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Integrating Academic and Career and Technical Education (CTE) Content in American High Schools
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| Presenter(s):
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| Stacey Merola,
Windwalker Corporation,
stacey.merola@windwalker.com
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| Howard Fleischman,
Windwalker Corporation,
howard.fleischman@windwalker.com
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| Abstract:
Recent changes in educational policy and practice emphasizing academic progress for Career and Technical Education (CTE) students have made the evaluation of the influence of CTE on achievement and high school graduation increasingly important. The 2006 Perkins IV legislation called for enhancing the academic achievement of CTE students, increasing the linkages between secondary and postsecondary institutions in the education of these students, and increased accountability for school districts. In this study we investigated how schools are responding to this new policy environment by interviewing a total of 162 teachers and administrators and conducting focus groups with a total of 144 students across 9 schools. We found that schools vary in the programs and practices they are implementing, with some very actively attempting to integrate academic and CTE content to improve achievement, while at the same time meeting the industry requirements of each CTE specialty.
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Development and Initial Validation of a Measure of Reformed and Traditional Teaching and Learning Environments
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| Presenter(s):
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| Chad Ellett,
CDE Research Associates Inc,
cderesearch@charter.net
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| Judith Monsaas,
University System of Georgia,
judith.monsaas@usg.edu
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| Abstract:
This paper describes the results of the initial development and validation of a new teacher self-report measure of reformed (inquiry and standards-based) and traditional teaching and learning environments in mathematics and science classrooms. Two years of data collection (2006,2007) were completed by some 8,000 teachers using web-based procedures as part of a five-year, statewide effort in Georgia to improve teaching and learning in science and mathematics. The results of subsequent principal components and internal consistency analyses clearly documented strongly replicable and reliable measurement dimensions for the new Inventory of Teaching and Learning (ITAL). The data analysis results are detailed and implications for using the ITAL in professional and program development and evaluation studies and future research are described. The derivation of the ITAL from a constructivist-based, classroom observation system is also discussed.
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Developing a National Database to Examine Middle Grades Configuration
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| Presenter(s):
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| David Hough,
Institute for School Improvement,
davidhough@missouristate.edu
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| Cassandra Hanson,
Institute for School Improvement,
cassandra212@missouristate.edu
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| Vicki Schmitt,
University of Alabama,
vschmitt@bamaed.ua.edu
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| Abstract:
Grade span configuration issues have provided topics for discussion by education researchers, scholars, practitioners, parents, and communities for more than a century. Of particular interest is the question as to which grade span configuration is best for young adolescents between the ages ten to fourteen who attend middle grades schools.
Through the development of a national database, evaluators can bring focus to a number of issues pertaining to the relationships that exist between grade spans, middle grades educational practices, the middle school philosophy, and student outcomes, including but not limited to academic achievement. This paper will discuss the process which has led to the development of a national database consisting of more than 1,795 schools of various grade-span configurations that include a 7th grade, in 49 school districts, across 25 states. Findings from this database will also be presented.
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East of the Tracks: How Evidence from a Teacher-Initiated Evaluation Impacted a Teacher-Generated Detracking Reform
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| Presenter(s):
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| R Holly Yettick,
University of Colorado Boulder,
rachel.yettick@colorado.edu
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| Abstract:
This paper examines an ongoing evaluation of a detracking reform. This reform was initiated in the fall of 2005 by teachers of freshman English at a diverse urban high school in Denver, Colorado. Low and high track students were randomly combined into detracked classes in which everyone followed the high-track curriculum. The teachers attained the initial grant money to fund this evaluation, which was conducted by a doctoral student. They have also determined the questions that the evaluation has addressed. As a result of the findings of this quantitative/qualitative evaluation, the number of detracked English sections has increased from two in Year 1 to a projected 10 in Year 4 (2008-09). The reform has also expanded to the science department and influenced a highly-contested, top-down reform in the social studies department. This paper examines the relationship between the evaluation and the expansion of these equity-based reforms.
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