Career Preparation - High Schools Only

Participation of All Students

The left-hand bar graphs show what percentage of students in each school participated in school-to-career and career and technical-education programs during the 2005-06 school year. Students participated if they were enrolled in at least one school-to-career or career and technical-education course.

Types of programs:

Academies: A career academy is a “school within a school” or a small learning community that prepares high-school students for both college and careers. An academy provides broad information about a field such as health care, finance, or engineering, and it weaves this career theme into an academic curriculum that qualifies students for admission to a four-year college or university.

Career & Technical programs: These are a sequence of courses designed to prepare students for an occupation (e.g., nurse’s aide, carpentry) or a cluster of courses in an occupational area (e.g., health care, construction) that typically requires education below the baccalaureate level.

Tech Prep: A sequence of courses, typically beginning in grade 11, that usually leads to an associate’s degree or certificate after two years of post-secondary training. Tech-Prep programs build student competency in academic subjects and provide broad technical preparation in a career area. They integrate academic and vocational or technical subject matter.

Career Exploration (or Career Awareness): Courses designed to provide some in-depth exposure to career options for students. Career Exploration builds career awareness, helps students examine work and the workplace, and includes activities that will help students discover their strengths and career interests. Career Awareness may be made up of courses from more that one content area or courses from one content area only. The courses are often designed to give students the appropriate preparation to meet their career goals. The courses also may make students aware of the broad range of careers, including options that may not be traditional for their gender, race, or ethnicity. Unlike Academies, Career & Technical programs, and Tech Prep, these are individual courses rather than a full academic program.

Note that students may be participating in a program and in career-exploration courses, so the total participation may exceed 100%.

The set of bars on the right-hand side shows what percentage of the students, in each gender and in various groups, participate in school-to-career or career and technical education.

• IEP: Students with disabilities who have Individual Education Programs (IEPs).
• ELL: Students who are English-language learners (generally, their first three years studying in the English language).
• Economically disadvantaged students: Eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
  
  (Definitions adapted from the Rhode Island Career and Technical Education Information System.)

We would like to see substantial participation in school-to-career or career-and technical education programs, particularly career exploration. We would also hope that there are no “equity gaps” separating the various groups of students; all students, regardless of their gender, racial or ethnic group, educational or economic status, should have equal access to school-to-career courses programs.

SALT Survey Findings: Student Responses

The bar graphs show responses to the 2006 SALT Survey from all high-school students and teachers — not just those who participate in school-to-career or career and technical education. The questions and responses all relate either to preparation for a career or to learning skills and teaching strategies that can prepare students for careers and for the world of work.

These graphs enable you to compare the responses on your high school with responses from the state as a whole.

We would expect that students and teachers in schools with significant participation in school-to-career pr career and technical-education programs (as shown in the top field on this page) would also have positive responses to the SALT Survey questions on career-related topics and teaching strategies.