• President Bush Signs Career and Technical Education Legislation into Law
• Gallup Poll Finds Public Supports Public Schools; Believes Special Ed Students Should Not Be Included in AYP Scores
• Report on State and Local Implementation of IDEA Available

President Bush Signs Career and Technical Education Bill into Law

Last week, President Bush signed into law The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act (S. 250), which had passed with an overwhelming majority in the House and Senate last year. CEC supported this legislation and is pleased the Congress and the President took long-awaited action and that the bill has been signed into law. CEC is pleased that the President took this action in support of career and technical education, coming six months after his budget recommendations, for the second year in a row, did not include any funding for vocational education. CEC hopes that by signing this bill into law, the President has acknowledged the significance of career and technical education to nearly 14 million individuals who participate in these programs and the uncountable others who reap the benefits of these trained individuals. In addition, CEC hopes that this support of career and technical education will be reflected in the President’s future budget proposals to Congress.

Career and Technical Education (CTE), most often referred to as vocational education, is authorized under The Perkins Act and was last authorized in 1998. Vocational education is organized educational programs that offer a sequence of courses directly related to preparing individuals for paid or unpaid employment in current or emerging occupations that require an education other than a baccalaureate or advanced degree. Programs include competency-based applied learning, which contributes to an individual's academic knowledge, higher-order reasoning, problem solving skills, and the occupational-specific skills necessary for economic independence as a productive and contributing member of society.

CEC believes that CTE is an important component in the U.S. educational system and is critical to the country’s ability to compete in the global economy. Career technical education has an impact in almost every community across the country. Over 11,000 secondary schools and 2,600 sub-baccalaureate, postsecondary institutions, such as community and technical colleges, technical institutes, skill centers, area vocational schools, etc., currently offer career technical education courses. Nationally, over 14 million individuals at the secondary, postsecondary, and adult education levels are enrolled in career technical education. Nearly all secondary school students take at least one career technical education course, and almost 45 percent of them concentrate in career technical education by taking three or more courses. Approximately one-third of college students are involved in career technical education as a major part of their studies.

The Department of Education administers the Perkins Act through the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE). Under the Perkins Act, federal funds are made available to help provide vocational-technical education programs and services to youth and adults. The majority of funds appropriated under the Perkins Act are awarded as grants to state education agencies. These State Basic Grants are allotted to states according to a formula based on states' populations in certain age groups and their per capita income.

Gallup Poll Finds Public Supports Public Schools; Believes Special Ed Students Should Not Be Included in AYP Scores

August 22 marked the release of the 38th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. The poll -- which surveyed 1,007 adults from June 11 -July 5, 2006 -- questioned the public on a variety of education issues including school satisfaction, vouchers and NCLB.

Perhaps most promising, the poll found that although the stereotype exists that public support of public schools is declining, the findings of the survey since 1974 indicate otherwise. Public ratings of the local schools are near the top of the 38 years the question has been presented. The public was asked about the problems public schools must deal with and listed the lack of financial support as the biggest problem with public schools. Unfortunately, CEC too agrees that this is a great area of concern for public schools. In fact, CEC leads advocacy initiatives focused on holding Congress accountable for its 31-year promise to fully fund special education. Visit CEC’s Legislative Action Center to hold your legislators accountable!

While the poll focused on general education issues, a few questions were asked to gauge the public’s opinion on special education issues. Nearly two-thirds of respondents did not think the scores of special education students should be counted towards determining whether a school is in need of improvement. In addition, 75 percent of respondents believe special education students should not be tested against the same standards as other students. CEC believes that the test scores of all students should be counted and weighed evenly in determining if a school is in need of improvement; to do otherwise could possibly turn back time to the days when students with disabilities were not afforded the same educational opportunities as their non-disabled peers.

Read the full findings of the poll.

Read CEC’s policies on assessment, accountability, vouchers and more!

Report on State and Local Implementation of IDEA Available

A recent report commissioned by the Department of Education titled Study of State and Local Implementation and Impact of IDEA (SLIIDEA) has been released, focusing on how states, districts, and schools made progress toward issues of concern identified by Congress in the 1997 reauthorization to IDEA. The report found that substantial action was taken by states to align special education policy with standards-based reform; states and districts strengthened parent involvement; more coherent action is needed by states, districts and schools to prevent students from dropping out; more coherent action by states and districts is needed to appropriately place minority students in the least restrictive environment; schools lagged in building the capacity to educate students with disabilities; and principals were able to discipline students with disabilities.

Read the full report.