A study used new data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 to compare students in combined academic and vocational programs with high school students in other curricular categories in 1997 and to compare the 1997 patterns with those of earlier surveys. Previous studies have found that the proportion of high school students…

Describes three approaches to integration of academic and vocational education and discusses how schools can move toward this concept. The approaches are (1) integrating academic and vocational coursework; (2) the academy model; and (3) occupational clusters and career paths. (JOW)

BASICS: Bridging Vocational and Academic Skills is a resource package based on the premises that (1) academic skills are embedded in vocational tasks; (2) vocational tasks allow real-world application of basic skills; and (3) basic skills and vocational skills should be taught together. New Bern-Craven County Schools (North Carolina) have…

Describes how a vocational-technical center in a poor county in Michigan was transformed with an integrated program that ensures four provisions for all learners: (1) involvement in applying academic skills with occupational skills; (2) expanded opportunities to develop employability skills; (3) linkages with business, industry, and community…

The rift between academic and vocational education has been magnified by the physical isolation of vocational facilities. Vocational educators must abandon their apologetic soapboxes to help parents and students realize the vocational nature of almost all education. Dialogue is essential. Teachers must assume responsibility for educating all…

Technology education should be an integral part of rigorous college preparatory programs. This will require changing attitudes of the academic community as well as achieving professional consensus on the purpose of technology education. (SK)

Explains how to integrate applied academics (communications, mathematics, computer applications) into accounting so that students can see the bridge develop between subjects as well as with the real world. (Author)

The next generation of Tech Prep is about pedagogy, integrated academic and technical courses, standards, and provision of student directions and alternatives. The vision has four elements: providing a new curricular structure, breaking the teaching/learning mold, establishing a new educational role for employers, and creating family and community…

Multiple observations of 27 high school classrooms (academic, vocational, special education academic, or integrated academic/vocational) were used to validate an instrument measuring features of integrated curricula. Integrated curricula or vocational classes could be differentiated from academic or special education using the instrument. (SK)

Survey responses of 91 general education and 155 occupational faculty and 107 administrators in technical colleges indicated agreement that communication and critical thinking are most important learner outcomes and uncertainty about the meaning of academic-vocational integration. Administrators rated benefits of integration higher than the…

This paper is designed to help educators to incorporate the competencies developed by the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) into their curricula. (SCANS is a commission composed of representatives of education, business, labor, and state government established in 1990 to define a common core of skills that constitute job…

Curriculum integration (CI) is an educational strategy aimed primarily at students who take significant numbers of both academic and vocational courses either as part of a formal program or on their own. Its goal is to enhance the learning of these students by breaking down the traditional barrier that exists in most schools between the two…

The Stages of Concern Questionnaire was completed by 677 of 1,207 teachers at High Schools that Work sites. Those with no experience or first-year experience of reform implementation had high personal concerns that needed to be addressed. About half had high levels of adoption proneness indicating their potential to be reform leaders. (SK)

A literature review suggests that occupational high schools and career academies can raise academic achievement, reduce dropout, and instill career aspirations. Integration is complicated by a web of policies and practices and negative images of vocational education. More attention should be paid to postsecondary integration. (JOW)

A survey of principals, counselors, and academic and vocational teachers was conducted in 69 Kentucky secondary schools before and in 67 schools after school-based decision making (SBDM) was implemented. SBDM's effect on academic/vocational integration and vocational funding was minimal. Except for counselors, the percentage perceiving SBDM as…