the perkins act of 2006

8/14/2019 The Perkins Act of 2006

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ACHIEVE POLICY BRIEF: The Perkins Act of 2006 n 1

The Perkins Act of 2006:Connecting Career and Technical Ed cation

with the College and Career Readiness Agenda

By Hans Meederfor Achie e, Inc.

POLICY BRIEFJan ary 2008

American Diploma Project Network


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INTRODuCTION

At the ore ront o the movement to improve Americas high schools and ensure all students are prepared or collegeand careers is the American Diploma Project (ADP). Tere currently are 32 states in the American Diploma ProjectNetwork, each dedicated to developing and implementing a college and career readiness agenda. Tese states are

working to develop a public policy structure to ensure all students complete high school possessing the knowledgeand skills they need to succeed in college courses or entry-level jobs with opportunities or advancement throughskilled employment. According to Achieve, Inc., sponsor o ADP, 18 states have already adopted and are beginning toimplement a college readiness curriculum requirement or all students.

At the same time, all ty states are implementing requirements o the Carl D. Perkins Career and echnical EducationImprovement Act o 2006 (Public Law 109-270), which was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush in August 2006. Some o the new provisions o this law took e ect in the all o 2007, andother re orms take e ect beginning in the summer and all o 2008. Te provisions o the new Perkins Act re ect the

re orms and recon gurations o programs that have taken place in career and technical education since the 1990 and1998 revisions o the ederal law. In some places, state and local practices have preceded and shaped the new ederal law,and in other places, the pace o change has been much slower.

Policymakers and educators around the nation are wrestling with an important challenge how to raise expectationsor high school achievement, while increasing relevance and engagement in learning to keep students in school. Careerand technical education (C E) is receiving renewed attention as a strategy or increasing school engagement and rigoras policymakers grapple with these complex challenges.

Although, on the sur ace, their approaches look very di erent, the Perkins Act and the American Diploma Project ocuson a common objective: ensuring that all American students graduate rom high school with the skills and knowledgethey need to be ready or college and careers. I students complete high school with a high level o readiness or collegeand the workplace, it will help strengthen American economic competitiveness at the regional, state and national levels.

Tis paper is written to in orm leaders, particularly those who are implementing the ADP agenda in their states,about the opportunities to align and coordinate strategies between ADP and the Perkins Act. It addresses the majorcomponents o the new Perkins Act, discusses C E more broadly in the context o the ADP agenda and reviews how the Perkins Act currently is being implemented by states. Finally, the paper reviews a number o speci c strategies state

ADP leadership teams could employ to implement the ADP agenda and the Perkins Act, which are complementary andmutually supportive.


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OvERvIEW OF THE PERKINS ACT

Te overarching purpose o the Perkins Act isto develop more ully the academic and career and technical skills o secondary education students and postsecondary education students who elect to enroll in career and technical education programs.

Te Perkins Act o 2006 is the result o a multi-year process in which Congress and the Administration squaredo over a number o widely varying policy options. In the end, the enacted legislation maintains a ederal undingstream designated solely or career and technical education programs, while building upon and strengthening theexisting C E accountability system and emphasizing activities to ease the transition o students rom secondary intopostsecondary education programs.

Funded at a little over $1.3 billion, the Perkins Act is very small in comparison to other ederal education programssuch as $12.8 billion or itle I o the Elementary and Secondary Education Act/No Child Le t Behind Act and $11.8

billion or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.1

A 2001 estimate ound that ederal vocational grantsamounted to about ve percent o local spending on secondary vocational education programs and about two percent o spending at the postsecondary level.2 Still, Perkins unds are the only ederal unds designated or career and technicaleducation services, and as such, the requirements o the law put a minimum set o standards in place that in uence how all state and local unds are spent on C E programs. As one state director o C E said recently, the Perkins Act is 10times the driver o C E policy in my state than other C E unds appropriated by the state legislature.

Another unusual eature o the Perkins Act is that it in uences C E services at both the secondary and postsecondary levels directly and has leveraged a growing degree o cooperation between the systems.

Key Changes in the 2006 LegislationTere are our signi cant changes to the new law that all have relevance to the American Diploma Project agenda.Tese are C E Programs o Study, Accountability, ech Prep, and Competitiveness. All o these changes, as wellas additional budgetary and non-discrimination requirements, must be addressed in each states plan or Perkinsimplementation that is submitted to the U.S. Department o Education or approval.

Requiring New Career and Technical Programs o StudyUnder Perkins 2006, states have the responsibility to create and/or recognize a series o new C E o erings called C EPrograms o Study. Programs o Study include a subset o the general types o C E courses that are typically o ered athigh schools, regional C E schools and community and technical colleges.

What makes Programs o Study distinctive rom generic C E is that each Program is meant to be a cohesive o eringo academic courses paired with C E courses. Currently, high school students o ten choose C E courses withoutconsidering the academic courses necessary to pursue the career eld at the postsecondary level, and select academiccourses without making a connection to any area o career interest. Te Programs o Study help ensure students aretaking the right mix and sequence o C E and academic courses.

1 U.S. Department o Education (2008), Department O Education Fiscal Year 2008 Congressional Action, U.S. Department o Education, Washington, DC.2 Silverberg, Marsha, et a l (2004), National Assessment o Vocational Education, Final Report to Congress, U.S Department o Education,

Washington, DC. http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/sectech/nave/nave nal.pdf


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In addition to linking academic and career courses within the high school, a Program o Study has speci c mechanismsthat connect the entire high school program to a related postsecondary program. A Program o Study should haveclosely aligned content that is not duplicated across systems, and may allow quali ed students to earn college credits

while still enrolled in high school. A C E Program o Study also is designed to culminate with a recognized credential,certi cate or degree at the community or technical college level although certi cates could also be o ered at thesecondary level o the Program as an intermediate skill validation. A sample plan o study, selected rom 81 sampleplans o study created by the States Career Clusters Initiative is included in Appendix B.3

Te Perkins Act description o C E Programs o Study allows or programs that lead rom high school directly tobaccalaureate degree programs at colleges or universities, in addition to programs that lead to certi cates and associatedegrees at community and technical colleges. While the new de nition o C E does not actually shi t Perkins unds tobaccalaureate level programs, the broadening o the de nition still represents a signi cant shi t in philosophy or C Eand the Perkins Act.

Under the new law, each local recipient o Perkins unds, which includes school districts, community/technical collegesor area C E schools, must o er the portion o at least one Program o Study that is appropriate to its students. Tis is aminimal requirement, since many colleges and districts that o ered ech Prep programs already met this requirement.Many states are considering how to require all or most o their high school-based C E courses to be incorporated intoPrograms o Study.

For states that choose to require all secondary and postsecondary C E programs to be aligned through thedevelopment o active and ongoing partnerships and shared program expectations, this will mark the beginning o adramatic trans ormation o C E.

Expanding State and Local Accountability or ResultsUnder the Perkins Act o 2006, local recipients are held accountable or the achievement o individual students in

a series o per ormance indicators, while the previous version o the Perkins Act only held the state accountable oraggregated results. ypically, students are counted in the Perkins accountability system when they have invested asigni cant amount o time in a C E program area. Although the Act de nes C E as a sequence o courses, in localapplication, it is not always necessary or required that related classes be taken in a xed sequence.

Measuring Achievement, Completion and TransitionsTere are separate indicators set by the state or secondary and postsecondary education providers. High schoolprograms must measure academic achievement and high school graduation; technical (career-related) skill attainment;and transitions to college, employment or the military. Postsecondary indicators include technical skill attainment;program retention and completion; and transitions to urther postsecondary education, the military and employment.Both secondary and postsecondary programs are also accountable or non-traditional participation and completion,meaning the percentage o young men and women that participate in and complete a C E program in which theirgender is underrepresented signi cantly. For a ull table o the various accountability indicators required under Perkins,see Appendix A.

For high school academic achievement, Perkins requires states to use indicators that are already established by the statethrough the accountability system under the No Child Le t Behind Act, ocusing on achievement in math and EnglishLanguage Arts and high school graduation rates. Otherwise, the Perkins Act gives states the authority to establish their

3 For the ull list o sample Programs o Study developed by the State Career Cluster Initiative, see their website:http://www.careerclusters.org/resources/web/pos.cfm


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own per ormance indicators in consultation with the local recipients o unds.

Per ormance targets are established or each o the indicators at the state level, and then also by each local recipient,based on the state per ormance target. I the state or local recipient does not come close to meeting its per ormancetarget or any one o the indicators, it must create a plan o action to improve per ormance on that indicator. Undercertain circumstances, i a state or local recipient ails to make necessary improvement against the indicators, theederal government and state government is authorized, but not required, to implement sanctions. Te U.S. Secretary o Education or the state is required to provide technical assistance targeted to improvement on the missed per ormanceindicator, but no speci c actions or supports are mandated.

In reporting on student per ormance on the indicators, student in ormation is to be disaggregated by the groupcategories established in the No Child Le t Behind Act,4 as well as the categories outlined in Perkins, and disparitiesand per ormance gaps are to be identi ed at both the local level and the state level. However, local recipients and statesare not held accountable or student per ormance according to the subgroup categories. Accountability targets areestablished or the aggregate per ormance o all students across all high school pathways at the local or state level.

A New Approach to Assessing Career-TechnicalTe law now requires new measurements or technical skill attainment, using assessment instruments that are validand reliable, and based upon industry-recognized standards, where available. States are not necessarily required to useindustry-based credentials and may choose not to. It can be difcult to obtain per ormance data rom such credentials,since the results o ten are the legal property o the student, not the school or college. I the state does not use industry-based credentials or some or all o its programs, it must develop another assessment mechanism and justi y that theassessment process meets the criteria or validity and reliability. In order to develop C E assessments, many states arerenewing and upgrading their C E content standards, or developing them or the rst time. Ultimately, as the new assessment mechanisms are developed and administered, the goal is or there to be a much higher level o comparability

and accountability or program improvement.

Providing More Accountability and/or Options or Tech Prepech Prep is a smaller program within the Perkins Act that was created in 1990 with the purpose o demonstrating amore rigorous orm o C E that held students to high academic expectations and helped them make smooth transitionsinto postsecondary studies and apprenticeships. Te program required school districts and colleges to orm consortiato which the ech Prep state unds were distributed. Over the years, ech Prep was implemented with a wide variationin quality.5 Some ech Prep programs developed explicit and active partnerships that helped students make success ultransitions; in many other sites, results were difcult to measure. While many articulation agreements had beencreated between schools and colleges that linked programs, ew students actually knew about or took advantage o thearticulation agreements opportunities to earn advanced college credit.

Given that the new C E Programs o Study requirements in Perkins 2006 are very similar to previous requirements orech Prep, the Act gives states the option to maintain ech Prep as is with increased accountability indicators or tomerge ech Prep into the general Perkins state grant program.

I a state maintains ech Prep, it must identi y Secondary ech Prep students students who have enrolled in at least

4 See Section 1111(h)(1)(C)(i) o the Elementary and Secondary Education Act o 1965.5 National Assessment o Vocational Education: Final Report to Congress. U.S. Department o Education, Washington, DC, 2004.http://w ww.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/sectech/nave/nave nal.pdf


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two courses in the secondary education component o a tech prep program and Postsecondary ech Prep students students who have completed the secondary portion o a ech Prep program and subsequently enrolled in thepostsecondary portion o that program under the ech Prep accountability model (See Appendix A).

New per ormance indicators or ech Prep will measure how many students earn postsecondary credits while inhigh school, how many go on to enroll in postsecondary education, how many continue in the course o study at thepostsecondary level in which they participated at the high school level, how many complete the postsecondary programin a reasonable length o time and what employment sector the C E program completers enter.

About hal the states are merging their ech Prep unds into the Perkins state grant program. Some that are mergingthe unding are also exploring ways to continue ech Prep activities by requiring and supporting local coordinationto build partnerships between school districts and colleges, and supporting the implementation o C E Programs o Study.

Economic and Personal Competitiveness A new purpose o the Perkins reauthorization is toprovid[e] individuals with opportunities throughout their li etimes to develop, in conjunction with other education and training programs, the knowledge and skills needed to keep the United States competitive. Additionally, throughout the Act, states are called upon to encourage preparation or high-skilled,high-wage and high-demand careers, while the speci c working de nitions o these terms are le t to the states. Indra ting these provisions, Congress drew a care ul balance between helping individuals grow and advance in theirareas o interest and aptitudes and making sure that available programs are ocused on those areas that will help keepthe United States competitive. Tere is an unavoidable tension between individual interests and relevance to the jobmarket when an educational institution is deciding which programs to o er. In some C E and job training programs,the pendulum may have swung too ar to the side o individual interests. Restoring a good balance may mean that moreattention should be paid to ensuring the market relevance o programs that are o ered.


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KEY OPPORTuNITIES AND CHALLENGES

By April 1, 2008, every state will be required to submit aMulti-Year Plan to the U.S. Department o Educationto cover activities or the remaining ve years o theauthorization cycle (Federal Fiscal Years 2008 through2012.) For schools and colleges, the Multi-Year Plans wil lgovern activities or school years 2008-09 through 2012-13. For a state, the Multi-Year Plan explains what the statecurrently is doing to meet the requirements o the Perkins

Act and how it will carry out new requirements o the Act.

For the 32 states in the ADP Network, this provides atimely opportunity to closely align the ADP agenda with

the states Perkins plan. Since the state agency with thelead responsibility or the Perkins Act is not always thestates K-12 agency, ADP coordinators may need to exertsubstantial e ort to secure proper alignment between the

ADP agenda and the Perkins Act.

Tis section reviews the ollowing challenges andopportunities or that alignment:

n Te Alignment and Integration o AcademicContent Standards;

n Using Programs o Study to Encourage StudentPreparation or College and Career Readiness;

n Measuring echnical Skill Attainment to Deter-mine Work Readiness; and

n Aligning Accountability or Results.

The Alignment and Integration o Academic Content StandardsSeveral provisions o the Perkins Act articulate how C E programs should relate to established academic standards.One provision directs the state to support programs thatinclude coherent and rigorous content aligned with challenging academic standards, that have been adopted by the state under the No Child Le t Behind Act. Another provisionrequires the state toensure that students who participate in such career and technical education programs are taught to the same challenging academic profciencies as are taught to all other students A third related provision in the Perkins Actpromotes programs thatintegrate rigorous and challenging academic and career and technical instruction.

The American Diploma Project (ADP) is aninitiative, managed by Achieve, Inc., to ensurethat all students graduate from high schoolprepared to face the challenges of college andthe workplace. The ADP Network includes32 states dedicated to the same goal. ADP isdesigned to ensure that all states:

Align high school standards with the1.

knowledge and skills required for successafter high school.

Require all high school graduates to take2.

challenging courses that prepare them forlife after high school.

Streamline the assessment system so that3.

the tests students take in high school alsocan serve as readiness tests for college andcareers.

Hold high schools accountable for4.

graduating students who are ready forcollege or careers, and hold postsecondaryinstitutions accountable for students successonce enrolled.


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ACHIEVE POLICY BRIEF: The Perkins Act of 20 06 n 10

academic integration.7 In a wide range o C E courses, there are lesson plans that crosswalk and prioritize theteaching o relevant and assessed academic standards, as well as employability skills that are valued by employ-ers. A number o other districts have been trained in the process and are now contributing additional resources

and lesson plans to the project website.8

n Kentucky has created a series o ully integrated C E/academic courses such as Construction/Geometry,

Graphic Arts/Geometry, and Agriculture/Li e Science. Tese courses are taught in a double block or over atwo-year period and ul ll all the content requirements o an academic course and a C E course. Te coursesare listed separately on the students high school transcript.9

n In Colorado, the Je erson County School District has integrated academic standards into a number o itsC E courses o ered at the Warren echnical High School and awards academic credit counting towardgraduation or these courses. Loveland High School o ers a ully contextualized Construction/Geometry course, primarily or 9th and 10th graders. Students who took this course last year (the rst year o the pro-gram) scored at the highest level o pro ciency on the Colorado Student Assessment Program geometry test o any other group o students in the Loveland school district.10

n In California , the state Department o Education recently nalized its Model Curriculum Standards andFramework, an extensive set o documentation that includes oundation skills and speci c curriculumstandards or C E programs within each o the identi ed 15 Industry Sectors, a term which is parallel to theclusters terminology used in other states. An advisory group made up o over 50 individuals rom businessand industry, higher education (including community colleges), teachers and aculty developed and reviewedthe C E ramework during a our-year process.

Trough this process, Cali ornia also did a crosswalk o the state academic standards that can be in usedinto various C E courses. In some program areas, such as agriculture, educators have developed model C E

program criteria to describe how academic and C E content can be delivered so that the course can be identi-ed as part o the A-G Curriculum.11 Local school districts may build local programs based on the modelcurriculum standards with the con dence that the University o Cali ornia and Cali ornia State University systems will recognize the course as meeting A-G requirements.

n In Massachusetts , the Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational echnical High School has demonstratedconsistently high levels o student achievement on the state Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System(MCAS) in English and Math. Blackstones expected graduating class o 2009 reached its highest level ever,

with 96 percent o its students scoring pro cient or advanced on the rst administration o the mandatory state graduation test.12 Similarly, New York and Arizona have gathered data that indicate C E students arescoring at higher level on the states Regents and Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) exams,respectively, than the general student population taking these assessments.

7 Florida State Plan or Carl D. Perkins Career and echnical Education Act o 2006, 10/19/07 Dra t.http://www. doe.org/workforce/perkins/perkins_home.asp 8 For more in ormation seehttp://www.career-connection.org/CTEfcatConnection.htm9 For more in ormation seehttp://education.ky.gov/KDE/Instructional+Resources/Career+and+Technical+Education/Interdisciplinary+Courses/10 For more in ormation, see research d ata athttp://www.geometryinconstruction.org/11 Te University o Cali ornia has established the A-G Curriculum as the core high school courses that must appear on a students high schooltranscript or the student to be elig ible or university admission. Tis A-G Curriculum, while not required or al l Cali ornia high school students,in large part drives the course-taking decisions o students who aspire to university participation.12 For more in ormation seehttp://www.valleytech.k12.ma.us/


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Using Programs o Study to Encourage Student Preparation or Collegeand Career ReadinessTe Perkins Act (Section 134) does include a provision in which school districts must describe how they willencourage career and technical education students at the secondary level to enroll in rigorous and challenging courses in core academic subjects (as defned in section 9101 o the Elementary and Secondary Education Act o 1965).

Perkins also requires that the school district or collegedescribe how career guidance and academic counseling will be provided to career and technical education students, including linkages to uture education and training opportunities (Sec134(b)(11)).

ImplicationsTe provision to encourage enrollment in rigorous and challenging courses is compatible with the ADP policy pillaro requiring all high school graduates to take challenging courses that prepare them or li e a ter high school. Tedifculty is that there are really no teeth to the Perkins provision. First, schools are required only to encourage such

course-taking. Tere is no related reporting requirement nor is there a clear or consistent de nition o rigorous andchallenging.

Yet, in paragraph 11 o the local plan requirement, the district must ensure that it will provide integrated career andacademic counseling to C E students to help students understand uture education and career opportunities.

States have the responsibility to develop rameworks or Programs o Study. It is logical or states to include arecommended core curriculum in the Programs o Study documentation, so that students will see the pre erredacademic courses that accompany preparation or their area o career interest. It would also be easible to require that,in each introductory C E course or in earlier grades, C E students are introduced to all the Programs o Study andare made to understand the value o taking a core or pre erred curriculum. Just as it is important or states to buildC E into their core curriculum requirements, states also should integrate the core academic courses into the C EPrograms o Study.

Additionally, the issue o academic course-taking is one o the most common and contentious sources o rictionbetween leaders who are pushing or increased graduation requirements and some C E advocates. Many C E teachersand leaders are concerned about the squeeze-out actor. Tey perceive that increased academic course requirementsor graduation will make it challenging or students to t C E courses into their schedules, leading to an overalldecrease in C E participation. For students who are behind academically, they may be required to take a double-block o academic courses, urther crowding electives out o their schedules.

Te other concern is that with increased math and science requirements in the 11th and 12th grades, schedulingbecomes more constrained, and students may not be able to take C E courses because o con icts. Tese scheduling

con icts are exacerbated when students take their C E courses at a regional C E center, having to travel some distanceto and rom the center rom their home school, taking away instructional time. In schools that utilize a block schedule,there are additional credits and courses available to students that ll their requirements, and generally there are enoughavailable elective credits to accommodate a ull sequence o C E courses. Still, in many small or rural schools that havelimited availability o higher level academic courses, perhaps only o ered during one period per day, it is easible thatreal scheduling con icts may arise between academic courses and C E courses. Tere are a variety o strategies statescan adopt to address this issue, including the development o interdisciplinary courses, distance learning opportunitiesor incorporating remediation into applied and/or elective courses.


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Noteworthy State Practicesn Te Maryland Department o Education has been gathering and reporting data on the percentage o C E

students with three or more C E credits who also obtain the necessary credits or admission to the University

o Maryland system. Over the ve years the state has been gathering and reporting this data, the percentage o dual completers has risen rom about 14 percent to over 50 percent.13

n In recent years,Texas , Arkansas and Indiana have implemented de ault college- and career-ready gradu-ation course requirements, in which students are pre-enrolled in a challenging set o academic courses unlessthey choose to opt down into a set o lower-level academic classes, with parental consent. All three states alsorequire a minimal level o C E course participation or alternative courses as part o the core required curricu-lum.14

n Texas has implemented the AchieveTexas program that connects career awareness with the de ault core cur-riculum and college planning. Resources include student- riendly guides to each o the 16 career clusters andtemplates or creating a personalized plan.15

n New York o ers a C E endorsement to its Regents diploma or a student who completes an approved C Eprogram that meets certain quality criteria set by the state and takes and passes an approved technical assess-ment or the program.16

n Florida has implemented a Major Area o Interest (MAI) system in which every 8th grader will create apersonal graduation plan based around core academic courses and an MAI. Students can choose an MAI romover 400 plans that were developed by districts throughout the state and meet the criteria set by the FloridaDepartment o Education. Florida also o ers an extensive web resource called FAC S.org that allows studentsto determine their career objectives, evaluate their high school progress, see their high school course summary and grades, learn about higher education opportunities in Florida, apply to college online, access their college

transcripts and grades and track their individual progress towards college graduation.17

n Indiana has created a echnical Honors endorsement or the high school diploma or students enteringhigh school in 2007. o earn the Core 40 with Technical Honors diploma, students must: complete all require-ments or Core 40, a college- and-career set o graduation requirements; complete a career-technical program(8 or more semesters o related credit); earn a grade o C or better in courses that will count toward thediploma; and have an overall grade point average o a B or better.18

n Delaware has cross-disciplinary teams o teachers working together to ensure the Recommended Curriculumor academic and C E courses are well-aligned and plans to develop at least one interdisciplinary course in thenext year.

13 Te 2007 Maryland Report Card indicates that 15,040 students who earned a high school diploma met the states C E program requirements.O this number, 7,666 met both University and C E requirements. For more in ormation seehttp://mdreportcard.org/Demographics.aspx?K=99AAAA&WDATA=state14 For a ull description o states with college- and career-ready graduation requirements, seehttp://www.achieve.org/node/98015For more in ormation, seehttp://www.achievetexas.org/16 For more in ormation, seehttp://collegenow.cuny.edu/nextstop/ nish_hs/creditreq/17 For more in ormation, seehttp://www. doe.org/news/2007/2007_01_12.asp18 For more in ormation on Indianas Core 40 graduation requirement options, seehttp://www.doe.state.in.us/core40/diploma_requirements.html


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n Delaware also has shi ted its approach in how it delivers more equipment-intensive C E programs. Delawareormerly had shared-time regional technical centers. Students would split their time between their comprehen-sive high school and the regional technical center. Tis approach led to a number o scheduling, administrative

and transportation challenges that contributed to alling enrollment at the technical centers and C E pro-grams, as well as low achievement and low expectations or the students that did participate in the technicalcenter programs. In the early 1990s, the state trans ormed the technical centers into ull day regional technicalhigh schools, where students could take academic and career tech courses under one roo . Expectations oracademic achievement rose signi cantly or students in the technical high schools, academic and C E content

was integrated within C E classrooms, and collaboration among core academic and C E teachers increased,leading to signi cant increases in student participation in both C E and academic courses.19

Measuring Technical Skill Attainment to Determine Work ReadinessTe Perkins Act requires states to create new means or assessing student attainment o technical (occupational)skills. Section 113 (b)(2)(A) speci es that the core indicators o per ormance should bevalid and reliable, and

should measurestudent attainment o career and technical skill profciencies, including student achievement on technical assessments, that are aligned with industry-recognized standards, i available and appropriate.

ImplicationsTis new provision complements the ADP agenda because it can bring C E courses at the high school andpostsecondary levels into alignment with the skills that are needed or success in the workplace. States are grappling

with how to re-con gure their assessment o technical skills in a way that is realistic, a ordable and contributes toimproved teacher practices. eachers need to have access to assessment data that will allow them to re ect uponthe data and respond to the data, but this is not o ten the case, particularly or states relying on industry-basedcerti cations to assess their students technical skills. A major challenge is how educators can gather data rom theseindustry-based certi cations that are provided by a third-party vendor o site. Legally, the scores rom some o these

assessments belong to the student and are not shared directly with the school system or college.

Another concern is that some certi cations are too expensive or many students to a ord to take and require the studentto be at least 18 years old. Also, and perhaps most importantly, not all industry-based certi cations have the same levelo rigor, are well-aligned to a students coursework and are utilized by employers. All o these issues, as well as issuesthat arise around state-developed career tech education assessments, need to be addressed so that valid and reliable dataon student per ormance can be input into the Perkins accountability system and used to ensure all students leave highschool with the academic and technical skills they need or success.

19 American Youth Policy Forum. FORUM BRIEF: Exemplary Career and echnical Education Districts and Programs, September 21, 2007.2007. http://www.aypf.org/forumbriefs/2007/fb092107.htm


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Noteworthy State Practicesn Virginias Path to Industry Certi cation: High School Industry Credentialing initiative encourages students

to work toward a selected industry credential or state license while pursuing a high school diploma. Students

who earn a credential by passing a certi cation or licensure examination may earn up to two student-selectedveri ed credits to meet graduation requirements. A credential is de ned as:

n A complete industry certi cation program, e.g. Certi ed Nursing Assistant (CNA);

n A pathway examination that leads to a completed industry certi cation, e.g. automotivetechnician examinations rom the National Institute or Automotive Service Excellence (ASE);

n A state-issued pro essional license, e.g. Cosmetology; or

n An occupational competency examination, e.g. skill assessments rom the National OccupationalCompetency Institute (NOC I). 20

n Georgia is working to develop end-o -program technical skills assessments to measure student learning. TeGeorgia Department o Education and Department o echnical and Adult Education, which oversees thestates technical colleges, are considering a system whereby a certain level o per ormance on the high schoolend-o -program assessment would be recognized by the technical college system as meeting program entrancerequirements or counting or college-level credit.

n Florida has implemented a new program that does not all directly under the rubric o the Perkins Act but ismeant to measure work readiness. Ready to Work is a new work orce education and economic developmentprogram and its centerpiece is the Florida Ready to Work credential, a career readiness certi cate that is signedby Governor Charlie Crist and certi es that a Florida student/jobseeker has undamental job and employabil-ity skills. Te assessment instrument is three components o the AC WorkKeys assessment: Applied Math-ematics, Reading or In ormation and Locating In ormation. Te assessments are paid by the state and ree tothe user. High school students are eligible to take the assessment at approved assessment sites, and high schools

will be eligible to become assessment sites. A number o other states have adopted similar readiness certi catesbased on the WorkKeys assessment and have joined the Career Readiness Certi cate Consortium.21

Strengthening Accountability or Local ResultsSeveral per ormance indicators in the Perkins Act intersect with other school improvement indicators. For instance,the Perkins Act requires the state to report student graduation rates or C E students, as measured by the state underthe No Child Le t Behind Act. Perkins also requires schools to report on the percentage o student[s] place[d] in postsecondary education or advanced training, in military service or in employment.

For states that choose to keep ech Prep as a separate unding stream and program, they will need to develop a numbero data reporting unctions that are new to the Perkins Act. Important data elements include:

20 For more in ormation, seehttp://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Instruction/CTE/Certi cation/21 For more in ormation, seehttp://www.crcconsortium.org/


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n Remediation at the postsecondary level or students who participated in a high school ech Prep program;

n High school ech Prep students who earn dual/concurrent enrollment credits while in high school;

n Te percent o high school ech Prep students who enroll in postsecondary education; and

n Te percent o high school ech Prep students who enroll in the same eld or major in postsecondary educa-tion that they were enrolled in at the secondary level.

ImplicationsIn 2005, all 50 governors pledged to implement the NGA Graduation Rate Compact ormula, a new graduation ratemethodology that would provide more accurate and meaning ul data on the percentage o students who graduate romhigh school over a period o time. Progress in implementing this new de nition has been slow. However, even usingthe cohort style graduation rate called or by the governors, measuring graduation rates among C E students will bedifcult. In most state accountability systems, states only will identi y students or Perkins accountability i they reach

concentrator status, meaning they have taken three or more C E courses. In most places, students do not reachconcentrator status until their junior or senior year o high school. Tus, the graduation rate o C E concentrators islikely to be higher than the cohort graduation rate that tracks all ninth graders through graduation.

Te Perkins requirement or high school transitions or placement into postsecondary education, military service andemployment also has shortcomings. One major challenge is collecting accurate data on what students actually do oncethey leave high school. In many states, application o the Federal Education and Privacy Rights Act (FERPA) createsa barrier to the sharing o data, and many state data systems do not link a students social security number (neededor employment and postsecondary education) with a students education record. Because o these challenges, schooldistricts generally are required to use survey methodology, which requires tracking down the student about six monthsa ter they leave high school and convincing a sufcient number o them to respond to the survey.

In addition to the quality o the survey data, the construction o the Perkins data element itsel is also a challenge.School districts aggregate student in ormation on college and training participation, military enlistment andemployment into one data element. For a number o years, the average per ormance on this indicator has been inthe 90-95 percent range, since almost all students do one o these three activities. Te only other option is to beunemployed. I the data were disaggregated at the state level, states could have a more nuanced picture o what C Estudents are doing a ter high school.

For states that are keeping their ech Prep systems separate, there is an important opportunity to develop shared dataelements and reporting processes to create stronger linkages between secondary and postsecondary education systems.

At this point, states are in the early stages o developing these accountability elements and it is too early to describe how states will carry out these new requirements.

As o early 2008, the ollowing 22 states and one territory have indicated intentions to merge (in ull or partially) theirech Prep systems with the Basic State Grant systems: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii,Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island,South Carolina, ennessee, Utah, Vermont, Wyoming and Puerto Rico.


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POLICY OPTIONS TO LINK PERKINSIMPLEMENTATION WITH THE ADP AGENDA

Tere are important opportunities to link implementation o the Perkins Act with the American Diploma Projectagenda. In particular, state ADP teams can support the development o Programs o Study and support policies sothat all high school students, not just C E participants, are given the opportunity to create personalized plans o study that includes a rigorous academic core paired with courses ocusing on identi ed career interests. States can alsoclosely coordinate the development o C E assessments and accountability mechanisms and pay particular attention tograduation data and data that track the transition o students rom secondary to and through postsecondary education.

As demonstrated in the previous section, many states have begun to pursue strategies that explicitly link the ADP andC E policy agendas. Te ollowing is a list o strategies rom a comprehensive standpoint that state ADP teams andPerkins leaders can consider working on together:

Coordinate Perkins Planning with School Improvement Planningn Ensure that the state planning group or High School Redesign/American Diploma Project thoroughly reviews

the Perkins Plan with the State Director o C E and identi es activities that link the two processes.

n Require local plan submission or the Perkins Act and the general School Improvement/High School Redesignto create a joint addendum to both plans explaining how the e orts will be coordinated and integrated at theschool district and district levels.

n Create a regional planning requirement in which local school districts and community/technical colleges mustsubmit a joint operations plan or implementation o their C E Programs o Study and related pro essionaldevelopment and school re orm.

Coordinate Development o CTE Programs o Study n Create state policy so that every 8th grade student creates a personalized plan or high school graduation and

beyond, identi ying the rigorous academic courses and a concentration o interest-based courses necessary orsuccess a ter high school. Te student plans should be reviewed and updated annually to ensure the studentis on track to meet graduation requirements and to modi y career and interest-based courses as the studentsplans change.

n Require the states public colleges and universities to collaborate actively with the K-12 and community collegesystems to develop and implement C E Programs o Study that extend rom high school directly to associatedegree and/or baccalaureate programs. Legislative or regulatory policy may be needed to require the collabo-ration, but much o the work will need to be done by consultation among high school teachers and college

aculty within speci c program areas.

n Require high schools and community/technical colleges to establish joint Employer Advisory Boards to pro-vide input on Programs o Study and other C E programs within related disciplines.

Facilitate Academic Integrationn Establish incentive unds to support schools and districts in developing academic integration tools and

processes. Each approved C E course and program should identi y the state academic standards that will


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be taught and rein orced in the C E course. Standards that are measured on the state academic assessmentsshould be prioritized or teaching in C E courses. Integrated teams o C E and academic teachers should de-velop and pilot integrated academic lesson plans. When the plans have been piloted and revised appropriately,

they should be shared with other teachers and schools through pro essional development opportunities and web-based dissemination.

n Establish a Real-Li e Applications initiative to bring career-based real-world applications into the coreacademic classes o English Language Arts, Mathematics and Science. Te state should establish a goal thata certain percentage o academic standards will be taught in the context o a real-world application or career-themed approach, so students can understand the application o academic concepts. C E teachers and coreacademic teachers should be convened to review academic standards and identi y examples o career applica-tions or this content. Career-themed lesson plans and problems should be developed around the academicstandards and piloted by the academic teachers. Once piloted and revised as necessary, these resources shouldbe shared with other teachers and schools.

n In each districts school improvement plan, create a new planning requirement to describe how academicteachers are collaborating with C E teachers to integrate academic content into C E courses and to insertcontextualized lesson plans into academic courses.

n Build recommended sequences o academic core courses into C E Programs o Study.

n Require each Program o Study to include a planning requirement or how students can recover missedacademic credit so they can graduate on time and a list o special services that will be o ered to help studentssucceed in completing the recommended academic core.

n Establish AP-style criteria by which students achieving at a certain level o C E assessments can earncollege-level credit. Ensure that these credits are immediately transcripted, rather than held in escrow andmade available only i the student enrolls in the community college immediately a ter high school graduation.

n Explore the potential or credits earned through demonstrations o pro ciency, rather than traditional seattime. Allowing students to earn credit or academic and C E courses through demonstrations o pro ciency,through such instruments as assessments, port olios, presentations and other projects, can acilitate interdis-ciplinary teaching and learning, as students may be able to demonstrate mastery o state academic and C Estandards at the same time in non-traditional ways. States need to develop processes and criteria or districtsand schools to develop credit by pro ciency models to ensure all students have mastered the content and skillsrequired by the state, while providing local education agencies with exibility to design and implement thecurricula and courses as they choose. A number o states that are just beginning to put the ADP policy rame-

work in place are incorporating this important approach at the beginning o the process, opening the door to

signi cant collaboration and alignment in assuring that every pathway to high school graduation incorporatesthe same level o high expectation.


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Build Shared Longitudinal Data Systems Between Secondary and Postsecondary Systems

n ADP leaders and Perkins leaders need to work together on development o P-20 longitudinal data systems.Te Perkins Act accountability system needs stronger and more comprehensive data on student participationin postsecondary education, and the ech Prep accountability requirements call or in ormation on studentremediation at the postsecondary level and student program enrollment. Longitudinal data systems that track individual students progress rom high school through postsecondary education (and beyond) are o tremen-dous value. With such capacity, states will be able to trace a students postsecondary success (or ailure) back to his or her high school experience and use that in ormation to strengthen the experience or the next class o students.

Assure Portability o CTE Dual Enrollment Creditsn Create a data tracking mechanism where postsecondary programs annually report the number and percentage

o upperclassmen in the eeder high schools that have earned dual enrollment credits and what percentage o these credits are transcripted by a local community college.

n Create state policy to ensure that college credits earned through dual enrollment are inserted immediately ona college transcript or the student and that these credits are portable and accepted by all other public postsec-ondary institutions within the state.

n Create state policy that community college credits earned through dual enrollment must be honored as creditsin the C E program area by other community colleges within the state. At colleges and universities, the C Edual enrollment credits must at least be honored as ul lling elective credit requirements.


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CONCLuSION

Te Perkins Act complements the college and career readiness agenda o the American Diploma Project. By de nition,the standards and expectations o C E programs are aligned closely to the expectations that the state and districts setor their students. I those expectations are low, then C E expectations are similarly low. I expectations are high, C Eexpectations will be high, and innovative C E strategies can be employed to help meet those expectations. ADP canraise rigor o C E, just as C E can improve the relevance o ADP.

o maximize the synergy between C E and the college and career readiness agenda, C E teachers, administrators, andstate leaders need to be invited as ull partners in pursuing the college and career-readiness agenda.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hans Meeder is President o the Meeder Consulting Group, LLC, based in Columbia, Maryland, a rm that providespolicy analysis and strategic consulting services to national education organizations, state education agencies, schooldistricts and postsecondary institutions. Mr. Meeder was ormerly the Deputy Assistant Secretary or Vocational and

Adult Education at the U.S. Department o Education, and has held policy positions in the U.S. Congress and ederalagencies. More in ormation can be ound at www.meederconsulting.com.

For additional questions about this paper or the American Diploma Project, please contact Sandy Boyd or Kate Blos-veren at (202) 419-1540 or visit www.achieve.org.


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APPENDIx A: PERKINS ACT PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

TYPE OFINDICATOR

SECONDARY [Section 113(b)(2)(A)]

POSTSECONDARY [Section 113(b)(2)(B)]

TECH PREP,SECONDARY STUDENTS

[Section 203(b)(1)(B)]

TECH PREP,POSTSECONDARY

[Section 203(b)(1)(C)]

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Academic achievementor English Language

Arts and Math, as mea-sured by assessments

adopted under NCLB.

Te number andpercent o secondary education ech Prepstudents enrolled inremedial math, writ-ing, or reading coursesat the postsecondary level.

TECHNICAL SKILL ACHIEVE-

MENT

Career and echni-cal Skill attainment,including technical as-sessments, aligned withindustry-recognizedstandards, i availableand appropriate.

Career and echni-cal Skill attainment,including technicalassessments, aligned

with industry-recog-nized standards, i available and appropri-ate.

PROGRAMCOMPLETION

Attainment o (1) Sec-ondary school diploma,GED, credentials orother state-recognizedequivalent; and (2) apro ciency credential,or degree.

Student high schoolgraduation rates, usingthe states methodology adopted under NCLB.

Attainment o industry-recognizedcredential, a certi cate,or a degree.

Te number andpercent o high schoolech Prep students

who (1) complete astate- or industry-rec-ognized certi cation orlicensure; (2) success-ully complete, as ahigh school student,courses that award

postsecondary creditat the secondary level;and (3) enroll in reme-dial mathematics, writ-ing, or reading coursesupon entering postsec-ondary education.

Te number andpercent o Postsecond-ary ech Prep students

who (1) complete astate- or industry-rec-ognized certi cation orlicensure; (2) completea 2-year degree orcerti cate program

within the normal

time or completion o such program; and (3)complete a baccalaure-ate degree program

within the normaltime or completion o such program.


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TYPE OF

INDICATOR

SECONDARY

[Section 113(b)(2)(A)]

POSTSECONDARY

[Section 113(b)(2)(B)]

TECH PREP,SECONDARY

STUDENTS[Section 203(b)(1)(B)]

TECH PREP,POSTSECONDARY

[Section 203(b)(1)(C)]

STUDENT TRAN-

SITIONS and EM-PLOYMENT

Placement into post-secondary education

or advanced training,military service, oremployment.

One rom the ollow-ing indicators:

(1) Student retention inpostsecondary educa-tion; (2) trans er to abaccalaureate degreeprogram; (3) placementin military serviceor apprenticeshipprograms; or (4) place-ment or retention inemployment, includinghigh- skill, high-wage,or high-demandoccupations.

High school tech prepstudents who (1) enrollin postsecondary edu-cation; and (2) enrollin postsecondary edu-cation in the same eldor major as enrolled inhigh school

Postsecondary education ech Prepstudents who areplaced in a related eld

o employment withinone year o graduation

NON-TRADITION-

AL PARTICIPA-TION and COM-

PLETION

Participation in, and

completion o , C Eprograms that lead tonon-traditional elds.

Participation in, and

completion o , C Eprograms that lead tonon-traditional elds.


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APPENDIx B: SAMPLE PROGRAM OF STuDY HEALTH SCIENCE: HEALTH INFORMATICS


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Co-ChairsGovernor Michael F. Easley

State o North Carolina

Arthur F. RyanChairmanPrudential Financial, Inc.

vice Co-ChairsKerry KillingerChairman & CEOWashington Mutual

Governor Tim PawlentyState o Minnesota

Board MembersCraig R. Barrett

Chairman o the Board Intel Corporation

Governor Donald L. CarcieriState o Rhode Island

Governor Jennifer GranholmState o Michigan

Jerry JurgensenCEO

Nationwide

Governor Edward G. RendellCommonwealth o Pennsylvania

Edward B. Rust, Jr.Chairman & CEOState Farm Insurance

Chairman Emerit sLouis V. Gerstner, Jr.Former Chairman & CEOIBM Corporation

President Michael Cohen

Achieve, Inc.

Treas rer Peter SayreController Prudential Financial, Inc.

ACHIEvE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Created by the nations governors and business leaders, Achieve, Inc., is a bipartisan, non-pro t organization that helps states raise academic standards, improve assess-ments and strengthen accountability to prepare all young

people or postsecondary education, work and citizenship. Achieve has helped more than hal the states benchmarktheir academic standards, tests and accountability systemsagainst the best examples in the United States and around the world. Achieve also serves as a signi cant national

voice or quality in standards-based education re orm and regularly convenes governors, CEOs and other infuential leaders at National Education Summits to sustain support or higher standards and achievement or all o Americas

schoolchildren.

In 2005, Achieve co-sponsored the National EducationSummit on High Schools. Forty- ve governors attended the Summit along with corporate CEOs and K12 and

postsecondary leaders. The Summit was success ul in mak-

ing the case to the governors and business and educationleaders that our schools are not adequately preparing

students or college and 21st-century jobs and that aggres- sive action will be needed to address the preparation gap. As a result o the Summit, 32 states joined with Achieve to

orm the American Diploma Project Network a coalitiono states committed to aligning high school standards,assessments, graduation requirements and accountability

systems with the demands o college and the workplace.

For more in ormation, visit Achieves website at www.achieve.org.

Copyright 2008 Achieve, Inc. All rights reserved.

No part o this publication may be reproduced or transmit-ted in any orm or by any means, electronic or mechanical,including photocopy, recording, or any in ormation or

storage retrieval system, without permission rom Achieve, Inc.

ABOuT ACHIEvE

the perkins act of 2006

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