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CTE connects academics to the real world

DYSART SCHOOLS — When a student asks, "Why do I need to learn this?" educators in the Dysart Unified School District have an answer, thanks to the district’s growing Career and Technical Education program.

With 18 specialized CTE programs, Dysart offers high school students the opportunity to apply information learned in core classes like reading, writing, math and science, to real-world occupations. CTE teachers use industry-standard curricula to reinforce academic standards, demonstrating to students how learning basic academics will advance them in life.

A computer maintenance student uses technical reading and writing to trouble-shoot, test and solve software and hardware problems; a lab assisting student uses biology and the metric system to draw blood, perform blood typing and begin DNA testing; an automotive technology student uses physics and computer skills to diagnose and repair automobiles using industry technician standards.

"Test results show that Dysart students who engage their learning through Career and Technical Education courses are outscoring their peers across the board," said Vic Harrel, Dysart’s CTE director. "Additionally, CTE students are more likely to graduate from high school." In 2007, 98 percent of seniors who took at least two CTE courses in high school graduated within four years. AIMS scores from the same year show that about 90 percent of students who took a minimum of two CTE courses met or exceeded AIMS standards.

The program also allows students to test drive a specific career without spending the money or expending the time to take college courses. Rather than exploring career ideas in college, Dysart’s Career and Technical Education students typically graduate from high school with an idea of the field of study they’d like to pursue, allowing them to enter higher education on track to graduate in a timely manner.

Working in partnership with Estrella Mountain and Glendale community colleges, 57 college credit hours are available for students to earn prior to graduating high school. Students can also complete state and national certification prior to graduating in architectural design, early childhood education, lab assisting, medical occupations and sports medicine.

"Students no longer leave high school with a generic education," Harrel said. "Our specialized CTE programs give students the tools needed to enter the world after high school, ready to conquer any challenge the 21st century might present."

Does career and technical education add value?

“The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” - Marcel Prost

The world around us has changed dramatically.  In our lifetime we have seen man step foot on the moon, the creation of the personal computer, wireless communication, laser technology, calculators the size of a watch, medical robots small enough to pass through a vein, and alternative fuels with a by-product of water vapor to name a few.  What we knew in the past may no longer exist.  For example, review the following questions and answers.

1. What percentage of total non-agriculture workforce works at home at least once a week?
2. What are the 10 fastest growing occupational fields in the country according to The College Board?
3. What percentage of occupations require some education after high school?
4. What percentage of students start community college or university, but do not return for their second year?
5. What are the average weekly earnings for people with a high school diploma, community college degree, and baccalaureate degree?

ANSWERS:

Think back if you will.  The year is 1905, and you are a teacher in an upper Mid-Western town.  A young student comes to you, just arrived in the United States after a month long trip across the North Atlantic, and frightened of this “new” world.  You ask the student to please be seated.  The student has some difficulty because English is a foreign language.  This student is representative of the other 22 in your class.  Your job is to teach them to follow directions because they will be working in one of the automotive factories just like their fathers.  They won’t need to be creative, they won’t need to solve problems, they won’t need to know how to be resourceful, just follow directions.  Do by rote!

Jump forward to 2008.  Computers are the rage.  You can E-mail anyone in the world.  You can fly around the world in less than a day.  You can talk to anyone, anywhere by wireless communications.  A new student arrives in your class.  The student’s family has moved to the United States because his or her mother is on assignment for her company.  You ask the student to please be seated.  English is a second language for the student and some comprehension is difficult.  A review of the student’s file shows he or she has the necessary math and science classes needed for graduation.  Yet, we lecture and ask them to follow directions, don’t be too creative, and don’t jump ahead. 

So much has changed, and yet so little has changed.  We are in a global market place with an abundance of technology.  What used to take days now takes hours or minutes.  Our environment changes frequently, yet students are taught not to be flexible because we have standards to address for the AIMS.  Decisions are “spare of the moment” and may involve millions or billions of dollars, yet students are not regularly allowed the opportunity to solve problems in class that would prepare them for the environment they’ll face outside of school.

In their book Education on the Edge of Possibility, Renate and Geoffrey Caine stated they asked three questions as they researched their book.  The questions were:  What is learning?; What is teaching?; and What is school?  What they heard was, ‘Learning is change in thinking and behavior due to new understanding’; ‘Teaching is guiding learners to do their own, best learning’; and ‘School is anywhere where this can happen, and it doesn’t have to be in the classroom.’ 

What will high school graduates encounter once they graduate?  According to the Technical Education Resource Monitor (TERM) only half of those starting a baccalaureate degree will eventually receive the degree.  Of those that complete the degree, half were expected to be unemployed three months after graduation and half of this group is expected to be unemployed one year after graduation.  As an example of the severity of what is happening concerning college graduates, one out of three Washington, D.C. metro area Domino’s Pizza delivery drivers has at least a bachelor’s degree.  National statistics show that more than half of all college graduates will not work in the area of their baccalaureate degree.

If students are to be truly successful, they must be given the opportunity to connect their academic material to life-long goals as well as the need to pass a test for graduation.  Will passing a high school graduation exam guarantee success after high school?  Possibly not!  The following are a list of skills and knowledge that the business community has repeatedly stated are essential for success.

In order to meet the challenges of today’s world, students need to develop competencies not only for a test, but for acceptable performance standards beyond high school.  There is a need to not only develop academic skills, but to be able to use those skills in different situations.  There must be an application of learning in different environments in order for learning to truly occur.

Memorization is not enough, taking a test is not enough, but application of new learning and skills is a must. Students must be provided an opportunity to apply their knowledge in order to reinforce what they have learned.  Many of the skills mentioned above are presented in elective classes such as those in Career and Technical Education.   It is imperative that students take advantage of adding relevance to their education, being able to answer the question, “Why do I need to know this?”

We all need assistance occasionally with mapping our way. Developing a map or plan of the educational and occupational possibilities after high school would assist in identifying what classes to take in high school.

A quote from Nelson DeMille in The Talbot Odyssey is “We are all pilgrims on the same journey-but some pilgrims have better road maps.”  Learn from those pilgrims that have better road maps. Safe journey.