Fact Sheet: Vocational Education and School-to-Work Programs Is your student in a vocational education program, or thinking about it? Vocational courses that teach about work and industry can be useful. Many students enjoy the hands-on learning and look forward to getting jobs. Vocational classes can also help students to learn academics, like writing and science. But if vocational programs limit future options, they can hurt students. Suppose your student learns how to do one job, such as nurse's assistant? What if she later changes her goals, or the job isn't there, or job skills change? Her time was wasted. In many cases, these jobs are low-pay and dead-end. Compare these schools. Which one would you pick for your student? School #1 has two programs. In the Food Services Program, students learn to cut vegetables, make simple recipes, and serve food. Some graduates work in cafeterias. In another part of the school, the Hotel and Restaurant Academy teaches students how to manage restaurants and hotels. Students learn to keep accounts and design and cook complex menus. However, students can enroll in the Academy only if they have A's and B's. Academic courses like math are taught apart from the vocational programs. School #2 has a Hospitality Program. It takes all students who apply. These students start up and run real restaurants. They take turns doing everything from finances to cooking. On a field trip, students compare prices for supplies. They go to a bank to apply for small business loans. Students cater events for local groups. In chemistry class, they learn how to tell what chemicals are in the food. They also study the research about whether the chemicals are harmful. A bilingual teacher helps students who are not fluent in English. When students graduate, they can choose whether to go to college or work. Vocational programs vary in how good they are, don't they? And in how fair they are. Two different federal laws set requirements for vocational programs. They are the Perkins Act and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. (The Perkins Act is short for "The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act.") School #2 follows the law. School #1 doesn't. Most school districts get Perkins or School-to-Work funds, or both. Find out if your district does. If so, then it has to obey that law. Under those laws: Programs must weave together vocational and academic education. Teachers help students connect vocational studies to academic subjects. Big projects, such as running a health clinic, are one way to combine subjects. Students apply what they learn. Programs must include strong academic content. The same high standards apply to all students. Programs prepare all students for four-year colleges, as well as for work. High school programs should connect students to colleges. Programs must teach students all aspects of the industry they are studying. Good programs don't teach just technical skills, like repairing a car. They also teach students about how businesses operate. Like how a car repair business works. And about the industry as a whole. Students who understand all about an industry can move into better paid, more responsible jobs. They are more in control of their careers. If there are no repair shops in their neighborhood, they can work to bring one in. Or open their own. They are also better equipped to change fields. If you know how to write a business plan for a repair shop, then it's not as hard to write one for another kind of business. What Would My Student Learn About a Whole Industry? The law says students should learn eight aspects of the industry they study. Planning, finance, and management in the industry The principles behind how the technology works and why Community and environmental issues to understand how the industry affects other people and the world Labor issues and health and safety so that they can use their rights and protect themselves. Programs can't discriminate on the basis of disability, poverty, poor English, sex, or low grades or test scores. (Civil rights laws also bar racial discrimination.) Programs must provide counseling and special services for students who need them. A student may need counseling to understand the program and her career options. A student with disabilities may need to take tests in a different way. Another student may need tutoring or help with English. If some types of students don't enroll or do as well as others, the school must work with the community to figure out what's wrong with the program. Then take steps to change it. The Perkins Act and the School-to-Work Act also require that schools collect information to improve their programs. Parents, students, teachers, and community members have the right to a real say in decisions about the program. Programs like this can help neighborhoods in another way. The laws say that federal money can be used to help students and teachers study their community. And work to meet community needs -- like housing, health, or child care. This "community development" approach can help low-income areas solve local problems -- and create new jobs.   VOCED/School to Work Project