Twitter icon
Facebook icon
LinkedIn icon
YouTube icon



Posts Tagged ‘community colleges’

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

What Lies Ahead for Higher Education in 2010

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

This month the American Association of State Colleges and Universities released Top 10 Higher Education State Policy Issues for 2010, a brief that outlines what that group believes will be the state higher education policy issues at the forefront of discussion and legislative activity in 2010. While all of the topics are likely to affect postsecondary CTE, such as state budget shortfalls, tuition, and data, some are specifically related to CTE, such as community colleges.

First, President Obama’s American Graduation Initiative (AGI), if passed into law, will invest billions of dollars into community colleges including the Community College Challenge Fund, would give $9 billion in challenge grant funding to community colleges for innovative programs such as workforce partnerships and $500 million to develop online courses.

Second, enrollment capacity at community colleges is a major concern as more and more people return to school due to unemployment or to upgrade their skills.  According to the American Association of Community Colleges enrollment in credit-bearing classes increased 16.9 percent over the last two years.  As state education budgets dwindle, there is a real concern that these open institutions will have to increase tuition or turn students away.

Third, improved data systems could help community colleges track student achievement and attainment in a more efficient and robust way.  In one such proposal, the National Governors Association (NGA) identified four achievement milestones that all states should track: completion of remedial and core courses, advancement from remedial to credit-bearing courses, transfer from a two-year to a four-year institution, and credential attainment.

Finally, college and career readiness standards will be a key focus for CTE in the year ahead.  In 2009, NGA and the Council of Chief State School Officers developed national college and career readiness standards to be vetted and adopted by the states in the coming years.

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: , , ,

Frank Chong Named Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

chongThis week, Dr. Frank Chong began serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges at the United States Department of Education. This office is housed within the Office of Vocational and Adult Education.

Dr. Chong had served as president of Laney College in Oakland, California since July, 2006. Dr. Chong also served as President of Mission Community College in Santa Clara, California and was also Dean of Student Affairs at City College of San Francisco. Before getting into community college administration Dr. Chong was special assistant to the Speaker of the California State Assembly, Willie L. Brown, Jr. Adding to Dr. Chong’s understanding of education issues he also served as an elected member of the San Francisco Board of Education.

Dr. Chong received a B.A. in Social Welfare and Asian American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. He earned a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University, and a Doctorate in Educational Administration, Leadership and Technology from Dowling College.

We look forward to working with Dr. Chong and the rest of the leadership team at OVAE to reinforce the important work CTE programs are doing across the country to provide students with the skills they need to be successful in their educational journey and in the workforce.

By admin in Advance CTE Announcements, Public Policy
Tags: , ,

Policymakers Need New Perspective, Approach to Community Colleges, Report Says

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

The changes in the economy over recent years have placed a new focus on community colleges and the role they can play in the nation’s recovery. However, a recent Center for American Progress report notes that significant policy changes must be enacted for community colleges to best serve students and prepare them to succeed in the workforce.

Re-imagining Community Colleges in the 21st Century: A Student-Centered Approach to Higher Education, a report released in December, offers a series of student-focused policy recommendations dedicated to re-imagining community colleges. The recommendations aim to address the larger issue of recognizing that community colleges require political support in achieving their multiple missions and functions: developmental education, vocational-occupational education and university transfer.

The report calls on political leaders and policymakers to “move past normative understandings of community colleges and their students and expect no less of these institutions and no less for their students than the best that is offered at any level of postsecondary education.”

Some recommendations include:
• New approaches to training and credentialing – States and federal legislation should support innovative, credit-based training programs that respond to student and industry needs.

• Funding for colleges and financial support for students – Policymakers should create a financial support program modeled after the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill that would include stipends for full-time or part-time community college students and allowance for books and supplies.

• Policies to promote developmental education – States must institute policies that support innovative uses of data that require collaboration between elementary, secondary and postsecondary systems.

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: ,

Pathways From Education System to Job Complicated and Oft Wastes Time and Resources

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Pathways from education system to job complicated and oft wastes time and resources
As workers adjust to the changes brought about by the nation’s recent economic downturn, they will be looking to our education system to provide them the knowledge and skills needed to earn a living wage. But navigating the pathway from postsecondary education to a job is complicated and often results in a waste of time and resources that do not even lead to a postsecondary credential, according to a recent Education Commission of the States report.

Revving the Education Engine notes the hurdles that government, education and business leaders must leap in order to create an effective education system which benefits students and state economies. Further, the report provides a series of recommendations on how to overcome those challenges. The suggested approach is drawn from ECS’s work in 2009, which is when the organization dedicated efforts to engage state education, business and workforce development leaders in the creation of a framework that would allow states to more effectively align education, economic development and workforce development policy.

In brief, the report highlights the complicated structure of education and workforce training systems – from high school to workforce training programs to community colleges – and calls for the need to coordinate goals, resources and efforts. The alignment strategy should include four main elements:
1. Integration of education, workforce development and economic development policy
2. Regional focus
3. Positions education as the arbiter of the student supply and workforce demand
4. Aligned P-20, economic development and workforce development system

While it is clear that the need for alignment should be a national priority, the report does point out that the national strategy must be regionally sensitive. The economic downturn has been felt unevenly across states and regions and it is important to recognize the disparities that exist in order to scaffold an education and training plan that can best support a specific area. The report offers thorough examples of how states have deployed strategies to reach some versions of alignment.

By admin in Public Policy, Research
Tags: , ,

Education Department Hosts Meeting With WIA Stakeholders

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

The U.S. Department of Education held “WIA Community Conversations with National Organizations” this morning to get input from stakeholders about WIA reauthorization.  Brenda Dann-Messier, the Assistant Secretary of OVAE, and Martha Kanter, the Undersecretary of Education, opened the meeting by highlighting the need to better align workforce and education.  The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the American Graduation Initiative are two areas where this could be done.  Undersecretary Kanter also stressed that WIA reauthorization must be looked at in the context of Perkins and ESEA.

Attendees were then given five minutes each to present their recommendations to the panel.  While many focused on Title II of WIA (Adult Education), there was some talk of integrating adult education with workforce training, as well as developing state career pathway grants.  Several groups also suggested expanding the Title V incentive fund into more of an innovation grant program that would incentivize partner programs to collaborate on developing innovative programs.  There was also some concern that there are barriers in place that discourage community colleges from participating in the WIA system, despite being well-established training providers.

By admin in Legislation
Tags: , , ,

The Community College Emergency Stabilization Fund Act

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Last week, Rep. John Larson (D-CT) and Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX) introduced H.R. 4196, the Community College Emergency Stabilization Fund Act.  The bill would provide $700 million to states to offer one-time grants to assist community colleges in maintaining, or hiring additional, faculty and staff.  The bill also provides $50 million for a federal competitive grant program for career and technical colleges to maintain, or hire additional, faculty and staff.

This bill comes at a critical time – as people go back to school to upgrade their skills, community colleges are faced with increases in enrollment and a lack of resources.  According to the American Association of Community Colleges, enrollment at community colleges for 2009 is already 10% above 2008 levels. At the same time, 32 states have cut the budgets of their public colleges.  This funding would ease the financial burden of hiring additional faculty to meet the new demand.

Reps. Larson and Hinojosa hope to have the bill attached as part of any jobs package that Congress may introduce in the coming months.  According to Congressman Larson, the bill will “create jobs immediately for teachers, career counselors, and other staff at community colleges that receive the funding. And second, it will help train our workforce to take advantage of the job opportunities in new and emerging fields that come out of our economic recovery.”

By admin in Legislation
Tags: , ,

Weak Education Pipeline Could Stunt Community College Potential and Students’ Economic Mobility

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Community colleges can boost earnings for students, particularly those who pursue high-return fields such as computer science or engineering; however the greatest impediments to such success are failings among high schools to prepare students for postsecondary education, according to a recent study.

Findings in Strengthening Community Colleges’ Influence on Economic Mobility, a The Pew Charitable Trusts report, underscore the need to fortify connections between secondary and postsecondary institutions. Given the new national focus on community colleges, the projected growth in technical fields and the rising demand for college and career readiness, CTE appears poised to play an integral role in addressing the pipeline issue.

Positive outcomes such as student achievement in community colleges and the obtainment of higher wages after community college are more likely among students who earn higher GPAs in high school, said the report, which focused on Florida community colleges.

“The largest factor limiting the ability of community colleges to raise the earnings of their students through the transfer function is students’ poor academic preparation in high school and the difficulty of quickly boosting their performance through developmental programs,” the report said.

Lack of postsecondary readiness could have an ultimate impact on a students’ overall economic mobility. According to the report, students with higher high school GPAs complete more postsecondary courses that have higher financial returns. For instance, earnings significantly increase among students who concentrate in high-return fields such as health care, agriculture, business and computer science, which are largely CTE-focused areas.

Seven years after leaving college, Florida students’ average annual earning in high-return fields averaged about $54,000. That compares to the $42,000 average annual earnings among students in low-return fields such as communications, humanities and consumer services, the report said.

Students, particularly the notable amount of low-income individuals who earn degrees in community colleges, may by shortchanged of opportunities because of stubborn institutional silos and inadequacies of certain high school programs. This report underscores the strengths of community colleges as well as what needs to be done at all educational levels to maximize the potential for all students and the nation’s economy.

By admin in Research
Tags: ,

Community College Noncredit Occupational Programming Report by NRCCTE

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

The National Research Center for Career and Technical Education’s report on Community College Noncredit Occupational Programming: A Study of State Policies and Funding revealed that noncredit programming has a range of definitions across states, policy variances for development and delivery and funding, and that many states do not have a centralized system for gathering and reporting data on noncredit programming.

By admin in Publications, Research
Tags: ,

New IES data highlights CTE student postsecondary trends, degree attainment

Friday, October 16th, 2009

New data provided by the Institute of Education Sciences highlights the proportions of CTE concentrators who enrolled in postsecondary institutions, how long it took them to enroll, and the types of degrees or certificates they earned between 1992 and 2000.

A recent update to the IES Web site presents data relative to the conversations being had in the political and educational arenas regarding students’ postsecondary goals and successes. As presented by IES, the figures speak to the following primary questions:

What percentage of CTE concentrators enrolled in college? How soon after high school graduation did they enroll, and what types of postsecondary institutions did they enter?
•By 2000, the majority of CTE concentrators from the class of 1992 had enrolled in postsecondary education (65 percent of the total group of CTE concentrators, 59 percent of the CTE only subgroup, and 82 percent of the dual CTE and college preparatory subgroup).
•About three-quarters of all CTE concentrators who enrolled in a postsecondary institution did so within 7 months of their high school graduation
•More than half (56 percent) of all CTE concentrators began their postsecondary education at a community college, while 37 percent began at a 4-year institution, and 7 percent at another type of institution.

What proportion of CTE concentrators who enrolled in a postsecondary institution earned a postsecondary certificate or degree?
•Among the total group of CTE concentrators from the class of 1992 who enrolled in a postsecondary institution, about half earned a postsecondary certificate or degree by 2000, while about one-quarter (26 percent) earned a bachelor’s or higher degree.
•A higher proportion of college preparatory only students earned a postsecondary certificate or degree than both the total group of CTE concentrators and the subgroup of dual CTE and college preparatory concentrators.
•Comparing the total group of CTE concentrators with general education students, there was no detectable difference in the proportion who earned a postsecondary certificate or degree, but CTE concentrators were more likely to have earned an associate’s degree as their highest degree, and less likely to have earned a bachelor’s or advanced degree by 2000.
•About 6 percent of the total group of CTE concentrators had not earned a postsecondary certificate or degree by 2000 but were still enrolled in postsecondary education, while 43 percent had not earned a postsecondary credential and were not enrolled.

Visit the IES Web site for more information.

By admin in Research
Tags: , , , ,

House passes Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act

Friday, September 18th, 2009

Yesterday afternoon the House voted 253 to 171 to pass H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009.  The bill includes the American Graduation Initiative which will provide funding for community colleges and area CTE schools to create innovative and effective programs that lead to the completion of a post-secondary degree, certificate or industry-recognized credential.  The bill also provides funding for secondary and postsecondary schools to use for modernization, renovation and repair of their facilities.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is scheduled to draft a companion bill this fall.  While no language has been released yet, they are planning to have a bill introduced before the October 15 reconciliation deadline.

By admin in Legislation
Tags: , ,

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

 

Series

Archives

1