Data and industry drive decision-making: a tale of two schools.

Imperatore, Catherine

he data demand in education has never been greater. Not only are educators and administrators collecting and reporting data on student outcomes through Cad D. Perkins CTE Act accountability measures on academic performance, technical skills attanmem and student progress through secondary and postsecondary education and into the workforce, but it has also become increasingly important to align CTE programs and curriculum to labor market demand and the needs of local industry. Institutions and school districts often unit their use of data and industry input to make programmatic and curricular decisions. but how this unfolds on the ground is not always clear. How in practice do schools and programs use labor market data and the feedback of regional and local cmployers to make changes in programs and curriculum?

Accessing Sources of Labor Market Data

At state and national levels, there is a growing trend toward collecting high-quality data and sharing; it across different agencies, including connecting student outcomes to labor market demand. Linking this information can inform educators about how well their programss are preparing students to meet labor market needs. Many of these data-sharing initiatives are just gaining swam (see sidebar). As data sharing expands, labor market data linked to education inputs and outcomes should become easier for administrators and educators to access and use.

Until his data sharing comes to fruition, there are sources of labor market information that can be mined to inform administrators and education leaders as they make programmatic decisions. Two complementary types of labor market information are: (1) more traditional labor market data and projections that are based on decades of measurement by government agencies, and (2) data that is captured and analyzed in "real time," such as that gleaned from current online job postings.

In addition, sources of labor market data vary, from resources with a broadbased, national view to localized, specific data. For instance, the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Employment Projections program develops information about the nationwide labor market for 10 years into the future. Projections for specific occupations, categorized by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes, are in in the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, as well as education and training needed and median earnings. The National Research Center for Career and Technical Education (NRCCTE) and the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) recently led a project to validate crosswalks between SOC codes, Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) codes, and Career Clusters[R] and pathways. These crosswalks can facilitate connections between CTE programs and government occupational and labor market data.

While these national projections are useful for giving education leaders an overview of large-scale trends, regional and state data sources help users to focus on information more relevant to their geographic area. State agency projections are available in one location at ProjectionsCentraLcom, or on each state's online hub for labor market information, along with the state's current labor statistics. In addition, at CareerOutlook.us, a website developed from the School-to-Work/Careers section of ACTE's New and Related Services Division, users can search for occupations by state, Career Cluster and career interest, accessing detailed occupational information aggregated from Department of Labor data sources.

Analysis and forecasting are also available from sources such as Macroeconomic Advisers, The Conference Board and the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW). For example, the CEW has collaborated with NRCCTE and NASDCTEc to develop employment projections on the national and state levels for each Career Cluster.,

Additional resources for local and regional data about jobseekers, as well as jobs available, skills needed and wages offered, are online job sites like Monster, Ca-reerBuilder and Glassdoor. This real-time labor market information can be mined through data extraction and analysis techniques, such as those employed by the company Burning Glass, which code and aggregate detailed data from job listings and online resumes. Similar tools and services are available from Wanted Technologies and Geographic Solutions.

Taking a more customized approach, districts or institutions can also employ their own research analysts or work with research firms such as Economic Modeling Specialists Intl. (EMSI). Among its products and services. EMSI produces economic-impact studies that aggregate relevant data to analyze an educational institution's contribution to state and regional labor markets and economies.

Engaging Employer Input Through Advisory Boards

While labor market data can be a tremendously useful resource, when making programmatic and curricular decisions the human factor is indispensable. Employers are another part of the equation when deciding on programs and shaping curriculum based on regional and local needs. There are many avenues available to form connections with these industry leaders, but one of the best ways is through an advisory board for your CTE program.

Of the many purposes an advisory board can serve, one of its primary functions is to provide input about regional and local needs. As Brett Pawlowski and Hans Meeder describe in their book, Building Advisory Boards That Malley; an advisory board of representatives from key employers and industries can help educators and administrators learn the knowledge and skills employers need, anticipate future trends and use that information to develop concrete learning objectives.

This input can range From the general (i.e., what jobs are employers having trouble filling and what industries are projected to grow in your geographic area) to the specific skills that employers find lacking and whether these can be built into the curriculum. According to Pawlowski and Meeder, a school's or program's needs will help determine what types of advisory boards or committees best suit their purpose. These variations include, but are not limited to, a regional industry sector cornmittee, which takes a broader, strategic approach to a regional industry cluster; an occupational or industry advisory committee, which focuses on trends in the local market and the skill sets needed for employment; and a program advisory committee, which advises on curriculum in relation to industry standards. Whatever format you choose, it is important to keep in mind the outcomes you hope for and craft the makeup of your board and its activities accordingly.

The following examples highlight two very different institutions and their varying approaches to using data and industry input to foster relevant programs and curriculum for their students.

Industry Partnership Team Supports Pathways

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Wheeling High School in Wheeling, Illinois, offers an excellent example of using local industry partnerships and data to decide on programs and shape curriculum. To support its career pathways in advanced manufacturing and engineering, the school has been fostering partnerships with local manufacturers through an Industry Partnership Team that has grown from a handful of employers in 2008 to around 50 from the Chicago area today. In addition, Wheeling staff have used data from the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and have worked closely with the Village of Wheeling's economic development director. According to LazaroLopez, associate superintendent for teaching and learning for Township High School District 214 and, until recently, the principal of Wheeling High School, data and industry input helped the school decide, at the height of the recession, to invest in the engineering and advanced manufacturing career pathways because of the local community's needs.

In the early days of the Industry Partnership Team, industry partners advised on the type of facility that would best provide for both the needs of Project Lead the Way pre-engineering courses and advanced manufacturing courses. The partners helped design the space and identify the equipment needed at the outset, as well as the skills required by employers.

According to Tom Steinbach of the Wheeling High School CTE department, while the curriculum stays relatively consistent--core concepts and a strong foundation are important--different skills may be addressed based on industry input. In practice, this often translates into determining what equipment is required to demonstrate a needed skill, and relying on industry partners to help locate a particular machine or recommend how to teach that skill using equipment the school already has. For instance, industry partners have told Wheeling that they lack screw machine (or computer numerical control lathe) operators. Wheeling staff are currently determining whether they can acquire a small machine to teach the skills needed for this position or whether they can use one of their current lathes to teach the principles needed to run the screw machine.

The school is proud of its responsiveness to industry needs and of the exposure the program gives students to the related career pathways of manufacturing and engineering, providing these students with a solid foundation and a variety of options for the future.

Walla Walla Community College Tracks Its Impact

A co-winner of the 2013 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, Walla Walla Community College (WWCC) in Washington state excels at developing students for high-quality jobs and helping to drive growth in the region. WWCC uses data extensively, with the help of EMSI and the school's own research and planning staff, and works closely with businesses and the community in order to respond to local and regional needs.

According to Steven Van Ausdle, WWCC president, data and industry input each play a role in program and curriculum alignment, although not in the same ways or to the same extent. Data may be most useful for informing decisions about program alignment, whereas industry input may better support curriculum alignment. For instance, the school used labor market data to inform its decision to begin a program in biofuels and then worked with industry through the DACUM, or Developing a Curriculum, process to create and focus curriculum.

The school's award-winning enology and viticulture program began not with projections about the wine industry but with data on the region's waning rural economy and the seeds of a vision about how to reinvent that economy. To proceed, the school put together a select advisory group, conducted pilot testing and found tremendous interest in moving forward.

Data really came in handy five years into the project when WWCC pursued a study with EMSI on the regional economic impact of the wine cluster, which includes not only wine production but also hotels, restaurants and specialty stores that support wine tourism. WWCC learned through the EMSI research that their impact had exceeded their expectations, producing more jobs than the school had anticipated and adding more than $100 million to the region's functional economy.

Published in 2007, this study also included projections for the future--pro-jections that did not take into account the economic recession. Several years later, when EMSI conducted another impact study, WWCC was astonished to learn that growth in the wine cluster had outpaced projections--despite the recession--and that employment in the wine industry had increased by 45 percent from 2007 to 2011. Today, 16 wineries have grown into 170, and many of these facilities have increased their output exponentially.

Conclusion

As these brief examples illustrate, labor market data and industry partners are central to CTE program success. However, these resources can be deployed in different ways to meet program and curricular needs. Your resources and goals will dictate how and to what extent you can access relevant labor market information and develop and utilize industry partnerships. But however you go about it, tracking data and fostering relationships with employers can only promote student success.

"While labor market data can be a tremendously useful resource, when making programmatic and curricular decisions the human factor is indispensable."

Catherine Imperatore is ACTE's research manager. She tracks CTE research and data, maintains ACTE's state profiles and CTE Clearing-house, and creates fact sheets and other data-driven advocacy tools and publications. She can be reached at cimperatore@acteonline.org.

RELATED ARTICLE: DATA-SHARING INITIATIVES

With a growing national focus on data and accountability to help students succeed in education and careers, collecting high-quality data and sharing it across agencies and organizations is more important than ever. The past few years have seen the development of several data-sharing initiatives relevant to CTE and workforce development, including:

* Certification Data Exchange Project--a pilot project to expand and improve data exchange between industry-certification organizations and state longitudinal-data systems.

* Wage Record Interchange System (WRIS) and WRIS2--Voluntary Department of Labor initiatives that facilitate the exchange of wage data among participating states for assessing and reporting on state and local employment and training program performance.

* Workforce Data Quality Campaign (WDQC) is a national effort that calls on policymakers in Washington, DC., and in the state capitals to take a more inclusive approach to education data quality efforts, including the diversity of students and workers and the range of education and labor market outcomes that comprise the nation's human capital strategy. ACTE is one of eight partners in this national campaign.

More information on these data-sharing projects can be found at www.acteonline.org.