As the Congress and administration work through the details of establishing a new $12-billion program to boost the nation’s community colleges, I urge policy makers to look to the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program as the right model to follow, and perhaps the best place to put that sizable new investment. While I understand that congressional boundaries and committee jurisdictions force members of Congress to stay within their agency silos when developing new programs, my hope is that the members of Congress who sit on the House and Senate education and science committees can work together to make sound investment decisions by expanding programs that work rather than creating yet another new program with an unproven track record.
The ATE program, which has existed since the 1980s, is one of the only Federal science and mathematics education programs that has been able to demonstrate positive results, despite the fact that its annual budget represents only around $50-million of the $3.2-billion federal investment in K-graduate science and mathematics education. Grants made through the ATE program have supported strong community-college degree and certificate programs that have, in turn, fostered growth and development of key industries, such as the biotechnology industry, the semiconductor industry, the marine and geosciences industry, and even the agricultural industry, in regions served by these programs. It seems only natural that the ATE program should be expanded to support the burgeoning alternative-energy industry and to help train and retrain individuals who wish to pursue new careers in this field.
Now for all of the naysayers out there who criticize technology education programs as preparing students for dead-ended jobs, or yesterday’s careers, I’d like to say that ATE-funded programs have shown their ability to constantly evolve and remain current in supporting the contemporary needs of both industry and individuals. These programs are not training workers for yesterday’s jobs, but instead are constantly evolving to support both the technical needs of industry and the educational needs of individuals. This is largely due to the fact that ATE-funded programs are required to have strong industry advisory boards in place and members of that board are required to participate actively in designing the curriculum, providing instruction, and hiring program graduates. And, for those of you who speculate that industry advisory boards will destroy liberal arts education in favor of worker training programs (which I agree could be a problem if an appropriate balance is not maintained between faculty and industry advisory groups), I want to assure you that such has not been the case among ATE-supported programs. In fact, the industry advisory boards have proven to be strong advocates for including rigorous humanities education as part of technical degree programs. These employers seem to understand that high-quality humanities courses yield employees that have better communication skills, reading and writing skills, and that are fundamentally more creative and able to solve problems independently.
Another strength of the ATE program is that it requires community colleges to work with local K-12 institutions as well as four-year colleges to ensure that students have strong foundational academic skills, access to people who can help them through difficult academic transition points, and the ability to transfer credits from one institution to the next. Seamless articulation pathways between high school, 2-year and 4-year institutions are the norm among ATE-funded programs. ATE programs are not designed to pigeon-hole individuals into dead-end jobs, but instead are designed to help students enter a new career area and evolve personally, professionally, and technically, throughout their lives. Surprisingly, many students who enroll in ATE-supported certificate programs already hold a bachelor’s degree from another institution and are back in school to start a new career or advance in their current career.
The success of the ATE program is, in large part, due to the capable leadership of the NSF program officers who administer the program. These individuals are true believers in the promise of higher education, but their vision is grounded firmly in reality. They understand the challenges today’s students face, and they know what opportunities and support services are needed to motivate, encourage, and enable student success. ATE-supported technical education programs appropriately incorporate the use of instructional technology, including sophisticated computer simulations and robust online courses, and they are grounded not in abstract educational theory but in well-documented industry practice.
The ATE program is a robust, peer-reviewed, competitive grant program in which community colleges compete on a level playing field for funding. This means that the best ideas and most well-designed programs win federal support, and go on to produce strong results. And the results are measurable. ATE program administrators implemented a rigorous program evaluation at the onset of the program that they could understand the strengths and weaknesses of the program, and take corrective action to ensure the best investment of the taxpayer dollar. In fact, the only improvement that could be made to the program, outside of a larger budget, is to expand the allowable uses of funds to include the improvement of basic science and mathematics courses at community colleges, especially since so many future elementary school teachers complete their only college science or math courses at these institutions.
I applaud the administration and Congress for recognizing the value of our community colleges, for providing much-needed funding to help these institutions strengthen the educational opportunities they provide, and by recognizing that for many Americans, the key to a brighter future includes a community-college education. Moreover, I encourage Congress and the administration to place the $12-billion where it can be spent in the most effective and efficient way, through a program that has a proven track record, and at an agency that is well-experienced in working with community colleges and preparing students for the high-tech careers that will drive our economy forward and improve the lives of individuals.
