How do you think Common Core, Career Pathways and the Workforce Opportunity Act all intersect?! One U.S. Dept. of Education official called the Common Core System ‘The hope for the future, the glue that holds Workforce together while the Career Paths serve as the engine.’ This statement and many more like it were expressed in last week’s National Dialogue on Career Pathways.
Here’s another great one, ‘If we don’t make an education change, the economy suffers.’
How about this one, “We’re not solving the problem at once, we are experimenting along the way.”
The goal in all this?! Re-engineering education
One of the speakers shared this tidbit of American educational history, ‘Education in America has traditionally been for output–we must change that.’
‘Government must expand its role in education and it must be a community effort. All of us must train our workers.’
‘Equity system must be constant and throughout education.’
‘We’re reaping returns on our investments.’
Of these 3: ‘career ladder’, ‘career pathway’, ‘career bridge’…2 have a beginning and an end, only one is never finished, never satisfied.
Think of a career as a ‘super highway’, the education one receives is the ‘road map’ and all ‘navigation’ must align.
NCICTE:
One of the ways in which so much of the education reform centered around Common Core, especially beyond high schools is, P3s (public-private partnerships).
Here’s a quote from NCICTE (National Center for Innovation in Career and Technical Education) “To promote human capital investments that benefit society, a new class of investment tools is being developed. Impact bonds and pay-for-success models raise and deploy private capital to support promising social interventions, with the expectation that investors will eventually be repaid using the financial savings that accrue over time. NCICTE is commissioning a series of expert papers to explore promising new approaches for leveraging private sector funding to subsidize or fully fund the delivery of CTE (Career and Technical Education) programs.” (resource http://ctecenter.ed.gov/page/our-research#sthash.T7EIVQTj.dpuf) Of, there’s absolutely NO objectivity to the NCICTE, it’s funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education!
NCICTE reports their findings to the U.S. Congress, see the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdQ73hmGm0w
Please refer to any of my previous “Tech Thursday” posts to refresh yourselves on how CTE is Common Core Standards aligned!
Since CTE is a federal level national initiative, there will be all kinds of funding, programs, etc. To get us to this point in education reform, research had to be conducted. From what I’ve been able to find, there were 5 states of OR, CO,KS, MN, MA, were awarded funding to participate in Advancing Career and Technical Education (CTE) in State and Local Career Pathways Systems, a two-year project managed by Jobs for the Future through a contract with OVAE. Technical assistance will be provided to assist these states in building their capacity to integrate CTE Programs of Study (POS) into their broader career pathways system development efforts. I believe all this happened around 2012, much of the information is not dated. (website: http://cte.ed.gov/nationalinitiatives/advancing_cte.cfm) Want to know how these states competed? The hoops they had to jump through to be given funding? Here’s the overview document: AdvancingCTEOverviewNov29
By the way, the OVAE stands for Office of Vocational Adult Education and has been renamed to become OCTAE or Office of Career, Technical , and Adult Education (see: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/news/index.html)
P3s, Public Private Partnerships:
Key to the success of the Career Pathways/Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is P3s. However, please remember, it is P3s that gave us Common Core in the first place! So why are we seeking to create more alliances?! I have a great example of a P3 that is being used to help promote not only a candidate for office, but the great benefits everyone will enjoy. When you access the document, be sure to note the sources used for research..all CCSS tied! Source to review: http://anthonybrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Brown-Ulman-Ready-to-Work-Maryland1.pdf (Please note this is NOT a political endorsement, it is for research and illustrative purposes.)
Need more P3s meddling in education? The World Bank (also supportive of CCSS) has a great P3 guide in education! Access the guide, if you like, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:22123978~menuPK:2448342~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:282386,00.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgUSGUX4N0k Unrelated, but a great resource to know for more on p3s and education, Business Round Table. They’ve pledged much money and corporate power to the success of Common Core.
LYNNE, THIS IS A TREMENDOUS TRACKING RECORD. I PRAY OTHERS WILL,, READ, WATCH, ACT WITH A RENEWED MINDSET TO OPPOSE AND BE INVOLVED.
I agree, Barbara! Let’s hope minds are changed as eyes are opened.