Blueprint releases to Transform Career and Technical Education in US

Today U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will visit the Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny, Iowa, to release the Obama Administration’s blueprint for transforming Career and Technical Education (CTE), by reauthorizing the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006. Secretary Duncan will hold a town hall to discuss how the Administration’s plan will ensure the education system provides high-quality job-training opportunities that reduce skill shortages, spur business growth, encourage new investment and hires, and spark innovation and economic growth.

Through a $1 billion investment in the Obama Administration’s FY 2013 budget, the Administration’s blueprint for reauthorizing the Perkins Act will transform the Perkins program in four key areas:

Alignment: Ensuring that the skills taught in CTE programs reflect the actual needs of the labor market so that CTE students acquire the 21st century skills necessary for in-demand occupations within high-growth industry sectors.

Collaboration: Incentivizing secondary schools, institutions of higher education, employers, and industry partners to work together to ensure that all CTE programs offer students high-quality learning opportunities. 

Accountability: Requiring CTE programs to show, through common definitions and related performance measures, that they are improving academic outcomes and enabling students to build technical and job skills.

Innovation: Promoting systemic reform of state-level policies to support effective CTE implementation and innovation at the local level.

The Obama Administration already has made key investments to align classroom teaching and learning with real-world business needs. The Departments of Education and Labor are in the process of distributing $2 billion in Trade Adjustment Assistance grants to strengthen community college programs and workforce partnerships.

Determining the prospect of teaching profession

Nearly everyone can name a teacher who inspired him or her, that pushed them, that maybe even changed their life.

Teaching is the foundation of our educational system. Without teachers, education as we know it would simply not exist. Teachers play an important role in preparing and nurturing the next generation of leaders.

Almost two million teachers are set to retire in the next ten years. Filling those two million jobs with a talented new generation of teachers is among the goals of the refurbished TEACH.org, which was officially kicked off this week by Microsoft’s Partners in Learning division.

 “The ability to attract and retain the best talent to the teaching profession will shape public education in this country for the next thirty years,” Secretary Arne Duncan told the crowd at this week’s official launch of the program.

TEACH began as part of the Department of Education’s to recruit the next generation of teachers to join those already in the classroom. Now, the Department is working on the project with Microsoft as part of a public-private partnership. “The challenges we face are solvable,” said Brad Jupp, ED senior program advisor and former teacher. “They’re solvable due to the partnerships we can make with people like Microsoft.”

Low teacher retention rates, poor compensation, and a general lack of respect surrounding the teaching profession takes a toll on student achievement and the ability to attract talented students to the profession. There is an immediate need to elevate teachers, bringing professionalism and talent to the profession. 

The problems in education can’t be solved by one entity alone. It will take the commitment of the private sector in conjunction with the government to revolutionize public education. TEACH is an example of how companies are coming together and doing their part in the fight to provide every child with a quality public education.

“We have to elevate and strengthen the teaching profession,” said Duncan. “This takes massive cultural change, but the long term impact is extraordinary.”

ED discharges new report on Arts Education in US Public Schools

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), part of the U.S. Department of Education, released the findings of the first nationwide arts survey in a decade that comprehensively documents the state of arts education in U.S. public schools.

At the announcement, Secretary Duncan pointed to the importance of the report because it allows us to compare changes in arts education over time, and it’s the first survey that enables us to get a clear sense of how the No Child Left behind (NCLB) law has affected arts education.

“It’s good news, bad news story,” according to Secretary Duncan.  On the one hand, there have not been significant national declines in the availability of music and visual arts instruction in elementary and secondary schools. However, for theater and dance in elementary schools, the percentages of schools making these art forms available went from 20 percent 10 years ago to only 4 and 3 percent, respectively, in the 2009-10 school year.  In addition, at more than 40 percent of secondary schools, coursework in arts was not required for graduation in the 2009-10 school years.

Most troubling is an “equity gap” between the availability of arts instruction as well as the richness of course offerings for students in low-poverty schools compared to those in high-poverty schools, leading students who are economically disadvantaged to not get the enrichment experiences of affluent students.

The Department of Education is tackling this equity gap by allowing states flexibility under NCLB, and through a competitive priority for the arts and humanities in the Promise Neighborhood competition.

“A well-rounded education is simply too vital to our students’ success to let the teaching of the arts and humanities erode,” Secretary Duncan concluded at the announcement.

Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools: 1999-2000 and 2009-10 is a product of the National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences.

Michelle Obama Addresses 2012 Graduating Seniors

This year, First Lady Michelle Obama will convey inauguration addresses at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (North Carolina A&T), and Oregon State University (OSU). Mrs. Obama will initiate her 2012 commencement addresses at Virginia Tech where she was inspired by the resilience of the student body and community coming together to support each other during difficult times. The next day, the First Lady will travel to North Carolina to speak at North Carolina A&T, part of the rich legacy of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that have been instrumental in educating generations of African Americans.

 The President and First Lady both have recognized the important contributions of HBCUs across the country and have delivered commencement addresses to highlight their successes. Finally, Mrs. Obama will deliver the commencement address to OSU graduates. OSU's student body has been recognized for its efforts to promote healthy communities by organizing large scale food donation drives. OSU researchers also have worked to identify factors that lead to childhood obesity and are developing prevention programs for school districts, parents and health care providers to help improve children's' health. Mrs. Obama's brother, Craig Robinson serves as the school's head men's basketball coach.

In 2009, Mrs. Obama spoke at the graduation of University of California Merced's first full senior class. She also addressed the Washington Math and Science Tech Public Charter High School Graduation in Washington DC. In 2010, Mrs. Obama addressed graduates of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, the George Washington University, and the Anacostia Senior High School. In 2011, Mrs. Obama delivered commencement addresses at the University of Northern Iowa, Spelman College, and Quantico Middle High School. The First Lady also spoke to graduates and families at West Point.