A Fresh Look at Career and Technical Education

Nancy Hoffman, Jobs for the Future,

May 2011

The Problem

• How youth are faring today– Rising youth unemployment– Low high school completion rates– Low certificate, AA and BA completion rates– Even with degree, many poorly integrated into labor force, some permanently left behind

– Goals of Lumina, Obama, College Board– 55% to 60% of population with degree by 2020‐25 unrealistic‐‐ & what of the” forgotten half”?

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Uni

ted

Stat

es

Cze

ch R

ep

Esto

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Ger

man

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Switz

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nd

Den

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Can

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Nor

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Swed

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Rus

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Fed

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Slov

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Isra

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New

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land

Hun

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Finl

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Net

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Avg

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Fran

ce

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Icel

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Belg

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Pola

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Chi

le

Gre

ece

Italy

Spai

n

Tur

key

Port

ugal

Mex

ico

Braz

il

1990s 1980s 1970s 1960s

U.S. rate has stagnated while most industrialized countries have improved.

School completion: Dramatic change in global skill supply

Source: Schleicher (2007) based on OECD data. Approximated by percentage of persons with high school or equivalent qualfications in the age groups 55-64, 45-55, 35-44, and 25-34 years

13

1

1

27

Even more alarming, U.S. college completion rates have stagnated while others have improved.

College level graduation rates

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10

20

30

40

50

60

70A

ustr

alia

Icel

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Finl

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2005 1995

15

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Decline of the relative position of the US from 1995 to 2005

Source: Schleicher (2007) based on OECD data. Percentage of tertiary type A graduates to the population at the typical age of graduation.

The current US reality: only 40% of 27-year olds have earned an AA or higher

Current High School CTE policy

• Young people want to be prepared for work: 1 in 5 concentrate in CTE in high school; most take at least one career course; majority in community colleges enroll in career fields. (NCES)

• Strategy:– Engage disconnected and low achieving youth– Promote career exploration– Keep all options open– Prepare all for college (and career) but really college

Some worrisome patterns post high school

• California recent research on community college CTE credential attainment (IHELP):– 255,000 degree seeking students 2004‐05– 30% of course enrollments in CTE– Within 6 years, 3% earned voc AA degree, 5% earned certificate

– Completers took almost no remedial courses and stumbled  on courses like math and physiology

“College for All” does not mean everyone needs a BA; even in this decade, many jobs with career ladders do not require a BA

But every young person needs to integrate into the labor market

• Healthy youth development– Belief in future– Exercise of agency– Place in the pubic world– Testing of competence– Discovery of skills, talents, and proclivities

– Civic participation based on faith in government

• Productive economic future– Live independent of  family

– Participate in economy as a consumer

– Form a family– Change career as economy demands

In ”strong VET countries,” 50 to 75% of upper secondary students are in vocational education and training

Availability of career-tech in secondary schools increases upper secondary graduation rates

Austria

BelgiumGreece

FinlandFrance

Germany Netherlands

SwedenSwitzerland

United Kingdom

Spain

United StatesCanada

Iceland

Portugal

New Zealand

50%55%60%65%70%75%80%85%90%95%

100%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

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Source: OECD Education at a Glance

Share of Upper Secondary Students in Career Tech

What the US should envy from abroad:

• Qualifications systems• Employer engagement• Intermediaries to ease burden on employers providing work‐based learning

• Problem‐based skills and content teaching in the workplace combined with school

• Standardized applied assessments• Regional entities linking labor market needs and educational programs

• Youth guarantees for struggling young people

Must haves for a (better) system• ***Employer and business leader engagement in design 

and support of effective pathways to careers• Structured pathways with clear requirements, timelines, 

and outcomes leading from high school though postsecondary credential completion;

• Opportunities to engage young people in workplace learning; 

• Effective career counseling and guidance, including scaffolded exposure to employers and career pathways beginning in the middle grades

• New institutional structures at the regional labor market level to provide coordination, quality assurance, and sustainability.

Not a system but many promising practices within and across states…

• High Schools that Work• Career Academies• Project Lead the Way• Linked Learning• Cristo Rey, Big Picture, and Year Up• Perkins‐funded CTE programs of study• Earn and learn early colleges 

CTE and Regional Labor Market Needs

• New NGA Report, “Degrees for What Jobs? Raising Expectations for Universities and Colleges in a Global Economy – Profiles Minnesota, Washington, Ohio and North Carolina’s employer engagement strategies

– Proposes that higher education be less independent, take on broader economic development role

– Provides promising examples of employer engagement but doesn’t quite link the two…

– Nice intermediate step is identifying the reorientation needed in higher ed, but doesn’t ask employers to step up…