Twitter icon
Facebook icon
LinkedIn icon
YouTube icon



Posts Tagged ‘WIA’

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

New Federal Career Pathways Funding Toolkit Available

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

In an effort to support inter-agency state teams to identify and use federal resources that support career pathways and career pathway bridge models, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has recently released a toolkit to support state planning and design. The resource provides a Funding Options Worksheets and information on ten Federal programs that can interweave the legislative priorities or “braid” the design and development of career pathways and bridges in a more thoughtful and effective manner. The toolkit also may assist teams to identify state policy barriers to using federal resources and strategies for managing the challenges.

More information and links to the toolkit, released as part of its forthcoming Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) is available under Funding Career Pathways and Career Pathway Bridges: A Federal Policy Toolkit for States at http://www.clasp.org/resources_and_publications/publication?id=0762&list=publications

By admin in Career Clusters®, News, Publications, Resources
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Senate Hearing on the State of the American Child

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

Last week the Subcommittee on Children and Families of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held the second hearing in a series to address the state of the American child. This hearing looked at the impact of federal policies on children.

Dr. Cecilia Rouse, a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), told the subcommittee that a CB028331growing number of jobs require workers with greater analytical and interactive skills, but that students are not prepared to enter postsecondary, where they are most likely to acquire these skills. She went on to say that “while the current U.S. education and training system has been shown to provide valuable labor market skills to participants, it could be more effective at encouraging completion and responding to the needs of the labor market.” Her suggestions for improving the system come from CEA’s report Preparing the Workers of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow which we told you about last summer. She also said that federal legislation such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Workforce Investment Act would help the United States develop training and education systems that are once again first in the world.

Seth Harris, Deputy Secretary from the U.S. Department of Labor outlined the Department’s proposed “Good Jobs for Everyone” program that would ensure “that young people have access to careers in high growth industries and the skills they need to compete in the global economy.” He went on to stress the importance of WIA youth programs that prepare young adults with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in 21st century careers and emerging fields such as healthcare and “green” jobs.

Sen. Robert Casey (PA), during questioning, emphasized that there needs to be a comprehensive strategy to bring together all of the agencies and programs that focus on youth so that they are more effective at providing services to and improving the lives of children. He suggested that CEOs and business leaders could play an important role in supporting a strategy for comprehensive reform.

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

Legislative Update: SECTORS Act, DIPLOMA Act, Veterans Training Bill

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

SECTORS Act Passes House with Bipartisan Support

Earlier this week House of Representatives passed H.R. 1855, the Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success (SECTORS) Act on a unanimous voice vote. The bill is sponsored by Representatives Loebsack (IA) and Platts (PA) in the House and Senators Brown (OH), Murray (WA) and Snowe (ME) in the Senate. The SECTORS Act would amend the Workforce Investment Act and establishes a new Industry or Sector Partnership Grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor. Grants would allow recipients to establish or expand industry or sector partnerships that lead collaborative planning, resource alignment, and training efforts across multiple firms for current and potential workers within the targeted industry cluster. The bill must now be approved by the Senate. You can reach your Senator at (202) 224-3121 to voice your support.


DIPLOMA Act Aims to Increase College and Career Readiness

Sen. Sherrod Brown (OH) introduced S. 3595, the Developing Innovative Partnerships and Learning Opportunities that Motivate Achievement (DIPLOMA) Act which aims to strengthen student achievement and graduation rates and prepare young people for college, careers, and citizenship through innovative partnerships that meet the comprehensive needs of children and youth. States would receive funding that would be used in part to administer competitive grants to local consortia to assess community needs, coordinate existing funding streams, and provide services. Career technical education is specifically mentioned as a permissible of funds by the local consortia.

Among the other permissible use of funds allowed by this bill are multiple pathways to graduation (including dual enrollment programs, early college high schools, dropout prevention strategies, and dropout recovery strategies), job training, career counseling, and internship opportunities.


Senate Committee Looks at Veteran’s Bill

On Wednesday the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a hearing to examine improvements to S. 3447, the Post 9/11 GI Bill. This bill would make changes to the Post-9/11 GI bill which currently provides education funding and benefits to veterans. S. 3447 would allow veterans to use their benefits at educational institutions that do not award associate or higher degrees. This would be a change from the current Post-9/11 GI Bill, which does not allow participants to use funds at a non-degree granting institution. This bill would allow veterans to attend postsecondary education institutions that do not grant associate or higher degrees, such as area career technical schools, career schools, and apprenticeship programs. The Committee is scheduled to hold a markup of pending legislation on August 5, 2010, during which Chairman Akaka (HI) intends to bring the bill up for a vote

By admin in Legislation
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Legislative Update: FY11 Appropriations

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Yesterday the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education held a markup of the $176.4 billion FY2011 appropriations bill and passed it by a party-line vote. The bill sets the total education funding level at $1.4 billion less than the Obama Administration’s request.

You can view the summary tables of appropriations for the Labor, Health and Education Departments here, but the full program funding levels will only be introduced if the bill is considered by the full appropriations committee. From what we can tell, Perkins was level funded in the House’s markup. The Workforce Investment Act state grants were increased for the first time in more than a decade, which will allow for training an additional 85,000 workers. Funding for summer youth employment opportunities was also increased by $250 million, which will provide employment for approximately 100,000 young adults, enabling them to gain valuable skills and workplace experience.

By admin in Legislation
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Legislative Update: Education Jobs Fund, America WORKS, Technical School Training Bill

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

Education Jobs Fund Passes House, But President Threatens Veto

As predicted earlier this week, the House voted on the Supplemental Appropriations Act. During the vote, the House passed amendment by Rep. Dave Obey (WI) which included $10 billion for education jobs and $4.95 billion for Pell grants by a vote of 239-182. However, White House has issued a Statement of Administration Policy which states that “If the final bill presented to the President includes cuts to education reforms, the President’s senior advisors would recommend a veto.”

The bill now returns to the Senate where it will be subject to any further amendments by the Senate or by concurrence with the House amendments. If the Senate further amends the bill, it will return to the House. It is unclear when the Senate will take up the bill because Congress is in recess next week.

America WORKS Act

Last week, Sen. Kay Hagan (NC) introduced S. 3529, the America WORKS Act which would require Federal job training and career education programs to give priority to programs that provide an industry-recognized and nationally portable credential. This bill would have implications for postsecondary Perkins indicators, and we are working with Sen. Hagan’s staff on getting this language amended. We will keep you updated on our progress.

Technical School Training Bill

On June 24, Rep. John Barrow (GA) introduced H.R. 5594, a bill that would amend the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) to establish a technical school training subsidy program. This program would go a long way in ensuring that Workforce Investment Act funds would be used to provide career technical education and training services so that individuals are prepared for lifelong careers. This bill aligns to our recommendations for WIA reauthorization which call for greater access to high-quality training.

By admin in Legislation
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Legislative Update: On the Job Training, HELP Hearing, FY12 Budget

Friday, June 11th, 2010

On the Job Training Act

On Monday Senators Jeanne Shaheen (NH) and Thad Cochran (MS) introduced S. 3459, On the Job Training Act of 2010, which aims to amend the Workforce Investment Act to authorize additional funding for on the job training (OJT). The Act would authorize the Department of Labor to award grants to fund local OJT programs and would provide state and local workforce boards with resources to recruit employers and develop OJT programs.

“The majority of the jobs that have been lost as a result of the economic crisis are not going to come back, and we need to do everything we can to get these unemployed Americans the new skills they need to rejoin the workforce,” said Shaheen. “On-the-job training is the most effective way to pair unemployed workers with employers, and I urge my colleagues to support these programs so that we can help Americans who need jobs get back to work.”

State of the American Child

Earlier this week, the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families held the first in the series of hearings on the condition and status of the American child with goal of developing steps that can be taken to improve these conditions. In his opening remarks, Subcommittee chair Chris Dodd (CT) stressed that the current recession will have tragic impact on American families long after the recession is over, saying “One in seven American children has an unemployed parent. One in five live in poverty, and an additional 5 million could be driven into poverty before this recession is over. One in four currently uses food stamps.” Dodd went on to propose a national commission on the status of children in America so that policymakers can take what they learn and turn it into action. Among the various issues the panel discussed were childhood obesity, low teacher wages, poor economic conditions and the lack of job opportunities for parents.

FY12 Budget Looks Bleak

On Tuesday the Office of Management and Budget and the White House sent a memo to the heads of each federal agency instructing them to develop their FY12 discretionary budget request based on a 5% reduction from the level proposed by the President in FY11.  For the Department of Education that would mean a reduction of about $2.5 billion from the President’s FY 11 request. A second memo directs each agency to develop a list of proposed program eliminations or major reductions that equal 5% of their FY10 discretionary budget. For the Department of Education this would be about $3.3 billion.

By admin in Legislation
Tags: , , ,

ACTE Leadership Forum Focuses on Preparing the Future Workforce

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Yesterday ACTE hosted a National Leadership Forum to discuss policy and practice around preparing today’s students for the workforce.  Topics included skills attainment, CTE’s role in economic development, certifications and assessments, and federal policy.

Glenn Cummings, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Vocational and Adult Education, outlined the Administration’s goals for preparing students:

Kelly Hastings from Senator Michael Enzi’s (WY) office talked about the urgent need for WIA reauthorization this year. Despite the scant attention paid to WIA, Senator Enzi is passionate about it and is optimistic that it could be reauthorized this year. Among his priorities are: a dual customer approach, better coordination across the four titles of WIA, innovation, and flexibility. She stated that there would not be “wholesale change” of WIA in the next reauthorization, but that Congress will tweak the existing law to meet the needs to today’s workforce.

Congressman Ruben Hinojosa, chair of the House Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and hinojosaphoto_highresCompetitiveness, joined us during lunch to offer his perspective. He spoke about being elected to Congress from a district with a 23% unemployment rate 16 years ago and a current unemployment rate of 6%.  He credits the investment in human capital and education for the dramatic decline in unemployment.

If there was one point that I heard over and over from several speakers it was that during a time of 9% unemployment there are jobs going unfilled because of the lack of skilled workers.  CTE is a means to develop pathways of education and training to get people appropriately matched to these jobs.  At a time when 15 million people in this country are unemployed, no job should remain unfilled.

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

Legislative Update: Reconciliation Bill, WIA Summer Youth Funding, Health Care Training Grants

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Reconciliation Passes, Awaits President’s Signature

The House passed the reconciliation bill last night by a 220-207 vote. The amendment bill, which included the fixes made to the Senate version of the bill, will now go to President Obama for his signature.  This bill includes $2 billion in funding through the Community College and Career Training Grant Program for community colleges to support education and training programs for dislocated workers and unemployed workers. The program will be competitive, but each state will be guaranteed .5% of the total funding, which totals $2.5 million per state.

Disaster Relief and Summer Jobs Act

This week the House passed the H.R. 4899, Disaster Relief and Summer Jobs Act by a vote of 239-175.  The bill would provide an additional $600 million to the states in Workforce Investment Act funding for youth activities, available exclusively to support summer jobs. While the bill still needs to go to the Senate for consideration, the WIA funding has the full support of the White House which issued a Statement of Administrative Policy stressing the importance of providing summer employment opportunities for disadvantaged youth.

Health Care Bill Includes Training Grants

The health care bill, H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, includes several grants to provide money for training in the health care field:

By admin in Legislation
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

CLASP Recommendations for WIA Reauthorization Promote Shared Accountability System

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

In a new set of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) recommendations, CLASP advocates for significant changes to performance accountability for workforce development and adult education programs authorized under WIA.  The recommendations included:

Regarding their recommendation for better alignment, CLASP would also like to see a shared accountability system across WIA and other workforce development and education programs like the Carl D. Perkins Act, postsecondary education, Trade Adjustment Assistance, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This shared system of accountability would include a shared set of interim and outcome measures, consistent definitions of units of service that can be used across federal programs, commonly agreed upon cost-allocation methods for services funded by multiple sources, and consistent standards of data quality and data sharing.

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

Senate Committee Examines WIA Reauthorization, Experts Call for Postsecondary Support

Friday, February 26th, 2010

While talks on Capitol Hill suggest that the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) is being held up by health care legislation, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) on Wednesday reminded attendees that President Obama has declared job creation the nation’s priority.

“That’s why we must act swiftly to ensure that American workers have the education, training skills and support to compete and thrive in the 21st century global job market,” Harkin said.

At the hearing, A Stronger Workforce Investment System for a Stronger Economy, education and workforce experts urged the HELP committee to recognize the significant role WIA plays in the nation’s economic recovery. The hearing is the first of a series that the committee plans to hold as Congress considers reauthorization of WIA.

The witnesses, who included Anthony Carnevale Director of Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, and Robert Templin, President of Virginia Community College, pressed the committee to provide the resources and services that enable individuals to earn credentials or degrees – the ticket to career entry and advancement.

To provide those opportunities, Carnevale said the Obama Administration has provided a “strong start” in aligning the Department of Labor and the Department of Education by asking for a set aside of $261 million to break down program silos and create Workforce Innovation Partnerships.

“The mismatch between job growth and skill is a growing problem in the American economy,’ Carnevale said in his testimony. “Thus, our ability to align our huge investments in postsecondary education and training programs funded by DOE with job openings and labor market services funded by DOL has become crucial.”

Templin echoed Carnevale’s emphasis on postsecondary training, but also added that such programs must prepare students with a broad educational and training base in which they may build upon.

“Without broader foundational knowledge, postsecondary-level training, a portable credential and actual job experience, narrowly focused skill development too often results in a one-way ticket to entry level jobs that are the first to the lost at the next technology innovation or economic downturn,” Templin said in his testimony.

The experts’ recommendations align with the strategies already in place for CTE programs of study, which maps out a comprehensive approach to education and training. As Congress moves forward with its reauthorization efforts in WIA, we hope they hear the message that all students will need to have access to quality education and training programs prior to entering the workforce.

View NASDCTEc’s WIA recommendations.

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

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

 

Series

Archives

1