Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
— John F. Kennedy
The Present
The portrait of career and technical education (CTE) today is very different from the vocational education of yesterday. Recent data from the National Center on Educational Statistics (NCES) tell us that practically every high school student (92.8%) takes at least one CTE course. Furthermore, 43% of young people take three or more occupational preparation courses during their high school career and over half of these students take three or more in sequence (e.g., Marketing I, II, III) making them an occupational concentrator. Clearly, CTE is serving many youth in American high schools today. But are we serving them in the best way we can?
Current research funded through the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education (NRCCTE) at the University of Minnesota shows that CTE can play a role in reducing the probability that young people will drop out of high school. This is good news. (Note: there are other studies that dispute this finding.)
Keeping youth in school is a necessary but not sufficient condition for helping them prepare to become productive adults. Tomorrow’s workers, employers, and entrepreneurs need to have mastery over a variety of technical and academic skills. This is why the Perkins Act of 1998 (Perkins III) requires demonstration that CTE students are achieving in both of these domains.
To date, there is little conclusive evidence that CTE is meeting its obligation under Perkins III to improve the academic performance of its students. This is sobering news. However, current studies out of NRCCTE show that compared to students in the general track (neither CTE nor academic), CTE students are taking more math and science, and higher levels of math and science, as part of their high school experience. This is positive evidence that the reforms of the 1990s (Perkins II, Perkins III, and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act) are beginning to have the intended effect of increasing the rigor of high school programs for CTE students.
On the other hand, NCES data also show that even though all students are taking more math and science as compared to 20 years ago, there has been little change in the math and science achievement scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test. Some argue that this shows that doing more of the same does not help our youth gain mastery of these important academic skills and that another approach may be needed.
Where once CTE teachers could comfortably argue that they should only focus on the technical skills required for success in the workplace, the needs of the workplace have changed. From custodians to auto service technicians, from sales workers to machinists, and from health workers to manufacturing employees, the job demands of today require a command not only of math fundamentals, but also of increasingly more sophisticated math skills as well.
As the requirements of the job market evolve, can we say the same of CTE programs, courses, curricula, and teaching? How has CTE changed in response to the changes in the workplace? While progress has been sporadic at best, two national efforts are especially noteworthy: HSTW and AYES.
High Schools that Work (HSTW) is a CTE-based school reform effort that seeks to prepare the high school student for both postsecondary education and a career by having students complete a solid academic core sequence of courses as well as an academic, a career/technical, or a blended concentration. Higher expectations for all students and high standards are hallmarks of the HSTW approach.
Automotive Youth Education Systems (AYES) is a notable example of an industry-specific effort to improve the academic and technical skills of adolescents and young adults in the automotive systems field. Instructors in AYES-certified programs integrate higher level math and science into the curriculum and are establishing rigorous exit exams that are linked to industry-recognized credentials. In addition to taking the required academic courses, students take challenging classroom/laboratory courses in basic automotive technology or collision repair/refinish, as well as participate in SkillsUSA (a co-curricular student organization). AYES assumes all auto technicians will need to continue their professional development beyond high school and thus builds experiences into their programs that help students come to this realization. AYES also exemplifies the power and potential of school-business partnerships. Participating automotive manufacturers, dealers, selected high schools/tech prep schools and SkillsUSA come together to form a powerful team focused on improving the work future for participating youth.
Suggestions for Change
How can we learn from these exemplary efforts and begin to implement changes in our own classrooms that will begin to affect the future of our students? Let me suggest the following:
- Every student who enters your classes or programs, whether there by choice or assignment by others, needs to understand that the future will belong to those who have command of fundamental math, science and communication skills.
- Every student should know which local community-technical college or apprenticeship program offers opportunities for continued professional development beyond high school in your CTE specialty.
- Incorporate All Aspects of an Industry into your program. This framework provides virtually unlimited opportunities for integrating academic skills into your technical content.
- Incorporate math, science and communication skills into your teaching strategies. The latter can be done simply by adding a “current events” component to your Monday classes where students are required to read through the previous week’s newspaper for articles related to your career area. These articles can form the basis of written or oral communication assignments. This effort can also be made in a more formal way by working with CORD or other curriculum/technical assistance organizations.
These are general suggestions to get us started on the path toward change. Change is a fact of 21st Century life and CTE must examine its role in the great education debate that is now upon us. Perkins III and No Child Left Behind are two national expressions of the belief that CTE must play a role in the overall education of America’s youth. These youth are in our classes, and we have curricula rich in science and math. We need now only the will to change and remain a vital part of the nation’s educational system.
The only way to move ahead is to live the reality we envision.
— Ada Maria Asasi-Diaz
James Stone contributes a regular column to Techniques on the future of career and technical education. Future columns will offer summaries of the most current research and practical, research-based recommendations for CTE teachers and administrators, including:
• CTE and reducing the drop-out rate;
• CTE and improving academic achievement;
• CTE as school reform: Career Academies and Career Pathways;
• Moving HS CTE students on to PS technical training. We hope that you will learn from this series and put the research findings into practice.
James Stone contributes a regular column to Techniques on the future of career and technical education. Future columns will offer summaries of the most current research and practical, research-based recommendations for CTE teachers and administrators, including:
• CTE and reducing the drop-out rate;
• CTE and improving academic achievement;
• CTE as school reform: Career Academies and Career Pathways;
• Moving HS CTE students on to PS technical training.
We hope that you will learn from this series and put the research findings into practice.
