A study examined vocational/academic integration (VAI) in four Illinois secondary sites, assuming that why schools or teachers choose to integrate will affect how they go about it. The case studies revealed the process of VAI in two different lights: as a highly formalized, documented, and administered procedure; and as an informal collection of…

Discusses the consolidation of three high schools into the vocational-technical center in Rockbridge County, Virginia. Describes the implementation of new programs and the integration of vocational and academic courses. (JOW)

This catalog describes local programs in the eight models of academic/vocational curriculum integration on the secondary level identified by the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE). The roster highlights models from nearly every state, representing a cross-section of rural, suburban, and urban school districts. Each model…

Curriculum integration (CI) is an educational strategy aimed primarily at students who take significant numbers of both academic and vocational courses either as part of a formal program or on their own. Its goal is to enhance the learning of these students by breaking down the traditional barrier that exists in most schools between the two…

The Stages of Concern Questionnaire was completed by 677 of 1,207 teachers at High Schools that Work sites. Those with no experience or first-year experience of reform implementation had high personal concerns that needed to be addressed. About half had high levels of adoption proneness indicating their potential to be reform leaders. (SK)

This document presents the basics of the career academy, a method of integrating vocational with academic educational systems and of providing a contextually valid education. The first section outlines the problems that the academy systems attempt to address, the four major principles essential for the success of career academies, and the nine…

The study reported in this document was conducted to identify, describe, and assess the potential of innovative approaches to integrating vocational and academic education as one way of helping students to understand the utility of academic learning. Research activities included case studies of five integrated-curriculum programs in California,…

The integration of academic and vocational education is an educational reform strategy conceptualized by vocational educators, supported by the business community, and articulated by policy makers. Integration may improve the educational and employment opportunities of youth. Integration may offer change in an educational system that is in need of…

The River Bend Tech Prep project was undertaken to develop a tech prep curriculum in high schools in the Lewis and Clark Community College (LCCC) district in Illinois to improve students' academic skills and eventual employment opportunities and contribute to the region's economic growth and stability. The following activities were completed…

This journal provides an account of pilot site visits and other professional notes from July 1989 to June 1990. It begins with a description of an initial meeting to determine the author's role in the Applied Academics Project, namely that of facilitator of the integration of academic and vocational education with local teachers. Other entries…

The "Passages" program is a curriculum that integrates heart, spirit, and community with strong academics. The program inspires feelings of connectedness in teenagers by addressing their unspoken needs: the search for meaning and purpose, longing for silence and solitude, urge for transcendence, hunger for joy and delight, creative…

The Options Program, a vocational program using applied academic courses at the Greene County Career Center in Ohio, was evaluated in 1989-90. Objectives measured were program enrollment, job placement of graduates, and postsecondary education of graduates. Data were gathered by comparing the enrollment, placement statistics, and percentage…

This publication consists of two parts: an overview of tech prep in Western Wisconsin and the Tech Prep Strategic Plan for Western Wisconsin. The overview combines reduced-size pages (four to a page) with full-size pages that include the following: the definition of tech prep; legislative mandate; rationale; benefits of tech prep; tech prep…

A project was conducted to develop an integrated basic skills instructional program in an education service cooperative to serve grades 7-12 vocational students in 13 rural school districts in Arkansas (Grant and Jefferson counties) as a follow-up to the vocational assessment process. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) chose the Arkansas…

Tech-prep programs are built on the premise that youth must become involved in the development of a technological society. Several models for integrating tech prep with academic education hold promise. (JOW)