Website Mission
It is the mission of this website to assist in the development of learning environments that promote Career and Technical Education as well as academic excellence. To provide examples of effective 21st century teaching and learning strategies in order to assist in the development of more engaged and motivated classrooms. To provide multimedia Podcasts and articles to facilitate an understanding of how to implement technology and multimedia in classrooms regardless of content area. To encourage independent and personalized learning by teaching students to enjoy the process of learning. To assist teachers in becoming facilitators of learning.
Career and Technical Schools: A Viable Option
It has been a long-standing battle between those who value Career and Technical Education (CTE), and those who are misinformed about the advantages CTE provides for its graduates. For these reasons, many academic high schools are reluctant to send their students to the “tech school,” for fear of not being able to count those students as part of their college acceptance rates. What is not well-publicized is the fact that by not encouraging these students to attend CTE, the schools are essentially holding the students back from obtaining high-demand jobs in technical and manufacturing fields after graduation.
Debra Erdley wrote an article on this topic for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. In the article, Kathryn Ingram, the director of the A.W. Beattie Career Center (a vocational technical school in northern Allegheny), offers her opinion. According to Ingram, “High schools that tout college enrollment figures for graduates might consider technical education a dead end. A lot of times higher-end students have to fight with their home school to come here.” Unfortunately, the public still places a higher value on receiving a four-year degree as opposed to studying a technical trade and being trained to enter the workforce directly out of high school.
“Jim Buckheit, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, a statewide professional organization of school superintendents and principals, said such issues have plagued schools for years.” According to Buckheit,
It goes to 'What do parents value?' Schools are not held officially accountable for sending students to college, but if you look at any school district public relations document, one of the things they highlight is the number of students who go to college. ... We need to provide better information for parents and schools about other opportunities that are available.
It appears as though this battle will continue as long as parents, educators and administrators are misinformed about the potential long-term benefits that CTE offers its students. The only way to change this perception is to spread the word about what 21st Century CTE is, and the opportunities it can provide for students today.
