The last week of February marked the end of CTE Month, but we hope you were able to experience and participate in some of the events that took place around the country!. Many events shone a spotlight on CTE-related policies, initiatives and advocacy efforts this month, such as ACTE’s National... Continue reading

2020 Dual Enrollment Policies: The College in High School Alliance found 195 bills last year introduced in 36 states related to college in high school programs, which resulted in 21 new laws in 14 states. The two most common policy topics for 2020 were finance and course access and availability.... Continue reading

In 2020, CTE adapted to the challenges brought about by the coronavirus, continuing to deliver high-quality programming nationwide across all learner levels despite significant disruptions to education delivery. Because the pandemic was on the forefront of federal, state and local governments’ agendas, fewer policies and budget provisions for CTE were... Continue reading

This week is ACTE’s National Policy Seminar! Participants will get updates on current education policy and the new Congress and Administration, as well as opportunities to advocate for CTE with their representatives during virtual Hill visits. It is an important time for advocacy, as Congress works to complete the next... Continue reading

Last week, the primary focus on the Hill was the Senate impeachment trial of former President Trump, which ultimately ended on Saturday with 57 Senators voting to convict the president, not enough for the two-thirds majority required. In the House, most of the activity was related to the next COVID-19... Continue reading

Last week, the Senate finally approved its organizing resolution, allowing Democrats to assume full control of the chamber and new committee chairs to be seated. Both chambers of Congress also approved a budget resolution containing reconciliation instructions, which will make it easier for Democrats to move forward with an additional... Continue reading

Last week, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee held two separate committee hearings related to Executive Branch nominees, including for the U.S. Secretary of Education nominee Miguel Cardona and the U.S. Secretary of Labor nominee Marty Walsh. On Wednesday during Dr. Cardona’s opening testimony, he made equity and... Continue reading

Advance CTE has released a new report Building Better Futures for Learners: A 50-State Analysis of Area Technical Centers, which performs a national analysis of Area Technical Centers (ATC). In this report, an ATC is defined as a CTE-focused institution that serves learners from across multiple geographies, such as school... Continue reading

Last week, most of the attention in DC was on conversations around a new COVID-19 relief package. On the executive level, President Biden focused on singular issues each day last week, and subsequently released several executive orders which addressed issues such as climate change, health care and equity. Here are... Continue reading

Last week, most of the activity in DC was focused on the inauguration of President Biden as the 46th president of the United States. In his inauguration speech, the biggest nod to education was when President Biden spoke about getting students safely back to schools for in-person instruction. He also... Continue reading

News in Washington this week continued to be dominated by the fallout from the attack on the Capitol. On Wednesday, the House voted to impeach President Trump for a second time for incitement of insurrection. It was a 232-197 vote with 10 House Republicans joining Democrats voting in favor of... Continue reading

We, like all of you, watched with horror as events unfolded at the Capitol last week. As members of the DC community, who have walked the halls of Congress and who have friends and colleagues who serve our country there each day, the attacks on the Capitol were deeply personal.... Continue reading

Making Online Learning Effective: A new report details evidence and recommendations for high-quality online learning during the COVID-19 crisis. The researchers offer 10 ways to make online learning successful, including providing teacher supports, connecting and building relationships between students, identifying and supporting underserved students and special populations, and others. Enacting... Continue reading

We hope everyone had a great holiday season! Normally, the holidays are pretty quiet on the Hill, however this year there was a surprising amount of activity. Today is the final day of the Georgia Senate run-off races between former Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) and Democrat Jon Ossoff, and Sen.... Continue reading

The Biden administration has named Miguel Cardona, Connecticut’s education commissioner, as the U.S. Secretary of Education nominee. Perhaps most notably for CTE educators, Cardona is a graduate of Wilcox Technical High School in Connecticut, where he concentrated on automotive studies. Later, he began his career as an elementary school teacher,... Continue reading

Happy Holidays from ACTE! We hope you have a safe and cheerful holiday season. ACTE will be closed December 25-January 1, so there will not be a DC Digest next Monday, but the Digest will return after the break. Now onto the news. Last week, Congress stayed through the weekend... Continue reading

With only days remaining in 2020, Congress reached an agreement on a long-awaited additional relief package related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and coupled it with the FY 2021 omnibus appropriations bill to finish the federal appropriations process for the year. The massive bill, providing approximately $900 billion in COVID-19 relief... Continue reading

A new study from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) examined two federal pilot programs and found positive impacts of extending Pell grant eligibility to short-term CTE programs. The two pilot programs were conducted between 2012 and 2017 to determine if access to credentials would improve... Continue reading

With the holidays soon approaching, Congress is quickly trying to wrap up key legislation before the end of the year. Two key pieces remaining include a COVID-19 relief bill and FY 21 funding. While negotiations continue, the biggest disagreements on COVID-19 funding remain state and local aid and legal protections... Continue reading

Last week, we hosted ACTE's CareerTech Virtual VISION and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! While Virtual VISION was happening, there was a lot of movement in DC. The start of the 117th Congress is right around the corner, bringing with it a number of changes... Continue reading

Guided Pathways for Career and College Readiness: Guided pathways, a movement to redesign students’ journeys through postsecondary education to help achieve college completion and student success and to help close achievement gaps, is gaining momentum and is improving some student experiences, according to a new report from The Center for... Continue reading

Equity in Dual/Concurrent Enrollment: The College in High School Alliance has released another policy snapshot exploring state approaches to ensuring quality for dual/concurrent enrollment in high school programs. In order for states to provide early college courses in high schools, the researchers suggest using existing structures for oversight and regulation... Continue reading

We hope you had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday! Though it was a short week here at ACTE, and the House and Senate were out of session for the holiday, we still have a couple of notes from DC last week: Updated CDC Guidance for Schools During COVID-19: The... Continue reading

Both the House and the Senate are back in session and are working toward a consensus on FY 21 appropriations bills, which they hope to complete during the lame duck session. The continuing resolution (CR) currently funding the government expires on December 11, so some action must be taken before... Continue reading

Last week was National Apprenticeship Week! All throughout the week, many organizations, schools and federal agencies celebrated apprenticeship programs with informational webinars or virtual events, some of which are highlighted below. Activity was relatively quiet on Capitol Hill as new Members of Congress arrived for orientation, but along with events... Continue reading