Key Madison Park Program Lags Other State Voc-Techs, but Shows Signs of Improvement

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

Read coverage of this report in The Boston Globe.

Co-operative education program far behind in terms of student placements, employer contacts

BOSTON – The co-operative education program at Boston’s Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, which places students in paid positions with local employers, lags far behind other Massachusetts vocational-technical schools in terms of both placements and number of employer contacts.  But with the school as a whole beginning to improve after years of turmoil, the co-op is also showing promising signs, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

“Madison Park has a key role to play in growing the Greater Boston economy,” said Pioneer Executive Director Jim Stergios.  “But to reach that potential and, importantly, to create a bridge for low-income students to enter the middle class, the school must succeed in connecting its students to area employers.”

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education designated Madison Park as underperforming in 2016; implementation of a turnaround plan began that June.  Since then, the school has shown signs of improvement.  The graduation rate has risen from 57 percent in 2017 to more than 68 percent in 2019.  Over the same period of time, the dropout rate has fallen from over 6 to less than 5 percent.  Enrollment, which fell by half from 2005 to 2017, has since then risen by more than 17 percent.

Over 90 percent of Madison Park’s slightly more than 1,000 students are designated as “high needs,” meaning they are at risk of educational failure or otherwise in need of special assistance and support.  About 97 percent of the students are of color, 35 percent are English language learners, and more than 30 percent have disabilities.

In “Madison Park II: Capitalizing on Employment Opportunity,” author William Donovan reports that students become eligible for the co-op program in the third quarter of junior year, after they complete the required number of course hours.  To qualify, students must have a B average in the discipline in which they seek placement, at least a C average overall and a recommendation from a shop instructor.

Among the 25 regional voc-techs reporting on the 2018-19 school year (Madison Park is part of Boston Public Schools and not a regional school), an average of 28 percent of juniors and seniors were in co-op placements, with the range spanning from 13 to nearly 54 percent.  During the same year, Madison Park’s placement rate was 4.2 percent.

Madison Park’s placement rate improved to 8.1 percent the following year (2019-2020), but lagged far behind Shawsheen Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School in Billerica, which led all Massachusetts voc-techs with 68 percent of its juniors and seniors placed in co-op positions.

 

Madison Park Executive Director Kevin McCaskill identified two reasons that partly account for the low numbers.  One is attendance.  The average student attendance rate at Madison Park is 87 percent, and the school can’t recommend students with irregular attendance records to be placed with employers.  The other is students’ need for academic support.  After-school academic support needed to meet graduation requirements is a higher priority than the co-op.

Lack of industry connections has also been a problem.  Shawsheen works with 150-180 employers annually and Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School in Wakefield works with around 40.  LaTrelle Pinkney-Chase, who was hired to direct Madison Park’s co-operative education program in 2019, says she is working with 20.

But the Career Champions Network, a group of more than 40 business leaders, has pledged to use their contacts and experience to support the growth of Madison Park’s career vocational-technical educational (CVTE) programs.  In November, Pinkney-Chase and the network developed an action plan aimed at increasing the number of employers the co-op works with by 50 before the end of the school year.

Previously the co-op had focused on just a few of Madison Park’s 20 CVTE programs.  But with the creation of a computer programming and web development program and the return of a heating, ventilation and air conditioning program, the school is working to diversify the co-op program with additional high-demand sectors.

Pinkney-Chase now holds Zoom calls with freshmen to make them aware of the co-op and requirements for participation.  She receives lists from teachers of students who are eligible or close to meeting the co-op’s eligibility requirements and reaches out individually to talk to them about the program.

She conducts “spotlight interviews” with students who are in the program to talk about their co-op experiences.  All students receive an e-blast notification when the interviews are posted on the school’s YouTube channel.

Donovan urges Madison Park to recruit recent graduates who participated in co-operative education to come back and promote the program.  He also suggests engaging students in the school’s marketing major to help promote the program.

This is the second of two Pioneer reports on Madison Park.  The first, published in September, examined the school’s turnaround plan and reported on its progress as judged by a 10-year review conducted by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

About the Author

William Donovan is a former staff writer with the Providence Journal in Rhode Island where he wrote about business and government. He has taught business journalism in the graduate programs at Boston University and Northeastern University. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his master’s degree in journalism from American University in Washington, D.C.

About Pioneer

Pioneer’s mission is to develop and communicate dynamic ideas that advance prosperity and a vibrant civic life in Massachusetts and beyond.

Pioneer’s vision of success is a state and nation where our people can prosper and our society thrive because we enjoy world-class options in education, healthcare, transportation and economic opportunity, and where our government is limited, accountable and transparent.

Pioneer values an America where our citizenry is well-educated and willing to test our beliefs based on facts and the free exchange of ideas, and committed to liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise.

Get Updates on Our Education Research

Related Posts:

Morehouse’s Prof. Marisela Martinez-Cola on Pre-Brown Cases for Educational Equality

This week on The Learning Curve, Morehouse College's Dr. Marisela Martinez-Cola, JD, discusses her book The Bricks before Brown: The Chinese American, Native American, and Mexican Americans' Struggle for Educational Equality, and the long struggle for equal opportunity in American education.

Poll Finds Charter Schools Widely and Broadly Popular in Massachusetts

More than six years after the failure of a statewide ballot initiative that would have increased the number of charter public schools in Massachusetts, a poll shows that 62 percent either strongly or somewhat favor them, with only 16 percent opposed.

Columbia’s Pulitzer Winner Prof. Eric Foner on Lincoln, Slavery, & Reconstruction

This week on The Learning Curve, guest cohosts Charlie Chieppo and Alisha Searcy speak with Dr. Eric Foner, Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University and Pulitzer Prize-winning author on Lincoln, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.

Fmr. Mississippi Chief Dr. Carey Wright on State Leadership & NAEP Gains

This week on The Learning Curve, Dr. Carey Wright, former Mississippi state superintendent of education, discusses the dramatic improvements in fourth graders' reading scores in Mississippi during her time there, the importance of early childhood education and literacy programs, the role of literature and art, and the inspiration educators can draw from Mississippi's heroes in the Civil Rights Movement.

Study Urges Massachusetts to Embrace Innovative School Models

A new policy brief from Pioneer Institute urges Massachusetts policymakers to encourage the proliferation and progress of non-traditional models that offer families creative, flexible, personalized and low-cost private education options.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on Edu Federalism & School Choice

/
This week on “The Learning Curve," guest co-hosts Denisha Allen and Kerry McDonald talk with Betsy DeVos, a former United States Secretary of Education and the author of the book, Hostages No More: The Fight for Education Freedom and the Future of the American Child. She shares how she became one of the country’s foremost proponents of school choice, educational federalism, and bold changes to K-12 education.

Poll Finds Strong Majority of Massachusetts Residents Support Restoring U.S. History MCAS Graduation Requirement

Sixty-two percent of Massachusetts residents support restoring passage of a U.S. history test as a public high school graduation requirement, according to a poll of Massachusetts residents’ attitudes toward education policy commissioned by Pioneer Institute and conducted by the Emerson College Polling Center.

Georgia’s Alisha Thomas Searcy on School Choice, Teacher Unions, & Elections

This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara and Gerard talk with Alisha Thomas Searcy, the Democratic nominee for Georgia state school superintendent. She shares her experience as a former six-term state legislator and school leader; her recent bid for Georgia’s top education post; and her passion for K-12 education reform.

KaiPod Learning’s Amar Kumar on Homeschooling Pods & Blended Education

This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara and Gerard talk with Amar Kumar, founder and CEO of KaiPod Learning, a network of in-person education centers for online learners and homeschoolers, based in Massachusetts. They discuss how the pandemic dramatically changed parents’ sentiments about their traditional public schools, opening the door to wider private school choice options, including homeschooling, micro schools, and pods.

NACSA’s Dr. Karega Rausch on Charter Public School Authorizing

This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Dr. Karega Rausch, President and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers. Dr. Rausch shares some of his background, his interest in K-12 education reform and charter public schools, and lessons from Indiana and other states that inform his work.