Career and Technical Education

I grew up in the suburbs of Long Island, NY in a wealthy community that had very good public schools. The high school I attended had an after graduation college attendance rate of 96%. I vaguely knew of my community's vocational education program - BOCES (Boards of Cooperative Educational Services). I knew very few people, if anyone, who attended it. Among college bound students, Boces was regarded with disdain - something for people of lower I.Q. who had little in the way of career prospects. I knew of one boy, that was in a BOCES program for horse care. He hoped to work at Belmont racetrack in Queens exercising and caring for race horses. While this sounded fun, we all knew that this was a low-level, low-paying job with very little room for advancement. I left in the fall of 1986 to attend Boston University as a Pre Med major. Fast forward 9 years later and my younger sister was attending the same high school I had graduated from. At the time, I had finished my Bachelors of Fine Arts at the University of Connecticut and was working as a graphic artist at a package design firm in Stamford, Connecticut. My sister introduced me to one of her friends who was attending BOCES Graphic Design Program. She told me about what she was learning at school and that she planned to continue her Graphic Design Studies at college. I was very surprised to hear about the program and the opportunities it offered young people. Clearly the vocational education program had evolved significantly in the short time I had left high school and has continued to rapidly change to this day.

Numerous studies have shown that there is a gap between the amount of education needed for the demands of the workplace and what sort of education future workers are actually getting. According to Bridgeland R. Balfanz, J.M., M. Bruce, & J. Hornig Fox (2013) Building a grad nation: Progress and challenge in ending the high school dropout epidemic: by 2018, 22 million new college degrees will be needed but that we will fall short of that goal by 3 million. In addition, 4.7 million new workers with postsecondary certificates will be required in the workplace. The demand for these certifications is not being met and represents a lost economic opportunity for millions of Americans. To be part of Middle and Upper Middle classes in America, a post secondary education is a must.

Since this need has been identified, government has stepped up its efforts to provide adequate education to prepare high school graduates for a postsecondary education. The Obama administration created the American Opportunity Tax Credit, worth $10,000 over four years of college and increased the maximum Pell Grant by more than $1,000.

"We agree that real opportunity requires every American to get the education and training they need to land a good-paying job."—President Barack Obama, State of the Union, January 12, 2016

Two other recently implemented proposals that would also assist students with postsecondary costs are the Pell for Accelerated Completion, and the On-Track Pell Bonus. In 2015, President Obama authorized the U.S. Presidential Scholars in Career and Technical Education program. These proposals have enabled students who otherwise would not have considered a college path to fund their postsecondary career.

The Carl Perkins Career and Technical Act has changed the focus of Career and Technical Education to a college and career readiness program, instead of a narrow job training program. The students in Career and Technical Education programs are taught critical thinking skills, problem solving, planning and teamwork as well as integrating academics that will prepare them for postsecondary education. The Perkins Basic State grants give funding to states that then allocate those funds to CTE programs and postsecondary education, specifically targeting disadvantaged students. The federal Tech Prep program, part of the Perkins Act, helps students complete CTE coursework at the high school level and 2 years of college coursework. Introduction to College Studies is a free course that helps high school students develop strategies for success in college and also earns them high school credits towards graduation. Seniors and juniors in Vermont who are attending a public high school, technical center, or an independent school are eligible for two Dual Enrollment vouchers, each good for one free college course at Castleton University, Community College of Vermont, Johnson State College, Lyndon State College and Vermont Technical College, as well as other participating Vermont colleges. The free credits earned at college also count as credit towards graduation from high school. These opportunities for high school students encourages them to pursue a postsecondary education and demonstrate the federal and state government’s commitment to building an effective workforce.

CTE is a program that offers programs of study that fill gaps in our workforce development by offering a unique way to learn job skills. the ways that CTE addresses education facilitate the advancement of students into careers and postsecondary education.The programs integrate job shadowing, internships and paid work study which provide real world experience. Students can see how the skills they learn at CTE are useful. Partnerships with employers benefit the employers by supplying them with a pipeline of qualified workers. The employers help the CT education system by providing information about the skills and competencies needed for success in the workplace. The innovative instructional strategies and the integration of academic and technical knowledge provide a unique education experience. Project based learning is utilized extensively in CTE and it teaches 21st century skills. In project based learning, the students curiosity is guided by the teacher to create end products that solve real world problems. Students learn how to plan, organize, and research through these projects. As shown by Stephanie Bell in her article Project-Based Learning for the 21st Century: Skills for the Future, a three year study of students taught traditional math programs versus PBI (project based learning), revealed that three times as many student taught through PBI achieved the highest possible grade on a national exam. PBL caters to the many different learning styles of students and provides