An interview with OVAE's Brenda Dann-Messier and Sharon Miller.

An interview with OVAE's Brenda Dann-Messier and Sharon Miller. During the Association for Career and Technical Education'sAnnual Convention in Nashville, we spoke with Brenda Dann-Messier,assistant secretary for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education(OVAE), and Sharon Miller, director, Division of Academic and TechnicalEducation, OVAE. ACTE: Please tell us a little bit about your background. BDM: I've worked my entire life in education and I started offwith TRIO Programs, educational opportunity programs, helping low-incomeadults and youth transition to college. I did that for a long time atthe Community College of Rhode Island. And then I left there to work forthe Clinton Administration, and to be Secretary Riley's regionalrepresentative for the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) for Region I.Ileft there and went to Brown University and worked at one of the 10federally funded educational research laboratories. And then, for thepast decade, I've been the president of Dorcas Place, which is anadult and family learning center in Providence, Rhode Island. It was a center that started almost 30 years ago, serving fourteenaged pregnant mothers, just by tutors, and when I left, we ended upserving 1,000 low-income youth, women and men, in live major programs.We had college preparatory, workforce education, family literacyprograms and a couple of others to really assist our low-income youth,mostly out-of-school youth, and certainly adults, to prepare themselveson a career pathway. ACTE: So what are the major areas of career and technical education(CTE) that OVAE will be addressing under your leadership? BDM: What I really want to make sure that we do is integrate andalign adult education, CTE, along with a full range of postsecondaryeducation, and not just limited to community colleges. Because while formany of our students the first entry point is the community college--wealso want to encourage them to continue their education on to abaccalaureate degree. So I'm really interested in making sure thatwithin OVAE we're not working in silos: career and tech, adult ed,community colleges. I really want to integrate and align all thefunctions within OVAE. Then I want to make sure that all the work thatwe do in OVAE is fully integrated throughout the U.S. DOE. I want tomake sure that we're fully integrated into the Elementary andSecondary Education Act (ESEA) and high school reform work [and thatefforts are aligned with other federal agencies]. ACTE: So you talked about working more closely with the Departmentof Labor (DOL) and other federal agencies. Are there any specificinitiatives that are ongoing for that? BDM: We've started our work around the American GraduationInitiative and it's with the DOL and the DOE. And now we'relooking forward to working on the Workforce Investment Act (WIA)reauthorization. I think both departments feel very strongly that ourstudents shouldn't know or care what system is serving them, aslong as we're serving the student well. And so I think we want tomake sure that it isn't about whether you're a DOLparticipant, or you're a DOE student, but that we arestudent-centered, or participant-centered if you want to call it that,in all of the services that we provide. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ACTE: Ms. Miller what are the implications of the reauthorizationsof the WIA and ESEA as related to CTE. Do you have specific proposalsrelated to these reauthorizations? SM: To effectively prepare all youth and adults for college andcareers, CTE must forge and maintain greater connections to secondaryacademic programs through the ESEA, and to workforce training and adulteducation programs through the WIA. Too many students are fallingthrough the cracks and are not reaching their educational, career andlife goals, in part, because our federal programs arc not well connectedand do not function as a seamless system for lifelong learning. And, asBrenda indicated, this administration is committed to changing thissituation. At the same time, the Department has not yet developedspecific proposals related to ESEA and WIA reauthorization. Rather, weare embarking on a series of listening sessions across the nation. Ofcourse, Brenda and Jane Oates [DOL] held a couple of those sessionshere, at ACTE's Annual Convention, to gather input from ourstakeholders and customers, administrators, teachers, faculty, and, mostof all, students on their experiences, needs and ideas about how toimprove our educational and workforce development systems. From there,the Department will formulate its proposals and will work with theAdministration and with Congress toward reauthorization. ACTE: With the recent economic crisis there's been a greateremphasis on, and a greater appreciation for, a broader range ofpostsecondary education options such as community and technicalcolleges, apprenticeships and other CTE delivery systems. Do you thinkthis will continue? SM: I do, and I have a little bit of data to share with you thatbacks that belief. According to the National Center for EducationStatistics, sub-baccalaureate education has held its own aspostsecondary participation overall has increased. The share ofundergraduate credentials awarded at the sub-baccalaureate levels hasfluctuated between about 45 and 49 percent, from 1996 to 1997--remainingrelatively steady at about 48 percent since 2003 and 2004. Projectionsfor both associate and baccalaureate degrees suggest that both willincrease in number. It's less clear what will happen to the marketfor postsecondary certificates, as we do not have solid national data,but it's likely that they are going to grow, particularly in areassuch as health and IT, where they are increasingly recognized and valuedby employers. Given these data, it is likely that secondary CTE educationprograms, community colleges and apprenticeships all will continue toplay central roles in the preparation of our nation's workforce. To listen to the podcast of the full interview with OVAE AssistantSecretary Brenda Dann-Messier and Sharon Miller, director, Division ofAcademic and Technical Education visit,www.acteonline.org/podcasts.aspx.