Another lesson learned is that a commitment to curriculum restructuring and integration is not enough. Matching instructional changes in pedagogy and collaboration arrangements have to occur to engage students in rigorous experiences linking significant mathematics and career concepts. There are no quick-fix approaches nor one-size-fits-all models for integrating mathematics/vocational-technical education. Several collaboration formats were identified across sites ranging from informal exchanges to multidisciplinary teamwork where content and instruction had to be carefully coordinated (for details on integration models and strategies, see Bottoms & Sharpe, 1996; Fogarty & Stoehr, 1991; Grubb, 1996). This collaborative climate favored a commitment to linking teaching strategies suggested by the NCTM Standards.
The career context provided great opportunities to emphasize process standards, including problem solving, reasoning, communication of ideas, and making relevant concept connections. In contrast, content standards received less emphasis and were inconsistently implemented as faculty focused more heavily on processes standards. Thus, examples featured here must treated only as promising practices. Across sites, several instances of high authentic instructional activities in a variety of formats were found and it is possible to envision how content standards can also be rigorously emphasized. Statistics and measurement, for example, can be emphasized across various technical fields as students design experiments and collect, organize, and analyze data. Algebra, geometry, and mathematical functions can also be rigorously applied in problems featuring science and technology, manufacturing, and other technical fields in ways hinted by the experience at the Cocoa High Academy for Aerospace Technology.
At any rate, a shared understanding of what constitutes authentic, integrated, NCTM Standards-based instruction is crucial to match high expectations for achievement and career goals for all students. To this end, it is critical to understand that the NCTM Standards and related literature should be taken as a guide, not as a step-by-step cookbook, to stimulate change toward authentic pedagogy sustaining integration (Newmann & Wehlage, 1995; Porter et al., 1994).