Archived Information

Charting a New Course for Career and Technical Education

Issue Papers

Preparing America's Future: The High School Initiative

For much of the 20th century, vocational education in American high
schools had a clear objective: preparing students for entry-level jobs
in occupations that did not require additional education or training
beyond high school. The largest high school programs were agriculture,
business (primarily clerical), and trade and industry, which included,
among other fields, automotive, construction trades, food services, and
cosmetology. These programs were designed mainly to serve students who
did not plan to go to college. Academic expectations for "vocational"
students were generally low, and the math, science, and English courses
to which they were assigned were typically less rigorous than those
provided for their college bound peers.

This strategy prevailed for a good part of the last century. Americans
with lower-level academic skills and a set of narrow, job-specific
technical skills could fare relatively well in the economy if they
possessed a solid work ethic. Jobs requiring low- and medium-level
skills were plentiful and provided sufficient wages to support a family.

This is no longer true.

Technology and global economic competition are combining in
unprecedented ways to change work and redefine the American workplace.
Unlike jobs a half-century ago, most of today's jobs that pay
family-supporting wages and offer opportunities for advancement demand
strong academic and technical skills, technological proficiency, and
further education and training beyond high school.

Policy-makers, school and college administrators, educators, and
employers across the nation are rising to these challenges and charting
a new course for career and technical education (CTE). They are forging
new pathways to success for young people interested in technical careers
by:

**1.** Setting and helping CTE students to meet higher academic and
technical skill expectations;

**2.** Easing the transition of CTE students to postsecondary education
and advanced training; and

**3.** Raising the rigor of CTE instruction.

**Setting and Helping CTE Students to Meet Higher Expectations**

To succeed in our economy, all high school students, regardless of their
post-graduation plans, must acquire a high level of academic knowledge
and skills during high school. Employers are demanding stronger reading,
writing, and math skills of all of their workers---and reporting that
too many recent high school graduates are not making the grade.
Seventy-three percent of employers rate the writing skills of recent
high school graduates as fair or poor, while 63 percent express
dissatisfaction with graduates' math skills. \[endnote 1\]

Certainly, there are jobs available for young people who decide to enter
the job market immediately after high school. However, without strong
academic skills they may have difficulty accessing on-the-job or other
training opportunities they will need to advance in

their careers. Moreover, in such a dynamic economy as ours, a young
person just starting out can expect to change jobs as many as 15 times
over the next half-century that they participate in the workforce.
\[endnote 2\] Men and women who have a solid academic foundation will be
the most able to adapt nimbly to changes in the economy, family
circumstances, and personal interests that may require them to learn new
skills.

Thoughtful education leaders and practitioners are working on several
fronts to ensure that all students, including those choosing a technical
program of study, leave high school with the solid academic foundation
they will need for a lifetime of employment and education.

**High Schools That Work** (HSTW) is a comprehensive school reform
strategy initiated by the Southern Regional Education Board in 1987 to
improve the academic achievement of CTE students. It has now expanded
its mission to encompass the entire high school curriculum. HSTW expects
students to combine their technical studies with college preparatory
academics consisting of at least:

4 credits of English;

3 credits of mathematics including Algebra I,

Algebra II, and Trigonometry;

3 credits of science, including 2 in college

preparatory biology, chemistry, or physics;

3 credits of social studies; and

One-half credit in basic computing technology.

This reform model also strongly encourages participating high schools to
offer a "major" in a technical or non-technical area, more intensive
career guidance and academic counseling, and tutorial assistance for
students who need extra help. HSTW has become one of the most widely
recognized high school reform strategies in the United States, with a
network of 1,100 participating high schools in 27 states. Student
performance on math and reading assessments has significantly improved
at many of the participating high schools. \[endnote 3\]

**Talent Development High School.** The educational needs of young
people attending high poverty, urban high schools are particularly
acute. By some estimates, the typical 9th grade student in a high
poverty, urban community enters high school with 5th

to 6th grade reading and math skills.4 *Talent Development High School
with Career Academies* is a research-based reform model created by the
Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk that is
designed to help troubled urban high schools increase student
achievement and provide quality career and technical education. Ninth
grade students attend small, self-contained "success academies" taught
by interdisciplinary teams of teachers. All students complete a study
skills course and instructional time is doubled in math and English for
those students with below grade level skills. Grades 10 through 12 are
structured as career academies that offer a common core of academic
courses with a blend of career and technical education courses. Tutoring
and extra help are easily accessible. Teachers are provided time during
the school day to plan and consult with their colleagues. "Coaches" also
provide teachers with sustained,

intensive professional development to support their work with students.
\[endnote 5\]

Some high schools implementing the model are seeing promising results.
At two Philadelphia high schools that began implementing Talent
Development three years ago, for example, the number of 9^th^ grade
students who have remained in school through

11^th^ grade has doubled. Student performance on standardized academic
assessments is also rising. At one school, the percentage of 11th
graders scoring "below basic" on the Pennsylvania math assessment
dropped from 91 percent to 56 percent in a single year. \[endnote 6\]

**First Things First.** Developed by the Institute for Research and
Reform in Education, *First Things First* is another promising
comprehensive school reform model that uses smaller learning
communities, such as career academies, as one of its central

improvement strategies. \[endnote 7\] Kansas City, Kansas began
implementing First Things First in all of its schools in 1997 and is now
reporting some impressive results. The graduation rate has increased
significantly and student achievement has improved in reading and math
at all grade levels. \[endnote 8\]

**Easing the Transition of CTE Students to Postsecondary Education,
Advanced**

**Training, and Apprenticeships**

Entering most high-demand, technical occupations that pay
family-supporting wages now requires completion of some training or
education beyond high school. Making the pathway from high school to
further education seamless and easily navigable is essential to
preparing young people for the future.

**Tech-Prep.** Tech-Prep was designed to prepare students for technical
careers through a 4-year program of related academic and vocational
course work. The Tech-Prep program was conceived to span the last two
years of high school and first two years of community college. Now more
than a decade old, the federal initiative has spawned more than 1,000

local consortia of community colleges, local educational agencies, and
businesses that promote the pursuit of higher education by CTE students.
Many outstanding programs have emerged from this movement, but they are
too few in number. Only an estimated 10 percent of Tech-Prep consortia
offer the comprehensive "2 + 2" model envisioned by the

proponents of the program, serving about five percent of Tech-Prep
students. Only 15 percent of Tech-Prep high school students earn and use
college credits for "articulated" technical courses offered through
Tech-Prep programs. \[endnote 9\]

The engineering technology program established by the *Miami Valley
Tech-Prep Consortium* in Dayton, Ohio, demonstrates how effective the
Tech-Prep model can be when it is implemented comprehensively. The
program begins in high school with a mix of rigorous academics and
technical coursework and culminates with one of the 15

associate degree engineering programs at Sinclair Community College.
While in high school, students may earn up to 15 articulated credits
toward their degrees. To assess their academic preparation for college,
students take the COMPASS math and reading placement test during their
junior year, giving them more than a year to address skill deficits that
might cause them to be placed in remedial classes in college. Students
who complete the high school portion of the program and continue in
their studies at Sinclair receive a \$3,000 scholarship that is paid
from non-federal funds. A 2002 quasiexperimental evaluation found that
participants in the program were less likely to need remediation when
they entered college and were more likely to return to continue their
studies the following year. \[endnote 10\]

**Middle colleges.** A growing number of community and technical
colleges are creating high schools on their campuses that support and
accelerate the transition to college through a blend of secondary and
postsecondary coursework. Many of these "middle colleges" focus on
helping average to lowachieving students make successful transitions to
postsecondary education. *Washtenaw Technical Middle College* (WTMC) is
a charter high school that serves approximately 300 at-risk students on
the campus of Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Many
of its students have low literacy skills or diagnosed learning or other
disabilities. To help entering students transition

successfully to college credit courses, WTMC offers academic "core
transition" courses, career development seminars and study skills
courses. Students then proceed to dual credit academic and technical
courses offered by the college, as they continue to receive academic
support, counseling, and other services from WTMC. Paid workplace
internships are part of the curriculum. Students must earn a
postsecondary certificate or an associate degree in one of 37 career
areas in order to graduate. During the 2000-01 school year, 73 percent
of WTMC graduates earned at least a postsecondary certificate in
addition to their high school diploma. More than half earned an
associate degree. \[endnote 11\]

**Distance learning.** Community and technical colleges also are taking
advantage of distance learning technologies to give CTE students in
rural, geographically isolated communities, the opportunity to
participate in dual credit technical courses. For example, through an
innovative distance learning partnership with *Garden City Community
College*, small high schools in southwest Kansas are now able to offer
their students a full complement of agriculture courses that they
otherwise could not afford to provide on their own. Garden City
instructors use live, interactive television to teach a sequence of dual
credit agriculture courses to students across southwest Kansas. Students
may earn up to nine college credits that they may apply toward degrees
offered by Garden City and other area community colleges, as well as
Kansas State University and Fort Hays State

University.

**Apprenticeships.** Apprenticeships that combine classroom instruction
with paid work-based learning provide another important avenue to
careers that offer family-supporting wages. Employers, employer groups,
and employee associations currently sponsor

apprenticeships in more than 500 occupations. They are particularly
common in construction and manufacturing occupations. Apprentices must
complete a minimum of 2,000 hours of closely supervised on-the-job
training for which they are paid wages that are often about half of what
is paid a fully trained worker. They must also complete related academic
and technical coursework that is often provided by a community college
or other educational institution. Graduates of registered apprenticeship
programs are

awarded journey worker certificates that are recognized by employers
nationwide. \[endnote 12\]

Apprenticeships in many higher-paying occupations are very competitive,
and applicants with strong communication and math skills, as well as
some foundation technical skills related to the occupation, have a clear
advantage. To help more young people access apprenticeship
opportunities, a number of high schools, community colleges, and
apprenticeship sponsors have created "pre-apprenticeship" programs that
offer high school students academic and technical instruction and
part-time, on-the-job training that lead seamlessly into a full-time
apprenticeship after they graduate from high school.

**Who Participates in CTE?**

*Participation of High School Graduates in CTE: 1998*

**�** 96 percent of 1998 public high school graduates earned one or more
credits in any form of career and technical education

**�** 44 percent of 1998 public high school graduates earned three or
more credits in occupational courses

**�** 25 percent of 1998 public high school graduates earned three or
more credits in a single occupational program area (health care,
agriculture, business, technology,

marketing, food service and hospitality, protective services, child care
and education, personal and other services, and trade and industry
precision)

**�** 19 percent of 1998 high school graduates earned three or more
credits in more than one occupational program area (e.g., business
services and agriculture)

Interim Report to Congress, National Assessment of

Vocational Education, U.S. Department of Education,

2002\.

**Raising the Rigor of CTE Instruction**

Many of the fastest-growing and better-paying occupations also now
require a higher level of technical skills than ever before. Automotive
industry experts, for example, note that the cars and trucks sold today
"feature more sophisticated components than were in the NASA Apollo 11
spacecraft," \[endnote 13\] demanding more advanced technical know-how
from service technicians than in previous decades. To help students meet
these higher expectations, CTE leaders are working closely with industry
partners to

create a new generation of more technically rigorous CTE programs.

**State standards and assessments.** A number of states are implementing
content standards for CTE courses and assessments that measure the
technical skills of CTE students. For example:

**�** Through its Vocational Competency Achievement Tracking System
(VoCATS),

*North Carolina* has developed industry-validated blueprints for 129 CTE
courses

that include curricula, instructional strategies, and item banks for use
by teachers to construct classroom tests and by the state to develop
assessments for accountability purposes. CTE students must complete a
criterion-referenced, end-of-course assessment, the results of which
count as part of their final grade. The state also uses the assessment
results to evaluate local programs. \[endnote 14\]

**�** *Pennsylvania* assesses the technical skills of all students who
complete a CTE program using an array of tests developed by the National
Occupational Competency Testing Institute and industry associations,
such as the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute and the
Computer Technology Industry Association. The state uses student

performance data to evaluate local CTE programs. Each student who scores
at or above

the national norm on the assessment is awarded a state skills
certificate. \[endnote 15\]

**�** The *Utah* Skill Certificate Program awards incentive funding to
participating school districts on the basis of the performance of their
CTE students on industry certification tests, state licensing exams, and
skill assessments developed by the state in partnership with industry.
Students who perform well on the assessments are awarded skills
certificates. \[endnote 16\]

**Industry-developed curricula.** In many career areas, industry is
expanding beyond its more traditional role as a curriculum advisor to
take the lead in developing and supporting the implementation of a
specific curriculum. For example:

**�** Launched in 1990 by the Ford Motor Company, the *Ford Academy of
Manufacturing Sciences* (FAMS) includes a paid internship and courses in
manufacturing systems and processes, technology, science, and math that
promote teamwork and the use and application of math and science
knowledge to solve workplace problems. More than 70 high schools are now
using the FAMS curriculum. \[endnote 17\]

**�** Founded by the Associated Builders and Contractors and other
national construction associations, the *National Center for
Construction Education and Research* (NCCER) offers modular training
curricula in carpentry, plumbing, and other skilled crafts for students
who aspire to careers in construction and related fields, as well as
current professionals who want to update their skills.

**�** Supported by major automobile manufacturers and dealer
associations, *Automotive Youth Educational Systems* (AYES) provides
young people with the foundation technical and applied academic skills
they need to secure entry-level employment as service technicians and to
pursue college-level studies in automotive technology or advanced
technical training offered by automobile manufacturers. Local automobile
dealers are actively involved in the implementation of the program,
offering each student a paid internship and mentoring by an experienced
mechanic. More than 330 schools in 44 states currently offer an AYES
program.

**College and Career Transitions Initiative**

Launched by the U.S. Department of Education in 2002, the College and
Career Transitions Initiative (CCTI) will identify effective strategies,
program models, and curricula that ease student transitions from high
school to postsecondary technical programs in the high-demand
occupational areas of information technology, health care,

engineering, law and public safety, and teacher education.

CCTI is supporting 15 community college/high school partnerships that
will develop academically rigorous programs of study that connect course
offerings at the secondary level with increasingly advanced academic and
technical courses at the postsecondary

level. Projects must implement the following elements:

**�** A coherent sequence of high-level academic and technical skill
coursework in high school that includes dual credit technical education
courses;

**�** Rigorous academic instruction that is based on state standards;

**�** Sustained and intensive professional development for teachers and
college instructors;

**�** Academic and career related counseling and other student services;

**�** Creative delivery strategies, such as distance learning and
computer assisted applications; and

**�** Articulation between associate and bachelor degree programs. More
information about the initiative is available

at: http://www.league.org/league/projects/ccti.

**A Challenge for a New Century**

Innovation and creative reform in CTE abounded at the close of the
20^th^ century. Forward-looking men and women in many communities across
the United States recognized the dramatic changes unfolding in our
economy and began the difficult work of retooling, and sometimes
rethinking, how we prepare young people for occupations in many
technical fields. Our challenge as we enter a new century is bringing
their innovations to scale---helping all schools in all communities rise
to the new standards

of excellence that are being set by these pioneers.

**Endnotes**

1 Public Agenda. 2002. *Reality Check 2002*. New York, NY.

2 Business-Higher Education Forum. 2003. *Building a Nation of Learners,
2003*. Washington, DC.

3 Bottoms, Gene and Presson, Alice. *Finishing the Job: Improving the
Achievement of Vocational Students.* (Atlanta, Georgia: Southern

Regional Education Board, 1999).

4 Balfanz, Robert, McPartland, James and Shaw, Alta. *Re-conceptualizing
Extra Help for High School Students in a High Standards Era.*

(Baltimore: Center for Social Organization of Schools, Johns Hopkins
University, 2002).

5 Talent Development High Schools, Center for the Social Organization of
Schools. 2003. *What is the Talent Development High School?*

Philadelphia. http://www.csos.jhu.edu/tdhs/.

6 Spiridakis, Kurt. *Year Three of the Talent Development High School
Initiative In Philadelphia: Results from Five Schools*. (Philadelphia:

Philadelphia Education Fund, 2002).

7 Institute For Research and Reform In Education. 2003. *First Things
First: An Introduction .*2000.; *First Things First: A Framework for*

*Successful School Reform.* Philadelphia, PA.

8 Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools. 2003. "State reading, math scores
skyrocket for KCK schools," May 28, 2003; and Institute for

Research and Reform in Education. 2003. "Kansas City, Kansas Public
Schools report dramatic district-wide gains in student achievement

unprecedented in an urban public school district," May 29, 2003.

9 Hershey, et al. *Focus for the Future.* Princeton, NJ: Mathematica
Policy Research, Inc., 1999.

10 Krile, Donna J. and Parmer, Penelope. *Tech Prep: Pathways to
Success? The Performance of Tech Prep And Non-Tech Prep Students at a*

*Midwestern Community College.* (Dayton, Ohio: Office of Institutional
Planning and Research, Sinclair Community College, 2002.).

11 Kazis, R. and Liebowitz, M. (2003). *Opening Doors to Earning
Credentials: Curricular and Program Format Innovations that Help Low-*

*Income Students Succeed in Community College*. (New York, NY: Manpower
Demonstration Research Corporation, 2003).

12 Crosby, O. "Apprenticeships: Career Training, Credentials---and a
Paycheck in Your Pocket." *Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Summer*

*2002*. (Washington DC: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of
Labor (2002).

13 AYES - Automotive Youth Education Services, *Changing the Face of
Technical Education.* Internet website. 2003. www.ayes.org.

14 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction website. 2003.
http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/cte/vocats/index.html.

15 Bureau of Career and Technical Education, Pennsylvania Department of
Education. 2003. *A Guide to Student Occupational Competency*

*Testing in Pennsylvania*. Harrisburg, PA.

16 *Utah Skill Certificate Program.* Utah State Office of Education
website. 2003. http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/ate/Skills/skills.htm.

17 *Ford Academy of Manufacturing Sciences: A Learning Community for the
21st Century*. Internet. 2003. http://www.famsonline.org.

This paper was produced under U.S. Department of Education Contract No.
ED-99 CO-0163 with DTI Associates, Inc. No official endorsement by the
U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service or
enterprise mentioned in this paper is intended or should be inferred.

Reprinting of this publication is authorized with the following
citation: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult
Education, Washington, DC, 2003. For more information about the U.S.
Department of Education\'s work on high schools, visit
ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/hsinit/index.html.