Keeping kids in school: the power of CTE.

Keeping kids in school: the power of CTE. One of the critical goals of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB NCLB No Child Left Behind (US education initiative))federal legislation is to raise student achievement. But before we canthink about how to do this, we must first ensure that students areactually in school. Clearly, if students leave school prematurely,schools will not be able to help them master the skills thought to benecessary in the workplace or in future education. Preventing studentsfrom leaving school before graduation Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the associated ceremony. The date of event is often called degree day. The event itself is also called commencement, convocation or invocation. is therefore the necessary firststep to increasing student achievement Increasing Student Achievement: What State NAEP Test Scores Tell Us is a RAND study of educational reform in the United States. The League of Education Voters cites the study in support of its Initiative 728, which advocates reducing class size and increasing per-pupil . Career and Technical Education, because of its ability to engagestudents hands-on, has long been thought to have a role in reducingdropout (1) On magnetic media, a bit that has lost its strength due to a surface defect or recording malfunction. If the bit is in an audio or video file, it might be detected by the error correction circuitry and either corrected or not, but if not, it is often not noticed by the human rates among high school students. Until recently however, therehas been little data to support this claim. In addition, CTE (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) The difference between the way two materials expand when heat is applied. This is very critical when chips are mounted to printed circuit boards, because the silicon chip expands at a different rate than the plastic board. hasundergone tremendous changes in the past decade due to reform-orientedfederal legislation (the School-To-Work Opportunities Act, and PerkinsII and III). Although more time is needed to assess the real impact ofthis legislation oil American schools and students, there is alreadyevidence that CTE students are taking more math and science and higherlevels of math and science than their general track counterparts (Stone& Aliaga, 2002). But what is the impact of participating in CTE on the likelihood ofdropping out of high school? And if CTE does help reduce dropout rates,what is it within CTE that we can link to this outcome? For the purposeof this discussion, we focus on students with a CTE "major" orconcentration; in a career pathway pathway/path��way/ (path��wa)1. a course usually followed.2. the nerve structures through which an impulse passes between groups of nerve cells or between the central nervous system and an organ or muscle. or career academy; in tech prep,and/or in any of a range of work-based learning activities (cooperativeeducation Please note that Co-operative education can also refer to education about Co-operative societies. For this usage, please refer to Co-operative studies.The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view , job shadowing, mentoring, school-based enterprise, andinternship/apprenticeship). Who are the drop-outs? Surprisingly enough, various agencies and authors classify clas��si��fy?tr.v. clas��si��fied, clas��si��fy��ing, clas��si��fies1. To arrange or organize according to class or category.2. To designate (a document, for example) as confidential, secret, or top secret. "drop-outs" differently. While U.S. federal governmentstatistics on graduation rates include individuals who get their GED GEDabbr.1. general equivalency diploma2. general educational developmentGED(US) n abbr (Scol) (= general educational development) → ,others such as the National Research Center for Career and TechnicalEducation (NRC-CTE) exclude GED-recipients when calculating graduationrates because these students did not obtain a diploma DIPLOMA. An instrument of writing, executed by, a corporation or society, certifying that a certain person therein named is entitled to a certain distinction therein mentioned. 2. throughtraditional completion of high school. Studies have shown that a GED isnot the equivalent of a regular high school diploma A high school diploma is a diploma awarded for the completion of high school. In the United States and Canada, it is considered the minimum education required for government jobs and higher education. An equivalent is the GED. on the job market.In this article, therefore, drop-outs are defined as anyone who did notfinish high school with a traditional diploma. While the federal government estimates that drop-out rates are 5.8%for 16 and 17 year olds and 12.6% for 18 and 19 year olds, othersestimate that the figure is closer to 29% for all students. However, therate varies across groups. Our research shows that dropouts tend to: * Enter high school poorly prepared academically; * Live in arrangements other than with two biological parents; * Live in an urban location. However, we also find that when youcontrol for academic ability: * Black students are less at risk of dropping out than whitestudents; * Parent education no longer has an effect on the risk of droppingout. Other researchers have found that: * Males drop out more than females; * Blacks drop out more often than Whites; * Hispanics drop out more than Non-Hispanics; * Youth from poorer families drop out more often than other incomegroups; * Higher drop out rates are found in urban areas and in theSouthern U.S.; * Drop out rates decline as parents' education rises, but ifparents have a graduate degree, the drop out rate is higher than ifparents hold a four-year college degree. How does CTE affect student thinking about school? The relationship between taking CTE courses and staying in schoolis complex. At worst, according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. some studies, students who are CTEconcentrators do not differ from other students in their likelihood ofdropping out of school. At best, taking CTE courses of all kinds canlower the risk of dropping out. A recent study from the NRCCTE NRCCTE National Research Center for Career and Technical Education (St. Paul, MN )that gained national recognition onthis topic looked at CTE as a proportion (ratio) of the total highschool experience. This study showed that the greater the percentage ofCTE in a student's total course load, the lower the probabilitythat the student would drop out. This was especially true forlower-ability youth. It turns out that a balanced combination of CTE andacademic courses may indeed reduce the possibility of dropping out. Forlower-ability youth, a ratio of about half of the total high schoolcoursework courseworkNounwork done by a student and assessed as part of an educational courseNoun 1. coursework - work assigned to and done by a student during a course of study; usually it is evaluated as part of the student's invested in CTE maximized the likelihood of staying inschool. However, an overemphasis o��ver��em��pha��size?tr. & intr.v. o��ver��em��pha��sized, o��ver��em��pha��siz��ing, o��ver��em��pha��siz��esTo place too much emphasis on or employ too much emphasis. of career and technical educationcourses, at the risk of academic courses, may increase the risk ofdropping out. Beyond general measures of CTE participation, what elements of CTEmay directly affect a youth's decision to stay in school? Our workhas identified two distinct programs: career pathways and work-basedlearning. Career Pathways and Career Majors Participation in career majors significantly reduces theprobability of dropping out of school. What are career majors? Careermajors and career pathway programs incorporate a vocational focus inhigh schools by organizing curriculum around career clusters Career Clusters provide students with a context for studying traditional academics and learning the skills specific to a career, and provide U.S. schools with a structure for organizing or restructuring curriculum offerings and focusing class make-up by a common theme such as , such ashealth, automotive or business careers. Similarly, students can choose acareer "major," and take CTE classes that prepare them fortheir selected career. Pathway programs may foster closer relationshipswith industry and offer students work-based learning experiences.Pathways and majors are related to the career academy educational model,which has been researched for several years and found to be beneficialin many ways to CTE students. Career academies are schools-within-schools: communities ofstudents focusing on specific career areas. Emphasizing both vocationaland academic classes and rigorous performance standards, careeracademies provide both a broad educational base and specific skills toits enrollees. A study of California California(kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). career academies found that careeracademy students were 2.5 times less likely to drop out than theirpeers. This study identified work-relevant education and higher gradepoint averages as primary drivers for keeping kids in school. Work-Based Learning There is some evidence that participating in work-based learning(WBL WBL Work Based LearningWBL Working for Better LifeWBL Washington Bridge LeagueWBL World Bocce LeagueWBl West Baltic (linguistics)WBL Whitham-Bdzil-LambournWBL Wide Band LinkWBL Wideband Limiting ) reduced the likelihood of dropping out of high school by as muchas 30%. WBL, when done well, allows students to put skills and knowledgeto use in a work setting. WBL can serve three purposes for students: 1)connect school learning to the world of work, 2) increase schoolcoursework relevancy, and 3) prepare students with skills necessary forthe workforce. WBL is a broad category that includes any of thefollowing learning opportunities: cooperative education, internships andapprenticeships, job shadowing, mentoring, and school-based enterprises. The Power of CTE In sum, there is a growing body of research that links high schoolCTE, particularly career majors and pathways and work-based learning, toreducing the likelihood of youth leaving school prematurely. We believe that the reasons these programs work are that they helpmake school work real and engage youth in school. Students in CTEcourses, career pathways, or WBL have the opportunity to apply schoolcoursework in practical, relevant contexts. In addition, these programsfacilitate relationships between a student and his/her teacher, mentor Mentor, in Greek mythologyMentor(mĕn`tər, –tôr'), in Greek mythology, friend of Odysseus and tutor of Telemachus. ,and community. Student motivation and engagement thrives when studentsare meeting their own goals, and formal structures are in place tosupport their efforts. In these ways, CTE serves to engage students andkeep them in school where learning can continue and be improved. Note: Much of the research summarized above can be found on theweb-site for the National Centers for Career and Technical Education at:www.nccte.org. James R. Stone, III, Is Director, and Corinne Alfeld Is DeputyDirector of the National Research Center for Career and TechnicalEducation.