Career and Technical Education
Report (PDF)April 23, 2013
This interactive video profile of the Quakertown Community School District (QCSD) is the first of a series providing readers with a real-life, practical story about how district and school leaders are working to improve student learning outcomes through the effective use of digital learning. It examines how QCSD—a small, K–12 public school district in rural southeastern Pennsylvania—worked with important partners, including its local teachers’ union, to improve student outcomes using effective applications of technology and blended learning strategies. Throughout the interactive profile, there are short videos from district practitioners describing how they addressed specific issues.
A Framework for Advancing Career and Technical Education: Recommendations for the Reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Act Policy Brief (PDF)
June 18, 2012
The nation’s economy is only as strong as the educational foundation that supports it. Economic success in the twenty-first century requires a labor force capable of demonstrating an advanced level of both knowledge and skill. To be a true engine of growth, the nation’s education system must be aligned with these demands. This is why the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Educational Improvement Act of 2006 (Perkins), the nation’s largest federal investment in secondary and postsecondary career and technical education (CTE), is both critical and timely. As a result of the previous reauthorization, a greater emphasis was placed on improving the academic achievement of CTE students, program accountability, and the link between secondary and postsecondary education. The next reauthorization of Perkins must continue to build on these changes, ensuring that the opportunities provided at the secondary school level are relevant, engaging, of high quality, and aligned with the career demands that lie ahead, and that such opportunities place a targeted focus on those youth who have traditionally been least likely to have access to the educational opportunities that prepare them to be both college and career ready.
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Preparing Students for College and Career: California Multiple Pathways Issue Brief (PDF)
June 30, 2009
To prepare students for success in life, the twenty-first-century American high school needs to shift its focus from preparing for college or career to achieving college and career readiness for every student. One of the most comprehensive efforts towards this goal is the “multiple pathways” initiative in California, which is a reform model aimed at improving high schools by pairing a rigorous college preparatory curriculum with an industry theme while offering the supports and workplace exposure that can be critical to students’ success. The initiative provides multiyear programs of study that are rigorous, relevant, and directly connected to regional and state economic needs. This brief details the multiple pathways movement in California, developed in response to poor and inequitable student outcomes, as it continues to garner interest and develop a growing base of evidence. The discussion lays out the rationale for the approach and the implications of this California-based effort for stakeholders seeking to address the national dropout crisis.
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Facts For Education Advocates: Price of College and Financial Aid (copublished with the College Board) Fact Sheets (PDF)
December 2, 2008
Recognizing that no tool is more important than information to help educators and other advocates improve the country’s educational system, the College Board and the Alliance for Excellent Education have formed a partnership to develop a series of fact sheets highlighting the state of American schools and their students. The fourth in a multi-issue series provides a “Facts for Education Advocates” feature focusing on the price of college and financial aid.
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Facts For Education Advocates: Demographics and the Racial Divide (copublished with the College Board) Fact Sheets (PDF)
October 27, 2008
Recognizing that no tool is more important than information to help educators and other advocates improve the country’s educational system, the College Board and the Alliance for Excellent Education have formed a partnership to develop a series of fact sheets highlighting the state of American schools and their students.
The third in a multi-issue series provides a “Facts for Education Advocates” feature focusing on the demographics and racial divide in today’s schools.
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