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Descriptors:
Academic Standards; State Standards; Student Participation; Career Academies; Careers; Education Work Relationship; Career Exploration; School Districts; Institutional Mission; Career Readiness; College Readiness; Capacity Building; Internship Programs; Student Surveys; Outcomes of Education; Pilot Projects

Abstract:
The phrase "preparing students for college and career" has become so ubiquitous that it has become almost a mantra in educators' discourse in recent years. Whether mentioned in the Common Core State Standards, in the mission statements of high schools, or in political campaigns, improving the college and career readiness of young people is a concept that few can disagree with. Much attention has focused on how to prepare students "academically" for life after high school. But "readiness" also means having the knowledge and skills to make informed choices about careers and postsecondary education options and--once graduated--to successfully navigate both worlds. High schools are expected to teach these skills and knowledge but are rarely given the guidance or tools to do so. With a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education, MDRC and its project partner Bloom Associates developed and piloted a program to help schools build or strengthen their college and career exploration programs. Called "Exploring Career and College Options (ECCO)," the program was designed specifically for career academies but can be adapted to fit many educational settings. "Career academies" are schools within schools that enroll up to several hundred students. They are organized by a career theme, such as health sciences or media arts. Besides regular high school courses, career academy students enroll in a sequence of career-technical courses centering on the theme area. Finally, students participate in internships and other experiences in workplaces--which is often called "work-based learning"--to reinforce the connections between what they learn in the classroom and their future careers. An earlier random assignment study of career academies conducted by MDRC demonstrated the effectiveness of the model. Over the years, as the number of career academies grew, the parallel pressure to ensure that all students meet high academic standards inadvertently crowded out time for career exploration activities--the very activities that nonexperimental evidence from the MDRC study suggests may have played an instrumental role in causing the large increases in earnings that career academy participants experienced over the eight-year period following high school graduation. Career academies typically cite a lack of time, skills, and resources as the reason for not offering such activities to all of their students. ECCO is a capacity-building program to help career academies offer opportunities to students to learn about their workplace and postsecondary options through four core components: (1) a series of one-hour in-class lessons; (2) visits to local work sites; (3) visits to college campuses; and (4) a six-week internship offered to all students in the summer before or during their senior year. The curriculum includes guidance for educators on how to arrange and manage students' out-of-school experiences as well as guides for partnering employers. This report summarizes findings from a three-year study of the implementation of the ECCO program. ECCO was launched in 18 career academies in six school districts in three states: (1) California; (2) Florida; and (3) Georgia. The purposes of the study are to document the experiences of these schools in adopting the program and to assess the extent to which, when given support and resources, programs like ECCO can be fully implemented. The study also collected descriptive data to assess the promise of the program to improve student participation in career and college exploration activities and to improve their awareness of postsecondary options. Appended are: (1) Data Sources and Survey Response Analysis; (2) Additional Findings About Implementation; and (3) Additional Analyses of Student Outcomes and Methodological Explanations. Individual chapters contain footnotes. (Contains 38 tables, 12 figures, and 6 boxes.) [This report was written with Marie-Andree Somers.] Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Vocational Education; School Business Relationship; Career Academies; Workplace Learning; Career Readiness; College Readiness; Barriers; State Action; Educational Opportunities; Access to Education; Articulation (Education); Alignment (Education); Definitions; Program Descriptions; State Policy

Abstract:
In the summer of 2012, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) and the Alliance for Excellent Education conducted a survey of State Directors of Career Technical Education (CTE) to gauge state efforts to better connect CTE with a larger college- and career-readiness agenda. Survey questions spanned a range of issues, including whether each state had developed a definition of career readiness, the number of career academies in each state, and what states are doing to formally identify and remove barriers to work-based learning opportunities in policy and practice. This brief includes a short description of efforts from two states--Connecticut and Kentucky--to define work-based learning opportunities for youth participants, educators, and employers, and to create policies that provide greater access to these opportunities. (Contains 1 table and 11 endnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Active Learning; Vocational Education; School Districts; Student Projects; Career Academies; Career Readiness; Partnerships in Education; Academic Achievement; Higher Education; College Readiness; Vocational High Schools; Labor Market

Abstract:
The Antelope Valley Union High School District (AVUHSD), located in the Los Angeles, Bakersfield, and San Bernardino metro areas, receives students from eight area K-8 districts. AVUHSD is home to seven career academies with themes ranging from digital design and engineering to law and government, each of which integrates core content with project-based learning. It serves more than 20,000 students of highly diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, many of whom are English learners and students with disabilities. Despite these challenges, the district promotes high standards for student achievement in college and career readiness. AVUHSD began its commitment to vocational programs with simple agriculture and trades courses. Today, the school district has partnered with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and others to offer students innovative and modern CTE courses to help feed a pipeline of future workers. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Academic Achievement; African American Students; Minority Group Students; School Activities; Career Academies; Phenomenology; Educational Experience; Student Experience; Student Participation; Time Factors (Learning); Comprehensive Programs; Declining Enrollment; Student Attitudes; Achievement Need; Barriers; Performance Factors; Career Education; Online Surveys; Questionnaires; Interviews; Student Interests; Experiential Learning

Abstract:
Despite the historical mission of career academies to expand opportunities and engagement of minority students, particularly African American students, more recent curricular changes in the career academy model have increased the rigor of these types of programs. These new initiatives have undoubtedly resulted in a demographic shift with more White and Asian students participating in career academies while African American and Hispanic student enrollment is drastically decreasing. To that end, the purpose of this study was to explore the meaning African American students ascribed to their participation (or lack thereof) in career academies and the challenges they encountered. As such, the experiences of 15 African American high school students were explored using a phenomenological approach. The following themes were revealed: (a) "Preparation for the Next Level"; (b) "Less Time for School Activities"; (c) "Not Just Going Through the Motions"; and (d) "An Unrealized Connection with Core Academic Subjects". Implications for administrators, guidance counselors, parents, and teachers are articulated. (Contains 1 figure.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Unemployment; Insurance; Economic Climate; Cost Effectiveness; Grants; Career Academies; Tax Credits; Low Income Groups; Unions

Abstract:
Caspar, Hartwig, and Moench do little to convince the authors of this paper that they have identified policy prescriptions that might usefully be applied to the United States. Caspar, Hartwig, and Moench suggest that in countries with high shares of temporary contract workers, employment reductions were sharper (because they could be). But does an inability to lay off workers a good labor market policy? Clearly there are costs to such rigidities, and elsewhere in their essay Caspar, Hartwig, and Moench argue for more mobility! Brusentsev and Vroman (2011) study U.S. states that allow for short-time compensation under their unemployment insurance (UI) systems. They find that the usage of short-time UI goes up quickly when the unemployment rate rises, but then subsequently declines, consistent with short-term adjustments taking the form of hours reductions when workers can collect benefits in the face of hours reductions. One general concern the authors of this paper have about many of the conclusions drawn in both essays is the lack of discussion of the costs and benefits of the proposed programs. As they pointed out in their essay, many of the U.S. efforts to create jobs were very costly and appear to have had only a limited impact on job creation. On the other hand, the authors find intriguing the point of Haveman, Heinrich, and Smeeding that UI extensions do next to nothing for new labor market entrants who have experienced difficulty finding jobs for what is now a very extended period. If UI is viewed as social insurance against economic downturns, then in normal recessions the key group that needs help smoothing consumption may be those already employed. In the current prolonged and deep recession, however, the same insurance motivations may well extend to the young as insurance against prolonged periods of difficult labor market entry. If UI is to be used in this way, it might be useful to focus spending more on human capital accumulation (with a stipend) than on UI "per se." Since it can be hard to distinguish between youth genuinely having difficulty finding jobs and those who would take advantage of UI benefits offered to those who had not met the usual prior work requirements for eligibility, requiring participation in schooling or training instead might generate less moral hazard and thus better targeted assistance. Moreover, to the extent that such human capital investment increases future wages, it could have longer-run dividends. That said, there is little evidence that youth training programs provide either short-term or long-term benefits for participants, so focusing such modified UI benefits on schooling, which has unambiguous benefits, likely makes more sense. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Dropouts; Dropout Research; Crime; Career Academies; Dropout Prevention; Dropout Rate; High School Students; Costs; Economic Impact; Change Strategies; School Holding Power; Human Capital

Abstract:
This article highlights San Diego's dropout problem and how much it's costing the city and the state. Most San Diegans do not realize the enormous impact high school dropouts on their city. The California Dropout Research Project, located at the University of California at Santa Barbara, has estimated the lifetime cost of one class or cohort of dropouts for the state of California at $24,212,395,755. They also project that this one year's crop of California's dropouts will go on to commit 113,954 violent crimes. The California Dropout Research Project has also made projections for the City of San Diego. For one class of the city's dropouts, they project lifetime costs of $534,020,025. And they project that this one year of dropouts will commit 3,879 violent crimes. For the full high school population, multiply these numbers by four and the cost is over 2 billion dollars and 15,000 violent crimes. The reason that these numbers are shocking is because the dropout issue has been kept under wraps. There is a remedy that over time can reduce high school dropout numbers. Career academies graduate 90 percent of their students, including disadvantaged students. These small schools within high schools use career themes to engage their students in learning. Career academies address the root cause of the dropout issue, and this is necessary to obtain savings and reductions in crime. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Program Effectiveness; Vocational Education; Career Academies; Data Analysis; Evidence; Inferences; Best Practices; Effective Schools Research; School Turnaround; Program Descriptions

Abstract:
According to the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education, a "promising practice is any technique used that has a positive impact on students and has some data to support the claims made." Sources of this data range from experimental research to district- or state-level data analysis, but they must provide justification for the success of the program or practice. In the current policy environment, having data to show the impact of career and technical education (CTE) programs is critical--particularly outcome data in the key areas that policymakers are concerned about. This article looks at three such programs: (1) FastTRAC in Minnesota; (2) the Tennessee Technology Centers; and (3) how the career academy model has turned around New Britain High School, located in New Britain, Connecticut. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Foreign Countries; Politics of Education; Political Attitudes; Political Influences; Educational Policy; Change Strategies; Educational Change; Resistance to Change; Career Academies; Position Papers; Educational Legislation; National Standards; Teacher Education; Policy Analysis; Academic Freedom

Abstract:
This article argues that one of the central paradoxes of neo-liberalism is currently being played out in the UK Coalition Government's education policy. Rhetoric that talks of freedoms to be enjoyed by schools and teachers is at variance with a centrally imposed, reductive view of the curriculum, continuing high-stakes scrutiny and the forcing of schools towards academy status. The coalition's hastily constructed legislation reveals a view of education that bears the hallmark of pragmatic marketisation with such limited freedoms as may be enjoyed existing in the context of reward for the compliant and acquiescent. The article concludes with a brief--and necessary--consideration of possibilities for resistance. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Educational Policy; Foreign Countries; Change Strategies; Educational Change; Politics of Education; Career Academies; Political Attitudes; Political Influences; School Restructuring; Educational Philosophy

Abstract:
Following the indecisive general election in May 2010, the Tories and Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government with David Cameron as Prime Minister, George Osborne as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Michael Gove as Secretary of State for Education. Right from the start, Gove was a man in a hurry. Within two weeks of his appointment he had written to all primary and secondary schools in England inviting them to become academies. His Academies Bill was created in haste and rushed through Parliament, receiving the Royal Assent on 27 July 2010. This initial burst of activity was a sign of Gove's determination to leave his mark on England's education system. Two years on, how is he doing? The following is a summary of what has happened since the beginning of this year--to our schools, to the teachers who work in them, and to the education they provide. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Advanced Placement; Grade Point Average; Job Training; Vocational Education; Training Objectives; School Districts; Student Projects; Graduation Rate; Career Academies; High School Students; Academic Education

Abstract:
Volusia County (Florida) Schools' Career and Technical Education (CTE) program has a high school graduation rate of 95 percent. That beats the districtwide rate of 78 percent. That's not all: The 4,500 students enrolled in 33 different career programs at 10 high schools have higher grade point averages in general and do better in Advanced Placement courses. Finally, according to the school district, more than 85 percent of them have some kind of post-secondary education plans in place when they graduate. Numbers don't explain everything, but they do demonstrate the success the Volusia district has had coupling academic and job training goals, and scholarship and project-based learning with experts from throughout the community. Achieving this result has taken 16 years of thoughtful cultivation around a unique focus--viewing the school district as a "member" of the community. Educators and businesspeople alike make sure the CTE students get hands-on experience in the workplace, plenty of exposure in the community, and a solid academic underpinning. (Contains 5 online resources.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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