The Ford PAS NGLC Thought Leader Series

This month's topic:
High School Education: Multiple Pathways and Student Choice

By Charles "Charlie" Mojkowski, Independent Consultant and a Senior Associate, Big Picture Learning (www.bigpicturelearning.org) and the Alternative High School Initiative (www.ahsi.org)

The terms "vocational education" and more recently "career and technical education" have served historically as codes for programs or schools serving young people who are judged not capable of going on to postsecondary education and, therefore, must be provided with a set of skills so that they can enter the workforce directly from high school. This judgment has created a two-tiered caste system of college-bound and work-bound education that is hardwired in our collective societal consciousness.

That caste system is defunct.

The world has changed. The economy has changed. The nature of work and the workplace have changed. Most everyone understands that there is, or certainly should be, a "career" and a "technical" aspect to all learning, just as there is, or should be, an applied, "hands-on" aspect to all learning. Can you imagine high school students aspiring to be architects, doctors, or lawyers who would not want to learn about the career and the technical aspects of their preparation for those professions? All high school education is, in large part, career education, just as all high school education is preparation for postsecondary—make that lifelong—learning.

Consider what many see as essential features of excellent career and technical education:

• A personalized learning program focused on each student's career interests.
• A thoughtful integration of academic and technical skills development.
• Opportunities for each student to engage with adults working in the student's career interest area.
• Requirements that students exhibit skill and understanding through authentic performance demonstrations.
• Opportunities for students to obtain, in addition to a high school diploma, multiple forms of certifications and credentials in their career interests.
• All of the above provided in the workplace and community, as well as the school.

You might conclude, as I have, that all high school students would be well-served by programs with such features. Few high schools, however, offer them.

Also, consider the by-now familiar list of skills that employers want in their new hires, whether they arrive with a high school diploma or a two- or four-year college degree.

• The ability to construct and apply new knowledge across varying work activities.
• The ability to generate innovative solutions that require predicting, analyzing, forecasting, forming perspective, and recognizing patterns.
• The ability to communicate, using a variety of tools in multiple situations and cultures, particularly as a member of a team.
• The ability to integrate knowledge from multiple disciplines, including both the arts and sciences.
• The ability to transition across projects, firms, disciplines, and work/learning experiences.
• The ability to organize work and persist in its successful conclusion.

Again you might conclude, as I have, that all high school students need to demonstrate competence in these skills by graduation. Few high schools, however, teach or assess them. In our Big Picture Schools, we are challenged to do so and have found the Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies (PAS) modules and professional development to be particularly helpful.

Observing the new world economy, we are reminded that it is not the career we choose that provides job security, but our ability to use these essential skills, always prepared to make the inevitable shift to new work, perhaps in new industries, which the new economy will require.

All high school students need to have access to diverse program options that match their career interests and the ways they wish to pursue them. And within those programs, they need choices that allow them to customize their learning plans.

Might educators and policymakers, therefore, eliminate the increasingly useless separation between traditional college preparatory and career and technical education programs? Might it be more productive to envision one high school system with a continuum of multiple pathways and choices for students, all incorporating those features listed above?

A small number of school districts throughout the country already provide pathways through career-themed and interest-based programs of study. Many more high schools need to follow their lead. Offering such choices will keep many more students from leaving school before graduation and ensure that many more graduates are prepared for success in their careers and in their postsecondary learning.

The caste system is defunct. Let's get over it.

Credits: Mojkowski wishes to thank Elliot Washor, Co-Director of Big Picture Learning, for his contributions to this article.

Previous Thought Leader Essays:

Curriculum: What Is It, and Why Do We Need It?
By Ilene Kantrov, Director, Center for Educational Resources and Outreach, Education Development Center, Inc.

Earning Respect for Career Academies — and Keeping it
By Hans Meeder, President, Meeder Consulting Group

Supporting Career Academies is Smart Business, not Charity
By Richard K. Delano, Ford Motor Company Fund Advisory Council

Outlining the Financial Benefits and Positive Outcomes of Career Academies and Demonstrating how They More Than Justify the Investments in Building a Career Academy Network
By Richard K. Delano, Ford Motor Company Fund Advisory Council

Reinventing the Workforce and Bolstering the Economy through Career Academies and More Relevant High Schools
By Cheryl Carrier, Program Director, 21st Century Education Programs, Ford Motor Company Fund