Career Education Plan From Obama Administration Unlikely To Bear Fruit For A Year Or More

Adriana Mandelburger, left, of Long Island City High School, in Queens, N.Y., and Hansel Serra, of the High School of Hospitality Management, in Manhattan., prepare their meals at the at the Institute of Culinary Education, in New York, Tuesday, April 12, 2011. The pair were among finalists competing for scholarships in the Careers through Culinary Arts Program. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan traveled to a community college in the middle of Iowa to announce Thursday what he called a "transformation" of vocational education.

"The Perkins program must be transformed if it is to live up to its potential to prepare every youth and adult to participate in the knowledge-based global marketplace of the 21st century," Duncan told an audience at the Des Moines Area Community College.

The administration's proposal is a blueprint for reauthorizing the Perkins Act, which pays public schools to provide vocational education (known as "career academies"). The new proposal's most drastic changes would increase the quantity of Perkins grants and make them competitive, similar to changes Duncan has made to other parts of the educational spectrum. The administration proposed a new competitive fund of $1 billion to increase the number of career academies by 3,000 -- a jump that could serve 500,000 more students.

But with no prospect of congressional hearings on the proposal any time soon -- indeed, with no such bill currently in either chamber of Congress -- and with the expiration of Perkins a full year away, stakeholders are wondering to what extent these plans are more political than "transformative."

"We're wondering about the timing," said Kimberly Green, director of the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, a group that lobbies on behalf of career and technical education (CTE) programs. "Since jobs will be a big part of presidential strategy, they want to be able to call attention to how they're proposing to connect an education program to the needs of the economy."

And the timing might be especially helpful during an election year, when President Barack Obama needs all the opportunities he can get to shore up his image on job creation. CTE programs provide students with trade skills, such as plumbing or electrical work -- and some have argued that such programs have not received enough government support, thus closing down an alternate route to the middle class for students whose interests are less academic.

"It's part of a campaign strategy to emphasize employment," said Jack Jennings, a former longtime Democratic congressional education staffer. "That's Obama's weak spot."

Obama has also been criticized for placing too much emphasis on college completion, touting the goal of making America the global leader in degree attainment. (This goal led to Rick Santorum famously referring to the president as a "snob.")

"It's a good balancing act for the administration, because they've been accused of having too much focus on college," said Jennings.

To that end, administration officials made sure to note Thursday that Obama has already set aside $2 billion in grants that aim to strengthen community college curricula with "learning real-world business needs," and a proposal to spend $8 billion on a "community college to career fund," though such programs could potentially benefit employers more than trainees.

Nonetheless, workforce scholars say some kind of CTE reform is necessary: Post-secondary outcomes have taken center stage in national debates about education reform. That's because, as administration press materials note, 60 percent of jobs added last year went bachelor's degree recipients.

"What drives me crazy every day is that ... we have at least 2 million high-skill, high-wage jobs that we can't fill," Duncan said on a call with reporters. "We don't have a jobs crisis. We have a skills crisis."

Obama's revision of the Perkins Act would allow states to single out "high-growth" jobs and target the type of CTE programs that get funded through the program. Instead of giving school districts and post-secondary institutions discrete allocations of money, the program would fund consortia of businesses, districts and schools. Most drastically, the revised Perkins Act would fund programs on a competitive basis within states and develop "common definitions" by which to hold programs accountable.

Green's CTE lobbying group is already pushing against the changes. "The details worry us," she said. "The competitive approach has the potential effect of really disadvantaging rural areas ... that have smaller staffs and no full-time grant writers."

The proposed changes encouraged Anthony Carnevale, who directs Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce and contends that the academic bent of American education turns many kids off from school. "We've been losing 30 percent of high school kids every year. By making kids take Algebra II, we force dropout and failure," he says. "Applied learning works best, but our system pushes academic learning, because it's set up for everyone to go to Harvard."

Shortly after Duncan released his talking points, congressional Democrats voiced their support. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a statement that she "supports the Administration's push to build on the successes of CTE programs," but has "concerns with the funding mechanisms being proposed."

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who chairs the Senate education committee, released a statement saying he wants "to commend Secretary Duncan for bringing attention to the need for more alignment, collaboration, accountability, and innovation."

Still, no congressman has indicated he or she would sponsor a CTE reform bill along the lines of Obama's proposal. (Green and several Democratic hill aides said they were not aware of any planned hearings.) The administration itself hasn't written a bill, perhaps because it is still convening groups of CTE managers in states to determine the common accountability metrics. A representative for Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), who chairs the House education committee, responded to a query about the Obama blueprint by pointing to a job-training initiative developed in Kline's committee that features much streamlining and consolidation of job training programs.

When asked about the CTE plan's political prospects, though, Duncan was optimistic. "I don't know any elected official at any level ... who doesn't want to see their employment rates go up," he said, "regardless of politics or ideology."

Comments

[tultican]

05:41 PM on 04/22/2012

The following is a truly frightening statement.
“Most drastically, the revised Perkins Act would fund programs on a competitive basis within states and develop "common definitions" by which to hold programs accountable.”

Now that corporate representatives are well on their way to destroying public education at the K-12 level, they appear to be training their ‘race to the trough’ sites on the junior colleges. We were told every student was to be prepared for college when these programs were being destroyed in high schools even though there was not nearly enough capacity for all the students in colleges. It has long been obvious we need technical training programs but not federal accountability programs that have a record of benefiting unknown political supporters.

[jamesjv]

03:09 AM on 05/02/2012

Very good points.

[methodman]

07:17 PM on 04/21/2012

Algebra 2 many people complain is even harder than calculus. It ties itself into disciplines also that are not talked about and people have no exposure to. That is why everyone is so math phobic. Numbers TV show did a good job at least putting sentences so people could try to read something. I think these programs make fruits. Math is hard. No I am not bullshitting.

[methodman]

07:13 PM on 04/21/2012

There is a mix of confusion between math and applications and operating system and building block thinking. I think people know how to teach, but when Community colleges cut their math center hours and cut their library hours is it any surprise the grades drop. Compare the price of Community college in your state to California. Also compare it to other states. Then do some research on libraries between states I don't know this answer. But ours got cut substantially going from 46 to 34. Good job Republicans.

[Tony Twohill]

12:59 AM on 04/22/2012

I tutored math when I was at community college. Almost all of the tutors in the "learning skills center" were math tutors (all but 3 and I doubled in Econ). Half of us had all of calculus already (I just finished calc 3 in the summer and was taking Diff EQ) but what was surprising to me was that the other half were there with only college algebra or even Trig. The kids that were coming to see us were mostly remedial algebra students, algebra 1 or 2 (not even 100 level courses), and the occasional college algebra or business calculus student. Two things were shocking to me: why don't these kids even look at their books, and how did they get out of high school? I often heard "how do you read numbers?"
I read your other post and I've never heard anybody say that Algebra2 is harder than calculus. I've never even heard a hint of that and I disagree that it "ties itself into disciplines that are not talked about..." Could you give an example of what it is you are referring to?

[methodman]

06:47 PM on 04/22/2012

I have this course and I think it is really deep. I agree with you about too few students trying to follow a flow of ciricuulum from a book. I subscribe to Safari books online and they have both books and online courses and I study both to get a sense of how they are arranged differently. Both are necessary but by far trying to learn by book takes much longer then by a video because I play around with what word's convey and change their order and stuff like that which sometimes can lead to distraction; but also creativity that others don't typically follow.
Here is the link for this series of Math CD's I really like
http://www.amazon.com/Success-Builder-Library-College-CD-ROM/dp/B000L80DEE

[P Alan Greene]

07:04 AM on 04/21/2012

"Obama has also been criticized for placing too much emphasis on college completion,"

Seriously, Joy? He has also been criticized for being a Muslim who wants to institute sharia law. But since those "criticisms" are not based in reality, responsible reporters don't repeat them as if they are real things. That should have been your approach here as well.

This plan sounds like a lovely political ploy. Should Obama win, however, I'm sure that Duncan will have plenty of businesses lined up to grab a piece of that gummint grant money.

[failureofreality]

04:57 PM on 04/20/2012

The observation by Anthony Carnevale of Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce that it is a mistake to make kids take Algebra II and other courses that require an aptitude for manipulating symbols is true. There are many people who understand mathematical relationships and processes that cannot manipulate symbols well. We need to fashion courses that allow them to develop mathematical and scientific reasoning without requiring them to manipulate symbols. They would be able to use their mathematical and scientific reasoning powers in practical jobs that require those skills but do not involve symbol manipulation.

[Melissa Ausua]

04:52 PM on 04/20/2012

The problem with this is that it presumes college enrollment. We need to bring skills/vocational training back to the high school - yes, even though these skills won't be on any standardized tests.

[jamesjv]

03:13 AM on 05/02/2012

"even though these skills won't be on any standardized tests."

You speak heresy. Truth, but heresy.

Great comment!

[lrobb]

04:33 PM on 04/20/2012

If an increase in career education is good for a big city with professional grants writers, it is equally good for rural communities with no grants writers. Making this a competiton for funds is horribly short sighted, especially if you live in a red state where the state superintendent of education and every single board of every single higher education institution is doing its best to refuse federal funds no mater what.

If you know you can't compete, why bother?

If you want states to spend money on career education, why not just leave the money in the state to start with provided the state meets minimal standards? There is a huge fiscal--and philosophical--difference between accepting or competing for federal funds and not having to send the money to Washington in the first place only to get a small portion of it back later.

[P Alan Greene]

07:07 AM on 04/21/2012

Because "competing" means that, as with Race to the Trough, the feds get total control over the lcal programs, which in turn can only get the money if they employ some of Duncan's favorite corporate friends to help acquire (and spend) the money. The Obama-Duncan model allows federal control of state and local entities while simultaneously funneling public money to private entities.

[jamesjv]

03:14 AM on 05/02/2012

"Because "competing" means that, as with Race to the Trough, the feds get total control over the lcal programs, which in turn can only get the money if they employ some of Duncan's favorite corporate friends to help acquire (and spend) the money".

Exactly!!!