative assessment opportunities for CTE students.

Under the original policy, students who failed to pass the Keystone examinations could demonstrate competency through project-based assessments in order to meet graduation requirements. However, with low Keystone pass rates and high participation in the burdensome project-based assessment alternatives, the legislature soon realized that additional options needed to be explored.

The new law, HB202, provides CTE concentrators an exemption to the Keystone graduation requirement if they 1) complete grade-based academic requirements and 2) either complete an industry-based certification or demonstrate likelihood of success based on benchmark assessments, course grades and other factors. To meet the industry-based certification requirement, CTE concentrators will be able to choose among state-approved credentials in their area of focus, including National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI) and National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) examinations.

While alternative graduation pathways that recognize learners’ career goals help to expand options for high school students, it is important that academic rigor is not the price of flexibility. Graduation requirements should continue to be rigorous and ambitious to ensure all learners are set up for success after graduation, whether they choose to pursue college or careers. The Pennsylvania Department of Education can continue to uphold rigor in CTE programs by ensuring that grade-based academic requirements and selected industry-based certifications are high quality and appropriately reflect the competencies learners need to be successful regardless of their chosen pathway.

Meanwhile other states have adopted new policies related to CTE and career readiness, including:

In May the Texas state legislature passed SB22, establishing a statewide Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) program. Starting fall 2017, districts and open enrollment charter schools will be able to apply for startup funding to establish a P-TECH program, which allows learners to graduate in six years with an associate’s degree or two-year postsecondary certificate and work-based learning experience.
Minnesota’s omnibus higher education appropriations bill for the 2018-19 biennium established a $1 million Workforce Development Scholarship pilot program and provides funding to develop new concurrent enrollment courses.
Vermont passed an economic development bill that, among other things, establishes a Career Pathways Coordinator position within the Agency of Education to serve as a point person for interagency efforts to develop curriculum and design statewide career pathways.

Austin Estes, Policy Associate

By admin in Public Policy, Uncategorized
Tags: Career Exploration, CTE concentrators, CTE Diploma, graduation requirements, Illinois, Keystone Exams, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act

Legislative Update: Alternative Certification, Career Academies

Friday, July 27th, 2012

House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Alternative Certification

The House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education held a hearing this week to examine alternative certification of teachers. The topic is a timely one given its connection to defining highly qualified teachers under the No Child Left Behind Act. In 2010, Congress passed legislation that allowed students enrolled in alternative certification programs to be considered â€œhighly qualified teachers.â€ The House Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill seeks to extend this definition for two more years.

There was general support for alternative routes to certification on both sides of the aisle during the hearing. Chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Duncan Hunter (CA) had this to say:

Alternative certification routes help address teacher shortages in particular geographic areas and subject matter, as well as strengthen the overall quality of the teaching profession. While Republicans know there is no one-size-fits-all federal solution to help put more effective teachers in the classroom, supporting the availability and acceptance of alternative certification programs is one way the public and private sectors can join together to ensure more students have access to a quality education from an extraordinary educator.

Cynthia Brown, Vice President for Education Policy at the Center for American Progress, agreed that alternative certification programs hold a lot of promise, but that there need to be policies in place to ensure that they are â€œhigh quality, innovative, and effective,â€ which also holds true for traditional teacher preparation programs. She suggested that Congress focus on teacher effectiveness rather than alternative routes to certification.

More Details on Career Academies Proposal

Last week Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke at the National Academy Foundationâ€™s NEXT Conference about the Presidentâ€™s FY13 budget proposal to invest $1 billion in career academies. Funding at this level could increase the number of career academies by 3,000 and serve an additional 500,000 students.

According to Duncan, $200 million in grants to states would be available in FY13, and $400 million would be available in both FY14 and FY15. Grants to would total $4 million each to states, and would be given over a three year period. States would distribute those funds competitively to locals.

As part of the grant program, the Department of Education is proposing a definition of â€œcareer academyâ€ that each state must use for the in-state competition:

A career academy is a secondary school program as organized as a small learning comÂmunity or school within a school to provide the support of a personalized learning environment.
The academy must begin in ninth grade and combine credit-bearing academic and techniÂcal curriculum.
The academy must organize curriculum around a career theme like those proposed by NAF â€” hospitality and tourism, IT, health, sciÂence, and engineering â€” and be aligned with statesâ€™ college- and career-ready standards.
The academy must provide work-based learning and career exploration activities through partnerships with local employers.
The academy must articulate entrance reÂquirements of postsecondary education programs to ensure students graduate from high school ready to pursue a higher education degree or credential.

Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: Alternative Certification, career academies, Career Exploration, college and career readiness, Congress, credentials, federal grants, funding, highly qualified teachers, NCLB/ESEA, Secondary, Secretary Duncan, small learning communities, Standards, Teacher Shortage, teachers

Posts Tagged ‘Career Exploration’