As the thematic curriculum is being designed, it is important to consider ways that organizational arrangements can be used to improve curriculum and instructional effectiveness. Evidence exists that organizational options can contribute to the effective delivery of instruction, however, some options may be more effective in one educational setting and less effective in another. Educators thus have the responsibility to decide which option or combination of options will best serve their specific locale and educational system. As these organizational options are being examined, educators should consider how the thematic curriculum might be employed to make good options even better. Conversely, persons who are creating thematic curricula should determine which organizational arrangements have potential to improve curriculum and instructional quality. In this section, four of the more common options are described. They include traditional arrangements, Tech Prep, the integration of vocational and academic education, and school-to-work transition. Since so much has already been written about these educational reforms, persons who need additional information about these options should consult the references listed at the end of this section.
Traditional arrangements refer to the ways school curricula, programs, and courses have been organized since the early 1900s. In these arrangements, teachers may make little or no reference to other subjects and have little contact with teachers in other subject areas. Typically, teachers who teach similar subjects are members of the same department. This contributes to the isolation of teachers from each other. Teachers who teach vocational subjects are likely to be organized and housed separately from teachers of other subjects. In spite of these restrictions, the thematic curriculum can be incorporated into traditional educational settings.
According to Hoachlander (1994), vocational and academic teachers implementing an industry- [or field-] based curriculum must modify their roles in three important ways. First, teachers must view their roles as imparting understanding of and experience in an industry [or field] in addition to their specialized area. Second, teachers must develop both an academic specialization and an industry [or field] specialization. And third, teachers must learn to develop their curricula and teaching methods to address real issues in their industry [or field] specialization.
Teaching within subject-oriented boundaries, teachers should have little difficulty bringing their students into workplaces and the community so they can link school-based learning with what occurs in the real world. Also, since academic and vocational subjects can be taught using references to broad themes such as industries and businesses, teachers who have applied knowledge about these areas can include relevant content in their instruction. Additionally, since academic and vocational teachers can make references to each others' subjects while teaching their students, many opportunities exist to extend instruction beyond traditional subject boundaries.
Tech Prep has been defined as "programs that link the last two years of high school with the first two years of college or technical education in specific occupational areas. Tech Prep programs typically have a strong applied academics focus and limited work experience components" (Ryan & Imel, 1996, p. 5). The Tech Prep program has an articulation component that facilitates placement in employment or further education, which may include a two-year or four-year degree (Thuli, 1996). The articulation process that links high school and college may include a competency-based, technical curriculum in which competencies are taught without duplication. Technical theory and real-world practice are provided in applied academic and vocational specialty classes and work settings.
Incorporated into most Tech Prep programs are direct involvement and collaboration from business and industry representatives in the development of outcome-based curricula with applied performance standards (Neilsen, Dunlap, & Matthews, 1993). The focus of Tech Prep programs available to students may range from high tech to low tech. High tech programs tend to require more rigorous levels of mathematics and science; whereas, low tech programs tend to require less rigorous levels.
Thematic curricula and Tech Prep can be linked together to form powerful and effective combinations. For example, it may be more beneficial to design Tech Prep programs that prepare students for employment in broad industries and fields than for narrowly focused jobs and occupations. Within the thematic framework, instruction may be organized so students learn about the history and economics of an industry or field they are preparing to enter. The functions and economic contributions of the industry or field to local, state, regional, national, and global economies can also be studied. Students can learn about the evolution of the industry or field and forces that influenced its development, as well as forces that are likely to shape future development. Students may then verify their exposure to these aspects of the industry or field during their supervised workplace experiences.
Course content may include the technological principles that drive production processes; health, safety, and environmental issues; technical skills and knowledge; and government regulations. By completing a comprehensive Tech Prep program that is grounded in a broad theme, students can learn much more about the breadth of an industry or field. Ultimately, employers of these graduates should be pleased to discover that their new workers truly comprehend the breadth of the industry or field in which they work.
Organizing for Tech Prep
At a suburban high school level technical center, teachers have met for some time both formally and informally to organize Tech Prep program content. Since effective communication can assist with successful implementation, each teacher involved in the Tech Prep program must know what other teachers will be teaching. Teachers frequently meet to confirm what content is taught and the relationship content has to the broad overarching curriculum theme: manufacturing. Technical-subjects teachers plan and organize content with reference to production modes, distribution methods, and types of products in their content areas. They also document the socioeconomic and sociopolitical contributions of related manufacturing to society, and how manufacturing has affected life in the community at large. Academic-subjects teachers reference the manufacturing field when teaching their respective courses. For example, economics and history classes discuss the social and economic aspects of manufacturing. Teachers highlight the business aspects of manufacturing by teaching concepts such as capital, interest rates, savings, labor sources, qualifications, and earnings. They also discuss what constitutes a healthy social environment and acceptable social behavior in the workplace. Teachers are finding out that students are more motivated to study both academic and vocational subjects when they can relate them to real life activities and concerns.
Integration involves organization of the best curriculum and teaching practices of academic and vocational education into a single "integrated" experience (Bodilly, Ramsey, Stasz, & Eden, 1992). The focus of integration is on enriching school subjects to enhance the contributions of academic and vocational subjects to education of all students. It requires linking the content of academic and vocational curricula and developing new strategies and methods to align, sequence, and mutually reinforce academic and vocational education studies.
Teachers who have shifted to integrated instruction have found that it required them to move away from traditional teaching approaches and embrace new instructional models. The integration process can be more effectively implemented using one or more of the models identified by Grubb, Davis, Lum, Plihal, and Morgaine (1991). As Grubb et al. note, no single integration model is suitable for every school, and extensive variation exists within each model. Model choice and implementation efforts depend on many factors, including existing academic and vocational offerings, teacher and student interests and capabilities, availability of resources, and the extent to which administrative support exists.
According to Grubb et al. (1991), integration can be established by having academic and vocational teachers work together to incorporate academic content into vocational programs and vocational content into academic programs. Teachers may participate in curriculum alignment (which approximates the first four models discussed by Grubb et al.), where both academic and vocational courses are modified over time and coordinated across subjects. Academic subjects are taught using related vocational materials, and academic teachers modify their subjects to align with the types of workplaces students are preparing to enter. Academic studies organized using this model are termed "applied academic subjects." In addition, vocational teachers develop programs and courses with more relevant academic content and rigor. Curriculum alignment involves exchanging information, sharing issues and skills, and coordinating topics within and between academic and vocational courses. Teachers can thus include complementary content within their regular teaching time frames. Ultimately, curriculum alignment can serve to organize courses so students experience a connected, mutually reinforcing curriculum (Grubb et al., 1991).
The project model can help in further facilitating integration of vocational and academic subjects. In this model, the curriculum is organized around student projects that draw from skills and information learned in different classes and through various personal experiences. In some cases, students may replace their electives with the completion of a comprehensive project (for further information about senior projects, see Section 5). Projects commonly require the production of written presentations, oral presentations, and physical representations. The project model emphasizes individualization, independent work skills, presentation skills, problem-solving skills, research skills, and creativity.
Projects are sometimes organized based on teachers' on-the-job experiences. For example, while working as a technician for a plumbing, heating, and air company, a vocational teacher who was employed at an area vocational school was required to work with customers over the phone. The teacher felt this was a valuable skill for students to learn. With the help of a vocational-technical coordinator, the teacher assigned students different workplace scenarios, having them role-play a company representative and customer. Students were instructed on communication skills such as business etiquette, tone of voice, and language of the field. In addition, they were required to orally explain the operation of an air conditioning or heating system (Gladdis & Kline, 1995).
Several additional integration models may be linked with the thematic curriculum. They are discussed in Section 3. Models include the academy or school-within-a-school, the career cluster or career path, and the magnet school. Each has the potential to function in concert with the thematic curriculum and improve teaching and learning in the schools and the workplace. However, regardless of the model or models chosen, integration design must take into consideration factors such as the type of school, the students' characteristics, and the different subjects to be integrated (Schmidt, Finch, & Faulkner, 1992). In some school settings, teachers have been very successful at implementing integration and continue to grow from the experience. In other settings, teachers have struggled with integration and have yet to move very far with it. This situation tends to exist because integration requires the development of "a trusting, respectful, supportive, truly collaborative relationship among those involved in the implementation (Winitzky, Sheridan, Crow, Welch, & Kennedy, 1995, p. 111). Integration implementation calls for a coherent form of established cooperation and collaboration (Holt, 1993). In other words, as with thematic curriculum implementation, educators must be able to work as members of professional teams and be given time when they can truly cooperate and collaborate with each other. If this does not occur, both integration and thematic curricula may never achieve their potential.
Although school-to-work transition has existed for some time, it has only been within the last few years that national emphasis has been placed on this area. Recent legislation, termed the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 (Brustein & Mahler, 1994), has aided in making school-to-work transition more understandable and acceptable to the general public. In order to receive funding, programs are required to include three components: (1) school-based learning, (2) work-based learning, and (3) connecting activities that link the school- and work-based activities in meaningful ways (Finch, 1997). School-to-work transition can include virtually all of the options described in this guide; however, these options are envisioned as being organized to form a complete system in which school- and work-based learning are integrated, vocational and academic education are combined, and secondary and postsecondary education are linked (Ryan & Imel, 1996).
School-based learning may be provided through courses, clusters, majors, career academies, magnets, Tech Prep, integration, portfolios, projects, enterprises, themes, and other arrangements. Work-based learning may include arrangements such as job shadowing, mentoring, youth apprenticeships, cooperative education, on-the-job training, and community service learning (Hoerner & Wehrley, 1995)). Linking activities require that educators collaborate with people from business, industry, and the community to ensure that students are provided with learning experiences that connect school- and work-based learning in meaningful ways. Examples of ways this linking may occur include formal partnerships; advisory committees; collaboration with business, industry, and community organizations; and local groups such as the Chamber of Commerce. Strategies that may be used to improve school-based learning, work-based learning, and school and workplace linkages for learning are described in Section 7.
Goldberger and Kasiz (1996) highlight several important benefits of work-based learning:
However, it must be noted that for work-based learning to succeed with students it should be coordinated with what is taught in the schools. This is where the thematic curriculum can have positive and lasting impact since it provides learning benefits to students that work-based learning alone cannot provide. In effect, curriculum themes can contribute to the linking process by engaging students in the school-related study of broad industries or fields as part of their regular studies, and then assisting students in verifying theme-related studies when they participate in work-based learning.
Implementing the thematic curriculum involves organizing content and teaching strategies in meaningful ways to address and meet students' learning needs. One way of responding to this need is by combining thematic curricula with different organizational options. Themes can be organized and taught within traditional school arrangements, with individual teachers making connections between their subjects and the world of work. Teachers can also organize thematic curricula in concert with educational reform initiatives such as integration, Tech Prep, and school-to-work transition. School- and work-based learning experiences play a significant role in students' intellectual and social development and their preparation for life and living. Whether organized in conjunction with one or more of the organizational options discussed in this section, the thematic curriculum cannot help but become strengthened in the process.
Bodilly, S., Ramsey, K., Stasz, C., & Eden, R. (1992). Integrating academic and vocational education: Lessons from eight early innovators (MDS-287). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California at Berkeley.
Bruestein, M., & Mahler, M. (1994). Doling the dollars: School-to-work grant requirements are lengthy and demanding. Vocational Education Journal, 69(7), 19-21, 67.
Finch, C. R. (1997). School-to-work transition in the United States. International Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 5(1), 69-84.
Gladdis, J., & Kline, P. (1995). The specialists. Vocational Education Journal, 70(8), 25-27.
Goldberger, S., & Kasiz, R. (1996). Revitalizing high schools: What the school-to-career movement can contribute. Phi Delta Kappan, 77(8), 547-554.
Grubb, W. N., Davis, G., Lum, J., Plihal, J., & Morgaine, C. (1991). "The cunning hand, the cultured mind": Models for integrating vocational and academic education (MDS-141). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California at Berkeley.
Hoachlander, E. G. (1994). Industry-based education: A new approach for school-to-work transition. In School-to-Work: What does research say about it? (pp. 77-93). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
Hoerner, J. L., & Wehrley, J. B. (1995). Work-based learning: The key to school-to-work transition. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill.
Holt, M. (1993, December). Deming on education: A view from the seminar. Phi Delta Kappan, 75(4), 329-330.
Neilsen, B. S., Dunlap, N. C., & Matthews, A. L. (1993). Tech Prep: A planning and resource guide. Columbia: South Carolina Department of Education.
Ryan, R., & Imel, S. (1996). School-to-work transition: Genuine reform or the latest fad? The ERIC Review, 4(2), 2-11.
Schmidt, B. J., Finch, C. R., & Faulkner, S. L. (1992). Helping teachers to understand their roles in integrating vocational and academic education: A practitioner's guide (MDS-276). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California at Berkeley.
Thuli, K. (1996). Access to success: Strategies for serving special populations in tech prep programs. Richmond: Virginia Vocational Curriculum Center.
Winitzky, N., Sheridan, S., Crow, N., Welch, M., & Kennedy, C. (1995). Interdisciplinary collaboration: Variations on a theme. Journal of Teacher Education, 46(2), 109-119.