Case study sites of interest involved four communities with robust experiences in linking mathematics and vocational-technical education: Cocoa High Academy for Aerospace Technology (CHAAT), Fairdale High School Magnet Career Academy (FHS), Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC), and Swansea High School (SHS). The combined efforts of these sites to emphasize the NCTM Standards and integrate mathematics in education-for-work curriculum were in the top tier when compared to their counterparts in the survey pool. Collectively, all selected case study sites favored interdisciplinary collaboration and program-wide commitment to integrate mathematics and vocational-technical education, had spent more time in formal integration work, and showed higher than average commitment to emphasize the NCTM Standards. Further, selected sites had their integration efforts connected to school reforms and had met more frequently per semester to discuss integration strategies and student assessment issues. Case study instructors were also more informed about mathematics reform and school-to-work literature than the average instructor surveyed when considering all respondent sites.
Protocols for data collection were based on research questions to clarify and characterize practices and processes involving evolution of integration efforts and commitment to implement school reforms, extent of mathematics integration, and approach taken to emphasize the NCTM Standards vision. Probing questions for each area of interest were constructed based on previous research aimed at describing innovative programs featuring school-to-work principles, mathematics reforms, and NCTM vision (Hern[daggerdbl]ndez-Gantes, Phelps, Jones, & Holub, 1995; NCTM, 1989; Secada & Byrd, 1993). Protocols were used for interviews and focus groups with administrators, mathematics/vocational instructors, and students. A protocol for classroom observations was also developed to document instructor and student activities.
Case studies were developed over a five-month period and included a review of the literature on the sites of interest, clarification of site information over the phone, and on-site visits. Two-day site visits were conducted by a team of two researchers in the spring of 1996. Researchers toured site facilities to become familiar with the physical and social environment of the setting. Prior to each interview or focus group, all participants were informed of the purpose, content, meeting procedures, and intended use of the information. Protocol questionnaires were treated as semi-structured guides susceptible to ad hoc modifications based on the nature of the information and experiences shared by participants.
Upon completion of site visits, the research team compared notes guided by one question: What are the major events and characteristics of the site? Personal notes, information from print materials, and transcriptions of interviews and focus groups were summarized to build a profile of each site. The next step involved identification of patterns, key issues, processes, and practices emerging across sites. The results of the analysis were organized into three categories. The first category describes common circumstances and reasons leading to the implementation of educational reforms and commitment to building a climate fostering instructor collaboration. The second category addresses strategies taken for integrating vocational and academic education with emphasis in mathematics. The third category illustrates the collective emphasis on teaching and assessment practices aligned with the vision of the NCTM Standards.
It is important to note that because of the short duration of site visits, it was not possible to observe a wide range of learning experiences across classrooms and other relevant settings. Thus, to address potential bias embedded in data collection, the analysis relied on triangulation techniques and verification of information from various sources (i.e., interviews, observations, and review of literature) and consensus building between visiting researchers to decide on relevancy of findings. A set of implications for implementation of professional development were derived from the analysis of site profile components (see case studies in the Appendix).