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Illinois School Board Journal
May/June 2005

Career-tech options: Formula of success

by Rick Brewer

Rick Brewer is in his third term as a board member in Delavan CUSD 703 and is chairman of the Career and Technical Education Department for Pekin CHSD 303.

While support for career education programs may have waned recently, Pekin CHSD 303 maintains those programs are a major component of student success. The CTE department at Pekin High School serves approximately 1,000 students each day, or nearly half of its 2,300 students.

Classes offer opportunities for nearly all levels of achievement and ability, ranging from high honors to special needs. Time-tested programs experience a wide range of success, using reality sensitive strategies to boost student transition from high school to the world of work and a variety of post-secondary education options.

The 2003 Pekin High School attendance rate (96.9 percent) is higher than the state average, the graduation rate has increased and our dropout rate has decreased. Vocational studies are a key component to these trends.

"Even with decreases in state and federal funding, our district considers vocational programs to be a critical asset to the quality of education that we provide," says Kenneth Schwab, district superintendent.

This is not your grandpa's shop class. Educational benefits far exceed the old-fashioned notion that career and technical education classes only prepare students to go directly into the work force. On the contrary, CTE opportunities are multifaceted and springboard students into four-year universities, community colleges, technical colleges, apprenticeships and the military.

Vocational classes give a unique reality-based dimension that vividly illustrates both the importance and practical application of their academic studies. Imagine …

A future doctor or nurse introduced to medical skills with real patients in a real hospital or nursing home as part of our high school Health Occupations class.

Budding architects design houses in a drafting class for a building trades class that actually builds a $200,000 house.

Engineering candidates learn welding and machine operations in manufacturing classes.

A valedictorian candidate seeking a teaching or counseling career can experience child development and relationships first hand in those classes before college.

Potential CEOs and management trainees take accounting, business or marketing classes.

Future hotel managers, restaurant owners or chefs learn the basics in Food Service.

Aspiring marketing tycoons plan real ad campaigns, magazine features and TV commercials.

Enthusiastic computer nerds, who might otherwise be daydreaming or tinkering with their Palm Pilots under the desk in English class, learn to use, assemble, repair, rebuild and network computers.

The possibilities are limitless. Suddenly, academic efforts have more meaning and their personal vision becomes compelling. Students become inspired.

While college-bound students take exploratory classes, students who fair better in a "hands on" environment can participate in one- or two-year programs, internships or cooperative education programs. Most are linked with local businesses. Many result in certification and college credits. Pekin offers dozens of classes with multiple sections, taught throughout the year by a staff of 25 or more teachers, special education aides and other teaching assistants.

Current course offerings are the product of a "natural selection" and evaluation process that adapts as times change. Student motivations for enrollment vary, but for those holding onto education by a thread, a CTE class might be the only incentive to stay in school.

Exploring careers

Career exploration can take many shapes. Some students have no idea where to start. For those who need general career exposure, Pekin has "Pathways" — an orientation-level course designed to assess student aptitudes so they can create an individualized career plan.

Much of our success has been a result of our ability to integrate and support academics in classes to reflect the demands of those career fields. One example is our Health Occupations program, taught by Jan Matuska, a high school teacher who also is a registered nurse.

Students explore health and medical careers while studying anatomy, physiology, diseases, medical care, tests and body systems. As they progress, they can earn college credit while preparing to be Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs). Upon meeting rigid criteria and completing the course, they can take the state certification exam.

Along that same line, Steve Clements, our vocational electronics instructor, and Matt Gossmeyer, mathematics and networking instructor, team-teach an Electronics A+ program. The classes are a blend of theory with the actual repair of computers and peripherals. An adjacent lab supports a two-year CISCO computer-networking program. Through faculty cooperation and program design, students have the potential not to just learn how to use computers, but to learn what makes them tick, how to repair their components and how to network their systems. Students completing these classes are eligible to take CISCO networking certification exams and can gain college credit while still in high school.

The recurring theme of integrating academics with career education in tune with the job market is abundant in other programs. Rather than dictating a rigid delivery format, our programs reflect the unique characteristics of the career field and the creativity of teacher.

Harnessing the power of the digital age, our graphic communication and media technology classes touch all the bases of photography, layout and design, advertising and marketing themes, including an introduction to real TV ad production. Graphic communications instructor Steve Huey is a teacher, professional photographer and community business leader. In addition to technology courses, Huey's advanced students operate a school-based enterprise called PCHS Effective Graphics. Students process orders from within school as well as from the community. Requests range from athletic posters to brochures for businesses. Students record district school board meetings for public TV and produce commercials advertising Pekin High events and programs. Future job placement opportunities and post-secondary education alternatives are astounding for serious students in these technical career fields.

Likewise, our family and consumer science programs have a rich selection of both orientation and training courses in life science, child development, parenting and family relationships, fashions and interior design, and nutrition and food services. While some students may take these courses as an elective, many wish to pursue careers.

Our junior and senior childcare classes offer instruction in both on- and off-campus settings. Under the sharp eye of instructor Deb Albers, our first-year classes have an actual daycare center in operation, with infants and toddlers through 5 years of age. Then, Julie Doolittle takes advanced students into an on-sight training program in the community, as they work toward certification. The Child Development Associate credential they can earn is a national certification.

Our food service program runs a "restaurant." Once or twice a week, Becky Stevenson's program serves lunch to local groups, faculty and staff, and the public. Stevenson's students are readied for careers in the industry by perfecting skills in quality food preparation, service, sanitation and safety, and management. All Illinois Health Department regulations are followed, and students must pass state certification tests. Students can enter the job market directly or go on to college. Graduates who have become chefs commonly return to teach clinics for Stevenson's classes.

Pekin High has a strong tradition of offering outstanding Industrial Technology courses, too. This region's economy has historically been based on manufacturing, construction trades, automotive trades and related businesses. Our CTE department has evolved accordingly, with popular introductory level classes in a variety of drafting, electronics, wood construction and manufacturing areas.

These energized environments for learning lay a foundation of training level programs that lead to college, technical schools, apprenticeship programs and more. But, they also provide a strong magnet that keeps at-risk students in school. For a troubled teen having difficulty relating to an academic environment, these courses can be the difference between staying in school or struggling on the streets.

Students who find they want a career in an industrial setting can opt for welding and manufacturing, automotive technology, automotive body refinishing and construction trades programs. Rather than spend 50 years behind a desk, some people would prefer to build skyscrapers, tune engines, custom paint vehicles or build houses. In fact, our construction trade classes do just that!

Working from September to May, Mark Sanders and his students build a three-bedroom house, with a three-stall garage. He orchestrates his 50-plus students who learn job skills and work right along with city inspectors, sub-contractors and other trade experts. On occasion, skilled guest instructors teach clinics on-site. The house is sold in the summer with funds going back to the district for next year's class. Our most recent house sold for $180,000.

One of Sander's favorite teaching and motivational techniques is to periodically bring the entire class out to the front curb, and make them stand back and look at the house in progress, as he says: "Everybody look. Just look at what you have done!"

Most of our training-level programs have some job-site component or internship. In general, they are voluntary and incorporated within the structure of the class. For example, most of our second-year classes have "extended campus" job-shadowing. This on-the-job training varies with the career characteristics.

Many at-risk students need a direct school-to-work connection because they have a genuine financial hardship that can be accommodated through traditional cooperative education. Students receive daily classroom instruction on work-related skills and consumer education. Passing this class also fulfills the consumer education requirement.

Inter-related co-op differs from other job-shadow programs in that students have paid positions. After their hours in the classroom, they leave school to go to their job. A strict requirement of the program is that they must stay employed to remain in the class, which they must pass. Students learn consumer business theory and satisfy consumer education requirements, while being able to use these skills successfully in the workplace as employees.

For future business leaders, we have business education, and marketing and management programs. Class choices vary from business, accounting, record keeping, marketing and information processing. These excellent "springboard" classes promote transition to college, business schools and to work.

Our Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) is a challenging arena for academic as well as leadership training. The program is four years of discipline, academics, leadership and military officer training, combined and sequenced much like a high school version of West Point.

Major Lee Redmon commands, guides and instructs more than 100 students. They have strong extra-curricular teams in drill, color guard and rifle competition. Classroom academics are taught in a serious environment combined with a spirit of competition and community service. You may find them any weekend either performing military ceremonies for holiday observances or major events, or even raking leaves for the elderly.

JROTC is a partnership between Pekin High and the U.S. Army that instills learning, discipline and responsibility. It is just another example of work-related learning with high expectations in academic and career studies with the growth of productive citizens at heart.

We have also had much support from our local Education for Employment (EFE) office. In addition to funding assistance for new equipment, they coordinate valuable staff development opportunities and student assistance activities. EFE has been an excellent communication link for CTE educators in our area. Central Illinois College lends support and has been especially helpful in developing dual credit opportunities and Tech Prep staff development roundtables.

Some say their communities can't afford the luxury of career education. Others, seeing the huge return of talent and productivity in their community, argue they can't afford not to support it. In the hands of dedicated teachers and supportive communities, CTE has the power to change the desire for learning from a faint flickering candle to a self-sustaining blaze.