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Students who earn career and technical awards from Iowa community colleges have higher rates of employment and higher earnings after program completion than community college students who complete other programs and directly enter the workforce, according to an analysis of education, employment, and wage patterns of Iowa community college graduates.
The report, developed in partnership with Iowa Workforce Development, follows five groups of community college graduates from academic years 2012-2016 and tracks them into further postsecondary education and the workforce.
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The Iowa Department of Education (Department) recently
released its annual
report on joint enrollment for the academic year (AY) 16-17. Jointly enrolled
students are high school students enrolled in community college credit
coursework. This report provides trend data on factors
such as headcount enrollment, credit hours taken, student demographics, and
enrollment by program type and offering arrangement.
Some highlights of this AY16-17 report include:
- An increase in enrollment from 47,907 students last year to 49,868 this year, a 4.1 percent increase.
- High school students participating in joint enrollment programs accounted for 37.6 percent of total community college enrollment.
- The most common subject areas in which students jointly enrolled include social science and history, English, mathematics, health care, and business and marketing.
Contact Eric St Clair, Education Program Consultant, Bureau of Career and Technical Education, at eric.stclair@iowa.gov or 515-326-0274
with comments or questions.
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Governor Kim Reynolds signed House File 2458, the Future Ready Iowa Act, into law at the close of the Future Ready Iowa Summit in Des Moines on April 3. The law aims to strengthen workforce development and expand work-based learning opportunities for students.
The legislation, which passed with bipartisan support from lawmakers, calls for the establishment of programs to support students and help them to succeed in college and careers, which is in line with the Future Ready Iowa goal for 70 percent of Iowans to have education or training beyond high school by 2025.
In particular, the legislation calls for the establishment of a registered apprenticeship development program, a volunteer mentoring program, a summer youth intern program, summer postsecondary courses for high school students that align with high-demand career pathways, an employer innovation fund, and a skilled workforce scholarship and grant program.
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On March 28, 2018, Senate File 2117 was signed into law, reducing community college fiscal year (FY) 2018 state general aid (SGA) by $500,000.
The Iowa Department of Education distributes the annual SGA appropriations to Iowa’s community colleges in 12 monthly payments, sent on the 15th of each month. Therefore, the reductions related to this year’s budget reduction will affect the remaining three monthly disbursements to the 15 community colleges based on the SGA distribution formula. The first of three revised disbursements will be sent on April 16, 2018.
Contact Eric St Clair, Education Program Consultant, Bureau of Career and Technical Education, at eric.stclair@iowa.gov or 515-326-0274 with any questions about the calculation of these monthly disbursements.
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This month, the
Iowa community college program and common course numbering management system
will be transitioning from CurricUNET V2 (established in the 2011-2012
academic year) to the newest version of CurricUNET, called META.
CurricUNET is a web-based platform that provides the archival of all
state-approved academic programs and a database for all courses offered at
Iowa's 15 community colleges. In addition, the system allows colleges to
build new college-level courses, launch new career and technical education
(CTE) programs, and modify existing programs and courses.
With the upgrade
to META, colleges can expect to see a more user-friendly system that
streamlines approvals, decreases turnaround time, and increases the
ability to produce individualized reports. Colleges have been testing the new
system in a "sandbox" environment since the spring of 2017, in
preparation for all of the course and program information to be migrated
over to the new platform, which is taking place now, and will be live early next week.
Consultants from
the Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation (Division) have worked
diligently with the software vendor and the statewide user's group to prepare
for the META conversion since it was first envisioned in the summer of
2015. There are a few customization requests that will need to be completed
after META goes live. The vendor will work closely with our lead consultant and the colleges to make this transition as smooth as
possible.
Contact Chris
Russell, Education Program Consultant for Program Quality, Bureau of Community Colleges, at chris.russell@iowa.gov or 515-725-2247 for more information.
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Registration
is now open for the 2018 Iowa Adult Education and Literacy Conference, which
will be held July 16-18, at the FFA
Enrichment Center on the DMACC campus in Ankeny. This year's theme,
"Educate and Elevate Iowa" is an important reminder that adult
education plays a critical role in preparing adults to succeed in a global
culture and economy by delivering a world-class education.
Juan Manuel Garcia, who oversees the strategic partnerships for the Center
for Equity in Learning at ACT, will be the keynote speaker. The conference
planning committee is currently seeking conference sponsors and accepting
proposals for break-out sessions.
More information about the conference is available on the
Department’s website. Please
contact Education Program Consultants within the Bureau of Community Colleges: Jayne Smith, conference chair, at jayne.smith@iowa.gov or 515-725-0046, or
Marcela Hermosillo-Tarin, conference co-chair, at marcela.hermosillo@iowa.gov or 515-281-4723, with
comments or questions.
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The Iowa Department of Education, in
support of the Future Ready Iowa Initiative, has partnered with Elevate
Advanced Manufacturing and the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI)
to develop promotional materials to highlight a wide range of high-paying and
in-demand careers offered in the advanced manufacturing industry in Iowa.
Similar projects were completed last year for the information technology and energy/utilities industries.
To assist in this process, manufacturers and employers from the
advanced manufacturing industry are invited to participate in focus groups
across the state this month to review and discuss proposed statewide
career awareness materials. These materials include descriptions of various
positions and detailed career pathways showing how to enter and advance through
a wide range of careers in Iowa. Seats are limited for these employer-only
sessions, so register as soon as
possible to ensure a space. The final project will be released at the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) conference, Taking Care of Business, that is taking place June 5-7, 2018, in Coralville.
For more information, contact Joe Collins, Education Program Consultant, Bureau of Community Colleges, at joe.collins@iowa.gov or 515-725-0646.
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Iowa Department of Education
400 E 14th Street Grimes State Office Building Des Moines, Iowa 50319 Ph: 515-281-5294 www.educateiowa.gov
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