Skip to main content
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact

Search form

American Institutes for Research

  • Our Work
    • Education
    • Health
    • International
    • Workforce
    • ALL TOPICS >
  • Our Services
    • Research and Evaluation
    • Technical Assistance
  • Our Experts
  • News & Events

You are here

  • Home
23 Mar 2016
Blog Post

Have You Met Carl Perkins?

Last week, U.S. Secretary of Education John King called for the reauthorization of one of education’s most important pieces of legislation, The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education (CTE) Act, named for the longtime Democratic Congressman from Kentucky. On March 9, King called on Congress to reauthorize the Perkins Act so, “every student, in every community, has access to rigorous, relevant and results-driven CTE programs.” 

The Secretary’s urging—following the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act and some current Congressional action—may be just the spark to incite action. And if the new Perkins includes some needed realignments and refocusing, it could go a long way to preparing generations of high school graduates for the 21st century workforce.

Student working with circuits

Students at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tenn. have the opportunity to study mechatronics, the technology of combining electronics and mechanical engineerings. Students can earn early college credit and industry certifications in this field while still in high school. Photo Courtesy: Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Academies of Nashville

The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act has been the major funder of high school career and college readiness efforts since 1984. It covers:

  • Equipment and laboratories for programs from agriculture to forensics, graphic design to mechatronics.
  • Career explorations from class field trips to local employers to individual students shadowing industry professionals.
  • Teacher professional development and industry “externships,” for example allowing a geometry teacher to spend a day with a television production company to learn how geometry is used in digital design—from sets to lighting.

And these are only a few of the ways that Perkins provides academic and technical knowledge and skills to help students succeed in the global economy.

Perkins funding, about $1.1 billion a year, goes to states, then to districts, and on to high schools and some middle schools. Even some colleges, mostly two-year community or technical schools, receive Perkins funding—for adult and dual-enrollment distance learning, equipment, and career counseling.

The Act was last reauthorized in 2006. That authorization expired in 2013. Congressional funding has kept the program going, albeit at lower levels. But that may change.

In October, Senators Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) and Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania) announced bipartisan principles for Perkins reauthorization that included increasing career counseling, strengthening school-to-career pathways, and supporting innovation to keep up with changes in needed workforce skills. That same month, the House began holding hearings with testimony from CTE experts on strategies for updating the Act.  

Secretary King’s Perkins Act blueprint has four principles that are similar to the Senate’s: greater alignment with today’s labor market, more collaboration among schools and employers, greater accountability for student academic and employment outcomes, and increased innovation by local and state education agencies.  

Beyond these overall principals, reauthorizing Perkins will entail some fine tuning. Here are five changes—a list based on my years of CTE teaching and administration—Congress might want to consider.

Make CTE classes: 

Rigorous and widely accessible. States and districts should demonstrate that they are providing high quality CTE instruction. And all students should be able to explore a wide range of careers through rigorous programs of study that teach marketable skills for college or careers.

Based on local and regional employment needs. School districts should conduct local needs assessments before launching programs. This would both make schools responsive to local workforce priorities and encourage relationships between employers and schools.

Linked to real life job training. After graduation, students should be able to easily connect what they learned in their high school CTE programs to college or to industry training and certification.

Focused on improved student outcomes. CTE programs should provide students with opportunities demonstrated, through research, to yield positive postsecondary results. States should enhance CTE program evaluations to ensure that schools offer high quality work-based learning, career development, and CTE classes integrated into each state’s and district’s academic requirements.

Aligned with other federal education and employment programs. Aligning CTE with requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which calls for state standards to mirror relevant CTE standards, and of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act would eliminate duplication among education agencies.

Career and technical education is poised to take a giant leap with reauthorization of the Perkins Act. If done right, it will help millions of students learn the skills they will need for tomorrow’s careers. As Secretary King put it, “… we need a new law for a new era in CTE.”

Related Work

22 Sep 2015
Brief

What Career and Technical Education Teachers Really Want for Professional Learning

Effective preparation of Career and Technical Education (CTE) educators has a direct relationship to improved CTE student outcomes. This brief shares findings from a national survey and outlines the most-identified priority training topics overall for CTE educators and by categories of administrators and teachers.
Topic: 
Education, College and Career Readiness
27 Feb 2014
Blog Post

Coggshall Jane.jpg

Jane Coggshall

Who Are Today’s Career and Technical Education Teachers?

Career and technical education teachers make up about 11 percent of all public high school teachers across the country. In this blog post, Jane Coggshall shares data and figures to give an overall picture of who they are.
2 Jun 2016
Video

lss-chaney-mosley-01_245x165.png

Chaney Mosley

Long Story Short: How Does Career and Technical Education Help Prepare Students for the Workforce?

Career and technical education provides students with the employability and technical skills they need to enter the workforce. In this video interview, Chaney Mosley talks about what elements such educational programs need to successfully prepare students and who benefits the most.
Topic: 
Education, College and Career Readiness, Workforce

Further Reading

  • ‘Carl Perkins’ Is in the House
  • CTE Lets Students Try Out Their Dream Jobs
  • CTE and ESSA: The Start of a Beautiful Friendship
  • CTE at AIR: Preparing Students for College and Career Success
  • Career and Technical Education: Preparing Students for College and Career Success
Share

Topic

Education
College and Career Readiness

RESEARCH. EVALUATION. APPLICATION. IMPACT.

About Us

About AIR
Board of Directors
Leadership
Experts
Clients
Contracting with AIR
Contact Us

Our Work

Education
Health
International
Workforce

Client Services

Research and Evaluation
Technical Assistance

News & Events

Careers at AIR


Search form


 

Connecting

FacebookTwitterLinkedinYouTubeInstagram

American Institutes for Research

1400 Crystal Drive, 10th Floor
Arlington, VA 22202-3289
Call: (202) 403-5000
Fax: (202) 403-5000

Copyright © 2021 American Institutes for Research®.  All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap