Data and Research Archives

CTE Programs: A Bright Spot in Spring Postsecondary Enrollment

Recently, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released its postsecondary enrollment estimates for the spring 2022 semester. While overall enrollment dropped compared to the spring prior, with community colleges representing more than half of enrollment declines, freshman and CTE program enrollment at two-year institutions increased significantly.

This spring, community college enrollment declined by 7.8% or 351,000 students, from the prior spring. Enrollment dropped the most among adults (-10.8%), full-time students (-10.7%) and women (-9.2%). Additionally, enrollment in community college certificate programs decreased by 3.7% this spring, which is notable compared to certificate programs’ 4.3% increase during the fall 2021 semester.

On a more positive note, freshman enrollees at community colleges increased by 3.1% this spring, demonstrating great improvement from the spring prior. In fact, nearly 60% of spring freshman began at a community college.

Most interesting to CTE advocates, enrollment in CTE programs at two-year institutions also significantly increased this spring. Agriculture programs experienced the largest enrollment growth, with a 47.8% increase. Enrollment in skilled trades programs also grew, including transportation and materials moving (28.9%); precision production (16.7%); and mechanic and repair technologies (11.5%). Construction programs grew 19.3%, returning to pre-pandemic enrollment levels.

Additionally, other CTE programs that saw significant enrollment increases include personal and culinary services (12.7%); computer and information sciences and support services (8.5%); and visual and performing arts (8.4%).

Possible reasons for the increases in CTE program enrollment include pent-up student demand from the pandemic, when some learners opted out of CTE programs that had moved online, as well as labor market needs in these industries and occupations.

Research Roundup: All About Credentials

Some College, No Credential: This month, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released their annual progress report that examines adults who have some postsecondary experience but did not earn a credential, identified as some college, no credential (SCNC) students. When looking at student enrollment records from 3,600 postsecondary institutions, researchers revealed the following key findings:

Since 2019, the number of SCNC students increased by 8.3% to total 39 million for the 2020-21 academic year. Forty-eight states and D.C. experienced an increase in SCNC students with Alaska, Oregon and Washington representing the largest SCNC populations per 1,000 undergraduates.
Re-enrolling in a community college was the most common pathway for SCNC re-enrollees.
Women SCNC students outnumbered men in re-enrollment, persistence and credential attainment, especially younger women and racial/ethnic minority women.
Certificates and associate degrees were the most likely credentials earned by SCNC re-enrollees, especially among Latinx and Black SCNC re-enrollees.

Returns to Credentials: In a recent report by the National Bureau of Economic Researchers, researchers examined the returns on investment from different institutions, academic programs and credentials, including two-year postsecondary institutions and postsecondary CTE programs, certificates and degrees. The following summarize a few findings on these topics:

The report concluded that students receive a positive return on investment for partially completing a two-year postsecondary program, even those who completed only one semester.
However, completing an associate degree consistently produces substantially higher earnings compared to those who did not obtain a degree.
Sub-baccalaureate CTE degrees, diplomas and certificates generated positive returns on investments. However, there was some variability by program of study.

On a related note, Georgetown University released a tracker this winter that ranks 4,500 postsecondary institutions by their return on investment using new data from the College Scorecard. Users can filter by institution level and type, degree and state to explore measures such as graduation rates, earnings-to-price return and much more. This tracker is meant to accompany Georgetown’s 2019 report A first try at ROI: Ranking 4,500 colleges.

Alternative Credentials & Hiring: A recent report by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) outlines employers’ views of alternative credentials during the hiring process. In 2021, SHRM surveyed executives, supervisors and human resource professionals as well as workers. The following detail the report’s key findings:

Almost half of U.S. workers hold an alternative credential with the most common being training certificates, course completion certificates and industry or professional certifications.
While all three employer groups indicated alternative credentials as valuable to the workplace, each consistently valued work experience and traditional degrees more.
Most often, executives and supervisors said variability in quality among credentials prevents their wider acceptance in the hiring process while HR professionals reported that skills earned by credentials are not always clear.
Of 45% of HR professionals who say that their organization uses an automated prescreening system to review job applications, only 32% say their system recognizes alternative credentials.
Most executives and supervisors and over half of HR professionals agree that recognizing alternative credentials would increase their ability to hire more diverse candidates.

The Landscape of Career Readiness in the United States: A State-level Analysis

The Coalition for Career Development Center (CCD Center) recently released their inaugural Condition of Career Readiness in the United States report, which summarizes state-level progress toward a nation in which young adults are both college and career ready. This blog post will outline the report’s key findings related to career readiness policies, investments and outcomes.

Career Readiness Policies: To measure the quality of states’ career readiness policies, the CCD Center performed a policy analysis focused primarily on states’ personalized and academic plans (PCAP). The report found that 30 states have high-quality PCAP policy language and guidance. Additionally, 36 states identify PCAP standards or curriculum for districts and schools, and 32 offer PCAP-related professional development opportunities. However, only 20 states have identified funding to support PCAP implementation and even fewer states provide students with free access to a PCAP technology platform.

Career Readiness Investments: Complementing prior research with their own, the CCD Center examined states’ career advising, postsecondary readiness and work-based learning policies to measure career readiness investments. In addition to other indicators, researchers examined Perkins V state plans and CTE concentrator rates as part of their analysis. They concluded that 24 states identified career advisement strategies in their Perkins V state plans, primarily on the secondary level, while more than half of states are using Perkins funds to support work-based learning opportunities. Their analysis also found that, across the nation, 42% of CTE participants on average were gaining the required credits to be considered a CTE concentrator in 2020, with a very wide range in variation across states: from 5% to 83%.

Career Readiness Outcomes: Lastly, the report analyzed high school completion, postsecondary engagement, wages and youth not involved in education or the workforce to assess state-level career readiness outcomes. Researchers found that, in nearly every state, 90% or more of CTE concentrators graduated high school in 2018. In the same year, on average, 84% of CTE concentrators immediately entered postsecondary education, the military or the workforce after graduation, with state-level variations between 45% and 100%.

The report includes an abundance of state and local examples of career readiness policies and programs and details five steps that states can take to improve career readiness: prioritizing career planning, expanding access to career advising, increasing work-based learning opportunities, providing access to career development technology and ensuring accountability when measuring career readiness.

ACTE Senior Director of Public Policy Alisha Hyslop contributed to the development of this report.

Research Roundup: COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery Through CTE

Equitable Recovery through Career Pathways: National Skills Coalition released a toolkit to help policymakers, human service agency leaders and community colleges develop career pathways systems that emphasize an equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The toolkit promotes building partnerships between human service agencies and postsecondary systems to address learners’ basic needs as they prepare for a high-quality career, with examples from Arkansas and Oregon.

Relatedly, America Achieves published a playbook that provides states and communities with an evidence-based approach to building a workforce system that matches individuals to high-paying and high-demand jobs. The playbook guides readers through steps to creating an employer demand-driven workforce scholarship program with an accompanying evaluation system to assess job attainment, wage gains and program quality. Additionally, the playbook features policy examples from Rhode Island’s Back to Work program and West Virginia’s Learn and Earn program.

Governors’ Education Priorities: A publication from Education Commission of the States outlines governors’ top priorities in education for 2022 by analyzing 44 State of the State addresses from this year. Among the following top six education priorities identified by the report, recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic served as a backdrop for most, and workforce development and CTE ranked as governors’ second highest priority:

The majority of governors addressed K-12 funding, with some who suggested cuts due to the COVID-19 pandemic while others, such as governors from Illinois and Georgia, proposed increases.
About 34 governors highlighted workforce development and CTE by proposing investments in job training programs using federal stimulus funds, such as Nebraska, and by calling for increased grant funding to expand CTE programs, like Missouri.
Half of governors noted teacher staffing as an issue. As a solution, governors from states like New York proposed strengthening career pathways and creating faster routes to certification.
Roughly 19 governors mentioned physical and mental health of student and staff as a priority. Additionally, the same number of governors focused on the issue of postsecondary affordability.
Learning recovery and academic success was addressed by 17 governors as an issue due to the pandemic, and some governors noted investments and out-of-school opportunities as solutions.

Using Data to Improve Education-to-Workforce Pipelines: A recent brief from Education Strategy Group discusses how bringing together early childhood, K-12, higher education and workforce data can be an effective mechanism to improve the education-to-workforce pipeline. Researchers interviewed leaders from Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas and Washington to study how these states developed cross-sector data dashboards. The brief outlines lessons learned, questions for policymakers to consider and recommendations for building a cross-sector data dashboard.

DC Digest: April 25-May 1

Last week was the first week back in session for both chambers of Congress after a two-week recess. It was a busy week with Congress focused on holding its first round of Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 appropriations hearings, aid to Ukraine, considering additional COVID-19 aid and restaurant relief aid, pending nominations and border policy. The House will be out of session this week, but the Senate will stay in town, where negotiations have begun on the large economic competitiveness bill, known as America COMPETES/USICA, which contains several ACTE priorities. Here are some additional news and notes for your week:

America COMPETES/USICA Updates: On April 28, the Senate held procedural votes to launch a formal conference process with the House, and more votes on motions to instruct conferees are expected next week. Informal negotiations have been ongoing, but this marks the next official step in the legislative process. Stay tuned as we continue to monitor the legislation and advocate for ACTE priorities included in the bill, including language in the House-passed America COMPETES Act similar to the JOBS Act and the College Transparency Act (CTA)!

“Four Corners” Appropriations Leaders Meet to Discuss Fiscal Year (FY) 2023: Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), ranking member Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and ranking member Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) met for the first time in the FY 2023 funding cycle to discuss overall government funding levels. The “four corners” leaders hope to have an agreement on spending levels in the next few weeks.

House FY 2023 Perkins Appropriations Letter Results: Recently, House CTE Caucus co-chairs Reps. Jim Langevin (D-RI) and Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) led a letter to the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee requesting robust funding for the Perkins Basic State Grant program in the FY 2023 budget process. You can see the final letter, which was signed by 127 House members, here. A big thank you to ACTE members for your advocacy related to the letter!

House Appropriations Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Fiscal Year 2023 Department of Education Budget Request: On April 28, the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies of the House Appropriations Committee held its first hearing in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 funding cycle, featuring testimony from Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. During the hearing, several Members of Congress highlighted the need for strong workforce investments, although the Perkins Basic State Grant was not a topic of discussion.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Surface Transportation Workforce: On April 27, the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing to discuss bolstering the surface transportation construction workforce. The committee heard from several witnesses about the challenges that they are facing in the wake of workforce shortages, skills gaps and supply chain challenges.

Joint Economic Committee Holds Hearing on Investments for Tomorrow: On April 27, the Joint Economic Committee of the House and Senate held a hearing titled, “Building on a Strong Foundation: Investments Today for a More Competitive Tomorrow.” You can watch the full hearing here.

ETA Holds Webinar on Youth Apprenticeship Access in Rural Areas: On April 28, the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) held a webinar to discuss youth access to apprenticeships in rural communities across the country, highlighting examples of successful partnerships in several regions. Read more about the webinar here.

COVID Relief Funding Update: During an event this week, Department of Education announced investments from government, non-profit organizations and the private sector to support student academic and mental health recovery as part of a broader effort to help students, schools, and communities recover from the pandemic. In addition, the Department of Treasury has released additional guidance on State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to emphasize they can be used for education expenses.

Department of Education Announces Expansion of Second Chance Pell Experiment: The Department of Education has announced that it has invited 73 colleges and universities to participate in the third round of the Second Chance Pell Experiment, an initiative that provides access to federal Pell Grants for incarcerated individuals enrolled in participating programs. In related news, the White House also announced a series of activities, including education and job training initiatives, related to second chance opportunities for formerly incarcerated persons.

Department of Education Announces Presidential Scholars Finalists: The Department of Education has announced the 2022 semifinalists for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Awards, which includes students who have demonstrated excellence in CTE.

FCC Opens Third Emergency Connectivity Fund Window: Schools and libraries can submit requests for funding to improve internet access, purchase equipment and obtain up to 12 months of recurring services between July 1, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2023.

Spring 2022 Legislative Preview

After two weeks of recess, Congress returns to a busy legislative schedule on Monday, April 25. The first big item on the agenda related to CTE is the annual budget and appropriations process. The fiscal year (FY) 2023 appropriations process kicked off on March 28 when President Biden released his budget request. Thanks to the delayed passage of the FY 2022 budget, this process started much later than normal, putting pressure on Congress to speed up the timeline in FY 2023.

In the coming weeks, the House of Representatives will be taking into consideration the needs of stakeholders in the FY 2023 budget. On Thursday, April 28, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona will testify in front of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. He will also testify in front of the Senate’s equivalent committee later in May. The committees will also seek testimony from select education stakeholders, while personal offices will continue advocating for their own budget priorities prior to the release of the first House drafts of the appropriations bills.

Given the disappointing proposal for Perkins funding in the President’s request, it is critical that we keep pressure on Congress to make substantial investments in CTE now. Visit the ACTE Action Center to make your voice be heard by your respective legislators.

In addition to appropriations, the House and Senate will be negotiating their respective versions of a blockbuster bill aimed to increase U.S. global competitiveness in the hopes that they can pass it before the August recess. Earlier in April, the House and Senate named over 100 conferees to participate in the bipartisan, bicameral negotiation of the bill aimed to make the United States more globally competitive in areas like semiconductor manufacturing, STEM and more. The House’s version of this bill, the America COMPETES Act, included some top ACTE priorities, including the expansion of Pell eligibility to short-term programs (similar to the JOBS Act) and provisions to support Department of Education data collection on student-level postsecondary outcomes (the College Transparency Act). These negotiations will provide us with the best opportunity yet to make these longstanding priorities law.

Lastly, the House may consider a floor vote on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act reauthorization that was passed through the House Education and Labor Committee along party lines in early April. Should it get a vote, it is expected to pass the House as well. However, it is very unlikely to be considered by the Senate.

Now more than ever, it is critical for ACTE members to ensure that CTE stakeholders’ voices are heard by Congress. There is so much at stake – from critical funding needs to expanding postsecondary opportunities and more – we need all of you to help us make this one of our best legislative years yet. If you are looking for more ways to advocate for CTE on the federal level, please reach out to ACTE’s Manager of Government Relations, Zach Curtis (zcurtis@acteonline.org) or ACTE’s Media Relations and Advocacy Associate, Jori Houck (jhouck@acteonline.org).

Research Roundup: Work-Based Learning Statistics and Toolkits

Registered Apprenticeships in 2020: In February, the U.S. Department of Labor released new statistics on Registered Apprenticeship programs during Fiscal Year (FY) 2020. The following highlight key points from the data:

In FY 2020, there were over 630,000 apprentices, 26,000 Registered Apprenticeship programs and 82,000 graduates of the Registered Apprenticeship system.
Since 2011, the number of new apprentices grew by 70%, and new apprenticeship programs grew by 73% since 2009.
Virginia had the most Registered Apprenticeship programs overall while New Hampshire had the most newly registered programs in FY 2020. Additionally, California had the largest number of overall apprentices, new apprentices and graduates.
Electrician, carpenter and construction craft laborers were among the occupations with the highest number of apprentices.

Measuring Youth Apprenticeship Quality: The Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship (PAYA), an initiative of New America, released a youth apprenticeship assessment tool to assist youth apprenticeship stakeholders in determining their programs’ quality and areas of improvement. Guided by each of PAYA’s five principles of quality youth apprenticeships, users reflect on program data to assess strengths and program improvement opportunities related to partnerships, program design and pathway components.

Work-Based Learning Participant Outcomes: A recent study conducted by Strada Education Network reports the benefits of work-based learning on income and post-graduation success. Using nationally representative surveys from 2016 and 2021, researchers studied bachelor’s degree recipients ages 21 to 65 who participated in work-based learning and those who did not. The following summarizes the study’s key findings:

Participating in any type of work-based learning during one’s undergraduate education predicted a significant increase in annual personal income and a higher satisfaction with the career and education experience.
Completing a paid internship was associated with an increase of $3,096 in annual wages one year after graduation, while other work-based learning experiences such as unpaid internships, practicums and cooperative learning were not associated with immediate increases in post-graduation earnings.
Students of color, first-generation students and federal Pell Grant recipients were least likely to have held a paid internship. When looking at field of study, engineering, computer and information sciences, and business students were most likely to have held a paid internship.

Collecting Work-Based Learning Data: This February, the Education Development Center (EDC) released a toolkit to assist district and school leaders in collecting data on student participation in work-based learning. Informed by lessons learned from a multi-year EDC study and using a work-based learning continuum developed by the Linked Learning initiative, this toolkit walks leaders through the process of identifying work-based learning data collection goals, implementing collection processes and using data to improve work-based learning programs. Additionally, the toolkit features guidance for researchers who plan to collect or analyze work-based learning data.

Federal Agencies Release Equity Action Plans

On April 14, the Department of Education and the Department of Labor released their inaugural equity action plans, which are designed to support marginalized, vulnerable and underserved communities. The equity action plans are in response to one of President Biden's Executive Orders and part of a broader effort by the Biden Administration across dozens of federal agencies to address systemic barriers for historically underserved communities.

Specific to workforce development, the Department of Labor plans to focus on:

developing government apprenticeships to provide pathways to federal service
collaborating with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HCBUs), other educational institutions serving diverse populations, national advocacy organizations and other local community partners to help promote registered apprenticeship opportunities
launching an internal apprenticeship program, investing in industry and sector-based high road training partnerships that focus on equity and job quality
expanding the scope of apprenticeship data collected in the Registered Apprenticeship Partners Information Management Data System (RAPIDS)
implementing State Apprenticeship Expansion, Equity, and Innovation (SAEEI) grants that bolster states' efforts to expand programming and recruitment strategies to attract a diverse workforce
investing in high road training partnerships (HRTPs) that bring together workers, labor and other worker organizations, employers and training providers to collaborate in developing industry and sector-based workforce solutions that focus on equity and job quality

The Department of Education plans to:

advance college access and college completion by investing in HBCUs, TCCUs, MSIs, community colleges, and other under-resourced public institutions
support schools to raise college completion rates for underserved students
ensure that state educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) use ARP-ESSER funding to meet students’ social, emotional, mental health, academic and other needs

You can read the full equity action plan for the Department of Education here, as well as the full equity action plan for the Department of Labor here.

Research Roundup: Today’s Non-degree Workforce Education Programs and Their Potential

Landscape of Non-degree Workforce Programs: Recently, the Education & Employment Research Center at Rutgers University published an issue brief that provides an overview of non-credit workforce education programs at community and technical colleges. Using interviews with administrators of non-credit divisions from 29 colleges in 28 states, the brief examines the following components of non-credit workforce programs:

Focus: Most colleges focus on adult learners and have a comprehensive model for noncredit education, combining workforce training alongside adult basic education. Some colleges report recently shifting away from the comprehensive model to focus solely on workforce education.
Organization: Typically, noncredit workforce education fell under a college’s Continuing Education division. However, some offered it alongside credit-bearing workforce and CTE offerings, or in partnership with other colleges and vendors.
Structure: Colleges cited speed and flexibility as the most common reason for offering noncredit workforce education programs. In addition, nearly all colleges reported that pathways exist between some noncredit and credit programs, or that they’re currently developing linkages.
Quality: To ensure noncredit programs are high quality, most colleges used labor market analysis to align programs with employer needs. Despite the importance of labor market data, only two of the 29 colleges studied reported tracking graduates’ labor market outcomes.

Relatedly, New America published a paper that outlines funding models commonly used by community colleges to support non-degree workforce programs. In partnership with the Nonprofit Finance Fund, researchers interviewed leaders in postsecondary education, workforce development and community college administration between 2020 and 2021. This paper analyzes their findings to summarize current funding practices, innovative approaches and how funding policies can support a college’s mission.

All About Certifications: Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, Workcred and the George Washington Institute of Public Policy recently produced a series of five reports aimed at helping policymakers, employers and funders better understand the characteristics and labor market value of certifications. Using 2019-2021 research on 16 certifications in cybersecurity, healthcare, IT and manufacturing, the reports cover the current landscape of certifications, certifications as economic mobility tools, accreditation standards, recertification and the future of certifications. Read the full collection here.

The Degree Reset: A report by EMSI and Burning Glass examines how bachelor’s degrees are increasingly no longer requisites for many middle-skill and some higher-skill roles. Researchers analyzed over 51 million job postings in 2017, and again from 2019 to March 2021, to determine whether this trend is temporary due to pandemic-related labor shortages, or a permanent shift toward skills-based hiring that began before the pandemic. The following outlines key findings from the report:

From 2017 to 2019, 46% of middle-skill and 31% of high-skill occupations experienced declines in degree requirements, representing a shift that began before the pandemic.
About 63% of occupations that removed degree requirements were shifts that occurred before the pandemic and have been maintained, while 27% were short-term responses to the pandemic.
Based on trends found in the report, an additional 1.4 million jobs could become open to workers without degrees over the next five years.
When employers removed degree requirements, job postings became more closely tied to specific skills, notably employability skills such as communication, writing and being detail oriented.

DC Digest: March 28-April 3

Last week in Washington, the focus was on the release of President Biden’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget request. We have developed several blog articles this week on funding-related processes, including a full recap of the president’s budget and what it means for CTE, which can be found below. Each chamber will return to Washington this week for one more week before adjourning for the Easter recess. There could potentially be action on the America COMPETES Act/USICA this week as we await the naming of conferees, as well as broader action on the Supreme Court nomination and COVID emergency funding. Stay tuned to CTE Policy Watch for any upcoming advocacy opportunities! In the meantime, here are some news and notes from Washington:

President Releases FY 2023 Budget Request: On March 28, the Biden Administration released the president’s FY 2023 budget request. The request, which serves as a blueprint for Congress to appropriate federal funds, included a disappointing $25 million cut to the Perkins Basic State Grant compared to FY 2022 levels. Read more about the president’s budget request here.

WIOA Reauthorization Bill Formally Introduced: On March 31, Democratic House Education and Labor Committee Chair Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Higher Education Workforce Investment Subcommittee Chair Frederica Wilson (D-FL) introduced a new bill to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The bill, H.R. 7309, is titled the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022. Read more about the bill here.

Movement on America COMPETES/USICA: Last week, the House and Senate both took additional procedural steps to move forward on a bipartisan innovation bill. First, the Senate took up the House version of the bill (the American COMPETES Act) and amended it with the text of their bill, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, or USICA. Following Senate approval of their bill, the House approved a motion to instruct conferees to begin negotiations to reconcile the differences between the two versions of the legislation. Speaker Nancy Pelosi added that conferees were expected to be formally named this week.

Latest Information on Earmarks: The recently signed FY 2022 omnibus appropriations bill marked the first spending bill in a decade to include earmarks. If you have a project that might be eligible under the guidelines highlighted in this blog post, please reach out to your elected officials in the House and Senate to inquire about their request process for FY 2023. Readers can use this spreadsheet created by ACTE to learn more about which CTE-related projects in their state received FY 2022 earmarked funding. Read our full earmark analysis here.

ACTE Releases Spanish Translation of “CTE Works!” Fact Sheet: This week, ACTE released a Spanish-translated version of our “CTE Works!” fact sheet to help CTE supporters inform learners and families in the Spanish-speaking community about recent research on CTE’s benefits. Read more here.

House Small Business Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Upskilling and Reskilling: On March 31, the House Committee on Small Business’s Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Workforce Development Subcommittee held a hearing titled, “Skill, Upskill, and Reskill: Analyzing New Investments in Workforce Development,” featuring witnesses from across the workforce development and business spectrum. Each Member of Congress in attendance and the witnesses emphasized the need to expand skills training to fill workforce gaps through CTE. Read more about the hearing here.

Department of Labor CTE-Related Grant Opportunities: The Department of Labor currently has several open competitive grant opportunities for CTE stakeholders to apply for and obtain funding. We’ve reported on many of these grants as they were announced, but wanted to provide them here again all in one place! Read the rundown here.

GAO Releases Report on CTE Challenges and Strategies: The U.S. Government and Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a study on how CTE programs are supporting learners. Researchers interviewed state education officials in Delaware, Georgia, Ohio and Washington; representatives from eight CTE program providers; 14 stakeholders such as employer partners; and individuals from six national CTE organizations. Read more about the study findings here.

Secretary of Education Cardona Statement on Teacher Shortages: Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona is calling on states, higher education leaders and schools to tap federal resources to address the nationwide teacher shortage. Among the proposals the Secretary suggested is the establishment of teaching as a registered apprenticeship at the state and district level. Read more from the Department of Education here.