The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 requires, in Sec. 113(c)(3)(C), that the secretary provide the appropriate committees of Congress copies of annual reports received by the U.S. Department of Education from each eligible agency that receives funds under Perkins III. Sec. 113(c)(3)(A) further requires the secretary to make the information contained in such reports available to the general public. This report contains information on states' progress in achieving their adjusted performance levels -negotiated with and approved by the Department-on the core indicators of performance listed in Sec. 113(b)(2)(A) of Perkins III: Student attainment of challenging state-established academic, vocational and technical skill proficiencies, hereafter referred to as academic and skill attainment; Student attainment of a secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent, a proficiency credential in conjunction with a secondary school diploma, or a postsecondary degree or credential, hereafter referred to as completion; Placement in, retention in, and completion of, postsecondary education or advanced training, placement in military service, or placement or retention in employment, hereafter referred to as placement and retention; and Student participation in and completion of career and technical education programs that lead to nontraditional training and employment, hereafter referred to as nontraditional programs. This is the Department's eighth annual report to Congress. This report transmits data that states submitted to the Department for program year (PY) 2006-07. State directors were required to attest to the accuracy and completeness of their data by signing their data submissions. State directors who submitted their data electronically to the Department attested to the accuracy and completeness of their data using an electronic personal identification number (PIN). Among the highlights of this report: 1) States reported a higher number of students as having enrolled in career and technical education courses in PY 2006-07 than in the previous program year. The level of enrollment is the highest in the eight years (PY 1999-2007) of Perkins III implementation. 2) Although there have been some improvements, concerns remain regarding the accuracy of states' performance data. Among the major issues are the use of varying performance measures that do not share a common standard for validity and reliability; the variety of student population definitions used by states (i.e., whom they count in their accountability system); the inability of some states to track students' transition to subsequent education and employment; and the limited availability of national or state assessments to evaluate students' technical skill attainment-an important outcome of participation in career and technical education. 3) Eleven states met or exceeded each of their PY 2006-07 secondary performance levels. These states are: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. This represents a decrease of 26.7 percent from PY 2005-06 when fifteen states met or exceeded each of their secondary performance levels. 4) Three states met or exceeded each of their PY 2006-07 postsecondary performance levels. The states are: Hawaii, Mississippi, and Missouri. This represents a decrease of 40.0 percent from PY 2005-06 when five states met or exceeded each of their postsecondary performance levels. 5) Eight states were awarded incentive grants9 from the U. S. Department of Labor during PY 2006-07 for having exceeded their performance levels overall under Perkins III, Title I of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), and the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA): Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, South Carolina, and South Dakota. This represents an 11 percent decrease from PY 2005-06 when nine states were awarded incentive grants.
