Equity and Access « Advance CTE Blog

Recommendations for State CTE Leaders: The Impact and Promise of the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment

Thursday, January 13th, 2022

Advance CTE was a fierce advocate for the inclusion of the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA) in the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V). By law, the CLNA is called to support data-driven decisionmaking and more closely align planning, spending and accountability activities under Perkins V. At that time, Advance CTE released a guide to help states identify the major decision points that would impact the design, development and implementation of their CLNA and related local needs application.

Now that we are nearing the end of the first two-years of the CLNA and as states begin to ramp up their second process, Advance CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) interviewed state and local Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders to identify exemplar states and their journey through implementation. Lessons in Collaboration and Innovation: The Impact and Promise of the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment presents findings on state successes, challenges and recommended refinements.

In the months ahead Advance CTE will continue to provide states with technical assistance, state resources and other ongoing supports. Today, Advance CTE and ACTE released the below recommendations for state CTE leaders as they begin to update their CLNA processes.

Recommendation: Fully Commit to Putting Equity at the Center of the CLNA
One of the most powerful benefits of the CLNA is the ability to identify access and performance gaps across learner populations, enabling CTE programs to better serve special populations and historically marginalized learners and break down inequities. Advance CTE’s Making Good on the Promise series defines the key challenges these learners face today and provides promising solutions.
Recommendation: Continue to Invest in Data Capacity
High-quality data — and the ability to read and understand data — is the backbone of a robust CLNA process. Advance CTE’s Career Readiness Data Quality and Use Policy Benchmark Tool describes six core elements of a high-quality career readiness data ecosystem and highlights recommended actions state leaders can take to improve the quality and effective use of career readiness data across education levels.
Recommendation: Support Local Stakeholder Engagement
One area for improvement identified by state and local leaders is the depth and breadth of stakeholders engaged. Advance CTE and ACTE recently published tips on engaging learners in With Learners, Not for Learners: A Toolkit for Elevating Learner Voice in CTE and earlier released relevant resources to support the engagement of representatives of learners with special population status and industry partners.
Recommendation: Plan Ahead to Ease Capacity and Timing Burdens
State leaders can help local recipients with this lift by aligning the CLNA, as much as possible, across the secondary and postsecondary levels and with other required activities, while also building in opportunities to update the CLNA when needed.
Recommendation: Balance a Focus on Process with a Focus on Progress
As the process becomes more established in states and local areas over time, state leaders and local recipients should also be attentive to progress toward the goal of improved alignment to needs and improved programs and services for learners.
Recommendation: Frame the CLNA as an Opportunity
To encourage local recipients, state leaders should frame the CLNA as an opportunity, rather than merely a compliance exercise. This will require thoughtful communications, messaging and outreach efforts.

View the full resource and other CLNA state supports in our Learning that Works Resource Center.

Brittany Cannady, Senior Associate Digital Media

By admin in Advance CTE Resources
Tags: ACTE, CLNA, Equity and Access, Perkins V, Stakeholder engagement

Legislative Update: Congress Returns With Funding Deadline Looming

Friday, January 7th, 2022

The Senate returned to a snow-covered Capitol Hill this week, while the House is due to return next week. By mid next month, lawmakers must once again act on FY22 appropriations along with a slew of other agenda items for 2022. In addition, federal agencies have unveiled new broadband connectivity efforts, updated equity requirements for educational aid provided last year, and sought to address bus driver shortages plaguing school districts across the nation.

Congress Returns With Funding Deadline Looming

Earlier this week, the Senate formally reconvened to begin the second session of the 117th Congress. The House is scheduled to follow suit next Monday, January 10. As lawmakers return to Capitol Hill this week and next, they will be confronted with a number of important agenda items, including determining a path forward for Democrats’ domestic spending package, known as the Build Back Better Act (BBBA). However, first among these is the fast-approaching date of February 18, which is when funding for the current 2022 federal fiscal year (FY22) is set to expire. Last year, Congress enacted a short-term extension of FY21 funding levels to keep the federal government open and related federal programs funded. This extension was intended to provide lawmakers additional time to find agreement on a full-year FY22 funding bill, which would last through September 30 of this year. As these efforts get underway, Advance CTE will continue to advocate for the significant funding needs of the Career Technical Education (CTE) community.

FCC Launches New Connectivity Program and Grants New Waiver Flexibilities

On December 31, 2021, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officially launched the Affordable Connectivity Program—an initiative authorized by the recently enacted bipartisan infrastructure legislation (known also as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act). The program allots $14.2 billion in supplementary funding for eligible individuals to acquire subsidies for internet service bills and one-time discounts for certain internet capable devices. More on the announcement can be found here.

In addition to these efforts, the FCC also issued an order on Tuesday, responding to seven requests to waive the Emergency Connectivity Fund’s (ECF) $400 cap for the purchasing of connected devices. The $7.2 billion ECF program was authorized as part of the American Rescue Plan and was a key Advance CTE legislative priority to help respond to the “homework gap.” The ECF allows eligible schools and libraries to apply for financial support to purchase connected devices like laptops and tablets, Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, routers, and broadband connectivity to serve unmet needs of students, school staff, and library patrons at home during the ongoing pandemic. This week’s order granted five out of the seven requested waivers capping the allowable cost of these devices.

ED Unveils New Proposed MOEq Requirements

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) published updates to requirements for states and local school districts regarding the implementation of “Maintenance of Equity” (MOEq) provisions contained in the American Rescue Plan (ARP). This announcement follows earlier guidance from USED on this topic. Published in the Federal Register, the proposal details a series of new reporting requirements that states and school districts would need to complete by December 31, 2022. The Department is seeking feedback from the public on this proposal and comments are due to the Department by February 2, 2022. Additional information on the announcement can be found here.

School Bus Driver Certification Waivers Announced

Also on Tuesday, ED and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced a series of actions to address the nation’s ongoing shortage of school bus drivers. Among these planned responses, ED and USDOT jointly committed to waiving certain requirements from commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) to reduce the entry requirements to train new bus drivers. The waiver took effect Monday, January 3, and is set to expire March 31 of this year. Bus operators receiving a CDL under this temporary waiver will only be permitted to work within a single state. More information regarding this announcement can be found here.

ED Approves Last Round of State ARP Plans

The American Rescue Plan (ARP), passed last spring, authorized $122 billion in additional pandemic aid funding to be disbursed to K-12 schools over the last year. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) distributed two-thirds of this funding to states via a formula detailed in the legislation during 2021. However, ED held back the remaining third of these funds until states and territories submitted plans detailing how they would make use of these resources to support students as they recover from the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last few weeks in December, the Department approved the remaining state ARP plans that were awaiting review by ED, including those for Florida, Mississippi, and Vermont. All state ARP plans, including highlights and related press releases, can be found here.

Steve Voytek, Policy Advisor

By Stacy Whitehouse in COVID-19 and CTE, Public Policy
Tags: American Rescue Plan, appropriations, Build Back Better Act, CTE Policy, Equity and Access, Federal Policy, Florida, Homework Gap, Legislative Update, Mississippi, U.S. Secretary of Education, Vermont

Welcome Nithya Govindasamy to Advance CTE!

Tuesday, October 19th, 2021

Advance CTE welcomes Nithya Govindasamy as a Senior Advisor. Nithya leads and manages major organization-wide, highly visible initiatives that support, promote and increase equitable access to and success in high-quality Career Technical Education (CTE), which includes: workforce development, education and equity initiatives; technical assistance for Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education (CTE Without Limits), Stimulus Collaborative and the New Skills ready network; and Advance CTE’s external equity strategy. Nithya will also support national and state CTE leadership, policy, and implementation.

Nithya was born in Chennai, India and immigrated to Ohio in the early 90s with her family. She considers Ohio “the Buckeye State” to be home, but relocated to Dallas, Texas in 2016.

Most recently, Nithya was the Director of Workplace Learning for P-TECH and Early College Programs (a CTE program) at Dallas Independent School District (ISD), where she was responsible for the design and implementation of workplace learning programming and activities districtwide. In this role, Nithya established partnerships with industry to prepare students and equip them with the skills and social capital needed to access in-demand careers.

Before joining Dallas ISD, Nithya was the Dean of the Work Program at Paul Quinn College, a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) located in southern Dallas, where she implemented the Urban Work College program model that integrated paid internships, pre-professional work experience and skill development as part of their academic degree for first-generation, minority college students.

Prior to relocating to Dallas, Nithya was the Assistant Deputy Chancellor of Higher Education & Workforce Initiatives at the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE). During her tenure at ODHE, she served on the Governor’s Workforce Transformation team and helped design and implement innovative workforce education programs to address employer critical skill needs in collaboration with the University System of Ohio.

Nithya completed higher education in Columbus, Ohio, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Pre-law/Political from Capital University and a Master of Science in Marketing and Communications from Franklin University.

Throughout her career, she has worked collaboratively with industry, education and community leaders to develop and implement innovative workforce and career-focused education programs that connect employers with their future “qualified” workforce. She remains passionate about bridging economic opportunity and equity gaps for underrepresented populations.

“I believe that building mutually-beneficial public-private partnerships and career pathway programs are necessary to impact and drive meaningful systemic changes that address access and equity. I look forward to collaborating with you and advocating for increasing high-quality career technical education in all forms as it is the gateway to economic mobility for all learners.”- Nithya Govindasamy, Senior Advisor, Advance CTE

By admin in Our Staff
Tags: CTE Without Limits, Equity and Access

New Postsecondary State CTE Fellowship Takes Equity-Centered Approach to Address Leadership Talent Pipeline Diversity

Monday, August 2nd, 2021

Today, Advance CTE and ECMC Foundation announced a new initiative to strengthen and diversify the postsecondary state Career Technical Education (CTE) talent pipeline. The Postsecondary State CTE Leaders Fellowship at Advance CTE—Sponsored by ECMC Foundation (Fellowship), will announce its first cohort in October 2021.

Building state CTE systems where learners of color feel welcome, supported and have the means to succeed is critical to improving equitable CTE access and outcomes. To accomplish this, learners need to see themselves in the educators and administrators of our educational institutions and systems. Simply put, we need more diversity in the state CTE leadership pipeline. While CTE learner populations overall mirror the nation’s demographics, our state CTE leadership composition is largely White. This Fellowship aspires to take a first step at building a more robust and diverse state postsecondary CTE leadership pipeline.

Fellowship Design and Support

The Fellowship recruitment process is designed with intentional actions to reach professionals of color, with the goal of the majority of the Advance CTE- ECMCF Fellows being racially diverse. The strengths-based curriculum is designed to build strategic leadership skills rooted in equity and collaboration. Finally, the individualized supports, including coaches, will meet the aspiring leader where they are at. Here is a bit more about the Fellowship:

Collaboration and Input from Leaders of Color: Advance CTE established a National Advisory Committee for the Fellowship, consisting of national organizations and state-level institutions and eight CTE leaders of color. This National Advisory Committee is guiding every step of the Fellowship – from curriculum to the evaluation of outcomes; and will help select each cohort of Fellows.
Intentional and Individualized Supports: The Fellowship includes several features that strive to remove barriers to participation, including a $1,800 stipend; conducting workshops virtually; monthly, individual coaching sessions from national and state CTE leaders; and access to all Fellowship coaches to build connections and receive support from topic-area experts.
Spaces to Build Meaningful Networks and Build Social Capital: Each Fellowship cohort is intentionally small, with a maximum of 15 Fellows, to allow for the development of meaningful connections, and networking spaces will be provided outside of the workshop sessions. Additionally, Fellows will attend and be given the opportunity to present at meetings and conferences hosted by Advance CTE and the ECMC Foundation as another means to build connections, social capital and gain visibility at a national level.
Project with Professional Impact: Fellows must complete a real-world project in their workplace or community. Fellows will receive individualized support from their coach throughout the design, planning and execution of the project and will present the project’s results and impact with the National Advisory Committee.

Visit the Fellowship web page for more information and a promotional toolkit to share the Fellowship with a potential applicant. The deadline for applications for the first cohort is September 15, 2021.

Visit the Learning that Works Resource Center for more resources to enhance equity and access in CTE programs and talent pipeline initiatives.

Stacy Whitehouse, Senior Associate for Communications and State Engagement

By Stacy Whitehouse in Uncategorized
Tags: Equity and Access, postsecondary cte, professional development

Communicating CTE: Recruitment Through Social Media

Tuesday, July 27th, 2021

In April 2021, Advance CTE released Communicating Career Technical Education: Learner-centered Messages for Effective Program Recruitment and updated resources on messages that resonate with families about the value and benefits of Career Technical Education (CTE) and how they should be communicated to each learner to achieve effective and equitable recruitment into secondary CTE programs.

Among the updated resources for states to leverage is Promoting Career Technical Education: Social Media Guide. Social media is an important communications tool that can be used by states and local CTE intermediaries to effectively recruit learners into high-quality CTE programs, build and strengthen relationships with industry, extend advocacy to reach policymakers and build a network with other audiences about the value and promise of CTE.

Below are some of the key findings from Advance CTE’s recent research, as well as examples of how states used social media in response.

Participation in CTE increases satisfaction for families across all aspects of their education, but equity gaps exist in the levels of satisfaction reached in some aspects of CTE by historically marginalized groups.

With a focus on recruitment and retention, it is important for learners and families of CTE to see success stories of individuals who look like them and share similar educational, racial, socio-economic, gender and geographic backgrounds.

Make an effort to provide an equitable lens across your content when sharing over social networks. Including learner photos that represent a variety of ethnic backgrounds, learner ages and learner needs is a great place to start. For example, the National Technical Student Association (TSA) used images of historically marginalized communities by race to recruit for the Technology Honor Society.

The vast majority of parents and learners (78 percent of prospective families and 85 percent of current families) continue to value college as the post-high school aspiration, but are more open to paths other than a four-year degree.

Families and learners both participating in and considering CTE highly value an education experience that allows learners to explore opportunities after high school that lead to college and career success. In this example, Utah used graphics of learners engaging in real-world skills training to promote its Auto Mechanics and Repairs career pathway. This is a way of demonstrating the connection from CTE courses, work-based learning settings and youth apprenticeship programs to career success.

Tag industry and workforce partners in your social media posts. They are more likely to share social content that directly includes them, increasing your post engagement.

Across the board, CTE programs are most valued and attractive for their ability to provide real-world skills within the education system, offering concrete and tangible benefits that lead to college and career success.

Using local examples can help explain the nuts and bolts of how CTE delivers success by making the connection between CTE and a specific career or industry, as well as highlighting partnerships with local colleges and employers that are recognizable to parents/guardians and learners.

For example, Jordan CTE localized its tweet by tagging the medical facility where learners were able to receive on-the-job training through their CTE experience and connect their passion to a career right in their community.

While teachers, school counselors and CTE learners and alumni continue to be the sources most utilized by parents/guardians and learners for information about CTE, online sources also emerged as an important access point.

Wisconsin CTE showcased CTE to parents/guardians and learners by lifting up student success stories. One avenue to find compelling learner examples is to coordinate with statewide or local Career Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) and gather testimonials, photos and stories to share on social media. This tweet focused on a local learner success story to create human interest in CTE. To help expand the reach of this tweet, Wisconsin CTE used relevant hashtags and tagged the state CTSO and the university the learner was attending. This type of post is a great way to highlight CTE and the many ways CTE benefits learners.

To understand more about the major social channels, how to create a compelling post, when to engage key audiences and how to build your CTE network, read the full social media guide here.

Brittany Cannady, Senior Associate for Digital Media

By admin in Advance CTE Resources, Communicating CTE
Tags: communications, CTE Without Limits, Equity and Access, recruitment, Utah, wisconsin

Vision Commitments ‘Vlog’ Episode 1: Prioritizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in CTE Without Limits

Wednesday, June 30th, 2021

This summer, Advance CTE is pleased to partner with experts from supporting organizations of Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education to conduct video panels to delve into four of the five foundational commitments that connect the vision principles.

Our first blog panel covered dimensions of equity, discussing where the field of CTE stands today in successfully achieving equity in program design and learner support; what additional resources and areas of focus are needed to advance equity; and innovative initiatives being conducted by each organization to facilitate progress.

Much of the discussion centered around intentionality around actions to address equity, messaging about CTE in ways that meet the needs of learners, and the need for organizations to move beyond creating tools to creating consistent space to build community towards courageous action and continuous improvement. Several quotes from our panelists stood out during this conversation:

“This work is really hard, and we need a space and community so we can empower one another, offer compassion and accountability so that we can have the stamina to engage in this work for a very long time. These conditions were not created overnight.”
– Silvia Ramos, Senior Director of Programs, National Association for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE)

“Messaging should be clear and that there’s no longer a dichotomy between CTE programming and rigorous academic education programs…educators and CTE leaders at all levels need to demonstrate and communicate how CTE pathways open opportunities for all students.”
– Erica Cuevas, Associate Director, JFF

“For the most part educators get [culturally responsive education], they understand this need for global competence, but they just don’t know how to teach it….our professional development tools help teacher understand the need and how to integrate it in a way that meets their standards but isn’t a huge lift for a more open, respectful classroom.”
– Heather Singmaster, Director of Career Technical Education and Global Cities Education Network, Asia Society

Thank you to Advance CTE’s Brian Robinson for serving as a facilitator and to each panelist for their valuable insights.

Visit Advance CTE’s vision page to read the full vision, access vision communication and implementation resources, and view recordings of our summer Lunch and Learn webinar series focused on the five vision principles.

For more resources and tools on equity and access in CTE, visit the Learning that Works Resource Center.

Stacy Whitehouse, Senior Associate Communications and State Engagement

By Stacy Whitehouse in CTE Without Limits, Research, Resources
Tags: ASIA Society, CTE Without Limits, Equity, Equity and Access, JFF, NAPE

New Skills ready network Year 1 Reports Highlight Early Innovations and State Support to Advance Quality and Equity in Career Pathways

Tuesday, June 15th, 2021

Today, Advance CTE and Education Strategy Group (ESG) released an annual report and site snapshots for the first year of the New Skills ready network initiative. The five-year initiative, part of JPMorgan Chase and Co.’s $350 million global New Skills at Work program and $30 billion commitment to advance racial equity, aims to improve student completion of high-quality, equitable career pathways to gain skills needed for the future of work, particularly among learners of color and other historically marginalized learners.

The New Skills ready network focuses on six domestic sites as illustrated in the graphic below. As a partner in this initiative, 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.

One key step highlighted across the snapshots is each site’s approach to connecting systems and creating a common vision and definitions. Boston, Massachusetts, centered on a shared definition of cultural wealth as a framework to discuss equitable practices in career pathway design. Denver, Colorado created the Pathways Data Framework, a shared process for defining, collecting and analyzing data across partners to fully measure progress in achieving equitable career pathways.

Dallas, Texas, is leveraging their Dallas Thrives initiative to draw on capacity from across their region to work towards a common vision. As an early step, Nashville, Tennessee’s leadership team agreed upon common definitions of systemic racism, implicit bias, educational equity and more and has provided racial equity training to over 300 stakeholders to ground their work in a foundational understanding in what racial equity really means in their community and institutions.

The report and snapshots also explore how sites are utilizing state leadership, capacity, and existing initiatives to guide the focus of their first year and to map future work. For example, several schools in Indianapolis, Indiana will serve as pilots for the state’s Next Level Program of Study initiative, which aims to improve quality and consistency of CTE program instruction as part of Indiana’s Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) implementation strategy.

Columbus, Ohio will leverage statewide articulation and transfer agreements as well pre-existing statewide programs to advance equity and access to postsecondary opportunities in career pathways, including the College Credit Plus program, Career-Technical Assurance Guides, the Choose Ohio First scholarship program. The Ohio Department of Higher Education has also established an internal project team to provide state support to the larger cross-sector project team. Nashville, Tennessee’s local efforts are tapping into the state’s Tennessee Pathways’ Designation Process

Visit Advance CTE’s New Skills ready network series page to read the full annual report and a snapshot of each site’s innovative partnerships and early accomplishments across the four project priorities. Our New Skills ready network collection page provides additional resources for strengthening career pathways. For more information about the New Skills ready network initiative, read the Getting to Know interview with Senior Policy Associate Jeran Culina.

By Stacy Whitehouse in Uncategorized
Tags: career pathways, Colorado, Equity and Access, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Skills ready network, Ohio, partnerships, tennessee, texas

Communicating CTE: New Communications Research Highlights Key Equity Considerations in Communicating CTE to Families and Learners

Wednesday, April 28th, 2021

Today, Advance CTE released a new report and updated resources on messages that resonate with families about the value and benefits of Career Technical Education (CTE), and how they should be communicated to each learner to achieve effective and equitable recruitment into secondary CTE programs.

Communicating Career Technical Education: Learner-centered Messages for Effective Program Recruitment is an update to messaging research conducted in 2017 on families both participating in (current) and not participating in CTE (prospective). This new research includes an intentional focus on revealing differences in education preferences, experiences, and message and messenger impact among Black and Latinx families and families experiencing low income to advance a shared vision of CTE programs where each learner feels welcome in, is supported by, and has the means to succeed.

Encouragingly, the topline findings showed that an overarching message about ‘Preparing for the Real World’ resonated with learners and parents/guardians across participation, race, ethnicity and income:

Through CTE, learners gain real-world skills that prepare them to succeed in college and a career that they are passionate about.

However, the research also revealed important equity considerations that states should consider when supporting local systems in evaluating and taking steps to improve equity in program quality in hands-on particularly in regards to program quality, the impact of social capital and messenger trust.

1. Learners in CTE have more opportunities to prepare for postsecondary education and are more confident about completing a degree.

The findings indicated that participation in CTE increased the likelihood that learners planned to complete a degree over completing ‘some college,’ particularly among Latinx families and families with low income.

Additionally, 80 percent of families participating in CTE are satisfied with opportunities to jumpstart their postsecondary education in high school through opportunities to earn college credit and take advanced classes compared to just 60 percent of families not participating in CTE.

State Impact: These findings reinforce the importance of states designing seamless transfers from secondary to postsecondary education across all career pathways, removing barriers to accessing early postsecondary opportunities (EPSOs), and communicating these opportunities in digestible, intentional ways to families.

2. Informed school-based messengers are key for CTE enrollment, but online sources and messenger trust are key considerations for historically marginalized families.

While school counselors and teachers were the top two sources for both families in and outside CTE to receive information about CTE programs, families from historically marginalized populations also consistently included online sources such as Google search and school websites in their top two sources.

Significantly, historically marginalized learners not participating in CTE were less likely to choose school counselors as a top source than parents/guardians. While 84 percent of prospective Latinx parents/guardians would likely consult a school counselor about CTE, only 37 percent of prospective Latinx learners would. Among Black families, 74 percent of prospective Black parents/guardians would likely consult a school counselor about CTE while only 59 percent of prospective Black learners would.

State Impact: These findings reinforce the importance of states designing communication campaigns through multiple avenues with reinforced messaging like those found in our updated messaging triangle (LINK), as well as examining systemic barriers and solutions to building more diverse school counselor and instructor talent pipelines.

3. Families participating in CTE are more satisfied across all aspects of their education, but intentional focus is needed on achieving equitable access to hands-on experiences.

The great news is across race, ethnicity and income, 88 percent of parents/guardians and learners participating in CTE are satisfied with their education experience compared to 75 percent of those considering CTE. This includes aspects such as quality of classes and teachers, opportunities for career exploration and skillbuilding, and even opportunities for advanced classes.

However, equitable satisfaction by race and income was not achieved for work-based learning experiences such as opportunities to connect and network with employers and opportunities for internships. For both of the aforementioned categories, satisfaction among current Black learners dropped 1 and 2 percentage points respectively compared to prospective Black leaners.

State Impact: As states continue to reimagine CTE programs and work-based learning experiences in this learning recovery, this finding reinforces the importance of designing programs on the margins and removing barriers to access to ensure each learner participates in high-quality programs across all career pathways, and to realize the full impact of these effective messages.

Overall, CTE provides the education experiences and benefits that families are looking for, but program quality is critical to achieve full message impact and effective recruitment. To read the full report and to access resources to put this research into action including a message triangle with tailoring for historically marginalized populations, please visit our Engaging Families and Learners web page. For resources on advancing equity and access in CTE programs, visit the Equity and Access page in Advance CTE’s Resource Center.

Stacy Whitehouse, Senior Associate Communications and State Engagement

By Stacy Whitehouse in Uncategorized
Tags: college and career readiness, communications, Equity and Access, Program Quality, recruitment, school counselors, Secondary

Getting to Know Advance CTE’s Work on Equity

Thursday, September 17th, 2020

The “Getting to Know” blog series will feature the work of State CTE Directors, state and federal policies, innovative programs and new initiatives from the Advance CTE staff. Learn more about each one of these topics and the unique contributions to advancing Career Technical Education (CTE) that Advance CTE’s members work on every day.

Meet Kimberly Green! Kimberly serves as the Executive Director for Advance CTE, where she has been a part of the organization for over 25 years! In the interview below, she shares a little about Advance CTE’s commitment to equity and how her federal advocacy work aligns.

Q. What are a few organizational steps Advance CTE has taken to promote equity?

A. Our organization has not always prioritized equity. It was just a few years ago – in 2018 – that we began to make the shift to position equity as foundational to our work. We knew we had to approach this work with humility, acknowledging that we had a lot of learning, listening and growing to do. To help with this, we launched an Equity Kitchen Cabinet composed of Advance CTE members and a National Committee on Equity that included representatives of national organizations leading civil rights and equity in education work, to serve as mentors and thought partners. Both groups informed our Board-approved statement on equity.

As a leader, I always strive to have our organization model what we hope to see in states. After listening and learning from our partners over the course of the year, I knew we had to turn the equity work inward, examining Advance CTE’s organizational culture and processes. Through a year-long grant from the Associated Black Charities (ABC) our staff participated in three, day-long trainings, our leadership received monthly coaching sessions from an equity expert. We conducted an internal equity audit and chose to focus our efforts this first year to revise our recruitment and hiring practices and evaluation system. This grant gave us the skills and confidence to release this statement in June of this year, which outlines a set of commitments that we are working to live up to. As the ABC grant just ended, we are investing our organizational resources to extend this internal work with our next year’s priorities being: building equity into our onboarding curriculum for all new staff; three more, full-day staff trainings; establishing a set of core values; standing up a diversity, equity and inclusion advisory group and more.

Q. In your work aligned with federal advocacy, what have you witnessed that you are most proud of related to equity and access for learners?

A. I am proud that we advocated for and were successful in positioning equity at the heart of the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V). Our advocacy broadened the historical equity focus beyond gender equity. Through the comprehensive local needs assessment, a new requirement that we and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) authored, ensures that policy and fiscal decisions are driven by data and prioritize closing equity gaps.

Q. Do you have any recommended resources for states to promote equity in CTE?

A. While we have done a lot of internal work, we have also created a number of assets and tools for the CTE community under the Making Good on the Promise Series. This series examines how states can leverage data to identify and address equity gaps, rebuild trust with historically underserved communities, expand access to high-quality CTE for each and every learner and build systems to ensure learner success. This year, in partners from the National Equity Committee, we added to the series through population-specific resources, including a focus on students with disabilities, homeless youth (forthcoming) and justice-involved youth. We also will be releasing a series of assets to help states build their capacity to conduct opportunity gap analysis, a foundational step to identify where gaps exist. In addition to Advance CTE assets, the U.S. Department of Education has assets states can find here and our partners at the National Alliance for Partnership in Equity have some great resources here.

View past entries and stay up to date with the Getting to Know series here.

Brittany Cannady, Digital Media Associate

By admin in Resources
Tags: Equity, Equity and Access

Improving Equity and Access to Quality CTE Programs for Students with Disabilities

Tuesday, July 28th, 2020

In 2017-18, nearly 11.8 million students in the United States participated in Career Technical Education (CTE) — 8.8 million in secondary and 2.9 million in postsecondary. Of those students, 877,938 were secondary learners with disabilities, and 126,110 were postsecondary learners with disabilities.

When students with disabilities have access to and the supports needed to thrive in high-quality CTE programs, the outcomes are promising. In general, participation in CTE courses has been tied to “a positive impact on wages, with an increase of 2 percent for every high-level class” in which a student participates.[1] This effect is reinforced for students with disabilities. Recent research links “concentrated CTE participation to improved graduation and employment for students with [physical and learning] disabilities.”[2]

However, state leaders still face challenges when attempting to equitably serve students with disabilities. Advance CTE’s latest resource, developed in collaboration with the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), outlines five actions state CTE leaders can take to ensure that secondary and postsecondary students with disabilities have access to and the supports needed to thrive in high-quality CTE programs. Specifically, Making Good on the Promise: Improving Equity and Access to Quality CTE Programs for Students with Disabilities examines how state CTE leaders can:

Leverage the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) to ensure that secondary and postsecondary learners with disabilities have access to high-quality CTE programs and instruction;
Ensure that systems are in place to provide high-quality career guidance and advisement to secondary and postsecondary learners with disabilities;
Leverage data to identify and close equity gaps;
Provide professional development to staff, instructors and support personnel; and
Ensure that learners with disabilities have access to high-quality work-based learning opportunities.

This resource is part of the Making Good on the Promise series, which confronts the negative aspects of CTE’s legacy and defines the key challenges learners face today. The series provides promising solutions to help state leaders close equity gaps in CTE to ensure that each learner is able to attain the promise of CTE — a high-skill, high-wage, in-demand career.

Brianna McCain, former Policy Associate

[1] Kreisman, D., & Stange, K. (2019). Depth over breadth: The value of vocational education in U.S. high schools. Education Next, 19(4), 76-84.

[2] Theobald, R. J., Goldhaber, D. D., Gratz, T. M., & Holden, K. L. (2019). Career and technical education, inclusion, and postsecondary outcomes for students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 52(2), 109–119.

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Tags: Equity and Access, Making Good on the Promise, NCLD

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