Jesus Lupian works on a framing project in his carpentry class in San Jose. Photo by Neil Hanshaw.

Jesus Lupian works on a framing projection in a carpentry class at Silicon Valley Career Technical Didactics in San Jose. Credit: Neil Hanshaw

A new report has raised concerns about the future of regional occupational programs that are geared to helping high school students explore career options and be prepared to enter the workforce after graduation.

The written report, released this month by the California Section of Teaching, shows a 20 percent driblet in the number of career technical loftier school teachers between 2011-12 and 2012-13. And simply 38 percent of the state'due south high school students took career tech courses in 2012-13, about 12 percent fewer students than the year earlier.

The decline "is staggering," said Lloyd McCabe, author of the written report and an didactics ambassador for the education section's Career Technical Pedagogy Leadership and Instructional Back up Office. "You look at information technology and think it tin can't be correct. Only I did the data twice."

Shifting priorities

The turn down reflects a shift in the state'southward priorities abroad from traditional occupational classes such equally auto store or carpentry to career-oriented programs that put students on a college track. Some contend this shift is needed to ensure that students have as many options as possible when they graduate from high schoolhouse. Others argue that the state has gone too far, overlooking students who are non college-bound and who need to exist prepared to enter the work force or a curt-term training program directly out of high schoolhouse.

Career tech includes a broad range of courses from the bones high schoolhouse automotive store grade to linked learning programs that combine rigorous college-prep academics with hands-on learning in a career "pathway," such as health or business. State leaders are investing $250 1000000 in one-time funds to develop linked learning programs and are providing dedicated funding to Partnership Academies, which rely on the linked learning approach past creating small learning communities at high schools that focus on an integrated career theme.

But the Regional Occupational Centers and Programs, which for 40 years have offered a broad range of career classes from cosmetology to engineering as part of the loftier school curriculum, no longer receive dedicated funding. Although many of those courses appeal to college-going students, these centers also serve high school students who want to explore well-paying careers such as dental hygienist or carpentry that do not require a four-year college degree.

The drop in career technical teachers and courses is occurring in these centers and in individual high school classes such as automotive shop, McCabe said. Regional Occupational Centers and Programs, which serve more than 400,000 students, can exist located on a high schoolhouse campus or a divide facility. Students typically accept classes during their regular schoolhouse mean solar day, although some centers offer courses subsequently school.

The loss of dedicated funding "has accelerated the demise of career tech," said Jim Aschwanden, executive manager of the California Agriculture Teachers' Association and a former State Lath of Pedagogy member.

The regional occupational centers that supported the key courses have suffered cutbacks and are fading away, he said, citing the data in the new report as evidence. Currently 72 centers are open up statewide, and two – Long Beach ROP and Due east Bay ROP in Oakland – have closed.

"What district is going to put students in the career tech pipeline if they see the construction is disappearing?" Aschwanden asked.

The pathway approach taken by Partnership Academies and linked learning programs is growing, however. Partnership Academies are ane of the few state programs that will continue to receive defended annual funding of $21.4 million. In addition, 63 county offices of education and districts are piloting linked learning programs starting this school yr.

Districts can also compete for a piece of the $250 million in one-time funds the state will provide during the side by side iii years to create career pathways past edifice connections between high schools and local employers across the land.

On the other hand, the 72 Regional Occupational Centers accept to compete with other commune priorities.

'Body of water alter'

Earlier the recession, the land allocated $486 meg in dedicated funding to the centers. When the recession began, the country cut the allocation by twenty percent and immune districts to use the money for any educational purpose. This year's upkeep and the one the governor has proposed for next yr essentially provide no funds for the centers, only districts who are currently funding a centre or programme are expected to continue to practise so through 2014-15. The budget for this year and next also allocates a piffling more than than $200 per loftier school pupil for career tech, simply districts are free to spend the funds for other purposes.

Regional occupational centers and programs will remain feasible if they provide courses that are key to local economic growth and maximize opportunities for students, said Hilary McLean, a spokesperson for the Linked Learning Alliance, a statewide coalition of education, industry and community organizations that advocate for linked learning programs. But if they don't, she said, "they eventually will become by the wayside."

At that place is a "sea change at work" on how to better prepare students for college and career, she said.

"Nosotros're seeing a real interest in the linked learning arroyo that builds on career tech – integrates it with academics," McLean said. "It'southward better than the either-or approach – college prep track or isolated career tech track."

Just Aschwanden is concerned that students who want to pursue careers that do non require a four-year higher degree will lose interest in school and drop out without the options offered through regional centers.

Many of the centers' programs, such as aerospace technology offered at SoCal Regional Occupational Center in Torrance, meet the linked learning criteria, simply others such as SoCal's cosmetology or welding programs practise non because they do not include an integrated bookish approach.

In Torrance, aerospace is a big industry and a commune could support a linked learning career pathway in that industry, said Christine Hoffman, superintendent of SoCal ROC. "But not everybody wants to be an aerospace engineer," she said. "Kids want to be welders, electricians, auto technicians, animators. A single loftier schoolhouse cannot do all the things that a regional occupational centre can and does provide."

The loss of dedicated funding for the career centers and programs is part of the recent overhaul of the state's complex school finance system aimed at giving school districts more command over how they use state funds. The theory behind the new Local Control Funding Formula constabulary, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, is that districts will support programs that are valued past their communities "based on the real-world issues they face," Brown has said.

But Aschwanden isn't so sure. He said some programs will survive, such as agricultural courses because they are science-based and the University of California has recognized them as meeting one of the "A-K" course requirements for archway into the university system.

Only, he added, if the past is any indication, districts will focus on what is tested. Although metrics showing how well high schools are preparing students for careers are supposed to be added to the Bookish Performance Index in 2014-15, no one is articulate on how that tin can be measured, he said. If career tech courses can't be measured to contribute to a school or district'due south API score, so districts are much less likely to support them, he said.

Districts take other compelling priorities, Hoffman said.

"All the new monies that the high schools are getting in the next three to five years are backfill for what they lost over the last viii years," she said. "Whenever you get new monies, the first telephone call will exist on the negotiation table for salaries. That'due south the reality of where the monies become."

One of the problems with eliminating dedicated funding for the centers, advocates say, is that they typically involve big investments in facilities and equipment such as carpentry and auto shops or dental offices and beauty salons. If funds for the centers and programs disappear, the facilities and equipment volition be sold, they say, and will be as well expensive to rebuild in the future.

Hoffman said she is urging lawmakers to again provide dedicated funding for these regional programs that she sees equally crucial to local economies, and ultimately to the economical health of the land.

"By the time we realize what nosotros accept eliminated, it'due south too tardily," Hoffman said. "The facilities are gone, the equipment is gone, and we won't have the funding to get them back."

Susan Frey covers expanded learning time. Contact her.

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