Arizona’s First University.

A Study of Five Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology (NAVIT) Vocational Programs that are

Partnered with Community Colleges

Brita Groves

AED 615

Investigations and Studies in Applied Research

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IMAGINE THIS…..

You have been working on your Master’s program for 2 years and are finally finished. You are expecting a pay increase (can make an upward career move or are rewarded at your current place of employment by a move up the pay scale). Much to your avail, you find you spent thousands of dollars and countless hours on your Master’s for no reason!!!

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Personal Background

• Originally from Fruita, CO

• Lived in Arizona since 1991

• BS in Animal Science- May 2006

• MS in Agricultural Education- in progress

• Student Teaching at Duncan this spring

• Dr. Elliot- deciding factor for this study

• Study supports my chosen career choice.

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Introduction

• NAVIT -joint vocational district that partners with Northland Pioneer College and surrounding school districts to provide career and technical education (CTE) programs to high schools without them.

• Began in 2000• Students receive dual credit• 11 schools:

– Winslow, Joseph City, Heber, Round Valley, Blue Ridge, Payson, Holbrook, St. Johns, Show Low, Alchesay and Snowflake.

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Introduction

• This is the first year of a 6 year study.• The data collection will begin during the

2005/2006 school year and culminate June 2011.

• I am creating a baseline format and procedure which will be used for the remaining 5 years of the study.

• I will be running descriptive statistics on the data that is received from NAVIT.

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The Need

• The Arizona Department of Education and the Legislators have been watching to see if this program style will provide superior skills to students entering the work force.

• Data is now required to illustrate whether the program is working or not

– Are NAVIT students using the skills they learned in the work force in careers that offer above average salaries?

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Purpose

• The ultimate purpose of this study is to determine differences in the starting salaries of students who complete a CTE program that is partnered with a community college with the starting salaries of students who do not attend a partner-oriented CTE program with the starting salaries of students who are in the college bound track.

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My Purpose

• My purpose for year one is to receive year one’s data from NAVIT, create a baseline format and procedure for the study and then analyze the data using descriptive statistics.

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Research Questions

1. How does Career and Technical Education (CTE) work on both the national and Arizona levels?

2. How does a Joint Technological Education District (JTED) work?

• NAVIT will be our focus here

3. How effective are these programs?

4. How does CTE fit into the big picture of education on the national level?

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Limitations

• Some of the students in the freshmen cohort may drop out or leave the study before it is over.

The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were not limitations to overcome.

-Helen Keller

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Assumptions

• All schools will report their data in the same format.

• Gender and ethnicity will not play a role in determining the career goals of the freshmen cohort.

• The students in this study want to be enrolled in school.

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Definition of Terms

• Academic Attainment- the student’s tracking (college bound or not), 4-year plan status (or not), CTE enrollment (or not) and NAVIT enrollment (or not).

• NAVIT- Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology

• CTE- Career and Technical Education• ACTE- Association of Career and

Technical Educators

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Chapter 2

• How does CTE work on both national and Arizona levels?– National CTE (ACTE)

is set up to assist state CTE educators

– ACTE has six values:• Advocacy• Diversity• Lifelong learning• Collaboration• Accountability• Service

• How does a JTED work?– NAVIT partners with

Northland Pioneer College to provide Career and Technical Education classes

– Each student that attends the classes earns money for both the member school district and the JTED.

– House Bill 2700 • Budget for the Dept

of Ed

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Chapter 2

• How effective are these programs?– CTE has effectively

reduced the dropout rate in most schools.

– JTED effectiveness has not been proven, hence the need for this study.

• How does CTE fit into the big picture of education?– Science credit

• AIMS– CTE standards – Academic standards– Crosswalks

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Conceptual Framework

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The Bottom Line

• This 6-year study will provide accountability for:

– All JTED’s (including NAVIT)

– CTE (including Agricultural Education)

• This first year lays the foundation for the remainder of the study.

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Procedures

• The NAVIT board will obtain permission from the schools to participate in the study.

• NAVIT will collect all data from the schools.– Drop-out rate (enrollment for first and last

day of school)– GPA– Academic attainment (4 year plan status

or not)• NAVIT will give the data to U of A

investigators to analyze.

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Procedures

• U of A investigators will reformat and enter all data into both SPSS and Excel.– Internal Reliability

• Investigators will send the Excel files back to NAVIT so they can gather missing data.– Validity

• NAVIT will return the missing data back to the investigators

• The investigators will enter the new data into SPSS

• The data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics.

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Design and Population

• Descriptive Study

– One-shot Case Study (Campbell & Stanley, 1963)

• Approximately 500 people

– data for each student from the five schools

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References

Bottoms, G., & McNally, K. (2005). Actions states can take to place a highly qualified Career/Technical teacher in every classroom. high schools that work series

Career and technical education: New Program/Course planning guide.(2005). Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

GEORGE K. ZARIFIS. (2003). Post-school vocational training initiatives for young adults in greece: The case of IEKs (vocational training institutes). Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 8(2), 153.

Hijzen, D., Boekaertz, M., & Vedder, P. (2006). The relationship between the quality of cooperative learning, students’ goal preferences, and perceptions of contextual factors in the classroom. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 47(1), 9-21.

Neuman, S., & Ziderman, A. (2003). Can vocational education improve the wages of minorities and disadvantaged groups?: The case of israel. Economics of Education Review, 22(4), 421.

Oracle academy: Four success stories model the competitive edge of CTE.(2004). Techniques: Connecting Education and Careers, 79(8), 50-54.

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More References

Predmore, S. R. (2005). Putting it into context. Techniques: Connecting Education and Careers, 80(1), 22-25.

Reese, S. (2006). Stating the case for CTE in arizona. Techniques: Connecting Education and Careers, 81(5), 18-20.

Reese, S. (2005). Not just for CTE teachers. Techniques: Connecting Education and Careers, 80(6), 22-23.

Students explain the value of CTE.(2006). Techniques: Connecting Education and Careers, 81(4), 34-35.

Van Grinsven, L., & Tillema, H. (2006). Learning opportunities to support student self-regulation: Comparing different instructional formats. Educational Research, 48(1), 77-91.

Van Houtte, M. (2006). School type and academic culture: Evidence for the differentiation–polarization theory. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 38(3), 273-292.