Tech Directions - October 2007 - (Page 5)

direct from washington Anne C. Lewis anneclewis@earthlink.net has been cut by $42 million since 2002, it has exceeded its targets for high school diplomas, entry into jobs, and employment retention for those under age 21, according to NYEC. Teen Employment Concerns Teenagers are having a much more difficult time finding jobs this year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In fact, teenage employment is matching the low point in 2004, which was the lowest since the end of World War II. The teenage employment rate was two full percentage points below that of 2006, according to an analysis by the Center for Labor Market Studies (CLMS) at Northeastern University. For this past summer, it was the worst recorded. “Since the nation’s economy slipped into a mild recession in 2001, the labor market for teens has collapsed,” says the Anne Lewis, one of the country’s most respected writers on education policy, works in the Washington, DC, area. Recommendations for WIA Reform Renewal of the 1998 Workforce Investment Act (WIA) has languished in Congress for two years, but as the committees begin to show more interest in it, the range of opinions about changing it is more evident. The governors, who administer the program, want to strengthen the education part. The Administration wants to turn education/training over to individual choice. And youth advocates just want to hang on to the youth development components. Testimony presented by the National Governors Association (NGA) calls for eliminating the requirement to spend a percentage of the youth funds on either out-of-school youth or in-school youth. The governors want more flexibility and permission to focus funding on state high school reforms directed at potential dropouts. The purpose of “youth funding,” they said, “should be to serve high-risk, basic-skill-deficient youth to prepare them for future employment or education.” The governors also called for expanding the U.S. Department of Labor’s Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED), which builds partnerships among regions, states, and businesses to fill critical shortages of skilled workers in areas of high demand. Community college training programs play a large role in the WIRED initiatives. The current WIA supports a “sequence of services” leading to skill development with the aim of helping people get a job. The NGA testimony, which also represented the associations of workforce agencies and workforce boards, said the focus now should be on workers getting a “better” job. They want to eliminate the distinction between “core” and “intensive” services so they can move trainees into programs more quickly. Along with some technical changes, NGA believes its recommendations “would give states the ability to design workforce systems that enhance program coordination and flexibility; align workforce, education, and economic development needs and strengths; enhance training services to workers while creating more transparent accountability systems; and reduce administrative costs.” Meanwhile, the Bush Administration considers WIA too inefficient. The lack of integration in the system, it says, “causes too much money to be spent on competing bureaucracies, overhead costs, and unnecessary infrastructure, and not enough on meaningful training and education that lead to employment and advancement opportunities for workers and economic prosperity for communities.” It would increase postsecondary education opportunities through Career Advancement Accounts given directly to future workers for their education and training. Concurrently, the Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth Programs and the Employment Service under WIA would be consolidated and allocated to states as a single funding stream. The Administration also would give governors and local officials more flexibility in designing regional development plans and streamline the One-Stop system, making them a central contact point for the career accounts. The National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC), however, probably would oppose any block grant that folded in the youth development program under WIA. In a plea to the House Appropriations Committee to not rescind $335 million in youth grants in the fiscal 2008 budget, NYEC pointed out that these funds already are obligated. Eliminating them would mean the end of many successful youth employment programs. Even though this program www.techdirections.com WASHINGTON 5 http://www.maxnc.com http://www.techdirections.com

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Tech Directions - October 2007 Technically Speaking Contents Direct from Washington The News Report Technology Today Technology’s Past Mastering Computers Rock Your Classroom!—Use Subwoofers to Teach Electricity and Science Sure, They Can Build It, But. . . . Manufacturing Students Need Process Planning Skills Teach Graphic Design Basics with PowerPoint Free Teacher Resources Product Central More than Fun

Tech Directions - October 2007

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