MITE Seminar, Summer 2004

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MITE Seminar, Summer 2004

• Infusing Mathematics Instruction into CTE
• David Hopkins
• Technology Instructor
• North Callaway High School
• dhopkins_at_mail.northcallaway.k12.mo.us

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One reason we need CTE
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Road Map

• The Need
• CTE and NCLB
• Accountability
• CTE and Math
• The Opportunity
• Strategies and Obstacles

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The Need

• The Need for Math Literacy

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The need for math

• Automotive industry experts, for example, note
  that the cars and trucks sold today feature more
  sophisticated components than were in the NASA
  Apollo 11 spacecraft

Charting a New Course for Career and Technical
Education This paper is one of a series produced
in conjunction with the U.S. Secretary of
Education's High School Leadership Summit.
6
Students need help
Only about half of 17-year-old white students and
fewer than one-fifth of 17- year-old
African-American students can read and understand
complicated information
Facts About High School Career/Technical
Studies Southern Regional Education Board
7

Students need remediation
More than half of those entering two-year
colleges and nearly half of those entering
four-year colleges require remediation in math,
reading, writing or all three
Improving Math Skills in CTE How You Can Help By
James R. Stone III, Director, National Research
Center for Career and Technical Education
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Math a new basic skill

• Research shows that higher wages depend on the
  ability to think mathematically.
• Some degree of mathematical literacy is required
  of anyone entering the workplace or seeking
  advancement in a career

Improving Math Skills in CTE How You Can Help By
James R. Stone III, Director, National Research
Center for Career and Technical Education
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Employer needs

• Employers are demanding stronger reading,
  writing, and math skills of all of their workers
  and reporting that too many recent high school
  graduates are not making the grade.
• 63 percent express dissatisfaction with
  graduates math skills.

Charting a New Course for Career and Technical
Education This paper is one of a series produced
in conjunction with the U.S. Secretary of
Education's High Schoo Leadership Summit.
10
CTE and NCLB

• Career and Technical Education
• and
• No Child Left Behind

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CTE and NCLB
If CTE expects to survive in an NCLB-driven
educational world, its proponents must step
forward, very soon, and make the argument
(supported by data) that CTE can play an
essential role in supporting NCLB
Redefining CTE Seizing a Unique Opportunity to
Help the "Neglected Majority" Become World-Class
Students, Workers and Citizens By Dan Hull,
President and CEO, CORD
12
CTE and NCLB

• CTE can prove support of NCLB by
• reducing dropout rates
• improving academic achievement
• preparing more students to be successful in
  postsecondary education.

Redefining CTE Seizing a Unique Opportunity to
Help the "Neglected Majority" Become World-Class
Students, Workers and Citizens By Dan Hull,
President and CEO, CORD
13
CTE and Back to Basics
One result of going "back to the basics" is that
fewer elective courses are available in secondary
school curriculawhich means fewer opportunities
for students to select CTE courses.
Redefining CTE Seizing a Unique Opportunity to
Help the "Neglected Majority" Become World-Class
Students, Workers and Citizens By Dan Hull,
President and CEO, CORD
14
Cuts in CTE

• Congress will be surely looking to cut CTE
  funding in some fashion, and it is predictable
  that states will begin cutting CTE funding in
  response to federal cuts.

Officials weigh in on rumors of funding cuts
Perkins the hot topic at ACTEs annual
convention Alex Nock 2004. Association for Career
and Technical Education.
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Perkins FY 2005 Funding Chart
 
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Accountability

• Justifying your Program

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Rigor and Relevance
Changes in the economy, work, and society demand
that every high school student be prepared both
for careers and postsecondary education. The past
division between preparation for college and
preparation for work has become false dichotomy.
Brand, Betsy. Rigor and Relevance A New Vision
for Career and Technical Education, A White
Paper. Washington, DC American Youth Policy Forum
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CTE must integrate

• It is imperative that CTE programs
  successfully integrate academics with technical
  education, and provide the data demonstrating
  successes so that Congress would want to continue
  funding it in the future.

Officials weigh in on rumors of funding cuts
Perkins the hot topic at ACTEs annual
convention Krisanne Pearce 2004. Association for
Career and Technical Education.
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State requirements

• Each state has to present objective,
  quantifiable, and measurable results.

Officials weigh in on rumors of funding cuts
Perkins the hot topic at ACTEs annual
convention 2004. Association for Career and
Technical Education.
20
Accountability

• At the high school level, the accountability
  system will focus on the outcomes of students who
  enroll in a sequence of two or more courses in a
  pathway.

A Blueprint for Preparing Americas Future U.S.
Department of Education May 2004
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CTE expectations

• Each CTE pathway must consist of an
  articulated sequence of courses that include
  challenging academic classes and technical
  coursework, and culminate with an
  industry-recognized certificate, or degree, or
  certificate of completion from a registered
  apprenticeship.

A Blueprint for Preparing Americas Future U.S.
Department of Education May 2004
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CTE and Results
Only seven percent of public high schools with
career/technical programs prepare students for
state or industry exams (Phelps, Parsad and
Farris, 2001)
Facts About High School Career/Technical
Studies Southern Regional Education Board
23
Accountability In Math

• Secondary Performance Indicators
• Math preparation, as measured by the
  percentage of participating students who complete
  Algebra I, Geometry, and
• Algebra II

A Blueprint for Preparing Americas Future U.S.
Department of Education May 2004
24
HSTW Expectations

• High Schools That Work (HSTW) expects students
  to combine their technical studies with college
  prep academics consisting of at least
• 3 credits of mathematics including Algebra I,
  Algebra II, and Trigonometry

Charting a New Course for Career and Technical
Education This paper is one of a series produced
in conjunction with the U.S. Secretary of
Education's High Schoo Leadership Summit.
25
CTE- The Need for Change
CTE is in a precarious position and must reinvent
itself, soon, if it hopes to survive. The
situation calls for sweeping changes, for all
practical purposes a "new system," in which
teachers, including CTE teachers, change the way
they go about their business every day.
Redefining CTE Seizing a Unique Opportunity to
Help the "Neglected Majority" Become World-Class
Students, Workers and Citizens By Dan Hull,
President and CEO, CORD
26
Complaints?

• Whine time
• How do you feel about
• No Child and the state of CTE?

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CTE and Math

• The integration of math instruction into CTE
  classes

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Math/CTE connection

• Until a few years ago, all efforts to
  integrate academics and CTE were focused on math
  and science teachers, who were encouraged to
  teach their subjects within the context of
  real-world applications. Now its time for CTE
  teachers to "reach across" from the other side by
  infusing higher levels of math and science into
  their courses.

Redefining CTE Seizing a Unique Opportunity to
Help the "Neglected Majority" Become World-Class
Students, Workers and Citizens Dan Hull,
President and CEO, CORD 2004. Association for
Career and Technical Education
29
NCTM-Technology and change

• Technology has changed the ways in which
  mathematics is used and has led to the creation
  of both new and expanded fields of mathematical
  study. Thus, technology is driving change in the
  content of mathematics programs, in methods for
  mathematics instruction, and in the ways that
  mathematics is learned and assessed.

The Use of Technology in the Learning and
Teaching of Mathematics NCTM position
statement October 2003
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NCTM and CTE

• Using the tools of technology to work in
  interesting problem contexts can facilitate
  students' achievement of a variety of
  higher-order learning outcomes, such as
  reflection, reasoning, problem posing, problem
  solving, and decision making.

The Use of Technology in the Learning and
Teaching of Mathematics NCTM position
statement October 2003
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The Opportunity

• Effective CTE teachers

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CTE Teachers can be effective
Career/technical teachers who often
require students to use academic knowledge and
skills in completing assignments increase
students chances of meeting the HSTW reading,
mathematics and science performance goals by
seven to 10 percent
Facts About High School Career/Technical
Studies Southern Regional Education Board
33
CTE and Dropouts
High-risk students are eight to 10 times less
likely to drop out in the 11th and 12th grades if
they enroll in a career/technical program
rather than a general program.
Facts About High School Career/Technical
Studies Southern Regional Education Board
34
CTE Students are more Successful

• A quality career/technical program
• can reduce a schools dropout rate
• by as much as six percent.
• Career/technical students are less
• likely than general-track students
• to fail a course or to be absent.

Facts About High School Career/Technical
Studies Southern Regional Education Board
35
The Opportunity

• CTE teachers and student access

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CTEs Opportunity
more than 40 of high school students are
"investors" or "concentrators," taking three or
more courses in Technical Educationmost (are)
taken during the junior and senior years. there
is an opportunity during these two years to
reinforce the existing embedded mathematics in
high school TE coursework
Building Academic Skills in Context Testing the
Value of Enhanced Math Learning in Technical
Education James R. Stone, III, Director
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Most Students take CTE

• The majority of high school students take at
  least one career and technical education course
  in high school where they encounter a substantial
  amount of embedded mathematics. But unless
  mathematical concepts and procedures are made
  explicit, it is unlikely that they will transfer
  outside the classroom.

Building Academic Skills in Context Testing the
Value of Enhanced Math Learning in Career and
Technical Education 2003 Project Summary
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Short summary

• Students need math
• CTE must change direction
• Integrating math is a logical step
• CTE educators can make a difference
• Why arent we doing it?

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Obstacles

• Lack of training

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CTE teachers need training
Teacher effectiveness is the number-one factor in
raising student achievement.
35 percent needed staff development to learn
mathematical concepts underlying their teaching
fields
Facts About High School Career/Technical
Studies Southern Regional Education Board
41
CTE teacher training
70 percent received no staff development in
getting career-oriented students to master
complex content in algebra, geometry and
statistics
Facts About High School Career/Technical
Studies Southern Regional Education Board
42
Strategies

• How to meet the challenge

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The high-achieving students have CTE teachers
who

• place a great deal of importance on assignments
  that require students to read, write and use
  mathematics and
• require students to use mathematics, read
  technical manuals and books, and use computers
  daily or weekly in completing
• career/technical assignments.

Facts About High School Career/Technical
Studies Southern Regional Education Board
44
Things you can do on your own

• Offer problem of the week
• Use math worksheets on those odd days
• Ask students to explain why a procedure works

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Partneringwith a math teacher

• Share vocabulary
• Plan a common unit
• Address common concepts
• Ask about MAP weaknesses

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Partnering with industry/higher ed

• Find out what they need
• Bring in guest speakers
• Use field trips
• Use real applications

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Contextual Teaching REACT

• Relating
• Experiencing
• Applying
• Cooperating
• Transferring

Redefining CTE Seizing a Unique Opportunity to
Help the "Neglected Majority" Become World-Class
Students, Workers and Citizens By Dan Hull,
President and CEO, CORD
48
Difficult Issues

• Scheduling
• for team-teaching purposes
• for planning
• Identifying specific math topics that apply to
  all career cultures in CT
• Reliance on informal mathematics in CT settings

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"Who will teach this?"

• We will need for those (current CTE) teachers
  to present new occupational content using more
  and higher levels of academic contenta job that
  they were not hired for and that will require
  using academic skills that they have not drawn on
  for a long time.

Redefining CTE Seizing a Unique Opportunity to
Help the "Neglected Majority" Become World-Class
Students, Workers and Citizens Dan Hull,
President and CEO, CORD 2004. Association for
Career and Technical Education