Student & Teacher Information
According to 2006-2007 data from the U.S. Department of Education (the latest numbers publicly available), the total number of CTE students in California was 3,396,644. This includes the following:
- Secondary: 1,554,611
- Postsecondary: 1,472,656
- Adult: 369,377
Secondary enrollment appears to be trending up, while postsecondary enrollment is trending down.
For the 2006-2007 school year, there were 7,777 secondary CTE teachers (including full and part time), for a total full-time equivalent of 4,890.3. This number has been slowly decreasing in recent years.
Delivery System/School Information
California has a very large student population with a total of 1,258 middle schools, 34 junior high schools, 1,204 high schools, 74 Regional Occupational Centers and Programs (ROCPs), 109 community colleges, 144 public universities and colleges, 130 WASC-accredited private universities and colleges and 223 state-approved or exempt private colleges.
California has several systems set up for delivery of CTE to its students and adult learners at both the secondary and postsecondary levels. Secondary-level programs consist of the following:
- middle school introductory CTE courses
- high school CTE courses, individually or in a sequence
- ROCPs
- integrated academic and CTE programs, such as magnet schools and academies
- Tech Prep/2+2 programs
At the postsecondary level, courses are offered at ROCPs, community colleges and various private universities and colleges, as well as through apprenticeship programs.
ROCPs, a unique part of the California CTE system, provide career and workforce preparation for high school students and adults, preparation for advanced training and the upgrading of existing skills. Courses may be offered in a variety of places, from high school campuses to actual workplaces, such as hospitals. The ROCPs operate under three different formats: Joint Power Agreements composed of two or more school districts (25 ROCPs); school districts participating in a County Board of Education-run ROCP (43 ROCPs); and as single school districts (6 ROCPs).
While the California public school system is a statewide system, there is a great deal of local control granted to school districts and other local government entities. The California Constitution contains a “permissive education code” that allows programs and activities to be undertaken by a school district without explicit legislative approval, as long as the particular activity is not expressly prohibited by the state.
At the postsecondary level, the California Postsecondary Education Commission was established in 1974 as the state’s comprehensive planning and coordinating body for higher education. The commission consists of 16 members, nine of whom represent the general public, five whom represent the major systems of California higher education (the California Community Colleges, the California State University (CSU), the University of California (UC), the independent colleges and universities, the State Board of Education) and two student representatives. This commission operates to advise the legislative and executive branches with advice on major fiscal, policy and programmatic issues concerning the entire system.
Funding/Financing for CTE
Federal: California is estimated to have received $128,508,264 from the Perkins Basic State Grant and $11,251,821 from Tech Prep in FY 2008. Of funds distributed to local recipients through the formula, 45 percent are distributed to secondary programs and 55 percent to postsecondary programs.
State: The state of California provides dedicated funding to ROCPs to serve as leaders in the delivery of CTE programs. In FY 2008-09, the state provided $461.2 million. This funding is distributed to the ROCPs based on full-time equivalent counts, the center’s daily attendance adjusted for center size and revenue limits.
Additional funding is provided for special projects. During the 2006-2007 school year, $80 million was provided for CTE equipment. This one-time investment provided a minimum of $25,000 per school district, with distributions based on enrollments. The governor’s proposed 2007-08 budget included $52 million to build and improve CTE programs by enhancing curriculum, streamlining teacher recruitment and training and maximizing bond funds for new facilities. In November 2006, California voters also passed an education bond that included $500 million in grants for refurbishing or building CTE facilities, including equipment. To receive these grants, local programs must provide matching funds. There is also the possibility of another upcoming bond issue for $1 billion to supplement.
In the 2008-09 budget, there is $12.5 million available to community colleges for the next three years for the creation of Partnership Academies that focus on green technologies.
Key State CTE Contacts
Patrick Ainsworth
Director Secondary, Postsecondary, & Adult Leadership Division
Phone: 916-445-2652
Fax: 916-327-5868
Dennis J. Guido
Administrator California ROCP
1430 N Street, Suite 4503
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-322-5050
State Agencies
The Secondary, Postsecondary and Adult Leadership Division, a division of the curriculum and instruction branch of the California Department of Education, provides support and direction to local education agencies (LEAs) regarding secondary education, adult education, postsecondary options, career technical education, educational options, workforce development and educational equity.
The California Community College Chancellor’s Office is a state agency that serves as the administrative branch of the community college system. It provides leadership and technical assistance to the community colleges and is responsible for allocating state funding. The Chancellor's Office operates under the guidance of a 17-member Board of Governors, appointed by the state’s governor, which sets policy and provides long-range planning and guidance.
State Standards for CTE
In 2005, the California State Board of Education adopted a comprehensive set of CTE model curriculum standards. The CTE standards, designed for grades 7-12, specify research-based learning goals in 58 career pathways in 15 industry sectors. They provide a focus on content; are rigorous and relevant; maintain local control by describing what to teach, not how to teach it; and are a continuing commitment to excellence. The standards reflect both the general knowledge needed to achieve a seamless transition to postsecondary education or careers and the specific skills required for each of the career pathways.
The model curriculum foundation standards include 11 different skill sets that all students need to master to be successful, based largely on competencies identified in the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS). These standards are uniform across all sectors, although with different subcomponents, and include academics, communications, career planning and management, technology, problem solving and critical thinking, health and safety, responsibility and flexibility, ethics and legal responsibilities, leadership and teamwork, technical knowledge and skills and demonstration and application.
Each career pathway also includes three to 12 specific pathway standards, with two to six subcomponents per standard. These pathway standards reflect what is necessary for success in each specific pathway and build on appropriate standards from business and industry. All the standards are measured at the local level (at the discretion of each school district), primarily through teacher-developed assessments, including performance tasks, project-based assessments and formal tests. In some pathways, students also participate in industry certifications or apprenticeships.
In 2007, the Department of Education and the State Board of Education released the California Career Technical Education Framework for California Public Schools, Grades Seven Through Twelve. The CTE Framework is designed as a how-to manual to support the state’s CTE Model Curriculum Standards and guide the development of pathways, courses, curricula and assessments at the local level. The CTE Standards and Framework are the collaborative effort of approximately 50 individuals, including secondary and postsecondary educators, representatives from industry and key educational organizations, legislators, students and families.
Program Approval/Quality Control
At the secondary level, programs are evaluated through the annual Perkins plan and report submissions. At the community college level, the California Education Code (Section 78016) requires that "every vocational or occupational training program offered by a community college district shall be reviewed every two years by the governing board of the district." This review must ensure that the program meets a clear labor-market demand, does not unnecessarily duplicate other training programs and has demonstrated effectiveness in program completion and employment placements. Programs that do not meet these standards must be terminated.
State Education & Workforce Agenda
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is very supportive of CTE and has been an outspoken advocate. At the same time, there has been huge and unprecedented interest from business and industry to improve and rebuild CTE in California. The overwhelming interest has placed CTE at the forefront of the state’s education and workforce agenda.
The governor and legislative leaders have worked to reverse the under-funding of CTE, including through facilities funding in the Strategic Growth Plan education bond and providing grant funds for specific initiatives and pilots. Key priorities of the governor outlined in his proposed 2007-2008 budget include:
- Reforming high school CTE coursework through partnerships with community colleges to increase coordination.
- Expanding student exposure to career options through business and industry partnerships, apprenticeships, internships and training.
- Increasing professional development opportunities for teachers and career counselors.
- Raising the quality and quantity of courses in high-growth and emerging industry sectors.
- Increasing the number of CTE courses that meet the UC and CSU “A-G” entrance requirements.
- Streamlining and simplifying teacher credentialing by reducing the number of separate CTE credentials from 175 to 15 under the direction of an appointed commission on teacher credentialing. A bill directing this activity was signed into law by the governor on October 12, 2007.
Other priorities of the state superintendent of education and the deputy superintendent for secondary/postsecondary/adult leadership include expanding the number of California Partnership Academies and moving toward more integrated courses combining CTE with math, science or English.
In his 2009 State of the State address, Governor Schwarzenegger would not give any details on his vision for education in California because of the unresolved $42 billion budget deficit.
High School Redesign
In 1999, state law authorized the development of the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE), which students in California public schools would have to pass to earn a high school diploma. This exam was required for graduation beginning in the 2005-2006 school year. In addition, all California public school students must complete a minimum set of courses to graduate. These courses include three years of English, two years of math (including one year of Algebra I), two years of science, three years of social studies, one year of visual or performing arts or foreign language and two years of physical education. In addition, each local school district has the authority to set specific requirements for the awarding of a high school diploma. These requirements vary greatly, with most school districts requiring between 22 and 26 Carnegie units for high school graduation.
In 2005, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell established the Superintendent's California P-16 Council. The first goal of the council was to address high school reform. One of the six major themes to emerge from this discussion was directly related to CTE: "Rigorous curriculum is essential for both academic and career technical education (CTE) courses. Therefore, they must be connected and integrated rather than viewed as separate pathways with implications for different economic and social status."
The council recommended increasing the number of California Partnership Academies (forms of career academies) from 286 to 500 and expanding the students served through these academies, increasing multiple pathways to high school graduation to prepare students for college and work and developing more rigorous college- and work-preparatory courses. All of these initiatives involve extensive elements of the state’s CTE programs.
In January of 2008, the council released "Closing the Achievement Gap," which makes 13 recommendations the council believes are needed to improve K-12 education in California.
In December of 2008, the council released the "Framework for a Comprehensive Education Data System in California—Unlocking the Power of Data to Continually Improve Public Education" report, which recommends significantly expanding and linking information from California's K-12 system to data from higher education, social services, pre-kindergarten and the workforce. It also recommends improving the use of data to improve instruction and help policymakers to make better informed decisions about education policy.
According to the Education Commission of the States, California students may substitute an approved CTE course for a standard core course to meet high school graduation requirements.
Career Academies
Career academies, in the form of California Partnership Academies (CPA), have played a key role in improving CTE and in broader high school reform efforts in California. CPAs are three-year programs for 10th- through 12th-graders that provide rigorous academics and CTE in one of 15 industry sectors, preparing students for college and careers. CPAs are each structured as a "school-within-a-school" to create a close family-like learning environment. Mentors and internship opportunities are provided to students, and faculty have a common planning period to integrate the academic and CTE curriculum. Required advisory committees made up of individuals involved in the academic operations of the academy and representatives from the private sector provide guidance and oversight.
Currently, CPAs must enroll at least half of their students from the population at risk of dropping out of high school. Even with this at-risk population, academies are producing remarkable results. In the 2003-2004 school year, 95 percent of the 12th-graders in CPAs graduated from high school. In well-developed CPAs, students had increased GPAs, higher passing rates on the California High School Exit Exam and lower high school dropout rates; were more likely to enroll in postsecondary education; and had less of a need for remedial English at the postsecondary level.
The 2008-09 budget included $12.5 million for community colleges for the creation of CPAs over the next three years that focus on green technologies.
Role of Career Clusters
California has identified 15 California Industry Sectors that are similar to the national career clusters but that specifically reflect the California economy. Each industry sector contains a number of more specific career pathways, totaling 58 all together, that are aligned to current and future California employment opportunities. The sectors and pathways are an integral part of education reform initiatives, and they help to make academics relevant.
The 15 industry sectors are: Agriculture and Natural Resources; Arts, Media and Entertainment; Building Trades and Construction; Energy and Utilities; Engineering and Design; Fashion and Interiors; Finance and Business; Health and Human Services; Hospitality, Tourism and Recreation; Manufacturing and Product Development; Public and Private Education Services; Public Services; Retail and Wholesale Trade; Transportation; and Information Technology.
Academic & CTE Integration
Academic and technical skills are clearly integrated through California’s Model Curriculum Standards and CTE Framework. Within the foundation standards, standards 1.0, Academics and 2.0, Communications provide direct links to California’s academic content standards. Each of these CTE standards highlight the relevant academic content evident in the respective industry sector, and that is supported and reinforced through application in the CTE program. Linkages are shown to English-language arts, mathematics, history-social science, science and visual and performing arts.
The University of California has established "a-g" requirements for entry that dictate much of the core high school curriculum for students wishing to attend college. These requirements have led to increased efforts to ensure that CTE courses can be counted toward academic eligibility for university admissions. The integration of academic content into CTE courses has allowed for a dramatic increase in approval of CTE courses for "a-g" credit. The California Department of Education reports that 5,614 CTE courses were approved for "a-g" credit in 2007, including diverse offerings such as auto physics, marine biology, medical arts and sciences, and graphic design.
The CTE framework includes a crosswalk of state academic standards that can be infused into various CTE courses. It also includes suggestions for strategies that allow students to transfer CTE skills to academic applications, including the California High School Exit Examination, and for creating interdisciplinary projects, as well as sample lesson plans and assignments integrating academic standards.
To help CTE teachers and administrators demonstrate and develop the relationship between academic achievement and CTE, California created CTEOnline, a Web site that provides curriculum integration tools, an online system to identify the academic aspects of their CTE courses and a standards database that is cross-referenced to STAR and CAHSEE.
Secondary/Postsecondary Linkages
In addition to increased use of CTE courses to fulfill California’s "a-g" requirements, CTE leaders are looking at other ways to increase linkages between secondary and postsecondary education. For example, the state offers all 11th-graders (including CTE students) the opportunity to take a college-placement exam to see where they are in regards to college prep. For students who do not pass, a college-placement writing course is offered free of charge the following year. Other initiatives include Tech Prep and programs of study.
Tech Prep: In California, Tech Prep is administered through the California Department of Education and the California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO). CCCCO provides noncompetitive grants to the state’s 80 Tech Prep consortia. The consortia include all 109 community colleges in the state, as well as 1,252 high schools. The California Department of Education has supported innovation in Tech Prep through competitive targeted-use grants to selected local consortia for a variety of projects. These grants have been used for specific industry sectors or innovative practices and programs, such as developing and refining programs of study, regional articulation agreements and increasing and strengthening collaborations and partnerships among education, workforce development and business and industry partners. California has planned to maintain the Tech Prep program with a separate funding stream for the 2007-2008 school year to continue to expand articulation development and implementation, but may consider merging all or part of this funding in future years. Even if funds are merged, a continued focus will be placed on articulation between education levels.
Programs of Study: In addition to Tech Prep, California is moving forward on the implementation of programs of study as required under the new Perkins law. Each LEA receiving Perkins funds in 2007 will be responsible for developing and implementing a CTE program of study of its own choosing, with the state monitoring this development. In the future, the state may require each LEA to develop its own programs based on state-established criteria, have programs developed at the local level through competitive grants made possible with reserve funds or develop the programs at the state level through the use of state leadership funds.
Dual Enrollment/Articulation: In early 2008, the Community College Research Center (CCRC) was awarded a three-year grant of $4.4 million from the James Irvine Foundation to manage and evaluate a new career and technical education dual-enrollment initiative. Known as the "Concurrent Courses: Pathways to College and Careers Initiative," the new project aims to strengthen college and career pathways for low-income, academically struggling and under-represented students in California by providing them with rigorous, supportive and career-focused dual-enrollment opportunities. The initiative will support the following eight secondary-postsecondary partnerships, selected through a competitive process:
- Arthur A. Benjamin Health Professions High School, Sacramento (Sacramento City College)
- City College of San Francisco<, San Francisco (San Francisco Unified School District)
- Long Beach Unified School District, Long Beach (Long Beach City College, California State University Long Beach)
- Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles (Hollywood Senior High, Downtown Business Magnets High, Miguel Contreras Learning Complex)
- North Orange County ROP, Anaheim (Anaheim Union High School District, Cypress Community College, Fullerton Community College)
- Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara High School District, Carpinteria High School District, South Coast ROP)
- Shasta Union High School District, Shasta (Anderson Union High School District, Shasta Community College, Shasta ROP)
- Tulare Joint Union High School District, Tulare (College of the Sequoias)
Career Guidance & Advisement
California has established the California Career Resource Network (CalCRN) to provide students throughout the state with a range of online and hard-copy resources and materials. The CalCRN Web site offers various materials, such as planning guides and assessment tools, as well as links to job-listing resources, job-search preparation guides and career-development information specific to California, including skills and degrees required for many career areas and specific occupations. In addition, in early 2005, CalCRN developed The Real Game California, which incorporates California economic and workforce information and gives students many of the essential skills to become self-sufficient, career self-managers for life.
Technical Skills Assessments
California is not currently pursuing a statewide technical-assessment system. Instead, the state relies on market-responsive program curricula to evaluate technical-skill proficiency. At the secondary level, students successfully completing a CTE program, as determined by the program instructor and validated by the content area advisory committee, will be assumed to have acquired technical-skill proficiency. At the postsecondary level, students receiving a 2.0 GPA in "clearly occupational" courses that contain a certain level of difficulty and technical-skill attainment will be assumed to have acquired technical-skill proficiency.
Business & Industry Involvement
In March 2007, the governor hosted California’s first career and technical education summit. The summit brought together education, business, labor, foundation and political leaders to strategize how career tech education can maintain California's competitive edge in the global marketplace. It included workshops on applying for facilities funding, curriculum review and discussion of future industry needs.
At the state level, the GetREAL (Relevance in Education and Learning) coalition, representing business, labor, education, agriculture, public safety and health, is actively involved in California’s CTE programs. The coalition believes that California should offer more well-rounded education that includes college prep classes, hands-on vocational training and technical education to provide students with more choices and opportunities to qualify for good-paying jobs in a variety of fields. Members range from the California Manufacturers & Technology Association to the California Farm Bureau, Chevron and Johnson & Johnson. Key goals include strengthening California’s Academic Performance Index by including career and technical education; requiring career and technical coursework for all K-12 students, including requirements to have completed CTE courses before entering the state’s public university systems; and providing bond funding for CTE equipment and facilities and additional funding for CTE programs in middle and high school. The coalition hopes to fulfill these goals through a comprehensive legislative agenda, including a CTE package, released March 22, 2007. CTE teachers and students will also be involved in a GetREAL CTE Summit in January 2008.
At the local level, the California education code also requires advisory committees for specific programs. Business and industry representatives are active participants in advisory committees for Regional Career Guidance Centers, ROCPs, unified school districts and union high school districts with CTE programs or Partnership Academies and those receiving funding from the federal Carl D. Perkins Act. These advisory committees provide input on programs and curriculum and serve as a liaison between educators and the broader employment community. CPA business partners conduct a variety of activities, such as providing speakers for CPA classes, hosting workplace field trips, serving as mentors and providing summer jobs and internships.
Educator Development
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) is currently revising the designated-subject credential system to reduce the number of different credentials issued by expanding the scope of subjects authorized by each credential. The new credentials will be aligned with the 15 industry sectors identified in the California CTE Model Curriculum Standards and will replace the approximately 175 credentials currently offered in specific occupations.
At the secondary level, the CDE has provided both professional development and targeted technical assistance to CTE educators and administrators. Plans are currently underway to provide professional development specifically to facilitate implementation of the CTE Model Curriculum Standards and Framework, given that many CTE instructors have expressed interest in receiving guidance on curriculum integration and standards-based instruction in CTE.
At the community college level, professional development is offered through the Community College Advisory Committees, Regional Consortia, content-area conferences and other groups. Colleges also pay for flexible professional development, called "flex," by which faculty participate in at least five days of professional development activities each year to strengthen their programs. In addition, the CCCCO also offers professional development on special topics, such as integrating curricula, effective practice in developmental education and assessing student learning.
Research on CTE programs in California has shown remarkable results. In addition to the results of California Partnership Academies discussed above, a study of students participating in courses and programs at ROCPs, California Regional Occupational Centers and Programs (ROCP) 2006 Longitudinal Study Technical Report, found the following:
- ROCP students improve their high school grade point averages at a greater rate than comparison students.
- ROCP students enroll in postsecondary education in large numbers.
- ROCP students earn higher wages than comparison group peers.
- ROCP students have more success in securing raises and promotions on the job.
- ROCP students prefer ROCP classes over other subjects.
- ROCP students question the value and relevance of many of their high school courses.
This state profile was developed by the Association for Career and Technical Education with the assistance of the Meeder Consulting Group LLC. If you need further information or more specific details, please contact ACTE. Customized reports can be developed on specific topics or entities.
Last updated: April 3, 2009