David Gordon
As a longtime proponent of Career Technical Education, I feel compelled to provide additional context to the June 5 commentary by Nicole Rice and Jeremy Smith entitled “Save Career and Technical Education from Their Death Spiral.”
It is unfortunate that the article suggests that Career Technical Education (CTE) in California is on the decline when the state’s commitment to a complete, integrated learning program actually is stronger than ever. The commentary makes some valid points, but I am concerned that progress made in the remarkable transformation of Regional Occupational Programs and technical courses to more flexible, career-based and industry-themed courses throughout California will be obscured by the focus of this article.
The central premise of the authors’ commentary focused on a reported one-year decline in CTE courses and accompanying course enrollments gleaned from the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and reported by the California Department of Education. That commentary failed to include any multi-year analysis of the same data to truly evaluate trends in course offerings, course enrollment and CTE teachers. That lack of depth helps paint a false picture.
The article cites a decrease in the number of CTE courses from 2011-12 to 2012-13 (the most recently available data from the state). Data included from an EdSource article published earlier this year, “New Report Fuels Fears of Decline of Regional Occupational Programs” (Jan. 26, 2014) confirm a one-year course offering decline from 2011-12 (42,610 courses) to 2012-13 (35,625 courses). However, the number of CTE courses reported in 2012-13 represents an increase of more than 12,000 courses over the previous five years (23,600 courses were reported in 2008-09). In addition, that article reported a 20 percent drop in the number of full-time CTE teachersReports of Career Technical Ed’s demise are greatly exaggerated | EdSource Today:
SAN BERNARDINO – Faced with dismal student test scores, low graduation rates and high student suspension rates, the preliminary draft of the San Bernardino City Unified School District’s funding plan targets the “cradle to career” ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit the Edsource Today website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
