Editorial Staff

Study Explores Potential for Medical Voc-Tech Education in Catholic Schools

/0 Comments/in , , , /by Editorial Staff
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

Programs could help stem enrollment declines, provide opportunity to disadvantaged students

BOSTON – A new Pioneer Institute study explores whether medical vocational-technical education could be a tool to help area Catholic schools address declining enrollment and also provide economically disadvantaged students with the knowledge and skills that are in high demand among employers.

Download "The Healing Hand: Modeling Catholic Medical Vocational-Technical Schooling"

“Some fear that vocational-technical education would tarnish Catholic schools’ brand as a runway to college,” said Alison L. Fraser, co-author of “The Healing Hand: Modeling Catholic Medical Vocational-Technical Schooling.”  “But it could also help stem the tide of declining enrollment while providing needy kids with an express lane to the middle class.”

Recent history demonstrates that college-prep and vocational-technical education can be combined successfully.  After the commonwealth’s 1993 Education Reform Act required that voc-tech students pass the same tests to graduate from high school as students enrolled in other schools, an increasing number of voc-tech students have been taking Advanced Placement and honors courses, as well as going on to higher education after graduation.

With Catholic school enrollment continuing to decline, the Archdiocese of Boston has commissioned its own study to explore the demand for and viability of a vocational-technical program within the archdiocese.  The study will also include focus groups to determine interest levels for vocational-technical education in Catholic schools.

In the early 1940s, there were 225 parish grammar and high schools in the archdiocese; today there are 124.  High school enrollment is down 11 percent since 2002.

Meanwhile, enrollment in the commonwealth’s regional vocational-technical schools is up by more than 10 percent since 2011, and the increase is even higher in health assisting programs.

In addition to the high demand for graduates with skills like health assisting, nursing aids, and EKG technicians, medical vocational-technical education, often called “health services,” carries lower start-up costs than other voc-tech programs.

But it’s still more expensive to provide vocational-technical education than its college-prep counterpart, meaning tuition would only cover a portion of program expenses.  The hands-on component means schools need expensive equipment and must also maintain a low student-teacher ratio.

While Catholic vocational-technical programs would not technically have to meet state requirements for public voc-tech schools that regulate things like student-teacher ratios and minimum lab sizes, it would be all but impossible to compete successfully without doing so.

“Catholic schools can reduce the up-front costs of establishing a school by partnering with existing voc-tech schools to use facilities after hours,” said Jamie Gass, director of the Center for School Reform at Pioneer Institute.  “Alternatively, they could have their students spend part of the day at a vocational-technical school.”

Catholic schools face a number of financial challenges that aren’t shared by public vocational-technical schools.  Catholic school parents don’t receive education tax credits or school vouchers, while archdioceses have rising labor costs due to fewer priests and nuns teaching in the schools.

Philadelphia’s Mercy Career & Technical High School is currently the nation’s only co-ed Catholic voc-tech high school.  In addition to tuition and fundraising, the school gets significant revenue from two Pennsylvania programs that provide tax credits to businesses that make contributions toward scholarships.  Fraser and Donovan recommend that Massachusetts repeal two “Anti-Aid” amendments to the state Constitution that would likely prohibit similar education tax credit programs here.

About the Authors

Alison L. Fraser is an education policy, research, and strategy consultant and president of Practical Policy.  Previously, she was an administrator at Blackstone Valley Tech and director of policy and advocacy at Mass Insight Education, where she directed the Great Schools Campaign and development of No Excuses for Failing Schools and Excellence in Math and Science Goals.  An expert in standards-based curriculum, she has coordinated activities and programs for the Coalition for Higher Standards and led research in standards-based reform.

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

About Pioneer

Pioneer Institute is an independent, non-partisan, privately funded research organization that seeks to improve the quality of life in Massachusetts through civic discourse and intellectually rigorous, data-driven public policy solutions based on free market principles, individual liberty and responsibility, and the ideal of effective, limited and accountable government.

Get Updates on Our School Choice Research

Related Content:

Study Proposes School Voucher Plan for 10,000 Low-Income Mass. Students

New Study Proposes School Voucher Plan for 10,000 Low-Income…

Innovative Approaches to Developing Effective Teachers

Pioneer Institute study looks at charter public school successes beyond…

New Report: Closing the Achievement Gap Through METCO

Closing the Achievement Gap Through METCO Pioneer Institute…

Civil Rights: Charter Schools and Teacher Unions

Widow of Civil Rights Legend, Editor of MLK Papers to Keynote…

Study: State Must Revise Flawed “Growth Model” & “Proven Provider” Regs

Charter School Study Calls for Revisions to the State’s Flawed…

Study: States Should Replicate AppleTree Institute’s High-Quality Charter Early Ed Program

Report to be discussed in forum on district and charter early…

State Scholarship Tax Credit Program Would Help Low-Income Students

Study Finds State Scholarship Tax Credit Program Would Provide…

Study: 5% Increase in Spending Could End Urban Charter School Waitlists in Failing Districts

Study: Urban Charter School Waitlists Could Be Nearly Eliminated…

Match Charter Residency Program Effective Teacher Training Model

Report Finds Match Charter Residency Program an Effective Model…

Matching Students to Excellent Tutors

Research Finds Match Charter-Like Tutoring Programs Should Be…

Urban School Models Forum to Feature Pulitzer Prize Winner, Fmr DC Mayor

Pulitzer Prize Winner, Former D.C. Mayor, Two Former State Education…

Celebrating 20 Years of Education Reform in Massachusetts

Birmingham, Weld Oppose MA Adopting Common Core, Call for Lifting…

Improving the Charter School Authorization Process

NEW STUDY FINDS ABOLISHING CAPS AND A MORE AUTONOMOUS CHARTER…

Preserving Charter School Autonomy in Massachusetts

New study recommends re-establishing an independent state Charter School Office (CSO), raising the statewide charter cap, and providing charter operators with the support they need to start and run a school.

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.

Pioneer Forum to Focus on SABIS® and the Role of For-Profit Charter School Management Companies

0 Comments
/
Pioneer forum on SABIS® and the Role of For-Profit Charter School Management Companies.

POLL FINDS LIKELY MASSACHUSETTS VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY FAVOR MORE SCHOOL CHOICE

Likely Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly support educational choice, according to a poll conducted by David Paleologos’ firm, DAPA Research, for Pioneer Institute.

No More Know Nothing Laws: School Choice in Massachusetts

Pioneer Institute hosts event with national education reform experts Kevin Chavous and Jay Greene, releases new research on Catholic and Jewish Schools