April 24.2012

(Educators)IN RECENT YEARS, college readiness standards have been a central—and at times controversial—centerpiece of education reform discussions. For a large number of students, however, college isn’t in the cards but a career with earning potential remains an essential goal. What then?
Enter the Common Career Technical Core, a set of standards designed specifically for vocational training and education. The state-led initiative, much like the Common Core State Standardsmodel, aims to establish a set of benchmarks that define what a student should know and be able to do in a global economy after graduating from secondary and post-secondary technical programs. The CCTE is built around 16 “career clusters,” groups of study organized by industry or field of study, and the STEM cluster is among the most widely-implemented.

Out of the 46 states and three territories who have adopted the secondary CTE standards, 45 of them offer programs in STEM. At the U.S. News STEM Solutions Conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Marie Barry, director of the Office of Career and Technical Education at the New Jersey Department of Education, said such state programs are “preparing students for multiple options” rather than a single job. Barry said New Jersey has seen firsthand the effects of STEM integration in vocational training. A culinary arts degree, among the most traditional technical credentials, has grown to include a "culinology" program that integrates nutrition, microbiology and chemistry into technical training.

“You can do this in a way that’s rigorous and engaging,” Barry said of the STEM-focused educational programs. In another New Jersey school, she explained, students studying aerospace were building and designing their own unmanned aerial vehicles.

Not only are the programs engaging, but they're also profitable down the line, noted Tracy Gray, managing director for the American Institutes for Research. Examining statistics from Colorado and Texas, Gray and her colleagues found serious earning potential in certificate and associate degree programs, especially in radiological technology and science careers where first year earnings can begin at around $50,000.

“The two-year technical degree is a valuable credential, which can help graduates find well-paying jobs,” said Gray. “Students really do have the opportunity to enter the workforce with significant earnings as someone looking for their first job.”

Roadblocks still exist in implementing effective STEM programs that meet the CTE standards, especially when it comes to teacher preparedness. When asked where and how qualified teachers were recruited for highly technical programs in engineering, science and math, Barry admitted to the difficulty of doing so. “It is a problem we are struggling with,” she said and added that New Jersey does much of its recruiting at the local level.

While discrepancies in implementation exist nationally, the CCTE is attempting to bring together state policymakers, educators, researchers and other stakeholders in furthering the earnings potential of certificate and technical credentialed students. The introduction of a STEM cluster is a “way to broaden the scope of vocational careers,” said Barry, and she hopes to continue the expanding the effort in her state.