Key Legislation 

In March 2021, Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tim Scott (R-SC) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Steve Stivers (R-OH), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and Bryan Steil (R-WI) reintroduced S. 839/H.R. 2030, known as the College Transparency Act (CTA). The CTA, which had also been introduced in previous years, would establish a national postsecondary data reporting system to provide information on student outcomes, such as enrollment, completion and earnings, across postsecondary institutions and career fields. This bill is one of ACTE’s top legislative priorities. 

Background 

Currently, the Higher Education Act (HEA) prohibits the collection and reporting of student level outcomes, such as enrollment figures, completion rates and earnings numbers, across all postsecondary institutions in the United States. Without access to this data, students and their families do not have access to the most up-to-date data to make informed choices about their education and career goals, nor do employers have the resources and talent pipelines they need to fill positions in high-wage, in-demand career fields. The CTA would both eliminate the ban on federal student data collection and create a streamlined, secure data network within the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). 

The data would be disaggregated by race, ethnicity and gender to help identify inequities, while protecting students by prohibiting the sale of data and penalizing illegal data use, among other safeguards. The bill would require an accompanying  “user-friendly” website that is capable of returning data to states and institutions so they can use the information to inform their practices. 

Next Steps 

Currently, there are 30 cosponsors in the Senate and 69 in the House of Representatives for the CTA, however, there are a number of Members of Congress, including House Education and Labor Committee Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-NC) that have significant concerns about the bill, complicating its path forward. ACTE’s public policy team is continuing to urge Members of Congress to cosponsor the bill and advocating for its passage. While a full reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) is unlikely to move forward this year, it is still possible that the bill could be passed as part of a different legislative package, or it could gain traction as a standalone bill. 

Please continue to monitor ACTE’s Policy Watch blog for more information as this proposal continues to make its way through Congress!

With Congress in recess this week, action on CTE-related measures was limited. However, leaders in the House of Representatives released the text of the America COMPETES Act, a companion bill to the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act passed by the U.S. Senate last summer. This legislation contains several provisions with implications for CTE and workforce development programs. With debate on the Build Back Better Act stalled, the focus will turn to moving this bill through Congress. Stay tuned to CTE Policy Watch for more details as they come! In the meantime, both chambers will return to Washington as we get ready to kick off CTE Month! Here is the most important news from the past week: 

• House of Representatives Introduces America COMPETES Act: On March 25, House leadership unveiled the text of the America COMPETES Act of 2022, H.R. 4521. The legislation aims to improve U.S. economic competitiveness with China, improve critical supply chain function and more. In addition, the bill contains several provisions with implications for CTE, including the text of the previously House-passed National Apprenticeship Act (NAA), funding for TAACCCT grants and several other workforce development initiatives. The Senate passed its version of the legislation, known as the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), S. 1260, this past summer, and the House is expected to consider their version of the bill on the House floor soon.

• Federal Agencies To Host Webinar on Youth Work-Based Learning Guidelines: The Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), Wage and Hour Division (WHD) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from the Department of Labor, as well as the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE) at the Department of Education will host a joint webinar entitled, "Frequently Asked Questions about Work-Based Learning Guidelines for Youth," on February 3, 2022. During the webinar, presenters will discuss frequently asked questions about laws and regulations that apply when engaging youth in work-based learning. You can register for the webinar here.

• ACTE Releases Education and Training Sector Sheet: This winter, ACTE has created a new Sector Sheet on CTE’s role in developing the education and training workforce. It contains the latest details on occupational demand, the role CTE plays in preparing the workforce for this sector, and descriptions of exemplary programs in education and training. ACTE’s Sector Sheet series is generously supported by Pearson.

• Department of Education Releases Resource to Support Use of ARP-ESSER Funds: The Department of Education and the National Comprehensive Center released a new resource to help states share their progress deploying American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP-ESSER) funds. The ARP Partnership, Assistance, Transformation, and Heightened Support (ARP-PATHS) tool invites states to describe strategies they are implementing that could serve as promising practices for other states and the nation in ensuring that ARP-ESSER funds are used appropriately and effectively as intended by the law. The ARP-PATHS tool is available here.

• Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) Speaks with Punchbowl News on Economic Competitiveness: On January 25, Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), Senate CTE Caucus Co-Chair, spoke with Punchbowl News to discuss the bipartisan U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), S. 1260, companion to the recently introduced America COMPETES Act in the House. Asked what should be done to address workforce shortages in high-tech fields, Sen. Young noted the need to skill, reskill and upskill workers to remain globally competitive.  
   
• Secretary of Education Describes Department of Education Priorities: On Thursday morning, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona spoke to reaffirm the Department of Education’s top priorities for 2022 and beyond. Secretary Cardona discussed the four main priorities that will guide the department in the years to come – supporting recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing opportunity and achievement gaps, making higher education more accessible, and ensuring pathways through higher education leading to successful career opportunities.

• Vice President Harris Visits Milwaukee to Promote Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill: On January 24, Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership/BIG STEP program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to meet with residents affected by lead pipe contamination and the workers replacing lead pipes in the city to discuss how the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would help modernize American infrastructure.

• President Biden Visits Pittsburgh to Promote Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: On January 28, President Biden visited Pittsburgh to discuss how the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will help support and repair aging physical infrastructure like roads and bridges.

Community College Baccalaureate Degrees: Although 24 states authorize some community colleges to award bachelor’s degrees, limited data exist on community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs. Using IPEDS data and feedback from state agencies, New America released a report that identifies the number of CCB programs, their areas of study and types of degrees:

• Currently, 15 of the 24 CCB-authorizing states are located west of the Mississippi River, and the number of CCB-authorizing states has accelerated in the past five years.
• Early policy adopters, such as Florida and Washington, have higher rates of approved and active CCB programs. However, states like Wyoming and Ohio that are newer to CCB have rapidly approved CCB programs in response to labor market demands.
• Most CCB programs are concentrated in business, health professions, education, and computer and information sciences and support services. Additionally, programs typically grant a Bachelor of Applied Science, Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.

Designing Micro-pathways: Recently, Education Design Lab released a report discussing insights from the first cohort of its Community College Growth Engine Fund (CCGEF). CCGEF is a design initiative that provides funding for select community colleges to launch a series of micro-pathways, which incorporate two or more stackable credentials, can be completed in less than a year and lead to a high-wage job. The recent cohort, comprised of teams of colleges, learners and employers, co-created 30 micro-pathways. Read the full report here and view a repository of all 30 micro-pathways here.

Fall 2021 Enrollment Trends: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, enrollment across all postsecondary institutions remains down. Recently, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released enrollment trends from the fall 2021 semester, which provide a more detailed picture of postsecondary enrollment during the pandemic:

• Overall, postsecondary enrollment declined by 2.7% since fall Enrollment at community colleges declined by 3.4%, a smaller number than the decline at four-year institutions and a smaller drop than the year prior.
• Freshman enrollment at private non-profit four-year and public two-year institutions increased by 2.9% and 0.4% respectively, while it declined in other sectors.
• Compared to all sectors, public two-year institutions faced the largest decline of traditional college-age students (-5.3%) and the smallest decline of older adult students (-2.3%). Additionally, dual-enrolled high school students increased at public two-year institutions by 1.5%.
• Among CTE majors at public two-year institutions, enrollment declined the most for homeland security, law enforcement, firefighting and protective services programs, down by 7.4%, while enrollment in agriculture increased the most by 40.8%. In addition, enrollment in construction and transportation programs rebounded to fall 2019 levels.

COVID-19’s Prolonged Impact: The Center for Community College Student Engagement conducted a survey in spring 2021 with over 120,000 community college students to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect students’ financial situations and attitudes about safety:

• About 34% of students said their financial situation was worse than before the pandemic and 23% said they struggled to pay for college as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Overall, 59% of respondents said that they avoid situations where social distancing is not possible. Women, nontraditional-age learners and students of color were more likely to state this.
• Approximately 49% of respondents didn’t know if their college had COVID-19-related support services, an 8-percentage point decrease from fall 2020 survey responses. Part-time and white students were less likely to be aware of support services.

On Thursday morning, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona spoke to reaffirm the Department of Education’s top priorities for 2022 and beyond. Secretary Cardona discussed the four main priorities that will guide the department in the years to come – supporting recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing opportunity and achievement gaps, making higher education more accessible and ensuring pathways through higher education leading to successful career opportunities. 

Of particular note for Secretary Cardona was the importance of investing in the educator workforce pipeline and ensuring stronger connections between the P-12 system, higher education and the workforce. 

“At the Department of Education, we will work with our partners in the Departments of Commerce and Labor to develop career preparation programs that will run through our community colleges,” said Cardona. 

Cardona also emphasized the need to support students, families and educators as the pandemic continues, including by addressing lost instructional time and learning loss, and by providing additional social, emotional and mental health support for students.

This third blog post in our CLNA series based on Lessons in Collaboration and Innovation: The Impact and Promise of the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment, our new report co-published with Advance CTE, explores data benefits and challenges of the first CLNAs.

Several state and local CTE leaders shared with us that the first CLNA led to greater use and enhanced understanding of data by local CTE leaders and practitioners, as well as improved transparency and more data-informed decisions. However, some local recipients described struggling with accessing and analyzing data. These challenges included difficulty in reporting data on learners from special populations, particularly when much of that information is self reported to colleges, and labor market data that obscured nuance about career fields and occupations. However, robust stakeholder engagement helped local recipients fill in the picture when labor market information was incomplete.

Going forward, improved data resources have been a major theme of the second CLNA for both states and local sub-grantees. For instance, Perkins staff at Queensborough Community College in New York planned to bring their institutional research colleagues into the process earlier, pursue a subscription to Emsi Burning Glass, and incorporate surveys into consultation methods. And CTE leaders at Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Colorado have been working with an economic and workforce data analyst to create easy-to-use data resources.

Stay tuned for the next entry in this series, which will explore access and equity in the first CLNAs, and revisit our prior post on stakeholder engagement.

On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership/BIG STEP program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to meet with residents affected by lead pipe contamination and the workers replacing lead pipes in the city to discuss how the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would help modernize American infrastructure.

Vice President Harris was joined by Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan. Sen. Baldwin is a Senate CTE Caucus co-chair. 

Harris noted that at its core, this issue is about more than just public health. "It is about developing the skills to do the work that must be done to strengthen the United States of America and our infrastructure," Harris said. 

Concluding her remarks, Harris added that replacing aging infrastructure will help create jobs in a wide variety of in-demand career fields, including construction and manufacturing, as well as boost support for the apprenticeship programs that train workers to complete these upgrades.

This winter, ACTE has created a new Sector Sheet on CTE’s role in developing the education and training workforce with the latest details on occupational demand, the role CTE plays in preparing the workforce for this sector, and descriptions of exemplary programs in education and training.

With the average educator impacting 3,000 learners during their career, the U.S. education and training sector plays a critical role in shaping society. Educators are in high demand, with two-thirds of school district leaders reporting shortages, particularly for special education teachers. The sector is expected to add 920,500 new jobs by 2030, with strong growth for preschool educators, postsecondary instructors, and career counselors and advisers.

CTE programs are at the forefront of preparing individuals for careers in education and training. One example on the secondary level is the Education Career Academy at Millard Public Schools in Omaha, Nebraska. During their senior year, students complete a 108-hour practicum where they work with teachers and build a portfolio of lesson plans. After graduation, learners can receive up to 30 college credits at Metropolitan Community College and the University of Nebraska–Omaha. On the postsecondary level, Mount Wachusett Community College (MWCC) in Gardner, Massachusetts, offers the Child Development Associate program, which prepares students to work in preschools and child care centers by completing 120 hours of supervised training supported by a video-based classroom observation tool. Program completers can apply their credits toward MWCC’s Associate in Early Childhood Education program.

ACTE’s Sector Sheet series is generously supported by Pearson.