Perkins Career and Technical Education Program

Program Administration and Implementation

1. State’s Vision for Education and Workforce Development. States that elect to include employment and training activities carried out under the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Act (42 U.S.C. 9901 et seq.) under a Combined State Plan would submit all other required elements of a complete CSBG State Plan directly to the Federal agency that administers the program. Similarly, States that elect to include employment and training activities carried by the Department of Housing and Urban Development would submit all other required elements of a complete State Plan for those programs directly to the Federal agency that administers the program.

A. Provide a summary of State-supported workforce development activities (including education and training) in the State, including the degree to which the State's career and technical education programs and programs of study are aligned with and address the education and skill needs of the employers in the State identified by the State workforce development board. (Section 122(d)(1) of Perkins V)

Governor’s Workforce Cabinet: In March 2018, the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet (GWC) was established by Senate Bill 50 and received a federal waiver in June 2018 to fill the role of Indiana’s federally-mandated state workforce development board. Through this legislation and waiver, the GWC assumed authority for overseeing the entire talent development system for the state, from early education to adult education and training opportunities. Legislation passed in 2019 established the GWC as the eligible agency for the Carl D. Perkins Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21^st Century Act.  On July 1, 2019, the Office of Career and Technical Education was reassigned from the Indiana Department of Education to the GWC. Moving to the GWC created the opportunity for better alignment of CTE with all other workforce development activities and to serve as an integral element to the talent development system. 

Next Level Jobs: This state program aims to equip working-age Hoosiers and Indiana employers with the training and skills opportunities needed to succeed in the 21^st Century economy. Developed in partnership by the Governor, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, with support from the Indiana General Assembly, Next Level Jobs features two targeted programs: Workforce Ready Grants and Employer Training Grants.

• Workforce Ready Grants help to remove the financial barriers that may prevent Hoosiers from getting the training they want or need for a career in one of Indiana’s five high-demand fields: Advanced Manufacturing, Building and Construction, Health and Life Sciences, IT and Business Services, and Transportation and Logistics. The grants cover remaining tuition and fees in both credit and non-credit bearing programs after other financial aid has been applied up to $5,500 for up to two years. The goal for Workforce Ready Grants is to increase career exploration and credential completion in Indiana’s high priority sectors.
• Employer Training Grants reimburse employer costs for training, upskilling, or reskilling employees for six months in a high-demand fields, like Advanced Manufacturing, Agriculture, Building and Construction, Health and Life Sciences, IT and Business Services, and Transportation and Logistics. Training costs up to $5,000 per employee may be reimburse with up to a maximum of $50,000 for each employer. Employer Training Grants have been expanded to allow employers to be reimbursed up to $1,000 for training high school students as long as the student earns a credential. 

Office of Work-Based Learning and Apprenticeships (OWBLA)/State Earn and Learns (SEALs): Located within the Department of Workforce Development and part of the Next Level Agenda, this division develops and implements a framework of various work-based learning pathways for both youth and adults.  It partners with the US Department of Labor to expand registered apprenticeships, develop flexible, scalable programs focused on high-wage, high-demand occupations, and build public-private partnerships to increase business and industry engagement with our education systems. Since its inception, OWBLA has developed several State Earn and Learns (SEALs) for both youth and adults. SEALs are training programs that combine an educational component with on-the-job training. SEALs offer participants postsecondary credits and the opportunity to earn industry-recognized certifications.  Most SEALs are aligned to the state’s CTE pathways. 

Local Career Coaching Grants: These state grantsprovide an opportunity for K-12 and postsecondary representatives, employers, and community-based organizations to collaborate on comprehensive, career-focused solutions for their community. The goal is for partners to work together to create a sustainable system for the delivery of local, state, and national career information, as well as increase the educational attainment levels required for those careers. The career coaching system should provide students and adults with opportunities to participate in experiential learning and training in order to make well-informed decisions about their futures.

Skillful Governor’s Coaching Corps: This program is a partnership between Skillful and the state of Indiana. It is an 8-month program that gives career coaches the tools and training they need to better serve Hoosiers in our rapidly changing labor market. The participants represent a diverse mix of organizations: public workforce centers, adult educational institutions, K-12 schools, and non-profits from all 12 Indiana workforce regions. In addition to developing their personal coaching skills, participants work in teams to develop new practices and technologies to improve career services. These practices are then recommended to state leadership for adoption. The work that this group completes serves as a foundation for professional development for school counselors and other school personnel to help provide career guidance and advisement to students and parents to help them make more informed decisions. 

Hoosier Initiative for Re-Entry: The Hoosier Initiative for Re-Entry (HIRE) program helps people involved with the legal system reintegrate into society and creates career paths to give them the opportunities to improve their lives in a sustainable way through work. HIRE works with clients both pre- and post-release to secure employment. Offenders who display a positive track record during their incarceration, participated in programming opportunities during incarceration, and show drive and determination may qualify for the HIRE program. HIRE coordinators deliver all or applicable portions of the HIRE Academy for participants that targets soft skills, workplace aptitude, and motivation. The HIRE Academy is required for all adult offenders who enroll in a vocational training program within IDOC.

Graduation Pathways: Beginning with the class of 2023, students must satisfy three requirements to graduate from high school. They must complete the course requirements for one of the high school diplomas, demonstrate employability skills through project-, service-, or work-based learning experience, and complete at least one postsecondary-ready competency. Three of the nine postsecondary-ready competencies are directly related to CTE. Students have the option of earning a state- and industry-recognized credential or certification, completing one year of a federally-recognized apprenticeship, or earning CTE concentrator status in an approved pathway. 

State CTE Tuition Support: Through Indiana Code 20-43-8, each Indiana secondary school corporation is entitled to receive a grant for CTE courses in addition to their basic tuition support. The grant amount is based upon the number of students enrolled in CTE courses. Selected CTE courses are either flat-funded or are funded based on their designation as high, moderate, or less than moderate value.  This funding is capped at $130 million for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years. The CTE tuition support incentivizes schools to offer career and technical education programs and courses, as well as offsets course-related costs (e.g., facilities, equipment, supplies, and materials).

B. Describe the State's strategic vision and set of goals for preparing an educated and skilled workforce (including special populations) and for meeting the skilled workforce needs of employers, including in existing and emerging in-demand industry sectors and occupations as identified by the State, and how the State's career and technical education programs will help to meet these goals. (Section 122(d)(2) of Perkins V)

Indiana’s strategic vision is to create a talent system that provides all Hoosiers equitable opportunities for lifelong learning and increased personal economic mobility, as well as provides employers the talent to grow and diversify their workforce. We will endeavor to increase intergenerational social and income mobility by:

• Ensuring quality pathways for all Hoosiers that provide opportunities for career advancement, personal prosperity, and well-being;
• Partnering with Indiana employers and education and training providers to identify and close skill gaps while meeting emerging talent needs; and
• Strengthening Indiana’s economy by aligning programs and funding to meet current and future workforce needs.

Indiana has two overarching targets for its talent system:

• By 2025, at least 60% of Hoosiers will attain a quality credential beyond a high school diploma; and
• Engagement between employers and the talent development system increases to identify and address the skills gaps with greater responsivity and efficiency.

Indiana’s Combined Plan has five goals for our talent development and social services system which will actualize our Vision:

Goal 1. Focus on meeting the individual needs of constituents.

• CTE is an integral component of the talent development system that can help individuals meet their current needs while providing opportunities to earn stackable credentials. Broadening the scope of CTE by integrating it with other programs through co-location and co-enrollment will help Hoosiers find and navigate the talent development pathway that meets their needs. 
• As part of our efforts to scale career coaching and navigation, we will include mentorship and advising around the benefits and multiple options of higher education and lifelong learning. This will encompass ways to address short-term associated costs and the long-term economic benefits.
• Increase the number of participants, including those with barriers, who have defined career pathways and have gained transferrable skills, received industry-recognized credentials, and/or earned college credits.

Goal 2. Simplify state systems to facilitate greater access to information, resources, and services for constituents, state personnel, and case managers.

• State agencies will coordinate outreach personnel throughout the state to co-locate services. This will require personnel to be mobile throughout their region to spend time in hubs of activity throughout – such as WorkOnes, schools, libraries, community centers, and city halls.
• We will leverage Governor Holcomb’s work in the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, initiated by the White House, to create an effective data charter between the state agencies represented on the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet.

Goal 3. Align programs towards creating a healthy, engaged, and prepared workforce.

• The best way to prevent future reliance on these programs is through our education system. Career and technical education has historically been neglected in Indiana. Through a redesign of our career and technical courses, we are embedding more academic rigor and industry relevance. During middle and high school, students will have the opportunity to earn the content necessary to be enrolled and successful in a postsecondary education or training program or employed in high-wage job.
• Our CTE redesign strategy, as well as Indiana’s other in-school programs for at-risk youth (e.g., JAG), are directed towards preventing Hoosiers from needing adult basic education or other triage services in the future.
• If an individual does fall through the cracks, our out-of-school youth and adult focused programs must be career bridges, merging adult basic education practices with technical training.

Goal 4. Maximize state and federal resources through impact-driven programs for Hoosiers.

• In Indiana, a great deal of overlap exists between the populations served through our various state and federal programs. Co-enrollment of constituents into multiple programs, when applicable, will allow us to better braid funding to meet both Goals 1 and 2. For example, we can co-enroll certain constituents into both out-of-school youth and Adult Education programs; co-enroll constituents into Wagner-Peyser for career coaching through a WorkOne and SNAP Employment & Training to gain the skills; or co-enroll a high school student in JAG for preventive services, a CTE program for technical skills, and 21^st Century Scholars for future access. Co-enrollment will not just simplify navigation of our complex system, it will also allow the government to truly meet people where they are and provide the additional resources and support necessary to improve their lives.
• As a state, we need to evaluate our programs not based on access or completion alone, but on the impact our programs have on people’s lives. The question we must constantly strive to answer is: did this program allow an individual to become social and economically mobile. Skill attainment, completion rates, and conferred credentials should be assessed, but that will no longer be the only measures of successful workforce development programs. We will leverage our data charter through the Management Performance Hub to determine if, after completing a program, a constituent is earning a higher wage and is in a sustainable career pathway. In addition to focusing on the immediate impact, we will also evaluate programs based on these metrics one-year post-completion of a program.

Goal 5. Foster impactful relationships between businesses, community partners, and government agencies.

• In order for both businesses and constituents to be successful in this talent development system, we need to increase work-based learning opportunities for both youth and adults. This must include on-the-job training, federal and state apprenticeships, internships, job shadow experiences, and incumbent worker training.
• Once businesses and industries are engaged, either through K-12 partnerships, sector strategies, or recruitment services, the talent system must build and sustain these partnerships.
• Employers must be seen as holistic partners that can serve as an additional supplement to braided state and federal programs. Through our partnership, we can convey the mutual benefit investing in individuals will have for employers in terms of talent development, recruitment, and retention. This will include showcasing businesses that invest in programs for Hoosiers and finding ways for those to work more closely with the state and non-profit programs.

C. Describe the State’s strategy for any joint planning, alignment, coordination, and leveraging of funds between the State's career and technical education programs and programs of study with the State's workforce development system, to achieve the strategic vision and goals described in section 122(d)(2) of Perkins V, including the core programs defined in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102) and the elements related to system alignment under section 102(b)(2)(B) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 3112(b)(2)(B)); and for programs carried out under this title with other Federal programs, which may include programs funded 1965. (Section 122(d)(3) of Perkins V)

One critical strategy we will implement by 2022 is creating career pathway alignment across the entire talent development system.Indiana’s secondary CTE programs have historically been developed and operated separately from postsecondary and vice versa. Both secondary and postsecondary CTE have often been separated from the workforce development system. One of the best places we can begin in the joint planning process is to create common Indiana career pathways with multiple entry and exit points that will be used for the entire talent development system. Through our Combined Plan we can merge two disparate concepts established in different federal laws – career pathways under WIOA and programs of study under Perkins. We will merge these two concepts under a process of creating singularly defined pathways that provide opportunities for both youth and adults, beginning with secondary schools and aligned skills and running through postsecondary education and credential or degree completion.

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Combining career pathways and programs of study into one concept allows Indiana to serve both adults and high school students through coordinated, aligned, and structured pathways leading towards recognized postsecondary credentials. Additionally, career pathways and programs of study in the same employment sector could share employer partnerships and industry-recognized credentials identified as most relevant for their local economies. They would leverage each other’s industry connections and other strengths, reducing duplication, maximizing funding, and building wide-reaching partnerships. Aligning our Programs of Study to postsecondary education will also further the matriculation between our Adult Education programs and higher education. For example, Adult Education providers could take our established model for our Programs of Study and supplement it with academic remediation, financial literacy, and digital literacy, creating a new type of IET model.

These aligned pathways will provide an additional benefit to youth by providing an opportunity to accelerate their time through a pathway by beginning a pathway in high school through dual enrollment/dual credit programs. This acceleration will lead to a greater number of high school graduates having a postsecondary credential that may be used as a stepping stone for advancement through a pathway or transference to another pathway.  Most importantly, credential completion for youth while in high school will help to prevent these individuals from potentially relying on government benefits (e.g., SNAP and TANF) as adults.

Furthermore, Indiana has a talent development system comprised of wide-ranging and broad workforce development and education programs spanning federal programs, state initiatives, and private investments. This has been beneficial for Hoosiers, as there are multiple resources and supports available to help individuals access opportunities for lifelong learning and increased personal economic mobility. The proliferation of programs, however, has also created an often convoluted and complex system to navigate. In some instances, we have state, federal, and private programs trying to reach the same populations facing inequities, which has created a system of inefficiencies in delivering resources to Hoosiers. Our current program-by-program approach to serving constituents and businesses has resulted in a profusion of program-specific solutions that may not deliver the full range of services a Hoosier needs to improve his or her economic mobility. If the talent development system is to better meet our constituents, address the barriers preventing them from accessing education and employment opportunities, and ensure our program are having the intended impact on lives, we must integrate, align, and simplify access to our array of resources and services.

Indiana is taking a unique approach to the Combined Plan. Rather than taking a program-specific approach, we are examining the alignment of programs through the system’s lens to the overarching needs of target populations. We hope this approach focuses our state agencies not just on programmatic requirements and funding streams but more on how the entire system can provide various supports an individual might need to be successful. CTE is at the core of talent development and, as such, plays a crucial role with nearly all of our targeted populations. In the section below, we will summarize how CTE may be able to meet the needs of several key target populations:             

• Low-Income Adults: Postsecondary CTE includes the following industry clusters: Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources, Science, Engineering & Technologies, Manufacturing & Processing, Business, Management, and Administration, Architecture & Construction, Health Services, Information Technology, and Transportation and Logistics. These programs also work closely with businesses to offer work-based learning experiences. Currently, the majority of postsecondary Perkins funds goes towards facilities and equipment costs. As Indiana encourages more co-location of state government agencies and programs, we hope to see the same practices applied to our education spaces. This will allow us to maximize our investments in equipment, facilities, supplies, and instructors between our secondary and postsecondary institutions. It will also build greater articulation in the CTE space among secondary, adult education, and postsecondary programs. Local regions can determine how to increase co-location partnerships through varied schedules, hours, and instructors.

As postsecondary and secondary CTE programs co-locate and pool funding for equipment, facilities, and supplies, this will allow us to direct Perkins funds towards career counseling for low-income individuals who attend a postsecondary CTE program. Through postsecondary Perkins funds, we can expand our work-based learning activities for low-income adults to include career exploration and engagement experiences at businesses and postsecondary institutions. Connecting WIOA Core Programs to Perkins allows us to make career coaching more experiential for low-income Hoosiers.

Indiana also intends to intertwine our Perkins funds with WIOA Core Programs to help create robust career pathways/programs of study that will span all CTE and technical education programs. Connecting the career pathways under WIOA and the programs of study under Perkins into one concept allows Indiana to serve both adults and high school students through coordinated, aligned pathways leading towards recognized postsecondary credentials. Additionally, similar career pathways and programs of study in the same sector could share employer partnerships and industry-recognized credentials identified as most relevant for their local economies. They would leverage each other’s industry connections and other strengths, reducing duplication, maximizing funding, and building wide-reaching partnerships.

• Unemployed Adults: Stat Earn and Learns or other options for work-based learning could complement the CTE Programs of Study offered at Ivy Tech Community College and Vincennes University. Through the Combined Plan, Indiana will merge the career pathways under WIOA and the programs of study under Perkins into one concept. Through postsecondary Perkins funds, we can also expand our work-based learning activities for adult students to include career exploration and engagement experiences. Our Perkins funds could offer a variety of career exploration and awareness opportunities connected to postsecondary education and employment. Through talent tours, job shadowing, worksite tours, class audits, campus visits and tours, industry speakers, and informational interviews, Perkins can help make connections for adult students to postsecondary education and jobs as they transition to more challenging work.

• Individuals needing to be upskilled or reskilled: Our postsecondary Perkins funds can help those in need or upskilling/reskilling gain access to career exploration and engagement through our community college campuses. This will provide opportunities to learn about fields, programs, and opportunities that may be less traditional for some subgroups (e.g., registered apprenticeships for single mothers). Perkins funds can help fund equipment, facilities, and instructional needs for career pathways at both secondary and postsecondary schools. By merging our career pathways under WIOA with the Perkins programs of study, Indiana will be able to better serve Hoosiers of all levels through coordinated pathways that lead to recognized postsecondary credential attainment and career advancement.   

• Ex-Offenders: Currently, Indiana grants $150,000 of Perkins funding to the IDOC to utilize for equipment and machinery for Career-Technical Education programs. This funding specifically supports training and upskilling offenders while they are incarcerated. Continuing to dedicate Perkins funds to providing quality environments for CTE operations for incarcerated individuals will allow us to maximize other funding streams to focus on wraparound supports and job placement during their re-entry. Through an Integrated Education and Training model, which can be partially funded through WIOA Adult Education, we can help meet the academic and technical needs of this target population. The IDOC specifically focuses Perkins towards specific occupations that are most attainable for ex-offenders, coordinated with Indiana’s Promoted Certifications list.

During the 2018-2019 school year, the Indiana Department of Correction had 2,538 individuals participate in 11 separate CTE programs with 46 separate classes in 13 facilities. In SY 18-19 1,728 individuals completed certification programs as noted below:

As Adult Education focuses on the academic needs of ex-offenders, Perkins funding can supplement Integrated Education and Training (IET) programs to provide them with technical skills. Program reviews reveal that Indiana has maximized the capacity of current instructors and potential measurable skill gains for students. To increase access to and successful completion of Indiana’s high school equivalency will require an increase in trained staff. Co-mingling WIOA Title II and Perkins funds would allow for CTE instructors to receive professional development for academic integration, increasing the capacity of current programs and potentially growing IET opportunities.

One example of this type of blended programming is in Region 9. The Adult Education provider, River Valley Resources (RVR), has partnered with the IDOC and Ivy Tech to offer MSSC-CPT certification as an IET program at the Madison Women’s Corrections Facility. This class is co-taught between Ivy Tech and RVR teachers. These classes use braided funding of Adult Education IET dollars and non-credit bearing Workforce Ready Grant dollars, depending on the program year and student eligibility. Additionally, RVR enrolls and funds Madison Correctional Facility students in traditional AE programming at the prison to remediate basic skills and teach workforce readiness and employability to women for AWS Welding and NIMS CNC training at Ivy Tech. While IDOC funds the training portion of these programs, we hope to expand our use of Second Chance PellGrants to increase training opportunities for current and former offenders. Several Indiana institutions for higher education are in the process of leveraging the flexibility to use Second Chance Pell to fund both technical training certifications and two and four-year degree programs through the US Department of Education. Perkins could be used to help fill in funding gaps for technical training or equipment. This maximizes the time Hoosiers have during their sentences to focus on rehabilitation and upskilling, thus allowing them to have a smoother re-entry into the workforce.

• Individuals with Disabilities:Using Perkins Leadership funds, Indiana will create a Special Populations Recruitment Initiative, which will promote recruitment and retention efforts of this target population in both secondary and postsecondary CTE programs. This grant opportunity will support professional development to increase the effectiveness of teachers, faculty, specialized support personnel, and paraprofessionals in relation to the recruitment and instruction of special populations. Indiana intends to explore further opportunities to use Perkins to support educational institutions that serve individuals with disabilities, as we understand that this target population has the same capabilities to achieve in the CTE realm if provided the proper supports.    

• Historically underrepresented minorities: We want to ensure there is equitable access and representation of minority students in all career clusters. Fewer racially and ethnically diverse students are represented in STEM pathways, specifically healthcare and IT. Ensuring secondary and postsecondary students access those CTE programs in high-wage occupations, such as those in our advanced industries, is critical to addressing the wage gap. We need to actively recruit and retain students into programs that can give them the technical skills needed for success in well-paid occupations. Often grade requirements may preclude certain subgroups from qualifying for entrance into these programs, which reinforces the need to establish and maintain high expectations for academic achievement in grades 3 through 8. Through Comprehensive Local Needs Assessments, we want our CTE districts and Workforce Boards to examine policies that may be inhibiting equity and identify ways to increase minority students’ access to programs leading to middle- and high-wage jobs.

Our CTE districts can use Perkins and their state CTE tuition support to partner with either schools or community colleges to build co-requisite models for academics and technical classes. Often used in higher education, the co-requisite model melts remediation with introductory courses and provides students with the opportunity to earn credit towards their degree concurrently with remedial support, rather than completing a remedial course prior to enrolling in the credit-bearing course. Leveraging Perkins as a funding source, Workforce Development Boards can help CTE districts build similar models in the secondary CTE space, integrating academic remediation concurrent with the technical course.

Access alone, though, is not sufficient to close the achievement and wage gaps for this target population. We need students to earn credentials, complete programs of study, and enroll in postsecondary education programs. A portion of our Perkins Leadership dollars will go towards supporting recruiting special populations into a wide-range of CTE courses. Additionally, we will also focus our funding towards similar professional development for CTE instructors and administrators as above – with diversity and inclusion practices and culturally responsive instruction – to support our special populations in CTE at both the secondary and postsecondary levels. Part of Perkins includes Civil Rights monitoring. The Office of CTE will provide technical assistance to help our CTE districts proactively comply with all Civil Rights regulations, rather than waiting for a monitoring visit.

In the postsecondary space with adult learners, similar strategies – professional development and examining equity in access – can also be replicated through Indiana’s Perkins Leadership dollars. Perkins can also be used to further other equitable strategies for historically underrepresented minorities. Through our Perkins Reserve funds, we plan to administer grants to community colleges that create and implement local strategies to close performance gaps. Because Ivy Tech Community College has pioneered the use of the co-requisite model in math, our community college system could build a similar model with CTE courses.[2] Contingent upon programmatic academic needs, postsecondary Perkins could integrate academics further into technical courses by concurrently offering any remedial support with technical classes. This could help remove a barrier some of our historically underrepresented minorities who seek postsecondary education face.

As well, we will require our postsecondary Perkins recipients to focus on more academic integration, including science, into our CTE programs of study, which meets the goal of Perkins V and provides students with higher levels of academic proficiency, which is becoming increasingly critical in today’s evolving economy. Perkins can also fund a continuum of work-based learning opportunities for minority students in the postsecondary space, from job shadowing to internships. We will also focus Perkins funding towards greater career awareness and guidance. This type of guidance should be targeted towards pursuing lifelong learning for our historically underrepresented minorities, encouraging them to leverage stackable credentials towards higher degrees. Though higher education is not an equalizer when it comes to wages for minorities, it does boost economic opportunities and mobility prospects. This type of counseling could include financial aid opportunities to help offset costs, including both federal and state programs.

• Urban Populations: Through the CTE Redesign efforts under Perkins, we hope to improve the postsecondary attainment of urban students while they are in high school, providing them with greater opportunities for future economic mobility and personal fulfillment. Our K-12 and postsecondary institutions are designing structured academic and career pathways for students that explicitly lead and/or transfer to careers providing family-supporting wages. To do this we must ensure that schools in the most economically disadvantaged communities across the state have access to the same quality equipment and course offerings as those of their peers. By ensuring equity in the academic space for all, we seek to give all Hoosier students, regardless of neighborhood, a chance to achieve in the CTE setting, leading to careers in some of the most in demand careers in the state. Perkins can supplement state tuition support for CTE to help provide state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, as well as instructional strategies that support various learning styles and needs. The redesigned programs of study (or career pathways under WIOA) will facilitate the extension of postsecondary pathways into high schools through intensive collaboration between community colleges with K–12 systems.

Perkins can support advising (including both academic and career planning) in high schools and colleges should provide prospective and current students with information regarding various opportunities for employment in specific fields, projected earnings (at entry level and beyond), and the levels of educational attainment associated with high employment and high wages. Perkins can help support this activity and professional growth in both secondary and postsecondary, using local Wagner-Peyser staff to help fill any gaps. Perkins can also supplement the expansion of the work-based learning continuum, career guidance, and employability development at the secondary and postsecondary level. For adults or at-risk youth, these programs can also braid in funds through WIOA Title I to assist with wages or other funding supports. Indiana’s Local Career Coaching Grants may be utilized in tandem with Perkins and other funding sources (such as Title IV under the Every Student Succeeds Act) as a means to expand this type of advising to more students.

• Rural Populations: One development we hope to implement widely in our rural schools and CTE districts is an Entrepreneurship Capstone course. This will encourage and support the next generation of entrepreneurs to build individual capacity and support new business creation. Our rural CTE districts and community colleges implementing career-technical education programs must link education with future careers, especially in growing industries, such as healthcare and IT, and advanced industries (agricultural biosciences, aircraft and aerospace, automotive/mobility, and logistics).

In rural regions, specifically, our K-12 schools and community colleges campuses must focus dual enrollment and credit opportunities and other efforts on the student populations that are less likely to be college-bound, which greatly overlap with our At-Risk and other target populations. This will create a more equitable system that does not let a person’s life circumstances or obstacles dictate his/her opportunity to succeed, as well as taps into these students’ potential to earn a postsecondary credential as a key economic development strategy for our rural counties. Increasing postsecondary access for all rural students will help both attract and retain talent in these areas. This may require a mindset shift among rural Hoosiers around the growing necessity of higher learning to find personal and economic success. Through Indiana’s communications strategy, we hope to target high school students, in particular, with information regarding the long-term benefits of all types of higher education. As our CTE programs of study are redesigned to embed consistently aligned dual credit or enrollment courses in secondary CTE ones, we hope this begins to increase the postsecondary attainment in rural areas. This will require intentionality and counseling from our community stakeholders, though, to ensure the success and sustainability of these efforts.

Some Indiana districts have strong partnerships with either Ivy Tech Community College or Vincennes University to provide career or colleges success coaches on-site in high schools. Vincennes University receives $3 million in state funding for expansion of its early college model. This model innovatively puts students, particularly those facing barriers, on the track to enroll in some form of postsecondary education. As we endeavor to increase co-location, we hopes to see these types of partnerships between our K-12 districts and postsecondary institutions also increase. Perkins funds could assist with establishing secondary-postsecondary partnerships, as our educational institutions seek to pool their Perkins resources together. Through co-location, secondary and postsecondary programs can combined funds to update facilities and equipment regularly. Perkins can help expand access to postsecondary success coaches. Parke Heritage High School, a rural school in Rockville, Indiana, is an example of this type of partnership with an Ivy Tech representative embedded in its guidance department. This has assisted students, teachers, and guidance counselors in completing aligned sequences of dual credit courses and raising postsecondary attainment and completion while a student earns a high school diploma. While this is one type of co-location option, similar to the various types of co-location described above, Workforce Development Boards can assist schools and postsecondary partners in determining which approach may work best for the local context, using Perkins as a resource to help execute this strategy.

• At-Risk Youth:At-risk youth can gain both academic and technical skills through Perkins-funded programs. The reauthorized Perkins builds off the previous versions of this federal law to eliminate the two‐track approach and raise expectations for students who take Career-Technical Education (CTE) courses. Indiana must ensure that CTE students are taught to the same academic standards and expectations as other students by integrating rigorous and challenging academic content into our CTE programs. To adequately prepare our K-12 students for middle-skill jobs, must erase the notion that CTE can hold students to lower academic expectations than non‐CTE students or a “non college‐bound” track. Economic mobility in Indiana requires pursuit of any type of postsecondary education during the course of one’s life. We must prepare our CTE students to meet those same expectations as our “college-bound” students.

To achieve this goal of raising CTE quality, consistency, and intentionality across the state, the Office of CTE is embarking upon a CTE redesign, with new Programs of Study set to implement in the 2021-2022 academic year. Through the CTE redesign, Indiana will expand the opportunities for dual credit and early college for all students. This will be instrumental for low-income students because of the subsidized cost for these programs. Each redesigned Program of Study will provide students the opportunity to complete at least 30 postsecondary credits (or one year) of postsecondary education. When available, all CTE Programs of Study will be intentionally aligned to a postsecondary credential, specifically certificates and technical certificates offered through Ivy Tech Community College and Vincennes University.

Increasing this type of postsecondary access and intentional credit accumulation will benefit low-income youth in these programs. Through similar models that offer students who are traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary education the opportunity to pursue a high school diploma while simultaneously earning college credits, like the Early College High School Initiative, the CTE redesign emphasizes rigor, relevance, and relationships in courses. Rigorous instruction builds students’ content knowledge and learning habits; relevance engages students in understanding why they are learning a topic and in making real-world connections; and relationships supports student engagement and achievement. Incorporating these features into our CTE programs can improve high school students’ access to and success in college, as a similar principles did in the Early College model.[3]

In high school, these redesigned Programs of Study will be structured into four courses. Each program of study will begin with a principles course, which will provide key foundational knowledge for the pathway. The principles course will be followed by two advanced, non-duplicative, occupational-specific courses. The fourth course will be a pathway capstone course. Directly aligning the program of study courses to postsecondary courses will give students who continue through concentrator status and beyond the opportunity to complete the technical courses required for a technical certificate or certificate of graduation through dual credit or dual enrollment. The goal of the CTE redesign is to ensure that all CTE programs are providing the necessary knowledge and skills for postsecondary success to all students. By standardizing program quality across the state, we can ensure at-risk youth have consistency and quality in their CTE access, regardless of where they live.

Indiana has used Perkins funds to create an Assessment Grant to provide funding to eligible secondary recipients to support state-approved, industry-recognized licensing and certification examinations or assessments leading to a recognized postsecondary credential. This grant opportunity helps recipients bridge the cost-gap for all CTE students, including low-income students. CTE centers are incentivized through the assessment grant to have low-income students, as well as other special populations, earn certifications.  Special population students were weighted to count for 1.25 in the calculation to determine the amount of funds for each recipient.

Indiana leads the nation in the number of students served through the Jobs For America’s Graduates (JAG) program. The goal is to increase the number of JAG students who participate in CTE. JAG students represent many of the special population groups within Perkins. By encouraging greater participation of JAG students in CTE programs, we can build upon the strengths of the supportive services of the JAG program and simultaneously provide those students with an opportunity to begin and proceed in a career pathway. The Office of CTE staff has been invited to present at the JAG instructors summer workshops and will further explore opportunities for collaboration in the near future. 

• Adults without a HS diploma and/or basic skills deficient: Indiana plans to be more intentional about integrating CTE and Adult Education. The goal is to increase the number of Integrated Education and Training opportunities by co-locating programs. Co-location may occur at a CTE center, a secondary or postsecondary institution, or an employer. This will allow us to maximize our investments in updates to equipment, facilities, supplies, and instructors. It also builds greater articulation between adult and postsecondary education, as well as secondary and postsecondary education. This is currently occurring at in some areas throughout the state. The Hoosier Hills Career Center in Monroe County, for example, co-locates programs through Adult Education and staff from the WorkOne at the career center. Hoosier Hills has braided in philanthropic dollars from Strada Education Network to expand JAG to the career center, which provides mentoring and dropout prevention services to students at the career center. Local regions can determine how to increase co-location partnerships through varied schedules, hours, and instructors.

Through these partnerships, we can interweave our Perkins funds with our WIOA Title II to help create robust career pathways. Instructionally, AE and Perkins can blend together to craft IETs that serve populations. Adult Education providers can work with schools or community colleges to access Perkins programming to help offset technical training costs, including equipment, supplies, or instructors. Some states that are currently executing this type of braided funding target their funds thusly:

• Perkins funds can cover accredited training facilities, state-of-the art equipment, and articulated training curriculum.
  • WIOA Title II funds can go towards overload pay for high school instructors, training in CTE core content, field experts, and consumables.

Because WIOA Title II can also fund technical training, local regions must examine how the two funding sources can be coordinated to promote career pathways for all Hoosiers. Braiding our WIOA Title II and Perkins funds can create alignment between our programs of study under Perkins and our career pathways under WIOA. For example, utilizing WIOA Title II funds to have local (high school) teachers provide AE programming vs. contracting with external vocational entities offers several benefits, including cost savings, an already-established knowledge of and relationship with the local community, and that teachers are already trained in various instructional strategies. This can help foster deeper connections between school district leadership, parents, and community members. Replicating programs in both the secondary and adult education space will allow for comparable skills and concepts to be taught to all Hoosiers. 

Through postsecondary Perkins funds, we can expand our work-based learning activities for adult students to include career exploration and engagement experiences. As adult students progress into high school level curricula in their AE program, our Perkins funds could offer a variety of career exploration and awareness opportunities connected to postsecondary education and employment. Through talent tours, job shadowing, worksite tours, class audits, campus visits and tours, industry speakers, and informational interviews, Perkins can help make connections for adult students to postsecondary education and jobs as they transition to more challenging work. Because our Perkins dollars flow through our community colleges, AE providers would need to work with these institutions to build these experiences into programs. Connecting WIOA Title II to Perkins allows us to make career coaching more experiential for our adult students. As well, through our community colleges, our adult students can learn how they can continue their educational pursuits through financial aid opportunities, like the Pell Grant or credit-bearing Workforce Ready Grants.

D. Describe how the eligible agency will use State leadership funds made available under section 112(a)(2) of Perkins V for each of the purposes under section 124(a) of the Act. See Text Box 2 for the required uses of State leadership funds under section 124(a) of Perkins V. (Section 122(d)(7) of Perkins V)

The development of the Combined Plan has illuminated new opportunities for implementing and improving CTE into an already diverse talent development system. CTE is currently delivered through Perkins in a variety of settings, including postsecondary institutions, secondary career centers, shared programs at local high schools as part CTE cooperatives or consortia, and Department of Correction facilities.  The Plan has illustrated a need to expand Perkins support and coordination of CTE programs to adult education programs, juvenile justice facilities, at-risk youth programs (e.g., JAG), and Vocational Rehabilitation and Pre-Employment Transition Services. 

Expansion of CTE will require additional state CTE staff and leadership funds to ensure high-quality CTE programs. Traditionally, Indiana has operated on a minimal leadership budget that focused on providing basic levels of service. Set aside funds for leadership purposes have been limited to a little over 5% of the total Perkins allocation. In order to meet these new demands, we plan to increase the set aside funds for leadership to approximately 8.25%. This increase will provide us with the necessary funding to accomplish our goals and still distribute 90% of the total Perkins allocation to eligible recipients. 

Indiana will use allocated state leadership funds to conduct the following required state leadership activities in order to meet the Plan’s Goals for the talent development system and to support continual improvement of Indiana’s CTE system. 

• Non-Traditional Training & Employment: A competitive grant opportunity that provides grantees an opportunity to improve non-traditional participation in CTE programs related to current and emerging high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand occupations or fields of work. Grantees will increase non-traditional participation in CTE programs through (a) mentorship opportunities, (b) parent/peer/community involvement programs, (c) early exposure initiatives, and (d) recruitment activities. These four options represent the most effective avenues for increasing non-traditional student involvement in CTE.[4] This grant will be open to current secondary and postsecondary eligible recipients; local school districts; business and industry partners and Workforce Development Boards; minority-serving institutions; representatives of special populations; and local agencies serving out-of-school youth, homeless youth, and at-risk youth. This grant supports the continuum of education and workforce development. 

The Office of CTE plans to designate one of their Career Specialists as an expert that is responsible for providing technical assistance to schools and career centers for the support of special populations, specifically non-traditional students. A portion of the funds set aside for non-traditional preparation may be used for professional development for the Career Specialist, as well as cover expenses associated with providing technical assistance to schools.  

• Individuals in State Institutions: The Department of Corrections and Juvenile Justice Facilities will receive non-competitive grant funds to support CTE and workforce training through the DOC and the Juvenile Justice System. The allocation to DOC will continue to be $150,000; the allocation to juvenile justice is a new grant of $100,000. These grants provide support to individuals in state correctional institutions and juvenile justice facilities. Funds may be used to support a variety of activities, such as: direct student instruction, the purchase of CTE program-specific materials and equipment, the integration of academic skills into CTE programming, career exploration, employability skills, and fostering relationships between these individuals and the occupational options available post-release.

• Educational Institutions that Serve Individuals with Disabilities: Indiana intends to explore opportunities to provide non-competitive grants to the School for the Deaf and the School for the Blind.  The Office of CTE will work with these two institutions to build a bridge to CTE programs at nearby CTE Centers, employers, and schools for their students. We will also explore the possibility of offering competitive grants to other educational institutions including institutions that serve adults with disabilities.   

• Special Populations Recruitment Initiative: This grant opportunity will support the elimination of inequities in student access to high-quality CTE programs of study. This grant opportunity will support professional development to increase the effectiveness of teachers, faculty, specialized support personnel, and paraprofessionals in relation to the recruitment of special populations into CTE programs. This funding will also go towards similar professional development for CTE instructors and administrators as above – with differentiated instructional practices – to support our special populations in CTE at both the secondary and postsecondary levels. Indiana intends to explore opportunities to use Perkins to support educational institutions in serving individuals with disabilities. The first step will be to allocate non-competitive grants to the School for the Deaf and the School for the Blind to build a bridge to CTE programs at nearby CTE Centers, employers, and schools for their students.

Misconceptions regarding physical or developmental abilities of these students may preclude them from participating in certain career clusters. IDEA funding should ensure that all necessary accommodations for a students’ success are in place to facilitate enrollment in and completion of CTE courses. This can pair with Perkins funds to ensure those supports are in place for students with disabilities. CTE districts and schools must partner together to ensure these funding streams work in conjunction with one another to support these students. Access alone, though, is not sufficient to close the achievement and wage gaps for this target population. We need students to earn credentials, complete programs of study, and enroll in postsecondary education programs.

The Office of CTE plans to increase its staff by adding Career Specialists. One of the Career Specialists will be trained to provide targeted technical assistance and support to recipients in order to support special populations, including individuals with disabilities. The specialist will develop resources and provide professional development to help eligible recipients and school districts better support special population students.  All CTE specialists will also be able to provide support to secondary schools, career centers, and postsecondary institutions to identify performance gaps and develop strategies to eliminate or reduce those gaps. 

These funds will also be used to cover travel expenses for at least one CTE staff member to attend the 2020 NTACT Capacity Building Institute in order to provide input on the state’s transition plan for students with disabilities.  The CTE staff member will join representatives from Vocational Rehabilitation and the Office of Special Education through the IDOE.  This will continue the work that began in December 2019 at the NTACT pre-conference.    

• Recruit, Prepare, and Retain CTE Teachers and Faculty: Indiana supports new CTE teachers in multiple ways. The Workplace Specialist Program administered by Ball State University is a supplemental licensure program for individuals that have workplace experience but have not completed a traditional teacher preparation program. Workplace Specialists have the opportunity to gain the pedagogical knowledge and skills necessary to earn their Workplace Specialist II teaching license.  The program requires a combination of face to face sessions with online course work.
  • The Office of CTE also administers the New and Newer Teacher Workshop held in conjunction with the Indiana Association for CTE (IACTE) Fall Conference. The workshop is a one day pf pre-conference activities, which provide new and newer teachers a series of sessions focusing on classroom management, developing lesson plans, and integrating work-based learning into their classrooms. The Office of CTE supports the IACTE Fall Conference through financial support and by facilitating professional development sessions.   
  • The Office of CTE has supported the Coaching for Beginning Agriculture Teachers, which is a mentoring program for first year agriculture educators. With the support of IACTE, Indiana intends to expand this program to all CTE areas. We are also watching very closely the plans of the national ACTE group and the potential replication of the Teach Ag program for all CTE areas.   
  • Through legislative action, Indiana has created greater opportunities to bring new CTE teachers into the classroom by allowing schools and career centers to employ individuals who meet workplace experience requirements without formal background in education. This legislation has the potential to enhance employer and school connections through by allowing subject matter experts working in a sector of field to employee to be embedded in a classroom part-time. Employers could allow staff to serve as instructors with paid time off. 
  • The increased rigor and alignment to postsecondary courses will require significant upskilling of current CTE teachers. In order to address this, need we must provide multiple professional development opportunities. One possibility is to scale the Vincennes Welding Academy model and partner with a postsecondary institution and an industry employer or provider to develop summer workshops or academies for teachers to increase their skill levels. These workshops will include technical instruction, as well as instructional practice. Workshops and academies could be used as a refresher course of industry skills to prepare instructors for the required industry certification exams that are required to be credentialed to teach dual credit courses. We intend to use leadership funds to pay for these certifications. 

• Providing Technical Assistance for Eligible Recipients: The Office of CTE staff currently consists of six individuals that provide technical assistance in three areas; 2 staff members are dedicated to data and accountability; 1 member assists with fiscal compliance; and 3 staff members provide program technical assistance. Technical assistance is provided both preemptively and upon request. 
  • Preemptive technical assistance provided by the data and accountability specialists includes training workshops for school personnel responsible for entering data into the CTE database.  Program specialists and fiscal compliance technical assistance is primarily offered through email or telecommunications on an as needed basis.
  • As mentioned earlier, Indiana intends to increase its capacity to provide preemptive technical assistance through the addition of career specialists. The Office of CTE recognizes the need to support schools as they address and decrease performance gaps. We believe this can be accomplished by having at least one career specialist focus on supporting special population students. The Office of CTE also needs to be prepared to offer implementation workshops for schools to help with the rollout and enactment of Next Level Programs of Study. Part of this assistance will be the development of technical assistance documents and resources. Another high priority area is supporting schools in providing work-based learning opportunities for students. One possibility to fulfill this need is to work collaboratively with the Office of Work Based Learning and Apprenticeships (OWBLA). In order to accomplish this goal the CTE staff will require professional development on a variety of topics and best practices. 
  • The Office of CTE has identified a need to have better communications with postsecondary institutions. CTE Staff have already held meetings to help postsecondary submit their data and prepare for completing the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment. We will continue future meetings to discuss how the Office of CTE could better support postsecondary CTE. 

• Reporting on performance levels and gaps:
  • The state of Indiana and Office of CTE will develop and publicly release an annual report which will highlight the accomplishments of CTE from the past year, as well as provide reports on the use of funds and performance on indicators. This annual report is one method for helping the public better understand CTE and its effectiveness. 
  • The Office of CTE will be one of the participating agencies in the development and implementation of the talent development system communication plan. 
  • A Program of Study Guide will be developed and shared with students and parents to provide information on the benefits of CTE.

Other Priorities for State Leadership Funds:

• Support for Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs);
• Support for the Indiana Association of Career and Technical Education (including financial support for the fall conference and other professional development events);
• Programs of Study Pilot Grant assists with the development statewide programs of study – including new courses, updated standards, equipment and facilities, career guidance, and advisement resources. The first phase will include planning grants that will provide support to schools for the development of an implementation plan. The second phase will include implementation grants for selected planning grant recipients. The pilot programs will provide CTE the opportunity to identify challenges to implementation and develop resources for the implementation workshops this fall;
• The Perkins Assessment Grant provides funding to eligible secondary recipients to support state-approved, industry-recognized licensing, and certification examinations or assessments leading to a recognized postsecondary credential. This grant opportunity helps recipients bridge the cost-gap for all CTE students – including special populations students. This program also directly meets the state’s goals for preparing an educated and skilled workforce (including special populations) and for meeting the skilled workforce needs of employers, including in existing and emerging in-demand industry sectors and occupations as identified by the State;
• Professional development activities and workshops for school and career counselors and postsecondary transitional counselors;
  • We will work with community foundations and other workforce development partners to develop a team model for career advising that schools will be able to implement. One possibility includes the Skillful Coaching Corps program, which is a train the trainer model focused on developing career coaching skills in a variety of professions, including school counselors. 
  • The Office of CTE will review progress made by Local Career Coaching Grant recipients to determine the possibility of scaling the strategies statewide.  
• Expansion and improvement of middle school CTE programs will be the next phase of the state’s CTE redesign. This will focus primarily on aligning standards to upper secondary courses in order to start career exploration earlier. This will provide students more time to focus on career exploration, allowing them to take full advantage of the opportunity to earn a credential in a field aligned to their interests and abilities prior to high school graduation; and
• Support for CTE programs for adults and out-of-school youth concurrent with their completion of secondary school education in a school or other educational setting. Perkins recipients will work with Adult Education to increase the number of Integrated Education and Training programs. 

2. Implementing Career and Technical Education Programs and Programs of Study

A. Describe the career and technical education programs or programs of study that will be supported, developed, or improved at the State level, including descriptions of the programs of study to be developed at the State level and made available for adoption by eligible recipients. (Section 122(d)(4)(A) of Perkins V)

In an effort to develop common and intentionally aligned career pathways and programs of study, we are proposing that Indiana return to the 16 Federal Career Clusters (listed below). Currently, secondary CTE utilizes 12 career clusters and postsecondary only uses 8 career clusters to organize pathways. This reorganization would help to align which programs of study are eligible for funding at the secondary and postsecondary levels.  This may possibly help braid funds to create more joint programs of CTE. 

Postsecondary Programs of Study: The postsecondary CTE system in the state of Indiana is concentrated between Ivy Tech Community College and Vincennes University. Ivy Tech has more than 40 locations throughout the state of which 18 campuses are eligible recipients for Perkins funds. Vincennes University’s main campus is in Vincennes, and it supports other sites in Jasper, Fort Branch, and Indianapolis. While other Indiana institutions offer technical and associate’s programs, as well programs or majors in the clusters above, Ivy Tech and Vincennes are the only public institutions that primarily offer certificate through associate level programs.

Ivy Tech and Vincennes both offer a variety of programs including certificate level, associate degree programs, transfer programs, and non-credit bearing opportunities. 

• Certificate (CT) and Certificate of Program Completion (CPC): This is the shortest term, credit-bearing program offered by Ivy Tech and Vincennes, respectively. Certificates are entry-level or advanced credentials of up to 29 credit hours; may contain at least one industry or nationally-recognized certification; and may contain courses meeting Technical Certificate and/or Associate of Applied Science degree requirements.
• Technical Certificate (TC) or Certificate of Graduation (CG): Technical Certificates and Certificates of Graduation are designed as an intermediate workplace credential with credits meeting degree requirements of the related associate degree. These often require about 30 credit hours and includes a combination of technical and general education courses.  In most cases, all of the courses required for a technical certificate can be applied to the requirements for an applied associate degree.
• Applied Associate Degree (AAS) – The Associate of Applied Science degree structure is designed for immediate workforce preparation upon completion, although many of the courses may transfer into related baccalaureate programs.
• Approval of Postsecondary CTE Programs: All degree programs, Associates and above, are approved through the Commission for Higher Education (CHE). An application is submitted and reviewed by the Academic Affairs and Quality Committee. After a review and vetting process, the proposed program is then referred to the Commission for approval. 

Programs below an associate’s degree, like technical certificates, may be approved through a Routine Staff Action (RSA). The postsecondary institution completes an application that is submitted to the CHE. The application is then reviewed by the Academic Affairs and Quality Committee. Applications are evaluated on six main criteria:

1. Characteristics of the program - what type of program, mode of delivery, internships offered. 
2. Rationale institutional and state - evidence of labor market demand, sub categories
3. Cost of and support for the program – faculty, facilities and the nature of support using existing resources
4. Similar and related programs offered within the state - related programs at the institution and other institutions, articulation to associate and baccalaureate programs.
5. Quality and other aspects – credit hours, learning outcomes/competencies, licensure and certification, accreditation, placement of graduates.
6. Projected head count, FTE enrollments and degrees conferred.

With the transition to CTE under the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet, the GWC serves as the monitoring and accountability agency for postsecondary CTE; we include a representative from the Office of CTE to serve with the AAQ Committee to review all applications for postsecondary CTE programs. 

CHE maintains a database of all programs offered at postsecondary institutions in the state. In addition to the titles of programs, the database also contains student level data. CHE, postsecondary institutions, and the Office of CTE have reached an agreement to share postsecondary data in the Indiana Technical Education Reporting System (InTERS) database. The sharing of data will allow all CTE data to be located in one unified system. 

Secondary Programs of Study: Currently, Indiana is operating with two sets of career pathways or programs of study. Students in the 2020-2022 cohorts may follow the Perkins IV pathways that are based on Indiana’s previous definition of a CTE concentrator, requires students to earn six credits in a pathway.  The class of 2023 must follow the Perkins V CTE Concentrator Course Sequences that were developed to align with the Perkins V definition of a CTE concentrator. Students may choose from over 60 career pathways under Perkins IV or Perkins V.  The link below provides lists of the current pathways: https://www.in.gov/gwc/2437.htm

There are many great examples of high quality CTE being offered throughout the state of Indiana. The changing economy, a greater spotlight on talent development systems and extensive reviews, completed by various groups has brought to light that our current system lacks consistency, quality, and intentionality between secondary and postsecondary CTE. In order to strengthen Indiana’s CTE system, the GWC, Office of CTE, CHE, Ivy Tech, and Vincennes have begun an extensive redesign of CTE programs of study. 

The GWC, Indiana General Assembly, SBOE, and the Office of CTE have already taken some steps to improve the current system and to prepare Perkins recipients for the changes to come. In November 2018, Indiana changed its definition of a CTE concentrator for Graduation Pathways to align with the Perkins V formal definition. A CTE Concentrator for Graduation Pathways must earn a C average in at least two non-duplicative advanced courses (courses beyond an introductory course) within a particular program or program of study.  This change necessitated the development of the Perkins V CTE Concentrator Courses sequences to replace the Perkins IV pathways, which were aligned to the old definition of earning 6 credits from any of the courses included in an approved pathway.  

The Perkins V concentrator course sequences were built using the current courses and course structures.  A majority of current CTE courses may be offered for anywhere from 1 to 3 credits per semester.  In addition to potential inconsistencies, most of Indiana’s current courses are based on out-of-date standards that are poorly aligned to postsecondary CTE courses or industry standards and do not always lead to a postsecondary certification or credential. 

To address these challenges, the Office of CTE, in collaboration with Ivy Tech Community College and Vincennes University, is working to review and redesign all of the state’s current CTE pathways. The newly designed pathways will be identified as Next Level Programs of Study and will improve the quality, consistency, and intentionality of CTE programs of study. Next Level Programs of Study will be ready for full implementation by the 2021-2022 school year. The Office of CTE will develop a plan to help recipients transition from the Perkins IV and Perkins V pathways over the next 3-4 years.   

Next Level Programs of Study will be structured into 4 courses. Each program of study will begin with a principles course which will provide broad aspects of an industry and key principles required for the career pathway. The principles course will be followed by two advanced, non-duplicative, career-specific technical courses. A student will have earned CTE concentrator status upon completion of the two advanced CTE courses. The fourth course will be a pathway capstone course that may be taken for 2 to 6 high school credits. This design will ensure students designated as CTE concentrators have the relevant knowledge and skills to move directly into employment or additional postsecondary educational opportunities.

The principles course and the two advanced courses will each articulate to one or two postsecondary courses. The pathway capstone course may articulate to as many as five postsecondary courses. Directly aligning the program of study courses to postsecondary courses will give students who continue through concentrator status and beyond the opportunity to complete the technical courses required for a technical certificate or certificate of graduation through dual credit or dual enrollment. The Office of CTE will work with secondary CTE providers to create opportunities for students to complete the dual credit academic coursework needed to earn the postsecondary credential. 

Sample Program of Study:

Schools and career centers will be able to offer the programs of study in the way that works best with their master schedule. A high school may choose to offer the four courses of the program of study one-at-a-time over 3-4 years; or a career center, which often has students attend for a half day, will be able to concurrently enroll students in multiple courses. For example, a career center may enroll a student in the principles course and the two advanced courses at the same time.  The Office of CTE will work with CTE faculty to develop pacing guides that include variations in local schedules. 

The Office of CTE will be supplying a variety of technical assistance resources, such as necessary equipment and facility guides, targeted professional development, and career guidance and advising resources, as the Next Level Programs of Study are implemented over the next 3-4 years. These additional resources will not only help to ensure that  Next Level Programs of Study will help increase the likelihood of valued student outcomes.  

Implementation Process and Timeline:

September – December 2019:

• In September and November, the Office of CTE invited secondary and postsecondary CTE instructors to attend two summit sessions, where the instructors were grouped by pathway or program of study. The goal of these sessions was to share the vision for Next Level Programs of Study and to gather the instructors input on potential course sequences. 
• In October, a Secondary School Principals and CTE District Directors Working Group was established. Since then, multiple meetings, both in-person and virtually, have occurred. The goal of the working group is to gather feedback from principals and directors regarding the program of study structure and to develop implementation resources to help schools and career centers implement Next Level Programs of Study. 

Next Steps:

• CTE staff will continue to convene secondary and postsecondary educators both in-person and virtually to finalize course sequences and to develop relevant secondary course standards for each course included in the program of study. This process will also help to establish the statewide articulation agreements between the secondary and postsecondary courses. In the spring of 2020, the course standards will be reviewed and validated by industry representatives. 
• We plan to use leadership and reserve funds to support schools and career centers offering Next Level Programs of Study pilot programs during the 2020-2021 school year. The pilot programs will provide valuable information to help with the development of technical resource materials and to prepare for the implementation workshops. 
• Beginning in late fall of 2020, the Office of CTE will facilitate regional workshops for school teams to provide technical assistance for wide scale implementation during the 2021-2022 school year. 

B. Describe the process and criteria to be used for approving locally developed programs of study or career pathways (see Text Box 3 for the statutory definition of career pathways under section 3(8) of Perkins V), including how such programs address State workforce development and education needs and the criteria to assess the extent to which the local application under section 134 will—

Joint Programs of CTE eliminated some of the roadblocks for employers to partner directly with secondary programs to create innovative and industry-aligned CTE programs. Schools now have the option to develop Joint Programs of CTE without the approval of the district CTE director or local cooperative. Legislation was passed in April of 2019 that allowed schools the opportunity to partner with a local employer, a postsecondary institution, or eligible third party training provider to offer a CTE program.  For the first year, schools were asked to provide details in InTERS regarding the CTE courses offered through a Joint Program.  The Office of CTE is exploring the possibility of having schools register Joint Programs of CTE to gather more information regarding the structure, quality, and expected student outcomes.

During the transition year as we develop Next Level Programs of Study, we have asked for local communities to share any recommendations for locally created pathways with the Office of CTE. The Office of CTE is reviewing each of these recommendations based upon statewide data and feedback to determine if they should be developed as a statewide program of study or if they should remain at the local level. To date, the Office of CTE has worked with local groups to work on state approved programs of study for Precision Agriculture, Health Informatics, and Engineering Technology.

If it is determined that there is a need for a locally created pathway, the school or group will have to submit a formal application, which includes all the elements of a state approved program of study. CTE staff will have 60 days to review the submitted application and will either forward a recommendation for approval to the State Board of Education or will work with the submitting group over a 30 day period to revise and strengthen the locally created program of study application.  

Both Joint Programs of CTE and locally developed programs of study must meet the minimum criteria and expectations and provide the same opportunities as established by a state approved program of study. 

i. The criteria to assess the extent to which the local application under section 134 will— promote continuous improvement in academic achievement and technical skill attainment;

Eligible recipients have been asked to submit the CLNA by the mid-February. This will not only provide time for CTE staff to review and verify the results of the CLNA but also allow us to use information gathered from the CLNA to revise the local application. Revising the Local Application to align with Perkins requirements will help to ensure that eligible recipients are meeting needs based on the CLNA and addressing critical aspects of program development. 

The CLNA requires recipients to describe their continuous improvement process.  During this first year, the CLNA and the Local Application for each district will be carefully reviewed by CTE staff to evaluate the effectiveness of their continuous process. Their process should include a thorough analysis of their performance data, specifically for academic achievement and technical skill attainment, and identified performance gaps. CTE Staff will evaluate the depth of the recipient’s analysis by looking for additional indicators or data points that dig into the root causes of performance gaps. This may be even more important when it comes to evaluating the academic performance of students. Indiana will be transitioning to nationally accepted college entrance exam that will be used for ESSA performance indicators. Strategies and activities detailed in the local application must be informed by the data from the CLNA and be based on proven practices. 

The Office of CTE staff will be developing state trends that will be used as a comparison to evaluate a local recipient’s performance.  As information becomes available, CTE will also consider how local performance aligns to national performance. 

ii. The criteria to assess the extent to which the local application under section 134 will— expand access to career and technical education for special populations; and

The first step to expanding access to career and technical education for special populations is to ensure that all students have access to high-quality programs. Two of the driving factors of the CTE redesign was to ensure greater quality and consistency between all programs of study, regardless of where they are being offered. To ensure that each recipient is offering a program of study in the manner it was intended, each recipient must complete a self-evaluation of each program of study. In conjunction with the evaluation, each recipient will also be asked to provide a program inventory as a part of the local application. In addition to the course sequences offered, recipients will be asked to provide assurances on how they will meet the components of a high-quality program of study, including contact hours, work-based learning opportunities, career guidance and advising, and the opportunity to earn dual credits and/or postsecondary credentials. 

The data provided to eligible recipients for the CLNA included disaggregated data. The review of the CLNA by CTE staff detailed above will evaluate how well the disaggregated data was used to identify potential performance gaps. In addition to the recipient’s disaggregated data, the Office of CTE will review disaggregated enrollments in each program to ensure that special population students have fair access to high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand pathways. Recipients are also required to submit the names and contact information of stakeholders involved with the CLNA process. 

The CLNA requires each participant to respond to several questions directly related to providing equity and access to special population students. Those questions include:

1. Which pathways are at capacity and which are below capacity? How many students were not able to be enrolled in their first choice pathway? What criteria are used to determine who is admitted into pathways that are at capacity?
2. To what degree are student groups taking part in CTE at disproportionate levels in comparison to the overall student population? Which groups are over-represented and under-represented, particularly in high skill and high wage pathways? What are the root causes of these gaps?
3. What efforts have been made to recruit and retain diverse populations of learners into your program?
4. What barriers prevent certain populations of learners from accessing your pathways? Which student groups are most affected by these barriers?
5. To what degree do students have access to career guidance that is comprehensive, equitable and unbiased?
6. What differentiated accommodations, modifications and supportive services do you currently provide to ensure the success of special populations groups? Which ones have been the most effective? Which have been the least effective? Which ones are over-utilized? To what degree do these supports align with student Individualized Education Plans (IEP)?

The recipient’s responses to these questions will be reviewed by CTE staff to identify any potential issues.  CTE staff will consult the recipient’s local application to make sure that any concerns are addressed in their strategies and activities.

iii. Support the inclusion of employability skills in programs of study and career pathways. (Section 122(d)(4)(B) of Perkins V)

Indiana now requires the inclusion of employability skills into all courses. These employability standards will be incorporated into the Next Level Programs of Study along with standards for academic integration.  Indiana has also included an employability skills requirement into its new graduation requirements, which are required for the 2023 cohort. Students must complete a project-based learning, service learning or a work-based learning experience in order to meet the requirement. 

The recipient’s responses to the narrative section of the CLNA regarding work-based learning (WBL) and career and technical student organizations will be reviewed to identify how WBL and leadership development is being implemented into every classroom. The application will also be reviewed to determine the percentage of students that have the opportunity to experience more comprehensive forms of WBL. 

The program of study inventory included in the local application will require each recipient to include assurances that students who enroll in the program of study will have the opportunity to participate in career and technical student organizations and what types of work-based learning experiences will be included in each course. 

C. Describe how the eligible agency will—

i. Make information on approved programs of study and career pathways (including career exploration, work-based learning opportunities, early college high schools, and dual or concurrent enrollment program opportunities) and guidance and advisement resources, available to students (and parents, as appropriate), representatives of secondary and postsecondary education, and special populations, and to the extent practicable, provide that information and those resources in a language students, parents, and educators can understand;

The Office of CTE recognizes that a strong promotional campaign and communication strategy centered on all components of a program of study is necessary to ensure the success of Next Level Programs of Study.  There are several opportunities to make information available. 

• A career guide will be developed that provides details for each program of study within all of Indiana’s 16 recognized career clusters. The guide will be the first line of communication with school personnel, parents, and students. Schools will have the opportunity to purchase copies of the guide that may be made available at parent nights, college and career fairs, or other events. 
• The second opportunity will be a redesign of the CTE website. In addition to a number of resources, the website will host a digital version of the career guide. The website address will be included on all forms of communications and will be consistently updated to ensure users have the most relevant information. 
• A key component to the early implementation efforts will be regional implementation workshops. We will organize and facilitate a workshop in each economic region of the state. Schools and career centers will be invited to send teams of school personnel including administrators, school counselors and CTE instructors. Throughout these multi-day workshops the teams will work to develop an implementation plan that takes into account all of the components of a high-quality program of study. 
• The Governors Workforce Cabinet is working with an outside communications consulting group to develop a unified communications plan for the talent development system. CTE will support this effort through leadership funds and will be included in the communications plan. 
• Career guidance and advisement training and resources are a growth opportunity for CTE. Long-term plans to address this need include providing a greater number of career guidance resources for school counselors and instructors, as well as looking for opportunities to provide training for school personnel that provide guidance services for students and parents. 
• CTE has worked collaboratively with DOE, DWD, and OWBLA to develop a Work-Based Learning Manual that will provide guidance to WBL coordinators across the state on the characteristics of high quality WBL programs. Currently, this group is developing a pilot training session for WBL coordinators or other school personnel that are involved with college and career readiness. The first training will take place in early March. 

ii.   Facilitate collaboration among eligible recipients in the development and coordination of career and technical education programs and programs of study and career pathways that include multiple entry and exit points;

The Combined Plan, along with efforts to develop common career pathways for both secondary students and adults, has led to collaboration between postsecondary, secondary, and Adult Education to develop pathways with multiple entry and exit points. Our goal is to create career pathways based upon the model developed as a part of the Advancing Career and Technical Education in State and Local Career Pathways Systems project. Our focus is on developing pathways or programs of study that are built using stackable credentials. Employing stackable credentials in this manner allows us to meet short-term needs of adults, while providing them re-entry points along the way. Our secondary to postsecondary programs of study will provide students the opportunity to reach the middle-skills level of the model. By design, students will have the opportunity to continue on to pursue associate’s or bachelor’s degree options. Most importantly, secondary students will have the same opportunities as adults to exit and reenter programs of study as their career progresses. They would be able to do this without starting over or retaking classes that were completed during high school. 

The Next Level Programs of Study design process includes multiple opportunities for secondary and postsecondary instructors to collaborate on the development and coordination of the CTE programs of study. The process of backwards mapping of postsecondary programs of study into secondary programs of study will include a combination of in-person and virtual summits among faculty and instructors in various sectors and programs. Collaborative groups of postsecondary and secondary instructors will work to create secondary course sequences, new and revised courses with relevant standards, and dual credit articulation agreements. Over the next two years, these groups will also collaborate on curriculum mapping and curriculum resources. Once implemented the sector/program of study groups will be included in the continuous improvement and review process for each program of study. 

In addition to the development of Next Level Programs of Study, the GWC and Office of CTE will encourage collaboration between schools, industry partners, postsecondary institutions, and eligible training providers to offer Joint Programs of CTE and/or WBL opportunities. 

iii. Use State, regional, or local labor market data to determine alignment of eligible recipients' programs of study to the needs of the State, regional, or local economy, including in-demand industry sectors and occupations identified by the State board, and to align career and technical education with such needs, as appropriate;

Through the Next Level Jobs initiative, the state has identified 5 high demand areas.  The areas include Advanced Manufacturing, Building and Construction, Information Technology and Business Services, Transportation and Logistics and Health Sciences, all of which are included in Workforce Ready Grants.  

DWD has also worked with the Office of CTE to provide labor market information for recipients to use to complete the CLNA. These data along, with the analysis questions, will help recipients to evaluate their program of study offerings in terms of how well they meet the local labor market information. 

State funding for secondary CTE is currently based on classifying courses into categories based upon the demand and wage data that are associated with those courses. DWD uses the demand and wage data to designate courses as high, moderate, or less than moderate value. This tiered funding model incentivizes schools and recipients to offer programs of study aligned to high-wage and in-demand careers.  Schools/Career Centers have the opportunity to appeal the occupational ranking when there is evidence of local demands or wages that exceeds the demand and wages for the state. One area we will improve is how we consider emerging careers and those careers resistant to automation in the funding formula. 

iv. Ensure equal access to approved career and technical education programs of study and activities assisted under this Act for special populations;

The eligible agency and the Office of CTE will take several steps to ensure equal access to programs of study for special populations. The first step in ensuring equity and access to all students is to create opportunities for all students to have access to high-quality programs of study. One goal of the CTE redesign is to ensure that all CTE programs are providing the necessary knowledge and skills to be successful in the career pathway. 

One step that the state has already taken is to form a Transition Advisory Council.  The Council is composed of representatives from Vocational Rehabilitation/Pre-Employment Transition Services, Office of Special Education from the Indiana Department of Education, Office of CTE, The Arc, and The IU Center for Learning and Community Living. The goal of the Council is to increase the number of students with disabilities that are participating in CTE and to increase the number of positive student outcomes for students with disabilities. The group has identified 6-7 eligible recipients to interview regarding their current support practices for students with disabilities. The interviews will be used to identify the best practices.  After identifying best practices, the group will support implementation of these practices at a variety of CTE sites through a pilot program.  

The GWC has a Methods of Administration Coordinator on staff, as well. In addition to monitoring secondary and postsecondary institutions for Civil Rights compliance, the MOA Coordinator will also be providing technical assistance and professional development to help schools proactively meet Civil Rights guidelines. 

Schools are incentivized through the assessment grant to have special population students earn certifications.  Special population students were weighted to count for 1.25 in the calculation to determine the amount of funds for each recipient. 

The Office of CTE will designate at least one program specialist to specialize in providing technical assistance and professional development to schools on supporting special populations. The specialist will identify, share, and support implementation of best practices that have been proven to decrease performance gaps between general CTE students and special populations. 

The Office of CTE will work with the Indiana Afterschool Network to encourage the creation of out-of-school CTE activities for special population and non-traditional students.  This could be an after-school program or summer camps. 

v. Coordinate with the State board to support the local development of career pathways and articulate processes by which career pathways will be developed by local workforce development boards, as appropriate;

The GWC serves as Indiana’s state workforce board. As the state board with oversight of all workforce development agencies and activities, the GWC, along with the Office of CTE, will work to develop common career pathways. The common career pathways will focus on stackable knowledge and credentials in order to help individuals find a pathway to career success. This will help all workforce development organizations meet the needs of the individuals in a way that promotes lifelong learning along a sustainable career trajectory rather than a short-term fix.

Schools and Career Centers that wish to apply for planning and implementation grants for the Next Level Programs of Study are encouraged to partner with postsecondary, local Workforce Development Boards, and other community groups involved in the talent development system.  

Local communities and Workforce Development Boards will be able to use these common pathways as a model for the development of local pathways or Joint Programs of CTE.  The Office of CTE will be able to work with and provide guidance documents to help Workforce Development Boards take the right steps in the development of these local pathways. 

vi. Support effective and meaningful collaboration between secondary schools, postsecondary institutions, and employers to provide students with experience in, and understanding of, all aspects of an industry, which may include work-based learning such as internships, mentorships, simulated work environments, and other hands-on or inquiry-based learning activities; and

The Office of CTE, DOE, and OWBLA have all worked with a cadre of work-based learning coordinators from around the state to develop a WBL manual. The manual details the criteria for high-quality WBL programs and provides coordinators access to resources to help with implementation. In conjunction with the manual, the agencies will be piloting a one day training and professional development seminar for WBL Coordinators in early March. The training program will be further developed into an annual or semi-annual opportunity for new WBL coordinators to participate in the training. 

The WBL Manual also details a WBL continuum that ranges from learning about work to learning through work.  The continuum provides key characteristics of a wide range of WBL experiences that are appropriate for all ages from primary school through secondary and postsecondary education. 

OWBLA continues to work with several schools across the state to develop State Earn and Learn (SEALs) programs.  The SEALs are aligned to the common career pathways that Next Level Programs of Study are aligned to. Sector partnerships from around the state, such as Catapult through Conexus and INFAME, are working with CTE providers to develop work-based learning opportunities, including internships and apprenticeships.

Work-based learning is a high priority for the entire talent development system. The GWC plans to increase the promotion of work-based learning opportunities through the development criteria for WBL experiences. CHE has included a goal that 100% of postsecondary programs will require an internship, work-based learning, research project, or other student engagement experience that has career relevance. 

vii. Improve outcomes and reduce performance gaps for CTE concentrators, including those who are members of special populations. (Section 122(d)(4)(C) of Perkins V)

The first gap that must be addressed is the disparity between what a CTE concentrator is at one school compared to another school. By redesigning programs of study to contain more consistent and relevant standards in the first three courses and by directly aligning the programs of study to postsecondary programs, we will ensure that all schools are meeting the essential knowledge and key technical skills required for each pathway. If all students have equal access to the necessary knowledge and skills of a CTE pathway, then students will be able to perform better. Better student performance in courses that directly align to postsecondary programs will help more students earn postsecondary credentials.

The Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment provides a great opportunity to develop a continuous improvement process at the local and state level. CTE is providing disaggregated performance data to each school for use in their CLNA. These data, along with the analysis questions included in the CLNA, will draw attention to existing performance gaps for schools. Reviewing the CLNA and the local application will serve as an opportunity to complete an extensive audit on each individual program and also the system as a whole. 

The CLNA and local application process must be followed with targeted technical assistance that helps schools and centers to develop strategies rooted in best practice to address the performance gaps. Requiring this type of technical assistance will be new for Indiana. Career specialists will need additional training on analyzing data and researching best practices.   

Under Perkins IV, Indiana had contracts with assessment vendors to pay for a select group of assessments.  For this fiscal year, we have developed an assessment grant which provides funds to districts to pay for the certification assessments that they choose based upon the number of assessments the school provided the previous year. We plan to increase our support for certification assessments in the coming years in hopes of encouraging/incentivizing more schools to offer certifications. 

D. Describe how the eligible agency, if it opts to do so, will include the opportunity for secondary school students to participate in dual or concurrent enrollment programs, early college high school, or competency-based education. (Section 122(d)(4)(D) of Perkins V)

Indiana CTE students currently have the opportunity to earn a number of dual credits (postsecondary credits from a high school course taught by a credentialed high school instructor). Dual enrollment (a high school students completing a postsecondary course on a postsecondary campus with a postsecondary instructor) is a growing trend and something that is made more possible with the development of SEALs and Joint Programs of CTE. 

The GWC/CTE would like to expand the opportunities for dual credit and early college in CTE programs through the Next Level Programs of Study. The goal of each Next Level program of study will be to provide each student the opportunity to complete at least one year’s worth of postsecondary education and training.  When available, all CTE programs of study will be intentionally aligned to a postsecondary credential, specifically certificates and technical certificates. The state will have an articulation agreement with ITCC and Vincennes through the CTE dual credit crosswalk developed by CHE. Our goal is to provide each student a CTE early college experience with a chance to earn a postsecondary credential.  

Embedded within each program of study will be industry-recognized certifications aligned to either individual courses or exit points. Certifications that appear on the promoted industry certification and count toward Graduation Pathways will be given priority. 

E. Describe how the eligible agency will involve parents, academic and career and technical education teachers, administrators, faculty, career guidance and academic counselors, local business (including small businesses), labor organizations, and representatives of Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations, as appropriate, in the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of its career and technical education programs. (Section 122(d)(12) of Perkins V)

The CLNA process will provide an opportunity for a wide variety of stakeholders to provide input and feedback on local CTE programs. Local recipients are required to submit the names of stakeholders that participated in the process. The CLNA provides opportunities to evaluate individual pathways, as well as the comprehensive CTE program of the site. 

A Listening Tour was conducted by GWC staff in the fall that included a stop in each of Indiana’s 12 workforce regions. The Listening Tour stops were attended by staff from the core programs, required one-stop partner programs, other programs and activities included in the Combined Plan, and other interested stakeholders. Some of the common themes heard during the Listening Tour included the need to co-locate more services to reduce barriers for Hoosiers and the importance of considering common barriers, such as childcare and transportation, when trying to reach individuals with education and training services. Additionally,  the importance of better external communication to ensure Hoosiers are aware of programs available to them and better internal communication across agencies to lessen duplication of services and ensure various funding streams are being used most effectively was brought up repeatedly. Completing the Listening Tour before beginning to draft the Plan allowed for the State to identify those common themes and work to incorporate that feedback heard from local regions directly into the Plan.

The Plan was posted for public comment on the GWC website and notice was sent out to a broad audience of the available public comment period. Additionally, a webinar was held that gave the opportunity for individuals across the state to offer live public comment. The committees met at the end of the public comment process to review the comments received and make any necessary updates to the Plan. The Plan was then submitted for final review and approval to the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet before its submission.

The design process for Next Level programs of study includes opportunities for secondary and postsecondary instructors to contribute on the course sequences and standards. The principals and CTE directors working group focuses on the administrative and implementation aspects. Industry groups, like Agrinovus, Conexus, and IMA, have been consulted on the development of the course sequences and will help vet the standards for courses. 

IACTE represents a direct line to the majority of CTE instructors in the state.  In order to improve communication with career and technical education teachers we must work to improve our working relationship with IACTE.  Ideas for improvement include the Office of CTE providing regular updates to the IACTE executive board.  We also believe developing a more specific scope of work will help to ensure that funds are being utilized effectively. 

F. Include a copy of the local application template that the eligible agency will require eligible recipients to submit pursuant to section 134(b) of Perkins V. See Text Box 4 for the statutory requirements for local applications under section 134(b) of Perkins V.

The Local Application Template will be updated to meet Perkins V requirements. In order to ensure alignment between the Local Application and the CLNA, the updates to the Local Application will be made after CLNAs are submitted in the middle of February. A draft of the updated application will be provided with the plan submission. 

G. Include a copy of the comprehensive local needs assessment template and/or guidelines that the eligible agency will require of eligible recipients to meet the requirements of section 134(c) of Perkins V. See Text Box 5 for the requirements for the comprehensive local needs assessment under section 134(c) of Perkins V.

The CLNA template included multiple parts and was developed in an online format. Data were provided through interactive reports and a link to labor market information. Local recipients were required to use this data to answer the following analysis questions. 

Indiana Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA)

CLNA Questions to Answer

I. STUDENT PERFORMANCE

1. Which performance indicator targets are you meeting or exceeding at the district level? At the program level?
2. Which performance indicator targets are you not meeting at the district level? At the program level?
3. How are learners from each special population group performing at the district level? In each program? How are learners from each special population group performing in high skill and high wage programs?
4. Identify gaps in performance by a) program, b) special populations, c) demographics, d) CTE versus non-CTE students.
5. Where do the biggest gaps in performance exist between groups of learners on each performance indicator? What are the root causes for these gaps?

II. LABOR MARKET ALIGNMENT

1. What industries are projected to grow the most in your region / local area in the short, medium and long terms? Which of these occupations meet a state determined definition of high skill and high wage?
2. To what degree do your CTE pathway enrollments match projected job openings (demand) in the state, region / local area? Where are the biggest gaps, particularly in high-skill, high wage occupations?
3. To what degree do your CTE pathway offerings expose learners to the high-skill, high wage, and in-demand industry sectors or occupations in your region / local area? Where are the gaps?

III. PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION ANALYSIS

1. Which pathways are at capacity and which are below capacity? How many students were not able to be enrolled in their first choice pathway? What criteria are used to determine who is admitted into pathways that are at capacity?
2. To what degree are equipment and facilities adequate given pathway enrollments and labor market? To what degree does CTE equipment and facilities match current and relevant industry equipment? What gaps exist between the pathways with the most adequate and least adequate equipment and facilities? What are the root causes for these gaps?
3. To what degree are learners earning concentrator status? Completing level II of a pathway? Going on to postsecondary? What gaps exist between pathways with the highest persistence rates and the lowest? What are the root causes for these gaps?
4. Which pathways have the strongest performance on measures of program quality (industry certifications, dual credits, work based learning)? Which pathways have the weakest performance? What are the root causes for the gap in performance?
5. To what degree do learners have access to career guidance and advising before and during their participation? Does each learner have a multi-year graduation and pathway plan? What placement services and support do learners have access?
6. Based on the Program Quality Self-Assessment that was completed, which quality components are the strongest at the district level? Which quality components need improvement? Which pathways earned the highest quality ratings? Which pathways have the most room for growth?
7. What is the districts process for continuous improvement?
8. To what degree does your faculty hold industry credentials (e.g. industry recognized certifications)?
9. To what degree does the diversity of your staff reflect the demographic makeup of your student body? What are the root causes of any gaps?
10. What processes are in place to induct and retain faculty and staff?
11. To what extent do faculty and staff have the opportunity to learn from business and industry?
12. What professional development opportunities exist to skill-up your teachers in their content areas and instructional practice?
13. What do faculty, staff and administrators report as needs and preferences for professional development?
14. To what degree are student groups taking part in CTE at disproportionate levels in comparison to the overall student population? Which groups are over-represented and under-represented, particularly in high skill and high wage pathways? What are the root causes of these gaps?
15. What efforts have been made to recruit and retain diverse populations of learners into your program?
16. What barriers prevent certain populations of learners from accessing your pathways? Which student groups are most affected by these barriers?
17. To what degree do students have access to career guidance that is comprehensive, equitable and unbiased?
18. What differentiated accommodations, modifications and supportive services do you currently provide to ensure the success of special populations groups? Which ones have been the most effective? Which have been the least effective? Which ones are over-utilized? To what degree do these supports align with student Individualized Education Plans (IEP)?

H. Provide the eligible agency’s definition for “size, scope, and quality” that will be used to make funds available to eligible recipients pursuant to section 135(b) of Perkins V.

Secondary Size, Scope, and Quality: Indiana does not want to place subjective limits or requirements on schools and or career centers in terms of the number of programs offered or the number of students enrolled. Therefore, an eligible recipient will only be required to offer at least one program of study.  However, schools and career centers should provide a sufficient number of programs of study to ensure that a significant percentage of students have the opportunity to participate in CTE programs of study that meet the needs of the local labor market.   

To be of sufficient size, scope and quality, a CTE program of study in Indiana must include or be making progress toward including the following components:

• The program of study must be able to meet the minimum facility and equipment requirements for a minimum of 10 students.  Moderate and High Value programs of study will take steps to expand the number of students enrolled, equipment, and/or facilities if the waitlist exceeds 50% of the current capacity. 
• Programs of study, including joint programs of CTE and locally developed pathways that have been registered with the state, must adhere to state-approved courses and course sequences.  Each program of study must address the standards and competencies associated with each state-approved course through relevant, real-world and applied instructional strategies. 
• Secondary programs of study should be structured to encourage persistence in students to go beyond CTE Concentrator status and to pursue valued postsecondary credentials, like certificates, degrees and industry certifications that are integrated into the program of study. 
• Students and their families are provided career advisement and academic guidance to help students identify career interests and to best prepare for college and career opportunities.  Students should have a personalized multi-year graduation plan that is connected to postsecondary education. 
• Programs of study are accessible to all students, specifically students who are members of special populations, by being free from unnecessary barriers to enrollment or participation.  Historically underrepresented students are actively recruited and have the opportunity to succeed through necessary accommodations and supportive services.
• The program of study includes the development of employability and leadership skills through a wide range of embedded and stand-alone work-based learning opportunities and participation in career and technical student organizations. 
• Programs of study must maintain on-going relationships among education, business and other community stakeholders, such as advisory boards or sector partnerships to help validate and keep current the technical and workforce readiness skills and program improvement. 
• The program of study is focused on continuous improvement and engages with partners and stakeholders to achieve performance targets for Perkins performance indicators and utilizes data to identify and reduce disparities and performance gaps among population groups. 

Postsecondary Size Scope and Quality: To be of sufficient size, scope and quality, a CTE program of study in Indiana must include or be making progress toward including the following components:

• Postsecondary CTE programs must be aligned with business and industry as validated by local or regional business advisory committees and must be part of one of the allowable cluster areas. 

• Postsecondary eligible institutions must provide students with the opportunity to earn a certificate, associate’s degree, industry certification, and/or licensure approved by the state in a CTE approved career cluster. 
• A postsecondary program of study provides students the opportunity to be a CTE Concentrator.  Which is defined as a postsecondary student that earned at least 12 credits within a CTE program or completed such a program if the program encompasses fewer than 12 credits. 
• Programs/Programs of Study are strongly encouraged to include work-based learning opportunities for students. 
• The program or programs of study achieve or consistently makes progress toward state-determined levels of performance and engages in periodic evaluation, informed by data, to reduce or eliminate disparities or performance gaps and to improve program quality and effectiveness. 
• Programs/Programs of Study are accessible to and supportive of all students, especially students who are members of special populations. 
• Postsecondary programs of study provide opportunities for secondary alignment, and can provide evidence of operational agreements with secondary schools. 

I. Meeting the Needs of Special Populations

1. Describe the eligible agency’s program strategies for special populations, including a description of how individuals who are members of special populations—

i. Will be provided with equal access to activities assisted under this Act;

ii. Will not be discriminated against on the basis of status as a member of a special population;

iii. Will be provided with programs designed to enable individuals who are members of special populations to meet or exceed State determined levels of performance described in section 113, and prepare special populations for further learning and for high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand industry sectors or occupations;

iv. Will be provided with appropriate accommodations; and

v. Will be provided instruction and work-based learning opportunities in integrated settings that support competitive, integrated employment. (Section 122(d)(9) of Perkins V)

The GWC and Office of CTE will provide expanded professional development and guidance to eligible recipients regarding special populations and non-traditional students. We will also focus this funding towards professional development for CTE instructors and administrators– with diversity and inclusion practices and culturally responsive instruction – to support our special populations in CTE at both the secondary and postsecondary levels. Similarly, this funding will also go towards similar professional development for CTE instructors and administrators – with differentiated instructional practices – to support our special populations in CTE at both the secondary and postsecondary levels. Indiana intends to explore opportunities to use Perkins to support educational institutions in serving individuals with disabilities. The first step will be to allocate non-competitive grants to the School for the Deaf and the School for the Blind to build a bridge to CTE programs at nearby CTE Centers, employers, and schools for their students. Part of Perkins includes Civil Rights monitoring. The Office of CTE will provide technical assistance to help our CTE districts proactively comply with all Civil Rights regulations, rather than waiting for a monitoring visit. Additional professional learning opportunities will be made available through the Office of CTE and the addition of a Career Specialist. Topics may include integrating Universal Design for Learning, integrating academic skills and reducing performance gaps. 

We will leverage leadership funds to offer separate grant opportunities through the Special Populations Recruitment Initiative and the Non-Traditional Training & Employment grant. We want to ensure there is equitable access and representation of students with disabilities in all career clusters. Ensuring secondary and postsecondary students access those CTE programs in high-wage occupations, such as those in our advanced industries, is critical to the unemployment gap. We need to actively recruit and retain students into programs that can give them the technical skills needed for success in well-paid occupations. Using Perkins Leadership funds, Indiana will create a Special Populations Recruitment Initiative. This grant opportunity will support professional development to increase the effectiveness of teachers, faculty, specialized support personnel, and paraprofessionals in relation to the recruitment of special populations into CTE programs.

Misconceptions regarding physical or developmental abilities of these students may preclude them from participating in certain career clusters. IDEA funding should ensure that all necessary accommodations for a students’ success are in place to facilitate enrollment in and completion of CTE courses. This can pair with Perkins funds to ensure those supports are in place for students with disabilities. CTE districts and schools must partner together to ensure these funding streams work in conjunction with one another to support these students. Access alone, though, is not sufficient to close the achievement and wage gaps for this target population. We need students to earn credentials, complete programs of study, and enroll in postsecondary education programs.

All competitive grants, including the program of study pilot program implementation grants, will require recipients to describe how the funds will be used to expand access and support students of special populations. Through the Perkins Assessment Grant, we have incentivized special populations’ participation in the attainment of industry-recognized certifications and postsecondary credentials. The Office of CTE will continue to look for opportunities to incentivize inclusion and achievement for special population students.  We will also be providing grants for postsecondary and secondary through the use of reserve funds that will be targeted on implementing high quality programs of study and reducing/eliminating performance gaps.  

We need to ensure there is equitable access and representation of minority students in all career clusters. Fewer racially and ethnically diverse students are represented in STEM pathways, specifically healthcare and IT. Ensuring secondary and postsecondary students access those CTE programs in high-wage occupations, such as those in our advanced industries, is critical to addressing the wage gap. We need to actively recruit and retain students into programs that can give them the technical skills needed for success in well-paid occupations. Often grade requirements may preclude certain subgroups from qualifying for entrance into these programs, which reinforces the need to establish and maintain high expectations for academic achievement in grades 3 through 8. Through Comprehensive Local Needs Assessments, we want our CTE districts and Workforce Boards to examine policies that may be inhibiting equity and identify ways to increase minority students’ access to programs leading to middle- and high-wage jobs.

In order to provide greater supports, especially to postsecondary and adult CTE students, local Workforce Development Boards, CTE centers, schools, and postsecondary institutions can leverage this opportunity through the Combined Plan to execute and expand strategies regarding the co-location services, co-enrollment of individuals, and braiding fund between Perkins and other WIOA programs.  We will also expand CTE opportunities for youth by connecting with other WIOA youth programs like JAG and Pre-ETS.  Examples of these connections include the development of a transitions working group, which needs to be expanded to include postsecondary, and providing professional development to JAG instructors at their summer conference in order to help them provide better career guidance and advising regarding CTE opportunities. 

The Office of CTE will be reviewing statewide enrollment data by programs to ensure that special population students are being given the opportunity to pursue high-skill, high-age, and in-demand career pathways.  This review will include a review of admission requirements and policies for CTE programs of study to ensure that they are not creating a disparate impact or creating unintended consequences against an individual group. The GWC has a Methods of Administration Coordinator on staff.  In addition to monitoring secondary and postsecondary institutions for Civil Rights compliance, the MOA Coordinator will also be providing technical assistance and professional development to help schools proactively meet equity and accessibility guidelines. 

The Office of CTE staff will also provide guidance and technical assistance for administrators on ways that state and federal funds may be utilized to reduce barriers to CTE participation and performance for special population students.  This may include strategies for reducing out-of-pocket expenses or covering a portion of salaries for paraprofessionals to provide the necessary accommodations to students. 

The Office of CTE will develop resources and guidance to create greater partnerships between schools and employers in order to expand paid work-based learning experiences. One possibility includes the cooperative education course, which is being restructured to support students who have a part-time job. The cooperative education course relaxes some of the prerequisite requirements and requires school-based instructional time that focuses on career exploration, employability, and transition skills. The Office of CTE staff will also prepare guidance for WBL coordinators, administrators and employers to ensure they are aware that Employer Training Grants may now be used for students in a WBL program. 

Pre-ETS can support WBL opportunities through CTE and other means by helping offset the stipends and costs of WBL programs. EARN Indiana provides employers with up to 50% of the student’s hourly wage, in the secondary space, and supplementing that funding with Pre-ETS funding may increase access specifically for students with disabilities. By connecting Pre-ETS to our WBL programs in this way, we can encourage both employers and students with disabilities to pursue this mutually beneficial experience.

J. Preparing Teachers and Faculty

i. Describe how the eligible agency will support the recruitment and preparation of teachers, including special education teachers, faculty, school principals, administrators, specialized instructional support personnel, and paraprofessionals to provide career and technical education instruction, leadership, and support, including professional development that provides the knowledge and skills needed to work with and improve instruction for special populations. (Section 122(d)(6) of Perkins V)

Professional development (PD) is encouraged through Perkins basic grant funds to eligible recipients and through state-level programs related to the recruitment and retention of CTE educators, faculty, and staff. We will be offering additional PD and regional workshops for secondary school counselors, postsecondary transition counselors and career counselors.

The Next Level Programs of Study may require significant upskilling of current CTE instructors and faculty, especially at the secondary level. Indiana needs to explore the possibilities of developing a three tier professional development model: 

• The first tier includes online, self-paced modules that focus on both content and instructional practice. These modules could be developed through a partnership between the Office of CTE, IACTE, and postsecondary institutions.   
• The second tier includes the development of professional learning communities, which include discussion boards and curriculum resources. Curriculum resources could include available curriculum, postsecondary textbooks and unit plans, and open educational resources. The Office of CTE would only provide a list of available resources. This list would not include an endorsement or recommendation to be used except for the required postsecondary materials. Chat rooms could be implemented to allow practitioners the opportunity to communicate with each other. 
• The third tier includes in-person workshops. These workshops could be modeled after the VU summer welding academy. Secondary teachers are brought on campus for two to three days to learn from equipment providers and postsecondary instructors. A portion of the costs for this are covered through a sponsorship by the equipment provider. Another opportunity for growth is to improve the focus of IACTE Fall Conference sessions by utilizing performance data to identify needed areas of support.   

The Office of CTE has supported the Coaching for Beginning Agriculture Teachers, which is a mentoring program for first year Ag educators. With the support of IACTE, Indiana intends to expand this program to all CTE areas.  We are also closely monitoring the plans of the national ACTE group and the potential replication of the Teach Ag program for all CTE areas.   

Indiana supports a Workplace Specialist Program, which provides an avenue for licensure for individuals with industry expertise but no formal teacher preparation training. The program is administered by Ball State University and is a combination of in-person sessions and online course work.  The goal is to provide the industry specialist with the basic pedagogical knowledge and skills necessary to be successful in the classroom. 

Indiana has created greater opportunities through legislation to bring new CTE teachers to the classroom by allowing schools to utilize individuals with only workplace experience. This legislation requires that the teachers meet minimum work experience requirements. It has the potential to enhance employer and school connections through a sort of employee on loan program. The concept includes the possibility of employers allowing staff to serve as instructors with paid time office. The Office of CTE will develop guidance and recommendations for schools and career centers that focuses on best practices of utilizing these instructors.  The Office of CTE will work with industry representatives to develop an employer engagement guide that would include this possibility of providing a part-time staff member. 

[1] U.S. Department of Education Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, December 2015. Advancing Career and Technical Education in State and Local Career Pathways Systems.

[2] Ivy Tech Community College modeled this program after the Accelerated Learning Program, which originated at the Community College of Baltimore County, and has shown consistent student success with nearly double the pass rates.

[3] Berger et al., 2013. Early College, Early Success: Early College High School Initiative Impact Study.

[4] National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity. Nontraditional Career Preparation: Root Causes and Strategies.