Sarah McGhehey

CTE 534
Research Project

Career and technical education (CTE) is a form of educational programming that prepares

students for skill trades and industries, modern technology, applied sciences, agriculture,

consumer sciences, and many other future careers. These programs provide students with hands-

on learning opportunities in a variety of career fields and pathways. Students enrolled in CTE

programming will be prepared to enter the career of choice after the required preparation has

been completed. In a high school setting, CTE is providing opportunities for students to see the

options available after graduation. Career and technical education in post-secondary schools

allow students to quickly and efficiently gain the skills and knowledge necessary for a particular

career path. Preparing the future workforce for the jobs that our nation and world need is the

responsibility of education, and CTE is a vital part in this education system.

Choi, Kim, and Kim (2015) stated that career preparation and meeting academic goals are

important tasks for adolescents that influence their future and social adaptation and well-being.

Adolescents must explore future career options to implement career plans based on their

interests, aptitudes, and values. The main goal of school counseling is to help high school

students understand the connection between their academic achievements and potential career.

This leads to a necessary development of career education and career counseling for all high

school students (Choi, Kim, & Kim, 2015).

Choi, Kim, and Kim (2015) presented separate but interrelated integrated contextual model

(ICM) tasks comprised of six career development skills: (a) developing positive career-related

self-efficacy; (b) forming a vocational identity; (c) learning effective social, prosocial, and work

readiness; (d) gaining a better understanding of oneself to the world of work; (e) forming
personally valued vocational interests; and (f) empowering all students to achieve academically

and become self-regulated learners. Therefore, promoting career development skills in

adolescents through career intervention will lead to vocation-related outcomes such as academic

achievement, problem-solving orientation, adaptability, and flexibility (Choi, Kim, & Kim,

2015).

The study that was conducted by Choi, Kim, and Kim (2015) examined the influence of

participation in career education interventions on career development skills and school success in

a South Korean high school over a two-year period. They identified the facilitative role of

various career interventions for the holistic development of these high school students. South

Korean students were categorized into six career intervention classes based on their degree of

experience in various types of career education. Each class, explored through latent class

analysis, reflected both how many high school students experienced the career education

programs as well as the types of education interventions in which they participated. The study

results revealed that the more times students participated in various career education

interventions, the more their career development skills matured and they became more certain

about the future of their careers; in turn, this led to greater school success (Choi, Kim, & Kim,

2015).

Historically, career and technical education has had stigmas attached. Students have

previously been classified as either academic or vocational (CTE). Vocational education was

integrated into high school curriculum with the proposal and passing of the Smith-Hughes Act of

1917. Vocational programs were implemented in order to prepare student with the technical skills

needed to train workers in agriculture, manufacturing, and home economics. This was seen as

programing for the less academically abled students and thus less useful for most high school
students. The path of CTE soon was influenced by this perspective with federal legislation

adding requirements for vocational education in the 1970s and 1980s.

As career and technical education requirement grew, the academic requirements soon

followed. This was outlined in the Five New Basics requiring 4 years of English, 3 years of

mathematics, 3 years of science, 3 years of social studies, and one-half year of computer science.

These minimum requirements left little room for vocational education programs, and the

tracking that followed these increased academic requirements aligned students based on

academic testing scores. This tended to cut along racial lines, placing poor students and students

of color in vocational programs and placing upper class whites on the academic track. Career

education was now being seen as a dumping ground for the less academically abled.
In efforts to ditch the blemished image of CTE, the Perkins Legislation in 1990 proposed

integrating core academic content with CTE programs. However, this legislation did not modify

the standard of two separate curricula - CTE and academic. This divide in curricula sustained

itself for decades until 2011. The increase of academic rigor and regime led to the proposal of

new classification of curricula. The amount of students taking CTE courses increased along with

the academic requirements, leading the nation to new blended curricula. The College for All

movement had begun and the new curriculum allows students to build a purely academic

trajectory, a career and technical education trajectory, or a combination of the two. The argument

has been made that the blending of the curricula diminished the divide between academic and

CTE students, also diminishing the stigma previously identified with vocational education.
In a recent study conducted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education focused on the

pathway to prosperity, allowing students to seamlessly translate from high school to adulthood.

The study showed the gap between American and other nations, and as a result, three essential

elements were selected in attempt to close this gap. The first element is the development of a

broader vision of school reform that incorporated multiple pathways to support the transition
from high school to adulthood. The second is the development of a much grander role for

employers in supporting these new pathways. The third element is to aid in the development of a

new social contract between society and its young people.

Today, career and technical education aims to provide a real world relevance to academic

content, offer students employability skills, include career pathways, and link secondary

education to postsecondary education and training. It provides workplace training, skills

upgrades, and career advancement opportunities. The current federal funding support for career

related education is the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of

2006. Schools that receive this funding are required to provide students with at least one program

of study for their students. The program or programs of study must include coherent and rigorous

academic content aligned with relevant career and technical content.

One system of career and technical education that is emerging in todays schools is

known as career academies. Career academies are a small learning community within a larger

high school, comprised of a team of teachers who work with the same group of students during

secondary education. Students at each grade level are scheduled together as a cohort to take a

core set of academic classes and a technical class related to the theme of the academy. Academies

can include but are not limited to business, electronics, engineering, health, information

technology, and media and communications. Internships, mentorships, job shadows, field trips,

and other opportunities link the academy curriculum to the world of adult work in the

community. Career academies embody the CTE approach by fitting an occupational course

sequence together with the rigorous academic coursework required for college admittance.
When career academies were first implemented, students applied to be part of the program,

which leads to the possibility that the students involved in the academies were highly motivated

already, thus skewing data collected from these programs. To avoid ambiguity, MDRC conducted

an evaluation in which students were randomly selected to participate in a career academy, while
a control group stayed in a regular high school. The research found that among the most at risk

students, 79 percent of academy students stayed in school through spring of senior year,

compared to 68 percent of the control group. The study continued through the adult lives of these

students and persistently shows career academy students success in multiple areas such as

monthly earnings and financial independence. The progression of career education has seen

much change since the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, with the peak of this growth coming in the

past few decades. Starting small in Philadelphia in 1969 and spreading to California and New

York City in 1980, career academies have continued to grow with more than 7000 academies

across the nation today. This field shows strong support to continue to expand and become a part

of more high school programing across the nation and world, much like the district and school

where I work. Future evaluation of these program changes will allow us to understand whether

this blended learning curriculum of academic and CTE coursework can benefit students not only

in career academies, but also in other educational settings.

The interest of career academies sparked a few years ago when the district I work for

decided to implement career academies as part of the new high school being built. The issues

with the old, unsafe high school building led to the campaign to pass a bond to fund a new high

school. When designing the new school, administrators and teacher explored new high schools

around the area, along with a few career and technical education based schools such as Warren

Tech High School in Colorado. The district partnered with a local architectural firm to create

plans of a high school that accommodated career and technical education programming for the

growing district. This was presented around the community to help build support for the

upcoming bond. Once the bond was passed, the building process began, along with the

scheduling, hiring, and planning that went into developing and implementing a wall-to-wall

career academy system.

 The system and programming are currently in place and next years graduates (Class of

2018) will be the first class to complete an academy and the credits that are now required.

Seventy credits of career and technical education have been added to the graduation credentials

and are divided into pre-academy courses, which can be described as introductory courses, and

courses within the students chosen academy. These introductory courses allow a student to test

the waters and find an area of interest during their freshman and sophomore years. As a junior,

students choose an academy, along with courses aligned with the particular academy. When

approaching their senior year of school, the student is satisfied with their academy choice, they

will continue to take higher level courses within the academy as well as utilize the community

college in town for more opportunities in course offerings. If they decide they are not satisfied

with their original academy choice, students are able to switch to a new academy and take the

foundation courses offered within the new academy.

Watching the evolution of the district I work for over the last four years has been an amazing

privilege and has taught me so much about career education and the implementation process. I

have seen countless hours dedicated to the success of the career academy system and the

commitment that the entire staff at the high school needed to make to create the smooth

transition to wall-to-wall career academies. Despite the new building not being 100% complete,

the staff has seamlessly transitioned the entire high school student body from an academic

pathway with offerings of CTE to a full force career and technical education program in addition

to the rigorous academics still required. I am honored to work for this progressive district and am

excited about the future of the CTE programming and the difference it makes in our students

lives.
The mission statement of the smaller high school program I work in is to inspire

students to become critical thinkers possessing the tools to positively contribute to their
communities and world. There is no way we can meet this mission without including CTE

curriculum and courses into our program. Business and industry leaders expect new employees

to have a variety of skills and knowledge. Whether straight from high school or a post-secondary

institution, employers want individuals that are ready to work, learn, and contribute to the

workplace. It is wise for the government and communities to invest time and energy into CTE, as

they will see the return from their investment in the form of skilled and knowledgeable

employees that could eventually lead to economic and global competitiveness.

In the research, the reform elements presented in the strategies listed and researched have

been examined from the perspectives of researchers, school reformers, and policy advocates. The

consensus that emerged around the reform components resulted in increased students

involvement in learning. The evidence shows that students involvement in learning leads to

improved academic performance. One of the keys of comprehensive reform is relevance, which

helps keep students in school and interested. The studys results showed that the combination of

career and technical education with rigorous academics for all students is a reform model worth

considering. Together, these reform efforts can address the need that all students have for a solid

academic education, as well as preparation for adult life, including work (Castenello, Springfield,

& Stone, 2002)

Career and technical education helps students connect school with their future. Many

students cannot easily see the need to take math, science, history and English courses.

Connecting these courses with a career can spark interest in a career field, while also enabling

the students to see the relevancy behind the core subject. This interest and relevancy leads to

students who are more engaged in the classroom. Imagining a school without any career and

technical education opportunities seems sad and unfair. Students, especially at the high school

level, need exposure to the opportunities that await them in the real world. It is unfair to send
clueless students into the world and expect greatness from our nation and the next generation. As

educators, our job is to prepare students for their future.

I believe the future of career and technical education is bright and should constantly change

as the workplace wavers. From the resources Ive examined, it seems to me that career and

technical educations future will be in programs of study or career academies, set up similar to

college. While it is still equally important that students focus on the academic part of the

program, high schools will likely soon offer different programs of study in various applicable

career areas, allowing students to get a jumpstart on their career. Exposure to the different

programs can help students find their passion and potential career path at an earlier age, thus

wasting less time exploring these careers in college and paying for the explorations. It is exciting

to teach in a time period where education is undergoing so many changes, and potentially

changes that will affect the entire school system as we know it. Guidance and exposure are vital

in the future of career and technical education (Digby, 2012).

 References
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Castellano, M., Stringfield, S., Stone, J. I., & National Dissemination Center for Career and

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