High School Restructuring and Vocational Reform: The Question of “Fit” in Two Schools

Little, Judith Warren; Erbstein, Nancy; Walker, Laura

doi:10.1177/019263650108562503

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…In other cases, the academic and vocational areas were both involved in the reform efforts, but those efforts were not directed at the entire school. Students and teachers could choose between the pocket of reform within the school or the traditional high school curriculum and structure (Little, Erbstein, & Walker, 1996). Partial attempts at reform usually do not result in the broad overhaul of structures and practices necessary for comprehensive school reform.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Secondary Career and Technical Education and Comprehensive School Reform: Implications for Research and Practice

Castellano¹,

Stringfield²,

Stone³

2003

Review of Educational Research

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In the 1990s, federal legislation authorizing funding for secondary vocational education, increasingly called career and technical education (CTE), began to mandate accountability requirements such as improved academic achievement. These requirements have necessitated a search for ways to integrate CTE into broader school reforms that have improved student achievement as their goal. This review examines research on the effects of CTE reform efforts in general and on efforts to meld CTE with comprehensive secondary school reforms. The authors found that the intersection of CTE with comprehensive school reform is under-researched. However, the studies reviewed here reveal the potential benefit for research and practice in re-examining CTE as a means of preparing our nation’s youth for the future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Secondary Career and Technical Education and Comprehensive School Reform: Implications for Research and Practice

Castellano¹,

Stringfield²,

Stone³

2003

Review of Educational Research

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“…Despite numerous attempts to bridge the gap between these separate goals, few high schools have succeeded in doing so (Little, Erbstein, and Walker 1996).…”

Section: Can the Senior Year Be Changed?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is extremely difficult to change the basic goals of high schools, which z remain committed primarily to academic preparation and secondly to vocational opportunities (Conley 1997). Despite numerous attempts to bridge the gap between these separate goals, few high schools have succeeded in doing so (Little, Erbstein, and Walker 1996).…”

Section: National Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the Senior Year

Conley

2001

NASSP Bulletin

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The final year of high school education as it is currently designed presents numerous challenges to students, teachers, and administrators. This article describes strategies to help school administrators rethink the senior year so that high school seniors can make the transition from school to work and/or college more smoothly and successfully. A national report on the senior year is summarized and its recommendations reviewed.The call for high school reform has become a constant drumbeat over the past two decades. A series of reports has concluded that the high school structure is poorly suited to the needs of today's learners (senior year has become the latest candidate for greater scrutiny with the appointment of a national commission.Those who work in high schools know the challenges associated with the final year of secondary schooling. Students often suffer from "senioritis." They view the senior year, particularly the second semester, as a reward for participating in 12 years of schooling. Many take less than a full load of classes, and focus more on jobs than on homework. As students turn 18, they are recognized as adults by the law, but they must still abide by school rules that tend to treat them the same as their 15-year-old counterparts.High schools struggle to keep seniors engaged by implementing strategies such as small learning communities, career academies, block scheduling, applied academics, dual enrollment programs, and internships; however, such adaptations are more often the exception than the rule. Moreover, such programs only partially address the more fundamental problem of the senior year-its linkage to the world students will enter

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“…At the same time, paying closer attention to teacher subject identity can uncover distinguishing critical insights into their professional practice. When a teacher teaches a particular subject; it undoubtedly contours their professional identity distinctively; after all, teaching does not happen in a vacuum, it involves the 'teaching of something' (Depaepe et al, 2013, p. 111, emphasis in original), which evokes a strong emotional connection (Little, 1993).…”

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confidence: 99%

‘Social Science Teacher? Anyone Can Become’: Examining Professional Subject Identity of Social Science Teachers in India

Subramanian

2024

Contemporary Education Dialogue

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Teacher identity can serve as an important lens to examine the way teachers traverse the various demands made of them by policymakers and stakeholders in the school system, with their own perspectives of self and their work. Official narratives and curriculum documents lead to the construction of a public identity and what it means to be a ‘good teacher’ in a broad and generic sense. However, much less attention is paid to teachers’ biographical accounts of their professional identity, from a stance as practitioners of a specific subject, and their lived experiences, thereof. This article reports on a qualitative study undertaken as a pilot project for a doctoral dissertation, where six social science teachers from Mumbai and Bangalore, participated in three online focus group discussions. The framework used to analyse the data is Goffman’s dramaturgical theory of impression management. Findings reveal that social science teachers present their professional identity using reified expressions of competence, idealise social science as a subject, and seek validation of their status as teachers of a nonutility subject. These are discussed in the context of recently proposed educational reforms in India, with the recommendation that policymakers must take cognizance of this fragile sense of subject identity and an acute sense of disempowerment facing social science teachers, who are not averse to accountability measures per se, to enhance their standing.

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High School Restructuring and Vocational Reform: The Question of “Fit” in Two Schools

Cited by 4 publications

References 2 publications

Secondary Career and Technical Education and Comprehensive School Reform: Implications for Research and Practice

Secondary Career and Technical Education and Comprehensive School Reform: Implications for Research and Practice

Rethinking the Senior Year

‘Social Science Teacher? Anyone Can Become’: Examining Professional Subject Identity of Social Science Teachers in India

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