Some Vocational Education And Training Background

People mistake history of vocational education for a bank of computers. Kocher-Taylor comments that "we need that bank of computers, but we also need applied technology and to keep pace with industry" by accessing other advanced equipment. It's vital, she says, that vocational administrators aggressively seek out grants and gifts, and that they snap up recent-vintage equipment being retired by industry. Even if it's not the latest model, "it still might be the most modern thing we've ever seen," she notes, and can still be a useful vehicle for training.

Cullen's group is working to get state or federal funds set aside for vocational equipment costs, asking business and industry to donate items to schools, and seeking out work-based learning sites where students can use advanced technology. "We're also proposing a piece of legislation that would allow businesses to get a state tax credit for donating state-of-the-art equipment," she adds. Close interaction with business and industry is key to meeting students technology needs, Migal stresses.

Even at Great Oaks--with its four campuses, $70 million budget and reputation for being on the cutting edge of career education--money can only go so far. Students must still go to industry sites to view and use some of the more sophisticated technologies, such as advanced robotics. "It's strategic partnering that allows you to take advantage of what the industry base has," Migal says. "If you don't do that, and don't keep up, you get in trouble."

One of challenges facing any vocational director across the country is keeping up with legislation. Balistreri says, "It's tough to get up to speed on developments and to understand what the implications are for your home state, your local school districts and other institutions to which you might have sensitivities."

Vocational administrators are bombarded by initiatives, Cullen agrees. "It's hard to tie them all together into some kind of coherent program," she says, and the inevitable consequences are "more meetings, more paperwork." Such is particularly the case for vocational administrators whose facilities serve adults as well as secondary students.

"In Missouri we've got the one-stop-shop initiatives, welfare-to-work initiatives," says Orr. "They're filtering down, and I've found I'm more involved all the time in trying to keep up so I can have programs in place and ready to go. It's tough to keep ahead the way Congress works. They approve programs and then you're supposed to start them in July but the rules and regulations aren't out until December. So you're playing a guessing game."

Greg Pierce, superintendent of Pontotoc Area Vocational-Technical School in Ada, Okla., and vice president for the administration division on the American Vocational Association's board of directors, believes community sentencing and drug court initiatives that give nonviolent offenders a chance at rehabilitation through education and technical training will have a tremendous impact on public education.

Refining assessment systems and taking other steps to ensure the smooth implementation of such initiatives are among the many challenges on Pierce's plate.

Even established initiatives can raise vexing questions for vocational administrators. "I think we still struggle in vocational education and school-to-work about what those terms mean and who we are," says Marty Hawkins, director of industrial support services for Highline School District near Seattle, Wash. "We have a lot of rigorous debates among my colleagues around the region and state about that. There are those traditionalists, who still think, vocational education, and school-to-work should be separate, and others who think the two are very closely related."