ACTE's national leadership forum addresses the re-skilling of America.

THE ASSOCIATION FOR CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION HELD A NATIONAL LEADERSHIP FORUM in June to discuss the invaluable role that career and technical education (CTE) plays in preparing the nation's workforce. Leaders from business and industry, high-level staff from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Labor, and key legislators were present to discuss the challenges facing workers today.

The forum was organized to identify strategies for boosting the success of CTE students in both secondary and postsecondary education, and to find ways to take these strategies to scale through both programmatic and policy initiatives.

CTE and Workforce Development

The economic downturn has resulted in many changes to the labor market landscape in the United States. Education and workforce training systems face many challenges as they work to provide opportunities for an ever increasing number of unemployed and underemployed. Workers in industries worst hit by the economic downturn, such as the automotive industry, will for the first time in generations face a future that is extremely uncertain. Panelists at the forum noted that as the nation moves toward economic recovery, one thing that is certain is that CTE must be part of the answer. CTE's role in workforce development is crucial in part because of the involvement of business and industry in CTE programming, said former Maine Governor John McKernan. Input from employers is necessary in education programming, he noted, to ensure that there isn't a disjunction between the skills workers are learning in education and training and that which employers are seeking in their hires.

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Senator Patty Murray, chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, concurred that the engagement of business and industry is crucial in workforce development efforts. She noted that in her constituency one employer said that he only hires engineers who are also good communicators. He told her that a candidate who has experience as a debater in high school, for instance, is a stronger candidate than one with only the requisite engineering skills.

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Senator Murray added that often she hears from students that what they learn in school isn't applicable in the real world. "Often," she said. "They're right."

Gay Gilbert, an administrator from the Office of Workforce Development, U.S. Department of Labor, said that input from business and industry is also vital to the labor department because it provides necessary information about areas of growth, the skills required for those jobs, and best practices. The department is actively working to identify the industries that are contracting and those that are expanding; find ways to raise literacy and occupational skills; measure the skills of the unemployed to determine how those skills can be transferred to other sectors where there are jobs; get the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money funneled to states; and provide technical assistance.

Congressman Ruben Hinojosa, chair of the House Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness, noted at the forum that CTE has been integral in developing a skilled workforce in his constituency. Such programming has been successful in helping to keep the unemployment rate in the 15th district of Texas low despite a population that continues to grow exponentially. He noted that CTE programs need to continue creating a pipeline from high school to postsecondary education so that workers are being trained for the jobs in local communities.

"There is a lot of work to be done throughout the country," Congressman Hinojosa said, "We need to hear from you [the CTE community, business and industry and other stakeholders] what practices have been most effective."

Nominee named for OVAE Assistant Secretary

President Barack Obama has announced that Brenda Dann-Messier is his nominee to head the Office of Vocational and Adult Education in the U.S. Department of Education. Dann-Messier is currently the president of Dorcas Place, an Adult and Family Learning Center in Providence, Rhode Island. Prior to coming to Dorcas Place she worked at the Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University. She also previously served the Department of Education as Secretary Richard Riley's regional representative for Region I in Boston, Massachusetts. Before going to work for the Clinton Administration, Dann-Messier directed two TRIO programs: the Rhode Island Educational Opportunity Center (1987-1993) and the Educational Talent Search Program (1991-1993) of the Community College of Rhode Island. Dann-Messier is a member of the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education and chairs the Academic and Student Affairs subcommittee for the board. She received her B.A. and her M.Ed from Rhode Island College and her ED.D. in Educational Leadership from Johnson and Wales University. ACTE will be releasing more information about Dann-Messier's background as it becomes available, and will be reaching out to her to offer our support as she leads the nation's CTE and adult education systems.

Following the panels at the National Leadership Forum, attendees worked to come up with recommendations. The recommendations will be included in a paper to be released by ACTE in the near future. Keep visiting ACTE's Web site at www.acteonline.org for further information.