Latest news with #CDLE
Forbes
26-03-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Colorado Teacher Externships Bridge The Education To Workforce Gap
Colorado's teacher externship program connects K-12 teachers with STEM-focused employers and offers ... More hands-on, immersive learning experiences. As the state of the economy rapidly evolves, employers face a pressing challenge: ensuring the nation's education system keeps pace with the changing demands of the workforce. While education and workforce leaders have accelerated their focus on student internships and career preparation, there remains an overlooked piece of the puzzle—teachers. Teacher externships, where educators spend time working in industries related to their subject areas, are gaining prominence in Colorado. 'I came across the concept of teacher externships while serving on a local district STEM advisory board,' says Colorado Rep. Brianna Titone, a Democrat and author of House Bill 23-1198. 'When a teacher can tell stories about high-tech jobs they have seen firsthand, and then apply the functions of those jobs to real world careers, it builds excitement in students for jobs right here in the state.' The legislation introduced by Rep. Titone quickly gained support with her state house colleagues and ultimately established a statewide K-12 Teacher Externship Program focused on STEM occupations that provides structured experiences for educators ranging from brief industry tours to full immersion experiences. In a seemingly unconventional—but sensible—switch-up, the program is administered by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) rather than the state's department of education. "The Teacher Externship Program provides work-based learning opportunities that allow educators to spend anywhere from a few days to several weeks working onsite at a Colorado business," explains Kelly Reeser, teacher externship grant coordinator at CDLE. "These experiences expose teachers to industry environments in career sectors their students may pursue while deepening their understanding of industry practices. This, in turn, enables our teachers to deliver more relevant content to students and better prepare them for the workforce." Colorado's program connects K-12 teachers with STEM-focused employers and offers hands-on, immersive learning experiences. Businesses identify specific projects or industry challenges for externs and then select highly-skilled teachers to engage in these areas. The state's program is open to any STEM-focused business in Colorado and all K-12 public school teachers in the state. The program offers three distinct models of engagement. Industry Tours, lasting 1-5 days, provide high-level overviews of operations and career pathways; Customized Experiences, spanning 1-3 weeks, engage teachers in specific projects with industry tools; and the most comprehensive option, Full-Immersion Experiences of 4-8 weeks, embeds educators deeply within company operations, where they collaborate with professionals on real-world projects. 'I have been in education for over 20 years, having gone from high school into college, earning my undergraduate degree in education with a minor in Earth Science,' said Katherine Schifter, a sixth grade science teacher at Roosevelt Middle School in Colorado's Weld County School District RE-5J who participated in a two-week-long industry tour. 'Before the teacher externship, I didn't know what it's like to work in any other industry but education. It was an incredible opportunity to spend time with industry professionals, visit their companies and have new insights about jobs and careers for my students.' The matching process is thoughtfully designed. Both teachers and businesses complete applications to participate in the program. Teachers provide details about their schools, subject areas, areas of interest and how they plan to integrate their externship learnings into their classrooms. Businesses outline the nature of their work, the type of externship offered, the timing and duration of the opportunity, the number of externs they can host, whether they offer compensation and a description of the externship focus. This business information is published on CDLE's website, allowing teachers to express interest in specific opportunities. As program coordinator, Reeser identifies potential matches and facilitates meetings between the parties to determine fit. Once a match is confirmed, she formalizes an agreement outlining expectations and logistics, providing ongoing support throughout the externship to ensure a smooth experience. The impact of these experiences is profound and immediate. Consider Nick Nassimbene, an elementary school teacher who completed an externship at Blue Canyon Technologies, a Raytheon subsidiary. His time in satellite manufacturing transformed his approach to teaching engineering principles to fifth graders. He now emphasizes the importance of iteration in testing new designs, precision in measuring and cutting, the value of hands-on skills, and the benefits of cross-training between engineers and technicians. Additionally, he is working to increase students' awareness of aerospace career opportunities in both engineering and technical fields. "Through my externship with Blue Canyon Technologies, I created a hands-on 'Introduction to Satellites' curriculum that takes students from concept to design," says Nick Nassimbene, a fifth grade teacher in Colorado's Douglas County School District. "Using actual resources from the industry, my students now experience the real-world process of satellite development. Most importantly, I've responded to industry feedback about the lack of hands-on engineering experience by prioritizing experiential learning over passive instruction, giving students authentic engagement with STEM concepts at an age when they're actively exploring their place in the world." In Boulder, Kristie Evans took her quantum computing externship experience at CU Boulder and incorporated it into her Medical Interventions and Biomedical Innovations courses at Boulder Technical Education Center (Boulder TEC), introducing students to emerging career opportunities in quantum science. "One of my biggest takeaways from the teacher externship is how quantum computing will be used in fields students may have never considered,' says Evans. 'I was surprised to learn that quantum computing is going to serve the medical community in driving personalized medicine. For some of my other teacher colleagues, they learned about the applicability of quantum to cyber security and finance. It was so exciting to learn more about the variety of fields that cross-pollinate with quantum, giving students some really incredible career opportunities they may not have considered." These real-world connections transform the age-old student question, "When will I ever use this?" from a challenge into an opportunity. Teachers can now respond with concrete examples rather than theoretical scenarios. This resonates with students, particularly those who struggle to see the relevance of traditional academic subjects to their future careers. Moreover, externships help teachers better prepare students for the modern workplace. Today's employers consistently report a skills gap between what graduates know and what industries need. Teachers who have experienced these workplace demands firsthand are better equipped to address this gap. They understand not just the technical skills required but also the soft skills—communication, problem-solving, and adaptability—that are crucial for career success. The impact goes both ways. Host companies benefit from teachers' insights into how to better connect with the next generation of workers. These partnerships often evolve into longer-term relationships, leading to guest speaker opportunities, field trips and student internship programs. This creates a valuable pipeline of future talent while strengthening connections between schools and their communities. 'Teacher externship gave our company the opportunity to highlight dozens of careers in the office and on project sites as we broke perceptions about the construction industry,' says David Scott, Construction Industry Advocate with Encore Electric, Inc., an electrical and technology solutions construction and service firm that participates in the Teacher Externship Program. 'Teacher externships are a long-term investment in workforce development. The immediate reward was when they used the phrase 'I wish I knew about these career paths when I was getting started,' as it is our hope these teachers will cascade their experience to their students to create the next generation of electricians.' Program success is measured using several key metrics, according to Reeser. The program tracks the number of business hosts and participating teachers, the diversity of industries represented in externships and collects teacher and business feedback post-externship. "Generally, teachers report that externships enhance their understanding of career pathways and provide valuable professional development," notes Reeser. "In one exceptional example, a veteran teacher described his externship as 'the best professional development experience I've ever had.'" Long-term success will also be measured by student outcomes. Planned future metrics include student feedback on how externship-driven curriculum changes impacted their learning, the number of students expressing interest in STEM careers due to teacher influence and student enrollment in STEM-related credentialing programs, apprenticeships or postsecondary education. Looking forward, Colorado's program is strategically aligning with emerging workforce trends. According to the 2024 Colorado Talent Pipeline Report, demand for skilled professionals is rising in technology, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and quantum information science—the latter being particularly significant given Colorado's recent designation as a Tech Hub for Quantum Computing. 'Teacher externships serve as a bridge between education and industry and enhance our statewide efforts to build Colorado's talent pipeline for in-demand industries at the ground level,' says Lee Wheeler-Berliner, managing director of the Colorado Workforce Development Council. 'The data collected in our Talent Pipeline Report helps us identify in-demand industries to target for collaboration. Teacher externs are able to bring relevant, meaningful content—and a clear understanding of the skills needed for success in the workplace—back to their students, inspiring them to pursue those careers.' The program's potential is perhaps best illustrated by Shane Stalter's experience. The Monarch High School teacher's externship at Sierra Space led to his involvement in developing virtual workspace solutions for the Dream Chaser Spacecraft project. 'I met a few people during the onboarding period and was surprised that many contractors and employees did not have four-year engineering degrees,' says Stalter. 'I just assumed everyone in the aerospace industry was a rocket scientist. The aerospace industry is made up of a workforce that includes many types of engineering, but also includes electricians, assembly technicians, HVAC and many of the skilled trades. Students need to know that the aerospace industry is not all engineers and there is a great deal of opportunity for a wide range of careers.' Statler's success earned him an invitation to the National Space Workforce Council Meeting at the White House in October 2024, where Colorado's program was highlighted as a best practice for aerospace workforce development. Despite its early success, the program still faces several challenges. Funding remains a primary concern, as the original statute's business tax credits for hosting teachers were removed during legislative review. "Teachers should be compensated for their externship participation, and businesses must sometimes allocate resources to host them," Reeser notes. "The original statute creating the program included business tax credits for hosting teachers, but this provision was removed during legislative review. As a result, no dedicated funding stream exists to support programmatic costs for the Teacher Externship Program, so fundraising is an ongoing concern." Some companies also struggle to dedicate time and resources to hosting externs, making participation difficult. To address these challenges, Reeser has focused on fundraising efforts, securing funding from business sponsorships, interagency agreements and sector partnership grants to cover teacher stipends. She is continually seeking grant funding from a variety of sources, including applications to programs like the NSF's ExLENT grant program to fund externships focused on emerging technologies. In 2024-25, CDLE's Division of Employment and Training is partnering with the Office of Future of Work to create externships focused on Registered Apprenticeship programs. "So far, we have identified business hosts that serve public utilities/energy, construction/electrical contractors, and the commercial trucking industry, with more in the works," says Reeser. "This partnership serves as a model for expanding externships into additional sectors and aligning workforce development efforts with regional needs." 'Many students, families and teachers are unfamiliar with registered apprenticeships and the variety of fields in which they're offered,' says Katherine Keegan, CDLE's Director of the Office of Future of Work. 'By allowing teachers to participate in a real workforce setting and experience the apprenticeship model, we're giving them the line of sight they can use to encourage their students to explore apprenticeship programs in the same fields—ultimately opening up another pathway for their students to achieve success.' To scale these programs effectively nationwide, coordinated efforts between educational institutions, industries and policymakers are critical. State education departments could consider making externship experiences part of teacher professional development requirements. Business communities could be incentivized to create meaningful externship opportunities. And school districts could provide support for curriculum integration and continued industry partnerships. For Colorado's students, the program represents more than just enhanced classroom instruction—it's a bridge to their future careers, built by teachers who understand firsthand the skills and knowledge they'll need to succeed.
Gulf Today
25-03-2025
- Business
- Gulf Today
Coloradans face delays in getting unemployment benefits
Jessica Alvarado Gamez, Tribune News Service When the economic disruption from COVID-19 and the resulting shutdowns began in early 2020, Colorado's unemployment system was so overwhelmed that it struggled to handle the flood of applications. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment went from processing just under 100,000 initial claims in 2019 to nearly 800,000 claims in 2020 and close to 1 million in 2021. In comparison to Colorado's 700% spike, South Dakota experienced a nearly 500% increase in initial claims from 2019 to 2020, while California saw a 450% rise. Colorado's sevenfold surge in the first year taxed the system so much that it resulted in claimants reporting significant delays in receiving benefits and difficulties in getting a real person on the phone to resolve problems with their claims. Even as the economy began to bounce back and the number of claims declined, complaints about the bureaucracy unemployed Coloradans must negotiate to pay their bills haven't subsided. Frustrated claimants report reaching out to the department multiple times a day for weeks, while others lost track of how many attempts they made. This has left them frustrated, emotionally drained and without any financial aid to support themselves or their loved ones. Delays in processing claims have been linked to several factors, including high claim volumes and challenges with the labor department's new computer system, which has led to a backlog due to difficulties with ID verification. Nearly 100 people have reached out to The Denver Post over the past few months to share their experiences and concerns about the system. Some eventually received their money while others have thrown in the towel. Complaints have been lodged with the attorney general and the governor's office, with one individual even suing the labor department over missing unemployment benefits and another over integrity holds. Broomfield resident Misha McGinley, 53, lost her job in October 2024 and applied for unemployment right away, unaware of the trouble she was about to face. 'There is no other business in this world that could function like the Colorado Department of Labor and still be in business had it not been a government agency,' she said. Even though the volume of claims the CDLE is dealing with has dropped from the highs at the beginning of the pandemic, they've stayed well above where they were before. 'Our claim loads week over week are running somewhere around 7 to 8% higher than they were just pre-pandemic in 2019,' said Phil Spesshardt, director of CDLE's Unemployment Insurance Division. Initial claims have remained above pre-pandemic levels, with more than 150,000 claims recorded in 2024. In 2024, the department paid over $850 million in benefits and about 206,160 calls were answered. In January of this year, the unemployment call center answered about 16,175 calls, paid $73 million in benefits and the virtual agent, which helps claimants on the phone and the web, responded to more than 10,000 webchats and helped over 60,000 callers. 'For context, on average we are seeing 2,000 to 4,000 initial claims, 30,000 continued claims and paying $17.5 million in benefits each week,' according to an email from CDLE sent to The Post. After a year of working as a school nurse, Penelope Eppling, 52, applied for unemployment benefits after losing her job in September 2024. Eppling waited, but the benefits never came. She received no further communication from CDLE, so she checked on her claim — it had been closed. Frustrated, she reached out to the department, only to face another challenge — getting in touch with a live person. 'You call and it says that they are too busy, or like, you get the same voicemail and then you can't leave a message, so you don't have any person to person access,' she said. Eppling tried to get her benefits backdated but was told she had to submit an appeal. However, once she did, she never heard back. 'I've completely lost my trust in the whole unemployment process right now,' she said. In addition to high claim volumes and issues with a new computer system, the state labor department said it's facing challenges because of increasingly complex fraud schemes that complicate investigations, delays in fact-finding and the loss of federal funding provided during the pandemic. Spesshardt said CDLE has over 500 employees who work within the unemployment division, with 80 workers who actually process unemployment insurance claims. 'Unfortunately, the funding that we receive at a federal level continues to diminish, which makes it harder and harder to actually increase the staffing that we would have,' he said. 'We look at year over year, incoming claim volume, incoming issue volume, to determine what our needs are. And so when we have the availability on funding, then what we do is we look to (increase) staff as necessary in those areas.' Spesshardt said federal regulations limit how much they can do with technology to speed up the processing of claims. The state's January 2025 unemployment rate was 4.7%, higher than the US rate of 4.0%, according to data produced by the Colorado Labor Department and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Colorado, along with Alaska, ranked 44th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia for having a high unemployment rate, according to preliminary data from BLS. Nevada had the highest at 5.8%, with South Dakota having the lowest rate at 1.9%. Eppling, a single mother, went two months without pay. She had to tap into her retirement savings and borrow money from her mother just to help pay for basic necessities and living expenses. 'I feel that it was very scary. It put a lot on me and my daughter.' By Nov. 11, 2024, Eppling had found a new job but had still not received any payment from unemployment. The following month, she received a letter letting her know she was denied benefits but was told she had $794 left to collect. She never received any money. McGinley, the Broomfield resident who lost her job in October 2024, applied for unemployment right away. McGinley said she experienced a three-month delay in benefits. She reached out to the department more than 75 times during that period, all without success. Her average call time was five minutes and 30 seconds before she got disconnected. 'It's impossible to reach a live person,' she said. 'When I did they said they could not tell me why it's delayed but it's in adjudication. They couldn't say more and I had to be patient.' McGinley had just enough in her savings to get by but toward the end of the three months, she began to panic, fearing she would have to put her mortgage and car payment on a credit card. When she was able to speak with an unemployment representative, she was told only foreclosure or car repossession expedites claims. She explained that while neither of those situations applied, not receiving her benefits would impact her ability to make payments the following month. 'They said it does not matter,' McGinley said. 'They only expedite your claim if you already have lost your car or in the process of losing your car or your home.' Unemployment insurance claims are processed by a point system. There are 225 points of eligibility that could be considered before benefits are awarded. In addition to the reasons for job loss, before a benefit is awarded, Spesshardt said the department must review all wages earned from all employers in the last 18 months to determine monetary eligibility.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Colorado labor department holds town halls for laid-off federal workers
Protesters demonstrated outside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Boulder campus on March 3, 2025, in protest of mass layoffs of federal workers by the Trump administration. (Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline) With thousands of federal employees in Colorado at risk of termination by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency, the state's labor department is taking steps to help connect workers with unemployment insurance and other resources. Over 600 former federal workers have filed for unemployment with the state over the last two months, said Cher Haavind, deputy executive director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. 'We certainly want to be prepared to assist you with any unemployment insurance claim questions, and then also provide you with those support services to help you meet your re-employment goals,' Haavind said during a virtual town hall meeting for laid-off employees Wednesday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Colorado provides up to 26 weeks of unemployment benefits at 55% of a recipient's previous wages, through a program administered by CDLE but funded by the federal government. Benefits for former federal workers are subject to certain eligibility requirements under the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Workers, or UCFE, program. Adjudicating federal unemployment claims under UCFE can be complicated, said Phil Spesshardt, director of CDLE's Division of Unemployment Insurance, by the fact that federal agencies don't report quarterly wage figures to the state like typical employers do. He advised claimants to submit pay stubs, bank statements and other documentation as part of their claim, 'in case the federal government does not respond to our request for wages.' 'It's not necessarily the most efficient system in the world, but that's the one we have from the federal government,' Spesshardt said. Mass firings of 'probationary' employees — those recently hired or promoted — have hit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service and many other agencies with a presence in Colorado. Thousands more of the roughly 50,000 federal employees in the state could be at risk of termination as Musk's DOGE initiative proceeds with 'reduction in force' plans in the coming weeks. In general, people who voluntarily resigned from their jobs are not eligible for unemployment insurance. But Spesshardt implied that some federal workers who accepted the administration's controversial 'Fork in the Road' buyout offer may be eligible because of its threat of future mass layoffs. 'We're going to look at what you believe may have been reasonable,' Spesshardt said. 'If you have a copy of the 'Fork in the Road' letter, make sure you attach and upload a copy of that. Because there are certain things within there that might lead you to believe that if you didn't accept that anyway, you might have otherwise been terminated or laid off.' Federal employees who have been laid off and then reinstated can continue to receive unemployment benefits until they return to work, CDLE officials said. But if employees receive back pay, they may have to pay back the benefits they received during that period. Finally, Spesshardt emphasized that under Colorado law, neither the federal government nor any employer can prevent someone from filing for unemployment. 'There have been rumors out there for some federal employees that may have been told you cannot file a claim, you are not eligible,' he said. 'The state of Colorado processing a claim will determine whether your separation constitutes an eligible separation to receive benefits, but it is specifically against Colorado statute to prohibit you from filing an unemployment insurance claim.' Jessica Greene, deputy chief human resources officer at the Colorado Department of Personnel Administration, joined the town hall to encourage former federal workers to apply for one of the more than 500 open jobs in state government. 'As federal employees, this group knows more than most the value and impact of public service on our citizens,' said Greene. 'We would welcome anyone who is interested in continuing their career in public service to apply at the state.' CDLE will host another town hall at 4 p.m. Thursday. Recordings of both events will be available on the department's YouTube page. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How many federal employees are there in Colorado?
DENVER (KDVR) — As President Donald Trump's administration intensifies efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, masses of federal employees are being laid off across the country, including hundreds in Colorado. Trump's Executive Order 14210, Department of Government Efficiency Workforce Optimization Initiative, outlines a reform of the federal workforce. It warns agencies across the country to prepare for large-scale layoffs and prioritizes offices with functions that are not mandated by statute or other law. The order includes all diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, all 'initiatives, components, or operations that my Administration suspends or closes' and all employees who are not typically designated as essential as provided in contingency plans. It also includes exceptions for functions related to public safety, immigration enforcement and law enforcement. 'Should not be happening': IRS workers in Denver let go in Trump administration's mass layoffs Thursday The Trump administration also announced buyouts for federal employees at the end of January, offering about eight months of salary for those who voluntarily left by Feb. 6. Thousands of Internal Revenue Service employees nationwide were laid off in late February, impacting over 100 people in Colorado. Additionally, some 3,400 U.S. Forest Service employees were laid off en masse earlier in February. It's unclear how many of those employees are from Colorado. Colorado is home to tens of thousands of federal employees. In a press release Tuesday, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment said there are roughly 57,000 federal workers in Colorado. Colorado has the 16th most federal workers of any state, accounting for 1.8% of all federal civilian employees, according to a Congressional Research Service report from March 2024. District of Columbia 162,144 California 147,487 Virginia 144,483 Maryland 142,876 Texas 129,738 Florida 94,014 Georgia 79,686 Pennsylvania 66,079 Washington 56,772 Ohio 55,487 New York 53,600 North Carolina 51,013 Illinois 44,784 Oklahoma 41,867 Alabama 40,692 Colorado 39,910 How to contact your congressman or congresswoman if you live in Colorado On Tuesday, Gov. Jared Polis in a press release said that the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and the Statewide Workforce System are prepared to support Coloradans who are impacted by the restructuring and job cuts. 'Together with the Statewide Workforce System and our Unemployment Insurance Division, we are prepared to help Colorado's skilled and competent federal workforce navigate any potential period of joblessness,' said CDLE Executive Director Joe Barela. 'CDLE is committed to supporting individuals with a variety of workforce development support to ensure all Coloradans can continue to thrive and prosper.' Florissant Fossil Beds to be closed two days a week The layoffs have already made an impact in Colorado, with the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument announcing that it will be closed for two days each week due to short staffing. National parks cutting hours, services amid federal layoffs About 400 National Park Service workers took the federal buyout, and about 1,000 more were laid off, according to the National Parks Conservation Association. John Garder, a representative for the National Parks Conservation Association Government, told NewsNation that people should prepare to lower their standards when visiting national parks this year due to the layoffs. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
