Educators say Masschusetts's system of vocational-technical high schools could serve as a model for other states struggling with a critical shortage of skilled workers.
"Voc-tech" students in the Commonwealth typically spend their first year exploring up to ten different career and technical majors - followed by three years of on-the-job training and traditional high school courses.
David Ferreira, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators, said students graduate with the industry credentials needed to get hired.
"If you can come out as a pre-apprentice carpenter or pre-apprentice electrician and get into an apprenticeship program," said Ferreira, "you can make a very good living."
Three quarters of U.S. manufacturers say attracting and retaining quality workers are among their greatest challenges - but employers in the Commonwealth say voc-tech graduates are more job-ready than students from traditional, college-prep high schools.
Educational reforms in Massachusetts were made to better incorporate academics into voc-tech training, giving students once thought of as not college material a better chance at pursuing a degree or certificate.
Ferreira said voc-tech schools offer students from low-income households, in particular, a roadmap to financial independence.
"The worst thing that can happen is for a youngster to finish high school, barely pass MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System), and have no skills," said Ferreira, "because now they're out there looking for - you know what kind of job - low skill-set jobs that pay minimum wage."
Ferreira said the state's 36 voc-tech schools also teach more students with special needs compared to other public schools statewide and have a lower dropout rate. He said it shows that students engaged in small-group, hands-on learning stand a greater chance at success.
Vocational-technical schools also have industry advisory councils and build relationships with local businesses that provide equipment and training, as well as a direct pipeline to employment.
Tim Ross is a graduate of Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School in Rochester. He said he originally trained to be a mechanic, like his Dad, but was soon exposed to opportunities in computer information technology.
"I mean, it was just a diverse background, which again, applies to me even to this day," said Ross. "I still develop web pages, I do social networking. And if it wasn't for that background or skill, I wouldn't have had my interest peaked in my brain to go forward and do that."
Ross, like other voc-tech students, worked closely with the same teachers throughout high school and built industry contacts even before graduation - helping him become the systems analyst he is today.
Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.
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It's estimated that nearly half of all schools in the country don't have enough teachers. To help change that, the University of Texas in El Paso offers a residency program to help ensure that first-time teachers succeed.
The "Miner Teacher Residency" gives students in the College of Education an opportunity to work in elementary and middle schools alongside working teachers.
Clifton Tanabe, dean of the UTEP College of Education, was part of a recent national roundtable discussion on ways to solve the teacher shortage, and said the program gives future educators the skills they need to be ready for their first day of class.
"A third grader in a first-year teacher's classroom is only going to get to do third grade once, but that teacher will be able to do the third grade again and again," he explained. "So, we want them ready for that first group of third graders that they take on."
Tanabe added nearly half of the students enrolled in the program are first-generation college students and 70% are bilingual. He adds that mirrors the population of students in the public school system in El Paso, where 90% of the students are Hispanic. Most of the new teachers remain in the area, he said.
Many school districts have been forced to leave positions open, or fill them with teachers who are not fully certified. Some rural Texas districts have gone to a four-day school week. And some teachers are leaving the profession, citing increased workloads, low pay and concerns about safety.
According to Tanabe, teacher retention is directly related to being successful in the first two years on the job - and the UT program addresses this.
"So, folks who graduate from our residency model in their first and second years in teaching are set up with an instructional coach who's from the university, from the College of Education, to work with them on individualized instructional improvement," he continued.
The residency program is in its sixth year. It currently has 62 teachers working in five different school districts in the El Paso area.
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Ohio's Black students are more likely to face excessively harsh discipline practices such as expulsion and suspension, according to a recently released report from the Children's Defense Fund of Ohio.
The data show out-of-school suspensions and expulsions rose in every grade level from kindergarten through twelfth grade in the 2022-23 school year, compared with the previous academic year.
John Standford, state director for the Children's Defense Fund of Ohio, said economically disadvantaged students comprised 83% of all out-of-school suspensions.
"School districts really have to pay closer attention to the data and really screen the data, review the data, on a regular basis to really begin to address the issues of inequities," Standford urged.
Last year saw 174,000 cases of total suspension or expulsion among low-income students compared to 35,000 cases among students who do not qualify as economically disadvantaged. According to the report, Black females in Ohio were six times more likely to receive out-of-school suspensions than their white female peers. Black males were also more than four times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white male peers.
Kim Eckhart, research manager for the fund, said she understands the difficulties teachers face. She hopes the report encourages districts across the state to support schools with the resources and time needed to address behavioral problems restoratively.
"We need schools to be supporting teachers with additional time and space," Eckhart contended. "So that there is capacity to address these things, rather than just kicking the student out of the class, kicking them out of the school."
School discipline practices are also linked to Ohio's alarmingly high chronic absenteeism rates. According to the report, missing as little as two days of school per month can lead to chronic absence. More than 26% of Ohio students -- more than 400,000 children -- were chronically absent from school in the 2022-2023 school year, up by nearly half from the 2018-19 school year.
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Idaho lawmakers are considering a measure that would eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs on college campuses.
Critics say it could keep potential students from attending school in the state. Senate Bill 1357 would prohibit the use of state funds for DEI, and DEI offices from operating at colleges and universities.
Nick Koenig is a PhD student in geography at the University of Idaho.
"These positions that are trying to be taken away from this bill are specifically to foster student success on campus," said Koenig, "not just for students from marginalized groups but also just the totality of the campus community."
Lawmakers supporting the bill say eliminating DEI programs would save the state more than $3 million.
But Koenig said the consequences of eliminating these positions will have ripple effects. He said he spoke with the LGBTQ office at the University of Idaho before deciding to attend.
"The person I originally chatted with before coming to this university," said Koenig, "if her position was just not there, I would not have come to this university at all."
Koenig said the legislation would also make it hard to recruit people to colleges and universities in Idaho.
"People go to school say that they can see themselves as COOs or as teachers or as sociologists or as geographers, like in my case," said Koenig, "and if I saw that they're actively trying to remove me as a queer person from the state then, yeah, why would I want to spend four years in a state that wants to remove me as a person?"
Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.
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