Councilwoman Moskowitz Examines Vocational Ed
By Liza
Young
Proper
vocational education is vital to many public school students
as well as to the health of the economy. Historically, quality
educational programs have been a staple of the New York City
Department of Education (DOE) system and were instrumental
in helping students segue into the manufacturing economy.
After a temporary setback in keeping up with the dramatic
economic changes that occurred in the 1950’s, vocational
education, more recently known as Career and Technical (CT)
education, has gotten back on track to reflect the technological
advances through the offering of a significant array of courses
in information technology. Challenges still remain for CT
education as Board of Education standards, encompassing issues
such as the recent requirement of passing five Regents for
graduation, leaving CT students to meet these criteria in
addition to certification requirements in the specific CT
area.
Recently, the
Committee on Education held an oversight hearing on CT education,
where issues such as Regents exams, graduation rates, and job
market examination and placement were examined. It was presided
over by Dr. Moskowitz, Chairperson of the Education Committee.
Members of the Department of Education as well as a representative from the United Federation of
Teachers (UFT) testified with respect to the state of vocational
education.
The hearing was hosted by Glenn Goldberg, Principal of the School of Cooperative
Technical Education, unique in its provision of career and
technical education programs, numbering two dozen, to students
enrolled in high schools or Graduate Education Diploma(GED)
programs.
Moskowitz expressed
her recognition and support of Career and Technical education,
recognizing its pivotal role for students with different set
of interests and aptitudes. She described the goals of the
hearing as an examination of vocational education with respect
to funding, teacher training and quality programming.
Moskowitz emphasized
that the standards of performance in the field of vocational
education need to be clearly defined by the schools. The standards
should help differentiate what makes a good CT school as opposed
to a mediocre one.
Some specific
areas of concern for the Councilwoman included graduation rates
of many schools, which according to the report issued by DOE,
is significantly low. Moskowitz found the 24 percent graduation
rate of Aviation High School very disturbing. While the DOE
members responded that the graduation rate would spike if a
five-year graduation completion were to be examined. Dr. Moskowitz
questioned whether five-year rates should be the norm and should
this consequently be brought to the attention of the Chancellor
for funding requests.
Additional concerns were with respect to job placement. The Councilwoman
indicated that if the mission of CT education is more immediate
job placement following completion of the program as compared
with non-CT schools, then CT schools should have clear data
on job placement following completion of the program. The
DOE unfortunately did not furnish these numbers at the hearing.
With respect
to the Board of Regents changes calling for the completion
of five Regents, an increase of the completion rate from 48.5
percent to 72.95 percent occurred between 2001 and 2004. This
should continue to be monitored and analyzed with respect to
graduation rates.
Clarification
was called regarding differences between the local diploma
and the Regents diploma. The DOE explained that the local diploma
required successful completion of five regents and the Regents
diploma calls for successful completion of two additional regents
exams. Data provided by the DOE, from Thomas Edison H.S., indicate
that large percentages are passing with what appears to be
more than five regents, but only a small percentage of students—11
percent—actually receive a Regents diploma. The Councilwoman
called for clarification with respect to this issue.
Overall, what
was evident at the hearing was that graduation rates, job placement,
and regents exams are issues that need to be examined in more
depth in the area of CT education and responded to in terms
of appropriate funding and instructor training. As Frank Carucci,
Vice President for Vocational and Technical High Schools for
the UFT, pointed out, the recent funding for job training programs
for high school dropouts may not have been necessary if the
educational system reached students at the high school level,
emphasizing the need to make sure programs are optimized. #
