More students, employers need to benefit from voc-tech schools’ winning formula

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

This op-ed appeared in Commonwealth Magazine and New Bedford Standard Times.

A recent visit to Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School demonstrated why career and technical high schools are rightly considered a Massachusetts success story. But it also serves as a reminder that we must not let them become victims of their success.

Greater New Bedford Regional Voc-Tech gets most of its 2,139 students from New Bedford, though it also serves Dartmouth and Fairhaven. It can’t keep up with demand, with about 700 students on the wait list. Twice that many students and their parents attend when the school holds an open house.

Greater New Bedford Regional Voc-Tech is the most sought-after secondary school in New Bedford, ahead of both New Bedford High and the City on a Hill Charter High School. The voc-tech’s approach of alternating weekly between academic material and hands-on technical training is not for everyone. But those for whom it’s a fit and who choose this option graduate from Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech both college- and career-ready.

During my visit, it was easy to see why the school has prospered. For instance, its leaders are proud of a high-tech ambulance simulator purchased with a grant from the Baker administration. It allows an instructor to control a number of functions on a patient simulator, such as blood pressure and heartbeat, to give students real-time, realistic emergency medical technician training.

Just after my visit, Greater New Bedford Regional Voc-Tech earned wider recognition when it won several awards at the national leadership conference of Business Professionals of America, one of the nation’s leading career technical student organizations.

The power of choice is an important factor in the success of this and other voc-tech schools. Students and their families are motivated to pursue an educational approach that they believe to be a good fit. Voc-tech entrance criteria further help ensure that the school and student are a good match.

Statewide, regional voc-tech dropout rates are a third of those of comprehensive public high schools. Two-thirds of graduates pursue higher education, and their scores on state tests match or surpass those of traditional high school students. Graduation rates are also 24% higher than those of their traditional high school counterparts, an attribute that is particularly important in New Bedford, where the district’s graduation rate of around two-thirds is among the lowest in Massachusetts.

The use of entry criteria that can include middle school grades and attendance certainly may explain some of the achievement outcomes at voc-tech schools, especially those that are oversubscribed. But these schools nonetheless have established themselves as quality programs where students thrive.

In addition to a high rate of students moving on to higher education, a Northeastern University survey of business owners and others found that career and technical graduates are more job-ready than other high school graduates. In these circumstances, it should come as no surprise that there are about 4,500 Massachusetts students on career and technical high school wait lists.

Unfortunately, educators and policy makers sometimes mix up their priorities, protecting the interests of schools that haven’t done as well at the expense of those that have. Career and technical high schools provide students with opportunity and fuel the state economy by filling important workforce needs. New Bedford’s public schools, however, no longer allow Greater New Bedford Regional Voc-Tech school personnel to make presentations to their eighth graders.

Career and technical high schools have been a resounding success in Massachusetts. As such, state policy makers should focus on developing plans to allow them to clear their wait lists. Rather than punishing these schools, we should focus on ways to let more students and employers benefit from what has proven to be a winning formula.

Get Updates on Our School Choice Research

Related research:

Accelerating Learning at KIPP

KIPP Academy Charter School is working hard to ensure that all students have access to high-quality instruction, especially as children everywhere struggle with post-COVID learning recovery. In this video, KIPP Academy Executive Director Nikki Barnes and KIPP Academy Lynn Middle School Principal Jimmy Seter allowed us into their in-depth discussion of the principles, objectives and strategies they use to foster an environment of encouragement, informed guidance, learning growth, and equity. 

Study Finds Continued Growth in Education Tax-Credit Scholarship Programs

Education tax credits grew increasingly popular in 2021, with four more states enacting programs.  There are now 28 tax-credit scholarship (TCS) programs in 23 states, and they serve more than 325,000 students, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Civics Education is More Important than Ever

Rather than seeking to raise a generation of political activists and community organizers, civics programs should instill an informed love of our country based on the nation’s founding, how our system of government works, and what Americans have achieved – together with our many failings – since the nation was created.

EdChoice’s VP Leslie Hiner on Landmark SCOTUS Decisions for School Choice

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Leslie Hiner, Vice President of Legal Affairs and Director of Legal Defense & Education Center with EdChoice. They discuss the the landmark U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decision in Brown v. Board of Education, among the most important in the nation’s history, and how Brown’s call for racial access and equity in K-12 education has helped inform the work and advocacy of the school choice movement.

Linda Chavez on Hispanic Immigration, Assimilation, & Civic Education in America

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-host Cara Candal talks with Linda Chavez, a senior fellow at the National Immigration Forum and the author of Out of the Barrio: Toward a New Politics of Hispanic Assimilation. 

Parent Advocate Virginia Walden Ford on Civil Rights, School Choice, & the D.C. Voucher Program

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-host Gerard Robinson and guest co-host Derrell Bradford talk with Virginia Walden Ford, education advocate and author of Voices, Choices, and Second Chances, and School Choice: A Legacy to Keep. She shares her experiences growing up and desegregating high schools in Little Rock, Arkansas in the mid-1960s, and the lessons she carried forward in her school choice advocacy in Washington, D.C.

Andrew Campanella on National School Choice Week

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Gerard Robinson and Cara Candal talk with Andrew Campanella, the president of National School Choice Week. They discuss why 2021 was called the “Year of School Choice,” and the implications of more academic options for K-12 education reform across America.

Study Finds Massachusetts Would Benefit from Adopting Education Savings Accounts

Massachusetts provides fewer options for students to be educated outside their assigned school districts than most other states do, and educational savings accounts (ESAs) offer an effective tool for giving students additional opportunities, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

AEI’s Ian Rowe on School Leadership, Civic Education, & Upward Mobility

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Gerard Robinson and Cara Candal talk with Ian Rowe, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on education and upward mobility, family formation, and adoption.

Virtual Learning Grows During COVID

Virtual learning in K-12 education continues to grow due to the health threat caused by coronavirus variants and the assistance this learning model can provide to at-risk students, according to two papers released today by Pioneer Institute.

Institute for Justice’s Michael Bindas on the SCOTUS Oral Arguments

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Gerard Robinson and Cara Candal talk with Michael Bindas, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, who represents the lead plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Carson v. Makin.

Pioneer Institute Files Amicus Curiae Brief in U.S. Supreme Court School Choice Case

Pioneer Institute has filed an amicus curiae brief in Carson v. Makin urging the Supreme Court of the United States to strike down a provision of Maine law. The Court will hear oral arguments in Carson this morning (December 8) at 10 am. The Maine law being challenged allows districts that don’t have their own schools to contract with a school or pay for students that choose to attend public or private schools, but explicitly excludes religious schools.