As educators push schools to produce high school graduates who are ready to succeed in college or good jobs, an association of professionals in career and technical education is trying to influence policy by defining what it considers to be 鈥渃areer readiness.鈥�
, issued this week by the , arrives as policymakers try to delineate the skills and knowledge students need to thrive as they move into higher education or a rapidly changing work world. A rough consensus is emerging on a definition of college readiness as the ability to pass entry-level, credit-bearing courses without remediation. But the definition of 鈥渃areer ready鈥� generally gets less attention and is often rolled into the definition of college-readiness.
The ACTE鈥檚 definition outlines three areas of strength that students need if they are to be ready for the various demands of a 21st-century workplace.
One is a strong core of academic skills that would launch them into good jobs or entry-level college work without remedial classes, the organization says. But to be 鈥渢ruly career-ready,鈥� students also must know how to apply those academic skills in the context of the jobs they do, it says.
Special attention should be given to skills that employers often cite as deficient, the ACTE says. Those include skills in informational writing, such as the writing in memos and complex technical reports; and in mathematics, such as a nurse鈥檚 use of various calculations to administer medications.
In addition to academic and applied academic skills, the ACTE鈥檚 definition includes 鈥渆mployability鈥� skills, such as adaptability, collaboration, and critical thinking, and 鈥渢echnical鈥� skills that are specific to particular fields, such as those required for industry licensure or certification.
Because most jobs will require some kind of education or training after high school, many students will not be able to acquire all the skills necessary to their career paths by graduation, but high schools still should strive to provide a strong foundation in all three areas, the Alexandria, Va.-based group says.
Not Either-Or
In developing the definition, the ACTE, which represents 30,000 teachers, counselors, and others in career and technical education, seeks the ear of policymakers who are shaping federal education law, Janet Bray, the group鈥檚 executive director, said in a conference call. The document is being distributed to every member of Congress as federal lawmakers discuss reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in his rhetoric urging improvements to education, 鈥渟hortchanges鈥� a fuller definition of career readiness that should shape education policy, Ms. Bray said.
鈥淚f the definition of college and career readiness is that students will not need remediation going into college, that means high school education will become focused on core academics,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut it has to include those employability skills. It has to include some of that technical skill.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not an either-or,鈥� she continued. 鈥淲e need to move away in this country from 鈥榚ither academic or career and technical education.鈥� 鈥�
Glenn Cummings, the deputy assistant secretary who oversees career and technical education in the Education Department, said its leadership views readiness for credit-bearing coursework as important in ending the 鈥渄ead-end鈥� approach to schooling that deemed some students college material and others bound for vocations. But the department believes it is 鈥渃rucial鈥� for students also to have the employability and technical skills outlined in the ACTE鈥檚 definition, he said.
The ACTE discussed its vision with the two organizations that are leading the drafting of common academic standards for adoption by the states, Ms. Bray said. As a framework for learning, those standards would facilitate college readiness more than they would career readiness, she said. But she added that she is optimistic they will more fully 鈥渆mbrace鈥� career-oriented skills and knowledge in the future.
The ACTE isn鈥檛 the only career and technical education group working to redefine what was once known as vocational education. Last month, the issued a urging policymakers and educators to see career and technical education as a challenging blend of academic and job-related skills, and to dismantle the silos that have separated traditional academic preparation from career-oriented preparation in schools.
Anthony P. Carnevale, a widely recognized expert on education and the workforce, said the ACTE鈥檚 definition is 鈥渁 breath of fresh air鈥� because the country has overemphasized academic preparation since the 1983 report A Nation at Risk warned of 鈥渁 rising ride of mediocrity鈥� in the country鈥檚 education system.
Some studies have found a growing convergence between the skills needed for college and those needed for many entry-level jobs. Others, however, point to a large swath of jobs that do not demand the types of skills policymakers increasingly call for.
鈥淲e decided everybody needed better academic skills, and that was right, but in committing the nation to a single idea, we got single-minded, and one of the casualties has been [career and technical education],鈥� said Mr. Carnevale, the director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. 鈥淎t some point, you have to put a professional or occupational point on your pencil.鈥�
