By Ryan Hundt
Recent announcements like General Motors’ decision to invest $6.5 billion and create 4,000 jobs in Oakland County and Lansing helps emphasize Michigan’s competitive advantage in securing the future for electric vehicle production and high-wage job creation. But these decisions also underscore the importance of a highly-skilled, well-trained workforce, while highlighting efforts that often begin with career exploration and learning in K-12 and postsecondary settings. If our state is to parlay these investments into future opportunities, we must continue to put the spotlight on Career and Technical Education as a means of achieving long-term success.
The Michigan Works! Association and our members are proud to celebrate Career and Technical Education Month this February, which aims to increase awareness of the achievements and accomplishments of CTE programs across the country.
It should come as no surprise that a state with such a strong blue-collar heritage boasts some impressive statistics when it comes to CTE programs. Almost 35 percent of 11th and 12th grade students in Michigan are enrolled in a CTE program. Students who participate in CTE programs experience a consistent graduation rate above 95 percent year over year, about 15 percentage points higher than the average of all students in the state. Perhaps more impressive is the degree of preparation CTE students have in obtaining the academic, technical, and soft skills necessary to be successful in their educational and professional pursuits over the course of their careers.
Unfortunately, Michigan faces several challenges that necessitate additional investments and public awareness campaigns like Career and Technical Education Month. Despite the highest four-year graduation rate among other Great Lakes states, CTE enrollment in Michigan lags significantly behind states like Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio on a per capita basis. Michigan also trails Ohio and Illinois in overall CTE funding. Our state also continues to experience a widening skills gap, despite some of our successes in CTE programs. Fifty-four percent of jobs in Michigan require skills training beyond high school, while only 48 percent of Michigan workers are trained at this level.
Career and technical education programs can fill these gaps, particularly in Michigan’s key industries, like advanced manufacturing, mobility, automotive manufacturing, technology, and engineering design and development. And with Governor Whitmer’s ambitious, transformational Sixty by 30 initiative, CTE programs are critical in ensuring at least 60 percent of adults in Michigan have some type of postsecondary education or credential by 2030.
During this month, the Michigan Works! Association joins with the Michigan Department of Education, the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, and the Michigan Association for Career and Technical Education to encourage youths and adults in Michigan to be ambassadors for career and technical education and to send the message that Michigan career and technical education students are prepared for the 21st century high-wage, high-skilled, and in-demand jobs, a key component in making Michigan a Top 10 education state.