Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act of 2013

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to, first of all, thank the gentleman from Arizona, Congressman Salmon, as well as Chairman Kline and Ranking Member Miller for their work in bringing this very important bill to the floor.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment would allow entities receiving funds under this bill to report the number and percentage of students who are able to find employment in a field relating to their program or course of study and would allow the director of IES to provide technical assistance to such entities upon request.

Basically, my intent is to give situational awareness to both educators and students and also an understanding of how well our dollars being spent in terms of educating both our young people and people who are looking for a second career, looking for other job opportunities, so that they know that their time and effort will be well spent.

I am proud to be joined in offering this amendment by my good friend and colleague, Congressman G.T. THOMPSON from Pennsylvania, as cochairs of the bipartisan Career and Technical Education Caucus.

Representative Thompson and I are committed to providing all students with the information necessary to make informed career decisions.

Many of the students who will be served by this bill are nontraditional students, working parents, students with full-time jobs, and many others who are seeking a different education than what a traditional 4-year curriculum affords, so these are the very people who would benefit the most from clear and accessible career market information.

It has become obvious that high school diplomas are really no longer sufficient training for the modern job market, and while not every job will require a college degree, some sort of postsecondary education will be necessary, and students, Mr. Chairman, deserve accurate information to help them find the career pathway that best fits their goals and abilities.

My amendment will help these students by encouraging schools to report on the number of students who are able to use their education to find a relevant career, data that students will be able to use in the coming years to inform their own decisions and choose an academic path that will lead to a well-paying job.

This amendment has been scored by the CBO as budget-neutral and will not result in any additional spending.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his comments and the exceptional work that he does and that we do collaboratively with respect to career and technical education, and I appreciate his cosponsorship of this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, again, in closing, this amendment would help to give situational awareness to students, to educators, and to all those who want to understand, is the time and effort, the investment that people are making worth that investment, and is it a clear path forward, particularly for those who are looking for a new career or who are looking to, as we do right now, trying to close the skills gap that we have not only in my home State of Rhode Island, but across the country, as people are trying to get the right skills for the right jobs that are good paying going forward.

This will give them the data to understand the best career paths to follow, where it would be best to invest their time and their energy, as well as their resources.

So with that, I urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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