CTE Policy Watch

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What does it take for ACTE to get ready for convention? Well, really it takes a full year of hard work and effort by the staff, but for my story we are looking at two little parts of the whole process - stuffing and packing.

Have you ever wondered where the tote bags you get at registration come from? We stuff them. Over a three day period, the ACTE staff stuffs 5000 tote bags. This year each bag had 14 items, for a grand total of 70,000 (!) items stuffed. The staff breaks up into teams for two separate competitions to see how fast each team can stuff 500 bags. While this is a friendly competition, there have been some incidents of foul play…Pete, I am looking at you… Every ACTE staff member is involved in stuffing. For at least one hour every morning, Jan is up there stuffing bags and telling stories. Pete usually comes up with something to wear that is good for a laugh. If you get a chance at convention, ask him what he wore this year for stuffing. And periodically, dance contests break out when good songs come on the Ipod.

And then there is packing. Right now there are no fewer than seven staff members packing boxes for shipping. Jamie Baxter is hurrying to finish packing the auction items for the Networking Reception and putting the final touches on the CTE Support Fund board. Stop by the table and see all her hard work. Jamie Bennett is packing what looks to be her entire office for convention. Seriously, she is a true pro at getting all the needed materials packed.  Kudos also need to go to Cara DiMattina for being the point person on creating and maintaining the inventory list for all of ACTE. The technical term for her job this week is “Herding Cats.”

I hope this gives a little humorous insight to what the ACTE staff is going through in preparation for convention. We hope you come to Charlotte and join us.

Jason

By: Steve

Lots of our advocacy work here in Washington involves meeting with other organizations. Washington seems to have more meetings per capita than most places and unfortunately, many of these events involve speaking with like-minded people who work in the same “silos.” In this era of change, I have to wonder how much we are accomplishing if we only continue to “preach to the choir.”

I attended a “Multiple Education Pathways Learning Exchange” meeting hosted by the U.S. Department of Labor this week that breaks this mold. The event brought together labor, education, workforce and other practitioners from different sectors to communicate with each other about what is working in their communities to help educate disadvantaged students. “Multiple pathways” in this meeting meant different routes to get these students through the education pipeline and into good jobs. There were folks from mayors’ offices, school districts, Chambers of Commerce, labor and education agencies, community based organizations and other fields. The great thing about the meeting is that it brought groups together that don’t normally work together, or which do not always work well together in a seamless capacity.

You will be happy to hear that career and technical education was prominently featured at the meeting and that there was lots of interest on how to leverage CTE to support these populations. The CTE breakout session room was “bursting at the seams” (I’m sure we violated fire code!) and there was lots of energy and interest from attendees. Many asked good questions related to applied learning research, career pathways and early college programs. Later in a luncheon session featuring business leaders, Martin Bean with Microsoft Corporation was asked to give his “elevator speech” to convey what is needed to improve education today. A key part of his message focused on the importance of incorporating CTE in all of education, presumably so that more students are engaged in learning and better prepared for the workforce.

I met lots of good contacts at this conference and connected with some education colleagues that I see at all of the other meetings I regularly attend (okay…so I guess connecting with others in the education “silo” isn’t all bad.) I spoke to a lot of local practitioners in workforce, youth and labor programs concerning the value of CTE and noticed that ACTE’s issue briefs which I had left on the “give away” table were all gone after the first day. There is a lot of interest in CTE – that is for sure. I hope this meeting concept of working outside of the normal silos will be replicated and supported at the state and local levels. It helped give me some good contacts and ideas related to ACTE’s work.

By: Alisha

All week, Education Sector, an independent education “think tank,” will be hosting an online discussion on defining and measuring 21st century skills. The discussion is part of the release of the organization’s new report Measuring Skills for the 21st Century. Policy analysts and other experts will be on hand to answer questions and post opinions, and the public is invited to participate.

This is a great opportunity to share more about CTE and to help influence this important discussion. It is also an example of how the national education reform conversation is shifting and becoming more inclusive of a broad range of skills needed by students for success in postsecondary education and work.

For example, consider this comment from Paul Curtis of the New Technology Foundation:

“I think internships are an important piece of a well rounded education experience because it gets students thinking about next steps and allows them to see why these skills are important to their future. However, I think it is more important, and more difficult, to change the teaching practices in our core content classes so that math, science, history and language arts ask students to apply what they have learned.”

The challenge mentioned by Curtis is one CTE faces on a regular basis. We at ACTE are hoping to address the better integration of applied learning into traditional academic courses through the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind.

We encourage you to take part in the discussion! It is a great opportunity to share how CTE is preparing students with 21st century skills and to ask questions about how CTE could play a bigger role in this national effort.

By: Jamie

I always hated when people said that they “couldn’t afford to go to college.”  Surely, if I made it, I with a single Mom, tons of loans, work study, a Pell Grant and a part-time job, others could figure out a way to do it too. However, after the meeting I attended this morning sponsored by the Committee for Education Funding, I am learning that today people just simply cannot afford a postsecondary education. It isn’t that they don’t want to attend, it is that they just simply can’t. And…what makes this even more depressing? It is just simply going to get worse.

Apparently, the economy is having a rough time. I must admit, not having any money in stocks, barely having anything in a 401K, no mortgage, and no assets (now I’m getting depressed), the crash of the markets did not directly affect me, and all of the terminology is way over my head. What I realized today is that although the market decline of the last few weeks did not directly affect me, the aftermath will.

In the next few years, millions of workers will be laid off and will have to receive some sort of worker retraining. The catch - most won’t be able to afford to go to a school to get retrained. Student loan companies are not loaning money as freely (or at all) as they once did. Now, to qualify for a student loan you have to fit a list of requirements and in some cases have a credited co-signer. I would like to know how you are supposed to have a credited co-signer when you are the bread winner of your family and you just got laid off. Or, how a student’s parents can be credited co-signers when they are struggling themselves and just want their kids to have a good future. Tuition will continue to rise, especially because with all of the students unable to afford school potentially dropping out, enrollment will go down. There will be fewer skilled workers and higher levels of untrained workers without a job to go to. 

The next President will inherit over a trillion dollar debt, the largest debt in history. Programs are going to have to fight for existance. Today someone asked, “what do we tell schools, when they ask what they can expect in 4 years?” The answer? “less… less of everything.” I think that sums up the next few years for all us, expect less. Now that is some scary stuff.

By: Steve

The Department of Education held a live Webcast this week to highlight new regulatory changes they are implementing on No Child Left Behind. Secretary Spellings announced the regulations in South Carolina earlier in the week. Since ACTE developed Board-approved NCLB recommendations through an NCLB Task force a few years ago, and we have been actively advocating for those recommendations to be adopted by Congress and the Bush Administration, it was important that we participate.

The new regulations, and the Webcast for that matter, focused on three areas that the Department termed: 1) “improved accountability and transparency,” 2) “uniform and disaggregated graduation rates,” and 3) “improved parental notification for Supplemental Education Services and public school choice.” There are some interesting changes, most of which reflect comments that have already been made by Department officials or that have been discussed by policymakers. You can view the information and the Webcast on the Department of Education’s Web site.

I asked a question about the timing of the announced regulations given that a new Congress and President will take office in January. The response was that Congress did not get to the law last year and that the Secretary spent a good portion of the first part of the year discussing the changes needed. The appropriate steps were taken to follow through with the improvements and the Department did not want to delay in moving forward (however, some say the announcement was politically motivated).

After hearing about all of the new ways that technology will change communication, I feel like we are finally seeing those changes in the public policy world. Webcasts like this one are beginning to take the place of live meetings. I like the convenience but I do miss the personal interaction and the absence of a public setting does have implications for advocacy. For instance, meetings provide the perfect opportunity for many advocates and activists to turn a question into a verbose re-statement of their own position or opinion (I won’t miss that!)

Check out the picture of me in the Realityworks “pregnancy profile.”

It simulates pregnancy and is part of a line of products that Realtyworks, Inc. produces. Many of these products are used by Family and Consumer Sciences programs that are teaching students about child care.

Realityworks flew me to their Eau Claire, WI, headquarters to discuss the ways that CTE is being implemented at the federal and state level. The company realizes that much of the funding used to purchase their products is obtained by schools and school districts via Perkins funding. They are interested in advocating for additional funding for Perkins and learning more about how states are implementing CTE through programs of study, career clusters and career pathways.

I had some interesting questions and discussions during my visit. For instance, some of the Realityworks staff say that states are beginning to cut FACS programs based on the fact that they are not “high wage,” despite the fact that many of the workers are in high demand. Is that something experienced in your state? We also had good discussions about the future of CTE and its continuing integration with academics.

Realityworks is planning to participate in a re-energized CTE Coalition that ACTE plans to host. Wouldn’t it be great if all businesses were as proactive in taking an leadership role in advocacy? We need more businesses and industry to speak about the importance of CTE, as well as people from all sectors, if we are to increase funding for Perkins. Given the realities of the federal budget and current economic times, we must ensure that CTE is viewed more broadly. If not, gaining additional dollars will be about as difficult as it is for me to have a baby!

Steve

A few years ago, Bill Gates called today’s high schools obsolete. You may remember the quote: “Training the workforce of tomorrow with the high schools of today is like trying to teach kids about today’s computers on a 50-year-old mainframe. It’s the wrong tool for the times.”

That may be true of some high schools, but the two I saw today were on the cutting edge of preparing students for their futures, whatever their goals might be. I arrived early at the ACTE Region II Conference in time to participate in tours of two Volusia County, Florida, CTE programs.

The first school we visited was Mainland High School, home of five state-of-the-art career academies. The facility (which had only been open for three years) was incredibly impressive, with enhancements like a high tech TV studio, an authentic environmental science museum (yes, an actual museum on campus filled with artifacts that had been donated by the community or collected by students), and an athletic training lab that would rival that of many colleges.

What was more impressive though was the students and the projects they were engaged in. Students in the Academy of Science and Medicine told us about a co-curricular project involving students from across the entire campus. The students study and develop a low impact recreational area along 33 acres of nearby Rose Bay. Students monitor wildlife, take water samples, plan educational programs for the community, maintain the land, and provide enhancements like benches and pavilions.

Next we visited the Advanced Technology Center at Daytona Beach College. This school is a partnership between the College, Volusia County Schools, and nearby Flager County Schools. Any high school students from the two school districts can apply to attend the center full-time during their junior and senior years. The facility also houses both full- and part-time programs for postsecondary students enrolled in the college. Because of the unique arrangement, students can earn up to a full associate degree along with their high school diplomas during the time they spend there. I have to admit, this was one of the most high-tech CTE education institutions that I’ve seen during my time at ACTE. Students really have a unique ability to explore their interests and gain marketable skills in a much different environment than the traditional high school. Professors have “office hours,” students are allowed to take classes during the day and at night, and there is a ping pong table set up in a hallway for students to use during breaks between classes.  

Unfortunately, Volusia County, along with the entire state of Florida (and many of your states), is facing severe budget cuts. There are few resources to expand and replicate these revolutionary programs. That’s why it is more important than ever to advocate for CTE!

Alisha

Meetings, meetings, meetings…I’m sure you can all relate. I have had a lot of them this week, but one of the more interesting venues was the Office of Vocational and Adult Education’s Data Quality Institute, which was a virtual meeting. Due to a lot of issues, not the least of which is the cost of travel, OVAE held this year’s Data Quality Institute through a series of conference calls, Webcasts and online connections. It’s good to see new technology being used; however, I did miss the “non technical” interactions with people.

I was pleased to present via Webcast on ACTE’s role related to technical assessments. One of the items I referenced was The National Research Center for Career and Technical Education’s work on a repository of assessments that states are using. ACTE will begin work on this project soon. I also referenced OVAE’s work to explore the possibility of a national clearinghouse and item bank to support states and localities to meet the assessment provisions of the Perkins law. States are still debating the value of the clearinghouse and item bank. The NRCCTE repository and OVAE clearinghouse will likely meld together in some way.

The Data Quality Institute also included presentations from the Department of Education and a number of states related to technical assessments and data activities. I found one of the most interesting presentations to be Utah’s development of 126 skills certificates, which verify technical skill attainment for students who successfully complete the assessments. Wow – that’s a lot of work! Take a look at ACTE’s state profiles if you would like to find out what other states are doing.

Steve 

I presented at the Virginia Association of Career and Technical Education Administrators conference in Roanoke, VA, this week. Speaking as someone who works “inside the beltway” in Washington, it’s always good to be around practitioners to hear what they are going through as they work to implement the laws and regulations written by policymakers. It helps me in my work as ACTE communicates to Congress, the Department of Education, media and other audiences.

I was fortunate to hear presentations from the VA Department of Education during the conference. Virginia is working on some exciting things. Education department staff mentioned that they are in the process of identifying what “workforce readiness” means for all students in the state – not just CTE students – and identifying the assessments that will be used related to this activity. The PTA in Virginia has supported CTE and has developed a brochure to get young students to start thinking about career paths for the career tracks they would like to take. Most interesting to me was the student data collection: Virginia’s data shows that its CTE student AP coursetaking and advanced studies completion is up in the state and looking good.

There was lots of other good information. Make sure you check out ACTE’s state profiles to learn more about what Virginia and other states are doing to improve CTE. Thanks to Steve Straight and the VCTEA for inviting me to speak. I wish I could have stayed longer!

Steve