 |
Join NAPE in celebrating National CTE Month as we recognize the value of CTE and the achievements and accomplishments of CTE programs throughout the nation!
|
States Embrace New Career and Technical Education Policies
(Courtesy of Kimberly Hefling with help from Mel Leonor, POLITICO Pro Education)
Will Congress give career and technical education some love this year? There's at least one indication the answer could be "yes." An aide to Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) tells Morning Education that updating the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, the law that dictates how the federal government spends about $1 billion annually on career and technical education, is a "priority for Chairman Alexander this Congress." The aide, Margaret Atkinson, says Alexander has asked Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) to "continue to make progress on the great work he did last Congress" with Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) to "develop a proposal for the Senate to consider." Read more >>
|
Where Is the Federal Civil Rights Data? Here's a Work-Around
(Courtesy of Sarah D. Sparks, Education Week)
For many education and equity researchers, the federal Civil Rights Data Collection is a massive, often messy, trove of information on everything from who gets access to college-preparatory classes to which states have the worst racial disparities in discipline. You might have noticed it's also gotten harder to access. Read more >>
NWLC Has Sued Betsy DeVos Over Her New Title IX Policy That Discriminates Against Sexual Violence Survivors
(Courtesy of the National Women's Law Center)
National Women's Law Center (NWLC) just sued the Department of Education. Again. And they did it with some of their favorite organizations. Let's back up a little bit. You may remember that this fall Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos rescinded important policies about how Title IX protects student survivors of sexual violence. Her department replaced that guidance to schools with a new confusing, discriminatory policy that essentially encourages schools to set up unfair systems that disadvantage survivors. Title IX, the civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in education, requires that schools treat students who report sexual violence and alleged perpetrators equally: schools can't decide they value or believe one side more than the other. But DeVos' new policy lets schools give accused students more rights than survivors. It even allows alleged rapists to directly interrogate their victims. Read more >>
DeVos Hits Bush, Obama on Education Policy
(Courtesy of U.S. News and World Report)
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos took to task previous administrations - both Democratic and Republican - for taking too heavy-handed an approach in driving education policy, resulting in stagnant academic achievement despite billions of federal dollars spent. Read more >>
|
Last week,
President Trump spoke for 1 hour, 20 minutes to deliver his first State of the Union (SOTU) address. His 19 words on education during the State of the Union, spotlighted disagreements on how to rewrite the Higher Education Act and support for the opening of 'great vocational schools so our future workers can learn a craft and realize their full potential'. The President did not elaborate further on this statement. Congressman Joe Kennedy, III (D-MA) offered the Democratic response to the SOTU from a CTE school, Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School in Fall River, Massachusetts. ** It is worth noting that despite President Trump's call for more vocational education, the President's first education budget proposal sought to slash $168 million in grants that fund career and technical education programs in high schools.
William Trachman is now working in the Office for Civil Rights as deputy assistant secretary for policy and development. He's the former counsel for Douglas County School District in Colorado. Trachman was one of the attorneys at the center of a high-profile legal battle over the district's school voucher program. That legal battle, which at one point reached the Supreme Court, is now officially dead after the case was dismissed by the Colorado Supreme Court, the Denver Post recently reported.
Lawmakers in Georgia are considering handing control over the state's career, technical and agricultural education programs to the agency that oversees its technical colleges. The Department of Education and the state education board currently share oversight of such programs, but lawmakers who support the change say it would create a single entity responsible for preparing students for future careers.
|
|
A Policy Seminar Featuring John B. King, Jr., with Discussant Michael Feuer
(Wednesday, February 7, 2018)
John B. King, Jr., will present an overview of educational progress and inequities at the national level and demonstrate how the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) can be used as a lever for promoting excellence and equity in U.S. public elementary and secondary schools. Dr. King's presentation will be followed by a discussion with Dean Michael Feuer. This event will be streamed live on GW's Graduate School of Education Facebook page as well at https://www.facebook.com/GSEHD. Hosted by the National Council on Measurement in Education (www.ncme.org) in partnership with the GW Graduate School of Education and Human Development.
Is the Promise of ESSA Being Actualized? Co-Sponsored by the Albert Shanker Institute and the American Federation of Teachers
(Wednesday, February 14, 2018)
Now that the states have completed and submitted their first ESSA plans, it is an appropriate time to ask if the promise of ESSA is being realized. Which states and districts have used this new freedom to draw back from testing overreach, establishing more balanced approaches to student promotion, teacher evaluation and school accountability? Are states and districts using ESSA to provide the needed resources and supports to struggling schools, almost all of which serve students with the greatest needs? Are the fears that ESSA could diminish the federal government's role as a promotor of educational equity and guardian of student civil rights proving reasonable? And if ESSA's promise is not being realized, why not? What, if any, role has a Trump/DeVos Department of Education played in the first fruits of ESSA?
Panelists will address these questions from the perspective of actors who have been involved in the development of state ESSA plans and of national organizations with a concern for educational equity and excellence. Register here >>
Increasing Opportunities for Deeper Learning
(Thursday, February 15, 2018)
The Learning Policy Institute will launch a new webinar series, Achieving Equity Through Deeper Learning, that focuses on why deeper learning is crucial for students in today's innovation economy and how we can achieve greater equity in access to deeper learning.
The first webinar, Increasing Opportunities for Deeper Learning, will address ways that schools and school districts can improve academic achievement, particularly among students who are farthest from opportunity, through engaging students in learning that focuses on meaningful mastery of subjects, critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration and other skills necessary for college, career, and civic participation in the 21st Century. Register here >>
|
|
|
|
|
|
