From Bloomberg Businessweek
By Karen Cates
July 29, 2014

In a recent article, I suggested that we should stop feeding high school students the myth that college is right for everyone. Higher education has a role for many young people, but as an instructor in college classrooms for almost 25 years, I have met plenty of young people who weren’t well-suited to it.

For some, college represents great stress, failing grades, and an inability to succeed in the classroom despite extra help. This has nothing to do with being smart. It has everything to do with the lack of alternatives for young people who deserve a better definition of success post-high school.

Parents, leaders, educators, and employers should work to discover children’s strengths and provide options to develop t_hem. Many readers agreed with my last article, but I received a lot of e-mails concerned that our lawmakers and educators might adopt as a solution Europe’s early “tracking” programs, which divert children (without choice) to college or a trade profession. One of the hallmarks of American culture is the idea that we are free to choose our own paths.

Read the entire article. 

H.R. 803, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which amends and reauthorizes the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA), was signed into law by President Barack Obama on July 22, 2014. According to the US Department of Labor, "WIOA is designed to help job seekers access employment, education, training, and support services to succeed in the labor market and to match employers with the skilled workers they need to compete in the global economy. Congress passed the Act by a wide bipartisan majority; it is the first legislative reform in 15 years of the public workforce system.

WIOA supersedes the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and amends the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, the Wagner-Peyser Act, and the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998. In general, the Act takes effect on July 1, 2015, the first full program year after enactment, unless otherwise noted. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will issue further guidance on the timeframes for implementation of these changes and proposed regulations reflecting the changes in WIOA soon after enactment."

Key provisions include:

• requires states to strategically align workforce development programs
• promotes accountability and transparency
• fosters regional collaboration
• improves the American Job Center System
• improves services to employers and promotes work-based training
• provides access to high quality training
• enhances workforce services for the unemployed and other job seekers
• improves services to individuals with disabilities
• makes key investments in serving disconnected youth and other vulnerable populations
• enhances the Job Corps Program
• reinforces connections with Registered Apprenticeship
• streamlines and strengthens the strategic roles of workforce development boards

Read the entire bill here.
Visit the USDOL's WIOA website.
Visit the USED's WIOA website.

The Alaska Department of Education & Early Development has created six posters highlighting technical careers and the CTE APS - a great way to advertise this opportunity to our students! These posters may be printed, posted on websites, used in publications, etc. by Alaska schools and CTE training programs. Download the printer-ready posters in PDF format below.

The Pathways to Prosperity Network is now two years old, with eight state members—California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Tennes_see—doing significant work in creating career pathways in grades 9-14. Two more states, Arizona and Delaware, joined the Network in June 2014. This report is a letter to the field about what’s been accomplished to date. As is often the case in such initiatives, the results thus far are due to a combination of good luck, good timing, deep knowledge of implementation, and a simple but urgent message and strategy. The unique stories of the developments in each state are included in this report as well as observation and description of key aspects of this work across the states in the Network as a group.

Download or read the report here.

By Howard Pankratz
The Denver Post
(posted Juy 6, 2014)

Poor alignment of American businesses with the schools that train their workers is creating a "skills gap" that may make it hard to fill as many as 650,000 technical- and science-based jobs by 2018.

The country needs a shift in how industry and educational institutions relate to each other, economists and business executives say.

"We do not take an approach — either at the national level or state level — that creates an ease of communications between employers and educational institutions that are going to impart skills and background to potential employees," said Joe Fuller, a Harvard Business School researcher. "This is why we have 12 million to 13 million unemployed people and 650,000 job openings in manufacturing right now."

Recent college graduates typically have only about half the skills they need in the workplace, according to John Miller, chief operating officer for Denver-based consulting firm Hands-On Learning.

Read the entire article.