Editorial Staff

Book Finds Massachusetts Voc-Tech Schools Are National Model, Calls for Expansion

/in , , , , , , , /by Editorial Staff
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

Schools mix strong academic performance with world-class training, but excellence is threatened by recent changes to admissions policy.

BOSTON (June 8) — Massachusetts vocational-technical schools — boasting minuscule dropout rates, strong academic performance, and graduates prepared for careers or higher education — should be expanded to meet growing demand, according to a new book published by Pioneer Institute.

“Holding voc-tech students to the same academic and graduation requirements as students in comprehensive public high schools was one of the most transformative elements of the Commonwealth’s 1993 Education Reform Act,” said Pioneer Executive Director Jim Stergios. “Massachusetts is now the unquestioned leader in vocational-technical education, with graduates among the best-prepared to compete in the global economy.”

“Hands-On Achievement: Massachusetts’s National Model Vocational-Technical Schools” traces the history, development, and status of the state’s voc-tech sector.

 

“Today, manuals used by plumbers and major appliance repair personnel are written at up to a grade 14 level,” said Jamie Gass, Pioneer’s director of school reform. “Auto technicians aren’t just ‘gearheads’ anymore. They do more analysis of computerized diagnostic equipment than turning wrenches.”

The state’s more than 52,000 voc-tech students alternate weeks between academics and shop work. With only half the academic instruction time, they match or exceed the academic performance of students in the state’s other public high schools.

Voc-tech schools in Massachusetts:

  • Teach more students with special needs (24% 19% statewide)
  • Enroll more low-income students (44% 39% statewide)
  • Have lower dropout rates (0.6% 1.8% statewide)

“Massachusetts voc-techs have succeeded thanks to a combination of operational autonomy, being schools of choice, rigorous instruction, and relationships with local businesses,” said co-editor David Ferreira, a former executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators.

Voc-tech schools have advisory councils and enjoy close relationships with local business communities that provide state-of-the-art equipment, training, co-op programs, and a direct career path for many voc-tech graduates.

Among the book’s recommendations:

  • Expand voc-tech education to serve the 52 communities, primarily in Berkshire and Hampshire counties, not currently in a regional voc-tech district.
  • Utilize available public-school space to accommodate the 5,000 students on voc-tech waiting lists.
  • Grant all voc-tech schools the same autonomy over budgets, curriculum, and staffing currently enjoyed by regional voc-tech districts.

“Hands-On Achievement” also warns against recent changes to voc-tech admissions policies that threaten these schools’ success, such as disregarding applicants’ behavioral and attendance records, which are critical considerations at schools where students need extensive training on operating sophisticated machinery.

Moving toward lottery admissions runs the risk of a mismatch between students and schools, undermining the principle that students actively choose the voc-tech model and potentially misallocating public resources, given that it costs taxpayers about $5,000 more on average to educate a student at a voc-tech school as opposed to a traditional high school.

###

For more information or to schedule interviews with the authors or editors of the book, please contact Lizzie Nealon at 202-471-4228 ext. 103 or lizzie@keybridge.biz.

About Pioneer Institute

Pioneer Institute is a think tank dedicated to developing ideas that advance prosperity and a vibrant civic life in Massachusetts and beyond. The organization produces research almost exclusively through outside experts to ensure credibility, and acts as a resource for legislators on Beacon Hill and for staff in the State’s executive offices.

Get Updates on Our Education Research

Related Content

Study Calls for Reinstating Passage of U.S. History Test as Graduation Requirement

The Massachusetts Legislature should require the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to reinstate passage of the U.S. history MCAS exam as a high school graduation requirement and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education should provide teachers in grades 6-10 with examples of specific texts that could be assigned to prepare students to read a seminal historical text such as Federalist #10 in grade 11 or 12, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Low Dropout Rates at Voc-Techs

New Pioneer study finds that greater autonomy is a key to low vocational-technical high school dropout rates

MetroWest Daily News: ‘Trickle-down mandate’ hurts ed standards

Massachusetts should have conducted a cost analysis before adopting Common Core national education standards, as states like Alabama and California have done.

MetroWest Daily News: “Gass: State flunking the history test”

To ensure that knowledge of events like the War of 1812 would be passed on to successive generations, we must make passage of a basic U.S. history MCAS test a high school graduation requirement.

Worcester Telegram & Gazette: Classics? The dickens you say

According to Pioneer Institute research, Shakespeare is one of the very few British writers named in the nationalized English standards adopted by the commonwealth and 45 other states. So, watching “A Christmas Carol” on television may be kids’ only exposure to the magic of Dickens’ characters.

Exploring Jewish Day Schools in Massachusetts

0 Comments
/
A new Pioneer Institute study of Jewish day schools in Massachusetts calls for the creation of an education tax credit program to ensure that children have the widest possible access to the schools their parents choose for them.

Rejection of Anti-Common Core Model Legislation a Sad End to a Bizarre Process

1 Comment
/
Pioneer Institute's statement on the decision of the American Legislative Exchange Council Board to reject anti-Common Core model legislation that had been approved twice by ALEC’s education task force.

Fall River Herald News: Mass. students miss out on Native American history

Understanding the complexity our country’s Native American past requires knowing U.S. history. Preferring softer 21st century skills like “media awareness” and “systems thinking” to academics, the Patrick administration in 2009 postponed a requirement, starting with the class of 2012, that Massachusetts public school students pass a U.S. history MCAS test to graduate from high school.

Taunton Gazette: The history behind what Brown, Warren were fighting for

0 Comments
/
BOSTON — The campaign between U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and challenger…

Continuing State Public School Enrollment Decline Will Increase Fiscal Pressure on Districts

0 Comments
/
Enrollment in Massachusetts public schools is continuing to fall, and the decreases could result in under-utilized facilities, higher per-pupil costs and more political pressure to limit the growth of charter schools according to a new Pioneer Institute white paper, Enrollment Trends in Massachusetts: An Update.

Lowell Sun: The Role of the US Senate Largely Unappreciated

0 Comments
/
BOSTON — The campaign between U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and challenger…

Patriot Ledger: State needs to step up U.S. history testing

0 Comments
/
Understanding the Senate’s importance requires knowing U.S. history. It's time to restore the U.S. history MCAS test so Bay State schoolchildren can learn how to perpetuate our deliberative democratic institutions.