House File 473 was signed into law on April 20,
modifying Iowa Code 259A to permit additional options for students to
demonstrate competency for earning a high school equivalency diploma. The bill
aims to help more Iowans earn their high school equivalency diplomas, which helps to increase their earning potential, expands employment opportunities, and
prepares awardees for additional training or postsecondary education required for
many of the state’s high-growth jobs.
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The third annual longitudinal report analyzing education,
employment, and wage patterns of Iowa’s community college graduates was
presented to the State Board of Education on May 11.
The report, Education
Outcomes: Certificate, Diploma, and Associate Degree Programs, follows
students as they progress through postsecondary education and training pathways
at Iowa’s community colleges and into the workforce. Information about
community college awards, time-to-degree, retention, migration, transfer to
four year institutions, employment, wages, and wage clusters is examined.
Developed in partnership with Iowa Workforce
Development (IWD), this report follows five cohorts of graduates from academic
years 2011-2015. Each graduate is tracked into continued education or the
workforce.
Of the 88,517 students who completed short- and
long-term awards between AY 2011 and 2015:
- The
majority earned awards in liberal arts and sciences, health professions,
business management and marketing, and mechanics and repairers programs.
- 82 percent remained in Iowa a year after program
completion.
- Over 51 percent continued onto further education,
either in state or out-of-state.
- Approximately 40 percent gained employment within
the state the first year following completion of their award.
Students earning career
technical awards such as Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degrees had higher
rates of employment and earnings above the state’s 2015 per capita income of
$28,628. For the AY 2015 cohort, 94 percent of AAS degree recipients were
employed within one year of graduation and earned median wages of $35,915.
As expected, students earning
transfer-oriented Associate of Arts (AA) degrees continued their education at
high rates, but those who did not transfer had relatively weak labor market
outcomes as compared to students earning awards designed for workforce
preparation. The retail trade, health care and social sciences, and
accommodation and food services industry sectors employed the largest share of
college parallel completers entering the workforce after graduation.
Contact Paula Nissen at paula.nissen2@iowa.gov
or 515-281-3550 with comments or
questions.
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The division has created a new fact sheet summarizing the provisions of House File 2392, the state's first comprehensive update to career and technical education (CTE) in Iowa since the 1980's. The fact sheet explains the redesign efforts underway across the state and how they benefit students, businesses, and the economy.
Questions about the fact sheet, which can be downloaded from the Department's CTE Redesign webpage, should be directed to Pradeep Kotamraju at pradeep.kotamraju@iowa.gov or 515-281-4716.
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Six high school seniors from Valley High School in West Des Moines will already have college degrees in hand when they walk across the stage at their high school graduation later this month. Their stories could be told at any high school and Iowa community college where partnerships provide students the opportunity to earn college credit in high school.
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Work
has been underway since January to update the common course numbering
(CCN) system, a uniform numbering convention for equivalent courses, across
Iowa’s community colleges. CCN makes it easier for students to identify and
transfer courses between colleges because equivalent courses are labeled
with the same course number across all community colleges. There
are over 13,000 active course numbers across the system in the CCN, including
many in the over 1,400 career and technical program options offered through Iowa's 15 community colleges.
In the
past four months, the number of equivalent courses with different names has
been reduced from 900 to only 26 courses, with the remainder on track to be
eliminated by this fall.
Future goals for the system include aligning
common courses that have different credit hours, setting basic naming standards
for new courses, and reviewing course objectives in faculty discipline content
meetings for those courses with the highest common usage across the colleges
Questions about the CCN project can be directed to Chris
Russell, education consultant, at chris.russell@iowa.gov
or 515-725-2247.
A team of Iowa stakeholders recently attended the National
Summit for Educational Equity (NSEE) in Washington, DC, to advocate for career
and technical education (CTE). The NSEE
professional development conference is hosted by the National Alliance for Partnerships
in Equity (NAPE) whose mission is to build educators’ capacity to implement
effective solutions for increasing student access, educational equity, and
workforce diversity. The State of Iowa
is an established member of NAPE and collaborates with the organization on
multiple training initiatives regarding nontraditional careers and Science,
Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programming for special population
students.
Iowa was well represented by a diverse group of
stakeholders, including Linda Bisgaard from Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa; Donna
Burkett with Iowa Workforce Development; Rhonda McRina from Hawkeye Community College;
Kathy Nacos-Burds from Northeast Iowa Community College; Jeanette Thomas with the Iowa
Department of Education; and Tara Troester from Cedar Rapids Community Schools.
Several
team members also had the opportunity to serve on a conference panel discussing
Iowa’s collaboration with NAPE to deliver critical professional development to
teachers/instructors, counselors and advisors, administrators, and community
collaborators in order to increase student access to career pathways through CTE and STEM.
The team also attended a public policy day entitled, “Recognizing the Value and Supporting the
Alliances between Career and Technical Education, Workforce and Industry.” As part of the policy day, team members
visited Senator Joni Ernst, Congressman David Young and Senator Charles
Grassley’s office, to advocate for equity and accountability in Perkins and Reauthorization
of the Perkins Act, along with related policy issues impacting career and
technical education.
For information on the Iowa and NAPE partnership, or to
learn more about the equity projects in Iowa, contact Jeanette Thomas, education consultant at jeanette.thomas@iowa.gov
or 515-281-3636.
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It’s hard to believe that in today’s technology-driven
culture there is a shortage of people interested in high-tech careers. With jobs
in computing growing at twice the rate of other types of jobs, and virtually
everyone hyperconnected through tech devices, one would think this would
translate into career interest.
To close the technology skills gap and break down barriers so more Iowans can see themselves in this field, IT sector partnerships have formed across the state.
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