The November 20, 2002, issue of ACTE?s Career Tech Update newsletter reported the ?worst Perkins threat in years.? ACTE had heard through ?very reliable sources? that the president?s budget submission to Congress, expected early this year, would eliminate funding for the Perkins Act and use the money to offset the shortfall that exists in the Pell Grant program.
In response to the possibility of such a devastating blow to career and technical education, ACTE members went into action and made their concerns known with a flood of e-mails and faxes to members of Congress. The threat to Perkins was also a major topic at the ACTE convention in Las Vegas (see our convention coverage in this issue).
It is vitally important to remain informed and active on this issue, and ACTE?s Government Relations Department is the place to turn for everything you need to know about participating in CTE advocacy efforts. Frequent visits to the public policy page of ACTE?s Web site at http://www.acteonline.org/policy/index.cfm will help keep you up to date on what is going on with Perkins and what you can do to help.
Fall of 2002 marked the awarding of grants for several initiatives of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE).
OVAE awarded a $2.5 million grant to support the College and Career Transitions Initiative (CCTI), which is designed to strengthen the role of community and technical colleges in easing students? transition from secondary to postsecondary education through the development of programs of study based on core sets of rigorous academic and technical courses. Through partnerships, multiple models of aligned secondary and postsecondary curricula will be produced, as well as professional development institutes and assessment materials in occupational areas such as information technology, health care, engineering and teacher education.
The collaboration of participants includes the American Association of Community Colleges, the Center for Occupational Research and Development, the Chauncey Group International, the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, and the University of Texas at Austin?s Community College Leadership Program, as well as 10 partnerships between high schools and community or technical colleges. The League for Innovation in the Community College will take the lead in the collaboration.
OVAE also has awarded a $643,000, 18-month grant to support the Community College Labor Market Responsiveness Initiative. OVAE describes this project as providing ?information and tools that will enable community colleges?as a vital part of America?s education and training system?to keep pace with the needs of a diverse student body and dynamic labor market.?
The initiative involves a partnership between Westat Research Corporation and the Academy for Educational Development?s National Institute for Work and Learning and will determine the characteristics of a ?market-responsive? college and then identify steps that community colleges can take to improve their responsiveness and the quality of the customized programs they offer to students.
A third initiative, the Performance Measurement Initiative, will design and pilot test new secondary and postsecondary assessment and accountability measures covering both academic and career and technical education programs in five states selected through a competitive review process. The project will be undertaken through collaboration among the Academy for Educational Development?s National Institute for Work and Learning, MPR Associates, Inc., and the Johns Hopkins University?s Center for Social Change.
OVAE has awarded a $2.5 million, two-year grant to support the Performance Measurement Initiative.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has announced plans to award instrumentation grants totaling $3.3 million to tribal colleges and universities. The grants, which will be made under the fiscal 2002 DoD Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions Infrastructure Support Program, will enhance programs and capabilities in scientific disciplines critical to national security and the DoD.
The following are the recommended award recipients and proposal titles.
- Bay Mills Community College, BMCC Academic Facility Equipment Project
- Chief Dull Knife College, Computer Infrastructure Enhancement Project
- Crownpoint Institute of Technology, Enhancing Instruction Through Technology
- Fort Berthold Community College, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation: Improving Math and Science
- Fort Peck Community College, Infrastructure Support Program
- Haskell Indian Nations University, Honoring Tribal Values Through Research of Natural World Systems
- Little Big Horn College, Apsaalooke Stewards: Improving Learning in Science and Math
- Little Priest Tribal College, Enhancing Academic Quality in the Science Program
- Oglala Lakota College, Math Instruction Improvement Plan
- Salish Kootenai College, Enhancing Health Sciences Education
- Sinte Gleska University, Distance Learning
- Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Instrumentation for Science and Engineering Program
- Stone Child College, Math-Science Instrumentation Project
