Twitter icon
Facebook icon
LinkedIn icon
YouTube icon



Posts Tagged ‘teachers’

« Older Entries

Perkins V ICR Comment Extension Requested as Congress Passes FY25 Funding Measure | Legislative Update

Friday, September 27th, 2024

This week, Advance CTE and partners formally requested an extension of the comment period for a recent U.S. Department of Education (ED) proposal impacting state and local Career Technical Education (CTE) systems. In addition, Congress passed a highly-anticipated extension of federal funding ahead of an important deadline while the House and Senate examined issues related to Artificial Intelligence and teacher preparation.

Advance CTE Requests ICR Comment Extension

As Advance CTE has shared previously, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has recently proposed significant changes impacting planning and reporting requirements stemming from the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins V). As states and the CTE community have continued to review these proposals, a supporting document related to the Consolidated Annual Report (CAR) was recently updated by ED, reflecting substantial new changes proposed as part of this new Information Collection Request (ICR). Given ED is seeking thoughtful and meaningful feedback from the CTE community, Advance CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) have formally requested a 30-day extension of the underlying comment period. We encourage other stakeholders to emphasize to ED directly the importance of providing adequate time through this comment period for the CTE field to review these substantial changes to Perkins V implementation.

Congress Passes Continuing Resolution and Adjourns Until Mid-November

Late Wednesday evening, Congress passed a three-month extension of fiscal year 2024 federal funding—just a few days before the formal start of the 2025 federal fiscal year (FY25) was set to begin on October 1. The extension, known as a continuing resolution (CR), provides lawmakers additional time to focus on campaigning for the fast-approaching November elections. The expiration of the CR on December 20, near the end of Congress’ upcoming “lame duck” session, also provides more time for lawmakers to negotiate a compromise on a full-year FY25 funding bill during this last stretch of the 118th Congress.

In the meantime, education and workforce development programs like Perkins V’s state grant program will be supported at the same FY24 funding levels for this period. Shortly after the passage of the CR, which cleared both chambers on a wide bipartisan basis, Congress formally recessed, with lawmakers expected to return on November 15. Advance CTE will continue to advocate for a strengthened investment in CTE made via Perkins V as this process moves forward later this year.

Senate HELP Subcommittee Discusses AI and Workforce

This week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, led by Sens. Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Braun (R-IN), convened a hearing to discuss the implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for workers and efforts to prepare them for the future. The panel questioned an array of witnesses about AI’s growth and the workforce’s changing nature. Panel members, AI industry leaders, an economist from LinkedIn, and a human resources director spoke about the importance of thoughtful guard rails and regulatory frameworks needed for industry leaders to support responsible AI development. 

Witnesses highlighted the need for a changing workforce to be highly-skilled in an emerging field and how community and technical colleges, in particular, can help equip learners with the skills needed for future success in the emerging era of AI. Sen. Kaine (D-VA) specifically highlighted the importance of expanding federal Pell Grant eligibility for shorter-term CTE programs as a key strategy to help support workers and learners in the future as AI technologies continue to evolve and impact many facets of daily life. 

More on the hearing, including witness testimony and an archived webcast

House Examines Teacher Preparation Efforts

On Wednesday, the House Education and the Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education held a hearing titled “Innovative Teacher Preparation: Properly Equipping America’s Educators.” The subcommittee hearing, led by Chair Bean (R-FL) and Ranking Member Bonamici (D-OR), focused on persistent teacher shortages facing schools and communities across the nation and examined ways to prepare teachers for entry into the workforce more effectively. In particular, Rep. Bonamici highlighted the important role that CTE programs can play in these efforts, while witnesses discussed how teacher preparation efforts should also be sure to incorporate CTE educators. Opening statements, witness testimony, and more related to the hearing can be found here.

Advance CTE has continued to focus on these efforts, and more to prepare the CTE educator workforce needed for today and tomorrow:

Rob Young, Communications & Advocacy Associate

Steve Voytek, Policy Advisor 

By Rob Young in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

CTE Research Review

Tuesday, November 5th, 2013

Research Image_6.2013Over the past few weeks, a number of critical reports and research papers came out with wide-spreading implications for Career Technical Education (CTE). Below are summaries of a few that caught our attention.

The Center for Great Teachers and Leaders released 21st Century Educators: Developing and Supporting Great Career and Technical Education Teachers, a new special issue brief focusing on the human capital management policies impacting CTE educators: certification, performance evaluation and professional learning opportunities. The issue brief, which NASDCTEc had an opportunity to review, provides a comprehensive overview of the current policies in place across the country and raises issues for greater consideration as states refine their certification, evaluation and professional development systems. The brief also contains a useful glossary of key terms.

The Center for Education Policy issued Career Readiness Assessments across States: A Summary of Survey Findings, the result of a survey of 46 State CTE Directors on the range of assessments used in their states to measure students’ career readiness and how those assessments are used, which NASDCTEc also had the opportunity to review. Some key findings from the report include:

U.S. States in a Global Context: Results from the 2011 NAEP-TIMSS Linking Study offers an analysis that allows state scores on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) to be compared. In short, the study found that 36 states were above the TIMSS average in mathematics (with only six states lower) and 47 were above the TIMSS average in science for 8th-grade students. While this is heartening, it’s also important to note that Massachusetts was the only state to reach the “high benchmark” rating on TIMSS, defined as “students can apply their understanding and knowledge in a variety of relatively complex situations,” joined by five high-performing countries.

Similarly, in science, eight states (Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin) reached the “high benchmark,” defined as “students can reason with information, draw conclusions, make generalizations and solve linear equations.”

The first of its kind OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills presents the initial results of the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), which evaluates and compares the skills of 166,000 adults from 24 countries. A major component is the direct assessment of key information-processing skills: literacy, numeracy and problem solving in the context of technology-rich environments.

A new report by the Brookings Institute – Standardized Testing and the Common Core Standards: You Get What You Pay For? – explores the (very minimal) impact states leaving either the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium or Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers have on the price of those assessments per student. The paper makes a strong case to states to not sacrifice test quality by presumably leaving either consortia, in order to save $10 or $20 per student – a drop in the bucket of an education system that spends more than $10,000 per student annually.

The Hamilton Project, out of the Brookings Institute, released a policy brief on Redesigning the Pell Grant Program for the Twenty-First Century, calling for three major structural reforms to a policy that has largely remained unchanged over the past forty years since it was first launched:

  1. Augmenting the Pell program’s financial support with tailored guidance and support services that have been shown to improve academic and/or labor-market success (which has implications for One-Stop Career Centers);
  2. Simplifying the eligibility and application process to ensure that the program reaches those who need it most;
  3. Strengthening incentives for student effort and timely completion, including providing more flexibility for when and how students earn credits

 

Kate Blosveren, Associate Executive Director

By Kate Blosveren Kreamer in Research, Resources
Tags: , , ,

First Presidential Debate Addresses Economy, Education and Deficit

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

Last night President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney met in Denver for the first of three presidential debates. This debate, moderated by Jim Lehrer, focused on domestic issues, with both candidates frequently citing the need to improve public education in order to prepare students with the skills they need to succeed. When asked about how he would go about creating new jobs, President Obama stated that we have improve our education system, hire more math and science teachers, keep college affordable, and create two million more openings at community colleges so that people can get trained for the jobs that exist today.

Governor Romney explained that his plan for economic recovery would include streamlining workforce training programs. He referenced the finding from a GAO report that there are 47 job training programs (including Perkins, according to GAO) reporting to eight different federal agencies. Romney suggested that these programs would be better managed at the state level, saying, “Overhead is overwhelming. We’ve got to get those dollars back to the states and go to the workers so they can create their own pathways to get in the training they need for jobs that will really help them.”

Lehrer then moved on to how each candidate would tackle the growing deficit. Romney said that, firstly, he would apply the following test to all federal programs: Is the program so critical it’s worth borrowing money from China to pay for it? And if not, he would eliminate it. Second, he would move programs that he believes could be run more efficiently at the state level and send them to the state. Finally, he would increase government efficiency by reducing the number of employees, and combining some agencies and departments. President Obama stated that, in addition to raising revenues, he would cut programs that are not helping the economy grow. He pointed out his Administration has already eliminated a number of federal programs, including 18 ineffective education programs.

In response to a question about the role of the federal government in public education, Governor Romney said that he thinks that federal education funds should follow the student, allowing parents to decide where to send their child to school. President Obama stated that the great work being done by community colleges with business support to train people for jobs, also requires some federal support.

Obama and Romney then sparred over budget proposals and how they can impact choices about support for federal education programs. Obama questioned how Romney would be able to pay for his support of education programs when his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan’s, budget proposal would cut federal education spending by 20 percent. Romney countered by saying, “I’m not going to cut education funding. I don’t have any plan to cut education funding and—and grants that go to people going to college…I don’t want to cut our commitment to education. I want to make it more effective and efficient.” However, if Romney were to implement Ryan’s budget plan, and keeps his promise to not cut education that would mean deeper cuts for other areas of the federal government.

The next Presidential debate will take place on October 16, 2012 and will focus on foreign and domestic policy. Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Ryan will meet for their only debate next Wednesday at 9 p.m. EST and will also cover foreign and domestic policy.

Nancy Conneely, Director of Public Policy

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Reminder: Register Now for NASDCTEc Webinar Tomorrow: CTE Trend Analysis

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

Every other year, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) conducts a survey of the membership to gauge trends in Career Technical Education (CTE) across the country. Based on analyses of this year’s survey results from 50 states and territories, and comparisons to surveys administered in 2008 and 2010, NASDCTEc has authored a series of synopsis papers that describe trends in four key areas: Career Clusters™ and Programs of Study, CTE Teacher and Faculty Shortages, Governance, and CTE Funding.

This month’s webinar will focus on the first two synopsis papers: Career Clusters™ and Programs of Study and CTE Teacher and Faculty Shortages.

Kara Herbertson from NASDCTEc will give an overview of trends in these areas. Collie Wells from the Alabama Department of Education will discuss Alabama’s Business and Industry Certification, awarded from the International Organization for Standardization (IOS), and how the certification ensures high quality CTE programs. Also, Linda Milstein from Brookdale Community College will discuss an alternate route for certifying CTE teachers.

Please join us for this informative webinar tomorrow, Thursday, October 4th at 3:00 pm ET. Register now!

Kara Herbertson, Research and Policy Manager

By admin in Advance CTE Announcements, Webinars
Tags: , ,

Secretary Duncan Outlines Progress Made and Goals for the Future

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012

This afternoon Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke at the National Press Club about the state of American education. Duncan highlighted the Obama Administration’s achievements and challenges over the last four years and offered his take on the obstacles facing public schools in the years ahead.

Chief among the Department’s endeavors are raising standards, improving student performance, reducing dropout rates, and strengthening the teaching profession. But, as we in the CTE community know, education also plays an important role in strengthening the economy and closing the skills gap. Said Duncan: “With more than three million unfilled jobs in this country, [the public] understand[s] that we have a skills gap that will only be closed if America does a better job training and preparing people for work.” The public supports investing in education, but as Duncan pointed out, they worry about where the money will come from.

Duncan laid out the areas where there is still work to be done, including reforming CTE programs in high schools and community colleges, state-driven accountability, recruiting more math and science teachers, and closing the skills gap.

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

NCES Updates CTE Statistics Web Site

Monday, October 1st, 2012

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) updated its Career Technical Education (CTE) Web site to show more recent high school transcript data on the persistence, attainment, and labor market outcomes of CTE students as of 2009. Updated tables include:

Click here to access the most recent secondary and postsecondary CTE tables from NCES.

Kara Herbertson, Research and Policy Manager

By admin in Research
Tags: ,

Continuing Resolution Extends Highly Qualified Teacher Provision

Monday, September 24th, 2012

On Saturday the Senate passed a six month continuing resolution that will fund the federal government through March 27, 2013. This bill extends for an additional year a provision that allows teachers who are participating alternative certification programs to be considered highly qualified. This means that at least until the end of the 2013-2014 school year, teachers in alternative certification programs will be considered highly qualified. The Department of Education will also be required to send a report to Congress no later than December 31, 2013 detailing how many special education students, rural students, English-language learners, and low-income students are being taught by teachers in an alternative-certification program.

Nancy Conneely, Director of Public Policy

By admin in Legislation
Tags: , , , , ,

NASDCTEc Webinar: CTE Trend Analysis: Career Clusters/Programs of Study, CTE Teacher Shortages

Friday, September 21st, 2012

Every other year, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) conducts a survey of the membership to gauge trends in Career Technical Education (CTE) across the country. Based on analyses of this year’s survey results from 50 states and territories, and comparisons to surveys administered in 2008 and 2010, NASDCTEc has authored a series of synopsis papers that describe trends in four key areas: Career Clusters™ and Programs of Study; CTE Teacher/Faculty Shortages and Recruitment Initiatives; Governance; and CTE Funding.

This month’s webinar will focus on the first two synopsis papers: Career Clusters™ and Programs of Study and CTE Teacher/Faculty Shortages and Recruitment Initiatives.

Kara Herbertson, NASDCTEc’s Education Policy Analyst, will give an overview of trends in these areas. Collie Wells from the Alabama Department of Education will discuss Alabama’s Business and Industry Certification, awarded from the International Organization for Standardization (IOS), and how the certification ensures high quality CTE programs. Also, a representative from New Jersey will discuss an alternate route for certifying CTE teachers.

Join us for this informative webinar on Thursday, October 4th at 3:00 pm ET. Register now!

Kara Herbertson, Education Policy Analyst 

By admin in Meetings and Events, Public Policy, Research, Webinars
Tags: , ,

Legislative Update: Alternative Certification, Career Academies

Friday, July 27th, 2012

House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Alternative Certification

The House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education held a hearing this week to examine alternative certification of teachers. The topic is a timely one given its connection to defining highly qualified teachers under the No Child Left Behind Act. In 2010, Congress passed legislation that allowed students enrolled in alternative certification programs to be considered “highly qualified teachers.” The House Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill seeks to extend this definition for two more years.

There was general support for alternative routes to certification on both sides of the aisle during the hearing. Chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Duncan Hunter (CA) had this to say:

Alternative certification routes help address teacher shortages in particular geographic areas and subject matter, as well as strengthen the overall quality of the teaching profession. While Republicans know there is no one-size-fits-all federal solution to help put more effective teachers in the classroom, supporting the availability and acceptance of alternative certification programs is one way the public and private sectors can join together to ensure more students have access to a quality education from an extraordinary educator.

Cynthia Brown, Vice President for Education Policy at the Center for American Progress, agreed that alternative certification programs hold a lot of promise, but that there need to be policies in place to ensure that they are “high quality, innovative, and effective,” which also holds true for traditional teacher preparation programs. She suggested that Congress focus on teacher effectiveness rather than alternative routes to certification.

More Details on Career Academies Proposal

Last week Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke at the National Academy Foundation’s NEXT Conference about the President’s FY13 budget proposal to invest $1 billion in career academies. Funding at this level could increase the number of career academies by 3,000 and serve an additional 500,000 students.

According to Duncan, $200 million in grants to states would be available in FY13, and $400 million would be available in both FY14 and FY15. Grants to would total $4 million each to states, and would be given over a three year period. States would distribute those funds competitively to locals.

As part of the grant program, the Department of Education is proposing a definition of “career academy” that each state must use for the in-state competition:

  1. A career academy is a secondary school program as organized as a small learning com­munity or school within a school to provide the support of a personalized learning environment.
  2. The academy must begin in ninth grade and combine credit-bearing academic and techni­cal curriculum.
  3. The academy must organize curriculum around a career theme like those proposed by NAF — hospitality and tourism, IT, health, sci­ence, and engineering — and be aligned with states’ college- and career-ready standards.
  4. The academy must provide work-based learning and career exploration activities through partnerships with local employers.
  5. The academy must articulate entrance re­quirements of postsecondary education programs to ensure students graduate from high school ready to pursue a higher education degree or credential.

Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New District-Level Race to the Top Competition Announced

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

The U.S. Department of Education today announced the proposed criteria for a new district-level Race to the Top grant program. Like the original Race to the Top grants, the district-level completion will revolve around four reform areas: higher standards, data-driven decision making, greater support for teachers, and turning around low-performing schools. School districts may compete for a piece of the $400 million pot by showing how their plans for individualized classroom instruction will help close achievement gaps and prepare all students for college and career.

“With this competition, we are inviting districts to show us how they can personalize education for a set of students in their schools.  We need to take classroom learning beyond a one-size-fits-all model and bring it into the 21st century,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said.

School districts or groups of districts serving at least 2,500 students with 40 percent or more qualifying for free or reduced price lunch are eligible to apply. Awards will range from $15 million to $25 million, depending on the population of students served.

You may submit comments by June 8 on the district-level Race to the Top program here. The Department has stated that it plans to release the application in July, and that it will be due in October. Grant awards will be announced no later than Dec. 31, 2012.

Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager

 

By admin in Public Policy
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

« Older Entries

 

Series

Archives

1