Podcast appearances and mentions of Carl D Perkins

In All4Ed's final Federal Flash of the year, we’ll provide a summary of the COVID-19 relief bill and the U.S. Department of Education’s funding for 2021. We’ll also discuss the likely nominee for the position of Secretary of Education.  Congress' Long Awaited COVID-19 Relief Bill   At long last, Congress finally passed a COVID-19 relief bill in both the House and the Senate and it will be signed into law by the president. As has been reported, the bill totals about $900 billion. It includes $600 direct payments to individuals and families and restores $300 per week in additional unemployment insurance. It also includes $82 billion in education funding, of which $54.3 billion will support K-12 education, $22.7 billion will support higher education, and $4 billion will go to governors.   The CARES Act vs. the Heroes Act vs. the Skinny Bill This bill looks a lot like the CARES Act that passed last spring. Funds will be allocated to states and districts based on Title I, just like the CARES Act. That said, there are a few important differences. First, this bill provides 4 times the amount of funding for education than the CARES Act. That’s a lot of money, but it’s a little disappointing because it’s less than both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Heroes Act and the “skinny” bill proposed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.   Second, this bill carves out funds for private schools. Governors will give state departments of education $2.75 billion from their $4 billion to administer to private schools. This provision replaces the equitable services provision that you may recall was included in the original CARES Act. This is the provision that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos tried to use to send more money to private schools, but ultimately got shot down in court.  Third, this bill includes a few additional allowable uses of funds. To be clear, the bill maintains the CARES Act’s flexibility – any use of funds allowed under the Every Student Succeeds Act, Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Assistance Act, and several other laws – is allowable under this bill. In addition, Congress added allowable uses for addressing learning loss and for school facility repairs to reduce the risk of virus transmission and support student health.   Significant Omissions in the New COVID Relief Bill No bill is perfect, and there are a few important items missing from this legislation. You may have read that the bill omits the Democratic priority of funding for state and local governments as well as the Republican priority of liability protections. Those were each poison pills for the other party, so they left them off the table. But other items were left off the table as well.  First, the bill provides no funding to school districts to address the Homework Gap. Thankfully, the bill does create a new program out of the Federal Communications Commission that will provide low-income families with a discount on home internet access and a subsidy for one low-cost device per family. This program received $3.2 billion, which is only about one-fourth of what the Heroes Act proposed to address the Homework Gap.   The bill also left out homeless children. Emergency spending bills, such as the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, often target funding to students experiencing homelessness. It was especially important for this bill to provide funds for these students because evidence from SchoolHouse Connection suggests that 420,000 fewer children who are experiencing homelessness have been identified and enrolled in school so far this year, even though homelessness is on the rise due to the economic downturn.   A summary of the bill is available here.   Congress' Annual Appropriations Bills At the same time as Congress passed the COVID-19 relief bill, they also passed the annual appropriations bills funding the federal government.   The Department of Education received a modest 1.

Back in Episode 67 we had our first conversation with this group. In a close community in the central valley of California, once, long ago founded by the timber industry, there lies a school district that's building one of the most important school experiences that any 12 or 13-year-old student in the country will experience this coming year. For those unfamiliar with the jargon - "Career and Technical Education" is a category of education models in the US (in parts of the country you know it as Vo-Tech or Vocational Technical education) that historically has been reserved for high schools, where, since the early 80's the federal government has been funding them through the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act.I'm excited to check in with the principle designers of MAD Tech, what excites them about the year to come, and, of course, with current events, what has them worried about what should be a celebrated kickoff this coming fall for what they've built, together as a community for education.Alyson Rocco is Principal at the Madera Technical Exploration Center - “Madera TEC.” She was a Madera High School graduate and is returning to the district after fifteen years in Clovis Unified, ten as a classroom teacher and five in administration. Theron Cosgrave (aka “Cos”) is a national consultant who works with educators on a wide range of issues including project-based learning, curriculum development, school design, leadership development, and strategic planning.Kristin McKenna is the Director of College and Career Readiness. Kristin supports the teachers in Madera Unified’s 25 career pathways, and helps build industry partnerships to align with the courses. She manages all of the CTE specific funding and is responsible for writing new grants as they become available.When you're done listening - head over to facebook.com/nosuchthingpodcast and check out some of the photos that Alyson sent me of the new school. For those you who like to geek out about the architectural spaces where learning happens you might love these. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This summer Congress passed the long-awaited reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which governs the federal investment in career and technical education (CTE). But what do CTE programs actually do? And how have they evolved over time? Join Katie Beal as she talks to Mary Visher, a senior research associate at MDRC, about CTE programs — including their development and challenges. They also discuss MDRC’s two-decade history of constructing and evaluating CTE programs, including the landmark study of Career Academies, and the other CTE programs MDRC is currently partnering with to build evidence and inform policy and practice. 

To recognize National Career and Technical Education Month 2017, CNA Education staff sat down to discuss the importance of CTE and its role in workforce development. As the demand for employees with more sophisticated technical, academic and employability skills has risen, so has the importance of strong CTE programs for improving college and career readiness. Our Education division started a STEMwire Initiative to provide the rigorous research and technical assistance needed to strengthen the research base on CTE and support current and developing CTE programs, particularly those focusing on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Podcast topics included: Promising trends in CTE and innovative, successful practices in CTE classrooms Successful industry-CTE partnerships and the next frontier for CTE The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act and legislative reforms at the federal, state and/or local levels that support improvements in CTE CNA Education work related to high-wage, high demand jobs and the gaps within the CTE research realm Click here to learn more about the participants and other CNA Talks episodes.