Skills Beyond School: An International Look at American Higher Education

Within the United States and abroad, Career and Technical Education (CTE) often exist in a world completely separate from that of traditional postsecondary education. This divide is exacerbated by the sometimes baffling array of options available to students upon completion of secondary school. With such a wide variety of degrees, certifications, credentials, career training, and other learning opportunities, it can be a challenge for students to discern which options provide superior quality, accurately value the benefits of their options, and determine the clearest pathway toward the career to which they aspire.

 

Yesterday, the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation hosted an event marking the release of a new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that underscores these significant challenges for students entering the United States higher education system.

 

While emphasizing the urgency of the challenges our higher education faces, the OECD report also provides recommendations and action items for addressing them. The action items put forward by the OECD report are aligned toward building quality, transparency, and continuity between and within these presently disparate pieces of the American education system. For more information about the recommendations of the report, see yesterday’s post on the report. Strengthening the integration of CTE with secondary learning and other postsecondary education options is a critical piece in addressing the needs of students, as they navigate their pathways to the workforce.

 

Throughout the event, 20 distinguished speakers and panelists shared their insights about the challenges facing students today and their wide-ranging consequences for the labor market and the economy if these inefficiencies in education and training remain. As Amy Laitinen, deputy director of higher education at the New America Foundation, pointed out, “The OECD’s report uses the word ‘risk’ 41 times, and it’s for a good reason: most prospective students don’t know the expected earnings of the credentials they’re seeking and employers don’t know what students with these credentials actually know or can do.”

 

The U.S. Department of Education representatives speaking at the event were receptive to the report’s findings, and emphasized their commitment to reform. During her remarks yesterday morning, Brenda Dann-Messier, assistant secretary for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education and acting assistant secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education at Department, emphasized the need for greater clarity amidst the higher education landscape. “Postsecondary CTE programs cannot exist in isolation from higher education, K-12, or systems for workforce training. To achieve their maximum potential, they must be part of a broader career pathways system for all students in order to meet our education and skills challenges in the future.”

 

For who were unable to attend the event yesterday, a webcast – featuring an overview of the report findings, followed by three panel discussions on the three primary issue areas identified by the report – is available on the New America website in full. An infographic produced by the New America Foundation that depicts the report’s main components is also available here.