The Moraine Area Career System (MACS) Tech Prep Applied Academics Core project was undertaken to develop a written replicable model core of applied academics for selected vocational-technical programs that would emphasize Illinois goals for learning and technical content (including critical and computer literacy). A tech prep advisory council…

This document is a compilation of materials on integrating academic and vocational technical education. Section 1 presents integration basics, including a definition, its benefits, barriers, conditions required for integration, and models, pros, and cons. Section 2 focuses on curriculum alignment and provides steps for designing an integrated unit…

This report describes the procedures and accomplishments of the first year of a multiyear project to develop a "2 + 2" articulated training program in health careers that links the last 2 years of secondary and the first 2 years of postsecondary training to prepare students for employment in one or more occupations. A related goal for…

Based on observations in many schools, this report discusses the integration of vocational and academic education and describes various approaches to integration. In the first section, the various reasons supporting an integrated curriculum are examined. In the second section, eight different models of integration are outlined, and descriptions of…

This report documents the proceedings from a series of four regional roundtable discussions sponsored by the Getty Center for Education in the Arts. Representatives including arts educators, educational leaders, school administrators, artists, elected officials, and arts organization members were brought together to discuss practical aspects of…

"Blended instruction" is an approach to integrating high school curriculum around broad career clusters or areas of student interest and study. Blended instruction is intended to engage students in more challenging assignments, increase attendance, and increase student academic and technical achievement. This Maryland guide contains…

Presents the results of a three-year pilot program integrating humanities studies at six community colleges using funds from the Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Discusses interdisciplinary curriculum development, team-teaching, humanities inclusion in occupational education, ethical modules for technical courses,…

Describes difficulties faced by faculty and administrators at Kentucky's Jefferson Community College in implementing the college's general education program. Highlights issues related to ensuring teaching competency, assessing the program's effects, and maintaining a balance between fidelity to the ideas of general education and accountability for…

Addresses the institutional context, goals, philosophy, external constraints, and assessment implications of the general education program at Piedmont Virginia Community College. Indicates that establishing faculty ownership of the program, anticipating faculty turf battles, making larger external connections, and appropriately restructuring the…

Examines the eight models for general education programming presented in this volume, highlighting patterns found in the articles. Indicates that the programs emphasize communication skills, an appreciation for diversity, technological and mathematical literacy, the development of moral reasoning skills, and the improvement of student critical…

A rationale for providing an integrative curriculum for gifted students is offered, and three curriculum designs are explained: (1) correlation (in which the sequence of presentation is altered to maximize learning of interrelationships); (2) fusion (in which content and skills of several subjects are blended); and (3) core curriculum (focusing on…

Analyzes the history of the development of African-American studies as a social science and humanities discipline, and contends that the field is so new it has no history of its own. The inception of the Temple University (Pennsylvania) School of Afrocentric Scholarship marks the discipline's real birth. (SLD)

This booklet is the third in a series of profiles of "what works" at high schools in the High Schools that Work program. It contains 42 outstanding practices descriptions arranged in categories representing the key practices of the High Schools that Work program: (1) redesigning and refocusing vocational studies; (2) developing a high…

Because college-bound students often had trouble fitting agricultural education courses into their schedules, and because science teachers rejected the idea of giving a science credit for 2 years of agricultural education, a new integrated course was created in Tennessee. It is now called Science IA (Agriscience). It is taught by a teacher with an…

This publication consists of two parts: an overview of tech prep in Western Wisconsin and the Tech Prep Strategic Plan for Western Wisconsin. The overview combines reduced-size pages (four to a page) with full-size pages that include the following: the definition of tech prep; legislative mandate; rationale; benefits of tech prep; tech prep…