Role of Career and Technical Education in High School Reform: Linking Secondary and Postsecondary Education Through CTE

A Forum — July 20, 2007
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• 92% of middle school students indicate that they will attend college [1].
• Of those who complete high school, only 53% enter college directly and only 35% earn a degree [2].

This is the third installment of a series of forums funded by the James Irvine Foundation to examine the role of career and technical education (CTE) in high school reform.  At an early age, students have high expectations of attending college and completing a degree.  Unfortunately, about half actually enter college after high school and a third of those students earn a degree.  CTE can provide a link between secondary and postsecondary education for students, thus bridging the gap between expectation and reality.  As industry demands increase, CTE meets these needs by providing opportunities for students to learn professional skills while also preparing them for a postsecondary education.  This forum focuses on two programs that not only help students gain valuable labor market skills, but also helps students prepare for life beyond high school including postsecondary education.   

Dr. Laurel Adler, Superintendent for East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program and Technical Center (ESGVROP/TC), in California, described the longstanding collaboration with the University of California, Riverside to document and evaluate the student outcomes of ESGVROP/TC students since the 1990’s.  ESGVROP/TC works with seven school districts in Los Angeles County to serve the approximately 30,000 students who attend 17 public high schools.  In 2006, 32% of all secondary school students attended ESGVROP/TC courses and were provided student support services such as career assessments, academic reinforcement, childcare, transportation, job development, and internship/job placement.  ESGVROP/TC also has articulation agreements with two- and four-year colleges and universities; some postsecondary institutions accept up to 30 units of transferable coursework.  Dr. Adler explained the importance ESGVROP/TC’s 300 business partnerships that not only provide valuable internships for students, but also help develop and write curriculum.               

Commissioned by the California Department of Education and in collaboration with the University of California, Riverside, ESGVROP/TC studied California students’ high school transcript data, administered high school satisfaction surveys, and conducted telephone follow-up interviews to document the overall educational effectiveness of California’s Regional Occupational Centers and Programs.  Dr. Adler described the most recently completed longitudinal study (2006) on CTE effectiveness designed to assess the impact of CTE programs on participating students, which demonstrated consistent results of previous studies (2002 & 2004).

Dr. Adler explained that the 2006 study found “what they were teaching [in CTE courses] was keeping up with labor market needs.”  Furthermore, coursework was also aligned with college requirements.  Common features existed in the programs included in the 2006 study:

• Yearly labor market analyses update course content to keep courses relevant with respect to industry demand.
• Inclusion of academic standards necessary for success in the career/technical area being taught.
• A business advisory committee for each course, the majority of members consisting of businesses with vested interest.
• Student involvement in real-life practice of classroom skills through experiences in business internships and/or industry state-of-the-art labs.

When studying CTE participants and non-CTE participants, the following conclusions were made:

• CTE students improve their high school grade point averages (GPAs) at a greater rate than comparison students.  When comparing ethnic groups, African American participants experience the largest gains in GPAs. 
• CTE students earn higher wages than comparison group peers 18 months after high school graduation.  Males and females enrolled in CTE earn higher wages.  Interestingly, CTE females earned higher wages than non-CTE males and non-CTE females.  Across ethnic groups, all CTE participants earn higher wages.
• CTE students enroll in postsecondary education at similar rates as the comparison group despite having significantly lower GPAs than the comparison group with 51% of CTE students attending community college and 16.5% attending four-year colleges. 
• CTE students have more success in securing raises and promotions on the job.

When analyzing survey data, researchers found that CTE students wanted more work and more challenges in their internship.  Also, students had more positive self-perception and were optimistic about their future.  Dr. Adler commented that the results on the effectiveness of CTE programs show, “if you get a kid late in the game, you can still do great things.” 

Dr. Adler concluded that maintaining a successful CTE program is difficult under teacher qualification provisions of NCLB.  Teacher selection becomes increasingly difficult when the particular CTE course also satisfies core academic requirements.  Although she agreed that teachers should be NCLB qualified, there is a tension because often the most qualified teacher is a specialized in the technical area that does not fit the requirements of NCLB teacher qualifications.  With this in mind, Dr. Adler proposes that teacher qualifications not be solely based on educational units but rather a portfolio of educational units and experience.  Furthermore, Dr. Adler explained that it is important to keep CTE academic standards rigorous.  To uphold these academic standards, teachers need more support and funding in order to receive more training and continuous professional development.      

Mark Whitlock, CEO of the Central Education Center (CEC), described CEC’s mission of meeting industry needs to ensure a viable 21st century workforce by linking business and education.  Located in Newnan, Georgia, CEC is a charter school, opened in August, 2000, that is a collaboration among business and industry, the Coweta County School System, and West Central Technical College.  The joint venture utilizes funding from public school funds and technical college resources to help fund as many students as possible.  Whitlock explained that students spend half of their day at CEC (primarily) for CTE course electives (some also apply towards postsecondary credit), dual-enrollment in technical college courses, and the other half of the day at their home high school for core academics.  Using this model, CEC strives to educate students to be “ready for college, ready for work.”

Recognizing the increase in job requirements for today’s jobs, Whitlock discussed the importance of a postsecondary education, but reiterated the concept that a four-year degree is not necessarily the answer to meet industry demands.  CEC uses an “analyze, design, develop, implement, evaluate” (ADDIE) system to align their curriculum with current workforce skills.  A key element of the ADDIE system is business engagement in several different aspects such as initial planning, governance, and funding, while also providing work-based learning opportunities for students.  Whitlock also added that the CEC curriculum eliminates duplication and connects educational “silos” by creating partnerships and new pathways that offer students logical transitions between different subject matter.  Breaking down the barriers of individualized course material creates an integrated curriculum that bridges courses utilizing similar skills and principles.  For example, students learn science principles in their architecture CTE course to design a building.  Using those same science principles, students translate what they have learned in their CTE course and apply them to their core science courses.  Whitlock described the CEC curriculum as a seamless education that provides linkages between different subjects as well as major stakeholders.  Recent research findings show that 98% of CEC dual-enrollment graduates are in the workplace earning above minimum wage or are engaged in postsecondary education, and many graduates report that they are doing both.

Whitlock expressed that NCLB needs to be flexible enough to allow new ideas and innovation to occur.  In addition, preparing students for life beyond high school is important and that all graduates should leave high school as employable with developed labor market skills.                  

Highlights from Question and Answer Session

A question was asked about the difficulty of replicating a school model that is heavily reliant on business partnerships.  Both presenters agreed that the only way to replicate these models is to have business partnerships that drive the educational process.  Engaging employers is essential and without employer engagement, the school will not succeed.

When asked about creating successful CTE programs, the presenters commented that articulation and/or dual-enrollment is the key.  In addition, the personal relationships that are developed can help create partnerships and articulation agreements.  CTE, in some cases, allows students to earn a variety of credit while engaging students in a relevant education.  Articulation agreements allow students to earn core academic credit towards high school graduation, professional certificates or credit towards licensure, as well as postsecondary credit.

Resources

Central Educational Center:  http://www.gacec.com

Coweta County School System:  http://www.cowetaschools.net

East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program and Technical Center:  http://www.esgvrop.org

West Central Technical College:  http://www.westcentraltech.edu

Biographies

Dr. Laurel Adler, is the Superintendent of the East San Gabriel Valley ROP Technical Center, which serves seven school districts in Los Angeles County. Dr. Adler received her B.A. from the University of California, Irvine; her Masters from California State University Los Angeles; and her Doctorate from the University of La Verne.

In 2004, The East San Gabriel Valley R.O.P. was awarded the Global Best Award for North and South America in the category of International Workforce Development. During the time she has had her current position, the East San Gabriel Valley ROP Technical Center was also designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a national demonstration model in School to Work Transition, Tech-Prep, the Integration of Academic and Vocational Learning, and was named the outstanding vocational/technical program by the U.S. Secretary of Education.  Currently, the East San Gabriel Valley R.O.P. is one of the demonstration projects featured by ConnectEd (funded by the James Irvine Foundation).

In addition to her full-time position, Dr. Adler is an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego.  She is also a Board member of the California State Board of Examiners whose responsibility is to approve candidates for the Bachelors of Vocational Education throughout the California State University System.  She is currently the President of the ACSA State Career Technical Education Council, and chairs the Federal Legislation Committee for CAROCP as well as CACTE.  She is also Chair of the CAROCP Research and Development Committee, and has been a co-investigator with UCR staff on numerous research projects involving effectiveness of various career technical education programs. The most recent of these research studies was issued in March, 2007.  Additionally, Dr. Adler works with the Egyptian Ministry of Education to assist the Public Technical Schools of Egypt in improving their career technical education programs – in particular by forging employer partnerships and work based learning opportunities for Egyptian secondary students.

Mark Whitlock, is the CEO of Central Educational Center (CEC).  CEC, Georgia’s “model program for seamless education”, is a joint venture among local business leaders, the Coweta County School System and West Central Technical College.  More than 450 groups from around Georgia, across the US, and from fifteen other nations have visited CEC to study this model for change in education.  CEC was recently designated one of 30 “replicable model” programs in the United States.  Mark is leading the CEC replication team to assist interested communities to begin their own local career academies.  Six other communities in Georgia have now replicated the model.

Mark received the B.S.Ed. and the M.Ed. from the University of Georgia. He received the MBA from Georgia State University.  For eighteen years, Mark worked with Bank of America.  During his final 15 years with the Bank, Mark built correspondent and commercial banking relationships, developed and managed new services in Global Investment Banking, and helped to build the new Global Investment Bank resulting from the merger between NationsBank and the original Bank of America.

Footnotes/Endnotes

[1] National Association of Secondary School Principals and Phi Delta Kappa International.  A Voice from the Middle.  NASSP Reports, May 2007.

[2] Adelman, C. (2006b, March 17).  The Toolbox revisited, Paths to degree completion from high school through college.  Washington, DC: US Department of Education.

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