NAPE NEWS
A traditional Professional Development Institute (PDI)
event, Public
Policy Day will take place on Wednesday, April 9,
2014. This year, all events on that day, including a NAPE-sponsored
lunch, will take place on Capitol Hill. Public Policy Day has always
been a crowd favorite. As one participant said last year,
"[NAPE] really puts everything into perspective...a big picture
of how policy will eventually trickle down and affect practice."
Please visit the NAPE
website for all information about our 35th PDI, which
is scheduled for April 7-10, 2014, in Arlington, VA. Registration is now open!
In addition, we are now accepting proposals for workshop sessions and
applications for PDI attendance.
CONGRESS
Perkins
Reauthorization Shows Some Traction in the House
On November 19, the House Committee on Education and Workforce held a
hearing, "Preparing
Today's Students for Tomorrow's Jobs: Improving the Carl D. Perkins
Career and Technical Education Act," which
provided significant indication that the House might move on Perkins
in the 113th Congress. Read NAPE's summary
of the hearing.
The Administration's pre-hearing proposal of turning the $1 billion
Perkins Act program into a competitive grant program (see first item
under Administration, below) is unlikely to receive support from
congressional Republicans. However,
its launch may catalyze bipartisan support to reauthorize an improved
and rebranded version of Perkins. In fact, although he
expressed disappointment in "the Obama Administration's
announcement of a new national competitive grant program aimed at
career education--without any input from Congress," Committee Chairman John
Klein (R-MN) indicated that "the Administration's
blueprint for reform of the Perkins Act offers a solid starting point
for bipartisan negotiations, with an emphasis on industry
coordination and state involvement in the development of CTE
programs."
Lawmakers
Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Early Education for
America's Children
Access and affordability to high-quality early learning programs for
nearly 20 million children would be dramatically improved under
bipartisan legislation introduced on November 13 by Reps. George Miller
(D-CA), senior Democrat of the House Education and the Workforce
Committee, Richard
Hanna (R-NY), co-chair of the Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education Caucus, and other
lawmakers.
The Strong
Start for America's Children Act will dramatically
improve access to full-day early learning opportunities by
establishing new federal-state partnerships that prepare children to
arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed. The bipartisan legislation
is the most aggressive, comprehensive quality initiative to provide
young children with the necessary early learning tools to succeed in
school and in life in the past 20 years. At a press conference,
actress and Save the Children Artist Ambassador Jennifer
Garner urged swift passage of the bill.
Senate HELP
Committee Begins Higher Education Act Reauthorization Discussions
On October 31, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension
(HELP) Committee held the second of 12 scheduled hearings on the
reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA). Attaining
a Quality Degree: Innovations to Improve Student Success examined
innovative practices in higher education, which, according to
Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), "are increasing student learning,
engagement and degree completion." Witnesses spoke about a great
variety of innovations and offered insight for how to improve higher
education. However, one practice in particular--competency-based
learning--emerged as a clear favorite among those testifying.
Budget
Conference Committee Convenes
On October 30, the Budget Conference Committee convened for the first
time to start negotiations between both parties over the budget and
other fiscal issues such as tax and entitlement reform. The
conference committee--created as part of the agreement that ended the
most recent government shutdown and raised the debt ceiling--is
tasked with reconciling the House and Senate budget proposals, which
fund the federal government at $967 billion and $1.058 trillion,
respectively. The committee must finalize a compromise by December
13, which leaves little time for the appropriations committees in
both chambers to craft the necessary 12 appropriations bills needed
to fund the federal government before the current Continuing
Resolution expires on January 15. In a rare joint
letter, Senate Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and
House Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) have urged the committee to come to
an agreement no later than Thanksgiving.
Wider
Opportunities for Women's Congressional Briefing Addresses Recent
Research Finding 41% of All Women Lack Economic Security
On November 14, Wider
Opportunities for Women (WOW) in conjunction with
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro held a congressional
briefing regarding the economic challenges facing
women and working families. WOW's recent report,
Living Below the Line, reveals that the nation's
"economic insecurity rate" is 45%. The panel discussion was
led by the report's co-author, Shawn McMahon, Acting CEO of WOW.
Panelists included Teresa C. Younger, Executive Director, Permanent
Commission on the Status of Women, Hartford, Connecticut, and
Anastasia Braucht, Jersey Shore restaurant worker and volunteer with
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United.
ADMINISTRATION
White
House Announces Youth CareerConnect Grant Program
On November 19, President Obama announced
a new CTE competitive grant program called Youth CareerConnect,
with the goal of creating more schools like the P-TECH schools in New
York and Chicago that feature 6-year programs from which students
graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate's degree.
Youth CareerConnect will hand out 25 to 40 grants
in its first year, ranging from $2 million to $7
million, with a 25% matching funds requirement. Learn more from the Department
of Labor
Secretary
Duncan Unveils Timeline for a College Ratings System
Renewed energy and focus on innovative practices in higher
education have largely been spurred by the Obama Administration's
call to make college more affordable. College tuition and fees have
increased by a staggering 538% since 1985, and the administration has
made it a priority to combat these rising costs. Toward that end, the
President proposed linking federal financial aid to school
performance based on a national college ratings system. Factors such
as average tuition, loan debt, graduation rates, and employment
outcomes are possible contributors to a university's or college's
rating. The administration has planned a series of hearings on
college campuses across the country to gather input for the new
system.
Arne Duncan, U.S. Department of Education Secretary, recently
announced a proposed timeline for the creation and roll-out of this
ratings system. The rating methodology will be discussed during a
technical symposium early next year. An initial version will then be
released during the spring for public comment. Learn
More
NCWGE Meeting
with Assistant Secretary Catherine Lhamon
The National Coalition on Girls and Women in Education (NCGWE; of
which NAPE is a member) hosted an intimate roundtable session with
U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights Assistant
Secretary Catherine
Lhamon to congratulate her on her new role and to
welcome her to the women's and civil rights community. NCWGE members
introduced themselves and their organization to Lhamon. The session
ended with a brief Q & A addressing NCWGE's concerns around
equity and Title IX issues. Lhamon noted that the Office of Civil
Rights would be posting new and improved guidelines on its website in
the coming months.
G&K
Services Co. Settles Claims of Pay and Hiring Discrimination with the
US Labor Department
G&K Services Co. has agreed to settle allegations that it
discriminated against female laundry workers by steering them into
lower-paying positions regardless of their qualifications. The
conciliation agreement between the federal contractor's facility
located in Santa Fe Springs, CA, and USDOL's Office of Federal
Contract Compliance Programs resolves this pay discrimination
violation, as well as the related finding that the company
discriminated against male applicants in hiring.
"The settlement reflects a mutual commitment between the
department and the leadership of G&K Services Co. to ensure that
qualified workers, irrespective of gender, have a fair shot at competing
for good jobs," said OFCCP Director Patricia A. Shiu. G&K
Services provides textile leasing and renting services to a number of
different government agencies, including the Defense Commissary
Agency, Bureau of Reclamation, and NASA. Learn
More
PUBLICATIONS
The
State of Career Technical Education: An Analysis of State CTE
Standards
This
report from the National
Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education
Consortium assesses how states are preparing for the
voluntary Common Career Technical Core standards in their CTE
programs and provides information and tables on specific state
efforts. The standards were informed by state and industry standards
and were developed by a diverse group of teachers, business and
industry experts, administrators, and researchers.
Jobs in Fourth
Year of Recovery Buoyed by Female-Dominated Industries
A new analysis
from the Institute
for Women' Policy Research (IWPR) finds that, as of
June 2013, men had regained only 68% of the jobs they lost in the
recession and women had regained 91% of the jobs they lost. Women's
and men's job growth during the recovery has been largely affected by
two trends: contraction in government jobs and growth in industries
with high concentrations of women workers.
Government served as one of the largest growing industries for both
women and men in the first year of the recovery, but experienced
substantial losses in the following 3 years, especially for women.
During the 4 years of the recovery, between June 2009 and June 2013,
women lost 62% of the 748,000 total government jobs lost. In fact, if
government spending were not contracting, IWPR estimates that an
additional 539,000 people would likely be employed today.
Despite regaining the jobs they lost during the recession overall,
women have actually fared worse than men when it comes to job growth
within each industry. According to IWPR's analysis, women have either
lost proportionately more jobs or gained proportionately fewer jobs
than men in each industry.
OTHER NEWS
Capitol
Hill STEM Diversity Symposium Stimulates Interest Among Congressional
Members, Students, and the Technology Industry
On November 13, Discovery Communications and STEMconnector, in
conjunction with members of the Congressional Black Caucus,
Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific
American Caucus, and the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues,
hosted the Capitol Hill STEM Diversity Symposium. Moderated by Debbie
Myers, General Vice President of the Science Channel, this event
served as a forum for the discussion of policies and strategies to
recognize the extensive contributions and accomplishments of women
and minorities in STEM fields and to improve diversity in STEM
for students of every age. Congresswomen Eddie Bernice Johnson
(D-TX) and Donna
Edwards (D-MD) focused their comments on the need to
speak with a stronger, unified voice when encouraging families,
communities, and school systems to motivate children as early as in
elementary school, and girls in particular, to pursue their interest
in the sciences. The symposium featured student presentations from
the winners of the 2013 Siemens We Can
Change the World Challenge.
