| Releases
& Statements
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November, 2006
Contact: Frank Sobrino
O: (212) 669-4193 C: (646) 250-4322
Public Advocate Gotbaum Calls on DOE to Improve Technical Programs To Help Connect Students with Health Care Jobs
Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum today released a report showing that the Department of Education’s Career and Technical Education programs in health care are in fact preparing few students for careers in the city’s booming health services industry.
While the industry generates an estimated 7,600 job openings a year requiring an associate’s degree or less, in 2005 only 185 students—about 2 percent of the number needed to fill those openings—graduated and passed the technical assessment for living-wage health care positions that the state Department of Labor identifies as having “very favorable” or “favorable” employment prospects.
“There is an opportunity here to provide thousands of young people with access to a living-wage job and a rewarding career,” Gotbaum said. “The health care professionals we spoke to say this city is facing a shortage of nurses, x-ray technicians, mammographers, and other health care workers. Unfortunately, far too few high school students are getting the right preparation for these promising careers.”
Career and Technical Education is the current name for what used to be known as high school technical and vocational education. Of the city’s 55 health care CTE programs, only 15 have received state approval. Without state approval, parents and students cannot be sure that a CTE program offers quality instruction, qualified faculty, industry-recognized technical assessments, and agreements with post-secondary institutions—all of which help to ensure future success in the workplace.
Of the 40 programs not state-approved, only one has submitted an application for approval. Gotbaum called on the DOE to accelerate the application process for unapproved programs, noting that 76 percent of students who completed state-approved health care CTE programs in 2004-2005 went on to post-secondary education. By comparison, less than 63 percent of all 2005 city high school graduates reported having plans to pursue a post-secondary education.
“State-approved CTE programs prepare students not only for a career in the health care field but also for higher education,” Gotbaum said. “The purpose of these programs is to give young people more options and opportunities. But for CTE to work, the DOE needs to commit to meeting state standards.”
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Gotbaum’s research also indicated that there were no graduates in 2004-2005 from state-approved CTE programs in 27 of the health services industry’s top high-growth, in-demand job categories, including emergency medical assistants, medical secretaries, and pharmacy technicians. She recommended that the DOE work with the health care industry to identify its most critical needs and ensure that the right CTE programs are in place to address those needs.
“I’m calling for a summit of industry representatives, union leaders, and city education officials to identify the sectors of the health care industry where the shortages are most critical and begin to develop the programs and curricula to prepare students specifically for those jobs,” Gotbaum said.
Among the report’s other key recommendations are the following:
• Investigate the value of centralizing certain programs, such as medical billing and coding, in order to make more efficient use of resources and thereby help ensure that more students graduate from state-approved programs.
• Increase awareness of health care career opportunities—and of CTE programs as a way to prepare for those opportunities—among guidance counselors, parents, and students.
• Highlight state-approved programs in the high school directory and more effectively on the DOE website.
“It will take time and a careful evaluation of resources to realize the full potential of CTE,” Gotbaum said. “But the DOE can give these vital programs a boost right now by better informing students and parents and reaching out to industry leaders. The stronger we make CTE, the more opportunities our young people will have to find success in the workforce.”
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