March 1, 2017
Elisabeth (Betsy) DeVos
was confirmed by the United States Senate on Feb. 7, 2017, as the 11th
secretary of education and sworn into office later that day by Vice President
Michael R. Pence. Prior to becoming secretary, DeVos was a businesswoman,
philanthropist, and an advocate for education.
In addition, she served as Republican National Committeewoman for
Michigan and chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party.
DeVos is married to
Richard Marvin (Dick) DeVos, Jr., a businessman with Amway, who ran Amway’s
parent company, Alticor, from 1993 to 2002.
Mr. and Mrs. DeVos have four adult children, two daughters and two sons.
In her testimony before
Congress during the confirmation process and her initial remarks at the
Department of Education, DeVos was definitive about her commitment to
education. She has long championed the
right of parents to “choose the best educational option for their
children.” Preventing parents from
exercising this choice, as DeVos remarked, is “not just an issue of public
policy, but of national injustice.”
DeVos pointed out that her commitment to addressing this injustice has
“become my life’s work.” As she
explained, “Parents no longer believe that a one-size-fits-all model of
learning meets the needs of every child … Yet too many parents are denied access
to the full range of options … I am a firm believer that parents should be
empowered to choose the learning environment that’s best for their individual
children.”
Elsewhere in her
remarks, DeVos emphasized her commitment to public schools, which the “vast
majority of students in this country will continue to attend,” by saying, “I am
a strong advocate for public
schools.”
Of particular interest
to OCTAE Connection readers, DeVos
commented favorably on career and technical education and on the roles of
community and technical colleges in her opening remarks at her confirmation
hearing:
- “Students
… face new challenges today. … [W]e need to embrace new pathways of
learning. For too long a college degree
has been pushed as the only avenue for a better life. The old and expensive brick-mortar-and-ivy
model is not the only one that will lead to a prosperous future. Craftsmanship is not a fallback—but a noble
pursuit.
- “Students
should make informed choices about what type of education they want to pursue
post high school and have access to high-quality options. [President] Trump and I agree we need to
support all postsecondary avenues, including trade and vocational schools and
community colleges.”
DeVos also emphasized
the importance of lifelong learning for all adults—those who need to augment
their knowledge and skills and those who need to master more basic literacy and
numeracy skills.
DeVos is the first and
highest ranking of the presidential appointees, who will be nominated by the
president and confirmed by the Senate, to lead the U.S. Department of
Education. In the coming weeks and
months, other senior officials and political appointees will be joining the
Department. In the interim, DeVos is assisted by a team of advisors the Trump
Administration has assigned to assist with the development and implementation
of its priorities and policies and to carry out ongoing Department
responsibilities.
We congratulate DeVos
on her confirmation as secretary of education and wish her success during her tenure.
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Nonprofit education
innovation organization Digital
Promise released a new
report, Accelerating Change: A Guide to the
Adult Learning Ed-Tech Market. The report focuses on digital learning opportunities for underserved
adults in the United States to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to
succeed in a changing economy. Digital Promise “connects entrepreneurs, educators,
and researchers to support and advance the development and use of educational
technology that expands career pathways and improves the quality of life for
these learners.” Stakeholders across the spectrum of adult learning service
providers should find the report useful and instructive.
The new guide underscores
the fact that the redesigned Workforce Innovation
and Opportunity Act (WIOA)
legislation “positions entrepreneurs to capitalize on the new federally mandated
focus on integrating technology into adult education.” WIOA requires the integration of technology and digital skills into
WIOA-funded programs. Specifically,
as detailed in the report, states are now required to create state plans with
technology integration, allowing them to more easily work with the private
sector and key economic partners. With this, states and local workforce
investment boards are better able to “leverage their purchasing power and
improve the ways they organize and invest in the best technology-based
solutions and services.”
Accelerating
Change, according to Digital Promise, is designed to “clarify
the landscape, uncover the major market entry points, identify the needs of
adult learners, and present strategies for developing value propositions that
are most desired by learning providers and adult learners.” It opens by
reviewing previous adult learning market research, framing the market opportunity,
and providing a successful business model. It also discusses the major customer
segments in the adult learning community, including community colleges,
community-based organizations, workforce development centers, libraries, and correctional
institutions. Helping these high-need learners find employment has a
substantial social impact, including breaking the cycles of poverty and crime. The
guide’s final section provides a list of next steps—10 action items to aid
entrepreneurs as they prepare ventures in the adult learning market.
Interested
parties are encouraged to read the full report and to visit Digital Promise’s website
to access previous reports in this series as well as other resources.
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As a result of
the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act (WIOA), a heightened emphasis
has been placed on the alignment of programs serving youths to ensure that they
obtain the skills necessary to prepare them for successful workforce
participation and continued education achievement.
The
U.S. departments of Labor and Education released technical assistance (TA) documents
to facilitate these efforts. These documents provide strategies and examples of
state and local partnerships that facilitate the reengagement of out-of-school
youths, support communities working with in-school youths in accordance with WIOA, and address strategies for serving
English learners, current and former foster youths, and justice-involved youths.
Technical
assistance included in these documents detail a variety of ways that partners
can work together to build career pathways that align with local skill needs to
prepare youths and young adults for success in secondary or postsecondary
education programs and the labor market.
We
encourage all stakeholders to distribute the TA documents (linked below) to all
potential partners serving youths and young adults.
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The National Conference of State Legislatures recently
launched a searchable database, a result of activity across legislatures in all
states following the 2014 passage of the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
The database contains legislation enacted in state legislatures during the 2015
session. Included are issues related to WIOA
implementation, such as sector strategies, career pathways, adult
education, career and job training, work-based learning, pay-for-performance
initiatives, state plan and/or governance issues, and general
workforce legislation. . Interested individuals are encouraged to visit NCSL database http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/workforce-innovation-and-opportunity-act-2015-legislative-scan/ website to conduct a detailed or
state-by-state search.
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