Category: Education and Workforce

By: Sydney Blodgett

Observed each February, Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month® celebrates the importance of CTE and the accomplishments of related programs across the nation. The Association of Career and Technical Education (ACTE) explains that “CTE is education that directly prepares students for high-wage, high-demand careers. CTE covers many different fields, including health care, information technology, advanced manufacturing, hospitality and management, and many more. […] CTE encompasses many different types of education, from classroom learning to certification programs to work-based learning opportunities outside the classroom.”

CAPE-Youth recognizes that CTE accessibility is important for youth and young adults with disabilities (Y&YAD). While all students can benefit from participation in CTE, it is an especially effective career pathway for Y&YAD. Research demonstrates that CTE leads to improved graduation rates and employment outcomes for Y&YAD. For example, students with disabilities (SWD) who participate in 4 or more CTE classes are 20% more likely to be employed after graduation.

However, Y&YAD can face challenges accessing and succeeding in CTE programs, such as CTE facilities that are unequipped to accommodate students with physical disabilities or inadequate CTE instructor training on supporting SWD. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these challenges. CAPE-Youth recently published a policy brief entitled Promoting and Maintaining Career and Technical Education for Students with Disabilities: State Strategies Developed During the COVID-19 Pandemic. This brief describes how states were able to adapt resources to address challenges SWD had accessing CTE during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, it shares how states have expanded CTE access for students with disabilities. The brief offers policy considerations for states, including:

1. Strengthening interagency collaboration to maximize resources, address inequities and streamline CTE service provision.

2. Using federal funding to leverage and provide technology to expand access to CTE for SWD.

3. Offering stackable credentials to facilitate employment opportunities.

4. Increasing CTE instructors’ capacity to serve SWD through professional development opportunities.

5. Improving data collection efforts to identify and address CTE access challenges for SWD.

Access a recording of CAPE-Youth’s webinar highlighting its CTE brief and featuring state leaders here: Promoting Career and Technical Education for Students with Disabilities

In addition, CAPE-Youth will present Inclusive Workforce Readiness: Apprenticeships for Youth with Disabilities at the upcoming ACTE National Work-Based Learning Conference.

Learn more about how to engage in National CTE Month at acteonline.org/why-cte/cte-awareness/cte-month/.

By Sean Slone, Senior Policy Analyst

States are moving forward in a variety of ways to ensure a future for apprenticeships that expands into new fields and offers greater inclusion for individuals with disabilities. A February 24 webinar from The Council of State Governments (CSG) will highlight the efforts of three states and the findings of a recent report from CSG and the State Exchange on Employment and Disability (SEED), “The Future of Apprenticeship: Inclusion, Expansion, and the Post-Pandemic World of Work.” 

Colorado: Lawmakers approved legislation in 2021 to create a new state apprenticeship agency to “accelerate new apprenticeship program growth and assist in promotion and development.” Two councils that will advise development of a state plan will each include at least one member focused on promoting equal opportunity in apprenticeships. Denise Miller, apprenticeship expansion manager in Colorado’s Office of the Future of Work, will talk about how the state’s approach will be different. New Jersey: It is not just about offering apprenticeship opportunities to those with disabilities. States also can make efforts to ensure apprentices with disabilities are ultimately successful by providing support services and removing barriers to success. Lawmakers in New Jersey passed legislation in 2020 establishing a five-year pilot program providing stipends to offset transportation and childcare costs for apprentices. Workers underrepresented in apprenticeship programs, including individuals with disabilities, were given priority under the measure. New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, who has championed apprenticeship legislation, will be among the webinar presenters. Ohio: States are encouraging more inclusion of individuals with disabilities in apprenticeships by acting as model employers, signing up apprentices for public sector work experience opportunities at state agencies. Jon Hackathorn, business relations manager for employer and innovation services at Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, will talk about one such program. Ohio’s Vocational Apprentice Program supports a 2019 executive order issued by Governor Mike DeWine establishing Ohio as a disability inclusion state and model employer of individuals with disabilities.

Moderating the discussion will be David Leon, director of workforce programs at the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services. 

The recent CSG-SEED report on “The Future of Apprenticeship” incorporates input from dozens of apprenticeship program officials and experts around the country, examples from 30 states, and a comprehensive list of suggested strategies across four categories: 

Promoting and sustaining inclusivity in apprenticeships, particularly for individuals with disabilities; Ensuring long-term sustainable growth in funding for apprenticeships; Expanding apprenticeship opportunities; and Ensuring the resilience of apprenticeship programs. 

As noted in the report, among the ways state officials can promote and sustain inclusivity are: 

Working across state agencies to ensure apprenticeship programs reflect the unique strengths and needs of individuals with disabilities; Creating pre-apprenticeship opportunities to ensure those with disabilities have the necessary skills to participate in apprenticeships; Creating tax incentives for businesses that hire apprentices with disabilities; and Requiring that apprenticeship expansion initiatives increase diversity and inclusion. 

The benefits of inclusive apprenticeships are numerous, offering the opportunity for: 

Apprentices to gain hands-on career training; Employers to train their future workforce; and  States to increase the pipeline of qualified public and private sector employees. 

For individuals with disabilities, the benefits of inclusive apprenticeships can be even more profound, allowing them to demonstrate their value to an employer and gain new skills that can set them on a promising career path.  

The free webinar, The Future of Apprenticeship: Inclusion and Expansion in a Post-Pandemic World of Work, will take place February 24 at 2:00 p.m. (ET).

By Rachel Wright, Policy Analyst 

State governments have increasingly recognized the advantages of proactively recruiting and hiring people with disabilities. As such, many states have pursued “state as a model employer” policies and practices to increase the number of people with disabilities employed in the public sector. 

The Council of State Governments, in collaboration with the State Exchange on Employment and Disability, recently published a report titled The State as a Model Employer of People with Disabilities: Policies and Practices for State Leaders. This report offers public officials policy options as well as real-life examples of innovative policies and programs that states have successfully implemented to build a stronger, more inclusive public-sector workforce. 

For state hiring officials, model employer policies enhance diversity, equity and inclusion in the workforce. In turn, this can increase the state’s profitability and comparative advantage as an employer. For people with disabilities, employment in the public sector can improve employment outcomes and increase economic self-sufficiency. These benefits are critical when considering the long-standing labor force inequities experienced by people with disabilities as well as the talent gaps that employers are seeking to fill nationwide. 

The report provides the following policy options to state legislators as they work to be model employers of people with disabilities: 

Instituting formal mechanisms (legislation, executive orders) – States can institute formal mechanisms such as legislation and/or executive orders to increase the likelihood that employment-related issues affecting people with disabilities are addressed by government officials throughout all stages of policy development and implementation. 

Creating infrastructures (cabinet positions, task forces, working groups, advisory committees) – Creating formal infrastructures such as cabinet level positions, taskforces, working groups and advisory committees allow for disability-issues to be considered at the highest levels of state government. They can also enhance coordination and collaboration on disability-related issues across all branches of state government.  

Extending diversity and inclusion initiatives – State officials can advance public-sector employment of people with disabilities by extending diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as affirmative action plans, to include state agencies and departments.  

Developing comprehensive, government-wide strategic plans – Developing comprehensive-government wide strategic plans can guide SAME efforts and ensure that reporting mechanism are in place to enhance accountability and facilitate continued progress toward agency goals.  

Instituting fast-track and other hiring systems to facilitate employment – States can consider increasing the accessibility of application processes for public-sector employment by instituting fast-track hiring and other systems. Fast-track hiring systems seek to systematically recruit and hire individuals with disabilities through streamlined or simplified processes.  

Enacting advancement and retention practices – Policymakers can implement strategies to facilitate the enhancement and retention of people with disabilities in the public sector workforce. Strategies include establishing reasonable accommodation policies; stay-at-work, return-to-work (SAW/RTW) programs; and disability-inclusive telework policies.  

Ensuring accessibility of information and communication technology – States can act as model employers of people with disabilities by ensuring that accessibility is a primary policy consideration in the design, development and procurement of information and communication technology (ICT). To achieve this, states can institute accessibility requirements for ICT and/or adopt inclusive procurement procedures for all ICT acquired by state government.  

Ensuring availability of personal assistance services – Neither federal law nor many state anti-discrimination laws require employers to provide personal aids and devices, including personal assistance services. States can establish policies and programs that provide and finance the provision of personal assistance services for employees with disabilities.  

Developing disability awareness training for state personnel – States can reduce stigmas around disabilities and foster inclusive workplace cultures for employees with disabilities through instituting disability awareness training for all personnel.  

As states recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers can enhance diversity, equity and inclusion in the public sector workforce through adopting “state as a model employer” policies and practices. These policies prioritize accessibility and inclusion of people with disabilities throughout all stages of the employment process — recruitment, hiring, advancement and retention.  

For further information and examples of how your state can act as a model employer of people with disabilities, please read and share The State as a Model Employer of People with Disabilities: Policies and Practices for State Leaders.