Posts Tagged ‘community colleges’

Legislative Update: House Committee Passes ESEA Flexibility Bill; WIA Markup Rescheduled; Debt Talks Continue; All Children Are Equal Act; and Veterans Opportunity to Work Act

Friday, July 15th, 2011

House Committee Passes 3rd ESEA Bill

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce approved this week the third in a series of five bills designed to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The third bill, the State and Local Funding Flexibility Act, passed the Committee despite strong opposition from Democrats and accusations of civil rights violation. Read more.

Workforce Investment Act

The Senate showed an effort to move forward with reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) last month when they released a discussion draft for comment. However, markup of the bill continues to be pushed back and is now scheduled to occur on August 3rd.

Debt Talks

With only two weeks left to take action, Congress still struggles to compromise on the debt ceiling. Republican House leaders will vote next week on a plan that would increase the debt ceiling if Democrats agree to $2.4 trillion in spending cuts over the next ten years, in addition to passing a balanced budget amendment.

Obama disagrees with the Republican House plan, saying that “I have not seen a credible plan that would allow you to get to $2.4 trillion without really hurting ordinary folks.” The President continues to urge Congress to create a plan before a default occurs in early August.

Senator Mitch McConnell (KY) and Senator Harry Reid (NV) are working together to outline a plan that would give President Obama authority over the debt ceiling but would also demand its incremental increase.

Bills Introduced:

All Children Are Equal Act (ACE)

Rep. Glenn Thompson (PA) introduced H.R. 2485, the All Children Are Equal Act, to increase Title I funding through ESEA for rural districts with high numbers of low-income families. Currently, Title I funds are distributed through a complicated formula based on the size and concentration of poverty in a district. The formula often results in large, urban districts receiving much larger shares of funding than poor, rural districts. Thompson’s bill would place less weight on population to increase the formula’s focus on student poverty. The bill aims to provide more equitable distribution of funds for disadvantaged students in rural areas.

Veterans Opportunity to Work Act of 2011

Rep. Jeff Miller (FL) introduced H.R. 2433, the Veterans Opportunity to Work Act, a bill to provide retraining assistance for veterans through community college or technical schools. The bill would require attendees to participate in a full-time program leading to an associates degree or certificate and a job in a high-demand field.

By admin in Public Policy
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Study: How Much Does A College Major Impact Potential Earnings?

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

Which college majors are linked to the highest job earnings? A report released last week by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce analyzed 171 majors to report on median salaries in each field.

Anthony Carnevale, Director of the Center, stated that “The majors that are most popular are not the ones that make the most money.” He also remarked that, while he views attaining a bachelor’s degree as necessary, a student’s choice of major may be an even more important decision.

Not surprisingly, majors in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields take the top ten spots for salary. The highest earners are Petroleum Engineers with a median salary of $120,000. All ten of the lowest median earnings are in social science fields. Counseling/Psychology majors earn the least with an annual average of $29,000.

The report also reveals the majors with the lowest unemployment, including Military Technologies and School Student Counseling, and those with the highest unemployment, including Social Psychology and Nuclear Engineering.

Race and gender earnings gaps are present in all majors.

The huge disparities in earnings potential confirm the necessity of career guidance in secondary and postsecondary education. Career guidance is a key part of Career Technical Education (CTE), and helps students to attain postsecondary certificates or credentials in high-skill, high-wage, high-demand jobs.

By admin in News, Research
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Applied Baccalaureate Provides Potential Pathway for Workforce Development

Friday, May 20th, 2011

Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) recently completed a three-phase project to examine applied baccalaureate programs and their potential to provide pathways for the United States to train the workforce needed to compete in the global economy.

The Adult Learner and the Applied Baccalaureate (AB), a project sponsored by Lumina Foundation for Education, provides insight into the nation’s inventory of programs and a more in-depth examination of six selected states. The final report for this project, The Adult Learner and the Applied Baccalaureate: Lessons from Six States, highlights the trend of the programs as well as the potential the programs have to contribute to developing a robust workforce.

Some of the findings of the study lead to the following conclusions about past developments in and potential of the AB:

By admin in Public Policy, Publications, Research
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Legislative Update: Improve STEM Proficiency, Lifelong Learning Accounts, Community College Energy Training, STEM for Girls and Underrepresented Minorities

Friday, May 20th, 2011

The House is in recess until May 23rd. The following bills were introduced recently:

Education Agenda to Improve STEM Proficiency

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) introduced S. 969, an innovation education agenda as part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The bill would award planning and implementation grants to state educational agencies to implement activities integrating engineering into K-12 instruction and curriculum. Additionally, evaluation grants would be provided to assess the performance of the program. The bill aims to graduate more STEM students, attract more STEM teachers, and raise science proficiency to restore America’s competitiveness.

Lifelong Learning Accounts Act

Rep. John Larson (CT) and several others reintroduced H.R. 1869, the Lifelong Learning Accounts Act (LiLA). The bill promotes continuing education as a way to improve job skills and promote workers’ marketability. LiLA would create worker-owned, employer-matched savings accounts to incentivize career-related skill development and to promote a competitive workforce through lifelong learning.

Community College Energy Training Act

Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (NM) introduced H.R. 1881, the Community College Energy Training Act, to help community colleges provide clean energy workforce training. The bill would require the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Labor to establish a program at community colleges for workforce training in sustainable energy. The legislation currently has 24 cosponsors.

STEM for Girls, Underrepresented Minorities

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (CA) reintroduced H.R. 1903 to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to provide schools with grants to encourage girls and underrepresented minorities in fields of science, technology, engineering and math. Woolsey says that it’s important to address gender and racial gaps in the STEM field to provide more opportunities for all students, and also as a smart economic strategy for the country.

By admin in Public Policy
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Feedback Requested on Community College Virtual Symposium

Monday, May 9th, 2011

We told you last week about the Community College Virtual Symposium hosted by the U.S. Department of Education on April 27, 2011. The Department would now like stakeholder feedback:

The Department of Education will post a transcript of the proceedings on its website in the next couple of weeks.

By admin in Public Policy
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21st Century Initiative Looks at Issues Facing Community Colleges

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

In January the new president of the Association of Community Colleges (AACC), Walter Bumphus, began a national listening tour as part of an 18-month initiative to assess the top issues facing community colleges and to help community college leaders address these issues. The tour has already visited Texas, Michigan, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, New York and the Virginia/Maryland/ D.C. region; it plans to make stops over the next three months in Nebraska, Iowa, and California.

The listening tour is part of AACC’s 21st Century Initiative, which recently named three community college leaders and experts to head the 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges:

Over the course of the next 12 months, the Commission will analyze what is gathered at the listening sessions, and will also guide the work of a 30-member group consisting of leaders from education, policy making, philanthropy, and business. The goal of commission is to examine the issues and offer recommendations about the future of community colleges. A final report will be released at the 2012 AAC annual convention.

The initiative is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Kresge Foundation, with support from the ACT and ETS.

By admin in Public Policy
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ED Hosts Community College Symposium

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

Yesterday the U.S. Department of Education hosted a Community College Symposium at Montgomery College in Silver Spring, MD. This was the last in a series of events, including four regional summits, focused on community colleges led by the Department and Dr. Jill Biden. The symposium featured panels that presented preliminary findings on four issue briefs focused on:

In speaking about aligning secondary and postsecondary education, the panelists pointed out that the transition from high school to postsecondary is troublesome for many youth, and that many drop out after only one semester. They acknowledged that CTE is leading the way in the effort to align learner levels, but that alignment must be a broader part of general education in order to better serve all students. Among the successful ways in which CTE accommodates transitions are Tech Prep, Career Clusters, career pathways, and programs of study.

The panelists also mentioned the Common Core State Standards as a way to better align high school standards with postsecondary entrance requirements. However, this is not happening in most states, and would require more collaboration between secondary and postsecondary. Dual enrollment was also talked about as an effective strategy to increase communication and alignment between high schools and colleges.

By admin in Public Policy
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Update on FY11 Budget Cuts; Tech Prep Eliminated, BSG Cut

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

We learned yesterday afternoon from Congressional sources that the $138 million cut to CTE in the FY11 appropriations bill will be the total elimination of Tech Prep and an additional $35 million cut from the Basic State Grant. The rationale given was that the President had also proposed cutting Perkins in this FY12 budget. It seems that without Democratic or Republican support, we were a target during the tense negotiations last week.

In addition to the cuts to Perkins, we have learned that the following other programs have been cut or eliminated:

The bill would, however, fund a new $125 million DOL-administered “Workforce Innovation Fund” that would provide competitive grants to states or other partnerships for projects that “demonstrate innovative strategies or replicate effective evidence-based strategies” to strengthen and align the workforce system to improve participant outcomes.

Please note that in addition to the cuts listed above, the bill includes a 0.2 percent across-the-board reduction for all non-defense programs, which is not reflected in these totals.

By admin in Legislation
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Community College Students Thrive under Programs of Study

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

Community colleges are lauded for their accessibility. Most two-year institutions have open admissions policies and comparably low tuition rates. However, the challenge lies not in admitting more students to community colleges, but in guiding more students through programs of study to credential completion.

A new paper from the Community College Research Center states that most community college students drop out before attaining a credential. The author, Davis Jenkins, attributes the low completion rates to a lack of clear goals; many students do not enter a college-level program of study and instead complete a less planned series of coursework.

According to Jenkins’ analysis, students who do not commit to a program of study within the first year of enrollment are less likely to earn a credential at all.

The study suggests a method that community colleges can use to track first-time student outcomes over a period of five years. Jenkins encourages community colleges to guide more students through programs of study to increase levels of credential completion.

The full paper, Get with the Program: Accelerating Community College Students’ Entry into and Completion of Programs of Study, can be accessed here.

By admin in Research
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State Strategies Provide Lower-Skilled Individuals with Postsecondary Options

Friday, March 25th, 2011

More than half of jobs created by 2018 are projected to require some form of postsecondary education. For lower-skilled individuals with basic skills deficiencies, maintaining employment may become a challenge. Forty-five percent of adults have a high school diploma or less. Those hoping to earn a family-sustaining wage may need to attain a postsecondary credential or certificate to increase their job prospects.

A recent report from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) explains that, while federal programs can increase lower-skilled individuals’ access to postsecondary education, state and local policy decisions influence student success and completion in higher education.

CLASP’s report, Beyond Basic Skills: State Strategies to Connect Low-Skilled Students to an Employer-Valued Postsecondary Education, suggests that states implement these strategies to help lower-skilled individuals attain postsecondary credentials:

By using the above strategies, states can connect basic skills education with postsecondary education to meet the needs of lower-skilled individuals and the state’s labor market demands.

For more information on the suggested strategies, related challenges, and program examples, please read CLASP’s full report here.

By admin in Research
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