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professional development software for students - visual studio, sql server, c++, vb, etc.
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Inquiry-Based Instructional Units for CTE
Various PBL units for CTE - definitely worth a look!
Archive for the 'Career and Technical Education' Category
The Southern Regional Education Board released a study called Crafting a new vision for high school: How states can join academic and technical studies to promote learning. This study highlights how today’s career and technical education courses can be rigorous partners in the educational process, bringing relevance to student learning. The introduction packs a punch:
We are convinced that harnessing the applied teaching strategies of career/technical education (CTE) and infusing them into college-preparatory academics can transform our secondary schools into highperforming centers of learning where students are both challenged and engaged. By pursuing this strategy, states can help many more students master both the academic content and the innovative thinking, problem-solving, communication and teamwork skills they will need for postsecondary studies and 21st-century careers.
High-quality CTE programs are far more advanced than their vocational predecessors, and many
restless college-bound students are already attracted to career/technical (CT) courses in which they can apply the academic content they are learning in authentic, hands-on contexts. Students begin to see the “why” behind the knowledge and skills they are expected to gain. They are no longer asked by teachers to “wait and see” how the content of the academic curriculum will be relevant in their lives and careers.Research shows that good CTE programs can reduce high school dropout rates and increase the earning power of high school graduates. More students stay in school when they can concentrate on career and technical studies. Students who struggle to learn specific academic skills in a traditional classroom environment are often better served through the project-based learning and problem-solving strategies that are hallmarks of today’s best CT courses.
This report is an interesting set of findings, observations, challenges and solutions on partnering CTE with traditional secondary education. Given the pressures of NCLB, CTE can provide a wealth of resources and opportunities to help ALL students succeed.
Let’s cut to the chase. Do students enrolled in career and technical education programs have to think critically? Absolutely! While on the surface, one may think that CTE students are “only” learning discrete skills, the reality is, there is much critical thinking and problem solving that happens along the way. And within that problem solving and critical thinking, we can find the applied academics. Math is embedded, science is embedded. So what do you see in the examples below?
- A customer enters the Cosmetology salon and wishes to color her hair. The cosmetologist must assess the client’s hair and create a chemical solution to create the desired effect.
- Bridges are welded together, and over time those welds break. Why? What makes a good, strong weld?
- To create a metal widget, machining requires selecting a hunk of material and identifying the processes to machine it to the desired widget.
- Chefs create culinary delights by combining new ingredients pleasing to our palettes.
- Medical professionals routinely problem-solve to provide care for the aged and infirmed.
- Accountants provide guidance to help us manage our money.
- Entrepeneurs create small business opportunities, employing others.
KansasCity.com is highlighting how the Kansas City School District is planning a cutting-edge Engineering and Construction Academy:
Plans call for a high school that would blend high-tech curriculum with teamwork on projects. It would prepare students whether they aim to study engineering at a four-year university or gain apprenticeship in a skilled trade.
It would be a complete high school adhering to state academic standards, and it would give students the chance to earn up to 20 hours in dual college credit.
The campus also would have a hands-on construction laboratory for middle school and high school students.
Industry, business and education organizations have partnered to provide a great opportunity for Missouri students. Congratulations to Kansas City on an exciting project!
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond Simon today delivered the keynote address at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA) Edge Lecture: No Child Left Behind—Partnership for Learning in the United States. Secretary Simon made interesting remarks about the slide rule, its history, contributions, and status in our society and education, and also its demise due to the microprocessor. His observation about the slide rule and education, a system which hasn’t changed much over the past 100 years, alluded to the problem of schools not preparing students with the skills they need to be successful in today’s competitive marketplace:
…a large number of our students lack the skills to succeed in the global knowledge economy. If we choose to ignore this reality, too many of our citizens run the risk, as history has documented for the slide rule, of being rendered obsolete overnight.
These young people are being released with slide rule skills to compete in job markets that demand the ability to work not only with multi-functional calculators, but also with advanced computer systems.
Of particular interest were some of his remarks specific to CTE:
I mentioned earlier that CTE students have traditionally been one of the groups for whom too many of our high schools have had low expectations. NCLB is helping change that mindset as well. Our philosophy on CTE is that the best preparation we can give these students is to equip them with a solid academic foundation, especially in math, science and technology that will give them a clear path to postsecondary education.
Under recently passed federal legislation, states and local school districts must develop and implement CTE programs that incorporate rigorous state academic standards, link secondary and postsecondary education in a coordinated, non duplicative progression of courses and lead to an industry-recognized credential or certificate, or an associate or baccalaureate degree.
A number of states have collaborated on, and are implementing, a common set of standards for programs in sixteen broad career areas, from general workplace knowledge and skills to specific technical skills needed for a particular occupation. These efforts will help ensure that students have flexibility, choice, and the ability to change their educational and career choices and still be successful.
The advisory committees for these collaborations have also developed sample plans of study, which include recommended courses at the secondary and postsecondary levels to prepare students for new and emerging occupations such as biomedical engineer, nanobiologist, and streaming media specialist—none of which require proficiency with the slide rule.
These actions confirm our continuing need to address the reality of our shifting demographics and rising workforce demands that require us to educate more students to much higher levels than we have ever done before.
NCLB has definitely placed attention on subgroups through testing. For all NCLB’s negatives, the idea of helping all students achieve is one of its positive points. Now it is time for CTE to step up to the plate. There are some awesome CTE programs out there, but there is also the public perception of what CTE is - and today’s CTE is not your father’s shop class, contrary to what many adults believe about today’s career and technical education.
I encourage you to read the entire transcript of his remarks - there are interesting tidbits to ponder!
A key component to career and technical education is the business partnership. The business partner can provide professional advice, a job placement during and/or after the program for students, and more. Here are some examples:
- BMW partnered with an advanced marketing class, having the Spotsylvania Career and Technical Center students identify strategies for selling motorcycles to the teenage market.
- The Capital Area Healthcare Education Partnership (CAHEP) through Ingham Intermediate School District’s Capital Area Career Center has its primary base located at Sparrow Hospital, and includes healthcare experiences at a variety of healthcare professions and institutions.
- Here at the Capital Area Career Center the programs partner with businesses and institutions to provide vital work-based experiences to students.
Businesses partnerships can make the difference in how students perceive of the “real world.” Is your business partnering with a CTE program?
Yes, this is a two-part question and post! So the first question: Do we need CTE? Well, the overwhelming answer is yes. The California Farm Bureau Federation has an interesting commentary and Jim Aschwanden wrote:
The growing disconnect between the needs of our economy and the technical proficiency of our graduates is well noted by business and labor leaders, but has so far been largely ignored by education policy leaders.
How are we really doing in California at matching our educational priorities to this new economy? Let’s look at a typical class of seventh-graders in California. What can we expect to happen as they move through our modern post-reform education system? In a class of 25 students: eight will drop out of high school; five will graduate from high school and go directly to work; six will go to college and drop out without earning a degree; three will graduate with a degree, but never work in a job that requires that degree; and three will graduate from college and find work in their chosen field.
Is there a disconnect? Consider this: In the fall of 2006, 48,000 students transferred from their local community college to the UC and CSU systems, moving up the proverbial education ladder in pursuit of a four-year degree. Incredibly, at the same time, more than 144,000 students who already possessed a bachelor of arts or bachelor of science degree enrolled in their local community colleges well-educated, but under-trained for today’s highly technical job market.
The number of students returning for training is not surprising - with workers expected to change jobs over 20 times in a typical career span, retraining is key. I would like to return to the paragraph that discusses what happens to a typical class of 25 students. What about the 19 that don’t have the college degree? CTE is a viable alternative and solution for many high school students who either cannot or choose not to participate and learn in the traditional industrial-model American high school. Why does our educational system insist on continuing with 20th century educational practices?
So what would a new American high school look like with cutting-edge CTE? Many say that technical skill training and career preparation can be embedded along with the traditional academics. Microsoft has its School of the Future program, with Chris Lehman heading up the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. In 2008-09, Sarasota is launching the Suncoast Polytechnic High with Jennifer Putnam as its principal. Dr. Putnam has layed out an exciting vision for her teachers and students. Both of these institutions offer CTE, offer project-based learning, and enable students to investigate, learn, create and publish based on their interests while meeting curriculum outcomes and skills. Can you imagine either of these schools with classrooms and students that look like the photo above? Didn’t think so. Me neither.
The Congress-Bundestag Program has a branch specifically for career and technical education post-high school training, The Congress-Bundestag Vocational Youth Exchange Program. This is an all-expenses paid opportunity for post-high school training - students need bring only spending money! Congress-Bundestag is an awesome program!
From Nacel’s website:
This unique program, funded by the United States Congress and the German Bundestag, allows graduating high school seniors to spend a year in Germany living with a host family, participating in a training or school program, and most importantly, getting hands-on work experience through an internship with a German company. Participants have been placed in fields as diverse as the arts, architecture, auto mechanics, carpentry, child care, computers, culinary arts, early education, health care, hotel management, international affairs, journalism, and veterinary science, to name a few.
To be eligible to apply, students must be U.S. citizens and meet the following qualifications:
- Graduate from high school in January or June
- Be between eighteen and nineteen years of age (some flexibility available)
- Have a “B” (3.0) academic and/or vocational grade point average
- Be highly recommended by their school
- Demonstrate leadership ability and willingness to serve as a young ambassador of the USA
The program encourages applicants from all economic, ethnic, religious, and social backgrounds
The application deadline is January 31, 2008
Joppatowne High School (MD) is piloting a new magnet program in 2007-08, the Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Magnet Program. Students enter as sophomores. Why this new program? The Homeland Security industry is increasing from the 40 billion dollar business of 2004 to a 180 billion dollar industry by 2015. There are many job opportunities in this burgeoning field. Students will pursue work from multiple pathways:
- Science, Engineering & Technology
- Homeland Security Sciences, Health & Human Services
- Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement, Business, Finance and Information Technology, Information/Communication Technology
Intriguing. This is definitely a growing field, and Joppatown highlights where students can continue their post-secondary studies.
Critics wonder if this is education or indoctrination. Mother Jones magazine called Joppatowne “the academy of military-industrial-complex studies.”
…students will be more likely to succeed in post secondary college opportunities.
The Postsecondary Achievement of Participants in Dual Enrollment: An Analysis of Student Outcomes in Two States, a study prepared by the Community College Research Center, suggests that dual enrollment programs should be made more available to a broad range of students instead of being confined to high-achieving pupils.
Community College Week highlights some of the outcomes:
In Florida, the study found that students who took college courses in high school were 4.3 percent more likely than their peers to earn a high-school diploma, and 16.8 percent more likely to enroll in college. Dual enrollment students also earned significantly higher grade-point averages one year after high school and were more likely to remain in college than their non-participating peers.
In New York, the study found that dual-enrollment students were more likely than their peers to pursue a bachelor’s degree. Three-and-a-half years after enrolling in college, dual enrollment students had earned significantly more college credits than students who didn’t take college courses in high school.
And, here is the best part:
Researchers paid particular attention to high school students enrolled in career and technical education courses, those who are traditionally considered not bound for college. They found in many measures, the gains documented for the whole sample also held true for career and technical education students.
Researchers found that dual enrollment can help students who do not believe college in is their future to believe otherwise. (my bolded emphasis)
The research results are not surprising, really. The idea bolded above - the changing of student beliefs - is what is particularly powerful. So many students who pursue career and technical education believe, for a myriad of reasons, that they will not and/or cannot be successful in school. CTE courses often change that belief, light that spark of learning, and provide experiences of success. We see it here at the Capital Area Career Center every year - students who enter believing they can’t go to college - and leave believing they can.