ABSTRACT
Low student achievement and dropout are twin problems tied to the public perception of the poor quality of US schools and the declining availability of skilled workers. In the 1980s and 1990s, the perceived decline in quality of America’s schools was fueled by reports such as A Nation at Risk (Gardner 1983). In the more than two decades since, much education reform has been undertaken with the goal of improving US competitiveness in the global economy. In the early stages of these reform efforts, low-achieving students were assumed to be bound for work and often assigned to vocational education programs (now called Career and Technical Education; CTE). More recently, federally supported reform efforts have assumed that all students should be prepared to exit high school ready for college. This chapter addresses how CTE has responded to the pressures of reform and the
demands of the marketplace and outlines key pathways to postsecondary education and training that are intended to keep all students, but particularly the at-risk, on track for academic and economic success. I begin with a synopsis of the current policy context regarding access to education and career preparation and the tracking of students within what are sometimes exclusively academic or workforce-oriented tracks. This is followed by a brief discussion of the major themes driving educational reform in CTE, particularly a mandated focus on academic rigor. I then discuss three key concepts – engagement, achievement, and transition to postsecondary education and employment – in which CTE makes a difference to students’ academic and employment outcomes at both the secondary and postsecondary levels. Next, I address the fusion of CTE with the full span of the educational system and the
demands of the labor market. The present policy context and educational system are structured with the expectation that all students will seek four-year degrees, regardless of the demand for such degrees in the labor market. By contrast, CTE provides students with desirable alternatives. Later sections address the variety and impact of postsecondary CTE programs and alternative government programs for postsecondary training and workplace preparation. These are followed by a description of how CTE prepares
low-ability youth for high-skill, high-quality jobs through classroom-and work-based learning and other strategies intended to increase transitions from education to work. The chapter concludes with a re-consideration of CTE as a first-chance system for academic and economic success.
