Blueprint to Transform Career and Technical Education – U.S. Department of Education

Today U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will visit the Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny, Iowa, to release the Obama Administration’s blueprint for transforming Career and Technical Education (CTE), by reauthorizing the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006. Secretary Duncan will hold a town hall to discuss how the Administration’s plan will ensure the education system provides high-quality job-training opportunities that reduce skill shortages, spur business growth, encourage new investment and hires, and spark innovation and economic growth.

These imperatives are vital to sustaining the nation’s recovery from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Of jobs added nationwide in the last year, 60 percent went to those with at least a bachelor’s degree, and 90 percent to those with at least some college. Over the next decade, as many as two-thirds of all new jobs will require education beyond high school. In Iowa between 2008 and 2018, jobs requiring postsecondary credentials will grow by about twice as much as jobs for high school graduates and dropouts. Yet educational attainment rates are not keeping up with demand – Iowa’s percentage of bachelor’s degrees is the lowest in the Midwest.

“In the knowledge-based economy, lifelong learning is so critical. And that means that the traditional mission of career and technical education has to change,” Secretary Duncan said. “It can no longer be about earning a diploma and landing a job after high school. The goal of CTE should be that students earn an industry certification and postsecondary certificate or degree — and land a job that leads to a successful career.”…

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Read More @ U.S. Department of Education Releases Blueprint to Transform Career and Technical Education | U.S. Department of Education.

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