Editorial Update: CompTIA retired its Healthcare IT exam in 2017. CompTIA A+ can help health care professionals gain the IT skills they need to protect patient data.
In an effort to shine a light on a critical federal education initiative repeatedly in the crosshairs of deficit hawks in recent years, CompTIA looked toward a leading local lawmaker this month.
When Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) paid a visit to Roger C. Sullivan High School’s Medical Academy in Chicago on June 1, he was shown the inner workings of just one example of just one school system’s use of Career and Technical Education programs that teeter on the financial precipice due to federal funding cuts.
The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which funds career and technical education programs across the U.S., has seen its funding levels stagnate over the past decade, including a slash of more than $140 million in 2011 and the impending specter of additional cuts as part of President Obama’s 2012 budget.
Realizing the importance of Perkins-aided programs to provide access to current technology and equipment, development and integration of academic and technical courses for hundreds of thousands of potential IT professionals, CompTIA, whose global headquarters is in Illinois, brought the plight before its home-state, three-term senator.
Shortly before the last school bell rang for summer vacation, Durbin, the current Senate Majority Whip, met with staff and students of the Medical Academy, a part of the Chicago Public Schools system, to see how students benefit from such programs. The four-year honors college-preparatory initiative prepares students for careers in medicine, nursing, allied health technology, systems management, optometry and dentistry. Attending students have the opportunity to gain industry certifications and participate in paid and unpaid internships in healthcare settings including Children’s Memorial Hospital, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the University of Chicago Hospital, UIC College of Pharmacy and others.
About 20 percent of the 100,000 students served by the Chicago Public School system participate in CTE programs, according to the Chicago Workforce Investment Council. Aarti Dhupelia, who oversees the programs for Chicago Public Schools, selected Sullivan as the perfect site for the senator’s visit.
The school’s Medical Academy, which just wrapped up its twelfth year of operations, boasts a 100 percent college acceptance rate and, as with all CTE programs within that system, higher high school graduation rate than non-CTE programs.
In remarks to the senator during the visit, CompTIA officials highlighted the new Healthcare IT Technician certificate (retired by CompTIA in 2017), which combines knowledge and skill sets from both healthcare and IT for the implementation of electronic health records systems.
“This is an area of tremendous growth in job opportunities for students and displaced workers,” said Gretchen Koch, Senior Director of CompTIA’s Workforce Development programs, who attended the site visit along with Terry Erdle, Executive Vice President of Skills Certifications.
Sen. Durbin has been a vocal proponent of the ever-endangered Perkins Act in the past, responding to its proposed elimination as part of the 2008 budget presented by then-President Bush by stating its CTE funding “provides critical support for local school systems in their efforts to provide students with the education and skills they need for the 21st century economy.
“As a result of the (proposed 2008) cut, states would see their funding disappear, and 17 million students enrolled in career and technical education programs could see their courses reduced or eliminated.”
CompTIA has joined in the call to prevent further cuts to the Perkins Act. In May, 52 members of Congress signed a “dear colleague” letter to fully fund Perkins at $1.27 billion (2008 levels).
To learn more about efforts to help support the Perkins Act, visit the TechVoice website.
