Career Pathways in Career and Technical Education. Policy Brief

Center for Law and Social Policy. 1015 15th Street NW Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005. Tel: 202-906-8000; Fax: 202-842-2885; Web site: http://www.clasp.org

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5

Career Development; Vocational Education; Adult Education; Labor Force Development; Low Income Groups; Literacy; Community Colleges; Human Services; Federal Legislation; Secondary Education; Postsecondary Education; Employment Qualifications; Job Skills; Federal Aid; State Aid; Data Analysis; Minority Group Students; At Risk Students; Alignment (Education); Educational Finance; Educational Legislation; Higher Education; Technical Education

Higher Education Act 1980; Carl D Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act 1998

During the early 2000s, state and local leaders developed career pathways programs in an effort to redesign education and workforce development systems to better meet the education and employment needs of low-income, educationally underprepared adults. These career pathways increase individual prosperity and regional competitiveness by aligning adult education, community colleges, human services, and workforce development efforts. Adults with low incomes or low literacy levels are a target population in the career pathways movement. Following the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Act (Perkins V) in 2018, three federal laws include a shared definition of career pathways: Perkins V, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), and the Higher Education Act (HEA). Career pathways support people in obtaining a secondary and postsecondary credential, provide participants with adequate career counselling, establish integrated design and delivery, and ensure labor market value. Perkins V implementation offers an opportunity for states to better align programs of study and career pathways to ensure that more learners can get high-quality education and training that meets their needs and helps them move into good jobs. Recommendations for state leaders include the following: (1) Use federal State Leadership Funds, as explicitly permitted in the law, to integrate and align programs of study with career pathways to best serve low-income adults (now in "special populations") and other target populations; (2) Use data focusing on special populations and communities of color to answer the state plan question on how states will align programs of study and career pathways to the needs of the state, regional, and local labor market; and (3) Encourage local uses of funds, as specifically permitted under the law, to pursue coordination with other education and workforce development programs and initiatives, including career pathways and sector partnerships developed under WIOA.

ERIC

2019

ED592631