Over the year, Advance CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) tracked state activity, cataloged final state policy actions, and categorized trends based on the policy areas of focus. "State Policies Impacting CTE: 2023 Year in Review" provides an analysis that spans 47 states that enacted 115 policies, which…

Tennessee's future will be determined by the number of post-secondary credentials of its residents to support economic development. Additionally, Tennesseans must earn living wages to support their livelihoods. Finally, the psychological development of Tennesseans must be supported, which allows individuals to reach their fullest potential. While…

America's labor market presents a paradox. Although the unemployment rate is just 3.9%, there are more jobs open than people who can fill them. Nationwide, there are roughly 68 workers for every 100 open jobs. Many factors contribute to this workforce shortage, but one of the most significant is a growing skills gap -- millions of workers across…

Post-secondary education (PSE) experienced explosive growth and diversification over the past century, affording students a range of increasingly complex pathways that they can travel to acquire a credential. In various jurisdictions, governments have made significant investments to facilitate student uptake of unconventional transfer pathways…

The United States is experiencing a teacher shortage crisis that is even more pronounced in rural communities. Teachers may be driven away from the profession if they feel inadequately trained or under-supported to address students' mental health needs. As such, an important teacher retention strategy is to ensure schools have enough mental health…

Following calls to 'bewilder' (Snaza 2013) the pioneers of early education, this article positions Montessori pedagogy as a 'desire path' that acts as resistance to normative policy-driven pathways in early childhood education and care. Desire paths are alternative tracks made aside from officially established walking routes. In this paper I think…

As artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly integrates into various industries and educational sectors, there is a growing need for an AI-ready workforce. This study, focusing on a novel AI additional qualification in Germany, investigates the underexplored challenges and best practices regarding the learning software, the learning contents, and…

One in five college students, or 22 percent, are parents. They are highly motivated students and earn grades on par with or better than their childless peers. However, child care challenges often lead student parents to leave school or workforce training without completing; shift from full-time to part-time schooling or programming; and miss,…

The lack of skilled workers to fill open positions is a growing concern for the economy. The talent search firm Korn Ferry has estimated that the U.S. could face a deficit of 6.5 million highly skilled workers by 2030, and the skills gap could cost the country $1.75 trillion in revenue by that same year. More important, the failure to better…

Purpose: Human resources (HR) management has encountered unforeseen obstacles and issues in recruiting, retaining, training and developing workforces under the "new normal" due to pandemic circumstances followed by the Russo-Ukrainian War and global economic turmoil. As the world is now well-equipped with technological advancements and…

From 2020-2022, seven national foundations collectively supported the out-of-school time (OST) field to withstand, recover, reopen and re-imagine, through the acute phases of the COVID pandemic and the ongoing impact. The funders pooled their resources through Grantmakers for Education (EdFunders), providing grants to national intermediaries…

Despite the growing demand and availability of non-degree workforce training, outcomes for these programs are mixed. For some, non-degree programs are a faster, more affordable pathway to a good job, and, more importantly, a career that offers economic security--they represent the future of education. But for others, non-degree programs are a…

In 2023, Wilder Research in St. Paul contracted with the Minnesota departments of Education (MDE) and Human Services (DHS) in partnership with the Minnesota Children's Cabinet to conduct an Early Care and Education (ECE) Workforce Survey. The purpose of the study is to describe characteristics of the ECE workforce, assess educators' economic…

The teacher is key to reforming K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for all students (Powell et al., 2018) in the United States, and a catalyst for a competitive workforce and economic development. Reports based on Free or Reduced-Price Lunch (FRPL) and percent schools offering STEM courses, along with FRPL and…

In July 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) was signed into law, amending the Rehabilitation Act of 1998 and establishing new workforce initiatives for state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies. The passage of WIOA led to the expansion of VR services, including the requirement to provide "pre-employment transition…