The Office of Career-Technical Education uses the Perkins V reserve fund for the Equity for Each competitive grant. This competitive grant assists recipients and the Department in identifying and promoting promising practices for improving equity in career-technical education delivery for students in special population groups and subgroups.
The grant prioritizes applications that:
- emphasize collaboration between secondary and postsecondary schools, with,
- employed strategies that focus promotion or expansion of programs of study aligned with state-identified high-skill, high-wage or in-demand occupations, and/or,
- implement strategies to attract and retain culturally competent teachers and promote policies to ensure inclusion of program staff who reflect the diversity of the school or district.
Grants range from $25,000 to $200,000 and must be used towards improving data-identified “equity gaps” in local enrollment, engagement, performance and outcomes for students in special populations as defined in Perkins V legislation.
Awards from previous grants have been used towards:
- establishing support positions for transitioning economically disadvantaged pathway students from secondary to postsecondary education.
- adding aide positions to support students with disabilities in career-technical education.
- new support staff and equipment for increasing enrollment of students with disabilities into a workforce development pathway;
- development of new supports and resources as a bridge to postsecondary education to increase engagement of English learner students;
- establishing recruitment and enrollment supports to increase enrollment and participation from nontraditional students in an engineering pathway and industry-recognized credential program; and,
- expansion of lab capacity and providing additional supports to increase enrollment of economically disadvantaged students into a health care pathway.