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High School, Postsecondary, and Career Education
Adult and Literacy Education
New OVAE Program
Trend Watch
High School, Postsecondary, and Career Education
College and Careers Transition Initiative
The first 15 partnerships for the College and Career Transitions Initiative (CCTI) were announced in mid-June by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) and the League for Innovation in the Community College. CCTI is designed to ease student transitions between high schools and postsecondary education and to improve academic performance at both levels. Partnerships include a community college, high school and two employers. Five occupational areas (information technology; health science; education and training; science, technology, engineering and math; and law, public safety and security) each have three sites based at a community college. Partnerships are located at community colleges in AZ, CA, FL, IN, MD, MO, NC, NY, OH, OR, PA, VA, and WI.
Summary of "A New Core Curriculum for All" in Thinking K-16
The Education Trust's recent article, "A New Core Curriculum for All: Aiming High for Other People's Children" (Thinking K-16, Winter 2003) offers a strategy to regain academic excellence in high schools. In the article's preface, Kati Haycock proclaims, "It's a new century. It's time to set aside our Industrial Age curriculum and agree on a common core curriculum for the Information Age."
In order to effect such change, the article argues that more students should take college preparatory coursework so that they may increase their chances of going to college and ultimately, of having a lucrative career. According to author Patte Barth, high school students are not fully aware of the importance of taking rigorous courses designed to prepare them for college. Currently, young people in most districts have the option to take a patchwork of courses during their highschool years and innocently believe that the resulting diploma will "prepare them to succeed."
In order to promote rigorous core requirements for high school students, Barth suggests that the federal government:
- Require states receiving federal funds for secondary education to document and publicly report disaggregated data on the course-taking patterns and corresponding achievement levels of high school students;
- Limit support for high-school career and vocational programs to those programs that prepare students for postsecondary educational opportunities;
- Require states receiving federal funds for postsecondary education to analyze and publicly disaggregate data regarding the correlation between course-taking patterns in high school and college access and success.
26923A64-4266-444B-99ED-2A6D5F14061F/0/k16_winter2003.pdf
Preparing America's Future: Community Colleges in the Era of NCLB
The culmination of a 5-month project is now located on the U.S. Department of Education's website on the Community College page. "Preparing America's Future: Community Colleges in the Era of No Child Left Behind" is a resource of federal funds for community and technical colleges. The guide covers direct funding to institutions, state grants that subsequently go to colleges, and financial assistance to students. http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/CCLO/brochure.doc
Release of "Better Leaders for America's Schools: A Manifesto"
The Fordham Institute and The Broad Foundation published a manifesto in May about the leadership crisis in American public education. This publication calls for an overhaul of the hiring system in schools, and to seek leaders from outside the traditional education field. Some of the recommendations from "Better Leader's For America's Schools: A Manifesto" include:
- Replace current certification requirements with leadership requirements;
- Give principals and superintendents authority over personnel, budgets, etc., and then hold them accountable for results;
- Allow school districts to train leaders;
- Boost salaries to comparative levels with other fields.
BetterLeadersforAmericasSchools.pdf
American Youth Policy Forum's "Rigor and Relevance: A New Vision for Career and Technical Education"
The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) released their White Paper authored by Betsy Brand, Rigor and Relevance, in May 2003. This paper was created to present a new look at how federal funding for career and technical education should be used. Because the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 will be considered for reauthorization in the near future, AYPF is releasing their recommendations for federal funding at this time. The paper recommends that funding be used to support the development and expansion of rigorous CTE programs of study, and that federal funding be allocated on a competitive basis to schools, area vocational schools, school districts, and community colleges. The Forum's paper notes the importance of high academic standards and that CTE should be recognized for reforms it has already made.
For more from the paper, visit: http://www.aypf.org/pubs.htm
A Look at America's High Schools
Jay Matthews' "America's Best High Schools: 100 Top Public Schools and What We Can Learn From Them" looks at the increasing trend in high schools that offer Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses and the types of students that these courses are attracting. The article explores controversial issues surrounding the use of these courses and gives examples of five alternative high schools that serve as reform models. Included in the article is a listing of the top 100 schools ranked according to a ratio devised by the author. The ranking is figured on the number of AP or IB tests taken by all students at a school in 2002, divided by the number of graduating seniors.
More information on the full list of America's top high schools (more than 700): http://www.msnbc.com/news/917011.asp.
Adult and Literacy Education
Adult Education Reauthorization Update
The Bush Administration's "Blueprint for Preparing America's Future, The Adult Basic and Literacy Education Act of 2003: Summary of Major Provisions" has been released. The Senate plans to hold a hearing on June 18 regarding the reauthorization of Workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act of 1998, primarily on Title I. A second hearing is planned for July 11 on adult education and vocational rehabilitation provisions.
For more information on the hearings and reauthorization, visit http://health.senate.gov/bills/014_bill.html.
The Blueprint can be found at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/AdultEd/aeblueprint2.doc.
Scorecard for Skills
The Scorecard for Skills program is a joint effort by OVAE and the Conference Board of Canada. It was established in order to allow businesses to clearly identify the benefits of their investment in workplace education. This national activity succeeds in meeting two strategical requirements identified in the recent Adult Education Blueprint: implementing technology as a mode of expanding system capacity and building partnerships with businesses in order to improve educational opportunities. The Scorecard focuses both on the implementation of technology in learning and on linking with the business community. In addition, it assists businesses in evaluating and improving their current programs. Most recently, Assistant Secretary Carol D'Amico has approved of the scorecard's dissemination plan through printed and electronic media.
For more information on the Scorecard program: http://www.scorecardforskills.com
Summary of "As Long As It Takes"
"As Long As It Takes," a study conducted by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation and the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, focuses on five Literacy in Libraries Across America (LILAA) programs and their persistence patterns with students in adult education. The purpose of the final report is to examine the effectiveness of the strategies that programs developed to raise persistence. This interim report, the third of four studies, indicates that the majority of students who scored at or below the fifth-grade reading level at baseline fell short of the hours needed to improve literacy levels. The findings of this report set the stage for the final report scheduled for the fall of 2003.
Please contact Sheryl Adler at sheryl.adler@ed.gov for more information.
New OVAE Program
OVAE has been assigned responsibility for the School Dropout Prevention Program, a program more recently housed in the Office of Innovation and Improvement. Though this newly assigned program will not have a grant competition this year, OVAE staff will have some insight into this program. OVAE has been assigned an additional FTE to administer this program, a position that will be posted in the near future.
General information about the program and grant recipients:
- http://www.ed.gov/offices/OII/portfolio/dropout.html
- See Guide to Education Programs for New OVAE Program
Trend Watch
New Ways to Use Technology Explored in Virtual Schools
A panel discussion held recently at the U.S. Department of Education's "Innovations In Education" series presented a number of views on new ways of using technology to engage students, assist teachers, and improve student achievement. Among the findings shared by the panelists:
- Students who learn via virtual schools are very social and very involved in their communities.
- Students who learn via virtual schools tend to ask more questions online, than in traditional classrooms, where they are influenced by peer pressure.
- Traditional schools are incorporating the virtual school approach more and more into their traditional curricula.
From Education Week's State Data Tables/Technology Counts 2003 (Education Week survey of state departments of education, 2003):
- "Some states are offering students opportunities to take online courses. Of the 19 states that have statewide virtual schools, three states-Arizona, Texas, and Wisconsin-are in the pilot phase. Iowa has plans for an online school that will be fully operational in the fall of 2003."
- 9 States have established a virtual school;
- 14 States allow for the creation of cyber charter schools; and
- 10 States have a virtual school and allow cyber charter schools.
To ask questions, provide comments, or receive email notification of the next issue, please email the Office of Vocational and Adult Education.
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Last Modified: 05/05/2008
