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For students in the MWEC region who attain technical and academic competencies, employment prospects are somewhat better than those elsewhere in the nation. Salem is experiencing close to six percent annual growth in jobs and is reportedly the 11th-fastest-growing city in the country. Although employment in agriculture, the primary industry in the region, has been declining during the past 10 years, several large employers such as Intel, State Farm Insurance, food processing plants, and hospitals have contributed to recent job growth. The region's largest employer is state government. In late 1993, however, the governor announced large budget cuts after a ballot proposition for a state sales tax to cover education expenditures failed for the ninth time. These cuts may reduce employment opportunities in state government.
Efforts to develop Tech-Prep build on a history of collaboration between the college and secondary members of Region 3, with the college taking the leadership role. Articulation efforts began as early as the late 1970s in Region 3, as well as statewide, in large part because Dale Parnell, Oregon's superintendent of education in the 1980s, was an early leader in the development of a Tech-Prep 2 + 2 model. A structure and process for expanding articulation activities and other collaborations was formalized in the mid-1980s, after the region's members agreed to place the Region 3 office at Chemeketa Community College rather than rotating the coordinator's position among the three ESDs (as was common in other parts of the state). At the time, the college began to offer the Step Ahead Project, which trained secondary teachers to use college curricula for advanced subjects taught in high school, such as entry-level college math. In the late 1980s, the state awarded grants to Region 3 (and other regions) to advance articulation efforts. The grant accelerated articulation by enabling the region to pay for the release time of teachers to work on curriculum alignment. Secondary staff also credit the college with promoting many school reform initiatives and helping with special high school and community events.
In the Salem area, Tech-Prep is being developed as a component of statewide education reform. The Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century, passed by the legislature in 1991, promotes site-based decision making, certificates of mastery for students who demonstrate competencies, alternative learning environments, integration of social services into school programs, an extended school year, some forms of public school choice for students, and other reforms. Proponents of the bill expect it to foster school and curriculum restructuring, so that students can earn a Certificate of Initial Mastery (CIM) by around the 10th grade, attesting to their mastery of fundamental competencies similar to those defined by the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS).
Certificates of Advanced Mastery (CAM), another part of the legislation's general reform plan, are intended to help students organize their course work around a general career direction. Students who earn a CIM will be encouraged to focus their studies in one or more of the CAM programs during the remainder of their high school years. These programs--groupings of relevant academic and vocational courses--will be offered in each of six "endorsement areas": (1) arts and communications; (2) business and management; (3) health services; (4) human resources; (5) industrial and engineering systems; and (6) natural resource systems. According to the Oregon Department of Education, the CAM programs will be designed for all students; they will allow enough tailoring to individual needs and interests to prepare a student for entry to the work force, an apprenticeship, community college, or other higher education.
Tech-Prep in Oregon is a combination of the CAM endorsement areas at the secondary level and the postsecondary occupational programs to which they are linked. Oregon's recent legislation requires that local consortia develop Tech-Prep Associate Degree (TPAD) pathways. Schools and community colleges are expected to define sequences of courses that start with the CAM programs in high school and continue through articulated postsecondary occupational degree or certificate programs.
In the MWEC, centered in Salem, Tech-Prep development so far revolves around three components. Articulation of vocational classes is the most prominent feature, but work has begun on defining broader CAM programs. Curriculum development efforts have focused on introducing applied academic courses, which are likely to become part of CAM/TPAD course sequences; these courses are available in most of the consortium schools on a limited scale. MWEC staff are also working with individual schools to develop workplace experiences for students. The status of implementation for these components is discussed in the next three sections, followed by a brief discussion of consortium governance and resources. In all aspects of Tech-Prep reforms, however, consortium schools are developing their initiatives in different ways and at different paces. These contrasts within the consortium reflect variation in schools' resources and in the level of Tech-Prep awareness and administrative support at the school building level, as well as the challenges consortium staff face in trying to formulate a single model or common vision of Tech-Prep that could apply across all 27 schools.
Articulation agreements specify equivalencies between secondary and postsecondary courses. Agreements have been developed between the college and at least one consortium high school for courses in each of the college's 12 areas of professional-technical education, including accounting, agriculture, automotive technology, construction, drafting, early childhood education, electronics, fire science, forestry, hospitality and tourism, manufacturing, and office administration. Within most of these program areas, high school students can earn credits toward a variety of college courses. For example, credit can be earned in high school for as many as 10 college courses in office administration, including business math, business English, office procedures, and word processing procedures. The number of articulated courses varies widely across high schools in the consortium, with a few offering articulated courses in as many as seven or eight program areas. The range of articulated vocational courses in a high school usually resembles the range of its existing vocational courses, because most schools are trying to articulate all of their vocational courses. Accounting and office administration are the most common vocational courses, and more than 20 of the 27 schools have signed articulation agreements for courses in each of these areas.
Students can earn college credit only if they complete a competency assessment for the articulated course. They must either pass an exam, developed jointly by high school and college faculty, or for courses in which portfolios are appropriate evidence of accomplishment, a competency folder review (for example, in drafting) with a grade of B or better. The competency assessment appears, in at least some vocational programs, to represent a serious standard. In school year 1991-1992, for example, 97 students took exams to earn credit for accounting procedures, but only 6 received a passing grade and earned college credit. In other program areas, such as early childhood education, almost all students who completed the exam for the articulated course earned credit. (The number of credits earned varies by course.)
"Design teams" of high school and college instructors who teach the relevant courses develop the terms of articulation agreements. Some of the teams, which are structured around the college's 12 technical program areas, were formed as early as the mid-1980s. The design teams identify competencies for which credit will be granted, agree on course outlines and textbooks at the secondary and postsecondary levels, and develop competency exams that determine whether students receive college credit. After these specifications have been developed, any high school in the consortium can agree to adopt them and sign an articulation agreement with the college.
In two respects, the design teams sometimes play a broader role than simply developing articulation agreements. First, as programs for new occupational areas are developed, new design teams are created to develop curricula and, in the process, to create an articulated set of courses spanning high school and postsecondary study. For example, a new team has been formed for health occupations. Second, the design teams can be a forum for ongoing collaboration; some teams continue to meet, although less frequently, after articulation agreements have been signed. For example, the manufacturing design team met once or twice a month while it was revising curricula and working on articulation, but meets a few times a year now that the agreements have been finalized. To the extent they remain active, design teams can become a structure for making curriculum and textbook changes, as well as for offering professional networking and staff development activities, which are particularly important for secondary teachers.
The design teams have also begun to facilitate the development of TPAD pathways in each occupational area. In school year 1993-1994, the WMEC region's Title IIIE funds were committed to defining TPAD pathways in the industrial and engineering and office administration program areas. In fall 1993, a small group of high school, college, and consortium staff had already begun to define a sequence of courses for the secondary industrial and engineering CAM and variations of it at the secondary level that can lead to various college programs in electronics, drafting, and manufacturing. Consortium staff hope that, after these pilot efforts have established some model pathways, the development of TPAD pathways in other CAM areas will become the responsibility of design teams. College and consortium staff are even discussing the possibility of restructuring the design teams around the six CAM endorsement areas, rather than the 12 existing college program areas.
The NWEC longer-term vision is that high schools will identify broad CAM course sequences and perhaps even specialized variants at the high school level. These sequences would lead to most or all specialized degree programs at Chemeketa Community College and, in some cases, beyond. Consortium staff hope that high schools will develop variants within the six CAM endorsement areas to allow high school students to begin tailoring their course selection to the specialized college program they anticipate entering. One example of this tailoring already exists: the pathways defined in the industrial and engineering CAM area include general preparation for college-level work as well as secondary-level options to help students prepare specifically for college programs in electronics, drafting, or manufacturing. Most pathways will rely at least initially on existing academic and vocational courses, but some new courses and workplace experiences are envisioned to help students achieve outcomes specified in the education reform legislation.
However, the size and resources of individual consortium schools are likely to constrain their ability to develop pathways. At the secondary level, the main difference among pathways is the specific articulated vocational course. Some schools--particularly the smaller rural ones--have limited vocational offerings and are likely to have difficulty developing distinct pathways, even for the six CAM areas. Some may develop six distinct CAM pathways while lacking the range of resources needed to differentiate at any more specialized level--for example, between manufacturing and mechanical design within the industrial and engineering CAM area. MWEC is considering some ways to supplement local offerings and thus overcome these constraints, including busing students to other schools, providing courses through telecommunications, and offering special summer programs at the college.
At least one academic course identified as "applied" was available to students in 20 of the 27 consortium high schools in fall 1993. Curricula from the Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD) had been available through the Oregon Department of Education and the Region 3 office for several years. These curricula have not been widely adopted, however, partly because state colleges and universities have been slow to recognize them as academic courses for purposes of admission. Some high schools have tried to modify the CORD curricula or to develop local versions of applied academics, either because the commercial materials were perceived as not meeting teachers' and students' instructional needs, or to make the courses acceptable to the college and university system. Most of the high schools offer Applied Math, about one-fifth offer Principles of Technology (renamed "Applied Physics"), and a few offer applied courses in biology or chemistry. Applied communications courses, available in about eight schools, have in most cases been developed by teachers and district staff. Applied academic courses are open to all students; there is so far little attempt to coordinate scheduling so that students in occupational courses can take courses with an applied curriculum. In fall 1993, most schools offered limited sections of these courses.
Attempts to bring about curriculum change and new teaching strategies have encountered obstacles in many of the consortium schools. Some teachers and counselors still consider applied academic courses as appropriate only for students with academic difficulties. This view limits the number of students guided to take the courses and, as a result, the number of sections that can be offered. In one school, the English Department supported an Applied English class primarily because it removed special education and at-risk students from other English classes. Principles of Technology is an exception; it draws students with a wider mix of academic abilities. Adoption of team teaching and common preparation periods for teachers from different disciplines has also been hampered in some schools. One school, for example, wanted to offer an upper-level science course in a special lab in which both the science teacher and a manufacturing vocational teacher would lead instruction. This effort was thwarted by cost and scheduling constraints, however.
At the college level, efforts have been under way to implement academic courses with more applied learning techniques. Some sections of an English course required for students in occupational degree programs have been modified to emphasize particular occupational areas; students in these occupational programs are encouraged to enroll in the relevant sections. For example, students in the auto technology program take a communications course that includes, for a partition and classification exercise, the task of listing components for a 1968 Corvette.
The reforms promoted by the 1991 state legislation are likely to prompt increasing attention to career development in the next several years. Secondary schools are required to implement course sequences in the six CAM career areas by 1996, and a few in the consortium are already beginning to take steps to meet this goal. For students to make choices about which CAM to pursue, they will need information and guidance about, and possibly exposure to, occupations in these broad career areas.
As career guidance and workplace activities develop, they will be available generally to all students, but they are likely to continue to vary widely within the consortium, just as they do now. Some schools have career centers, some encourage teachers to schedule guest speakers for classes during career awareness days, and some make job shadowing or other workplace experiences available to interested students. One of the more common approaches to career guidance and development throughout the consortium involves requiring students, generally 10th-graders, to complete interest inventories at the career center. In some schools, students use information from these assessments to write and present papers on a specific career, usually as part of an English class assignment. Region staff are currently developing a computer-based "career path planner" system, which will help students to identify occupational interests, print out available course sequences that will help them prepare for these occupations, and provide information about postsecondary institutions offering relevant degrees.
Opportunities for workplace experiences also vary across schools. The larger high schools in or near Salem provide more opportunities than the more rural schools. Many of the high schools had work experience coordinators in the late 1980s, but these positions have generally been eliminated because of budget cuts. Some of the schools had developed job banks that coordinators used to find placements for students participating in cooperative education or other work-study arrangements. Chemeketa Community College is working with these high schools to redevelop and upgrade these employer connections and systems, in an effort to move toward a school-to-work system.
The consortium has also supported several efforts to place students in work-site positions. Collaborating with the three local Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) offices and the Department of Employment, the MWEC region had funded programs to place special needs and at-risk vocational students in workplaces. Approximately 180 students participated in these after-school activities during school year 1993-1994, about half in paid jobs and the remainder in unpaid internships or job shadowing. MWEC staff have tried to ensure that these placements are related to students' vocational program. They have also been working on linking placements for disadvantaged students participating in the Summer Youth Employment Program to the vocational courses they take during the school year.
With the Department of Employment, MWEC also implemented a pilot project in one school to use the department's database to find employers who could accept students for a variety of workplace activities, including job shadowing and cooperative education placements. The database provides contact information and job descriptions for career center staff, to help them make placements, and also allows staff to document and track employer involvement in the project. During summer 1993, department staff solicited new employers for the database, particularly in a few occupational areas related to classes taught by teachers willing to release students for work-site experiences. Some staff and students from the school took part in a short summer internship at the department to learn about the database system; the student interns then helped other students complete forms requesting jobs, community practicums, and other work-site experiences. By late fall 1993, the school had placed several hundred students in job shadowing through this system. Building on this early experience, career center staff at the school expect that job shadowing will be included for all 10th-graders as part of their required consumer economics course in school year 1994-1995. This effort has to overcome some obstacles, however; 10th-grade students are too young to have driver's licenses, and public transportation from the school is limited. Moreover, some teachers and department chairpersons have resisted authorizing release time from class for students to participate in these experiences. For the most part, however, schools and employers have been increasingly enthusiastic about the project. By fall 1994, MWEC expects to implement the system in all six Salem schools and in several of the consortium's more rural schools.
MWEC staff function as the liaison between this Region 3 steering committee and high school and college administrators, teachers, and counselors. The staff include the regional coordinator--who directs the Region 3 consortium--clerical support, and two full-time-equivalent Tech-Prep coordinators, one of whom is a college faculty member on loan to the office. These coordinators identify the need for design team meetings, facilitate the meetings, and follow up with individual teachers and school administrators. The MWEC office as a whole administers funding, including the Title IIIE grants ($118,500 for 1992-1993), and provides technical assistance to facilitate collaboration among the consortium members and to promote work-force preparation reforms. The consortium staff also identify members' staff development needs, host regional events, pay for release time for teachers and others to participate in staff and curriculum development activities, and purchase equipment and curricula for school use. In addition, region staff are responsible for tracking the numbers of students in each articulated course, the competency exams taken, and the credits earned under articulation agreements.
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[X. Springdale, Arkansas]