• INTEGRATING ACADEMIC AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
• WHY INTEGRATE?
• INTEGRATING CURRICULUM IN THE URBAN SCHOOLS NETWORK
• EXAMPLES FROM THE URBAN SCHOOLS NETWORK
• LESSONS LEARNED
• CONCLUSION

      The integration of academic and vocational curriculum with its promise of raising both academic and vocational achievement, is a reform of significant potential for urban schools. In 1992 and 1993 the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) chose thirty sites that were receiving funds from the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1990 (Perkins II) to participate in an urban schools network where they would receive technical assistance in implementing their programs. Perkins II stipulated that federal funds were to be used in such a way that students learned theory and application through a common instructional process. It further specified the use of integrated curricula that aim at, "strong development and use of problem-solving skills and basic and advanced academic skills (including skills in the areas of mathematics, reading, writing, science, and social studies) in a technological setting." The Urban Schools Network sites were introduced to a taxonomy of widely practiced methods of curriculum integration at NCRVE-sponsored regional meetings and summer institutes. These methods included applied integration, which incorporates rigorous academic content into vocational courses and introduces workplace applications into academic courses, aligning the curriculum horizontally and vertically, and thematic integration, which uses common themes in the academic and vocational courses to make them more interesting and relevant (Grubb, Davis, Lum, Plihal, and Morgaine, 1991).

INTEGRATING ACADEMIC
AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

      The nationwide movement toward increasing academic course requirements has led to pressure on schools to make academic content an integral part of vocational courses. This is the simplest form of integration as it involves no institutional changes and can be done by the vocational teacher alone. It is widely used to reinforce basic skills, including remedial skills, in vocational and technical courses. At the same time there has been pressure to add workplace applications to academic courses to make them more interesting and relevant to the world of work. The curriculum series developed by the Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD) for Tech Prep programs is a widely used example of the applied approach. The term Tech Prep refers to curricula developed at the secondary level in concert with the requirements for employment and for continuing education at the associate degree level. The Tech Prep Associate Degree Program (TPAD) provides continuity in learning, context and competency-based teaching; articulation between high schools and community colleges; and completion of the program with an associate degree from a community college (Edling, 1992).

      In funding the TPAD Program, Perkins II required a four-year curriculum that articulated the last two years of high school and a two-year community college program in preparation for a defined set of occupations such as business, health, or electronics. The program moves beyond the usual high school/community college partnership arrangements into substantive curricular coordination. High school and community college teachers work together to provide vertical alignment of secondary and postsecondary courses, and wherever possible, integrate technology into the curriculum. The program provides a clear path to the community college and a continuation of the career program begun in the high school. This curricular alignment is designed to result in sequences of vocational and academic courses that reinforce each other. It was expected that this approach would reform the entire curricula rather than individual courses (Hull and Parnell, 1991).

      Thematic integration is another way of integrating academic and vocational curricula in which separate disciplines use the same themes in their courses. Academic and vocational teachers remain in their departments and retain responsibility for their specific subjects. The teachers collaborate to support a common theme and share information on how to support the theme in their disciplines. Many integration efforts focus on themes suggested by the workplace competencies specified in the widely cited, What Work Requires of Schools: A SCANS Report for America 2000 (U.S. Department of Labor, 1987). Teachers commit to incorporating one or more of the skills in their teaching. For example; if the competency chosen is interpersonal skills; social studies students might study the labor history of an industry or the sociology of work, English students might read a Steinbeck novel and write an interpretive essay, and the vocational teacher might present a workplace simulation that shows the problems in teamwork that develop when people of different backgrounds work together or invite an industry partner to discuss diversity issues with the class.

      Some schools use a form of thematic integration where core academic and vocational courses focus on an interdisciplinary project. A common format is the action-based project used in many career academies that combines course work from several disciplines to produce a product; such as a report, videotape, or newsletter. These projects represent a transitional approach for teachers who want to go beyond simple applied integration but are intimidated by the time and effort required to integrate several academic and technical subjects. Action-based projects require students to solve problems related to their career field through their own actions and with the support of others. Projects are designed so students can master skills by performing tasks that reflect the complexity of tasks done by adults. The basic premise of the action-based project approach to curriculum integration is that to be successful productive adults, students must be taught how to be purposeful problem solvers (Kierstead, 1994).

      Other schools are developing more complex forms of thematic integration in which academic and technical content is not departmentalized but emerges from career topics or issues. At least two, but usually more, academic and vocational teachers align their curricula to teach related content at the same time during the school year. This approach often results in a curriculum that incorporates the Perkins II mandate that teachers instruct their students in "all aspects of the industry" so teachers and their students gain, "strong experience in and understanding of all aspects of the industry the students are preparing to enter." All aspects of the industry include planning; management; finances; technical and production skills; underlying principles of technology; and labor, community, health, safety, and environmental issues. Several NCRVE Urban Schools Network sites are closely connecting academic and vocational topics of their curricula with this approach.

      School configurations, such as career pathways and career academies provide crucial support to teachers trying to integrate curriculum. Career pathway or career major schools integrate academic and occupational learning, and establish linkages between secondary and postsecondary educational institutions. Career academies are particularly suited to integration because their school-within-a-school structure, teacher collaboration, and cohort scheduling are designed to foster interdisciplinary integration. Academies are developed around career themes such as health, business, or media. Their industry focus is usually determined by local employment opportunities and evidence of growing demand for such expertise in the workplace. The course of study in academy programs consists of core academic classes--English, mathematics, and science--combined with occupationally related classes that focus on the academy's career theme. Thematic integration is used to combine academic content with the technical skills required to enter the workplace. Strong ties to industry partners help identify concepts and skills that need to be taught so the academic and vocational teachers can dovetail their curricula and keep it current.

WHY INTEGRATE?

      There are important reasons for schools to integrate their students' curriculum. First is the belief that integration will motivate students to improve their academic and technical achievement by making connections between what they are learning in school and what they will be doing in the workplace. Many students, especially those residing in disadvantaged socioeconomic areas with inadequate role models, need help to understand the connection between their schoolwork and the workplace to motivate them to work harder in school. When students can link their school's curriculum with real life, good jobs, and solving useful problems, studying hard begins to make sense.

      Second, integration enhances the professional role of teachers. They get to shape their program and build a sense of community. To integrate curriculum, academic and vocational teachers must collaborate as a team to determine the outcomes they want their students to achieve, develop instructional strategies to enhance interdisciplinary teaching and project-based learning, and create methods to assess the progress their students are making. They decide class schedules and time allocation, determine how to incorporate technology into their classes, and work with postsecondary and business partners. Teachers become both specialists and generalists. Isolation is replaced by a collaboration that capitalizes on the strengths of a faculty.

      Third, integration helps schools create meaningful partnerships with local industries. Academic and technical teachers learn from their industry partners which skills are needed on the job and then work together to incorporate them in their instruction. Employers express a need for competent workers who are computer literate; can read, write, and calculate; have basic competencies in technical areas and a strong work ethic; and are willing to learn. The school's function is to give students this foundation by developing a curriculum that gives them the skills they need to succeed, so businesses can train them for specific jobs. Integration provides a model of how business can participate in high school education by supplying the kinds of motivation and incentives that teachers cannot and by stressing the variety of competencies that students need to master for their occupational futures (Grubb, 1995).

      Fourth, integration facilitates the type of teaching and learning required for the jobs of the future. The course work simulates the high performance workplace with its cooperative mode of operation. Academic and vocational courses are modified to incorporate problem solving, initiative, cooperation, and use of technology, as well as to cover the required course content. Problem analysis and solution are emphasized. Students are asked to identify problems, analyze available resources, and develop step-by-step solutions. They are also exposed to the interpersonal skills that are required in the workplace.

INTEGRATING CURRICULUM IN THE
URBAN SCHOOLS NETWORK

      When teachers integrate curriculum, they begin by identifying the type of integration to be used and the disciplines to be involved. They decide whether integration will be limited to the use of common topics between the technical course and an academic course or if it will also involve simultaneous topics in several core curriculum classes. The amount and type of staff development required for teachers to perform effectively in this new mode must also be determined. Availability of library, computer, and course materials must be ascertained, so the team can connect outcomes with the curriculum materials and develop measurable assessment strategies. The process for curriculum integration ideally includes the following steps:

1. Establish broad program outcomes that meet academic and industry standards.

2. Outline the major student outcomes for each year.

3. Arrange the content of academic and technical courses in a logical sequence.

4. Include "all aspects of the industry" and employability skills included in the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS).

5. Negotiate how to bring the different subjects together in a meaningful way.

6. Involve industry partners in each step.

      Once outcomes are determined, clear connections can be made between curricular content, materials, and assessment strategies. Although standardized tests are used, individual student performance is often measured by accumulated performance such as portfolios, projects, and exhibitions. Portfolios have many advantages as a performance-based assessment in that they display problem-solving skills and the interdisciplinary knowledge used in creating the portfolio. Compiling the portfolio helps students prepare for life after high school by assessing and rethinking the strategies they used to solve the problems presented by the portfolio project. Portfolios give administrators, parents, and employers a positive image of integrated curriculum and the instructional strategies used by the program. Another innovative method is to use students' workplace experiences to create a meaningful context for assessment. Industry evaluations of student work can inspire effective ways for developing rubrics to judge employability skills and technical competency.

      Schools in NCRVE's Urban Schools Network are integrating curriculum for the same reasons as other schools: to raise academic and technical achievement, encourage teacher collaboration, and expand links to higher education and employment opportunities. However, urban schools have special needs. They also look to curriculum integration to help counteract a lack of student engagement, deepen knowledge, and give a sense of purpose to education, with the goal of reducing failure and dropout rates. Many students who go on to college also require help to lessen the need for remediation and the potential of dropping out. Another critical goal is improving the poor basic and work skills of new job applicants. Employers say an important cause of the disappearance of work in inner cities is new workers who are not dependable and lack basic literacy skills and a strong work ethic (Wilson, 1996). Urban Schools Network sites feel that their disappointing student achievement statistics obscure the truth about the potential of their students. They feel that if a better delivery system were found, their students could and would perform at higher academic and technical levels.

      Urban Schools Network sites agreed that students who are disengaged from academic course work often find hands-on applications productive and interesting and that linking theory and application has promise for increasing academic achievement. Experience with successful school-to-work programs shows that applied learning complements academic learning and engages and motivates students (Stern, Raby, and Dayton, 1992). The Network sites expect that integrating academic and technical studies will give a sense of purpose to their teaching. They felt that to accomplish this their students need to learn both theory and methods of applying it in chosen subject areas, and the employability skills required in the workplace. They realize that to excel academically, students need more than a desire to learn -- they also need convincing reasons to work hard.

      Most of the urban school teams that attended the first summer institutes in 1992 had little experience with integrated curriculum unless their schools had career academies or Tech Prep programs. The Tech Prep schools had begun to bring high school and community college teachers together to develop articulation agreements and coordinate curriculum offerings. Other schools had developed a few projects involving more than one department. Network teams were committed to curriculum integration conceptually, but they lacked the knowledge and skill to implement it in their programs. Most needed guidance to better understand the developmental process.

      NCRVE's Urban Schools Network staff began by helping teams refine their goals and develop learner outcomes. The 1992 summer institutes included presentations designed to show how integration allows students make connections across academic and technical disciplines, and between school and work. Workshops demonstrated how integration can strengthen academic skills (mathematics, science, social studies, and communications), vocational technical skills (media, pre-engineering, and business technology) and employability skills (the ability to work in groups and use appropriate technology). Guidance was given in managing cross-cutting issues such as industry involvement, assessment, scheduling, and career guidance. The institutes built confidence in the teams that led to a commitment to try comprehensive forms of integration.

      Since the initial summer institutes, Network sites have remained engaged in the development and use of programs that integrate academic and vocational education, and their curriculum development skills have grown steadily. The failure of past approaches to raise achievement has fueled their interest in curriculum reform. They are using integration to connect academic and technical content, improve academic and research skills of their students by using projects, and prepare students for the changing workplace through work-based learning. Although they realize that integration as an instructional delivery strategy does not appeal to everyone, their successful projects have encouraged increasing numbers of their colleagues. As they strive to improve, they are heartened by the way integration is bringing their faculties together and motivating their students.

EXAMPLES FROM THE
URBAN SCHOOLS NETWORK

APPLIED

      Young Aspirations/Young Artists (YA/YA) uses the arts as a bridge from school to career for inner-city youth. Located at L.E. Rabouin Career Magnet High School in the arts district of downtown New Orleans, the program began with a collaboration between Rabouin's commercial art teacher and a local artist and gallery owner. Together they developed a nonprofit organization with a highly qualified staff and board members that has guided YA/YA to international significance. Each year the program serves as a major testing ground for new artists. All students in Rabouin's art program can participate. YA/YA is also planning to select students from other public inner-city high schools. YA/YA provides training in commercial and fine art, offers entrepreneurial skills for art careers and creates chances for exhibition. The program models a key piece in successful curriculum integration efforts: a work place mentoring site that helps young people with almost no access to the art world achieve success through hard work and talent. Rabouin provides instruction in fine and commercial art, while YA/YA offers student internships in every aspect of the arts.

      YA/YA provides students and other young artists individualized instruction in woodworking, painting, design, and fabric painting. Students participate after school and on weekends to work on large projects and single commissions. Their work has evolved from drawings of buildings in the central business district of New Orleans to creating the brightly painted furniture that is their trademark, slipcovering the chairs at the United Nations, and creating a commemorative Swatch brand watch. Students are invited to join YA/YA's professional guild to remain in the program after graduation. YA/YA's artistic and financial success has induced other professional artists and galleries to replicate the program in New Orleans and other cities. At the guild level, fifty percent of the proceeds from the sale of work goes to the student, thirty percent is placed in trust for the student's college education and twenty percent is returned to YA/YA for the purchase of supplies and materials.

      The program expands the potential work force for the arts industry while addressing some of the problems that plague urban areas. Students have shown a genuine interest in, and motivation for, learning because the learning has meaning for them. Achievement improved (students must have a C average to participate in YA/YA) when students were given opportunities to work on projects that incorporated personal interests. Students have exhibited locally and in galleries all over the world, from the Czech Republic to Tokyo (Barker, 1996).

      An impressive number of prominent people have purchased YA/YA student works. Although YA/YA rewards artistic skill, artistic interest, and professional design ambitions, the program emphasizes that students must understand that attitude and quality of work are the real keys to success. A student said that YA/YA introduced him not only to art but also to the business aspects of self-employment, while exposing him to opportunities not many like him are likely to enjoy.

TECH PREP AND VERTICAL CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT

      An increasing number of urban schools are using postsecondary articulation to offer incentives for high school students to master appropriate academic and technical content through the promise of credits earned before they enter college. The expectation is that students' college entrance scores will improve and their need for remediation in college will decrease. Tech Prep teams are developing four-year (grades eleven through fourteen) applied academics curricula to meet community college standards. Students take a series of aligned secondary/postsecondary courses without fear of duplication. The courses are articulated vertically by the transfer of credits from the high school to higher-level institutions such as community colleges; technical schools; and, in some cases, four-year colleges or universities. In Tech Prep programs, articulation with community colleges is typically limited to high skill fields such as health, engineering, and business.

      Almost all Urban Schools Network sites have articulation agreements with their local community colleges. Consequently, they expose many students to vertical as well as horizontal integration. Credits can be transferred between technical programs or institutions. Another important advantage of postsecondary articulation is that the collaborative relationship between secondary and postsecondary faculties facilitates the evaluation of nontraditional integrated high school courses by college administrators. This solves a major problem that confronts college bound students who have been enrolled in integrated classes.

      Delgado Community College in New Orleans has divided its associate degree programs into occupational clusters that mesh with the city's high school career academies and Tech Prep offerings. They designed the clusters to fit the workforce training needs for metropolitan New Orleans. These include engineering/construction technology, maritime and transportation, business and information management, health care, public and social services, and New Orleans. The New Orleans cluster includes hospitality, culinary, performing arts, visual arts, and Mardi Gras (costume maker, doubloon producer, float builder, and parade organizer). Each cluster description provides information about possible occupations, salary range, workplace requirements for the year 2000, four-year baccalaureate programs, high school career academies, and school-to-work industry consortia.

      Delgado and the New Orleans team designed an eight week "Tech Prep Summer Connections Program" that incorporated postsecondary classroom training, the high school career academies, and work-based learning opportunities in four career clusters; Architectural Restoration, Financial Services, Hospitality and Tourism, and Law Enforcement. The "Summer Connections Program" was funded through several grants received from industry. All students received three to six hours of college credit, high school carnegie units, and had a paid work-based learning experience. They also received other enrichment services such as career guidance and exploration, guest speakers, field trips, and mentors.

      Detroit's Tech Prep Partnership 2000 is a consortium of community colleges, four-year colleges and universities, technical schools, industry partners, community-based organizations and the Detroit public schools. Its purpose is to make a concerted effort to collaborate with the city's high schools to provide access to postsecondary education. On-site college courses in English and mathematics are offered at Detroit high schools by either college staff or qualified high school teachers. The intent is to encourage inner-city students to graduate with college credit that is transferable to a community college, trade school, four-year college or university. Secondary and postsecondary agreements define the courses that meet college requirements, so students receive not only advanced placement but also advanced skills. To qualify for the program students must be in the eleventh grade and must have passed the state high school competency examinations.

      Many urban community and technical colleges are required to focus a large part of their curriculum on basic skills that entering students should have already mastered. Detroit's middle college is designed to counteract this trend and to retain students in the postsecondary education program. The intent of the program is to increase the number of inner-city youth in challenging high skill, high wage jobs. Students can earn community college certification by the end of grade thirteen by taking college courses on their high school campuses. Emphasis is placed on student retention in advanced high technology courses. Computer-aided drafting, electronics, auto technology, and industrial production management are some of the course sequences offered. High school students may enroll in regularly scheduled college credit courses with other college students or in specially scheduled credit courses for high school students taught either at the high school or at one of the community college sites. Middle colleges show inner-city students, some of whom had no idea that college was an option for them, that they can be successful.

      Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) is placing technology at the center of its integration efforts. In 1992 it piloted the use of interactive video technology. At present the college is providing college level academic and vocational courses to urban students through distance learning technology. This articulated integration encourages students to accumulate college credits while in high school. In 1996 sixteen Baltimore City Public Schools were linked to the Maryland Distance Learning Network by interactive video technology. Advantages to Baltimore public schools include collaborating with the community college system to develop and deliver courses and curricula, facilitating shared development of mathematics and English instructional materials to strengthen basic skills, and sharing staff development programs. Courses are delivered in a more interesting manner, and low enrollment and specialty classes can be maintained. This sharing of faculty, facilities, and other resources reduces costs and avoids duplication of services.

THEMATIC INTEGRATION

      Located in the heart of metropolitan Washington, D.C., McKinley Penn Senior High School typified inner-city education at its most challenging. Several years ago, the hundred-year-old building housed sixteen hundred students. By 1997 enrollment had dropped below seven hundred and the school was closed. In their five years of membership in the Network, the faculty struggled with a lack of continuity in the school's administrative team, resource constraints, and neighborhood and family circumstances that made it hard for them to focus on the best practices of teaching and learning. The team from McKinley Penn attended the 1992 Summer Institute on Integration with the express purpose of beginning a major restructuring effort to form an Academy of Integrated Media Studies (AIMS). Their goal was to integrate English, social studies, and media technology into a program that enhanced and increased learning in a real-world context.

      The students entered the program in grade ten and engaged in a year-long survey of print, photographic, film, electronic, and cable TV media from a historical perspective. Each week, three days of theory were supplemented by two days of hands-on training in video production. English skills, essays, research, vocabulary, spelling, and oral presentations were coupled with media analysis and communication skills. World History was integrated into the program through the study of communications ranging from ancient Egypt to Europe, America, and the present global society. End-of-year outcomes included student knowledge of at least five forms of media; the inventors/developers of each medium, including country of origin; and impact of each on society, especially among African-Americans.

      Classrooms were equipped with radio and television studio facilities through donations from foundations and National Public Radio (NPR). A radio producer came to the school twice a week to teach the students important aspects of broadcasting: public relations, creative writing, video recording, tape logging, and editing. Students used computers to write their scripts. They edited and spliced tape and learned how to troubleshoot and make repairs. They became knowledgeable about current events and able to interpret news events that were of interest to teenagers. The emphasis on technology caused the teachers to restructure the content of some of the academic units. They began to question how technology was affecting the transfer of ideas and concepts since the delivery was so different from the traditional classroom setting. Their concerns stimulated a continuing discussion about "just what is it that students must learn, and how shall we teach it?"

      Through their partnerships with local radio and television stations (National Public Radio, C-SPAN, Black Entertainment Television and the local Public Broadcasting Station), the team devised a strong interdisciplinary TV broadcasting program that met the technical and employability skill needs of their media affiliates. Students spent three afternoons--or ten hours--per week writing and producing a weekly news show as well as sports segments and talk shows that ran several times a day on Channel 28, the District of Columbia's public school systems station. Classrooms became a workshop in which students honed their academic skills, and the studios developed their new technical interests. Their teacher said:

We designed the program to force them to accept the challenge of shaping themselves into "mass media communicators." At times this task clashed with the reality of being an inner-city youth. My young charges overcame these obstacles and in the process fashioned a course of study that allowed them to serve themselves, their school, and their community.

      Students were evaluated on their knowledge of the forms of media, the quality of their broadcasts, and their ability to work together and form supportive teams. Their evaluation included understanding and accepting responsibility, initiative, problem solving, and flexible thinking. Students were deeply engaged in critiquing their own performance and coaching each other. Their criticism was never harsh. They made a real effort to build one another's confidence. When a student questioned why they always had to work from prepared scripts, they told her to try her segment of the broadcast without one. After she got stuck in several places, missed important passages, reversed references, and "ummed" a lot, no one needed to tell her how important writing skills were. Later she said, "I am who I am because broadcasting allowed me to take a leadership role. Because I learned to focus and do well in high school, I will have an upper hand when I get to college."

INTERDISCIPLINARY PROJECTS

      Network schools are experimenting with a variety of interdisciplinary projects. These range in scope and duration from short-term class projects, to senior projects, full-scale projects that last a substantial time, and projects where boundaries are erased and several disciplines coalesce around a single topic. Senior projects usually consist of a career-related formal research paper incorporated into the senior English curriculum. Students must design and construct a tangible product related to their vocational program and make a formal presentation to a committee composed of teachers, industry partners, and peers. The project integrates skills, concepts, and data from the major subjects in their course of study. It is sometimes augmented by the products of many different projects previously required in the curriculum which together can create a portfolio for the student. For teachers and schools, projects offer a mechanism for encouraging integration and involving business and community representatives in an academically rewarding experience (Rahn et al., 1995).

      The Integrated Design and Electronics Academy (IDEA) at Phelps Career Senior High School in Washington, D.C., provides instruction in core academic and vocational subjects and Junior Reserve Officers Training (JROTC). IDEA focuses on five career areas: engineering, drafting, communication, digital electronics, and residential and industrial electronics. A team of Phelps faculty is using a form of integration in which disciplinary boundaries disappear and teachers and students focus on a theme or enterprise. They are involved in an ongoing project to build an electric car that will compete successfully in the Richmond Raceway Electric Vehicle Contest. The project erases discipline boundaries as academic teachers from English, social studies, and mathematics, and technical teachers from electronics, automotive media, and computer-aided drafting work together to prepare their students for the competition. Their business partner, Potomac Electric and Power Company (PEPCO) paid the entry fee.

      Students learn math, science, social studies, and the technical fields within the context of the enterprise. The results are a comprehensive form of integrated curriculum. The English teacher had students write about the competition. They practiced public speaking and made a video to describe the process they used to develop their vehicle. In social studies students researched the history of electric cars, in computer-aided drafting they prepared a schematic of the car, in automotive, engineering, and electronics they learned to troubleshoot and repair mechanical and electronic systems, and in mathematics they developed ratios to determine how far the car could go on an electrical charge.

      Some did not think that an inner-city school could compete in building an electric car. Even teachers were skeptical, and the students did not know what to expect. The first year the Phelps students did poorly. The next year they improved greatly. They were first in video production and third in trouble shooting, and students had practiced the values of discipline and perseverance. The Secretary of the Department of Energy visited Phelps to congratulate the students on their achievement. Competing introduced the students to the effort it takes to succeed in the work world, raised their self-esteem, and gave them practice in the SCANS competencies of being resourceful, understanding complex relationships, and working as a member of a team.

LESSONS LEARNED

      When Network members were asked, "what problems do you encounter when integrating academic and vocational education," the most frequent replies were: insufficient administrative and faculty support, team instability, time for joint curriculum planning, staff development, appropriate curriculum materials and technology, and industry participation. Some schools encountered only a few problems, others several. These same difficulties have been observed to a greater or lesser extent in other school districts, including well-regarded suburban districts, as they began to integrate their curriculum. Problems will occur wherever significant change is initiated, until methods are developed to eliminate or diminish them. Not surprisingly, the simpler form of integration, the applied approach, was easiest to do because it is less complex, does not necessarily involve the entire school and can be done individually by most teachers.

      Strong school leadership is required if integration is to become systemic. Some sites felt that their school and district administrators did not give them adequate support in their curriculum integration efforts. Several schools experienced radical changes in administration during the five years of their association with the Network. Nothing could be done about the problem of early retirement offers, with their consequent turnover of experienced teachers and administrators, but abrupt changes of principals created instability among the staff. Network sites that fared best had administrators who demonstrated their commitment by nurturing collaboration and providing leadership roles for teachers. They allowed teachers to set goals and make cross-discipline decisions about curriculum and scheduling. To sustain collaboration, these administrators were willing to explore new ideas, methods, and materials. They were also flexible and had the skills and determination to encourage school and classroom innovations.

      Conflict is inevitable between teachers who are trying to develop an integrated curriculum, and those who fear the results may compromise the integrity of their discipline. Concern that existing curriculum could be watered down is genuine and must be considered, just as differences in readiness for integration among the staff must be respected. Every site has teachers who see the potential of interdisciplinary teaching, but the entire faculty must be open enough to accept the formation of teams who are willing to teach collaboratively. They must provide options for staff members who are more or less prepared than others--some teachers may have had team experiences while others are just beginning. Schoolwide communication across interest groups helps to promote openness to integration. At one Network site the faculty was divided about integration. Team members decided that the best way to unite the faculty was to have them learn something together. The faculty chose to learn how to access and use the Internet. Since the procedures were new to all, the experience built a base for discussion that nurtured tolerance for collaborative teaching and learning. One teacher called it the equivalent of breaking bread together.

      Policies that hinder curricular and organizational changes, such as inflexible schedules and practices regarding textbook coverage, are being eased by district administrations and boards of trustees. School districts are modifying strict regulations to meet the requirements of integration. Performance standards are being written to include applied learning. District personnel are providing guidance and assistance concerning graduation and college entrance requirements. The Tech Prep emphasis on counseling has been particularly helpful. Boards of Trustees are decentralizing critical decision making by giving schools access to and control over resources. Several sites have direct access to their share of vocational and school-to-work funds and other grants. This allows them to stop others from undermining integration efforts by diverting needed resources.

      Team instability is a demoralizing problem. A critical mass of experienced, highly respected teachers who are open to change must be developed and maintained. Their credibility can be used to influence those who see integration as threatening or who are reluctant to participate because of apathy or an unwillingness to relinquish their privacy. Every attempt should be made to keep integration teams stable from year to year. Urban Schools Network members agree that the loss of teachers after the first or second year is one of their biggest problems. Frequent reassignments are frustrating and make it very difficult to complete the work already begun. Just as teams are beginning to bond, they have to assimilate new members. Network sites feel that school administrators could ease the strain of staff turnover by providing systematic assistance to new teachers and working to strengthen the school's culture and resources.

      Finding the time needed for joint planning is a another pressing problem facing those who are committed to integration. Teachers willing to develop a plan of integrated studies must be given the time required to develop rigorous interdisciplinary assignments and assessment. They need time to develop collaborative work styles and to choose the content of the new curriculum and methods of teaching it. Many Network schools have adopted schedules that have the potential to increase planning time and bring about the changes that make the implementation of integration easier (for Network examples, see Chapter Four). The most commonly used schedule is the four-period day. The eighty- or ninety-minute periods allow students time to work on interdisciplinary projects. Faculties are finding an additional benefit in that the longer periods create a quieter and more orderly school, as well as saving some time in a school day, since there is less need for students to move from class to class. Another obvious way to gain time and assist in collaboration is to assign rooms in such a way that team members can work close to one another. However, the administration must recognize that providing time for teachers to plan and develop integrated curriculum is a waste of resources unless they also provide long-term staff development. When administrators do not provide time and policies to support staff development, teachers interpret it as an indication that integration is not important.

      The need for a solid base of integrated curriculum and assessment tools is universal. Without sustained investment in curriculum and assessment development by the larger education community and textbook publishers, each school is forced to reinvent integration. Fortunately, help is on the way. National and state standards-setting efforts are encouraging integration by including examples of workplace problem solving. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the American Vocational Association have formed a Joint Task Force on Mathematics and Vocational Technical Education that has called for the identification and development of an appropriate integrated mathematics curriculum for all students. The National Science Foundation is funding projects in both integrated mathematics and science. Well-known publishers are developing textbooks in the core subjects that include technical applications. These texts are also available in advanced courses such as trigonometry and calculus. In addition, there are several ongoing high-quality integrated math and science curriculum development initiatives. Unfortunately many teachers have not yet heard about them and do not have the funds to purchase them.

      Urban district curriculum administrators need to be diligent about making these materials available for review by teachers. Teachers in schools that have access to the new materials are saving time and resources by supplementing them where appropriate instead of starting from the beginning. Teachers are also reducing the expense of developing new learning activities by sharing resources and equipment. This is an area where statewide or regional consortia, federal grants, and partnerships with universities and colleges could help. The Baltimore school district supports curriculum integration through an initiative in which core academic teachers work with career and technology education teachers to infuse career and technology concepts into English, mathematics, science, and social studies.

      Very little systematic documentation and evaluation of the integrated curriculum developed by Network schools is presently available. Schools lack funds and the expertise to conduct rigorous curriculum evaluations. This can result in a lack of coherence and poorly designed units. Even if the materials were documented and made available, teachers still need time to collaborate and learn from one another. They need time to develop assessment practices and data analysis procedures that focus on and support integration. They also need to collect information that will help them understand how students, staff, parents, and business people feel about integration. So far district and site inducements to accomplish this have not been significant.

      Sustained industry involvement supports integrated teaching and learning in critical ways. Network sites uniformly agreed that integration becomes more meaningful and students more engaged when concepts, skills, and assessments in technical and academic areas are developed jointly with industry partners. Students from impoverished neighborhoods experience growth in their capacity to understand intrinsic rewards and learn about the rewards of purposeful activity in adult life and of contributing to their communities. They learn that work is something that people can enjoy. Integration requires a major transformation in the relationship between schools and industry. Yet it is difficult for schools and industry to develop meaningful partnerships. In vocational schools, where industry advisory committees are the rule, employers are more likely to help teachers find technical applications for academic skills by developing objectives, learning activities and written training plans. Although partnerships are emerging, building and maintaining good working relationships can be difficult for comprehensive high schools, where industry participation has not been a standard practice.

      It is not only a challenge to obtain and provide sufficient information about various industries, it is also difficult to maintain contact with industry representatives. Usually academic teachers and counselors have little industry experience. Relating their lessons to specific career areas is not possible until they learn enough about the industry to understand the connections with their discipline. Nevertheless, teachers must have, and be seen to have, knowledge of the industry and of the subject matter that is important to that industry. An increasing number of Network schools are providing opportunities for teachers and counselors to visit sites where their students are working, to see how employees use academic skills in everyday tasks and to visit other classrooms and schools to observe outstanding work related applications. Those who visit workplaces or have an internship, invariably find that the experience is an excellent way to learn about industry and how to share that knowledge with their students. They learn how curriculum embedded in workplace contexts can address both industry and academic standards. School staff who have worked in industry are invaluable as they can make substantive links between their class work and industry experiences.

CONCLUSION

      Teachers in integrated programs often comment, "our students exceeded our wildest dreams." They are earning better grades, passing more classes, and staying in school. Many of these students become leaders at their schools. At several Network schools, students in integrated programs disproportionately graduate as valedictorians, salutatorians, and members of the honor society. According to anecdotal reports from their teachers, they achieve in writing, mathematics, science, and problem solving at higher levels than most of their peers. They have had experience in working in groups and making oral and written presentations. When academic lessons are connected to questions that are important to the students, there are fewer discipline problems and students are motivated to study. Classrooms begin to take on the atmosphere of offices and shops. Students are purposefully engaged and show that they are capable of diligence and responsibility. Teachers say, "these students come to us at risk of not graduating from high school, but leave eager for postsecondary opportunities."

      Network teachers also enjoy their increased collaboration. They take pride in the ability of their colleagues with varied backgrounds and interests to work together. As integration becomes more interdisciplinary, teachers begin to show interest in subjects outside their own disciplines. In the past there might have been a lack of understanding between academic and vocational teachers. As a result of integration they began to share ideas and equipment. This sharing helped improve communications and showed how they could help one another. Many of these relationships turned into learning opportunities and enduring friendships. Most say about integrated curriculum, "It is just more interesting."

      As the work at the Network sites progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that integration of academic and vocational curriculum is most successful when it is part of a comprehensive schoolwide improvement effort rather than another add-on to existing practices. The use of broad industry themes to integrate academic and vocational learning is emerging as a way to restructure schools for both academic and occupational advancement. This restructuring promotes the intellectual development and growth of students and supports present reform efforts, including an emphasis on teaching and learning; higher academic, technical, and employability standards; and partnering with industry to focus and strengthen standards. Integration reinforces these reforms and helps teachers provide better ways to prepare students for the complexity of adult life.

      When carried out as part of a whole school effort entailing major changes to curriculum, staff interactions, counseling, and scheduling, integration can permanently change the way the school does business. However, most urban schools have taken only small steps. They have found it relatively easy to establish integration for some students, but difficult to involve the entire school. Nevertheless, increasing numbers of schools are starting schoolwide efforts. At present these endeavors are as tenuous as might be expected when a school attempts to change practices that have existed for decades.

      School evaluations of the effects of curriculum integration show that although integration is being used successfully in schools that serve all types of students, it can have particular meaning for urban students when it provides a way to make academic and technical content richer, more coherent, and more engaging. Connecting urban students' classroom instruction to the world of work deepens their knowledge and sense of purpose. With improved teaching of rigorous academic and technical content, urban students can and do pursue both higher education and employment in high-performance workplaces. Benefits accrue to all, for they are graduating with an understanding of the work world and its requirements for lifelong learning, a background for career decision making, and preparation for lives of skilled work.

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RESOURCES

Bailey, T. & Merritt, D. (1997). School-to-work for the college bound. Institute on Education and the Economy, Teachers College, Columbia University: NCRVE, University of California at Berkeley.

Murnane R. J. & Levy, F. (1996). Teaching the new basic skills. New York, NY: Free Press.