An important part of the strategy for improving the transition from school to work involves keeping open the options of advanced training and education at the postsecondary level. In the 1990 Perkins Act, articulation of secondary and postsecondary institutions' courses through Tech Prep programs was a major component intended to ease the transfer of students to college, reduce or eliminate remediation at the college level, and prevent duplication of coursework and credits.[28] Most Tech Prep consortia required students to develop educational plans that include potential postsecondary choices.
The goal of linking secondary and postsecondary education was strongly reaffirmed by the 1994 STWOA. While Tech Prep had focused on linking high schools with two-year colleges, STWOA explicitly stipulated that a high school career major "may lead to admission to a 2-year or 4-year college or university" [Section 4(5)(F)]. As a result, the four-year college and university is increasingly included in the discussion of how to build "a school-to-work system" (Zemsky & Oedel, 1995). For instance, Houghton (1997) states that "The school reforms of recent years, particularly efforts to establish academic content standards for high school students, create an unprecedented opportunity for schools and postsecondary institutions to work together" (p. viii).[29] Despite the consistent and strong federal support for implementing a seamless flow of education for youth, recent research reveals many barriers that continue to confront practitioners. Here we present a review of the literature on the status of education linkage since 1990. First, we examine the role of secondary schools in the linkage process; second, the role of the community college; and, finally the four-year institutions.
Coordinating courses or course sequences between high school and community college can enable students to earn college credit while still in high school. The most comprehensive research study related to this topic was done by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., as part of the multi-year, federal investigation of Tech Prep.[30] Based upon the results from their 50-state survey, Silverberg and Hershey (1994) report that curriculum articulation agreements existed in many communities before Tech Prep implementation. These results substantiated similar findings by NAVE (1994):
In 17 states, at least 80 percent of the consortia reported having articulation agreements before Tech Prep. In 38 states, more than half of the consortia had preexisting agreements. (Silverberg & Hershey, 1994, p. 98)
Following the receipt of Tech Prep funding, consortia made further efforts to develop or update articulation agreements, mainly in occupational fields related to business and mechanical/industrial trades (Silverberg & Hershey, 1994, p. 101). Approximately 30% of consortia have agreements with more than one postsecondary institution, and the goals of most agreements are to grant college credit (p. 102).[31] Many consortia used articulation agreements as a means of changing the competencies included in secondary and postsecondary courses. The authors reported, "Almost 70 percent of the consortia cited development of articulation agreements as one of the most successful aspects of Tech Prep implementation" (p. 136).
In the 62 consortia that reported data on numbers of high school Tech Prep students entering college as of fall, 1993, the majority were enrolled at a community, junior, or technical college (Silverberg & Hershey, 1994, p. 122). Most students entered articulated occupational programs:
Tech Prep college students enroll in articulated occupational programs more often than in general academic transfer programs. More than 50 of the 62 consortia with students attending community colleges reported that students had entered articulated postsecondary specialties in fall, 1993. Forty-six consortia were able to report the number of Tech Prep students in these programs. The reported 1,678 students represent 70 percent of Tech Prep students attending community colleges in fall, 1993 in those 46 consortia. (p. 123)
In their follow-up survey, Silverberg (1996) found that, in the 105 consortia able to report the number of Tech Prep students, a total of 6,042 students entered articulated occupational programs--representing 76% of all Tech Prep students entering community college in the fall of 1994 (p. 55).
Despite these survey findings, site visits to ten local consortia revealed that many students do not take advantage of articulated courses:
Students fail to take advantage of opportunities to obtain college credit for high school course work and instead retake the articulated course at the college level rather than jump ahead to more advanced course work. (Hershey, Silverberg, & Owens, 1994, p. 140)
The lack of secondary student enrollment in articulated courses is also noted by Pedraza, Pauly, and Kopp (1997), and by Grubb et al. (1996). These findings seem to suggest a lack of confidence that high school courses really can substitute for courses at the community college level. Such substitutions become even more difficult when community college courses are intended to count toward transfer to a four-year college or university. The linkage with four-year college is discussed further below.
A related activity at the high school level is career guidance. The necessity for such guidance was increased by Tech Prep and STWOA, both of which created more career-related courses of study for students to choose. As of fall 1994, Silverberg (1996) reported survey findings that the most common career guidance activities in Tech Prep consortia were individual counseling (70%), the use of career exploration software (62%), and the development of a secondary/postsecondary plan (44%) (p. 10). These activities include middle schools, high schools, and postsecondary institutions. Data from in-depth site visits revealed that guidance counselors used various methods to help students plan their studies several years in advance, particularly if their career goals extended beyond the community college and required the attainment of a baccalaureate degree or higher (Hershey et al., 1994). Silverberg (1996) found that by the fall of 1994 more than two-thirds of the Tech Prep consortia reported that students chose an occupational or career cluster. Many respondents indicated that selecting a career cluster is a "core part of their Tech Prep initiative, similar to the career majors approach the STWOA promotes" (p. 13).
Mathematica's (1996a, 1996b) study of Tech Prep consortia indicate that high schools have taken a prominent role. However, the extent of actual student participation in articulated courses is still not clear. Case studies indicate that such participation has not been extensive but a definitive judgment will not be possible until more complete data become available.
Community colleges have become the major provider of education and training for occupations that do not require a bachelor's degree (Grubb et al., 1996; Hansen, 1994). At the same time, they retain the function of preparing students who wish to transfer to four-year colleges or universities. In addition, they serve other purposes including general, remedial, and community education (Lorenzo, 1994). Garland (1994) illustrates the diversity among two-year colleges by listing the different kinds that exist in the State of Pennsylvania:
There are thirteen public community colleges, twenty-five two-year branch campuses of senior public institutions, nine independent junior colleges, one technical institute, and one state technical school administered by the Department of Education. In addition, there are some 330 private career schools at the postsecondary level. (p. 298)[32]
The implication is that linking curriculum and creating a coherent sequence of classes for secondary students to enter and complete a postsecondary degree or certificate is just one of many agendas for community colleges and may not be a top priority for the institution as a whole. Results from the Mathematica (1996a, 1996b) study mentioned earlier indicates that most high school students who were identified as participating in Tech Prep go on to community college, though many did not receive college credit for courses they have taken in high school.
Furthermore, most Tech Prep students who enter community college enroll in vocational-technical departments, where they receive instruction and support services geared toward securing job placements but not transferring to four-year institutions (Grubb, 1996a). In general, few students who have followed a vocational course of study from high school to community college subsequently transfer to a four-year institution. For instance, Grubb's (1990) analysis of NLS data found that transfer rates to four-year colleges from two-year colleges were highest for students who said they had pursued an academic track in high school: 31%, compared to 9% for those who had pursued a vocational track and 18% for those who had completed a general track in 1980.
On the other hand, Prager (1993) reports that occupational-technical career students continue their education beyond the first two years at the same or a greater rate and number than their so-called "transfer" peers in fields such as nursing and the engineering technologies, where accrediting and professional bodies have encouraged upward educational mobility to the point where these programs have become quasi-transfer curricula (p. 543). Furthermore, a study by Cohen and Ignash (1993) compared the transferability of liberal arts and nonliberal arts courses from two-year to four-year colleges. Their study included 164 colleges in three states: California, Texas, and Illinois.[33] Generally, they found a high rate of transferability of nonliberal arts courses, and that students who take these courses are not "cooled out" of baccalaureate degree programs (p. 35). Cohen and Ignash concluded that, since the nonliberal arts courses do transfer, the concept of "terminal education" should be laid to rest (p. 42).
A more recent study of 395 community colleges by Cohen and Brawer (1996) sought to discover the "underlying causes of differing transfer rates" to four-year colleges or universities (p. 3). When asked "What in the curriculum hinders transfer?," faculty at institutions with low transfer rates gave "students who change from vocational education to transfer education curriculum" more of the time than any other response. The authors explained that respondents from low-transfer colleges stated during interviews that "half of the students have to take a remedial course, and colleges resist the transfer of students who have changed their majors from vocational to transfer" (p. 16). The implication is that these students may need remediation once they have transferred.
A study of the Maricopa County Community College District in Arizona illustrates why articulation agreements may be illusory (Wright, Briden, Inman, & Richardson, 1996). Although Arizona public baccalaureate degree-granting institutions have designated certain community college courses as acceptable for meeting General Studies/Liberal Studies requirements, specific departments often impose additional demands. In recent years, these departments' decisions have led to a loss of direct course equivalent transfer. The state provides no guidance to determine which courses should be taught at the lower division or the upper division. Universities ignore articulation processes and make unilateral decisions such as downgrading an upper division course into a departmental elective. Since departmental policies are subject to sudden change, transferability cannot be assured more than one year in advance.
Cho (1994) also found similar results in the State of Illinois. In her investigation of articulated art programs between the community colleges and four-year university, she reported that, "in spite of having the articulation compact, course-equivalency-related problems still persist in Illinois. Many 4-year institutions continue to require their own lower division courses by citing `major' deviations in the general education curriculum at community colleges" (p. 558).
High school students can gain access to baccalaureate programs either by going to a two-year college and transferring, or by going directly from high school to a four-year institution. An example of the community college strategy was 1986 legislation in California, which directed governing boards of high school and community college districts to collaborate with the trustees of the California State University and the University of California to extend "2+2" education to the baccalaureate level, by establishing "2+2+2" educational pathways for students. In 1983, California had enacted Senate Bill 851, which required the California Postsecondary Education Commission to develop a plan for a course number system to be used in public postsecondary institutions. As a result, the California Articulation Number (CAN) system began in 1985 as a cross-reference course numbering system designed to identify courses which are most commonly presented by students who transfer from one school and system to another. Students who take CAN designated courses do not have to provide transfer schools with course syllabi or justification for course content. The system is equally funded by the three public segments: California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California. Articulated courses will be accepted as equivalent by programs which articulation agreements. The CAN system served a key component for beginning the 2+2+2 system.
The 1986 legislation directed the California Postsecondary Education Commission to study the feasibility of articulating high school to community career-oriented programs and extending these programs to the baccalaureate degree. Twenty-one model projects were funded in 1988-1989, and again in 1990-1991 (Ramer, 1991). One project was the "Connecting Link" between East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program with Los Angeles Trade-Technical College and California State University, Los Angeles (Tuntland, 1995). The first articulation agreements for "Connecting Link" were signed in 1990. Faculty at all three institutional levels worked on creating these, and on designing a program that incorporated the California Performance Standards and the Employment Literacy standards. Students participate in a series of learning experiences including workplace assignments, and complete courses where the world of work is infused throughout the curriculum. They develop career decisionmaking skills, academic basic skills, technological skills, information skills, and interpersonal skills.
As of 1993, the completion rate for East San Gabriel students was 95%. Nine students who finished the business/marketing/fashion merchandising program enrolled at Los Angeles Trade Tech, four earned the associate of arts degree, and one student completed the baccalaureate degree at California State University-Los Angeles in June 1995. Even to achieve these small numbers, many new systems and operational pieces of the linkage puzzle had to be put in place.
On a much larger scale, many STW and Tech Prep programs around the country have adopted applied academic courses such as those produced by CORD (see discussion of CORD in Section II.2 and of applied academic course materials in Section III.1). Although these courses have been designed to fit into 2+2 or Tech Prep sequences leading from high school to community college, subsequent transferability to four-year institutions has been problematic. The most comprehensive examination of the transferability of these courses to date has been conducted by McCormick et al. (forthcoming) based on a survey of admissions staff. The researchers report that "integrated courses were familiar to admissions staff, but were not seen often in most states. . . . Admission staff were fairly familiar with such courses as Principles of Technology, Applied Math, and Business English. . . . However, in only two states did these courses appear on transcripts frequently" (p. 4), and only two states reported that all courses from an applied associated degree program transferred and fulfilled the core distribution (general education) requirements. McCormick et al. go on to observe,
Despite the promise that many educators believe applied courses hold, some universities, particularly ones that are highly selective in admissions, viewed the academic rigor of integrated courses with skepticism. Some admissions counselors thought that the courses represented a "dumping down" of college-prep materials; thus, we found that 12 flagship schools did not accept any integrated courses toward meeting the subject requirements. In other states, universities accepted applied courses but gave them less than full credit; a common example of this was accepting CORD's Applied Math 1 and 2 (two years), but as only one year of math. Another approach was to count applied courses only if students demonstrated their learning through some external means. (p. 5)
A second strategy for assuring that STW sequences can lead to a four-year college or university is to bypass the two-year college. Bailey and Merritt (1997a) describe purposes and examples of "STW for the college-bound" with little attention to the two-year link. An important initiative in this regard is the development of new procedures and standards for admissions to four-year institutions. Some of these institutions are explicitly intended to recognize student learning from STW and other experimental approaches.
In Oregon, as explained in Section II.1, legislation passed in 1991 requires all secondary schools to offer Certificates of Initial Mastery (CIM) and Certificates of Advanced Mastery (CAM). These certificates will be performance-based, and students progress as they demonstrate mastery of defined intellectual skills and content knowledge. The K-12 system is being redesigned to allow students to move from level to level. To respond to these changes, the Oregon State System of Higher Education is developing compatible new admission procedures. The Proficiency-Based Admission Standards System (PASS), is a completely new approach to admissions that will be implemented on a full scale at Oregon's baccalaureate-granting institutions during the 2000-2001 admissions cycle (Houghton, 1997). For instance, students applying for admission to the fall 2001 freshman class will be expected to demonstrate proficiency in six content areas and nine process areas. Proficiency will be determined by three types of assessments: criterion-referenced tests, prescribed assessment tasks, and teacher verification of performance according to consistent statewide standards. Students will receive a numeric score for each proficiency as well as an overall score. Although the overall score will be similar to a grade point average for admission purposes, it is expected to be a more accurate tool for comparing students across the state because it will be based upon statewide assessment standards. The PASS transcript will be easy for university personnel to process because it is based on a proficiency score (from one-to-five), rather than a portfolio of student work.
Similarly, Wisconsin is developing strategies that accommodate the admission of students from schools that use performance-based exit standards as well as those that use traditional admission criteria. A pilot of the competency-based admission policy was conducted in eight Wisconsin high schools during the 1995-1996 school year. Two admission procedures were established and compared--traditional vs. competency-based. Both groups of applicants presented their SAT scores, letters of recommendation, and statement of interest; however, in the latter group the students included a competency-based admission profile form (Garb, 1996). This form is completed by the teacher and includes five content areas--English, mathematics, science, social studies, and foreign language--with various competency items listed under each. For example, under mathematics the competencies include the following: use of constants, use of variables in linear situations, use of variables in algebraic situations, use of variables in transcendental situations, and geometry. Each competency is rated on a five-point scale. Findings from the pilot study indicate that, because each University of Wisconsin campus sets its own minimum admission requirements, with UW-Madison having the highest requirements, admissions of competency-based applicants tended to be more prevalent at certain campuses. For instance, most students in the competency-based applicant pool tended to be accepted at other campuses than the UW-Madison branch.
Creating STW pathways that link high school to two-year and four-year postsecondary institutions requires active collaboration of faculty and administrators at different education levels. But resistance of high school and postsecondary faculty members to establishing integrated courses and articulated curriculum has been noted by several studies (Bragg et al., 1994; Grubb, 1995c; Honeycutt, 1995; Miller, 1994; National Assessment of Vocational Education, 1994). A study by Sorensen (1993) found that administrators in community colleges and high schools had different perceptions regarding ideal and actual practices of curriculum articulation. He also discussed that high school superintendents and principals did not feel a great need for more meetings to fashion articulation agreements.
Peyer (1995) found that high schools where more graduates make a successful transition into technical colleges were more likely to have principals who empowered others, fostered unity, encouraged collaboration, and inspired a shared vision (p. 88). Honeycutt (1995) surveyed community college personnel in North Carolina and found considerable confusion on the part of the respondents regarding their understanding of the concept, purpose, and target student for Tech Prep, but that the longer community colleges had been participating in Tech Prep the less their administrators and faculty believed Tech Prep students needed remediation. These studies indicate that initial resistance to linkages can be overcome with persistent collaborative efforts.
Whether sufficient effort will be exerted depends on incentives. These would seem to vary at different levels of the educational system. Selective four-year degree-granting institutions set standards that sending institutions--high schools and two-year colleges--must observe. Because they are selective, these four-year liberal arts colleges and universities do not usually view sending institutions as their "customers." They assume that sending institutions will make the effort to understand admission requirements and comply with them, and are not constantly seeking ways to simplify requirements, make them more transparent, or adapt them in response to changing curricula in high schools or two-year colleges.
On the other hand, many four-year postsecondary institutions are not in a position to be very selective. In their eagerness to recruit students, they already offer undergraduate majors in applied fields, including business, health occupations, and engineering. These institutions are more likely to be interested in collaborating with high schools and two-year colleges to create clearer admission pathways and to transfer credits. It is possible, therefore, that access to four-year institutions from integrated academic/occupational programs in high schools and two-year colleges in the United States will be limited largely to four-year colleges that offer occupational majors. This would be similar to the pattern in other industrialized countries, where vocational secondary graduates sometimes do have the option to continue in postsecondary education, but only in polytechnics or other institutions for applied studies, rather than the humanities and sciences.
[29] Houghton's statement is based upon a dialogue that occurred at a June 27-28, 1996, meeting sponsored by the National Governors' Association. The meeting, held in Washington, DC, provided an opportunity for K-12 educators and postsecondary educators to discuss the complex issues involved in revising admissions standards and creating a more unified education system.
[30] The primary publications provide data on
students enrolled during the fall of 1993, when 94 consortia reported a total
of 12,265 high school Tech Prep graduates, with 250 consortia reporting a total
of 172,822 enrolled Tech Prep students. From their 1994 follow-up survey,
Silverberg (1996) reported 238 consortia had a total of 43,623 Tech Prep
graduates, while 459 consortia had 432,067 Tech Prep students enrolled
(p.
40).
[31] Silverberg and Hershey (1994) defined postsecondary institutions as community, junior, and technical colleges or four-year colleges and universities (p. 102, footnote 5).
[32] Indeed, "many states operate separate systems of public community colleges (Alabama), technical colleges (Connecticut), state community colleges and local community colleges (Michigan), and two-year colleges or university branches and community colleges (Alaska and Louisiana)" (Garland, 1994, p. 298).
[33] The method for determining course transferability differed among states. In California, course transferability was recorded in the college course schedules; in Texas, articulation officers at the community colleges provided the data; in Illinois, transfer guides were obtained from the state postsecondary agency and used to calculate percentages of courses (Cohen & Ignash, 1993, p. 33).