12/15/2005   Share this page

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Greetings from the Acting Assistant Secretary
Community Colleges
Adult Education and Literacy
Secondary, Career, and Technical Education
Other Department News

Greetings from the Acting Assistant Secretary

Recently, I had the privilege to speak at the annual conference of the Association of Career and Technical Education (ACTE). Excerpts from my speech are below. My message was simple. All students need a firm base in academics if they are to be successful in the 21st century economy.

Federal involvement in vocational education is almost one hundred years old. The first vocational education act, of 1917, aimed to train students for jobs in an economy that was becoming rapidly industrialized, by targeting practical skills and training. The landscape has changed, and we owe it to our students to adapt our goals and strategies to the new environment in which we find ourselves.

There are four major changes that have taken place over the last hundred years that must inform the new direction of career and technical education. However, all of these changes only serve to magnify the importance of a challenging academic base for all students.

A hundred years ago the vast majority of students were not graduating from high school, much less completing any postsecondary training. But the jobs that those young people filled have either ceased to exist or are severely diminished. Today, the fastest growing jobs require in depth technological knowledge and strong analytical skills. In many cases, traditional distinctions no longer make sense. For example, once being an auto mechanic required little to no academic training. Now, most cars and trucks include more sophisticated computers then the Apollo 11 spacecraft, requiring advanced postsecondary training and a good grasp of technology. In this modern environment, a rigorous academic preparation is a practical education.

Another important change is the quick pace of globalization, which has created a global job market more fluid than any in history. Futurist Alan Toffler said a few years ago "the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." A solid academic foundation will help today's students adapt to the projected 15 careers they will have in their lifetime.

Along with globalization comes increased competition from abroad. Outsourcing is making inroads into skilled as well as unskilled employment. Employers are going abroad to find well educated and trained employees because the American educational system is not doing an adequate job. Too many of our students are being out-educated, out-performed, and will soon be out-employed by foreign competition. We need to equip our students to thrive in this new environment.

The last change is the awareness of our accountability for the persistent achievement gap affecting minorities and the academically disadvantaged. These groups traditionally participate in vocational education in high numbers and we are letting them down. We know, for example, that educational level directly correlates with earning capacity. And we know that education must expand our students' choices, not limit them. That is how education promotes freedom, equality, and human dignity.

However, there is good news for the achievement gap. Increasingly, evidence shows that achievement rises along with expectations. No Child Left Behind is ensuring high expectations for all children and it is working. A new Nation's Report Card came out recently. Achievement is on the rise-especially for fourth-graders. African-American and Hispanic students are posting all-time high scores in a number of categories. High expectations are liberating, not punitive.

These four changes to our educational and social landscape make it clear that the vocational educational models of the past will not serve the needs of American students in this, the 21st century. We can no longer see vocational education as an alternative to a rigorous academic curriculum. However, we will continue to build on the strengths of vocational education -- strengths like using extracurricular learning to enhance the classroom experience.

What we must recognize is that your students don't need to choose between academic excellence in the classroom and practical experience in a technical vocation. If we provide them with both, then they are doubly empowered to choose a successful path in life, and then choose and choose again as new opportunities, new challenges, or simply new interests, arise.

I look forward to continuing to work together to ensure every student receives the education they need to thrive in the 21st century.

Happy Holidays.

Beto Gonzalez

On November 28, the Office of Vocational and Adult Education sponsored the sixth in a series of Community College Working Group Meetings. These meetings bring together community college presidents or chancellors together with leaders from the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) and other federal offices to discuss opportunities, challenges, and promising practices.

The November 2005 Working Group focused on adult education and the community college - helping Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English Literacy (EL) students move through career pathway programs in community colleges. Eleven presidents or campus leaders of community colleges participated in the sessions, with two additional presidents serving as presenters. The session included two panels focusing on strengthening the success of community colleges in moving students through adult basic education and language proficiency classes into credit-bearing and credential-earning career pathways. The first panel discussion focused on research, initiatives, as well as foundation and business support. The other explored promising models or practices in three different states (Ohio, Oregon, and Washington). The college presidents engaged in topics including support services for low skilled adults, models for financial incentives for students, financing integrated training and English literacy instruction, and collaborative models for supporting career pathway initiatives.

A summary of the meeting will include sections on the key challenges, as well as recommendations for action by colleges, employers, and state or federal policymakers and administrators. In addition, there will be a summary of the primary points or programs cited by the panelists.

For more information please go to, www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cclo/index.html

One hundred and twenty adult education teachers, newly trained in evidence-based methods to teach adults reading, returned to six pilot states this month for the implementation phase of STAR (Student Achievement in Reading). STAR is a nearly $6M, seven-year OVAE investment running through spring of 2008. Pilot states participating in STAR include California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Ohio, and South Dakota.

In the first phase of STAR, experts developed a reading toolkit of assessments and strategies for intermediate level adult reading instruction. STAR's trained teachers now will use toolkit diagnostics to identify students' strengths and address students' limitations using evidence-based toolkit strategies. STAR teachers are excited about the project because they can identify key areas in which students need help, and students appreciate teachers who have tools that address their specific academic needs. For example, two adult students may be assessed at a fourth grade reading level. One adult may perform at that level due to problems with vocabulary, but the other student may have problems with comprehension. While appearing to be identical, these issues differ and must be addressed by different techniques. After using assessments in the toolkit to determine student reading levels, STAR teachers will pull evidence-based strategies from the toolkit to address specific reading components and help each student develop particular skills.

This implementation phase also will determine to what degree teachers can use techniques from the toolkit supported by research in their classrooms, given any administrative barriers that exist. STAR participants are discovering the importance of changing how local programs are organized. They are identifying issues such as managed enrollment, differentiated instruction in multi-level classes, teacher planning time and instructional leadership as being key to their plans for success. States are discussing how funding policies may help or hinder implementing evidence-based reading practice and how to deliver professional development that supports site-based reform. Over the next several months, STAR teachers will bring research and reality together. Stay tuned for updates on how STAR is combining the two successfully in adult education classrooms.

For more information, please go to http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/reading.html.

OVAE will provide training via the Perkins Data Quality Institute (DQI), to be held in Washington, D.C., from noon on February 8 to noon on February 10, 2006. The prospective agenda and logistical information may be found at the Peer Collaborative Resource Network (PCRN) Web site (www.edcountability.net).

There will be five objectives, but standardizing definitions and measures for the Perkins core indicators of performance will be the ultimate goal. The institute will feature federal and state panelists who will discuss their strategies and tools for ongoing improvements in program and data quality.

This DQI training will continue with regional meetings to be held in May 2006, but as of now those dates and location have not been confirmed. Please stay tuned to the PCRN Web site for information about these regional meetings.

There is a $175 registration fee for the February DQI; the last day for registration will be January 13, 2006. For more information, please contact Jay Savage at (202) 245-6612 or jay.savage@ed.gov.

U.S. Denmark Partnership Meeting

On November 16, 2000, the U.S. Department of Education and the Danish Education Department signed a partnership agreement designed to help each country with improvement of their vocational and technical education system. As a part of the agreement the two countries formed a Steering Committee that meets on a yearly basis to discusses ideas of mutual interest. This year's meeting was held in Copenhagen preceded by two days of site visits to a number of educational settings in Jutland, a province about two hours from Copenhagen. The American delegation, led by the Acting Assistant Secretary, visited business colleges, a science gymnasium, and a vocational-technical center. These visits illustrated both the commonalties and the differences of the two educational systems. Although Denmark is much smaller in size than the U.S., it is challenged by many of the same issues: globalization of the marketplace, an aging population, and an increasing immigrant population. The agreement emphasizes three key areas:

• Exploring cooperation, information sharing, and research relating to the development of skill standards, curriculum, assessment and teacher development.
• Using technological resources to improve business and vocational education in colleges, technical and business schools, and other agencies.
• Developing joint projects through learning, organizational and institutional partnerships.

National Association of Manufacturers Releases 2005 Skills Gap Report

According to the recently released 2005 Skills Gap Report, produced by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), there is a serious shortage of qualified manufacturing employees in the United States of America.

"The Survey exposes a widening gap between the dwindling supply of skilled workers in America and the growing technical demands of the modern manufacturing workplace," explained NAM President John Engler. He further went on to say "It is essential that America close this skills gap if we are to maintain our edge in the global marketplace and remain the world's leader in innovation."

More than 80 percent of manufacturers surveyed are experiencing an overall shortage of qualified workers, while 46 percent reported that the skill levels are poor among current employees.

To address some of the critical issues facing manufacturers, the report recommends:

• Educators to emphasize science, math and technology-related programs in K-12 curricula and invest more in teacher education;
• State education standards to include career education as measurable criteria for K-12 success;
• Employers to invest at least 3 percent of payroll whenever possible in training for current employees; and
• Government to partner with business to improve the K-12 and community college system to develop a high-performance workforce.

(Excerpts from National Association of Manufacturers press release, Nov. 22, 2005)

To respond to the needs of children in rural schools, Secretary Margaret Spellings re-invigorated the Rural Education Task Force. Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education Beto Gonzalez is the Task Force Chair. Linda Hall, who is the Executive Director of the Task Force, will be assisting him. The Rural Education Task Force is designed to bring renewed attention to the problems and issues of rural schools in meeting the challenges posed by the No Child Left Behind Act.

The purpose of the Task Force, supported by the Center for Rural Education is to:

• Serve as the voice of rural education both within the Department and in the rural community
• Coordinate and implement outreach efforts to rural constituents
• Develop a dissemination plan, targeted to rural communities
• Facilitate working groups that examine both challenges and promising practices of rural education
• Produce policy documents and publications that address issues in the rural community

Statement from Secretary Spellings on Release of Bush/Clinton Katrina Fund Grants On December 7, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings released the following statement applauding the release of $90 million in grant relief money from the Bush/Clinton Katrina Fund: "The announcement today by former Presidents Bush and Clinton exemplifies our nation's spirit of unity and compassion. Their generosity and dedication in establishing this fund has been more than matched by the overwhelming response of Americans, who have dug deep to help their neighbors in need. "Hurricane Katrina stripped the Gulf Coast region of even its most basic and essential services, shutting down hundreds of schools and displacing hundreds of thousands of students. One-third of the grant funds, $30 million, will go toward repairing or replacing buildings and equipment at institutions of higher learning. It will also support the faculty and staff who have seen their lives interrupted by the storm. We cannot allow the accumulated research and hard work of these fine teachers and scholars to be washed away.
"The U.S. Department of Education continues to do its part as well. We are working with states and schools in the region and elsewhere to ensure a minimum of disruption for students. We've held roundtable meetings with education and mental health experts to help children and families recover. We established the Hurricane Help for Schools online clearinghouse, which enables Americans to match their donations to meet schools' most pressing needs. To date, more than 500 matches have been made. And President Bush has proposed an urgently needed education relief package, which we are eager to see Congress approve. "In this season of giving, the American people have sent a positive and powerful message to the world-our nation will come together in times of need."