On Tuesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee began consideration of a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). As we previously reported, the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 marks an important step in ESEA reauthorization and is the result of bipartisan negotiations between HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and ranking Democrat Patty Murray (D-WA). Members of the committee will debate and offer amendments to the bill throughout the week.
One of the first amendments considered by the committee was offered by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) regarding reporting of student attainment of CTE proficiencies as already reported under Perkins on required state and school report cards. The amendment would provide parents, teacher and policymakers with information on student achievement in CTE, without creating new reporting burdens. “I believe this bill could further strengthen career and technical education by providing students and parents with a snapshot of how students are preforming in the career and technical education programs available at their local schools, in the same way they can learn about other opportunities like gifted and talented programs, advanced placement, international baccalaureate courses, and dual enrollment,” said Baldwin. The amendment was passed unanimously by the committee.
Among the other CTE-related provisions in the bill so far is a requirement that state academic standards be aligned with relevant state CTE standards, an important measure to further encourage academic and CTE integration. While states would have broad flexibility in developing their accountability systems, those systems must now have at least one measure of postsecondary education or workforce readiness, which could potentially include state-identified career readiness indicators.
The bill eliminates the existing “highly qualified teacher” provision, which mandates that teachers of core academic subjects, including some CTE teachers whose courses may qualify for academic credit, have a bachelor’s degree and meet other requirements. It also includes provisions to establish or expand programs that support aspiring educators, including mid-career professionals from other occupations, through alternative routes to state certification, particularly in STEM fields and any other area where there is shortage of qualified teachers.
Additionally, Title IV of the bill contains a provision to support elementary and secondary school counseling, which includes career guidance programs. This section reflects the goals of the Career Ready Act (S. 478), sponsored by the Senate CTE Caucus co-chairs Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and the Counseling for Career Choice Act (H.R. 1079), sponsored by the House CTE Caucus co-chairs Reps. Jim Langevin (D-RI) and Glenn Thompson (R-PA).
The HELP committee will complete its markup of the Every Child Achieves Act later this week, and the bill will likely be considered on the Senate floor in the coming months. We will continue to provide updates on ESEA reauthorization on the CTE Policy Watch Blog.
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