While 51% of secondary CTE concentrators were learners of color in 2021–22, only 13% of CTE educators in public schools were people of color in 2020–21. Today, ACTE and Advance CTE released a new report, State and Local Strategies for Diversifying the CTE Educator Workforce (full report and executive summary), that presents common challenges to diversifying the educator workforce, identifies promising practices in the field to overcome these challenges, and provides actionable strategies and recommendations to assist state and local CTE leaders in strategically planning and developing policies and practices to increase diversity in the CTE workforce.

A companion resource, Recruiting Diverse Educators: A Database of Organizations Representing Underserved Populations, presents a contact list of organizations that serve minority populations, including industry professionals, learners, and current and future educators of color. The list offers a starting point for local, regional and state CTE leaders looking to develop the educator pipeline and recruit educators from under-represented populations to teach in CTE.

This work was generously funded by the Joyce Foundation.

ACTE and Advance CTE will be hosting an in-person preconference workshop on this topic on May 1, 2024, at the ACTE Region I conference in New York City. You do not need to register for the entire conference to take part!

This week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced winners of Perkins Innovation grant funding and released the National Educational Technology Plan. In Congress, the Innovation Act, endorsed by ACTE, was reintroduced, offering further support to student success. Unfortunately, there’s still no progress to report on the twelve spending bills that Congress needs to pass in order to keep the government open past early March. 

• Young, Hassan, Braun, Kaine Reintroduce Innovation Zone (IZ) Act: The Innovation Zone (IZ) Act would reform the Experimental Sites Initiative authorized under the Higher Education Act. The bill, endorsed by ACTE, would help educational institutions better understand how to support students and pursue innovative strategies to ensure their success.
   
• Biden-Harris Administration Announces $25M in Grant Awards for Career Connected High Schools: The Biden-Harris administration announced 19 new grant award winners through the Perkins Innovation and Modernization, Career Connected High Schools (CCHS) grant program.
   
• Upcoming Webinar: 2023 State CTE Policy Year in Review: Advance CTE and ACTE will host a joint webinar on February 21, “2023 State CTE Policy Year in Review,” to discuss national trends and innovative legislation that will impact the millions of CTE students and educators. Registration information can be found on the CTE Policy Watch Blog.  
   
• Research Roundup: Community College and Workforce Development Trends: Several new reports have been published addressing funding levels for community colleges, the role of the community college system and the current practice of career navigation. More information on each report is available on the CTE Policy Watch Blog.
   
• ACTE member Catherine Walker nominated as finalist for CCSSO National Teacher of the Year: Catherine Walker, a CTE teacher from Alaska and ACTE member was nominated by the Council of Chief State Schools Officers as a finalist for their National Teacher of the Year award.
   
• Department of Education released the 2024 National Educational Technology Plan (NETP): NEPT frames three divides limiting the transformational potential of educational technology to support teaching and learning including: Digital Use, Design and Access.  Read more at https://tech.ed.gov/netp/.  

The co-chairs of the Senate CTE Caucus, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Todd Young (R-IN), Ted Budd (R-NC) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), are once again leading the Senate’s annual CTE Month resolution marking February as CTE Month. These senators are currently circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter asking their colleagues to cosponsor the resolution.  

The following other Senators have already signed on: 

• Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) 
• Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) 
• Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) 
• Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) 
• Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) 
• Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) 
• Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) 
• Sen. Angus King (I-ME) 
• Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)  
• Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) 

If either of your Senators has not signed on, CLICK HERE to ask them to cosponsor this year’s CTE Month resolution. 

The resolution raises awareness about the many benefits associated with high-quality CTE programs. By requesting support for the resolution, you are continuing to elevate the benefits of CTE to policymakers at a critical time for CTE advocacy. Please contact your senators today! If you have a direct contact in your senator’s office, we urge you to call or email them directly. The deadline for Senate cosponsors to sign on is Monday, February 5, 2024. 

Note: More details about a House CTE Month Resolution will be available soon – this resolution is just for senators! 

Variation in Community College Funding Levels: The Urban Institute recently published a report on varying levels of community college funding across the nation and the impact on historically underserved groups. Researchers discovered no evidence of systemic differences across the nation in state and local funding for community colleges that serve more Black, Hispanic and/or low-income students relative to other demographic groups. However, the analysts caution that equal funding may not be sufficient to ensure access and supports for all learners.

More findings and insights below:

• States that rely on local sources of funding for community colleges also have more funding overall.
• Some states intentionally change levels of funding based on factors like institution size, potentially leading to funding differences among demographic groups attending smaller versus larger institutions.
• On average, rural institutions receive over $1,000 more per student in state funding than urban and suburban institutions.
• About 44% of public undergraduate students attend community colleges, ranging from 24% in South Dakota and Montana to 67% in California.

Policy Changes to Maximize Community College Workforce Development: The American Enterprise Institute recently released a report that explores the role of the community college system by analyzing how successful institutions across the nation are fulfilling their workforce development potential. Researchers concluded that institutional effectiveness varies greatly by location and that more scaling and standardization of evidence-based practices is needed for improved student outcomes.

The analysts recommend a national framework that does the following:

• Mandatorily places community colleges at the center of state workforce development efforts.
• Enacts short-term Pell-eligible noncredit programs that provide learners with healthy earnings boosts.
• Invests in state offices similar to the , which focuses on compiling regional labor market and supply-and-demand trends.
• Publishes outcomes for noncredit programs.
• Further promotes work-based learning.

Career Navigation in a Time of Rapid Change: A report recently published by the Harvard Kennedy School analyzed the current practice of career navigation to set an agenda for a more equitable ecosystem that can lead to improved career and wage outcomes for underrepresented and economically disadvantaged individuals. Analysts found that in 2019 approximately 53 million people in the United States were working low-wage jobs with median earnings of $24,000 annually and suggested solutions in which CTE plays a crucial role in changing the status quo.

The following list includes recommended best practices for a more equitable career navigation system:

• Increase access to stackable credentials, which can lead to a 20% increase in wages for working adults and can help narrow the middle- and high-income earnings gap.
• Increase access to American Job Centers, which provide assessment, coaching and service referrals and can lead to earnings growth of between 7% and 20%.
• Encourage corporate policies that support employee reskilling efforts to provide underrepresented workers with more open doors for upward mobility.
• Build community partnerships and develop trust with marginalized populations to co-create solutions with community leaders like the embedded career navigator program in Oakland, California.

Overall postsecondary enrollment in fall 2022 continued to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, led by community colleges.

Enrollment across the entire postsecondary sector declined by 0.4% from fall 2021 to fall 2022 – a smaller decline than the decrease seen from fall 2020 to fall 2021 and much less than the approximately 3% decline during the pandemic. However, for public community colleges, enrollment increased by 0.4% to 6.1 million students, according to an analysis by the American Association of Community Colleges of Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data.

Enrollment growth was greatest among non-degree-seeking students, which may be due to bumps in the number of dually enrolled learners.

In addition, recent IPEDS data also showed the following:  

• In fiscal year 2022, almost 49% of expenses at Title IV public less-than-two-year institutions went toward instruction, compared to 36% for public two-year institutions and 25% at public four-year institutions.  

• There were nearly 36,000 instructors at public two-year institutions in academic year 2022-23, earning an average salary of approximately $76,000 per year.

Each year, Advance CTE and ACTE track and analyze state policy to prepare a Year in Review: State Policies Impacting CTE report (coming soon!). State CTE policies in 2023 proposed a variety of funding mechanisms and other legislative changes to address national challenges that have impacted state economies, labor market participation and learner enrollment and engagement in education. Join this webinar to hear national trends and innovative legislation across 115 policy actions in 47 states that will impact millions of CTE learners in secondary, postsecondary and workforce systems. 

Register for the webinar on February 21 at 3pm ET to learn more!

This week, the House held multiple hearings relevant to CTE and workforce development, highlighting the need for more funding for CTE programs at a time when federal spending levels are being discussed. Both chambers of Congress also managed to pass a continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown, extending the deadline to finalize annual spending bills to March 1 and March 8.  

• House Committee on Education and the Workforce Holds CTE Hearing: This week, the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education held a hearing entitled “Preparing Students for Success in the Skills-Based Economy.”  The hearing discussed the benefits and outcomes of CTE programs nationally, as well as the obstacles they face in funding and teacher shortages, emphasizing the need for more resources. Read more on the CTE Policy Watch Blog.
   
• House and Senate Approve Stopgap Spending Measure to Avert Government Shutdown: The House followed the Senate in approving legislation to avert the impending partial government shutdown that would have taken effect today. New deadlines to finalize annual spending bills are March 1 for four of the appropriations bills and March 8 on the remaining eight, including the education bill. Read more updates on the CR from Politico.
   
• Cybersecurity, Information Technology and Government Innovation Subcommittee Holds Hearing on AI in the Workforce: Earlier this week, the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology and Government Innovation held a hearing entitled “Toward an AI Ready Workforce.” The hearing covered issues of how to best prepare the future workforce to work with AI, specifically for positions that require less than a four-year degree. Read more on the CTE Policy Watch Blog.
   
• Rep. Langworthy Introduces Bipartisan Legislation on Workforce Training in Rural Communities Reps. Langworthy (R-NY) and Tokuda (D-HI) co-sponsored the CAREERS Act to address the skills gap and workforce shortage in rural communities. ACTE endorsed the bill in a press release published earlier this week.
   
• Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) Releases Report on Increased Demand for Skill-Based Learning: Inside Higher Ed analyzed a report released by CAEL, demonstrating that interest in skills-based learning models had skyrocketed, yet is not met with adequate supply of these programs in institutions.
   
• White House Releases 2024 Education Agenda: On Jan. 17, the Biden Administration released a new “Improving Student Achievement” agenda for 2024. The focus is on accelerating academic achievement, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
   
• Department of Education Releases List of CTE Presidential Scholars Candidates: The Department of Education has released the initial list of students who will compete for the prestigious Presidential Scholars award. Later this year, 20 CTE students will be selected from the initial nominees for the award.
   
• Department of Labor Formally Publishes Draft Apprenticeship Rules: This week, the Department of Labor officially published new draft regulations for apprenticeships that had been informally released in late 2023. Comments on the proposal are due on March 18. ACTE will be working on comments related to the implications for CTE and is interested in hearing any of your thoughts as well.