Publishers Weekly - November 10, 2014

Common Core

Comprehensive activity books covering language and math for grades 1 through 8

www.incentivepublications.com

As Erika Anderson observed in a much-discussed 2012 article in Forbes, a four-year degree is hardly the only path for students, especially in today’s tech-driven economy. “A college degree doesn’t guarantee success,” she wrote, “and not getting a college degree doesn’t guarantee failure.”

Rediscovering CTE

Three years ago, in a speech at the Harvard Graduate School
of Education, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan lamented
that career and technical education has been “the neglected step-
child of education reform.” Those words still ring true.
Although there has been something of a resurgence of CTE
programs in the United States in recent years, the stigma
attached to this type of education still exists. In the fall 2014
issue of American Educator, Randi Weingarten, president of the
American Federation of Teachers, addressed this gap and noted
the persistence of a two-tier educational system, writing,
“Despite the proven success of CTE programs nationwide, many
are still struggling with funding or lack of support—and out-
dated biases that view CTE programs as vocational and meant
to relegate students to second-class citizenship.”
While CTE programs are commonplace and successful in
many European countries, in the United States they have long
been inaccurately viewed as an option solely for those not suited
to academic pursuits, and for troubled and at-risk youth. This
kind of misinformation continues to stigmatize CTE, even as
the facts present a quite different and powerful narrative.
According to the Association for Career and Technical Educa-
tion, “CTE serves 94% of all high school students, including
male and female students, students from many races and eth-
nicities, and students from higher- and lower-income back-
grounds.” Additionally, the average high school graduation rate
for students concentrating in CTE programs is over 90%, com-
pared to a 75% national freshman graduation rate (the portion
of freshmen who graduate on time). And more than 70% of
those in CTE programs went on to pursue postsecondary educa-
tion “shortly after high school.”
With these stats, the tide should finally turn in favor of a CTE
path for high school students. And Congress and state legisla-

Last September, a piece in U.S. News and World Report argued that too many high school students are unprepared for college, and that all four years of high school ought to be devoted to college prep. The article went so far as to suggest that college prep should begin as early as the eighth grade.

College and career readiness are both central aims of the Common Core. But one year into the rollout of the standards, is the focus on college readiness taking priority over careers?

From our vantage point, the pressure on secondary students to pursue further education after high school continues to mount, making students often feel that college is their only option. But in an edu- cational era that increasingly emphasizes getting students into college, how can we step up our support for career and technical education (CTE)—can we use this period of change to design programs that teach students real-world work-place skills, in addition to helping them succeed academically? CUT TO THE CORE