On December 7, Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Bobby Scott (D-VA) introduced H.R. 6655, A Stronger Workforce for America Act. The legislation would comprehensively reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and make significant changes to core aspects of this legislation including eligible training provider lists and the provision of training services by the system. 

Specifically, this bill requires that 50% of the adult and dislocated worker funding toward upskilling workers through individual training accounts (ITAs), streamlines the eligible training provider list requirements to focus on outcomes and ensure eligible programs are aligned with the skill and hiring demands of employers, establishes a demonstration authority to provide several states and local workforce boards the flexibility to reimagine their workforce system, and facilitates skills-based hiring by validating workers’ competencies gained through prior experience and authorizing state and local boards to provide technical assistance to employers on implementing skills-based hiring practices. ACTE will providing more analysis of key provisions related to CTE, such as funding for community colleges, the youth funding streams and the infrastructure funding mechanism, over the coming weeks.  

The House Education and the Workforce Committee took this bill up on December 12 and approved the legislation in a bipartisan 44-1 vote. The bill now moves to the House floor. 

On the passage of the bill, Foxx said, “Today’s legislative package reflects our commitment to aligning the priorities of education and the workforce. To that end, we must continue to advocate for policies that develop vital workforce programs and help Americans move into in-demand jobs more quickly. I believe the measures passed today achieve this goal and ensure students and working Americans have the skills necessary for a changing economy.” 

An additional summary of the bill can be found here. A recording of the markup can be found here. 

Today ACTE has released CTE: Developing the Transportation, Distribution and Logistics Workforce, the seventh in our revamped series of Sector Sheets describing CTE’s role in growing the workforce for vital industry sectors. The Sector Sheet series is published with support from ACTE’s long-time partner Pearson.

These revised Sector Sheets include job opportunities in each sector and descriptions of how CTE prepares learners for the workforce in each sector, all in a new format featuring more streamlined text and additional graphics to make these advocacy tools even more effective.

This Sector Sheet describes how CTE supports the transportation, distribution and logistics workforce, which employs more than 6.7 million people nationwide and requires an additional 1.9 million new workers annually to fulfill industry demand. It also shares information on occupations, earnings and credentials that enable individuals to enter and progress within fields such as automotive, aviation, and distribution and logistics. Finally, the Sector Sheet demonstrates the importance of CTE in developing this workforce by describing how CTE prepares learners through courses, industry credentials, work-based learning, career and technical student organizations and more.

As we move forward with the revamped Sector Sheets, both the newer and older Sector Sheets will remain available on the ACTE Sector Sheet webpage for download and use. We encourage you to share these tools with students, families, counselors, policymakers and others to spread the message about CTE and its benefits for learners and the workforce.

This week, Congress was in session working to finish work on key issues ahead of the final days of the calendar year. There has been little progress on many of the “must pass” bills, including the FY 2024 funding bills. As things stand, funding is set to expire on January 19 for four of the 12 appropriations bills and on February 2 for the remaining eight, including the Labor, Health and Humans Services, and Education bill. More news and notes below:

• Short-Term Pell Proposal Unveiled by House of Representatives: Earlier this week Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) along with Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) introduced R. 6586, the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act, a bill that would allow Pell Grant funding for short-term postsecondary degree programs with the goal of aligning education opportunities with workforce needs. Read more on the CTE Policy Watch Blog.
• House Releases Draft WIOA Reauthorization Bill: On Dec. 7, the House Education and the Workforce Committee introduced R. 6655, A Stronger Workforce for America Act. The bill would reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). We are currently reviewing the comprehensive legislation and will have more information soon!

• Department of Education Announces Education Innovation and Research Funding to Help Address Academic Recovery: ED has announced $277 million in funding aimed at addressing academic recovery and educational equity and innovation through the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant program. The grant awards will be dispersed into the following sections: $90.3 million for STEM, $87.2 million for social emotional well-being, including student engagement and $76.5 for projects in rural areas.

• Department of Education Announces Additional Student Loan Debt Relief: ED has announced the approval of almost $5 billion in student loan debt relief for more than 80,000 student borrowers, bringing the total approved debt cancelation of the Biden-Harris Administration to over $130 billion for approximately 3.6 million Americans. This new round of debt cancellation comes from fixes made to ED’s income-driven repayment (IDR) forgiveness system and its Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, so could impact some educators

• Department of Education Announces Funding to Support Research and Development, Postsecondary Completion for Underserved Students: ED has announced over $90 million in grant awards for more than 20 colleges and universities, including some community and technical colleges, to support research and development at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), and other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). These new grants are focused on improving postsecondary student outcomes, including retention, transfer, credit accumulation and overall completion.

• National Skills Coalition (NSC) “Launches Expanding College and Career Possibilities: A Policy Action Initiative”: Close ACTE partner, NSC, has launched a new initiative that will gather skills advocates across 20 states with the goal of creating resources, supports and policy solutions for increasing college affordability, holistic supports, and completion of quality non-degree credentials that offer pathways to quality careers and further education. The initiative staff will do this by engaging in peer learning, policy action labs and tailored technical assistance, research and promotion.

On December 5, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) along with Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) introduced H.R. 6586, the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act. This is a compromise negotiated from bills Rep. Scott and Rep. Foxx introduced earlier this year – the Jobs to Compete Act (H.R. 1655) and the PELL Act (H.R. 496).   

This bill would allow Pell Grant funding for short-term postsecondary degree programs with the goal of aligning education opportunities with workforce needs. The Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act would also create a quality assurance system for participating degree programs, establish a process for existing and new accreditors to oversee the programs and enforce a guarantee on price alignment.  

State workforce boards, accreditors and the Department of Education (ED) would determine whether programs would be eligible for Workforce Pell Grants, including by verifying whether they provide a return on investment for students. Additionally, ED would have to verify that programs maintain both completion rates and job placement rates of at least 70 percent. Short-term programs would also have to show state workforce boards that they provide education for high-skill, high-wage or in-demand occupations. 

In a statement, House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair Foxx said, “America has always been a skills-based economy, so it’s critical that we retool the Pell Grant to match the education needs of both students and employers. The Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act achieves this goal by elevating skills-based programs, investing in upskilling, and promoting an education model tailored to workforce needs.” 

The financial aid would be conferred in the same way as typical Pell Grants and would also count toward a student’s lifetime eligibility for the regular Pell Grant. Students who have earned a postgraduate degree would not be eligible for short-term Pell Grant. 

There are more in-depth summaries of the new bill here and here.  

ACTE has long supported short-term Pell proposals, with our primary focus on the bipartisan JOBS Act, and will be examining how this bill fits into moving this critical issue forward! 

This week, Congress returned from Thanksgiving recess with only a few legislative days left in the calendar year and many policy items to tackle. Focus remains on Israel and Ukraine aid, and multiple appropriations bills, including the Labor, Health and Humans Services, and Education bill, face looming funding deadlines early in the new year. Read more news and notes from the week here:

• New HLC Faculty Qualifications Policy Impacts Credentials for Dual Enrollment Educators: This month, the Higher Learning Commission, a major postsecondary accreditor, implemented an altered Faculty Qualifications Policy that offers colleges a role in determining personalized requirements for faculty credentials and includes new alternative indicators of faculty qualification. This policy change will increase the routes available for dual enrollment educators to meet necessary credentials for employment in HLC-accredited institutions. Read more about its impacts for CTE educators here.
• Senate Releases Draft Education Sciences Reform Act Bill: On Dec. 1, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee leaders released text of a bill to reauthorize the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA). ACTE will be reviewing this draft and submitting comments, and providing a more detailed summary soon! The Committee’s summary is available here.

• Department of Education Releases Brief on Effective Practices for Integrated Education and Training Programs: As the second publication released as part of its ADVANCE IET project, this new brief discusses different ways in which bridge programs and stackable credentials can be effectively utilized to support beginning-level learners. Read the full report here.

• Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Launches New Free to Learn Webinar Series: OESE’s new webinar series will share effective strategies and practices to respond to potential hate and bias-based conflicts or harassment within educational environments. The series is composed of 4 webinars focusing on different points of the educational experience with the first occurring on December 6th. Register at this link.
• Department of Education Selects Winners of its Future Finder Challenge to Support Adult Learners: The Department of Education has selected public benefit corporation Gladeo as the winner for its Future Finder Challenge which seeks to promote innovation in career navigation for adult learners. Read more about the winner and its initiatives here.
• Department of Commerce Holds Interagency Convening on Equitable Economic Growth: On Nov. 28, the Department of Commerce joined with other federal agencies to discuss business diversity, equitable workforce development and community investments. You can view comments delivered at the convening here.
• Department of Labor Opens YouthBuild Grant Applications: The Department of Education has announced the availability of $98 million in grants for pre-apprenticeships through the YouthBuild program. Applications are due Feb. 1.
• Department of Education Announces New Rulemaking Panel on Federal Financial Aid Rules: ED has announced it will hold another negotiated rulemaking panel in early 2024 on institutional quality and program integrity rules, including the definition of distance education as it pertains to clock hour programs, which could impact CTE.
• House Education and the Workforce Committee Holds Member Day Hearing: On Dec. 1, the Committee hosted an open hearing for Members of Congress to testify about issues of concern. While there was limited focus on CTE-related issues, Members did highlight upcoming work and priorities within the reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is one of the major postsecondary institutional accreditors in the United States, currently accrediting degree-granting institutions in 19 states, primarily in the central portion of the country. Because of their reach and influence, their accreditation policies have had a significant impact on postsecondary CTE programs.

This month, HLC implemented an altered Faculty Qualifications Policy that offers colleges a role in determining personalized requirements for faculty credentials and includes new alternative indicators of faculty qualification. This policy change will increase the routes available for dual enrollment educators to meet necessary credentials for employment in HLC-accredited institutions.

HLC’s previous faculty qualifications policy, approved in 2015 and in the process of implementation until this month’s announcement of new rules, held dual enrollment educators to rigid academic standards that did not take into account other qualifying experiences. Under this policy, dual enrollment educators had to possess at least 18 graduate credits in their discipline to meet qualification requirements.

With the approval of the new policy, colleges can now choose to utilize the previous rules or determine their own personalized faculty qualification requirements. Therefore, in addition to academic credentials, colleges could also use equivalent experience as an indicator of faculty qualification. This could include consideration of workforce experience, research, scholarship, recognized achievement, and other factors. Should a college adopt new standards, the HLC requires its equal application to all faculty. 

This policy change creates greater inclusion of the experiences and expertise possessed by CTE educators that could benefit student learning. For further information on the new policy, read HLC’s updated guidelines on faculty qualification and dual enrollment.

Credential Transparency: Judging the Return on Investment: The American Enterprise Institute recently published a report exploring the major shortage of highly skilled workers across the nation and the actions that state leaders and policymakers can take to close the talent gap through increased credential transparency methods. Researchers found that 26 states across the nation are working on increasing Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) adoption and registries within their territories. The analysts focused particularly on Texas, Indiana and Arkansas and found the following:

• Texas is publishing in-house data about credentials, competencies, program quality and student outcomes across three states agencies that hold responsibility for education and occupational credentials in an effort to widen its registry.
• Indiana’s Commission on Higher Education is working to increase transparency and publish information on more than 3,600 state credentials like certificates, degrees, apprenticeships, micro-credentials, occupational licenses, industry certifications and more.
• Arkansas created the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet and appointed local workforce leader Mike Rogers from Tyson Foods as the chief workforce officer to jointly spearhead creating an easily navigable Employment Record (LER) System for workers and employers that will match the two parties based on job skills using digital technology.

New Measures of Postsecondary Transfer: A report recently published by the U.S. Department of Education analyzes recent transfer and completion rates for community college students to better understand the barriers that learners face and inform leaders and policymakers working to change transfer policies and practices. Researchers discovered that only 16% of students who start in community colleges go on to earn bachelor’s degrees within six years, with lower rates for individuals of color and individuals from low-income backgrounds.

Researchers looked at both the community college with the highest transfer-out rate and the four-year institution with the highest transfers’ bachelor’s completion rate in each state and found the following:

• The average community college transfer-out rate was 38%, ranging from a high of 71% to a low of 19%.
• The average transfer bachelor’s completion rate at four-year institutions was 66%, ranging from a high of 89% to a low of 30%.
• Dyad completion, the rate at which students transfer and graduate between specific pairs of institutions, was 8%, ranging from a high of 20% to a low of 1%.
• Having high-performing dyads in a state is significant to learners’ overall transfer performance with Virginia and California topping the list for the best-performing states.

Three Ways States Can Lead on Postsecondary Education Reform: The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity recently published a brief that analyzes the current state of the postsecondary education landscape by focusing on outcomes-based funding (OBF), state authorization reform and state-imposed degree requirements as three key policy areas for immediate state reform consideration.

The report describes recent trends for each policy area across multiple states, including the following:

• At Texas State Technical College (TSTC), alumni wages have increased by 42% over the past 10 years thanks to an OBF formula. The “Returned-Value’’ formula calculates the difference between former students’ wages and the minimum wage, with a portion of that added value returning to TSTC as state funding for instruction and administration.
• Maryland is one of the first states in the country to remove degree requirements for employment within the state executive branch. This initiative led to a 34% increase in job applications from individuals with relevant skills and experience, which emphasizes the need to expand these types of measures across the board.
• State authorization reform is the policy area making the slowest progress. As demand for postsecondary education increases, the number of degree-granting institutions is stagnant owing to logistical hurdles.