E&W Blog

With support from the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, CTE programs help K-12 students across the country develop new skills and prepare for the workforce. These classes offer students the opportunity to investigate different possible career paths and even earn industry-recognized credentials.

As the son of an industrial arts teacher, Chairman Bean opened the hearing with a personal anecdote on the value of shop class. With no money, no tools, and 45 eager students, Chairman Bean’s dad brought in his own toolkit for his inaugural class and told each kid, “Find something that’s broken in your house, bring it in, and we will fix it.”

From there, the shop class expanded, and each student grew to be grateful for the skills and values imparted by shop class. To this day, graduates of the class still tell the Congressman about it. That’s the type of lasting impact high-quality CTE and great instruction can have on a student’s life.

Expert witnesses joined the Committee today to affirm the successes of CTE. Witnesses included Danny Corwin, Executive Director of Harbor Freight Tools for Schools; Kelly Mosley, Career and Technical Education Supervisor of Clay County District Schools; Richard Kincaid, Senior Executive Director of College and Career Pathways of the Maryland State Department of Education; and Brandon Mabile, Strategic Development Manager of Performance Contractors, Inc.

Both sides of the aisle showed immense interest in and support for CTE. When the hearing turned to questioning, Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) posed a question regarding barriers to increased technical education: “How do we address mom and dad who think the only way is through college?”

“We need to be communicating the benefits of career and technical education and talk about the value that apprenticeship can bring as a pathway to a job,” replied Mr. Kincaid.

He’s right, tearing down barriers to CTE starts with overcoming cultural stigmas, which is one aim of changing the national conversation.

Moving on to an exchange with Mr. Mabile, Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) asked about the importance of promoting these programs to high school students.

“We need to hire a half million more construction workers a year on top of our replacement rate, so every available worker is important to us. Giving those opportunities to high schools students and middle school students can only help,” stated Mr. Mabile.

Construction is but one industry falling victim to the widening skills gap. As we heard in later testimony, over 73,000 electrician jobs need filling as well.

As Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, Rep. Glenn Thomspon (R-PA) raised concerns from the agriculture perspective. He asked Ms. Mosley, “What more can we be doing from the CTE perspective to inspire the next generation of American agriculturists?”

Ms. Mosley told the story of how through pioneering CTE classes like agriculture biotechnology, a local suburban high school created a sense of purpose and belonging for its students. Upon joining the agriculture program, she said many of the students “found a home” amongst the massive student body that can sometimes be overwhelming for high school freshmen.

Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) continued the dialogue with Ms. Mosley, asking about how her school came to be so successful at integrating CTE programs.