Historically, "free play" in many European heritage communities has been a valued practice. However, political imperatives have challenged these beliefs and necessitated a more academic curriculum to raise standards, resulting in a "push-down" curriculum. By contrast, many Asia-Pacific communities have increasingly included…

Challenges exist in secondary education, and new developments are being made in the area of integration of academic and vocational education. The first section of this paper focuses on the need for integration and provides a conceptual framework for viewing academic and vocational integration as well as teacher collaboration. Section two…

Public education is justified only when schools provide a sound, basic education for all students. Devotion to basic education does not mean indifference to the social and vocational development of students. On the contrary, the first essential in such development is, and always has been, competence in the basics. (Author)

This document is a compilation of materials on integrating academic and vocational technical education. Section 1 presents integration basics, including a definition, its benefits, barriers, conditions required for integration, and models, pros, and cons. Section 2 focuses on curriculum alignment and provides steps for designing an integrated unit…

Integration of academic and vocational curricula is missing from most American classrooms because integration that is rigorous, authentic, and sustained is much more difficult than most advocates imagine. The difficulty arises because teachers must do the following: keep integration sharply focused on clear, well-defined educational objectives;…

After 2 years of promoting more integration of academic and vocational curriculums, the Southern Regional Education Board identified 15 educational practices that may raise the basic competencies of vocational students: (1) positive practices can be collected and implemented; (2) vocational completers from pilot sites requiring competency tests…

The second year of the Coordinated Vocational-Academic Education (CVAE) Academic Curriculum Project, Region One Education Service Center, was devoted to the production of instructional materials and to the field testing of the instructional system. Having as its target population junior high school CVAE students, the project's field test involved…

This digest describes efforts to improve academic learning for middle level high school students to be applied practically to develop workplace competence and flexibility by integrating academic and vocational education. Following an introduction describing the need to prepare students for working life is a paragraph describing generally the…

Prepared as a sequel to the College Board Educational Equality Project's "Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need To Know and Be Able To Do," this book examines curricular ideas, teaching strategies, arts learning rationales, and related issues. The arts are defined as separate fields of study which offer a distinctive…

This packet contains a set of principles for core skills development together with corresponding activities for teachers and learners that have been developed in Great Britain. Core skills are defined as transferable skills central to academic, vocational, and personal development. An introduction explains the FEU's principles and guidelines for…

The growing emphasis on accountability and the demand for better prepared students is pressing institutions of higher education to examine restructuring. Student experiences represent an important arena for school restructuring, and a useful approach to changing student experiences is the Tech Prep Mapping (TPM) process. The TPM process requires…

In the wake of repeated reports on the condition of the nation's schools, a specific agenda for renewal is outlined by the National Consortium for Educational Excellence. It is urged that, in undertaking this renewal, greater emphasis be placed on developmental rather than regulatory reform. An agenda consisting of 31 items is detailed in…

The manual provides information to assist administrators in deciding whether to adopt and implement the STARS program, a grade 9 and 10 science, math, and language arts curriculum designed to provide Kodiak Island, Alaska, students with academic skills, vocational training, and village skills to be successful whether they choose to go to college,…

In the late 1980s, in response to a number of problems including consistently low academic performance by students and graduates lacking the skills needed by employers, Swansea High School in Swansea, South Carolina, launched a major reform effort designed to transform Swansea into a high-performance high school. During the multi-year reform…

In 1987, Walhalla High School in Walhalla, South Carolina, undertook a major restructuring effort to raise the school's standards and keep pace with the expectations of local high-tech businesses and industry. School and district leaders established an affiliation with the Southern Regional Education Board's High Schools That Work initiative,…