In this document, insights into teachers' professional community (or communities) derive from a comparison between teachers of the core academic subjects (English, social studies, science, mathematics, and foreign language) and those in three traditional vocational subjects (industrial arts, business, and home economics). Two areas of research…

A research study compared graduates of career magnet programs to graduates of comprehensive high schools in a large metropolitan area. The career magnet programs studied are located either within regular comprehensive high schools or combined with other magnet programs to fill an entire building. Research was conducted through school records of…

As part of a 3-year research project, a study focused on the character and the consequences of vocational and academic teachers' professional identities and relationships within comprehensive high schools. Information was gathered through interviews, observations, and survey queries in five high schools in California and Michigan. The views of 35…

This publication analyzes ways in which vocational teachers construct the content and purpose of vocational studies in comprehensive high schools. Data were gathered during a 3-year field study conducted in 5 comprehensive high schools. Findings suggest: (1) schools and teachers accommodate to an "academics first" policy, thereby…

The traditional sharp distinction between vocational and academic education has come under increasing criticism for a number of reasons, including growing recognition of the failure of conventional curriculum and modes of instruction to respond to the ways in which students actually learn and increased awareness of the social, economic, and…

The relationship between high school restructuring and vocational reform was examined in case studies of two moderately large comprehensive California high schools that have undertaken schoolwide efforts to establish new forms of social organization for teachers' and students' work. Over the 2-year study period, several visits were made to each…

This book contains eight papers on a study of the effects of academic career magnetic education on high schools and their graduates. "Introduction" (Robert L. Crain) explains the study's objectives and methodology, which included an analysis of data files on 9,176 students who applied to 59 different academic career magnet education and…