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Posts Tagged ‘career readiness’

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Adobe’s Hiring for the Future Report Carries Implications for CTE

Wednesday, October 15th, 2014

Last month, Adobe surveyed 1,068 American hiring managers seeking insight into what the gatekeepers of tomorrow’s careers believe are the most critical skills, habits and credentials for job-seekers in the 21st century labor market.

The result? An overwhelming number of responses emphasizing the importance of digital literacy, creative thinking, problem-solving and flexibility. Hiring managers rejected the notion that students in technical fields fundamentally lack the creativity succeed (only 36% agree), but even more believe that positions requiring technical skills also benefit from creative thinking (81% agree).

Technical skills are still viewed as one of the top three factors identified as having gained the most value over the last five years (46% identified as one of top three skills gaining value), suggesting that competency remains crucial to employer hiring decisions. Also in the top three, however, were problem solving/critical thinking (51%) and creativity/innovation (47%).

Taken as a whole supports the need for more high-quality CTE, with its emphasis on skill building through career pathways and comprehensive, integrated programs of study. modern approach

Unsurprisingly, many policies prioritized by CTE programs of study, including internships, mentors and courses specifically designed to prepare students for the world of work by teaching both broad and specific skills, ranked high on the list of proposed solutions to boost preparedness (see chart, at right).

Other findings concur with similar past surveys of employer needs, including the impression that students are underprepared for jobs when entering the workforce, with 69% of hiring managers agreeing that new job seekers lack the necessary skills for success and 61% calling lack of communications skills as a top factor in underpreparedness.

Read the full report here.

Evan Williamson, Communications Associate

By admin in Research
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Poll finds overwhelming support for more CTE, internships in high school

Thursday, September 18th, 2014

Research Image_6.2013A new PDK/Gallup poll released Tuesday showed 87 percent of Americans believe high school students should receive “more education about possible career choices.” Further, a majority of Americans agreed that the factors that help students get a good job include working on a real-world project, possessing employability skills such as teamwork and dependability, and having a mentor or advisor.

These results came from the second installment of the 46th annual PDK/Gallup poll. Be sure to check out our coverage of the first data release here, which primarily focused on the Common Core State Standards.

The findings add to a growing cadre of support for CTE in preparing students for success in both college and careers. The disaggregated survey results were filtered into the following categories: national total, public school parents and political affiliation.

Public school parents strongly agreed that high school students should be required to participate in at least one paid or unpaid internship and should be allowed to earn credits toward graduation from instruction they receive outside of school or online. However, results were mixed about whether students should specialize in a career area of their choice during high school.

Given the enthusiasm shown here for exposing students to more career opportunities, there are clear opportunities to continue educating parents and the public about the benefits of CTE and further breakdown the mentality of CTE as an either/or decision for students — particularly when it comes to preparation for college and careers.

Andrea Zimmermann, State Policy Associate

By admin in Research
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PARCC Sets Benchmark to Define Academic Preparation Necessary for College and Career Readiness

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) Governing Board and the PARCC Advisory Committee on College Readiness (ACCR) have established a common benchmark to define the academic preparation necessary for college and career readiness.

Recently, the groups voted unanimously to adopt a College- and Career-Ready Determination (CCRD) policy and Policy-Level Performance Level Descriptors (PLDs). Agreement on a CCRD policy and the PLDs in mathematics and English language arts/literacy is a significant milestone in the development of the next generation assessments, according to a recent PARCC announcement.

The CCRD policy defines the level of academic preparation in English language arts/literacy and mathematics students need to be successful in entry-level, credit-bearing courses in two- and four-year public institutions of higher education. Such institutions include technical colleges that award degrees or credentials aligned to entry requirements of middle- or high-skilled jobs.

Further, students who achieve at the CCR level on the secondary assessments will be able to enter directly into certain entry-level, credit-bearing courses in those subject areas without needing to take placement tests.

The CCRD policy recognizes the importance of academic preparation, but also notes that a focus on that area alone does not encompass the full range of knowledge, skills, and characteristics that students need to be successful. Skills and traits such as persistence, motivation, time management, employability skills and technical skills also are essential. The CCRDs aims to serve as one among many tactics to support students as they work to be college and career ready.

Learn more at http://www.parcconline.org/about-parcc.

Erin Uy, Communications and Marketing Manager

By admin in News
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NASDCTEc Joins Broad Coalition, Releases United Statement on Career Readiness

Thursday, October 18th, 2012

NASDCTEc is among a remarkably broad coalition of 27 education, business, philanthropic and policy groups that have come together to create a clear, unified and focused vision for what it means to be career ready.

The Career Readiness Partner Council is aiming to enhance reform efforts around college and career readiness to include a more comprehensive understanding of what it means to be career ready. The Council’s statement, Building Blocks For Change: What it Means to be Career Ready, makes clear that career readiness is a process of connecting “education and employment to achieve a fulfilling, financially-secure and successful career.” Further, it establishes that career readiness must foster “adaptability and a commitment to lifelong learning, along with a mastery of key knowledge, skills and dispositions that vary from one career to another and change over time.”

“The notion of college and career readiness must be broadened, shifting from its primary focus on college entrance and completion to include a mastery of key knowledge, skills and dispositions that students must foster throughout the life of their careers,” said Kimberly Green, NASDCTEc Executive Director.

“The vision laid out by the Career Readiness Partner Council brings the nation closer to developing programs that truly prepare students to compete in the global economy.”

This Council’s definition will help inform policy in states and communities across the country. It offers clear guidance, and lays out next steps for groups from policymakers to educators.  The coalition consulted leading researchers and practitioners during the development, and drew heavily from the rich body of work from many of the participating organizations.

Organizations represented in the Council include the Association for Career and Technical Education, Achieve, American Association of Community Colleges, Council of Chief State School Officers, Ford, National Academy Foundation and the National Governors Association.

“We hope,” the document says, “this definition spurs conversation and action in communities across the nation. The inextricable link between education and the economy has never been more apparent, the urgency for change unparalleled.”

The full report and a complete list of the participating organizations can be found at CareerReadyNow.org

By admin in News
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Forty-One States and DC Declare Support for Development of Shared Set of CTE Standards

Monday, March 26th, 2012

NASDCTEc announced today that state leaders from across the nation are uniting to spearhead an initiative to develop a Common Career Technical Core (CCTC), a set of shared state standards for Career Technical Education (CTE).

NASDCTEc  is coordinating the state-led effort, which will complement and support comprehensive college and career ready standards, such as the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSI) in English Language Arts and Mathematics. The CCTC will build a common connection among states to help prepare CTE students for high-skill, high-wage, and high-demand jobs. Forty-one states; Washington, DC and Palau have signed a declaration of support for the CCTC initiative, pledging their involvement in the development stage.

A range of stakeholders from business and industry to educators will be involved in the multi-step process to develop the CCTC. The development of the standards will be led by working groups made up of state-nominated experts from a variety of sectors. Their involvement will help ensure that the CCTC reflects the timely education and workforce needs of today’s global economy.

The working groups convened for the first time this week. Later in the spring, NASDCTEc will seek public comment on the draft standards. Final standards are scheduled for public release in June 2012, at which point states will move individually to adopt and implement the CCTC.

Erin Uy, Communications & Marketing Manager

By admin in Advance CTE Announcements, Advance CTE State Director, News
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ACT scores increase, but college and career readiness needs improvement

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Students’ performance in the ACT’s 2009 college-ready assessment made a slight increase from previous years across all subject areas. However, education stakeholders say the modest upticks have yet to meet the growing need of the nation to prepare students for postsecondary education and their careers.

“The recent increase in college preparedness on the ACT is good news. But our students need to do dramatically better to guarantee their future economic success,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in an ACT-published statement.

The percentage of graduates ready to earn at least a “C” or higher in first-year college courses in all four ACT subject areas —English, math, reading and science—increased from 22 percent in 2008 to 23 percent in 2009. Student’s potential to earn that “C” is ACT’s measure of college readiness. The recent test outcomes were higher than in 2005 and 2006 and are the same as in 2007, when the pool of test-takers was likely less diverse in terms of academic preparation, according to ACT.

Further, ACT considers those same students career ready. By measure of ACT, students who are ready to earn at least a “C” or higher in first-year college are also prepared for success in their first year of most workforce training programs of fields in which they may earn a wage sufficient to support a family and have potential for career advancement.

ACT has issued the following recommendations on steps that states and school districts can take to better prepare students for college and career:
• Adopt fewer—but essential—college and career readiness standards as their new high school graduation standards.
• Adopt a rigorous core curriculum for all high school graduates, whether they are bound for college or work.
• Define “how good is good enough” for college and career readiness.
• Strengthen the rigor of their courses.
• Begin monitoring academic achievement early to make sure younger students are on target to be ready for
college and career.
• Establish longitudinal P-16 (preschool through college) data systems.

By admin in Research
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