A role to play in school reform: in a Virginia city school system, academics and career and technical education are working together to achieve a common goal.

In the public school system of Chesapeake, Virginia, career and technical education is not sitting on the sidelines when it comes to meeting the state standards for student achievement. Academics and career tech have been working together well in the city's academic tech prep program, and now the Standards of Learning (SOL) are being integrated into the program as well.

SOL is the Virginia K-12 school reform that includes testing, accountability and a school performance report card. The academic areas included in the Virginia Standards of Learning are English (reading, literature, research and writing), mathematics, history and social studies (including geography, civics and economics), science, and computer technology.

A course developed by Assistant Principal of Deep Creek Middle School Jannette Edwards with state funds is set up to train teachers on how to integrate SOL into all subject areas, including career and technical education. There is no cost to the teachers, who also receive a one-hour college credit for the course.

At the ACTE convention in Las Vegas this past December, a group of educators from the Chesapeake Public Schools gave a presentation on the integration of the academic standards of SOL into their tech prep program, In addition to Edwards, the group included Robert Head, program administrator for career and technical education, and James Rayfield, the director of secondary curriculum and instruction,

They noted in their presentation that the overall goal of the teacher training is to "combine challenging academic content and up-to-date technical and career education studies to raise the achievement of students,"

CTE Teachers Do Their Part

The resources used in the training course include Chesapeake Public Schools curriculum guides and teacher resource guides that contain essential knowledge, skills and processes.

Since the state was helping localities with training for teachers in integrating the academics involved in SOL into their curricula, Head says, "We used the funds to make sure CTE teachers were not left out of this process."

It was a two-year process, but all of the CTE teachers have now taken the training. Among the positive results already being noted: a rise in student test scores in English, math and history.

According to Head, another benefit is that core teachers and career and technical education teachers see how they can work together in raising the level of student academic achievement. "The core teachers have felt that all of the pressure was on them, but now they see that the CTE teachers can help make connections for kids because they have concrete activities to connect to academics," he says. "And the CTE teachers now feel more a part of this."

Director of Secondary Curriculum and Instruction Rayfield also praises the training the teachers received, calling it the crucial component that showed everyone was taking responsibility for meeting the SOLs.

"We also heard many positive remarks from all of the CTE teachers," says Rayfield. "They said it was valuable time spent."

Statistics confirm that the time was indeed well spent, since the academic achievement of the students improved according to the Standards of Learning end-of-course tests. In the 2001-2002 school year, the passing rates of students enrolled in career and technical education courses at Chesapeake Public Schools had improved dramatically since the 1999-2000 school year. In English, 73.83 percent passed, compared to 67.77 percent in 1999-2000. The passing rate for mathematics in 2001-2002 was 67.07 percent; while in 1999-2000, it was only 47.37 percent. History had a passing rate of 71.65 percent in 2001-2002 compared to 46.88 percent in 1999-2000. In science, 71.76 percent of the career tech students passed, as compared to 66.80 percent in 1999-2000.

Academics and Career Tech

Rayfield has observed the way career and technical education benefits the Chesapeake students with workforce skills--and the way it is now being used to help their academic progress.

"In one of our marketing education courses on travel and tourism, the instructor incorporated geography skills, and that has become very successful in several of our high schools."

He also cites a principles of technology course that supports science curricula. "We have more students taking physics because of that course," he notes. "The hands-on component is the hook that gets them inspired to go on to take physics and to excel in it."

As a former guidance counselor, Rayfield appreciates the focus the Chesapeake program has brought to eighth and ninth graders when it comes to selecting their high school electives.

"In the past, some students just haphazardly picked electives," he says, "but tech prep has focused them on their selections."

The Chesapeake Public School division is the sixth largest in Virginia and still growing. It has six high schools and 10 middle schools--with more than 10,000 students enrolled in more than 100 career and technical education courses. According to Rayfield, enrollment in career and technical education in Chesapeake public schools has continued to increase, and the number of students who complete the tech prep program there has also grown.

The Chesapeake academic tech prep program is offered at all Chesapeake high schools as well as the Chesapeake Center for Science and Technology. The courses of study include the gold academic tech prep sequence, in which students must complete the requirements for an advanced studies diploma (24 credits). Students may pursue the gold academic tech prep sequence in either business and marketing, engineering and technical, health and human services, or the fine arts career cluster. The silver academic tech prep sequence involves the same five career clusters but requires only 22 credits for a standard diploma.

Head notes that the world has changed, and students now need skills in areas such as math and communications in addition to their technical skills. Career and technical education has always given students the technical skills, but in their academic tech prep program, Head says they wanted to focus on making sure their students left the school system with the academic skills they will also need in order to be successful. He calls this "an unbeatable combination that can take them wherever they want to go."

Using the tech prep program to improve academic performance seems to make perfect sense to Head, who explains, "The whole idea behind academic tech prep is the integration of academics into career and technical education."

Rayfield says that the technology standards that are part of the Virginia SOLs, mean that workforce skills are becoming a part of academic studies, just as academic skills are becoming a more important part of career and technical education. In Chesapeake, the two fields seem to he developing an excellent working relationship that is paying off for the students there.

For additional information, please contact Robert Head or" Jim Rayfield at [e-mail].