Funding Pell Grant Evidence - Amazon S3



Funding Pell Grant EvidenceThere is an $8.6 billion surplus in the Pell Grant program for the fiscal year 2018Preston Cooper, July 24, 2017, Cooper is a research analyst in policy education at the American Enterprise Institute “Alarmism Abounds Over Phantom Pell Grant Cuts” Forbes Magazine, accessed 9/21/2017The origin of the Pell Grant program’s current?surplus?lies in the Great Recession, when the poor job market drove millions of students to take refuge in college. Many of those students used Pell Grants. More grant recipients meant more spending, so costs quickly blew past the appropriation Congress had set aside for the grants. In response, Congress increased the regular discretionary appropriation it provides to the Pell program. Additionally, several other laws passed during the recession era (such as the 2009 stimulus package) contained temporary funding boosts for Pell Grants.However, the recession didn’t last forever. As the job market improved, colleges (particularly public community and for-profit colleges popular with low-income students) enrolled fewer students, and so spending on Pell Grants fell. However, the annual appropriation Congress provides to fund Pell remained high. Together with leftover money from the stimulus and other one-off laws, this meant that the total amount appropriated for the Pell Grant outstripped the program’s actual costs.In fiscal year 2017, the Department of Education had $31.2 billion in discretionary “budget authority” to potentially spend on Pell Grants, even though estimated discretionary program costs were only $22.6 billion. Hence, the Pell Grant program has an $8.6 billion surplus going in to fiscal year 2018.Even if the surplus is spent, congress will cover any additional costs to the pell grant programPreston Cooper, July 24, 2017, Cooper is a research analyst in policy education at the American Enterprise Institute “Alarmism Abounds Over Phantom Pell Grant Cuts” Forbes Magazine, accessed 9/21/2017Some opponents of cutting the program’s surplus concede that the move will not immediately affect students, but argue that the slimmer surplus leaves too little “wiggle room” for the program to expand. What happens if Pell Grant spending rises faster than expected, and costs once again exceed the level Congress appropriates.Even then, there’s not much to worry about. If the Pell Grant program runs a deficit, the Department of Education still gives out Pell Grants to all students who are eligible. As Clare McCann?explained at New America:“A funding shortfall does not…force the Department of Education to reduce the grants for which students are eligible under law. Instead, the Department of Education has made it common practice to borrow funds from the subsequent year’s appropriation to cover a shortfall, and Congress has always appropriated the necessary funds to cover that shortfall. In years that a surplus accumulates, the Department of Education and Congress use the remaining funds to pay for grants in the upcoming school year.”In other words, the federal government has leeway to make sure Pell Grant checks still go out even if one year’s appropriation does not cover all Pell obligations. It is true that Congress could simply refuse to appropriate funding to cover a future shortfall. But almost all funding for Pell Grants, not just funding to cover a previous year’s deficit, is discretionary (i.e., must be appropriated by Congress year after year). If one is concerned that a future Congress will not appropriate sufficient Pell funds, that concern would not go away even if the present Congress left the Pell surplus intact.cte2ac cte goodCTE Good – resolving stigma in the status quo – k2 better graduation rates Kilic 17’ – Master of Arts in School Psychology at Rowan University (Fatih, “NEW JERSEY GRADUATION RATES AMONGST MINORITES IN DIFFERENT COUNTIES”, 2/02/17, Rowan University, )Introduction Need for Study New Jersey's high school graduation rate rose in 2015, increasing to 89.7 percent in 2015 from 88.6 percent in 2014. This is the fourth straight year that the statewide high school graduation rate has increased, and the third consecutive year in which it grew by at least a full percentage point (Yaple 2016). Currently, there are 55 public vocational high schools in New Jersey out of 482 total public high schools. In 2015 69.2 % of students that graduated from high school were enrolled in a college or university. The percentage of students who graduated that were in the workforce was 36 % while the unemployment rate for these graduates were 20.7 %. Last year in New Jersey an average of 265,689 residents were unemployed and despite this decline from years past it is not as low as it was before the 2007 recession (NJLWD). Purpose There are many critics of Career and Technical Education in high schools, reporting that these schools are only for students who are at risk of not graduation or not continuing onto post-secondary school. The purpose of this study is to reject the stigma around CTE and show evidence of the success of these programs. CTE training has proven to be successful for at-risk students, students entering the workforce after graduation and students entering colleges or universities. This study tests one of the many assumed positive effects of CTE in high schools by looking at the graduation rates of New Jersey schools that implement these programs into their curriculum. Hypothesis A prediction of this study is that high schools in New Jersey with more CTE programs integrated into their curriculum would have higher graduation rates compared to high schools with minimal CTE programs integrated into their curriculum. Specifically, this study examines Career and Technical High Schools versus comprehensive secondary schools. Significance of the Study In the United States most CTE programs in high school give students the opportunity to take one or two courses a year in the program of their choice in addition to their general education courses. In other nations that have seen greater success in these programs, such as Switzerland or Singapore, allow their students to choose a specific vocation to study and all their coursework revolves around that choice of study (Leech 2014). Research shows that these countries have smaller unemployment rates, a possible indicator of success in CTE programs. By putting on emphasis vocational studies we give students the opportunity to study subjects and occupations that they are interested in. Secondary education was created to give students the tools to advance to higher education or to prepare them for the workforce. This study researches the success of these career and technical programs in New Jersey secondary schools, differences in dropout rates among high schools that give their students the opportunities to study courses that interest them and prepare them for the future. About forty percent of high school graduates seek full-time jobs after graduating without applying to any universities or colleges (Bishop 2005). It is important that these students are given the opportunity to learn important specific skill sets to be considered for a job without anything but a high school diploma. CTE programs empowers students by providing a range of learning opportunities that serve different learning styles (Advisory Committee for the National Assessment of Vocational Education 2003). Advocates of CTE argue that by giving students the option to choose courses specific to their future career paths will increase the likelihood of students staying in school. Not all students excel in academic courses but by offering them the chance to explore their career options through CTE, high schools are giving students a reason to graduate from school. This is proven by the positive effect on rates of graduation from upper-secondary school that has CTE options (Bishop 2004). Definitions Comprehensive Secondary School: A secondary school that has an academic focus, but also offer CTE either on or off site. (Levesque, et.al 2008) Career and Technical School: A secondary school that emphasizes CTE, but also offer academic coursework; students typically spend their entire school day at the school. (Levesque, et.al 2008) Graduation Rate: The number of students who graduate in four years with a regular high school diploma divided by the number of students who form the adjusted cohort for the graduating class. (DOE 2008) Limitations This research was all based on data found on the New Jersey Department of Education website. No data was collected from the high schools directly which could have made the data more reliable and up to date. Schools included in the study were limited to schools with updated websites with curriculum information provided which also made the data very limited. Assumptions There were many assumptions made by the researcher in the present study. It was assumed by the researcher that: 1. The curriculum provided on school websites were representative of all CTE curriculum in New Jersey high schools. 2. The curriculum provided on the school’s website was updated to its most recent form. 3. Schools provided true data to the New Jersey Department of Education. The purpose of this study was to identify the different factors that allow for Hispanics’ access to special education programs in New Jersey. This study analyzed data from low income counties in comparison to high income counties to determine differences, as opposed to other races. While exploring previous studies and existing research, there seemed to be a sufficient amount of different information on both sides. Many researchers believed that Hispanics are under-represented, while others believed that they are over represented. The purpose of this study was to compare different counties in New Jersey by exploring the poorest county and looking at the richest county to determine the percentages of minorities in each. This study hypothesized that the percentage of minorities in Special Education programs in low SES and high SES counties will differ. Was there a higher rate of Hispanics in these programs in different areas of New Jersey, like urban areas vs. suburban areas? “Special Education programs are designed for those students who are mentally, physically, socially and/or emotionally delayed.” (“What is Special Education,” 2015). One limitation of this study was that the researcher used publicly available information and some of this information might have not been up to date. Another limitation was that some Hispanics whom actually might need to be in special education programs were not because their parent might disagree. Disproportionate representation in these programs means that the percentage of these groups in special education differs significantly from their percentage in the general school population. Chapter 2 Literature Review History of CTE Smith –Hughes Act of 1917. The first push towards vocational education in secondary schools began in 1917 when the Smith-Hughes Act was passed. This was the legislation that officially established vocational education in our nation. The law provided for cooperation between the federal and state governments in regard to funding agriculture and trade and industry programs at the local level (Gordon, 1999). The reason for this act was to prepare youth for the industrial workforce since jobs in that field were in high demand at the time. At this time the main fields of focus for vocational courses were agriculture, homemaking, and trades and industry. This legislation provided teachers with preparation programs to teach in these different fields (Gray 2004). In order for states to be funded by the federal government, they needed to agree to the following terms and a plan on how they were going to execute these terms. Vocational education had to be supervised; its purpose was to fit students for employment. Vocational education would be less years of schooling than college to meet the needs of persons over 14 years old who had or were entering occupations. Another implication of the Smith-Hughes Act was the 50-25-25 rule. This rule stated that students must spend 50% of their time in shop classes, 25% of their time would be for academic courses, and the remaining 25% of their time would be for vocational coursework in a classroom. (Gray 2004) The legislation for vocational education continued to change between the years of 1929 and 1942. A majority of these changes were brought on by the law known as the George Acts. Each one of these laws added programs or changed the funds of different programs under the Smith-Hughes Act. As the need for industry workers was growing the funds needed for these vocational programs grew as well. Our nation wanted wellprepared youth for the workforce and the only way they were going to achieve that was through vocational education. (Gray 2004) Carls D. Perkins Act. Career and technical education curriculum in secondary schools provide students with technical knowledge and skills needed to move into the workforce or continue education in the profession they study. (2006 Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act, P.L. 109-270). At a secondary level, these courses include marketing, business management, computer technology, food services, health care, childcare and education, and etc (Levesque, et.al 2008). The Carl D Perkins Career and Technical Education Act was first created in 1984 to replace prior legislations that were put in place dating back to 1917 with the Smith- Hughes Act (Threeton 2007). The Carl D Perkins Acts main purpose is to help improve technical education programs in United States secondary schools. Many changes have been made to the act since its original version created in 1984. In 1990 it was renamed Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act, also known as Perkins II. The focus of this revision was to improve preparation for the workforce by supporting more vocational programs because the country was falling behind in skills compared to other countries. Perkins II was known to be the most effective version of the Carl D. Perkins Act because it provided more federal funding to vocational programs and changed policies to put more of an emphasis on occupational education and not just academics. The act was revised again in 1998, the Perkins III, with changes intended to integrate vocational and academic education more sufficiently. The Act was renamed to the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act when revisions were made again in 2006 (Threeton 2007). The new revisions included changing “vocational education” to “career and technical education.” The objective of CTE is to replace the old curriculum of vocational education that consisted of single electives and replacing it with a program of study that will prepare students for post-secondary school. Annually, 1.3 billion dollars are spread across all 50 states to fund their career and technical education (CTE) programs (ACTE, 2006). CTE training is defined by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 as: Organized educational activities that offer a sequence of courses that provides individuals with coherent and rigorous content aligned with challenging academic standards and relevant technical knowledge and skills needed to prepare for further education and careers in current or emerging professions; provides technical skills proficiency, an industry-recognized credential, a certificate, or an associate degree; and may include prerequisite courses that meet the requirements of this subparagraph; and include competency-based applied learning that contributes to the academic knowledge, higher-order reasoning and problem-solving skills, work attitudes, general employability skills, technical skills, and occupation-specific skills, and knowledge of all aspects of an industry, including entrepreneurship, of an individual.(Carl D. Perkins,2006, p. 1) No Child Left Behind. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 was created to raise the achievement level of students and, to ensure that every student was prepared move on to post-secondary schooling. The purpose of NCLB is to make educational opportunities for minority and lower socioeconomic students equal (Fletcher 2006). This act included six key components: closing the achievement gap, improving literacy by putting reading first, expanding flexibility and reducing bureaucracy, rewarding success and sanctioning failure, promoting informed parental choice and improving teacher quality. Closing the achievement gap entails the following: each state implementing sanctions and rewards to hold districts and schools accountable for improving, has annual academic assessments for reading and math that provide information about how well the school is teaching the students, and consequences for schools that fail to educate every type of student equally. In order to improve literacy schools are mandated a comprehensive reading program that starts the focus on reading in earlier ages between kindergarten and second grade. Expanding flexibility and reducing bureaucracy includes more funding for technology (Bush 2001). CTE programs are an important part of the high school curriculum. Evaluations of CTE programs in schools and districts show CTE programs contribute to increased school attendance, reduced high school dropout rates, higher grades, and increased entry into postsecondary education (Brand, 2003). Many perceive the NCLB Act to have no effect on CTE because it focuses on core academic subjects like reading and math. CTE advocates disagree; many believe that this legislation brought up concern for CTE programs because there were no standards for the areas of study laid out in the legislation (Chadd 2006). One issue that NCLB brings up for CTE programs is teacher quality. Teacher quality under NCLB is the requirement that teachers are “highly qualified” in the subject that they teach. Under this act “highly qualified” is defined as a teacher who is fully certified in the subject they are teaching. The teacher must have a bachelor’s degree and also be able to show the state that they are competent in that specific subject area through a subject test NCLB pressure on CTE programs without a high emphasis on accountability and student achievement. Teachers were forced to prove that the skills learned in these technical courses were helping students reach academic standards and providing students skills for the workforce in the future. Many teachers believe that these CTE courses are helping to lower dropout rates and increase the number of students that graduate, which is one of the main goals of NCLB. (Gordon 2007) Career and Technical Education Career and Technical Education is a highly researched subject in the education field. Students, parents, educators and policymakers have mixed views on the success of these programs. Within the last 10 to 15 years, CTE programs have evolved from classes offered in school for low-performing students to rigorous academic classes that prepare students to go into post-secondary schools. The goals of CTE is to have education about occupations, education through the use of work and education for specific careers. (Plank 2005) CTE training is provided in three main types of secondary schools. The first is a comprehensive secondary school, these are schools that will mainly focus on academic curriculum but offer CTE courses. These CTE courses can be provided at the school or outside of the school. The second type is CTE secondary schools which focus mainly on the CTE courses but also provide some academic courses, students will stay in the school for their CTE courses. Lastly, is area CTE schools, which are schools that students will go to outside of their high school where they only receive academic courses (Levesque, et.al 2008). CTE can also be offered to students in a dual enrollment, students will take college-level courses that will count for both high school and college credits (Brand 2013). Currently in New Jersey, there are 55 CTE public high schools out of the 482 public schools, which is approximately 11% of the public high schools in New Jersey. For many years there were two distinct pathways a student could take in high school. The first pathway was one that led to post-secondary schooling at a college or university. This pathway included academic curriculum including math, science and English courses and minimal vocational courses. Students who were looking to go in to entry-level positions after graduation had courses that included more vocational education including industry, agriculture, marketing, and distribution. CTE advocates are now looking to integrate these pathways that will give the students that opportunity to focus on both academic courses and CTE courses. They believe that these vocational courses are not only beneficial for students who are continuing to entry-level positions after graduation. (Plank 2001) CTE has made many major contributions to our secondary public schools including improvement of academic skills to meet the demands of the technology-based economy, allowing students to be trained and qualified workers right out of high school, and meeting students where their needs are (Bottoms 2008). The objective of CTE programs is to increase students’ abilities in critical thinking, collaboration, problemsolving, innovation and teamwork. CTE was once more focused on preparing students for entry level jobs, but now the aim is to prepare these students for a career (Brand 2013). Computer and information technology occupations are predicted to grow by 12% between 2014 and 2024. These occupations are expected to add about 488,500 new jobs, from 2014 to 2024 (Bureau of Labor and Statistics 2015). While there is a push for every student to receive a bachelor’s degree, realistically not every student that graduates from high school will go on to receive any degree after. Of New Jersey high school graduates between January and October 2015, only 69% enrolled in college post-graduation. This leaves 31% of youth looking for a job right after high school (Bureau of Labor and Statistics 2016). By enrolling in CTE courses in high school students will be more prepared to go straight through to the workforce. Research also proves that CTE in secondary schools help students who are planning to attend a college or university. Many CTE programs are viewed as a placement for students that are at risk of not graduating or have a disability. While these programs do help these individuals tremendously, 80% of students that graduate from a CTE program graduate with the same amount of math and science credits as their peers in an only academic program. Of that group of students 60%, attend college after graduation. The goal of secondary education is to prepare students for post-secondary success. By taking CTE courses students can begin to make up a career plan that will lead them to this success. (Gray 2004) CTE courses in high school give students that are considering technical postsecondary 2- year colleges an opportunity to begin to build skills in certain areas. For example students can begin to build skills for certifications like automotive, electrician, and cosmetics. In 2010, the second fastest growing field in the nation was a computer support technician, a profession that only requires one to two years of post-secondary schooling. These jobs do not require extreme qualifications but when a student begins to work on their skills for this occupation in high school they have the opportunity to attend less schooling post-secondary. (Gray 2004) CTE and At-Risk Students According to the American School Counseling Association “at risk” students, are those who could potentially drop out of school or engage in self-destructive behaviors that interfere with academic success. Behaviors including absenteeism, performing below academic potential or participating in activities that may be harmful to self and/or others such as substance abuse, threats and intimidation, and physical violence are some behaviors that place students at risk (ASCA; 2006-2008). Although research has shown that there are many consequences to dropping out of school including a higher likelihood of unemployment, a greater chance of living below the poverty line, more health problems, and increased likely hood of criminal activity our dropout rates are still high in this country (Plank 2008). Students who are considered “high risk” for dropping out or students who have disabilities are shown to have greater success in school when they are enrolled in these CTE courses. CTE has been shown to positively affect student’s retention and engagement in school (Brown 2003). A 2003 report from the Advisory Committee for the National Assessment of Vocational Education said that when you combine CTE courses with traditional academic courses students have shown more motivation to graduate and become more attached to school (Plank 2008). CTE does not only help students who are at risk for not graduating, but also helps the students who are at risk for not finding employment after graduation. A study published in 2011 showed that there was a positive relationship between CTE course taking and post high school employment for students with learning disabilities (Shadden 2011). New Jersey State Graduation Requirements In 2010, New Jersey adopted a new state standard for education known as the Common Core. The transition to the new Common Core standards took place from 2011- 2014. The goal of the Common Core Standards is to create grade-level expectations from kindergarten to twelfth grade. These standards are set in the subjects of mathematics and English Language Arts. Common Core does not provide schools with a curriculum, it only guides them to meet the standards for each grade level. Along with the education standards being changed, state testing was changed as well. In 2015 schools began using the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) state test. Beginning with the class of 2016, students must take these standardized tests at the end of their 9th, 10th, and 11th -grade year to determine the student’s achievement. Along with the PARCC test students in the 11th grade must pass the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), this test assess the math and language arts literacy skills. In addition to these tests, students must also complete 125 credits to receive their high school diploma. These 125 credits are broken down into different sections: 4 years of English (20 credits) 4 years of Physical Education and Health (16 credits) 3 years of Mathematics (15 credits) 3 years of Social Studies (15 credits) 1 year of a World Language (5 credits) 1 year of Visual or Performing Arts (5 credits) year of 21st -century Life and Careers (5 credits) 1 semester of Financial Literacy (2.5 credits) The remaining credits should provide students with courses that will prepare them for post-secondary education, immediate employment, or adult citizenship. (NJDOE 2016) Transitioning from Secondary CTE to Post-Secondary With CTE programs in high schools evolving throughout the years, the main goal has always been to prepare students for life after high school. A common mistake that has been debunked by many studies is that CTE is only for students who are work bound straight out of high school. This has been proven false. Through examination of newer models of CTE, researchers have found that these programs successfully help students transition from secondary to post-secondary education. There are four different programs that Donna Dare speaks about in her book New Directions for Community Colleges, High Schools That Work (HSTW), Tech Prep, College and Career Transition Initiative (CCTI), and Project Lead the Way (PLTW). Although all four programs are different they all share the common goal of preparing students for college or a career by combing CTE and academics. (Dare 2006) High Schools that Work (HSTW) has gone through many reforms to change general high school curriculum to a combination of academic work and CTE curriculum. The focuses of this are reform high expectations for students, combining CTE and academic studies, work-based learning, teachers who work together, actively engaged students, guidance, and continuous improvement. (Dare 2006) Research done in 2005 by Bottoms and Anthony studied nine high schools using this model of HSTW. In this study, they found that one of the common strategies between these nine schools was to eliminate lower level academic courses and raise graduation requirements above the state requirements. Another reform that five of the schools made in this study was to require that each student picks a specific career path by the ninth or tenth grade that would determine their courses through senior year. Their findings showed positive correlations between this model and students transitioning into post-secondary programs; 90 percent of the students that completed the HSTW course load in their study continued on to postsecondary education. While in these programs only 24 percent of students required remedial classes in post-secondary programs, and 34 percent of the students who did not complete the HSTW recommended course work. (Bottoms and Anthony 2005) Tech Prep is similar to HSTW in regards to combining CTE courses with academic courses. Tech Prep also partners with post-secondary schools to make the transition from secondary to post-secondary easy on a student. There are debates on whether this type of model is successful for helping students. While a study done in 2002 shows successful outcomes of transitions from secondary to post-secondary, the National Association of Vocational Education views this model as problematic. Tech Prep is considered problematic because the implementation of the program is not consistent across schools that use this model. Identifying and tracking outcomes have also not been consistent which makes it difficult to identify success of this model accurately. The schools that have shown success in their data using this model do not only combine academic courses and CTE courses but also College Tech Prep which includes dual credits for students transitioning to the post-secondary program with whom the school is partnered with. (Dare 2006) College and Career Transitions Initiatives (CCTI) not only focuses on what the secondary schools can do for the student but what role community colleges can play in this transition. CCTI focuses on helping students transition from high school to college and careers, increasing students’ success, building partnerships with high schools and businesses, and lowering the number of remedial courses for incoming students. (Dare 2006) According to Hughes and Karp’s study in 2006, the strength of this model lies in the strict policies enforced starting in Kindergarten through twelfth grade that ensures an easy transition to post-secondary programs. CCTI staff will meet to discuss state policy to ensure that the program is preparing students to the best of the model’s ability (Hughes 2006) The final model of CTE in high schools is Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a model where academic courses are combined with college prep academic courses and CTE courses. Although not much researching has been done on the outcomes of this model, there has been research done about the implementation of this program in high schools. Studies have shown that this model, compared to other CTE models, shows the most successful performances in academic courses such as math, reading, and science. Seventy two percent of students compared to 69 percent of students in other CTE programs show interest in post-secondary programs in the PLTW model. These models are successful for students that are not ready for a four-year college but are interested in post- secondary programs in a community college. A lot of these models have relationships with community colleges and implement them into their secondary curriculum making the transition from secondary to post-secondary much smoother for students. CTE classes combined with academic courses help students gain the knowledge and tools they need to have a successful transition into post-secondary programs. Limitations of CTE While there has been a lot of research done to show that CTE is effective in preparing students for their future in the workforce or continuing into post-secondary education, the program is still developing. A stigma surrounding CTE courses is that they are only for students with low abilities or a lack of motivation in their academic courses. This has been shown to be false through research. CTE classes have been shown to help students in areas of math, sciences, and engineering. Research shows that CTE courses are just as beneficial to students entering a post-secondary school as they are for students going directly into the workforce after graduation (Bartholomew 2014). These stigmas tend to overshadow the improvements CTE has made in the education field making parents and students skeptical about the CTE pathway in course taking. CTE continues to show positive outcomes for students and because of this, the stigma is slowly disappearing for educators (Brand 2013). Another barrier that CTE has to overcome is the lack of high- qualified educators for these programs. To be highly qualified to teach these courses educators must meet a more specific certification than most teachers teaching the core academic classes. Teachers must be able to also show that they are educated in the specific career and have experience in the field. These specific requirements turn many professionals away from wanting to teach these CTE courses. Along with individuals in the education field not wanting to receive this training, the training for these educators is hard to find. Education programs do not usually have a CTE track which results in a decline in applicants for these teaching positions. (Brand 2013) One of the goals of The Perkins Act is to create an “academically rigorous, integrated, and sequenced programs of study that align with and lead to postsecondary education” (ACTE 2006). One of the main concerns that go along with CTE training is trouble aligning general education and career and technical education. It is important that students that students that are enrolled in CTE programs are prepared to move on to college after graduation. To ensure that this alignment happens, it is important that CTE programs work with post-secondary schools to ensure that the skills and knowledge that these students are gaining in high school prepare them for post-secondary school. This will give CTE programs the credibility that they need to continue to make the stigma connected to them disappear. (Brand 2013) Career and Technical Education in New Jersey According to statistics found on the Advanced CTE website, there are 368 public high schools in New Jersey. Of these high schools, 55 of them provide only or primarily CTE courses. Of the 425,356 students enrolled in high school in New Jersey 78,797, are enrolled in CTE programs and of that number, there are 42,239 students that are CTE concentrators. (ACTE 2016) United States Department of Education provides statistics for different areas of secondary school that prove the success of CTE in New Jersey’s high schools. In the 2013-2014 academic year 94 percent of CTE students were proficient in Reading/Language Arts, 84 percent were proficient in Mathematics, 99 percent of students upon graduation entered a post-secondary program or a career, and 100 percent of them went on to earn a certificate, credential or degree. (USDOE 2013) These statistics alone prove the success that students are able to achieve when entering a CTE program in high school. In 2013, 100 percent of CTE concentrators graduated, the national graduation rate for that year was 81 percent (Education Week Research Center 2015). New Jersey has been actively working to improve their CTE programs in their secondary school. Training from High Schools That Work and Project Lead the Way are only a few ways that the state has provided for teachers and counselors that work in these schools. CTE programs are integrated into New Jersey’s comprehensive high schools as well as separate vocational-technical high schools. The state of New Jersey has a program, New Jersey Career and Technical Education Partnership (CTEP), which promotes links between their secondary schools, post-secondary programs and the resources the students will need for their specific career clusters. Along with the standard career clusters provided in CTE programs, New Jersey is one of the four states in the United States to be incorporating the study of green construction, sustainable design and energy into some of its CTE programs. CTE programs in New Jersey must be reapproved every five years by the New Jersey Department of Education. (Association of Career and Technical Education 2017) In 2014, there were some significant changes made to the CTE-related legislation that added requirements that must be met by the CTE approved programs in New Jersey. The requirements included: adding student career readiness indicators in new Jersey School Report Card, requiring preparation programs for teachers and school counselors, strengthening partnerships between County Vocational- Technical schools and local schools and colleges through a grant program in the NJDOE increasing enrollment dual enrollment programs. In addition, new CTE standards were set that provided academic standards and career-ready standards for kindergarten to twelfth grade students. Another standard in New Jersey is the end of the program test that every student enrolled in a CTE program must complete. There are four different examinations or assessments used to test students, a state licensure examination, an industry- organized skill examination, a statedeveloped end-of-program assessment or a nationally recognized and state recognized third party assessment. (Association of Career and Technical Education 2017) Summary When CTE was first implemented in the United States it had a steady enrollment, but entering the early 1990s these enrollments began to decline. To bring the enrollment number back up many changes were made to CTE programs. The biggest change was its purpose. CTE programs were no longer aimed at only the students who were entering the workforce, but also to prepare students for the transition into post-secondary programs. (Lynch 2000) Research has found that students who are a part of a CTE program are enrolled in more challenging classes than those in a traditional academic program. A decrease in dropout rates has been found when a student takes a ratio of one CTE course to two academic courses. (Gentry 2007) While CTE is still viewed as a program for students who are seeking work directly out of high school, the statistics do not match. In 2005, a study was done by Gaunt and Palmer that showed that approximately 60% of CTE students enrolled in a post-secondary program. When high school students are asked their thoughts on CTE, researchers have found that students think these programs help students not only who are work bound but college bound as well. CTE programs seem to be beneficial for both at- risk students, gifted and talented students however not much research has been done on the specific benefits for specific types of students. This does not take away from the statistics that show the overall benefits of these programs in secondary schools. (Gentry 2007) Chapter 3 Methods The current study is aimed to examine and identify the relationship between graduation rates and CTE curriculum in New Jersey High Schools. Specifically to identify if career and technical secondary schools have higher graduation rates than comprehensive secondary schools. Participants The current study’s participants included one career and technical school and one comprehensive secondary school from each of the twenty-one New Jersey counties. Out of the 482 secondary schools in New Jersey in 2015, there was a sample of 36 schools chosen for this study. The 36 schools were chosen the accessibility of the school’s curriculum handbook. Socioeconomic status, race/ ethnicity, and gender of students were disregarded in this study. Materials The materials used for this study included data found on the State of New Jersey Department of Education website. The data included graduation rates for the years of 2011 to 2014. This data included the total graduation rates of each school in New Jersey. This data also provided me with specific data on different types of students, students with disabilities, limited English proficiency and economically disadvantaged. Additional material for this study included the New Jersey high school graduation requirements specific for each year between 2011 and 2014. School curriculum handbooks were also collected via school websites. Curriculum handbooks provided information on specific CTE programs the school’s provided as well as the schools requirements for academic classes and CTE courses. The dependent variable measured in this study was the overall average of graduation rates each year from the high schools chosen for the study. Procedures Schools were chosen to be a part of this study based on school size and type of school. A comprehensive secondary school and CTE- specific school were pulled from each county using school size as the deciding factor. All of the 42 schools chosen for this study are close in four- year cohort size. Statistical Analysis The collected data was analyzed using a mixed ANOVA test to determine if there is a significant difference between CTE-specific schools and graduation rates. To run this test the program SPSS for Windows was used. The average graduation rates were collected for CTE-specific schools and then the average graduation rates of comprehensive schools were collected from the sample across the years of 2011-2015. These averages were compared using the mixed ANOVA to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between graduation rates of CTE specific schools and comprehensive schools. Chapter 4 Results The hypothesis was whether more CTE curriculum in schools effect graduation rates positively when compared with comprehensive high schools. As seen on Figure 1 a mixed ANOVA was run to determine the difference between type of high school and graduation rates. The independent variables tested were school year (within variable) and school type (independent variable). A statistically significant relationship was found between type of high school and graduation rates. CTE high schools were found to have higher graduation rates compared to comprehensive high schools in New Jersey F (1,38) =8.522 p=.006. The graduation rates collected were from 2011 to 2015. No significant difference was found between the years. There was no significant interaction between type of school and year. Summary Descriptive statistics showed that the mean graduation rate for CTE high schools across the years of 2011 to 2015 was .94839. Comprehensive high schools showed a mean of .88716 across the years of 2011 to 2015. Chapter 5 Discussion Summary The current study aimed to assess and identify differences in graduation rates between comprehensive high schools and Career and Technical high schools in New Jersey. Specifically looking to see if CTE high schools showed to have higher graduation rates between the years of 2011 and 2015. It was hypothesized that CTE high schools would overall show higher graduation rates across New Jersey. If there was a significant difference found between the graduation rates of these two types of high school we could infer that CTE curriculum was having a positive impact on students graduating from high school between these years. Based on the mixed ANOVA test performed, a statistically significant difference was found between graduation rates of comprehensive schools and graduation rates of CTE schools. Results of the mixed ANOVA showed higher graduation rates in CTE high schools. These results show that further research should be performed to determine factors on why CTE high schools show higher graduation rates in New Jersey. Limitations Although this study showed significant evidence about the effectiveness of CTE curriculum on graduation rates, there were many limitations. One of the largest limitations was that each county in New Jersey did not have a CTE high school. Three of the counties including Cumberland County, Hunterdon County, and Mercer County were excluded from the study because there was no CTE high schools in those areas. Therefore the data did not represent all counties in the state of New Jersey. Future Research The current study was developed to determine if there was a difference in graduation rates of comprehensive high schools and CTE high schools in New Jersey. After finding that CTE high schools show higher graduation rates in New Jersey, future research should start to further investigate factors surrounding the success of CTE high schools. This can be accomplished by looking at the demographics of these CTE high schools, the area that the school is in, and student satisfaction ratings in CTE high schools. As mentioned in previous research CTE has been shown to positively affect student’s retention and engagement in school (Brown 2003). Future researchers should look deeper in to the factors surrounding this positive effect. This can be achieved by surveying students who are currently enrolled in CTE programs and determine the satisfaction rate of the students and the positive affect they believe this specific CTE curriculum is having on their education and their attitude about their education. In conclusion, future research should be done to determine specific factors that surround CTE schools positive affect so that we can better understand how to make every student successful in high school. eat: cte trades off with stemCTE is integral to STEM educationNSF 14 - National Science Foudnation(“CTE Pathways to STEM Occupations”;May 12th;)//pkU.S. employers are scrambling to fill jobs that are key to competing in the global economy. Many of these jobs—in computing, energy, manufacturing, and other fields—demand sophisticated STEM skills and knowledge, pay well, and require some higher education, but do not require a bachelor’s degree. Some call these “middle-skill” jobs. Yet in The Hidden STEM Economy, Jonathan Rothwell suggests a more robust term, “high-STEM,” for all occupations that require a “high level of knowledge” in any one STEM field. Whether you call these jobs middle-skill or high-STEM, the reality is the same. As the number of new jobs that demand advanced STEM skills grows, there is a shortage of skilled workers. For the U.S. to remain competitive, business as usual will not work. The educational community and employers need to join forces to prepare an ample high-STEM workforce. Two undervalued key players—secondary career and technical education (CTE) and community colleges—will be instrumental in this effort. “Workers in STEM fields play a direct role in driving economic growth. Yet, because of how the STEM economy has been defined, policymakers have mainly focused on supporting workers with at least a bachelor’s degree, overlooking a strong potential workforce of those with less than a BA.” The Hidden STEM Economy KEY ISSUES AND PROMISING PROGRAMS This brief, the ninth in a series, explores issues and promising practices in paving CTE pathways to high-STEM occupations—a key piece of the STEM college and career readiness puzzle. Other briefs focus on related parts of the puzzle, such as the role that math and science standards play in students’ college and career readiness, providing rich STEM learning in preschool and out-of-school time programs, and strategies to ensure all students enjoy a successful STEM education.7 Secondary Career and Technical Education Secondary CTE can make STEM learning more meaningful and engaging through applied, student-centered approaches. These applied learning approaches help youth acquire key employability skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication, and creativity.8 When secondary CTE infuses applied STEM learning into rigorous programs of study, aligns with post-secondary programs, awards credentials, and offers dual enrollment programs that provide college credits, it propels youth toward college and career goals. Despite these strengths, CTE has received scant respect in the K–12 arena. In 2014, this is changing. Policymakers’ interest and student enrollment in secondary CTE are both on the rise. Yet recent reports highlight potential obstacles to programs’ ability to expand and enhance secondary CTE: The primary federal source of CTE funding, Perkins, is failing to keep pace with the demand to expand CTE and create new CTE programs of study relevant to STEM occupations. The recent FY 14 Omnibus Bill restored $53 million of the FY 13 sequestration cuts, but did nothing to restore FY 11 cuts ($140 million). With level or declining funding, this reflects a pattern of “erosion” in Perkins funds.9 Findings from a survey of 850 secondary CTE educators offer a glimpse into current needs. Since 2008, program enrollment increased for 60% of respondents, while the budgets of 73% remained flat or decreased. Respondents’ top priority for funds is not expanding programs, but attending to areas hit with deep budget cuts: equipment, professional development, technology, and curriculum. Nearly 60% reported they integrate academic learning into CTE, yet 70% said this integration is one-way; academic courses do not connect to CTE.10 As noted on page 3, numerous reports point to the urgent need to build bridges between secondary and post-secondary CTE—through rigorous programs of study that integrate secondary and postsecondary curricula and shared standards (e.g., Common Career Technical Core), for example—to ensure a strong coherent continuum of STEM learning. Without such bridges, as the authors of one report note, “…many students earn college credit in high school that has limited value in the postsecondary space beyond a single institution of higher education.” 11 Reports also underscore the need to improve professional development12 and assessment approaches13 to ensure youth are ready for post-secondary STEM learning. Although these obstacles are formidable, a recent policy analysis conducted by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) indicates that all but three states took legislative action to improve secondary CTE in 2013, and over 30 states invested new resources in secondary CTE. Eleven of the 30 states “addressed STEM in some way.”14 In addition to state support, partnerships between STEM employers and community colleges offer a powerful mechanism to strengthen secondary CTE. Connections with STEM employers help secondary CTE teachers and programs keep abreast of changing workforce skill needs, enable students to explore careers, provide students with mentors and role models—as well as internships and externships—and deepen understanding of high-STEM occupations. Collaboration with community colleges helps create an aligned progression of learning that ensures students stay on track to meet their goals and fosters a skilled high-STEM workforce.CTE k2 effective STEMNeedam 14’ (Needam, “CTE Pathways to STEM Occupations”, 5/12/14, Successful STEM Education, )U.S. employers are scrambling to fill jobs that are key to competing in the global economy. Many of these jobs—in computing, energy, manufacturing, and other fields—demand sophisticated STEM skills and knowledge, pay well, and require some higher education, but do not require a bachelor’s degree. Some call these “middle-skill” jobs. Yet in The Hidden STEM Economy, Jonathan Rothwell suggests a more robust term, “high-STEM,” for all occupations that require a “high level of knowledge” in any one STEM field. Whether you call these jobs middle-skill or high-STEM, the reality is the same. As the number of new jobs that demand advanced STEM skills grows, there is a shortage of skilled workers. For the U.S. to remain competitive, business as usual will not work. The educational community and employers need to join forces to prepare an ample high-STEM workforce. Two undervalued key players—secondary career and technical education (CTE) and community colleges—will be instrumental in this effort. “Workers in STEM fields play a direct role in driving economic growth. Yet, because of how the STEM economy has been defined, policymakers have mainly focused on supporting workers with at least a bachelor’s degree, overlooking a strong potential workforce of those with less than a BA.” The Hidden STEM Economy Striking Statistics: The High-STEM Workforce—Status, Growth, and Gaps Over 50% of STEM jobs do not require a bachelor’s degree, and almost 50% of students who receive four-year STEM degrees begin their learning at community colleges.1 At all levels of educational attainment, people employed in STEM jobs earn 11% higher wages compared with their same-degree counterparts in other jobs.2 U.S. Department of Labor projections show that 15 of the 20 fastest growing occupations require significant science or mathematics training to compete successfully for a job.3 Educational institutions “are not on track to keep pace with” the growing need for Computer System Analysts, Web Developers, and several key Big Data occupations—all of which require extensive skills and knowledge, but not necessarily a BA.4 In a National Association of Manufacturers survey, 67% of respondents reported that they do not have enough skilled employees—technicians, machinists, craft workers—and 56% reported this gap would grow through 2016.5 Only 22% of the $4.3 billion in government funding spent on STEM education goes to “sub-bachelor’s degree” education or training.6 KEY ISSUES AND PROMISING PROGRAMS This brief, the ninth in a series, explores issues and promising practices in paving CTE pathways to high-STEM occupations—a key piece of the STEM college and career readiness puzzle. Other briefs focus on related parts of the puzzle, such as the role that math and science standards play in students’ college and career readiness, providing rich STEM learning in preschool and out-of-school time programs, and strategies to ensure all students enjoy a successful STEM education.7 Secondary Career and Technical Education Secondary CTE can make STEM learning more meaningful and engaging through applied, student-centered approaches. These applied learning approaches help youth acquire key employability skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication, and creativity.8 When secondary CTE infuses applied STEM learning into rigorous programs of study, aligns with post-secondary programs, awards credentials, and offers dual enrollment programs that provide college credits, it propels youth toward college and career goals. Despite these strengths, CTE has received scant respect in the K–12 arena. In 2014, this is changing. Policymakers’ interest and student enrollment in secondary CTE are both on the rise. Yet recent reports highlight potential obstacles to programs’ ability to expand and enhance secondary CTE: The primary federal source of CTE funding, Perkins, is failing to keep pace with the demand to expand CTE and create new CTE programs of study relevant to STEM occupations. The recent FY 14 Omnibus Bill restored $53 million of the FY 13 sequestration cuts, but did nothing to restore FY 11 cuts ($140 million). With level or declining funding, this reflects a pattern of “erosion” in Perkins funds.9 Findings from a survey of 850 secondary CTE educators offer a glimpse into current needs. Since 2008, program enrollment increased for 60% of respondents, while the budgets of 73% remained flat or decreased. Respondents’ top priority for funds is not expanding programs, but attending to areas hit with deep budget cuts: equipment, professional development, technology, and curriculum. Nearly 60% reported they integrate academic learning into CTE, yet 70% said this integration is one-way; academic courses do not connect to CTE.10 As noted on page 3, numerous reports point to the urgent need to build bridges between secondary and post-secondary CTE—through rigorous programs of study that integrate secondary and postsecondary curricula and shared standards (e.g., Common Career Technical Core), for example—to ensure a strong coherent continuum of STEM learning. Without such bridges, as the authors of one report note, “…many students earn college credit in high school that has limited value in the postsecondary space beyond a single institution of higher education.” 11 Reports also underscore the need to improve professional development12 and assessment approaches13 to ensure youth are ready for post-secondary STEM learning. Although these obstacles are formidable, a recent policy analysis conducted by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) indicates that all but three states took legislative action to improve secondary CTE in 2013, and over 30 states invested new resources in secondary CTE. Eleven of the 30 states “addressed STEM in some way.”14 In addition to state support, partnerships between STEM employers and community colleges offer a powerful mechanism to strengthen secondary CTE. Connections with STEM employers help secondary CTE teachers and programs keep abreast of changing workforce skill needs, enable students to explore careers, provide students with mentors and role models—as well as internships and externships—and deepen understanding of high-STEM occupations. Collaboration with community colleges helps create an aligned progression of learning that ensures students stay on track to meet their goals and fosters a skilled high-STEM workforce.CTE applicable to multiple sectors – like cybersecurityConroy No Date - ICT & Media – Creative Arts & IT Faculty at Sydney TAFE (Gemma, “FAST TRACK YOUR STUDIES WITH VOCATIONAL TRAINING OFFERED ONLINE AND AT TAFE, COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES – AND GET A COMPETITIVE EDGE”, No Date, Careers with STEM, )“The vocational pathway is very broad and we encourage students to consider how they can use their skills in different areas,” she says. “Vocational students get picked up by the industry quickly because they’re job-ready.” To get students up to speed with the fast-growing tech industry, TAFE offers a range of opportunities in addition to their standard programs. These include short courses and master classes with industry leaders, 24-hour cyber security challenges and the opportunity to compete in global competitions like WorldSkills. Recently, Sydney TAFE ran the Limelight Project, an eight-week collaborative venture where IT students worked with other faculties to create an online shop. “We encourage teamwork and skill-sharing with students from other backgrounds, like business and marketing,” Karen says. Unlike a degree pathway, vocational training allows students to start at any time and work at their own pace. It can also fast-track your career without the need to spend years studying for additional qualifications. Jonathan Romer, a computer systems engineering student in the advanced diploma program at RMIT University in Melbourne, says one of the best things about vocational training is that industry leaders help design programs to equip graduates with the skills to meet the demands of the field. “Vocational training is designed to prepare you for entry-level employment as quickly as possible,” he says. “You gain a competitive edge because you get hands-on experience with new and innovative technology.”Casual Relationship between STEM and CTEMoran 16’ - General Manager at Apprenticeship Support Australia (James, “Vocational pathways to STEM skills shortages”, 7/02/16, LinkedIn, )There needs to be a cultural shift in thinking away from the purely academic, if we are to successfully increase student uptake of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, to acknowledge vocational education as a main player in developing skills in these disciplines. Recent high-profile reports and government policy announcements have highlighted that STEM skills will play a critical role in Australia’s future economic prosperity. Yet, with fewer high-school students choosing to elect STEM subjects[1] it would seem that the relationship between these disciplines and the career prospects they can open up is not being clearly articulated. Students need opportunities to apply STEM knowledge learned in the classroom to solve real problems and to create solutions for real businesses – ideally through school-based traineeships and apprenticeships in order to realise the relevance of STEM subjects to careers. A greater uptake of school-based traineeships and apprenticeships will close the gap between the knowledge generated in the education system and the skills demanded by employers. It is to be noted that, according to recent ABS data, more than half of the population qualified in STEM disciplines has a vocational qualification. Vocational Skills k2 resolve STEM Skill gapPhillips 14’ - Interface designer with a strong focus on user-centered and interaction design, and a lover of great typography (Jon, “STEM & Vocational Skills Gaps: The Importance of Early Education”, Adecco, 4/15/14, )The availability of workers with expertise in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or what we commonly refer to as STEM skills, is in decline. The demand, on the other hand, is increasing rapidly. In fact, according to this Business Insider article, a little over 9 million baby-boomers have retired over the past six years, and one-fifth of baby-boomers will retire in the coming years, making this quite an alarming trend. The jobs exist, but often they cannot be filled because of a lack of STEM or other vocational skills in the emerging workforce. These skills gaps can have very harmful effects on the job market and global economy. All is not lost though, and the future seems rather optimistic. How can we help fill those gaps and get the next generation of workers involved and interested in STEM-related careers? Building a foundation Children are the workers of tomorrow and it is crucial to get them involved in learning and understanding the skills they will need in order to succeed in the global workforce. Kids are generally curious and drawn to science and engineering but unfortunately the interest often fades away as they get older. Building a robust foundation with a focus on STEM skills will provide today’s children, teens, and young adults with an array of lucrative and stimulating careers. Not only are those skills in high demand, the study of STEM will also help them develop initiative, critical thinking, teamwork and problem solving – which are skills that are often quite high on a hiring manager’s list of requirements, no matter the industry.xt – stem link turnCTE creates more opportunities within STEMSchwartz 12/13/17’ - Professor Emeritus of Practice in Educational Policy and Administration, directed the education grantmaking program of The Pew Charitable Trusts, Senior Research Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Education (Roberty, “Memo: Career and technical education”, 12/13/17, Brookings Institution, )Twenty-five years into the movement to raise academic standards and provide all students with a solid foundation of core academic knowledge and skills, it is clear that we have made only modest progress in improving educational outcomes. We have succeeded in reducing the dropout rate—over 80 percent of students are now graduating high school, an all-time high—and increasing enrollment in higher education. We have also succeeded in reducing the gap in graduation rates between Caucasian and Asian students on the one hand and African-American and Latino students on the other, an encouraging sign of progress.However, the results are much less encouraging if we look at college attainment rates of young people in their mid-twenties. Only one young American in three succeeds in attaining a four-year degree. When you add into the equation those with two year degrees and even those with one-year occupational certificates with value in the labor market, fewer than 50 percent of those in their mid-twenties have any kind of postsecondary credential, while economists tell us that by 2020 two-thirds of the jobs will require some education or training beyond high school. And even those with degrees can swirl in the labor market. In 2013 over half of young Americans with four-year degrees were either unemployed (6 percent) or underemployed (44 percent). Meanwhile, survey after survey tells us that employers can’t find people with the skills they need to fill today’s jobs, especially middle-skill technical jobs in fields like IT, health care, and advanced manufacturing. These factors taken together would seem to argue for a much stronger push to better align our education system, especially our high schools and community colleges, with the needs of our economy in order to equip more young people with the skills they will need to take advantage of career opportunities in these high-demand, high-growth fields. This is the role that high quality career and technical education (CTE) is designed to play.CTE today comes in many flavors. There are standalone vocational high schools, which typically provide a range of occupational programs from which students can choose along with the required core academic subjects. In some states there are part-time occupational centers, where students remain in their home high schools for their academic courses but receive specialized occupational training on a half-day basis. Perhaps the most rapidly growing CTE-related model is the career academy, which typically occurs either as a separate program within a comprehensive high school or as a freestanding small school. Career academies aim to integrate academic and technical education and focus mainly on fields like health care and IT and financial services, not the traditional trades and crafts. What is common across all forms of what I prefer to call “career-focused” education is that participants in these programs typically have higher high school graduation and postsecondary enrollment rates than their counterparts in comprehensive high schools with no career focus.CTE is key to creating the same skills as STEM educationBY ANNE JOLLY 15 · Anne Jolly is a STEM consultant organizer for the Center for Teaching Quality Collaboratory("Where Career Tech Meets STEM Education”;2/15;)//pkOkay – I’ll admit to thinking of CTE as a mostly high school curriculum. Then I typed middle school career and technical education into a search engine and got an eye-popping number of hits. A couple of hours of mouse clicks later I’m convinced that this program can play an integral role in advancing STEM goals. What is CTE? We usually think of these courses as the skilled trades – welders, assemblers, machinists, electricians, and so on. These skilled trades are a significant part of our economy but are among the hardest jobs to fill in the United States in 2015. Today’s CTE offerings may include a much wider variety of career-oriented subjects, including health care occupations, agriculture, architecture, construction, audio-video technology and communications, and information technology (IT), to name a few. One reader commented on my 1/20 blog about defining STEM: Technology education . . . focuses on the integration of scientific knowledge, technological processes, design, engineering, and problem-solving for the creation of useful products. The Association for Career & Technical Education describes CTE as cutting-edge, rigorous, and relevant . . . education that prepares youth and adults for a wide range of high-wage, high-skill, and high-demand careers. Sounds a lot like STEM to me. Here are some connections I unearthed between CTE programs and STEM projects. You CTE experts out there – do you agree? 1. CTE addresses many of the same soft skills and mindsets that STEM addresses. Currently, industry is facing a scarcity of workers who are skilled not only in the latest emerging technologies, but in soft skills. Companies want workers with hands-on competencies, the ability to learn new skills, a mindset of continuous learning, and an aptitude for innovation. CTE focuses on building those skills, along with a strong emphasis on design – the heart of the STEM world. . CTE encourages a comfort level with technology. Imagine a student who’s used to sitting alone at a desk doing paperwork. Now imagine putting that student on a team of STEM students charged with solving a problem by brainstorming, creating, and building prototypes to solve the problem. You just may have a student who’s out of his or her comfort zone at first. A CTE student comes technology-ready. These students are comfortable handling materials and creating prototypes and solutions. One thing I find intriguing: CTE encompasses a wide range of technology and may include graphic design, bringing a strong tie to the arts. One article suggests that solution designers need more creative talent and ideation, and recommends adding artists and science fiction writers to the mix of folk who work together to design engaging solutions. (Perhaps, in the case of middle schoolers, science fiction readers.) 3. CTE offers a hands-on instructional approach. According to this article from ACTE Issue Brief, CTE pro?grams use the same student-engaged instructional approaches as STEM. The teacher plays the role of a facilitator or guide, equipped with the knowledge and skills to help students advance. CTE courses integrate STEM content and can help students become more STEM literate. (This increases the chances that students will consider STEM-related careers.) CTE builds strong, intentional connections to science and math. The same ACTE Issue Brief asserts that CTE has long been a leader in integrating high-level academics and technology. In CTE classes students apply math and science concepts to authentic situations and learn that these subjects have value in solving interest?ing real-world problems. This builds relevance and connections among subjects – a prime goal of STEM. 5. CTE actively pursues diverse groups of students to participate in STEM careers. STEM programs focus on attracting diverse groups of students from different races, ethnicities, socioeconomic levels, and genders. CTE courses play a significant role in growing the diversity in the STEM workforce by attracting students from underrepresented populations to choose STEM coursework and enter STEM career fields. For both CTE and STEM programs, making the program inclusive of all students is an intentional, strategic goal.CTE is critical to create an effective STEM educationNASDCTE 13 - National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education(“CTE Is Your STEM Strategy”;December;)//pkCTE Is Your STEM Strategy INTRODUCTION Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education is attracting interest across the nation. In many states, top policy leaders, including governors, K-12 chief state school officers and economic development commissioners, have made STEM central to their reform platforms. A significant number of states have STEM coalitions in place to coordinate all STEM activities across agencies and industries. Business leaders routinely call for more STEM-ready graduates broadly and within specific industry and specialty areas at the national, state and local levels. None of this is very surprising or even very new. STEM has clear ties to and is a driver of economic development, global competitiveness and innovation. Students who understand the role of STEM and are able to excel in those courses and experiences anchored in the STEM disciplines are our future inventors, investors and industrialists. It is no coincidence that more than 20 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs have a background in engineering, the most common undergraduate major for these leaders.1 While states, districts and schools strive to operationalize a concept like STEM, many already are offering high-quality Career Technical Education (CTE) programs that impart critical academic, technical and employability skills. More specifically, every state already has programs of study in place that are preparing students for careers in the STEM fields. These programs of study – which include learning at both the secondary and postsecondary levels – are also helping students master the STEM skills and competencies that have value in just about any career, such as inquiry, problem solving and creativity.2 To that end, this brief puts forth a not-so-novel concept: CTE is your STEM strategy. Simply put, STEM must not be viewed as a separate enterprise from CTE. While a state’s CTE programs may not encompass everything within a state’s STEM strategy, high-quality CTE programs can provide a strong foundation for and serve as a delivery system of STEM competencies and skills for a broader range of students. By considering STEM as preparation for a variety of careers, and not just limited to the traditionally defined “STEM jobs,” the strategy of leveraging CTE to deliver STEM education makes a lot of sense. While there is clear labor market demand for workers in STEM jobs – according to Change the Equation, there are 3.6 unemployed people for every job opening across all occupations compared to nearly two open STEM jobs for every unemployed person – the demand for STEM skills is even more comprehensive.3 According to an analysis by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, however, the STEM skills gap is actually more about a gap in those STEM competencies among workers than about a gap in the number of STEM workers. “The concern for STEM shortages tends to focus on the possibility of an insufficient supply of STEM workers, but the deeper problem is a broader scarcity of workers with basic STEM competencies across the entire economy. Demand for the core competencies is far greater than the five percent traditional STEM employment share suggests, and stretches across the entire U.S. job market, touching virtually every industry.”4 In addition, a recent report from the Brookings Institute estimates that as of 2011, 26 million U.S. jobs—20 percent of all jobs—require a high level of knowledge in any one STEM field, only half of which require a bachelor’s degree but nearly all of which pay well above the national median salary.5 One benefit of viewing STEM through this CTE lens is that it allows for a broader understanding of STEM, an understanding that extends beyond just engineering or the traditional science disciplines, which is how STEM is all too often narrowly defined and implemented. It also allows states, districts and schools to build their STEM strategies based on existing efforts rather than adding another new initiative to the mix. The policy brief will explore: n The elements of a high-quality CTE program of study that makes it an effective tool for delivering or implementing STEM education; n How STEM is naturally embedded across the 16 Career Clusters?; n Examples of states embracing the link between CTE and STEM; and n Areas where CTE and STEM programs can learn from and strengthen one another. DEFINING STEM There are many ways to define STEM education. For some, STEM is all about getting more students interested in and prepared for the engineering fields. Another common interpretation focuses on building applications within traditional science courses. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), for example, offer this: “The [NGSS] represent a commitment to integrate engineering design into the structure of science education by raising engineering design to the same level as scientific inquiry when teaching science disciplines at all levels, from kindergarten to grade 12. There are both practical and inspirational reasons for including engineering design as an essential element of science education.” 6 NGSS’s approach to engineering design is largely drawn from the National Research Center’s K-12 Framework for Science Education, which includes the following statement: “We use the term ‘engineering’ in a very broad sense to mean any engagement in a systematic practice of design to achieve solutions to particular human problems. Likewise, we broadly use the term ‘technology’ to include all types of human-made systems and processes…Technologies result when engineers apply their understanding of the natural world and of human behavior to design ways to satisfy human needs and wants.” 7 Another definition focuses on the interdisciplinary opportunities within STEM: “STEM education is an interdisciplinary approach to learning where rigorous academic concepts are coupled with real-world lessons as students apply science, technology, engineering and mathematics in contexts that make connections between school, community, work and the global enterprise enabling the development of STEM literacy and with it the ability to compete in the new economy.“8 There is even a movement in place attempting to rebrand “STEM” into “STEAM” with the “A” standing for arts.9 CTE AS A STEM DELIVERY SYSTEM In the spring of 2010, State CTE Directors from all 50 states united around a new vision for CTE, called “Reflect, Transform, Lead: A New Vision for Career Technical Education.” 10 The vision sets expectations for CTE and promotes specific policy and programmatic action steps to achieve the vision and ensure CTE is high quality around the nation. Specifically, five principles were identified in this CTE Vision: 1. CTE is critical to ensuring that the United States leads in global competitiveness. 2. CTE actively partners with employers to design and provide high-quality, dynamic programs. 3. CTE prepares students to succeed in further education and careers. 4. CTE is delivered through comprehensive programs of study aligned to The National Career Clusters Framework. 5. CTE is a results-driven system that demonstrates a positive return on investment. All five of these principles directly apply to STEM, demonstrating a clear link between highquality CTE and STEM policy, programs and initiatives. To go one level deeper, there are a number of elements within CTE that make it a natural delivery system for STEM education, discussed in more detail below. To be clear, these are elements of high-quality CTE programs, those meeting the principles laid out in the vision described above. Secondary-Postsecondary Alignment Programs of study, which are required for all recipients of federal funding through the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins), incorporate well-aligned secondary and postsecondary courses, provide opportunities for dual or concurrent enrollment, are anchored in industry needs, integrate technical and academic knowledge and skills, and lead to an industry-recognized credential or postsecondary degree or certificate.11 Programs of study provide direct pathways into postsecondary education and training for students, a critical goal of STEM education and the broader college- and career-ready agenda. Every state has programs of study in place, although in many states these secondaryto-postsecondary linkages are largely created and maintained at the local level rather than grounded in statewide standards or credit transfer agreements. A number of states do have robust pathway programs with strong articulation or transcripted credit policies in place, such as Kansas’s dual enrollment policy12 or Montana’s Big Sky Pathways initiative,13 that provide a model for other states. This is a policy lever that has significant potential to improve transitions for all CTE (and STEM) students. Business-Education Partnerships As articulated by the second CTE Vision principle, CTE is built on partnerships and sits at the nexus of education, business, and economic and workforce development. Successful CTE programs are well-aligned to industry needs, needs that can best be defined by industry leaders and employers.14 There are a number of models for engaging business in supporting CTE and helping keep it relevant, from business leaders sitting on advisory councils to providing work-based learning experiences for CTE students through internships, externships, job shadowing and capstone projects developed by business for business. Just as CTE programs thrive on business engagement, STEM programs also must reflect the expectations of employers and the global economy. Problem-Based/Project-Based Learning One hallmark of high-quality CTE is that it offers true “contextualized” learning for students, or ways for students to master technical and academic content within the context of a specific industry or career pathway. Much of this contextualizing is about providing students with more hands-on learning that focuses on solving a problem or undertaking a project that is reflective of an authentic, real-world challenge. High-quality STEM pathways and courses strive to provide such student-centered, problem-based learning as well. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) is leading an effort with 10 states called Advanced Career. Through this effort, the states are each creating a four-course sequence in a CTE area of their choice, aligned to college- and career-ready standards and based on solving authentic problems. For example, Alabama is creating a sequence of courses and student-centered projects in Aerospace Engineering, Kansas in STEM Education and Training, New Jersey in Entrepreneurship and Global Logistics, North Carolina in Project Management, and West Virginia in Energy and Power.15 Additionally, many CTE students participate in Career Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs), such as FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America), HOSA (future health professionals), Technology Student Association and SkillsUSA16 which, among other activities, provide skillsbased competitions for students. These competitions are based largely on students’ abilities to work individually or in teams to solve problems and present projects to judges from industry and education. While the focus of these efforts is on CTE and career readiness, they clearly support student mastery of the “STEM competencies,” as many problem- or projectbased learning experiences do. Use of Technology In some states, such as Maryland and Oklahoma, CTE does not stand for “Career Technical Education,” but rather “Career Technology Education.” This demonstrates both the traditional view of CTE as a means of training individuals in technology (including, but not limited to, information technology) and the technical subjects, as well as a more updated view on technology as being critical and fully embedded in high-quality technical training. Indeed, one reason many states still utilize technology centers is that they allow schools to pool resources to make the necessary investments in technology and equipment, from pathway-specific software programs (e.g., AutoCAD, GIS, Photoshop) and hardware (e.g., fabrication tools, x-ray machines, power tools), to technology for project management and communications (e.g., Microsoft Office, Basecamp, WebEx). While states continue to grapple with how they can best leverage technology to inform and enhance instruction, CTE has embraced technology from the beginning. Given the expense of technology, many STEM programs can benefit from being integrated into CTE to utilize existing technologies and tools. Integrated and Cross-Disciplinary Knowledge & Skills As mentioned above, programs of study – or sequences of courses and experiences – are expected to integrate technical and academic knowledge and skills. Initiatives such as the National Research Center for Career & Technical Education’s Math-in-CTE and Literacy-in-CTE, Linked Learning, and the NASDCTEc-Achieve Task Alignment partnership17 are all examples of efforts to support the integration of academic and technical teaching and learning. Additionally, with the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts/Literacy, adopted by 46 states and Washington DC, CTE educators now have an explicit charge to bring rigorous, grade-level literacy into their courses. States also are engaging CTE educators around the Common Core State Standards in mathematics, although to a lesser extent to date. The NGSS, currently adopted by eight states, should also encourage more academic and technical integration by design, particularly with their inclusion of science and engineering practices.18 There is no question that, even without making the connections explicit, there is significant overlap in the knowledge and skills between traditional core academic courses and CTE courses. This is especially true given the increasingly demanding 21st century workplace, which requires more communications, analytical thinking and critical thinking skills than ever before. A benefit of CTE is that it can draw on knowledge and skills from any and all content areas. For example, themed career academies often require students to integrate the CTE area into all of their studies – and vice versa. The New York Harbor School, for example, integrates English, history, science and mathematics into and across its CTE-specific courses.19 Another way of considering integration is with respect to content and practices – or the integration of knowledge and its many applications. The Common Career Technical Core, a common set of CTE benchmark standards created by 42 states and two territories, introduce 12 Career Ready Practices which identify the knowledge, skills and dispositions all students, at all learner levels, need to have in order to be ready for careers.20 It is clear that STEM can support and help foster all of these practices just as CTE does: n Act as a responsible and contributing citizen and employee. n Apply appropriate academic and technical skills. n Attend to personal health and financial well-being. n Communicate clearly and effectively and with reason. n Consider the environmental, social and economic impacts of decisions. n Demonstrate creativity and innovation. n Employ valid and reliable research strategies. n Utilize critical thinking to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. n Model integrity, ethical leadership and effective management. n Plan education and career paths aligned to personal goals. n Use technology to enhance productivity. n Work productively in teams while using cultural global competence. Access for Typically Underrepresented Students A common concern about America’s ability to compete globally in the STEM fields is that too few minority students have access to and are prepared for STEM careers (or the postsecondary education necessary for access to STEM careers).21 However, CTE is slightly more diverse than the full population of secondary students, providing an entry point and introduction to STEM competencies and skills for more traditionally underserved students, as demonstrated in Table 1. There are two likely explanations behind the data. For one, “vocational” education was typically a separate (and unequal) track for students who weren’t “college material,” into which certain disadvantaged students were counseled. In the last decade, CTE programs have embraced the goal of preparing students for careers rather than for specific jobs, and efforts are being made in many states and districts to ensure CTE pathways are equally rigorous to more traditional course pathways. The second explanation is simply that CTE is relevant and interesting (i.e., utilizes hands-on learning, technology and interdisciplinary lessons), thus attracting students who may be marginalized in traditional education. In any case, CTE presents an opportunity for engaging more students into STEM careers.CTE is key to creating a strong workforce of STEM-related jobsACTE 9 - Association for Career and Technical Education(“CTE’s Role in Science, Technology, Engineering & Math”;June;)//pkIn this brief: This Issue Brief will explore the integral role CTE programs and initiatives play in addressing the STEM challenge and securing America’s leadership in innovation. CTE programs offer students a deeper understanding of STEM career pathways, build interest in STEM-related careers by making math and science content more relevant and tangible to students, and help grow the STEM workforce pipeline by encouraging more students from underrepresented populations to enter these career fields. June 2009 For the last several years, concern has been growing about America’s underinvestment and underperformance in the fields collectively known as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). These concerns have been heralded in several highprofile books, reports and policy proposals from groups ranging from U.S. business leaders to the National Governors Association.1 What is STEM, and why is it drawing so much high-profile attention? STEM can be described as an “initiative for securing America’s leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields and identifying promising strategies for strengthening the educational pipeline that leads to STEM careers.”2 The elements of science, technology, engineering and math are integral parts of our nation’s critical economic sectors, from health care to energy, and infrastructure to national security. STEM careers include not only those requiring a research-based advanced math or science degree, but a broad range of related occupations in areas as diverse as aquaculture, automotive technology, accounting and architecture. More careers than ever before require a deep understanding of science, technology, engineering or math principles. Despite the increased importance and focus placed on preparing students for STEM fields, more must be done to ensure a fully developed, skilled STEM workforce that will help secure America’s economic future. Career and technical education (CTE) programs offer an important instructional approach that strengthens students’ understanding of STEM content and helps attract more individuals into STEM career pathways. Expanding and strengthening CTE programs are critical parts of the solution to the STEM challenge. The Concerns Too Few STEM Professionals To regain a high level of American economic competitiveness and well-being, American-based industries need to perpetuate a steady stream of innovative technologies and processes. Policymakers and business leaders have emphasized that this ability to innovate is predicated on the readiness of a large pool of talented individuals with expertise in the principles of science, technology, engineering and advanced mathematics. The demand for U.S. STEM professionals is expanding rapidly, but the supply of STEM talent is not increasing to meet the growing need. Two main factors are affecting the supply side of the STEM equation. First, the looming retirement of the baby boom generation will significantly affect the STEM labor force. The number of current scientists and engineers retiring will increase rapidly over the next decade. Twenty-six percent of people with science and engineering degrees currently working are 50 years or older. Second, too few students are currently choosing to prepare for STEM careers. From 1985 to 2005, the number of bachelor’s degrees earned in engineering fell from to 77,572 to 66,133, and the number of associate degrees in engineering technology fell from 53,700 to 28,800.3 The United States is standing still or falling behind in terms of producing home-grown STEM talent. At the same time, other nations, particularly population-rich ones like India and China, are rapidly increasing the number of STEM professionals that their secondary and postsecondary education systems produce.4 These sobering facts indicate that the United States is struggling to keep up with increasing global competition for talent, which depends in large measure on STEM education. The U.S. business community has set a goal of doubling the annual number of U.S. science, technology, engineering and mathematics bachelor’s-level graduates to 400,000 by 2015.5 An exponentially higher level of STEM technicians with associate degrees or certificates will also be needed across a broad spectrum of industries in the future. Demand for STEM professionals with education and training above a high school diploma but below a bachelor’s degree is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.6 For example, veterinary technicians, nursing assistants, pharmacy technicians, forensic-science technicians and dental hygienists are all among the fastest-growing occupations projected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.7 Lack of Basic Science and Math Skills While some of the deficit in STEM professionals can be attributed to lack of interest, there is growing concern that students are not gaining the foundational skills necessary to be successful in STEM career areas even if they choose that path. Low student performance is evidenced on the U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Math scores for 17-year-olds were essentially unchanged from 2004 to 2008, despite the fact that students are taking more and higher-level math courses in high school.8 In fact, test results showed that 41 percent of those students did not even have an understanding of moderately complex math procedures and reasoning, such as finding averages and making decisions based on graphs.9 According to the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), U.S. students performed much worse in science and math than students from other industrialized countries.10 Of the 30 countries tested, students from 16 countries performed higher than U.S. students in science, and students from 23 countries performed higher than the United States in math. STEM-intensive Career Clusters and Sample Careers ? Veterinarian ? GPS Technician ? Food and Drug Inspector ? Dietician ? Pharmacy Technician ? Microbiologist ? 3-D Animator ? Network Administrator ? Computer Programmer ? Electrical Engineer ? Safety Technician ? Wind Turbine Machinist ? Statistician ? Lab Technician ? Drafter ? Aerospace Engineer ? Logistics Analyst ? Diesel Engine Specialist Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Health Science Information Technology Manufacturing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Transportation, Distribution and Logistics ACTE Issue Brief: STEM 3 In addition, scores in the United States were much more closely correlated to socioeconomic status than in other countries. For the U.S. students who took the PISA, 18 percent of the variance was related to socioeconomic status, while only 14 percent of the variance was related to socioeconomic status in other countries.11 This U.S. income-based achievement gap is further evidenced by the fact that lower-income U.S. students scored an average of 23 points below higher-income students on the math portion of the 2005 12th-grade NAEP.12 Achievement gaps also exist among U.S. students based on race and ethnicity, and the gaps are even more dramatic when gender is added. Hispanic and black students lag behind white students on practically every measure of science and math proficiency.13 On the mathematics portion of the SAT college entrance exam, Asian-American and white students’ scores are much higher and are increasing more rapidly than those of black and Hispanic students. Boys significantly outperform girls across all four race/ethnicity categories.14 Given the demographic trends of rapidly increasing non-white and less-advantaged populations in the United States, this pattern of low performance among disadvantaged students is a serious concern for the potential future of the STEM workforce. CTE Provides a Solution In facing these serious challenges, there is also reason for optimism in America’s ability to ignite interest in STEM-related careers and strengthen the STEM literacy of the entire student population. The reason for that optimism stems from a growing level of STEM innovation that has evolved from CTE. CTE has long been a leader in the integration of high-level academics and technology. For example, CTE courses in agriculture, nutrition and health care have always contained strong science components, in many places earning students core academic credits. During the last decade, however, literally thousands of new cutting-edge, STEM-intensive CTE programs have been launched or expanded in schools across the nation. As these programs move to larger-scale implementation, they have amazing potential to help many additional students prepare for and pursue careers in STEM areas. CTE programs and related initiatives provide key advantages in addressing the STEM challenge and securing America’s leadership in innovation. CTE programs offer students a deeper understanding of STEM career pathways in order to facilitate student transitions into these areas, build interest in STEM and STEM-related careers by making math and science content more relevant and tangible to students through integration, and help grow the STEM workforce pipeline by encouraging more students from underrepresented populations to enter these career fields. Providing Career Exploration and Pathways There is a significant challenge in American culture of attracting students to actively pursue STEM careers. According to a recent survey about teen attitudes toward STEM, students are exhibiting a renewed openness toward pursuing STEM professions and showing more interest in developing marketable STEM skills as the nation’s economic future becomes more tenuous. However, the survey also indicates that youths’ lack of understanding of STEM creates a serious obstacle. “Nearly two-thirds of teens indicated that they may be discouraged from pursuing a career in STEM because they do not know anyone who works in these fields (31 percent) or understand what people in these fields do (28 percent).”15 CTE programs, integrated with active career exploration and career advising, help students understand the breadth of careers that have a relationship to STEM and the varied pathways that can lead to those careers. Courses in areas like aviation and aerospace, information technology, engineering, game design, health care, nanotechnology, and simulation and robotics expose students to curricula and careers they may have never even imagined. Embedded in CTE programs are the support services necessary to help students pursue these rigorous courses and career opportunities, including mentors, career and technical student organizations, and work-based learning opportunities, such as job shadowing and internships, to connect youth with caring adult role models. STEM-intensive courses are being taught throughout CTE through the use of career clusters, an approach that gives students a broader understanding of the world of careers. There are 16 career clusters containing 81 distinct career pathways.16 While STEM-related careers exist across the 16 clusters, six are considered STEM intensive: Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources; Health Science; Information Technology; Manufacturing; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; 4? ACTE Issue Brief: STEM “CTE courses, through the thoughtful integration of STEM concepts, can help all students become more STEM literate and increase the chances that these students consider STEM-related careers.” and Transportation, Distribution and Logistics. Within these systems, students can learn more about career options, take personalized career assessments, and better understand the challenging mathematics and science courses they will need to pursue STEM careers. Through coherent “programs of study,” authorized in the federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, CTE at the secondary level is linked to postsecondary experiences leading to certificates, associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees. This is especially critical in STEM fields. While not all STEM professions require bachelor’s or more advanced degrees, almost all require some amount of postsecondary education and training. According to a workforce analysis conducted in 2007, about half of all U.S. jobs fall in the category of “middle skill” jobs—“those that require more than high school, but less than a four-year degree.”17 A large percentage of these middle skill jobs relate directly to STEM. Through programs of study, CTE students can explore and then enter into a definitive career pathway with the assurance that knowledge and skills will transfer between secondary and postsecondary education, and then into a high-skill, high-wage, high-demand job opportunity. CTE programs put students on a pathway to immediate job opportunities and lifelong career advancement in STEM areas. Adding Relevance through Integration Part of the American competitiveness challenge is for all U.S. workers to be able to readily apply the scientific method, cutting-edge technologies, mathematical thinking skills that contribute to innovation and problem solving, and the systemsthinking that undergirds engineering and design to create new services and solutions to meet customer demands. CTE courses, through the thoughtful integration of STEM concepts, can help Since 1997, when Project Lead the Way (PLTW) was launched as an independent not-for-profit organization with 12 high schools participating, PLTW’s pre-engineering program has experienced rapid growth. By 2009, approximately 3,000 middle and high schools were participating in the effort, with 250,000 students enrolled in PLTW courses in engineering and biomedical sciences.18 This is a significant start on reaching the goal of producing 400,000 scientists and engineers annually. At Lake Travis High School (LTHS) in Texas, the PLTW curriculum is used as part of the Institute of Math, Engineering & Architecture. LTHS is using an integrated, cohort-based approach to implement PLTW and help more students explore careers in engineering. Ninth-grade students begin the program with the PLTW Introduction to Engineering Design course and continue with the 10th-grade Principles of Engineering course. During the sophomore year, these students take special, engineering-focused academic courses that help them see the relevance of traditional academics to their future career options. For juniors, the coursework includes Digital Electronics, a course focusing on skills in basic electronics, logical thinking, problem solving and troubleshooting and offering four articulated credits at Austin Community College. Seniors complete the LTHS PLTW program with more in-depth elective engineering courses, as well as internships, capstone projects and college connections. Much of the expansion and integration of the engineering program at Lake Travis has been made possible by a grant from Siemens Building Technologies. Siemens was looking for a school district to model and disseminate best practices in high school engineering programs. Due to the highly recognized postsecondary engineering programs at Austin Community College and the University of Texas, Lake Travis was selected to participate. The grant has provided business and industry externships for academic and CTE teachers, common planning time to enhance curriculum integration, and partnerships that connect students with the professional STEM community and prepare them for postsecondary success across a wide range of career options. ACTE Issue Brief: STEM 5 all students become more STEM literate and increase the chances that these students consider STEM-related careers. While most students have a strong aptitude for learning, their particular learning styles vary significantly. Many students may have difficulty grasping mathematical concepts and scientific theories if they are presented in an abstract manner devoid of clear applications. CTE courses deliver STEM content in a manner that is far different from the average academic course. One new approach was developed and examined through the “Math in CTE” project carried out by the National Research Center for CTE. In this project, math and CTE teachers identified the math content already present in various CTE courses and conducted curriculum-alignment activities and created lesson plans to make that content much more explicit and consistent with terminology used in core academic courses. The project’s specific methodology demonstrated a positive impact on student learning and test scores, and is being replicated across the country.19 Another project aimed at strengthening math and science skills through CTE is the STEM Transitions Initiative, led by the Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD) and funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The STEM Transitions Initiative developed 61 curriculum projects that integrate core academic content into rigorous CTE applications.20 Curriculum resources are organized within the six STEM-intensive career clusters. The context-based instructional materials provide faculty with teaching resources that will boost both the academic and career-related skills of their students by integrating math and science instruction within the context of a technical discipline.CTE good for STEMBrazell 10’ - technology forecaster, author, public speaker, and consultant (Jim, “STEM: Mainstreaming Career and Technical Education (CTE)”, EdNet Insight, 2010, )Fueled by Washington’s focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and U.S. competitiveness, Career and Technical Education (CTE) is emerging as a platform for systemic education reform in Texas, New York, California, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Kansas, and Arizona. The implication for the educational technology and publishing industry is a wave of change enabling educational technology and textbook budgets to include CTE curricula and infrastructure. The rise of STEM broadens the definition of educational technology to support high-technology “shop” classes and broadens the market for kits, labs, simulations, and software and “hands-on” projects in K-12 schools. As the U.S. turns its attention to STEM education and education reform in general, transdisciplinary programs that unify CTE, academics and arts are gaining ground as a method of increasing student retention, graduation, performance, and readiness for college. In effect, the definition of a well-rounded student is evolving from a liberal arts education to an integrated education including CTE. Rather than focusing on academics for college-bound students or vocational education for work-bound students, these programs transcend traditional silos and tracking by merging academic and vocational curricula and college pathways. Transdisciplinary Education Movement Transdisciplinary education is practiced in pockets throughout the United States and the world. These initiatives are guided by the following criteria: (1) STEM proficiency, and particularly technology proficiency, is now fundamental to every academic discipline, job, and aspect of civil life; (2) CTE is for every student and fundamental to student motivation and performance; (3) expanding educational equity and equality is a function of unifying hands-on learning, academic rigor, and creativity using real-world tools, roles, and contexts; and (4) the well-rounded student is ready for college, life, and career rather than a single track to work and community college or university. The expansion of CTE is both ironic and profound. CTE expansion is ironic because it calls for unification of academic and vocational worlds in the shadow of nearly a century of tradition that drew sharp distinctions between academic and career preparation. Today, the increasing multi-skill and technologically complex nature of work, the aging and ongoing retirement of the “boomer” workforce, and the fact that 80% of today’s workers have the “equivalency” of two years of postsecondary have driven these two worlds to a point of convergence. The CTE movement is profound, because for at least a century, learning-by-doing was associated with the lowest order of intelligence, education, and work. Today, the news from brain research and neuroscience is that humans learn by doing. Integrated CTE, academics, and the arts are emerging as the next evolution of school reform at the same time that the world of science validates methods that are the cornerstone of vocational practice from andragogy to project-based learning. Powerful voices are using the rhetoric of “career pathways,” “dual concentrators,” “programs of study,” “career clusters,” and “academic-CTE integration.” These voices range from the President of the United States in his most recent State of the Union Address to key executive educational leaders across the nation and the world. The transdisciplinary movement unifying academics, arts, and CTE will deeply influence education markets, classroom learning, and schools. at: college tradeoff (link)CTE doesn’t decrease college attendanceSilverberg et al 2004 (Marsha Silverberg-economist at the US Department of Education, Elizabeth Warner-director at public welfare foundation. Michael Fong. David Goodwin-education professor at Missouri State University. “National Assessment of Vocational Education”)ALBOn average, taking vocational courses neither hurts nor improves students’ chances of enrolling in postsecondary education in the medium-run. Over time, many students who participated in high school vocational courses and programs eventually do enroll in postsecondary education or training; however, they do so later than other students. The rigorous evaluation of career academies, for example, found that this program linking academic and career courses had no impact on education attainment, measured four years after scheduled high school graduation (Kemple and ScottClayton 2004).53 Eight years after high school graduation, although the rates at which students “ever” enrolled in college are different—75 percent for vocational concentrators and 91 percent for other students (Table 2.40), the difference disappears when the characteristics of students and other predictors of attending college are taken into account to isolate the effects of taking occupational courses. Moreover, low-level academic courses and occupational courses both have a very small medium-term effect on the probability of “ever” enrolling in college (Agodini, Deke, et al. forthcoming).CTE increases college enrollment --- statistical analysis provesSHAUN M. DOUGHERTY 16 - Assistant Professor of Education & Public Policy at the Neag School of Education and the Department of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut, Fordham Institute(“CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN HIGH SCHOOL: DOES IT IMPROVE STUDENT OUTCOMES?”;April;h)//pkThe more CTE courses students take, the better their education and labor market outcomes. Greater exposure to CTE is associated with better outcomes for students. The average student takes 4.9 CTE courses during his or her high school career. In general, just one additional CTE course above the average increases a student’s probability of graduating from high school by 3.2 percentage points and of enrolling in a two-year college the year after high school by 0.6 percentage points (Figure 8). Taking only one additional CTE course also increases a student’s probability of being employed the year after high school by 1.5 percentage points and boosts his or her expected quarterly wage by $28 (3 percent higher than without the additional class).45 (See Appendix B, Table B-4.) Although an additional course is an easy way to think about differences in CTE participation, in fact exposure to CTE happens in less continuous terms. Recall that about 30 percent of high school students take between zero and two courses, nearly 40 percent take between three and six, and the remaining roughly 30 percent of students take seven or more (see Section Three, Figure 2). The largest benefits to an additional course accrue to those students in the latter two categories, with more modest benefits for those with only minimal exposure. For instance, students who take seven or more courses see boosts to the probability of graduating from high school by about 10 percentage points (total), compared to each additional course above the mean providing a boost of about 3 percentage points.46 Although the impact of additional CTE coursework varies slightly with particular student characteristics such as gender and income (Appendix B, Tables B-5, B-6, and B-7), the comparative magnitude of concentrating is even greater. Although Arkansas’ new graduation requirements specify that students must take six credits with a career focus, they do not require that the classes be related to one another (or even officially “CTE”). Students have the option of concentrating in a program of study by taking a sequence of three or more specific, related CTE classes (see Section One, How Are CTE Courses Organized?). In fact, nearly 30 percent of all Arkansas students are concentrators. As shown earlier in Figures 3–5, compared to the general student population, concentrators are slightly more likely to be white or female and slightly less likely to be Latino. Concentrators also have better attendance in the ninth grade and slightly higher eighth-grade literacy test scores (see Appendix B, Table B-1). Concentrators differ from non-concentrators in outcomes, at least descriptively (Figure 9). The four-year high school graduation rate among concentrators is 93 percent, compared to 51 percent for non-concentrators. And 28 percent of concentrators enrolled in college (20 percent in a two-year school and 8 percent in a four-year school), compared to 20 percent of non-concentrators (13 percent and 7 percent in two- and four-year schools, respectively). The two-year college-going rate is especially high for students who concentrated in programs of study in Health Sciences; Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security; Manufacturing; and Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics clusters. The four-year rate is high for concentrators in Education and Training; Health Sciences; Information Technology; and STEM, among others. Finally, a greater percentage of concentrators are employed right after high school, and their wages are higher as well (see Appendix B, Table B-1). Not surprisingly, the dual enrollment rate was quite high among all concentrators; these students were simultaneously enrolled in high school and college at rates well above the state average. Dual enrollment was particularly popular among students who concentrated in clusters with high two-year college enrollment rates (especially Health Sciences; Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security; Manufacturing; and Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics).48 But these differences in outcomes are simply descriptive. Concentrators take more CTE classes than non-concentrators (an average of 8.5 for concentrators compared to 3.4 for non-concentrators), and the previous section demonstrated that additional coursework has benefits. Are there advantages to concentration beyond those associated with additional coursework? Separately, does dual enrollment give CTE students a boost? The answer to both is yes. Vocational education college rates are growing faster than any other groups but characteristics of students not programs determine college attendance. Silverberg et al 2004 (Marsha Silverberg-economist at the US Department of Education, Elizabeth Warner-director at public welfare foundation. Michael Fong. David Goodwin-education professor at Missouri State University. “National Assessment of Vocational Education”)ALBPostsecondary enrollment rates have grown faster for occupational concentrators than for other students. The best available national data—unfortunately, not particularly current—suggest that a much higher share of vocational students in the 1990s entered college and postsecondary training activities than did in the 1980s. Although enrollment rates have risen for almost all students, they have grown at the fastest rate for those who had the farthest to go: while only 41.5 percent of occupational concentrators in 1982 enrolled within two years of high school graduation, a decade later, enrollment for that group rose to 54.7 percent (Table 2.41). Concentrators still have the lowest enrollment rates, however, perhaps reflecting that some who participate in high school vocational education do so because they plan to work rather than continue their schooling after graduation. Students’ characteristics and motivation, not just their high school program, play a role in determining the paths they take. Taking vocational courses and programs probably has no effect on enrolling in postsecondary education over the longer run. Although vocational education has long been stigmatized as being for the noncollege-bound (Stasz and Bodilly forthcoming), the evidence suggests that students and parents have less cause for concern that taking vocational education deters enrollment in postsecondary education. In the short run, there appears to be some negative relationship between vocational course taking and college going, but it dissipates over time: adjusting for student characteristics and early achievement, after eight years, students who took high school vocational courses catch up. These results hold when “college” attendance is viewed broadly, including enrollment in a program that awards any type of credential after high school.Studies prove – CTE has no disparate effect on college graduation or attendance ratesWhite 15’ - senior associate editor at The Atlantic, where she writes and edits a broad range of topics related to economics, BA in economics and political science from Columbia University and an MS in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School (Gillian, “A High School Where College Is Not the Goal”, 9/24/15, The Atlantic, )The results in Philadelphia would suggest that perhaps critics’ fears aren’t well founded. According to a recent report that followed the performance of the cohort of 9th graders who started high school in 2010-2011, students in CTE programs perform about as well on tests as their peers and and are more likely to complete school. The high-school graduation rate for CTE participants was 84 percent, compared to only 65 percent for all Philadelphia high schoolers. And 75 percent of CTE students go on to pursue post-secondary education of some kind, with about 40 percent heading to four-year colleges—a higher share than graduates in the district overall. The data also showed that the graduation gap between white and Asian students, and black and Hispanic students closes by about 10 percentage points when comparing traditional students to CTE students.Oversupply of College Graduates – non-uq their internal linkBesharov 04’ - first director of the U.S. National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, served as the administrator of the AEI/White House Working Seminar on Integrated Services for Children and Families (Douglas, “The Important Role of Career and Technical Education”, May 2004, American Enterprise Institute, )The Importance of Non-College CareersEven today, most jobs do not require a college degree. Of the total job openings between 2000 and 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that 70 percent will require no postsecondary education. An additional 9 percent will require an associate’s degree or postsecondary vocational award. Only 21 percent will require a bachelor’s degree or higher.30Those who say that all young people should go to college often point to the fastest- growing occupations rather than those that generate the most openings.31 For example, of the thirty occupations that will grow the fastest between 2000 and 2010, 70 percent generally require postsecondary education or training.32 However, job growth tells only part of the story. First, more jobs are created by the need to replace workers who move up, move on, or retire than by growth.33 Between 2000 and 2010, for example, the BLS projects that 35.8 million jobs will result from replacement needs, as compared with only 22.2 million from employment growth.34 Second, a fast-growing job will generate few openings if the original number of positions in that field was small. Thus, of the thirty occupations that will generate the most job openings over the decade, only 23 percent of these occupations will require postsecondary education or training.35Comparing the supply as well as the demand for workers with different types of education and training also suggests an oversupply of college-educated workers and a shortage of those with technical training. It is difficult to compare job openings with the numbers of degrees or other educational credentials awarded for many reasons, including the fact that many fields of study can lead to a wide variety of occupations, and others cannot be precisely matched with any specific occupations. However, Alan Eck of the BLS attempted to compare job openings with degrees or certificates in the relevant area and found that “in most construction crafts, and in many mechanic and repairer occupations, the number of job openings projected from 1990 to 2005 is much greater than the number of education and training awards received in 1989–90.” In the broad group of “precision production, craft and repair occupations,” only 133,000 degrees and awards were projected in 1989–90, in contrast to the 455,000 annual average job openings that were expected to occur between 1990 and 2005. Of course, some of these jobs may not require any training except that obtained on the job; Eck, however, argues that additional training may be appropriate and useful for many of these workers.36Although the job openings in the crafts fields far surpassed degrees and awards, Eck found that the number of total degrees and awards appropriate for executive, administrative, and managerial occupations was projected to be approximately about 116 percent of the number of job openings for people with this training. Moreover, the number of degrees awarded for professional specialty occupations was almost twice the number of openings projected for people with such degrees.37As a result of these imbalances between supply and demand, many college graduates may find themselves “underemployed”—working in jobs that do not require a college degree. Eck analyzed respondents’ answers in the January 1991 Current Population Survey about whether they needed specific skills or training to get their current jobs. He found that 25 percent of the employees were four-year college graduates, but only 16 percent of them reported needing training in a four-year or longer college program to qualify for their job. According to Eck, “This indicates that about 1 in 3 college graduates may have acquired training that is not being used in his or her current job.”38 This result is consistent with another BLS study conducted by Eck.39 Some of these students may have done better if they had not spent the money on four-year college and instead obtained high school or postsecondary CTE that could have helped them obtain a better job. Recognizing this reality, an increasing number of college graduates are entering associate’s degree or certificate programs in technical fields at community colleges with the hope of finding a better job.Of course, on average, jobs that actually require more education pay more. In 2000, jobs requiring a bachelor’s degree or higher paid on average $56,553 per year, compared with $25,993 for those requiring work-related training only.42 A substantial proportion of careers requiring less than a college degree, however, pay more than many jobs that require a college degree. More than nine million, or 15 percent, of full-time wage and salary workers aged twenty- five and older without a bachelor’s degree earned more than $821 per week in 1998—the median for college graduates. In this age group, 38 percent of workers without bachelor’s degrees earned more than $572 per week, the median for all workers. Even among workers aged twenty-five to twenty-nine, who do not benefit from years of experience and seniority, 24 percent earned $572 or more per week, and about 7 percent earned $821 per week.43 Among the largest groups of workers with less than a bachelor’s degree making more than $821 per week are truck drivers (383,000), supervisors and proprietors in sales occupations (365,000), electricians (203,000), production supervisors (269,000), and computer systems analysts and scientists (196,000).44BLS projections provide numerous examples of occupations that do not require a four- year college degree, have minimum earnings in the top half of the earnings distribution, and are expected to generate at least twenty thousand annual job openings between 2000 and 2010. These include: registered nurses and computer support specialists (usually requiring an associate’s degree); carpenters, electricians, and maintenance and repair workers (requiring long- term on-the-job training); truck drivers, wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives, and executive secretaries (requiring moderate-term on-the-job training); first-line retail supervisors, first-line office supervisors, first-line managers in construction and extraction industries, and first-line production managers (requiring experience in a related occupation); and automotive service technicians, licensed practical nurses, and welders (requiring a postsecondary vocational award).45Many of these highly paid non-college jobs fall into one of the major occupational categories used by the U.S. Department of Labor: precision, production, craft, and repair occupations. Only managerial and professional occupations exceeded these occupational groups in their 1999 weekly earnings. And “technicians and related support occupations,” many of which also do not require a college degree, had the next highest median earnings.46 “The nation needs technicians, not a flock of discontented young adults who hold worthless baccalaureate degrees and have no job prospects,” argues Gray, a proponent of a revitalized CTE based on preparation for two-year college.47 Gray and Herr also note that women, African Americans, and Hispanics are all underrepresented in these occupational groupings.48BLS data analyzed by Eck shed some light on the high earnings of these craft and technical workers. These jobs generally require high levels of training to qualify for the job or to improve skills once on the job. Looking at the utilization of education and training, Eck found that “the proportion of precision production, craft, and repair workers using training (74 percent) and their earnings are exceeded only by those of managerial and professional specialty occupations.”49 The BLS data also show that “for all education groups, earnings are higher in jobs that generally require qualifying training or jobs in which training is taken to improve skills.” In addition, “high school graduates who reported that they had both types of training earned slightly more than college graduates with neither type of training.”50Anecdotal information illustrates both the availability of jobs and the difficulty of attracting students to CTE. The Evansville (Indiana) Courier and Press reports that “there are plenty of good-paying, interesting, challenging jobs out there for qualified high school graduates. . . . Many . . . vocational education teachers report that businesses start contacting them in August about hiring students who won’t be graduating until May.” Unions come to Evansville’s North High School to recruit apprentices. “We can’t find enough bricklayers,” a union representative is quoted as saying, despite the fact that apprentices start at $11.05 an hour, receive a four-year training program at no cost, and receive regular increases in pay.51 News reports from other areas also indicate that employers are having difficulty filling skilled positions that do not require college.52 As one employer put it, “As an employer for the past 33 years I can tell you, as can scores of other employers, that it is easier to find and hire a college graduate without any specific marketable skills than a qualified technician. The skilled technician, when found and hired, generally earns a higher income than many college graduates.”53 According to a president of the New York State Building and Construction Trades Council:Link Turn – CTE encourages enrollment in 2 year colleges or it incentivizes kids who are not prepared to Hansen 16’ - senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the director of the Brown Center on Education Policy (Michael, “Is quick expansion of career and technical education a viable policy?”, Brookings Institution, 4/19/16, )Are we ready to expand career and technical education offerings as the next frontier in education policy? “College and career ready” has been an aspirational label in education for years, though many in the know recognize the label is generally used as a stand-in for the Common Core State Standards—and the focus there is decidedly tipped towards college readiness and away from career preparation. Yet in recent years, President Obama and the U.S. Department of Education have been promoting the career side of the label more, making the case that technical education is not at odds with academic preparation. With union leaders, industry groups, and researchers joining the list of those backing it, career and technical education appears to be well poised to gain steam as the next viable policy lever to help improve the plight of America’s youth. Last week, the Fordham Institute in Washington, D.C. released a new report on career and technical education that adds some fuel to this fire. In it, author Shaun Dougherty examines high school, college, and labor market outcomes for three cohorts of Arkansas high school students based on their differential participation in career and technical education coursework. This study stands out for its focus on this array of outcomes, as well as being conducted in a state with relatively robust career and technical education requirements for high school students. The results of the study could be considered a hat trick for advocates of career and technical education: students taking more courses graduate from high school at higher rates, are more likely to enroll in a two-year college, and have stronger employment outcomes in the early years after exiting high school. So not only do these courses make high school more interesting for kids, they may even be helping to promote important policy-relevant outcomes that we care about. Based on the data and research design, the author cannot entirely remove the possibility of selection driving some of these results; in other words, the students that were already predisposed to have strong academic and employment outcomes self-selected into taking more career and technical courses. Yet, the surprisingly small amount of differential participation based on other student characteristics suggests that selection bias is not a serious threat here. One might argue the “college for all” approach, by sidelining career and technical education, could unintentionally harm major shares of its target populations by pushing marginally prepared students towards college and then leaving behind the remainder of students who don’t attend college with few marketable skills. This study’s results suggest career-oriented coursework may actually improve both college attendance and employment outcomes, a two-for-one that provides some benefits to all students regardless of the path they choose after leaving high school. What’s more is that many of the positive benefits of career and technical education appear to be especially strong for populations that tend to do poorly in the transition between high school and college: males and lower-income students. Given this positive evidence and broad stakeholder support, schools should stand at the ready to quickly scale up career and technical education in a major way, right? Not so fast; based on the human talent behind these classes, it looks like we should be thinking about long-term growth strategies rather than quick startups. Let me explain. First, there’s an ongoing national teacher shortage in career and technical education. According to the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, the last few years have seen a rapid increase of student enrollments in these courses (surging by more than 65 percent in the last decade). At the same time, the supply of teachers specialized in career and technical education is shrinking due to fewer education schools offering this certification compounded by baby-boomer retirees. A second related issue is the dynamic nature of in-demand career and technical skills. The formula for providing kids with the academic skills needed for college does not vary much over time. Yet, the most valuable career and technical skills are determined by market forces, which can fluctuate considerably over time. The most in-demand career specializations, based on the most recent data, are in health science and STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, and math). These are likely not the same specialties that were in vogue when many of today’s current technical educators were hired in years past. And finally, in thinking about expansions of career and technical offerings we need to consider the implicit tradeoffs between quantity and quality of instruction. Quick expansions may offer more quantity soon, but will likely come at the expense of lower quality instruction in the classroom (as with class-size reduction policies in years past). Though instructor quality was not factored into the Fordham report in Arkansas, it likely played an unobserved role in the success (or not) of individual students. These problems are all intertwined issues around the training and supply of instructors over time. To address these challenges, policymakers might promote more colleges of education to sponsor career and technical training programs, actively explore alternative certification programs for mid-career professionals to come into the classroom, and otherwise rethink the stereotypical career teacher to craft policies reflecting the ebbs and flows of skill demand among technical instructors over time. In short, though career and technical education is poised to be the next education reform du jour—and perhaps rightly so, based on this recent evidence—policymakers should be thinking about long-term strategies to ensure student access to high-quality career and technical education coursework in the years ahead.at: college tradeoff (impact)No Impact 2 Trade-off – majority of students attend college woefully unprepared – never receive a degree –only a risk of debt from student loansBesharov 04’ - first director of the U.S. National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, served as the administrator of the AEI/White House Working Seminar on Integrated Services for Children and Families (Douglas, “The Important Role of Career and Technical Education”, May 2004, American Enterprise Institute, )High School Graduates and the Transition to WorkEven graduation from high school is no longer sufficient to ensure a good career. Since the 1950s, a high school diploma has changed from a “valued asset” in the labor market to a “minimum requirement” to access jobs or further education.10 Young people just out of high school experience great difficulty finding a job, or they take “dead-end jobs that offer low status, little training, and pay that is too low to support a family.”11High youth unemployment rates reflect the difficulty that non-college youth have in making the transition to the labor force: only 67 percent of recent high school graduates not enrolled in college were employed in October 1997.12 And their situations often do not improve much with age. In constant 2000 dollars, the median earnings for male wage and salary workers aged twenty-five to thirty-four with a high school diploma or equivalent decreased from $36,726 in 1970 to $26,842 in 1999, compared with more than $31,000 for those with some college and more than $42,000 for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher. For young women, the median earnings of those with a high school degree or equivalent remained extremely low throughout the period with little change, ending at $16,770 in 1999, compared with $21,008 for those with somecollege and $32,145 for those with a bachelor’s degree or higher.13 For young men, the earnings advantage for a bachelor’s degree or higher versus high school grew from 19 percent in 1980 to 58 percent in 1999. For young women, this earnings advantage rose from 52 percent to 92 percent.14 A number of factors may have contributed to the decreasing returns to a high school degree, including the loss of manufacturing jobs and the increasing importance of computer technology.15Unprepared College StudentsThe response to the declining rewards of a high school diploma has often been to urge all students to go to college. And students are listening. In 1998, fifty-five percent of high school seniors reported that they definitely planned to graduate from a four-year college (up from 36 percent in 1980), and another 23 percent said they would probably do so.16 The percentage of all high school seniors who expected to complete at least some college rose from 81 percent in 1972 to 95 percent in 1992.17Yet, the actual college performance of many high school graduates falls short of their expectations. In 1999, only 63 percent of high school graduates enrolled in a two-year or four- year college in the fall immediately after high school, up from 49 percent in 1972.18 And college completion rates for those who enroll are very low. David Boesel and Eric Friedland, of the U.S. Department of Education, reviewed various estimates of four-year college completion rates and concluded that “somewhere around half of the freshmen entering four-year colleges eventually graduate.”19 Two-year college completion rates may be even worse.20 Using a longitudinal. The two-year and four-year college completion rates cited here are not comparable, but using data from the High School and Beyond longitudinal survey of the class of 1982, James Rosenbaum found that high school seniors who plan to get an associate’s degree are even less likely to have achieved this goal within ten years than are high school seniors with plans to get a bachelor’s degree. See Rosenbaum, 66–67.4 survey of postsecondary students, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) estimated that only 15 percent of students who enrolled in community college in 1995–1996 with the expectation of gaining an associate’s degree had achieved that goal by 1998. By that year, 6 percent had earned a certificate instead, 39 percent were still enrolled at a two-year or four-year institution, and 41 percent had left without earning a degree or certificate.21Why these dismal college completion rates? A major reason is that many students enter college woefully unprepared, sometimes in need of remedial education. Using the National Educational Longitudinal Survey, Lutz Berkner and Lisa Chavez concluded that about 11 percent of 1992 high school graduates who were enrolled in four-year colleges were either not qualified to attend or were only marginally so, and another 13 percent were “minimally qualified.”22 High school grades and standardized test scores are among the best predictors of whether a student completes college. A high school graduate with an average of C+ and total SAT scores of 700 to 849 who enters a four-year college has only a 25 percent chance of “eventually” receiving a bachelor’s degree.23 In 1982, only 14 percent of high school seniors with grade point averages of C or lower who planned on attending college had succeeded in getting an associate’s degree or higher within ten years of high school graduation.24 Yet, many high school students seem to be unaware of the importance of gaining the skills (attested to by a good high school record) needed for college success. In a survey of a random sample of more than two thousand high school seniors throughout the Chicago metropolitan area between 1992 and 1994, Northwestern University sociologist James Rosenbaum found that 44 percent of the students who planned on college agreed with the statement that “even if I do not work hard in high school, I can still make my future plans come true.”25These students are correctly perceiving their chances of enrolling in colleges. Kenneth Gray and Edwin Herr of Pennsylvania State University point out that the United States leads the world in the percentage of young people who enter a four-year college. The authors attribute this in part to colleges’ tendency to admit unqualified students to fill their oversupply of slots and the awarding of financial aid based on need instead of merit.26 Community colleges are even easierto get into. According to Rosenbaum, “Admission standards are now practically nonexistent in community colleges. For example, Illinois high school graduates can attend a community college even if they have D-average grades and no college prep courses.”27 These students are apparently unaware, however, that their chances of completing college are much less than their chances of enrolling.A study by Gray and his colleagues suggests that enrolling in a four-year college may not always be the best course of action for some students. They studied the secondary and postsecondary experiences of all 1991 graduates of seven public high schools in affluent suburban districts. The authors found that on graduation from high school, almost half the students failed to meet what the authors identified as the minimal criteria for being prepared to do college academic work (defined as having a C average, a combined SAT score of 800, and a minimal sequence of college preparatory courses). The authors then studied the experiences of the 601 “non-competitive” students who did not meet these criteria. A year after high school graduation, about 56 percent of the latter group were full-time students, and about half of the full-time students were in four-year colleges. Of the noncompetitive students who went on to higher education, the average freshman year GPA was C; 46 percent reported having to take one or more remedial courses, which typically do not count toward a degree. In light of these mediocre outcomes, it is not surprising that only about half of the noncompetitive students who went on to higher education returned as sophomores after their freshman year. The authors also found that 46 percent of these students were receiving financial aid, a sobering statistic in view of their high dropout rate and the possibility that many had taken on loans with the expectation that the higher earnings accruing from college graduation would help to repay them.28The unrealistic plans of many high school students are not cost free, as Rosenbaum and Stephanie Alter Jones of Northwestern University point out:Thus, over half of college planners are likely to get no economic benefit from college. These students will therefore end up having only their high school diplomas to bring to the labor market. Of course, in high school, students do not anticipate that this will happen (even though it is highly predictable), so these work-bound students are “unidentified.” As such, they are less likely to prepare themselves for their subsequent risk of failure, to have back-up plans, to get back-up preparation, or to get help in finding jobs from their high schools.29Moreover, many leave college saddled with burdensome loan repayments. One of the most important consequences of this unrealistic planning, however, is that many students ignore CTE programs that might be a better choice for them.Studies prove college degrees are irrelevant to employers – prefer studies to anecdotal evBesharov 04’ - first director of the U.S. National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, served as the administrator of the AEI/White House Working Seminar on Integrated Services for Children and Families (Douglas, “The Important Role of Career and Technical Education”, May 2004, American Enterprise Institute, )What Employers Really WantMany researchers have argued that changing business practices and the shift to a service economy from one based on manufacturing have increased the need for basic academic and social skills among frontline workers while reducing the need for specific occupational skills. Others argue that occupation-specific skills are still important.56 Our knowledge of what employers actually want is based on several types of studies. Among the most important are surveys of employers, ethnographic studies documenting what people actually do on the job, studies in personnel psychology attempting to correlate job performance with various personality characteristics, and econometric studies of returns to different levels of education and other experiences.57These studies paint a mixed picture of the types of skills that jobs require. Studies in personnel psychology suggest that general cognitive ability is the strongest predictor of job performance.58 Econometric analysis suggests that basic academic skills, particularly math skills, are good predictors of wage rates.59 And surveys and ethnographic work indicate that basic academic skills affect job performance and are important to employers.60 The “academic” skills that employers want for good jobs, however, are often not college-level skills, but rather the ninth- or tenth-grade reading, writing, and math skills—skills that should be learned at the high school level, not in college.61 Surveys and ethnographic studies also suggest that employers place great value on motivation and attitude, as well as generic skills (such as communication) that may or may not be learned in school.62 There is also evidence from the testing literature and employer surveys that, at least for some occupations, job-specific knowledge and skills are an important factor in employer hiring decisions and job performance.63 College or Bust wrong – CTE training provides alternative pathways to maintain economic competitivenessCook 14’ - economic and fiscal policy correspondent for National Journal, where she covers economic proposals out of Congress and the White House; tax policy; and the federal budget, graduate of the Columbia J-School and Carleton College (Nancy, “Why 'College Or Bust' Is the Wrong Message for High School Graduates”, 5/04/14, The Atlantic, )More than 3 million teenagers are expected to graduate from high school over the next six weeks. For most of them, their choices are stark: Either find a job or enter college. But there's no reason for students to view their career paths in such extremes as working at McDonald's or attending Harvard, says Anthony Carnevale, director and research professor at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Every year, the U.S. economy offers roughly 29 million "middle jobs," as Carnevale calls them: positions that demand some additional schooling or certification beyond the 12th grade, but not the time or financial commitment of a bachelor's degree. These jobs are in industries as diverse as health care, information technology, the arts, sales, food service, management, and skilled manufacturing. Middle jobs pay an average of $35,000, although more than 11 million of them provide a salary of $50,000 or more annually, according to research by the Center on Education and the Workforce. (The Census Bureau lists the current median salary in the U.S. at $51,017.) Most important, these jobs offer non-college-bound kids the chance of a decent economic life. That's a particularly important caveat, because those with just a high-school diploma increasingly find themselves stuck in dead-end jobs and shut out of the middle class. "What we're missing now is an alternative pathway for people who don't go to college," Carnevale says. "We know that applied curriculums work better, not just for less-prepared students but for everyone." Carnevale and his team of researchers have identified five ways to prepare today's high school graduates for these middle jobs: More apprenticeships. Currently just 0.3 percent of employment in the U.S. comes from apprenticeships. Yet programs in states such as Wisconsin have demonstrated the benefits of this type of learning, particularly for students interested in high-skilled jobs in manufacturing, transportation, or construction. Employer-based training. This essentially means that workers learn skills on the job, with training that lasts anywhere from three months to a year. It does not cost the federal government any extra money, because the financial burden falls on employers. One-third of all blue-collar jobs and one-quarter of science, technology, engineering, and math jobs require more than one year of this type of training.College isn’t key – multiple studies proveLeef 13’ - law school graduate who went into teaching rather than legal practice and then began to see how badly government has mangled education at all levels. Since 1999, I have worked at the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy (Goerge, “Higher Education: The Conventional Wisdom Is Wrong”, Forbes, 10/17/13, )One of America’s most durable myths is that the more people who graduate from college, the more the economy will grow. For many years, politicians and leaders of the higher education establishment (HEE) have advanced that notion. In his first major speech as president, for example, Barack Obama said that if we want a strong economy, we need to lead the world in the percentage of the population that has earned a college degree. And in a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, “Public Colleges Boost Economic Growth,” two college presidents (Robert Gates of William and Mary and David Boren of the University of Oklahoma) argued that decreasing state spending on higher education means that we are “sacrificing our young people’s futures—and our future economic growth….” Those ideas sound appealing, but they are thoroughly mistaken. We cannot pull the economy up by the bootstraps through increased spending on higher education, even if that led to larger numbers of people with college degrees, which it won’t. We strongly associate college with success. Most successful Americans have been to college (although there are conspicuous cases of people who dropped out or never went at all) and on average, people who have college degrees earn substantially more than those who don’t. Based on those facts, many Americans leap to a pair of illogical conclusions: first, that college education caused the successful to be successful, and second that those who don’t now go to college would become successful if only we would spend the money needed to put them through. Individuals with a lot of intelligence and drive are, overwhelmingly, drawn to college, but it is their intelligence and drive that brings about their later success, not the fact that they passed enough courses to get the credits necessary for a degree. John Mackey of Whole Foods, for example, took a number of college courses before dropping out to concentrate on his business. He would be no more successful if he had earned his degree, or less successful if he hadn’t ever taken a single course. On the other hand, we lure great numbers of young Americans into college these days with the idea that by getting their degree, they’ll enjoy a large earnings boost. A figure that is often, carelessly thrown around is the million dollar earnings premium for college grads. The problem is that, increasingly, high school graduates do not have even the most basic academic tools – they don’t read well, don’t write well, and can’t do basic math – and also expect that college will be like high school, only more fun. Any increase in college enrollment will overwhelmingly come from such academically marginal students. Going to college rarely transforms those disengaged kids into highly productive adults. Although quite a few of those students manage to coast through to their degrees, thanks to grade inflation and an abundance of easy courses, they have frequently gotten an education in name only. That was the big point of the 2011 book Academically Adrift by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa. If they do graduate, an increasingly large percentage of those students wind up working in jobs that do not call for any advanced academic preparation, as a study done by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity shows. Nor is this just a temporary problem related to our lingering recession. Scholars started noticing the phenomenon of college graduates competing for “high school jobs” about twenty years ago. (See, e.g., Who’s Not Working and Why by Frederic Pryor and David Schaffer.) Most politicians and virtually everyone in the HEE would have us believe that higher education spending is “jet fuel for the economy” as former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm put it. The problem with that notion is that there is little connection between how much a state (or country) spends on higher education and how much additional human capital it gets. In his 2004 book Going Broke by Degree, Professor Richard Vedder examined that connection at the state level and concluded that there was actually a slightly negative relationship between higher education spending and economic growth. How could that be? Vedder explained that much government spending on college does nothing to actually teach undergraduates useful knowledge and skills. Therefore, diverting scarce tax dollars away from higher ed and towards other uses makes perfectly good sense. I know that some readers are thinking, “Isn’t it true that more and more jobs today require college?” Yes, in the credentials sense—employers often insist that applicants have college credentials if they want to be considered, even for jobs that obviously don’t demand any education beyond basic skills. Employers started insisting on college degrees as a way of screening applicants back in the 1970s, a trend that was helped along greatly by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Griggs v. Duke Power, which made aptitude testing a legal minefield. (Professor Lowell Gallaway discusses the case and its impact here.) But no, in the knowledge sense. There are relatively few entry-level jobs that demand such knowledge that bright high school graduates are incapable of learning to do them. Because of the spread of credential inflation, however, young people are obliged to spend many years and huge amounts of money in obtaining college degrees. And even after doing so, many are deficient in fundamental skills that employers are desperately looking for, a point Exxon/Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson made in this piece.College for All contributes to skilled worker shortages – developed CTE keySingh 14’ - director of analytics at Korn Ferry Futurestep, has developed and launched multiple software products and held leadership positions at several major recruiting technology vendors (Raghav, “The Obsession with College Degrees: Are Too Many People Seeking a Degree for the Wrong Reasons?”, 7/02/14, ERE Recruiting Intelligence, )But while a laudable goal, the pursuit of this means ignoring reality. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that only 27 percent of jobs in the U.S. economy currently require a college degree. By comparison, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that 47 percent of workers today have an associate degree or higher. The BLS projects that the proportion of jobs requiring a college degree will barely change — increasing to only 27.1 percent by 2022. Even the most optimistic projection — a study from Georgetown University, projects that at most 35 percent of jobs will require a college degree by 2020. The Skilled Worker Shortage While we’re pushing more people to get college degrees, we’re also facing a worsening shortage of skilled workers in many categories that don’t require a college degree. In manufacturing, as many as 600,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs remained vacant across the U.S. due to shortages of skilled workers, according to the Manufacturing Institute’s most recent “skills gap” report. This situation exists across all categories of trades. A study by Manpower Group shows that the hardest segment of the workforce for employers to staff with skilled talent are the skilled trades — the welders, electricians, machinists, etc. who are so prevalent in manufacturing and construction. Far more shortages exist in these categories than in professional jobs like registered nurses or engineers or even web developers. Even jobs like truck drivers are hurting for workers. Nationwide there are about 30,000 unfilled truck driving jobs, according to the American Trucking Association. And the problem is going to get much worse — the average age of a skilled manufacturing worker in the U.S. is 56. The skilled trades have far fewer 65-and-older workers (1.9 percent) than the total labor force (4.8 percent) — because these jobs are more physically demanding than most others. So many workers in the skilled trades can’t delay retirement because they need the money or like working. They will start to retire in droves within five years. Vocational School vs. College The hourly pay for a manufacturing worker is almost $24, compared to about $9 for a barista at Starbucks. Given that spread, one would think more people would seek work in manufacturing than settle for a job making coffee. But we’ve managed to create a culture where a college degree is supposedly a magical ticket to the good life, while vocational education is something to be sneered at. Consequently we now have the average college grad carrying a debt of almost $30,000 upon graduation and outstanding student loans of over a trillion (with a “t”) dollars. Even among those opting for college about a third pick majors that have very poor job prospects, including social sciences (11 percent), education (6 percent), psychology (7 percent), and visual and performing arts (6 percent). By contrast, only 2.4 percent pick computer science, 5 percent choose engineering, and 1.4 percent graduate with degrees in the physical sciences. Yet, we do everything possible to encourage people to go to college, whether it works or not. The federal Pell Grant program in the U.S., intended to help low and moderate-income students finance college — costs over $35 billion annually, though almost 40 percent of Pell Grant recipients never graduate. The German Model It doesn’t have to be this way. Germany has a very successful system that directs high-school students into vocational education, for the ones who don’t need, don’t want, or don’t have the aptitude for college. Yes — there are many who don’t. Imagine that! This approach recognizes that everyone won’t benefit from college, but they can still be successful and contribute to society. The country has a system in place to make this work — a partnership of employers and unions with government — to match students with the right vocation and provide the necessary training.at: dropouts inevitableCTE affords disadvantaged populations greater employment chances and career success – resolves highschool dropout problemBesharov 04’ - first director of the U.S. National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, served as the administrator of the AEI/White House Working Seminar on Integrated Services for Children and Families (Douglas, “The Important Role of Career and Technical Education”, May 2004, American Enterprise Institute, )The Promise of CTECTE is a promising strategy for addressing the difficulties faced by high school dropouts and graduates who seek jobs or attend college without adequate preparation. Through contextual learning and connections with adult mentors, CTE can engage students who otherwise might lose interest in school. By providing linkages to employers and a tryout period for new high school graduates, CTE can enhance the chances of finding good jobs that lead to rewarding careers.Learning in context. Even if employers did not value specific vocational skills, career- related education might be a good way of teaching all of the other skills that are valued by employers: academic skills, computer skills, and basic work behaviors. Teaching these skills in a vocational context may be effective in engaging some students in learning who would not otherwise be so engaged. As Richard J. Murnane, of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, and Frank Levy, of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, put it, youth apprenticeships and career academies that teach these skills in an occupational context can motivate some students to pursue a “hidden agenda of mathematics, communication, and problem solving.”65 Learning within a career-related context can help students see the relevance of what they are studying, as well as help them gain confidence in their ability to perform in school and on the job. According to Robert Lerman of the Urban Institute, “For disconnected students to become invested in their learning, the payoff to learning must become clearer and more immediate and, ideally, must reorient an entire peer group.”66 And, as James McPartland and Will Jordan of Johns Hopkins University put it, “Students who see the relevance of their curriculum to their own goals and are studying things they have chosen to learn are more likely to have a good reason to come regularly to school and to be willing to put attention and effort into their schoolwork.”67A career-oriented approach could clarify the connection between schooling and careers for young people who presently see no reason to do well in school. CTE could also help students develop the types of work habits and social skills that are important to employers. On the basis of interviews with 110 vocational teachers in twelve diverse high schools, Rosenbaum found that many vocational teachers “use their knowledge of work demands to teach work habits and social skills in their classes.”68Connections to employers. By improving the formal system of placement in training and jobs, programs that coordinate CTE with internships and other types of work-based learning can reduce the relative disadvantage of poor youth who lack the informal channels to jobs that their middle-class counterparts enjoy. Many employers use word of mouth and other informal channels to hire new employees.69 Because many non-college-bound students come from disadvantaged families, they often have few connections to employers, making the channels provided by school particularly important.70 CTE teachers can link their students with employers who have good jobs to offer. Rosenbaum found that some teachers develop trusting relationships with employers and use these relationships to learn employers’ needs and match their students to jobs. Moreover, they are sometimes able to persuade employers to hire students whose credentials do not look impressive or to hire women or minorities into positions formerly held by white men.71Adult mentors. CTE classes and work-based learning programs such as internships can ameliorate the sometimes destructive influence of peer groups by connecting youths with adult mentors. Such connections with caring adults can provide crucial support to a young person trying to resist peer pressure to engage in drug use, membership in a gang, or other self- destructive behaviors. As Lerman puts it, “School-to-career programs lead to a natural mentoring process in which the mentor-trainer has a stake in the success of the apprentice not only at the work site but in academic studies as well.”72Tryout period. One survey of employers in four cities found that roughly 70 percent ofavailable jobs require general work experience and that about 73 percent require references.73 A school-based internship gives students an opportunity to gain both the experience and the references they need.74 Work-based learning programs that typically form part of a CTE program also give young people who might otherwise be adversely affected by negative employer stereotypes a tryout period in which they can demonstrate their potential. Without such a tryout period, minorities and disadvantaged youths are often the victims of negative stereotypes held by employers.at: liberal arts tradeoffLiberal Arts Degrees in low demandSchawbel 14’ - managing partner of Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and management consulting firm (Dan, “Liberal Arts Majors Are Screwed”, Business Insider, 5/20/14, )In this economy, it might not pay to choose liberal arts as your college major. A new study by my company and called "The Multi-Generational Job Search," found that only 2% of employers are actively recruiting liberal arts degree holders. Compare that to the 27% that are recruiting engineering and computer information systems majors and 18% that are recruiting business majors. What's more, 49% of all generations responded that they believe there are "no jobs" out there for those with a liberal arts degree. If you're currently a liberal arts major, this means that you may want to switch to a major with more job prospects or at least take some technical and business courses as electives. This way, you can round out your degree and present yourself as someone who understands business but with a liberal arts background. We also found that employers are hiring for "cultural fit" over any other qualifications. Companies are interested in your personality over your grades and extracurricular activities. Due to the amount of resumes employers receive, they have become more picky with who they select. Also, they know that if an employee is a good cultural fit, they will stay longer and be more successful overall at their job. Cultural fit has a lot to do with soft skills, which now carry more weight than hard skills. According to the survey, the top three attributes that companies are currently looking for are a positive attitude (84%), communication skills (83%), and an ability to work as a team (74%). Even though liberal arts majors have some of the best soft skills, based on the courses they take, employers perceive them as less valuable. Employers view a liberal arts degree as too general for placement. If you're currently graduating this means that you need to start pitching your liberal arts degree as helping you obtain the soft skills that employers are looking for. You should also take courses, read business books, get a mentor, and network as much as possible. Since you're clearly at a disadvantage, you have to make up for it with hard work. If you haven't had any work experience or lack direction, then you should immediately start doing work, with either an internship or freelance project. You need to rule out the professionals and jobs that you're not interested in and start building a business foundation that you can leverage into a job later. I see a lot of graduates that aren't prepared for the working world, and it's both their fault and their schools. Our study shows that 73% of hiring managers felt that colleges are only "somewhat preparing" students for the working world. Since you can't rely on your college, you need to rely on yourself. By being proactive, you can develop the necessary skills and identify the right people that can lead you to a job. If you haven't graduated, it's time to rethink your major because if you don't, it's going to be harder to get a job, pay off your debt and move out of your parents' house. Things aren't changing anytime soon, so don't expect the economy to get better and liberal arts degrees to be more in demand. You need to focus on a major and classes that are going to translate into better jobs so that you can afford to live and be independent. Too many liberal arts majors – trust me!Pethokoukis 12’ - columnist and blogger at the American Enterprise Institute. Previously, he was the Washington columnist for Reuters Breakingviews, the opinion and commentary wing of Thomson Reuters (James, “Harvard, we have a problem: Too many liberal arts majors”, American Enterprise Institute, 3/07/12, )— In 2009, the United States graduated 37,994 students with bachelor’s degrees in computer and information science. That’s not bad, but we graduated more students with computer-science degrees 25 years ago! — Few disciplines have changed as much in recent years as microbiology, but in 2009 we graduated just 2,480 students with bachelor’s degrees in microbiology—about the same number as 25 years ago. Who will solve the problem of antibiotic resistance? If students aren’t studying science, technology, engineering, and math, what are they studying? — In 2009, the United States graduated 89,140 students in the visual and performing arts, more than in computer science, math, and chemical engineering combined and more than double the number of visual-and-performing-arts graduates in 1985. — Moreover, more than half of all humanities graduates end up in jobs that don’t require college degrees, and those graduates don’t get a big income boost from having gone to college. And as Computerworld magazine notes, the science and engineering bit of the U.S. workforce has stalled: Hey, I love liberal arts majors. I have a double history-poli sci major from Northwestern University. But do we want to subsidize the sort of higher education, as Tabarrok writes, “less likely to create the kinds of innovations that drive economic growth?” And rather than pushing students to attend a four-year, brick-and-mortar college in pursuit of the BA, how about business-backed training and apprenticeship programs leading to a high-skill technical degree just like in Germany and some other northern European nations? In Germany, 97% of students graduate from high school, but only a third of these students go on to college, Tabarrok notes. In the United States, we graduate fewer students from high school, but nearly two-thirds of those we graduate go to college. More education for all. But not college for all.Non-UQ – Rising STEM is the status quo – states moving to cut liberal arts fundingCohen 16’ - covers the national economy for The New York Times and is the author of “In Our Prime: The Fascinating History and Promising Future of Middle Age” (Patricia, “A Rising Call to Promote STEM Education and Cut Liberal Arts Funding”, 2/21/16, )When the Kentucky governor, Matt Bevin, suggested last month that students majoring in French literature should not receive state funding for their college education, he joined a growing number of elected officials who want to nudge students away from the humanities and toward more job-friendly subjects like electrical engineering. Frustrated by soaring tuition costs, crushing student loan debt and a lack of skilled workers, particularly in science and technology, more and more states have adopted the idea of rewarding public colleges and universities for churning out students educated in fields seen as important to the economy. When it comes to dividing the pot of money devoted to higher education, at least 15 states offer some type of bonus or premium for certain high-demand degrees, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. “There will be more incentives to electrical engineers than French literature majors, there just will,” Mr. Bevin, a Republican, said after announcing his spending plan. “All the people in the world who want to study French literature can do so; they’re just not going to be subsidized by the taxpayers like engineers will be, for example.” Or, as Gov. Patrick McCrory of North Carolina once put it, higher-education funding should not be “based on butts in seats, but on how many of those butts can get jobs.” What has incensed many educators is not so much the emphasis on work force development but the disdain for the humanities, particularly among Republicans. Several Republicans have portrayed a liberal arts education as an expendable, sometimes frivolous luxury that taxpayers should not be expected to pay for. The Republican presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio, for example, has called for more welders and fewer philosophers. Gov. Rick Scott of Florida criticized anthropologists, and Mr. McCrory belittled gender studies. Democrats have, for the most part, avoided denouncing the humanities, but they have argued that education and training should be better aligned with the job market. The Obama administration, for example, proposed, much to the horror of many in academia, rating the country’s 7,000 colleges and universities not only on measures like completion rates and student loan debt, but also on earnings after graduation. Dozens of states have already moved to performance-based goals that more closely tie a portion of their higher education funding to particular outcomes like degrees earned or courses completed. An engineering student in a lab at N.Y.U. A particular focus on jobs and earnings is gaining momentum at four-year colleges. Credit Nicole Craine for The New York Times But the particular focus on jobs and earnings — originally limited to vocational programs and community colleges — is gaining momentum. “There’s a deeper question of what public money should be used for,” said Anthony Carnevale, a Georgetown University professor who runs the Center on Education and the Workforce. Education tends to be justified in terms of personal exploration and fulfillment, as well as creating informed citizens who make a functioning democracy possible. The humanities have traditionally been seen as crucial to both endeavors. “The problem is that education is now the principal determinant of earnings, and we pay no attention to it at all. That’s gone too far,” Mr. Carnevale said. “There’s a lot of buyers’ regret out there.” Mr. Carnevale argues that there should be much more information available to students about employment and wage prospects before they choose a major so that they can make informed choices. “We don’t want to take away Shakespeare. We’re just talking about helping people make good decisions,” he said. “You can’t be a lifelong learner if you’re not a lifelong earner.” A graduate with a higher-earning degree could make up to $4 million more in lifetime earnings than other college graduates, Mr. Carnevale said. Most of the top earners in the liberal arts end up matching only the bottom earners in science, technology, engineering and mathematics — known as the STEM fields — and some will earn less than high school graduates who have vocational skills, like welders and mechanics. A recent salary survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, a nonprofit membership organization that connects campus career officers with business recruiters, found once again that new STEM graduates were expected to command the highest overall average salaries in 2016. New engineers, for example, are expected to earn nearly $65,000 a year. The average salary for new graduates who majored in humanities — including French literature — is projected to increase slightly from last year to $46,065, up from $45,042. Although data is more limited, these graduates seem to attract the most interest from employers in finance, insurance and real estate, the survey found. The average for social science majors is $46,585. But informing students better is one thing. Penalizing certain majors in the form of reduced funding is another. Earnings by Degree Those who graduate with degrees in STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math — are expected to command the highest salaries.at: no incentive to sign upCTE enrollment growing --- kids are interested Michael Hansen 16 – (“Is quick expansion of career and technical education a viable policy?”;April 19th ;)//pkFirst, there’s an ongoing national teacher shortage in career and technical education. According to the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, the last few years have seen a rapid increase of student enrollments in these courses (surging by more than 65 percent in the last decade). At the same time, the supply of teachers specialized in career and technical education is shrinking due to fewer education schools offering this certification compounded by baby-boomer retirees.Support for career and technical education exists now – expanding programs allows students to make a successful transition from secondary school into the workforce Schwartz 14, (Robert B. Schwartz is professor emeritus in the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University and coleads the Pathways to Prosperity Network. He previously served as president of Achieve and was the director of the education grant-making program of the Pew Charitable Trusts., “Combining Rigorous Academics with Career Training”, nassal) In February 2011, I, along with two colleagues, economist Ronald Ferguson and journalist William Symonds, released a report, Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century, which was published by Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.1 When we first began meeting to discuss the study that led to this report, we were mindful of the fact that 20 years earlier a commission established by the William T. Grant Foundation had issued a powerful report called The Forgotten Half: Non-College Youth in America.2 As the title suggests, this 1988 report argued that public resources and support were disproportionately focused on young people headed for higher education, and that without a much more robust investment in preparing non-college-bound youth for successful transition into the workforce, these young people would be at significant social and economic risk. The jumping-off question for our study was: Is there still a “forgotten half” today, and if so, how do we make more progress in serving that population in the next 20 years than we’ve made in the last 20? On the face of it, it seemed unlikely that we would find a persisting “forgotten half” of young people in 2011. For one thing, the term “non-college-bound” has essentially disappeared from our vocabulary. Over the last 20 years, there has been growing public agreement that all young people need to be prepared for further education as well as careers. When high school students are asked today what they are going to do after high school, over 90 percent say they are going on to college or university. More important, over 70 percent of high school graduates do in fact go on to enroll in a higher education institution. But when we ask what proportion of young Americans have earned a college or university degree by their mid-20s, the answer is less encouraging: only 32 percent have graduated from a four-year institution, and another 10 percent from a two-year college.3 We estimate that roughly another 10 percent have acquired a recognized one-year occupational certificate from a postsecondary education or training institution.4 This brings us to just over half the population with a meaningful postsecondary credential by their mid-20s. It may be an exaggeration to characterize the other half of the age cohort as “forgotten,” but in an economy in which the gap between those with postsecondary credentials and skills and those without is widening, the one young person in five who drops out of high school is especially vulnerable, but so are those who start some form of higher education but never finish. Our conclusion, looking at our high school and higher education dropout data, was that, if anything, the case for investing in developing a set of rigorous career and technical education pathways alongside the strictly academic pathway is even stronger today than it was 20 years ago. This conclusion was buttressed by two sources of data. First, job projections from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce suggest that over the next decade, nearly a third of jobs will be “middle skill”—i.e., requiring some education or training beyond high school but not necessarily a four-year degree.5 This projection challenges the widespread belief that our labor market is becoming increasingly bifurcated into high-skill and low-skill occupations, and that the only good jobs in our economy will require a four-year college degree. The second source of data we found compelling comes from two recent studies from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Learning for Jobs and Jobs for Youth.6 These two studies provide strong evidence that countries with the best-developed vocational education system0073—especially the countries with the strongest youth apprenticeship programs—manage to equip a much larger fraction of their young people with skills and credentials to make a successful transition from secondary school into the workforce, thereby significantly reducing the proportion of young people at risk of sustained unemployment at the point of entry into the labor market.CTE provides excellent motivation for motivated studentsAuger 15’ – writes blog on CTE (Jasmine, “CTE & Dropout Prevention: Motivating Students with Career-Focused Learning”, Discover, 9/28/15, )Annually, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States. That means nearly one in three students fail to graduate with a diploma. For some students, dropping out is the result of low engagement—and these are the students that often thrive in a career and technical education (CTE) program. CTE can play a critical role in helping students persevere in their high school career and preparing them for postsecondary education by offering relevant learning experiences that address the question of “Why do I need to learn this?” Here, we’ve compiled four ways that CTE can keep students in school and lower dropout rates low: CTE empowers students to explore various career paths By 2017, an estimated 2.5 million jobs are expected to be added to the workforce, and students need to be knowledgeable regarding all of their different career possibilities. CTE helps students discover their interests and passions, and it empowers them to find a pathway that will lead them to success in high school, college, and the workforce. The National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) identifies a total of 16 Career Clusters in their National Career Clusters? Framework. Each cluster is a representation of Career Pathways that are related by skill or product. Within each cluster, there are 79 different career pathways that correspond to a collection of courses and training to prepare students for those careers. These pathways include such diverse careers as Environmental Service Systems, Logistics Planning & Management Services, and Security & Protective Services. CTE engages students in learning Many students lose interest in their education because the curriculum doesn’t seem to have any real-world application. An annual Gallup survey measuring student engagement shows that eight in 10 fifth graders report being engaged, but that number falls to four in 10 once they reach high school. CTE provides students who are in need of an alternative learning environment with the opportunity to relate their curriculum to real-world situations, creating a more engaging and meaningful experience. To illustrate this point, take a minute to consider what school is like for fifth grade students—besides lunch and recess, think of how hands-on the classroom activities typically are. Students are making, molding, creating, and doing! But for most students, once they reach high school this dynamic shifts. Instead of consistently participating and performing tasks, they’re being lectured to and asked to take notes. According to the Gates’ Foundation-backed report The Silent Epidemic, 81 percent of dropouts say relevant, real-world learning opportunities would have kept them in high school. CTE offers students personalized learning opportunities In recent years, personalized learning has represented a significant shift in education program design. CTE seamlessly aligns with this shift by allowing students to customize their learning experiences. With CTE, students can choose areas of study that pique their interest and have the chance to create their own learning paths. They have the opportunity to approach CTE programs through a variety of different avenues, including internships, job shadowing, and service learning. Giving students the power to take charge of their educational futures in this manner enables them to be more committed and engaged in their learning. CTE builds positive community relationships In the 2006 High School Survey of Student Engagement, 24 percent of students who considered dropping out of high school cited the reason: “No adults in the school cared about me.” CTE programs offer students opportunities to have mentors who know them, look out for them, and push them to succeed. They often have the option to join career and technical student organizations (CTSOs), which engage students in co-curricular activities related to their CTE programs. When involved with CTSOs, students work regularly with an adult supervisor to prepare for local and national competitions, take on student leadership roles in the organization, and develop project management skills, such as communication and public speaking. Chances to form close relationships with mentors and peers can also arise through career exploration opportunities like job shadows, internships, and volunteer experiences that CTE programs regularly provide. Regardless of where these relationships are formed, they are exactly the types of connections that are essential to keeping students in school.at: house passed perkins actPerkins Act Reauthorization not far enoughSchwartz 12/13/16’ - Professor Emeritus of Practice in Educational Policy and Administration, directed the education grantmaking program of The Pew Charitable Trusts, Senior Research Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Education (Roberty, “Memo: Career and technical education”, 12/13/16, Brookings Institution, )RECOMMENDATIONS If the Perkins Act is reauthorized by the new Congress in its present form or with only modest tweaks, it will perpetuate the notion that career-focused education is not for all students, and that despite our rhetoric, we don’t really believe that all students need to be prepared both for college and career. Consequently, I would strongly encourage the next president to submit a “College and Career Readiness” proposal along the lines outlined above in my second option, but with a section especially focused on incentivizing the expansion of career-focused early college high schools and other models that seamlessly connect the last years of high school and the first years of postsecondary education.Empirics prove – Dems won’t agree to pass senate reauthorization of the Perkins ActSchaffhauser 10/10/16’ - senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal and Campus Technology (dian, “Perkins Act Update Stalls in U.S. Senate”, Campus Technology, 10/10/16, )A major revamp of the federal regulations and funding rules related to career and technical education in this country is on hold after the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions canceled a scheduled meeting. The Workforce Advance Act, reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, had been read twice in the Senate and sent back to the committee. According to reporting by the Alliance for Excellent Education, there are major disagreements over bill language related to prohibitions on the U.S. Secretary of Education proposed by Senate Republicans. "At this point, the bill is not dead, but time is running out," the alliance noted. That's a different outcome than what happened in the U.S. House of Representatives, which passed its version of the bill by a vote of 405 to five. The "Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act" would provide $1.1 billion in federal funds for middle schools, high schools and postsecondary education to deliver career and technical education (CTE). That version put the Perkins Act through the same kind of milling work given to the larger No Child Left Behind Act as it transformed into the Every Student Success Act (ESSA). For one, there's less emphasis on federal agency oversight; for another, states take over more control related to how funds are spent and how results are assessed. A fact sheet from the Congressional Education and the Workforce Committee laid out four major areas of emphasis for the House version of the bill: The new act simplifies the application process for receiving federal funds and provides more flexibility to use federal resources to respond to changing education and economic needs within a given state. The bill increases from 10 percent to 15 percent the amount of federal funds states can set aside to assist eligible students in rural areas or areas with a significant number of CTE students. The bill is intended to improve alignment with in-demand jobs by supporting new and innovative learning opportunities (specifically, work-based learning), building better community partnerships and encouraging stronger engagement with employers, who are to be brought in to set performance goals at the state and local levels. It is intended to increase transparency and accountability by streamlining performance measures. The goal: to ensure CTE programs deliver results and empower parents, students and other stakeholders with a voice in setting performance goals and evaluating the effectiveness of local programs. What it eliminates, according to the bill's summary, is a need for states to negotiate targeted levels of performance with the U.S. Department of Education. Finally, the House version limits the authority of the Department of Education by "reining in the Secretary of Education’s authority, limiting federal intervention and preventing political favoritism." "Career and technical education plays a powerful and positive role in helping individuals obtain the skills they need to be competitive in today's workforce," said U.S. Representative Glenn Thompson (R-PA), in a prepared statement. Thompson introduced the bill into the House. "With passage of the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, the House has taken a significant step toward helping more Americans pursue fulfilling and successful futures. I am happy we were able to work in a bipartisan manner on this important issue and look forward to our continued efforts to ensure career and technical education provides many more students with a path to success." "We need to make sure that we have greater accountability for program quality," noted U.S. Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA), in his statements during the debate, prior to the vote. "We want to ensure that we have more inclusive collaboration between educational institutions, industries, employers and community partners. And we need to make sure that those programs are aligned with our recent K through 12 education and workforce systems."at: status quo solvesCTE faces curriculum challenges and implementation issues in the status quoLarson 14- Kristen Nye Larson is a Lexington Institute Adjunct Fellow, (“Updating Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century,” the Lexington Institute, 2014 February, // CGM The greatest potential of the U.S. public school system vocational school options – better known as career and technical education (CTE) – is yet to come. This career-centric type of learning has changed over past decades, along with the interests of students, demands of the workplace, and technology integration. Despite this progress, districts face challenges when connecting actual workplace needs to a school’s CTE curriculum. This can be especially true in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math fields), where the fast pace of industry changes can be overwhelming for school systems that are notoriously slow to react. Public educators also struggle with how to measure success of the career technical programs. And while it seems that such programs work best when local businesses and employers are involved in partnership roles, execution can be difficult. A new model in Brooklyn, New York, Pathways in Technology Early College High School (“P-Tech”), has partnered with IBM to create a 9th through 14th grade high school/associate’s degree program that strives to place students in with post-graduation job opportunities with a starting salary of $40,000. Unfortunately this relationship is the exception and not the norm. In the last decade, many systems have also placed less emphasis on career readiness and instead encourage all students to pursue a 2- or 4-year degree. President Obama has repeatedly called for nearly doubling the nation’s number of college graduates. Although this is an admirable goal, the workplace needs graduates from diverse background to fill its diverse needs. Nationally, 31 percent of students in the United States who graduate from high school continue on to receive a bachelor’s degree. Worldwide, the U.S. ranks second in baccalaureate attainment. However, recent U.S. grads and the jobs they qualify for are not matching industry demands.1 According to Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, 36 percent of recent college graduates take jobs that don’t actually require a college degree. These jobs are mostly hospitality and retail positions such as waiters, bartenders and sales jobs. Since the recession which peaked in 2008, the number of professional jobs available to young college graduates has decreased. The result is that college graduates are taking jobs that they are overqualified for and getting paid lower wages.2 the college graduates are also impacting the high school degree holders by taking those lower qualifying jobs they might otherwise fill. Creating and offering a wide variety of high quality options creates the potential to reach more students and impact dropout rates of a school system. More than 90 percent of 18,000 public high schools in the United States offer a career technical option. About 5 percent or 900 of those schools have a sole focus on CTE education.3 According to a report from the California Dropout Research Project, “In short, combining academic and career-technical education in high school can keep students’ options open. This integrated strategy can encourage students to pursue their college aspirations while providing skills that could be useful if they attend college or if they leave school without a bachelor’s degree.”4 Aligning career technical programs with academic requirements in a meaningful way should also be a priority. The model program would produce a student who is academically successful in both math and reading, has obtained on-the-job training and the proper certification to accompany it, as well as a job in that field when they graduate. But, does such an experience exist for CTE students? This study will examine several programs and look at the measures of success used for these programs.Current CTE bureaucracy is preventing full program developmentDisare 16- Monica Disare is a writer for Chalkbeat. She has also written for The Boston Globe, The Miami Herald, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, (“Why New Vocational Education isn’t reaching the Classroom,” The Atlantic, 8 September 2016, // CGM At Urban Assembly Maker Academy, Principal Luke Bauer wanted to start a program in “interaction design”—a field that focuses on how users interact with products like computers and phones. But last year, when he looked into turning his vision into an official, certified career and technical education (CTE) program, he discovered that the idea didn’t fit into any of the typical categories approved by the state of New York. For a longtime Denver charter school, one more chance at rebirth A new program will give 100 New York City schools extra mental health training “There are plenty of people right here in Lower Manhattan who are getting paid six figures to do that work,” Bauer said. Yet, his program was so foreign to the process, he said it felt like having “six heads.” In the end, he decided not to pursue an interaction-design program—a disappointment to him and to his industry partners, who hoped it would create a “pipeline of talent” that could potentially lead some of his students to full-time jobs, Bauer said. Bauer’s experience is emblematic of an ongoing tension. As career- and technical-education programs expand and morph into a dizzying array of new fields, many are slowed down by the state’s long and stringent approval process. That comprehensive process empowers schools to run a multi-year, career-focused curriculum. It has “raised the quality and rigor of courses to better prepare students for college and career,” said Emily DeSantis, a New York State Department of Education spokesperson. Yet, others argue it discourages the creation of certified CTE programs and leaves little flexibility for schools trying to prepare students for new, and potentially lucrative, careers. The approval process can take years, and it often frustrates businesses partnering with schools, critics contend. Employers involved in CTE programs surveyed in 2015—including businesses, government agencies and nonprofits—said bureaucracy and slow response time are the biggest challenges in CTE work. The “sense of urgency at [the State Education Department] doesn’t match the practical demands on the schools of a rapidly changing economy,” said Kathryn Wylde, the CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a coalition of business leaders which conducted the survey. Wylde said she has been in contact with state officials and she is confident they are working to solve the problem. But for those trying to launch programs, those changes can’t come soon enough. Over the past two decades, skill-based education has transformed from the traditional “vocational” tracks into “career and technical” education—and it’s more than just a name change. Vocational ed was designed to help students enter the workforce right after high school, with training in fields like auto repair or manufacturing. Today’s career and technical education still includes those fields, but it also makes room for newer areas like computer science which often require education after high school. At the school level, that means seeking out partners in emerging industries, who will hopefully help match students with internships or even jobs after high school. “I’m very, very proud that New York City is being used as a model here for this effort.” State and local officials have gotten behind CTE as a way to engage students in high school and to prepare them for what comes next. “A career and technical education is where the strands all meet,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said last year. “And I’m very, very proud that New York City is being used as a model here for this effort.” The number of New York City schools dedicated to CTE has more than tripled over the past decade, growing from 15 in 2004 to almost 50 in 2013, according to a recent Manhattan Institute study. Roughly 75 other schools offer CTE programs and provide career-oriented courses as electives. About 40 percent of high-school students take at least one CTE course, and nearly 10 percent attend a dedicated CTE school, according to calculations based on Department of Education data cited in the report. In 2009, New York state established a workgroup to rethink CTE and its goals. In part, that meant ensuring that CTE prepares students to go on to college. To help provide new graduation options and to expand CTE programs, state officials also created a new regulation in 2014 that allows a technical exam to be substituted for one required high school exit exam, a policy known as “4+1.” But as CTE programs keep growing—and with these new rules, there are lingering questions over whether a more dramatic shakeup is necessary. The problem, critics say, is that high-tech careers are changing all the time—by their very definition they are “emerging” and not conducive to a system that takes multiple years to approve. State officials said they recommend schools start putting an application together at least a year before they submit it. Yet, at a minimum, it takes about about four years to build a program the state will sign off on, said Eric Watts, the former director of career and technical education at Urban Assembly, an organization that runs more than 20 career-themed schools. It’s not uncommon for it to take close to six years, he said. In the meantime, schools are typically running the programs anyway. “You’re getting approved to do something six years after you do it,” Watts said. “That doesn’t really make too much sense.” If schools choose to forgo the certification process, they may have a tougher time securing federal funding and cannot provide their students with a CTE-endorsed diploma. But the biggest issue, he said, is that without a formal process, it’s harder to tell which programs are the most worthwhile. “That’s the scary part: Teachers can do what they want, schools can do what they want,” Watts said. Leigh Ann DeLyser, the director of education and research at CSNYC, helped two city schools focused on software engineering through the approval process. She said that, overall, the state’s high standards are good for schools. “The state’s process is rigorous on purpose,” DeLyser said. “It does take a few years because CTE actually is more than just classrooms and tests.” The problem, she said, is there are not many models for programs similar to those she helped guide. “Being the pioneers makes it really difficult because you can’t just take and borrow from existing programs,” she said. DeLyser added that teacher certification is especially tricky. CTE teachers are required to complete specific coursework, which means that those who work at tech companies—even teachers, in some cases—often have to go back and take extra classes to earn their certification, she said. It is difficult enough to find industry professionals in high-paying tech jobs willing to take on CTE teaching positions without these extra requirements, Bauer, from the Urban Assembly Maker Academy, said. In some cases, that could mean a $30,000 pay cut and switching to an entry-level job, he said. State figures show New York had about 4,900 CTE teacher positions in 2014-15, but 450 of those spots remained vacant. “It would be nice to have ... but I heard there’s a lot of red tape.” Even when teachers are willing to take the leap, it’s a struggle for some to get approved because of the state’s current certification categories, critics say. There is only one category for new fields labeled “other/unique & emerging occupations.” Practically, that means a teacher who wants to teach interaction design, as Bauer envisioned, might have to become certified in a broader area such as computer science rather than the actual field he or she wants to teach. “If you go and look at the eligible [certification] titles, the jobs that we want to prepare our students for that are going to put them in the middle class or higher in new technologies, they are not [included in] the eligible CTE titles for the state,” Bauer said. The result is schools have to “reinvent the wheel” every time they want to create a program outside of the designated list, said Tamar Jacoby, one of the authors of the Manhattan Institute report. That can leave schools negotiating with the state and waiting “a long, long time,” to start a program, she said. Aware of the need for more CTE teachers, the state’s Board of Regents approved more ways that teachers can earn a transitional license, which will allow them to enter the classroom based on various combinations of work experience, industry credentials, and enrollment in teacher-prep programs, giving them extra time to earn additional credits. Another hurdle for some CTE programs involves the state’s new 4+1 graduation policy. Allowing CTE exams to double as graduation requirements was hailed as a big success by CTE advocates. The new policy, approved in 2014, was intended to encourage the creation of more CTE programs and to give students across New York state more ways to graduate. But so far, the policy is not even trickling down to some existing CTE schools. The state has an approved list of technical exams, but those exams do not cover all careers and do not always match schools’ specific programs. For instance, the Academy for Careers in Technology and Film in Long Island City, Queens, offers a CTE exam that yields an additional credential, but it is not approved as part of the 4+1 program. As a result, it doesn’t count toward graduation, said the school’s principal, Edgar Rodriguez. A spokesperson for New York’s State Education Department said the department is currently developing an application process for CTE programs to submit assessments that will be reviewed and potentially added to the list of eligible 4+1 graduation exams. In the meantime, these bureaucratic hurdles have left some schools feeling like it’s easier to ignore the approval process instead. Maker Academy is starting a new CTE technology-focused charter school but decided its connections at Google and IBM would be easier to manage without the state’s stringent CTE teacher certification rules, said Eric Rivers, the director of institutional advancement at Maker Academy. Dealing with the state CTE requirements “definitely makes it more challenging and I think that’s the reason we have decided to take the charter school route in this situation,” Rivers said. Another teacher, Lane Rosen, who runs a marine science program at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn, came to a similar conclusion. He would like to gain some new attention for his program and a few extra perks for his students, but the process of earning CTE approval is too daunting for him to undertake, he said. “It would be nice to have,” he said, “but I heard there’s a lot of red tape.” Bauer hopes to overcome the red tape—eventually. He shifted his program’s focus and expects to be eligible to apply for state certification a year from now. Until then, he hopes he will not have to alter his plan more than he already has. “I don’t know what it will look like two years from now,” he said. “I hope it gets approved.”at: stigmaTrends in attitude upward – more positive view of CTE in status quoJasper 16’ - Director, Medical Writing Group Lead, Content Management (Michael, “Accepting Alternatives: Career and Technical Education Should Be Embraced”, 10/18/16, Harvard Politics, )Meanwhile, the United States job market is feeling the strain of the country’s lopsided priorities. As the United States forces more students into traditional education, where many don’t excel, it’s exacerbating a country-wide shortage of machinists, welders, nurses, and other jobs CTE provides paths for. There are 600 thousand unfilled jobs in manufacturing alone. There are positive signs that attitudes towards CTE are improving within the government. A renewal act for CTE funding currently has bipartisan support. As stigmas abate, more parents are considering this option for their kids. With the United States looking critically at its lagging education system, expansion of Career and Technical Education is a frontier worth exploring.at: teacher shortagesThe plan creates an effective model of recruitment and retaining teachers Thomas Wilkin and Godfrey Nwoke 11 - *Assistant Professor in the Department of Career and Technology Teacher Education at New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York** Professor and Chair of the Department of Career and Technology Teacher Education at New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York. (“Career and Technical Education Teacher Shortage: A Successful Model for Recruitment and Retention”;Spring;)//pkAbstract The role of Career and Technical Education (CTE) as a major source of skilled workers for the American economy and a vital component of American education is well established. Several recent studies show that when CTE programs combine rigorous academic standards and industry-based technical content, the result is higher academic achievement and better economic outcomes for an increasing number of high school students. In spite of the documented successes and achievements of CTE high schools, studies show that many high school programs are faced with serious challenges, not the least of which is the difficulty in attracting qualified CTE subject teachers. This article examined one highly successful CTE teacher recruitment effort in New York that involves the city department of education, the teachers union, and a public university. The article focuses on the key elements of the teacher training program as a model for effective CTE teacher recruitment and retention. Background Career and Technical Education (CTE) has been a mainstay in the American education system for the past century. Looking forward, it is clear that the journey ahead will be very different from the one already traveled. For CTE to continue to be a relevant and major contributor to the successful lives and careers of students, many challenges must be addressed and overcome. Primary among these challenges is the need to provide highly qualified and highly competent CTE teachers who are able to prepare students to be successful in their careers and in their lives. In an effort to highlight and address this challenge, the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) dedicated the January 2010 issue of its official publication, Techniques (Volume 85, No. 1), to the problem of CTE teacher recruitment and retention. The purpose of this paper is to examine one highly successful long-term CTE teacher preparation effort in the New York City Public School system. We will first briefly examine CTE from a national perspective, noting recent trends in the field. Secondly, we will report on the status of CTE education within the New York City Public School system. We will then focus on the Success Via Apprenticeship Program (SVA), a unique and valuable cooperative endeavor between the New York City Department of Education, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), and the City University of New York (CUNY). We will conclude with recommendations for the future. National Trends in CTE From a national perspective, Kazis (2005) in “Remaking Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century” draws several broad conclusions about CTE in the United States. Kazis notes that, while shrinking, CTE remains a significant component of the U.S. high school experience and appears to help less motivated and at-risk students stay in school and graduate. He further notes that the overall rigor of technical education in high school has improved, but there is more to do and many obstacles to overcome. Kazis’s (2005) article which was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Ford Foundation refers to a consistent message that runs through seven short essays which comprise the work. The message is: CTE at the high school level must either change or die. Change may mean shrinkage in absolute size. It will certainly mean shifts in the kind and range of programs offered students and in the expectations placed on students, faculty, and administrators. The future may be different in urban and suburban regions, where the economic bases and the educational resources available for CTE can be quite different. The future is also likely to vary with the differential ability of state and regional CTE systems to meet rising expectations for quality and performance (p. 3). The author notes in conclusion, that the greatest influence on CTE will come from the politics of education reform in the states and nationally, as well at the kinds of pressure and support the stakeholders for CTE and other reform movements bring to bear on public opinion and on the educational establishment. In a related article, Medrich (2005) notes that for CTE to remain valued, certain steps must be taken. The steps include combining career-focused education with a strong academic core; removing less compelling program concentrations and eliminating weak course offerings. In addition, focus must be placed on the fundamentals, such as, creating an engaging curriculum; developing instructional strategies that are appropriate to the subject matter; providing support for students less prepared for rigorous coursework; and designing quality assessments. The overall national focus centers on improving the quality of CTE by employing new and creative approaches to the content and process of career and technical education. CTE Teacher Shortage The shortage of CTE teachers in the United States is a significant problem. Documented shortages exist in various states across the country. The state of Michigan, in a July 22, 2009 letter from Governor Jennifer Granholm, issued an exemption to retiree earnings in areas of critical shortages for 2009-2010 which includes numerous CTE position designations. In Virginia, the State Dept. of Education has designated Career and Technical Education a critical teacher shortage area since 2003. Other states that have identified CTE as a critical teacher shortage area include South Dakota, Iowa, and New York. Pytel, (2008) in the article “Shortage of Vocational Workers” notes the coming shortage of skilled vocational workers and comments on efforts by Des Moines (Iowa) Area Community College to address this need. On the website “Technology Education in Connecticut” (Kane, 2009) reports that the CTE teacher shortage undermines career and technical education and could potentially impact economic growth. In the policy brief, “Teacher Shortage Undermines CTE” (Connely, 2009) notes that there has been an increase of almost six million students in CTE courses in just seven years, yet many existing teacher education programs have been eliminated. The number of CTE teacher education programs fell from 432 to 385 (from 1990 to 2000)—a decrease of 11%. Also, there is a growing number of teacher retirements affecting the supply of CTE teachers. In 2009, the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future estimated that “during the next four years, we could lose a third of our most accomplished educators to retirement.” Several states, including Oregon, Alabama, New York, and California, to name but a few, are already engaged in unique and creative ways to address this critical shortage. Kiker and Emeagwali (2010) profiled programs designed to address the problem in several states including Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Reese (2010) reviewed the different pathways that states have used to meet their needs for qualified CTE teachers. Reese noted that both traditional CTE teacher preparation programs and alternative programs that recruit industry career changers can prepare future teachers to the highest quality by employing experienced teachers as mentors and models of excellence. New York State has been active in addressing the CTE teacher shortage in a variety of ways since the mid-1980s. Currently, there are three pathways to obtaining CTE teacher certification in the State of New York. The first pathway requires successful completion of an approved CTE teacher preparation program. There are only three such approved programs in New York State public universities, namely, New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York in Brooklyn; the State University of New York at Oswego; and Buffalo State College of the State University of New York in Buffalo. The second pathway which is an alternative route to certification is known as Transitional A for career changers. The Transitional A certificate authorizes a school district to hire an individual with at least four years of experience in the trade to begin teaching while completing the requirements for the initial teaching certificate. The initial certificate requirements including a few college courses, a certification test, and mentoring all of which must be completed within three years. The third pathway to CTE teacher certification is through Individual Evaluation. In this pathway, a prospective CTE teacher who meets the minimum certification requirements including trade experience, college course work, and the certification test, submits his or her credentials to the State Education Department for evaluation and certification. In addition to the pathways already mentioned, individuals may also apply and receive New York State certification as CTE teachers if they are from a U.S state that has Interstate Reciprocity with New York, have non-U.S. credentials; or possess the National Board Certification. New York City’s CTE Teacher Recruitment and Retention Model: The SVA Program For over two decades, New York City has been successful with recruiting and retaining CTE teachers through a unique program known as the Success Via Apprenticeship (SVA) Program. The SVA program, originally called the Substitute Vocational Assistant Program, was established in 1984 as a collaborative project of the New York City Department of Education, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) which is the teachers’ union, and the City University of New York (CUNY). The program was designed to prepare highly motivated graduates of CTE high schools to become CTE teachers. It is a comprehensive five and one half year experience that includes three components, namely, a salaried teaching internship, college level academic study, and relevant work experience in industry. The program specifically seeks out candidates from minority populations, including young women, who are pursuing careers in non-traditional trade and industrial occupations such as electrical installation, automotive maintenance, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) maintenance. Participant Eligibility and Selection Prospective participants of the SVA program must be recent graduates of a New York City CTE or comprehensive high school. An applicant must be recommended and nominated by his or her trade teacher and selected by a selection committee of the school headed by the assistant principal for CTE. Priority is given to applicants who come from minority groups in terms of race, ethnicity, or gender (males or females pursuing non-traditional careers). Each applicant must have an outstanding academic record and be eligible for admission to the City University of New York (CUNY) either by virtue of Regents test scores, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, or passing CUNY’s basic skills tests of reading, writing, and mathematics. At the beginning of each recruitment cycle which is usually in early spring, application forms are sent to CTE schools soliciting applications especially in those subject areas of current or foreseeable teacher shortage. Selection of applicants in each high school is done by a committee including trade teachers, building administrators, and representatives of the teachers’ union. Selected applicants are required to apply to CUNY and pass the CUNY basic skills tests in reading, writing, and mathematics unless they have received satisfactory scores in the Regents examinations or the SAT. Applicants who meet testing requirements are scheduled for an interview by SVA program administrators. During the interview, an important eligibility criterion is that the applicant must demonstrate interest in becoming a teacher of his or her CTE trade subject. Program Components The SVA program is composed of a Teaching Internship, Industrial Work Experience, and Post-Secondary Academic Study. In the teaching internship component of the program, participants spend five months in a CTE high school during each year of program enrollment. While in the school, the SVA is assigned to a mentor teacher under whom the intern learns about unit and lesson planning, lesson presentation, classroom management, and school dynamics. Right from the first year, the intern is given ample opportunity to plan and teach lessons under the guidance and supervision of the mentor. Each intern is required to teach for one full semester under supervision during the third or fourth year to fulfill the student teaching requirement for State certification. Career and technical education subject teachers seeking the initial teaching certificate in New York State must have a minimum of four years of full-time work experience. In order to meet this requirement through the work experience component of the SVA, participants are placed with employers in business and industry in work environments that match each participant’s career or trade area. Over the years, program administrators have developed a network of employers in business, industry, and government agencies as job sites for placement of participants. These include automotive service shops, electrical contractors, electronics and computer service companies, hospitals, and museums, among many others. Each participant completes seven months of work experience in his or her trade during each year of program. The work experience is supervised by on-the job trainers and closely monitored by a program administrator who makes regular visits to the job site to evaluate the participants’ progress. In the post-secondary academic study also known as the college component; participants are enrolled in teacher education courses at New York City College of Technology. Each participant is required to complete 44 credits of coursework during the five and one half years in the program (a total of 62 credits is required for State certification). The curriculum consists of courses in liberal arts and sciences, professional courses in career and technical education, and student teaching. Program Uniqueness Program administrator involvement and monthly meetings are among the unique aspects of the program. Program administrators handle the recruitment, interviews, placement, and supervision of participants in school and job sites. They conduct regular school site and job site visits and evaluations of all participants. In addition, program partners, administrators and participants meet during mandatory monthly meetings. Administrators deliver reports on various components of the program including school sites, work sites, etc. The college representative also reports on general college and academic matters affecting participants. At each meeting, a selected group of participants make presentations on topics of interest to them. The required dress code for all participants is business attire. Elements of Program Success The SVA program has been very successful in recruiting, preparing, and retaining young CTE teachers in the New York City public high schools. This success is attributable to four key factors, namely, compensation, contractual commitment, administrator involvement, and high performance expectations. The high schools from which participants graduate play a crucial role in identifying students who have the interest and potential to succeed as CTE educators. By working with the schools, SVA program administrators not only know subject areas where there are potential shortages, they are also able to project need and identify potential replacements. While enrolled in the program, participants are paid 90% of the contractual salary rate for a starting teacher (currently $45, 000 per year). The salary rate is very competitive and, in some cases, far exceeds what a recent college graduate earns in certain jobs and, certainly, the annual salary of a high school graduate. As employees of New York City Department of Education, program participants are also eligible for many of the benefits that a certified teacher is entitled to under the teachers’ union contract, including pension, health, dental, and optical insurance, as well as annual leave benefits. Successful program completion also means a higher salary step at initial full-time employment as a certified teacher. The SVA program pays participants’ college tuition and fees for course work leading to the New York State initial teaching certificate. Many participants take advantage of this educational opportunity and complete the Bachelor of Science in Education (B.S. Ed.) degree within the five years of participating in the SVA program. In return for all the benefits of participating in the SVA program, each participant is required to sign a letter of commitment to work for five years as a CTE teacher in New York City public schools. If a participant who successfully completes fails to meet the contractual obligation to work in New York City, the Department of Education has the recourse to seek reimbursement of all tuition and fees paid on behalf of the participant. The SVA program has very high standards of performance and conduct in all three components. Participants must receive excellent evaluations by school site mentors, college supervisors, and work site supervisors to maintain their status in and successfully complete the program. In the college component, for example, participants are held to the same academic standards as other degree-seeking students of the teacher preparation program. They must maintain a minimum grade point average of 2.50 in college courses or risk being dismissed from the program. Participants who receive poor evaluations in any of the three components of the program are brought before a personnel committee which handles all disciplinary problems and is comprised of program administrators and representatives of the teachers’ union. If a participant is found to be not meeting program standards of performance or conduct, he or she is placed on probation and given an opportunity to improve within one academic semester. If there is no improvement after one semester, the participant is dismissed from the program. Regarding evaluation of the overall program, the most recent data indicates that the program has been highly successful. In the last five years, 36 SVA Interns have graduated from the program. Thirty-four (94.4%) were offered and accepted regular teaching positions. Of the 34 that accepted teaching positions, 33 (94%) are currently teaching. SVA Program Limitations Although there are many obvious benefits to the program, some limitations do exist. The most significant limitation to the program’s operation is cost. Considered as a whole, the overall salary and associated employee benefits cost to the program are substantial. Related administrative costs are also incurred on an annual basis. The other primary limitation of the program involves order of magnitude. The number of program completers is relatively small (due to cost constraints) which means that the need for certified CTE teachers in the overall New York public school system is met in a small, incremental manner. Future Directions Successful efforts like the SVA Program can have a major positive impact on the current and future recruitment and retention of qualified CTE teachers. In the future, cooperative efforts between industry and education can yield positive results while at the same time address the cost issues associated with programs such as these. There can be creative approaches to encourage students to pursue careers in teaching CTE subjects. One suggestion could be to attract students with associate degrees in technical areas by offering tuition assistance for the education courses required for certification. A concerted effort could be organized on a state by state basis to actively recruit students pursuing technical associate degrees and provide full or partial tuition assistance support as they pursue their teaching certification. Also, much can be done in the way of simplifying the bureaucracy surrounding the CTE certification process. There are untapped pools of technical talent in industry and the military. If the process to certification were streamlined and made more user friendly, there could be a significant increase in talented and productive CTE teachers.No National Teacher ShortageMalkus 15’ - research fellow in education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where he specializes in K–12 education (Nat, “The Exaggerated Teacher Shortage”, 11/25/15, US News, )But the national data tell a different story. Last week, the National Center for Education Statistics released a report (which I authored when working for a prior employer) that shows the difficulty public schools have filling vacant teaching positions has dropped considerably over the past dozen years. The report uses data from the Schools and Staffing Surveys from 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012, which asked a national sample of principals about vacancies in their schools and the difficulty they faced filling them. The percentage of public schools with at least one difficult-to-staff position dropped by more than half between 2000 and 2012, from 36 to 15 percent. These pronounced decreases in staffing difficulty were evident across the board. To be sure, as Duncan accurately states above, the challenges principals face in staffing teachers is greater in certain schools and for certain positions, particularly high-minority, high-poverty schools and for math and special education teachers. High-poverty and high-minority schools appear to have somewhat smaller reductions over time compared to low-poverty and low-minority schools. However, across every comparison made, reports of difficulty in staffing dropped substantially, and in 2012, most estimates were half of what they were in 2000. On the national level, we are not approaching a crisis involving increasing teacher shortages. If that were the case, principal reports of difficulty in staffing would certainly be rising. Other research has also suggested that the reporting on shortages is overblown. These findings, however, don't mean that there aren't any issues with the supply of teachers or staffing public schools. And in light of these results on difficulty in staffing, there are three ideas to consider.No data correlates national teacher shortageWalsh 16’ - president of the National Council on Teacher Quality (Kate, “The national teacher shortage is a myth. Here’s what’s really happening”, 12//02/16, The Washington Post, )With almost no real data — because neither states nor the federal government collects the information that would be needed to pronounce the onset of a true teacher shortage — we witness the press, school districts, state school boards and even Congress conclude that we are in the throes of a full-blown national crisis. At the root of this crisis is a New York Times news article published two summers ago reporting on six school districts that were having a tough time filling positions (though all but two ultimately started the year just fine). Whoosh! Overnight the teacher shortage became real. Nobody thought it important to consider that teacher preparation programs had for years been graduating twice as many teachers as are needed. According to findings from the American Institutes for Research, over the past 30 years, programs graduated between 175,000 and 300,000 teachers each year, yet consistently school districts have hired only between 60,000 to 140,000 newly minted teachers. Instead, school districts have been far more likely to hire people who already have some teaching experience. Federal data from 1999 to 2012 show that only about 30 percent of districts’ new hires were straight out of a teacher prep program.at: vocational education badCTE is distinct By MITCH TEICH 17 -*cites Joe Yeado a senior researcher at the Public Policy Forum. (“ Report Looks at Success of Career and Technical Education in Milwaukee”;Feb 10; )//pkThe group just released a major report that attempts to quantify the impact and success of CTE in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. While some may be more familiar with terms like "vocational education," Yeado says the new term is more than a superficial change."The newer form of it, career and tech ed., really seeks to integrate academic subjects into these courses, but at the same time incorporate work-based learning and other project-based learning into core academic classes, so that the two are becoming more seamless, and preparing kids on that pathway college and career," he adds.Indicts of vocational education don’t apply --- CTE has evolved resolved problems with vocational educationIowa DOE 2/1 - Iowa’s Department of Education(“Career, technical education: Not a return to the past”;2017;)//pkWhere vocational education was once thought of as an alternative for students wanting to work directly after high school, career and technical education (CTE), as it is called today, consists of programs that integrate technical and academic skills with work-based learning experiences to better prepare students to succeed in college and careers.“The jobs being created today require higher skill levels than in the past,” said Pradeep Kotamraju, career and technical education bureau chief for the Iowa Department of Education. “Our global economy is driven by knowledge and innovation. Today’s CTE recognizes that shift. It is rigorous and driven by labor market demands, incorporates strong career pathways and work-based learning opportunities, and aligns with industry standards.”This rebirth of CTE, which is creating unprecedented opportunities for students and the nation’s economy, is being recognized in February during CTE Month, a nationwide campaign held to celebrate career and technical education and the achievements and accomplishments of CTE programs across the country.SolvencyA2 Liberal Arts TradeoffNo demand from employers for liberal arts Gerber, 12 (Scott Gerbert, Scott Gerber is the founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council, co-founder of Gen Y Capital Partners, and an internationally syndicated columnist, , How Liberal Arts Colleges Are Failing America, DW)When are Americans going to wake up and realize that the 60s and 70s-era nostalgia for the "value" of a college degree is just that -- nostalgia? A degree does not guarantee you or your children a good job anymore. In fact, it doesn't guarantee you a job: last year, 1 out of 2 bachelor's degree holders under 25 were jobless or unemployed. Since the recession, we've lost millions of high- and mid-wage jobs -- and replaced a handful of those with lower-wage ones. No wonder some young people are giving up entirely -- a 16.8 percent unemployment rate plus soaring student loan debt is more than a little discouraging. Yet old-guard academic leaders are still clinging to the status quo -- and loudly insisting that a four-year liberal arts degree is a worthy investment in every young American's future. Case in point: I was recently invited to keynote during a conference at the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Fresno, Cal. As someone who works every day to give more people access to entrepreneurship education, it's refreshing to talk to educators who are adapting their curricula in the interest of actually preparing students for a new economy. But one educator told me a story that made my blood boil, about a college president who recently terminated his institution's entrepreneurship education program. Not because of budgetary constraints or poor enrollment, mind you -- but because he "didn't understand the tangible value of such a program." Really? In 2012, it's the "tangible value" of four years of liberal arts that should be called into question. We keep telling young Americans that a bachelor's degree in history is as valuable as, say, a chemical engineering degree -- but it's just not true anymore. All degrees are not created equal. And if we -- parents, educators, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders -- maintain this narrow-minded approach, then we are not just failing young indebted Americans and their families. We are harming the long-term vitality of our economy. Unfortunately, the college president in the story above represents the norm. According to research conducted by Buzz Marketing Group and the Young Entrepreneur Council, 56 percent of students age 21-24 never had access to entrepreneurship classes at all; of those who did, 62 percent found them inadequate or poorly executed -- even though 92 percent agreed entrepreneurship education was vital to their success today. Talk about a disconnect. Now, I realize this is new -- and often difficult -- territory for traditional academic institutions. How does a school validate entrepreneurship? And what parent wants to hear they are paying tens of thousands of dollars for their child to be an "entrepreneur"? Look no further than institutions like Babson College, consistently ranked #1 for entrepreneurship. Since current president Len Schlesigner signed on -- in the midst of the Great Recession, no less -- Babson's faculty has pioneered its own teaching method, applying entrepreneurial thinking and hands-on learning to every aspect of campus life. Unlike other collegiate leaders, Schlesinger saw the recession as an opportunity to expand. With Babson faculty on board, he ambitiously coordinated stakeholders on and off campus, and formed departmental task forces to review curricula. Today, every freshman who walks into Babson goes immediately to work with a team to create, develop, launch and manage a new business (and they donate their profits to nonprofits). Students spend just 14 hours a week in class -- the other 154 are spent elsewhere, in special interest housing or working on student-led initiatives. Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle, not a course. Programs like Babson's are worth emulating not merely because they create the next generation of business owners and freelancers (independent workers are an especially fast-growing category). These programs enable students to think entrepreneurially -- to seize opportunity, take risks and create wealth. Simply put, entrepreneurship education gives young people a toolkit to apply their field of study to the real world. It also makes them more employable. A recent report from Junior Achievement Innovation Initiative and Gallup found that both employers and employees believe America's workforce must become more entrepreneurial if the U.S. is to remain competitive -- 95 and 96 percent, respectively. Only one in 10 believed entrepreneurship was an innate skill. Meanwhile, some 40 percent of young Americans surveyed by Buzz Marketing Group and YEC started side businesses just to make ends meet. The question before us now is, why aren't we helping them succeed instead of watching them live paycheck to paycheck? Not all dental students dream of running their own practice, but they might not have a choice. Let's prepare them for that reality. Importantly, I'm not suggesting we get rid of liberal arts departments -- I'm suggesting we create more employable English and film majors. "Well-rounded" and "self-sufficient" shouldn't be mutually exclusive concepts, and combining experiential learning with access to business role models and public/private partnerships can fundamentally transform the way we think about workforce development. Len Schlesinger describes himself as an entrepreneur, and frankly, I think that's a role all college presidents should adopt. Here's a thought: let's fire every college president with the means and resources to embrace entrepreneurship who doesn't explore, support or start an entrepreneurship education program or partnership of some kind. Sure, that idea is bound to ruffle some feathers, but forgive me if I don't shed a tear for those leaders whose outdated policies (and our tacit willingness to accept them) helped create the situation we're in today. Recession or no recession, if a CEO today were to ship product to market and some 50 percent of that product was inefficient, outdated or outright broken, that CEO would be promptly shown the door. Nostalgia for yesterday is nice, but we need a new approach. As more and more "safe" jobs get automated, streamlined or downsized (remember when law gradswere virtually guaranteed six-figure jobs?), let's start putting our money where our mouth is, and ask the people educating our children to graduate a new generation of self-sufficient, "well-rounded" thinkers and doers. And since most of us don't have a seat on a collegiate Board of Trustees, I suggest you vote with your checkbook.A2 No long termUS suffers from lack of STEM students now – key to economic growthAdkins, 12 Rodney C. Adkins, senior vice president of?IBM’s Systems & Technology Group. He is a National Academy of Engineering inductee and serves on the national board of the Smithsonian Institution. (Rodney C Atkins, , July 9, 2012, “America Desperately Needs More STEM Students- Here’s How to Get Them.”) DW. There is no doubt that to advance our economy and our society we need to create the next great technology innovations, not just consume them. That’s why there is such urgency for the U.S. to develop a stronger workforce of experts in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). After all, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, only 5% of U.S. workers are employed in fields related to science and engineering, yet they are responsible for more than 50% of our sustained economic expansion. STEM-related disciplines are responsible for many of the societal innovations that make our world better. Last week, for example, IBM’s Sequoia supercomputer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory set a world record in computing speed by breaking the 16 petaflop barrier. That represents an astounding 16,000 trillion calculations per second. What could be done with that kind of computing power? Sequoia could run a simulation of how the human heart reacts to new medicine in two days instead of two years. It could provide a 40-fold improvement in the prediction of earthquakes to help provide safer evacuation routes. Sequoia is a powerful example of what American ingenuity in STEM-related disciplines can mean for the betterment of society. So it is clear that to benefit our economy and society, our national priority should be on encouraging more students to study STEM. Unfortunately, the U.S. is trending in the opposite direction. When I graduated from college, about 40% of the world’s scientists and engineers resided in the U.S. Today that number has shrunk to about 15%. To turn this trend around, we need to improve both the size and composition of the pipeline of U.S. STEM students. Here’s how.First, we need to increase the size of the STEM education pipeline by maintaining an enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering and math throughout high school and college. Our youngest students show an interest in STEM subjects, but the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has concluded that roughly 40% of college students planning to major in engineering and science end up switching to other subjects. How important is it to increase the retention rate of STEM majors in U.S. colleges? STEM-related degrees represent only about a third of all the bachelor’s degrees awarded in the U.S. In Japan, China and Singapore, that ratio is more than one in two. Public-private partnerships can help improve this ratio. ?For example, IBM is a partner in new schools in?New Yorkand?Chicago?that focus on STEM education. Students at these innovative grade-9-to-14 schools will graduate with an associate’s degree, along with the skills and knowledge they need to continue their studies or transition directly into jobs in the information technology industry. The schools also pair students with corporate mentors, who help guide curricula and provide real-world insight into industry trends. Public-private partnerships like this can help invigorate and maintain students’ interest in STEM. Second, we need to improve the composition of the STEM education pipeline to include more women and underrepresented minorities. Although women fill close to half of all jobs in the U.S., they hold less than 25% of STEM-related jobs. At the same time, 43% of school-age children today are of African American, Latino, or Native American descent. Yet of all the engineering bachelor’s degrees in the U.S., less than 15% are awarded to underrepresented minorities. We need to reconcile these opposing trends so that the composition of our STEM education pipeline reflects America’s shifting demographics. On the national level, Congress and the administration have shown an interest in the issue, pursing legislation and enacting programs to help expand the number of underrepresented minority students studying STEM in college. National nonprofit organizations, like the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, also play an important role, by supplying Congress with research and policy analysis, in addition to providing scholarships directly to students.Finally, let's not overlook contributions from local, personal efforts. Sometimes students just need role models who inspire them to pursue STEM-related careers. For me, that person was my father, who encouraged me to deconstruct, analyze, and experiment with our home appliances. The insight I gained into how things work together opened my eyes to new possibilities and instilled in me a desire to create new technologies.As we look to the future, improving the size and the composition of the STEM education pipeline will strengthen our country’s global competitiveness and unleash new innovations that will propel society forward. Yes, STEM-related education can be challenging at times, but it can also be inspiring. Let’s encourage the next generation to study STEM by teaching them that the technology that surrounds their daily lives is not just for their consumption, it is for them to create and build upon. It will be their innovations that eradicate disease, improve the environment, and power a brighter future.Career-focused education key to economic growthBloomberg and Dimon 16 American businessman, author, politician, and philanthropist, CEO of Bloomberg L.P.; chairman, president and CEO of JPMorgan Chase (Michael R. Bloomberg and Jamie Dimon, “The Skills Schools Aren’t Teaching But Must”, May 17 2016, ) AOThe U.S. presidential campaign has focused a great deal on the need to expand economic opportunity, but candidates in both parties have not said enough about how they would achieve it. While helping more students go to college has been a topic of discussion and is a vitally important goal, what about those who do not go — or who drop out of high school? They are largely being ignored, as they have been for decades, by an education system that is stuck in the past. That must change. We will not solve the critical challenges of poverty, underemployment, wage stagnation and bulging prisons unless we get serious about investing in effective programs that prepare kids who are not immediately college-bound for middle-class jobs. Other countries — such as Germany and Switzerland — have figured this out. We must, too. About 70 percent of young Americans, and 83 percent of blacks and Hispanics, do not earn a bachelor’s degree by age 29. Most who attend community college don’t graduate. And without having gained career-focused skills in high schools, many are getting left behind. It used to be that a high-school diploma was enough to qualify for a job at the local factory that paid wages high enough to buy a home and raise a family. Those days are long gone. There are still more than 12 million manufacturing jobs in the U.S., down from a high of nearly 20 million in 1979. But most require far more skill than they once did. A high-school diploma no longer cuts it. The same is true for many of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy, including health care, computer science and the construction trades. Many jobs in those fields don’t require a college degree, but they do require technical skills that high-school programs typically don’t offer. Because we have failed to strengthen and expand career and technical education, few students are given the option to pursue programs that would give them the skills that are an entry ticket into these industries. As a result, too many students are put on traditional academic tracks that lead to dead ends, often graduating unprepared to perform anything but minimum-wage service jobs that hold few prospects for advancement. Many cannot find work at all, increasing their risk of being involved in crime and violence. We must do better. In Washington, there is bipartisan agreement on the need to better prepare high-school students for careers, but very little has been accomplished. At the local level, school districts often lack the resources to adopt curricula geared toward the jobs of today and tomorrow. But some cities are tackling the issue head-on, and New Orleans — where nearly one in five young people in the region are neither working nor in school — is taking an innovative approach to this challenge. Recently, a group of Louisiana education, business and civic leaders came together to create YouthForce NOLA, with the aim of providing high-school students with training and experiences that will prepare them for jobs that offer good wages. Over the next five years, YouthForce NOLA aims to help 1,600 students earn credentials qualifying them for jobs such as EMT, junior software developer and manufacturing process technician. Each of those jobs is a first step to long-term professional advancement. The program also aims to place more than 1,200 students in paid internships that are aligned with students’ coursework and provide experience in the workplace. That kind of experience is invaluable, because it can open students’ eyes to worlds of possibilities that they never knew existed. There is no substitute for inspiration. Each member of the partnership, including civic leaders like the mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu, has a crucial role to play. Education leaders, led by Louisiana’s superintendent of education, John White, will reshape curricula. And business leaders will open pathways for students with the right training and skills. For too long, business leaders have been missing from the table in discussions about vocational programs, and it shows. Unless they are involved, new programs will fail — and the disconnect between career-focused education and the job market will grow even wider. To help close the gap, JPMorgan Chase and Bloomberg are providing $7.5 million to YouthForce NOLA, and we hope other business leaders will join us in pushing for change in their home communities. We are preparing similar investments in Denver and Detroit, where civic, education and business leaders are also committed to educating and training young people for high-demand jobs. As with so many other issues, national leaders and the presidential candidates should look at the approaches being taken by cities to modernize career education. Long-term, broad-based economic growth depends on a strong and expanding middle class that is open to all Americans, not just college graduates. That is only possible if we reinvent vocational programs so that they are aligned with macroeconomic trends, growing local industries and jobs that offer opportunities for advancement. Without that, we will never give young people — regardless of their race or ZIP code — a chance at a better life, nor will we stop the senseless violence that claims so many young lives and imprisons even more, nor fulfill our promise as a nation devoted to the idea that equal opportunity is a birthright.A2 No EmploymentThere are ways to increase teacher employment"Increasing the minority CTE Teacher Pipeline"?Teacher recruitment and retention Cynthia Sims January 2010? programs have the potential to increase minority participation and success in teacher education, CTE and STEM. Service-learning, an increasingly utilized pedagogy, has been implemented at hundreds of educational institutions to address numerous community issues. The goals of service-learning are to integrate a service component into the curriculum to increase student learning, develop students’ practical skills, and engage them in community problemsolving. In order to address the minority CTE teacher shortage, P-16 servicelearning mentoring can be utilized. Institutions of higher education can partner with high schools and middle schools to create service-learning mentoring pro grams that address the minority gap in CTE. Faculty in various departments can match their college students with minority elementary and high school students to mentor them regarding their specific disciplines. CTE improves leadership"A COMPREHENSIVE LEADERSHIP EDUCATION MODEL TO TRAIN, TEACH, AND DEVELOP LEADERSHIP IN YOUTH"?ejournals?John C Ricketts, Rick D. Rudd 2002? is the desire of the authors to further the composition of the conceptual model for a leadership development curriculum for youth in career and technical education. Educational systems and institutions have been scolded for their ineffectiveness to produce leaders (? HYPERLINK "" \l "gardner1993" Gardner, 1993?). The authors believe that ineffectiveness is not the problem. The problem is with the lack of formal leadership training. Very little research and even fewer applications of teaching adolescents' leadership development have been conducted.The research summarizing leadership development as a result of extra or intra curricular activities is more readily available, but the authors are skeptical about the thoroughness and completeness of leadership competency acquisition minus formal leadership education. Utilization of the conceptual model would allow for assuredness as a result of evaluation and prescribed application.The conceptual leadership model has been an effective model for training students in leadership development within the department of Agricultural Education and Communication at the University of Florida. As a model, it is successfully guiding the leadership option for undergraduates. The model was presented and received well at the Association of Leadership Educators Conference, and was presented at the International Leadership Association meeting in November of 2001. The next step for the authors include development and testing of the curriculum for youth in career and technical education programs, but the authors welcome career and technical education professionals to utilize the contents of this article as a beginning point for youth leadership programs or as a supplement to already successful programs of leadership. Clearly, adolescents could benefit from curricular instruction from the conceptual model for comprehensive leadership development education. has potential for integration improving education"History and Evolution of Vocational and Career-Technical Education. A compilation. "?ERIC Clearinghouse on adult, Career, and Vocational EducationMichael E Wonacott 2003? shift away from technical preparation for a specific occupation and towards a broader preparation for both work and further education is preeminently reflected in the New Vocationalism associated with W. Norton Grubb and colleagues (Grubb 1995a,b; 1997). Grubb followed Dewey in advocating education through occupations and recommended exemplary practices to address “an historical dilemma. Ever since vocational education became distinct from academic education at the turn of the century, critics of each have called for a reintegration of academic and vocational education” (Grubb 1997, p. 78):Teaching general occupational competencies-Programs offering education through occupations focus not on the manipulative technical skills necessary for individual jobs but rather on general knowledge and abilities required for a variety of careers in a related area. A more general occupational content serves not only as an element in career planning but also provides preparation both for employment and for further education.Integrating academic and occupational content-Traditional academic content can and should be incorporated into occupational courses, and traditional academic courses can and should incorporate occupational applications and examples of concepts in the discipline. Integration ultimately requires joint development of new materials by academic and occupational instructors working in close collaboration. Developing new institutional structures-Reintegration of academic and occupational instruction is promoted by institutional structures like career academies (i.e., schools within a school); career clusters, majors, or pathways; occupational high schools; or occupational oriented magnet schools. Such institutional structures facilitate the move toward broader preparation for a variety of occupations (e.g., health occupations rather than the practical nursing), incorporation of a greater variety of academic content, appeal to a broader range of students, allow instruction about all aspects of an industry, help students make informed choices about educational and careers, and allow easier connections to employers and work-based learning. CTE improves chances for employment"Introduction to Pathways to a Productive Adulthood: The Role of CTE in the American High School"?Taylor Francis Online?James R stone III?2017 a level of academic skills, employers look for a broad set of traits, behaviors, or skills that fall roughly into two groups. The first are employability or work-readiness skills. These skills are necessary for getting, keeping, and doing well on a job. From the simple ability to communicate with a potential employer to navigating relationship challenges in the workplace, these are often the most highly ranked of desirable skills in employer surveys. College does not build these skills: Fischer (2013Fischer,?K.?(2013,?May).?A college degree sorts job applicants, but employers wish it meant more.?Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from?[Google Scholar]) found that recent college graduates lack basic workplace proficiencies such as adaptability, community skills, and the ability to solve complex problems. The National Association of Manufacturers (2005National Association of Manufacturers. (2005).?2005 Skills gap report.?Washington DC:?Author.?[Google Scholar]) reported that its members ranked strong basic employability, technical, team, literacy, and computer skills as the most desired in new hires.A second group of skills were labeled by Paul Tough (2012Tough,?P.?(2012).?How children succeed: Grit, curiosity and hidden power of character.?New York,?NY:?Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.?[Google Scholar]) among others as character traits. Drawing on research from economics, psychology, neurobiology, and other fields, they posit that noncognitive skills such as persistence, dependability, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit, and self-confidence are more important than sheer brainpower to achieving success in the workplace as well as in college.The combination of these various employability and noncognitive skills may be partially developed in traditional classrooms, but learning in nonclassroom settings such as work-based learning or out-of-classroom experiences through career-technical student organizations (CTSOs) may offer superior venues for this aspect of youth development (Alfeld et?al.,?2007Alfeld,?C.,?Stone,?J. R.,?Aragon,?S. R.,?Hansen,?D. M.,?Zirkle,?C., &?Connors,?J., …?Woo,?H.-J.?(2007).?Looking inside the black box: The value added by career and technical student organizations to students' high school experience.?St. Paul,?MN:?National Research Center for Career and Technical Education, University of Minnesota.?[Google Scholar]).A2 No STEMCTE inherently contributes to STEM with academies and technical practicesNASDCTEc 2013(pg6-7 SW)One group making the connection between STEM and CTE is the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE), a coalition of organizations working to ensure gender and racial equality in classrooms and the workplace. NAPE is leading an initiative called STEM Equity, which specifically works to improve opportunities for underrepresented populations in STEM “including STEM-related Career and Technology Education.” 22 STEM ACROSS THE CAREER CLUSTERS? Most of the 16 Career Clusters and related 79 Career Pathways are aligned explicitly to the STEM disciplines and specific STEM careers. For example, within the Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources Career Cluster, students can gain the foundational knowledge and skills to pursue careers in horticulture, animal science, environment science, mechanical engineering or food science, among other areas. Or within the Arts, A/V Technology, & Telecommunications Career Cluster, students can become prepared for careers in graphic or web design, video production, fiber optics and other diverse industries. Even those Career Clusters individuals might not immediately associate with STEM can help prepare students for careers in the STEM field. For example, students in the Business Management & Administration Career Cluster will gain skills – such as strategies for analyzing information, understanding the life cycle of a research and development (R&D) process, organizational management skills, and so on – that could transfer to running a STEM-focused business. Or, students can learn about science and technology policy, intellectual property and patents, public health issues, and how to conduct statistical analyses to evaluate a policy or program through the Government & Public Administration Career Cluster. All of these skills have grounding in the basic STEM competencies, and have a direct application of knowledge of science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics. agriculture adv1ac urban agriculture advUrban agriculture is stagnating now – lack of resources and limited course offerings stand in the way of enrollmentRussell 16 [Rebecca A., masters of science in agricultural education, “PERCEPTIONS OF SECONDARY AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS, THE NATIONAL FFA ORGANIZATION, AND AGRICULTURAL CAREERS OF STUDENTS NOT ENROLLED IN A HIGH SCHOOL AGRICULTURAL COURSE” University of Kentucky Theses and Dissertations – Community & Leadership Development 2016, pgs 1-3 //GK]Urban areas hold a large volume of students, yet the focus of agricultural studies in those areas may not be as strong as rural areas. Frick, Birkenholz, Gardner, & Machtmes (1995) found rural high school students have a higher content knowledge of agriculture than urban high school students. They also concluded, while knowledge is limited for urban high school students, the urban student’s perceptions of agriculture were still fairly positive. While perceptions may be fairly positive, urban high school students rarely have the opportunity to visit with farmers to develop their perceptions through real-life experience (Frick, Birkenholz, Gardner, & Machtmes, 1995). With a decline in rural farmland, urban areas are growing; increasing the percentage of youth which are removed from the farm. Farms may not be as conveniently located in urban areas as farms would be in a rural area; therefore, urban high school students could have difficulty finding transportation to farms. It is important to educate youth to keep positive perceptions of agriculture in heavily populated areas. Secondary agricultural education programs provide youth with reliable information about the agricultural industry. These programs enhance student’s agricultural knowledge to help develop individuals who are ready to face future agricultural challenges. Secondary Agricultural Education Programs Secondary agricultural education programs provide students an opportunity to gain a wide variety of knowledge of agriculture and the opportunities within the industry. These program areas are offered as elective classes, therefore, students must choose to enroll in them. Program areas within secondary agricultural education programs include, but are not limited to, horticulture and plant science systems, animal science systems, environmental science and natural resources systems, and agricultural power, structural, and technical mechanics (Kentucky Department of Education, 2015). Secondary agricultural education programs use the three component model utilized by the National FFA Organization (Figure 1.1). The three component model consists of “classroom/laboratory, SAE, and FFA (National FFA Organization, 2015). According to the National FFA Organization (2015), the classroom component should contain contextual, inquiry-based instruction and learning through an interactive classroom and laboratory. Agriculture teachers are encouraged to provide students the learning environment to adhere to the classroom component. The aff solves – it puts students in urban schools on the agricultural career pathRussell 16 [Rebecca A., masters of science in agricultural education, “PERCEPTIONS OF SECONDARY AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS, THE NATIONAL FFA ORGANIZATION, AND AGRICULTURAL CAREERS OF STUDENTS NOT ENROLLED IN A HIGH SCHOOL AGRICULTURAL COURSE” University of Kentucky Theses and Dissertations – Community & Leadership Development 2016, pgs 5-7 //GK]In order to continue to have youth interested in agriculture, students must be educated about the importance of, and opportunities in, the agriculture industry. Diversity in the agricultural workforce should depict the diversity of the U.S. population. Urban areas are growing; increasing the percentage of youth which are removed from the farm. With a limited knowledge of agriculture, urban high school students may also have a limited knowledge of career opportunities in the agricultural industry. Underrepresented audiences in agricultural careers are limited, and a large barrier to these limitations is the lack of information about career opportunities in agriculture (Outley, 2008). Urban high school students perceive careers in agriculture as being for people who have an agricultural background (White, Stewart, & Linhardt, 1991). Esters & Bowen (2005) found students who did not choose an agricultural career cited a lack of career opportunities as a reason. Changing these perceptions is imperative to the success of agriculture programs. Merely taking part in a recruitment workshop can reflect more positive attitudes of students about agriculture as a career from before and after the workshop (Fraze, Wingenbach, Rutherford, & Wolfskill, 2011). General exposure to agricultural subjects could change the minds of many youth. Demographics in urban high schools are largely diverse. It is important for urban high school students to be educated about the career opportunities within the agricultural workforce. Diversity in the agricultural workforce should depict the diversity in the United States. In order to have these accurate representations, colleges of agriculture must first recruit under-represented students in to agricultural degree programs, which can largely be done in urban areas (Fraze, Rutherford, Wingenbach, & Wolfskill, 2011). Some students who graduated from an urban agricultural high school indicated a lack of underrepresented audiences in agriculture, which kept students from pursuing an agricultural career (Esters & Bowen, 2005). Educating students about career opportunities available in agriculture could, in turn, increase diversity in the agricultural workforce. Understanding the barriers of students enrolling in agriculture-related classes, FFA, or entering agriculture related careers is important for the future of the agriculture industry. Vincent, Henry, & Anderson (2012) found structural barriers that exist for under-represented students enrolling in college of agriculture could start with the culture of the agricultural industry portrayed by the teacher. Identifying student attitudes toward agriculture can provide information about whether students would have an interest of entering an agriculture-related career (Osborne & Dyer, 2000). Exposing students to agricultural opportunities and increasing the number of underrepresented students studying in agricultural majors is necessary (Foster & Savala, 2012). Agricultural colleges are now trying to target a higher number of urban students; therefore, urban, under-represented students should be the populations which these colleges should turn recruitment efforts (White, Stewart, & Linhardt, 1991). Yet, it is still difficult for colleges of agriculture to recruit diverse populations of youth (Fraze, Wingenbach, Rutherford, & Wolfskill, 2011). New recruitment strategies need to be addressed in order to reach the everchanging urban population.Renewed urban investment in agriculture ensures long term food security within citiesBrown et al 2 [Katherine H. Brown, founder of City Sprouts, an inner-city garden and food security project in Omaha, Nebraska; Martin Bailkey, professor in the department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; Alison Meares-Cohen, Northeast Program Manager of Heifer International; Jack Smit and Joe Nasr, directors of the Urban Agriculture Network in Washington, DC; Terri Buchanan, executive director of The Sustainable Food Center, Austin, TX; and Peter Mann, international coordinator for WHY (World Hunger Year). “Urban Agriculture and Community Food Security in the United States: Farming from the City Center To the Urban Fringe” Urban Agriculture Committee of the Community Food Security Coalition, February 2002, pgs 11-12 //GK]Urban agriculture is a significant economic activity, central to the lives of tens of millions of people throughout the world. There is ample evidence here and abroad, that the potential of urban agriculture for food security is very real. Only now is its full potential beginning to be tapped. The United Nations Development Program estimates that fifteen percent of food worldwide is grown in cities and this figure could be significantly expanded.15 Certainly urban agriculture has been an important factor for subsistence among city dwellers caught up in regional conflicts or in the throes of economic readjustment. When transportation lines to the countryside are disrupted or when consumers cannot afford to buy fruits and vegetables, gardens sometimes offer urbanites the only buffer against starvation. In Russia, food production on large-scale rural farms fell by 40 percent since Soviet times, making the cost of food very high on the new free market. Many Russians have survived through access to dachas (small plots of land given to citizens), which produce 30 percent of the total food grown in the country and 80 percent of the vegetables.16 Between 1970 and 1990, the number of Moscow families engaged in food production increased from 20 percent to 65 percent. This is one striking example of a powerful shift toward urban agriculture worldwide, especially in response to economic crisis. While Russia has begun once more to export grain in 2001, small-scale urban growing remains central to people’s basic food security. Even in less dire circumstances, urban agriculture presents considerable benefits. For instance, currently 14% of Londoners already grow some food in their gardens. It is estimated that Londoners could produce up to 232,000 tons of fruits and vegetables, or 18% of the population’s daily nutritional needs.17 In the United States, a 1993 report estimated that one third (696,000) of the 2 million farms are located within metropolitan areas. These farms produced 35% of all crops and livestock sales.18At a time when rural farms are going out of business at an unprecedented rate in the U.S., the number of urban and peri-urban farms is actually increasing. In 1998, 15,700 new small farms were registered with state agriculture departments; most of these were located within suburban areas.19 People are often surprised about how much produce can be grown on the small plots and acreages usually found in cities. Of course, yields depend on factors such as the weather, the amount of available land, soil conditions, seed species, the availability of a dependable water source, and the gardener’s skill. But even given these constraints, the use of intensive methods of growing can maximize the efficiency of small-scale operations, as well as providing much of a household’s yearly vegetable needs and nutritional requirements.20 Urban commercial gardens using raised beds, soil amendments, and “season extenders” such as row cover and greenhouses produce yields that are generally 13 times more per acre than those of rural farms.21 This potential is well illustrated by The Food Project in urban and suburban Boston. Staff and volunteers annually raise more than 120,000 pounds of fresh vegetables on 23 acres. This produce is distributed to shareholders in their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project and to guests in Boston shelters and soup kitchens.22 In addition to vegetables, urban agriculture includes the production of honey (beekeeping), worms for composting and soil amendments, poultry and eggs, fish, and meats such as rabbit, chicken and goat. Independently, that aids 31 million Americans living in poverty – absent the aff, starvation is a guaranteeBrown et al 2 [Katherine H. Brown, founder of City Sprouts, an inner-city garden and food security project in Omaha, Nebraska; Martin Bailkey, professor in the department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; Alison Meares-Cohen, Northeast Program Manager of Heifer International; Jack Smit and Joe Nasr, directors of the Urban Agriculture Network in Washington, DC; Terri Buchanan, executive director of The Sustainable Food Center, Austin, TX; and Peter Mann, international coordinator for WHY (World Hunger Year). “Urban Agriculture and Community Food Security in the United States: Farming from the City Center To the Urban Fringe” Urban Agriculture Committee of the Community Food Security Coalition, February 2002, pgs 6-7 //GK]One preventable consequence of our food system is hunger in the midst of plenty. An unacceptable number of Americans, including many children, do not get enough to eat on a daily basis. A USDA document on U.S. food security released in 2000 reports that even in the United States, where food is generally plentiful, safe, nutritious, and relatively inexpensive, 31 million Americans were food insecure in 1999, including approximately 12 million children. 5 Poverty, in all its ramifications, is the root source of much food insecurity. In 2001, more than 31 million people (11.3% of the population) lived below the poverty line, meaning that if they were a family of four, they earned less than $17,960 each year. 6 People who are living in poverty are likely also to experience food insecurity: children, inner-city residents, single parent female-headed households, people of color, people living with disabilities, the elderly, and farm workers. Each year in the past decade more and more families reported that they ran out of food and didn’t have money to buy more. This represents one in ten households in the United States. Hunger and homelessness rose sharply in major American cities in 2001, according to the Conference of Mayors’ 27-City Survey. Requests for emergency food assistance climbed an average of 23 percent and requests for emergency shelter an average of 13 percent in the 27 cities surveyed. Over the same period, resources available for emergency food assistance failed to keep up with demand in most cities.7 Effects of Food Insecurity Food insecurity, whether related to actual food insufficiency, nutritional quality, or anxiety about a future lack of food, affects the quality of life of urban residents in farreaching ways. Inadequate nutrition is clearly associated with school and work absences, fatigue, and problems with concentration. Hunger and poor nutrition are also linked to the increased incidence and virulence of infectious diseases, many of which-- such as TB--are on the rise in US cities. Furthermore, the lack of a nutritious diet is a well-known risk factor for any number of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure. Even when cash is available to low-income urban residents, food is not always so readily accessible. Many supermarkets have closed or moved from the inner city due to complex market forces related to the increasing impoverishment of their clientele and the deterioration and depopulation of once vibrant communities. Unfortunately, it is not unusual for many remaining inner-city grocery and convenience stores to hike prices, even on basic foods. “A study in Detroit found that grocery stores near downtown and closer to lower-income neighborhoods charged on average 10 percent more than those on the beltway. Another study of all food stores in three low -income zip codes in Detroit found that only four out of five stores carried a minimal “healthy food basket” (with products based on the food pyramid).”8 Low-income consumers have less food shopping choices than middle-income consumers across the country: they have fewer retail options, limited transportation options, and often face higher prices at chain supermarkets.9 Thus ironically, people on limited incomes in cities are likely to pay more for their food than wealthier shoppers in higher income neighborhoods. The range, freshness, and quality of foods are also often compromised in inner-city groceries, thus further limiting customers’ maximal choices for nutritious and affordable meals. As the locus of poverty shifts to urban areas, an expanded urban agriculture program could build community food security by improving the quantity, quality, regularity and nutritional balance of food intake, thereby reducing hunger and improving nutrition. CTE ensures agricultural literacy, improves student perception of agricultural careers, and increases enrollment in urban schools – that causes an influx of new workers to sustain the agricultural sectorTrexler 16 [Tiffany, masters of science in agricultural education from California State University, Chico, “THE ADDITION OF AN AGRICULTURE MECHANICS PATHWAY TO BEAR CREEK HIGH SCHOOL” CSU Chico spring 2016, pgs 12-15 //GK]One of the reasons there is a need to expand CTE in general, but agricultural programs especially, is to combat agricultural illiteracy. Many people are unaware of what agriculturalists do on a day to day basis which provides a need to educate. “Expansion of high school agricultural education programs in urban areas, including nontraditional urban high schools, provides multiple benefits to students and the future of agriculture in general.” (Henry, Talbert and Morris, 2014, p. 1) As described by Henry, Talbert and Morris, urban students tend to hold a negative view of agricultural related jobs, viewing such careers as less rewarding compared to other fields. If we can educate urban communities on the secondary level we can change this negative association. From interviewing school administrators and agriculture teachers, Henry et al. found that including agriculture courses in urban schools not only enhanced students’ knowledge of agriculture but also heightened student comprehension regarding higher education opportunities and careers in agriculturally related fields. Need for trained workers Another reason there is a need to expand CTE programs is the lack of skilled employees entering the work force. The educational reforms of the 1990’s and the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 led to the belief that economic success hinges on having a four year degree (The Abell Foundation 2005). This belief has led to a gap in the job market of qualified skilled labors. As previously stated, there will be a four percent growth rate in the number of welding positions between 2014 and 2024 adding 14,400 jobs nationwide and a combined addition of 87,400 jobs in plumbing, sheet metal, and machinist jobs according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and the New York Times have all reported that there will be an increased need for welding positions in the next five years as well. According to Philips (2014), the average age of a welder in the country is 55 and many are nearing the age of retirement. It is estimated that in the next five years 25% of skilled welders will be retiring (Kendrick 2014). The American Welding Society projects that by 2020 there will be a shortage of 290,000 welders including: inspectors, engineers, and teachers (Philips, 2014; Kendrick, 2014). This shortage provides an opportunity for young people entering the job market in the coming years. One major attraction of the welding profession is the compensation rate. According to Cohen (2015), entry level welders earn on average $16.50 an hour and rates increase to an average of $30 an hour for experienced welders. Specialty welders can earn anywhere from $50 an hour to upwards of $100 an hour (Cohen, 2015). Students could start their welding careers in as little as nine months after completing a certification program through a community college or trade school. As stated on their website, San Joaquin Delta College (n. d.) offers a certificate program that prepares students for employment in entry level welding positions. By offering agriculture mechanics at Bear Creek, students could jump start this certification process because classes are articulated with San Joaquin Delta College, thus students are eligible to receive dual credit. This is a viable option for students who do not want to go to a four year university but want to receive high compensation. The combination of the need to educate urban students about agriculture and the gap in the job market has created the need to bring Agriculture Mechanics to Bear Creek High School. At Bear Creek High School, only 24% of students complete requirements to enter a UC or CSU after graduation according to the California Department of Education School Accountability Report Card 2015. This means that roughly three quarters of the student population will be going to a community college, trade school, military, or working after they graduate. This is a large percentage of students that would benefit from the opportunities that the addition of an agriculture mechanics pathway would present. The students that will benefit most are those that do not do well in more traditional classes or those who do not know what they want to do after graduation. The advantages of adding an agriculture mechanics pathway to Bear Creek High School have been outlined in this review of literature. An overview of the agricultural education model was presented, several studies gave evidence as to the opportunities that CTE provides, and the cultural/community benefits of expanding agricultural programs were addressed. It is due to all of these factors that the need for a mechanics pathway was researched and planned, with the intent of rapid adoption.2ac cte solves agAgriculture programs in CTE uniquely prepare students for effective ag leadership post-high schoolRyan 16 [Natalie, masters of science in agricultural education from California State University, Chico, “INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF AGRICULTURE EDUCATION PROGRAMS ON STUDENTS PREPAREDNESS FOR POST SECONDARY EDUCATION” CSU Chico spring 2016, pgs 23-26 //GK]Agriculture education uses a unique approach to educate within the scope of career and technical education (National FFA Organization, 2014). The three-circle model is comprised of: hands-on classroom learning, real world experiences through Supervised Agriculture Experience projects, and leadership development through the FFA (National FFA Organization, 2014). In this model, each of the three circles are interconnected, reinforcing the others (Fritch, 2013). This model offers a variety of benefits for students including a strong foundation of academic and technical content (California FFA Association, 2014). Students enrolled in agriculture education programs also benefit from leadership development and hands-on learning opportunities (California FFA Association, 2014). The National FFA Organization (2014) stated that the agricultural education mission is, “agricultural education prepares students for successful career and a lifetime of informed choices in global agriculture, food, fiber, and natural resources systems” (p. 86). FFA programs and agriculture education in California are funded by the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 and the Agriculture Education Vocational Incentive Grant Program (California Department of Education, 2014). According to the California Department of Education (2014) these funding program are intended to accomplish four major purposes: 1. Enable local education agencies to improve the curriculum for students enrolled in agricultural education programs through the development and implementation of (a) an integrated academic and vocational curriculum, (b) curriculum that reflects workplace needs and instruction, and (c) support services for special populations. 2. Increase the competence of future and current high school, middle grades, and regional occupational centers and programs agricultural education instructors in developing and implementing a new integrated curriculum, student and program certification systems, technical preparation strategies, and effective instructional methodologies. 3. Promote the development and use of curriculum, instructional materials, and instructional strategies that prepare students in all aspects of the agricultural industry and foster critical thinking, problem solving, leadership, and academic and technical skill attainment. 4. Increase linkages between secondary and postsecondary institutions offering agricultural education programs; between academic and agricultural educators; and among agricultural educators, the agricultural industry, professional associations, and local communities. (p.1) Agriculture education programs are broad and serve a variety of purposes, yet generally produce students with excellent social skills and a high degree of content knowledge that can become productive members of society (Dailey et al., 2001). According to Fritsch (2013), advocates suggest that although every student may not be college bound, agriculture students should be college and career ready. Dailey et al. (2001) reported “Agricultural education is versatile” and “improves learning by having the opportunity to learn a little facet of every field and every area out there” (p. 15). A survey of FFA Advisers across the nation reported that agriculture education students learn skills that include teamwork, how to effectively run a meeting, delivering a speech, and planning an activity (Boone & Taylor, 2007). An affective agriculture education program that successfully integrates all components of the three-circle model prepares students for adulthood regardless of their career choice (Dailey et al., 2001). Students enrolled in agriculture pathways are provided opportunities to learn a wide variety of information because the field is so broad (Dailey et al., 2001). Beyond career preparation, agriculture students are also prepared for higher education as academic content and skills are transferred to other disciplines (Dailey et al., 2001). According to the research of Dailey et al. (2001): Agriculture education is a viable curriculum alternative for instruction and experiences leading to transfer of workplace skills. Learning technical and workplace skills is encouraged within the diversity of coursework and experiences in agricultural education, offering students an opportunity to learn a variety of skills. Agricultural education incorporates a combination of diverse teaching methodologies (i.e. hands-on learning, vocational skills training, academic concept development) and technical content (i.e. agriculture, business, science, marketing, economics), with intra-curricular experiential learning and leadership development. (p. 18) Acting as a partnership with the National FFA Organization, the National Council for Agriculture Education serves to strengthen agricultural education at the classroom level across the United States (National FFA Organization, 2011). According to the National FFA Organization (2014): The mission of The National Council for Agricultural Education is to establish high-quality agricultural education programs in America’s schools by stimulating: The preparation, retention and advancement of high-quality agriculture educators. The development of programs that prepare students for academic and career success. Program innovation and adaptability in response to changing student and industry needs. The use of research-based practices in agricultural education programs at all levels. Expanded opportunities for students to experience high-quality educational programs in agriculture. (p. 7) 2ac ag solvesAgriculture solves every impactSarwar 14 [Muhammad, faculty member at Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology, “Understanding the Importance and Scope of Agricultural Education to the Society” International Journal of Innovation and Research in Educational Sciences Vol 1 Issue 2, pg 145-146, honestly I am so sorry for the grammar this was translated from another language but I think it’s still a pretty good card //GK]Agricultural segment plays an important role in the economic activities of a country. The materials needed and economic progresses coming from this sector are; food, for instance wheat, rice, corn, sugar cane crops, fruits and vegetables. Agricultural segment in addition supplies seafood for mineral and protein needs. Agricultural division offers raw resources desired to create other products, for example natural substances from fields, forests and seas may be prepared into a diverse range of handicraft products. This sector adds to the economic progress through exports to other countries. Agricultural stuffs are an imperative basis of income for the nation, and a government should principally focus on to export more of agricultural products to develop the trade capacity of the country in overseas. Agricultural sector provides employment to a large number of peoples in the countryside such as farming, raising livestock, fishing and mining that depend on agriculture for their livelihood. A progressive agricultural division can maintain other sectors of the market such as trade, manufacturing and services to community by making availability of the unrefined materials needed. This is the reason that when a nation or state plans about the industrialization, it desires to enlarge and recover its agricultural sector and production. However, intensifying production only is not adequate to expand the agricultural segment. It should be kept in psyche that it formulates the extensive part of the peoples and populations of a country, which are probable clients of other goods and services. Together with the efforts to enlarge production, it is essential to progress conditions of peoples in order to build up their capability as customers. Through this a further energetic barter among productive sectors, is expected to take place and steps forward equally in rural and urban regions. Nearly large percentage of peoples lives in rural area where agriculture is the major supporter of livelihoods. The sufficient provisions of fundamental requirements such as foodstuff, clothing and shelter, denote the quality of human life. Agriculture sector supports the peoples to have the benefit of a higher quality of life and offers food, clothing, and shelter. It assists us to meet our requirements and the needs of millions of peoples in all the states. The consumers have a broad range of selection of agricultural products like grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, milk and meat at the neighboring grocery store year-round. Agriculture endows with jobs for many peoples in comparison to any other industry in a state and out of every 100 peoples, approximately several work in agriculture sector. International trade through selling and buying of agricultural commodities by two or more nations is practiced. Goods sold to another country are exportable agricultural products, while imports include products bought from another nation. Presently, the land of earth surface is administered for cropland and meadow, while the natural forests provide wood for basic goods and fundamental services to human development globally. Forestry that is the science of planting, caring and harvesting of trees, provides millions of hectares of forest land. Forestry goods are prepared into a lot of kinds of plywood, lumber, particle board, paper and veneer. These goods are utilized in numerous traditions, but the shelter being the mainly essential. Forestry products can be categorized by the types of trees grown and harvested. The two main types of trees are hardwood (deciduous trees shedding their leaves in the winter) and softwood (conifer trees that are evergreen and usually have cones and needles like leaves). Agricultural land also provides food and habitat for much of wildlife occupying various regions. Scope of Agriculture to the Society Agriculture is among one of the great fields and have a lot of scope in local and overseas countries. The agricultural science focuses on all aspects of agricultural research. It offers readers an opportunity to tap into the future of food and fiber improvement and production. The science reports advanced research results in plant, animal and soil sciences, sustainable farming systems, and food science. Most of the population living in certain villages is engaged in agriculture where farming is the dominant sector of wealth and contributes in a variety of ways like given below:- Countrywide financial system of agricultural nations contributes more to the national income, whereas manufacturing segment contributes lesser share. It designates that more the advanced stage of development of agricultural nations, the greater is the share of agriculture in national earnings. The most of population of agricultural nations is employed, working and depending on agriculture and associated actions. Practically, the majority of the population living in rural areas receives its income from agriculture and other livelihoods linked to farming. Likewise, in urban locality, a great fraction of manpower is busy in employments depending on processing and marketing of farming materials. Agriculture sector targets on food production and supplies food for feeding of the growing population of a country. As a result, the agriculture sector is capable to meet up approximately every requirements of its population with regards to food by developing rigorous plan to enhance foodstuff creation. The majority of the industries is relying on the raw inputs created by agriculture, thus agriculture is the key basis of raw products to other industries. The production of industries such as cotton textile, vegetable oils, sugar, juices and paper, is completely relying on agriculture for the provision of raw inputs. The small level industries such as ginning and pressing, power loom and hand loom, rice husking, apiculture, sericulture, fruits and vegetable processing, are too primarily agriculture based industries. The agriculture contributes to the revenue generation to the state by direct agriculture taxation (including land revenue, surcharge on land revenue and agriculture income tax) and indirect tax (sale tax and custom duty) that farmers or customers pay on sale or purchase of agriculture commodities. Agriculture sector shares an imperative part in overseas business, thus generating precious amount of foreign exchange, which is needed for the fiscal development of a state. The products from large and small level agriculture industries constitute the main items of export through roads, rails and waterways outside the state to other countries generating valuable amount of foreign exchange.2ac sustainabilityCTE reinvigorates green tech sector by integrating sustainability into curriculum – spills over to more sustainable careers across fieldsMiller 14 [Bob, “Go Green! Moving CTE toward Sustainability” Tech Directions September 2014, pgs 13-15]It makes sense that we can use technology to address the problems that some of our advancements in technology have gotten us into, but all the alternative technologies that are needed in the green toolbox have not yet been invented. Today’s students will be the generation to fill that toolbox up (Pokrandt, 2010). As our students put the new tools to use, they will be able to do the same jobs we did but better and greener because of their advanced technology and knowledge. Our students will know they need to make a positive difference to fix the areas in which we have made bad choices. Then they will be able to reinvent what we have created so far—and the student will become the teacher. So, What Changes in the Curriculum? One key component that has long benefited career and technical education is contextual learning and teaching. This has been the difference between what CTE offers over a typical academic school experience. It involves connecting knowledge and applying it in an authentic problemsolving experience or using it in realworld experiences on a local level in the community. This is already part of our curriculum, but Nolet (2009) adds a list of nine themes that occur frequently in the sustainability discourse: ? stewardship, ? respect for limits, ? systems thinking and interdependence, ? economic restructuring, ? social justice and fair distribution, ? intergenerational perspective, ? nature as model and teacher, ? global citizenship, and ? importance of local place. Nolet’s themes of seeking awareness of our carbon footprint, water consumption, and chemical use, are an integral part of some CTE programs and can add a needed element. Gregson (2010) expounds on these topics to describe possible implications that they may have toward development of a green career and technical education conceptual framework. The curriculum framework is in need of revamping to meet the societal needs of this and coming generations. Professional Development Along with changes in curriculum, one of the most important changes needed to insert sustainability in a CTE program is professional development for those who will teach the updated material. All administration and staff should support the curriculum changes and the educators who will implement them (Nolet, 2009). Front-line teachers should be involved in any curriculum redesign and professional development—support and education of the staff from the bottom up is essential for the entire plan to work (Sanderson, 2011). Without effective professional development, the new direction may never get off to the favorable start needed for its success. What Are Green Careers? Like many things in life, it comes down to money, or in the case of careers, making money. So what are green, sustainable changes going to mean for potential jobs and the ability to make a living? In some cases, we have already seen green sustainability aspects such as those identified in the 2009 Heldrich Center for Workforce Development (Rutgers University) Green Jobs brief (Cleary & Kopicki, 2009). Green careers can range from existing jobs in interior design and water quality or environmental attorneys and environmental chemistry. The job market also offers new opportunities for the traditional CTE courses and new technology fields. For example, the field of information technology (IT) has changed as the green skills have dictated. IT now involves an interesting mix of power management programs and work on products that would lead to better, more effective materials. Also, people working in IT are increasing the amount of renewable energy the field uses and focus on disposal and recycling in a more aware and mindful way (Mishra, et.al. 2012). Having a green career may not be doing something different to be green, but maybe just doing it better to save energy and resources. In some cases, green careers are a new way of thinking and careers will change to meet needs as they arise (Pokrandt, 2010). A2 Impact DFood crises may cause extinction – U.S should help, while agricultural development is keyCarolyn Heneghan Jan. 22, 2015 (Food Dive security-vital- national-interests- world-markets)World War III is unimaginable for many, but some experts believe that not only is this degree of global conflict imminent, but it may be instigated not by military tensions, oil and gas, or nuclear threats, but instead by, of all things, food. As it stands, countries across the globe are enduring food crises, and the U.N.’s Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that about?840 million people?in the world are undernourished, including the?one in four children?under the age of 5 who is stunted because of malnutrition. Assistant director-general of U.N.?FAO Asia-Pacific?Hiroyuki Konuma told?Reuters?that social and political unrest, civil wars, and terrorism could all be possible results of food crises, and “world security as a whole might be affected.” Such consequences could happen unless the world?increases its output?of food production 60% by mid-century. This includes maintaining a?stable growth rate?at about 1% to have an even theoretical opportunity to circumvent severe shortages. These needs are due to the growing global population, which is expected to reach?9 billion by 2050 while demand for food will rise rapidly. Exacerbating this issue is the fact that the world is spending less on agricultural research, to the dismay of scientists who believe global food production may not sustain the increased demand. According to?American Boondoggle, “The pace of investment growth has slowed from 3.63 percent per year (after inflation) during 1950–69, to 1.79 percent during 1970–89, to 0.94 percent during 1990– 2009.” Decreased growth in agricultural research and development spending has slowed across the world as a whole, but it is even slower in high-income countries. Water scarcity is another problem, including in major food-producing nations like China, as well as climate change.?Extreme weather events?are having a severe effect on crops, which have been devastated in countries like Australia, Canada, China, Russia, and the U.S., namely due to floods and droughts. An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change recently warned that climate change may result in “a 2% drop each decade of this century,” according to?RT. Rising food costs also contribute to poor food security across the world as prices remain high and volatile. Higher food costs inhibit lower socioeconomic people’s access to food, which contributes to the FAO’s disturbing figure of global malnutrition. In addition to an inability for people to feed themselves, poverty can also reduce food production, such as some African farmers being unable to afford irrigation and fertilizers to provide their regions with food. Still another issue for decreased food production is the fact that many farmers are turning crops like soy, corn, and sugar into sources for biofuel rather than edible consumption, which means these foods are taken away from people to eat. Could these shortages lead to a major global conflict? Studies suggest that the food crisis could begin?as early as 2030, just a short 15 years from now, particularly in areas such as East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Both regions have significant problems with domestic food production. Some experts believe that, to secure enough food resources for their populations, countries may go to war over the increasingly scarce food supply. This could be due in part to warring parties blocking aid and commercial food deliveries to areas supporting their enemies, despite the fact that such a practice breaks international humanitarian law. Conflict also leads to lack of food supply for populations as people become displaced and forced from their homes, jobs, and income and thus cannot buy food to feed themselves. Displaced farmers are also unable to produce their normal crops, contributing still more to food shortages in certaFood insecurity is a major threat to world peace and could potentially incite violent conflict between countries across the world. Thus, the U.N. and other governmental bodies are desperately trying to find ways to solve the problem before it becomes something they cannot control. Debates over how to solve the problem According to?RT, “To combat the problem, the U.N. body has outlined?two primary options: increasing arable land areas as well as productivity rates. A lack of available arable land and more sluggish growth rates in staple crops have complicated efforts to bolster these two pillars of food security.” Increased production is a cornerstone of solving food crises, but this cannot be done without also increasing the land on which farmers can grow their crops. Another analyst, Scott Ickes, a professor of public health and nutrition at the College of William & Mary?told?Fortune, “A lot of food rots because of bad storage facilities in poor countries, and bad infrastructure in those areas prevents delivery of food to a lot of the poor.” Thus, if countries can figure out how to better distribute and store food, this could be a viable way out of a global food shortage. One common way to solve this problem touted by some food companies, like Monsanto, is to create genetically modified foods en masse. However, GMO food production has endured extensive criticism and backlash in many countries as being an unhealthy and unnatural choice of food. Between better production, land availability, storage, and infrastructure, all these methods could help solve the problem of potential food crises, which could inevitably lead to increased global unrest. But another key option is food?assistance, and the U.S. will hopefully continue to help countries in need before this problem gets out of hand and conflict is on the horizon.US food insecurity bad while starving children rates are increasingSchanzenbach & Bauer 17- (Director of The Hamilton Project and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Bauer is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, “Food insecurity among children in 2015”, Brookings: 5/19/17 SN)Rates of children living in households characterized by food insecurity or very low food security?have improved?since 2014 as the economy has continued to recover from the Great Recession. But, these statistics only show us annual snapshots of food insecurity, which masks times over the course of the year in which children may become food insecure. When schools let out for summer, children from food insecure households no longer have access to school meals, and their access to food becomes more variable.Nevertheless, in 2015, food insecurity remained unconscionably high in the world’s richest nation. Defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a state in which consistent access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money or other resources, more than?13 million children?in 2015 lived in a household characterized by food insecurity—over 1 in 6 children in America. Even more troubling, in 2015 more than 6 million children were food insecure themselves and another half a million children suffered one or more periods during which their food intake was reduced and normal eating patterns were disrupted because the household lacked money and other resources for food. Though there are children living in households characterized by food insecurity in every state, these millions of children are unevenly distributed across states. Figure 1 shows the average annual percentage of children living in food insecure households in each state from 2013-2015. In 22 states, more than 20 percent of children lived in food insecure households. In five states—Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, and Oregon—more than one in four children lives in a food-insecure household. Below, figure 2 shows the average annual percentage of children living in households experiencing very low food security, from 2013-2015. The state averages range from a low of 3.3 percent in Iowa to a high of 9.1 percent in Oklahoma. As one might expect from an overall reduction in the number of children living in food insecure households, states have made strides in reducing food insecurity since the Great Recession as well. An?interactive?produced by The Hamilton Project shows that from 2008–11, in 10 states more than a quarter of children lived in food insecure households; in an additional 12 states, the rate of children living in food insecure households was between 23 and 24.99 percent. From 2013-15, in only five states—Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, and Oregon—did more than a quarter of children live in food insecure households.Food Insecurity is Not Being StoppedSheryl?L.?Hendriks- 15 (Director Institute for Food, Nutrition and Well-being, “The food security continuum: a novel tool for understanding food insecurity as a range of experiences”, Springer Netherlands: 4/25/15, pgs. 4-6, // SN)Food insecurity is a problem with multiple manifestations. Multiple contributing causes?—?social norms, individual behavior and stages in the human life cycle, food availability and quality?—?make it a problem requiring comprehensive approaches. The difficulty we face is in bringing convergence to our understanding of the varied experiences of human deprivation so as to improve our response to the problem. The concept of “food security” first began to attract attention in the 1940s and is now widely used in designing, implementing and evaluating humanitarian emergency and development policies and programs. Today the universal definition of “food security”, accepted by the highest level of global governance on food?security, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), describes it as a situation where “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active healthy life” (CFS?2012?as per the FAO 1996 definition). However, the usefulness of the concept is constrained by the plurality of ways of understanding the causes and consequences of food insecurity, and the effects of economic, social, political and environmental interventions. Further complicating the issue is the transdisciplinary nature of the food security research field: the experts from different traditional disciplines working together are giving us a more nuanced understanding of the concept but also potentially muddying the waters. Assorted discourses and paradigms compete for domination, leading to conflicts over terms and concepts (Lang and Barling?2012; Candel?2014). The terms “food security”, “nutrition security”, “food security and nutrition” and “food and nutrition security” are used interchangeably, and some scholars assert a hierarchy among these terms. The proliferation of terms initiated a discussion at the Committee on World Food Security annual meeting in?2012?(CFS?2012). The CFS input note on “coming to terms with terminology” (UNSCN?2012) sets out clearly the origins and development of the contentious terms. But despite a CFS resolution on the use of the terms (CFS?2012), they are still being used interchangeably. This does not make for clarity of understanding or effective policy and program development. This paper argues that the debates lose direction when they fail to differentiate between the risk factors for food insecurity, food insecurity as a phenomenon in itself and the consequences of food insecurity. There seems to be no end to the overlaps and interactions between the categories. Failure to define the topic leads to confusion when it comes to policies and interventions and how to measure their impact. How we understand and define food insecurity determines how we measure it (Hendriks and Drimie?2011; Coates?2013; Candel?2014). The measurement can take into account quantitative, qualitative, psychological and social or normative constructs of the experience of food insecurity, qualified by their “involuntariness and periodicity” (Campbell?1991, p 410). Competing approaches to food insecurity measurement have emerged over time and no generally accepted framework exists on which to base the measurement. Despite numerous attempts during the 1990s (see Hendriks?2005?and Headey and Ecker?2013?for reviews of these), measuring food insecurity still evades simplification. Each measure both captures and neglects phenomena intrinsic to the concept of food security, thereby subtly creating priorities among food security interventions (Barrett?2010). Very few measurement systems are based on a full definition of food insecurity. Pinstrup-Andersen (2009: 137) says that if we interpret the FAO definition quoted above “to mean that the nutritional needs of each individual have to be met for the person to be food secure, the FAO estimate of 800 to 900 million under-nourished people would be a gross underestimate of the prevalence of food insecurity”. He notes also that “if the estimate of two billion iron deficient people is correct, that number would be the lower bound for the number of food insecure people in the world”. He argues that what is at issue is “whether the FAO definition of food security, that is now widely accepted, can be used to disaggregate the concept into different kinds of food insecurity depending on the nature and severity of the problem and the type of solution required”.Food Insecurity Causes Malnourished Children & AdultsKarla L Hanson?and?Leah M Connor- 14 (Work at Division of Nutritional Sciences & Cornell University, “Food insecurity and dietary quality in US adults and children: a systematic review”, American Society for Nutrition: 2014, pg.1 // SN)Food insecurity is adversely associated with the physical and mental health of adults and children, and the mechanism that underlies this association has been assumed to be dietary intake of lower quality in food insecure than food secure individuals. A thorough understanding of observed associations between food insecurity and dietary quality is needed to test this assumption and may highlight pathways through which to improve the health of food-insecure adults and children contrasted associations observed in adults and those for children. Objective:?We systematically reviewed all evidence of associations between food insecurity and dietary quality and n. Design:?Evidence came from studies that appeared in indexed, peer-reviewed journals and?1) sampled US residents,?2) separately sampled children and adults,?3) contained a measure of food insecurity or food insufficiency, and?4) included at least one measure of dietary quality. Results:?In adults, 170 associations between food insecurity and dietary quality were tested, and 50 associations (29%) suggested an adverse association. Food-insecure adults consumed fewer vegetables, fruit, and dairy products than did food secure adults and had lower intake of vitamins A and B-6, calcium, magnesium, and zinc. In children, 130 associations were tested, and 21 associations (16%) showed an adverse association. There was substantial evidence of only lower fruit consumption in food-insecure compared with food-secure children. Reporting and publication biases may have contributed to an overestimation of the association between food insecurity and dietary quality. Conclusions:?Food insecurity is adversely associated with dietary quality in adults, particularly intakes of nutrient-rich vegetables, fruit, and dairy that promote good health. However, food insecurity was less-consistently associated with lower dietary quality in children. The idea that parents effectively shield their children from compromised dietary quality because of food shortages is supported by the evidence.People Are Hungry Because of Food InsecurityJoseph Mercola-17 (Physician & Author, “Is There Really a Problem with Food Shortages in the US?,” AHVMF: 2017 pg. 3, // SN)The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released their latest data on food security in the US. Being food “secure”means you have access, at all times, to enough food for an active,?healthy lifestyle. The data revealed that 86 percent of US households were food secure in 2014, which means 14 percent were not. HYPERLINK "" \l "_edn1" \o "" 1?This number is essentially the same as in 2013, as was the percentage of households with very low food insecurity (5.6 percent).?According to the USDA: “Food-insecure households (those with low and very low food security) had difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources… In [the]… more severe range of food insecurity, the food intake of some household members was reduced and normal eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year due to limited resources. Children were food insecure at times during the year in 9.4 percent of U.S. households with children (3.7 million households), essentially unchanged from 9.9 percent in 2013. These households were unable at times during the year to provide adequate, nutritious food for their children.” What you’ll notice about the USDA’s findings is that people are going hungry not because of a food?shortage, as is often portrayed in the media (and certainly used as a buzz word to promote genetically modified crops), but rather because of a lack of resources, or poverty, combined with a number of other factors discussed below. Since mid-August 2012, FoodCorps has started 411 garden projects in 10 states with the help of close to 3,300 community volunteers, and have harvested nearly 29,600 pounds of fresh produce for local schools. HYPERLINK "" \l "_edn14" \o "" 14?On a national level, intense lobbying by the junk-food industry and corn and soy associations is keeping junk-food and its related subsidies as the status quo. But you can take action on an individual level. Every state has a sustainable agriculture organization or biological farming organization that is the nucleus of the farmers in that state. You can also find an ever increasing number of "eat local," and "buy local" directories, in which local farms will be listed. The following organizations can also help you locate farm-fresh foods in your local area, which allow you to bypass the broken food-production system that’s currently in place.A2 US Not KeyAgriculture is K2 global stability and sustainabilityCullen Hendrix and Henk-Jan Brinkman 2012 (Department of Government pg14-15 SW)Third, food security interventions can support the development of capacities and public 15 administration systems. In El Salvador, for example, a school-feeding programme was started during the civil war in 1984 and over a 24-year period, WFP supported capacity development, from the institutional framework and oversight to logistics, procurement and the design of the food basket (Bundy et al. 2009). In Nepal, the establishment of a nationwide food security monitoring system, supported by WFP, has helped the government respond to food insecurity and contributed to the legitimacy of the state and strengthened state-society relations (McCandless 2012). Because horizontal inequalities played a role in the Maoist rebellion in Nepal, an equitable response capacity of the government also addresses a root cause. Similar arguments are prompting the Government of South Sudan, with the support of WFP, to establish a strategic grain reserve system, which will develop government capacity to address food insecurity and contribute to state legitimacy (McCandless 2012). These programmes have a proven track record of changing attitudes in the aftermath of conflict. A review of peacebuilding activities found that the impact of access to social services on communities was described as “stabilizing,” “tension diffusing,” and “calming aggressions and the belligerent mood” (Kyrgyzstan); as “confidence building,” “fostering unity,” and potentially strengthening the “spirit of collaboration and cooperation” (Uganda); and as a return to “normal life” (Central African Republic) (McCandless 2012). US Farms Have and Still Are Increasing Ag GrowthSun Ling Wang- 16 (Agricultural Economist, “U.S. agricultural productivity has generally risen over time”, US Dept. of Agriculture: 11/23/16 pg. 2, SN)It is widely agreed that increased productivity, arising from innovation and changes in technology, is the main contributor to economic growth in U.S. agriculture. ERS data, research, and analyses quantify productivity improvements, the sources of improvement, and investigate the role of the public and private sectors in fostering U.S. agricultural productivity growth through research, education, infrastructure, and technological advances. Research on global agricultural productivity focuses on quantifying comparable productivity growth measures for countries and regions worldwide. ERS' productivity accounts provide estimates of productivity growth for the aggregate U.S. farm sector for the period 1948-2013, and estimates of the growth and relative levels of productivity for the individual States for the period 1960-2004. According to the statistics (see the ERS data product,?Agricultural Productivity in the U.S.), growth in farm sector output was due almost entirely to productivity growth over the post-war period. Studies have shown that public investment in agricultural research has resulted in large economic benefits with annual rates of return between 20 and 60 percent, see?Economic Returns to Public Agricultural Research(EB-10, 2007). The Agricultural Act of 2014 authorized funding for research, extension, and education—including competitive grants and capacity funding (i.e., awarded by formula) to Land Grant institutions and State agricultural experiment stations, and intramural funding for USDA research agencies, and identified high-priority research areas and new research initiatives. See?Agricultural Act of 2014: Highlights and Implications?and the section under?Research?for more information. Models and data decompose the sources of growth in global agricultural output. Globally, productivity growth accounts for a rising share of the increase in agricultural production, easing pressure on natural resources to supply the rising demand for food and agricultural commodities (see the ERS data product,?International Agricultural Productivity,?Growth in Global Agricultural Productivity: An Update(Amber Waves?magazine, November 2013), and?Accelerating Productivity Growth Offsets Decline in Resource Expansion in Global Agriculture?(Amber Waves, September 2010).?CTE programs and Agricultural Education is Working Productively in Urban SchoolsHenry, Talbert Kesha A., Brian Allen Morris & Pamala V.- 14 (All are researchers from Journal of Agricultural Education, “Agricultural Education in an Urban Charter School: Perspectives and Challenges”, ERIC: 2014, v55 n3 p89-102, // SN)Participants stated school agricultural education courses enhanced students’ knowledge and awareness of agriculture. Additionally, they reported these courses heightened student comprehension regarding higher education opportunities and careers in agriculturally related fields. Participants noted that agricultural education courses helped students understand practical applications of science and how science applied to their daily lives. Further, participants emphasized importance of agricultural education courses on the development of well-rounded students. Mr. Brown elaborated on the importance of agricultural education classes to urban school curriculum. RQ1. How do Administrators/agriculture teacher view the inclusion of agricultural science courses into urban school curricula? C2.The inclusion of agricultural science courses into urban school curricula helps to enhance the science and technology focus of the school SC1. Agricultural science courses help to break urban students’ stereotypes about agriculture SC2. Agricultural science courses help to bring in more state funding for educational programs C1. The inclusion of agricultural science courses into urban school curricula give urban students a different way of looking at science Henry, Morris, and Talbert Agricultural Education… Journal of Agricultural Education 94 Volume 55, issue 2, 2014 Because it’s their everyday life. They eat, they wear it, they talk it. They are engaged in computer science, they are engaged in other modern technologies, but we leave out the Ag science, which not only feeds them but feeds the world [and] comes up with medical solutions. And so it’s nature and what we can do with it that makes the world go round….Let the young people of all diverse backgrounds, so all Americans, all [state residents] in particular let them know about the industry of agriculture, let them know about it early on and then let them know about [State] University and what it offers and then while we are promoting agriculture, or get in the midst we can go ahead and let them become the engineers and the nurses and the lawyers but we have done something, we have given them an appetite to continue to seek secondary education and it is, education is always the key…. Mr. Brooks explained strategies he used to help urban students gain appreciation for the importance of incorporating agricultural education courses into urban school curricula. One strategy in particular explains to students that agriculture is the application of science. Yes, I talk to them about the importance of a well-rounded education and not to look at it as that agricultural class.…They are not going to be out gardening during the day, they are going to be learning and using the practical application of biology and chemistry and understand how it is important to everyday life and most of them get it….They understand it once I explained it to them that way.If California Loses Food Production, America Would Plummet Into A Deep HoleRichard Cornett- 13 (Director of Communications at Western Plant Health Association, “What happens if US loses California food production?” WFP: 10/31/13 pgs. 2-3 // SN)As I sometimes do on the research road to compiling subject material to write this column each month I peruse the Internet, newspapers, TV broadcast reports and news magazines. Sometimes I get distracted from my initial goal topic and end up with an entirely unrelated chorus of facts I had no intention of spending much time onAs I sometimes do on the research road to compiling subject material to write this column each month I peruse the Internet, newspapers, TV broadcast reports and news magazines. Sometimes I get distracted from my initial goal topic and end up with an entirely unrelated chorus of facts I had no intention of spending much time on. Our home state leads all of the other states in farm income.?It’s positioned as the agricultural powerhouse of the United States. About 73 percent of the state’s ag revenues are derived from crops while the other 27 percent of revenues are generated by livestock commodities. In terms of revenue generated, California’s top five ag products are dairy products, greenhouse and nursery products, grapes, almonds, and cattle and calves. California agriculture generates roughly $37.5 billion annually, more than any other state. So a loss of California ag production would hit hard consumers’ wallets and their diets would become less balanced. This is because our state produces a sizable majority of American fruits, vegetables and nuts; 99 percent of walnuts, 97 percent of kiwis, 97 percent of plums, 95 percent of celery, 95 percent of garlic, 89 percent of cauliflower, 71 percent of spinach, and 69 percent of carrots and the list goes on and on.?A lot of this is due to our soil and climate. No other state, or even a combination of states, can match California’s output per acre. We Farm, You Eat. Take California’s agricultural history as a gauge. In the 1860s, the state’s leading crops were wheat and corn. Beginning in the 1880s, however, the state ceased to be the nation’s breadbasket and became its fruit and vegetable basket. Rail links made transcontinental shipments possible and cities on the Eastern seaboard offered staggeringly high prices for produce.?Interest rates dropped from 100 percent during the Gold Rush that began in 1849 to 30 percent in 1860 to 10 percent in the 1890s.?This decline afforded California farmers the time to change over to slow-developing crops such as nuts and tree fruits. The land under irrigation grew four-fold from 1889 to 1914.?Manufacturers of farm equipment relocated to California and designed equipment specifically for the state’s farming conditions, the same way automobile parts suppliers flooded Detroit in the early 20th century and computer engineers flocked into Silicon Valley in the 1990s. For more than 50 years, the men and women who work California’s fertile fields have made this state the nation’s No. 1 agricultural producer and exporter. If it’s for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, all or a portion of the meal was probably grown right here in the Golden State. As Californians we should thank our lucky stars to live in a state so bountiful with food. And if you work in agriculture feel good about what it is you do, and be optimistic about the future. So the next time you are driving down Highway 99 or Interstate 5 and see those signs in a farm field near the side of the highway saying simply “We Farm, You Eat,” give a smile of recognition that you belong to a very important team with a very special mission.A2 CTE FailsVocational training programs are being implemented globally for a more complex agricultural chainKristal Jones 2014(PhD at the Penn State University, pg6-8, SW)Jones, K. (2015, August). The Role of Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Developing Countries: A Review of Literature, Issues and Recommendations for Action. Retrieved July 20, 2017, from the past, with ATVET focused primarily on production skills and producers themselves, many programs were based either at secondary schools (requiring only primary education) or offered as an alternative to traditional primary and secondary education in a non-formal setting. Tertiary ATVET, conditional upon completion of lower grade levels, has consistently had a smaller impact than other types of ATVET programs (for a history of ATVET in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, see Johanson and Saint (2007)). With recent critiques arguing that this approach to ATVET is perhaps obsolete in the context of increasingly technical 21st century agricultural systems, there have been many arguments for shifting the emphasis of ATVET to post-secondary programs and institutions (Johanson and Saint 2007; Brooks et al. 2013). In the context of demand-driven agricultural workforce development, ATVET is increasingly being supported through vocational colleges and certification programs based at universities, as well as through private-sector institutions and job-based training programs (Jacobs and Hawley 2008; Rivera and Alex 2008). This range of programs are diverse and allow for flexibility in instruction and prerequisite education, as well as potentially help to the bridge the historical separation between ATVET and other types of technical knowledge and occupational training programs (Atchoarena and Gasperini 2003). There is, however, a potential exclusionary effect of transitions ATVET training to only the postsecondary level, particularly for women and minority groups, who are less likely to have the opportunity to complete traditional secondary school and who might lack language or other skills necessary to engage in more standardized educational settings (Hartl 2009). For this reason, non-formal or alternative programs will remain an important component of overall approaches to ATVET. In short, as the skills necessary for agriculture-related occupations become increasingly diverse and potentially technical, it is clear that no single approach to ATVET will be able to address the needs of all employers and potential employees. Instead, the scope of both the skills offered and the means of acquiring those skills must follow the client-driven approach and be tailored to specific situations and demands of those being served. The analysis presented above might seem to be putting the cart before the horse. For which jobs do people need ATVET, what are the required skills and therefore the appropriate educational level at which to teach them? In fact, the background presented here offers an overview of two of the main issues currently facing the ATVET field: 1) what agricultural skills count as vocational, and 2) what type or level of agricultural education counts as vocational? The answers, of course, will differ depending on the geographic, political and economic setting in which vocational education is being discussed. The 7 framework of value-chain agricultural development, as well as labor market assessments and demand-driven skills development, starts from the assumption that agriculture-related jobs will also differ depending on place (Bennel 2010). Delineating a standard or comprehensive list of agricultural jobs depends on the type and extent of the value chains – that is, are production, transport, processing and marketing connected in such a way that it is appropriate or meaningful to consider all of the links in the chain as ‘agricultural?’ Within the context of national ATVET approaches, are the labor demands at different links in the value chain being made within country or outside? Is there opportunity for job creation that could be supported by more diversified vocational training, or is it necessary to push for university and post-graduate training in order to capitalize on employment opportunities? The general consensus has been that an increase (over the past) in average educational level is necessary for workers to compete in all sectors, including in agriculture (UNESCO 2006a). As will be discussed below, this shift toward increased training levels for all occupations present both a challenge and opportunity for ATVET programs, since much agricultural education continues to be overly science-based (and therefore less adaptable to changing employment demands), rather than focusing on skills that can be immediately applied in a work setting (Atchoarena and Gasperini 2003).Jobs, skills and education in agricultural value chains Given all of these caveats and conditions, then, what types of jobs should we consider to be agricultural? Figure 1 offers a schema of the links and levels of agricultural value chains. Within each link of the chain there are many possible jobs, the nature of which will vary depending on the context. As the figure shows, there are also institutions and occupations that exist in the broader economic context but that can be focused to support agricultural systems. Clearly producers – farmers, fishers, herders, foresters - whether self-employed or on contract, work in the agricultural sector. In addition to support in production practices, there are increasing calls within the ATVET literature to provide entrepreneurial training for these individuals who can ‘create’ their own jobs (Rivera and Alex 2008). Beyond immediate producers, those occupations that support the production process are also considered agricultural (Rivera and Alex 2008). These include seed and fertilizer salespeople (increasingly referred to as agrodealers in development literature (see Scoones and Thompson 2011)), extension agents, research scientists, lab technicians and loan officers at agricultural banks. Moving up the value chain, we have bulk buyers, wholesalers, food processors, and marketers. These form the bulk of what have historically been considered to be agricultural occupations (IFPRI 2013). In addition, with the increasing standardization of both production and food sales in developing countries, there is an emerging additional tier or layer of agricultural occupations related to certification. Seeds, production practices (like organic), on-farm activities (related to Global Good Agricultural Practices), and processing techniques (phytosanitation) all can, and sometimes must, be certified by an outside organization to gain market access or legal status. The mechanization of agriculture has also provided new types of occupations, including machine maintenance and computer-based skills (to facilitate access to production or market information). Finally, the links in the value chains must in fact be linked, mostly by transport and logistical services that moves agricultural outputs from rural areas to urban markets or for export (Brooks et al. (2013) and IFPRI (2013) offer fairly comprehensive and updated lists of agricultural occupations)Higher education saves a nation’s sustainability in agriculture/environmentRosalyn McKeown et al 2002 (Ph.D., Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit pg11-13, SW)Consider for instance, that when education levels are low, economies are often limited to resource extraction and agriculture. In many countries, the current level of basic education is so low that it severely hinders development options and plans for a sustainable future. A higher education level is necessary to create jobs and industries that are “greener” (i.e., those having lower environmental impacts) and more sustainable. The relationship between education and sustainable development is complex. Generally, research shows that basic education is key to a nation's ability to develop and achieve sustainability targets. Research has shown that education can improve agricultural productivity, enhance the status of women, reduce population growth rates, enhance environmental protection, and generally raise the standard of living. But the relationship is not linear. For example, four to six years of education is the minimum threshold for increasing agricultural productivity. Literacy and numeracy allow farmers to adapt to new agricultural methods, cope with risk, and respond to market signals. Literacy also helps farmers mix and apply chemicals (e.g., fertilizers and pesticides) according to manufacturers’ directions, thereby reducing the risks to the environment and human health. A basic education also helps farmers gain title to their land and apply for credit at banks and other lending institutions. Effects of education on agriculture are greatest when the proportion of females educated to threshold level equals that of males. Education benefits a woman in life-altering ways. An educated woman gains higher status and an enhanced sense of efficacy. She tends to marry later and have greater bargaining power and success in the "marriage market." She also has greater bargaining 12 power in the household after marriage. An educated woman tends to desire a smaller family size and seek the health care necessary to do so. She has fewer and healthier children. An educated woman has high educational and career expectations of her children, both boys and girls. For females, education profoundly changes their lives, how they interact with society, and their economic status. Educating women creates more equitable lives for women and their families and increases their ability to participate in community decision making and work toward achieving local sustainability goals. Another educational threshold is primary education for women. At least a primary education is required before birthrate drops and infant health and children's education improve. Nine to 12 years of education are required for increased industrial productivity. This level of education also increases the probability of employment in a changing economy. Few studies have been carried out on how education affects environmental stewardship, but one study suggests that a lower-secondary education (or approximately nine years) is necessary to intensify use of existing land and to provide alternative off-farm employment and migration from rural areas. Finally, a subtle combination of higher education, research, and life-long learning is necessary for a nation to shift to an information or knowledge-based economy, which is fueled less by imported technology and more by local innovation and creativity (UNESCO-ACEID, 1997). Education directly affects sustainability plans in the following three areas:Implementaton. An educated citizenry is vital to implementing informed and sustainable development. In fact, a national sustainability plan can be enhanced or limited by the level of education attained by the nation's citizens. Nations with high illiteracy rates and unskilled workforces have fewer development options. For the most part, these nations are forced to buy energy and manufactured goods on the international market with hard currency. To acquire hard currency, these countries need international trade; usually this leads to exploitation of natural resources or conversion of lands from self-sufficient family-based farming to cash-crop agriculture. An educated workforce is key to moving beyond an extractive and agricultural economy. Decision making. Good community-based decisions - which will affect social, economic, and environmental well-being - also depend on educated citizens. Development options, especially “greener” development options, expand as education increases. For example, a community with an abundance of skilled labor and technically trained people can persuade a corporation to locate a new information-technology and software-development facility nearby. Citizens can also act to protect their communities by analyzing reports and data that address community issues and helping shape a community response. For example, citizens who were concerned about water pollution reported in a nearby watershed started monitoring the water quality of local streams. Based on their data and information found on 13 the World Wide Web, they fought against the development of a new golf-course, which would have used large amounts of fertilizer and herbicide in maintenance of the groundsAdvancing STEM helps agriculture from all facetsFeller, R. (2011). Advancing the STEM workforce through STEM-centric career development.?Technology and Engineering Teacher,?71(1), 6-12. Retrieved from pg 10, ProQuest, SWSTEM occupations are defined by Shatkin (2009) as those requiring knowledge of or skill with science, technology, engineering, or math with at least two years of postsecondary study or training. These opportunities are driven by the disciplines of chemistry, computer science, engineering, geosciences, life sciences, mathematics, physics/astronomy, and social sciences. STEM careers cover a wide range of careers, but all of them have the commonality of sharing skills and knowledge in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and/or math. While many careers have some integration of these areas, STEM career workers “primarily use knowledge of one or more STEM subjects in their daily work activities” (JIST, 2011, p.1). The four divisions of STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math—cover a plethora of work types. The following are generic descriptions of work in each area (JIST, 2011, pp. 295-298). 1. Science – One must consider more than just a picture of a scientist in a laboratory when considering work in science. While many in this field may spend time in a laboratory, they can work in offices or outdoors as well. They are also highly involved in teamwork, communication, and data analysis as they investigate how things work. Numerous science technicians are also involved in the field of science and assist in conducting experiments, analyzing results, and monitoring processes. 2. Technology – This category typically refers to information technology or computer-related occupations, although it could encompass any occupation requiring technical skill. Workers in this area use logic, mathematics, and computer science and may help design and develop new software, computer systems, and databases. They might also help people use computers, as well as keep computers operating efficiently and effectively. 3. Engineering – Almost everything we use is the result of engineering or highly influenced by it; even the food we eat. Engineers use science and math as their tools to solve practical problems. They design, develop, test, and maintain new products and systems, from computers and chemical fertilizers to assembly lines and electric power grids. Drafters and technicians are also included in the engineering field and help with these endeavors. 4. Mathematics – Numerous occupations use math, and some rely on math almost exclusively. Mathematicians develop mathematical theories and tools to help solve problems. Mathematics is utilized in multiple ways, such as analyzing statistical information in determining the risk of future events, developing and deciphering encryption methods, and modeling logistical chains to determine efficient methods to move materials, to name just a few examples.Choose Favor Trades Over Bachelor’s DegreesDevin Bodkin 17 (Reporter for Education News, Choose Trades Over Bachelor’s Degrees, “Idaho's rural families favor trades over four-year degrees, EduNews: 7/14/17, , pgs.1-3, SN)Kash Morrison occasionally glances?down while repairing?cellphone towers in a harness nearly 100?feet above the ground. “It’s funny because I can sometimes?see people walking around down there looking at their phones, and they don’t even know I’m working above them,” he said. Morrison, 23, is a welder, machinist and owner of?Morrison Fabrication?in Downey, a small, rural East Idaho town surrounded?by cedar-flecked rolling hills, miles of dry farms and timber country. It’s where Morrison was raised, and where he’s operated his own business since he was 17. Most of his work consists of building and repairing farm equipment and other metal commodities for customers throughout East Idaho: round feeders for cattle, $550 apiece; custom porch swings, $250 apiece; harrow bars, $150 apiece. It’s work he’s been doing his whole life, Morrison said Tuesday, clad in oil-caked jeans, sunglasses and a dirty baseball cap outside his shop. But the knowhow to transform his skills into a business received some help from other avenues. Like many tradesmen in Idaho, Morrison opted for a career-technical program in college, an increasingly attractive route for Idaho’s rural families. The People’s Perspective, a public opinion poll conducted by Idaho Education News, recently found that rural parents are less likely than suburban parents to prefer a four-year college and more likely to prefer trade school for their kids. 52 percent of rural parents said they would prefer a four-year degree for their children, compared with 77 percent of Idaho’s suburban parents. For Morrison, it was a two-year stint in Idaho State University’s computerized machining technology program in Pocatello that helped him gain the confidence to make his craft his profession. It also helped sharpen his skills at operating the hodgepodge of machinery that now graces his shop, including a computer numerical control (CNC) plasma table, bandsaw, lathe and mill. For years, Idaho’s Division of Career-Technical Education has pumped millions of dollars into efforts to bridge the state’s work force gap, implementing courses at a number of school districts and establishing 14 dedicated professional-technical high schools. As a result, the division?touts recent data?tied to?its?career-technical programs: Ninety-eight percent of high school?CTE students earned a diploma in 2015-16. Ninety-four percent?of?graduates found a job or moved into postsecondary education. Sixty-four percent?went on to some form of college, compared to 46?percent?of all Idaho students. Ninety-four percent of career-technical college graduates?either found jobs or continued their education. Morrison’s?mother, Piney Morrison, agrees with the majority of respondents to the recent poll, saying rural kids often seek jobs that reflect?their upbringings in more remote parts?of the state. “So many of our kids just grow up around agriculture and in a hands-on environment,” she said. “It makes sense that many of them would choose these kinds of careers.” And?it’s not just a career-technical education’s hands-on emphasis?that?frequently attracts?rural kids and their families, Kash Morrison said: His?computerized machine?certificate?saved him thousands of dollars compared to the current cost of earning a bachelor’s degree at ISU.“I have friends with accounting degrees that aren’t even using them, and they paid a lot more for?college than I did,” Kash Morrison said. Currently, ISU’s regular in-state undergraduate tuition is $3,583 per semester. Over a five-year period, this amount rounds out to $35,830. The university’s?total cost for an associate of applied science degree through its college of technology is about half that, at $16,553.? Money saved via a vocational degree has?grabbed the attention of Kash Morrison’s 14-year-old brother Kole, a?full-time employee at Morrison Fabrication during the summer months. “I don’t know for sure, but I’ll probably be a machinist or a welder,” Kole said. “I think I might do what Kash did.” Kash Morrison said:?“(Kole) already welds good. No reason he won’t be able to do it if he wants to.”How CTE compares now vs. pastGlenn Shinn- 15 (Professor Emeritus and Senior Scientist at Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, “A Silver Mirror and a Crystal Ball - Reflecting on the Past While Looking to the Future”, Questia: 2015 // SN)George Santayana (1905), writing about experience and common sense, suggested, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Thus, Santayana urged reflection on our past in agricultural education as we adapt to the future. Many suppose that agricultural education began with the SmithHughes Act of 1917. Football analyst, Lee Corso, might say-"not so fast, my friend." In the 1987 Agricultural Education Magazine, Editor Blannie Bowen and a collection of eight distinguished authors wrote of the 70th anniversary of Smith-Hughes, recognizing the prior policies and practices in some detail. Further, legislation preceding Smith-Hughes and the systematic program of vocational agriculture began with the Morrill Act of 1862, Hatch Act of 1887 and Smith-Lever Act of 1914. Federal legislation framed and reframed the content, context and culture of agricultural education and, to an extent, reframed its educational philosophy. Smith-Hughes in a Capsule The 19th century was marked by expansion of American frontier, civil conflicts and the beginning of the industrial revolution. Agriculture was slow to transform, but mechanization began to substitute for farm labor. Two inventors propelled the agricultural revolution. In 1831, Cyrus McCormick built a "mechanical reaper" and in 1837, John Deere crafted a steel plow. By 1917, the U. S. population was 103,268,000 and 27 percent of the labor force worked on farms. Many children worked on farms and most, especially boys, discontinued schooling before completing the 8th grade. Philosophically juxtaposed with traditional liberal education, educational leaders advocated the moral, educative and practical value of work and the need for a better educated workforce. Within philosophies, Dewey favored a progressive approach while Snedden advocated more narrowly focused, skill-based training. Things were changing, albeit slowly. Money was scarce in 1917-there were two million unemployed workers. Farm workers earned less than one dollar per day. Subsequently, Congress recognized a need for vocational agriculture "to train people who have entered upon or who are preparing to enter upon the work of the farm." The Smith-Hughes Act provided federal funds for this purpose-"less than college grade"-and thereby encouraged high school graduation. Consequences of Smith-Hughes Legislation For the first time, the SmithHughes Act provided federal funds matched with state-local funds. Federal dollars were restricted to vocational teacher's salary, travel and equipment. It was a gamechanger in 1917. Led by the federal initiative and baited by earmarked dollars, states developed a standardized agriculture program model and a sequence of courses, usually identified as Vo-Ag I, II, III and IV. Instructors used new "project-based" teaching methods. Shop work, case studies and field trips were a regular part of the curriculum. Problem solving, with five steps, was a staple strategy for addressing relevant farm problems. Rows of chairs were re-arranged into the Vo-Ag U to encourage discussion and supervised study. Content was organized around the agricultural calendar, with problem-based lessons preceding actual jobs on the farm. There were policies requiring "day programs" to release teachers after 1 o'clock for supervising projects and community work. The "Vo-Ag Instructor" was positioned in the community as a trusted teacher, advisor and leader. Unintended Consequences of Smith-Hughes Federal policies created a separation of funds and a separate state board for vocational education. This split often pitted the boards on policy and practice. Schools and students were already segregated by race and gender. Now schools were differentiating education by federal policies and finances. The program model tended to accelerate segregation and isolation from general education. Because of the separation, students were sometimes tracked in schools that had previously embraced a single common education.High School Dropout Rates Are Decreasing with CTE programsYoung Bin Lim, Sean Owen & Alexis Nordin 13- (Researchers and Professors at Mississippi University, “Graduation Rates and Contributing Factors in CTE Students Versus Traditional Academic Students”, RCU: November 2013, pgs. 2-3, // SN)Like many other states, the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) is exploring students’ increasing interest in career and technical education (CTE) as a potentially powerful tool in reducing the state’s high-school dropout rate, which the Mississippi Board of Education aims to California has instituted Linked Learning (formerly known as Multiple Pathways) as a CTE-based alternative to the comprehensive high school model. As a result of the substantial economic gap for non-high school graduates and the longterm, negative repercussions that may result from a large population of un- or underemployed, impoverished residents, states are seeking creative ways to encourage secondary students to stay in school longer and pursue college or technical training. Several states are expanding CTE programs and CTE dual-enrollment offerings at the secondary level and have presented preliminary findings that indicate CTE courses are of growing interest to secondary students. Moreover, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (2013) has posited that secondary students who concentrate in CTE programs far exceed the national AFGR and that approximately 70% of students who concentrate in CTE pursue postsecondary educational opportunities, outpacing their traditional academic counterparts—news which has piqued states’ interest. According to Rosin and Frey (2009), some students of traditional high schools “simply get lost and others see the curriculum as irrelevant” in a state where “[s]tudent disengagement is a problem, illustrated in part through high dropout rates,” with approximately 19% of secondary students dropping out (p. 2). In response, the Linked Learning model combines core academic and CTE components with work-based learning and support services. With encouragement from state legislators and local universities such as California State University and the University of California—which from 2003 to 2008 increased by more than threefold the number of secondary CTE classes that met the universities’ aligned admission eligibility requirements—the state has seen benefits from Linked Learning, with more students passing the mandatory state high school exit examination and fulfilling minimum entry requirements for universities in California Rosin and Frey (2009) cite as further evidence a recent study showing that students from 16 sites implementing Linked Learning approaches demonstrated better interpersonal and problem-solving skills. The study’s authors found additional benefits for high-risk males from CTE schools in long-term employment and earnings—a trend other states wish to emulate.A2 No BrinkSevere Food Shortage Is Coming Sooner Than We ThinkBrandon Smith- 16 (Alt-market, “The U.S. Is At The Center Of The Global Economic Meltdown,” Alt-Market: 1/20/16 pg. 2 // SN)Last week we saw comments at ANP, from a variety of states, showing that grocery sections of stores in smaller areas are already seeing shortages where they have never witnessed them before. 3 days ago - Gary aka Godzilla commented?"Speaking of food shortages, I needed some fresh cabbage for today's pot of my special Venison stew. Off the Wal-mart I went. Cabbage heads were tiny compared to normal (I had to buy 3, when I would normally do), they were out of green peppers and a few other things normally found in the fresh produce?section. This is the first time I have seen this folks, and I think it's only going to get worse." In a response to that commenter?'idontknow" states?"Now that you mention it, Walmart?didn't?have either green peppers or tomatoes the last time I went. I hadn't seen that before either... James Grubbs adds?"Seeing the same thing here SE Ohio. Went shopping yesterday and saw the same things you describe here. I'm not saying it's panic time but seeing this should have people prepping even harder. It's hard to imagine the hardships after a collapse because we haven't seen it in our life times." Small shortages, unreported that will become massive shortages when it all hits the fan, but enough to see what is coming at us... there is a reason that food will be one of the most critical elements in the coming collapse, as explained by Alt Market in an article titled "The U.S. Is At The Center Of The Global Economic Meltdown." While the economic implosion progresses this year, there will be considerable misdirection and disinformation as to the true nature of what is taking place. As I have outlined in the past, the masses were so ill informed by the mainstream media during the Great Depression that most people had no idea they were actually in the midst of an “official” depression until years after it?began. The chorus of economic journalists of the day made sure to argue consistently that recovery was “right around the corner.” Our current depression has been no different, but something is about to change. Unlike the Great Depression, social crisis will eventually eclipse?economic crisis?in the U.S. That is to say, our society today is so unequipped to deal with a financial collapse that the event will inevitably trigger cultural upheaval and violent internal conflict.?In the 1930s, nearly 50% of the American population was rural. Farmers made up 21% of the labor force. Today, only 20% of the population is rural. Less than 2% work in farming and agriculture.?That’s a rather?dramatic?shift from a more independent and knowledgeable land-utilizing society to a far more helpless and hapless consumer-based system.?Food Shortages Are Nothing New To the USBen Dickenson- 16 (Journalist for TC, “Will technology prevent the next food shortage crisis?,” Tech Crunch: 12/25/16, pgs. 2-3, SN)“This is not the first-time we humans are dealing with famine and food shortage.” If?a simulation by the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) has it right, mankind is inching toward a dystopian future where?food?shortage?will trigger riots and wars. That might be stretching it a bit, but the upcoming?food?shortage?crisis?is serious, and the CNA, a federally funded research and development center, believes?food production?will?permanently fall short of consumption. With the UN estimating?an extra 2-3 billion mouths to feed?by 2050 and?climate change undermining crop production by 2 percent per decade, the prospects of preventing the?crisis?in time look bleak. Meanwhile, with urbanization of life and?more humans moving to live in cities, there?will?also be a workforce shortage on farms. This is not the first-time we humans are dealing with famine and?food?shortage. We’ve been fighting it our entire history. In previous eras, inventions like fertilizers and mechanized farming helped us find ways to tap into more resources and produce more?food?to address our needs. But now, resources are becoming more scarce, and we need breakthroughs that?will?help make more efficient use of whatever we already have at hand. According to scientists, the answer might be found in a new age of digital technologies that have proven their worth in different fields and have the potential to transform agriculture and?food?production and meet the consumption needs of the growing human population before we’re driven to eat cockroaches — or worse, each other. Traditional agriculture is based on performing particular tasks, such as planting and harvesting, based on a predetermined schedule. Under this model, there’s minimal control over damage and waste. However, recent technological advances have gone a long way toward making “precision farming” possible, which involves gathering real-time data and obtaining actionable insights that can specify what exactly needs to be done at each location at any given time. “Precision Agriculture can transform the?food?industry to be more efficient, less costly, and more sustainable,” says Paul Chang, Global Supply Chain Expert at?IBM. “By utilizing Iot platforms to gather various sensor data and integrate with predictive analytics, the industry can take actions to maximize yield, minimize losses, and ensure sustainable practices.”US Economy is Up, The US Has a Moral Obligation To Help Those StrugglingRay Offenheiser-16 (President of anti-poverty organization Oxfam America, “If US economy is up, why isn’t hunger going down?,” MSNBC: 11/26/16, pgs. 1-2, SN)“The ugly reality in today’s America is that hardworking people have jobs but are not earning enough to buy life’s essentials: rent, clothes, healthcare – even food.” This should be a time of plenty in our country, and a season of thanks, after six years of sputtering growth since the economy came crashing down in 2008.?The stock market has rocketed back up, gross domestic product is expanding at a 2% clip, household debt is shrinking, housing has rebounded and prices are up. Most importantly, unemployment is at its lowest rate in six years, indicating that millions of people are back to work. So how can we explain why the hunger that spiked at the beginning of the recession has not declined? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food insecurity increased from 10% to almost 15% of households during the financial crisis, and it has remained around this level since. More than 17 million households in our country are food insecure. If the economy is bouncing back, shouldn’t hunger be going down too? We at Oxfam America partnered with Feeding America, the leading organization fighting domestic hunger through a network of 58,000 food pantries, to dig into the data of the more than 46 million people who turn to Feeding America’s network of food banks. What we discovered is that more than half (54%) of Feeding America client households have at least one member who has worked for pay in the past 12 months. Most surprisingly, close to half (43%) of these working client households had at least one member who worked full-time in the past year. Contrary to stereotypes that low-wage workers in America are young or have little education, the average age of workers earning less than $10 per hour is 35. Many support families, and 43% either have a four-year college education or have completed some college. Although charitable feeding programs and government both play a vital role in supporting struggling Americans, they cannot be the long-term answer to hunger in the United States – particularly among those who work day in and day out for a meager living. The economic recovery hasn’t touched most Americans. In fact, 95% of the income gains since the recession have gone to the top 1% of earners, as most new jobs created have paid low wages, and the number of middle-income jobs has actually shrunk. About a third of all U.S. workers are paid less than $12 per hour, and most of these have no paid leave; no employer-provided health insurance; no pension plans, and often irregular hours in tenuous jobs.?Millions work in retail, in restaurants, providing elder or child care, and in many other occupations that pay $8, $9, or $10 an hour—a far cry from a living wage. Worse yet, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that nearly half of new jobs created in the next decade will be in low-wage occupations.disadvantage answerseconomy disads2ac cte key to economyIncreased early work experience doesn’t cause long term negative effects --- it is the other way around Sharnell Creary 16 Fordham University(“A Case for Career and Technical Education (CTE) in Reducing High School Dropout Rates and Youth Unemployment Among Urban Youth”;May 9th;)//pkLack of early work experience can have long?term negative effects on employment, earnings, social life and the economy. While an increase in youth unemployment can be tied to more enrollment in schools, there is a job deficit among people who are seeking employment and cannot find jobs. In fact, the employment?to?population ratio for teenagers and young adults has declined since the 1980s. [16] According to a new analysis by the Center for American Progress, young Americans will lose $20 billion in earnings over the next decade, which are about 22,000 per person.[17] This of course results in lower spending power which is bad for the economy, reducing the number of jobs being created. It was found that men who are unemployed for at least six months of their youth at age 22 earned 8 percent less at age 23 than they would have otherwise? by age 26, the men earned 6 percent less, and by age 31, their wages were 3 ? 4 percent lower than they otherwise would have been. [18] Although this wage gap decreases with age, delayed work experience tends to replace workers instead of adding them to the labor pool. High levels of youth unemployment also contribute to increased fiscal burdens on the government, with lower tax revenues ($4,100 annually), costing federal and state governments an annual amount of approximately $8.9 billion in providing safety nets. If taxpayers were to directly pay the costs, there would be an additional $53 to every American taxpayer’s annual federal tax bill. [19]These levels of economic disadvantages for unemployed youth also results in social implications. These youth become disengaged and disinterested citizens, not actively participating in elections due to a lack of hope. They also give up looking for jobs they are unable to find which further increased the underutilization labor rates. These youth are also marginalized, causing them to suffer from depression, self?hate and lack of confidence. History even shows that an increase in the number of disengaged, underserved and underprivileged youth results in an increase in crime and incarceration rates which further disadvantages families and whole communities that are deserted and left in urban decayCTE increases graduation rates and the long term financial benefits to particpants By Shaun M. Dougherty 17 – Assistant Professor of Education & Public Policy at the Neag School of Education and the Department of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut.(“New Study Finds High Quality Career and Technical Education Can Significantly Improve Student Outcomes”;May 9;)//pkIf we want all of our young people to have the opportunity to thrive, it is more important than ever that high schools be designed to maximize the chances that students will graduate, and that when they do, they are prepared to enter college or have skills valued in the labor force. High-quality career and technical education (CTE) has the potential to help students achieve both of these ends, and there is increasing evidence in Massachusetts that regional vocational and technical high schools (RVTS) may be particularly effective at ensuring school completion and the earning of potentially valuable industry-recognized credentials while in high school. Earlier research has demonstrated that CTE can provide long-term financial benefits to participants, yet hardly any studies rigorously explored academic impacts. In new research, I show that students who are just admitted to three oversubscribed RVTS have substantially higher probabilities (7-10 percentage points) of persisting in and graduating from high school and are more likely to earn industry-recognized credentials (see chart below). They also score just as well on the state MCAS exams compared to students who also applied and just missed getting in. In addition, when extending the analysis to other RVTS, effects appear to be similar, though data limitations affect how much these results can be generalized to other schools. The higher levels of attainment of high school diplomas and industry credentials right at the threshold of being admitted, compared to not, demonstrate the positive effects for students on the margin. These findings are important to education policy in Massachusetts, but also to those interested in college and career readiness, and cost-effective social policy in general. They suggest that under certain circumstances, it is possible to generate large impacts on graduation probabilities, without sacrificing subject-specific knowledge (at least in math and language arts), and the potential to earn credentials that may also have market value to employers.CTE is key to the economy By Stephen N. Perkins 17 – founder of OUTSET (“ The Trump-DeVos Budget Won’t Make the Economy Great”; June 5;)//pkCareer and Technical Education is Vital to a Strong Economy The benefits of career and technical education are far-reaching, and it provides students with a connection between their curriculum and the workplace. For high school students, these programs – which prepare students for careers in everything from agriculture and manufacturing to healthcare and business – keep kids from dropping out and motivate them to perform better in all areas of their academic career, according to the Association for Career & Technical Education. Students then take these skills into their postsecondary and career endeavors. In economic terms, the need for career and technical education is at an all-time high, with many of the country’s top industries looking to employ those with a CTE background. According to a survey by Adecco, a U.S. staffing agency, 92% of American business leaders believe American workers are not as skilled as they need to be. Further, 22% and 14% of those executives believe workers lack technical skills and leadership skills, respectively. When asked about the source of the skills gap, 59% said the U.S. education system was at fault. An unskilled workforce leads to job vacancies, which costs employers nearly $1 million annually, according to a 2017 CareerBuilder study. An active economic policy would focus on reducing these job vacancies, not increasing them.xt – cte key to econCollege isn’t feasible for everybody- CTE is the best option for a broader work forcePetrilli 16- Michael Petrilli is a writer for Brookings (“Not just college: Technical education as a pathway to the middle class”, 4/1/16, )JK***note same card is in AT: Community college with a different tagEducation reformers are obsessed with getting many more low-income students “to and through” four-year colleges. Understandably so, a bachelor’s degree is the closest thing we have to a guaranteed ticket to the middle class. The trouble is, few children from poorer homes are likely duto end up with a BA. As Andrew Kelly of the American Enterprise Institute shows in his chapter of my new book, just 14 percent of children from the bottom third of the income distribution will complete four-year degrees. Even if we doubled that number, most poor and working class kids will still need other paths to the middle class. “BACHELOR’S DEGREE OR BUST”: A FAILED STRATEGY The academic-dominated approach is not working, especially for economically disadvantaged students. Of this group, about 20 percent of teenagers don’t graduate from high school at all. Of those who do graduate, about half matriculate to some form of college. But many are not ready: two-thirds of low-income students at community colleges start in remedial classes. Here’s where things really fall apart. Only a third of community college students who start in remedial courses complete a credential within six years. Forty percent don’t ever get beyond the remedial stage. The common outcome of our current strategy—“bachelor’s degree or bust”—is that a young person drops out of college at age 20 with no post-secondary credential, no skills, and no work experience, but a fair amount of debt. That’s a terrible way to begin adult life, and it’s even worse if the young adult aims to escape poverty. Technical education for social mobility A better approach for many young people would be to develop coherent pathways, beginning in high school, into authentic technical education options at the post-secondary level. But, right now, 81 percent of high school students are taking an academic route; only 19 percent are “concentrating” in career and technical education (i.e., earning at least three credits in a single CTE program area). As Tamar Jacoby demonstrates, high-quality career and technical education (CTE) programs, culminating in industry-recognized post-secondary credentials, have great promise in engaging students, helping them succeed academically, boosting college completion rates, and brightening career prospects. By age 20, graduates of such programs have academic credentials, technical credentials, and work experience—and, usually, well-paying jobs: There is a fear of ‘tracking’ in high school, for obvious reasons. But it simply doesn’t work to wait until kids are 18. Generic high school experiences are not preparing low-income students to successfully pursue either academic or technical routes after they receive their diplomas. A student must be able to choose their own path. But there should be a real choice. The education system alone cannot solve persistent poverty or the growing gaps between working-class and college-educated Americans. But it can do a lot better. If we are serious about social mobility, we need to move past the singular obsession with four-year colleges, and give more weight to career and technical education.CTE allows students to go to college not the other way aroundAIR 13- American institution for Research (“How Career and Technical Education Can Help Students Be College and Career Ready: A Primer”, March 13, )JKToday’s economy demands a better educated workforce than ever before, and jobs in this new economy require more complex knowledge and skills than the jobs of the past. Research from the Center for Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University debunks the oft-cited myth that the economy lacks jobs for young people to fill, finding instead that industries across the economy have created a wealth of new jobs that require workers with appropriate education and training. The center also projects that nearly two thirds of jobs created in the United States by the year 2018 will require some form of postsecondary education (Carnevale, Smith, & Strohl, 2010). To meet these workforce needs, President Obama has set a goal of ensuring that every American has access to at least one year of postsecondary training or higher education to gain the skills needed to rebuild the economy and meet workforce demands. Increasing the number of Americans with the education, skills, and training needed for the economy is a multilayered strategy. Some of the steps to achieve this goal include making teaching and learning in secondary schools more rigorous, engaging, and relevant; ensuring that more students are college and career ready; increasing high school graduation rates, especially for lower performing students; providing opportunities for youth to learn about and experience careers; and smoothing the transition to postsecondary success (Balfanz, Bridgeland, Bruce, & Hornig Fox, 2013). While addressing these issues will require significant change across the entire education system, increasing opportunities for students to participate in high-quality career and technical education is an existing comprehensive strategy that impacts all of them. Career and technical education (CTE) is an educational strategy for providing young people with the academic, technical, and employability skills and knowledge to pursue postsecondary training or higher education and enter a career field prepared for ongoing learning (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Association for Career and Technical Education, & National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, 2010). CTE is Prepared for the College and Career Readiness and Success Center (CCRS Center) by Betsy Brand, Andrew Valent, and Andrea Browning of the American Youth Policy Forum, a lead partner of the CCRS Center 2 How Career and Technical Education Can Help Students Be College and Career Ready: A Primer eliminating vocational education that consisted of low-level courses, job training, and single electives and replacing it with academically rigorous, integrated, and sequenced programs of study that align with and lead to postsecondary education. These programs provide students with opportunities to acquire the competencies required in today’s workplace—such as critical thinking, collaboration, problem solving, innovation, teamwork, and communication—and to learn about different careers by experiencing work and workplaces. CTE is no longer just about teaching students a narrow set of skills sufficient for entry-level jobs; it is about preparing students for careers. High-quality CTE addresses the goals of college and career readiness and provides learning options that are appealing for students who might otherwise be at risk of leaving high school. High-quality CTE programs and pathways ensure that coursework is simultaneously aligned to rigorous academic standards and postsecondary expectations and informed by and built to address the skills needed in specific career pathways. CTE pathways and programs use applied, contextual learning to help students see the relevance of what they are learning and its connection to career opportunities and life goals. These pathways and programs also can provide innovative options for supporting students with different learning styles. The evolution of CTE is making it a more popular and viable option for students of all abilities. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2011), 90 percent of high school graduates have earned some CTE credits. Furthermore, research on high-quality CTE programs and pathways shows that these programs reduce dropout rates; encourage participation in postsecondary education; and enable students to earn dual enrollment credits, industry-endorsed certificates, and technical endorsements on high school diplomas (Plank, DeLuca, & Estacion, 2005). CTE pathways have the potential to engage many more students and increase high school graduation rates and postsecondary success.CTE is fantastic for the economy- employment, motivation and competiveness ACTE 16- Association for Career and Technical Education (“CTE: Education for a Strong Economy”, 4/5/16, )JKThe federal role in “vocational” education began as a way to prepare students for the newly industrialized workplace. Over the years, the program has evolved to match the needs of the changing economy, focusing on postsecondary as well as secondary education while giving students skills they can use throughout their careers. In 2006, the language “vocational and technical” was updated to “career and technical” education. This transition was more than just a name change. It represented a fundamental shift in philosophy from CTE being for those who were not going to college to a system that prepares students for both employment and postsecondary education. The integration of academic and technical education programs was strengthened, further emphasizing the goal of ensuring that students who participate in CTE are taught the same rigorous content aligned with challenging academic standards as all other students. With all school programs now adhering to the same academic standards, the separate “track” system that has stigmatized CTE is disappearing. CTE programs are organized into 16 Career Clusters,1 or similar occupational groupings, that identify the knowledge and skills students need as they follow a pathway to their goals. Once students choose the pathway they want to follow, the career-specific instruction they receive can lead to a high school diploma, an industry-recognized credential, a certificate or a college degree. The Career Clusters’ framework serves as an instructional and guidance model that provides students with a seamless transition from high school to postsecondary and work opportunities. CTE: Education for a Strong Economy The Benefif its of CTE CTE has always evolved in response to economic needs in our communities. Today, CTE is a major part of the solution to myriad national economic and workforce problems, such as high school dropout rates, a weakened economy, global competitiveness and massive layoffs. Dropout Prevention: CTE students are more motivated and interested in their coursework because of its connection to the real world and, as a result, less likely to dropout.2 In a recent report for the Gates Foundation, the majority of respondents (81%) reported that more learning opportunities which make the classroom relevant Traditional Vocational Education ? For specific students ? Limited program areas offered ? Separate “track” with a focus on technical education ? High school focused ? Students trained with focus on specific occupational skill set New Career and Technical Education ? For all students ? 16 Career Clusters and 79 pathways offered ? Integrated with academics in a rigorous and relevant curriculum ? High school and post- secondary partnerships providing pathways to employment and/or associate, bachelor’s and advanced degrees ? Progression of foundational, pathway, occupational and 21st century skills to the real world would have helped them to finish high school.3 Career clusters put education into a relevant context by linking what is learned in school to the knowledge and skills that are needed in the workplace. Better Career Prospects: CTE students participate in programs that lead to employment in high-skill, high-wage, high-demand occupations or professions. A 2004 National Assessment of Vocational Education (NAVE) report showed that students who participated in postsecondary CTE coursework, even without earning credentials, earned a higher yearly salary than high school graduates who do not take postsecondary CTE courses.4 21st Century Occupations: CTE programs provide the skills training that addresses the needs of high-growth industries, such as healthcare, renewable energy and STEM fields. Healthcare occupations are expected to make up 7 of the 20 fastest growing occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.5 According to a January 2009 report by the American Solar Energy Society and Management Information Services, Inc., the renewable energy and energy efficiency industry could generate up to $4.3 trillion in revenue and create more than 37 million jobs (more than 17% of all anticipated U.S. employment) by the year 2030.6 The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) CTE cluster prepares students for careers in engineering and computer science – critical areas for the economic future of our country. Traditional vocational education programs have also become 21st century CTE programs. For students who wish to pursue careers as teachers, some schools offer honors-level, college credit courses through the Teacher Cadet Program.7 Agriculture is another field that has diversified its offerings over time. Students can now study aquaculture and plant pathology, while those interested in the business side can pursue sales and management. Helping the Unemployed: CTE gives individuals in transition a way to begin a new career with a chance to reinvent themselves. MSNBC reported in March 2009 that many people who have been laid off during the economic crisis are taking this opportunity to go back to school and get retrained for a new career.8 CTE programs at the postsecondary level are poised to serve this population. Policymakers at all levels should embrace CTE programs at the high school and postsecondary levels in order to help students see the relevance of their school work and prepare them for jobs in highskill, high-wage, high-demand career fields. With appropriate policy supports and funding, these CTE programs can prepare students to leverage the academic and career skills they learn in school to help build and sustain our economy.CTE is beneficial for the economy and encourages higher educationACTE 07- Association for Carrer and Technical Education (“Issue Brief”, August 2007, )JKCTE Provides Solutions In past decades, career and technical education (CTE) programs, formerly known as “vocational” education, were often thought of as programs for students who were not planning to attend college, and instead planned to enter the workforce immediately after high school. As the economic realities of today’s high skill workforce have evolved, and postsecondary education has become more of a necessity than a luxury, CTE has matured as well. CTE programs are now leading the way to prepare high school students to transition to postsecondary education. The 2004 NAVE Final Report states that CTE student college attendance increased by nearly 32 percent between 1982 and 1992, and this trend is continuing. Recent research has shown that there is very little difference between the college-going rates of CTE students and the general student population.13 Additionally, when a quality CTE program is combined with a rigorous academic core, the Southern Regional Education Board has found that students are more likely to pursue postsecondary education, have a higher grade point average in college, and are less likely to drop out in the first year.14 As states and national organizations have embarked on new initiatives to address the transition from secondary education to postsecondary education, numerous reform strategies that involve a strong focus on CTE have emerged. Success of these initiatives hinges, in part, on reducing resources needed by individuals and institutions and by building system capacity. They seek to streamline the K–16 educational system to avoid duplication of courses, prepare students for the rigor and expectations of postsecondary curriculum, reduce the need for remediation, present college as a viable option to students who may not be considering postsecondary education, increase student motivation through added relevance, and increase college affordability and availability.15 Through initiatives such as Programs of Study, Dual Enrollment, Tech Prep, and Early and Middle College High Schools, CTE programs are on the front lines of ensuring that more students transition to postsecondary education and are prepared for success there. CTE Programs of Study One of the highlights of the new Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act passed by Congress in 2006 was the requirement for the development and implementation of “career and technical programs of study.” These programs of study are defined and referenced throughout the Act, and are designed to seamlessly link a student’s entire secondary and postsecondary education experience. States must develop the programs of study in consultation with local programs so that they may be offered by each local school district and community or technical college receiving Perkins funds. Programs of study are very similar to, and build on, positive initiatives already underway in CTE programs around the country, such as career pathways, career academies, and Programs of Study—Key Elements Incorporate secondary education and postsecondary education elements. Include coherent and rigorous content aligned with challenging academic standards and relevant career and technical content in a coordinated, nonduplicative progression of courses that align secondary education with postsecondary education to adequately prepare students to succeed in postsecondary education. May include the opportunity for secondary education students to participate in dual or concurrent enrollment programs or other ways to acquire postsecondary education credits. Lead to an industry-recognized credential or certificate at the postsecondary level, or an associate or baccalaureate degree.16 4? ACTE Issue Brief: Secondary-Postsecondary Transitions career clusters. In many states, the foundational elements of programs of study are already in place. For example, in Kentucky, career pathways have been outlined starting in ninth grade and include a coherent sequence of academic and CTE courses in broad career areas. Also, since 2002, Kentucky students have been required to complete an Individual Graduation Plan which emphasizes academic and career development based on student interests, and provides a pathway for students through high school to postsecondary education and a career.17 The States’ Career Clusters Initiative has developed 16 Career Clusters that have served as a launching point for many states’ programs of study. Through the Clusters project, sample plans of study are available that include a sequenced listing of academic and career-related courses that connect students’ high school and postsecondary educational experiences. In 80 percent of states, supporting effective transitions between secondary and postsecondary education has been a key impetus behind the implementation of Career Clusters.18 In Texas, an initiative based on the Career Clusters system and programs of study, known as “AchieveTexas,” was launched to increase secondary-postsecondary transition rates and other achievement measures. Under the AchieveTexas initiative, Career Pathway Programs of Study have been created for each of the 16 Career Clusters. These programs of study outline the courses students should take in high school, as well as recommended postsecondary and on-the-job training experiences, employment outlook statistics, certifications, and extended learning experiences such as extracurricular activities, service-learning, and professional associations. The Career Pathway Programs of Study are designed for students but can also be used with administrators, counselors, teachers, business and industry representatives, and parents.19 Dual Enrollment Dual enrollment, also known as dual credit or concurrent enrollment, is defined by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) as “a course or program where high school students can earn both high school and postsecondary credits for the same course.”20 These courses may be offered on the high school or postsecondary campus, and operate in a variety of different structures and formats across all 50 states. During the 2002–2003 school year, NCES estimated that more than 70 percent of public high schools offered courses for dual credit.21 Other estimates show that almost half of high school juniors and seniors today are enrolled in some type of dual credit course.22 A 2003 Florida report stated that high school students who successfully earned postsecondary credit during high school performed better in postsecondary programs, were less likely to enroll in remedial courses, and were more likely to return for the second year of study than peers who had not been involved with a dual enrollment program.23 As the state of Arkansas has developed its Career Clusters system, it has placed a special focus on its concurrent enrollment program. Working with other state agencies and postsecondary institutions, concurrent college classes were instituted in 16 of the state’s secondary area career centers and aligned with frameworks based on the Career Cluster and Career Pathway organization system. These courses provide students with opportunities to complete from 15–30 hours toward an associate degree while still in high school, and are free of charge to the students. During the 2003–2004 school year, 1,124 students earned 10,338 credits in CTE concurrent enrollment programs. This number increased to 3,607 students earning 24,620 credits during the 2006–2007 school year, an increase of 138 percent over the fouryear period. The credits earned represent a savings of $1.75 million to students based on college tuition rates. The number of CTE students entering college also increased dramatically, by 47 percent, while remediation rates decreased.26 Arkansas’ concurrent enrollment arrangement has enabled a few students each year to receive both high school diplomas and associate degrees at the same time. One recent student, Sam Jones of Greenwood, received his associate degree at the University of Arkansas—Fort Smith a week before receiving his high school diploma in May 2007.27 Jones enrolled in concurrent enrollment classes at the Western Arkansas Technical Center (WATC), as well as additional courses during the evenings and summer, and earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in General Technology with a Welding Emphasis. He intends to also pursue a computer-aided drafting degree, then a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering. While Jones is the first WATC student to graduate high school with an associate degree, many other students there earn proficiency certificates or one-year technical certificates during high school. They often have only a few general education courses to complete at the University in order to complete their associate degrees. ACTE Issue Brief: Secondary-Postsecondary Transitions 5 CTE has been very involved in the dual credit movement. About half of the schools offering dual credit offered courses with a CTE focus, and about 36 percent of students enrolled in the programs were enrolled in CTE courses.24 In many places, the population of students reached through CTE dual enrollment programs is more diverse than students who are enrolled in academic dual enrollment programs. Increasingly, dual enrollment is becoming integrated into CTE models such as programs of study, career clusters, and career pathways. The Community College Research Center has recently undertaken a study of the impact of CTE dual enrollment programs using data from Florida and the City University of New York (CUNY). Preliminary results from the study show that students from the 19 CTE high schools in New York who subsequently enrolled in a CUNY college, and who took at least one dual enrollment (known as “College Now” in the CUNY system) course while in high school, were more likely to obtain positive outcomes than their classmates who had not participated in College Now. The students who had participated in dual enrollment “were more likely to pursue a bachelor’s degree, had higher first-semester grade point averages, and earned more credits during their first three-and-a-half years of postsecondary education.”25 Tech Prep Tech Prep programs were begun in the early 1980s and became federally authorized under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1990. Since that time, Tech Prep programs have received federal funding and have continued to grow and expand across the country.28 Tech Prep is built on the concept of alignment between secondary and postsecondary education, and programs encompass at least the last two years of high school and the first two years of postsecondary education. Some programs begin as early as ninth grade and transition students through to a bachelor’s degree in the chosen career field. Federal Tech Prep funds are awarded to consortia of secondary school districts and postsecondary institutions to establish programs of study that integrate academic and technical education across education levels and lead to a technical skill proficiency, credential, certificate or degree. Through Tech Prep programs, non-duplicative sequences of courses are established, often through the use of articulation agreements that allow students to earn postsecondary credit while still in high school. The Department of Education estimates that approximately 7,400 high schools, or about 47 percent, offer one or more Tech Prep programs. Nearly all community and technical colleges are part of a Tech Prep consortium, and many other four-year universities and business and labor organizations also participate.29 While Tech Prep programs have been implemented to various degrees throughout these consortiums, high quality Tech Prep programs have proven to help students transition to postsecondary education. When students who attended a CTE Tech Prep program in Ohio between 1997 and 2001 were compared with a similar group of non-Tech Prep In West Virginia, the concept of Tech Prep has been developed into the EDGE program, which stands for “Earn a Degree, Graduate Early.” EDGE is backed by the state’s Department of Education, Council for Community and Technical College Education and Higher Education Policy Commission. The EDGE program’s goal is to make the transition from high school to college more seamless by eliminating coursework duplication between the two levels and encouraging more mid-level students to continue their education beyond high school by exposing them early to college level coursework. EDGE was started to address concerns that not enough students were taking advantage of articulation agreements that were already in place throughout the state. Research found that students and parents did not understand the value of articulated credit, and that there were numerous barriers in place that kept students from actually receiving postsecondary credit for high school coursework. In the EDGE program, students are now able to take high school courses for free community and technical college credit that is awarded immediately, and can save substantial time and money toward a postsecondary degree. Depending on the courses and career area a student chooses, he or she may save up to $3,000 and can earn an associate degree in a high wage career field, such as respiratory therapy or computer programming, as soon as one year after high school graduation. Students must earn at least a “C” for a high school course and pass an end-ofcourse exam, developed jointly by secondary and postsecondary educators, to get the college credit, which can be transferred to one of the state’s community colleges and then to some four-year institutions. The end-of-course exam ensures that students are prepared for the next level of postsecondary education. The program began during the 2003–2004 school year with just a few hundred students, and now enrolls about 40,000.32 Follow-up studies of students who have participated in the program have shown that remediation rates for EDGE students are much lower than throughout the community and technical college system. For example, only 16 percent of EDGE students enroll in developmental math, while the average is 57 percent of students system-wide. The potential return-on-investment of the EDGE program was estimated at $4,668,934 for the 2005–2006 school year. 6? ACTE Issue Brief: Secondary-Postsecondary Transitions peers, the Tech Prep students scored significantly higher on the college entrance exams, earned higher grade-point averages, and were more likely to return for a second year of study.30 A New York state survey found that Tech Prep appeared “to be especially beneficial to students who initially had no plans to continue their education beyond high school.”31 Early and Middle College High Schools While different models of Early and Middle College High Schools exist around the country, in general, they are small high schools located on postsecondary campuses that allow students to graduate with a high school diploma and earn an up to two years of college credit at the same time. From the time the first middle college opened in the mid- 1970s, the goals were clear—“Provide a seamless secondary-postsecondary educational continuum, use innovative curricula and pedagogy, and create a small nurturing environment.”33 Since this first Middle College High School opened, the initiative has been rapidly expanding, and investments from leading national foundations, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, have helped to provide funding to establish these unique educational environments. Unlike some other traditional acceleration options, these schools usually focus on a more diverse group of students, many of whom are minorities, of low socioeconomic status, or first generation college students, and a number of who had not been successful in the traditional school environment, but showed potential to complete more advanced studies. Saving time and tuition costs are large motivators for student enrollment, and academic and personal guidance supports are key to the success of these schools. Many of the newest advances in Middle and Early College High Schools place a strong emphasis on relevant curriculum and on preparing students for high skill careers in high growth industries. In 2004, North Carolina Governor Mike Easley launched the Learn and Earn Initiative as part of his New Schools Project to encourage students to remain in high school, earn an associate degree, and prepare for jobs in new and emerging industries. The Learn and Earn Initiative has aided in the creation of 33 high schools currently in operation on postsecondary campuses, with plans for another 42 to open by the fall of 2008.34 All of the schools allow students to obtain a high school diploma plus an associate degree or two years of transferable university credit with just one additional year of study. Each Learn and Earn school offers all students work-based learning experiences, such as internships or job shadowing; and strives to ensure that students are well versed in workplace skills necessary for the 21st century, including the ability to work in teams, communicate both orally and through writing, and analyze and solve problems.35 Many of the schools have specific career-focused themes to motivate students, such as design, technology or health care. Other states are involved in similar efforts. Michigan recently offered grants to school districts to plan for the implementation of Middle College High Schools with a focus As part of North Carolina’s Learn and Earn Initiative, the Wake Early College of Health and Sciences (WECHS) opened in August 2006. WECHS is unique in that it involves not only the local community college, Wake Technical Community College (WakeTech), but also WakeMed Health and Hospitals, whose Raleigh campus shares proximity to WakeTech’s Allied Health campus. WECHS is located on this campus, providing students with ready access to postsecondary level courses and to the technology and resources the hospital provides. Students follow North Carolina’s College/University Prep Course of Study and are able to graduate in five years with a high school diploma and an associate degree, with the option of an additional industry certification. The accelerated curriculum incorporates core academics taught in the context of health sciences with technical training in a diverse range of health care professions. All of the college credits earned by students enrolled in the WECHS will be tuition free and may be transferable to a four-year institution after completion of the program. If students commit to employment at WakeMed after graduation, the hospital will continue to pay for the completion of further undergraduate and graduate degrees. Essentially, students who elect to attend WECHS can be assured that their entire postsecondary experience could be free—and that they will have the necessary skills to stay competitive in the health care industry of the future. The small and diverse student body, which will eventually be no more than 400 students, will allow for personalization of curriculum and for structured extra help. Some of this support will be provided through an innovative program called PULSE—Participation, Understanding, Learning, Service and Excellence. PULSE will be offered to all students during a special period every day to provide opportunities for personal guidance, service and leadership, and any extra help students need academically. Students will also be paired with mentors from the hospital who will help guide them through the curriculum and provide tutoring and special support.37 ACTE Issue Brief: Secondary-Postsecondary Transitions 7 on health sciences through a program called the Middle College High School Health Partnership Grant. The overall grant provided $2 million for the planning stages of the six new middle college schools, set to open for the 2007–2008 school year. According to Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan, the state envisions the health sciences focus as just the first wave in the creation of new Middle College High Schools. “We will be able to adapt these health science models to other fields as future technology, manufacturing and service sectors develop.”36 Conclusion Career and technical education programs play a critical role in aiding students’ successful transition from secondary to postsecondary education and ensuring that they are prepared for success. Through initiatives such as Programs of Study, Dual Enrollment, Tech Prep, and Early and Middle College High Schools, CTE programs are on the front lines of ensuring that all students have opportunities to gain the skills and credentials necessary for success in the 21st century economy. As these programs expand, and as CTE programs continue to respond to the education and workforce needs of students, employers and communities, more students will be able to take advantage of opportunities to move through a seamless education pipeline toward a postsecondary credential. 2ac bizcon daUniqueness overwhelms the link and no link- business are only worred about taxation and business confidence is the highest its ever beenFleming 3/14/17 (Sam Fleming is a writer for the Financial Times, “US business confidence highest for 8 years”, )JKOptimism that Congress will pass growth-friendly tax and regulatory reforms is lifting sentiment among US companies, with a survey of major employers revealing the biggest jump in their economic outlook in almost eight years. A gauge of chief executives’ plans for investment, hiring and sales jumped the most since 2009 in the first quarter, according to the Business Roundtable, a lobby group representing 200 big US companies. That left the index hovering above its historical average for the first time in seven quarters. As a result of the bullish outlook, chief executives are expecting 2.2 per cent growth in 2017, a 0.2 percentage point increase over their previous projection. That is still shy of the growth goals set by the administration of US president Donald Trump, which wants to lift expansion to 3 per cent or higher. The research highlights how far corporate hopes have been stoked by congressional Republicans’ pledge of tax reforms, as well as the dash for deregulation being led by Mr Trump. Joshua Bolten, Business Roundtable president and chief executive, said: “CEOs appear to be responding to early indications that the new administration is serious about creating a better environment for job creation and investment in America.” Mr Trump responded to the report with a tweet: “Great optimism in America — and the results will be even better!” But for that optimism to be vindicated Congress will have to deliver, and there the outlook is less certain. A proposed law to repeal the healthcare system of former president Barack Obama is proving hugely divisive among Republicans, especially in light of analysis by the Congressional Budget Office showing it could lead to 24 million people being uninsured in a decade’s time. In addition, Congress faces a formidable task pulling off reforms to the tax system that would entail the biggest shake-up of corporate tax for decades. Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, has suggested the changes will not go through by the August target set by the administration. The corporate world is heavily divided about the merits of the plan, which would exclude exports from a cash flow tax on companies in a bid to encourage domestic production. Mr Bolten dismissed worries that the Republican agenda is at risk of becoming derailed. “We don’t think the hopes will be dashed,” he said on a conference call. While he acknowledged turbulence surrounding the healthcare overhaul, other elements of the agenda were “well on track” he argued. He singled out regulatory reforms, including a target for agencies to remove two regulations for every new one imposed, which he argued was setting the right tone. Asked about the prospects for an increase in Federal Reserve interest rates this week, Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase and chairman of the Business Roundtable, said he was seeing it as a sign of the economy’s improved performance rather than a cause for concern. If the Fed moves on Wednesday it is “a sign of strength not weakness,” he said. The Fed is widely expected to lift rates by a quarter point on Wednesday, in the third increase of the economic cycle. The move reflects an economy that is closing in on full employment with inflation that is gradually edging towards the central bank’s 2 per cent target. No Link- bizcon is resilient on tax policy and economic reform not educationO’Hallran 6/06/17 Suzanne O’Hallran is Managing Editor of and is a graduate of Boston College. (“America’s CEOs more confident with bets on Trump’s tax reform”, )JKDays after President Trump took a beating from business leaders over the decision to exit the Paris climate accord, some of those same CEOs are optimistic the president's pro-growth policies on cutting taxes and layers of regulation will pay off for the U.S. economy. CEO confidence is the best it’s been in three-years, as tracked by the Business Roundtable CEO Economic Outlook Index for the 2Q, which compiles projections over the next six months. The index rose to 93.9 up from 93.3 in the first quarter. Executives plan to boost capital spending, and expect sales to rise. While plans to hire saw a slight pullback from the 1Q, the group described the dip as “modest”. This is the second survey since President Trump took office. “We remain optimistic that tax reform is achievable” said JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon (JPM) and Chairman of the Business Roundtable in discussing the survey. Delaying tax reform, he warned, will likely mean CEOs will pull back on capital spending, which drives hiring. Last week, Dimon joined other roundtable members General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt (GE), and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon (WMT), in publically expressing disappointment over the Paris climate decision. Disney CEO Bob Iger (DIS) and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (TSLA), non-members, announced they would defect from the President’s advisory councils after the decision. Even though Trump’s plans to cut taxes and regulatory red tape by watering down bills including Dodd-Frank remain fluid, the administration is staying on message. “We’re focused on economic growth, this is about creating jobs, this is about creating economic growth, we’re focused on a middle income tax cut, we’re focused on simplifying taxes and we’re focused on making sure that business taxes are competitive again” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during an interview with FOX Business’ Lou Dobbs last Friday. CEOs want a “substantially lower corporate tax rate and importantly a shift to a territorial system of taxation,” said Joshua Bolten, Business Roundtable President and CEO, which he said would drive hiring. Despite ongoing optimism from his cabinet members, CEOs see the economy growing just 2% this year, according to the survey. The latest snapshot of how CEOs feel comes as President Trump kicked-off "infrastructure week," in which he is spreading his message to improve the nation’s airports, roads and bridges. Monday he pledged to overhaul air traffic control with a plan to privatize the system. "The previous administration spent over $7 billion trying to upgrade the system and totally failed. Honestly, they didn't know what the hell they were doing, a total waste of money, $7 billion plus. It’s time to join the future,” he said during a speech at the White House. Wednesday he is expected to speak along the Ohio River in a push to improve the nation’s inland waterways and dams.Link Turn- the plan increase employment for businesses which are having trouble hiring ACTE 16- Association for Career and Technical Education (“CTE Works”, 4/5/16, )JKCTE Works for Businesses and the Economy Skilled trade workers, teachers, administrative staff, nurses and technicians are some of the top jobs employers are having trouble filling in the U.S., and CTE plays a critical role in training workers in these areas. (Manpower Group, Talent Shortage Survey Results, 2015) Almost half of talent recruiters at Fortune 1000 companies report trouble finding qualified candidates with two-year STEM degrees. (Bayer Corporation, Facts of Science Education XVI, 2013) More than 80 percent of manufacturers report that talent shortages will impact their ability to meet customer demand. CTE plays a vital role in helping American businesses close the skills gap by building a competitive workforce for the 21st century. (Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, The Skills Gap in US Manufacturing: 2015-2025 Outlook, 2015) Middle-skill jobs, jobs that require education and training beyond high school but less than a bachelor’s degree, are a significant part of the economy. Of the 55 million job openings created by 2020, 30 percent will require some college or a twoyear associate degree. (Carnevale et al., Recovery: Job Growth and Education Requirements Through 2020, Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, 2013) Communities across the nation benefit from CTE. In Washington, for every dollar spent on secondary CTE students, taxpayers receive a $9 return on investment. Wisconsin taxpayers receive $12.20 in benefits for every dollar invested in the technical college system. Los Angeles County‘s economy receives roughly $9.1 billion annually from the Los Angeles Community College District. (Washington State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, CTE 2015 Dashboard; Wisconsin Technical College System, The Technical College Effect, 2014; Economic Contribution of the Los Angeles Community College District, 2008)Business confidence won’t fall with a businessman in the white houseDavidson 16- Paul Davidson is an esteemed writer for USA Today (“Trump is juicing business confidence”, 12/14/16, )Business confidence is booming since Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential race, with more companies planning to step up hiring. But their capital spending plans have been roughly stable, indicating many businesses aren't prepared to commit significant funds to new equipment or buildings until they’re assured that Trump’s blueprint will be passed by Congress. Small business optimism, in particular, soared after the election, according to the National Federation of Independent Business’s November survey. Its overall optimism index jumped to 102.4 post-election, up from the 95.4 that was based on responses received before the vote. The latter was little changed from October’s 94.9. After Trump’s win, 38% more small firms expected business conditions to be better in six months than worse. Before the election, 6% more of the respondents expected conditions to be worse. Similarly, in the following three months, 23% more small businesses expect to add to their staffs rather than lay off workers, post-election responses show, up from 9% before the vote. And 20% more of those surveyed after the election expected sales to increase the next three months than decrease, up from just 4% more pre-election. The incoming administration “has a very different approach to regulation and taxes” than the Obama administration, says NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg. “It’s very clear that small businesses were very unhappy with the current” administration. Trump has vowed to cut taxes, for businesses and individuals, eliminate regulations, increase infrastructure spending by as much as $1 trillion and impose steep tariffs on imports to narrow the nation’s trade gap. Jim Jacobs, owner of Focus Insite, a market research firm, says he plans to add four workers to his current staff of three early next year. The company, based in West Chester, Penn., has been outsourcing much of its work overseas to save money, but adding full-time workers will improve productivity in the long run, he says. “We were scared to do that until we saw the election results,” he says. He believes Trump and Congress will cut his taxes and ease regulations, particularly health coverage requirements under the Affordable Care Act. The economy grew solid 3.2% in Q3 Vlad Molchadski, CEO of Dallas-based BizTraffic, a digital marketing company, also plans to hire four workers early next year, nearly doubling his staff. Besides citing lower taxes and fewer regulations, he says increased infrastructure spending will mean faster growth for real estate investment trusts, the biggest single sector in his customer portfolio. If Democrat Hillary Clinton had won the election, “The approach would have been more cautious” as Molchadski monitored sales growth next year, he says. Yet only about a quarter of small businesses plan a capital expenditure in the next three to six months, a share that was largely unchanged since the election, NFIB’s survey shows. The Business Roundtable’s survey of CEOs also showed capital spending plans pulling back. “It shows they’re willing to bet on the short term but not the long term,” says Diane Swonk, head of DS Economics. New staffers can be laid off with little financial fallout, in contrast to capital investments that can cost millions of dollars. Besides awaiting Congress’s response to Trump’s plan, some businesses are also concerned about fallout from any constraints Trump places on con means nothing under TrumpBelvedere 3/20/17 –Matthew Belvedere is a senior producer for CNBC (“Business confidence in Trump has not translated into much action, Fed's Harker argues”, )Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker told CNBC on Monday that he won't be able to judge the economic impact of President Donald Trump's fiscal agenda until it's fleshed out. "I don't know what exactly those policies are yet," Harker said on "Squawk on the Street," referring to promises of broad tax cuts and $1 trillion in infrastructure spending. "Once we see something that looks likely ... then I can factor that in," he said. Harker, a voting member this year on the Fed's policy-setting committee, acknowledged the rise in consumer and business confidence since Trump won the election. "[But] confidence has to translate into action," he argued, something he said he's yet to see in his region. Businesses want specifics on policy before increasing investment, he added. On monetary policy, three Fed interest rate hikes for 2017 still seem appropriate, Harker said. "I'd like to pace those out ... over the course of the year. So having one in March just made sense." In a highly anticipated move last week, the central bank voted to raise rates — only the third increase in nearly 11 years. The Fed still projects two more rate hikes this year. In an earlier interview on "Squawk Box," Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said he voted against the March rate increase because inflation was still below the central bank's target. Kashkari, the lone dissenter and also a policy voting member this year, cited core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, at 1.7 percent as still far away from 2 percent. But Harker said the Fed's 2 percent target is measured against headline inflation, which includes food and energy. "I think we're there and moving in the right direction. There will be a little bit of an overshoot and that's OK," the Philadelphia Fed president argued. Kashkari said he would rather see the central bank start unwinding its $4.5 trillion balance sheet before moving again on rates. The Fed is discussing that, Harker said. "Once I feel like the economy continues on this path of strengthening and we're solidly in that zone, then we can stop reinvestment."2ac interest rates daTheir DA uses outdated economic models – Phillips Curve has shifted, inflation is impossible and the aff won’t trigger the Fed to lift rates Samuelson 7/1 [Robert J. Samuelson, journalist for The Washington Post, where he has written about business and economic issues since 1977, “Robert J. Samuelson: Are we postponing the next recession?,” July 1, 2017, ]Business cycles often end when higher inflation causes a country’s central bank (the Federal Reserve in the United States) to raise interest rates, slowing the economy and, perhaps, triggering a recession. The good news: The next recession may be delayed, because the Phillips Curve has shifted.The Phillips Curve is an analytical tool used by economists. It shows the relationship between inflation and unemployment. In general, as unemployment goes down, inflation goes up, because companies compete for scarcer labor by offering higher wages. Wage increases are then passed along to consumers in higher prices. So: Preventing or slowing higher inflation often relies on higher interest rates, even if that risks recession.(The Phillips Curve is named for New Zealand economist A.W. Phillips, who reported the relationship after studying British economic data from 1861 to 1957.)By traditional Phillips Curve standards, the economy appears ready for higher interest rates. At 4.3 percent in May, the U.S. unemployment rate is at a 16-year low. Since December 2015, the Fed has raised short-term interest rates four times, though they remain at historically low levels, between 1 percent and 1.25 percent. There’s been much speculation about the Fed’s next interest rate hike.It might be later rather than sooner. Economists from the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland — a bank for government central banks — find that the pass-through from wage increases to price increases has weakened. If this is confirmed and continues, it implies that inflation will remain tame for some time even if the economy continues to grow.Just what caused the breakdown of the old Phillips Curve relationship isn’t clear. Nor is it clear whether the shift is permanent. Arguably, it might just reflect an ongoing hangover from the Great Recession. Firms raise prices reluctantly, because they fear losing sales.In a public presentation, Claudio Borio, head of the BIS Monetary and Economic Department, offered another explanation. It’s globalization: the expansion of so-called “global value chains” — supply chains that manufacture components for a final product in many countries.Facing higher costs, companies can relocate production to countries with cheap labor or superior production technology, aka “automation.” In the past quarter-century, there’s been a vast expansion of global labor markets, Borio noted. Businesses that are mobile have undermined workers’ bargaining power.Consider. In 1990, advanced economies such as the United States, Japan and Western Europe represented 41 percent of the world labor force; other countries, such as China and India, 59 percent. By 2015, the figures were 18 percent for advanced economies and 82 percent for other countries.If Borio is right, it could explain why annual consumer price inflation has generally been below the Fed’s official target of 2 percent (inflation low enough not to bother people but high enough to prevent deflation — falling prices). More important, a new Phillips Curve, if true, gives the Fed more leeway to meet its twin goals of high employment and low inflation.Raising rates doesn’t cause immediate changes in inflation- their ev is hypeAppelbaum 6/14/17- Binyamin Appelbaum is a Washington correspondent for The New York Times. He covers the Federal Reserve and other aspects of economic policy (“Fed Actions Show Confidence but Are Not at Trump Speed”, )JKAs one of the longest economic expansions in American history chugs into its ninth year, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday it was raising its benchmark interest rate to a range of 1 percent to 1.25 percent. The Fed accompanied the widely expected rate increase with a further show of confidence: a description of its plans to start reducing its portfolio of more than $4 trillion in bonds later this year. The Fed intends both measures to raise borrowing costs for businesses and consumers after almost a decade of historically low interest rates. “Our decision reflects the progress the economy has made and is expected to make,” Janet L. Yellen, the Fed’s chairwoman, told reporters after the announcement. Ms. Yellen may soon lose her role as the conductor of the Fed’s slow, steady and successful retreat. The Trump administration is beginning to consider whether Ms. Yellen should be replaced when her term as chairwoman ends in early February. Gary Cohn, President Trump’s chief economic adviser, is heading the search for a new leader. The administration has not ruled out a second term for Ms. Yellen, but Mr. Trump said on the campaign trail that he would “most likely” pick a new person. Ms. Yellen’s management of monetary policy may matter less than her disagreements with Mr. Trump about regulatory policy and Mr. Trump’s preference for people he knows. Ms. Yellen said Wednesday that she had not had any conversations with the administration about its plans. She declined to comment on her interest in a second term. If Ms. Yellen is replaced, she would become the first Fed leader in 40 years to serve only a single term. The last three leaders — Ben S. Bernanke, Alan Greenspan and Paul A. Volcker — were renominated by a president of a different party. The Fed has increased its benchmark interest rate by a full percentage point over the last two years, after leaving the rate close to zero from late 2008 to late 2015. Ms. Yellen and her colleagues have concluded that the economy is growing about as fast as it can. Low rates encourage borrowing and risk-taking; the Fed is now trying to raise rates to a level that neither encourages nor discourages economic activity. Most Fed officials expect that the Fed will raise rates at least one more time this year. So far, however, financial markets are not cooperating. Interest rates on auto loans have increased a little since the Fed started raising rates in 2015, but rates on mortgage loans are about the same. Rates on some corporate loans have even declined. Measures of financial conditions have loosened. The march toward that neutral stance reflects the Fed’s upbeat view of economic conditions. “The labor market has continued to strengthen,” the Fed said in a statement published at the end of a two-day meeting of its policy-making panel, the Federal Open Market Committee. The Fed added that economic growth “has been rising moderately so far this year,” making no mention of weakness during the winter. The Fed in recent years has been consistent in predicting faster inflation — and in being wrong. The Fed conceded it was overly optimistic in predicting stronger inflation this year. In economic forecasts published Wednesday, Fed officials predicted that prices would rise by just 1.6 percent this year, down from a forecast of 1.9 percent in March. Ms. Yellen said the Fed was keeping a close eye on a recent downturn in inflation. But she also said officials expected inflation to rebound because of the continued decline of the unemployment rate and other signs of a tighter labor market, including worker shortages in some parts of the country. The unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent in May, and in a new set of forecasts the Fed published Wednesday, some officials predicted the rate could fall below 4 percent. Ms. Yellen also noted a sharp decline in the price of cellphone service is weighing on inflation. That is a good thing for consumers, and a one-time event. “We continue to feel that with a strong labor market and a labor market that’s continuing to strengthen, the conditions are in place for inflation to move up,” she said. The Fed said it would initially shed $10 billion a month for three months, divided 60-40 between Treasuries and mortgage bonds. It will then raise the pace by $10 billion every three months, maintaining the same division, until reaching $50 billion a month. Neel Kashkari, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, was the only member of the Federal Open Market Committee to vote against the rate increase at Wednesday’s meeting. He has argued that economic conditions remain too weak. Mr. Trump, by contrast, has shown some interest in appointing Fed officials who want to raise interest rates more quickly. The administration is planning to fill two vacancies on the Fed’s board by nominating Randal K. Quarles, a Treasury Department official in the George W. Bush administration, and Marvin Goodfriend, a former Fed official who is a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University. Both men have criticized the Fed for its efforts to stimulate growth in the aftermath of the financial crisis. At times, however, Mr. Trump also has praised Ms. Yellen’s efforts. When Mr. Trump first met Ms. Yellen, at the White House earlier this year, he told her they were both low-interest-rate people. Asked about the conversation on Wednesday, Ms. Yellen smiled. “I have felt that it’s been appropriate for interest rates to remain low for a very long time,” she said. The sharper differences regard regulatory policy. Mr. Trump has repeatedly promised to relax financial regulations, and the Treasury Department earlier this week released a description of its plans for doing so, which it says will increase economic growth. Ms. Yellen, by contrast, played a key role in strengthening financial regulation after the 2008 crisis, and she remains a staunch defender of the benefits of those changes. “I don’t think our regulations have played an important role, at least broadly speaking, in impeding credit growth and the growth of the economy,” Ms. Yellen said Wednesday. While the administration is at the beginning of the search process for a new leader of the Fed, speculation among investors and other close watchers of the central bank is already in high gear. Mr. Cohn, who has the president’s ear on economic issues, is widely seen as a potential candidate for the post. Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor who is a member of Mr. Trump’s business advisory council, is also expected to receive consideration. Neither man is an economist. The last Fed leader without a doctorate in economics was G. William Miller, a businessman who served for about 17 months in the late 1970s. Mr. Trump has shown a marked preference for business leaders. But he could consider prominent conservative economists like Glenn Hubbard, the dean of the Columbia Business School and a former adviser to Mr. Bush, and John Taylor, a Stanford University professor. Ms. Yellen could choose to remain on the Fed’s board even if she is not nominated to a second term as chairwoman. Her term as a Fed governor does not end until 2024.Fed is being careful- rate hikes are finishedRobb 6/23/17- Greg Robb is a Senior Economics Reporter for MarketWatch (“Fed’s Bullard says time for Fed to pause on interest-rate hikes”, )JKThe Federal Reserve can afford to stop raising short-term interest rates and wait and see how economic developments and Washington policy debates play out in coming quarters, said St. Louis Fed President James Bullard on Friday. “Many future developments could impact [the Fed’s] policy path, but the Fed does not need to pre-empt any of them,” Bullard said in a speech to a bankers convention in Nashville. Optimism about the economy has faded since March with economic data surprising to the downside, he noted. The St. Louis Fed president has been an outlier among his colleagues, calling for interest rates to remain basically flat through 2019. This is much lower than the median forecast of Fed economists, which calls for one more rate hike this year and three each in 2018 and 2019. Bullard said he saw no reason to raise interest rates as the economy appears to be firmly stuck in a “low growth, low-inflation and low-interest-rate regime.” Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen argued earlier this month that the 4.3% unemployment rate would eventually push inflation higher and the Fed should continue to tighten policy gradually to stay ahead of that process. But Bullard said the latest economic research suggests that even if the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, the effects on inflation are likely to be small. The recent downturn in inflation calls into question the idea that U.S. inflation is reliably returning toward target. Some analysts have speculated the Fed has been nudging up rates with an eye to cooling off frothy asset markets. But Bullard pushed back against that idea. He noted that financial conditions have improved since December on low volatility, higher equity prices and lower credit spreads. “It is far from clear that a goal of monetary policy is to cause a deterioration in these aspects of financial markets,” he said.2ac inflation daInflation and government spending are not correlated- prefer studiesMulligun 09- Casey B. Mulligan is an economics professor at the University of Chicago (“Inflation and Government Spending”, 9/10/09, )JKThe federal government is spending a lot these days, and going deeply in debt. Although it is easy to imagine high inflation as a consequence of excessive government spending, inflation rates and government spending are weakly correlated, if correlated at all. John Maynard Keynes wrote the most important and insightful economics book ever — “The Economic Consequences of the Peace” — successfully predicting an instance in which excessive government spending would create inflation, and worse. Published shortly after World War I, the book analyzed the economic capacity of Germany, and explained how it was not nearly enough for the German government to pay the debts (“reparations”) imposed on her by the Allied powers’ Treaty of Versailles. Dire political and economic consequences would result from the excessive debt burden created for Germany by the Treaty of Versailles, Keynes wrote. The Allied powers did not reduce the reparations nearly as much as Keynes recommended; the German economy and polity subsequently produced hyperinflation, the Holocaust and violent contributions to World War II. The Bush and Obama administrations have added, and continue to add, much to the United States’ national debt. Both Republicans and Democrats spend too much of taxpayers’ money, but excessive government spending does not mean that inflation will necessarily — or even probably — follow. The Treaty of Versailles gave Germany debts that amounted to years of the nation’s gross domestic product, whereas 2008-9 bailout mania has so far given us debt that amounts to “only” several months’ G.D.P. Moreover, thanks to the emergence of payroll taxation and income tax withholding, the capacity of governments to tax its citizens without resorting to inflation is much greater than it was before World War II. Neither inflation nor war will be needed to settle the debts that Presidents Bush and Obama are giving us. Last year the Federal Reserve Board’s Song Han and I published a study of 80 countries where we looked at the correlation between inflation and government spending. We found inflation to be similar (or even somewhat less) in countries whose governments spend more for nonmilitary purposes as compared to countries whose governments spent less. Our study found significant positive correlations between inflation and government spending only in cases when military spending grew — as it does during wartime. But the government spending growth we have seen in 2008 and 2009 comes from the nonmilitary part of the budget. Taxpayers will suffer as a result of the federal government’s recent and excessive spending, but a great many taxpayers around the world have faced similar liabilities, while nonetheless experiencing modest or low inflation.Inflation is good- won’t spiral and helps drive growthRoss 17- Sean Ross is Director of Business Development at Financial Poise?(“How Can Inflation Be Good for the Economy?”, 5/11/17, )JKInflation is and has been, a highly debated phenomenon in economics. Even the use of the word "inflation" has different meanings in different contexts. Many economists, businessmen, and politicians maintain that moderate inflation levels are needed to drive consumption, operating under the larger, overarching assumption that higher levels of spending are crucial for economic growth. The Federal Reserve typically targets an annual rate of inflation for the United States, believing that a slowly increasing price level keeps businesses profitable and prevents consumers from waiting for lower prices. There are some who believe the primary function of inflation is to prevent deflation. Others, however, argue that inflation is less important and even a net drag on the economy. Rising prices make savings harder, driving individuals to engage in riskier investment strategies to increase or even maintain their wealth. Some claim that inflation benefits some businesses or individuals at the expense of most others. Defining "Inflation" You may hear the term "inflation" used to describe the impact of rising oil or food prices on the economy. For example, if the price of oil goes from $75 a barrel to $100 a barrel, input prices for businesses increase and transportation costs for everyone increase, and this may cause many other prices to rise in response. However, most economists describe a subtly different effect when they talk about inflation. Inflation is a function of the supply and demand for money, meaning that producing relatively more dollars causes each dollar to become less valuable, making the general price level rise. Possible Benefits of Inflation When the economy is not running at capacity, meaning there is unused labor or resources, inflation theoretically helps increase production. More dollars translates to more spending, which equates to more aggregated demand. More demand, in turn, triggers more production to meet that demand. Famous British economist John Maynard Keynes believed that some inflation was necessary to prevent the "Paradox of Thrift." If consumer prices are allowed to fall consistently because the country is becoming too productive, consumers learn to hold off their purchases to wait for a better deal. The net effect of this paradox is to reduce aggregate demand, leading to less production, layoffs and a faltering economy. Inflation also makes it easier on debtors, who repay their loans with money that is less valuable than the money they borrowed. This encourages borrowing and lending, which again increases spending on all levels. Perhaps most important to the Federal Reserve is that the U.S. government is the largest debtor in the world, and inflation helps soften the blow of its massive debt. Economists once believed in a real inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment, and that rising unemployment could be fought with increased inflation. This relationship was defined in the famous Phillips curve. The Phillips curve was largely discredited in the 1970s, however, when the U.S. experienced "stagflation," or high levels of inflation and rising unemployment at the same time; this was something thought to be impossible.More inflation is irrelevant- the current rate is WELL under the 2% rateThe Economist 15- (“Why the Fed targets 2% inflation”, 9/13/15, )JKON SEPTEMBER 17th the Federal Reserve will conclude a two-day, rate-setting meeting at which it just might raise its benchmark interest rate for the first time in more than nine years. Arguing in favour of a hike is the low unemployment rate, which fell to 5.1% in August. Arguing against it is the rate of inflation which, having come in at 0.3% year-on-year in July, is well below the 2% target that is the lodestar of Fed policy. But why does the Fed want 2% inflation in the first place? Central banks are responsible for monetary policy: roughly speaking, the job of controlling the amount of money that courses through the economy. For a long time, monetary policy consisted of little more than stabilisation of the exchange rate, which was often fixed (eg by the gold standard at the beginning of the 20th century) in order to facilitate international commerce. But exchange rates proved a poor target for policymakers. Pulling money out of the economy to buoy the currency and protect the exchange rate could send the economy into a tailspin; such policies helped create the Depression of the 1930s. After the Depression governments prioritised domestic employment. Central banks reckoned the economy followed a relationship known as the Phillips curve, which posits a trade-off between inflation and unemployment; governments could have less of one if they were prepared to accept more of the other. Yet amid the "stagflation" of the 1970s, an unholy mixture of economic stagnation with inflation, economists realised that this relationship weakened over time, as people figured out what was going on and revised their expectations for future inflation. The stimulative effect of faster price growth faded, leaving economies with both high inflation and high unemployment. Economists realised the best a central bank could do to boost long-run growth was to make the path of policy clear and predictable to the public. To do that, central banks needed to select an economic variable to set as a target: one linked to the health of the economy and over which the central bank could exercise some control. A clear, public target would keep central banks disciplined and help stabilise the economy (markets would anticipate easier policy when the economy looked like it was falling short of the target, for instance, and increased spending and investment would therefore help the central bank push the economy back on the right course). Milton Friedman, a Nobel-prize-winning economist, reckoned central banks should aim for growth in the money supply. Central banks tried that for a while, but found that when they made money growth their target the relationship between it and the health of the economy broke down, just as the Phillips curve had. Many then settled on an inflation target. Inflation was readily observable and, it was thought, was a reliable thermostat for an economy. The central bank of New Zealand was the first to adopt an inflation target, in 1990. The Fed pursued an unofficial inflation target over a long period, only making its policy official in January of 2012, when it announced that it thought a policy which targets a 2% rate of inflation "is most consistent over the longer run with the Federal Reserve's statutory mandate".Inflation won’t spiral- the fed is carfulReuters 6/23- (“Hold off on further rate hikes until inflation moves: Fed's Bullard”,6/23/17, ) JKThe Federal Reserve should wait on any further rate increases until it is clear inflation is reliably heading to the Fed's 2 percent target, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said on Friday, highlighting the central bank's struggle over how to weigh a recent slip in the rate of price increases. "Recent inflation data have surprised to the downside and call into question the idea that U.S. inflation is reliably returning toward target," Bullard said at an Illinois Bankers Association conference. "The Fed can wait and see how the economy develops before making any further adjustments to the policy rate." The Fed raised rates at its meeting last week with only one dissenting vote. But the policy statement flagged concern over a recent fall in the Fed's preferred measure of inflation to 1.5 percent, and Fed officials since then have appeared split between those worried the trend may persist and those who feel the Fed needs to tighten still-loose monetary policy as a precaution. The central bank is also debating how to synchronize its next rate increase with its plan to begin reducing its $4 trillion in asset holdings, a step that at the margins could raise market interest rates. Bullard, who regards the economy as stuck in a low-growth rut, said he sees little reason to rush the process. Even though a low unemployment rate of 4.3 percent would, in theory, lead to higher inflation and provide a reason for raising rates now, Bullard said there is little evidence that is going to happen anytime soon. Is U.S. inflation "about to increase substantially? The short answer is no, based on current estimates of the relationship between unemployment and inflation," Bullard said. Bullard does not currently vote on the Fed's policy-setting committee. He has argued that the Fed should not raise rates any more until it is clear the economy has shifted to a higher growth, higher inflation "regime."Inflation will stay stable no matter whatSpicer 6/23- Jonathan (“Fed's Mester unmoved by weak U.S. inflation”, 6/23/17, )JKOne of the Federal Reserve's more hawkish policymakers said on Friday that recent inflation weakness was likely temporary and it should not delay another interest-rate hike this year, even though there is no "immediate need" to tighten policy. Two months of unexpectedly soft price readings have raised questions over whether the U.S. central bank will delay its plan to continue raising rates, after having hiked twice in the first half, including in June. Median Fed forecasts show one more hike this year, and three next - a view Mester said she supported. "I don't think there is an immediate need to do something, I don't think we are behind the curve, but I do think this gradual reduction of accommodation ... makes sense to me," said Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester. Asked what would dissuade her from backing another rate hike and the beginning of shedding bonds this year, she told reporters: "I'd have to see that there is really a sharp decline in demand ... coupled with weak inflation data." Fed policy will ultimately depend on data, said Mester, who votes on policy next year under a rotation. "What people forget is that we've incorporated in that gradual (median) path some of the fact that inflation is gradually coming back up to target. We've already hedged that," she added.Higher Inflation is great- hyperinflation is a flukeSpross 6/15/17- Jeff Spross is the economics and business correspondent at . He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress (“Inflation is great”, )JKAs was widely expected, the Federal Reserve decided to hike interest rates again yesterday afternoon. It's the fourth hike since the Fed first lifted interest rates off the floor in December 2015. It's the second hike of 2017, and the central bank looks set for one more this year. Each move has been tiny: just 0.25 percentage points, bringing the Fed's new target rate to 1 to 1.25 percentage points. But despite the modesty of the Fed's course, debate is fierce in economic circles regarding its wisdom. Interest rates are meant to cool off inflation, yet the inflation rate refuses to actually rise to the Fed's 2 percent target. Many of the deeper economic signs that suggest higher inflation is coming are still absent. A whole raft of prominent economists, including former White House advisers, recently called on the Fed to raise its inflation target. I think the critics are right. At the same time, I realize this sounds counterintuitive: Isn't inflation bad for most Americans? Doesn't inflation mean the incomes of the poor and working class will be worth even less than before? Shouldn't the Fed be extremely averse to any chance of prices rising? Well, let's start at the beginning. According to the Fed's own economic models, inflation is driven by wage growth. As the economy improves and more jobs are created, the supply of people out of work gets smaller and smaller. More people with jobs means more consumption, which means more opportunities for businesses to expand and tap new markets. So employers look to hire more. Yet there are also fewer and fewer people without jobs for employers to bring in. Instead, they have to attract people who already have jobs elsewhere. That usually means offering a better wage. Businesses have to devote more money to compensating their employees, and less to other stuff — like high profit margins, and spitting out lots of dividend payments and share buybacks to their wealthy shareholders. To hang onto profits, businesses may well hike prices. But with labor in scarce supply, workers throughout the economy can just demand another wage hike to compensate for their rising costs of living. A feedback loop sets in across the economy, and you get inflation. Now, this relationship isn't totally straightforward. Companies might also respond by investing in technology or new business methods and other things that can increase their productivity. This frees up money that can be used to raise wages, so employers don't have to hike prices to hold onto their workers. So if productivity grows at a steady clip, wages can keep rising without necessarily driving an inflationary spiral. And when there's intense competition for labor, businesses will try hard to increase productivity. Otherwise their higher prices might scare off customers. The point of all this is that when people think of inflation as destructive, they're thinking of infamous crises like Venezuela or Weimar-era Germany: Inflation shoots up, so every dollar is worth far less. In reality, these sorts of hyperinflationary events are extremely unusual. Inflation and wages almost always rise in tandem; the processes that give rise to both are bound up with one another. And the benefits of higher inflation for workers don't end there. Loans are given in a fixed dollar amount — how much you owe a creditor for a mortgage or an auto loan isn't indexed to inflation. So rising inflation actually eases the burden of your debt, because the real value of the fixed dollar amount falls over time, even as your wages rise. Since the vast majority of American workers owe debt to somebody — often quite a bit of debt — higher inflation rates benefit the majority of the populace. By contrast, persistently low inflation means the real burden of paying off debts remains static or even increases over time. The people who benefit from that are the wealthy Americans and banks who own most everyone's debt. Long periods of low inflation threaten to worsen the inequality gap, and they hold back recoveries: People are spending more of their money paying back creditors, rather than on buying more goods and services. Finally, when employers are competing for employees, the latter can demand better working conditions. They can fight back against unsafe environments, harassment, and other violations of their rights without fear of unemployment. If their boss does retaliate, they know they'll be able to find another job with ease. Economies where inflation is threatening to rise are economies where workers have more freedom to organize into labor movements, join unions, and more without fear (or at least with much less fear) for their livelihoods. Now, it's possible for inflation to rise without a corresponding rise in wages: The government can screw up how it calculates prices, which can then feed into wages in employment contracts. (Though contracts that index pay to inflation are far more rare today.) Or it can screw up international exchange rates, which is what happened in Venezuela. (Though that's a much bigger problem for countries that, unlike America, rely heavily on foreign currencies.) And occasionally we'll get some sort of price shock to a ubiquitous and basic commodity, like oil, that can spread to prices throughout the rest of the economy. The Weimar inflation was brought on by the catastrophic aftermath of World War I. In other words, these were fluke events; the exceptions to the rule. In general, when prices are continuously pressing upward, wages are continuously pressing upwards, too. That drives competition between companies and forces improvements in productivity. Everyone has money to spend, fueling job creation. Recoveries from recessions are swift and robust, driven by that underlying power. Workers can demand a better deal, and employers usually have to give it to them. Low inflation may seem intuitively desirable. But wishing for low inflation is effectively wishing for all of that to go away. In the last few decades, economic policymakers got that wish. Inflation was successfully brought down to 2 percent and stabilized there, in what's been termed the "great moderation." But it's also been an era of rising inequality, stagnating wages, rising household debt, and jobless recoveries. And now the Fed finds itself trying to coax more growth out of an American economy that's basically stuck. In other words, be careful what you wish for.2ac cte key to econCTE cuts would be bad for the economyNagurka and Fitzgerald 5/17 [Jarrod Nagurka and Katie Fitzgerald, representatives for the Association for Career and Technical Education, “Advance CTE Statement on Reported Cuts to CTE in President’s FY18 Budget” ACTE, 5/17/17, , Advance CTE Statement on Reported Cuts to CTE in President’s FY18 Budget Alexandria, VA – The following is a statement in response to a report in The Washington Post revealing a $168 million cut to career and technical education (CTE) in the President’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget. The joint statement can be attributed to LeAnn Wilson, executive director of the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), and Kimberly Green, executive director of Advance CTE. “Reports of a $168 million cut to career and technical education in the President’s FY18 budget are damaging and demoralizing for millions of students, parents and employers alike. If reports are accurate, this budget does not reflect the vital role CTE plays in securing a strong talent pool to help America’s economy grow and innovate. “This draconian cut to federal funding for CTE is an extremely disappointing departure for a President who just last month claimed his administration was ‘working to ensure our workers are trained for the skilled technical jobs that will, in the future, power our country.’ This budget would also directly contradict a recent claim by Secretary DeVos that ‘this Administration is committed to supporting and highlighting career and technical education…’ “Cuts to CTE funding would ignore employers’ consistent warnings of significant workforce shortages that are negatively impacting their businesses. Over the next several years, millions of high-wage, high-skill careers will go unfilled because the labor market does not have enough skilled workers to meet the demands of today’s economy. Career and technical education helps fuel the talent pipeline for the next generation of skilled American workers, yet the President’s budget would cut off the pipeline, depriving schools all across the country of critical resources used to ensure students have access to high-quality CTE. “Just days before the 2016 election, speaking about CTE, the President said that, ‘We’re going to start it up big league.’ This budget wouldn’t be big league, it would be a swing and a miss for students and employers. We implore President Trump to reconsider his FY18 budget and support a significant new investment in federal support for CTE.”CTE k2 economic growthDougherty 17, [Shaun M. Dougherty Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Leadership at the Neag School of Education, 6-4-2017, "Education cuts will likely prevent Trump from reaching economic growth goals," Newsweek, ]Of particular concern to me, however, is the $168 million, or 15 percent, reduction in block grants to states, called Perkins funding, which are used to support career and technical education in high schools and community college. Given the administration’s preference for funding programs that promote economic growth, the cut to CTE – which disproportionately benefits Trump’s base of largely white working-class voters – is bewildering. CTE, also known as vocational education, exposes youth to practical, hands-on skills as a complement to academic coursework. Historically, CTE has included programs like auto mechanics and cosmetology but increasingly also includes high-growth industries such as information technology and health services. By supporting these kinds of career paths, CTE tends to train students for positions that could support small business growth, and that fill demand in the high growth fields of health services, information technology and advanced manufacturing. How CTE helps the economy Though CTE is on Trump’s list of cuts, it is the area of education spending that my research suggests has the most potential to boost economic growth. These benefits would be realized through better-paying jobs and fewer dropouts, which also help achieve other positive economic and social outcomes. Career Academies, which began about 35 years ago, are one such approach to providing CTE in high school by integrating career pathways into the school curriculum. They boast some of the best evidence on the effectiveness of CTE. A 2008 report on the program suggests it can help students earn 11 percent more in wages compared with their peers. My own recent work using data from Arkansas shows that students who took more CTE courses in high school were more likely to be employed and earn more money – about 3 percent to 5 percent – than their peers who took fewer. Furthermore, I also found these students were more likely to finish high school and go on to college, both of which improve job prospects. Evidence from Massachusetts shows similar educational benefits of CTE. Specifically, I found that students enrolled in vocational programs were significantly more likely to graduate from high school and attain industry-recognized certificates in specialized fields like IT. Increasing high school graduation is critical; there is ample evidence that higher levels of educational attainment result in higher wages and better long-term employment prospects. Studies show that a high school graduate will earn 50 percent to 100 percent more in lifetime earnings than high school dropouts and will be less likely to draw on welfare or get tangled up in the criminal justice system. The graduate’s higher earnings also mean she’ll pay more in taxes. Beyond improving individual outcomes, investment in education and training fuels broader economic growth by bolstering productivity. The decreased demand for social services and welfare also frees up more state and federal resources to be invested in other areas of the economy. Ideology over sound policy The Trump administration has claimed the high price tag of its tax cuts will pay for themselves through higher economic growth. A budget that aims to gut important social programs – which not only improve individual lives directly but also boost the economy – would make that a lot less achievable. In the end, the Trump budget, it seems, is motivated more by ideology than sound, evidence-based policy. In education, the administration is clearly prioritizing school choice at the expense of bedrock areas like CTE that are known to promote achievement and a variety of economic benefits. As a result, education development will suffer, as will the administration’s rosy economic growth projections.2ac uniquenessYield curve and workforce difficulties make likelihood of a recession uniquely highJohnson 17- Shannara Johnson is a contributor to Mauldin Economics, Business Insider, and Forbes, (“Rosenberg: We’ll probably have a Recession next Year,” Business Insider, 25 May 2017, // CGMEvery investor wishes he had a crystal ball. But there’s one thing, says David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff that has predicted imminent recessions without fail. Speaking at the Strategic Investment Conference in Orlando, Florida, Rosenberg pointed out that since 1950, there have been 13 cycles where the Federal Reserve tightened interest rates… and 10 of them ended in recession. Should we be prepared for another US recession in the near future? Jonathan Roth interviewed Rosenberg to get to the bottom of the issue The Yield Curve: The Best Recession Indicator “I think what people should be focused on is the shape of the yield curve,” Rosenberg said. “[Every] single inversion of the yield curve, where short-term rates go above long-term interest rates, has presaged a recession—every single time.” The three times where rate hikes did not lead to recessions, he noted, were due to the Fed stopping short of inverting the yield curve. At the moment, Rosenberg suggested, “the yield curve is flat enough that if the Fed raises rates four more times, that’s all it takes. We probably will have a recession next year.” Looking at the dot plots shows that more than 50% of all FOMC officials are ready to raise rates four more times going into 2018, so “the risk isn’t necessarily high right now, but it is rising.” Politics Is Just Short-Term Noise Asked about the possible economic implications of the ongoing problems the Trump administration faces, Rosenberg shrugged off the question. “Here’s what I’m going to forecast with 100% guarantee: that no matter what happens with Donald Trump, the United States will still have a president.” He noted that the Comey affair caused all of a one-day plunge in the stock market, “so politics, to me, unless it has a substantive impact on the earnings outlook or the economy, is just short-term noise.” The Fourth Industrial Revolution Is Underway What’s much more important, Rosenberg said, is the supply side of the economy, an aspect that no one pays enough attention to. “What’s happening in terms of artificial, robotic intelligence and the shared economy… Right now, we’re going through the fourth Industrial Revolution, and it’s having a profound impact on worker anxiety.” Yes, corporate tax reform is necessary, he conceded, but there are other constraints we have to deal with. For example: “How is it that we have 23 million Americans between 25 and 54, in their prime working age, that are out of the labor force?” He surmised that “there’s some real structural things happening here that really transcend the need to cut taxes or what’s happening in terms of immigration policy.” What Are the Implications for Investors? There’s no doubt we are late cycle, said Rosenberg. “That means you really want to tuck it in.”Recession coming now—productivity rates low, unattainable growth targets, high interest ratesGilchrist 17- Karen Gilchrist is a contributor for CNBC interviewing Adam Posen who is the president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, (“US heading for Recession after Two Years of Unsustainable Growth, Economist Says,” CNBC, 28 March 2017, // CGM The U.S. is headed for a recession in the next two years as excessive fiscal stimulus from the President Donald Trump administration takes the economy into unsustainable territory, Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told CNBC Tuesday. Posen, who served at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the mid-90s, said that GDP (gross domestic product) growth targets of 3 percent or more are unobtainable given current productivity and employment rates in the U.S. Add to that intended tax cuts and financial deregulation under Trump and the country will find itself trapped in a boom-bust cycle, Posen said. "The work force is only growing at 0.5 percent and productivity's at 1 percent so it can't reach these 3-4 percent growth targets. If unemployment is, unfortunately, about as low as it's going to go, you can't pick this up," he told CNBC Tuesday. "Then you're going to get financial deregulation, which in some ways is a good thing but is likely to feed further credit boom, as it's always done in the past, so the Fed will start tightening against this – that's your boom-bust cycle." Already the Federal Reserve is trying to manage signs of a growing U.S. economy by gradually increasing interest rates. Earlier this month, it hiked rates by 25 basis points, its first such move this year and only the third since the financial crisis. However, further increases are expected this year, with Posen anticipating three extra hikes by December and more still in 2018. "The Fed is going back to normal in the sense that it's not scared to do the moves that it would normally do in response to the forecast," he said. He added that anything Trump outlines in terms of fiscal policy is only likely to spur the Fed's rate hike agenda. Treasury bonds hinting towards the coming of recession now Isbitts 17- Robert Isbitts is the Chief Investment Officer of Sungarden Fund Management, the subadvisor to a long-short mutual fund (DNDHX) and the founder of Sungarden Investment Research and a contributor to Forbes, (“The Last 3 Times this happened, A U.S. Recession followed,” Forbes, 25 April 2017, // CGM Many of the economic, market price and sentiment indicators I follow are saying the same thing: a U.S. recession, while not likely imminent, is creeping closer. We have not had one for about a decade, and at least one per decade is very likely, so I’d have to say we’re due. And while the Federal Reserve propped up the post-financial-crisis economy quite well for several years, I think a sense of inevitability is seeping into investors’ thoughts, if not their actions. That’s the “gut-feel” and “finger to the wind” part of my observation about a recession coming. I’d add to that the opinion that recessions tend to sneak up on us when things are going so well. But when you think about it, if it seems like some aspects of the economic health (employment, inflation, interest rates, broad stock market indexes) are performing optimally, isn’t that the time when you should be looking the other way – down? After all, if it seems like it can’t get any better, it can only get worse. OK, so that’s a real wet blanket there. But the hard evidence is getting, well, more evident with each passing month. The spread between the 10-year and 2-year U.S. Treasury Bonds is one of the indicators that is throwing off a warning sign, albeit an early one. As of this writing, the 10-year was at 2.28% (not exactly a retirement income-worthy level), and the 2-year was at a measly 1.24% (the latter is actually up sharply from all-time lows, thanks to the Fed’s tightening posture on short-term rates). But geopolitical fears are thrusting a “risk-off” trade toward investors in recent weeks. If both of those situations persist, we could have a predicament in which the 2-year rate drops near or below the 10-year rate. This not only screws up banks (that try to borrow short term and lend long term) but it is one of the most reliable signs of a pending recession. And while the recent spread of about 1% is still a ways from zero, that’s down from 2.5% just a few years ago, and this indicator has a habit of moving in one direction for years at a time, as the chart shows. File the 10-2 Treasury spread under the “worth monitoring” category for now. The press coverage of this development has been close to nil from what I can tell, which is why I'm writing about it here. If the spread starts to break well below 1%, you can count on the media frenzy to begin and recession talk to fill the airwaves for the first time in several years. And that alone could bring us closer to an actual pullback in U.S. economic activity. With Washington D.C. noise pollution and geopolitical risks picking up, it all seems like part of a gradual movement toward the type of environment you will want to defend against, after keeping those defensive tools in your shed since 2009.Trump’s fiscal policies uniquely increase the risk of a recessionSchneider 17- Howard Schneider is a Federal Reserve correspondent for Reuters. He has also been featured on Yahoo, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, and the Huffington Post. (“Trumponomics may be wrong Medicine for US Economy Today,” Reuters, 20 January 2017, // CGMTax cuts, deregulation and more federal spending advocated by the incoming Trump administration are a classic remedy for economic stagnation and long unemployment lines. But that medicine may be too strong for an economy that has grown for eight years, with wages now rising and the jobless rate near what many economists consider "full" employment. A Reuters analysis of regional jobs data and historic trends suggests that stimulus could boost demand for workers in areas where labor is already tight. That in turn, could stoke inflation, force the Federal Reserve to raise rates faster than expected, and make recession a greater threat. What the country needs now, labor economists and Fed officials say, is small-bore surgery - policies focused on depressed regions in its rural areas and industrial heartland, which fell out of sync with the global economy and emerged as Donald Trump's power base, helping him win the presidency. "When you think of what Trump is inheriting, it is an economy in which much of the recent crisis has been solved," said Jed Kolko, chief economist for the job site . "The challenges that remain are the ones that are harder to fix," he said, citing as examples the decline of the nation's coal belt or the rise in drug abuse in "middle America's" depressed communities. Trump takes office on Friday promising to strengthen the middle class and put millions of sidelined workers back to work by spending big on the nation's aging infrastructure, playing tough on trade, and cutting taxes to spur investment. There is an argument to be made about using a burst of spending to give the economy a jolt after a long spell of tepid growth that has rarely exceeded 2 percent. TOO MUCH GROWTH? Yet Fed officials are increasingly worried that since the U.S. economy is already performing close to its potential, such a growth spurt could lead to labor shortages, unsustainable wage hikes and too much rather than too little inflation. In the weeks since the Nov. 8 election, the focus of central bankers has shifted from how to parse out gradual rate increases that could sustain unemployment around its current levels, to the risks of growth that comes on too fast. Atlanta Federal Reserve bank president Dennis Lockhart said in Naples, Florida, last week. Uncertainty as to how far the jobless rate can drop could make the central bank wait for too long or slam on the brakes too hard, Lockhart said. The current jobless rate of 4.7 percent is roughly in line with what Fed Chair Janet Yellen cited as full employment in remarks this week in which she also mentioned the risk of recession if the Fed had to raise rates too fast.. Trump has dismissed the official jobless figure, saying it overlooks millions of Americans who have stopped looking for work and who he feels could be brought back to the job market with hundreds of billions of dollars in public projects and private investment. Some economists seem to agree, citing estimates of the number of sidelined workers as evidence the labor market has more slack than the headline numbers might suggest, and that the Fed thus has more policy leeway. Out of about 61 million men in the prime working years between 25 and 54, 88 percent were working or looking for work in 2015 compared with 94 percent in 1978. That means there would be over two million more men in the labor pool today if their participation held at an average rate for that entire period. However, a Reuters analysis of state-level employment data suggests there may be industry- or region-specific reasons why that army cannot be readily mobilized. Past economic cycles also suggest even keeping the jobless rate where it is will be a challenge. STARK DIFFERENCES Jobs data show deep regional differences, reflecting shifts in industries and populations that a one-size-fits-all strategy is ill-equipped to address. For example, labor market participation of prime working age men in Iowa has fallen just 2.2 percentage points since 1978; by contrast it tumbled 12 percentage points in Kentucky as a result of the coal industry's decline. Some parts of the country are already struggling with labor shortages, while others remain depressed. In parts of Florida, entrepreneurs have cited trouble hiring workers because of the rising housing costs. "Teachers, nurses, cannot find places to live," while hotel and restaurant operators are bringing foreign workers on special visas, said Kristi Bartlett, vice president of economic development at the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce. According to various studies, including one commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department last year, major infrastructure needs are clustered around big coastal urban areas; an overhaul that targeted the most beneficial projects could make regional disparities even bigger. Recent history suggests a big spending push or tax cuts this late in the business cycle might in fact bring forward the end of the current expansion. Since the Fed in 1977 was given a "maximum employment" mandate, the jobless rate has fallen below 5 percent for an extended period twice. In the 1990s, when the tech boom and rising productivity helped produce inflation-free economic growth, the unemployment rate stayed low for more than four years. During the property-driven expansion early this century, unemployment held below 5 percent for 24 months before a wave of mortgage defaults triggered a financial crisis and a recession that put millions out of work. The jobless rate has now been below 5 percent for a year and potential tax cuts and deficit spending may confront the Fed with a similar challenge as it faced in the late 1980s, said Roberto Perli, analyst at Cornerstone Macro and a former Fed economist. Back then, the Ronald Reagan administration added tax cuts to already strong demand and a high budget deficit; the Fed countered with a faster than expected round of rate increases. A recession followed in 1990. "With the labor market already tight and little resource slack, the Fed would very likely view demand-side fiscal policies as inflationary and would tighten policy faster than markets expect," Perli wrote.at: multiplier effect failsEmpirical studies prove the multiplier effect- government spending directly leads to higher GDPBarro and Rugy 13- Robert Barro is Professor of Economics at Harvard University, Veronique de Rugy is a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University (“Defense Spending and the Economy”, 5/7/13, ollegereadiness.sat-subject-tests/subjects)JKThe spending multiplier is defined as the effect of an extra dollar of defense or other government purchases on total economic output, gauged by real GDP. Specifically, we can think of the multiplier as it applies to deficit finance, where current taxes do not change when government spending rises. If the spending multiplier is positive and greater than one, the increase in GDP is so large that private-sector portions of GDP (notably personal consumer expenditure and private domestic investment) rise when government purchases go up. If the multiplier is positive but less than one, GDP rises, but not by enough to maintain the private-sector portions of GDP, which are crowded out when government purchases increase. Finally, if the multiplier is negative, GDP declines, and the private-sector portions of GDP must fall by more than the expansion of government purchases. A common view is that the defense-spending multiplier is large and, hence, a reduction in defense outlays has not only a direct negative effect on military contractors but also major, harmful secondary effects on contractors’ clients, on services that cater to defense-sector workers, and so on.2 This argument can be made for any type of government spending. The missing part of these kinds of analyses is that the resources no longer used for defense or other public purposes become available to private businesses and households throughout the economy. Measuring the direct effects of government programs on production and employment is comparatively easy.3 But tracing out the exact channels by which the private sector uses the resources no longer absorbed by the government to expand its private production and employment is impossible. We know, however, from the failed Samuelson prediction cited earlier that these indirect effects were dominant in the military demobilization after World War II. More generally, we can assess these effects on the rest of the economy by estimating economy-wide spending multipliers for defense and other government purchases. The key issue is not how government outlays can have beneficial direct and indirect effects, but whether these economy-wide spending multipliers are greater than one, positive but less than one, or negative. Empirical Studies of Spending Multipliers Many economists have used economic data to infer the effect of an increase in some category of government spending on output, typically gauged by real GDP. In the background, taxes are sometimes held constant, as in cases of deficit finance or of funding of one state’s spending by levies on residents of other states. The analysis may also consider responses of output in the short run (perhaps within a year) or the long run and may distinguish changes in government spending that are viewed as temporary versus permanent. In all these cases, a key empirical challenge is to distinguish the effects of government spending on output from reverse causation (government spending responding to output) and from common influences of other variables (such as a natural disaster or war affecting both government spending and output). As an example, it is well known that US state and local governments tend to increase many forms of purchases when the economy is doing well and to curtail these purchases when the economy is doing badly. That is, state and local government purchases tend to be procyclical. Ignoring this tendency can lead to high estimated spending multipliers that are not meaningful. Similarly, governments tend to increase some transfers—such as unemployment insurance, food stamps, child welfare, and disability payments—when the economy is doing badly. That is, these types of government spending tend to be countercyclical. Failure to consider this tendency can lead to estimated spending multipliers that are misleadingly low and even negative. Because of the seriousness of these estimation issues, we consider in table 1 (see page 16) only empirical studies that make a serious attempt at identification, or distinguishing the effect of government spending on output from the reverse effect.4 The studies considered fall into three broad areas: aggregate defense spending (primarily for the United States), the timing of loan disbursements from the World Bank, and differential effects of federal spending programs across the US states. A familiar claim is that the US economy finally extricated itself from the Great Depression of the 1930s only because of the expansionary influence from the vast public expenditures on defense during World War II.5 The more general notion is that expansions (or contractions) of defense purchases tend to raise (or lower) real GDP through a multiplier process. Many economists have used the US data on defense outlays to quantify this spending multiplier. The general idea is that these kinds of multipliers can be estimated more reliably than those applicable to other forms of government spending. These estimates would then apply directly to changes in defense spending but perhaps also to cases—such as changes in nondefense government purchases—that do not involve the defense budget. For estimation purposes, a useful feature of defense outlays is that the major variations—especially those driven by war and peace—can be treated as nearly independent of economic conditions. This property means that reverse causation is unlikely to be an important problem. Other desirable properties from the standpoint of scientific inference are that the fluctuations in government purchases associated with war and peace are very large and involve increases (in the buildup of a war) as well as decreases (in subsequent demobilizations). On the downside from a scientific perspective, wars entail major destruction of property and persons. In fact, the world history for the 20th century shows that many of the worst macroeconomic disasters relate to World Wars I and II.6Education spending leads to economic growthBaldacci et al 04-Emanuele Baldacci is , Benedict Clements, Sanjeev Gupta, and Qiang Cu (“Social Spending, Human Capital, and Growth in Developing Countries: Implications for Achieving the MDGs”, November 2014, )JKThe paper finds that a number of policy interventions could be effective in moving countries toward the MDGs. Both education and health spending have a positive and significant direct impact on the accumulation of education and health capital, and a positive and significant indirect impact on growth. An increase in education spending of 1 percentage point of GDP is associated with 3 more years of schooling on average and a total increase in growth of 1.4 percentage points in 15 years. Similarly, an increase in health spending of 1 percentage point of GDP is associated with an increase of 0.6 percentage points in the under-5 child survival rate and a rise of 0.5 percentage point in annual per capita GDP growth. There is a significant time lag between increases in education spending and the realization of their full effects on social indicators and growth. Two-thirds of the direct impact of education spending is felt within five years, but the full impact materializes with a significant time lag of 10 to 15 years. Such a lag needs to be kept in mind when designing policy interventions. The impact of health spending, however, is immediate. The positive effects of both education and health spending are strongly influenced by the quality of governance. In countries suffering from poor governance, the positive effects of increased spending on education is reduced, and those of higher health spending can be completely negated. There are substantial differences in the effects of social spending on social indicators and growth among different country groups. The positive effects are the highest in low-income countries and sub-Saharan Africa. This supports the view that social spending can be more effective in such countries in achieving MDGs, as the marginal returns to social spending tend to decline for countries with high levels of social outlays. Other policy interventions may also achieve improvement of a similar size in social indicators and growth. In particular, strengthening governance can have a strong payoff for social indicators as well as for growth. Therefore, reducing corruption and increasing accountability for public spending are no less important than increasing spending. In addition, macroeconomic policies, such as reducing inflation and improving fiscal balances, also have a positive effect on growth and, in turn, on the poverty headcount.Education expenditures lead to economic growthUrhie 13 - Ese Urhie is a PHD canadite in the Department of Economics and Development Studies at Covenant University (“PUBLIC EDUCATION EXPENDITURE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA”, )JK Note studies cited are not about NigeriaFollowing the overwhelming findings of the positive effect of public education expenditure on economic growth as observed in section 2.2.3.2 above, several studies have specifically examined the effect of public education expenditure on economic growth. Musila and Balassi (2004) applied cointegration technique to investigate the relationship between government education expenditure per worker and economic growth in Uganda during the period 1965-1999. Their results show that education expenditure per worker has a positive and significant impact on economic growth both in the long run and short run. In this study, average level of education per worker was used as a proxy for education expenditure. This was based on the assumption that the average level of education per worker is directly proportional to the average expenditure on education per worker. This assumption may not hold in situations where expenditure on education is not used efficiently. Based on data from Nigeria between 1977 and 2007, and using the same analytical technique as Musila and Balassi, Dauda (2009) also found a positive and significant long run relationship between investment in education and economic growth. This study did not only assume direct proportionality between the level of education and average expenditure on education per worker, it also glossed over the issue of endogeneity between education and economic growth. The use of total public education expenditure in its aggregate form precludes that both recurrent and 60 capital expenditure have the same effect on both education and economic growth. From the above it could be observed that studies on the effectiveness and efficiency of public education expenditure either relate it to its outcome (such as enrolment rate, literacy rate, completion rate, and average years of schooling), or to economic growth. There is no doubt that as a component of aggregate government expenditure, education expenditure (in line with the Keynesian theory) could have a direct effect on economic growth. It is also true that public investment in education promotes education attainment, which in turn affects economic growth – indirect effect. Furthermore, Bils and Klenow (2000) noted that most studies tend to establish correlation between education and economic growth, but not the direction of causation. Neglecting these issues could lead to misspecification of empirical growth models. Among the few studies that have considered all three variables (public education expenditure, education attainment and economic growth) in a concise manner, are Jung and Thorbecke, (2001) and Baldacci, Clements, Gupta and Cui, (2004).Public education spending has a multiplier effect that’s boosts the economyRendahl 16- Greg (“Letter: Multiplier effect differs depending on how government money is spent”, 3/18/16, )JKPatrick Sexton's March 11 commentary surprised me with its complete and utter lack of any factual basis. I'm not an economist, but I do have enough common sense to understand some simple aspects of economics. Sexton pretends that Keynesian economists always claim "about $1.50 in benefit for every $1 spent," but that is simply not true. Sometimes government spending will generate a multiplier effect and sometimes not, and if it does, the amount is quite variable. For instance, an infrastructure upgrade that would eliminate long traffic delays would have a substantial multiplier effect. Public education spending generally has a positive multiplier effect by reducing future welfare outlays, prison expenses, and also generating increased future incomes for the students. Another multiplier effect occurs when the economy is not running at full capacity. Then additional spending increases demand and jobs. When the economy is running at full capacity, then government spending generally has no additional multiplier effects. That is the time for governments to spend less, which would lessen inflation and help with deficits and borrowing costs. Sexton also says "government is taking your $1 quietly, keeping 20 cents (at least)." So, where do they hide all that money? I assume Sexton means that government workers' salaries are of no value compared to the private sector, but of course that's just silly.Education spending is beneficial for the economyCarmignami 16- Fabrizio Carmignani Professor, Griffith Business School, Griffith University (“Does government spending on education promote economic growth?”, 6/2/16, )JKEconomic growth is driven by new ideas, by discoveries that result in better products and more efficient production technologies. Human capital is the engine of this process: a better educated labour force increases the return on research and development and ensures that discoveries are more readily absorbed in the productive structure of the economy. In the end, more education equals more economic growth. Or so goes the theory. In practice, researchers and policymakers have often questioned the effective aggregate return of spending on education. Simply put, the question is: does government spending on education promote economic growth? Some stylised facts Using data available from The World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI) database, it is possible to estimate the bivariate relationship between government education expenditure and GDP across a large sample of countries. The estimates show that for every dollar the government spends on education, GDP grows on average by $20. When the estimate is run for Australia only, the multiplier is slightly higher: an extra $1 of education expenditure increases Australian GDP by $21. While intuitively appealing, these results raise some questions. An obvious concern is that a country with a larger GDP must also spend more on education. This introduces the risk of reverse causality; that is, the model might pick the effect of GDP size on education expenditure and not vice-versa. The graph below somewhat addresses this limitation. World Development Indicators of the World Bank In the chart, GDP is measured by its rate of annual growth between 2000 and 2010 and education expenditure is measured as a share of total GDP over the period 1990-99. This time lag reduces the risk of reverse causality. The dots indicate combinations of education expenditure and GDP growth for each of 151 countries for which data are available from the WDI. The red line provides the best statistical approximation of the bi-dimensional scatter plot. The positive slope indicates that countries that spent more on education as a proportion of GDP in 1990-99 experienced faster growth in the subsequent decade. More precisely, an increase in education expenditure by 1 point of GDP (eg from 4.5% to 5.5%) increases GDP growth by 0.9 percentage points (eg from 4.5% to 5.4%). What do academics have to say about this? A lot of research has been devoted to the analysis of the effects of education on economic growth. Academic research in this area is characterised by a certain degree of technical complexity and results often differ across studies depending on the methodology used, the sample considered, or how education is measured. A survey of this vast literature identified 57 studies, many of which measure education in terms of outcomes (eg enrolment rates, literacy rates, years of schooling in the workforce) rather than expenditure. But the studies that did look at educational expenditure as a proxy for education generally reported a positive effect of education on growth. A recent a meta-analysis considered 29 papers that specifically look at the impact of government education expenditures on economic growth. Of these 29 studies, 14 report a positive and statistically significant effect of government expenditure on growth, 12 report a negative effect, and 3 report no statistically significant effect. Averaging across all studies, the effect of educational expenditure on growth is positive - albeit modest - in the order of a 0.2-0.3% increase in growth for an increase in expenditure by 1% of GDP. All these studies typically look at the direct effect of educational expenditure on growth. However, if education outcomes affect growth, and educational expenditure affects education outcomes, then expenditure also has an indirect effect on growth. Recent estimates that use US data suggest that this indirect effect can be large: a 10% increase in per-pupil spending each year for 12 grades of public school was found to lead to 0.27 more completed years of education, 7.25% higher wages and 3.67 percentage point reduction in the annual incidence of adult poverty. An important aspect that only recently has been addressed by some studies is the one of “quality” of education, as measured for instance by test scores. One such study uses international student achievement tests to construct a measure of cognitive skills that ranges from 3 to 5.5. It reports that an increase in this measure by 0.6 is associated with a two percentage point higher average annual growth rate in GDP per capita across 40 years. The question is then how to produce quality education. The authors of this study consider some of the drivers of test scores, but do not include education expenditure in their analysis. This represents an interesting avenue of future research.at: stimulus spending badKeynes is correct- empirical evidence finds increased government spending is goodRoosevelt Institute 12- The Roosevelt Institute is think tank with several Nobel laureate economists (“Defending Krugman: The Importance of Keynesian Economics”, 05/25/12, )JKKeynes was right: increased government spending in the U.S. is necessary to decrease unemployment and raise demand in the near-term. Paul Krugman hardly needs defending, but his views about the need for Keynesian stimulus in the U.S. right now are coming under considerable fire from centrist and left-of-center economists. I find this disturbing because Krugman’s view abides by basic Keynesian principles that seem to have been discarded by many who profess themselves Keynesians. Is there a wide misunderstanding of Keynes? What seems to upset people is that Krugman argues the government must spend more money now, almost regardless of what it spends it on. The Keynesian thesis is that economies can settle at a high level of unemployment rather than re-adjust to the optimum unemployment level—or level of economic activity—on their own. This was a response to the classical, pre-Depression view that the beauty of free markets was a self-adjustment process based on falling prices in downturns. But ultimately the problem is a lack of demand, and Keynes advocated budget deficits to support an increase in demand. The lack of demand in the economy now is palpable. Krugman’s contention is that in the near-term, we can solve this problem if we have the will to do so. The economy can reduce its rate of unemployment fairly rapidly with adequate Keynesian stimulus. It is clear that monetary stimulus at this point is not enough. This view is not incompatible with longer-term concerns about the economy — inadequate education for too many, infrastructure decay, old energy technologies, and so on. Many seem to criticize Krugman for not acknowledging “structural” changes in the economy, and they implicitly agree with classical conservative observers that the unemployment rate really can’t fall much below 7 percent. I can’t speak for Krugman, but he seems to be saying that we should not mix up longer-term structural issues with near-term demand inadequacy. It’s very likely the unemployment rate can fall much farther without igniting inflation. I can’t see how he is wrong about this; indeed, he is urgently right about it. We are facing a year or two when the federal government will likely contract spending and will certainly not increase stimulus markedly. Of even greater concern is the refusal in Europe to recognize that austerity—the opposite of Keynesian advice right now—will lead to further recession, which in turn could spill over to the U.S., jeopardizing Obama’s candidacy. When so many commentators criticize Krugman’s view, insisting that any new spending must be investment in infrastructure, must not go to the military, or that there should be no new spending at all, they are ignoring the Keynesian process. Krugman will not advocate against military spending cuts (and I certainly wouldn’t myself). But priorities are important here. Let’s keep them clear. In sum, let’s understand that more aggregate demand now will reduce the unemployment rate. There is a near-term solution, not to America’s long-term issues, but to an economy that is sputtering and may lead to a political environment in which those who plan to do more damage win office. One of the true advances in contemporary thinking is that both a power and a duty of government is to use fiscal and monetary policy to ameliorate downturns and create economic expansions. This is the legacy of Keynes, well supported by empirical research. Empirical evidence proves federal stimulus is goodKrugman 11- Paul Krugman is a professor of Economics at Princeton (“Why Believe In Keynesian Models?”, 10/11/11, )JKA correspondent asks a good question: what evidence makes me believe that Keynesian economics is broadly right, given the relative absence of experience with large fiscal stimulus programs? I’d answer that question with several points. First, we’re talking about a model, not just a prediction about the impact of spending increases. So you can ask about the ancillary predictions of that model as opposed to rival models. Anti-Keynesians assured us that budget deficits would send interest rates soaring; Keynesian analysis said they’d stay low as long as the economy remained far from full employment. Guess who was right? Also, there are some features of the approach that can be tested separately. Keynesianism isn’t just about sticky prices, but it does generally assume sticky prices — and there is overwhelming evidence, from a variety of sources, that prices are indeed sticky. Also also: there’s plenty of evidence that monetary policy can move output and employment — and it’s very hard to devise a model in which that is true that doesn’t also say that fiscal policy can be effective, especially when you’re up against the zero lower bound. Second, while we don’t have a lot of postwar experience with fiscal stimulus, we do have a lot of experience with anti-stimulus, that is, austerity — and that turns out to be reliably contractionary. Again, it’s hard to think of a model in which austerity is contractionary but stimulus isn’t expansionary. Finally, there is evidence from fiscal expansions in the 1930s, which actually did lead to economic expansion too. Mainly I’d stress the first point. We have a model of the way the world works, and the world does indeed seem to work that way. And an implication of that model is that fiscal stimulus will work under conditions like those we face now. If interest rates had soared, if the rise in base money had led to rising GDP and/or soaring prices despite the zero lower bound, I would have sat down to reconsider what I thought I knew about macroeconomics. In fact, however, my preferred model has passed the test of events with flying colors, while the other guys’ models have been totally wrong.Learn Macroeconomics-Keynesian economics is the law of the landKrugman 17- Paul Krugman is a professor of Economics at Princeton (“Zombies of Voodoo Economics”, 4/24/17, )JKBack in 1980 George H. W. Bush famously described supply-side economics — the claim that cutting taxes on rich people will conjure up an economic miracle, so much so that revenues will actually rise — as “voodoo economic policy.” Yet it soon became the official doctrine of the Republican Party, and still is. That shows an impressive level of commitment. But what makes this commitment even more impressive is that it’s a doctrine that has been tested again and again — and has failed every time. Yes, the U.S. economy rebounded quickly from the slump of 1979-82. But was that the result of the Reagan tax cuts, or was it, as most economists think, the result of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve? Bill Clinton provided a clear test, by raising taxes on the rich. Republicans predicted disaster, but instead the economy boomed, creating more jobs than under Reagan. Then George W. Bush cut taxes again, with the usual suspects predicting a “Bush boom”; what we actually got was lackluster growth followed by a severe financial crisis. Barack Obama reversed many of the Bush tax cuts and added new taxes to pay for Obamacare — and oversaw a far better jobs record, at least in the private sector, than his predecessor. So history offers not a shred of support for faith in the pro-growth effects of tax cuts. Oh, and let’s not forget recent experiences at the state level. Sam Brownback, governor of Kansas, slashed taxes in what he called a “real live experiment” in conservative fiscal policy. But the growth he promised never came, while a fiscal crisis did. At the same time, Jerry Brown’s California raised taxes, leading to proclamations from the right that the state was committing “economic suicide”; in fact, the state has experienced impressive employment and economic growth.federalism2ac federalismNon unique - Federal Funding for CTE is normal means – the Aff doesn’t disrupt the status quoNCSL 13’ – (National Conference of State Legislatures, “The Federal Role in Career and Technical Education”, NCSL, 2013, )The Carl D. Perkins Vocational & Technical Education Act of 2006 provides appropriations to support a framework to better prepare secondary and post-secondary students for further education and employment by developing their academic and technical skills. Perkins funds are provided to the states, which in turn allocate funds by federal formula to secondary and post secondary institutions. States currently receive two grants - Basic State Grants and Tech Prep. States must distribute at least 85% of the Basic funds to local programs using either the needs-based formula included in the law or an alternative formula that targets resources to disadvantaged schools and students. States may reserve up to ten percent for leadership activities and five percent for administrative activities.While federal funds represent about 5% of aggregate expenditures for career and technical education, they are critical to maintaining service levels as states increasingly make use of this education platform. However, as with the federal contribution to K-12 education, it is vitally important that the federal role in career and technical education remain positive and supportive of state policies and not outgrow the size of the investment by burdening the system in a labyrinth of disjointed reporting requirements and accountability measures.Non Unique - Obama proposed legislation for federal funding for CTE Simon 12’ - attended Temple University in Philadelphia, numerous journalism awards for her work in both television and radio, including the Gracie Allen Award (Stephanie, “Obama calls for focus on vocational training”, Reuters, 2/13/12, )President Barack Obama on Monday proposed substantial new spending on education with a $69.8 billion education budget heavily focused on boosting vocational training, both at the high-school and college level. Overall, Obama asked for an increase of 2.5 percent, or $1.7 billion, in discretionary spending on education as part of his fiscal 2013 budget proposal to Congress. The centerpiece of the education budget was an $8 billion Community College to Career Fund, which aims to train 2 million workers for jobs in fields such as high-tech manufacturing, clean energy and healthcare. The initiative would encourage partnerships between two-year colleges and local businesses to identify in-demand skills and develop courses that help build them. It would also finance online and in-person training for up to 600,000 aspiring entrepreneurs. The fund would require congressional approval, which is far from assured. In 2009, when Obama called for an aggressive $12 billion investment in community colleges Congress allocated just $2 billion. This time, Congressional Republicans vowed as soon as the budget was released to block big spending on new programs, calling for a focus on deficit reduction instead. All four Republicans vying to stand against Obama in the November presidential election have also demanded a much smaller role in education for the federal government. Several pricey initiatives in Obama's proposed budget were likely to be popular with middle-class voters. They included making permanent a tax credit that some 9 million taxpayers use to offset the cost of college tuition; scrapping a scheduled hike in interest rates on student loans; and increasing Pell Grants for low-income students attending college. Obama also repeated his call from the State of the Union address last month for colleges to present more transparent information about tuition costs, average student loan debt, graduation rates and how well graduates fare in the job market. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the College to Career initiative relied on community colleges developing strong relationships with local employers, who could help design courses and degree programs to "train workers for skills that businesses are looking for right now." The businesses would also be expected to offer apprenticeships. Duncan cited as models community colleges in Nevada that are ramping up nursing programs to meet local demand and schools in Florida that cater to a growing fashion industry. "It's really important that this not be driven by us in Washington," but be based on local business needs, Duncan said. Federal job-training programs, however, don't always work as advertised. A federal audit released a few months ago found serious hitches in a Labor Department program to train workers for clean-energy jobs as part of the economic stimulus bill. The agency received $500 million to train 115,000 workers, but as of June 30, 2011, just 26,000 workers had completed training and only 8,000 of them had found work, according to the U.S. Office of Inspector General. A Labor Department spokeswoman said that the program had ramped up considerably in recent months. In primary and secondary schools, Obama is pushing to expand his signature Race to the Top initiative. The competitive grant program prods states to take dramatic steps such as wiping out traditional teacher tenure protections so that administrators have more flexibility to fire teachers who are performing poorly. The new budget called for pumping a further $850 million into Race to the Top. Some of that money would be set aside for individual school districts, rather than states. And some would be directed to programs that serve the nation's youngest students, by getting low-income and at-risk three- and four-year olds ready for kindergarten. Obama also asked Congress to direct $1.1 billion to improve vocational and technical education at the secondary-school level. He proposed spending a further $1 billion on high-school "career academies" that train future workers in industries such as health care or information technology.The federal government has had a role in career and technical educationRobert Schwartz 16 - Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education(“Memo: Career and technical education”;12/13;)//pk Federal support for vocational education (the prior term for CTE) is nearly 100 years old. The Vocational Education Act of 1917 (known as Smith-Hughes, for its legislative sponsors) predated the Elementary and Secondary Education Act by nearly 50 years and was the first major federal aid program for elementary or secondary education. Smith-Hughes provided matching funds to states to support separate vocational high schools or, more typically, vocational programs in comprehensive high schools. While the development of comprehensive high schools sprang from a democratizing impulse—the laudable desire to bring students with diverse interests and talents together under a single roof—one consequence of having a separate federal funding stream dedicated to vocational programs was to encourage high schools to create a separate track for vocational students, isolating them from students pursuing a more academic education. Since the passage of the Carl Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act in 1984, federal support to the states has been slowly but steadily encouraging the states to move toward a broader conception of CTE. In its most recent reauthorization (2006) the Perkins Act not only underwent a name change, substituting “Career” for “Vocational,” but more substantively emphasized the integration of strong academic preparation with strong technical education. It emphasized the importance of focusing on programs that prepare students for careers in high-growth, high-demand fields, and on “programs of study” that span secondary and postsecondary education. Funding for the Perkins Act started at $950 million for FY 1985 (about $2.1 billion in 2016 constant dollars) and has not kept up with inflation. In FY 2000 it was $1.179 billion; in FY 2015, $1.125 billion. It is currently about $1.3 billion, against a roughly $32 billion federal appropriation for all other elementary and secondary education programs. Of the $33.3 billion appropriated in FY 2017 for elementary and secondary education, only $3.1 billion supported high schools. This suggests that despite its title, the “Elementary and Secondary Education Act” (ESEA) has in reality been the Elementary Education Act.No I/L – Federalism isn’t zero-sumRyan 12 -- Erin Ryan is currently a Fulbright Scholar in China. She is a professor of law at Lewis and Clark Law School, (7-3-2012, "Spending power bargaining after Obamacare, "OUPblog, ) //plebIt’s important to get these things right because an awful lot of American governance really is negotiated between state and federal actors this way. Federalism champions often mistakenly assume a “zero-sum” model of American federalism that emphasizes winner-takes-all competition between state and federal actors for power. But countless real-world examples show that the boundary between state and federal authority is really a project of ongoing negotiation, one that effectively harnesses the regulatory innovation and interjurisdictional synergy that is the hallmark of our federal system. Understanding state-federal relations as heavily mediated by negotiation betrays the growing gap between the rhetoric and reality of American federalism—and it offers hope for moving beyond the paralyzing features of the zero-sum discourse. Still, a core feature making the overall system work is that intergovernmental bargaining must be fairly secured by genuine consent.Trump violating Federalism nowWill ‘17George Frederick Will is a Pulitzer Prize–winning political commentator. The authors received MA and PhD degrees in politics from Princeton University and has then taught political philosophy at the James Madison College of Michigan State University, at the University of Toronto, and at Harvard University - From the article: “Trump’s violations of federalism would make Obama jealous” – Washington Post - May 10, 2017 - ’s violations of federalism would make Obama jealous “But what good came of it at last?”Quoth little Peterkin.“Why that I cannot tell,” said he, “But ’twas a famous victory.”— Robert Southey“The Battle of Blenheim” (1798)Southey, a pacifist, wrote his antiwar poem long after the 1704 battle for which the Duke of Marlborough was awarded Blenheim Palace, where his great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson Winston Churchill would be born. We, however, do not need to wait 94 years to doubt whether the Trump administration’s action against “sanctuary cities” is much ado about not much. Four months have sufficed to reveal ’twas a constitutionally dubious gesture. The executive order was perpetrated in a helter-skelter, harum-scarum, slapdash manner five days after the inauguration, before the administration was humming like a well-tuned Lamborghini. The order says that sanctuary cities have caused “immeasurable harm” to “the very fabric of our republic,” a thunderous judgment offered without evidence of the shredded fabric or even a definition of “sanctuary city.” The executive order is either a superfluous nullity or it is constitutional vandalism. It says cities “that fail to comply with applicable federal law” shall “not receive federal funds, except as mandated by law.” A U.S. district judge in Northern California has held that the executive order is “toothless” if it pertains to merely a few federal grants, and even they do not unambiguously state in their texts that funding is conditional on active cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. If, however, the order extends to other federal grants, it violates the separation of powers: The spending power is vested in Congress, so presidents cannot unilaterally insert new conditions on funding. Several senior White House officials, operating in pre-Lamborghini mode, denounced this judge’s decision as another excess by the much-reversed U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Actually, although this court might hear an appeal of the judge’s decision, it had nothing to do with the decision. It is federal law that a state "may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual." This does not, however, prevent any government entity from voluntarily withholding information.Furthermore, the Supreme Court has held that the 10th Amendment ("The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people") means that the federal government may not "commandeer" state and local officials to enforce federal laws. The function of the anti-commandeering doctrine is, in the words of Justice Antonin Scalia, the "preservation of the states as independent and autonomous political entities."Last Sunday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed legislation setting criminal and civil penalties for state and local officials who refuse to comply with federal immigration laws and detention requests. As policy, this may or may not be wise; as an exercise of the state's police power, it is not constitutionally problematic. But regarding the federal executive order, professor Ilya Somin of George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School says:"Trump's order is exactly the kind of high-handed federal coercion of states and undermining of separation of powers that outraged conservatives under [President Barack] Obama. In fact, Obama did not go as far as Trump seems to do here. Obama never claimed sweeping authority to impose new conditions on federal grants beyond those specifically imposed by Congress."A2 UniquenessNon-unique – NCLB, which gave control to the federal government, should have triggered their impactResmovits 11 senior education reporter (Joy Resmovits, “No Child Left Behind Debate Centers On Federalism”, 08/16/2011, ) AOMuch has been said about the ineffectiveness of No Child Left Behind, the sweeping, decade-old federal education law that uses student performance on standardized tests as the barometer for academic achievement. Standards mandated by the law were supposed to increase school accountability on a national scale, but they are now often criticized for unfairly penalizing underperforming schools. NCLB has been up for reauthorization since 2007, but despite President Obama’s prodding, neither chamber of Congress has come up with a comprehensive alternative. That stagnation, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, is why he and the president are making unprecedented use of executive power to work around the law. On Aug. 8, Duncan said the administration would go ahead with issuing waivers for some of the law’s much-maligned strictures to states that agree to sign onto a package of yet-to-be-detailed reforms. Most parties to the NCLB debate agree the law has to change. The sticking point is the question of how. And it seems the fight to renew, reject, revamp or work around No Child Left Behind is an old one. “It goes back to Jefferson and Hamilton,” Bruce Fuller, a University of California, Berkeley, education professor who has researched the law, told The Huffington Post. He was referring to the debate among the Founding Fathers about the strength of the federal government as opposed to that of the states. “This is a question of the federal role in accountability vis-a-vis the states,” he said. Fuller says NCLB was the result of a compromise between “federalists who argue that only Washington will be able to set high standards because they’re immune from state governors, versus a states’ rights perspective.” Since the Constitution gives states authority over public education, “states’ rights people say that the law is intrusion.” PATCHWORK PROFICIENCY What’s at stake is the way states measure and assess the proficiency of their students on standardized tests. Fifty states define proficiency by setting “cut scores” for determining whether a student is, for example, competent in fourth grade math. But those standards vary among states, and a recent study from the Education Department’s research arm showed they usually lag far behind federal standards. States were required to set ever-increasing proficiency standards in order to meet NCLB’s mandate of 100 percent student proficiency in reading and math by 2014. “As states faced NCLB’s 100 percent proficiency rate requirement, they just lowered the bar for what test score would indicate proficiency,” Fuller explained. NCLB’s measurement of proficiency, or “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP), has largely been discredited due to its inability to measure growth and account for increasing performance targets. Still, NCLB provided, at the very least, some basis of comparison between state proficiency levels, especially once state standards were calibrated to federal standards measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests. But as recently as Monday, Duncan appeared ready to ditch some of AYP’s strictures. After Montana announced it would freeze its performance targets — an action that would appear to violate NCLB — Duncan’s office chose not to strictly enforce the law and rescind the state’s federal education funding. Instead, Montana education officials worked with Duncan’s office and found a loophole in NCLB that allowed the state to reset its proficiency standards. “There’s no comparability across states or schools, it’s this arbitrary bar,” Montana schools chief Denise Juneau said of AYP. “We want comparability and growth.” Duncan seems poised to waive AYP standards if states’ are willing to create their own accountability models — even without an alternative national accountability system in place. Fuller worries that a lack of a national system like AYP will encourage states to set lower and lower goals. In Montana, for example, the deal reached on proficiency targets lowered the number of schools that would have been deemed failing under NCLB from 158 to three. “States have played games for setting the proficiency bar, and they always will,” Fuller said. Some critics have called Duncan’s proposed NCLB waivers an overreach — they argue he is both circumventing Congress and granting waivers on the condition that states accept his favored reforms. But Fuller notes that the decision represents a massive scaling back of the federal role in setting education standards. “It’s like saying we don’t care if people get sick with bad meat, so we shred any federal standard for meatpacking,” he said. Former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who doled out relatively few waiversduring her tenure, wrote in a Tuesday blog for HuffPost that the Obama administration “is throwing in the towel and admitting defeat for kids.” “They want to give waivers to states that have not — and apparently never intended — to educate their students despite receiving billions of taxpayer dollars to fulfill this most basic of promises to our children.” CONGRESS STALLED The rhetoric coming out of Duncan’s office would lead some to believe that Congress has totally halted in its work on overhauling NCLB. But that’s not entirely true. Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, has introduced a spate of bills to his committee as part of a piecemeal approach to tackling the law in the House. Kline’s latest bill, which would remove strings from Title I funds that are reserved for disadvantaged students, brought fierce criticism. The bill’s introduction largely ended what had been, until then, a bipartisan process, with Rep. George Miller (D-Calif) calling it a “complete betrayal of education equality” and “a knife in the back to the bipartisan process.” Fuller attributes the legislative breakdown to Republican strategizing. He says conservatives never liked the bipartisan nature of NCLB to begin with, and Republicans not wish to give Obama a perceived win on education policy as the 2012 election looms. “They would like to see NCLB implode and suffer from a slow death,” Fuller said. “Then we’re back to a totally federalist system of education,” he added, noting that prior to NCLB, education policy was, for the most part, the sole dominion of states. Another challenge may stem from a contradiction in ideology. “[Republicans] are having a hard time reconciling the heightened anti-federalism in the caucus, [with] trying to craft federal policy,” said Kevin Carey, policy director of the think tank Education Sector. As a result, Kline’s bills have failed to deal with the central accountability question. While the House falters, members of the Senate continue to say they expect to release a markup of an overhauled bill by the fall. Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) are continuing to meet regularly to discuss NCLB reform — even after Duncan’s waiver announcement. Both Republicans and Democrats told HuffPost they’re keeping silent about the closed-door negotiations in order to uphold their bipartisan nature. Federalism appears to be a sticking point in the Senate negotiations, too. “There may be disagreement on whether things should be optional for the states,” said Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who sits on the education committee. “In the reform of No Child Left Behind, how much flexibility or how much leeway the states have in what they do, versus how much is prescribed by the federal government,” he said, is being debated. A House aide privy to the meetings said all parties agree on one thing: AYP should be ditched and a new law should be less federally prescriptive. States are now devising their own accountability plans, the aide said, that take growth into account and are generally more robust. Since Duncan confirmed the Education Department would move forward with the waiver process, Democratic members of Congress who originally chided the proposal have tempered their criticism. “I’m hoping that we’ll pass an NCLB reform bill soon,” Franken said. “But it’s not clear exactly when that will happen, so I understand why Secretary Duncan wants to provide relief to states.” Franken said it was too early to comment further on the waiver plan before seeing more details. Kline’s camp has continued to express disdain for the waivers. Kline said he was concerned that the waiver plan could “undermine” any congressional movement on NCLB reauthorization.A2 WarmingImpact turn – CO? emissions net good for the worldLomborg 16 one of TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world, one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century according to Esquire magazine, and one of the 50 people who could save the planet according to the UK Guardian, repeatedly named one of Foreign Policy's Top 100 Global Thinkers (Bj?rn Lomborg, “No one ever says it, but in many ways global warming will be a good thing”, 5 May 2016, ) AOLast week, a study in the prestigious journal Nature revealed just how much CO? increases have greened the Earth over the past three decades. Because CO? acts as a fertilizer, as much as half of all vegetated land is persistently greener today. This ought to be a cause for great joy. Instead, the BBC focused on warning that the paper shouldn’t make us stop worrying about global warming, with threats like melting glaciers and more severe tropical storms. Many other major news outlets did not even report on the study. Our climate conversation is lopsided. There is ample room to suggest that climate change has caused this problem or that negative outcome, but any mention of positives is frowned upon. We have known for decades that increasing CO? and precipitation from global warming will make the world much greener – by the end of the century, it is likely that global biomass will have increased by forty percent. Similarly, we know that many more people die from cold than from heat. The biggest study on heat and cold deaths, published last year in Lancet, examined more than 74 million deaths from 384 locations in 13 countries from cold Sweden to hot Thailand. The researchers found that heat causes almost one-half of one percent of all deaths, while more than 7 percent are caused by cold. As global warming pushes temperatures up, more people will die in heat waves; a point emphasized by campaigners like UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres. What we don’t hear from her is that fewer people will die from cold. One study for England and Wales shows that heat kills 1,500 annually and cold kills 32,000. By the 2080s, increased heat-waves will kill nearly 5,000 in a comparable population. But ‘cold deaths’ will have dropped by 10,000, meaning 6,500 fewer die altogether. Only mentioning the negatives distorts and degrades the political conversation. Any reasonable person can recognize both positives and negatives among the policy proposals of both Tories and Labour. It is an extreme partisan that insists either side offers only negatives. Yet, this is the position enforced by the climate alarmists – last seen in a letter to The Times from Lord Krebs and company, essentially telling the newspaper to stop reporting less-than-negative climate stories. While it is true any individual news story rarely represents the whole truth, it is revealing that such campaigners don’t send out similar letters to correct the daily deluge of alarmist stories. The idea that climate is bad for all good things and good for all bad things belongs in a morality play. In the real world, we should look at all the available information. When the BBC warns of more severe tropical storms, it has some validity. The UN’s climate panel expects to see fewer but stronger hurricanes. But it is an incomplete picture. As the world develops, it has become much less vulnerable: a hurricane hitting Florida kills few people while a similar event in Guatemala kills tens of thousands. Indeed, climate-related deaths have dropped from half a million per year in the 1920s to less than 25,000 per year in the 2010s. A recent Nature study expecting more severe hurricanes from global warming still found that damages would halve from 0.04 per cent to 0.02 per cent of global GDP, because the increased ferocity would be more than made up by increased prosperity and resilience. When the BBC warns of melting glaciers it is reminiscent of Al Gore’s concern that 40 per cent of the world get drinking water from the Himalayas, and melting glaciers mean “those 40 per cent of the people on Earth are going to face a very serious shortage.” Yet, a new study of 60 climate models and scenarios shows this warning fails to take into account the fact that global warming will mean precipitation increases. Indeed, water flow will actually increase over this century, which is likely beneficial in increasing “water availability in the Indus Basin irrigation scheme during the spring growing seasons.” If our climate conversation managed to include the good along with the bad, we would have a much better understanding of our options. Climate economics does just that, taking all the negatives (like rising sea levels and more heat deaths) and all the positives (a greener planet, fewer cold deaths). A climate economics approach finds that today – contrary to the alarmists’ massive insistence on negatives-only stories – global warming causes about as much damage as benefits. Over time, climate becomes a net problem: by the 2070s, the UN Climate Panel finds that global warming will likely cause damage equivalent to 0.2 per cent to 2 per cent of global GDP. This is certainly not a trivial cost, but nor is it the end of the world. It is perhaps half the social cost of alcohol today. This suggests that a policy which could eradicate global warming for 1 per cent of global GDP would probably be a good deal. Unfortunately, we do not have such a deal on the table. The Paris climate treaty will cost around 2 per cent of global GDP and fix much less than a tenth of the problem. Less effective but more ambitious climate policies cost at least 6 per cent of global GDP per year and likely much more. Wind and solar, which covers less than half of one percent of global energy, costs dozens of times more than their climate benefits. Electric cars provide perhaps a thousandth in climate benefit of their substantial public subsidies. Biofuels are just hugely costly while increasing emissions. When we shift the climate conversation to describe positives along with negatives, and focus on costs and benefits of policies – essentially treating this challenge like any other policy agenda – it becomes obvious how many of today’s accepted climate policies are poor. Little wonder climate campaigners do not want this sort of conversation.politics2ac agenda linkTrump won’t use PC for the planARSA 6/27 - (“Unanimity Reigns in House Effort to Reform Technical Education”;2017;)//pkOn June 22, the House of Representatives unanimously approved the “Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act.” It has been popular since its introduction: ARSA and a broad range of industry and academic groups have praised its policies and not a single member of the Education and Workforce Committee dissented when considering it in May.2ac trump good politicsPlan is a massive win for trump – aligns with campaign promises and resolves thumpers Wong 5/24/17 (Alia Wong, Alia Wong is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where she oversees the education section. She previously wrote for Honolulu Civil Beat., “Trump’s Education Budget Takes Aim at the Working Class”, May 23rd 2017, ) Indeed, CTE dovetails neatly with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” message, and with his campaign promise to prioritize workforce development and job creation in the United States. Take his priorities around infrastructure: CTE is helping to grow the workforce that’s key to making those goals a reality, from programs in design and engineering to those in construction and manufacturing. “These are the very elements of the rebuilding-America agenda,” said Kimberly Green, the director of the advocacy group Advance CTE, and “are the very things CTE programs help prepare people for successful careers in.” DeVos for her part emphasized the importance of CTE throughout her confirmation hearing—perhaps because it serves as an effective example of school choice. Once known as vocational education, CTE today is often marketed as a practical, skills-focused path into the workforce for high-schoolers, particularly those who aren’t interested in the traditional college experience. Plan is perceived as a legislative victory – wide political supportBarnum 6/6/17 (Matt Barnum - writer based in Brooklyn for the Atlantic – “The Downside to Career and Technical Education” – 6/6/17 - )/TKQuick: What’s one education topic that Betsy DeVos, Randi Weingarten, Donald Trump, and Al Franken all support?? It’s actually career and technical education—something they’ve all said America’s schools need in order to better prepare graduates for the economy. President Trump even praised Germany’s approach to vocational education recently.? Trump’s budget actually cuts CTE funding, but, at least in theory, there’s wide support across the ideological spectrum for helping more students learn career-specific skills in high school.? CTE is broadly bipartisan Maher 17’ - broad-based business-transactional practice focusing on complex cross-border corporate and commercial contract matters (Kevin, “House expected to approve CTE reauthorization”, 6/21/17, )As early as this week, the House of Representatives is expected to pass legislation reauthorizing the Perkins Act, which was originally adopted in 1984. ALA recently submitted a letter to the House Committee on Education and Workforce supporting this bi-partisan legislation: the Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 2353), which was approved by the Committee on June 6. The House timed the vote on the reauthorization to occur during the National Week of Making spearheaded by the Congressional Maker Caucus. The week highlights the growing maker movement across the country.No link – CTE programs have bipartisan support Fain 17 (Paul Fain, came to Inside Higher Ed in September 2011, after a six-year stint covering leadership and finance for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Paul has also worked in higher ed P.R., with Widmeyer Communications, but couldn't stay away from reporting. A former staff writer for C-VILLE Weekly, a newspaper in Charlottesville, Va., Paul has written for The New York Times, Washington City Paper and Mother Jones. He's won a few journalism awards, May 5th, 2017, “Bipartisan Bill to Reauthorize Perkins Act”, , nassal) A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives today would reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which provides federal support to career education programs. The proposed legislation builds on a similar bill that passed the House last year but was not considered by the U.S. Senate. The bill's sponsors said this version would give states more flexibility in how to use the federal money. It also would tighten the program's focus on in-demand jobs, reduce administrative burdens and ensure the participation of underserved students. The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) and AdvanceCTE in a joint statement applauded the proposed legislation. “We commend the bill’s sponsors for their continued commitment to a bipartisan Perkins reauthorization process and to their dedication to strengthening the CTE ecosystem," the two groups said. "Previous efforts to reauthorize Perkins took important steps to promote high-quality CTE programs of study, give states and locales additional flexibility to meet local employer and student needs, promote program alignment, and streamline administrative requirements."Career and technical education is a priority for the public – increased federal funding has support shared across diverse communities Garin and Molyneux 17 (Geoff Garin is an American pollster, who served as co-chief strategist for the latter part of Senator Hillary Clinton's 2008 Presidential campaign and Guy Molyneux Guy Molyneux is a partner and senior vice president at Peter Hart Research Associates, where he directs the firm's trade union research division., June 26, 2017, “National Poll Finds Strong Opposition to Trump Administration’s Education Priorities and Budget Cuts”, , nassal) By a wide margin of 62% to 15%, voters across the country believe that the federal government today spends too little rather than too much on public education. Public education is a priority for voters, and fully half of all voters identify education as the part of the federal budget for which they would most strongly oppose cuts. Voters strongly reject the Trump administration’s proposal to cut spending on education by 13.5% while reducing taxes on large corporations and wealthy individuals. Fully 74% of voters oppose this policy, including 54% who strongly oppose it. Half (48%) of Trump’s own voters are in opposition. Large majorities deem many specific elements of the Trump administration’s education budget to be unacceptable. Cuts to programs and services for students with disabilities, elimination of funding that public schools use to reduce class sizes, and reduction of funding for career and technical education are examples of cuts that evoke deep opposition from voters. This opposition is shared across diverse communities—with large majorities of urban, suburban, small town, and rural voters saying they are unacceptable.states counterplan answers2ac state budgets solvency deficit2ac states cp (budgets deficits)States can’t borrow enough money to fund the CP given the 1ac’s “states are so broke they’ll destroy the economy” advantage – fiating past this causes states defaulting on loans and collapses state economies – the more unprecedented investors find the CP, the greater the crash they cause (this also means that you shouldn’t scrutinize our evidence too closely given that they have absolutely none to support the CP’s shocking announcement that 50 states are simultaneously breaking their budgets)Timothy J. Bartik, 9- Senior Economist @ Uphjonh Institute for Employment Research (Working Paper 09-15, “How Policymakers Should Deal with the Delayed Benefits of Early Childhood Programs”)One obvious way to reduce short-run costs of early childhood programs is to finance the programs through borrowing. Borrowing delays program costs, allowing the timing of costs to better match the timing of economic development benefits. Borrowing is generally accepted as a way for the government to pay for “physical capital”: roads, public buildings, prisons. The rationale for this borrowing is that it allows the costs of building or rehabilitating physical capital to be better matched to the stream of benefits from such capital. For example, building a new highway has large up-front costs. Yet its benefits will be received for many years to come. Allowing borrowing for early childhood programs would put these programs on a more level playing field with business incentives. Business incentive programs can postpone many of their costs by promising future incentives to business. Because these programs can postpone costs, they become more attractive to policymakers. However, most state constitutions severely restrict public borrowing, except for the building or redevelopment of tangible physical capital. In most states, it would be illegal for the government to sell a 30-year bond to pay for early childhood education. State and local governments have come up with creative ways of borrowing to get around these constitutional restrictions. States have sometimes securitized streams of revenues they will receive from dedicated sources. For example, states have sold off revenues they will receive from the settlement with tobacco companies to finance public programs (Sindelar and Falba 2004; Scheppach 2003). Some states have sold off the rights to collect tolls on a public highway to finance public programs (Burwell and Puentes 2009). In economic development policy, one common program is tax increment financing (TIF) (Dye and Merriman 2006). In a TIF, the increase in property tax revenue in a particular geographic area is dedicated to a special TIF fund. For example, this geographic area might be a downtown area. This dedicated revenue can only be used for purposes determined by the authority overseeing the TIF district. It is common to use TIF revenues as backing for bonds that are sold to finance various public improvements in the TIF district. For example, in a downtown area, the TIF revenues might be used to finance parking ramps, or for marketing the downtown. TIFs are being used in more creative ways. Of particular relevance here is that TIFs are starting to be used for educational programs. Michigan recently passed a “Promise Zone” law, which was inspired by the Kalamazoo Promise. Under the Kalamazoo Promise, private donors guaranteed to pay up to four years of tuition at Michigan public universities and community colleges for all graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools. The Michigan “Promise Zone” law allows for TIF zones to be created to help finance similar programs in other areas of Michigan. A school district or some other local government can develop a plan to provide free college tuition to all students within the district or government jurisdiction. If this plan is approved by the state of Michigan, the plan can in part be funded by TIFs. The tax increment received by a school district or other local government jurisdiction would be diverted from the state education property tax in that designated area. The plan would receive the state education property tax revenue from the increase in property values in the designated area. Similar TIFs could be created to finance early childhood education. Some portion of the increment in a tax’s revenue could be dedicated to a fund to support early childhood education. The incremental tax revenue would not have to necessarily be property tax revenue. Early childhood TIFs could be financed with incremental revenue from the sales tax or income tax. The dedicated revenue in that fund could be used to support bond issues to pay the upfront costs of early childhood education. What objections might be raised to borrowing for early childhood education? One is that borrowing only makes sense if the early childhood education does produce sizable future benefits. If the early childhood program does not produce sizable long-run benefits, then it would be a mistake to borrow to pay its costs. A second objection is that allowing borrowing for operating costs of public programs, even highly desirable programs, might lead to abuses. There are good historical reasons why state constitutions often restrict public borrowing. In the early nineteenth century, American states were extraordinarily active in borrowing. This borrowing was often used to support corporations that promoted state economic development, such as investments in canals, railroads, and banks. However, this large-scale borrowing led to eight states defaulting on their debts during the economic downturn of the 1840s. Subsequent state constitutional amendments put significant limitations on state debt issuance and investment in corporations (Wallis 2000). A third objection is that the current period does not seem the most favorable time to expand any entity’s ability to issue debt. The recession that began in 2008 is widely attributed to excessive promotion of overly risky debt by many different financial institutions and government agencies. The financial system might not be ready for new forms of government financing. The political winds might not support such government borrowing. State balanced budget constraints make stimulus provision impossibleGamage 10 [David Gamage, Assistant Professor, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall), “Preventing State Budget Crises: Managing the Fiscal Volatility Problem,” California Law Review, 98 Calif. L. Rev. 749, June, 2010, lexis]2. Why Fiscal Volatility Is Growing Over TimeNot only are states finding it harder to cope with fiscal volatility now that the continued growth of state governments has halted, but the overall magnitude of fiscal volatility has been increasing over time. The two main reasons for this growth in fiscal volatility are changes in state tax bases and changes in state spending baselines. n48The first major cause of increased fiscal volatility results from tax revenues becoming more volatile due to changes in state tax bases. Different forms of taxation can be more or less volatile. Where property tax revenues remain relatively stable as the economy cycles, sales tax revenues are quite volatile, and income tax revenues fluctuate even more wildly. n49 Yet over the past fifty years, states have gradually reduced their reliance on property taxes in favor of sales and income taxes, thereby increasing the magnitude of fiscal volatility. n50 Moreover, the volatility of state income taxes has significantly expanded in recent years, presumably due to greater income stratification. n51 [*760] Partially due to these changes in state tax bases, the 2001-2003 downturn generated much larger revenue shortfalls than did previous recessions, even though the economic effects of the downturn were comparatively mild. n52The second major cause of increased fiscal volatility comes from changes in state spending baselines - most notably due to Medicaid spending. Medicaid's spending baselines are countercyclical; more state residents generally qualify for Medicaid during downturns than during periods of economic growth. n53 As such, countercyclical programs like Medicaid exacerbate fiscal volatility problems by placing greater demands on state budgets when revenues are scarce and lesser demands when revenues are plentiful. Driven by rising healthcare costs and changes in federal government policy, Medicaid grew from 10.8% of state spending in 1989 to 19.6% of state spending in 2001. n54 Consequently, as revenues began to plummet during the last downturn, states found that even maintaining their previous levels of non-Medicaid spending would require cutting promised Medicaid benefits.State-level fiscal volatility is a significant and growing problem. Faced with balanced-budget constraints, state governments must adjust either their taxes or their spending as the economy cycles. Yet this discussion of the problem raises the question why states have balanced-budget constraints in the first place. At least in theory, states could eliminate most of their fiscal volatility problems simply by running deficits during downturns and surpluses once their economies return to growth.B. The Nature of State Balanced-Budget ConstraintsIn the absence of political considerations, economists generally agree that governments should run surpluses during booms and deficits during busts. n55 Yet balanced-budget constraints make fiscal stimulus of this sort impossible. n56 [*761] As a result, state governments are forced to hike taxes or cut spending at exactly those times when economic theory calls for reduced taxes and higher spending. Conversely, state governments lower taxes and raise spending just as their economies start to overheat, thereby magnifying the harmful effects of the business cycle. n57Despite the acknowledged negative consequences of state balanced-budget constraints, there is no significant movement calling for the abolition of these constraints. Indeed, even though the written balanced-budget requirements within many states' constitutions lack effective enforcement mechanisms, the states typically follow them anyway. What explains these puzzles? The answer has far less to do with economics than with the nature of the political process.1ar budget solvency deficitStates can’t control currency --- even if they cheat on their balanced budgets amendments at time, they’re ultimately unable to transform debt into free moneySpross 16 [Jeff Spross, “Why a national balanced budget amendment would be an epic disaster,” Aug 29, 2016, ]Governments need the ability to spend big in emergencies and special situations, too, just like you do. And often, that means borrowing money.But really, you shouldn't think of the federal budget the same way you think of a household or business budget. It's a completely different thing, subject to a completely different set of forces. Why? Because the federal government is utterly unique in its power to control the currency.This gets a little muddled, because Congress voluntary split this power between the Treasury and the Federal Reserve. But ultimately, they're both parts of the same federal government. And whenever it wants, the Fed can create money and use it to buy government debt, lowering interest rates and effectively transforming that debt from a liability into free money conjured out of thin air.Households and businesses, by contrast, can't create their own money. So they sit within the forces of the economy, with the health of their own finances waxing and waning along with the business cycles. Even state governments, though they're effectively immortal and have the legal power to raise revenue with taxes, don't control the currency they operate in, and are stuck in the same boat.1ar stimulus keyThe aff’s public investments stimulate rapid economic growth and spill over – debt-financed public involvement is key Bivens 12 [Josh Bivens, Director of Research at the Economic Policy Institutem 4-18-2012, "Public investment: The next ‘new thing’ for powering economic growth," Economic Policy Institute, ]In fact, the new research shows that public investment is at least as productive as private, and several strands of the research seem to indicate that it is substantially more productive. This contribution to clarifying the impact of public versus private investment notwithstanding, the goal of all of these studies was generally to address another question: What is the impact of expanded public investment on private-sector productivity? Compellingly, most of the studies showed significant positive impacts of public investment on private-sector productivity. Yet, improving private-sector productivity is just one reason to support expanded public investment. If, for example, public investment had no impact at all on private-sector productivity but allowed public goods to be delivered more efficiently, there would be a benefit. It would be akin to receiving clean water and air, safe food and medicine, and transportation services for less money, which seems like a perfectly fine way to enjoy the returns to expanded public investment. Further, the possibility that the benefits of public investment are more broadly shared than the benefits of private-sector investment constitutes another compelling reason to support it. While studies examining the link between inequality and public investment are few, several methodologically sound papers have suggested that countries with larger public capital stocks tend to have greater equality of incomes (see, for example, Calderón and Servén 2004). This should not be a shock—by its nature public capital is more broadly based in its ownership than private capital (in the United States, the wealthiest 1 percent of households own more than 40 percent of private wealth), and so its benefits should be more broadly distributed (Getachew 2008). Finally, it should be remembered that many possible benefits of public investment may not show up as increases in cash incomes. Clean water and air provide clear economic benefits, but these benefits do not generally show up in measurable cash incomes. In short, the research is clear that public investment should boost measured economy-wide productivity while also spreading the benefits of this growth more broadly and increasing quality of life that is not captured in productivity statistics. These insights should be front and center in the current debates over the nation’s budgeting and priorities. How to finance and how much to aim for? It is sometimes argued that even if increased public investment can increase an economy’s growth performance, the necessary financing of the investment may introduce economic distortions that reduce growth. If so, it matters not just how much public investment is undertaken but also how it is financed. The concern is that, if these investments are financed with increased debt or higher taxes, the efficiency losses induced by the crowding-out of private-sector investment, or by higher tax rates, may produce a net loss to economic growth. But there is little cause for this concern, for several reasons. For one, debt-financed public investment in the present moment could well provide enough growth to lower long-term deficits. Interest rates are currently at historic lows; some long-term inflation-adjusted rates (10-year Treasury rates) have actually been negative for stretches of time in the recent past. Further, because the economy currently suffers from excess capacity (and will for years to come), new investments will have powerful multiplier effects, leading to higher overall economic activity. Given these very low borrowing costs and the powerful job growth effects public investments would have in the short run, the long-run productivity-enhancing impact of public investment would not need to be very high to make debt-financed investment increases totally self-financing (see DeLong and Summers 2012 on why even non-investment forms of fiscal stimulus may be self-financing given current low interest rates and excess capacity). Failure to undertake debt-financed public investment in the short run essentially means rejecting a free fiscal and economic lunch. This is truly irrational. Even when the economy eventually works off this excess capacity and increased public investment financed by debt does indeed threaten to push up interest rates and crowd out private investment, it would not necessarily constitute a net economic loss. For example, as Rezai, Foley, and Taylor (2009) point out, standard economic theory suggests that public investment directed at mitigating greenhouse gas emissions should be debt-financed. Because the benefits of this investment largely accrue to future generations, financing them with debt allows present generations to keep their living standards constant and still bequeath to future generations a capital stock that is of optimal size and balanced between traditional capital and capital installed for the purpose of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Further, even if revenues need be raised to finance some public investment, diversion of these revenues would not necessarily harm economic efficiency. A range of revenue raisers are either efficiency neutral or efficiency generating. For example, Pigovian taxes (taxes on activities that generate negative externalities) on greenhouse gas emissions, other harmful pollutants, and even financial market risk can raise significant revenue while increasing economic efficiency. Putting limits on tax expenditures without raising marginal rates also could raise revenue in a progressive fashion while shrinking tax-based distortions.at: states can borrow moneyStates can’t borrow enough --- balanced budget requirement Azzimonti 10 [Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco website, “How have state governments fared during the recent recession?,” October 2010, ]The (in)ability of state governments to respondIn the face of record revenue declines, states were unable to cut spending at a similar pace:Figure 3 plots the real (inflation adjusted) tax receipts series from Figure 2 against real consumption expenditures of state and local governments that excludes debt on interest and mandatory social transfers – because doing so provides the best measure of discretionary spending.9 As Figure 3 clearly demonstrates, state and local governments made a noticeable effort to reduce spending but that effort was not nearly enough to make up for the unprecedented drop in revenue. A recent study by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco points to the limited institutional ability of state governments to respond to economic shocks as a second major reason for fiscal troubles -beyond the economic shocks themselves. The study describes three major reasons for this.First, state budgets have one particularly unique aspect to them that makes them different from the U.S. federal budget: nearly all states have a balanced budget requirement. This means that when a budget is being readied before the legislature, if revenue (tax receipts) is forecasted to be less than expenditures, the budget must then be amended to close that gap. This can be accomplished through a combination of spending cuts or tax increases. A state’s fiscal challenges can be further compounded when actual tax receipts during a given fiscal year fall below those projected in an enacted budget because then the state must account for the resulting budget deficit from the prior year during the current fiscal year. This especially problematic during recessions because budget gaps tend to build upon one another in successive years (again, see Figure 1). The federal government, on the other hand, can plan to borrow funds to cover expected revenue shortfalls when approving the federal budget. This gives the federal government greater flexibility to increase spending for short-term economic purposes when revenue and demand are low – i.e. what is typically referred to as a short-term fiscal expansion. State governments do not have the option of such deficit spending.10Second, states have limited abilities to reduce certain types of spending during a recession. One major reason for this is that demand for services provided by state governments, particularly social safety net programs like unemployment insurance, goes up during a recession. Another important reason, which is best described in the San Francisco Fed study, is that:“…many state programs are tied to federal matching funds, which makes it very costly for states to reduce spending in these areas. For instance, states typically receive reimbursement from the federal government for between 50% and 80% of their Medicaid expenses. The federal stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, increased each state’s matching percentage by 6.2 percentage points. This means that, if a state cuts Medicaid expenses by one dollar, it will net savings of only between 12 and 44 cents, while denying its residents a dollar’s worth of Medicaid services.”Third, “rainy day” funds, which are monies that state governments keep on hand from prior budget surpluses to offset unexpected drops in revenue in future years, were mostly depleted coming into the recession. In addition to potentially being politically unpopular, states also face legal limitations on how much they may set aside in these funds.2ac states cp (non-budget deficits)The federal government needs to assert the lead on CTE to resolve stigma and convince students to sign upWartzman 16’ - senior advisor to the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University (Rick, “Trump Needs To Free Vocational Classes From Their Bad Rep”, 12/23/16, Fortune, )Now, President-elect Trump has a remarkable chance to make clear that there is more than one path in America to get ahead. And the route chosen doesn’t necessarily have to include a degree from a four-year college—though acquiring relevant knowledge and skills must surely be part of the mix. This will not be an easy message to convey. As a new study illustrates, career and technical education, or CTE, remains an inferior option in the minds of all too many students, parents, and school administrators. It has been this way since we used the term “vocational education,” and students who were regarded as not very bright were tracked into such classes. Once they were parked there, expectations were low. These days, with so many people feeling insecure about their children’s economic future, there couldn’t be a more perfect time to turn CTE into a prudent—and proud—alternative. “Part of the American dream is that every one of our kids should go to college,” says Robin Kramer, the executive director of Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, a philanthropic initiative of Harbor Freight Tools, a discount retailer. “We need to change the culture around this.” The study, based on an in-depth survey conducted by Harbor Freight Tools with more than 500 CTE educators across the nation, found that “the widely held belief that college is for all” is one of their top challenges in delivering high-quality programming. Altogether, some 94% of those in high school take classes that are considered within the realm of CTE—manufacturing, construction, information technology, health science, and a dozen other such “career clusters.” About 30% of students concentrate in one of these areas rather than pursue a traditional college-prep curriculum. But despite such robust numbers, CTE is still not valued. In the Harbor Freight Tools survey, the word “stigma” came up over and over. Learning to work with wood “doesn’t sound as important as core graduation requirements,” a high school carpentry teacher remarked during a focus group convened by Harbor Freight Tools in Denver. He added that because his class is considered “an elective,” students get pulled out when they fall behind in their academic subjects. “We are seen as secondary, and the kids feel this too,” he said. “This is wrong.” Indeed, an effective CTE program can keep an otherwise disinterested student motivated, and prevent him or her from dropping out. It can then lead to a decent-paying job, particularly in those fields where employers say they are trying to cope with a serious “skills gap.” “This is not the get-your-hands dirty manufacturing that existed 30 years ago,” says Michael Connet, senior director for outreach and partner development at the Association for Career and Technical Education. “Even where it is manual labor, it’s totally different now with robotics and computers. Students have to be prepared coming into that space.” At its best, CTE teaches students to be more numerate and literate and sharper critical thinkers. “As many wise people have said, it takes brains to work with your hands,” notes Kramer. Such classes also impart vital “soft skills” such as punctuality and the ability to collaborate. “When not presented in a narrow way, CTE is about problem-solving and troubleshooting, not just dexterity,” says Mike Rose, a professor of education at UCLA and the author of The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker. Done well, CTE cultivates industriousness and grit. And it instills in young people the expectation that learning must be a lifelong endeavor, especially when work is changing rapidly and skills can become obsolete in a flash. Even if getting a university diploma isn’t the aim, attending a community college and obtaining industry-recognized credentials are often crucial next steps. The sticking point, CTE advocates acknowledge, is that many of these courses aren’t very strong. There are multiple reasons for this, including difficulty in recruiting and retaining experienced teachers; a lack of meaningful involvement from industry (which is the key to ensuring that what is taught has a real-world application); and a tendency in some locations to still use CTE as a dumping ground for students who’ve been written off—often the poor. Decreasing dollars are also an issue. Annual federal funding has declined to about $1.1 billion from $1.3 billion over the past decade. Nearly 40% of those in the Harbor Freight Tools survey reported budget cuts during recent years, with some skilled-trades classes eliminated. The good thing is that there has been growing recognition of CTE’s promise from both sides of the political aisle. Hillary Clinton spoke about the virtues of CTE on the campaign trail. House Speaker Paul Ryan has also embraced it. So has Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who as governor of Indiana proclaimed: “All students deserve the same opportunity for success, whether they want to go to college or start their career right out of high school. This is not about a Plan A and a Plan B. This is about two Plan As.” Yet it will very likely take Trump—and the bully pulpit of the presidency—to really elevate CTE. If he truly wants to help the working class, as he claims, he should push Congress to allocate significantly more money for such programs. Above all, he should take the lead in rewriting the narrative surrounding CTE so as to provide its students with something sorely missing: respect.Federal government is crucial to coordinate with business partners --- balancing national standards with local economic concerns Advance CTE 16’ - National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc), represents state and territory leaders of CTE through leadership and advocacy that supports an innovative and rigorous CTE system that prepares students for both college and careers. CTE State Directors lead the planning and implementation of CTE in their respective states and these recommendations reflect their priorities (Advance CTE, “Recommendations for the Reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act”, 2016, Career Tech, )The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins) supports Career Technical Education (CTE) programs by strengthening connections between secondary and postsecondary education, aligning to the needs of the economy, and improving the academic and technical achievement of students who choose to enroll in these programs. Perkins sits at a critical intersection between the nation’s K-12 and postsecondary education and workforce development systems. Future legislation should therefore build upon Perkins’ role as a bridge builder between and among existing federal programs such as the Every Student Succeeds Act, the Higher Education Opportunity Act, and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Since its inception, Perkins has afforded states and local communities the opportunity to implement a vision for CTE that uniquely supports the range of educational needs of students - exploration through career preparation - and balances those with the current and emerging needs of the economy. Advance CTE, formerly the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc), believes that the renewal of Perkins, the federal investment in CTE, should build upon this vision and strengthen the law’s focus on ensuring that students have equitable access to high- quality CTE programs of study. Doing so will more effectively serve the needs of our nation’s students while meeting the current and future demands of the modern economy. The below recommendations seek to accomplish this purpose and build upon the strong foundational legacy of nearly four decades of Perkins legislation. Global Competitiveness ? Link CTE to labor market – States are in the best position to determine how CTE can meet the demands of their state and regional economies. Federal CTE funds should only support high-quality CTE programs of study that meet two or more of the following criteria: high wage, high skill, high demand, or high growth. Definitions of these terms should account for varying state and regional economic conditions and labor market needs. ? Rigorous standards – Consistent, quality benchmarks for students in CTE programs of study, regardless of where students live or which delivery system they use, are essential. Federal CTE legislation should require all CTE programs of study to align to rigorous content standards that are national in scope, are informed by the needs of the workplace, and ensure excellence. NASDCTEc believes that federal CTE legislation should encourage state adoption of rigorous college- and careerready standards, such as those found in the Common Core State Standards and the Common Career Technical Core. Increased consistency and rigor in CTE programs of study will better equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to thrive in a global economy. ? Innovation funding – The next federal CTE legislation should focus on improving student outcomes through innovative approaches and programmatic improvement. The next federal CTE legislation should allocate new formula funding, above and beyond the basic state grant, to states to incentivize innovative practices and solutions at the state and local levels. Successful innovations should be scaled up using the basic state grant funds. Partnerships ? Partnerships with business and industry – Strong partnerships between the CTE community and business and industry are essential to high-quality CTE programs of study. Federal CTE legislation should require local advisory committees comprised of employers and education stakeholders who will actively partner to design and deliver CTE programs of study and provide assistance in the form of curricula, standards, certifications, work-based learning opportunities, teacher/faculty externships, equipment, etc. States should have the flexibility to structure local advisory committees in a way that best meets the needs of their state (in terms of governance, funding, geographic and other influencing factors). ? Consortia – Coordination and collaboration between secondary and postsecondary partners is essential and must be improved. The federal CTE legislation should incentivize consortia of secondary and postsecondary eligible entities to better facilitate coordination and transitions between learner levels. States should have the flexibility to structure consortia in a way that best meets the needs of their state in terms of governance, funding, and geographic factors. ? WIOA Combined State Plans— The decision as to whether to include Perkins in a Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) combined state plan should be solely at the discretion of the state Perkins eligible agency. Alignment between CTE and workforce development programs can and should take many different forms to reflect the unique challenges and state environments throughout the country. The federal government should not override states’ rights by dictating how this collaboration should occur through federal legislation particularly when state CTE systems are supported primarily with state and local resources. Preparation for Education and Careers ? School counseling and career planning - Comprehensive counseling, including career and academic counseling, should be expanded and offered no later than middle school. Federal CTE legislation should provide greater support for career counseling, including all students having an individual learning plan that includes the student’s academic and careers goals, documents progress towards completion of the credits required to graduate from their secondary program, and indicates the requisite knowledge, skills and work-based learning experiences necessary for career success. These plans should be actively managed by students, parents, and school-level personnel and should extend into postsecondary education to ensure successful transitions to the workplace. Programs of Study ? High-quality CTE programs – Federal CTE legislation should focus on promoting excellence in CTE. To that end, NASDCTEc believes that more specificity is needed to define elements that are necessary to ensuring high-quality programs. Research by the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education underscores our recommendation that federal funding should be delivered through rigorous programs of study, as defined by the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education’s 10 component framework. The law should emphasize strategies that improve alignment between secondary and postsecondary systems, such as statewide articulation agreements, transcripted postsecondary credits, and stackable credentials. High-quality CTE programs should also expose students to employment and leadership opportunities, for instance, through work-based learning and participation in Career Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs). Federal funds should be distributed only to state-approved, rigorous CTE programs of study. Research and Accountability ? Accountability measures – Strong accountability measures are critical to demonstrating CTE’s positive return on investment. The current CTE performance indicators should be re-evaluated to ensure that they provide the feedback necessary for program evaluation and improvement, as well as document CTE’s impact on students’ academic and technical achievement. Federal CTE legislation should require common definitions and measures across the states, as well as allow for alignment of performance measures across related education and workforce programs. ? Research and professional development – Research and evaluation are important guideposts for directing practitioners toward effective practices and guiding state decisions on CTE. Federal CTE legislation should support the continuation of a National Research Center for Career and Technical Education to support CTE educators and leaders through leadership development, quality research, professional development, dissemination, and technical assistance.Transformation is crucial --- only full re-imagination can solveGreen 06/01/17’ - Executive Director of Advance CTE: State Leaders Connecting Learning to Work. Advance CTE recently released Putting Learning Success First: A Shared Vision for the Future of CTE supported by seven national organizations (Kimberly, “The Education System Needs a Transformation. Career Technical Education Can Help”, Real Clear Education, 06/01/17, )So what is holding us back from ensuring all learners benefit from high-quality CTE?There are two not insignificant barriers. The first is the stereotype and reality of “vocational education” that still exists across our country – a dumping ground for low-achieving students, those not “college material,” or other students disenfranchised because they live in a particular part of town or look a certain way. The other barrier is perhaps even more challenging: The systems and structures in place that keep CTE siloed and separate.To support all learners on their career journeys, we need a full reimagination of the education system and what is aims to achieve, how it is delivered, what counts as success and who it aims to serve. This requires nothing short of a transformation.Trump proposed state grant cuts for CTE – proves he backlashes to any state lead CTE programsWong 5/23/17’ - associate editor at The Atlantic, where she oversees the education section. She previously wrote for Honolulu Civil Beat (Alia, “Trump’s Education Budget Takes Aim at the Working Class”, 5/23/17, The Atlantic, )Many of the spending goals outlined in Donald Trump’s proposed education budget reflect his campaign rhetoric. The president, who has long called for reducing the federal government’s role in schools and universities, wants to cut the Education Department’s funding by $9 billion, or 13 percent of the budget approved by Congress last month. The few areas that would see a boost pertain to school choice, an idea that Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have repeatedly touted as a top priority. In the White House’s spending proposal, hundreds of millions of the dollars would go toward charter-school and voucher initiatives, while another $1 billion in grants would encourage states to adopt school-choice policies.But other aspects of Trump’s funding plan fly in the face of his past statements on education, raising confusion about his priorities. He wants to cut state grants for career and technical education (CTE), for example, by $166 million, and nearly halve funding for the roughly $1 billion federal work-study program. Both CTE and work-study are education models that enjoy broad bipartisan support and are particularly palatable to Republicans and the white, working-class voters who clinched Trump’s election. Tellingly, there’s little consensus between Trump’s spending proposal and the bipartisan appropriations bill unveiled by Congress earlier this month.Trump’s education budget, which was published Tuesday as part of full spending plan’s release, would eliminate more than two dozen programs. The budget “reflects a series of tough choices we have had to make when assessing the best use of taxpayer money,” DeVos said in a statement. “It ensures funding for programs with proven results for students while taking a hard look at programs that sound nice but simply haven’t yielded the desired outcomes.”1ar stigma solvency deficitFederal Involvement k2 resolve uncertainty regarding the path forward w/ CTE + parental stigmaBesharov 04’ - first director of the U.S. National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, served as the administrator of the AEI/White House Working Seminar on Integrated Services for Children and Families (Douglas, “The Important Role of Career and Technical Education”, May 2004, American Enterprise Institute, )The federal role in CTE is very limited. Federal funding provides only a small proportion of the funds that support CTE around the country. Therefore, we recommend that the federal government concentrate on funding research that could inform state education departments and local school districts on questions of how to best provide CTE. The Carl H. Perkins Act is the main source of federal funding for CTE at the high school level, although it funds postsecondary CTE as well. Currently funded at $1.5 billion per year through 2003, the federal Perkins Act probably provides less than 10 percent of national spending on CTE at all levels, although no figure for total spending is available.246 Congress has attempted to use this small amount of funds to generate change in CTE by imposing requirements on state and local programs (such as a requirement to provide an understanding of “all aspects of an industry”), requiring that a certain proportion of funds be spent for specific purposes (for example, on “gender equity” programs), setting aside funds for disadvantaged groups or other purposes, and requiring states to provide data on performance. Through the federally funded National Research Center and National Dissemination Center for Career and Technical Education, the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) sponsors research and development activities in CTE. With its small share of total CTE spending, the federal government is not in a strong position to influence the size and shape of programs at the local level.247 The federal government could potentially play a more important role, however, by sponsoring high-quality research, disseminating the results, developing curricula and other materials to be used by schools nationwide, and providing technical assistance. Building on the efforts of the National Research Center and National Dissemination Center for Career and Technical Education, OVAE could play a major role in shaping the direction of the field in the twenty-first century. Many crucial questions remain about what works in CTE and how programs should be retooled to meet the needs of a new century. Here are some of the most important: ? How effective is CTE as an alternative to other options for different groups of young people? Most studies of the effectiveness of CTE have major methodological flaws or are out of date. We need better studies testing different models of CTE for different types of young people. ? In what settings should CTE be provided? What mix of comprehensive high schools, programs within schools, or freestanding vocational schools makes sense? Should CTE be provided as part of a broader high school reform? We do not know much about the relative effectiveness and costs of different settings for providing CTE, and yet such information is important for determining how to make CTE programs most effective. Some experts argue that we must restructure large comprehensive high schools in order to reduce dropout rates. They stress that large high-poverty high schools require organizational, instructional, and teacher support reforms. Reforms of any one component, such as curriculum, will not be enough.248 Richard Lynch (who interviewed representatives from business and industry, professional education associations, and public schools to develop a paper about the future of CTE) reported that nearly every individual or group he interviewed “commented that it is insufficient to reform only vocational education into a new CTE without major changes in public schools, especially high schools.”249 The career academy is one of several approaches that combine a vocational focus with other educational reforms. But there are few good evaluations of the effects of these approaches, and more are needed. ? For whom should CTE be designed: the most at-risk students, those who are not college bound, or also for some students who may be college bound? And how rigorous should the curriculum be? Some experts advocate that CTE be targeted primarily to the students who are educationally disadvantaged, will probably not attend college, and need extensive job training to enter the labor market on graduating high school, as well as for those students who do not do well in traditional schools and are at risk of dropping out. Others advocate targeting CTE toward the broader group of high school graduates who are not college bound. Still others want to use vocational subject matter to teach traditional academic content—to everyone.250 On one hand, recruiting better students might improve the quality, rigor, and reputation of CTE. Some researchers note that new, more challenging vocational programs combining occupational and academic studies seem to bring CTE “into the mainstream of the high school curriculum and engaging a broader cross-section of the student population.”251 On the other hand, one major rationale for spending public funds on CTE is to help prevent at-risk youth from becoming disconnected from the labor force and mainstream society. And a more rigorous curriculum might cause such students to drop out.252 Researchers found that students in New York City career magnet schools had lower graduation rates than comprehensive students and hypothesized that the magnets tended to push out weaker students.253 ? Should training be structured around broad industry areas or specific occupations? Proponents of an updated CTE have advocated structuring programs around broad industry areas rather than specific occupations, arguing that, in the new economy, workers will need to change jobs and duties over the course of their careers.254 This trend suggests a focus on “all aspects of an industry,” which has been incorporated into the Carl H. Perkins Act. Some school systems are starting to use a concept called “career clusters,” which are broad occupational categories encompassing a variety of careers. Several states have developed education targeted to different career clusters. The U.S. Department of Education has identified sixteen clusters, including health science, information technology services, and manufacturing, and has developed information and materials for some of the clusters, and the National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education Consortium is developing a curriculum framework, assessment system, and certification system for each of the remaining clusters.255 The question is, when training is around broad industries instead of specific jobs, whether students acquire the skills that they need in order to be attractive to employers.256 ? To what extent is outdated curricula still a problem? In an era of fast technological change, how can schools deal with obsolescence of curricula? According to one recent report on the state of CTE, many programs are outdated and no longer relevant to the workplaces for which they are supposed to prepare students.257 In order to ensure that students obtain training-related jobs, training must reflect existing job opportunities. Schools should identify outdated programs and eliminate or refocus them. Ways for keeping curricula up to date need to be identified and disseminated. ? How can high schools attract and retain a good CTE faculty? Do teaching methods and teacher training need to be updated? What credentials should teachers be required to have? More research needs to be done on how schools in the United States and in other countries attract and retain good CTE faculty. One report sees a “dramatic” shortage of career and technical teachers in most subject areas in the United States.258 Moreover, many educators argue that career and technical teaching methods need updating to accommodate changes in the economy, which require students to be prepared for broader and changing occupational roles. Others cite the need for changes in teacher training to incorporate new knowledge about how students learn, a greater focus on academic skills, an increasing proportion of career and technical students with special needs, an increasing emphasis on work-based learning, and a new trend toward preparation for a cluster of related occupations as opposed to a single occupation.259 Traditionally, vocational teachers have had less formal education and more work experience (outside of teaching) than other secondary school teachers.260 A recent report recommends changes in CTE licensure and teaching, including requiring all teachers to have a bachelor’s degree to be permanently certified, and changes in teacher education to include training in the teaching of academic subjects, education of special-needs students, supervision of work-based learning, and “workforce education and career development theory and practice.”261 However, it is not clear that anyone has studied classroom teachers to determine whether the more effective teachers are really those who have these qualifications and training. ? What should be the role of work-based learning opportunities, such as internships or apprenticeships? Supporters of work-based learning argue that it helps students see the connection between what they are learning in school and how it is used in the “real world” and seems to result in a “deeper” understanding of the subject matter.262 Moreover, for students who are making the transition from school to work, work-based learning can provide crucial employment references. As mentioned earlier, there is mixed evidence on the impact of work-based learning. More evaluations are needed to identify the effectiveness of different types of work-based learning opportunities, as well as the optimal length and intensity of the experience. ? What is the appropriate role for high school “tech prep” programs, that is, instruction coordinated with community and technical college programs? High school CTE programs that are articulated with community college programs can provide a coherent program spanning secondary and postsecondary schools and enable students to continue on to postsecondary education. In interviewing business and education representatives, Richard Lynch found widespread support of the concept of Tech Prep “as a conceptual and structural model for high school CTE reform.”263 However, reliable data are lacking on the impact of Tech Prep on students.264 Interim data from a longitudinal study of Tech Prep participants and comparison groups one to three years after high school graduation suggest some increases in college attendance and work, but low response rates and the procedures the researchers used to select the comparison group limit the usefulness of this study.265 ? How can the coherence of CTE be increased? The Perkins Act requires school districts to provide “a coherent sequence of academic and vocational courses.” But the 1994 National Assessment of Vocational Education reported that only a third of school districts require that a student take a sequence of vocational courses to be considered a vocational program graduate.266 Career academies and other schools that focus on a specific occupational theme can provide students with a coherent career-related education. Studies should look at other ways in which school systems, both here and abroad, are providing a coherent sequence of courses to career and technical students. ? To what degree do tougher academic standards and testing discourage participation in CTE? Should consideration be given to adjusting these standards and tests for CTE students? As mentioned earlier, the increasing emphasis on standards and assessment may put at risk some of the most promising CTE programs, such as career academies. Future research might attempt to assess the effects of standards on students’ curricular choices. Demonstration projects could assess the feasibility and effectiveness of replacing some academic tests with vocational assessments. Such assessments “might include ‘scores’ or evaluative commentary from portfolios, demonstrations, oral and written reports, work-based activities, student productions, term papers or projects, essays, student critiques of literary and technical work, paper-and-pencil tests, employers’ and teachers’ formal and informal observations, [and] case study analyses.”267 In addition, researchers could investigate the use of exams and nationally recognized certificates awarded by expert groups.268 ? How can the poor image of CTE be improved so that students, parents, and teachers see it as a viable option to prepare for a good career? How can school counselors be encouraged to be more supportive of CTE? Essentially, there are two ways to respond to the identification of CTE with non-college-bound youth. One approach is to educate parents and students about the evidence indicating that college is not the best route to success for every student. In their book Other Ways to Win, Kenneth Gray and Edwin Herr outline a comprehensive strategy to reform guidance practices and inform parents about their children’s readiness (or lack thereof) for postsecondary education.269 This strategy includes the development of an individual career plan for all students by the tenth grade. Through a parent involvement strategy including meetings, involvement in development of the career plan, provision of feedback at “strategic times,” and the provision of opportunities for individual assistance, parents are to be informed of the low odds of success for most students who enter college and the “other ways to win,” such as pursuing high-paid technical careers. Another approach is to try to define CTE as an alternate route to college and to connect it with the ideas of high standards and rigorous academics.270 It may be possible to adopt both approaches, informing people of the good jobs available without college, of high college costs and dropout rates, and that CTE can lead to postsecondary entrance and completion. Research is needed to better understand public opinion on career and technical education, determine what the main misconceptions are, and assess different strategies for changing opinion.Federal action is key – its historically shaped CTE policy Dougherty 16 (Shaun M. Dougherty is an Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Leadership at the Neag School of Education and an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut. He holds a doctoral degree in quantitative policy analysis from Harvard University as well as a master’s degree in educational administration from Gwynedd Mercy University. His work focuses on applied quantitative analysis of education policies and programs, including career and technical education, with an emphasis on understanding how PreK-12 policies and programs impact student outcomes., April 2016, “CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN HIGH SCHOOL: DOES IT IMPROVE STUDENT OUTCOMES?”, , nassal) RECOMMENDATIONSThe results suggest that policymakers and education leaders nationwide should invest more heavily (and strategically) in high school CTE. Doing so could mean mirroring much of what is already occurring in Arkansas: 1. Examine state labor market projections to identify high-growth industries; 2. Offer CTE courses aligned to skills and industry recognized credentials in these fields, and encourage (or require) high school students to take them; 3. Encourage (or require) students taking multiple CTE courses to concentrate, rather than enrolling haphazardly; and 4. Support and encourage dual enrollment and make credits “stackable” from high school into college, so that high school CTE courses count toward specific postsecondary credentials. Finally, although most of its funding comes from state and local sources, throughout its history CTE has been shaped by federal policy. As such, the results should encourage federal policymakers to thoughtfully reauthorize the Perkins Act as soon as possible. High school CTE improves outcomes for students seeking to start their careers quickly, but does not hinder those hoping to go to a four-year college. While it is likely beneficial to students in myriad forms—including small, focused academies or selective whole-school programs—this study finds a positive impact of CTE at its most egalitarian: nine out of ten CTE students took those classes only at their comprehensive high school, and the remaining ten percent took CTE at a regional technical center that serves all students in a twenty-five-mile radius. It should therefore be a national priority to increase federal support for high-quality, labor-market-aligned programs that are available and appealing to all students.CTE Stigma real Sayers 15’ – East Tennessee State University (Career and Technical Education (CTE) and High School Student Success in Tennessee”, East Tennessee State University, 2015, ) The perception that CTE was a part of the educational system where less academically capable students were shunted away from core classes began to reinforce itself, as some CTE teachers began to assign less work and less rigorous work. At the same time CTE programs struggled to attract and retain qualified and motivated teachers as talented students began to avoid CTE classes due to a perception that they were of lower quality and status (Cohen & Besharov, 2002). A doctoral dissertation by Haney (2002) reported that in the Florida school district where he conducted surveys, one of the main reasons for a local decline in student interest in CTE was a perception that CTE teachers were of lower quality, although the number of academic credits required for graduation also limited the amount of time available for CTE. Likewise, many parents have come to expect their children to attend four-year academic colleges, and therefore have discouraged their children from taking CTE classes, let alone dedicating their education to vocational training (Cohen & Besharov, 2002). In fact, simply changing the name of this form of education from vocational training to CTE was done partly to remove the stigma that attached to what was perceived as an inferior or outdated form of education (Wang, 2010). This perception was reinforced by in the 1980s by changing educational policies in the United States and by fears of economic changes based overseas.1ar business buy-in solvency deficitFederal Involvement k2 maintain employeer – student relation which integral to CTE successSchwartz 12/13/17’ - Professor Emeritus of Practice in Educational Policy and Administration, directed the education grantmaking program of The Pew Charitable Trusts, Senior Research Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Education (Roberty, “Memo: Career and technical education”, 12/13/17, Brookings Institution, )One final point. The single biggest challenge in realigning our education system to more effectively meet the changing requirements of a dynamic economy is engaging employers as full partners in this enterprise, not simply as passive customers. In the states that have made the most progress in improving the alignment between education and the economy, governors or other political leaders have led the way, making the case to their business community as well as to the general public about the linkage between the state’s economic future and the need for a better educated, more highly skilled workforce. Perhaps the most important contribution the next president can make in addressing the skills mismatch is to use the bully pulpit to encourage employers to band together by sector to act in their own economic self-interest by joining forces with the education community to address this problem.Federalinvolvement k2 to incentivize biz follow onCreary 16’ – Graduate of Fordham University, specialized in education (Sharnell, “A Case for Career and Technical Education (CTE) in Reducing High School Dropout Rates and Youth Unemployment Among Urban Youth”, Fordham University, 5/09/16, )Students tend to drop out of high school for a number of reasons. High school dropouts are usually from homes with lower economic standing and are usually minorities. Family stressors like death of a loved one, divorce, poor parenting, single or young parents tend to contribute to students dropping out of school. Sometimes students also work during their high school career to meet family needs, which can interfere with their studies then forcing them to choose between helping out at home and getting an education. Such a decision is not black and white and can be stressful for these students. Students can also lose interest in what they are learning in the classrooms if the teachers and the lessons are not engaging and relevant. High stakes testing can also pose a threat to students’ achievement if they are not doing well, which usually affects poor and minority students. Not only that, but high stakes testing is not a true predictor of students achievement, intellect and ability, nor is it a true predictor of career and college readiness. In fact, it is common for students to cram and study for exams and once it is over, they forget much of the material. There are individual and societal costs to high dropout rates. Once out of high school, the life chances for these students become slim. Compared to their peers, they do not do not have an array of job and career options once they stop going to school. The probability of high school dropouts becoming teenage parents or being incarcerated is high. They tend to be concentrated in poor, deserted neighborhoods where there are a lack of healthy food options, good public schools and good role models. High school dropout rates are direct feeders into the unemployment numbers. This has both individual and national consequences and costs. Since high school dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, they are not able to contribute to tax revenues. They are also more likely to be dependents of public assistance and subsidized health care which increases the taxpayers’ burden. If students do not rise from these poor conditions, generations of people faced with the same issues will be created. Additionally, the youth unemployment rate is worrying and employers are having a hard time filling their job openings with the right candidates possessing the right skills. Whether or not there is a skills gap, employers, educators and policymakers are now taking on the responsibility of educating our youth of today in preparation for jobs tomorrow. Left to disintegrate in the early 2000 were the CTE schools that are now getting more attention. These schools are committed to providing students with an array of skills and knowledge that are useful in today’s economy. There should be more high schools with this type of model being created, partnering with businesses in various fields. To help with college and career efforts, private companies like J.P. Morgan are leading new initiatives to cultivate and harness young talent, helping the youth of underserved communities to prepare for college and the workforce. More companies should get involved and expand these efforts. Funding schools can be very expensive but with a pool of educators, policymakers, researchers, employers and parents, the multitude can share the burden of providing resources, whether that means monetarily or equipment. Also, to encourage more businesses to get on board with these efforts and increase involvement as a part of their corporate responsibility, they should receive tax breaks and incentives to provide mentors, career coaching and on the job training for students. Although students enrolled in schools that offer career and technical education are doing exceptionally well, enrollment is lower than what it used to be. This is due to the fact that the stigma these schools carry, that they serve only poor and minority students who are not college bound, still remains. Also, more males than females are enrolled in these schools. One suggestion is to market these schools differently. While CTE schools serve particular demographics and have caused the graduation rates among these students to increase, this method of learning can be beneficial to all students, irrespective of race, gender or class. Thus, in order to increase enrollment in these schools, there needs to be more creativity and accuracy in the marketing that is put into these schools. Cosmetology is not just for females, and engineering is not just for males. Parents and school officials should encourage their students to take advantage of the programs that are being offered. Perhaps there could be more television ads promoting career and technical learning at schools that offers these classes or schools that are fully dedicated to CTE programs. Students are more inclined to participate, learn and contribute when they can relate what they are being taught to how they can apply their skills. As the research shows, this can increase graduation rates and lower dropout rates. Students can aspire to a career and know that the steps to achieve their goal can be taken while still in high school. Also, students who need to work in order to support their families can work in jobs related to their field of interest through paid internships. So while they are learning the necessary transferable skills to middle class success, they can still focus on their studies and help their families instead of working in a job unrelated to what they might be interested in. There needs to be ongoing research to identify job and career projections for the future and ensure that educators are up?to?date with changes to come and better prepare. There is no use in preparing students for jobs that do not exist or will knowingly not exist. Students being exposed to an array of career options will make more informed post?graduation decisions, whether it is to directly enter the workforce or attend college right away. The mindset that college is the only way to success needs to be thrown out the window, making accommodation for public?private collaboration with schools. To the issue of recruiting and retaining Career and Technical Education teachers, there are solutions proposed by a recent study. There are three ways by which teachers can become certified to teach in CTE schools: The first option is by completing an approved CTE teacher preparation program at either the New York State public universities ? New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York in Brooklyn, the State University of New York at Oswego and Buffalo State College of the State University of New York in Buffalo; the second option is acquiring a Transitional A certificate, for individuals who has at least four years of experience in a particular trade which allows them to teach while they are completing the initial teaching certificate; thirdly, teachers who have met certification requirements and have trade experience can apply through the State education Department where they undergo evaluations for consideration. The SVA program, which is a successful model of CTE teacher recruitment and retention, differs in that it prepares graduates of CTE high schools to become CTE teachers over the course of five and a half years. Established in 1984, the program integrates the city Department of Education, the teachers union, and a public university where participants are committed to a little over five years of a salaried teaching internship, college level academic study, and relevant work experience in industry. The study also suggested that in order to attract students with associate degrees in technical areas, students’ tuition can be subsidized for the courses that require certification. These students are close to the field and can provide a wealth of knowledge and experience for students, as well as become part of their networks to guide them into their futures. Ultimately, it is imperative that we continue to take preventative measures to connect young people with the workforce who will further decrease high school dropout rates as well as unemployment rates. This not only satisfies their immediate economic needs but also prevents long?term negative effects on their earnings, health and the economy in general. In the end, everyone benefits. Stigma associated w/ vocational programs cannot be resolved by localized effortsSchwartz 12/13/17’ - Professor Emeritus of Practice in Educational Policy and Administration, directed the education grantmaking program of The Pew Charitable Trusts, Senior Research Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Education (Roberty, “Memo: Career and technical education”, 12/13/17, Brookings Institution, )Why is support for CTE not a higher priority at all levels of government, especially the federal level? There are several reasons, but one has to do with parental attitudes. Simply put, career and technical education is viewed as a great thing … for other people’s children. It continues to be seen as primarily for young people who do not have sufficient academic skills to attend a four-year college or university. Most people associate CTE with preparation for a limited number of traditional trades and crafts: electrician, plumber, carpenter, auto mechanic, beautician, welder, etc. While most of these jobs today in fact require solid academic as well as technical skills and most pay middle class wages, until CTE is seen by parents, educators, and employers as a vehicle for preparing a very broad range of young people for a very broad range of careers, it is unlikely to be able to generate the degree of support needed from policymakers and the public to overcome this perception of CTE as a second-class system.1ar rollback solvency deficitTrump’s budget foreshadows anger at States for pursuing CTE independent of Federal Gov – he will backlashPerkins 6/05/17’ – editor in chief of Outset magazine (Stephen, “The Trump-DeVos Budget Won’t Make the Economy Great”, 5/06/17, Outset Magazine, )While a few Departments, such as Defense and Homeland Security, would receive increased funding, much of the budget focuses on spending cuts. Among the proposed cuts are a 13.5% decrease in the Department of Education’s budget and a 21% reduction in the Department of Labor’s budget. While these reductions may not seem as austere as other proposed cuts, they affect programs that are essential to growing the economy and preparing the American workforce.The Administration is proposing a 15% cut to the Department of Education’s “Perkins Grants,” which are discretionary funds that the federal government gives to states for the purpose of supporting Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. This amounts to a $168 million reduction.While the potential cuts to each state vary, this proposal would put many states’ ability to train their workforces into jeopardy. Nevada, a state whose principal industries of agriculture, health care, and manufacturing employ hundreds of thousands, would receive the largest cut to CTE funding of all – about 52%.2ac devolutionDevolution creates wasteful results without any accountabilitySmarick 5/09/17’ - Morgridge Fellow in Education at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he works on education and related domestic and social policy issues. Concurrently, he serves as president of the Maryland State Board of Education (Andy, “Career and technical education and federal policy”, 5/09/17, American Enterprise Institute, )Can Uncle Sam do worthwhile things to create an environment that supports smart local activity? And what should we do about the existing federal activity? It takes the same posture as ESSA, the new overarching federal K-12 law, which devolves lots of authority to states and districts. So this bill wouldn’t make the mistake of relying on the federal government to drive CTE activity. Its theory of action, per an unnamed congressional staffer, is that the best way to ensure CTE-participating students acquire the skills needed to succeed in the workforce is to empower state and local leaders. Accordingly, the bill, among other things, would make it easier for state and local leaders to access and use these funds, align activity to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and encourage engagement with employers. Like ESSA, it would also tie the hands of the US Department of Education; states won’t have to negotiate performance targets with the secretary, who won’t be able to withhold federal funds from states that fail to meet their goals. There is, however, a potential danger to this approach. The onerous NCLB came about largely because tens of billions of dollars in federal funds had been sent to states and districts between 1965 and 2000, and there were too few results to show for it. NCLB was designed to hold states and locals accountable, to make sure federal funds generated outcomes. A challenge for any Perkins reauthorization that substantially devolves authority will be ensuring it doesn’t turn into a big pot of money producing negligible results.2ac non-uniform states cpState led CTE Fails – lack of uniformity, funding problems, and no enforcementSchwartz 12/13/17’ - Professor Emeritus of Practice in Educational Policy and Administration, directed the education grantmaking program of The Pew Charitable Trusts, Senior Research Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Education (Roberty, “Memo: Career and technical education”, 12/13/17, Brookings Institution, )THE FEDERAL ROLE Federal support for vocational education (the prior term for CTE) is nearly 100 years old. The Vocational Education Act of 1917 (known as Smith-Hughes, for its legislative sponsors) predated the Elementary and Secondary Education Act by nearly 50 years and was the first major federal aid program for elementary or secondary education. Smith-Hughes provided matching funds to states to support separate vocational high schools or, more typically, vocational programs in comprehensive high schools. While the development of comprehensive high schools sprang from a democratizing impulse—the laudable desire to bring students with diverse interests and talents together under a single roof—one consequence of having a separate federal funding stream dedicated to vocational programs was to encourage high schools to create a separate track for vocational students, isolating them from students pursuing a more academic education. Since the passage of the Carl Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act in 1984, federal support to the states has been slowly but steadily encouraging the states to move toward a broader conception of CTE. In its most recent reauthorization (2006) the Perkins Act not only underwent a name change, substituting “Career” for “Vocational,” but more substantively emphasized the integration of strong academic preparation with strong technical education. It emphasized the importance of focusing on programs that prepare students for careers in high-growth, high-demand fields, and on “programs of study” that span secondary and postsecondary education. Funding for the Perkins Act started at $950 million for FY 1985 (about $2.1 billion in 2016 constant dollars) and has not kept up with inflation. In FY 2000 it was $1.179 billion; in FY 2015, $1.125 billion. It is currently about $1.3 billion, against a roughly $32 billion federal appropriation for all other elementary and secondary education programs. Of the $33.3 billion appropriated in FY 2017 for elementary and secondary education, only $3.1 billion supported high schools. This suggests that despite its title, the “Elementary and Secondary Education Act” (ESEA) has in reality been the Elementary Education Act. Although Perkins represents a small percentage of what most states spend on vocational education, the 15 percent states are allowed to set aside from Perkins funds to support state leadership and administration is typically the principal source of support for these activities at the state level. States like Tennessee and Delaware, two leaders in building statewide career pathways systems, have used these dedicated funds very creatively to drive innovation in the use of locally distributed Perkins funds as well as state CTE dollars. POLICY OPTIONS Option 1: The path of least resistance is to continue Perkins as a separate categorical program. The Obama administration put forth an ambitious “Blueprint” in 2012 that would have converted Perkins mostly into a competitive grants program, designed to support regional consortia bringing together high schools, community colleges, and employers to develop programs focused on meeting regional needs in high-growth, high-demand occupational sectors. The outcry from the CTE community over the proposed move from formula to within-state competitive funding made the Blueprint dead on arrival. In July 2016 the House Education and the Workforce Committee unanimously reported out “The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act.” This bill would essentially represent continuity with the Perkins Act while providing more flexibility and easing both application requirements and federal oversight. It has a positive emphasis on consortial arrangements and links between secondary and postsecondary CTE. Negotiations on a Senate bill broke down during the summer so it is highly unlikely that the Perkins Act will be reauthorized during the current Congress. That said, absent a strong interest from the next administration in rethinking the federal role, the House bill is likely to be the starting point for negotiations in the next Congress. If some version of this bill is enacted, it would represent an incremental improvement over the current law, but not the innovation needed. Option 2: A second option would be to do something more radical: end the fiction that ESEA (now ESSA) provides anything like equitable support for secondary schools and create a separate piece of legislation focused on grades 9-12, “The College and Career Readiness Act.” The legislation would begin from the premise that the core mission of high schools in the 21st century must be to prepare all students for both college and career, and to acknowledge that all young people go to college to get a career, not just those in CTE, just as all young people benefit from the critical thinking and broad knowledge gained in humanities and social science disciplines. The focus of the federal dollars would be to help high schools address this newly defined mission of helping all students acquire sufficient exposure to the world of work and careers to make an informed choice among the career education and training pathways open to them beyond high school. The idea would be to look across Title I and the other provisions of ESSA and other categorical programs for funds currently reaching high schools, package them together with Perkins funds, and create a new, much more flexible $3-4 billion pot of money to help states and districts support this new “college and career readiness” mission. A significant proportion of the funds would need to be targeted on high schools serving high concentrations of low-income students in order to keep faith with the intent of the Title I program. 2ac states fail – cyberterrorStates alone fail for cyber securityKay et al 12 (David J. Kay - Research Analyst in the Center for Technology and National Security Policy (CTNSP), Institute for National Strategic Studies, at the National Defense University; Terry J. Pudas - Senior Research Fellow in CTNSP; Brett Young - Research Assistant in CTNSP – “Preparing the Pipeline: The U.S. Cyber Workforce for the Future” – August 2012 - )/TKOne of the primary challenges facing state and local governments is their inability to attract and retain competent individuals. All states, except Vermont, have a legal requirement to balance their budgets. States were hit particularly hard by the 2008 financial crisis, and Federal funding to assist states with budget shortfalls, enacted as part of the 2009 Recovery Act, has expired. Although state finances are improving as the economy begins to recover, states will continue to face historically large shortfalls in the coming years.20 As a result, states that were once able to attract cyber talent with generous benefits packages are no longer able because of fiscal realities. Impending across-the-board budget cuts will affect not only recruitment, but also the retention of skilled employees. Recent trends indicate that states currently only spend about 2 percent of their IT budget on security, even though the accepted industry standard is about 5 percent.? Some states are also geographically disadvantaged. Top-level talent often receives offers from the private sector and a wide array of Federal agencies. Individuals with low-density, high-demand skill sets generally choose to pursue top-dollar employment options in Silicon Valley and large metropolitan areas rather than geographically remote areas. As stated, state, local, and tribal governments have difficulty competing with salaries and benefits packages offered by the private sector and Federal Government, especially in the current fiscal climate.? State and local agencies face tough choices. Some answers to these choices already exist in the form of Federal measures, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology SP 800-55 and the DHS Risk Management Process. Despite budgetary challenges, state and local authorities may be best served by following Federal Government initiatives and industry best practices by viewing security holistically and not only as an issue of the security of in-house networks. Contractors and third parties that service and connect to government networks must also be part of any solution. What is needed is a comprehensive framework that can be modified depending on the budgetary outlook for a given fiscal year and the current threat environment. Any new framework must not simply be a "check- the-box" bureaucratic exercise, but must be agile and fully evaluate the risks.212ac states fail – sifState agencies can’t effectively budget savings for social innovation financing- federal contracts increase rate of returns and attract more investors than statesBecker and Rothschild 15 [Stacy Becker and Steven Rothschild, analysts from Invest in Outcomes from the Department of Education, "Applying Human Capital Performance Bonds to Career and Technical Education." Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, US Department of Education pp. 9-11 (September 2015).] //adresCondition 3: The Means and Willingness to Capture Savings HUCAP requires public agencies to account for savings in their budgets and to use these savings to cover the debt service on the bonds. This is a significant departure from the way states typically budget. State agencies rarely take into account the costs of or benefits from their activities that accrue to other departments. Yet costs and benefits can be spread over many agencies. With conventional budgeting, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development pays for workforce training services. But the Department of Human Services and MNDOC see reductions in their spending as a result, and the state’s coffers grow from increased tax revenue. HUCAP provides a way of accounting for all of these costs and benefits. It also requires public agencies to see and act upon the bigger-picture impact of human services. Sometimes benefits are dispersed, making it difficult or impossible to capture them. In some cases, the benefits are private and broadly spread across the public. Consider victimization costs. Studies have attempted to quantify these (e.g., McCollister, French, and Fang 2010; and Drake, Aos, and Miller 2009), yet the question of how to access these savings remains. Higher education is another good example of a service area where important tangible benefits are realized but would be difficult to capture. Often, financial benefits cross jurisdictional boundaries. Services for ex-offenders, for example, yield financial benefits to county law enforcement and courts that are real and tangible, as are the tax benefits to the federal government. And yet it is challenging enough to get state agencies to recognize costs and benefits across agency lines, much less bring another level of government to the table (which, after all, reaps the benefits at no costs or risk). A major potential player in the use of HUCAP is the federal government because it finances so many local programs, including workforce training and education. Federal funding is especially prominent in health and human service programs. Federal partnerships are not necessary but could greatly enhance the savings being recognized, thereby reducing risk and fostering even greater capacity to finance projects. For example, Medicaid costs are split between the states and the federal government. If the federal government entered a contract with the state to share any of the savings it receives as a result of a state-level intervention, the added federal savings would considerably increase the return on investment, make transactions less risky, and thereby attract more investment. Another avenue for federal partnerships would be waivers that release federal funding restrictions when services are funded by SIBs or HUCAP.2ac repeal balanced budgets cpAllowing deficit spending is a ticking time bomb --- balanced budget makes governments more efficient By Marisa Helms 8 – reporter(“Deficit spending: Why shouldn't Minnesota do as the feds do?”;12/18;)//pkBut since Minnesota doesn't have the cash to fend off a $5 billion hit and has been averse in recent years to raising taxes, why not amend the Constitution to allow borrowing in the category of deficit spending? That way, the government would help people keep their jobs and legislators wouldn't have to cut education, health care, and other services, right? "No. It's a horrible idea," says Charlie Weaver, president of the Minnesota Business Partnership. Weaver, a former legislator and former chief of staff to Gov. Tim Pawlenty, says it's not a good thing when governments are "fat and happy." He says government needs to be leaner, more efficient and smarter. He argues that kind of restructuring won't happen without cutting spending and balancing the budget. "This year, while painful and hard — nobody wants to go through it — institutions will be better for it," says Weaver. "They will be forced to re-examine their business practices. They will operate better and more efficiently." Weaver says that the idea of deficit spending, even short-term, would never work. Would legislators run amok? "As a former legislator, I can tell you, there's nothing temporary about what the Legislature does," says Weaver. "Without the constitutional amendment (for a balanced budget), spending would run amok like in Washington, and our kids would end up paying for it." He's got a point. The federal deficit is not exactly a model of fiscal responsibility. It's a ticking target, but the national debt now stands at more than $10.6 trillion, about $35,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. Yikes. It's for that reason Phil Krinkie of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota doesn't know why on earth Minnesota would want to do what the Feds do with deficit spending. "At the federal level, they have an almost callous disregard [of] what the federal debt is," says Krinkie, also a former state legislator. "I don't know anyone who's even in the realm of proposing to do something about it. People just assume the debt will always be there." Krinkie worries that if Minnesota went to a deficit-spending model, lawmakers would become as complacent as those in Congress who do nothing about it. "(Deficit spending) is a tremendous aphrodisiac," says Krinkie. "We think we can help the people who are homeless or don't have health care, but ... from my perspective, it's the absolute wrong direction." For his part, Keynesian economics fan Schultz says deficit spending on the state level does not automatically lead to crippling debt. He says the problem on the national level is that the federal government has had an inconsistent economic philosophy. "We seem to be shifting priorities constantly," says Schultz. "First with defense spending, then taxes. We haven't had a consistent approach to managing the economy for the past two generations." Despite the gains that Schultz believes could be made by adopting deficit spending, it appears so far, only a few states are considering it (all 50 states, except Vermont, have some kind of budget balancing requirement). And in Minnesota, it's not gaining much traction either. A non-starter? Weaver doubts a deficit-spending proposal would get far with lawmakers and says it has never been seriously considered by the Legislature. "I've never heard it talked about even in the toughest times," says Weaver. "It's just such a bad idea. And so un-Minnesotan. Minnesotans like being responsible and take pride in living within our means, not spending more than you have." There don’t appear to be any lawmakers championing deficit spending. Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, declined to comment on the issue, but Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, states clearly that he doesn’t think Minnesota should emulate the federal government’s deficit spending ways. “The federal government and state government are different,” says Pogemiller. “The federal government is the largest economy in the world. It can print money and, through the Federal Reserve, can affect the economic situation. We’re a smaller level of government and should have balanced budgets. As painful as that can be sometimes, it’s a wiser course over the long term.”2ac tax the rich cpDoesn’t solve – offshoringENR 9 [7/22/2009, , Engineering News-Record, Taxing the Wealthy Even More Will Stifle the Economy”] As America digs itself deeper into a financial hole, Congress and states are using a venerable political ploy to justify even more spending: increasing taxes on the wealthy and big companies ostensibly to help those with less. That ploy may have worked in the early 1900s when big bosses often were so-called robber barons. Today, however, even people at the bottom of the economic ladder realize wealthy individuals help fuel the nation’s economic development in important ways. The U.S. is a democracy, but wealthy individuals faced with confiscatory taxes can easily vote with their feet by moving their operations and themselves to other states or countries. It is easier than most people think, as demonstrated by the recent trend of corporations moving headquarters to Switzerland to avoid multiple taxation on income. Many construction executives participating in ENR’s construction confidence survey complain about President Obama’s proposed plan to increase taxes on the wealthy and companies to pay for the economic stimulus, health-care reform and pet projects. Enough is enough, they say. “Obama wants to cut open the golden goose to see if there are any more eggs left,” one says. The federal debt now has ballooned past $11.6 trillion, and nations with dollar reserves and investments are nervous. In addition, the federal economic-stimulus program, company bailouts and other guarantees potentially could cost taxpayers up to $23.7 trillion, according to an estimate delivered to the House by the inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. That does not sit well with people who are used to balancing their books. They also are unhappy about the resurrection of the so-called death tax. Buried in President Obama’s federal budget is an item that keeps the federal estate tax at 2009 levels instead of letting the tax lapse in 2010, as called for in current legislation. This amounts to one of the largest tax hikes in history. Estates of people who already have paid taxes on their earnings can be taxed up to 45%. The fact that the tax applies only to a limited number of people because of exemptions does not help a family that is trying to preserve a construction firm, farm or other business. In the end, what does “wealthy” really mean? When income and other assets are taxed over and over by multiple jurisdictions, wealth evaporates quickly, as does the motivation to accumulate and invest it. When you have to give most of it to the government, it is easier to join the less fortunate. That does nothing for the economy.Rich people will accelerate offshore tax evasion in reaction to the CP --- utterly ineffective at generating revenueChougule 17 [Pratik Chougule is an executive editor at The American Conservative, “Will High Taxes Force the Rich to Leave America?,” April 29, 2017, ]The reason is that the United States has historically maintained high “tax morale.” Due to Americans’ “perceptions of the government’s trustworthiness and competence”, U.S. citizens have complied with a “quasi-voluntary” tax code without forcing the IRS to using the full brunt of its coercive authorities. Wealthy Americans have tolerated progressive taxation when, in Georgetown law professor Itai Grinberg’s words, they feel that “they are not being taken advantage of.” This is borne out by public opinion polls. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, three in four Americans told pollsters that they trusted the government in Washington “to do what is right” either “most of the time” or “just about always.”Attitudes of the American rich, however, have been changing since the rise of offshore financial centers in the 1980s, when tax havens became “the heart of globalization.” According to an analysis by UC Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman, offshore personal wealth is “growing fast” principally for the purpose of evading taxes. U.S. residents own an estimated $1.2 trillion abroad, amounting to some 4 percent of the country’s financial wealth. Eliminating revenue losses from tax havens would produce the equivalent of an 18 percent tax hike on the top .01 percent of income earners.Over the past two decades, Washington has resorted to tougher sanctions to deter Americans’ use of foreign holdings. Penalties for failing to report foreign-related transactions or abide by tax return filing requirements have increased significantly. A year after world leaders declared at the April 2009 G20 summit an “end of bank secrecy,” President Obama signed into law the 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The law threatens foreign financial institutions with a 30 percent withholding rate for failing to report information on asset holders.These efforts, by and large, have proven ineffective. Revenue projections do not predict any significant effect from FATCA’s enactment.Instead, higher taxes and more stringent enforcement efforts have spiked rates of expatriation. Between 2008 and 2016, the number of Americans renouncing U.S. citizenship or terminating their long-term U.S. residency jumped by more than 2,240 percent. Among them: entertainer Tina Turner, who went to Switzerland; Bitcoin angel investor Roger Ver (“Bitcoin Jesus”) who resides mostly in Japan; and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who settled in Singapore. This, despite the State Department’s 2014 decision to raise the fee for renouncing U.S. citizenship by 422 percent, making the fee more than 20 times the average rate of other high-income countries.Plodding tax bureaucracies simply cannot compete with the powerful incentives created by market competition. “Competition among national governments,” as Milton Friedman explained, “in the taxes they impose is every bit as productive as competition among individuals or enterprises in the goods and services they offer for sale and the prices at which they offer them.” And contrary to the “race-to-the-bottom” predictions of anti-globalization critics, Nobel Prize winning economist Gary Becker found that, “competition among nations tends to produce a race to the top rather than to the bottom by limiting the ability of powerful and voracious groups and politicians in each nation to impose their will at the expense of the interests of the vast majority of their populations.”The big winners of America’s wealth exodus are countries that can attract the rich with low tax rates. Offshore assets managed in Luxembourg have jumped 20 percent since 2009. Precise numbers, while unavailable, are almost certainly higher in the Asia-Pacific, not only in Hong Kong and Singapore, but also in more obscure places like the Cook Islands where “geographical remoteness” and “strategic detachment” from international treaties provide advantages over landlocked European competitors like Switzerland. As capital becomes more globally mobile, thriving offshore financial centers, particularly former British territories, are well-positioned to develop as tax havens due to their low tax rates and legacy legal systems from the colonial era. A cosmopolitan wealth management industry has sprouted to help the rich navigate new regulatory terrains—an industry that is guided by both a “professional jurisdiction” that “treats national boundaries as a resource to be exploited rather than as a limiting factor”, as well as “an ethic reminiscent of medieval knighthood: an aristocratic code…dedicated to the cause of defending large concentrations of wealth from attack by outsiders.”Billions of electronic transfers out of the United States each year make it “almost impossible” for authorities to distinguish tax evasion from legal payments. This reality will generate added difficulties for the government as global e-commerce proliferates. About a quarter of Americans already earn money online, a number on the rise. Participants in online labor platforms are disproportionately young adults and consider their online incomes to be “essential” or “important” to their financial situations. The well-off and well-educated meanwhile tend to sell on online capital platforms.The U.S. government, in short, is proving no match for the competition posed by international tax havens. Under the current progressive tax system, Washington is at the mercy of a small class of wealthy taxpayers—a group that American society increasingly cannot compel and must persuade to stay in the country.No ideological opposition --- raising taxes on the rich actually foments anti-government sentiment Chougule 17 [Pratik Chougule is an executive editor at The American Conservative, “Will High Taxes Force the Rich to Leave America?,” April 29, 2017, ]Not only do today’s rich have a tempting array of options beyond U.S. boundaries, they are ideologically unencumbered by the same nationalistic considerations that tugged at the conscience of an earlier generation of wealthy Americans. In her recent book Capital without Borders: Wealth Mangers and the One Percent, Brooke Harrington found that today’s “stateless super-rich themselves cannot be prevailed upon to pay taxes” for reasons incidental to economic self-interest. Why? Because they “belong nowhere in particular and can move at will…ideological appeals to patriotism and or civic duty are meaningless.”Indeed, many of today’s wealthy are not simply agnostic about the American nation-state; they are driven to tax havens out of principled opposition to the excesses of progressive taxation. “Ideological warriors of offshore” as Nicholas Shaxon calls them in his book Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men Who Stole the World, represent a growing network of American intellectuals, many of them “fanatical supporters” of Ayn Rand, who make a moral case for tax havens as “valiant resistance against tyranny.” They welcome the fact that anti-statist ideologies considered “beyond the pale” in the United States are “allowed to grow without restraint offshore.”Overlapping with these communities are the same libertarian and anarchist innovators that champion other even more disruptive forms of tax havens. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, according to UC Irvine law professor Omri Marian, have already advanced to the point that they could soon “replace tax havens as the weapon-of-choice for tax-evaders.” Plans for establishing sea-based city-states, long advocated by disillusioned libertarians, passed a significant milestone this year with the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the first seastead in a French Polynesian lagoon.Anti-government enthusiasts of cryptocurrencies and seasteading may be on the fringes of American politics, but they also epitomize a broader lack of trust in government. From a high of 77 percent in 1964, trust in government has plummeted to around 20 percent today.During the late 2000’s, when the rich were paying an individual tax of 35 percent, over two-thirds of Americans earning $250,000 or more felt they were overburdened with taxes. This in fact was the only income group that believed the U.S. tax system was unfair.America’s rich may not be ready to leave in droves for Seychelles or St. Kitts. But this is in large part because of the country’s non-monetary appeal—an exceptional culture that celebrates the wealthy in a world where economic ambition is too often the victim of class warfare and stifling government overreach.In a global economy with abundant tax havens, maintaining the loyalty—and the largess—of America’s rich will require a tax code that respects their liberties. Trump’s paltry tax cut offers little consolation.at: job insurance programThe counterplan fails --- bureaucratic and little evidence that it improves jobs Chris Edwards and Daniel J. Murphy 11 - *director of tax policy studies at Cato** former special assistant in the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration.(“Employment and Training Programs: Ineffective and Unneeded”; June 1;)//pkLittle Evidence of Program EffectivenessFederal employment and job training programs have long been complex and bureaucratic. In a 2011 study, the Government Accountability Office found that there are 47 different and overlapping programs costing taxpayers $18 billion a year.14 The Obama administration has complained of "a complex set of rules and differing requirements and practices across the multiple federal agencies and programs that support job-related services."15 The head of a workforce board in Cincinnati described the complexity of these government programs to USA Today: "Most employers find it incredibly complicated. It's mind-boggling to me, and this has been my profession for the last 12 years."16More important than the complexity, there is little evidence that federal employment and training programs actually work very well. The GAO report concluded that "little is known about the effectiveness of employment and training programs we identified."17 Only 5 of the 47 programs the GAO examined had done detailed impact studies. The GAO found that "the five impact studies generally found that the effects of participation were not consistent across programs, with only some demonstrating positive impacts that tended to be small, inconclusive, or restricted to short-term impacts."18One of the few impact studies was for the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Adult and Dislocated Workers programs. A 2008 study found that the benefits to the unemployed workers participating in the programs were small or nonexistent.19 There was little difference in employment and wage outcomes between workers that took part in the program and workers who did not.The GAO has been noting the dearth of positive findings regarding program effectiveness for many years. Back in 1996, the agency noted:Although the federal government spends billions of dollars annually to support employment training programs, little is known about their long-term effects on participants' earnings and employment rates. Few training programs have been rigorously evaluated to assess their net impact, and, for those that have, the research results have often been inconclusive.20The GAO's analysis in 1996 found no statistically significant improvement in wages over the long term from participation in JPTA training programs.21A decade earlier, the prestigious National Research Council came to a similar conclusion regarding federal job training programs for youth.22 Determining the precise effectiveness of such programs may be tricky, but billions of dollars have been spent on these programs year after year since the 1960s. Surely it is time to turn off the funding spigot if the government can't even prove that they work.The most thorough assessment of federal job training programs was a $25 million National JTPA study in 1994, which was commissioned by the Department of Labor. It tracked 20,000 people over a four-year period who used various training services, and compared them to control groups who did not.23 The study found that for most participants, federal programs had no significant benefits. Some subgroups showed modest benefits, such as adult women, but for young people the study found no benefits from the programs. (Labor experts James Heckman and Jeffrey Smith note: "For youth, the record of government training programs for the disadvantaged is almost uniformly negative."24) All in all, the National JTPA study found that the modest benefits of the program were outweighed by the program's costs.25A 2002 book, The Job Training Charade, examines the failures of federal job training programs over the decades. The author, Gordon Lafer of the University of Oregon, is very liberal in his politics, which is interesting because usually such researchers would be supportive of federal subsidies. But based on his detailed review, he finds that federal job training programs have provided very small or insignificant benefits.26 He argues that these programs exist for political reasons alone. Politicians have championed these programs in order to be seen as "doing something" to help workers, and whether they actually work or not is less important.Lafer argues that "as successive generations of job training programs fail to produce the hoped for results, policymakers have cycled through a stock repertoire of procedural fixes that promise to solve the problem."27 CETA was supposed to fix problems of the 1960's training programs. JTPA was supposed to fix CETA, and the WIA was supposed to fix JTPA. Lafer notes that "repeated reports of [JTPA's] failure seem to have little impact on its political popularity... JTPA was succeeded by the Workforce Investment Act which . . . largely repeats the same strategies found to have failed under JTPA."28 Job training legislation is little more than "political symbolism," he says.Raw earnings data is sometimes used to examine the possible benefits of federal employment and training programs. The Department of Labor collects earnings data of individuals before and after they use its workforce programs. In some years, workers who took part in these programs earned a bit more following participation, on average, and in other years they ended up actually earning less, including every year from 2006 to 2009. For example, workers earned an average $1,208 less after participating in programs in 2009.29Other Department of Labor data look at the average earnings of people who have received WIA-adult services. The data compare a subset of those people who took job training to those who did not. In 2008, for example, those who took training earned an average of $615 more over a six-month period than those who did not, as shown in Table 1.30 That appears to be a positive result, but a detailed impact study with various experimental controls would be needed to make firm conclusions. Also, these are just possible short-term effects, which may not last over the longer term. Either way, the table shows that the apparent gains from training have fallen in recent years.Table 1. Six-Month Average Wages, with and without Federal Training 20042005200620072008Training$11,871$12,123$13,367$14,771$15,324No Training$10,506$10,220$10,538$13,704$14,709Difference$1,365$1,903$2,829$1,067$615Even if one believes that the government ought to be in the job training business, and that such training boosts earnings, it still wouldn't be clear that training made overall economic sense. That's because the cost to taxpayers of WIA-adults who take training is about $4,000 per participant, according to the GAO.31 In addition, when that $4,000 is extracted from families by taxation, it creates further economic damage called "deadweight losses." In sum, there does not appear to be any good evidence that federal training programs generate returns large enough to cover the costs.Few Users of Federal ServicesOne way to judge the usefulness of federal government employment and training services is to look at the demand. Are many unemployed Americans using the job search and training services provided by the Department of Labor?The department funds nearly 3,000 One-Stop Career Centers across the nation, which provide access to various employment and training services. The government reports that about 2.5 million people are served annually by these centers. That sounds like a lot, but it works out to just 833 people per center per year, or just over 3 people per center per workday! Thus, the government is paying for the rent and the staffing of these centers even though there are few "customers."Government officials try to put the low demand for its services in the best light. The Department of Labor claims that 6.7 million people used its WIA-adult services in 2010.32 Yet a different report says that 1.1 million exited WIA-adult programs during a similar period.33 Why is there a yawning gap between those statistics? It turns out that the higher number includes people who "received only self- and informational services."34 A few years ago, administrators were directed to include individuals who opted for self-service to beef up the reported data for those being "served." But really only about 1.1 million receive staff-assisted services, such as job search aid and career counseling.Of the 1.1 million who used any staff-assisted service, only about 130,000 WIA-adults used federal training services.35 Let's put these numbers in context. T and less than 1 percent have enrolled in a Department of Labor training program. he U.S. workforce exceeds 150 million people, and in recent years, there have been as many as 15 million unemployed persons. Thus, less than 10 percent of unemployed workers have received a WIA-adult service in recent years,Rather than using federal programs, most unemployed Americans search for jobs on the Internet, respond to ads, send out resumes, and network with friends and colleagues. Many seek temporary or contract employment through private staffing agencies. The staffing industry reports hiring 8.6 million people a year, a far larger number than those helped through the WIA-adult program.36When it comes to job training, Americans participate in a wide range of private sector options. Many people take night classes through their local school systems and community colleges without help from federal training programs. America's community colleges award more than 900,000 degrees or certificates each academic year, and less than half of those students even receive any financial aid.37 Staffing company Manpower Inc. says it alone trains 250,000 people each year worldwide, much more than the WIA-adult program.38The federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program is also subject to a lack of participation. According to a Mathematica study, just half of those eligible for TAA chose to take part.39 And among TAA participants, only about 60 percent choose to receive any training, and recently that figure is down to just over 40 percent. The most common reason given to Mathematica researchers by TAA participants for not enrolling in training was simply that they weren't interested.Another indicator of the low demand for federal employment and training programs is that a sizable share of the funding allocated by Congress isn't spent. About 20 percent of funds doled out to the states for the WIA-adult program are typically left unused.40 There are three separate WIA programs, and combined they leave about $1 billion in funds on the table every year.41 There is a similar pattern of unspent funds in the TAA training program.Given that state governments and individuals usually grab all the federal subsidies they can, the fact that job training funds go unused tells us how unneeded they are. Further evidence comes from looking at enrollment in these programs over time. Even as the U.S. unemployment rate soared in 2008, the share of WIA-adults who opted to take part in government training plunged to just 11 percent.42The only aspect of federal employment and training services that garner substantial use from the public are the federal Internet sites, which garner about 9 million visits a year.43 But that just points to the reality that the Internet dominates job searches for most workers today, and there isn't a role anymore for an expensive government bureaucracy with a huge office network and staffing structure.Waste and Abuse in Jobs ProgramsIn 2011 Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) released a report on waste, fraud, and abuse in federal employment and job training programs.44 The report provides detailed examples of administrators spending funds on items such as excessive salaries and perks. A common problem is that when federal money gets sent down to local employment agencies and private contractors, there is little incentive for efficiency and few restraints on spending abuses.The following are some examples of waste in recent years from the Coburn study:A West Virginia criminal was the primary beneficiary of $100,000 in federal job training funds, which he used for luxury hotel stays and other excesses. The state official who awarded the grant funding turned out to be the criminal's mother.A Tampa Bay government agency spent tens of thousands of dollars of federal job training funds on disallowed expenses such as free lunches, hotels, flowers, event tickets, and other perks for managers.Federally funded trainees hired by San Francisco's transit authority spent months doing no work because hostile union members at the agency sidelined them.Portage County, Ohio, job training officials blew more than $700,000 on all kinds of unauthorized and frivolous items.The CEO of an Iowa training firm funded by federal dollars was thrown in jail for 84 months for essentially stealing $1.8 million, which she paid to herself and her top aides.A Montana trade union misspent $1.1 million in federal training grants. An audit found that for every dollar the union spent on helping displaced workers, it spent four dollars on its own staff salaries and perks.This sort of waste in federal job training and employment programs has been ongoing for decades. Local administrators of these programs have been known to inflate program accomplishments, overcharge the taxpayer for superficial services, and divert funds to illegitimate purposes.45 Gordon Lafer notes that "from its beginning, the operation of JTPA was marked by a level of inefficiency and abuse so blatant and so long ignored, as to suggest that the government was not primarily interested in whether or not the program succeeded."46 When they support subsidy programs, politicians always claim that they are helping society, but they don't have much incentive to make sure programs aren't wasteful or ineffective.Auditors catch some of the sorts of waste exposed by Senator Coburn, but federal taxpayer money is never efficiently spent when it gets thrown out the door in hundreds of subsidy programs to thousands of state and local governments.47 State and local governments consider the federal money "free," and they have little incentive to spend it wisely.Another problem with doling out federal subsidies to the states is the huge bureaucratic apparatus involved. At the federal level, for example, there are more than 750 well-paid employees in Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (ETA). Or consider this taxpayer expense—the ETA spends about $100 million a year on various research studies and evaluations.48*Note Dutta Gupta is the author that the neg evidence cites when referring to success of job insurance programsLow risk of success due lack of analysis --- there also little causal evidence link programs to job creationBy Dutta-Gupta et al 16 - *Indivar is the Director of the Project on Deep Poverty and Senior Fellow at the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, **Kali Grant is the Policy Associate at Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, ***Matthew Eckel is Doctoral Student at Georgetown University - ?Georgetown University and Peter Edelman is Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law and Public Policy at Georgetown University (“LESSONS LEARNED FROM 40 YEARS OF SUBSIDIZED EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS A FRAMEWORK, REVIEW OF MODELS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HELPING DISADVANTAGED WORKERS”;Spring;)//pkBroad generalizations about the effectiveness of subsidized employment and paid work experience programs must be made with care, as the range of programs that have existed have distinct purposes and goals, target different populations, and represent different commitments of time and resources. Some interventions show little impact on post-program employment, but nevertheless achieve other worthy goals, such as increased earnings, reduced dependence on public assistance, improved skills, or reduced criminal recidivism. Further, a number of subsidized employment demonstrations launched in 2010 by DOL and HHS are still being analyzed (initial impact evaluations will not be published until 2016). It is especially important to keep in mind that even the best evaluations rarely isolate causal impacts with absolute certainty. Those caveats aside, however, some overarching findings and observations can be made:at: reserve bank plankState banks don’t have a significant impact on the economy --- their North Dakota Example is flawedYolanda K. Kodrzycki and Tal Elmatad 11 -*economist in the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. **from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Department of Research(“The Bank of North Dakota: A Model for Massachusetts and Other States?”;11/2/11;)//pk*BND is Bank of North Dakota BND’s role in stabilizing North Dakota’s economy As the nation’s unemployment rate hovered near 10 percent in late 2009, North Dakota’s unemployment rate stayed below 4.5 percent. Some policymakers in other parts of the nation have surmised that North Dakota’s relatively benign recession might be attributable in part to the existence of a state-owned bank. North Dakotans and economists, on the other hand, tend to be skeptical of that view. They are more likely to attribute North Dakota’s recent economic resilience to the strong performance of industries such as agriculture and energy, which play a much more important role in North Dakota than in most other parts of the United States. This section provides suggestive evidence on BND’s contribution to the stabilization of the North Dakota economy by comparing the state’s economic performance to that of other states over the past several decades. The general conclusion is that North Dakota’s economy has not been marked by unusual stability, notwithstanding any positive effects BND may have had. Figures 6 to 8 show selected economic data for North Dakota, South Dakota, Massachusetts, and the United States as a whole. South Dakota is selected for comparison because of its proximity to North Dakota, and because analysis by the Minnesota Federal Reserve indicates that it is the state most similar to North Dakota on key indicators such as size, population, and industry mix.36 Yet South Dakota’s banking industry is very different from North Dakota’s: in South Dakota, a single private bank accounts for more than two-thirds of all bank deposits.37 North Dakota has posted a lower unemployment rate than the nation every year since the late 1970s. In most years, its unemployment rate was below that of Massachusetts (Figure 6). South Dakota’s unemployment rate, in contrast, has been very similar to that of North Dakota throughout this period. That suggests that the presence of a state-owned bank may not be the major explanation for North Dakota’s low jobless rate relative to other parts of the nation. A plausible alternative hypothesis is that the low unemployment rates in the Dakotas are due to demographic and geographic characteristics that influence the structure of their economies. Other indicators show that North Dakota’s economy has been quite volatile, especially during the sharp swings in commodity prices in the late 1970s through the late 1980s. Measured by real personal income, North Dakota’s economy has been more cyclical than South Dakota’s, Massachusetts’, or the nation’s (Figure 7). Mortgage foreclosures reached particularly high levels in North Dakota in the 1980s, almost equaling rates in the current foreclosure crisis nationwide (Figure 8). The high foreclosure rates stemmed from problems in the agricultural sector throughout the Midwest. Encouraged by high commodity prices, farmers incurred significant debt during the 1970s, but had difficulty repaying those loans when commodity prices plunged in the 1980s. BND had a program in the 1980s to provide financing for farmland foreclosed by other lenders, but it was relatively small, resulting in only 18 loans.38 Even the head of BND tends to downplay the bank’s role in stabilizing the North Dakota economy. He noted: “I think that we’ve played a significant role in the state’s recent success, but to quantify a role and tell you what that is would be difficult. But certainly to lay the success of the state’s economy at our feet wouldn’t be appropriate either.”39A2 States Solve BetterNo solvency – states fail to change CTE perceptionFain, Paul. 7/5/17. (Paul Fain, News Editor, came to Inside Higher Ed in September 2011, after a six-year stint covering leadership and finance for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Paul has also worked in higher ed P.R., with Widmeyer Communications, but couldn't stay away from reporting. A former staff writer for C-VILLE Weekly, a newspaper in Charlottesville, Va., Paul has written for The New York Times, Washington City Paper and Mother Jones, “Helping Career Education Become a First Choice”, page 1, , WW)“California has been a leader on that front,” she said. Despite the strong demand among employers and growing interest from policy makers, career and technical education remains a tough sell for many prospective students. Ton-Quinlivan cited a broad perception that the pathway is a “second-class option for students.” Part of the problem, she and other experts say, is outdated notions about the jobs being dirty and low paying. In reality, many CTE professions pay well and are highly technical. Labor market data from the system show, for example, that radiologic technologists in the Sacramento area have a median annual wage of $90,000. Telecommunications equipment installers in Sacramento earn a median of $62,000, while web developers make $75,000. The new marketing campaign seeks to get the word out about how CTE can pay off for students. Last year the system conducted qualitative research to get a sense of what current and prospective students think about career education and employment options. They found that a lack of knowledge is the biggest barrier to enrollment. While overall awareness of the term “CTE” was fairly high, the research showed that specific understanding of what it refers to was very low. For example, 30 percent of students who were currently enrolled in career and technical programs had heard about CTE but said they didn’t know anything about it. Another 16 percent said they’d never heard the term. Awareness was even lower among prospective students. “The marketing of career and technical education is a huge issue,” said Wilson. “It doesn’t have enough currency with student and parents.” California’s research also found that the T in CTE is problematic. “The word ‘technical’ is a bit limiting to students,” Ton-Quinlivan said. “It really doesn’t communicate the range of these options.” The $6 million marketing campaign seeks to clear up the confusion with web videos and paid advertising, which begin this month. In addition to helping to better define and raise awareness about career education for students, the system said the push seeks to build support among business and union leaders for the community college programs. Hyslop applauded California for trying to change public perceptions about CTE. “People think very favorably when they understand what it is,” she said. “Not enough people understand the opportunities.”Federal government key to cutting edge CTE curriculumRojewski, Jay W. February 2002. (Professor of Workforce Education, University of Georgia. PhD in Administration, Curriculum, and Instruction. Distinguished Service Award in Association for Career and Technical Education, “Preparing the Workforce of Tomorrow: A Conceptual Framework for Career and Technical Education.”, , WW)While past efforts, like the ones cited here, provide a basis for understanding the general purpose and potential use of a conceptual framework, any attempt to articulate one for career and technical education is fraught with potential problems regarding specific definition(s) and framework organization. Other potential points of contention include differences of opinion about the ultimate purpose(s) of career and technical education, the diversity of constituents served (e.g., the "middle third," disadvantaged youth, dropouts, displaced workers, collegebound students, etc.) and their sometimes conflicting needs, and the reliance on the federal government to provide guidance and definition. Another issue that has substantial impact on career and technical education is the dynamic and increasingly global nature of work and the workforce, the evolving patterns of family and community living, and the need for career and technical educators to revise and update curricular content so that constituent groups are adequately prepared to meet the emerging challenges encountered in the work place, family, and community. On one hand, the flexibility required to continually update a dynamic curriculum ensures that learners are provided with cutting-edge knowledge about career options, technology, skills, and personal characteristics required to be successful in adult life. On the other hand, the need to continually update curriculum to meet changing work and family situations deletion of outdated programs and initiation of new programs that reflect emerging occupations has relied on federal funding and government mandate for initial direction. In many instances, theoretical and conceptual concerns regarding career and technical education have taken a back seat to changing political and economic landscapes dominated by shifting federal policies and initiatives accompanied by comparable state and local changes in program focus and mission. The dominance of federal intervention and its role in shaping career and technical education programs at all levels has resulted in a view of vocational education that is predominantly atheoretical in nature and lacking in a coherent or cohesive vision for all involvedStates don’t have the money it would take to fund the cte – any extra expenses would be detrimental to their already-huge fiscal gapRosenbaum 15 CNBC editor (Eric Rosenbaum, “The financial state of states: The truth may scare you”, 23 Jun 2015, ) AOState finances across the U.S. have been described as stable but slow growing. Six years into the post-recession economic recovery, that statement may be accurate, but the full truth may be more troubling. A handful of states are caught in a real pension fix. A few statehouse budget battles in recent months have been notable for their heightened drama—Kansas, where huge tax cuts backfired on Gov. Sam Brownback; and Louisiana, where a member of Gov. Bobby Jindal's own party referred to his budget plan as "money laundering." But it's not the extremes that have state budget experts concerned. More states have been unable to complete budgets so far this year than is typical, and the situation points to long-term spending problems—from K–12 education to Medicaid and infrastructure—that will persist. "The picture is more gloomy than stable, and state fiscal conditions might be better described as stagnant," said Lucy Dadayan, senior policy analyst at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. "I am a glasses-half-full kind of guy," said Scott Pattison, the executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) and a former Virginia budget officer. "But on the downside ... a lot of states need to think more seriously about building reserves. We don't know when the next downturn will be." Overall, state reserve funds are at 7 percent of spending, but Pattison noted that if Texas' outsize reserve is excluded, then the average comes to 5 percent, and there are 15 states with less than 5 percent in reserve funds for fiscal 2016. That's a figure that has declined for four consecutive years, from 10.4 percent of spending in 2012 to 7.1 percent projected by NASBO in fiscal 2016. The number of states with 5 percent or less in reserve has reached 19—the highest level in the past three years—while the number of states with 10 percent or more in reserve funds has decreased from 18 states in 2014 to 13 states in the next fiscal year. Year-end balances for states as a percentage of spending are at their lowest level since the recession. In late April, Standard & Poor's released a report noting that six years into an economic expansion, more than 30 states face a budget shortfall in fiscal 2015 or 2016 (or both). S&P said there's no immediate threat to credit quality, but "the fact that so many states confront shortfalls at all serves as an fearly warning of sorts." The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates that states will need to take action today and maintain that action for 50 consecutive years to close their fiscal gap. The GAO projects that the peak in state tax receipts—2007—will not occur again until 2058. The GAO estimates that during the 50-year period, states would have to reduce state and local government spending by 18 percent or increase tax revenue by a similar amount—or some combination of the two—to close the fiscal gap. States are spending less, and some numbers stand out for sheer size of restraint being shown, said Donald Boyd, senior fellow at the Rockefeller Institute, author of a forthcoming report that looks at the weakness of state finances today versus previous post-recession periods. Social benefit (Medicaid), consumption (public employees) and investment spending by the states has experienced a sea change, falling 18 percent since the start of the recession, with net investment down by more than 55 percent, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. U.S. Census Bureau data shows that spending by state and local government on construction fell by $50 billion at annual rates (16.4 percent) between the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2014. Some stats Boyd described as stunning—for public school construction, spending is down 45 percent since 2007. And between 2008 and 2013, Medicaid spending increased more than all other spending by the states combined. Equally alarming data comes from the revenue side of the state fiscal equation. Employment is only 2.4 percent above its prior peak, compared to 3.3 percent at this point after the 2001 recession and more than 12 percent for each of the three prior recessions. Consumption is only 10.8 percent above its prior peak, compared to more than 20 percent for each of four previous recessions, according to data culled from public sources in the Rockefeller Institute report. These trends weaken tax coffers. State government tax revenue is only 5 percent above its pre-recession level. In four preceding recoveries, inflation-adjusted state tax revenue by this point had grown several times as much, ranging from 15 to 25 percent above pre-recession revenue. While states seem incapable of the major structural reform to tax codes, they are raising taxes on cigarettes, legalizing marijuana, adding gaming and increasing taxes on gasoline. At least seven states are expected to have marijuana legalization initiatives on their 2016 ballots. These marginal taxes, or so-called sin taxes, are telling. "The sin taxes are more politically palatable," said Laura Porter, managing director at Fitch Ratings. "A lot of these things do bring in more revenue, whether it's cigarettes or legalizing marijuana or another casino, but it does not solve the budget problem," Pattison said. "I can kind of understand, as states are trying to compromise on the budget, you throw something in like that," the NASBO executive director said. "Marginal taxes won't bail out the states," said Bob Williams, president of right-leaning audit watchdog group State Budget Solutions. "People will go to the reservation or neighboring state to get their cigarettes," he said. Pattison said more "incremental tweaking here and there over time" will take place "to adjust the tax code to the 21st century," but for many states major reform is going to be an enormous controversy. Pension underpayments are a daunting issue in states such as Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Falling oil prices are a threat to the finances of oil-producing states such as Alaska, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming. States that have high reliance on personal income taxes, particularly reliance on taxes on non-wage income (stock gains), are also facing fiscal challenges. For example, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York all have high reliance on income from capital gains. Fitch believes most states can manage a normal downturn, but Porter said, "In terms of challenges states face, the stock market is the thing that would be most problematic for them on the revenue side." A stock market downturn may also exacerbate pension issues across states. "Roughly two-thirds of assets in pension funds are invested in the stock market," Boyd said. "The mistake is thinking and hoping pension problems can be solved by the stock market rather than governments needing to be putting more in." Long-term economic growth is likely to return, and that is reason for optimism about state finances. Rating agencies see no immediate risk to states making bond payments, either. "This recovery has been longer and slower than prior recoveries, and states have had to grapple with slower revenue growth than they've typically seen," said Nicholas Samuels, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody's Investor Service. But Moody's, which maintains a stable outlook on the states, believes most states are doing a good job of balancing budgets and putting some revenue aside to build up reserves depleted during the downturn. He said some states are struggling with competing priorities, while others are engaged in broader policy debates. "When I was budget director in Virginia in the late '90s and the money was coming in, politicians could solve most ideological issues," Pattison said. "People who wanted spending could get it, and people who wanted tax cuts could get them," he explained. Others warn that the outliers among states highlight the risk of poor policy decisions at a time when policy decisions are both more important and getting more difficult to make. "When first coming out of the recession, there can be broad agreement on policy choices, but now there's more debate," Porter said. "When the choices put you in a bad place going forward, that becomes a credit issue," Porter said. "New Jersey is a good example. If you choose to underfund your pension severely, it will have a negative effect." (New Jersey is one of only four states that receives a negative outlook from Fitch.) Boyd said the states face a lot of challenges in the next several years and are not well equipped to deal with them, or at squirreling money away. "We're not on a precipice where all of a sudden we will fall off a cliff more," Boyd said. "It's more pressure next year than this year, and more the year after that," Boyd said. "States have difficulty negotiating budgets when the conditions are hardest. It's not a hard rule but a good general rule. Nobody wants to raise taxes, so this is an environment ripe for budget gimmicks pushing costs off to the future. I don't know what they will do in the future." In the meantime, if you want to help your state, smoke while you drive a fuel-inefficient car—to a casino or marijuana dispensary. The federal government’s funding is key to best providing CTECohen, Marie and Besharov, Douglas J. 3/21/2002. (Douglas J. Besharov is the Joseph J. and Violet Jacobs Scholar in Social Welfare Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and a professor at the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs, “The Role of Career and Technical Education: Implications for the Federal Government”, pages 37-38, , WW)The federal role in CTE is very limited. Federal funding provides only a small proportion of the funds that support CTE around the country. Therefore, we recommend that the federal government concentrate on funding research that could inform state education departments and local school districts on questions of how to best provide CTE. The Perkins Act is the main source of federal funding for CTE at the high school level, although it funds post-secondary CTE as well. Currently funded at $1.5 billion per year through 2003, the federal Perkins Act probably provides less than 10 percent of national spending on CTE at all levels, although no figure for total spending is available.' Congress has attempted to use this small amount of funds to generate change in CTE by imposing requirements on state and local programs (such as a requirement to provide an understanding of "all aspects of an industry"), requiring that a certain proportion of funds be spent for specific purposes (for example, on "gender equity" programs), setting aside funds for disadvantaged groups or other purposes, and requiring states to provide data on performance. Through the federally funded National Research and National Dissemination Centers for Career and Technical Education, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) sponsors research and development activities in CTE. With its small share of total CTE spending, the federal government is not in a strong position to influence the size and shape of programs at the local level." The federal government could potentially play a more important role, however, by sponsoring high-quality research, disseminating the results, developing curricula and other materials to be used by schools nationwide, and providing technical assistance. Building on the efforts of the National Research and National Dissemination Centers for Career and Technical Education, OVAE could play a major role in shaping the direction of the field in the twenty-first century.A2 States CP- States Are Failing Federal Standards NowGuerra, 7/17 (Jennifer is a reporter with Michigan Radio's State of Opportunity project. She previously covered arts and culture for the station, and worked as a producer for WFUV in the Bronx. Her stories and documentaries have won numerous regional and national awards, and her work has aired on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Marketplace and Studio 360. Jennifer graduated from the University of Michigan and received her master's in broadcast journalism from Fordham University in New York. When not working on a story, you can find Jen practicing her tap steps and hanging out with her husband and their two hilarious kids., , “Michigan Fails Meet To Meet All Requirements Under Federal Special Education Law,” DW)Michigan is one of 23 states that did not meet all the federal requirements for educating its students with disabilities. The annual review by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) looks at test scores and compliance datato determine whether states are in line with the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), which guarantees students with disabilities a free and appropriate education. OSEP then issues states one of four determinations: Meets requirements Needs Assistance Needs Intervention Needs substantial intervention Michigan was put in the "Needs Assistance" category in large part for how its students with disabilities did on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a national assessment test commonly called the Nation's report card. You can see how the state scored in every category here. Teri Chapman, director of special education for the Michigan Department of Education, takes issue with the federal government's use of NAEP scores to issue these annual determinations and believes state assessments would provide a more accurate picture. Nevertheless she acknowledges that the state needs to improve "in a number of things" and she sees this designation as "an opportunity to get some additional resources from the federal government." Michigan also got low marks for the percentage of students with disabilities who participate in statewide assessments, and the high dropout rate for students with disabilities -- one out of four, according to the most recent data. Chapman's office will work together with OSEP to "determine the state's improvement process" and identify whatever technical assistance may be needed. Only 22 states received the "meets requirement" designation, which the website Disability Scoops reports is fewer states than last year. In addition to Michigan, the 22 other states that "need assistance" are Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington.InherencyTrump is cutting the programBrown et al. 5/17 (Emma Brown, Valerie Strauss and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, reporters, 5-17-2017, "Trump’s first full education budget: Deep cuts to public school programs in pursuit of school choice," , Accessed: 7-14-2017 /Kent Denver-NK)The administration is also seeking to overhaul key elements of federal financial aid. The spending proposal would maintain funding for Pell Grants for students in financial need, but it would eliminate more than $700 million in Perkins loans for disadvantaged students; nearly halve the work-study program that helps students work their way through school, cutting $490 million; take a first step toward ending subsidized loans, for which the government pays interest while the borrower is in school; and end loan forgiveness for public servants.The loan forgiveness program, enacted in 2007, was designed to encourage college graduates to pursue careers as social workers, teachers, public defenders or doctors in rural areas. There are at least 552,931 people on track to receive the benefit, with the first wave of forgiveness set for October. It’s unclear how the proposed elimination would affect those borrowers.The administration also wants to replace five income-driven student loan repayment plans with a single plan.Trump will defund CTE which stops reauthorization – only federal funding solvesLitvinov 6/2 (Amanda Litvinov, Senior Writer/Editor at National Education Association, 6-2-2017, "Trump-DeVos budget slashes career and technical education, despite need for skilled workers," Education Votes, , Accessed: 7-15-2017 /Kent Denver-NK)Missouri high school teacher David Hope says he’s never had a student who didn’t graduate.That’s notable for a teacher of eight years who works with students across St. Louis County’s 24 school districts. As a career and technical education teacher, Hope says he has an advantage when it comes to keeping students on track to earning a diploma.“We don’t have kids in our classes asking, ‘When will I ever need to know this?’”His experience reflects the national trend. The average high school graduation rate for students in CTE programs is 93 percent, well above the national graduation rate of 80 percent. For many CTE advocates, that is one of the best arguments for dedicating resources to CTE programs.On the campaign trail, President Trump supported expanding student access to vocational training and hands-on learning in secondary and post-secondary education. But in its 2018 budget proposal, the Trump administration proposes cutting state grants for CTE programs by 15 percent, partly to pay for private school vouchers.Federal funding for CTE has already declined about 12 percent in recent years, making it difficult for some states to sustain high quality programs.“The fact is that these programs aren’t cheap,” said Hope. “But if we’re serious about giving students skills that will help them walk into a job, they have to be trained on up-to-date equipment. We need to take them out in the field where they can see these skills in action.”Hope, a former firefighter and paramedic, now runs a firefighting and emergency medical technician (EMT) academy at South Technical High School.He says roughly 40 percent of his students have pursued careers in those fields. For others, the academy has served as a jumping off point for related work in health or public service, including nursing and law enforcement.For a few, career and technical education is nothing short of life-changing.One of Hope’s students—a disadvantaged teen from North St. Louis who was barely passing his classes—later admitted that he enrolled in the EMT program “just to get out of the regular classroom,” Hope said.But then he discovered he loved the hard work and rigor of Hope’s courses. The student is graduating this year, and working to become a certified firefighter-EMT by the end of the summer.“He could make as much money just starting his career as his parents do at their age now,” said Hope. “He has completely different opportunities because of what he was able to do in high school.”CTE offers students the chance to learn in-demand skills or a path to associate degree programs. And the programs also benefit local economies by supplying skilled workers in fields like culinary arts, mechanical repair, welding, and emergency response.Without serious investment in CTE programs in high schools and community colleges, the nation faces serious labor shortages, particularly in the skilled trades, manufacturing, and health care.Many lawmakers get it: There is bipartisan support in Congress to reauthorize and expand the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce advanced a bill last month, which is expected to be voted on by the full House in the coming weeks.Proposed improvements include involving educators in decision making about CTE programs and providing training for educators to better meet the needs of English language learners and special needs students, so they can share in the full benefit of CTE programs.But any further loss of federal funding would stymie any real progress made in the reauthorization.“Any cuts to Perkins will especially hurt rural school districts and disenfranchised, low-income areas,” said Hope.“[CTE] is closing learning gaps and filling holes in the workforce. It’s ridiculous to even think of walking back that kind of progress.”Links to politics – governors get the credit rather than TrumpWermund 5/26 (Benjamin Wermund, an education reporter for POLITICO Pro, covering federal policy and national education issues, 5-26-2017, "Governors call on Congress to fund career and technical education," POLITICO, , Accessed: 7-15-2017 /Kent Denver-NK)GOVERNORS CALL ON CONGRESS TO FUND CAREER AND TECH ED: The National Governors Association is taking a rare step into the federal appropriations fray, writing a letter to congressional budget writers urging them to fund career and technical education and other programs that President Donald Trump has proposed cutting. “State economies are built on a foundation of education and workforce training,” the letter says. “Governors’ message to Congress is clear: There must be careful consideration as to how to appropriately invest in these types of programs (and many others). Otherwise, cuts and changes not carefully considered could lead to a deterioration of state budgets.”— President Donald Trump’s budget proposal calls for a 15-percent cut to grants meant to help states fund career and technical education. Career and technical advocates say the cuts fly in the face of the Trump administration’s repeated calls to expand options to help students prepare for jobs, rather than just pursue traditional four-year college degrees. The administration has said they’re an example of the “tough trade-offs” they had to make in a defense-heavy budget and that career and technical education is still a priority for the administration.— “Collectively, governors rarely wade into federal budgetary and appropriations debates, especially regarding investments in specific federal programs,” a spokeswoman for the group said. “This letter represents a departure for the nation’s governors due to the importance of these programs to their state economies.” The letter is not a direct response to Trump’s budget proposal, released earlier this week, a spokeswoman for the NGA said. The group started drafting the letter after Trump released his skinny budget earlier this year, she icalitysecondary education2ac topicality We meet – secondary CTE coursework is distinct from college related enrollment – it’s the same as high school students taking calculus at their local college during senior yearDougherty 16 (Shaun M. Dougherty is an Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Leadership at the Neag School of Education and an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut. He holds a doctoral degree in quantitative policy analysis from Harvard University as well as a master’s degree in educational administration from Gwynedd Mercy University. His work focuses on applied quantitative analysis of education policies and programs, including career and technical education, with an emphasis on understanding how PreK-12 policies and programs impact student outcomes., April 2016, “CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN HIGH SCHOOL: DOES IT IMPROVE STUDENT OUTCOMES?”, , nassal) The findings presented here demonstrate that CTE improves outcomes for students who focus their studies on a specific career. And the fact that CTE coursework in high school is not related to enrollment in a four-year college, either positively or negatively, should reassure leaders wary of promoting secondary CTE for fear that doing so comes at the expense of an advanced degree.Aff predictability-- CTE plays a massive role in secondary educationACTE 17- The Association for Career and Technical Education? is the largest national education association dedicated to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for careers (“About CTE,” ACTE, 2017, // Secondary: CTE serves 94 percent of all high school students, including male and female students, students from many races and ethnicities, and students from higher and lower income backgrounds. However, at the start of the 21st century, male students; students from smaller, lower income or rural schools; students who have disabilities; and students who enter high school with lower academic achievement were more likely to participate in secondary CTE at higher levels. In the 2013-2014 school year, according to the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education, there were 7,502,727 secondary CTE participants, or students who took at least 1 credit of CTE. In 2009, the average number of credits earned in CTE by high school graduates was 3.6 credits. Over time, the percentage of students taking a few credits of CTE and students spreading their CTE credits across multiple career fields has increased, while the percentage taking a higher concentration of credits in one field has declined. This is due in large part to increased academic coursetaking on the part of all students, pointing to a convergence in academics and CTE. In 2002, 88 percent of public high schools offered at least one CTE program. In addition, many high schools are served by area career centers--1,200 in 41 states, as of 2002.“CTE” relates to students in high school Dougherty 16 (Shaun M. Dougherty is an Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Leadership at the Neag School of Education and an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut. He holds a doctoral degree in quantitative policy analysis from Harvard University as well as a master’s degree in educational administration from Gwynedd Mercy University. His work focuses on applied quantitative analysis of education policies and programs, including career and technical education, with an emphasis on understanding how PreK-12 policies and programs impact student outcomes., April 2016, “CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN HIGH SCHOOL: DOES IT IMPROVE STUDENT OUTCOMES?”, , nassal) In this analysis, I define CTE participation in a number of ways in order to distinguish among effects that could be related to taking any CTE coursework in high school, relative to those that are related to increased exposure to CTE, or choosing to concentrate in a certain technical area. Specifically, I define CTE exposure as the number of CTE courses a student takes while in high school, the number of years in which they take at least one CTE course, as well as a binary measure of whether a student concentrated in a program of study as part of their overall CTE course taking. Counter-interpretation: Secondary school relates to the teaching style, not the ageOECD 04- OECD Glossary of Statistical Terms contains a comprehensive set of definitions of the main data items collected by the Organisation. The Glossary also contains definitions of key terminology and concepts and commonly used acronyms. (“Lower Secondary Education,” OECD, 26 February 2004, Definition: Lower secondary education (ISCED 2) generally continues the basic programmes of the primary level, although teaching is typically more subject-focused, often employing more specialised teachers who conduct classes in their field of specialisation. Lower secondary education may either be “terminal” (i.e., preparing students for entry directly into working life) and/or “preparatory” (i.e., preparing students for upper secondary education). This level usually consists of two to six years of schooling (the mode of OECD countries is three years). ................
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