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A Model for Transforming Technical Education

Friday, July 9th, 2010

An automotive manufacturing technical program that joined governors, industry and community colleges to develop comprehensive education training could serve as a scalable model for other sectors to answer the high-demand for technical workers in the global economy.

The Automotive Manufacturing Technical Education Collaborative (AMTEC) program demonstrates how governors, industry and community colleges can work together to transform Americaâ€™s workforce with better technical skills, according to a recent National Governors Association Center for Best Practices report. Through this model AMTEC has brought together automotive manufacturers and community colleges to identify and implement potential improvements within technical education, noted in the report, A Sharper Focus on Technical Workers: How to Educate and Train for the Global Economy.

AMTEC is a collaboration of community colleges and industry partners working to align automotive manufacturing programs to the growing needs within the automotive manufacturing technology field.

Some of the major lessons within this case study include:

The U.S. must value and invest in technical education and manufacturing companies, as other nations do.
Technical education must reflect the requirements of the knowledge economy.
Curricula must be developed with industries to ensure that the skills being taught are what industry needs.
Programs must be rigorous to ensure that students are prepared to take what they have learned and implement that easily into the workplace.

An example within this report highlights the collaboration efforts between Toyota, located in Kentucky, and the Kentucky Community & Technical College System. Toyota partnered with the Kentucky Community College system because other schools were not providing the training Toyota was looking for. They challenged the school system to create a rigorous curriculum that would reflect the needs of their company, and the needs of the economy, so that students were better prepared for the workplace.

AMTECâ€™s model can transferred to other sectors of technical education because it focuses on meeting the needs of industry, employers and students by creating a standard for technical education, within each specific sector, where student performance can be assessed.

As the United States continues to advance with our global economy it is imperative that we recognize the importance of producing skilled workers. These kinds of partnerships are vital to the success of CTE, and Americaâ€™s future workforce, as they demonstrate the value of CTE and how these programs will ensure the United States a place in this competitive global economy.

By admin in Public Policy, Resources
Tags: business and industry, community colleges, global competition, Job training, Public Policy, workforce

Legislative Update: Education Jobs Fund, America WORKS, Technical School Training Bill

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

Education Jobs Fund Passes House, But President Threatens Veto

As predicted earlier this week, the House voted on the Supplemental Appropriations Act. During the vote, the House passed amendment by Rep. Dave Obey (WI) which included $10 billion for education jobs and $4.95 billion for Pell grants by a vote of 239-182. However, White House has issued a Statement of Administration Policy which states that â€œIf the final bill presented to the President includes cuts to education reforms, the Presidentâ€™s senior advisors would recommend a veto.â€

The bill now returns to the Senate where it will be subject to any further amendments by the Senate or by concurrence with the House amendments. If the Senate further amends the bill, it will return to the House. It is unclear when the Senate will take up the bill because Congress is in recess next week.

America WORKS Act

Last week, Sen. Kay Hagan (NC) introduced S. 3529, the America WORKS Act which would require Federal job training and career education programs to give priority to programs that provide an industry-recognized and nationally portable credential. This bill would have implications for postsecondary Perkins indicators, and we are working with Sen. Haganâ€™s staff on getting this language amended. We will keep you updated on our progress.

Technical School Training Bill

On June 24, Rep. John Barrow (GA) introduced H.R. 5594, a bill that would amend the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) to establish a technical school training subsidy program. This program would go a long way in ensuring that Workforce Investment Act funds would be used to provide career technical education and training services so that individuals are prepared for lifelong careers. This bill aligns to our recommendations for WIA reauthorization which call for greater access to high-quality training.

By admin in Legislation
Tags: advocacy, appropriations, community colleges, Congress, federal legislation, funding, Job training, Perkins, postsecondary, president, WIA

Institute Report Out: Postsecondary and Industry Offer Perspective on Developing a Program of Study

Monday, June 28th, 2010

On July 15^th, the National Career Clusters Institute presented a panel of postsecondary and industry representatives as part of the Green-Focused Program of Study Series. In order to develop an effective program of study, secondary, postsecondary and industry have to collaborate. These panelists are from exemplary teams who are working on the development of a program of study through the Green-Focused Program of Study Technical Assistance Academy grant. During this session, they responded to attendees questions and offered their insights.

Todd Sanders: Â Instructor – Mechanical Engineering, Portland Community College, Ohio

John Steiner: Curriculum Specialist: Allied Health and Sciences, Salem Community College, New Jersey

Jerrold Hutton: Dean, Hocking College Energy Institute, Ohio

Krisann Rehbein: Manager of Community Partnerships, Chicago Architecture Foundation, Illinois

Q&A with Postsecondary:

How do we get components from postsecondary programs into secondary programs?

Use curriculum revision as an opportunity for collaboration. Get the faculty together and lay the curriculum out on the table in order to start to see potential crossover. Meet consistently to establish a working relationship.

Do you have any tips about working on dual credit?

Donâ€™t forget about general education components, they are just as beneficial and are often easier to build into dual credit because they tend to be very similar at secondary and postsecondary levels.

Classes often close out quickly at community colleges. How can we get more high school students into community college classes?

Offer flexible scheduling and more classes at different hours.
Also look for online learning opportunities.

Q&A with Industry:

How do we engage industry more with internships and apprenticeships?

Have a student do the outreach. Give employers an opportunity to connect with a student from the very beginning.

Industry moves so fast, how can education keep up?

Software and technology will change all the time. The Internet offers a platform for continued learning online via tutorials, etc. But what about the basic, essential skills? In architecture and construction, for example, how do you learn context, like where to place a building? What are the green/environmental components? Connection to industry is not necessarily through cutting-edge specific skills, but rather a solid understanding of what you are doing and why. With this base, you can develop additional skills over time.

Have industry advisory committees or national organizations played a critical role?

Most guidance comes directly from industry in order to keep students up with what [architecture] firms are doing locally because they move at their own pace.

By admin in Career ClustersÂ®, News
Tags: Career ClustersÂ®, community colleges, green jobs, postsecondary

ACTE Leadership Forum Focuses on Preparing the Future Workforce

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Yesterday ACTE hosted a National Leadership Forum to discuss policy and practice around preparing todayâ€™s students for the workforce.Â Topics included skills attainment, CTEâ€™s role in economic development, certifications and assessments, and federal policy.

Glenn Cummings, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Vocational and Adult Education, outlined the Administrationâ€™s goals for preparing students:

Abolish dual tracks â€“ there is a baseline set of skills that all students need to be successful
Assessments â€“ the use of performance based assessments has been encouraged through the Race to the Top competition
Access to further skills â€“ regardless of the setting (university, community college or skill training program) there needs to be better communication between high schools and postsecondary institutions
Access to funding â€“ students, especially working students, are hard pressed to finish school without financial assistance, and many drop out because they cannot afford tuition. Increases in Pell grants and a simplified FAFSA form are just two ways that the Administration is making postsecondary a financially viable option.

Kelly Hastings from Senator Michael Enziâ€™s (WY) office talked about the urgent need for WIA reauthorization this year. Despite the scant attention paid to WIA, Senator Enzi is passionate about it and is optimistic that it could be reauthorized this year. Among his priorities are: a dual customer approach, better coordination across the four titles of WIA, innovation, and flexibility. She stated that there would not be â€œwholesale changeâ€ of WIA in the next reauthorization, but that Congress will tweak the existing law to meet the needs to todayâ€™s workforce.

Congressman Ruben Hinojosa, chair of the House Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and hinojosaphoto_highres Competitiveness, joined us during lunch to offer his perspective. He spoke about being elected to Congress from a district with a 23% unemployment rate 16 years ago and a current unemployment rate of 6%.Â He credits the investment in human capital and education for the dramatic decline in unemployment.

If there was one point that I heard over and over from several speakers it was that during a time of 9% unemployment there are jobs going unfilled because of the lack of skilled workers.Â CTE is a means to develop pathways of education and training to get people appropriately matched to these jobs.Â At a time when 15 million people in this country are unemployed, no job should remain unfilled.

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: college and career readiness, community colleges, Congress, future, Job training, OVAE, Post Secondary Access and Affordability, postsecondary, Public Policy, race to the top, WIA

Legislative Update: America COMPETES Act, Community College Grants, America RISING Act

Friday, June 4th, 2010

America COMPETES Act

On May 28th, the House ofÂ RepresentativesÂ passed a five-year reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act with a bipartisan vote of 262-150.Â Over 750 organizations have endorsed COMPETES, including: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Information Technology Industry Council, the American Chemical Society, the Business Roundtable, the Council on Competitiveness, the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the National Venture Capital Association, TechAmerica, and the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

Community College and Career Training Grant program

The House passed an amended version of H.R. 4213, American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010 by a vote of 215-204.Â The House bill included a provision related the Community College and Career Training Grant program under the Trade Act of 1974.Â The provisions included in the bill would expand the program by authorizing such grants to also benefit individuals who are eligible for unemployment insurance, who are likely to be eligible for unemployment insurance or who have exhausted their unemployment insurance. Additionally, the provisions would: (1) clarify that only public and non-profit educational institutions are eligible for grants; (2) authorize the Department of Labor to spend up to five percent of program funds to administer, evaluate and establish reporting systems for the program; and (3) give the Department of Labor more flexibility by allowing it to obligate grant funds in the year that they are appropriated as well as the subsequent fiscal year.

America RISING Act of 2010

Rep. Laura Richardson introduced H.R. 5472, America RISING Act of 2010 which would establish a grant program for stipends to assist in the cost of compensation paid by employers to certain recent college graduates and to provide funding for their further education in subjects relating to STEM.

By admin in Legislation
Tags: community colleges, Congress, federal legislation, Job training, postsecondary, STEM

Secretary Duncan Appoints Committee on Measures of Student Success

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

On Wednesday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the 15 members of the new Committee on Measures of Student Success which will advise the Secretary in assisting two-year degree-granting institutions of higher education in meeting the completion or graduation rate disclosure requirements outlined in section 485 of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. The committee will also develop recommendations regarding additional or alternate measures of student success that are comparable alternatives to the completion or graduation rates, taking into account the mission and role of two-year degree-granting higher education institutions. These recommendations will be submitted to the Secretary within 18 months of the first meeting of the Committee.

The panel will be chaired by Thomas Bailey, professor of economics and education at Columbia University’s Teachers College and head of the Community College Research Center. The other members are:

Margarita Benitez, senior associate, Excelencia in Education
Wayne Burton, president, North Shore Community College
Kevin Carey, policy director, Education Sector
Alisa Federico Cunningham, vice president, Institute for Higher Education Policy
Jacob Fraire, assistant vice president for educational alliances, Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation
Isabel Friedman, student, University of Pennsylvania
Millie Garcia, president, California State University at Dominguez Hills
Sharon Kristovich, higher education consultant
Harold Levy, managing director, Palm Ventures; former chancellor of New York City Public Schools
Geri Palast, executive director, Campaign for Fiscal Equity
Patrick Perry, vice chancellor, California Community College System
Lashawn Richburg-Hayes, deputy director, MDRC
Linda Thor, chancellor, De Anza College
Belle Wheelan, president, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: accountability, community colleges, Data, Secretary Duncan

The Condition of Education 2010

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

The Condition of Education 2010 report released last week by the National Center for Education Statistics is an annual compilation of data and analyses that detail trends in student enrollment, learner outcomes, educational progress, demographics and school environments from early education to postsecondary levels.

Each year the report includes a special analysis section, this year focused on high poverty public schools. The report indicates that one in six public school students is now enrolled in a high-poverty school and â€œstudents who attend high-poverty schools perform persistently lower in math and reading achievement and are less likely to attend four-year colleges when compared to their peers in low-poverty schools.â€

This report is full of data snapshots, charts, and graphs that give the reader a sense of how students in our public education systems are faring today. Some of the results that may be of interest include:

Secondary

Public elementary and secondary enrollment is projected to increase from 49 to 52 million students from 2007-08 through 2019-20. The South is projected to increase its share of enrollment to 40 percent over that period.
The number of students enrolled in charter schools has nearly quadrupled, from 340,000 to 1.3 million students from 1999 to 2008.
Among public high school students in the class of 2006â€“07, the averaged freshman graduation rate was 73.9 percent, or 2.9 million students graduating on time.
Primary goals cited by secondary school counselors included: helping students with their academic achievement (48 percent), help students plan and prepare for postsecondary schooling (26 percent), help them with personal growth and development (17 percent), and help them plan and prepare for their work roles after high school (8 percent).

Postsecondary

From 2000 to 2008, undergraduate enrollment increased by 24 percent to 16.4 million students, and is projected to increase further, reaching 19.0 million students in 2019.
At 2-year institutions, undergraduate enrollment increased from 5.9 to 7.0 million students from 2000 to 2008 and is expected to reach 8.2 million students by 2019. Full-time enrollment increased from 2.2 to 2.8 million students (28 percent), while part-time enrollment increased from 3.7 to 4.1 million students (11 percent).
One-half of the undergraduates who start at a public 2-year institution with the intention of obtaining a bachelor’s degree and about one-fourth of those who start with an associate’s degree goal transfer to a 4-year institution within 6 years.
Between 1997â€“98 and 2007â€“08, the number of degrees earned increased by 34 percent for associate’s degrees, by 32 percent for bachelor’s degrees, and by 45 percent for master’s degrees.
Of the 750,200 associate’s degrees earned in 2007â€“08, 55 percent were awarded in two broad areas of study: liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities (34 percent) and health professions and related clinical sciences (21 percent). Several fields experienced a decline in the number of associate’s degrees awarded: associate’s degrees in engineering and engineering technologies decreased by 8 percent from 2007â€“08 to 1997â€“98.

By admin in Publications
Tags: community colleges, Data, postsecondary, Secondary

New York Times: CTE Can Provide Clearer Pathway to Jobs

Friday, May 21st, 2010

â€œCollege and career readyâ€ has been the buzz phrase floating in education and policy circles, but only recently has the term been linked to what many outside of the CTE community refer to as â€œalternativeâ€ colleges â€“ community colleges and technical schools. A recent New York Times article reveals the shift in perspective as education and economic stakeholders recognize the growing value of two-year and industry-focused programs and institutions.

In â€œPlan B: Skip Collegeâ€, Jacques Steinberg describes the current economic crisis as the catalyst for the nation to rethink the best way to prepare people to succeed in the workforce. Through a CTE lens, Steinbergâ€™s article does fault by equating education and economic experts call for industry-focused credentials or two-year degrees with a â€œno college at allâ€ pathway. However, the article does suggest a strong case for postsecondary education outside of four-year institutions.

Steinberg notes that no more than half of students who began a four-year bachelorâ€™s degree program in the fall of 2006 will graduate within six years. The potential loss of time and money is evident. Further, not only is four-year postsecondary education prohibitively expensive for many people, it is also not a requirement for some of the fastest growing jobs in our economy:

â€œAmong the top 10 growing job categories, two require college degrees: accounting (a bachelorâ€™s) and postsecondary teachers (a doctorate). But this growth is expected to be dwarfed by the need for registered nurses, home health aides, customer service representatives and store clerks. None of those jobs require a bachelorâ€™s degree.â€

This article highlights the opportunities now available for CTE to capture the nationâ€™s attention. More people are looking for postsecondary alternatives, recognizing that four-year colleges cannot be the only answer for our nationâ€™s students. Students must be college and career ready, and we, the CTE community, must find ways to show the effectiveness of our programs at contributing to economic return by keeping more students in school and on track and by providing them with the skills necessary to enter the workplace.

See the complete article here.

By admin in News
Tags: college and career readiness, community colleges, global competition, Job training, Post Secondary Access and Affordability

Community College 2.0

Monday, May 10th, 2010

Last week, the Center for American Progress (CAP) released Community College 2.0, a brief that calls on the federal government to help community colleges reach their goals of improving student success and helping train our workforce for the future. According to CAP, new funding is needed for the Departments of Education and Labor to be directed toward community colleges, and used to foster innovation in three key areas:

Faculty and staff professional development to help ensure that these school leaders are prepared to teach integrated developmental, occupational, and academic courses and provide career advising
Data systems that help community colleges better understand student learning and provide students with information to better plan their education
New associateâ€™s degree education models built on a foundation of apprenticeship and career pathways

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: apprenticeship, career pathways, community colleges, Data, Job training, postsecondary, professional development

Community College Offers Money-Back Guarantee

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Testament to CTEâ€™s philosophy that education should prepare students to succeed in both college and career, a Michigan community college is offering students a refund if their education doesnâ€™t land them a job within a year of completion.

A Time article released earlier this month, featured Lansing Community College, the third largest community college in the state. The college is guaranteeing a job to students who take six-week courses in the four most in-demand technical jobs in the area: call-center specialists, pharmacy technicians, quality inspectors and computer machinists.

The money-back guarantee is a pilot program and is to only 61 students, who may be vying for a job in Lansing where unemployment is at 11.7 percent.

By admin in News
Tags: college and career readiness, community colleges, postsecondary

Posts Tagged ‘community colleges’