CTE Shop Class:  NOW – IT’S HIGH-TECH

Celebrate today, own tomorrow!

By Mike Porcelli

Each February, CTE Month is organized by the Association for Career and Technical Education. Their theme is: “Celebrate Today, Own Tomorrow.”

To me, this slogan represents celebrating every opportunity to learn skills today that will allow people to own their tomorrows. This is the mission of all CTE programs. https://www.acteonline.org/why-cte/cte-awareness/cte-month/ 

This annual celebration of skills education is becoming increasingly important to the future of our workforce, as demand for workers with trade skills grows daily.

As a result of the high cost of college tuition and the lack of high-paying jobs for recent graduates of higher four-year institutions, CTE programs have rightfully gained in popularity among the families of many students. Recent statistics show how CTE graduates of high school and community college or trade schools, learn job and life skills that set them on a path to highly successful careers. Many of them who gain advanced certifications in their fields will earn considerably more than the average college-grad, who fell into the “college trap,” and got an expensive, mediocre degree, an unsatisfying job and huge debts.

I’ve repeatedly applauded the NYC Department of Education for its efforts to restore and expand CTE programs citywide. Their pilot program, FutureReadyNYC, teaches labor market-aligned skills to prepare students for successful futures. The program is intended to provide students with, “real skills, a strong plan for after high school and a head start for where they are going… college credits and/or industry-aligned credentials.” I commend DOE for this initiative and urge it be offered to the entire school population as soon as possible.

Recently, I was pleased to participate in DOE’s professional development presentation intended to improve the adoption of their Career-Pathways CTE programs throughout the system. It was an excellent opportunity for teachers to learn the value of CTE for students. Hopefully, it will be a step toward increasing enrollment in these programs, for all students who can gain the most benefit from them.

Last week, I was also pleased to participate in a CTE Black History Month program at Thomas Edison High School in Jamaica Hills, where many graduates of this excellent CTE school come back to their alma mater to share how their CTE experiences led to their highly successful careers. Whether they later earned college degrees, or gained trade certifications in their respective fields, they are all success stories, thanks to the Career and Technical Education provided by their outstanding teachers at Edison.

DOE is certainly on the right path with their CTE programs. But it appears to be missing an opportunity to promote their “new & improved” version of trade education during CTE Month.

Unfortunately, I could find no mention of CTE Month on their weekly blog:  https://morningbellnyc.com/ or on: https://www.schools.nyc.gov/ . You can learn all about CTE at DOE here: https://cte.nyc/web/welcome 

The DOE is on the right track, but should do more to promote CTE in all media outlets…now – during CTE Month!

Academic & Trade Education are Two Sides of a Coin. This column explores the impact of CTE programs on students, society, and the economy.

Mike Porcelli: life-long mechanic, adjunct professor, and host of Autolab Radio, is committed to restoring trade education in schools before it’s too late. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-porcelli-master-mechanic-allasecerts/

CTE Shop Class:  NOW – IT’S HIGH-TECH

Activating students’ futures

By Mike Porcelli

After decades of advocating for expanding student career opportunities, and training programs matched to their abilities and interests – both academic and vocational – I am pleased to see schools moving in that direction.

Last week, I received an invitation to an online DOE professional conference titled: “Activate Students’ Futures.”

That was the theme of my message last week, “Student success is the mission;” activating students’ futures is about preparing them for that success.

With that in mind, the mission of the Department of Education and Chancellor David Banks is to “ensure that all students graduate from high school with a strong plan, real skills and a head start towards a life aligned to their passion and purpose with a pathway to economic security.” Their vision is “for all students to be prepared with a rigorous academic foundation, real world work experience, important professional skills, a strong college and career plan and early college credits or industry credentials.”

We could not ask for any higher objectives from our schools. That’s exactly what I have been preaching for decades. Finally, the Department of Education is singing our song.

Hopefully, this end-of-the-month conference will counteract decades of misinformation about trade education and enlighten school leaders on the advantages of CTE programs for many students. Many more students then have had access to such career training, leading to every student obtaining maximum benefit from their education.

Schools providing such educational opportunities is only half of what’s necessary for student success. Students and parents must also seek out and enroll in those programs that will maximize their chances for success.

To achieve their goal of providing the right kind of training for students, the DOE has committed to building an ecosystem that supports career pathways for them. Toward that end, one year ago, Jade Grieve was appointed “Chief of Student Pathways.” Her mandate is to build an ecosystem that ensures all students have access to career pathways in high school, leading them to graduate with a “strong plan and a headstart on a pathway to the middle class.”

The Student Futures Conference is part of that effort to put every high school graduate on the road to success. This should be the goal of every education system – always.

I hope every member of the DOE attends this conference. I would even suggest attendance be mandatory, or at least, viewing a recording should be required.

For their part, to prepare for high school program selection, students and parents should view these DOE links: https://www.schools.nyc.gov/school-life/activate-your-future – https://cte.nyc/web/welcome – https://cte.nyc/web/ 

For maximum future success for our city, let’s insist that all school personnel attend the conference, and encourage all students and their parents to visit the links above as soon as possible.

Here’s to the best academic and CTE programs for every student, leading to successful futures for all.

Academic & Trade Education are Two Sides of a Coin. This column explores the impact of CTE programs on students, society, and the economy.

Mike Porcelli: life-long mechanic, adjunct professor, and host of Autolab Radio, is committed to restoring trade education in schools before it’s too late. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-porcelli-master-mechanic-allasecerts/ 

CTE Shop Class: Now It’s High-Tech

Schools redefining the mission

By Mike Porcelli

Student success is the mission

Now that we have resolved to make it our mission to end the catastrophe in American education, by ensuring that schools teach: The Skills They Aren’t Teaching but Must, how can we best accomplish this goal? I suggest we begin by redefining the mission of our schools.

The purpose of education must be to prepare students for both successful personal and professional lives, by providing them every possible opportunity to develop their natural talents and abilities to their highest potential, not the production of “graduates,” with no real life or career skills, as has been the case recently.

This process must begin in grade school, by designing practices that allow young students to demonstrate their interests and learning styles.

Everyone who has ever observed toddlers at play, sees how they exhibit what they are interested in, what gets them excited and how they like to explore their world.

In their first school experiences, kids must be allowed the freedom to show how they like to learn and what they want to be taught. Schools must study these indicators and tailor education programs that match each student’s unique characteristics. This is where students can be identified as academic or CTE candidates – or both.

Early in life, children exhibit what sports and hobbies they like to participate in. Schools have always been very good at identifying the physical and other attributes that suggest what sports students are best equipped for. That’s why there are no 300-pound linebackers on the gymnastics team, and why tall students do well in basketball. Schools must use that same logic in guiding students into their best areas of study.

Middle school is the place where students should have the opportunity to expand their areas of interest and explore all possible career fields that might be appropriate for them. Only then can they have the information needed to understand if their natural talents match the requirements of those professions and begin to select the high school program that’s best for them, just as they chose their ideal sports teams.

As I have reiterated many times, high schools must provide both academic and vocational training programs that develop each student’s individual abilities, with the goal of maximizing their personal potential. High schools must abandon their objective of pushing every student they can into the college-debt-trap, which causes half of them to drop out. School “productivity” has been measured by how many students register for college, not how many of them get degrees. This has to end now.

Every school must offer each student the educational experience that best prepares them for future success in higher education, careers and life. Their mission must be to maximize each student’s potential for success in every path they take after high school. The school’s success should be judged on their effectiveness in meeting this goal, not by how many college-bound graduates they produce.

Let’s value quality over quantity and effectiveness rather than productivity.

Judge schools’ success by that standard.

Academic & Trade Education are Two Sides of a Coin. This column explores the impact of CTE programs on students, society, and the economy.

Mike Porcelli: life-long mechanic, adjunct professor, and host of Autolab Radio, is committed to restoring trade education in schools before it’s too late. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-porcelli-master-mechanic-allasecerts/