Ensure Technical and Academic Rigor of Programs
Effective career and technical education programs clearly articulate course outcomes and align content with national or state occupational skill standards. These standards, endorsed by business and industry, are designed to prepare students with skills that reflect job market requirements and address all aspects of the industry, not just skills required for single jobs. Curricula developed around these standards offer teachers a variety of strategies for improving standards in their classrooms.
Ohio has developed a set of cluster guides based on the Integrated Technical and Academic Competencies (ITACS) that employers have identified as necessary for work: solving problems and thinking skillfully, communicating effectively, applying technology, and so forth. The curriculum for each of these cluster guides follows the same format. Each begins with a workplace scenario, engages students in a problem-solving approach to learning, and integrates technical and academic competencies from state and national standards. Through the scenarios outlined in the guides, students are led to construct knowledge by engaging in learning experiences and problem-solving activities that have value beyond the classroom (Vocational Instructional Materials Laboratory 1999).
Projects that use the context of the workplace and the community to teach academic and technical skills offer another strategy for ensuring program rigor. Students learn best in the context of real life experiences. Sussex Technical High School in Georgetown, Delaware; William H. Turner Technical Arts High School in Miami; and Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professionals in Houston are three schools that combine rigorous academic coursework with career and technical education through hands-on activities set in real-world contexts (Roberts 1999). In this way, "students can combine what they're learning in the field or laboratory with basic writing, science, and math skills" (p. 22).
"Curriculum integration, contextual and applied learning, tech prep, and team teaching have increased the academic rigor of career and technical education disciplines" (Lozada 1999, p. 16). Traditional instructional roles, however, do not support these strategies for applying academic and technical understandings to real-world problems. To involve students in learning experiences that are situated in certain physical and social contexts and require interaction with other people, teachers must assume the role of coach or mentor, encouraging students to create their own knowledge from experiences beyond the classroom. When CTE instruction supports what is known about intelligence, brain development, cognition and learning, it gives credence to initiatives that integrate academic education with career and technical education (Reese 2002).
Subsequently what is done is that selected high schools develop a curriculum that is organized around a specific career cluster, which are like a specialized charter school. The goal is to feature a series advanced “pathway” courses that can help students to enrich their knowledge through work-based learning and academics. In turn, this specialized education will allow student to demonstrate their understanding through assessments and industry credentialing opportunities. As well these schools are enrolled in a learning exchange that have partnerships that are organized to support the programs of study by coordinating statewide networks of education partners, businesses, industry associations, labor, and other organizations (2013, p. 21-23). Consequently, the program is driven to help high school students develop a career path and to receive exploratory education that will given them an advantage in either college endeavors or in the job market.
Career and technical education courses are intended to prepare high school students to enter the work force in a skilled trade. It equips the students with the experience and education necessary to succeed in an average skill level job while maintaining the student’s interest. In an article that focuses on an aviation CTE program, a “senior policy analyst at the Morrison Institute, said that Career and Technical Education provides another opportunity for students who struggle in high school.” The assumption is that students who struggle in high school presumably do not want another four years of education to attain a bachelor’s degree. Until recently, schools have been excessively geared towards college readiness. The dogma was elementary school, high school, college, without exception. With this “one size fits all” education system in place, a different education course had to evolve. CTE courses offer a break from the tedious grind by introducing career readiness as an alternative. In place of the four years in a college, CTE programs gives student...
Another area of this paper I want to mention is the lack of help Bosnians received during this war torn time. The U.N. did not want to intervene till, in my opinion, it was too late. This is touched upon in each of the materials covered. 1993, the United Nations (UN) Security Council declared that Sarajevo, Gorazde, Srebrenica and other Muslim enclaves were to be safe areas, protected by a contingent of UN peacekeepers, which we read about in “Safe Area Gorazde” which we know that was a joke in its self
In the United States, the history of Career and Technical Education evolved within four major periods. First, the Awakening period which began in 1776-1826, when the right to a free public education was expressed. During this era, educational opportunities in labor and industrial education were being demanded. The rising working class began to press for an education that were more appropriate for their labor and industry’s needs (Awakening 1776-1826, 1976). Even Benjamin Franklin who represented the Awakening middle class was on board with the rise of technical and vocational education which were taught primarily by private masters or contracted apprenticeships (Cohen, 1976).
For far too long, people have regarded vocational schooling as a second class option to a traditional college. Some believe that only under achievers will attend this type of school...
Bosnia is a country in Europe and its capital is a city called Sarajevo. Bosnia is bordered by Serbia and Croatia. In this genocide, between 1992 and 1995, the Serbians wanted to pursue genocide against the Muslims of Bosnia. After World War 1, a country called Yugoslavia was created in 1918. It was created out of the Austria-Hungary empire that lost the war and lost its land. Serbians, Croatians, Slovenes, and Bosnian Serbians and Muslims lived all in one country. The problem was the people didn't get along and each republic wanted to take control of the country. This went on until after WWII, when the Soviet Union took power and control over the country. Joseph Broz (Tito) was leader of Yugoslavia until the 6 republics separated. Then in 1992, Bosnia declared its independence from Yugoslavia. Soon after, the Bosnian
Mr. Grover has spent the last two decades with PCS working in the field of education designing, developing, and creating learning programs and services intended to facilitate student-centered, experiential learning. PCS programs are now deployed in over 7,000 sites in all 50 United States and 13 countries, bringing hands-on, engaging activities to students in public and private schools, science centers, and after-school programs. Mr. Grover has extensive experience in STEM education and has worked closely with a variety of organizations to design, implement, and study successful, hands-on STEM programs including the United States Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the YMCA, the US
The low percentage of high school students, who successfully transition to college without requiring developmental courses, supports the rationale for action research on K through 12 curriculum development ability to produce college ready students. The Pennsylvania Common Core clearly notes that curriculum standards should align college and work expectation. Unfortunately, the inability to meet the demands continue at the forefront. As a result, I chose to approach this research from Problem Based Learning Theory (PBL). PBL focuses on the investigation and resolution of messy, real-world problems – Curriculum Development (http://www.learning-theories.com/problem-based-learning-pbl.html). Comparison data from the K through 12 and Community College serves as guiding questions establishing what is missing from helping students meet academic demands.
Twenty years ago, the typical college graduate looked forward to a 9 to 5 job with a detailed job description. The outlook to the future was to have a long history with the same employer with a pension waiting upon retirement. Today, business and industry are downsizing and reorganizing. Businesses are trying to increase productivity while decreasing costs. In today’s world, it is vital that the future workforce have good communication skills along with technical knowledge in career performance.
Stevenson, J., ed. Cognition at Work: The Development of Vocational Expertise. Leabrook, Australia: National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 1994. (ED 380 542)
The history of modern Bosnia began with the country of Yugoslavia in the 1900s. At the beginning of World War I, the Baltic region was controlled by Austria-Hungary. The trigger for WWI actually took place in Sarajevo, Bosnia, when a group of insubordinate Serbs assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand (heir to Austria-Hungary). In the ashes of the Austria-Hungarian Empire, the Baltic countries formed the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in 1918. The Kingdom united as the country of Yugoslavia in 1929, of which Bosnia was a constituent republic until Nazi Germany invaded in 1941. After Nazi Germany fell, President Marshall Tito took over the country and controlled it. Although President Tito was a Communist, he did do some good in the country, especially by keeping the Soviet Union at arm’s length, which planted unity in his country against a common enemy. When Yugoslavia was under Tito, it had some of the best times in Slavic
Imagine waking up one day to the thundering of blows given at the door telling you to “open up or be shot down.” It is the Serb police, and they are telling you that you and your whole family had to leave your home immediately. This is how it went for many Albanian people during what some Serb extremists called “demographic genocide.” This was the beginning of what many would call the Kosovo War, and it lasted from March to June 1999. After NATO’s intervention in Kosovo, something strange happened. Now the people being victimized were the Serbs and anyone who was “friendly” to them. In this paper, I will speak about what happened before and after the war in Kosovo.
Grover, G. (2002). Career information center eighth engineering, science, and technology. (8th ed.). Michigan: visual education corporation.
Furthermore this tense conflict has damaged the country’s energy, transport, and communications systems. It also has triggered a economic, social, and ecological disaster; and made becoming thousands homeless. It traumatized numerous families on all sides of the war, including the people in the diaspora who had fled Yugoslavia’s civil war in the e...
Nguyen, T, Mondragon, F, O'Brien, W, Jackson, K, Issa, R, & Rojas, E 2012, 'Student Background and Implications for Design of Technology-Enhanced Instruction', Journal Of Computing In Civil Engineering, 26, 5, p. 562, Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 April 2014.