Career ed programs to get makeover

The Philadelphia School District wants to revamp career and technical education - eliminating outdated programs, beefing up existing ones, and adding offerings in high-growth, 21st century job areas.

Officials said Wednesday that to help modernize what were formerly referred to as vocational programs, they have named career and technical education expert Clyde Hornberger to a new job and started a strategic planning process specifically for that area.

Hornberger, who has consulted with the district in the past, was formerly head of the well-regarded Lehigh Career and Technical Institute. He will be paid $50,000 through a federal Perkins grant.

The bottom line? According to Chief Academic Officer Penny Nixon, while the district has some strong career and technical programs, others are outdated. Many don't lead to state certification. Some programs aren't rigorous enough, and the district's offerings often don't match high-growth career areas.

The district has programs in agriculture, business, communications, cosmetology/fashion design, construction, health, hospitality, information technology, law and public safety, and transportation. Some schools - such as Swenson, Bok, and Dobbins - are stand-alone career and technical schools; other programs are embedded inside comprehensive high schools, like West Philadelphia's automotive academy.

"We're looking to close out programs that are not of high quality, or improve them," Nixon said. "We're looking to add additional programs. We also really want to align our programs with the workforce system."

In particular, the district wants to focus on "eds and meds." "We would really like to grow all of the occupations in the educational field and the medical field," Nixon said.

Career and technical education programs "must be a pathway to college. It's not just isolated for students who don't want to go to college," she said.

Nixon said the district wants to up the number of career and technical education students to 10,000 from 6,000 in the next five years.

The plan must address issues of equity, Nixon said - some areas of the city lack adequate career and technical programs, and there must be better access to such programs for English language learners and special education students.

Officials are also zeroing in on attracting teachers.

"We struggle with recruiting teachers for CTE," Nixon said.

Hornberger and David Kipphut, the district's deputy for career and technical education, will formulate the plan along with the Philadelphia Council for College and Career Success and the Philadelphia Youth Network.

For now, the outside partners will provide expertise only, but the district hopes their partners will be able to point them in the direction of new resources.

Resources are a key issue for the cash-strapped district, which must cut $26 million by June and faces a $186 million shortfall for the 2012-13 fiscal year.

They will be needed to fill another one of the district's goals - increasing career and technical education facilities "to mirror state-of-the-art training facilities."

Nixon said Hornberger's work will be key.

"We're really looking to him to help us create a national model," she said.

Changes will be ushered in over the next three to five years and will be coordinated with the district's overall facilities master plan.

Wholesale school closings could be on the table, Nixon said.

So could the reopening of William Penn High, which officials closed in 2010 but promised to reopen within a few years, possibly as a career and technical center.