The "Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century" Act brings with it many changes and many questions. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions.
1. What is the focus of Perkins V? Perkins V law focuses on CTE program and career pathway growth, improvement, equity and access, closing data gaps, and improving on performance accountability measures. It maintains a commitment to driving improvement of CTE through development of quality career pathways as defined in the Wisconsin Perkins State Plan and requires data-driven decision-making through the comprehensive local needs assessment (CLNA). 2. What are the application requirements? LEAs that wish to apply for Perkins funds must: Have a formula allocation of at least $15,001 Meet the requirements of at least one career pathway that meets size, scope, and quality (SSQ) requirements Employ a licensed Career and Technical Education Coordinator (CTEC) to coordinate, lead, and advance equity in quality CTE programs Facilitate the local needs assessment and provide the results in the local application Answer the federally required application questions Submit required data and reports annually Sign federal, state, and program assurances 3. What if our district does not meet the application requirements? Refer to the consortium information on the Perkins finance page to learn about joining or creating a consortium of districts that will meet the requirements. 4. Where can I find the final text of the law as passed that the president signed? The official public law is available here. 5. Where can the Perkins State Plan and other information be found? Please find the Wisconsin State Plan on the DPI Perkins website. 1. Is stakeholder input required? Yes, the applicant must gain stakeholder input for both the CLNA, grant application and budget. A district or consortium must engage in consultation with stakeholders from the local area served by the LEA. Such stakeholders must include, but are not limited to the following: 2. What input do stakeholders provide in the needs assessment? Identify data gaps and root causes of gaps as well as district priorities to address root causes. Areas of the CLNA include: 3. Are the stakeholders engaged in the process different from the CLNA leadership team? The leadership team, referenced in the Wisconsin Guide for Conducting a Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA Guide), is the team that will lead the tasks and process of the CLNA. Your stakeholder groups should reflect the greater diversity of your community, and their role is to provide feedback on the focus area data gaps and root causes of the CLNA and input on local application. The required stakeholders are addressed in question #1. 4. Who should be on the CLNA leadership team? The makeup of the leadership team will depend on whether an applicant is a consortium or a single district. But, at minimum, the leadership team should include at least one other administrator (in addition to the CTE coordinator) and data personnel. 5. We already have a steering/advisory committee that performs these functions. Can we use that same group for the core stakeholder group and branch out from there? Absolutely. If you already have a committee that steers everything related to the district, Academic and Career Planning, etc., specific members (or the whole group) could also comprise the CLNA leadership team. 6. One of the stakeholder groups required for the CLNA is "representatives of Indian Tribes and tribal organizations in the State, where applicable." What does "where applicable" mean? Wisconsin CTE is adopting the same guidance on this question as Section 8538 of ESSA, which requires LEAs to consult with tribal nations before making significant decisions to ensure meaningful contributions are made. Please refer to ESSA's "Affected LEAs" document for clarification on how this requirement affects you. Every district is encouraged to engage the tribal nationals in their area to inform district or consortia CTE programs on student needs. 7. What agencies serve out-of-school youth, homeless, and at-risk youth? This varies from community to community but could include the Salvation Army, Boys and Girls Clubs, homeless shelters, faith communities, ethnic or cultural organizations, county independent living or transitional living programs for students, and other organizations that support students as they transition from high school to adulthood, employment, or postsecondary education. 8. I'm not familiar with some of the required stakeholder groups. Are there resources to help me determine contacts for some of the district, county, or regional stakeholders? Links for contacts, such as district homeless liaisons, DVR, and others are provided in the CLNA guide. 1. When will the comprehensive local needs assessment (CLNA) need to be completed in relation to the Perkins application submission of April 30? The Perkins V application is available for completion in early March. It is advisable to make February your deadline for the comprehensive local needs assessment (CLNA) process. Applicants will be asked to provide the results of their CLNA for each focus area and career pathway, including data reviewed, gaps, needs, goals, and the activities that will be initiated to address gaps and gain the outcomes desired. 2. Is there a guiding document that DPI is preparing to help LEAs conduct the CLNA? Yes, go to the Wisconsin Guide for Conducting the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment on the CLNA Resources webpage. Also check out available technical assistance and webinars posted there as well. The DPI website has other resources to help with analysis such as the Fishbone Tool and the Data Inquiry Process. 3. LEAs will have to complete a comprehensive local needs assessment. Will there be a state-produced tool that we can use? DPI has created the CLNA Guide and has developed worksheet templates to help LEAs organize the information they collect as a part of the CLNA process. The assessment will be expected to take place between July and February in advance of (and in preparation for) the Perkins application for the next year which is available in March. Technical assistance will be available for fiscal agents and Perkins leadership team members June-January to support LEAs in completing the CLNA process. 1. What data is relevant to this focus area of the CLNA? Disaggregated concentrator data related to graduation, ACT proficiency in Math, Science and English Language Arts; Non-Traditional Occupation students; student outcomes post high school graduation; students who participated in WBL. 2. What data is not relevant for this focus area? Data related to IRCs, dual credit, participants, or comparisons to state-level data. 1. Where do LEAs find equity and access data? LEAs should use the Perkins dashboard in WISEdash for District to review Concentrator data and disaggregate by special population, race and ethnicity. LEAs will gain a clear picture of which students are engaging in every aspect of CTE and which students are not. The task at hand is then to explore what equity or access issues are at play that may be road blocks to engagement for certain populations. Equity and access data may be observed in each focus area including individual pathway engagement in the quality elements. 1. Please define "sustained" professional development. Perkins defines sustained as "not stand-alone, one-day, or short-term workshops," but rather "intensive, collaborative, job-embedded, data-driven, classroom-focused and to the extent practicable evidence-based" and goes on to define what may be included. What is allowed will be determined through the needs reflected in the recruitment and retention section of the CLNA. 2. With the State’s focus on pathways, will state conferences and workshops support those ideas? Yes, if data reviewed reflects a gap and a need for such training. LEAs must ensure that needs will be addressed at a particular conference or training. General conference attendance may not meet the requirement. 1. What grade levels should be considered when analyzing CTE data? Most data needed can be accessed through WISESdash for District, Perkins and Career Education and Coursework dashboards for grades 9-12. 2. The CLNA requires an eligible recipient, who is serving as the fiscal agent for a consortium, to analyze student performance. Should student performance data be reviewed at the school level or at the consortium level? Each district should review and analyze their own disaggregated CTE concentrator performance data to share with members of the consortium. The consortium fiscal agent will summarize the results of this analysis including the consortium’s identification of gaps/root causes of data gaps/activities prioritized to address the root causes of the gaps. You'll find these documents on the CLNA Resources webpage. 3. Is there a guiding document that DPI is preparing to help LEAs conduct the CLNA? Yes, go to the Wisconsin Guide for Conducting the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment on the CLNA Resources webpage. Also check out available technical assistance and webinars posted there as well. The DPI website has other resources to help with analysis such as the Fishbone Tool and the Data Inquiry Process. 4. Does special populations data need to be disaggregated by individual subgroups? Or, in cases where personally identifiable data in small sample sizes is a concern, can data be disaggregated by "special pops" as a whole? Also, can this be done at a consortium level to address regional strategies, or should strategies be developed at the local level? The student performance data should be disaggregated by special populations to the extent that information is available. The analysis can be done at a consortium level, but individual districts should be involved in the conversation regarding gaps, root causes of gaps and activities or strategies that will mitigate the gap. It is difficult to conduct a root-cause analysis without disaggregating by each group. For example, the reason for a gap for ELL students will be very different than for homeless students. The purpose of disaggregating data is to help determine the best activities to address a given gap. An option might be to put an asterisk in place of the actual number to protect student privacy when discussing as a group. Create graphs to display data versus spreadsheets that have identifying student information. 5. Is it possible to provide a) a step-by-step guide for CTECs/LVECs to access district-level data in WISEdash, or b) the salient data, aggregated in the way DPI would like to see addressed to districts/consortiums similar to district profiles? In order for a CTEC to access district level data, they will need to work with the district security administrator. Each district can produce reports that will include the necessary data while still maintaining student confidentiality. WISEdash for District provides short demo slides to assist with setting up dashboards. 6. Do all schools have access to data at the National Student Clearinghouse? Postsecondary enrollment data at a summary level is available for public view and accessed through the WISEdash Public Portal. Additionally, district administrators and/or district staff with the appropriate access to WISEdash for Districts can access postsecondary enrollment data at a student-level detail. 7. Who has access to WISEdash for Districts? School district superintendents and security administrators have access and can assign access to WISEdash for Districts to specific staff members. In general, users with access to WISEdash for Districts are responsible for student data maintenance and specific data entry roles in your district’s student information system. Confidentiality of specific student data, when reviewed, should be maintained at all times. The DPI Secure Home information page provides additional information. 8. What is considered a statistically significant gap in the data? A statistically significant gap is tied to the margin of error measured in the subpopulations. In general, districts should look for a 5 percent or more difference in performance for each population. 9. How can districts get more training and guidance on how to export and use WISEdash data? General training and guidance on navigating WISEdash public portal and the secure application are available online at the WISEdash FAQ page and August 25 Data workshop powerpoint. 1. What is the difference between a regional career pathway (RCP) and a local career pathway? Can a district adopt a regional career pathway? The distinction between an RCP and a local career pathway is the manner in which they are developed and vetted by stakeholders. Regional career pathways are developed leveraging the broader capacity of a region through RCP collaborative groups to ease the burden on individual districts in validating needed career pathway components by business and industry. RCP and a local pathway both require at least two quality elements beyond a sequence of courses in order for a pathway to be approved. 2. What data should be reviewed for the CLNA for career pathways? See the CLNA guide for details. In general a) look to see what quality elements are currently offered and what needs to be offered based on input from stakeholders; b) what will be needed to add another course or quality element; c) what is the demographic breakdown of students engaging in the quality elements. Determine which students are accessing what’s available in the pathway and which students are not? 1. Will specific labor market data be required for the CLNA? For the purposes of the CLNA and the application the primary source of labor market data is available on the DPI LMI website. However, in the application, applicants will need to describe the data reviewed, explain what was learned from it, and most importantly, how the data supports a local, regional, or state workforce needs including projected in-demand jobs and high wage (self-sustaining). If the data does not support a specific pathway, there may be other local or regional labor market reports that provide justification for a local or regional workforce need. In this case, a link should be provided to the information with a description of how it supports the need for the pathway. 2. What state-level data is being provided to districts regarding LMI high priority areas? How does this align with the state plan or Wisconsin economic development focus areas? The state process to identify high-skill in-demand career pathways relies on a series of filters from biannual Department of Workforce Development (DWD) occupational projections for higher-than-average growth and total openings. Occupations are cross-walked to career clusters via national tables and reviewed for projections across educational levels (entry, technical/middle skill, professional). This information is posted on the DPI LMI website. 1. Does an introductory course count as one of the two courses in a sequence? It may... A sequence of courses is required, which may include an introductory level course, as long as it is specific to that pathway and not a general course for any pathway. The “sequence of courses” means that the second course builds upon the first, from introductory to a more advanced level and is not another introductory course. A minimum of two courses is required to meet the definition of pathway scope. 2. Our high school offers five CTE courses as part of the career pathway. Do we need to list all of them? For the purpose of the application and pathway approval for spending, two courses taught by a CTE teacher are all that is required as evidence that you have a sequence of courses for the pathway. Courses that are not sequenced CTE courses or are not taught by a CTE teacher should not be included in the application. LEA internal identification of all the school CTE course opportunities available in a pathway is important for data analysis and identifying what career pathways exist and who concentrators are. Creating accurate CTE course roster information will help in this process. 3. Should the quality element information provided in the application be what currently exists or what is planned for the grant year. For the purpose of approving a pathway for funding, what is reflected in the application must be what already exists at the time of the application, and is assumed would carry into the grant year. Funds may only be targeted to Career Pathways that meet the requirements at the time of application. 1. What types of experiences count as work-based learning (WBL)? DPI collects eight (8) WBL program types. More information is available on the WBL WISEdata element webpage. Entrepreneurial student business Each WBL program must meet the Perkins V six criteria to be reported. More information is available on the WBL WISEdata element webpage. 2. Does DPI’s state-certified employability skills standards qualify as a work-based learning experience for a local pathway? Does the student have to be working in the cluster area, or is any work placement acceptable if a student is working on employability skills? Employability skills WBL experience can count as long as it is aligned with the career pathway that a student is pursuing and not general in nature. For example, the placement for a student in a manufacturing pathway must be in manufacturing, not at a fast food restaurant (culinary/hospitality). 3. Are State Co-op Education Skill Standard: DPI Occupational and YA programs considered Perkins WBL experiences or industry-recognized credentials (IRCs)? DPI has WISEdata element webpages for WBL and IRC’s. DPI collects data on the following 8 WBL programs for School Report Cards and Perkins performance measures 5S3. For the purpose of the quality elements in the Perkins application, WBL experiences including Youth Apprenticeship should be listed as WBL and not an IRC. Entrepreneurial student business More information about these DPI data collections are found at: WBL and IRC. The CTE TIG funding list was developed for a different purpose that does not align with Perkins definitions for IRCs for the purpose of meeting size, scope, and quality. 4. Does the student need to be enrolled in the aligned course at the same time as the work-based learning experience? Ideally, the aligned course and the WBL experience should take place at the same time. However, DPI understands that the aligned course may need to be started prior to the WBL experience. For example, it would be acceptable for a student to take a course in the spring followed immediately by WBL in the summer. 5. Can a work release program count as work-based learning? No. Work release programs ordinarily permit students to leave school premises solely for employment. They rarely require a student to enroll in an aligned course or require business and education partners to work together to evaluate and supervise the experiences, which then must be documented in training or learning plans and evaluation. LEAs may incorporate elements of WBL requirements to transform a work release program into a high-quality WBL program that meets all six of the criteria. This would change the work release program into a local co-op or internship. Another option is to utilize the Employability Skills Co-op framework to transform your work release program into WBL. 1. What are options for college credit? Dual-credit college courses can offer effective options for creating rigorous local career pathways. Some dual-credit options take place at the high school. These options include transcripted credit, advanced standing agreements with local technical colleges, or other articulation programs, including the University of Wisconsin’s Cooperative Academic Partnership Program (CAPP) or the Partners in Education (PIE) program. Other dual-credit options take place at a college or university, including online courses. These options also include the Early College Credit Program, Start College Now, and dual-enrollment academies. 2. Which types of dual-credit or college-credit courses count toward fulfilling the size, scope, and quality requirements of Perkins V? While dual-credit opportunities that fulfill general education requirements or general elective credits are valuable, they are not related to a specific pathway, so do not qualify. To meet quality requirements for a Perkins career pathway, the college-credit opportunity provided must fulfill an entrance or graduation requirement directly related to a college major in the pathway. 3. Can an AP course be considered a college-credit course? Advanced placement (AP) courses can qualify for career pathway SSQ if a qualifying score earns students credit in a course that fulfills an entrance or graduation requirement in a program or major related to the career pathway at an institution of higher education (IHE). If a student’s advanced placement score only earns the student credit as a general elective or only fulfills a general education requirement at the high school or IHE, it should not be included as DC for the career pathway. 4. Do the dual-enrollment/college credits taken in conjunction with Youth Apprenticeship (YA) count as dual credit for a Perkins pathway? Yes, as long as the student has the opportunity to earn college credit through an IHE. 5. Are there examples to illustrate what courses might qualify as DC for the purposes of SSQ Perkins funding requirement? The chart below provides examples of what courses would and would not fulfill the requirement: 1. Do only the IRCs on the approved list for CTE Incentive Grant funding count for the pathway SSQ? Qualifying IRCs may go beyond what is on the Technical Incentive Grant list. The state-approved IRCs is for the purposes of CTE Technical Incentive Grant (TIG) funding, and is different from what is required for SSQ for the Perkins V CLNA and application. An IRC may qualify for SSQ as long as the IRCs listed have been identified and vetted by employer stakeholders as needed for employment in the pathway. IRCs indicated should only be those available for high school students to obtain and for which the district assists the student in obtaining the IRC. IRCs that a student obtains on their own initiative is not considered meeting the SSQ requirement. 2. Does a Wisconsin technical college career pathways certificate, embedded technical diploma, technical diploma, or associate degree count as an industry-recognized credential (IRC) for a pathway as they are listed on the approved IRC list for CTE Incentive Grants (TIGs)? No, these dual-enrollment college-credit opportunities should be listed under dual-enrollment credit in the related pathway. 3. Do DPI’s State Skill Standards Co-Op and YA programs count as IRCs for a Perkins pathway SSQ? No. While these work-based learning programs do appear on the CTE Incentive Grant (TIG) approved certifications list for 2015 ACT 59 funds, they do NOT apply to Perkins V pathway IRCs. The CTE TIG funding list was developed for an entirely different program and purpose through DWD and does not align with the size, scope, and quality requirements for approval of a Perkins career pathway. 4. Does an IRC that is offered and earned at the postsecondary level qualify as one of the career pathway IRCs, even if it’s not offered at the secondary level? For example, if a high school does not offer an IRC due to an age restriction but is available to postsecondary students who continue in the pathway, does this certification count as part of the secondary pathway? No. For an IRC to qualify as a quality element, it must be offered and available for high school students to earn. In general, IRCs are specialized industry certifications, defined by employers, that indicate a student has achieved a specific level of skill sets. Qualified IRCs do not include work-based learning programs or academic credentials. Please note: Do not use the State-Approved CTE Incentive Grant list as a guide to IRCs. This list is much broader and used for a different purpose, and includes work-based learning programs and academic credentials in addition to IRCs. 1. Can clubs, such as robotics, Educators Rising, etc., qualify as CTSOs in a career pathway? No, only career and technical student organizations (CTSOs) as defined in Perkins and the State of Wisconsin qualify. CTSO activities are considered an integral, intracurricular part of a career pathway. 1. What are some of the changes to the accountability system? There are a number of changes to the accountability system. Regarding process, states will no longer specifically negotiate performance targets with the U.S. Department of Education but, rather, will include those targets in their state plans for approval. A new definition of a CTE concentrator is included in the law, and each accountability measure is linked to that definition (which, at the secondary level, is a student who has taken at least two courses in a single program). 2. When will performance-indicator (non-compliance) data be made available? How will it be addressed in the application? FY2020-2021 data will be used to determine if a district has non-compliance with any of the accountability performance indicators. Non-compliance will be handled through a required program improvement plan and not through the Perkins grant application. More information on this will be forthcoming. 1. If a district is part of a consortium, do all the districts have to conduct a needs assessment? No. Participating districts combine the funds to jointly carry out Perkins V activities. The CLNA results for a consortium will include a combination of strengths, gaps, and needs of the consortium as a whole. This includes program goals and activities based on the root cause of data gaps, that will be carried out to increase the quality of CTE programs and student performance outcomes as needed within the consortium and its members. 2. From the consortium perspective, will we need to address the CLNA by geographical locations or combine them into one? Consortia need to complete one CLNA and grant application for the entire consortium. Within the CLNA results may be broken out by groups, but generally individual member districts would not be identified. For example, if a group of member districts has a booming industry and seeks to work more closely with local business and industry and the local technical college to offer Dual Credit, it may be appropriate to share the results accordingly. 3. I’m the fiscal agent for a consortium of more than 30 school districts with over 10 career pathways represented. Will we need to submit information about each school district's pathways? No, you will submit information that applies to most of the LEAs. However, consortia are required to gather and retain individual district pathway information within their consortium to determine whether or not a career pathway meets the definition for size, scope, and quality. This information will not be submitted to DPI as part of the application but may be asked for and reviewed as a part of the Perkins grant monitoring process. 4. If the fiscal agent applies for the grant on behalf of a consortium, does that fiscal agent then distribute the money to the individual districts? The lead agency (fiscal agent) of the consortium applies for the funds on behalf of the consortium (member agencies). The lead agency provides support that benefits the consortium as a whole. Every consortium must have a memorandum of understanding (MOU) or contract that includes a list of all consortium members with signatures of the districts’ superintendents. It should also list the responsibilities of the lead agency as well as the member (participating) LEAs. Funds from participating LEASs are combined and distributed to meet the greatest needs and goals of the consortium as a whole, as determined by the CLNA results. Purchases are made by the consortium or may be made by individual districts and then reimbursed. Capital equipment belongs to the consortium and must be inventoried and follow equipment rules. 1. Did the reauthorization appropriate any increased funding? In short, no. Perkins funding will still continue via the appropriations process each year, and policymakers will determine if funding will be below or above the authorized funding levels each year. Allocations will be determined through the same formula as in the past. 2. How may funds be used? Perkins V requires that the funding local recipients receive under Perkins be utilized for initiatives aligned with the results of the local needs assessment in order to target unmet needs. 3. If a district only submits one career pathway as part of the application, is that where all the Perkins money will have to go? Not necessarily. There are six different focus areas to address as part of the CLNA. Each component will most likely include gaps and needs to be addressed. In order to use Perkins funds, the LEA must have at least one pathway that meets the definitions for size, scope, and quality. 4. Can Perkins funds be used to purchase instructional materials for a career pathway that does not meet the definition for quality? No. According to Perkin V legislation, funds shall be used to support career and technical education programs that are of sufficient size, scope, and quality to be effective.
Student Performance on Federal Accountability Indicators
Equity and Access
Recruitment, Retention, and Training of Teachers
Labor Market Information
Size, Scope, and Quality
Work-Based Learning (WBL)
Dual Enrollment/College Credit
Dual Enrollment Course
Career Pathway
Does fill requirement
Does not fill requirement
AP Psychology
Human Services
Requirement for social work and psychology degree
Calculus II
Manufacturing
Requirement for mechanical engineering degree
Anatomy and Physiology
Health Science
Required for nursing and physical therapy degrees
Physiology
Construction
Does not fulfill requirements for construction training
AP Psychology
Information Technology
Does not fulfill requirement to enter or complete IT training
Industry-Recognized Credentials (IRCs)
Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs)