Florida Career and Professional Education (CAPE) Act Program

Florida Career and Professional Education (CAPE) Act Program is sponsored by Florida Department of Education. Provides funding for career and professional education programs that lead to industry certifications and high-wage employment.

Florida: Career and Professional Education Act (CAPE) - Advance CTE Florida: Career and Professional Education Act (CAPE) Florida’s CAPE Act, initially passed in 2007, models how states can engage with industry and define quality industry certification standards for secondary and postsecondary students.

Florida: Career and Professional Education Act (CAPE) In 2007 the Florida state legislature passed a significant overhaul of the state’s Career Technical Education (CTE) system .

The resulting legislation, the Career and Professional Education Act (CAPE), sought to improve the quality and rigor of career programming; increase the number of students earning postsecondary credits or industry-recognized certification; encourage collaboration between K-12 education providers, workforce development boards, private industry and institutions of higher education; and provide students with access to high-wage, high-demand careers.

Florida’s CAPE Act models how states can engage with industry and define quality industry certification standards for secondary and postsecondary students. The key vehicles that CAPE uses to encourage quality and rigor in CTE programming are: Industry Certification : The original CAPE Act directed the Agency for Workforce Innovation to create a definition of “industry certification,” which was then codified into Florida state statute.

To ensure the appropriate review and approval of industry-recognized credentials, the Department of Education directed CareerSource Florida , the state’s workforce investment board, to publish a comprehensive list of industry-recognized certifications annually. Certifications included on this list must be achievable to secondary students and require a minimum of 150 hours of instruction.

Financial Incentives to Improve Student Participation and Success : Florida incentivizes school districts to encourage participation in CTE courses that lead to industry-recognized credentials by adjusting the state’s weighted funding formula.

More specifically, the state adjusts the district’s full-time equivalent (FTE) membership total, which is used to determine funding allocations, based on the number of students that receive industry-recognized credentials. Further, CTE teachers are eligible to receive bonuses up to $50 for each student that receives an industry-recognized credential.

School districts and teachers are only eligible to receive incentives for students that attain credentials on the state’s annual Industry Certification Funding List . Career Academies : CAPE also required each school and school district in the state to offer integrated career and academic curriculum through career and professional academies.

While these academies pre-date CAPE in existing Florida statute, CAPE required these programs to align to priority workforce needs and mandated that all public schools offer career academy opportunities. The Florida legislature in 2013 passed SB 1076 , which expanded CAPE to include an industry certification funding list for postsecondary students.

In 2014, CAPE was further amended through SB 850 to require school districts to offer CAPE Digital Tool certificates for students in pre-K through middle school.

SB 850 also required districts to notify parents about the return on investment for industry-recognized credentials and required all colleges in the Florida College System to offer a collegiate high school program, a program to enable high school students in grades 11 and 12 to earn CAPE industry certifications and earn credits toward a postsecondary degree.

More than 297,000 CAPE industry certifications have been awarded since CAPE was enacted in the 2007-08 academic year. Further, the number of certifications awarded annually grew from 954 to 65,746 (more than a 6,000 percent increase) between the 2007-08 and 2014-15 school years, demonstrating growing support for and participation in CAPE-certified career courses.

However, to ensure the incentives are aligned with the most rigorous industry credentials, Florida has continued to adjust the weight for the schools’ funding formula. For example, for 2014-15, the CAPE Digital Tool certificate is only weighted at 0. 025 FTE compared to a 0.

2 FTE weight for a state-approved industry credential with a statewide articulation agreement of up to 14 college credits. In the 2019-20 school year, the Florida Department of Education reported 74,295 CAPE participants earned 88,756 certifications .

A 2020 evaluation found additional indicators of success for CAPE students, including higher GPAs, lower chronic absenteeism, lower high school dropout rates, higher enrollment in Advanced Placement and dual enrollment courses, and higher student performance.

Full Text: The Florida Career and Professional Education Act (Updated 2016) Full Text: SB 1232 (2007) Full Text: SB 1076 (2013) Technical Assistance Paper: Florida Career and Professional Education Act (2014) Evaluation: Career and Professional Education Act Enrollment and Performance Report (2020) K-12 Data Summary Reports Current CAPE Industry Certification Funding List (2019-20) Reports: CAPE Annual Enrollment and Performance Last Updated January 2021 The State of Career Technical Education: Credentials of Value The State of Career Technical Education: Employer Engagement in CTE Virginia High School Graduates' Career and Technical Education Credentials: Top Credentials Over Time and Across Student Groups Crosswalk: Original and Modernized Career Clusters Framework Framework Crosswalk: CIP, SOC, NAICS, Career Cluster, and Sub-Cluster Leveraging Career Development Services to Expand Student Engagement in Career and Technical Education Credentials and Assessments Employer Engagement Submit a resource or resource edit to the Learning that Works Resource Center Explore the Resource Center Credentials and Assessments The State of Career Technical Education: Credentials of Value Over the last decade, non-degree credentials have become a key focus in Career Technical Education (CTE) and workforce development, driven by a dynamic labor m… Credentials and Assessments The State of Career Technical Education: Credentials of Value Over the last decade, non-degree credentials have become a key focus in Career Technical Education (CTE) and workforce development, driven by a dynamic labor m… Credentials and Assessments Employer Engagement The State of Career Technical Education: Employer Engagement in CTE This report from Advance CTE examines the employer engagement landscape with a particular focus on the ways in which states can foster and sustain meaningful e… Credentials and Assessments Virginia High School Graduates’ Career and Technical Education Credentials: Top Credentials Over Time and Across Student Groups This case study by the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance at the Institute of Education Sciences examines CTE credentials most co…