Opportunity Gap « Advance CTE Blog

Opportunity Gap Analysis State Catch-Ups: Iowa

Thursday, September 12th, 2024

Since the fall of 2021, Advance CTE’s Opportunity Gap Analysis (OGA) workshop has provided training, resources, and support to help state leaders identify and address gaps in access to high-quality Career Technical Education (CTE). While high-quality CTE programs of study across the country are providing opportunities for learners to follow their passion, achieve career goals, and ensure future economic success, the reality is that not all learners have access to these programs. In this blog series, Senior Policy Associate Jessi Maddox interviews previous participants of the OGA workshop to share the impact and the lessons learned from implementing the training in their state.

The reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins V) on July 31, 2018, elevated the importance of equal access to CTE programs and connected experiences for all learners and has challenged states and local recipients to prioritize this work to address identified gaps. Over the past three years, Advance CTE has led in-depth gap analysis training with 39 state teams. These teams have further disseminated the gap analysis process within their state CTE systems, resulting in changes in policies and practices that bring identifying and addressing gaps to the forefront of their CTE programs.

With the launch of the newest cohort of the Opportunity Gap Analysis workshop this past May (2024), we wanted to connect with prior participants and ask about the impact the gap analysis training has had on equal access to CTE programs within their state. This month we are spotlighting the Bureau of Community Colleges and Postsecondary Readiness with the Iowa Department of Education and the work their team has done since the culmination of their cohort in Fall 2022.

Iowa’s participation in the workshop has increased collaboration of CTE professionals at the state and local level, created more connected data systems within the state, and facilitated a data-oriented approach to closing access gaps in their CTE programs.

Tell us about yourself and your CTE background.

The Iowa Department of Education CTE Education Program Consultants collaborate in the areas of access, equity, accountability, monitoring, and compliance to administer Perkins V at the secondary and postsecondary levels. CTE consultants, coordinators, and administrators (both internal and external stakeholders) have varying levels of experience in CTE program administration across all levels of CTE, such as secondary, postsecondary, state-level management, and local-level management.

When did your state participate in the Opportunity Gap Analysis Workshop?

In June 2022 with a team that consisted of the State CTE Director, Methods of Administration (MOA) Coordinator, data personnel, and an education consultant.

What in-state training(s) has your team facilitated using the Opportunity Gap Workshop model and/or related resources?

The state team has led six trainings (virtual and face-to-face) targeting local-level CTE faculty and administrators over the last two years. These training sessions have focused on serving students with disabilities in CTE to understand the number of local programs where a student population may be under- or over-represented.

Describe how your team’s participation in the Opportunity Gap Analysis training impacted CTE in general within your state.

The training allowed stakeholders to focus on a particular subset of students to identify access barriers to CTE programming. Utilizing a collaborative approach with multiple state agencies serving students with disabilities (SWD), we developed a process of identifying enrollment, participation, and completion patterns for SWD with the construction of data dashboards focusing on students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP). The dashboards are a work in progress with the goal to include all special population subgroups. This tool has proved invaluable for school districts to develop inclusive and targeted improvement plans.

Describe how the Opportunity Gap Analysis training specifically led to changes in your state’s data policies and procedures.

At the district level, input from stakeholders including CTE teachers, administrators, and counselors regarding the low number of CTE concentrators provided insight into procedures, policies, or practice that needed change in order to address systemic barriers preventing full engagement for students.

The data dashboards and the accompanying training resources allowed for increased collaboration with internal Department data staff and with outside agencies. For example, to better track the educational and training experiences of youth experiencing homelessness and youth in foster care, the Department entered into data-sharing agreements with other state agencies that also serve these students. This will allow for better outreach and connections with community-based organizations and workforce development to reach disconnected youth at the secondary level as well as older students and young adults aging out of the foster system.

In addition to setting up long-term data-sharing agreements, CTE data consultants and the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services also took short-term steps to better serve learners in foster care through one-time data pulls that match foster care records with community college enrollment records.

Please describe any steps that have been taken to improve access for CTE learners after going through the CTE opportunity gap analysis process:

Perkins applications for fiscal year 2025 reflect the use of OGA training resources in the development of recipients’ bi-annual Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA) plans/priorities in serving special population students in CTE. These applications reflect specific language and recommendations from the training in several areas.

A sampling of activities mentioned in District applications included

1) data-driven decision making;

2) incorporating CTE engagement in the development of IEPs;

3) career counseling and support services;

4) increasing Career Technical Student Organization (CTSO) and work-based learning opportunities;

5) outreach and recruitment; and

6) supporting inclusive learning environments in CTE classrooms.

What lessons learned, or outcomes, from your workshop and facilitation experiences would you most like to share with states considering participating in an Opportunity Gap Analysis cohort?

Collaboration is key in addressing inequities in CTE. Our experience from the state level is that it is necessary to work across divisions internally and to streamline quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis processes across agencies and educational levels. This will assist in the evaluation of existing procedures and practices in CTE program delivery to facilitate a change-oriented approach in the program improvement process in our efforts to better serve all students in CTE.

Bring the Opportunity Gap Analysis to Your State

If your organization is interested in learning more about what it takes to conduct a gap analysis in your state, or other opportunities to engage with Advance CTE’s suite of resources addressing methods to close access gaps, fill out the Technical Assistance Interest Form for personalized options that can help both staff and learners succeed.

Join us at Advance CTE’s upcoming Fall Meeting in Phoenix, AZ on October 21-23, 2024. During this three-day convening, there will be specific sessions dedicated to OGA and upcoming enhanced versions of the original workshop. These new iterations of the workshop will focus on state-requested program areas like work-based learning, apprenticeship, and credentials of value. We hope to see you in the Grand Canyon state!

By Layla Alagic in Achieving Equitable and Inclusive CTE
Tags: Access and Equity, CLNA, CTE Data, CTSOs, Iowa, Opportunity Gap, Perkins V, special populations, work-based learning

Realizing CTE Without Limits: An Interview with Colorado State CTE Director Dr. Sarah Heath

Wednesday, March 27th, 2024

This month, Advance CTE celebrates the 3 year anniversary of the release of Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of Career Technical Education (CTE Without Limits), supported by over 40 national organizations. As part of the celebration, Advance CTE is highlighting the initiatives, outcomes and lessons learned of current and former states who have participated in technical assistance opportunities to conduct the challenging but necessary work to fully realize the vision in their state.

Senior Director of Policy Nithya Govindasamy interviewed Colorado State CTE Director Sarah Heath to revisit the impact of technical assistance on realizing a more cohesive, flexible, and responsive career preparation ecosystem.

**How has the CTE Without Limits influenced the mindset and priorities for CTE in your state?**

CTE Without Limits has influenced the mindset and priorities in Colorado in terms of alignment. Our team has examined our goals and determined how we can better serve learners and how we can get learners ready for things that are connected geographically.

CTE Without Limits has also been central to goals and actions that can be taken to infuse the principles in the Perkins State Plan and strategic plan to ultimately support local leaders and educators. In Colorado, we are trying to connect the principles in the vision and the foundational commitments when evaluating our current goals and the gaps in our goals. We have used it to “check ourselves” and integrated it to support our stakeholder outreach and continue to use it as a bar and checkpoint.

**What do you consider your state’s most impactful work in progress as a result of the CTE Without Limits vision?**

For Colorado, the most impactful work has occurred in our equity-centered work, specifically empowering locals through the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA) and tying it to CTE Without Limits through the Opportunity Gap Analysis (OGA). In particular, we’ve focused on sub-populations indicators and “checking ourselves” to ensure we were not being too generic in measuring success. Principle 2: Each learner feels welcome in, is supported by, and has the means to succeed in the career preparation ecosystem, pushed us to identify tangible tools to help locals; it also pushed our state team to view data differently and get comfortable with data. Tools like the heat map ease people into the work without the “equity stigma”.

We are also using tools to analyze local performance and to inform local decision making. For example the OGA data was linked to school performance frameworks and school finance to show the intersections. We are training principals and need to train middle-management leaders in our schools to help them to make data-driven decisions to help all learners be successful.

In Colorado, working directly with locals to be more impactful has been a priority. We held a session about this work at CACTA (Colorado Association for Career and Technical Administrators, the Admin Division of ACTE in Colorado), where the designated CTE Directors attend for each district and they are empowered to engage the principals. Rural school districts are supported by Boards of Cooperative Educational Services or BOCES (typically fiscal agents for Perkins) and each have a Superintendent Council, so our team has taken the opportunity to use their meeting structure and support to offer more CTE services.

Additionally, Colorado has taken a “near-peer approach” and is leveraging the relationships with the BOCES and helping the state team connect with local leaders who are not always the designated CTE Director. The Colorado CTE Team is also reflecting on their experiences to ensure the best presenter or connector is available to support these cohorts. For example, the state Program Director for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy was a principal in a rural school district prior to being on the Colorado CTE Team so it makes perfect sense to connect her to projects where we are expanding the knowledge of our local principals in how to connect CTE data to their school performance data and goal setting.

Colorado participated in the inaugural cohort to provide vision-related technical assistance to states. What is one part of that work (highlighted here) that you have been able to build upon over the past year, and how?

Of the work highlighted in last year’s blog, we focused on Goal 3: “Building Local Leader Data Literacy: Leverage Advance CTE’s Opportunity Gap Analysis (OGA) process to increase data literacy of local CTE administrators and educators and in doing so improve data-focused storytelling of learners’ outcome and identification of program participation and success gaps.” In order to increase the data literacy of locals and teachers, we are offering professional development with a panel of local CTE directors. We are using the CLNA and OGA for action planning, and conducted needs assessment in-person during a statewide CTE roadshow.

In terms of what is next for us, we are intentionally incorporating learner voice into our work. We are focused on “how are we empowering local leaders and their data literacy” and helping them with storytelling. For example, our CTE concentrator graduation rate is 98% while our overall Colorado high school graduation rate is 83%. Elevating these data points and integrating into our storytelling on the local level will assist in destigmatizing CTE. CTE is being seen all over Colorado as a new strategic move in high school education. We are seeing Designed Career and Technical high schools being built in school districts who market their four-year college going culture. We are seeing most districts “up” their CTE programs and want to better serve learners across the board by offering multiple off ramps from industry credentials, Apprenticeship, and college credit.

We’ve been able to engage with families by going to the PTA conference and enhancing their data literacy. We are working with the entire ecosystem to empower local leaders, administrators, principals, parents/guardians, family members and learners and “empower” local communities by equipping them with better information to make more informed decisions. We are also helping connect education to the overall ecosystem through regional level conversations about industry needs and alignment.

What resources or support has been most helpful in moving this work and mindset forward?

For the Colorado team, the technical assistance and the actual resources, such as the Pushing the Limits Roadmap, has been the most helpful. We have used this resource to develop goals, to conduct an assessment of our current system, and develop an action plan. The tools were helpful in identifying the areas that need to be improved and we were able to use the tool to help locals assess their own system.

Another helpful resource was the With Learners, Not for Learners: A Toolkit for Elevating Learner Voice in CTE. We walked through the toolkit and tackled issues such as not “tokenizing” learners by just having them on advisory committees.

Having the tools, resources and support was definitely helpful when determining how to use the various pieces to help locals.

What principles and areas of work connected to the vision are you planning to focus on this year?

Colorado is currently focused on Principle 4: Each learner’s skills are counted, valued, and portable. We are centering this mindset in our work by leaning into Credit for Prior Learning (CPL), portable credit and policy change and matrix, faculty qualifications, and counting all learning that happens. In 2020, Colorado passed HB 20-1002, which enables students and adults to earn postsecondary credit for prior work experience, including work-based learning. A landscape report on CPL was released in 2021 that guides our work:

Through our team that supports concurrent enrollment as well as our work on the Colorado “Student Bill of Rights”, we are working to ensure learners are receiving the correct credit for earned Industry Recognized Credentials when they matriculate to an institution of higher education as well as their CTE high school experiences, even if it does not include concurrent enrollment, and assisting learners with understanding how to link these experiences to their college credits through articulation.

Colorado’s Governor has set a Skills-Based hiring expectation and as a team, we are using this expectation to help our employers who serve on our CTE advisory committees better understand how to post jobs to ensure they are attracting talent based on their skills.

Additional Resources

To learn about how to begin implementing CTE Without Limits in your state or community, read Colorado, Nebraska, and South Carolina’s origin and impact journeys so far.. Resources to learn about and implement the vision can be found on our CTE Without Limits webpage.

Nithya Govindasamy, Senior Director of Policy

By Stacy Whitehouse in CTE Without Limits
Tags: Access and Equity, Colorado, Concurrent Enrollment, Credit for Prior Learning, CTE Without Limits, Data Literacy, learner voice, Opportunity Gap, Stakeholder engagement, state policy

Welcome Jessica (Jessi) Maddox to Advance CTE!

Thursday, March 7th, 2024

Hello! My name is Jessica (Jessi) Maddox, and I am ecstatic to be a part of the Advance CTE team as a senior policy associate. In this role I will be working directly with the upcoming cohorts of the Opportunity Gap Analysis providing customized technical assistance and peer learning opportunities to participating states. I will also collaborate with team members to enhance Advance CTE’s state policy, equity, and data and research strategies by supporting state and local sites in designing and advancing high-quality and equitable career pathways.

A lifelong learner, I was born and raised in Florida, and my family and I recently relocated to Richmond, VA for a change of pace. I began my career in the classroom as a middle school social studies teacher. Part of my position included career exploration with my eighth graders and this is where some of my first interactions with Career Technical Education (CTE) began. After six years in the classroom, I wanted to expand my horizons into educational research and returned to school to obtain a master’s degree in Information. In 2017, I joined the Florida office of the Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant working as a grant manager. In this position I got to interact with a variety of organizations, from school districts to non-profits, working to provide academic and skills-based after-school experiences to students across Florida’s PreK-12 system. I had the opportunity to further explore CTE as part of a college and career readiness initiative and became interested in furthering my knowledge and experiences in this field.

After completing my master’s degree, I was offered a role as an educational policy analyst with the Division of Career and Adult Education within the Florida Department of Education. In this position I was immersed in all things career and adult education full time. From the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins V) and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), to apprenticeship, credentials of value and integrated education and training (IET), I worked closely with each coordinating unit to ensure required data and policy provisions were followed. I helped to build out the business rules or data collection processes for outcomes reporting and program improvement.

In 2023, I began a new position as a work-based learning analyst at the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) working directly with the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership (V-TOP). In this position I created data collection processes and survey instruments to expand the view of the landscape of credit-bearing and paid work-based learning and internship opportunities across the Commonwealth. Outside of work I can be found spending time with my husband and two sons, playing roller derby, or exploring my new surroundings.

By Layla Alagic in Our Staff
Tags: Access and Equity, afterschool programs, Data, Florida, Opportunity Gap, Perkins V, state policy, Virginia, WIOA, work-based learning

Achieving Inclusive CTE: Early Achievements and Upcoming Opportunities to Support Inclusive CTE

Wednesday, October 11th, 2023

In 2022, Advance CTE and Education Strategy Group, through the New Skills ready network initiative, released the Achieving Inclusive CTE Goal-Setting Tool (AICTE). This tool adds a new resource to the data toolbox for state and local CTE and career pathways leaders to assess learner group data. The goal-setting tool enables leaders to analyze CTE learner group data in comparison to the broader student population. The purpose of the tool is to support leaders with their efforts to recruit, engage and support underrepresented learner groups to increase access to high-quality Career Technical Education (CTE) programs and career pathways.

Over the past six months, four states, Alabama, Indiana, Louisiana and Utah, have participated in a technical assistance cohort to leverage the AICTE Goal-Setting Tool to evaluate the inclusivity of their system and establish goals to improve equitable access and outcomes for learner populations in their states. The cohort of technical assistance included two workshop sessions to review the tool and its analyses; ongoing support and coaching calls with each state team to guide the use of the tool in their states; and two Communities of Practice sessions to share promising solutions and discuss shared challenges. The two states that completed the pilot of the Goal-Setting Tool, Colorado and South Carolina, were also invited to attend the Communities of Practice sessions.

Lessons Learned

Over the course of the technical assistance cohort, key themes and lessons learned emerged from the states using the Achieving Inclusive CTE Goal-Setting Tool:

The Achieving Inclusive CTE Goal-Setting Tool Supports Perkins Performance Indicators;

The Achieving Inclusive CTE Goal-Setting Tool is a Strong Companion in the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment Process; and

The Achieving Inclusive Goal-Setting Tool Supports Data Tools Alignment.

Continue reading for detailed information on the lessons learned and examples from the states who participated.

The Achieving Inclusive CTE Goal-Setting Tool Supports Perkins Performance Indicators: The AICTE Goal-Setting Tool analyzes data for 11 indicators across all learner populations. This level of analysis includes gender, race and ethnicity and special populations (English learners, Migrant learners, Economically Disadvantaged and Learners with disabilities). The disaggregated design of the Goal-Setting Tool supports users in drilling down specific areas for improvement and support. Utah is utilizing the tool to support one of its Perkins performance indicators: nontraditional participation. With the help of the AICTE Goal-Setting Tool, the team will leverage the data analysis to identify areas where their state and local leaders can make a greater impact to increase nontraditional participation and understand if the adjusted performance targets the state has set are reasonable to achieve.

As the team works towards achieving its Perkins performance goals, the Utah team will also conduct a state-level analysis of nontraditional participation for multiple years to compare the data and identify any changes in the groups over time. Additionally, the state team plans to conduct training to support local leaders with the use of the Goal-Setting Tool and allow them to enter their own data to identify opportunities for a more inclusive CTE system. The team will provide this training to local CTE leaders during the winter months of 2023 and will align the Goal-Setting Tool with their Opportunity Gap Analysis workbook and data.

With the assistance of the Goal-Setting Tool, the team shared that the greatest benefit is having more insightful data analysis in conjunction with their Opportunity Gap Analysis. According to the team, using the tools together offers a greater understanding of the CTE system and areas where learners need to be recruited, supported or engaged.

The Achieving Inclusive CTE Goal-Setting Tool is a Strong Companion in the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment Process: One of the many use cases for the Goal-Setting Tool is the examination of equity and disaggregated learner performance data as part of the Perkins V Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA). The Goal-Setting Tool takes a deeper dive into the CTE continuum to identify priority areas for Perkins plans. The team in Indiana is taking full advantage of the Goal-Setting Tool with their CLNA process by planning to include training on the use of the goal-setting tool in their next round of Equity Labs. Equity Labs are regional sessions held across the state to share the importance of equity and inclusivity in CTE programs and career pathways.

The Goal-Setting Tool will support Indiana’s CLNA process by providing a tool to facilitate a deep dive into each district’s data. The state team plans to supply regional and district CTE leaders with the Achieving Inclusive CTE Goal-Setting Tool to analyze data, set a goal to increase equity and inclusivity and implement a practical strategy to achieve the goal.

To use the Goal-Setting Tool to its full potential in Indiana’s CLNA process, the team plans to provide local CTE leaders with ongoing support and opportunities for follow-up to ensure locals are leveraging root-cause analysis to better understand data trends. The state plans to leverage the tool for continuous monitoring of the practical strategies and interventions deployed to create a more equitable and inclusive CTE system.

The Achieving Inclusive Goal-Setting Tool Supports Data Tools Alignment: Each state selected to participate in the pilot and technical assistance cohort previously completed the Opportunity Gap Analysis Train-the-Trainer workshop, a workshop that prepares CTE leaders to provide comprehensive training on the importance of equitable access to high-quality CTE, demonstrates how to conduct a percentage point gap analysis to identify gaps among learner groups including race and ethnicity, gender and special populations and conducting a root-cause analysis to understand the implications on the data.

The AICTE Goal-Setting Tool is the next phase of data analysis work to support inclusive and equitable CTE systems: analyzing the current representation of learners in CTE programs compared to the learners that could be engaged, recruited and/or supported in CTE and setting goals to achieve a more equitable system.

While these tools complement each other in their analyses and findings, participants using the tools identified the importance and value of ensuring the two tools work together and clearly communicating the alignment of the tools to their local-level CTE leaders and practitioners. Colorado is making progress leveraging both tools with their local-level CTE leaders and practitioners. To support the local-level use of the tools, the Colorado state agency provided the Opportunity Gap Analysis dashboard to their local-level teams. Then it provided guidance on using the AICTE Goal-Setting Tool. By leveraging the two tools together, locals were able to identify opportunity gaps in CTE enrollment and then further drill down on equitable access and inclusivity in every stage of the CTE continuum across specific CTE programs using CIP code-level data. Conducting analysis with CIP code-level data allows districts within a state an opportunity to identify where they have gaps. As districts continue to leverage both tools, they can work collaboratively with industry partners to expand access to CTE career pathway programs and work-based learning opportunities.

To ensure alignment between the tools, the Colorado team launched both tools to every district and consortia to review regional data to account for small n-sizes. The Colorado team has held several sessions on data quality and interpreting the data dashboards. These sessions include guidance and support to identify trends in the data. The state team continues to offer support sessions and office hours to discuss all data-related issues.

As the team looks ahead, they plan to leverage the two tools in their Perkins state plan revisions. The team will begin regional meetings for the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA) to gather input for the state plan to ensure it includes robust and diverse perspectives especially when setting state performance targets. The state team will set Perkins performance targets leveraging both the Opportunity Gap Analysis dashboard and the AICTE Goal-Setting Tool.

Looking Ahead

The Achieving Inclusive CTE Goal-Setting Tool is a strong data analysis tool for CTE leaders and Advance CTE is committed to supporting states with the use of the tool to achieve more inclusive and equitable CTE systems. In the coming months, Advance CTE will launch a second round of technical assistance to guide participants through the use of the tool, provide individualized coaching and support for states using the tool and elevate the promising approaches and successes from the use of the tool. To learn more about this cohort of technical assistance and apply, please visit this form.

If you have any questions about the Achieving Inclusive CTE Goal-Setting Tool or the upcoming technical assistance cohort, please contact Haley Wing, Senior Policy Associate, Advance CTE at [email protected].

By Layla Alagic in Achieving Equitable and Inclusive CTE, Resources
Tags: Access and Equity, Alabama, CLNA, Colorado, Education Strategy Group, Indiana, Louisiana, New Skills ready network, Opportunity Gap, Perkins V, South Carolina, Utah

Looking Back to Look Forward and the Implications for Career Technical Education

Thursday, May 11th, 2023

Earlier this year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation hosted a webinar to release their new report, The Future of Data, Assessments, and Accountability in K-12 Education, which offers a comprehensive analysis of the landmark education policies of the past two decades, from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

The event featured a discussion among Maya Martin Cadogan (Founder & Executive Director, Parents Amplifying Voices in Education), Dr. Ivan Duran (Superintendent, Highline Public Schools), Dr. Dan Goldhaber (Director, CALDER American Institutes for Research) and Dr. Chris Steward (Chief Executive Officer, brightbeam), on the report’s findings and future implications for the role of federal policy in the K-12 education system. The panelists also reflected on the perspectives and data they felt were absent from the report and the opportunities to leverage lessons learned.

Key Takeaways

The reforms of this era were significant because they put in motion new data collection practices that shifted focus to considering the needs of individual student groups.
The report highlights a binary review of whether reforms have or have not worked over the last 20 years in education reform (i.e., from NCLB to ESSA). Unfortunately, this means that much of the nuance of how states/LEAs impact outcomes were not included in the analysis.
The federal government has a role in distributing data to states. States and LEAs are responsible for translating this data into information to inform practices that will address the identified gaps in a way that makes sense for their context and communities.
One lasting legacy of NCLB is that the last 20 years forced schools to disaggregate data and consider the needs of learners, including students of color, students from low-income backgrounds and students with special needs.
The U.S. educational system still relies on achievement tests to measure students’ and schools’ performance. However, there needs to be more information on other types of assessment to measure student learning and hold schools accountable despite the education community advocating for these changes.
The authors identified strategies that stakeholders find to have had the most significant impact on building public proficiency in and demand for quality educational opportunities. These include intentional stakeholder buy-in, a compelling and multi-faceted communications strategy and long-term leadership.

Next Steps for State CTE Leaders

As states are considering their next round of Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) State Determined Levels of Performance, or perhaps broader changes to Perkins V plans, consider the following actions:

Visit Careertech.org to subscribe to Advance CTE’s blog newsletter to learn more about our data initiatives and data tools for advancing equity and access in CTE!
Use Advance CTE’s Inclusive CTE Goal-Setting Tool to further explore equity gaps in data.
Mine the data collected through your comprehensive local needs assessments (CLNA). A CLNA must be completed by local recipients of Perkins V funds and updated every two years to ensure programs are aligned to workforce needs and economic priorities and serving learners equitably.
- Review the guide from Advance CTE or the recording from the Perkins Collaborative Resource Network to learn more about the CLNA.
- Read about state perspectives and approaches to the CLNA in Lessons in Collaboration and Innovation: The Impact and Promise of the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment.
Evaluate what leading indicators your state can develop so data is more timely when making educational decisions.
- Use the Achieving Inclusive CTE Goal-Setting Tool to address and mitigate the opportunities uncovered through the CLNA process.

The full report, Looking Back to Look Forward: Quantitative and Qualitative Reviews of the Past 20 Years of K-12 Education Assessment and Accountability Policy can be found online and through Advance CTE’s Learning that Works Resource Center. You can also find the webinar recording on YouTube.

Dr. Laura Maldonado, Senior Research Associate and Amy Hodge, Policy Associate

By Jodi Langellotti in Achieving Equitable and Inclusive CTE
Tags: Access and Equity, CLNA, CTE Data, Data, ESSA, NCLB, NCLB/ESEA, Opportunity Gap, Public Policy, US Chamber of Commerce Foundation

Advance CTE’s Opportunity Gap Workshop: Connecting Data to Action

Tuesday, August 30th, 2022

In 2020, Advance CTE developed and piloted a virtual workshop to help Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders at the state and local level identify and address access and equity gaps using data. This initiative supports the realization of Principle 2 of the CTE Without Limits vision where each learner feels welcome in, is supported by and has the means to succeed in the career preparation ecosystem.

The workshop includes five major components that build upon the requirements — as well as opportunities — laid out in the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) to help state and local leaders operationalize the commitments set in their state plans:

Raising awareness,
Data analysis
Root cause analysis
Identification of practical strategies, and
Action planning.

The first workshop cohort of 10 states launched September 2021 after successful pilots were conducted in New Jersey, Florida and Minnesota the previous year. Initially a one-day, five-hour training, the workshop now provides two four-hour training sessions on the materials created for state CTE leaders to in turn train their staff, regional coordinators and local education agencies. Participant receive the following materials:

Facilitator Guide – Virtual or in-person instructions.
PowerPoint Deck Template – Customizable slide deck for participant use.
Participant Workbook – Activities and additional step-by-step instructions.
Opportunity Gap Analysis Dashboard Template – Fillable pre-formatted Excel spreadsheet with graphs, a heat map, and instructions on data entry and comparison groups.
Practical Strategies Resource – Warehouse of evidence based strategies to align to identified root causes.
Action Planning Template – Facilitation tool to encourage stakeholders connection and collaboration.

Upon completion of the workshop, participants are required to plan and deliver the workshops in their states; evaluate the effectiveness of the workshop using a provided survey for their in-state participants to share with Advance CTE; and complete a six-month and 12-month survey to report any changes in CTE policies and procedures.

Workshop Benefits and Outcomes

Collaborative Spaces and Technical Assistance: The effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the education system has led to a reduced capacity of state CTE teams, which prompted Advance CTE to increase the intensity of technical assistance provided to states. Advance CTE staff launched a series of monthly community of practice calls to connect states with common challenges and to workshop solutions. To provide states with more time to plan and deliver their own in-state trainings, the cohort’s timeline was extended from three to six months.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: The workshop provides participants with foundational knowledge of equity prior to delving into data analysis. For example, the first objective — raising awareness — consists of developing an equity baseline for participants by reviewing the definitions for diversity, equity and inclusion; examining equity vs equality; and addressing the concept of deficit based thinking in comparison to strength based analysis. The workshop format allows for participant processing time on equity concepts, gives time for states to fully meet all five objectives, and allows the incorporation of another Advance CTE resource, Brave Dialogues: A Guide to Discussing Racial Equity in Career Technical Education.

Data Analysis Training and Dashboard Development: Mock data (from the fictitious Heartland Public Schools and Heartland Community College) is used to mitigate the often difficult conversations associated with participants reviewing their data and keeps the focus on workshop training concepts and applications. The workshop facilitators intentionally meet states where they are in their data journey. Some states have data disaggregated by student sub-groups, but may not have data elements available for programs of study level analysis. The fillable Excel spreadsheet provided to participants is customizable and allows for Career Cluster level analysis. The identification of an opportunity gap narrows the scope of the analysis; however, a statewide, regional, institutional, school district, or campus analysis is possible using the dashboard template. An additional work-based learning (WBL) dashboard was developed upon request and is available for states to examine equitable access to and completion of industry-recognized certifications.

Analysis and Action Planning: For data to be an effective storytelling tool, participants have to recognize and be willing to interpret a point gap analysis through an equity-minded lens using data disaggregated by race, gender and ethnicity as well as the special population categories identified in Perkins V.

Providing workshop participants with a list of practical strategies, which are then selected based on a root cause analysis, increased the availability of resources states could offer local education agencies due to in-state dissemination of workshop materials. The accompanying action planning template and design allows state and local leaders to engage stakeholders with a structured process for developing solutions to gaps in access to high-quality CTE programming for marginalized learners.

Next Steps

The launch of cohort two in June of 2022 offered an opportunity to overlap communities of practice and allowed cohort two participating states to collaborate with states from the inaugural cohort. Currently Advance CTE is accepting applications for cohort three of the initiative and anticipates actively overlapping cohorts two and three into collaborative communities of practice. The cohort three application closes September 2, 2022.

Dr. Kevin Johnson, Sr., Senior Advisor

By Stacy Whitehouse in Advance CTE Resources
Tags: Access and Equity, dashboards, Data and Accountability, Florida, Minnesota, New Jersey, Opportunity Gap, Perkins V, Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act

Welcome Suela Cela to Advance CTE!

Thursday, July 7th, 2022

Hello! My name is Suela Cela and I am excited to be joining Advance CTE as Senior Policy Associate. In this role, I will be supporting Advance CTE in various projects to advance equity and access in Career Technical Education (CTE), including the Opportunity Gap Analysis workshop and pilot, the College in the High School Alliance partnership and launching an initiative focused on the use of stimulus funds for CTE.

I am originally from Albania and moved to the United State as an exchange student in high school in the beautiful state of Montana. I have earned a Bachelors in Business Administration and a Masters in Public Administration. I have over ten years of experience working in post secondary education within areas of enrollment management, academic affairs for both transfer and CTE, and accreditation. I have led and supported many initiatives and projects to best support learners to achieve their educational goals. My favorite initiative was launching a concurrent enrollment program, providing access to high school students to take courses for college credit. Through this program, many learners were able to explore college courses and get a head start on the college experience.

This past year, I had the opportunity to work with the National Alliance for Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) in supporting select states in advancing policies to expand access to higher education for historically marginalized learners, particularly learners experiencing low income.

In my personal time, I love to spend time outdoors, read autobiographies and travel. My husband and I have visited over 20 countries together, and I have visited 27 countries.

Suela Cela, Senior Policy Associate

By Stacy Whitehouse in Uncategorized
Tags: Concurrent Enrollment, Equity, Getting to Know, Montana, Opportunity Gap

Staff Reflections from 2021 Spring Meeting Part 3: Celebrations and Challenges in Advancing Equity in CTE

Friday, April 30th, 2021

This post offers reflections from Advance CTE staff on key equity themes from our 2021 Spring Meeting. Visit Advance CTE’s Resource Center for additional resources on equity and access, career advisement and data and accountability.

Using Data to Identify and Close Opportunity Gaps in Career Technical Education (CTE) Advance Equity in CTE

This year marked my fourth Advance CTE Spring Meeting, but it was not a typical spring meeting by any means. The backdrop of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic was present throughout, not just in the technology and virtual set up, but also in the conversations and session topics. The past year has thrown into stark relief the inequities across race, ethnicity, gender identity and socioeconomic status that have long been present in CTE. From the plenary panels down to breakout sessions and networking discussions, the question on top of everyone’s mind was how can we improve equity in CTE during and beyond the pandemic?

I had the pleasure of partnering with Jeralyn Jargo and Robb Lowe from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system office on a presentation about data and equity in CTE. Last year, Advance CTE worked with Minnesota to develop and conduct a multi-part workshop with consortium leaders — who represent both secondary and postsecondary CTE — to identify and act on opportunity gaps in their data. We worked with consortium leaders to develop data dashboards, conduct a root cause analysis, and review and select evidence-based strategies for action. As a result of the workshops, one consortium is now working on a pilot program to recruit Black men into the teaching profession, targeting a critical shortage of diverse educators. Later this year, Advance CTE plans to roll out the workshop training to its broader membership to help CTE leaders understand how to identify and address opportunity gaps in their own data.

Austin Estes, Data and Research Manager

Brave Dialogues for Equity in CTE

As someone driven by equity in education, I was very excited that my first Advance CTE Spring Meeting was focused on equity in CTE. I had the opportunity to lead a workshop on facilitating brave dialogues in CTE. Brave dialogues encourage participants to be courageous and show vulnerability to engage in conversations focused on race and racism. These conversations are always important, but even more so today considering that issues related to systemic racism have dominated the national discourse over the past year. Within CTE, state leaders are anxious to address opportunity gaps that have long persisted in CTE along with tackling stigmas associated with CTE given its history of tracking marginalized learner groups into low-quality vocational programs. To address opportunity gaps and CTE stigmas, state leaders need to create the space for brave dialogues.

In the equity workshop, state CTE leaders shared challenges to engaging in brave dialogues within their state. Some common challenges include a hesitancy to acknowledge or confront CTE’s history with systemic racism or not having the language or resources to confidently speak about the challenges facing historically marginalized learners. In other cases, leaders are engaging in these conversations but are unsure of what actions to take in order to address equity related challenges. To support state CTE leaders, Advance CTE is developing an equity discussion guide to support these conversations. Built around a critical self-reflection framework, the guide supports state CTE leaders in helping their staff and local practitioners in building awareness of their own values, assumptions and biases; knowledge of how learner identities can impact their experience in CTE programs; and skills to apply their awareness and knowledge into equitable policy and practice. The equity discussion guide, due to be released in early summer 2021, will be accompanied by training workshops to support state CTE leaders in facilitating these brave dialogues.

Brian Robinson, Policy Associate

Leading with an equity lens

This year was my first Advance CTE Spring Meeting and first ever virtual conference experience. This past year highlighted the inequities that continue to exist in CTE, education and workforce development and has left states with many questions about how to best increase equity in their CTE programs.

Many of the sessions at Spring Meeting had an emphasis on the importance of increasing equity in CTE. My session, Leading with an equity lens, specifically went into depth about this topic and how to apply an equity lens so that all state CTE decisions, policies and practices attend to the individualized needs of learners and tackle systemic and institutional barriers to success.

This session featured Jacque Treaster, Director of Dual Enrollment and Career & Technical Education, Montana University System and Jennell Ives, Director of Secondary Postsecondary Transitions, Oregon Department of Education who led participants through their work to improve CTE data systems and examine state policies and practices to ensure learners of all ages, races, genders and abilities are positioned for lifelong success.

When asked to share their equity successes, states mentioned creating a diversity, equity & inclusion group at the state level to offer professional development to state department of education employees and schools; emphasizing equity in legislation as a driver while also addressing it in the CLNA applications; and using special populations data to drive program and funding decisions.

Despite these promising strategies, many equity challenges still remain for states, including challenges with hiring personnel representative of the learner population, how to best use data in decision-making and how to get others on board with seeing equity as an important state issue.

Next, Jacque spoke about Montana’s work with their data to try and break down where their American Indian, rural, and economically disadvantaged learners are taking postsecondary courses and which program areas they are most likely to enroll in to ensure these populations are entering high-wage, high-skill career pathways. They are hoping that by continuing to take a closer look at the data, they will be in a better position to figure out where to pool more resources for those students.

Jennell then presented on Oregon’s equity work and how the support from the Governor and other top agencies in the state to focus on antiracism in education has encouraged a focus on identifying inequities in their data and stakeholder feedback, collaborating directly with communities and learners impacted directly by CTE decisions and creating an internal review process to check their work for an equity and antiracism lens.

Although there is still much work to be done, hearing from these speakers about their state’s approaches to equity left the audience with tangible ideas to further incorporate equity into their own work and priorities.

Christina Koch, Policy Associate

Advancing Equity Through Research Initiatives

In my first year as an Advance CTE staff member, I was excited to hear from a wide range of experts and panelists in our first virtual spring meeting. Despite the modified format, each person celebrated the successes our community has achieved this past year and highlighted obstacles and barriers that we have acknowledged and worked through. Through each of the panels and presentations, I heard a common theme of ensuring equitable access and participation from minoritized and marginalized populations.

One presentation I moderated was a conversation with state and local leaders based on Advance CTE research regarding the importance of area technical centers (ATCs)- CTE-focused, non-degree granting institutions that often bridge the gap between secondary and other postsecondary institutions. Our research illustrated the role that ATCs could play, especially in post-secondary attainment, upskilling and reskilling as largely open-access, low-cost program options. A significant portion of the conversation focused on the unique opportunity these institutions have of increasing access to CTE programming for all learners. Both speakers highlighted how their institutions work to improve outcomes for minoritized groups and celebrate the diverse perspectives that come with recruitment and retention of a variety of populations.

Despite the research focus on equity for these institutions, and on equity in other sessions, it was also clear there is still work to be done. Each panelist I heard speak on equity offered challenges about centering equity as a key component of our work to ensure that each learner, regardless of race or background, can access CTE. For area technical centers, one particular challenge highlighted by speakers was the difficulty in recruitment and retention practices for marginalized groups. In future research initiatives, it is vital that we examine our data with an equity lens, asking probing questions about what it means for practices, policy, and programs to be equitable. We also plan to specifically feature best practices that elevate equity as a core component. While these steps will work towards our goal of highlighting diversity, equity, and inclusion in each of our research initiatives, it is vital we continue to have conversations, like those held regularly at our Spring Meeting, to ensure that equity is not just highlighted, but celebrated.

Dan Hinderliter, Policy Associate

Advancing Equity Through Career Advisement

At this year’s Spring Meeting, equity was explored through a variety of lenses. My session facilitated a conversation on our vision to empower students to navigate their career journey through career advisement, featuring panelists from the Washington State Workforce Board and the Arkansas Department of Education discussing best practices to provide dedicated supports to historically marginalized populations.

Sonja Wright-McMurray, the Senior Associate Director of the Division of Career and Technical Education (CTE) at the Arkansas Department of Education shared about one opportunity in Arkansas that aligned equity with career advisement systems, the College and Career Coach program. The College and Career Coach Component is designed to motivate and support Arkansas students and adults achieve their goals as it relates to college and career planning through intensive hands-on, programs and services. As part of the application process the state requires applicants to pay close attention or give “high priority” to students who are classified as “Special Populations”, as defined by the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V).

At the time the state was looking to launch their career coach program, Arkansas was also engaged in the development of a statewide partnership with the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition, which created collaborative relationships with agencies supporting special education, transition services and rehabilitation services. As a result, the state pushed all Career Coach programs to provide targeted services to students with disabilities as well as at least two other special population categories.

The insights shared by the panelists reinforce the importance of collaboration to address learner needs as well as strong accountability processes for local systems to document equity-focused reforms and processes.. As state leaders continue their work on aligning career advisement systems I am excited to see how they integrate equity throughout the continuum.

Jeran Culina, Senior Policy Associate

By Stacy Whitehouse in Advance CTE Spring Meeting
Tags: Access and Equity, Career Advisement, Data, Equity, Opportunity Gap, postsecondary

New Survey Highlights a Persistent Skills Gap; What Can States Do to Strengthen the Talent Pool?

Tuesday, February 18th, 2020

As the economy continues to change with digitalization and automation, the needs of the labor market will continue to change too. In 2019 the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation commissioned a study surveying 500 human resource (HR) professionals with hiring decision authority in their organizations. An overwhelming 74 percent of respondents said that a “skills gap” persists in the current U.S. labor and hiring economy.

These employers cite three major challenges they face when hiring: candidates lacking the appropriate or necessary skills, candidates lacking previous relevant work experience and not having enough applicants. According to these HR professionals, addressing the skills gap and truly transforming the talent marketplace would require:

1) Greater upskilling initiatives within companies for existing employees.

2) More educational/Career Technical Education (CTE) programs to build talent pipelines.

3) Improving alignment between skills and competencies taught in educational/CTE programs and in-demand skills and competencies needed in the workforce.

A study by JFF further highlights the skills gap and the challenges to solving the problem. The report, Making College Work for Students and the Economy, follows JFF’s comprehensive policy agenda for addressing states’ skilled workforce and talent development needs. The report examines a representative sample of 15 states to determine their progress toward adopting 15 policy recommendations. Of the recommendations made in their initial report, states have made the most progress on the following:

1) Establishing expectations that community college programs align to labor market demand.

2) Developing longitudinal data systems that provide the ability to track over time the educational and employment outcomes of students.

3) Addressing barriers to college readiness.

Conversely, JFF finds that states have the most work to do in the following areas:

1) Providing community colleges with sufficient resources and appropriate incentives.

2) Addressing the holistic needs of students to strengthen their financial stability.

3) Digging into labor market outcomes of students and postsecondary programs.

Both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the JFF studies highlight a need for state governments, the education sector and the labor sector to work collaboratively and do more to prepare the 21st century workforce to meet the needs of an ever-changing labor market.

With implementation of the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) underway, states are poised to make transformational changes to improve the quality of CTE programs and ensure equitable access and success. Opportunities like the comprehensive local needs assessment and the Perkins V reserve fund give state leaders leverage to ensure programs are meeting the needs of learners and employers.

Research Roundup

The University of Michigan Youth Policy Lab released a report last month finding disparities in access to CTE programs for economically disadvantaged learners and learners of color throughout the state. However, the report found that when CTE is offered in a single high school, there is very little disparity. This suggests that there is broad interest in CTE programs when offered and that states should do more to expand access for low-income and Black and Hispanic learners.
A report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce finds that students enrolled in certificate and associate degree programs make up 50 percent of the postsecondary student population. Students graduating with certificates in fields such as engineering and drafting can earn a median income up to $150,000. Black, Hispanic and low-income students were most likely to enroll in a certificate program. These findings suggest that certificate and associate degree programs can have great potential in closing earnings and opportunity gaps.