from Inquiry, Volume 6, Number 2, Fall 2001, 56-59
© Copyright 2001 Virginia Community College System
Abstract
Dodrill argues that Tech Prep successfully combines academic learning with
technical skills.
In a recent edition of Inquiry, David Striegel and Michael Gray expressed an interesting point of view concerning the relationship between Tech Prep and Criminal Justice associate degree programs, noting that they believe Criminal Justice is a social studies discipline that should be far removed from the career and technical education-minded Tech Prep arena. This point of view assumes that only technical skills are delivered in Tech Prep, and the authors contend that students of social studies disciplines should be removed from such vocationally bound curricula. The following article is not intended as a rebuttal but as a clarification and expansion of some valid points.
Career and technical or vocational education is based upon the solid foundation of educational theory: we learn best by doing. John Dewey and other behaviorists noted that the school should not be merely a place of doing our lessons but should be a place of interaction with the phenomena of the arts, natural sciences, and practical sciences that engage our minds and hearts. Vocational education in its purest form engages students in the discipline or field that inspires them to action. To learn to ride a bicycle, one must get on, attempt, fall off, and get back on a few times. Reading depictions of the wonders of bicycling across country or hearing the spell-binding tales of ones who have achieved recognition for completion of competitive tours will not transfer to the learner an ability to ride the bike. Yet, the one attempting and failing to achieve a desired result undoubtedly will need to hear of the majesty of accomplishment. Thus, a strong agreement between and integration of vocational education and academic skills is vitally important.
Today’s career minded person must have the technical skills of the chosen career field and the learning skills to acquire additional abilities as the career evolves. Further, both academic and vocational education recognize the increasingly important role of the affective domain of learning. Enter the Tech Prep movement for educational reform.
Tech Prep is the seamless alignment (or blending) of vocational, academic, workplace experiences, and professional values’ learning objectives ascribed to a broad discipline. The content and objectives of a Tech Prep sequence is to carry the student of a career field through engaging and challenging activities from high school through a complementary post-secondary experience. Dr. Dale Parnell, a modern John Dewey, confronted the education establishment with The Neglected Majority, a text that captured the ideology of many educators. He reminded us that more than 70 percent of our population requires less than a bachelor’s degree but more than a high school diploma. He reiterated the requirements of a whole education that involves the mind, emotions, and body. Tech Prep prepares the individual for success. A seamless sequence of learning objectives from an early career exploration to a completed associate degree or relative post-secondary preparation is the hallmark of Tech Prep.
Can a pure social science career field be aligned with Tech Prep in a meaningful way? Yes, and at least one Virginia Tech Prep consortium has discovered the key. The technical skills of armed firearms proficiency, patrol tactics, and mechanics of arrest procedure are a portion of the post-secondary educational experience in specialized academies. Such content need not be delivered by public schools or colleges to provide students with advanced training and specific procedures of a given agency of public safety. The vital attitudes and values of leadership, citizenship, regard for the law, interpersonal relationships, communication, problem solving, contribution to society, protection and safety of the public, and working within diverse populations are taught very well by JROTC units and relevant academic courses.
Patrick Henry Community College (PHCC) and the public school districts within its service area have embarked upon the development of a Criminal Justice Tech Prep articulation agreement. The agreement includes rigorous academics, a JROTC component at the public school level, internships with business partners, and a Criminal Justice associate degree through the college. JROTC has evolved from its traditionally pure military emphasis to an alternative learning environment for exposing young people to public service and citizenship. Some students choose an option that does not include JROTC due to other curricular and extra-curricular activities. Several possible pathways are made available. Tech Prep does not support singular, tight-fitting tracks with little mobility to change as one matures.
PHCC and the Piedmont Tech Prep consortium have developed distance learning courses and some articulated dual enrollment courses for delivery at the public high school. The introductory courses solidify commitment to careers in the public service fields. Students may enter PHCC with advanced standing and dual enrollment credits equivalent to a full semester or more. Students are exposed to fieldtrips to the college, public safety agencies, and courtrooms. Many public servants volunteer time and energy to provide a mentor or shadowing experience. All contacts are delivered in a planned learning environment with opportunities to explore the rich diversity of the field. Students have the latitude to migrate into other fields when Law Enforcement does not appear to be a good fit to their personality and interests.
Tech Prep is not a narrowly focused curriculum of discrete technical skills of a given profession. It is a blending of learning by doing and developing vital academic learning skills along with the professional attitudes established in a validated profile of a occupation. Ken Gray noted in Other Ways to Win (p. 79) that individuals with the combination of strong academics and sound work-related experience on average earned nearly $3,000 more annually than their counterparts. The Piedmont Consortium, as many of our sister consortia, has developed innovative opportunities for today’s student and tomorrow’s professional. Take a look around your region, meet the educators leading Tech Prep, inquire of the students in Tech Prep curricula, ask business partners, and consider the awesome potential for developing professionals in any field.
References and Recommended Reading
Chickering, A. W., and Gamson, Z. F. 1987. "Seven Principles For Good Practice In Undergraduate Education" AAHE Bulletin 39 (7): 3 – 7.
Gray, K. C. and Herr, E. L. 1995. Other Ways to Win. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Company.
Parnell, D. 1985. The Neglected Majority. Washington, D.C.: The Community College Press.
Parnell, D. 1994 LogoLearning: Searching for Meaning and Education. Washington D.C.: The Community College Press.
Piedmont Consortium Articulation agreements.
Stiegel, D. & Gray, M. 2000. "Tech Prep: The School To Work
Connection In Criminal Justice." Inquiry 5 (2): 39-41.
Travis, Jon E., ed. 1995. Models for Improving College Teaching: A Faculty Resource. Washington D. C.: ASHE-ERIC, Report Six.
Earl Dodrill is the Chair of the Applied Science and Engineering Technology Division at Patrick Henry Community College in Martinsville, Virginia. He has worked in the Virginia Community College System for approximately nineteen years. He has been a faculty member, a Department Chair, and currently a Division Chair. He serves on several area public school vocational technical advisory councils, is a regional Tech Prep director, is a member of a Local Workforce Investment Board, and has chaired a regional economic development council. In these capacities he observes first hand the issues affecting education in technical disciplines and technology integration in the workplace.