Perkins III - State Plan

Appendix A

Vocational Technical Education in Minnesota: Meeting the Needs of Students for Living, Learning and Working in a New Millennium

A Conceptual Framework

Vocational education is a critical component of Minnesota's educational system. Vocational education contributes to the overall education of Minnesota citizens through its emphasis on strong technical, occupational and academic skills. Vocational education also contributes to the economic health of individuals, families, and broader communities by preparing all learners for the world of work, lifelong learning and responsible citizenship.

Purpose
Vocational education prepares all learners for tomorrow's careers.Beliefs/Principles/Values
(As expressed by diverse stakeholders through surveys and focus groups)

• Vocational education must deliver strong technical, occupational and academic skills to learners, based on explicit standards. The learning of skills is best achieved through real world, contextual and experiential instructional methods. The measurement of learning should be learner focused through on-going assessment. Assessment reflects not only individual learning, but also learning that results from working as a member within a team. Career exploration, career webs, labor market information and lifelong learning opportunities must support lifework planning. Lifework planing helps keep track of a learner's goals, skills, abilities and related experiences. This ongoing record assists learners in selecting educational coursework, researching career options and realizing goals as lifelong learners. This plan contains future education and training options necessary to achieve the students' lifework goals. It is essential to the success of learners to provide educators with initial and continuous development and retraining in the areas of effective instructional and assessment methodology. This includes instruction and assessment methods that may take place outside the traditional classroom setting and occur within a workplace or community setting. Lifework planning contributes to the economic health of Minnesota and the United States as well as the global economy.
• Vocational education must be planned for, implemented by and be accountable to the broader community. The broader community includes not only educators, but parents, business and industry, government, labor, and other community entities.

Outcomes
If above purpose is achieved, one could look at Minnesota and observe the following:

• Increased level of learner performance and expectations that lead to further success in either higher education and/or the world of work, thereby making Minnesota and the United States more competitive in the global marketplace. Learners prepared for the world of work and lifelong learning which moves toward, and/or provides for, economic self-sufficiency and success. Learners demonstrate strong transferable skills, measured by explicit standards including:
  1. Occupational skills as identified by industry skill standards and/or other validated job task skills
  2. Academic or general skills such as The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS), Minnesota Graduation Standards, Minnesota Transfer Curriculum, etc.
  Learners demonstrate responsible citizenship.
• Learners demonstrate engagement in lifelong learning.

Components/Strategies

• Vocational education is delivered within the broader context of education reform. Vocational education and academic content are integrated. Integration utilizes applied or contextual learning: instructional methodology that more fully develops the occupational and academic competence of all learners. A coherent sequence of knowledge and skill building, or skill sets, is identified so learners achieve both academic and occupational competence. This is demonstrated through "seamless" articulation within K-14+, across and within disciplines/program areas. Skill sets are demonstrated through explicit transferable standards. Career webs are built from skill sets, which provide learners with competencies necessary for specific and/or related occupations necessary to the economic health of Minnesota, our nation and the global economy. Lifework planning is developmentally appropriate for the learner. Evaluation of learner performance/competence is focused at two levels and is designed around standards and benchmarks/measures.
  1. Assessment of learning
  2. Aggregate statewide outcomes to assess program effectiveness with emphasis on data identifying
     1. further success in higher education via career webs participation in the world of work economic self-sufficiency (or movement toward economic self-sufficiency) and success proficiency in academic, occupational and information technology skills
     2. engagement in lifelong learning
  Instructional methodology is based on current best practices and learning research. This includes instructional methods focused on learning by doing, multiple intelligence, work-based/service learning, collaborative learning, interdisciplinary learning and multiple intelligence learning models. Deliberate strategies are in place for teacher training and development that include instructional methodology, curriculum development, work-based/service learning, community integration, occupational experience, technology application, and other skills required for teachers and learners to be successful in today's classroom. Local planning, implementation and accountability for vocational education is accomplished via direct collaboration of vocational education and academic instructors at both K-12 and higher education levels, along with collaboration with parents, business and industry, labor, workforce centers, and other related community entities. Partnerships must reflect the diversity of the populations served through inclusion of those populations in the planning and implementation process.
• Local planning, implementation and accountability for vocational education is based on a statewide framework with standards built from the components and strategies listed above. Flexibility is provided to local education institutions as the means to achieving identified standards while addressing local needs.