Tech Directions - January 2008 - (Page 5)

direct from washington Anne C. Lewis anneclewis@earthlink.net Teacher Development Some state policies and districtlevel initiatives are showing how to transform career and technical education (CTE) to be the exemplar of how to prepare youth for modern occupations, but the development of teachers and teaching is not keeping pace. This is a major message from a series of presentations to Washington-based policy makers sponsored by the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF). Governors recognize that the focus of CTE must be college and workplace and are pushing policies to integrate academics with CTE or, at least, increase the rigor of CTE core subjects. Despite success at doing this in certain states, the hurdles are high, according to Alex Harris, chief education policy analyst for the National Governors Association. In addition to the continuing “either/or” debate (college or workplace), many CTE teachers are drawn from the workplace and lack the background to integrate academic content with their instruction. Also, the development of multiple pathways for high school students has led to a lot of choice for them, but they receive little guidance on career planning. Moreover, even if a student has completed a college-level CTE class in high school, postsecondary institutions often do not recognize the credits. Harris recommended several policy changes to address these concerns. Education systems must be more responsive to the changing economy and should undergo periodic reviews of career clusters to make sure they are up to date. Governors should use their “bully pul- pits” to support high expectations for CTE, and ways must be found to assess such strengths of CTE as problem solving and critical thinking. Teachers should be required to have at least an associate’s degree and should receive extensive professional development. Also, weak CTE programs should be identified and weeded out, and articulation agreements should be reviewed to ensure that they provide credit for CTE at the postsecondary level. The AYPF series singled out policies in two states—California and Maryland—as examples of strong, forward-thinking leadership on CTE programs. California reformed its efforts after realizing that 60 percent of high school graduates were entering the workforce with little career or skills training and only 35 percent were graduating with the prerequisites to enroll at the state’s public Anne Lewis, one of the country’s most respected writers on education policy, works in the Washington, DC, area. www.techdirections.com WASHINGTON 5 http://www.tormach.com http://www.techdirections.com

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Tech Directions - January 2008 Technically Speaking Contents Direct from Washington The News Report Technology's Past Technology Today Mastering Computers Transportation/CAD/CAM Communication Manufacturing Pre-engineering Special Feature: Annual Media Review Free for the Asking More than Fun

Tech Directions - January 2008

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