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APRIL 2005

Councilwoman Moskowitz Examines Vocational Ed
By Liza Young

Proper vocational education is vital to many public school students as well as to the health of the economy. Historically, quality educational programs have been a staple of the New York City Department of Education (DOE) system and were instrumental in helping students segue into the manufacturing economy. After a temporary setback in keeping up with the dramatic economic changes that occurred in the 1950’s, vocational education, more recently known as Career and Technical (CT) education, has gotten back on track to reflect the technological advances through the offering of a significant array of courses in information technology. Challenges still remain for CT education as Board of Education standards, encompassing issues such as the recent requirement of passing five Regents for graduation, leaving CT students to meet these criteria in addition to certification requirements in the specific CT area.  

Recently, the Committee on Education held an oversight hearing on CT education, where issues such as Regents exams, graduation rates, and job market examination and placement were examined. It was presided over by Dr. Moskowitz, Chairperson of the Education Committee. Members of the Department of Education  as well as a representative from the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) testified with respect to the state of vocational education. 

The hearing was hosted by Glenn Goldberg, Principal of the School of Cooperative Technical Education, unique in its provision of career and technical education programs, numbering two dozen, to students enrolled in high schools or Graduate Education Diploma(GED) programs.

Moskowitz expressed her recognition and support of Career and Technical education, recognizing its pivotal role for students with different set of interests and aptitudes. She described the goals of the hearing as an examination of vocational education with respect to funding, teacher training and quality programming.

Moskowitz emphasized that the standards of performance in the field of vocational education need to be clearly defined by the schools. The standards should help differentiate what makes a good CT school as opposed to a mediocre one.

Some specific areas of concern for the Councilwoman included graduation rates of many schools, which according to the report issued by DOE, is significantly low. Moskowitz found the 24 percent graduation rate of Aviation High School very disturbing. While the DOE members responded that the graduation rate would spike if a five-year graduation completion were to be examined. Dr. Moskowitz questioned whether five-year rates should be the norm and should this consequently be brought to the attention of the Chancellor for funding requests.

Additional concerns were with respect to job placement. The Councilwoman indicated that if the mission of CT education is more immediate job placement following completion of the program as compared with non-CT schools, then CT schools should have clear data on job placement following completion of the program. The DOE unfortunately did not furnish these numbers at the hearing.

With respect to the Board of Regents changes calling for the completion of five Regents, an increase of the completion rate from 48.5 percent to 72.95 percent occurred between 2001 and 2004. This should continue to be monitored and analyzed with respect to graduation rates.

Clarification was called regarding differences between the local diploma and the Regents diploma. The DOE explained that the local diploma required successful completion of five regents and the Regents diploma calls for successful completion of two additional regents exams. Data provided by the DOE, from Thomas Edison H.S., indicate that large percentages are passing with what appears to be more than five regents, but only a small percentage of students—11 percent—actually receive a Regents diploma. The Councilwoman called for clarification with respect to this issue.

Overall, what was evident at the hearing was that graduation rates, job placement, and regents exams are issues that need to be examined in more depth in the area of CT education and responded to in terms of appropriate funding and instructor training. As Frank Carucci, Vice President for Vocational and Technical High Schools for the UFT, pointed out, the recent funding for job training programs for high school dropouts may not have been necessary if the educational system reached students at the high school level, emphasizing the need to make sure programs are optimized. #

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