Career & Technical Education - Taking it to the Next Level
By James M. Rogers
Superintendent of Schools
Education Week, the newspaper of record for American education, published its June, 2007 edition of Diplomas Count featuring an in-depth report entitled, “Ready for What? Preparing Students for College, Careers and Life after High School.” The report highlights many of the policies, practices and programs embraced by the Board, administration and, most importantly, the teaching staff of The Academies of Morris County.
I take time to single out this research document because it so closely resembles our philosophy at The Academies. One clear message the report sends is that high school graduates are “entering a world in which they will need at least some college to gain access to decent paying careers.” Additionally, this report and others emphatically call for the strengthening of students’ academic and interpersonal skills as they pass through their high school years.
The report highlights that students who score higher on mathematics tests in high school tend to earn more in the labor market. Researchers argue that developing skills in problem-solving and the ability to apply math in new situations may be more crucial than simply taking “higher order” math courses.
In reading this information I am struck by what our curriculum at The Academies of Morris County demands. All students start with Algebra I, proceed to Geometry and, at a minimum, complete their third year of math with Algebra II. Students may take a fourth year by selecting Trigonometry or Probability & Statistics. Of course, for those who qualify, college mathematics may be taken during the senior year initiative.
The report goes on to cite the need to alter the focus of traditional language arts curricula in high school. For example, most high school English standards, the report states, stress narrative writing, while most writing done by young people in college or on the job is informational or persuasive, requiring them to conduct research and use evidence to support a position.
I’m proud to report that the language arts curricula at the Morris County School of Technology offers students both the opportunity to read, research, write and report using contemporary state-of-the-art technology, just as is required in business and industry, and exposure to classic literature for a well-rounded education.
The multi-page report singles out career & technical education (CTE) for its innovative approaches to educating high school-aged students. Models such as academies and magnet high schools, the report states, offer students a greater level of relevance and rigor than most conventional high school curriculums. For example, CTE programs rely more on cross-disciplinary studies that emphasize “connections” between theory and the practical. At the Academies, we promote learning across the curriculum through project-based learning. Additionally, career-based high school programs emphasize the acquisition of “soft skills,” such as dependability and punctuality. Even more than academic skills, employers are lamenting the sad state of students’ soft skills on the job.
Again, soft skills are something we teach intrinsically in all of our programs at The Academies of Morris County.
I encourage you to read the full report. It may be found on line at www.edweek.org/go/dc07. If it starts to sound familiar, don’t be surprised. At The Academies of Morris County, we put our students on the cutting edge of education.
THE NEW FACE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
In case you’re not aware of it, or if you haven’t been in a vocational high school in the past15 years or so, vocational education has changed dramatically.
o begin with, vocational education is not known as “vocational education” any longer. Its new moniker is career & technical education, a designation more reflective of the changes that have taken place in technical high schools across the county over the past two decades.
Once viewed as “dumping grounds” for students who couldn’t make it academically in their home high school or a repository for disaffected students who were “removed” and sent to the vocational school “to learn a trade,” technical high schools are today centers of technological and academic excellence which appeal to a wide range of students.
Of course, you can still learn a trade at your county technical high school, but even automotive servicing, carpentry, cosmetology and electronics are not what they used to be 20 years ago. The pace of change that has overtaken our economy is reflected in these traditional trades as well. Automotive technicians, for example, now work with hi tech, computerized electronic components.
Work on today’s automobile engines requires a sophisticated understanding of the interrelationship between engine mechanics and computerization, and students aspiring to be auto service technicians study physics, electronics and advanced mathematics. Automotive technicians who at a minimum cannot read on grade level will have little chance of coping with the thousands of pages of service manuals (mostly on CD Rom) they must reference in the course of their jobs.
It used to be that a student taking carpentry would be enrolled in “general math,” a synonym for a lower level of mathematics that satisfied the state requirement for graduation but in reality did little to prepare him or her for their future. Today students enrolled in the Academy of Construction Arts must take algebra I and II and geometry. In the coming year, these same students will be advised to take a fourth year of math in subjects such as probability & statistics, calculus or trigonometry.
Perhaps no where was this future shock pace of change more starkly reflected than at the recent national conference of the Association for Career & Technical Education held in Kansas City, Missouri in early December. Over 4,500 career & technical educators gathered to discuss the new face of vocational education that is sweeping the nation’s schools.
With workshop titles such as: Geospatial Technology in Workforce Education, Flash & Web Design Made Easy, Introduction to the Integrated Home Networks Industry, Cyber Security Training: A National Concern, Using Biotechnology in a Tech Prep Medical Education Program, Career Academies and Small Learning Communities, Cyberspace Careers, Creating Video Tutorials for Students and the High School as an Agent of Change, it is easy to see the focus on the future that career & technical education embraces. And this is especially true of The Academies of Morris County where teachers pride themselves on preparing their students for the future.
With nearly 400 student applicants this year for our eight academies and two schools, The Academies of Morris County have become recognized by students and parents alike as a sound alternative to the standard high school education. As “schools of choice,” The Academies offer Morris County high school students a rigorous curriculum that meets their needs and interests and, at the same time, prepares them for the challenges they will face after high school.
Known as “magnet schools,” career academies draw students of similar interests, backgrounds and aptitudes. Students who apply to the Academies do so because they know they want an education steeped in science, technology and academics made more meaningful by “applied” subject matter. One question our students never have to ask is “Why do I have to learn this?” In career & technical education, students see for themselves the practical applications of the subjects they are studying.
In school year 2004-2005, 74.5% of our graduates were accepted at two and four-year colleges and universities after graduation, many having earned transcripted college credits while still in high school. In fact, alumni of the Class of 2005 graduated with an average of 23 college credits each. This was made possible by the school’s participation in the Twelfth Grade Initiative, a program in which qualified high school seniors enjoy “dual enrollment” in high school and college. And the best part for parents is that all of these college credits are paid by the Academies.
Another initiative to better prepare students for their future is the school’s mandatory technical internship in the senior year. As a graduation requirement, the technical internship puts students in a worksite of their choice for a portion of their senior year. Students select an industry based upon their career interests and work with a workplace mentor who guides them through a three to nine month internship. As part of the experience, students maintain logs and complete a “senior project” related to their area of study.
Forward-thinking initiatives such as dual enrollment, technical internships and challenging academic classes tied to career themes are characteristic of the high quality of educational opportunities available to students at career & technical high schools such as The Morris County School of Technology.
So the next time someone asks you what you remember about “vocational schools” from your days in high school, put the focus on the future. Tell them about the opportunities available to Morris County high school students through The Academies of Morris County. Tell them to log on to our website at
www.mcvts.org and learn all about the new face of vocational education.
Career & Technical Education: Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders
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