Title: Career and Technical Education: An Alternative Approach to Educating At-Risk Youth
1Career and Technical Education An Alternative
Approach to Educating At-Risk Youth
- Seminar in Applied Theory and Research II
- By
- Nicole Morris
Final Presentation Spring 2010 5.20.10
2Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Statement of the Problem
- Review of Related Literature
- Statement of the Hypothesis
- Method
- Participants (N)
- Instruments (s)
- Experimental Design
- Procedure
-
- Results
- Discussion
- Implications
- References
3Introduction
-
- Shadowing the so-called well adjusted high
school student are the youth falling victim to an
extensive range of risk factors that make them a
member of a growing population of diverse teens
labeled at-risk. Their risk factors, be it low
achievement, retention in grade, or behavior
problems all bear the unique stamp of the
individual that experiences expulsion,
suspension, or other forms of rejection.
(Poyrazli, Ferrer-Wreder, Meister, Forthun,
Coastworth, Grahame, 2008). -
-
4Statement of the Problem
- At-risk behavior patterns, be it prankish or
criminal, is - challenging educators to question their
professional - skills and their ethics.
- Hence, the question remains, how will the
educational - system carry out the job of reaching the high
school - student who has become so accustomed to academic
- failure?
5Review of Related Literature
- The CTE Approach
- Education policy cannot continue to believe all
students will proceed through a traditional four
years of high school followed directly by two to
four years of college. - Sagor, R. (1999).
- Education should include all members of society,
not just the elite. - Dewey, J. (1916)
6Review of Related LiteratureThe CTE Approach
- Instructional Strategy 1
- Alternative high schools that incorporate CTE
programs have been effective in engaging academic
understanding through Experiential Learning. - Alfeld, C., Hansen, D., Aragon, S., Stone, J.
(2006). - Leone, P. E., Drakeford, W. (1999).
- Experiential Learning
- Theorist Carl Rogers
- Academic understanding and learning takes place
when the subject matter is relevant to the
personal interests of the student. - The student participates completely in the
learning process and has control over its nature
and direction. - Understanding and learning is practical, social,
and personal. - Students learn the method of self-evaluation to
assess progress and success.
7Review of Related LiteratureThe CTE Approach
- Instructional Strategy 2
- CTEs positive approach uses Contextualized
Learning to connect information to real-life
understanding. - Bennett, J. (2007).
- Contextualized Learning
- Theorist Nancy Karweit
- Contextualized Learning connects the students
current environment, by providing relationships
to abstract content areas. - Address math and science in context to a career
such as construction or engineering. - Provides clear transitions from education to
career pathways.
8Review of Related LiteraturePros
- Alternative education settings assist students to
achieve both personally and academically through - Individualized academic instruction.
- Behavior modification.
- Academic and social counseling.
-
- An alternative academic setting transforms the
school to nurture and re-engage the student who
has given up on learning through - Reduced class size.
- Instructional models that have a real-life
approach. - Use of technology.
- DAngelo, F., Zemanick, R. (2009).
9Review of Related LiteratureCons
- Exchanges between the teacher, administrator and
At-risk student must remain positive, and an
understanding of consequences for inappropriate
actions must be established. When rules are not
established for At-risk students - Unpleasant or violent confrontations erupt.
- Students become dis-engaged.
- Students choose to leave or dropout of school.
-
- For some students, the traditional academic
setting and course names are a constant reminder
of their educational shortcomings, failure and
overall rejection that takes place year after
year. - Foley, R., Pang, L. (2006).
- Hughes-Hassell, S. (2008).
- Aron, L.Y. (2006, January).
10Statement of the Hypothesis
-
- HR1 An alternative high school in Queens, NY
that includes Career and Technical Education
(CTE) programs are more effective to re-engage
academic understanding of Mathematics, over a 5
month period to 17 over-aged ninth graders that
exhibit at-risk behavior patterns.
11Method
- Participants
- Total population of 17 over-aged ninth grade boys
and girls - 65 or 11 students are boys
- 35 or 6 students are girls
- Racial breakdown of ninth grade students
- 71 or 12 students are African-American
- 29 or 5 students are Latin-American
- Socio-Economic status of ninth grade students
- Lower SES to include one homeless student
- Public Transfer high school located in Queens, NY
12Method Instruments
- Consent Forms administered to
- Principal
- Teacher
- Students
- Likert Scale Surveys administered to
- Teacher
- Students prior to intervention (pretest) and
after intervention (posttest) -
- Math Assessment
- 2 Pretests and 2 posttests administered to
students using Prentice Hall Brief Review for the
New York State Regents Exam - Integrated Algebra and CTE (sample) lesson plan,
Pythagoras Using a Carpenters Square -
13Research Design
- Pre-Experimental Design One-Group
Pretest-Posttest Design. - Single Group Single group is pretested (O),
exposed to a treatment (X), and posttested (O). - Symbolic Design OXO
-
14Procedure
- The field research was conducted over a five
month period from November 2009 to April 2010 - Consent forms distributed to and collected from
Principal, 2 Teachers and 17 Students, November
2009. - Surveys distributed to and collected from 2
Teachers and 17 Students, December 2009. - Integrated Algebra I blended with CTE
intervention - Carpentry Skills I, December 2009.
- Pretest 1 June 2008 Regents Exam administered
to 17 Students, January 2010. - Pretest 2 August 2008 Regents Exam administered
to 17 Students, February 2010. - Posttest 1 January 2009 Regents Exam
administered to 17 Students, March 2010. - Posttest 2 June 2009 Regents Exam administered
to 17 Students, April 2010. - Posttest Survey administered to Students, April
2010.
15Results Pre-Experimental Design/ One Group
Pretest and Posttest Scores
Analysis illustrates that 94 of students
showed an increase in Math Scores following CTE
intervention.
16Results Pre-Experimental Design/ One Group
Pretest and Posttest Scores
17Results Correlation of Student Confidence in
Mathematics and Pretest 1 Math Scores
- Likert Scale Survey Question 7
- Solving math problems often makes me nervous and
upset. - Strongly Agree Agree Disagree
Strongly Disagree - (1) (2) (3)
(4) -
Correlation Coefficient (rxy) 0.84 hence,
the line of best fit shows a positive correlation
between students (lack) of confidence and
Pretest 1 math scores.
18Results Correlation of Content Mastery in
Mathematics and Posttest 2 Math Scores
- Likert Scale Survey Question 8
- I enjoy math more when blended with the CTE/
Carpentry Co-teacher because he makes - solving math problems more understandable.
- Strongly Agree Agree Disagree
Strongly Disagree - (1) (2) (3)
(4) -
Correlation Coefficient (rxy) -0.89 hence,
the line of best fit shows a negative correlation
between students content mastery and Posttest 2
math scores.
19Results Data Analysis of Pre-Experimental
Design
- Single Group Posttest 2
- Mean is 75, Median is 79 and Mode is 82
- The Standard Deviation from the Mean was /- .15
- Five of the seventeen scores or 29 is
approximately 1 Standard Deviation below the Mean
20Discussion
- This study supports the hypothesis that Career
and Technical Education (CTE) programs are more
effective to re-engage academic understanding of
mathematics. - CTE programs meet the educational needs for youth
identified as at-risk by providing Experiential
and/ or Contextualized Learning to make
instruction more relevant and less abstract
(Conner, McKee 2008 Foley Pang 2006). - Education should be non-discriminatory and
provide alternative settings for the variety of
learners and their academic abilities. Hence,
schools that blend the core academics (Math,
Science, English, Social Studies) with CTE
Programs help to refocus at-risk youth, and can
prepare them to successfully graduate from highs
chool and transition to the workforce (Aron 2006
Bennett 2007 Dewey 1916).
21Implications
- The results of the research show that educating
at-risk students through CTE programs positively
influence the engagement of abstract subjects
like mathematics, by constructing the content to
be more relevant to a students life (Rogers,
1969). However, the research would require a
longer study to truly investigate whether the
students improved academically from the CTE
programs, and graduated from high school. - The students evaluated in the research have all
repeated one grade or more during their
educational journey. Additionally, they have
spent time away from the classroom because of
suspension, temporary incarceration or other
personal issues. Thus, any setbacks or reminders
of failure is likely to cause these students to
withdraw from school completely!
22Threats to Validity
- Internal Threats to Validity
- History
- Maturation
- Testing
- Instrumentation
- Differential Selection
- Mortality
- Selection-Maturation Interaction
- External Threats to Validity
- Pretest Treatment
- Selection-Treatment Interaction
- Experimenter Effects
- Reactive Arrangements/ Participants Effects