“Charting the Future”

Executive Summary

Prepared by the Communications Office – March 2006

What should career and technical education in the Capital Region look like in the year 2010 and beyond? That is the question before the division as it embarks upon a new strategic planning process. In preparation for that planning, the division authorized a series of presentations and interviews with selected members of the component school staffs. This was followed up by a survey of a larger audience of people who are familiar with our programs and have a pulse on student needs. The purpose was to gather their input on where the division should be heading.

Career & Tech is generally viewed as a valuable and indispensable component of the overall educational system. During the interviews, we often heard about how well Career & Tech serves students who are “like square pegs in round holes.” In many cases, it is saving young people from dropping out of school and/or heading into a life of little accomplishment. One person even asked rhetorically: What would happen if all Career & Tech students had to come back home?

Yet we found that there are unresolved issues that the component school districts would like the division to address. Indeed, the interviews, combined with the survey results, tell us that career & technical education, as it currently stands in the Capital Region, is perceived as good but not great. The division’s programs are generally looked upon as satisfactory but not exceptional. The level of service provided to students is seen as growing stronger but still in need of improvement. Three major areas of concern are:

• Not enough rigor in the integrated academic subjects – The people in the component schools applaud the division for trying to meld academics into the technical curriculum, but they don’t necessarily think its standards are as high as theirs. Even those who are impressed with what the division has to offer say it has not done a good job of convincing others in their districts that a student can get a high quality academic education within a career & technical framework.

• Inadequate communications with home school staffs – They complain that they don’t always hear soon enough about problems with student classroom performance, behavior or attendance. They get irritated by what they perceive as sudden changes in programs or policies that adversely affect their students. They are generally positive about the people they interact with at the Career & Tech campuses. Yet they want the staff to do a better job of keeping them informed and explaining the reasons behind certain decisions.
  
  
• Too little support for students with disabilities – They perceive that teachers in the regular career & tech programs do not have enough training to handle students with learning or behavioral problems. They also say that special services programs do not offer students enough career options. They believe too many students with disabilities are being left behind in the move to higher academic and industry standards. They feel their students are getting more support today than in the past but indicate that Career & Tech still has a way to go. And given the fact that 42% of Career & Tech students have IEPs, they think the division should make a bigger effort in this area.

The study uncovered a number of unmet needs among today’s students, but three of them stand out as major ones that should be addressed through the strategic planning process. These include:

· Students who lose their motivation early in school – This loss of motivation is showing up as early as middle school and becoming quite pronounced by ninth grade. Many of the students might do well at Career & Tech, but they drop out either physically or psychologically long before they reach their junior year. School districts are struggling with this growing population and would wholeheartedly welcome new ideas and new models.

· Students who are failing mandated courses – It’s not easy for students to fit Career & Tech around all of today’s graduation requirements even under the best of circumstances, but it becomes particularly difficult for those who are failing one or more mandated courses. Many people in our component schools would like to see a remediation component built into the Career & Tech program, but they realize there is barely time to do this in a half-day program.

· Students who are just getting by in school and have no future goals – This last group is made up mostly of students of average ability with no sense of direction in life. Their interest in school is often lukewarm at best. They are just biding their time until they can graduate and get out on their own. The concern among educators is that without any goals and little practical training, these students will most likely end up in dead-end jobs.

There was no clear consensus on what type of changes should be implemented at Career & Tech to meet these student needs. However those interviewed and surveyed seemed to favor the following three future directions:

• Additional programs in business settings – Many people were enthusiastic about the idea of Career & Tech creating more work-based learning opportunities. This was especially true among special educators, who felt students with disabilities would fare better if they could gain real work experiences in high school. There was even one suggestion that Career & Tech should establish a New Visions-type program for low-achieving students who want to train for jobs such as nurses’ aides.

• A combination of full- and half-day programs with students entering at different points between ninth and twelfth grade – Many people believe the time has come to consider the establishment of full-day, fully integrated technical and academic programs, especially for students who don’t see much purpose to traditional schooling and struggle with academics. Yet they tell us emphatically that half-day programs are still desirable for many students. They don’t want to sacrifice one type of program for the other.

• Better career and educational planning – Many people agreed that a well crafted plan for all students engaged in career & technical education is a good way to motivate them and keep them focused. They also favored the idea of more career exploration programs at earlier ages, especially for students showing signs of poor motivation.

There are three other issues that serve as enrollment barriers and therefore need to be discussed as part of the strategic planning process. These include:

• Scheduling conflicts with the component schools
• Restrictions on enrollment
• A declining number of programs at the Schoharie campus

There are also three types of expanded opportunities for students that many people in the component schools believe are worthy of further investigation. These include:

• A more flexible schedule of career & tech classes
• Closer partnerships with area colleges
• Satellite programs in the component schools to keep students closer to home

That’s not to say that component school support for any of the ideas contained in this report would be enough to implement them. There are several powerful obstacles to change, ranging from state and federal mandates to student and parent resistance, but the biggest obstacle of all is funding. Many districts are forced to limit their career & tech enrollment because of tight budgets. They want more career & tech services for their students, but they can’t afford it. And they would welcome significant changes in the way career and technical education is delivered in the Capital Region but not if it’s going to cost them more money.

Based on these findings, we offer the following six recommendations regarding the strategic planning process:

1. Address the three major issues of academic rigor, communications and support for students with disabilities by defining the problems more thoroughly and developing an improvement plan for each one.

2. Develop short- and long-term solutions for alleviating scheduling conflicts with the component schools, accommodating students in their choice of courses, and preserving and expanding Schoharie County programs. Maximize the use of available resources to reduce these enrollment barriers before exploring new resources.

3. Take an in-depth look at how the Career & Tech program could be refashioned to better serve all students, but pay particular attention to the growing number of students who enter high school with little motivation to learn and little direction in life. Be prepared to explore not only the most promising ideas from this study but to broaden the search to other methods.

4. Set up a dialogue with representatives from the component schools to explore ideas for partnerships and ultimately to gain consensus on what type of restructuring would best suit the needs of students in the Capital Region

5. Begin right away to develop a long-term financial plan and to build state support for change. Take a closer look at reducing costs and bringing in new funding. Also involve state officials in the planning process and invite their imprint on the final product.

6. Plan for an extensive outreach effort throughout the Capital Region to not only explain the strategic plan and the need for change but also to educate the public about the value of career & technical education today.