Analysis of Community College Health Care Training Programs: The Community College Research Center at Columbia University recently published a report in which researchers used 2019-20 data from the U.S. Department of Education to examine community colleges’ contributions to the health care workforce.

The results showed that community colleges are responsible for much of the health care programs and graduates in allied health, nursing, mental health and clinical laboratory science. Additionally, researchers looked at the demographics of community colleges and earnings outcomes that students achieve upon completion. The following represent some of the most notable findings:

• Community colleges were cited as responsible for 76% of all postsecondary programs in mental/social health, 68% in allied health and 58% in practical nursing. They were also responsible for similar percentages of graduates in those programs across the postsecondary sector.
• Public health programs were noted for their diverse recruitment with Latinx and African American students comprising 22% and 20% of all graduates, respectively.
• For many health care programs, certificates are more common than longer-term awards.
• Median hourly wages vary by program and attainment level, with the highest wages associated with two-year degrees in dental support services.

Community Colleges: Achieving Their Potential for Workforce Development: A report recently published by the American Enterprise Institute analyzed the role of public community colleges in preparing learners to enter the workforce and meet labor demand.

Community colleges are facing many hurdles, including providing academic and career supports, purchasing equipment for in-demand fields, the lack of Pell Grant access for students in non-credit programs, and the transfer disconnect with four-year institutions, among other things. Researchers highlighted some of the following recommendations for policymakers and administrators to better support these institutions:

• Update recruitment and hiring practices to attract instructors with relevant industry experience.
• Use labor market information and employer engagement to improve labor market alignment and better integrate work-based learning with classroom instruction.
• Create flexible pathways and stackable opportunities in and among for-credit and non-credit programs.
• Invest in staff who specialize in building relationships with employers and community partners.

The publication highlights examples such as Project QUEST in San Antonio, Texas, which offers community college training that supports the certification of students in high-earnings fields such as health care, manufacturing and information technology as well as the Good Jobs Challenge, which has awarded $500 million in grants extending into 2027 to regional workforce training partnerships of industry, community colleges, training partners, community-based organizations and unions.

Strategies and Resources to Align Non-credit and Credit Programs: Education Strategy Group recently published a series of resources, which share research, strategies and examples of success aimed at supporting community colleges in the pursuit of more closely aligning non-credit workforce training and degree-focused credit programs. Despite this separation often being beneficial, having two different systems internally can cause content duplication, lack of communication, missed opportunities to build and collaborate and an inequitable student experience, particularly for non-credit students.

Researchers propose the following key tenets for framework alignment:

• Treat non-credit students the same as those in for-credit programs. Ensure every institutional decision or action is taken with both types of learners in mind.
• Do not make non-credit programs an educational dead end. Instead develop seamless transitions between non-credit programs and credentials and associate degree programs.
• Reorganize for joint leadership between non-credit and credit departments and be prepared to modify institutional curriculum development and design processes for better alignment.
• Ensure that industry-focused programs are credit worthy and credit based with bridge tools like credit matrices, articulation and equivalency agreements.

On July 27, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its FY 24 Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education Appropriations bill on an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 26-2. Despite the tight budget caps enforced by the debt limit deal, the bill contained an additional $40 million for the Perkins Basic State Grant program! This is a huge step in a year where funding increases will be very hard to secure. Overall, the bill provides significantly more resources to education and workforce development programs than the House bill, including a very small net increase for education funding over last year (approximately .2% or $147 million).

The Senate bill does not eliminate any education programs, although most programs are frozen at their FY 23 levels and a few have minor cuts. In addition to Perkins, other programs receiving increases include Title I, IDEA, Pell grants, Head Start, student aid administration, Student Success and Academic Enrichment Grants (ESEA Title IV), and Teacher Quality Partnerships. Most workforce programs were also level funded, with a small increase for apprenticeships.

The Senate has now approved all 12 of its appropriations bills at the Committee level on a bipartisan basis, and the bills next head to the full Senate. The House has approved all but two bills (one of which is the Labor, HHS, and Education bill) at the Committee level, and one bill has passed the full House; however, all House bills are partisan. Action is now paused in both chambers for the August recess.

Next steps for the appropriations process are uncertain, as some House members are asking for even more cuts than their Labor, HHS and Education bill initially included – and the Senate and White House will not agree to those cuts. Your advocacy will be critical to attempt to maintain the higher level for Perkins included in the Senate bill, as well as the Senate funding levels for programs across the education and workforce spectrum!

On July 26, the Department of Education (ED) hosted the National Summit on Equal Opportunity in Higher Education to discuss strategies and resources to expand access to postsecondary education opportunities following the recent Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action.

At the event, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced a $45 million postsecondary student success grant competition focused on evidence-based strategies that help underrepresented students access and successfully complete postsecondary education programs. Applications are due September 25, and technical assistance webinars will be hosted by ED’s Office of Postsecondary Education on August 15 and 31.

The postsecondary student success grant competition is targeted toward Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges or Universities (TCCUs), Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) and other institutions with high enrollment of high-need students, including community colleges.

The Secretary and other panelists also discussed additional strategies for supporting postsecondary success and equal access, including underrepresented student recruitment, making K-12 connections, improving transfer, expanding need-based financial aid and more. Secretary Cardona also highlighted the expansion of CTE and dual credit programs as additional ways to support students seeking rewarding career opportunities. ED plans to share a comprehensive resource list later in the fall.

On Wednesday July 26th the Senate CTE Caucus organized a briefing at the Capitol with the National FFA Organization highlighting agricultural education. Senator Todd Young of Indiana, the Republican Co-Chair of the Senate CTE Caucus, delivered remarks along with several FFA leaders and students. 

The National FFA Organization seeks to support youth in developing leadership skills and pursuing personal and career successes through agricultural education, and it is made up of over 850,000 members. The briefing was held in conjunction with the 2023 FFA State Officer Summit, which brought many FFA student leaders to Washington, DC, to receive training and opportunities to advocate for agriculture education issues. 

As part of this visit, FFA State Officers from Indiana, Virginia and Wisconsin met with congressional offices and presented their personal FFA experiences at the briefing. Kelcey Weston, president of the Virginia FFA, shared how the educational and leadership opportunities she has experienced as a part of FFA built her confidence and expanded her abilities. Additionally, FFA leaders presented how their organization provides programming and activities that supplement classroom and experiential learning to create a holistic approach to agricultural education. 

In his remarks, Senator Young noted the prevalence of agriculture in his state of Indiana, which creates both demand and opportunity for agricultural CTE programs. With Indiana consisting of more than 200 FFA chapters, he emphasized the importance of developing leadership and workforce skills that will serve students in their personal careers while simultaneously benefiting employers. Senator Young encouraged the students to continue pursuing these experiences that will support them in the future as he stated: “CTE unlocks all kinds of opportunities for students.”

Today ACTE has released CTE: Developing the Information Technology Workforce, the third 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 streamlined text and additional graphics to make these advocacy tools even more effective.

This Sector Sheet describes how CTE supports the critical information technology workforce, which employs more than 9 million people nationwide and contributes approximately 8.8% to the U.S. economy. It also shares information on occupations, earnings and credentials that give readers guidance for how to enter and progress within fields such as network architecture and administration, software and web services, and cybersecurity and data science. Finally, the Information Technology Sector Sheet demonstrates the importance of CTE in developing the 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 be available on the ACTE Sector Sheet webpage for download and use. We encourage you to share these tools with students, counselors, policymakers and others to spread the message about CTE and its benefits for students and the workforce.

Seeking to address strains on the teacher workforce, legislation newly adopted in ten states aims to make it easier for teachers to move to a new state. The Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact eliminates additional training and testing requirements for teachers seeking to obtain a teaching license in a different state. With the adoption of the compact, if a teacher holds a bachelor’s degree, has completed a state-approved teacher licensure program and holds a full teaching license, they are eligible to receive an equivalent license from another participating state. 

The compact notes CTE teachers as an exception to these requirements. CTE teachers are not subjected to the bachelor’s degree requirement since they can often obtain their original licenses without holding this degree. However, the participating states reserve the power to select which program or subject areas to apply this agreement, and the inclusion of CTE licenses will be decided on a state-by-state basis. 

In the last few months, ten states have adopted the compact which ratifies the agreement. These include Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Nevada, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah. Additionally, legislation is currently pending in California, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The status of the legislation can be tracked here. 

The Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact receives funding from the Department of Defense which partnered with the Council of State Governments and the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) to develop the agreement. The Department of Defense launched this initiative originally to assist military spouses who face obstacles to maintaining a teaching profession as they frequently move between states, but it has a much more far-reaching impact. In the midst of a national teacher shortage, the compact eliminates barriers for military spouses and all other educators seeking to work in another state.

As more states consider this legislation, the agreement will likely continue to expand. Updated information and further details can be found here.

This week, Congress was primarily focused on continuing the FY 2024 appropriations process. The House and Senate considered several additional FY 2024 appropriations bills at the Committee level, and the House scheduled several appropriations bills to be placed on the floor next week as the Senate continued work on the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Next week, both the House and the Senate Appropriations Committees plan to consider their Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill, which you can read more about below.

With the August congressional recess beginning on July 28, Congress is in a full sprint to complete as much work on their appropriations bills as possible. There are many CTE-related updates below and many moving parts, so check them out to keep informed:

• ACTION ALERT: Ask Your Members of Congress to Oppose Cuts to Education and Workforce Programs in FY 2024: On July 14, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies approved its Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 appropriations billon a party-line vote. The bill reduces overall education funding, including rescissions to some funding that would become available to programs this fall and significant cuts to or complete eliminations of dozens of education and workforce programs, such as WIOA Youth and Adult programs, federal work-study, ESSA Title I and II and more. Learn more about the impact of the proposed cuts and how you can help!

• ACTE Sends FY 2024 Appropriations Letter: On July 21, ACTE and our partners at Advance CTE sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee regarding the impact of the proposed cuts to education and workforce programs in the FY 2024 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill.

• Policymaker Perspectives: Rep. Suzanne Bonamici: ACTE is re-launching our Policymaker Perspectives discussion series! In this first Policymaker Perspectives of 2023, ACTE’s Public Policy Department heard from Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), co-chair of the House CTE Caucus.

• Senate HELP Committee Plans to Consider JOBS Act, Workforce Bills: On July 27, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee plans to consider several bills focused on CTE and workforce development, including S.161, the JOBS Act of 2023. ACTE has endorsed this legislation.

• Senate CTE Caucus Co-chair Introduces PELL Act: On July 20, Senate CTE Caucus co-chair Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC), along with Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), introduced S. 2442, the Promoting Employment and Lifelong Learning (PELL) Act. The bill creates a Workforce Pell Grant to expand Pell Grant eligibility to high-quality, short-term job training programs. This is the companion bill to the House’s H.R. 496, but is a competitor to the bi-partisan JOBS Act.

• Bobby Scott (D-VA) Reintroduces Direct CARE Workforce Act: On July 20, House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA), Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA) and Rep. Susie Lee (NV-03) reintroduced H.R. 4720, the Direct Creation, Advancement, and Retention of Employment (CARE) Opportunity Act of 2023. The legislation invests more than $1.8 billion over five years in training and increasing opportunities for direct care workers, including funding to recruit, retain and advance the direct care workforce pipeline and for local and regional innovation to address workforce shortages and needs in this high-demand field.

• Roger Williams (R-TX) Reintroduces Student Debt Alternative and CTE Awareness Act: On July 20, Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) reintroduced H.R. 4819, the Student Debt Alternative and CTE Awareness Act. The bill will require the Department of Education (ED) to publish information on the Office of Federal Student Aid website regarding CTE programs and Perkins funding. Additionally, the FAFSA application must include a one-page summary about CTE programs and requires applicants to sign an acknowledgment box before starting their FAFSA application.

• IES Announces FY 2024 Research Grant Competitions: On July 20, the National Center for Education Research and the National Center for Special Education Research released funding announcements for three FY 2024 grant competitions: education research grants, special education research grants and research training programs in special education. The application deadline is September 21, 2023.

• Department of Labor Awards Funding to Help States Expand Access to Registered Apprenticeships: The Department of Labor announced the award of over $65 million in grants to 45 states to increase their ability to serve, improve and strategically expand their Registered Apprenticeship programs and pre-apprenticeships.

• Department of Labor Awards Funding for Registered Apprenticeships in Education, Clean Energy and More: The Department of Labor announced the award of nearly $17 million in funding contracts to seven organizations to promote Registered Apprenticeships in industries such as education and the care economy, clean energy, cybersecurity, hospitality and transportation.

• Registration Remains Open for Final Family Engagement Learning Virtual Session: On July 25 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET, this session will explore how family engagement supports college and career pathways success.

• OCTAE Assistant Secretary Column on Second Chance Pell: ED’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) Assistant Secretary Amy Loyd and the Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General for Justice Programs Amy Solomon co-authored a column in Newsweek to discuss the expansion of Pell Grants for incarcerated individuals that began on July 1.

• First Lady and Secretary of Education Visit Georgia CTE Programs: On July 18, First Lady Jill Biden and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona visited the Investing in America Workforce Hub in Augusta, Georgia, to discuss ways the community is working to expand pathways to good-paying jobs in fields like advanced manufacturing. You can view pictures from the event here, as well as a recap of the visit here.

• ED Opens Applications for Performance Partnership Pilots: ED issued a Federal Register notice inviting applications for selection as a performance partnership pilot for FY 2023 under the Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3) authority.