The State Board of Regents and the State Board of Education & Early Development held a joint meeting June 3, 2015. Agenda items included UA’s concurrent enrollment definition and Regents’ policy; UA's College Readiness definition; Alaska teacher education; and K-12 standards and assessments and their alignment with UA.

For more details about the meeting, please visit any of the following:

·         Board of Regents meeting documents: http://www.boarddocs.com/ak/alaska/Board.nsf/Public

·         Board of Education meeting documents: http://education.alaska.gov/State_Board/pdf/15-June-Packet.pdf

·         Alaska Business Monthly Magazine article: http://www.akbizmag.com/Education/UA-Board-of-Regents-meets-with-State-Board-of-Education-and-Foundation-Board-of-Trustees/

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) has just issued a report - Opportunities and Options: Making Career Preparation Work for Students - which calls on states to adopt three main recommendations in order to ensure all students are career-ready:

• Enlist the employer community as a lead partner in defining the pathways and skills most essential in today's economy.
• Set a higher bar for the quality of career preparation programs, enabling all students to earn a meaningful postsecondary degree or credential.
• Make career readiness matter to schools and students by prioritizing it in accountability systems.

Read more on the CCSSO Website or download the entire report (21 page PDF).

At its annual business meeting on October 22, 2014, the Alaska Association for Career and Technical Education (Alaska ACTE) adopted the following resolutions:

• Resolution 14-1: In Honor and Memory of Dale Staley's Lifelong Commitment to Alaska CTE
  
• Resolution 14-2: Continued Implemention of Alaska's State CTE Plan
  
• Resolution 14-3: Support for implementation of Alaska's Workforce Development Plans
  
• Resolution 14-4: Options for Including CTE Courses in Meeting Alaska Performance Scholarship Curricular Requirements
  

The resolutions may be downloaded at the following links. Each is a 1-page PDF document.

14-1: Honoring Dale Staley
14-2: CTE Plan
14-3: WFD Plans
14-4: APS

For more information about Alaska ACTE, please visit their website at http://www.actealaska.org/.

These requirements apply to all Limited Type M CTE Certificates first issued after January 1, 2014 (For full text of the Regulations, see 4 AAC 12.372)

For New Applications for a One-Year Limited Type M CTE Certificates

• Industry certification (defined as “a credentialing, licensing, or certification that permits a person to work in the career or technical specialty”) OR four years of fulltime work experience in a trade or vocational area (up to two years of formal training at a trade school, technical institute, or similar institution may be substituted for part of the experience)
  
• Pass a criminal history background check (must submit fingerprint cards with application)
  
• Two letters of recommendation verifying length of experience and competency
  
• Local school board request (Form provided by EED)
  

For Extension of an Initial 1-Year Limited Type M CTE Certificates for Four Additional Years

• Passing scores on basic competency exam in reading, writing, math, which is taken no more than one year after original issue date of certificate (see http://education.alaska.gov/TeacherCertification/praxis.html for tests and qualifying scores)
• School district certification that applicant has demonstrated classroom instruction, curriculum, and assessment skills (Form provided by EED)
  

For Renewal of a 5-year Limited Type M CTE Certificate 

• Satisfactory completion of three semester hours of credit related to the applicant’s employment or a CTE specialty approved by the school district
  
• 135 hours of work experience in the specialty outside of work with students
  
• Evidence of satisfactory teaching performance under the certificate (as verified on the application form)
  
• Local school board request (application form provided by EED)

• Download the Type M requirements in a 1-page PDF here.
  
• Download a sample Type M application form here.
  

For more information, please visit the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development Teacher Certification website - http://education.alaska.gov/TeacherCertification/

-- OR --

Contact the Teacher Certification office – by phone (907) 465-283
or by email to Sondra Meredith, Teacher Certification Administrator, at Sondra.Meredith@Alaska.Gov 

The State Board of Education and Early Development is proposing to adopt regulation changes in Title 4 of the Alaska Administrative Code by amending 4 AAC 06.075 to revise the units of credit required for high school graduation as follows:

• An increase in the units of credit in mathematics from the requirement of two units of credit in mathematics for students graduating on or before June 30, 2017, to three units of credit in mathematics for students graduating from high school on or after July 1, 2017.

You may submit public comment on this proposed regulation by November 3, 2014 at the EED public notice website (https://education.alaska.gov/regs/comment.cfm ).
The comment form is at the very bottom of the page.  Cite 4 AAC 06.075 as the regulation you are commenting on.

From the ACTE Online CTE Policy Watch Blog, September 19, 2014

Yesterday, Congress passed a stopgap continuing resolution (CR) to provide temporary funding for the federal government through December 11. The House passed the bill (319-108) on Wednesday, with the Senate following suit (78-22) a day later.  This CR will continue current funding levels for Perkins and other education programs until a long-term agreement for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 can be reached.

In July, the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations subcommittee released an FY 2015 funding bill that would increase the Perkins Basic State Grant to $1.123 billion (up from $1.118 billion in FY 2014)! However, neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives will be able to pass a Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill before the end of the fiscal year, so the short-term CR is necessary to keep the federal government running past September 30. 

Following the passage of the CR, Congress adjourned until November for the midterm elections. ACTE has called on Congress to complete its work on a full-year appropriations bill that includes an increase in Perkins funding. With so much uncertainty about the future of funding for CTE, this is an important time to reach out to your Members of Congress and let them know that investing in CTE can’t wait!

http://ctepolicywatch.typepad.com/blog/2014/09/congress-passes-short-term-funding-bill-for-perkins.html 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, co-chair of the Senate Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, today introduced the Middle School Technical Education Program (Middle STEP) Act that would expose middle school students to CTE programs focused on career exploration. 
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 Education Commission of the States (ECS) has released a report on legislation related to CTE and workforce development, which highlights activities such as high school and postsecondary learning opportunities, industry credentials, internships and apprenticeships, and formalizing governing structures.The report may be downloaded from the ECS website.