Vantage Point: Career-technical education back in the spotlight 

One of the major issues that concerned me as I took over the presidency of CSBA in December was a lack of focus on career-technical, or vocational, education. I was especially concerned with President Bush’s proposal to eliminate the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act and redirect the monies toward implementing NCLB in high schools as a purported reform, thus essentially eliminating vocational training in our schools. I was encouraged by the fact that Gov. Schwarzenegger had taken up the cause of vocational education and included $20 million in the January budget to expand career-technical education into the middle schools, to improve California Community College Tech Prep models and to implement other reforms. In fact, he proposes to spend $30 million in his revised May budget.

However, the best news came from our Federal Relations Network and Federal Issues Council trips to Washington, D.C., where advocacy with our congressional members found there was no support for the elimination of Perkins. The Senate passed a reauthorization bill in March on a vote of 99-0 and the House passed it on May 4 on a vote of 416-9. It seems Perkins will be reauthorized with little change. However, it is certain that increased accountability and a rigorous, well-defined curriculum will be part of the reauthorization.

Career-technical education came under some scrutiny and criticism recently when the Legislative Analyst’s Office issued its recommendations for high school reform in “Improving High School: A Strategic Approach.” In this document a considerable number of recommendations were made on high school, regional occupational centers and programs, and community college involvement in career-technical education, including the development of well-defined course sequences, greater coordination between CTE providers, and the creation of two-year and four-year vocational pathways that lead to employment or college.

As part of an overall reintroduction of the needs and opportunities in CTE to school boards, the CSBA Delegate Assembly heard a presentation from members of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, a labor and management group, on apprenticeship programs available to high school graduates. This information was intended to promote further affiliations and association of the trades with high schools, ROC/Ps and community college programs as they work to develop a highly trained workforce for the future.

Coincidentally, on May 11 the state Board of Education approved new CTE standards, which were produced by the California Career Technical Education Advisory Group created by legislation in 2002. The standards establish 15 career industry sectors divided into more than 100 career pathways with defined course sequences. The board adopted the recommendations without change and set the stage for the development of curriculum frameworks to support the standards.

Clearly, the challenge ahead is ensuring that the CTE frameworks create courses of sufficient rigor to support accountability without diluting the skills basis that keeps students engaged and interested. No doubt this will be an emerging issue in the years ahead, and CSBA and local boards will need to stay actively involved.