The study reported in this document was conducted to identify, describe, and assess the potential of innovative approaches to integrating vocational and academic education as one way of helping students to understand the utility of academic learning. Research activities included case studies of five integrated-curriculum programs in California,…

As welfare programs have grown more costly, it has become obvious that they merely treat the symptom, poverty, instead of the problem, unemployment. Jobs increasingly require higher levels of skills and better educated workers. Since the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 has ended the federal guarantee of…

A project to further the integration of vocational and academic education in Ohio used focus groups and surveys to obtain information on the needs of academic and vocational teachers for curriculum to assist them in this integration. Focus groups at nine secondary schools involved administrators and vocational and academic teachers. Their…

Tech prep programs integrate academic, occupational, and employability during the last 2 years of high school and the first 2 years of college, combining the best of college-prep academics with the best of vocational and technical education. The Ohio Tech Prep program, jointly administered by the Ohio Board of Regents and the Ohio Department of…

This guide was developed for Ohio's Work SITE Learning Model, a national demonstration project for the integration of academic and vocational learning. The guide is designed to assist schools in conducting effective teacher worksite externship programs that allow teachers to observe workplace practices in order to glean information about academic…

Career clusters are part of a response to changing work and a changing workplace, a way of broadening the focus of secondary career and technical education (CTE). The following are some of the changes in work and the workplace: the nature and structure of work; leadership styles and organizational structures; the knowledge and skills needed;…

Recommendations were made for improving articulation between and identifying ways to increase the effectiveness of Ohio's secondary and postsecondary vocational and technical education institutions. The study focused on four areas crucial in Ohio: program articulation between secondary and postsecondary institutions; collaboration with business…

This document contains a guide to implementing the Ohio Work and Family Life ITAC (Integrated Technical and Academic Competencies), which connects to the Ohio Model Competency-Based Program documents in arts, foreign languages, language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies, as well as the Core ITAC document. The Work and Family Life ITAC…

This document contains materials about and from a workshop that was conducted to help Ohio horticulture teachers learn to document student competence through effective performance assessments. The document begins with background information about the workshop and a list of workshop objectives. Presented next is a key to the 40 performance…

This document is designed to help vocational/tech prep and applied academics teachers plan and present their subject matter in a more integrated manner. The introduction presents the rationale for the ideabook. It is designed to help teachers modify their instructional program to more closely match the demands and realities of the real world. The…

This document introduces the underlying principles and components of Ohio's Integrated Technical and Academic Competencies (ITAC) system of career-focused education, which combines high-level academics and technical skills with a real-life context for learning that maximizes students' present and future academic and career success. The document…

This document, which is intended for Ohio agriculture teachers, contains lesson plans for an eight-unit competency-based course in agriscience. Each lesson plan contains some or all of the following items: (1) unit title; (2) competency/terminal performance objective; (3) competency builders/pupil performance objectives; (4) list of applied…

Designed for Ohio educators responsible for planning programs to prepare high school students for careers in the arts and communication, this document presents an overview of Ohio's Integrated Technical and Academic Competencies (ITAC) system of career-focused education and specific information about the arts and communication ITAC career cluster.…

Designed for Ohio educators responsible for planning programs to prepare high school students for careers in construction, this document presents an overview of Ohio's Integrated Technical and Academic Competencies (ITAC) system of career-focused education and specific information about the construction subcluster of the industrial and engineering…

Designed for Ohio educators responsible for planning programs to prepare high school students for careers in transportation, this document presents an overview of Ohio's Integrated Technical and Academic Competencies (ITAC) system of career-focused education and specific information about the transportation subcluster of the industrial and…