CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

Updates on COVID-19 and Federal CTE Policy

The ongoing global pandemic has impacted our lives in countless ways, including career and technical education. ACTE has been closely monitoring federal policy updates related to the coronavirus and how they might impacted CTE programs. You can find a complete list of CTE-related coronavirus federal policy updates at this link, which will be continually updated. Below is a brief summary of the most recent updates, along with important resources.

RESOURCES

• ACTE Resources on Distance Learning
• CDC Coronavirus Webpage
• U.S. Department of Education Coronavirus Webpage

SUMMARY OF THE CARES ACT

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act is a wide-ranging, more than $2 trillion package that includes a variety of provisions. On the education front, the law allows Federal Work Study payments to continue, doesn't penalize students who dropped out of school from Pell Grant eligibility, allows additional flexibility on the student loan front, provides the Secretary of Education with certain waiver authority, defers student loan payments/principal/interest for 6 months on all federally owned loans without penalty, provides local workforce boards with additional flexibility under WIOA, and exempts teachers from certain requirements related to TEACH grant obligations or Teacher Loan Forgiveness if they can't finish the teaching year. It also appropriates $30.9 billion to the Department of Education, including $13.5 billion for K-12 and $14.25 billion for higher education funding to meet a variety of coronavirus-related needs.

• Bill Text
• Summary of Appropriations and Summary of Education-related Provisions
• ACTE Blog Post on CARES Act

ACTE CORONAVIRUS PRIORITIES

• At least $1 billion in dedicated funding for CTE programs in response to the coronavirus
• Additional flexibility and waivers, including by enacting a redistribution waiver for Perkins funds, passing waivers for Perkins eligible agencies, extending the waiver of the definition of “professional development” in ESEA to Perkins, rescinding supplement not supplant provisions for one year in Perkins, and expanding pooling flexibility in Perkins.
• Expand Pell Grants to high-quality, short-term programs and reinstate Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated individuals
• Increase support for non-traditional learners in postsecondary education
• Invest in research and development to scale the quality of online education

SELECTED LETTERS TO POLICYMAKERS

• ACTE, Advance CTE Response to the HEROES Act and Lack of Dedicated CTE Funding (5/13/20)
• ACTE and Advance CTE Letter on Concerns Regarding Certain Coronavirus Student Aid Exclusions (4/23/20)
• ACTE and Advance CTE Coronavirus-related Funding, Waiver and Policy Priorities (4/8/20)
• ACTE & Advance CTE Letter on CTE-related Coronavirus Investment Priorities (4/1/20)

MONTHLY UPDATES 

July 9

• Congressional Update: Congress is currently on recess, but is expected to take up additional COVID-19 relief legislation when it returns, and discussions are already intensifying. Funding for eduction is emerging as a potential priority for both parties, but the details will be critical.  

CLICK HERE FOR ACTE’S COMPLETE COVID-19 FEDERAL POLICY RESOURCES 

COVID-19 Research Round-up (Part II)

Data on the Impact of COVID on Postsecondary Institutions: A new resource from Watermark explores how postsecondary institutions can evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and discover what has changed and what will come next. In order to understand this, researchers sent out a survey to postsecondary professionals to gauge the effects on current and planned teaching, assessments, student feedback, faculty activity reporting and reviews and cataloging curriculum management. The survey results provide insights on the impact of the virus and promising practices that can improve the delivery of teaching in the fall. 

Impact of COVID on Community Colleges: The Community College Research Center created a resource which contains a series of essays on the different aspects of the impact of COVID-19 on community colleges. The topics of the essays include funding, enrollment, student experience, instruction, student supports and more. 

Importance of Transparency on Report Cards During COVID-19: The Data Quality Campaign has created a short infographic for schools to use to ensure that transparency and public trust continues to be at the forefront when reporting state and local data on ESSA Report Cards during COVID-19. The infographic provides both short- and long-term actions that school leaders can take in their decision-making and recovery efforts, and as they  present updates on recovery efforts and provide transparency on how schools are moving forward.

Using Data During COVID to Prioritize Resources: Another short infographic from the Data Quality Campaign was published to show the importance of using data as a tool during COVID-19 to help prioritize resources that are needed to invest in policies and programs that best serve the community. This resource provides short-term guidance on investing in data systems, gathering information from the community and mobilizing research partnerships to start answering complex questions. The long-term guidance suggests that leaders need to manage their research agenda and modernize cross-sector longitudinal data systems to identify solutions to present and future challenges. 

Homework Gap During COVID: One out of three Black, Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native households do not have home access to high-speed internet, and 16.9 million households do not have high-speed internet access to successfully complete online learning, according to a new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education. These results are from a 2018 American Community Survey that show that many children lacked high-speed home internet service and a computer. COVID-19’s shifts to remote instruction have resulted in a an exacerbation of this “homework gap.” The researchers call on Congress to invest $6.8 billion to cover immediate costs related to high-speed home internet access and devices in the next COVID-19 relief package. 

Compilation of Surveys Performed on Education During COVID: During these unpresented times, many surveys were performed by various groups to understand the impact of COVID-19 on education. Below are some of the surveys that focus on the delivery of education during the pandemic:

• Data on School Districts Approach to Pandemic: Preliminary results from two reports were released by the American Institute for Research (AIR). The first report is preliminary survey data investigating the reaction of school districts when the pandemic hit. The responses are from approximately 500 school districts and cover a range of topics from school closures to challenges and approaches for distance learning to meeting the needs of special populations. The second report is preliminary data on how school district leaders approached the difficulties from the pandemic, such as how schools innovated in the spring and some of the promising practices and challenges districts faced during the pandemic. 
• Perceptions on In-Person Learning for the Fall: The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research published survey results on public perceptions of schools resuming in-person schooling. The results show only 8% of respondents think K-12 schools should open for normal in-person learning and about half of the respondents think that major adjustments are needed if in-person school resumes. These perceptions are also shared among respondents regarding in-person postsecondary institutions. 
• Teachers and Parents Perceptions on Schooling in the Spring: Chalkbeat performed a national and state survey consisting of parents, students, educators and principals on the perceptions of online learning in the spring. Failures of the spring term included lack of internet access and technological devices by primarily Black and Hispanic students and students from low-income families and low student engagement with schoolwork. The survey does show that respondents thought most teachers made a rapid switch to online learning and most parent respondents gave high marks to their child’s school. 
• Postsecondary Students on Online Learning During the Pandemic: College Pulse interviewed 5,000 postsecondary students in two- and four-year colleges to understand how COVID-19 impacted students’ learning and what the priorities of students are in postsecondary education. The researchers found that most students were satisfied with how their school responded to pandemic. One of the main priorities of the respondents for attending a postsecondary institution is to obtain a credential for their desired career, which will require continued support for CTE programs and CTE educators. 
• Postsecondary Students Satisfaction with the Spring Semester: Digital Promise and Langer Research surveyed about 1,000 postsecondary students to understand students’ experiences during the spring semester. Despite student satisfaction decreasing after the shift to remote learning, respondents felt positively about the way the faculty handled the shift and reported that many faculty held live sessions for questions and comprehending content and over half reported that lecturers were live instead of prerecorded. The satisfaction with courses positively correlated with how much the faculty engaged and made the course interactive.
• Postsecondary Faculty Satisfaction with Online Learning: Tyton Partners performed a national survey of approximately 4,800 postsecondary faculty to understand their satisfaction with online learning. Respondents who were the most satisfied with the learning in their classes were the faculty who used the largest range of instructional practices. These faculty were twice as likely to have prior experience teaching online courses and significantly more likely to have access to a campus-based teaching and learning center or other forms of support. 

New Tool to Ensure CTE is Prioritized in the Fall: Advance CTE created a resource to help state CTE leaders take actionable steps to prepare and implement strategies for the fall to adequately support CTE students through high-quality CTE programs. The tool is organized into seven key topics that must be addressed in order to achieve high-quality programs:

1. Equity and access
2. CTE teachers and faculty
3. CTE instruction
4. Assessments and credentials
5. Work-based learning 
6. Counseling and advisement 
7. Career Technical Student Organizations 

DC Digest: July 27-August 2

Congress struggled all week to try and agree on a COVID-19 stimulus package before the House was scheduled to start their August recess on Friday. They were unsuccessful, however, and both chambers will continue talks although it is unlikely that a consensus will be reached in the near future. Here are a few other notes on the happenings of last week:

• House Approves Six More Spending Bills: On Friday, the House passed a $1.3 trillion spending package for fiscal year 2021, which included the Education spending bill. The bill also included funding for the Defense spending bill, Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy and Water, Financial Services and General Government, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development measures.
• Rethink K-12 Education Model Grants Awarded: The Department of Education announced that 11 states were awarded more than $180 million in Rethink K-12 Education Model Grants, a grant program that encourages states to think innovatively about how to serve students better during the pandemic. This funding comes from the CARES Act to help states address specific educational needs of students, parents and teachers in K-12 schools. 
• Action Needed to Support Perkins Funding in Next COVID-19 Relief Package: COVID-19 stimulus relief packages from both chambers have not included funding for CTE programs, nor an adequate amount of funding for the other programs that make up our federal education and workforce systems. Please ask Congress to include $1 billion to go toward Perkins funding and robust funding levels for the entire education and workforce development systems.
• House Subcommittee Hearing on COVID-19 and Reopening Schools: Some of the nation’s top public health officials testified before a House subcommittee on Friday to determine if the federal response to the pandemic has been adequate and how the continued spread would affect public life, specifically education. Members asked the officials about whether schools need more funding for virus prevention expenses if schools resume in-person learning and about the speed of children contracting the virus then spreading it to adults, and whether testing to detect cases has too much lag time to be helpful to prevent further spread in schools.

House Passes Perkins State Grants Funding Increase for FY21

Last week, the House passed the second and final Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 appropriations minibus, along party lines. This $1.3 trillion package (H.R. 7617) included the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS-Ed) appropriations bill, which is the funding vehicle for the majority of federal education and workforce development programs, including Perkins. The House has now passed 10 of the 12 appropriations bills, which account for 96% of all federal funding.

Overall, H.R. 7617 provided a $716 million increase for education programs and $254 million increase for federal workforce programs over FY 2020 enacted levels. More specifically, the Perkins Basic State Grant received an increase of $18 million, or 1.4%, over the FY 2020 enacted level, bringing the proposed total to more than $1.3 billion. A summary of the full bill can be found here. 

What’s Next?

Traditionally, the Senate would introduce, mark up, and vote on their own appropriations bills, then the two chambers would “go to conference” to negotiate and work out the differences. Once that occurs, both chambers would vote on the new proposal, then it would go to the President’s desk to be signed into law. But, between the ongoing pandemic and the elections quickly approaching, we expect that the Senate will not act on a traditional appropriations proposal prior to the October 1 start of the new fiscal year. Instead, we expect Congress to pass a continuing resolution (CR) into November or December. If this is the case, Perkins, along with most other programs, would most likely continue to operate on their FY 2020 enacted funding levels until a long-term bill was passed. If there is any movement with FY 2021 appropriations, ACTE will continue to update the CTE Policy Watch blog.

ACTION NEEDED: Ask Congress to Support Perkins Funding in Next COVID-19 Relief Package

Now that lawmakers in both chambers have introduced their latest COVID-19 relief proposals, negotiations have begun on what could end up being the final COVID-19 relief measure enacted this Congress. Although these proposals include many positive provisions, they both contain one GLARING PROBLEM – neither include dedicated funding for CTE programs, nor an adequate amount of funding for the other programs that make up our federal education and workforce systems. If Congress is serious about ensuring America recovers from its reeling economy caused by the pandemic, it's important they recognize the vital role our country's education and workforce systems will play.

ASK Congress to include $1 billion in dedicated Perkins funding & robust funding levels for the entire education and workforce development systems in any new covid-19 relief package.

Additional resources are a critical step to ensuring that students have access to upskilling and reskilling opportunities that are needed to help combat the pandemic and that will be needed by business and industry as we shift toward long-term economic recovery. Further, ensuring both the safety of students and staff and a robust instructional experience during these unprecedented times will take more, not fewer, resources.

We need to continue to raise awareness with policymakers to ensure they understand the many benefits associated with high-quality CTE programs. Your advocacy makes a difference and encourages policymakers to take action, so please contact your representative today!

You can also call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. An operator will then connect you with your requested congressional office.

Senate Republicans Release New COVID-19 Relief Proposal

On Monday evening, Senate Republicans released the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protections, and Schools Act (HEALS Act), an approximately trillion-dollar proposal for the next round of relief funding aimed at quelling the economic and public health crisis ignited by the pandemic.

Some of the larger provisions of the HEALS Act include $200 per week in unemployment insurance, down from $600 in the previously enacted CARES Act, another round of stimulus checks, liability protection for businesses and schools, an additional round of Paycheck Protection Program loans, among other measures.

More specifically for education, the proposal calls for $105 billion for an Education Stabilization Fund, authorizes Emergency Education Freedom Scholarships, consolidates the nine current student loan repayment plans into two, and provides various emergency waiver authority to the Secretary for federal programs, including the Perkins Act. Of the $105 billion, the Elementary and Secondary Education fund would receive $70 billion, with two-thirds of that be conditioned on local education agencies meeting certain requirements around reopening. Higher education institutions would receive $29 billion with funding being allotted based on the number of Pell Grant recipients. The last $5 billion would go to the Governors’ Emergency Relief Fund, which can be used for any emergency grants for any part of education. Although the proposal does not include dedicated funding for CTE programs, they are included in the allowable use of funds for money allocated to the Education Stabilization Fund.

Additionally, the bill authorizes additional funding for various workforce development activities.  The appropriations package provides a total of $950 million in the Department of Labor for adult and youth training programs.

This proposal will serve as the Senate Republicans opening bid with Democrats, who will most certainly seek to make changes prior to any relief proposal being signed into law. Democratic leadership in both chambers have voiced serious concerns with the proposal, saying that it “falls short of what is needed to help with the coronavirus recession.” Democrats will seek to include hazard pay for essential workers, further address the looming eviction crisis, provide additional funding for social safety programs, and have serious concerns with the conditioning school funding to physical re-opening and liability protection provisions. It is expected for negotiations to start immediately and could potentially drag out into August, forcing Congress to work through a portion of their recess.

We are continuing to advocate for these critical resources directly for CTE and workforce programs to be included in the next relief package to ensure learners are prepared for labor market needs, particularly as the economy begins to rebuild after the pandemic. We need your help quickly to emphasize this message with Congress as the congressional leaders come together in negotiations. Click here to ask your Members of Congress to support the inclusion of funds for CTE, as provided in the Relaunching America’s Workforce Act, in the next relief package.

DC Digest: July 20-26

Both the Senate and House were back in session last week and have been working to finalize several bills before the scheduled August recess. The Senate revealed their coronavirus relief package proposal on Monday, while most of the movement in the House has been around appropriations. Below are a few updates on the happenings on the Hill and in the Administration:

• House Approves Four Spending Bills: On Friday, the House passed a $259.5 billion spending package for fiscal year 2021. The four bills included State and Foreign Operations, Agriculture, Interior and Environment, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. The Education spending bill is expected to be voted on in the House this week along with six other spending bills. 
• House Subcommittee Hearing on COVID-19 and Higher Education: On Thursday, the House’s Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Subcommittee held a hearing titled “Underfunded and Unprepared: Examining How to Overcome Obstacles to Safely Reopen Public Schools” to discuss how schools can safely reopen in the fall. During the hearing, members heard and questioned four witnesses: Michael Hinojosa, Leslie Boggs, Penny Schwinn and Sean O'Leary. Watch the entire hearing here. 
• CTE Caucus Letter to Senate Leadership to Include ACCESS to Careers Act in Next COVID Package: On July 22, CTE Caucus Co-Chairs Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Todd Young (R-IL) sent a letter to Senate Leadership asking them to include the ACCESS to Careers Act (S.3273) in the upcoming COVID-19 relief package. This proposal, which was endorsed by ACTE, aims to boost student success and career readiness by increasing work-based learning opportunities, ensuring students have access to support services such as career navigators and counselors, and creating career pathways to meet the changing skill demands of the U.S. economy. 
• Association Letter to Congress to Include the Emergency Educational Connections Act in Next COVID Package: ACTE, as part of the Homework Gap Coalition, sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to include the Emergency Educational Connections Act of 2020 (S. 3690) in the next COVID package. This proposal would appropriate $4 billion towards the FCC's E-Rate program, which would help schools and libraries ensure that all students and educators have internet access for remote teaching and learning this academic year.​ Click here​ to read the letter.
• New CDC Resources and Tools: Under significant political pressure, the CDC released new resources and tools related to schools and reopening. Guidance is also given on implementing collaboration between state and local health departments and schools to protect the health and safety of everyone. Some of the tools and strategies recommended are promoting behaviors to prevent the spread, changing the school and school day structure, ensuring a clean environment, taking measures to prevent others getting sick from someone who is infected, and disseminating information to guide decision-making and adapt to local conditions.
• Department of Education Releases New Guidance on CARES Act Additional Funds: The Department of Education has released updated guidance on how it will distribute the “third allocation” of CARES Act funding available to some institutions that originally qualified for small amounts of funding, including many smaller community and technical colleges or area CTE Centers. New requirements include more extensive budget and expenditure reporting for institutions meeting certain parameters. 

Preliminary Findings of an Evaluability Assessment of CTE Programs

The CTE Research Network has released preliminary findings of an evaluability assessment, or feasibility study, aimed at identifying existing CTE models with the potential for rigorous evaluation. 

The researchers identified four programs: Virtual Enterprises International (VEI), NAF Academies, Delaware Pathways and Franklin Technology Center in Joplin, Missouri. Each program has favorable conditions for research using experimental designs that show the causal impact of CTE on student outcomes. The network hopes that researchers can harness Institute for Education Sciences (IES) grants and other funding sources to evaluate these programs and expand the CTE evidence base. 

For each program, the researchers identified key elements that would make it valuable for evaluation. For VEI, the virtual work skills and virtual work-based learning that are incorporated into courses could potentially be translated to other CTE programs. Franklin Technology Center’s competency-based curriculum can be studied to determine whether it can be replicated for other CTE programs. NAF Academies is a national network of career academies, which would allow for a deeper analysis about the success of academy systems. Finally, Delaware Pathways would allow comparison between a more intensive model of CTE delivered through a technical high school and a less intensive model in a comprehensive high school setting. 

The evaluability study began with nominations from CTE stakeholders. Researchers used questionnaires, interviews and other methods to narrow down those programs to the four selected. Postsecondary institutions were not included because of the limited number of nominations that were received from that sector. 

ACTE is a partner in the IES CTE Research Network, which aims to expand the evidence base on the impact of CTE programs on student outcomes.

Research Round-up: Benefits of Taking Community College Courses, Perceptions of Perkins V, Learning During the Pandemic

Recent publications describe various CTE topics ranging from new data on postsecondary certificate and Associate degree programs to research on skills training leading to higher earnings.

Data on Students Enrolled in Postsecondary Certificate or Associate Degree Programs: A new report from the National Center on Education Statistics (NCES) examines the three-year completion and employment outcomes from students who entered into a postsecondary certificate or associate degree program in 2011-12. . 

Benefits for Enrollment, STEM and Earnings at Community Colleges: Taking some courses at a community college can increase the chances of earning a bachelor’s degree, earning potential, and credits earned in STEM courses for low-income, women, and Black and Latino students, according to a new report from the Community College Research Center. The researchers credit the low cost, increased course options, more diverse STEM course options and small classroom size in community colleges with the possible success of these students.

Report on Preparing for the Future Workforce: The National Governors Association (NGA) examined 150 state policies and programs to create The State Guide to Preparing the Future Workforce to encourage lifelong learning in an effort to improve the workforce. In the report, the researchers highlight the necessity for retraining, especially during the pandemic. The guide is designed to promote opportunities for all by using innovative and promising ideas in a rapidly changing economy. There are three phases suggested for a state to prepare the future workforce:

1. Build a statewide network with a shared vision.
2. Invest in innovative teaching and learning models, engage employers and become a model employer.
3. Give support to workers to engage in the future workforce.

Perceptions on Supporting Perkins V: Researchers at AEI wanted to understand policymakers’ motivations for supporting Perkins V. To understand these opinions, the researchers examined press releases from policymakers and held interviews with key staff members and CTE organizations, including ACTE, and found three key points:

1. The definitions of CTE focus on how CTE can connect job seekers with in-demand skills to meet employer demands.
2. Key policy issues in CTE that are important to both CTE leaders and members of Congress are state and local flexibility, involvement of the business community, accountability and simplification.
3. Specific policy areas, such as workforce gaps, local investment and oversight allow policymakers insight to the most compelling policy arguments for CTE. 

Skills Leading to Higher Earnings: A new report, Exploring Skills-Based Approach to Occupational Mobility, argues that transferable skills, such as job training and hiring practices, can be used to help employers fill in-demand or hard-to-fill positions and help job seekers find pathways to new careers. The researchers examined over 60 million job ads to narrow down common skills across occupations that can be used for workers to increase earning potential. In order for skills transitions to promote economic mobility, collaboration between employers and training providers must collaborate to ensure success.  

Data on Learning During the Pandemic: The U.S. Census Bureau conducted a household survey in early June to understand the effect on learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Education Commission of the States (ECS) examined this data and found that K-12 students, on average, spent less than 20 hours a week on learning activities. The results also showed that during the spring, 90% of households responded that they had access to the internet and 87% said that a device was available, however, access to internet and devices became less readily available when disaggregating the data by income status and race. ECS suggests that this data can help policymakers and educators understand how to close the digital divide and identify students who need support for the fall semester.

DC Digest: July 13-19

There wasn’t much movement on the Hill last week, but both Chambers will return on July 20. The main focus was on appropriations which we have more information about below. The House Committee on Appropriations passed all 12 appropriation bills out of committee and the full House will start consideration of the first four spending bills this week. It is expected that the second round of spending bills will be taken up within the coming weeks. Here are a few more updates: 

• Appropriations Update: The House Appropriations Committee passed the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. This bill would give the Perkins Basic State Grant program an increase of $18 million, or 1.4%, over its FY 2020 enacted level, which would bring the total proposed appropriation level to approximately 1.3 billion. Read more.
• Eligibility Requirements in the CARES Act: In a joint statement, ACTE and Advance CTE submitted comments to the federal register opposing the CARES Act rule that only allows eligibility for the CARES Act funds if a student is also eligible for federal aid. Read the entire response here.

Find Something New Campaign

The White House has released its long awaited ad campaign “Find Something New” as an effort to encourage people who are unemployed or unsatisfied in their current occupation to find a pathway to a new job or career. The campaign is a product of  the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, created in 2018, in collaboration with the Ad Council, IBM, Apple and members of the Business Roundtable, and a number of other partners. 

This ad campaign seeks to meet the need for skills-based training as an alternative to four-year degree programs in order for workers to find jobs. This ad campaign is accompanied by a companion website . The website provides resources ranging from self-assessments to professional development, and links to education and training options. A number of videos are also available that may be useful for students as they engage in career development activities.