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Education reform will fail a vast number
of U.S. students unless the role of career and technical education (CTE,
formerly called vocational education) is reconsidered, recast and
placed in the mainstream of K-12 curriculum design. These were some
of the conclusions of a small group of top federal and state
policymakers, educators, business and labor leaders, practitioners,
researchers and other workforce experts who took part in an informal
conversation on Feb. 17, hosted by AFT president Randi Weingarten
and sponsored by the Albert Shanker Institute.
Weingarten was joined at the meeting by U.S. Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan; West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin; West Virginia First
Lady Gayle Manchin, who is a member of the state board of education;
and White House special counselor for manufacturing Ron Bloom; as
well as other policymakers, scholars and specialists. (
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The meeting, titled "Modernizing Career
and Technical Education, High School's Neglected Resource for
Comprehensive Postsecondary Preparation," was the first in a series
of conversations that will be led by Weingarten and hosted by the
Shanker Institute. These informal meetings are designed to promote
frank discussion about critical questions in American education and
public policy. The bipartisan conversations will include individuals
with differing viewpoints on the issue at hand, and are designed, in
part, as a response to the current, very polarized political
environment in the nation's capital. The conversation format assumes
the expertise of all participants, and emphasizes the personal
exchange of views and analysis. It was a private gathering, with no
formal presentations and no press.
The initial discussion featured spirited
exchanges on the role of CTE, noting that CTE historically has been
accorded second-class status in American education, despite the
increasing expectations for job expertise, the high labor market
demand for skills, and the excellent wages that are often available
for job credentials based on them. The participants also noted that
secondary school programs aimed at preparing students for careers,
and the postsecondary training that is often required, have a record
of reducing dropout rates, especially among the most disadvantaged
and at-risk youth. There is a clear record of postsecondary
educational achievement for graduates of strong technical high
schools. In other words, a high-quality CTE program that
incorporates rigorous math and English instruction, taught in a
"ready for work" context, can be a solid foundation for success at
both two-year and four-year postsecondary institutions.
Still, the history of CTE as a repository
for disadvantaged and less-skilled students, and the mantra of
"college for all," has led to suspicion by some minority and
working-class families that their children are being unfairly
"tracked" into such programs, without being given an "equal
opportunity to learn." One response to this dilemma that has gained
some traction in the policy community is the notion of "multiple
pathways." This idea recognizes that there can be more than one road
to educational and occupational achievement, and encourages the
development of rigorous coursework that is presented in a career or
occupational context. The increasingly technical and quantitative
skills required by the modern economy, in fact, demand unrelenting
attention to student performance and achievement, which cannot be
sacrificed in any educational setting.
Some experts also noted that, in the
world's highest-achieving nations, there is a heavy emphasis on
career, vocational and occupational education. While students in
those countries take achievement tests (and do better than U.S.
students, typically), the focus is on skills, and achievement for
its own sake, not simply test results. Students are taught to take
pride in the concrete skills they master, to respect those skills in
others, and to accept that it takes hard work to achieve their
occupational aspirations.
The participants discussed and debated a
number of other issues, such as the role of business in education,
the efficacy of expanding school hours, leveraging private-sector
resources effectively, the importance of middle school achievement,
and the proper role of testing and accountability. At the
conversation's end, participants agreed that they wanted to continue
this dialogue, and that a report of the substance of the discussion
would be written and circulated among the group for comment and
recommendations for further action.
