A case study is expected to catch the complexity of a single case. A single leaf, even a single toothpick, has unique complexities--but rarely will we care enough to submit it to case study. We study a case when the case itself is of very special interest. We look for detail of interaction with its contexts. Case study is the study of the particularity and complexity of a single case, coming to understand its activity within important circumstances.Robert E. Stake (1994)
While comprehensive public high schools are the most common form of secondary-level schools in urban settings, they are among the least successful public institutions in the United States (Hill, Foster, & Gendler, 1990). According to Hill, Foster, and Gendler (1990), "As a result of low achievement, dropping out, and educational failures, fewer than half of all urban minority children earn diplomas, and many graduate poorly prepared for work or higher education" (p. v). Although vocational education offers considerable promise for many students that have not been well-served through traditional secondary-level programmatic offerings, the value of vocational education programs in urban comprehensive high schools serving diverse student populations is not completely understood (Stern, Finkelstein, Stone, Latting, & Dornsife, 1994; Wagner, 1991). In 1995, NCRVE researchers began to study a small but select number of urban comprehensive high schools to discover, understand, and explain the process of restructuring. For the purposes of this study, restructuring was defined as the core elements and processes of program development and transformation those schools have undergone in an attempt to increase positive school and postschool outcomes for students.
This study analyzes a purposeful sample of four comprehensive urban high schools involved in educational restructuring initiatives. Selected sites have incorporated vocational education into systemic educational restructuring efforts to better serve diverse student populations. Case study methodologies (Yin, 1989) were utilized to explain the formative processes, relationships, and contextual facilitators that have resulted in the development and implementation of innovative and promising practices.
These case studies have illuminated emerging vocational education practices within comprehensive urban high schools that have influenced the restructuring actions undertaken within those schools. This study has been guided by a Steering Committee of urban practitioners and researchers who have experience in the area of urban educational restructuring. The Steering Committee assisted in selecting the urban comprehensive school sites to be studied, facilitating the entrance into selected sites, validating the research questions and data collection methods utilized, and reviewing and critiquing project reports. The Steering Committee met formally each year of the project.
Two primary research questions guided this investigation: (1) How has each site implemented educational restructuring initiatives? and (2) How does vocational education fit into those restructuring efforts? The answers to these questions are both complex and elusive. In order to attempt an answer, respondents were required to address, in a chronological format, the processes that each partner-site undertook to successfully implement restructuring initiatives.
In addition to the two primary questions listed above, the following four secondary questions were identified in order to collect more specific information about each of the partner-sites: (1) What are the core elements and processes of program development and transformation that produce innovative and promising practices for diverse populations of students? (2) What are the organizational mechanisms, policies, and practices that result in valuable education and employment outcomes for diverse populations of students? (3) What relationships exist among school resources, activities, stakeholders, and expected student outcomes? and (4) What works in effective comprehensive urban schools that have included vocational education in systemic restructuring efforts to successfully serve diverse populations of students? In other words, what was done (the interventions applied), to whom (urban high schools serving diverse populations of students with varying and multiple needs), and with what effects (the educational and employment outcomes attained by those students)?