Futures Research

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Futures Research

Futures Research is an online, data-driven change management system that builds strategic visions for mission-driven companies, organizations, and groups.

Our projects are applied to planning, assessment, and engagement efforts of all types. We collect data from those who share a future to conceptualize and articulate ideas about the future. We help groups build visions of their future. We develop strategic visions for mission-driven companies, organizations, and groups. Our projects can be applied to planning, assessment, and engagement efforts of all types. For example, projects inform efforts like strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, outreach campaigns, policy formation, program review, board development, needs assessment, risk analysis, and identification of opportunity and innovation.

02/06/2025

Distinctions Between K12 CTE and Academic Education

Revisiting the Distinctions Between K12 CTE and Academic Education: Insights from Pinchak & Berns (2014).

In their 2014 paper, Pinchak & Berns delineate 20 significant differences between K12 Career and Technical Education (CTE) and traditional academic education, such as math, English, science, and social studies.

What stands out to me are the differences rooted in the direct and essential link between CTE instruction and the workplace. The authors emphasize the importance of instructors possessing competencies in:

🔹 Analyzing students' developing workplace-required skills

🔹 Teaching and assessing sets of psychomotor and affective skills

🔹 Enabling students to acquire “muscle memory” proficiencies

🔹 Contextualizing learning in applicable real-world work situations

Another subset of “distinctions” that caught my attention pertains to the requirements of K12 CTE programs. While these requirements are familiar to me, revisiting them in a document that's a decade old prompted me to question, "Are these still the right set of expectations?"

Consider these ongoing challenges:

🔸 Develop and maintain dual credit articulations

02/06/2025

Seeking CTE Alignment in Washington State

A current project seeks to align K12 CTE with post-secondary CTE and it’s proven to be an intricate journey, akin to an Odyssey. While the allure of dual credit is strong, many students encounter challenges in applying their hard-earned credits, revealing a gap between promise and reality.

Does dual credit truly deliver on its promise of providing free college credit and motivating non-traditional students to pursue higher education? My inquiries with 10 CTCs and numerous K12 districts in WA have revealed a lack of quantitative evidence to support assumption.

Upon closer examination, three significant fault lines emerge:

K12 personnel express frustration with the implementation of CTC-granted credit articulations.
Some K12 students are unaware of how to apply their earned credits, with some not even realizing they have credits to apply.
Many students find that their dual credits do not function as expected when it comes time to apply them, raising questions about potential misinformation.
The disjointed nature between K12 CTE and CTC CTE reveals an opportunity for intentional design, leadership, and coordination. Previous Futures Research projects have identified a similar gap in many workforce districts throughout Washington State, often attributed to bureaucratic partitioning.

Recently, I've endeavored to map Washington State’s K12 CTE ecosystem alongside CTE at the CTC level. The challenge of alignment is evident: K12 offers 16 distinct "CTE Clusters," while CTC pathways lack similar explicitness, with CTE primarily revolving around Dual Credit. Furthermore, CTC programs resembling CTE are often labeled as "Prof-Tech" and/or "Workforce Education."

It's clear that there's an opportunity to foster clarity and coherence between these two interdependent systems. As Futures Research continues to understand this complex terrain, we are on the lookout for ideas and insights that can simplify and strengthen the alignment, collaboration, and effectiveness of CTE across Washington State.

02/06/2025

Variance between CLNA perspectives: K12 & CTC

For years, our Futures Research projects have delved into Career and Technical Education (CTE) from a post-secondary perspective. Now, we're thrilled to share our latest twist: investigating CTE from a K12 viewpoint, uncovering fascinating variances in key topics.

One of our K12 projects is poised to inform school districts' CLNA plans, focusing on two critical areas:

1. Equity in Work-Based Learning (WBL) Opportunities
2. Supporting Seamless Transition Pathways

While paid WBL experiences dominate post-secondary discussions, our K12 research detects a shift. We are seeing the prioritization of strategies focused on family and community engagement to foster trust and enhance the perceived value of WBL.

This K12 CLNA project sheds light on an intriguing trend: some students may lose interest in specific pathways after WBL experiences and it’s important to treat that as progress. It's a challenge that demands proactive pathway pivoting to ensure students find their best-fit career trajectories without feeling failure and becoming disinterested.

When it comes to Seamless Transitions, our discussions with CTC leaders spotlight dual credit schemes as a beacon of success. However, from a K12 standpoint, transitioning out of high school presents significant support gaps, making college entry daunting for many. Also, there is concern that many high school students don’t value, don’t know how to use, or don’t understand the credit they’ve earned.

Amidst these complexities, bright spots emerge. Industries are pioneering pathways through internships and apprenticeships, driven by local needs and relationships, offering promising avenues for post-secondary employment.
Throughout all our projects, one theme remains constant: the importance of person-to-person relationships. Connections between students, families, educators, higher education leaders, or industry professionals are the cornerstone of successful WBL and Seamless Transitions.

Stay tuned for more updates as our research unfolds!

02/06/2025

In the quickly evolving realm of workforce education, a mission to reshape the culture of CTE Programs is underway, fueled by shifts in students’ goals and values, challenges caused by faculty turnover, changes in industry needs and demands, and concerns related to enrollment and completion measures. Below are observations and suggestions related to “cultural transformation” collected from a series of stakeholder assessments conducted in 2023 in the State of Washington.

Understanding Challenges: Culture permeates every facet of CTE programs—from outreach materials, to classrooms, to advisory committees—and influences how meaning is made, value is delivered, and impact is measured. Community colleges are grappling with challenges like lagging enrollment, high stop-out rates, faculty recruitment and retention difficulties, and persistent demands from employers. Each of these challenges, their causes, and their potential solutions are deeply influenced by the program’s culture.

Mindset Shift: To transform CTE program culture, a shift from a “scarcity” mindset to one of “abundance” is often described as a practical and sustainable approach. The approach calls for a balanced awareness of weaknesses with a focus on strengths. CTE programs can build on strengths without dwelling on past conditions and grievances. Addressing scarcity mindset symptoms—such as dwelling on what doesn't work and how things “used to be”—can combat faculty apathy, degradation of hope, cynicism, and rigid role adherence.

Actions for Intentional Culture: Data was queried for actions determined to be within the control or influence of CTE programs.

1) Outreach and Rebranding: Foster partnerships with workforce development organizations to amplify CTE opportunities. Actively rebrand the term "blue collar worker" to showcase diversity and professional value within CTE fields. Recruit industry professionals to champion and promote the program.

2) Engagement and Hands-On Learning: Leverage rich hands-on learning opportunities inherent to many/most CTE programs for recruitment and enrollment success. Support student interest with connections to services, course maps, and clear visions of opportunities.

3) Focus on Untapped Audiences, Namely K12 Students: Integrate CTE into K12 education for early exposure to hands-on learning. Demonstrate the effectiveness of experiential learning to K12 teachers, administrators, students, and their families. Advocate for more inclusive transcripts that acknowledge skill development and promote inquiry-based learning. Showcase immersive learning experiences through events and activities.

Hard But Important Work: The future of CTE programming holds promise but demands internal work. Cultures will transform over time, but intentional efforts are imperative for creating a culture that aligns with the values, goals, and conditions desired by those who will inherit and inhabit the CTE programs’ future culture.

02/06/2025

Here's another finding from a recent CTE stakeholder assessment. This finding focuses on advisory committees, which can play a pivotal role in shaping the future of a CTE program. Optimizing their impact is key and it requires an intentional approach by the faculty and college leadership. Data shows that effective advisory committees don't just happen, they are result of a shared vision, motivated participation, and clarity in roles, goals, and accountability.

Data highlights four ideas to optimize advisory committees, which are within the program's & college's control:

1) Strategic Recognition of Roles: Emphasize adherence to a clear and current advisory committee handbook. Introduce term limits for optimal effectiveness. Provide training for faculty and for advisory committee members to achieve consistency in quality across CTE programs.

2) Manage with Intention: Acknowledge the importance and limitations of CTE Advisory Committees. Tackle challenges like understanding and leveraging incentives for member participation. Implement proactive management strategies to enhance the members' experience of being on the committee.

3) Proactive Collaboration and Commitment: Foster commitment from industry members. Manage committees effectively with established bylaws, refer to them and follow them. Prioritize collaborations between industry, K12 and the CTE program, and mobilize the advisory committee with the goal of building seamless CTE pathways for students.

4) Maximize the value advisory committee members can provide in terms of guest speaking, mock interviews, professional networking, work-place learning opportunities, internships, and hiring graduates.

These actions aim to bridge gaps, streamline pathways, and enhance collaboration between CTE faculty, industry professionals, and other CTE partners (K12 & CBOs). Recognizing and responding to the need for targeted support, empowering faculty, and aligning curriculum with industry needs appear to be a reliable "North Star" for CTE success in the ever-evolving landscape of workforce education.

02/06/2025

Recent data from a stakeholder assessment for CTE programs describe a need for new approaches in recruiting, retaining, and refining CTE faculty.

Compiling similar data from multiple stakeholder assessments conducted in Washington State, the following observations appear strongly consistent among CTCs in that system.

Many/most CTE faculty …
1) ... could be making significantly more money in industry than they do as employees of a community college.
2) ... have an intrinsic interest in teaching; some faculty describe a sense of duty or obligation to give back to the field.
3) ... are hired into positions that are protected by a union-negotiated contract that can impede changes to roles and responsibilities.
4) ... are often the best possible “sales person” for their program. They are significantly more informed than “college recruiters” about industry alignment, the employment opportunities, and the details of the instructional program. However, outreach to, and recruitment of, new students is often NOT part of CTE faculty contracts.

Challenges regarding CTE faculty observed in the data include:
- Strong role adherence and resistance to change
- Accreditation constraints (perceived and real)
- Perceptions of deteriorating working conditions (workload, student quality, instructional resources, etc.)
- Isolation from campus community

Data also reveal several strategies available to college leaders interested in elevating the quality, motivation, and impact of CTE faculty.
1) Invest in relevant and interesting professional development for CTE faculty. These trainings should build rapport, strengthen campus community, and make a beneficial impact in the job of a CTE faculty member.
2) Leverage formal and informal campus-wide activities that strengthen campus community, foster hope, and reify a positive vision for the college’s mission.
3) Provide CTE faculty the tools, processes, and incentives to question legacy practices, assumptions, and expectations and explore attainable and effective alternatives.
4) Acknowledge and actively deconstruct the perceived and real differences between “CTE” faculty and “transfer” faculty.
5) Equip CTE faculty with the tools and processes to resolve collegial conflicts, address systemic exclusiveness, and resolve historical tensions.
6) Develop sustainable processes for CTE Faculty to remain current in their industry, aware of new technologies and techniques, aware of emerging trends, and connected with a broad spectrum of industry professionals.

A core observation underlying all of these findings is that the current post-COVID19 restoration period should be leveraged to achieve innovative change and create an institutional culture of improvement, engagement, and encouragement. Administrative instincts to “return to normal” should be resisted.

02/06/2025

Allied Health CTE Program Insights from a CLNA Stakeholder Assessment

Data from a recent stakeholder assessment reveal a few interesting discoveries, shedding light on both challenges and opportunities within Allied Health CTE Programs.

Challenges Unveiled:
1. Non-Inclusive Prerequisites and Limited Communication: Struggling with rigid practices, programs face hurdles due to non-inclusive prerequisites and insufficient communication, coordination, and cooperation between programs.
2. Lack of Student Awareness: Many students are unaware about specific health career tracks and admission requirements, hindering their informed decision-making.
Enrollment Capacity Constraints: Faculty and clinical placement shortages contribute to limited enrollment capacity, posing a significant challenge.

Solutions Identified:
1. State-Level Reforms: Advocate for administrative and legislative changes to focus on inclusive prerequisite courses and alternative pathways, dismantling unnecessary barriers in recruitment and screening.
2. Innovative "Health Careers Overview" Course: Introduce a comprehensive course supported by the college to provide students with a thorough understanding of all Allied Health tracks, fostering awareness and program comprehension.
3. Revolutionizing Enrollment Solutions: Creating on-campus health clinics, nurturing relationships with local and regional clinical providers, and offering industry rotations for senior healthcare professionals to spend time in CTE classrooms—a refreshing change that could boost industry professional retention.

Related findings:
1. Nursing Program Dilemma: Nursing programs grapple with acute admission challenges and a shortage of nurse educators, prompting industry exploration of competitive solutions. Increased pay and a college commitment to improving workplace conditions emerge as crucial solutions.
2. Industry-Wide Reflection: Beyond college-controlled solutions, there's a pressing need to address industry workforce churn. The sustained demand for Allied Health workers may be fueled by industry-created harsh workplace conditions, leading to burnout.

02/06/2025

Results from a Multi College Regional CTE Stakeholder Assessment identified five areas for Immediate Collaborative Action - see below! First, a few words about our jargon.

“Multi College Regional CTE Stakeholder Assessment” = Five CTC’s with robust CTE programs serving the same large urban area seeking efficiencies by conducting a joint stakeholder assessment because of strong overlaps in student populations, job markets, and industry stakeholders. Beyond looking for efficiencies, the practice of a regional stakeholder assessment in itself is an efficiency.

“Immediate Collaborative Action” = Project data (collected from stakeholders via surveys & interviews) revealed over 100 specific actions a college CTE program can take to enhance its ability to provide accessible, affordable, and high quality CTE pathways that lead to strong employment in local job markets. These 100-plus actions were evaluated through several lenses: 1) level of control by program personnel, 2) level of required time and resources, and 3) commonality of action across the participating CTE programs.

By combining and refining the large set of actions emerging from the project data, the following five action areas were developed as those offering strong opportunity for desired impact. These action areas are:

Organizational Culture
All participating college CTE programs experience common challenges such as adequacy of resources, procedural barriers, mistrust of change, insufficient audience connections, complexity-driven confusion, obstacles to situational awareness, embedded legacy assumptions and values, and struggles to define and convey value propositions to key stakeholders. Each of these challenges contribute to obstacles for CTE programs to pursue and achieve their mission. Because of the institutional and situational similarities among the participating colleges, common solutions are likely applicable broadly and could be efficiently developed and deployed regionally.

Community Relationships
Project data highlights two conditions affecting these participating colleges: First is that CTE programs' efforts to engage certain communities are often less effective than their potential; and second, while causes for diminished community connections are complex, they are surprisingly common among these colleges. Examples of the complex-yet-common causes include each program having a wide spectrum of diverse community audiences, perceived and real internal restrictions to engagement, rigid role adherence and performance, and bureaucratic numbness and blind spots. Similar to the previous action area, the likelihood of solutions being relevant to all participating colleges supports the use of a regional action.

Students
Every college CTE program benefits from a sustainable supply of adequately prepared students who are motivated by career aspirations. The quality of instruction, learning, employment outcomes, and faculty job satisfaction all increase when students are interested, informed, and engaged. There are many replicable and scalable solutions in the area that are within the influence of all participating CTE programs.

Industry Partners
Industry professionals and employers are a unique stakeholder audience whose relationship with college CTE programs is essential. According to some federal and state definitions, industry partner engagement is required for all college CTE programs. Industry partners can (and many do) engage with these CTE programs through structures like advisory committees, work-place learning opportunities, guest speaking events, mock interview sessions, professional networking, and hiring events. Project data offered a large number of suggested actions: most focused on incremental upgrades, others defined significant redesign and new structures. Both approaches, big and small, have relevance to, and appear to be mostly within the control of, these college CTE programs. Regional guidance on this action area would like produce scalable and replicable solutions.

5. Enrollment Partners

There are several types of partners who serve as enrollment conduits to college CTE programs: CBOs, government agencies, and K12 systems. Engagement of these diverse partners requires specific strategies; however, these strategies can be shared and jointly implemented by these colleges. Due to the intentional oversampling of K12 stakeholders in this project, the majority of emergent actions in this area focus on K12 partners. As with the industry partners area above, regional action to help college CTE program enhance their engagement with transfer partners would likely produce effective and replicable solutions.

02/06/2025

In two recent studies conducted by Futures Research, the significance of relationships has emerged as a cornerstone in career and technical education CTE at both the secondary and post-secondary levels. This emergent theme resonates strongly across the educational spectrum, from K12 teachers, superintendents, and administrators to college faculty, deans, and executive leaders. It is echoed by many types of stakeholders, including CBOs, government, and industry partners.

Relationships matter!

From recruitment strategies and referrals to enrollment processes, workplace learning initiatives, professional networking endeavors, and job placement processes, the influence of relationships stands out as the key ingredient to make CTE successful, valuable, and personally meaningful. Across 75 interviews and 2 comprehensive surveys, our data underscores that relationships may be the single most crucial factor influencing students' study choices, their achievement of learning outcomes, and the trajectory of their professional journey.

Given the imperative role of relationships in education, several questions arise:
- How do K12 and Higher Education institutions strategically invest in the development, expansion, and maintenance of these invaluable connections?
- What metrics gauge the efficacy of relationship assets, and how can they be enhanced?
- How are these relationships meticulously documented and preserved for sustained impact?

02/06/2025

The "High School & Beyond Plan" set forth in RCW 28A.230.090 has so much potential to be something other than the "box-checking annoyance" it has largely become in many (most) of Washington's high schools.

A major missing piece of the HSBP schema is relevance and value. Are these plans relevant to anyone? Do these plans deliver value? Go ask a group of high school seniors; better yet, float the question in the teachers' lounge.

Here's a thought for Washington's 34 CTCs and 14 regional universities: Step into the void and make the HSBP relevant and valuable by:
1) asking high school graduates for their plans in addition to their transcripts, and
2) give students with strong HSBPs special consideration for supports and admission to competitive programs.

If done well, higher education could ignite awareness of the relevance and value of the HSBP among high school students, their parents, and the high school staff. And, that's just the beginning: we've collected reams of data on ideas to turn HSBP into rocket fuel for secondary students.

02/06/2025

In recent interviews with higher education leaders, I've heard a lot about "continuous improvement."

Being suspicious of buzzwords, I dig deeper when I hear them. I ask some form of "what do you mean?", or "how do you do it?", or "how do you know it works?"

Turns out that "continuous improvement" in higher education really means "continuous engagement" and "continuous encouragement." I like that.

02/06/2025

The Competency of Hopefulness

The concept of "hope" is currently trending in our assessment data for CTE Pathways. We've been asking the same types of people about the same types of things over the past four years and "hope" is a noticeably new blip on our radar. It seems fresh, relevant, and important to call out. As data collection continues, it will be interesting to watch this concept evolve. Below are a few facets about "hope" emerging in our data.

Who's talking about it
College leaders with accountability for the success of students and faculty

Contexts
Moving people's mindsets beyond "post-COVID" paralysis and apathy
Outreach strategies to potential students (K12 & adult learners)
Innovation in instructional design and student supports

Role of "hope"
A required condition for student & faculty motivation
A skill/perspective/behavior that can be taught formally and informally
The role of hope in education is core but ephemeral, it requires intentional effort
Hope begets hope

To be tested:
Are we're seeing a competency of hopefulness?
Can it (should it) be assessed?

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