President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act. The legislation is a reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, a $1.2 billion program last overhauled by Congress in 2006. The new law allows states to set their own goals for career and technical education programs without the education secretary’s approval, requires them to make progress toward those goals, and makes other changes to federal CTE law.
Trump celebrated the bill signing at a “Pledge to America’s Workers” event on Tuesday in Florida designed to showcase the administration’s focus on workforce development. In a speech at Tampa Technical High School in Tampa, Fla., after the official bill signing at the White House, Trump stated, “Now more than 11 million students and workers will have greater access to better training and more jobs,” Trump said at an event at Tampa Bay Technical High School in Florida. “When we invest in our workers, we are investing in our people.”
Career and technical education is attracting new attention and support, but it’s also facing new challenges as programs try to evolve to meet changing labor force demands. Employees often have existing projects and are running lean while employers are competing with a competitive hiring landscape. Each certification earned helps students validate their authorized experience by technology vendors. Just as we expect doctors, cosmetologist and veterinarians to be trained and certified, Information Technology is leading the vocational revolution.
IT Certifications are being taught as early as middle school in some areas, common in high school and emphasized in college as essential; but what do the hiring managers say? Some have said a certification is the new master’s degree, others say a good value add, and others will only compliment it with sufficient work experience. From our experience, 91% of students achieved professional growth while 76% stated training helped them gain the critical skills necessary for employment.
Whether you are looking for basic how to use computers courses, a new career trajectory or an advanced IT certification New Horizons has the experts to help you. Learn more by Scheduling a Career Consultation with one of our local team members today.