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400 Education Leaders Climbed the Hill for Education/Training

Arlington Heights, IL - Today, it is more imperative than ever for Illinois and the nation to invest in education. Cynthia Garcia, Executive Director of the Northwest Educational Council for Student Success (NECSS), a partnership that includes William Rainey Harper Community College, Township High School Districts 211 and 214 and Community Unit School District 220, attended the National Policy Seminar (NPS) March 3-6 in Arlington, VA, with over 400 educational leaders from across the country. Ms. Garcia met with Members of Congress on Capitol Hill to inform them about the value of Career and Technical Education. Career and Technical Education (CTE) delivers real-world training and skills development to over 94% of America's high schools and 13 million postsecondary students in the United States. These educational experiences provide the skills needed for success in postsecondary and the students' future careers. Within the NECSS region, 13,456 high school students have taken CTE courses this year. These real-world connections are made possible because of the support of federal and state funding.

The Carl Perkins Act provides slightly over $40 million in grant funds to Illinois' secondary and postsecondary education systems. These federal grant dollars, along with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) Career and Technical Education Improvement Grant, supplied NECSS with approximately $1.5 million in secondary funding for the 2013-14 school year. These dollars allowed the twelve high schools in the NECSS region to up-date equipment and teacher credentials in order to offer 21 different industry-recognized certifications. Certifications earned in high school lay a critical foundation for additional certifications and degrees offered at Harper through existing partnership agreements.

"The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported nearly one-third of the fastest growing high-wage and high-demand occupations will require an associate's degree and/or a CTE industry recognized certificate", stated Director Garcia.

Visits to the Hill also included recommendations on several other pieces of federal legislation including: Higher Education Act, Workforce Investment Act, Elementary & Secondary Education Act, and the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act.

Major themes related to the above-mentioned Acts include restoration of funding to pre-sequestration levels, reduction of barriers to short-term higher education, strengthening connections between education and workforce development systems, support of secondary school reform by strengthening the integration of high quality rigorous CTE & academics, and definition of both career readiness and program quality elements.

"Aligning education systems and the goals of several federal legislative acts to the realities of today's economy and the demands of a modern, educated and skilled workforce must be a priority", stated Cynthia.

At a time when job opportunities are so critical, CTE programs in every community are ensuring that students of all ages are adequately equipped, with the diverse skills necessary, to successfully enter the workforce.

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