February 2009: Career Education

Career education has floundered in Chicago's public high schools, sending only a trickle of students into a pipeline for thousands of jobs that don't require college. The district has a new strategy to increase the flow.

Cover Stories

• Off the job track Only a fraction of the students who take career education classes end up with good training that could help them land viable jobs. CPS has had success in getting more students into college and is now turning its sights to preparing students for the work world.
  
• College versus career Efforts to improve career education are often complicated by concerns that certain students will be steered away from college.
  
• Workers in short supply Mayor's office wants stakeholders to train students for high-demand fields that don't require degrees.
  
• Good internships scarce Work experience is an essential component of solid career education, yet schools have a tough time recruiting employers that offer the right fit.
  
• Renaissance workforce In a bid to transform vocational education, CPS and the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development are opening schools under Renaissance 2010, its controversial program to close low-performing schools and replace them with innovative, new schools. Many of these schools focus on specific careers, and because they’re starting from scratch, offer the city a chance to get career education right.
  
• WebExtra: Low skills a barrier to good jobs Academic preparation is more than a must-have for college-bound students. Even students planning to go straight from high school to work need to achieve at high standards.
  

Letter From the Editor Preparing students for success without college Plumbers, physician’s assistants, carpenters, machinists—all of these are viable jobs that students could get a head start on in high school. Yet each year, about 7,000 seniors earn a diploma but fail to enroll in college and have no preparation for work. That is a road to disaster. Today’s tough job market is no place for a teenager or young adult with no direction and no work experience.