AUSTIN, Texas - A new national survey of community and technical colleges highlights the importance of job-focused education and training.

It finds 35% of students at these schools are taking non-credit courses that lead to industry certifications and credentials. That's a change from students who used to stick with academic courses designed to transfer to a four year school.

Tamar Jacoby - president of Opportunity America, the group that did the survey - said community and technical colleges offer students, whether they're 18 or 48, an affordable pathway to a career.

"Community college students can be job-focused or not job focused,' said Jacoby. "They can be learning welding or nursing or they can be learning liberal arts and sociology."

Texas' Commissioner of Higher Education Harrison Keller says many students enrolled in non-credit programs later pursue four year degrees, but on average, only 20% of community colleges allow students to leverage non-credit learning for college credit.

According to the survey, of the nation's 10.5 million community college students, about three quarters are older than 25.

Last week, the Austin Community College District announced a new partnership with Toyota Motor North America, called "Technician Training and Education Network," to begin next fall. It's designed to provide a pipeline to careers with Toyota and Lexus.

Chauncy Lennon, vice president for learning and work at Lumina Foundation, said the next challenge is getting more American businesses to cross-promote innovation.

"Get industries to come together and better identify their shared skill needs," said Lennon. "And then, signal those over to the community-college system."

A survey question about partnerships between community colleges and local employers found that only about 36% of employer partners offer workplace-based learning opportunities.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

School funding is ranked as the top education priority in a spring survey of 850 Marion County voters by the education organization RISE Indy.

With 73% of Indianapolis' public school students in grades 3-8 reading below grade level, respondents indicated they want stronger schools and believe policymakers are the gatekeepers for improvement. RISE Indy specializes in closing the academic achievement gap for historically marginalized communities.

Jasmine Jackson, chief of staff for the group, said a child's access to a good school should not be determined by income, networking or their ability to get to a "certain" school.

"The political work allows us to support education champions and keep them honest and accountable," Jackson explained. "Our policy work allows us to work with elected officials to promote kids. And our programmatic work allows us to train them through literacy, through board governance."

U.S. News and World Report said almost 38% of students in Indianapolis public schools are Black, slightly more than 36% are Hispanic and 21% are white.

Among survey respondents, 33% ranked school transportation as a top priority. Parents want the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance, a group created by the Indiana General Assembly to manage public education, to also address transportation challenges.

Jackson believes not just access but school choice should not sway the alliance's decisions.

"Voters desire one system that addresses transportation for all Indianapolis students, regardless of whether they're in IPs or public charter schools," Jackson emphasized. "We need a combined transportation system that is efficient, safe, students are not on the bus for over an hour one way to school."

According to the poll, 83% of respondents support a combined transportation system to streamline operations, reduce costs and improve service reliability. The Indianapolis Public Schools website indicates its school buses cover approximately 20,000 miles per school year.


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Panic has set in at school districts across the Golden State as the Trump administration continues to withhold federal funds.

Tony Thurmond, state superintendent of public instruction, said California school districts stand to immediately lose close to $1 billion.

Luis Valentino, retired superintendent of Coachella Valley Unified School District and host of the podcast "District Leader: Transforming Education," said unless it is resolved quickly, schools will be forced to cut back or even eliminate programs.

"Without timely allocation tables from the United States Department of Education, states will be left uncertain, making it challenging to prepare for the 2025-26 school year," Valentino explained. "School districts, especially those in high-poverty and rural areas, will be left scrambling."

Last week the Department of Education notified schools across the country five grant programs are now "under review" to determine if they align with administration priorities. In a statement to Real Clear Politics, the Office of Management and Budget said "initial findings have shown that many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical left-wing agenda." The grants in question fund summer learning, teacher professional development and after-school programs. They also fund English language classes and support for children of migrants.

The grants are usually distributed on July 1. Valentino warned there will be far-reaching consequences if the congressionally-approved funding is not restored.

"Migrant children, English language learners and those in low-performing schools stand to lose vital support that helps them meet academic benchmarks," Valentino pointed out. "This decision will only exacerbate existing educational inequities across each state."

Programs already underway this summer are now in limbo. In a statement, the head of the Boys and Girls Clubs said without the promised funding, more than 900 sites nationwide serving 220,000 kids could be forced to shut their doors, taking almost 6,000 jobs with them.


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The Arkansas Space Grant Consortium at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will use an $800,000 NASA grant to train students in STEM education and aerospace research.

Across the state, 18 colleges and universities are part of the consortium.

Constance Meadors, director of the consortium, said the program trains students to work for NASA as well as preparing them to work in the local aerospace industry.

"We really focus on workforce development, skills development and training," Meadors outlined. "We look to see how we can meet the needs of NASA, but also our goal is to meet the needs of the State of Arkansas as it relates to aerospace or workforce development."

Currently, 10 Arkansas college students are participating in internships at NASA Centers.

Part of the grant money will be used to create portable planetarium programs at several of the affiliate campuses, including Southern Arkansas University and Henderson State University. Students will take the planetariums to schools and community events to introduce more people to space science education.

Meadors added a recent graduate of the consortium received a research position due to his experience in the program.

"Because of having Space Grant research and experience in rocketry, the company had bumped him up," Meadors reported. "We want to impact our local aerospace industry as well, because aerospace is the number 1 export in the State of Arkansas. And so, we want to have homegrown employees."

The consortium will hold its first NASA ASTRO Camp in Arkansas in the fall semester, to teach students and faculty members how to share space exploration with younger students.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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