High Schools That Work: Best Practices for CTE

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High Schools That Work: Best Practices for CTE

High Schools That Work (HSTW), a school improvement initiative of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), has documented achievement gains by career and technical education (CTE) students at participating sites (Bottoms and Presson 2000). At HSTW sites participating in 1996 and 1998 assessments (Frome 2001), CTE students showed math and science achievement equal to the national average of all high school students—and exceeded the national average of CTE students in math, science, and reading.

One part of the HSTW framework is a set of 10 Key Practices that each participating site implements by developing and carrying out a customized action plan for school improvement (SREB 1999). Kaufman et al. (2000) used existing HSTW data to analyze the impact of 6 clusters representing HSTW's 10 Key Practices. They concluded that achievement gains in science, reading, and math were correlated with the proportion of students meeting HSTW curriculum standards and with the amount of time students spent talking to their guidance counselors and teachers about their school program. They also concluded that the proportion of students perceiving their academic and CTE teachers working together to improve students' math, reading, and writing skills was correlated with achievement gains in those three areas. This Brief provides practical examples of approaches HSTW sites have used to move toward HSTW curriculum standards, provide students with guidance, and allow academic and CTE teachers to work together.

HSTW Curriculum Standards

The curriculum recommended by HSTW (Bottoms and Presson 2000) calls for a challenging program of study with two components. First, an upgraded academic core ...

... middle of paper ...

...Students. Atlanta, GA: SREB, 1995. (ED 404 540)

Southern Regional Education Board. 1996 Outstanding Practices: Effective Strategies in Raising the Achievement of Career-Bound High School Students by Replacing the General Track. High Schools That Work. Atlanta, GA: SREB, 1996. (ED 404 541)

Southern Regional Education Board. New Partnerships and a National Network to Improve High School Education. Atlanta, GA: SREB, 1999. <http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/background/brochure.asp>

Southern Regional Education Board. High Schools That Work in Kentucky: A Progress Report. Atlanta, GA: SREB, 2000. <http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/publications/state_reports/KYstateprofile.pdf>

Winterburn, P. "Learning to Trust. On the Treasure Coast, Tech Prep Proves a Trove for Educators Long Divided." Vocational Education Journal 70, no. 4 (April 1995): 28-29, 44.

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