The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 2006 was passed recently to increase the awareness of academic achievement of career and technical education students, strengthen the connection between secondary and postsecondary education, and improve the accountability both locally and statewide. This Act was the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 after first being passed in 1984.
There are three major modifications that were made during this reauthorization. Instead of using the term “vocational education,” the term “career and technical education” will be used instead. Schools will maintain a technical preparation program as a separate federal funding stream within legislation. Lastly, we will continue the state administrative funding at five percent of a state’s allotment. The Perkins Act provides approximately $1.3 billion dollars to support technical and career programs in all fifty states over about six years.
In Texas, the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Unit, helps offer districts support and guidance in the CTE field. Career and technical programs aim at preparing students to be both a family member and wage earner. Because of this Act, there have been amendments to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, including suggesting recommended courses. These additions to the TEKS have allowed for some schools to offer additional courses in both career development and career and technical education. Some of these avenues for include Exploring Careers, Career Portals, Career Preparation, and Problems and Solutions. These courses are offered in junior high and high school.
My school district offers a couple of different programs in the technical education programs. First of all, our district has adopted a new vision entitled Vision 2020. Basically, within the next ten years, we want all students to be engaged in a profound curriculum guided by student-focused teachers. Our school has already been working on ways that we can do this and a big push has been in the area of technology. Our Curriculum Night this year was purely focused around technology and the ways we are incorporating it into our daily classroom activities. There are some other programs that our district offers to aid in the growth of technical education. We have several magnet schools in all school levels, elementary through high school. You must apply to these schools, but they have can have a focus on technology, mathematics, and other field areas that would help students with their future profession. Additionally, the after school program in elementary school, called PACE. During their afternoon, students attend a specialized class – cooking, service learning, or robotics, etc., to help them learn about other subject areas. In sixth grade at our school, students attend Enterprise City. This is an program that offers real world experiences for students to act as consumers, producers, and citizens. It is a partnership between the school district and the business community. In addition, many school offer career days that help students become informed of many different careers that exist, both requiring a college degree or not.
