"Reiniventing American High Schools for the 21st Century

In January 2006, the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) released its position statement on high school reform, “Reinventing American High Schools for the 21 st Century.” This paper outlines the association’s view on high school reform and how career and technical education (CTE) can contribute to these efforts." Hans Meeder, executive vice president of Visions Unlimited, Inc. and former deputy assistant secretary for education in the U.S. Department of Education (Office of Vocational and Adult Education), authored the report and led discussions with the ACTE Advisory Committee, which was formed to provide input for the paper.
In its report, ACTE promotes a number of CTE strengths and resources that will help improve the nation’s high schools and help prepare all students for postsecondary education and the 21st-century workforce.

Emphasis was placed on the importance that there should not be an artificial split between the traditional college prep and CTE curricula and that career/vocational coursework should not be delayed until the later years of high school. Instead, a modern, rigorous curriculum needs to be connected to an interest-based curriculum so that all students can reach academic and career readiness.

I used the ACTE suggestions as a basis for the powerpoint presentation that I created to use to make the case for piloting the Career Discovery Program at the Guilmette Middle School in Lawrence.

For more information about ACTE’s position statement or to download a copy, go to the ACTE Web site at: http://www.acteonline.org/policy/legislative_issues/
high_school_reform.cfm.