March 2006
The Capital Region Career & Technical Division is about to undertake a whole new strategic planning process. This process will involve the staff in looking at a wide range of ideas on how to better provide career and technical education in this era of rising academic and industry standards, as well as increasing expectations and demands upon high school graduates. The goal is to create a plan that will take the division through the year 2010 and beyond and insure that career and technical education will remain a viable option for students well into the future.
In order to lay a solid foundation for this planning, Division Director Hank Stopinski asked the Communications Office to help him set up a means for soliciting input from those people in the component schools who have experience with Career & Tech programs and a pulse on student needs. This resulted in presentations to and interviews with selected members of the component school staffs, followed by a survey of a larger group of component school personnel. The entire process took four months to complete, starting in October 2005 and ending in January 2006. This report, prepared by Communications Coordinator Judy Cox, is a summary of what we learned from this effort.
During October and November 2005, Director Hank Stopinski made presentations to guidance counselors, high school principals, CSE chairpersons, special education teachers and superintendents on the future of career & technical education in the Capital Region. There were seven of these presentations with 53 people participating. Three other presentations were also made to the Schoharie Career & Tech staff, the Albany Career & Tech staff and the Career & Tech Advisory Council.
During the presentations, the director first outlined the changes that the division has undergone in recent years and the challenges that still remain. He then gave an overview of four innovative career & tech programs in other parts of the state and country (Ulster BOCES in Port Ewen, NY; Polytech High School in Woodside, DE; River Valley Technical Center in Springfield, VT; and Huron Valley Schools in Highland, MI). And finally, he shared a vision of what career and technical education might look like here in the Capital Region in the year 2010 and beyond.
After each presentation, Communications Coordinators Judy Cox and Monique Jacobs asked a series of five questions to get the participants’ ideas on where the program should be heading. In most cases, the director was not present for the interview portion of the meetings. All responses were written down and compiled both by question and by theme.
More details on the presentations, as well as the participants’ responses, are available at http://www.bocescareertech.org/Strategicplanning/chartingthefuture.htm
“Charting the
Future” survey
As a follow-up to the presentations, Judy Cox and Monique Jacobs worked
with BOCES Data Specialist Dr. Amy Svirsky to develop a survey to go out to a
wider audience that included four main groups:
·
Superintendents,
assistant superintendents, instructional directors/leaders
·
High school
principals and assistant principals
·
Guidance
counselors
·
Special
educators, including CSE chairpersons, directors of pupil personnel services,
and special education teachers who currently have students enrolled in career
& tech programs
The aim once again was to reach those people familiar with career &
tech programs and the needs of the students served by the Career & Tech
division. The survey questions were designed to find out if the opinions and
ideas put forth during the presentations and interviews represented those of
this larger group.
The survey was put on-line with the help of www.zoomerang.com, and it was distributed
via email during the month of December 2005. A letter went out to the
targeted audience in advance to let them know the survey was coming.
Out of 331 invitations, we received 124 completed surveys, which
represents a return of 37.5%. We also received 17 partially completed surveys,
some of them from people who indicated that they ran into technical problems
submitting the surveys online from their school sites.
Twenty of the 24 component districts are represented among the completed
surveys. As the following chart shows, the response rate from each of the four
groups was approximately equal:
Group No.
invited No.
responded % responded
Supts/asst.
supts/instructional leaders 44 16 36.4%
HS
principals/asst. principals 47 15 31.9%
Guidance
counselors 94 38 40.4%
Special
educators 146 55 37.7%
Total 331 124 37.5%
The survey charts showing the number and percent response to each
question are attached. More survey data, including the written responses, are
available at http://www.bocescareertech.org/Strategicplanning/chartingthefuture.htm
Part II:
Improving the current program
We did not set out in the interviews to ask respondents what they thought
of the current programs, but it turned out to be something they wanted to talk
about. Indeed, we came away with the impression that there are several major
issues of concern that should be addressed through the strategic planning
process.
Current perceptions
During the interviews, we heard a lot of positive statements about the value of career and technical education. Several respondents told us that students who come to Career & Tech often return to their home schools refreshed and ready to take their home school classes more seriously. One interviewee whose own son attended a Career & Tech program said it was “one of the best things” that ever happened to him. Several people said they were thankful their school districts today are willing to fund a larger number of spots than in the recent past, including one who said: “Your program is really incredible. We try to fit square pegs into round holes. They’ve had a traumatic experience in our home school. They come over here and really turn it around.” While acknowledging that money is a concern, another person said: “Someone should ask what would happen if all Career & Tech kids had to come back home.”
Likewise, in the survey comments, Career & Tech received some strong compliments, especially in regards to its impact on students with little motivation and poor grades. “(They) often turn themselves around and do fabulously,” said one person. “These students can come out of school with a skill and be able to make decent money, which many kids in high school all day can’t do. Many go on to college, when at one time they talked about dropping out.”
Yet there were issues that prevented the interviewees from giving the current program their ringing endorsement. In fact, in some instances, they expressed a bit of frustration and even some anger toward certain aspects of the program. These findings were borne out on the survey, where the overall satisfaction rate was high on most questions, but the percentage of those who listed themselves as “very satisfied” was typically much lower than those who listed themselves as “somewhat satisfied.” From both the interviews and survey, we can surmise that career & technical education as it currently stands in the Capital Region is perceived as good but not great. The division’s programs are viewed as satisfactory but not exceptional, and the level of service provided to students is seen as growing stronger but still in need of improvement.
Three major
issues
Three major issues regarding the current program surfaced during the interviews
and appear to have been confirmed by the survey results. They are as follows:
Not enough
rigor in the integrated academic subjects – During the interviews, numerous people brought this issue to our
attention. “There’s not a lot of accountability for how much real science, math
and English is going on (in the regular Career & Tech classrooms),” said
one person. “Our people get real nervous about (Career & Tech) doing
academics,” said another. “If the (Career & Tech) teachers are teaching
academics, we don’t know it. Kids appear to be on their own with their
assignments,” said a third person.
On the
survey, the level of satisfaction was noticeably lower with the quality of the
academic education than with the quality of the technical education. “I’m not
sure these programs meet the needs of students who need to pass a Regents exam
in the subject area,” said one survey respondent. “They do not meet the
standards we set in-house and create friction with parents when we do not
accept them,” said another.
Of
particular concern to both interviewees and survey respondents was the rigor
embodied in the Physical Education (Independent Study) and English 12 courses.
Many people acknowledged that without these and other integrated courses, far
fewer students would be able to fit career & technical education into their
schedules, and so they were grateful that the courses are offered. Yet they
expressed some doubt as to how well the integrated courses are preparing
students for academics in college.
Some felt
that the issue of too little rigor might be one of perception rather than
reality and encouraged the division to engage in more outreach to the component
schools. “I would love to see some combined staff development to educate our
staff about hands-on education,” said one person. “We need intellectual
discourse between our staffs about teaching and learning,” said another.
Inadequate
communications with home school staffs – During the interviews, we heard some rumblings of concern about
communications between Career & Tech and home school staffs, but on the
survey it came through loud and clear. Indeed, the dissatisfaction level was
higher under the heading of “communications” than on any other part of the
survey. Among the individual groups, special educators and principals/assistant
principals expressed the greatest concern, with as many as 46% saying they were
either “somewhat” or “very” dissatisfied with communications.
Most of the
comments centered on concerns over not hearing soon enough about problems in
regard to student attendance, behavior and classroom performance. However, they
also complained about programs and policies being changed without fair warning
and without enough assistance from the Career & Tech staff to help deal
with the adverse impact on the students.
Both
interviewees and survey respondents complained that Career & Tech teachers
are hard to reach because their hours of work do not match with the component
schools. They also noted that Career & Tech teachers are sometimes slow to
respond to phone messages or emails.
Even so,
there were many compliments paid to numerous individuals at Career & Tech
who are going above and beyond to establish good communications with people out
in the component schools. Survey respondents also tended to give a high rating
of responsiveness to the people with whom they most often interacted. For
example, component school principals and assistant principals gave their
highest rating to Career & Tech principals and assistant principals, while
component school guidance counselors gave their highest rating to Career &
Tech guidance counselors.
Some people
indicated that they have seen improvement in communications in recent years but
that there is still a way to go. Said one survey respondent: “(Communication)
needs to occur on a more frequent basis. We need to work as more of a team,
rather than as separate entities.”
Too little support for students with disabilities – During the interviews, participants voiced numerous concerns about the quality of services for special education students; and on the survey, special education teachers registered more negatives about the program than any other group.
They complained of a lack of adequate support, especially for those students with disabilities who are enrolled in regular career & tech programs. “CTE teachers are skilled in their fields, but they have no idea of how to work with special education students. They need training in that area, and there needs to be more communication with us,” said one person.
Those interviewed also complained of too few options and not enough challenges for students with disabilities. “You need more choices of classes at CTE (for special education students),” said one person. “Some of the special (services) programs need to come along more. You are still back in the 1970s. The world out there is much different, and the opportunities are much different,” said another person.
There was frustration over the fact that as industry standards are rising, students with disabilities are getting left behind. “They pass (your) courses, but they don’t earn the certifications. They come out with the skills, but they don’t have the credentials,” said one interviewee.
Several people indicated that the best solution is to provide special education students with more “real-world” job experiences. One person even suggested the idea of establishing a New Visions-type program for lower level students, in which they would not only gain tangible work skills but also would more likely leave school with a job in hand.
The survey respondents echoed many of these same comments and suggestions. “These students need to be taught hands-on skills that can be applied in the real world,” said one person. “Overall experience is very good, (but) it would be wonderful to have a job-coaching/job-shadowing program for IEP diploma kids who are not low enough for a full (Vocational Training and Transition) program but not high functioning enough for the other programs either,” said another.
The interviewees, even those with the most negative experiences to report, seemed to view career & tech as an essential part of the educational picture for many students with disabilities. One comment we heard was that the students seem much happier in the career & tech setting. And at least two people at two different presentations said the level of service and support provided today is better than it was five years ago.
On the survey, the respondents paid some strong compliments to the Special Services programs when it comes to meeting student needs. For example, one wrote: “These students have greatly improved their self-esteem, which is very exciting.” Another wrote: “The entire staff has bent over backwards to meet the emotional needs of some of my most challenging students.”
Even so, they saw definite room for improvement.
During one of the presentations where special educators were present, Director
Hank Stopinski said that 42% of the current Career and Tech students have IEPs.
One interviewee seized on that figure, noting that this large presence of
special education students is a good argument for making an even bigger effort
to serve their needs.
Other issues
There were other issues of concern raised during the interviews that
appear to be having a negative impact on satisfaction levels. These include:
·
Scheduling
conflicts with the component schools
·
Restrictions on
enrollment
·
A declining
number of programs at the Schoharie campus
We will deal with these issues in more detail in Part IV under “Lifting
barriers.”
Impact on
strategic planning
As we noted at the beginning of this section, we did not start out asking
about current perceptions and only went in that direction at the bidding of
those we were interviewing. However, we came away convinced that these issues
need to be addressed as part of the strategic planning process.
For example, the perceptions about academic rigor, whether they are true
or not, are going to have a big impact on the success or failure of future
efforts. As one interviewee said: If people in the component schools believe
that academic rigor is not there, they are not going to buy into a new vision
and a further expansion of career and technical education in the Capital
Region.
Resolving the other issues – whether it’s establishing better support
systems for students with disabilities or finding ways to ensure the future of
career and technical education in Schoharie County – will go a long way toward
not only raising the satisfaction level with the current program but also
gaining the necessary momentum for change. In fact, a strategic plan that does
not address these issues is not a strategic plan at all.
Part III: Planning for the future
The primary goal of the “Charting the Future” interviews was to identify unmet needs and solicit input on future directions. The survey was then constructed to determine which ones are most critical in the view of the people in the component schools.
Three major
unmet needs
There were six unmet needs in all identified during the interviews, but
on the survey three of them emerged as major ones:
Serving students who lose their motivation early
in school: During the interviews,
we heard over and over again from all the different groups that high schools
are grappling with a growing population of unmotivated students. “A lot of
ninth graders are struggling and failing. They ask why can’t the (Career &
Tech) program begin in tenth grade. Otherwise, they are dropping out,” said one
interviewee.
“We are
losing our ninth and tenth graders who have failed seventh and eighth grade.
They can’t see their way out of the hole they are in. They see no purpose to
school. They need that hands-on, get-me-out-of-high-school program. They keep
screaming at us, and nobody’s listening,” said another interviewee.
On the
survey, 92% of the respondents said it is “very important” for Career &
Tech to address this need, and 6% said it is “moderately important.” In the
rural and urban districts, as well as many of the suburban districts with
larger populations of high-needs students, there was universal – i.e., 100% –
agreement that this should be a top priority. But even among the low-need
suburban districts, it still ranked high on the priority list.
“I often
deal with students who are ‘done’ by the time they reach eleventh grade even if
they are still in school,” said one survey respondent. “This population is
growing both in numbers and in the severity of their disaffection from school,”
said another. “We need all the help we
can get,” said a third respondent.
Serving students who are failing mandated courses
– This is another need that was
often mentioned during the interviews. “There are kids who we don’t send,
because I can’t be sure they will get all the requirements. More of them are
coming as seniors rather than juniors for that reason,” said one interviewee.
“We have to
make a choice of which way to go – (send them to Career & Tech) or (make
them) stay at the home school. In both cases, there are risks to the students,”
said another interviewee.
“We have
kids who we call ‘tweeners.’ They are at grade 10-11 in some courses and ninth
grade level in others. We need programs at (Career & Tech) for those kids
to get them through to graduation. The kids really like your programs, but they
don’t want to risk being held back in school,” said another interviewee.
On the
survey, 74% said it is “very important” and 18% said it is “moderately
important” to address this need. “It’s very important for some of these
students to be able to attend (Career & Tech) – if they can’t, they are
strong candidates to drop out,” said one respondent: “The (Career & Tech)
center and the home school need to work closely with these students to provide
support,” said another.
Serving students who are just getting by in
school and have no future goals in mind – Among the interviewees, there was a concern for students of average
ability with little direction in life. “(Too many) kids don’t have any idea of
what they want to do even by eleventh grade. They’re not brilliant, but they
are smart. Some kids drop out, while others psychologically check out. They get
a 70 average just to keep their parents happy until they can get out on their
own,” said one interviewee.
In many
cases, these students are more interested in work than school. “We lost three
kids last year who had no interest in vocational education but didn’t want the
traditional nine periods a day,” said another interviewee.
On the
survey, 53% said it is “very important” for Career & Tech to address this
need, and 36% said it is “moderately important.” This need ranked particularly
high among rural districts, where nearly 75% saw it as “very important” to
address. One respondent wrote: “There is a group of students who are just not
sure what they want to do with their lives but do take school seriously.” This person, as well as others,
indicated that some kind of program involving hands-on exploration of a wide
variety of career options might be just the answer for many students.
(A close fourth among unmet needs was that of serving students who are
having difficulty coordinating their home school schedules with the Career
& Tech schedule. We will discuss that issue more in detail under Part IV:
Lifting barriers.)
Three major future directions
During the presentations, Director Hank Stopinski articulated many
different ideas for changing and improving career & technical education in
the Capital Region, and on the survey we asked respondents to rank some of
those ideas in terms of priority to their districts and students. There was not
strong consensus for any one of the ideas. However, three of them stand out as
having greater support than all the others:
Additional programs in business settings – The concept of providing students with more work-based learning opportunities received the highest endorsement of all the ideas put forward. “We need more business partnerships for internships. When kids get involved with Bast Hatfield (construction firm), they remember it,” said one interviewee.
“Pursue more partnerships with businesses like Bassett Hospital,” suggested another interviewee from Schoharie County. “You need a nursing program here (in Schoharie County). There’s a high need for nurses aides. There’s a need for low-level kids to walk out with something in their hands, like a certification. You should collaborate more with Eden Park. They are desperate for employees. You could base a program there on the same model as New Visions, so that they are more likely to hire (our students) over others. An internship program may be very advantageous to the kids and also provide them with those soft skills.”
On the survey, 50% listed additional programs in
business settings as a “high priority,” and 40% ranked it as a “medium
priority.” This idea was almost equally popular among all groups and among all
types of districts. “So important,” wrote one respondent. “Definitely!” wrote
another. “(Career & Tech) should work more closely with day-hab programs
and post-high school employment sites. Perhaps opportunities to sample more of
a variety of careers would help transition students into authentic jobs where
they will actually be employed,” wrote a third. “Set up more work-study
programs,” wrote a fourth.
A combination of full- and half-day programs with students entering at different points between ninth and twelfth grade – There appears to be a big interest in establishing full-day, fully integrated academic and career and technical programs for up to four years to serve certain students. “The integrated model engages me. We have a certain sector of learners who would do better,” said one interviewee. “If we could adopt an applied academics model, we’d have a better four-year education for (many) kids.”
“I have kids who can’t wait to get to (Career & Tech). They hate having to get credits to go there. They don’t bother doing anything in their home school. I would like to see something for these kids. They are borderline local diploma to IEP kids. They need to see a reason to stay in school. For most, it’s pure drudgery to come to their home school for the other half a day,” said a third person.
“It would be nice to have a full-day option for some kids where they can do all their academics. We do struggle to get them into their core academics at their high school,” said a fourth person.
Yet many of the interviewees emphasized the need to keep the one- and two-year, half-day option for other students. “I would like to see a combination of full-day and half-day programs,” said one person. “If there were a comprehensive (career & technical) high school, grades 9-12, (some) kids might not have dropped out. But others would miss high school. I could see a partial comprehensive high school and partial same as now,” said another person.
Even with this interest in full-day, four-year programs, several people raised important issues. “This mishmash of it being our own diploma and kids being here for more than vocational education will be a concern,” said one person. “I have always felt that (Career & Tech) should have a full-day program. Yet at 15 years old, kids shouldn’t have to make a career commitment,” said another person.
On the survey, 46% ranked the idea of establishing full- and half-day programs as a “high priority,” and 39% ranked it as a “medium priority.” As a group, special educators were most enthusiastic about this concept, with 91% listing it as a “high” or “medium” priority. But respondents indicated that the academic component would have to be very strong: “It only works if you are addressing ALL of the areas of need, not just the career and technical aspect,” wrote one person.
There was some concern that full-day programs would put Career & Tech in competition with the component schools. “BOCES and (Career & Tech) were designed to provide services the home schools can not offer. The intention was never to replace or duplicate the services we provide,” said one respondent.
But probably the biggest concern was cost. “I can’t imagine the fallout if I were to let 60-85 juniors and seniors come here for a full day,” said one interviewee. “Although I think this is a good idea, I do not think my district could afford to participate in it,” said a survey respondent. We will deal with the cost issue in Part V of this report.
Better career and educational planning – Interviewees welcomed the idea of a career and educational plan for all students engaged in career & technical education. It is a good way to “motivate students and keep them focused,” said one interviewee. “When kids come through your programs, they need to be able to see what they will be doing after BOCES,” said another.
A third interviewee talked about a previous experience working in a district served by another BOCES. “They helped students in middle school to understand their opportunities at BOCES. That way the students had a vision of what they wanted to do when they entered high school. There was a plan. At our district, we don’t have plans. It’s catch as catch can. If they come to BOCES, it’s more by chance than by design. We have affluent kids whose parents push them, and we have special ed. kids who get good care. But the middle student is overlooked. There is no guidance or plan for them.”
Several other people indicated that “bridge activities” are needed in the middle school years for the least motivated students. “I would like to see a more explorative approach at younger ages, so they can make good educational choices,” said an interviewee. “You might want to offer a way to explore some of the career options in a hands-on program,” said a survey respondent.
On the survey, 45% said better career and educational planning should be a “high priority, and 44% listed it as a “medium priority.” This concept received its greatest endorsement from guidance counselors, although it was very popular with all the other groups. “It would be helpful if you could partner with home school guidance counselors,” suggested one respondent.
Part IV: Other
findings
In Parts II and III, we outlined three issues to resolve, three needs to address and three directions to explore. Together, these constitute the major findings of this study. In this section, we will briefly touch upon other concerns and ideas articulated during the interviews and on the survey. While they are not among the major findings, they are important to enough people within the component schools to warrant their inclusion in any discussion of the future of career and technical education in the Capital Region.
Lifting barriers
The interviewees and survey respondents identified three enrollment barriers that they would very much like to see eliminated or at least reduced:
Scheduling conflicts with component schools – Interviewees complained about restrictive
scheduling, particularly among second-year programs. “As a result, we have to
consider not sending kids to the first-year programs,” said one person. “If it
starts in the first year as an a.m. program, keep it an a.m. program in the
second year,” said another. “You need to co-mingle classes, putting first- and
second-year programs together. Or offer both first- and second-year programs in
each session. We’d send more kids to you,” said a third person.
They also expressed concern about students trying to fit Career & Tech around all their mandated courses. One way to eliminate this problem, they said, is for Career & Tech to create more integrated academic courses in areas such as English, social studies and foreign language. There was even one suggestion that schools might be willing to sacrifice two occupational credits rather than one to help students pick up more academic credits at Career & Tech.
On the survey, 52% said it is “very important” for Career & Tech to address the needs of students with scheduling conflicts, and 38% said it is “moderately important.” “This is becoming more and more of a problem as students need to complete three years of math and science. One failure pretty much precludes them from going to (Career & Tech),” said one survey respondent.
“This has been better in the past few years – but I
would love to see the time come when they could stay at (Career & Tech) all
day and get all their courses there,” said another survey respondent.
Restrictions on enrollment – While school districts sometimes put restrictions on which students can come to Career & Tech, they dislike it when Career & Tech puts restrictions on which students it will accept. The most recent example was the decision to test students before accepting them into the cosmetology program. “I have some very angry guidance counselors. People are discouraged,” said one person. “We had girls devastated by the cosmetology decision,” said another.
A survey respondent also complained about the growing number of programs with applications and grade point average (GPA) cut-offs, adding that there needs to be more “for the student who enjoys hands-on classes but may not be academically motivated.”
The people in the component schools ideally would like to see Career & Tech put an end to waiting lists for the more popular programs by expanding the number of sections, but they realize that space is an issue. They would also like the staff to make a more concerted effort to come up with viable alternatives for students who are turned away from a program for whatever reason.
A declining number of programs at the Schoharie Center – This is a big issue – and often an emotional one – among those people from the component schools in Schoharie County. They have seen the number of programs offered there steadily decline, and they are frustrated over the fact that they don’t have full-time guidance counselors and social workers assigned to the Schoharie Center. On the survey, under the heading of unmet needs, 63% of Schoharie County respondents said it is “very important” for Career & Tech to find ways to better serve students who are looking for more career options, compared to 41% overall. This is a strong indication that the Schoharie respondents are much less satisfied than those from other counties with the variety of choices available to students.
Schoharie County interviewees acknowledge that as funding gets tight in their school districts, they cut back on their participation in Career & Tech. And as they cut back, Career & Tech is forced to reduce its offerings. This only makes Career & Tech less attractive to Schoharie students and contributes to even lower enrollments. Everyone agreed that the challenge is to find a way to break this downward spiral and to come up with more innovative approaches for serving rural students.
Expanding opportunities
The interviewees and survey respondents also encouraged the division to expand opportunities to students in a variety of ways, which are grouped into the following three categories:
Creating a more flexible schedule of Career & Tech classes – During the presentations, Director Hank Stopinski put forth the concept of a career & tech center open 16 hours a day, seven days a week, 12 months a year as a way to not only resolve some of the current scheduling conflicts but also to serve adults and students who want to work. “(This idea) resonates with me. Once the job becomes more important than school, that’s when we need something else,” said one interviewee. “Lots of kids would love to go to school from 12 noon to 6 p.m.,” said another.
On the survey, the concept of a more flexible schedule with classes offered in late afternoons, evenings, weekends and summers was ranked as a high priority by only 27% of the respondents. However, it was endorsed as a top priority by nearly half of high school principals and assistant principals. It was also very popular among urban and suburban districts with large populations of high needs students. “We should all be looking to expand our notions of time in the school ‘day,’” said one survey respondent. However, another person noted that students would not likely attend school on weekends or summers unless there was a paid component to it.
Establishing closer partnerships with area colleges – Director Hank Stopinski envisioned a day when Career & Tech students could earn as much as an associates degree while still in high school. Several people expressed skepticism over this idea. However, they indicated that there is a big need to help more students see themselves as college material.
On the survey, 48% said that closer partnerships with colleges should be a “high priority,” and 33% said it should be a “medium priority” for the division. During the interviews, a number of people suggested that Career & Tech should look at the idea of relocating some of its programs to local college campuses. In fact, one person in Schoharie County put forth the idea of moving the entire Schoharie Center to the SUNY Cobleskill campus.
Developing satellite programs to keep students closer to home – Director Hank Stopinski talked about a partially decentralized Career & Tech program with some classes offered in the component schools. One such satellite program – a full-day career academy focusing on early childhood education – is currently being piloted at Cobleskill-Richmondville High School. “The teachers and kids are having an excellent experience, but the test results in June will be the telling piece,” said one CRCS interviewee.
This concept of establishing career academies in the schools received cautious endorsement on the survey, with 37% ranking it as a high priority and 37% as a medium priority. Even so, a number of interviewees encouraged the division to continue to think in this direction, noting that the concept of establishing satellites might not only work for full-day academies but also individual classes (similar to a shared pre-engineering course currently offered by Mohonasen and Scotia-Glenville).
Part V: Paving the road to change
While many of those interviewed and surveyed were receptive to the idea of changing career & technical education in the Capital Region, they also saw some significant obstacles and they offered some cautionary advice.
Major obstacles
Based on the discussions with the people in the component schools, we can anticipate four major obstacles to change:
Funding – This is undeniably the biggest overriding issue that could stand in the
way of restructuring career & technical education in any significant way.
All the best ideas, all the most effective solutions will not get implemented
without attention to funding. Numerous people said that their districts have
put a limit on the numbers of students who can take part in Career & Tech
programs. And even those from districts with no limits on enrollment said they
get nervous when there is talk about expansion, purely because of the cost.
Several
people suggested looking to other sources of funding and also doing a better job
within the local communities of demonstrating the value of career &
technical education. “You need to talk to school boards, so they will spend the
money. We need to ask ourselves: Are we really doing a service to students if
they go to college but don’t finish it? If we are going to convince people to
spend more money, they have to see why,” said one interviewee.
State and federal mandates – There was a concern that the increased
state graduation requirements plus the restrictions created by the federal No
Child Left Behind Act would make it harder to implement a new vision for career
& technical education. “Hank’s stuff is great, but we’re shackled by
mandates. We can get kids through school with a diploma (and thus meet the
mandates), but chances are they will be unemployed and unhappy. They’re
screwed,” said one interviewee.
“It’s a real
stretch to think you can integrate all academics into Career & Tech (and
thus fully meet all mandates),” said another interviewee. “If this is going to
work, the state has to work with us. You may get around the money issue, but
the state requirements are more rigid,” said a third person. “Integration is a
good idea, but breaking the high school mold is tough,” said a fourth person.
Student and parent resistance – Several people noted that even if Career
& Tech could make its vision affordable and satisfy the demands of state
regulators, there is still an image problem to address. “Parental ignorance
would be an obstacle. A lot of good ideas won’t work without parental support,”
said one interviewee.
They noted
that parents and students often have an “old-fashioned mindset” about
vocational education. “You need to do a lot of outreach to de-stigmatize many
of the careers offered at Career & Tech,” suggested another interviewee.
Conflicting district needs – Some interviewees worried that an expanded career & tech program might lead to fewer opportunities in the component schools. “We wouldn’t want to lose staff or programs,” said one person.
“There are tremendous pressures in terms of our own needs. Our class sizes are getting larger. We can’t support something like this and still attend to those needs,” said a second person.
Cautionary advice
The people in the component schools also offered some cautionary advice to the division as it approaches its strategic planning:
Don’t close off options – When presented with the idea of change,
numerous people expressed concern over declining options for students with
limited abilities. “As we increase the standards, the kids who aren’t doing
great are shut out of your programs, and there’s one less option for them,”
said one interviewee.
“Instead of
moving forward, we are moving upwards, and some kids are being left behind.
There’s not enough opportunity (at Career & Tech) for the lowest half,”
said a second person.
Don’t try to supplant the districts – There was some concern that a changing Career & Tech program might put the division more in competition with the component schools. “You seem to be veering more towards serving the top 50%,” said one interviewee, referring to some of the ideas put forth by Director Hank Stopinski in his future vision. “But those students also have opportunities in our high schools. You shouldn’t compete with us for those kids.”
Several people suggested that the success of any new venture at Career & Tech will depend on how it is presented. “(Your vision) may work (but only) if it’s (filling) a particular niche – e.g., programs that require a lot of equipment,” said an interviewee. “You must sell it as something that we can not do ourselves,” said a second interviewee. “Focus on designing services and programs that cannot be offered through the home schools. The AYES program is an excellent example,” said a survey respondent.
Don’t expect change to come easily or quickly – Several interviewees indicated that the fact that there are plans to build a Tech Valley High School in the Capital Region could make it more difficult to implement a new vision for career and technical education. At the very least, the existence of Tech Valley High will raise many questions about how the two fit together and what the impact will be on the component schools. On top of that, there is the issue of uneven support among the districts, with some being more willing than others to participate in Career & Tech programs. One interviewee stressed that bringing about change will require a major outreach effort to get everyone on board. Another one said that it might take more than four years to make it happen.
Part VI:
Recommendations
Based on both the qualitative and quantitative data gathered during this
project, we offer the following recommendations regarding the strategic
planning process:
Recommendation #1: Address the three major issues
of concern – As noted in Part II,
it will be difficult for the division to implement any significant changes in
the way it delivers career and technical education in the Capital Region
without tackling the issues of academic rigor, communications, and support for
students with disabilities. One way to go about this would be to appoint three
staff-run task forces and invite representation from the component schools.
These task forces would be instructed to define each of the problems more
thoroughly and look for solutions. This would include going outside the
division to see how others have solved similar problems (e.g., checking with
Ulster BOCES to see what they have done to satisfy their constituents that
their programs are academically rigorous). Each task force would come up with
an improvement plan that would include both a communications and an evaluation
component. The goal would be to not only resolve the problems but to keep the
appropriate people in the component schools informed as to what steps are being
taken and to get their feedback at reasonable intervals. At some point, the
survey sent out as part of this project could be retooled and re-administered
to see if there is any significant growth in the percentage of “very satisfied”
customers. Measures of student performance could also be used over time to
determine if the division is making headway with resolving these three issues.
Recommendation #2: Develop short- and long-term solutions to the three enrollment barriers – Before talking about major changes, the division should be able to show the component schools that it has done everything possible within its present resources to meet student needs. Are there ways not yet tried to alleviate scheduling conflicts, accommodate students in their choice of courses, and preserve or expand the Schoharie County programs? Some of the ideas put forth by interviewees and survey respondents may be worth exploring (such as a New Visions type nurses aide program in Schoharie County). The staff should also go outside the Capital Region to see how others have dealt with these problems (e.g., looking at how WSWHE BOCES commingles first and second year classes or how Ulster BOCES works a remediation component into its half-day programs). In many cases, these solutions may be less than ideal, but they indicate that the division is trying to move in the right direction. They also serve as a perfect jumping off point to begin discussing more long-term solutions that involve a restructuring of the program.
Recommendation #3: Investigate alternative delivery methods that focus on early intervention – Take an in-depth look at how the Career & Tech program could be refashioned to better serve all students. Look for ways to address all the needs identified in this report, but pay particular attention to the growing number of students who enter high school with little motivation to learn and little direction in life. Thoroughly investigate the most promising ideas from this study – e.g., “bridge” activities at the middle school level; full-day, fully integrated academic and technical programs at the high school level; a comprehensive career & technical center with flexible scheduling; and additional programs in business settings – to see if they might be right for students in the Capital Region. But don’t stop there. Broaden the search to other methods not discussed here that have worked elsewhere and be prepared to even dream up new methods that have never before been tried.
Recommendation #4: Set up a dialogue with representatives from the component schools on the future of career & technical education in the Capital Region – Don’t plan in a vacuum. Instead, invite component school representatives to take part in discussions about alternative delivery methods. That is the only way to gain consensus on what the best solutions might be. Indeed, dialoguing with the component school staff member will allow the Career & Tech staff to explore ideas for partnerships. For example, is there a way to create full-day, integrated academic/technical programs that start out in the component schools in the early years of high school and end up at the Career & Tech campuses in the later years? Are there ways for the guidance counselors from the component schools and the Career & Tech campuses to work jointly on helping students develop educational and career plans? These discussions will lay the groundwork for a strategic plan that will more likely gain broad support.
Recommendation #5: Begin right away to develop a long-term financial plan and build state support for change – As noted previously, two of the biggest obstacles to change are money and mandates. The division will not be able to accomplish any kind of restructuring without first finding ways to make it affordable to the component schools and acceptable to state education officials. In developing a long-term financial plan, the division should take a hard look at both the expenditure and revenue side of its budget. How can it reduce costs and at the same time bring in new funding from other sources to accomplish its goals? Also, what is the best way to include state education officials in the planning process so that they are fully aware of the new ideas that are being discussed and able to have their imprint on the final product? This process of developing a long-term financial plan and building support at the state level should not wait until a new strategic plan is in place. It should begin immediately!
Recommendation
#6: Plan for an extensive outreach effort – Create a strategy to reach out to
all those in the component schools who play a role as “decision-makers,”
including school administrators, staff members, board members, parents and
students. The goal should be to not
only explain the strategic plan and the need for change but also to educate the
public about the value of career and technical education today. Part of the
outreach plan should include an effort to gather and communicate long-term data
on the impact of changes in the program on student success.