An investigation of strategies to improve under-enrolled programs
Date
2014
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
This report describes strategies that I implemented as an assistant principal at a Technical High School (henceforth referred to as "The Technical High School"), which provides specific vocational/technical training in sixteen different Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs. The problem I addressed was how to successfully compete for students with other magnet schools that offer CTE programs. Business Technology, a CTE program for which I had administrative responsibility is one of the lowest subscribed CTE programs in the State. ☐ As a newly appointed assistant principal and supervisor of the CTE programs at The Technical High School, I had limited time to make a difference and chose several approaches. One was to survey all students in the school about their satisfaction with their current program, the factors that led to their choice of program, and what about their program they would recommend to a friend who was considering the same program. I considered two alternative programs, the National Academy Foundations (NAF) curriculum model and Project-Based Learning. The latter was selected as a better fit for the school. Professional development and instructional technology were also allocated to support the teacher and instruction. I implemented a better marketing strategy to attract students to the Business Technology program. ☐ When I looked more closely at the Business Technology program, I discovered a number of complaints about the instructor from parents and students, and also that it received relatively low survey satisfaction scores. Furthermore, the program was distinctive in that the majority of students in the program had not selected it as their first choice. The surveys revealed, overall, that students who were enrolled in their second choice program gave less favorable ratings and rankings to the survey items and had lower GPAs, DCAS levels, higher absentee rates and disciplinary incidents. Prior to this work, the faculty and staff of the school were unaware of the adverse effects of placing students into program areas that were not their first choice. ☐ I further reflected on the improvement effort results and learned that adequate planning time should be allocated before adopting and implementing a new program. Additionally, professional development is necessary to successfully train an instructor in facilitating a career program using Project-Based Learning. Expertise from industry is also necessary to fully implement a CTE program model with diverse areas of learning, such as the model selected for Business Technology. A review of the survey results suggests that the school district in which I am employed (henceforth referred to as "The Technical School District") should review other CTE programs that may be more problematic than Business Technology.
Description
Keywords
Technical high schools, Career and technical education, Business technology programs