March 3, 2016
Community
colleges continue to play a major role in President Obama’s goal that everyone
would have a fair shot at fulfilling his or her ambitions and earn a
family-sustaining wage. An educated nation where all have the opportunity to
contribute is essential to advancing our nation’s global leadership as the
world’s premier engine for opportunity and economic advancement. In support of
this, the president’s FY 17 budget proposal for education focuses on three
priority areas: advancing equity and excellence in education; providing support
for teachers and school leaders; and promoting access, affordability, and
completion in higher education. Career and technical education has an important
role in these areas.
America’s
College Promise
is the president’s initiative to provide two years of free community college to
responsible students in order to enhance their access to the middle class by
financing the first half of a bachelor’s degree and helping them acquire needed
workforce skills. To support this initiative, President Obama is proposing a Community
College Partnership Tax Credit in his FY 17 budget to encourage
employers to play a more active role in supporting this initiative. Under the
proposal, employers would strengthen community and technical colleges through
contributions like designing curricula, donating instructors and equipment, and
creating job-based learning opportunities. Once students complete the program,
employers would be eligible for a tax credit for hiring them. Employers can
earn a one-time $5,000 tax credit for hiring a qualifying community college
graduate full-time. A total of $500 million in credits would be available for
each of five years, from 2017 through 2021.
Pell
Grants provide extensive support to students pursuing career and technical
education. The Obama administration proposes that Congress approve a $2 billion-per-year
expansion of Pell Grants to finance year-round awards, as well as a bonus for
students who stay on track to graduate. One program, Pell for
Accelerated Completion, would permit full-time students to earn a third
grant award in an academic year (rather than the current limit of two awards).
The administration’s other Pell proposal, the On-Track Pell Bonus, would add $300
to the maximum award amount for students who take at least 15 credits per
semester in an academic year. It is estimated that this would help 2.3 million students
graduate on time.
The
proposed FY 17 budget contains a new initiative, the American
Technical Training Fund, to fund grants that build on lessons learned from
the Department of Labor’s Trade Adjustment
Assistance Community College and Career Training program. These
grants would expand innovative, high-quality technical training programs that
use evidence-based practices, have strong employer partnerships, include
work-based learning opportunities, provide accelerated training, and are
scheduled to accommodate part-time work. The goal of this program is to help
high-potential, low-wage workers gain the skills needed to work in growing
fields that pay family-supporting wages.
Connecting Young
Americans with Jobs and Skills is another new CTE initiative in the FY
17 budget proposal. It includes nearly $6 billion in funding to help more than
one million young people gain the work experience, skills, and networks that
come from having their first job. This initiative nearly doubles last year’s
budget request to support young people who are out of school and work.
For
a fuller description and discussion of these initiatives and proposals, click
on http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html Back to Top
The
Office of Career Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE) is pleased to announce
the release of the report Reentry
Education Framework: Guidelines for Providing High-Quality Education for Adults
Involved in the Criminal Justice System (Framework). The report is designed to help reentry
education providers create a seamless path for their students by connecting
education services offered in correctional facilities with those in the
community.
Current
estimates show that more than 700,000 adults exit state and federal prisons
each year, with even more leaving local correctional facilities. Many of these
former inmates lack the workforce skills and training to help them reintegrate
successfully into their communities. Research shows that education and training can reduce
the chance that these ex-offenders would commit another crime and be
reincarcerated. In fact, based on a comprehensive study of correctional education conducted by the
RAND Corporation in 2010, Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional
Education,
correctional education participants are 43 percent less likely to recidivate
post-release than nonparticipants and 13 percent more likely to find
employment. The study found that for every dollar spent on correctional
education, a four to five dollar savings is seen over a three-year
post-incarceration period.
Yet, educational services
offered in correctional facilities are often disconnected from community-based
education programs. Correctional education programs are often not aligned with
those in the community and do not have articulation agreements. Many
correctional education programs also use different curricula and assessments
than community programs, making it very difficult for individuals to resume
their education and training post release.
To
that end, the Framework promotes the
development of an education continuum spanning facility- and community-based
reentry education programs. It articulates five critical components—program
infrastructure, strategic partnerships, education services, transition
processes, and sustainability. Each component can be tailored to meet the
specific context and needs of the education provider, its partners, and the
target population. Education providers working with prisons typically
incarcerating adults from across the state may, for example, need to develop a
more far-reaching education continuum than providers servicing jails, which
normally house adults likely to return to their local communities.
The
Framework is based on lessons learned
from the implementation at three different sites of an OCTAE-funded reentry
education model,
known as the Promoting Reentry Success Through the Continuity of Education
Opportunities (PRSCEO) initiative
(and summarized in the OCTAE report Reentry
Education Model Implementation Study: Promoting Reentry Success Through Continuity
of Education Opportunities). The Framework
will help to bridge those lessons with the work from nine grantees
participating in OCTAE’s new Improved Reentry
Education (IRE)
program. These funded projects will implement new models based upon the best
available evidence and theories applicable to correctional and reentry
educational settings. Their work is supported by a technical assistance
contract.
OCTAE looks forward to the great strides that the
IRE program’s grantees will make in advancing education in these settings and
in the lives of those individuals for whom the programs were designed. To learn
more about the current grantees, please visit the IRE link above.
Individuals
wishing to learn more are encouraged to explore the online tool kit and the Framework report, which include
guidelines, tools, resources, and examples from the PRSCEO sites. Back to Top
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