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OCR for page 168
Eclucation Through
Theme-Basecl Learning Communities
Creating schools with occupational themes is a promising new school
reform strategy for making the curriculum more relevant and personally
meaningful to students. This approach is also likely to enhance motivation
by offering students choices among several themes.
In schools that have tried this approach, the theme often has a broad
occupational focus for example, health occupations rather than nursing;
industrial production rather than welding; agriculture rather than farm-
ing that is elastic enough to encompass a variety of types of learning,
including standard academic subjects. This strategy is different from that of
traditional vocational education, which has been designed to prepare indi-
viduals for specific entry-level jobs. Although an occupational focus pro-
vides distinct benefits, a theme does not need to be occupational. Some
schools focus on international trade and others examine urban issues or the
environment. Current common themes for magnet schools include technol-
ogy, the arts, science, health, agriculture, or (in the case of Aviation High
School in New York, for example) a range of related occupations.
The theme-based approach has various roots and appears under differ-
ent names. Some have labeled the thematic approach to high school educa-
tion as the "new" or "emerging" vocational education, to distinguish it
from traditional vocational education; others refer to school-to-work or
school-to-career programs, invoking the School-to-Work Opportunities Act
of 1994 (now ended).) Some proponents describe thematic programs as
iThe School-to-Work Opportunities Act added work-based learning to earlier efforts to
integrate academic and vocational education and to incorporate "tech prep," but many people
have adopted the school-to-work label for programs with an occupational focus even though
they lack any work-based learning.
168
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EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 169
"college and career" programs, stressing the dual outcomes possible,2 and
others have labeled them forms of "education through occupations," recall-
ing John Dewey's argument that "education through occupations conse-
quently combines within itself more of the factors conducive to learning
than any other method."3 We will use these terms interchangeably, despite
differences in emphasis.
This type of reform provides substantial opportunities to integrate aca-
demic content with occupational applications. Integration strategies in-
clude teaching the conceptual prerequisites for occupational activities in
academic classes, examining occupational applications in math or science
classes, analyzing a particular phenomenon from the perspectives of several
disciplines, and creating projects that span several classes. One intent is to
replace the current high school curriculum made up of independent, dis-
connected courses with a more coherent program that allows students to
see how subjects are related. The extent of integration varies among schools
and depends substantially on teacher planning time. Successful examples
occur in schools that have eliminated conventional divisions between aca-
demic and vocational instructors.
Thematic programs usually stress preparation for college, or for work
after high school, or for a combination of college enrollment and employ-
ment. These programs are different from traditional, terminal vocational
education programs designed previously for students not bound for college.
The emphasis on "college anal careers" conveys a range of options that is
broader than is typically found in traditional vocational education or "gen-
eral education" tracks or an academic track, with its single-minded pursuit
of "college for all."4 Sometimes the route to college is structured through
"tech prep" or "2 + 2" programs that integrate a high school program with
nearby community college classes. These efforts involve a view of high
school as part of a longer K-16 continuum.
This approach to high school education sometimes incorporates forms
of learning outside of school, including projects in the community or the
work world, job shadowing and internships, and cooperative education
that integrates substantial amounts of work-based learning into the curricu-
lum. Once a school has been reorganized to include occupational "majors"
or schools within schools, the links to work-based opportunities are easier
2see especially Stern (1999) and Urquiola et al. (1997).
3see Dewey (1916, p. 309), especially Chapter 23, on ``Vocational Aspects of Education.,
The historical background of the practices examined in this chapter is reviewed in Grubb
1 995b).
40n the power and limitations of "college for all," see soesel and Fredland (1999) and
Rosenbaum (2001).
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170
ENGAGING SCHOOLS
to make. The most thorough approaches to "education through occupa-
tions" require a substantial change in the ways communities and employers
work with schools; both students and the community can benefit.
The thematic approach to educating students usually develops within
small schools, or schools within schools, capitalizing on the advantages of
the closer relationships among teachers and students.5 The three most
common organizational forms are career academies, high schools with ma-
jors, and high schools with themes.
Career academies are schools within schools with 200 to 250 students
and a group of teachers who teach core subjects such as English, math,
science, or history, as well as the occupational or intellectual area that gives
an academy its focus (see Institute for Research and Reform in Education,
20021. Students stay with each other and with these teachers for 2, 3, or 4
years, and instructors integrate their courses in various ways. Academies
usually establish close connections with employers, who may provide re-
sources and opportunities, such as representatives who visit the school,
summer jobs, internships, or employment after high school.
Academies were the earliest examples of thematic high schools. No-
table examples are the Electrical Academy developed in Philadelphia in
1969, the network of Partnership Academies funded by the state of Califor-
nia, and finance and tourism academies supported by American Express.
Networks have been formed to strengthen and extend the academy model.6
The occupational focuses of existing academies include traditional voca-
tional subjects electricity, automotive occupations, and health occupa-
tions as well as more modern occupations, including electronics, comput-
ers, communications or journalism, and engineering. As schools within
schools, career academies have the advantage of requiring the cooperation
of fewer numbers of teachers. Thus the scale of the reform is considerably
smaller than most of the reforms described in this volume, in which entire
faculties of large high schools must all work together in new ways.
High schools with majors, or clusters, require every student to choose a
focus, usually during 10th grade, from a roster of choices. The extent to
which the major dominates a student's curriculum varies. In some cases
students take the majority of their courses within a cluster; in others, a two-
5This aspect of ``education through occupations, which began at least with the first career
academies in 1969, considerably predates the recent interest in small schools, often dated to
Meier (1995).
6Regarding academies, see Stern, Raby, and Dayton (1992) and Stern, Dayton, and Raby
(2001). Current networks include the career Academies Support Network at the university
of California at Berkeley' the National Academy Foundation at http /Iwww.naf.orgl and a
network of 38 Junior ROTC academies sponsored by the u.s. Departments of Defense and
Education.
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EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 171
period block of time (e.g., the afternoon) is spent within a major, while
other courses are conventionally taught. The ideal, as in academies, is to
encourage the integration of curriculum across subjects and to provide links
to employers and the outside world. A number of districts have developed
individual high schools with majors or clusters; for example, Oakland,
California, has been transforming all of its high schools into cluster schools.
A number of the New American High Schools have followed this model,
and the Talent Development High School at Johns Hopkins University also
includes majors or clusters, with a ninth-grade "Success Academy" to pre-
pare students for the choice of majors.7
Some high schools adopt a theme or focus for all students. Examples
include schools emphasizing the arts or the performing arts; health-related
high schools; an agriculture high school in south Chicago; magnet schools
emphasizing areas such as computers, business, and communications; High
Tech High in San Diego, with an emphasis on technology and project-based
learning in all classes; and Aviation High and the High School of the
Performing Arts in New York. Invariably, these are relatively small high
schools with 400 to 800 students. The extent to which the focus permeates
the curriculum varies: Some infuse a focus into virtually every class; others
are more like conventional high schools, with some afternoon classes in the
area of focus.8
The reforms described in this chapter reshape the high school as a
whole, and require rethinking its purpose, structure, and relation to the
outside world. Perhaps most importantly, the reforms serve as an alterna-
tive to the traditional monolithic high school, dominated by the academic
courses of the college prep curriculum. The traditional high school has
provided relatively little choice to students, except for a limited array of
electives, and it does not link school to the world of work or the community
in the way that schools with a theme or focus do.
The challenge is to see whether theme-based high schools enhance
motivation and engagement, or any of its correlates, including persistence,
graduation, or measures of learning. We review three kinds of evidence: (1)
analysis of whether its practices are consistent with what is known about
motivation and engagement in general; (2) the perceptions of teachers and
students who have been engaged in these reforms; and, most importantly,
7Regarding high schools with clusters, see Grubb (1995a); regarding the Talent Develop-
ment High School, see Legters (1999) and McPartland, salfanz' Joan, and Legters (1998).
8 Considerately less has been written about such high schools, but see Katz, Jackson, Reeves,
and Benson (1995). However, many magnet schools have a theme or focus.
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72
ENGAGING SCHOOLS
(3) evidence related to outcomes. Unfortunately, outcome evidence is still
scant because few reforms have been in place long enough to be evaluated.
Overall, the different kinds of evidence suggest that various forms of
"education through occupations," if carefully implemented in accordance
with the basic precepts about motivation and engagement described in
Chapter 2, have many potential benefits and few negative effects. Because
these reforms are relatively new, their real benefits may not have developed
yet. However, their success depends critically on the details of implementa-
tion, which we examine in Chapter 9.
PRACTICES ENHANCING MOTIVATION AND ENGAGEMENT
One way to evaluate the potential effects of programs with occupa-
tional themes is to examine their consistency (or inconsistency) with what is
known from existing research about motivation and engagement. An analy-
sis of the motivational qualities of programs also serves as a guide for
creating programs that engage students in learning. We concentrate on six
such conditions, recognizing that, although some programs may meet these
conditions, others may not. Although this summary represents an idealized
version of schools with occupational themes, it does reflect the goals of
most programs.
First, programs motivating students allow for close adult-student rela-
tionships. The research summarized in Chapters 2 and 4 supports the value
of social contexts for learning that are accepting and supportive and that
facilitate personal connections.9 The recent "movement" for small schools,
described in Chapter 5, builds on these findings. Most programs with occu-
pational themes follow this precept in creating smaller learning communi-
ties within the high school, academies, and clusters or majors where students
remain with other students and with a few teachers over 2 to 4 years. In
addition, most themed high schools are relatively small.
Several related practices should further enhance the motivational value
of these approaches. Thematic programs usually develop work teams and
projects involving students collectively including the cooperative forms of
learning that have always been part of vocational education (Achtenhagen
and Grubb, 2001), and sometimes mimicking the social nature of work
(Lave and Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 19981. In addition, programs with occu-
pational themes that include work placements give students opportunities
9See Ames (1992) and Stipek (2002). See also the February 2002 issue of Principal Leader-
ship for testimonials about the value of small schools, small learning communities, and career
academies.
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EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 173
to make connections to fellow workers and supervisors. The national
school-to-work evaluation found that students value these one-to-one con-
nections (Hershey, Silverberg, Hamison, Hudis, and Jackson, 1998~. An-
other review concluded that practices such as small class sizes and weekly
seminars helped build relationships among teachers, students, and worksite
personnel, creating a "family-like atmosphere" (Pedraza, Pauly, and Kopp,
1997; Stern et al., 1992~. Not all work settings have "family-like" environ-
ments or educative and supportive cultures; thus, work settings must be
carefully chosen and monitored. Kemple and Snipes (2000) found that
interpersonal supports are needed to maximize the positive effects of career
academies. Programs that did not structure opportunities to build relation-
ships with adults and to provide career awareness actually disengaged stu-
dents from school. Hamilton and Hamilton (1997) and the Institute for
Research and Reform in Education (2002) recommend using a private case
management or advocate approach that offers each student personal assis-
tance and academic support.
Second, engagement increases in environments where students have
some autonomy in selecting tasks and methods, and in which they can
construct meaning, engage in sense-making on their own, and play an
active role in learning, rather than the passive role typical of teacher-cen-
tered classrooms (Ames, 1992; National Research Council, 1999; Ryan and
LaGuardia, 1999; Stipek, 2002~. Students are usually offered a choice-
either in which thematic school they attend or in which theme they partici-
pate among an array offered in their school. Research on motivation sug-
gests that having an opportunity to choose promotes feelings of
self-determination and thus engagement.
"New voc" programs typically foster autonomy and active roles in
several other ways. They are more likely to use projects and other forms of
direct investigation, both in occupational classes and in activities that in-
volve several classes. Usually, students have some choice about their
projects, and some, particularly senior projects or "capstone" projects, can
occupy considerable amounts of time (Tsuzuki, 19951. According to moti-
vation research, challenging projects that require sustained effort promote
feelings of competence and pride, which motivate further efforts (Stipek,
2002~. In addition, proponents of vocational education have always pro-
moted the benefits of "hands-on" learning, which usually refers to some
features of adept instruction in the workshops the process of showing and
lOThe pedagogy of vocational education is in many ways more complex than that of
academic instruction, though it has received little attention in the English-language literature.
These results are drawn from Grubb and colleagues (1999, Chap. 3) and from the review of
the German and English literature in Achtenhagen and Grubb (2001).
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
doing, with the student practicing what the instructor has shown; the devel-
opment of visual, manual, and interpersonal skills; the development of
teamwork, communications, and problem-solving skills; opportunities for
one-on-one instruction, as teachers circulate to help individuals or groups
of students in the workshop or lab; and opportunities for feedback from
errors, as some projects that fail to work "right" provide their own
correctives. Students are often engaged in workshops in an experimental
mode under the guidance of the instructor, a process close to the cognitive
apprenticeship mode! described by Collins, Brown, and Newman (19891.
In addition, the work-based component of some programs with occu-
pational themes provides other settings in which students can exercise au-
tonomy and engage in active learning. In case studies of three career-related
programs, Stasz and Kaganoff (1998) noted that students in school settings
rely on the teacher for information, while in work settings the same stu-
dents often determine on their own how to obtain information they need to
solve problems.
Third, motivation and engagement are enhanced in well-structured edu-
cational environments with clear, meaningful purposes. Programs follow-
ing the logic of "education through occupations," by using a broadly occu-
pational theme, can be both well structured and clear in their purposes
because they are linked both to future employment opportunities and to
subsequent educational enrollment. In addition, high schools with clusters
and theme high schools often dispense with the electives and extracurricu-
lar activities of the "shopping mall high school" (Powell et al., 1985) be-
cause no time is left over after fulfilling academic, occupational, and work-
related requirements. Thus these reforms can improve the coherence of the
comprehensive high school, where courses are typically unrelated to one
another and where the curriculum is not clearly related to future goals aside
from college entrance.
Fourth, motivation is enhanced in settings with a challenging curricu-
lum, high expectations, and a strong emphasis on achievement. Theme-
based programs often replace the watered-down offerings in the general
track. For example, the Talent Development High School mode! and the
Southern Regional Education Board reforms replace the general track with
more demanding integrated programs. Carefully structured workshops also
are designed to enhance learning and are integrated with classroom instruc-
tion involving applications. This approach improves on traditional voca-
tional education's tendency to simplify content and to become largely
avocational boys working on cars, girls styling hair, and students devel-
oping pictures in darkrooms.
Work-based placements provide another setting that supports learning,
especially if these work opportunities are integrated with school-based learn-
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EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 175
ing through "connecting activities." The students in Ryken's (2001) acad-
emies learned different but complementary competencies in school and
work settings: Work tended to teach the procedures in biotechnology pro-
duction, while school components taught the theories underlying these pro-
cedures. Many forms of nonschoo! learning can emerge from work settings,
including the ability to work on a team.
Fifth, motivation and engagement are enhanced when students have
multiple paths to competence. Research summarized in Chapter 2 indicates
that students are most engaged when they fee! competent. This requires
diverse opportunities to develop and demonstrate mastery. "Education
through occupations" can provide multiple avenues for success, including
artistic success, success in making and repairing devices, and success in
developing competencies related to employment as well as formal schooling.
Programs with occupational themes often include individualized work-
place activities that allow students to master additional kinds of skills. The
national evaluation of school-to-work programs (Hershey et al., 1998)
found that students valued internships and job shadowing more than other
career development activities (such as career education courses). Similarly,
evaluations of career academies found that jobs related to the academy
theme motivated students to succeed both on the job and in school because
they knew they might be dropped from the program if their schoolwork
lagged (Stern et al., 20011. The students in Ryken's (2001) biotechnology
program stressed the value of internships in providing opportunities to
develop new lab skills critical to entering the biotechnology workforce.
The value of work placements as an avenue to mastery recalls a savage
criticism of the high school by Goodman (1956) in Growing Up Absurd.
He asserted that the problem youth faced was that they did not have
anything serious to do nothing approaching adults' activities that define
adult status. High school for many students is an infantilizing activity in
which they are told what to do at every step, even while they are exploring
newly found freedoms in other arenas. The construction of a long adoles-
cence, when youth might explore the identities available to them, also has
disconnected them from adult life and real experience, a frequent complaint
about high school.12 Carefully constructed work experiences provide op-
1lSee also the well-designed cooperative programs in the Cincinnati area devised with
complementary school- and work-based components, described in Villeneuve and Grubb
(1996).
12See also Stern (1989) and the various commission reports of the 1970s that complained
about the isolation of high school students from the worlds of adults: Carnegie Council on
Policy Studies in Higher Education (1980), National Commission on Youth (1980), National
Panel on High School and Adolescent Education (1976), Panel on Youth of the President's
Science Advisory Committee (1974), and Timpane, Abramowitz, Bobrow, and Pascal (1976).
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
portun~t~es tor youth to do meaningful work, rather than the menial work
of "youth jobs." Without abandoning adolescence as an experimental and
transitional period, occupational themed high schools can provide opportu-
nities for youth to do something real and adult-like, consistent with the
importance of multiple paths to competence.
Finally, helping students develop education and career pathways can
enhance their understanding of school and their motivation to participate
fully. Students are unlikely to be highly engaged in schoolwork if they do
not understand its relevance to their future goals (Schneider and Stevenson,
19991. Programs with occupational themes can help students envision vari-
ous future careers, develop direct information about careers, and under-
stand related educational requirements. Both Crain et al. (1999) and Pedraza
et al. (1997) reported that school-to-work programs provided a clear work-
related identity for participants. Similarly, Ryken (2001) found that bio-
technology students began to understand the structure of the biotechnology
industry with some sophistication, with different levels of understanding
developed in high school, in work placements, and in the college compo-
nent. Their varied experiences helped them envision a career in science and
the steps required to create a science career.
High schools offering majors and career academies use a variety of
strategies to connect students' educational programs to professional goals.
For example, in one school offering six majors, students in 9th and 10th
grades first complete a 9-week "exploratory" in each of six majors, then
choose two for a second and more intensive "exploratory," and then choose
a major from those two providing two choice nodes with serious (but still
reversible) consequences. In addition, students in programs with occupa-
tional themes usually have a choice of work placements and an opportunity
to match their interests to placements.
If carefully implemented, programs with occupational themes may be a
substitute for weak high school guidance and counseling programs. As we
proposed in Chapter 6, such active approaches are preferable to conven-
tional guidance counselor practices, including passive activities sometimes
derided as "test 'em and tell 'em" or advising "college for all."
Programs with occupational themes can improve student motivation
and engagement, but the advantages we have described are not automatic.
Theme-based high schools need to be carefully structured to include well-
integrated opportunities to develop a wide range of competencies. In schools
where notions of "old" vocational education dominate, or in urban high
schools with outdated equipment and poor prospects for meaningful work
placements, implementation may be more difficult. Work-based learning is
especially fragile. Although carefully structured opportunities can motivate
students and have more positive effects than most of the work students find
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EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 177
on their own,l3 poor work placements can do just the opposite.l4 The most
engaging and educative work experiences also require the most careful
planning and development.
PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
A different kind of evidence about theme-based education comes from
the comments of teachers, students, administrators, and other participants.
Most of this kind of evidence available is fraught with potential bias; it is
often unsystematic, and sometimes merely anecdotal. Advocates often
record positive comments, but not negative ones. A few studies, however,
have interviewed students and faculty systematically.
In an analysis of two career academies, Ryken (2001) interviewed 22
students (as well as teachers and work supervisors), and profiled 10 stu-
dents in greater depth. There was no comparison group; implicitly, students
compared their academy experiences to those in other high schools. These
students corroborated many elements related to engagement and motiva-
tion: the diverse settings for learning and the importance of career and
labor market knowledge embedded in these programs. They praised the
support from their teachers both in school and in their work settings. They
commented on the value of working one-on-one with supervisors and being
able to ask many more questions that even small school settings allow.
As part of Crain's analysis of career-oriented magnet schools (Crain et
al., 1999), Heebner (1995) interviewed 70 students and 60 adults in four
schools. There was no comparison group; implicitly, most students com-
pared their experiences in magnet schools to their earlier experiences in
nonmagnet schools. Students said they valued internships, after-school pro-
grams, co-op placements, and other opportunities to learn and practice
skills in real or simulated workplace environments. Developing useful skills
enhanced their interest in college preparation classes that were relevant to
workplace skills, suggesting that occupational content can reinforce moti-
vation in academic programs. Finally, the career magnets stimulated active
planning for the future, often for multiple job and career options. Students
also related drawbacks, including inadequate academic preparation for high
13Students who find positions through their school programs compared to those who
find "youth jobs" on their own have access to more diverse workplaces, receive more train-
ing time, get more feedback about their performance, and see more links between school
studies and their job requirements (Hershey et al., 1998).
14See the discussion in Villeneuve and Grubb (1996) on the differences in work placements
between employers with a "grow your own" philosophy and those who view interns as a
source of low-cost labor.
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
school, a lack of role models among teachers and administrators from
minority backgrounds, and overloaded teachers.
In the early stages of a random assignment evaluation of 10 academies,
Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) researchers dis-
tributed questionnaires to students and teachers in both the academy group
and the control group, who were in the same high school but not in the
academy. Academy students consistently ranked their schools and their
teachers more highly than did nonacademy students, reporting more per-
sonalized attention, more help with personal problems, higher expecta-
tions, and more concern about their performance and their futures. Stu-
dents also reported that their peers were more engaged: They paid attention;
they tried to get good grades; they were more likely to think that doing well
in school paid off; and they were less likely to be bored and to think that
cutting class is cool. The ratings of collaboration among students were also
higher for academy students compared to nonacademy students (Kemple,
1997, Tables 3.2 and 3.31. Similarly, academy teachers reported more col-
laboration with their colleagues, more adequate resources, a greater influ-
ence over instruction and administrative policies, more opportunities to
learn, more colleagues who emphasized personalized attention to students,
and generally higher levels of job satisfaction and efficacy (Kemple, 1997,
Table 4.21. Overall, these results describe academies as communities of
support and learning for both students and teachers.
In an evaluation of the Talent Development High School replications in
Philadelphia, researchers interviewed 185 students and 34 teachers and
administrators at three replication sites. The students reported high levels
of satisfaction, including improved relations with their teachers. Students
praised the separation of ninth graders from older students, and over-
whelmingly approved of the Freshman Seminar (where career planning,
study skills, and work habits were developed). Furthermore, students val-
ued the longer class periods of 90 minutes, described the schoo! as orderly,
an] said their coursework was challenging rather than a repetition of what
they ha] learned earlier. Teachers liked being part of a team. Their negative
comments concentrate] on the difficulty in meeting with other teachers,
an] the varying (an] sometimes inadequate) assistance from curriculum
coaches.~5 In addition, the teachers in one school suffered from the instabil-
ity of teams (Gol~wasser et al., 2001~.
Stasz an] Kaganoff (1998) carried out one of the few studies of student
i5See "Philadelphia's Talent Development High Schools: Second-Year Results," from the
Philadelphia Education Fund, available online at http://www.philaedfund.org. More details
about these interviews with students are available in Corbett and Wilson (2001); more details
on teachers are available in the implementation study of Goldwasser, Yoshida, Christman,
and Reumann-Moore (2001).
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EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 179
perceptions of work components. Overall, students were satisfied with work
experiences, even though they clici not finci them very challenging. Work
seemed to enhance social skills and positive attitudes toward work, but it
clici not affect basic academic or problem-solving skills. Few students in
either program used higher level reacting, writing, or math skills. The links
between school and work were perceived to be weak, despite practices
intencleci to facilitate cooperation. Finally, students reported some conflict
with school, inclucling having less time to clo homework and thinking they
might be more likely to quit as a result of the work component. Two
obvious implications are that work placements need to be carefully selected
and structured so that they are challenging and reinforce academic compe-
tencies, and that they may compete with schooling if not well connected to
the academic program (Greenberger and Steinberg, 19861.
EVIDENCE FROM OUTCOME EVALUATIONS
Although interview studies suggest that teachers and students are gen-
erally positive, this kind of evidence is always suspect. Teachers and stu-
clents may fee! positive about reforms without improvements in their per-
formance, learning, persistence, or unclerstancling. Even if motivation is
improved, students will not benefit if other conclitions are not met if, for
example, the "new" vocationalism has not moved away from the low-level
content of the "oici" vocational eclucation.l6 Most outcome evaluations
have examined career academies rather than high schools with majors or
occupational high schools, simply because academies have been around the
longest.l7 Finclings generally favor academies over comparison schools, but
caution is called for in interpreting the finclings because students were not
ranclomly assigned to academies and there are complex selection proce-
clures in some cases that influence the results in both positive and negative
. .
c .lrectlons.
Some of the earliest evaluations were conclucteci for the California
academies. Evaluators founci annual dropout rates of 2 to 4 percent in
academies, compared to 10 to 11 percent among a comparison group
matched by race, gentler, and achievement test scores (Stern et al., 1992,
Chap. 51. Overall, 94 percent of academy students gracluateci, compared to
79 percent from the comparison group. A later evaluation of academy
replications founci a 3-year cumulative dropout rate of 7.3 percent in acaci-
16High schools that have developed from traditional vocational programs tend to look
more like vocational programs with more academic content, while those that have emerged
from conventional academic high schools tend to look like academic schools with a little
occupational content added.
17For another review of the effects of career academies, see Stern et al. (2001).
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
emies and 14.6 percent in the comparison group for the first cohort, of 6.6
percent and 14.3 percent in a second cohort, and of 2.8 percent and 2.2
percent in a third. While they were enrolled, academy students showed
better attendance, failed fewer courses, earned more credits, and obtained
better grades than did the comparison students all indirect evidence of
better motivation and engagement.
The effects of the academies on employment were mixed. (In contrast,
a nonexperimental evaluation of Philadelphia academies found that gradu-
ates were more likely to be employed, and to have been employed longer,
compared to a matched comparison group benefits that may be attrib-
uted to careful selection of students.) The earliest California evaluations
found higher rates of college attendance (62 percent versus 47 percent) for
academy graduates, though subsequent evaluations found only that acad-
emy graduates were more likely to enroll in 4-year rather than community
colleges.
Another evaluation of academies was conducted in a school district
that has incorporated multiple academies into every high school (Maxwell
and Rubin, 20001. These evaluations compared academy and nonacademy
students, controlling for demographic variables that included gender, race,
English proficiency, special education status, and lOth-grade achievement.
In both uncontrolled and controlled results, academy students rated their
program higher on several dimensions related to motivation and engage-
ment, including supporting good study habits, maintaining positive atti-
tudes toward schooling, being prepared for their current education, and
being self-motivated. In addition, academy students were more likely to
report that their program was related to their current job or future educa-
tion, prepared them for their current or most recent job, helped them to
meet work deadlines, and helped them see the relationship between school-
ing and work. Academy students also had higher grade point averages
(GPAs) and were more likely to attend 4-year (but not 2-year) colleges. All
of these differences were significant in analyses that controlled for demo-
graphic variables. Being in an academy did not significantly increase gradu-
ation once GPA was considered, but the effect of academies on GPAs did
increase graduation rates indirectly as was also true for both 2-year and
4-year college-going.
Kyken's (2()()1 ) study of two high-quality biotechnology academies
provides some results on persistence, although the lack of a control group
limits the conclusions that can be drawn. In both schools, the graduation
rate was 100 percent among academy students starting in the junior year. In
contrast, the 12th-grade dropout rate among nonacademy students at one
of the high schools was 12 percent for Latino and African-American stu-
dents and 7 percent for Asian-American students. (At the other school it
was O percent.) Students without summer internships were much less likely
_ . . , . . ~ . . . .. . . . .
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EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 1 81
to persist from grade 11 to grade 12, indicating the potential power of work
placements. In one school, 57.6 percent of students attended the commu-
nity college component of the program, 21.2 percent planned to attend 4-
year college, and 13.6 percent planned to enter another 2-year college.
Comparable figures for the second school were 48.3 percent, 38.3 percent,
and 6.7 percent. Although judging these figures is difficult, they clearly
indicate that a majority of students persisted in the program to the commu-
nity college, and more than half received a certificate within a year. Stu-
dents cited the value of having a clear progression from high school to
college to employment.
Because it is impossible to control for all the possible differences among
students that might account for differences between academy and non-
academy students in nonexperimental evaluations, considerable attention
has been paid to a random assignment evaluation conducted by the MDRC
starting in 1993. The first set of outcome results was consistent with previ-
ous studies suggesting the positive effects of academies, particularly for
students at the greatest risk of dropping out who chose to attend the acad-
emies. Dropout rates for this group were lower than those in the control
group (21.3 percent versus 32.2 percent) and average attendance was higher
(81.5 percent versus 76 percent). Academy students earned more credits
overall and more credits in selected college preparation subjects, and they
were more likely to earn 3 or more vocational credits (58.3 percent versus
37.7 percent), confirming that academy students took more academic and
more vocational courses than nonacademy students. High-risk academy
students were more future oriented in several ways. They were more likely
to have researched college options, to have taken the SAT or ACT, and to
have submitted college applications. Academy students, however, did not
have better math and reading scores than nonacademy students. Based on
these results, academies appear to enhance the motivation and engagement
of high-risk students, improve completion rates, and enhance their planning
for the future, although not the academic skills assessed by standardized
achievement tests (Kemple and Snipes, 2000, especially Tables 3.1,3.2,3.3,
3.51. The results for students in the medium- and low-risk groups were
more mixed. Although most comparisons favored academy students, few of
these were statistically significant, and a few were in the "wrong" direction.
Given the overall positive effects of academies on engagement, espe-
cially for high-risk students who choose to attend academies, the most
recent results in the series of MDRC reports have been disappointing. The
high school completion rates for academy and nonacademy students were
virtually the same (87.2 percent versus 86.7 percent, as were their enroll-
i8A somewhat negative finding is that academy students were more likely to complete high
school by receiving a GED (7 percent versus 5 percent, though this difference was not statisti-
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
ment rates in postsecondary programs (54.8 percent versus 54.6 percent).
Although high-risk academy students appeared to have higher graduation
rates than high-risk nonacademy students (77 percent versus 73 percent), to
be more likely to graduate on time (56 percent versus 50 percent), and to be
more likely to enroll in postsecondary education (41 percent versus 37
percent), these differences were not statistically significant though small
sample sizes (of 80 and 56, respectively) may be to blame. The high-risk
group was also significantly more likely to complete a basic academic core
(63.8 percent versus 48.2 percent), and all three risk groups were more
likely to complete a basic academic core plus a career-oriented focus the
emphasis of academies (Kemple and Snipes, 2000, Table ES.2, Figure 8,
Table 3, Figure 91.
Overall, the MDRC study suggests that academies can have positive
effects on motivation and engagement. Furthermore, there are no obvious
problems with occupationally oriented academies. The broad occupational
focus does not decrease students' rates of taking academic courses, applying
to college, or going to college. There is no evidence of substituting employ-
ment for a college orientation, as has been true for traditional vocational
education.
The Talent Development High School mode! also has been assessed,
both at its initial implementation site at Patterson High School in Baltimore
and at its replication sites in two Philadelphia schools. Attendance at
Patterson rose by 10 percentage points during the 2 years of implementa-
tion, while it declined in other Baltimore high schools by 3.2 percentage
points. During the same time frame, the proportion of students missing 20
or more days improved by 10 percentage points, the proportion passing the
Maryland State Functional Exams increased by 28 percentage points, and
the school's performance index a state-specified composite of climate,
attendance, promotion, and academic achievement rose by 7 points, while
the next best Baltimore school improved by only 3.2 points. Other high
schools averaged a decline of 0.2 points. Student reports of safety, rules,
state of the bathrooms, and the overall school were substantially better
than other Baltimore schools (McPartiand et al., 19981. The Talent Devel-
opment High School mode! was developed to bring a large, out-of-control
high school back into control through the development of schools within
schools; evidently this goal was largely met.
cally significant). Although findings are mixed, some studies have found that the GED does
not provide the same level of access to employment or postsecondary education as the con-
ventional diploma (see Cameron and Heckman, 1993; Murnane, Willett and Boudett, 1995).
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EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 183
The evaluations of the Philadelphia replications compared their results
to two matched high schools. In the Talent Development High Schools, the
proportion of freshmen passing core academic courses increased from 24.1
percent to 55.8 percent, much greater than the improvement in control high
schools, from 33.2 percent to 38.9 percent. The proportion promoted to
10th grade increased substantially, from 43.8 percent to 73 percent in one
school, and from 41.5 percent to 75 percent in the other, compared to small
decreases in control schools. The increases in math scores on the Stanford-
9 achievement tests were substantially higher than control schools (3.5
normal curve equivalents versus a 0.2 NCE decline), though reading scores
worsened (although not by as much as in control high schools). In the
second year, the school climate continued to improve, with substantial
drops in arrests and suspensions and increases in attendance; the propor-
tion passing the three core academic subjects was about 20 percentage
points higher than at the control site. Though the study design can be
faulted for being nonrandom, in every dimension of performance the Talent
Development High Schools outperformed the control high schools.~9
An evaluation of magnet high schools with broadly occupational themes
also generated interesting, if ambiguous, results. New York City established
magnet high schools in which half of the students were admitted by lottery,
while the remaining half were chosen by the school in a competitive pro-
cess. The lottery thus created a random assignment opportunity. Evidence
from four magnet schools one in health, one in business, one in business
communications, and one in engineering indicated that completion rates
were worse for those students in magnet schools: 25 percent of lottery
winners graduated at the end of the fourth year, compared to 31 percent of
lottery losers. The authors (Crain et al., 1999, Chap. 2) attributed this
result to the fact that the career magnet schools were more academically
demanding than the comprehensive schools, and the career magnet schools
enforced standards by limiting the occupational program to only a fraction
of students they admitted, thereby increasing dropouts. The real benefits of
these magnet schools came in the long term. Interviews with both lottery
winners and losers indicated that graduates of the career magnet earned
more college credits and were more likely to have chosen a college major in
their first or second year after high school graduation. The career magnet
students were more likely to report that they had become "really good at
something," and to have developed a career identity during their high
school years, a result consistent with Heebner's (1995) findings that magnet
19For these results, see "The Talent Development High School: First-Year Results of the
Ninth Grade Success Academy in Two Philadelphia High Schools 1999-2000" and
"Philadelphia's Talent Development High Schools: Second-Year Results," both from the Phila-
delphia Education Fund, available online at http://www.philaedfund.org.
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
students engaged in "parallel career planning," developing both employ-
ment and postsecondary education goals. Overall, the authors concluded
that the success of career magnets depends on orienting students toward
future college and career decisions.
Finally, we note some intriguing statistical findings by Arum and Shavit
(1995), based on the High School and Beyond data collected on sopho-
mores in 1980 and followed through 1986. They focused on the effects of
academic, vocational, and general tracks, but also included a "mixed"
track with academic and vocational courses. Students in the vocational
track were less likely to attend college, but those in the mixed track were
just as likely as students in the academic track to enroll in postsecondary
education.20 Furthermore, for those who were not still in school, students
from the mixed track were more likely to be employed than those from the
academic track. The mixed tracks were not necessarily the programs we
have described as theme-based high schools because such programs barely
existed in the early 1980s. However, these results indicate that a mix of
academic and occupational courses does not necessarily reduce post-
secondary enrollment, and can increase employment for those who do not
go to college.
CO NCLUSIO NS
Compared to traditional high schools, the reforms associated with
theme-based high schools are, in theory, more consistent with general con-
ditions necessary for student motivation and engagement small size, envi-
ronments where students can play a greater role in their own learning,
clearly structured, coherent curricula, relevance to the outside world, and
other criteria reviewed in Chapter 2. Of course, certain programs may not
adhere to some of these precepts: The New York magnet schools, for ex-
ample, are not always small learning communities, and some reforms may
slight learning about careers and their connections to schooling. But, in
theory, these reforms have promise for improving American high school
student engagement.
Both students and teachers report positive experiences in these settings
more than in traditional high schools. Students value smaller learning com-
20These results recently have been replicated in part by Plank (2001, Figures 4A-4D) using
National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS 88) data. He found that 87 percent of
academic concentrators enrolled in postsecondary education, compared to 79 percent of dual
(academic and vocational) concentrators, with much lower proportions for general students
(69 percent) and vocational concentrators (56 percent) a higher differential between aca-
demic and dual concentrators than Arum and Shavit found, but still implying that mixed
programs lead to relatively high postsecondary enrollment.
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EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 185
munities and the variety of instructional settings; they appreciate informa-
tion on careers and future options, and the possibility of "parallel career
planning" has advantages over the previous dichotomy between college-
bound and non college-bound students. In programs incorporating work-
based learning, students report that they learn in different ways in different
settings, although the quality of work placements is crucial. Some students
find these integrated programs are not for them, especially if they are in an
occupational area they do not enjoy. Some teachers report that they do not
have enough time for collaboration. Overall, however, the level of satisfac-
tion with these reforms seems high.
The effects on motivation and engagement appear to be relatively strong
and consistent. In most cases, attendance is improved, engagement with
school seems to go up, and negative behavior seems to be reduced. The
effects of the Talent Development mode! in establishing an orderly climate
conducive to learning is especially remarkable. The detailed results in
Ryken's (2001) study of a high-quality academy reveal the attachment and
learning that can take place in programs with several different learning
environments. These results, as well as those from the New York magnet
schools, suggest the value of "education through occupations" in orienting
students toward future opportunities in both employment and education.
Even in the most rigorous random assignment study (the MDRC study),
students report more personalized attention, more teacher support with
schoolwork, and more engaged peers.
The conclusions about outcomes, however, are more mixed. The quasi-
experimental studies of academies typically report higher grades and higher
rates of college-going. But there is little evidence of any positive influence
on direct measures of learning. The recent findings of the MDRC random
assignment study indicate academy students are not even more necessarily
likely to complete high school or enroll in postsecondary education. The
differences between academies and other schools on measures of engage-
ment and motivation evidently do not necessarily lead to clearly improved
academic achievement or the increases in educational attainment that would
be expected if higher achievement levels were observed.
The lack of effects on learning has important implications for practice.
Even when the strategies described in this chapter increase motivation, they
may not increase learning if a reform does not also pay attention to the
quality of instruction. The reforms we have described focus more on what
is taught than on how teaching was done, with the exception of more
opportunities for learning in real-worId settings. Taken together, research
on theme-based schools and research on instruction (Chapter 3, this volume)
suggest that the implementation of a theme needs to be combined with
efforts to improve the quality of teaching.
Finally, consistent with MDRC findings (Kemple, 1997, 2001; Kemple
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ENGAGING SCHOOLS
and Snipes, 2000), any good idea can be undermined by mediocre imple-
mentation, and some evaluation results have been affected by weaknesses in
programs as implemented. Academies vary in the extent to which instruc-
tors can construct integrated curricula and in their connections to employ-
ers and postsecondary institutions. The New York magnet schools seem to
include relatively little occupational coursework, and have not developed
small learning communities within these large high schools. The Talent
Development mode! has struggled with getting districts and unions to free
up sufficient time for teacher preparation, and in some cases been plagued
by instability of teachers and administrators. In addition, the availability
and quality of work-based learning, and more generally of connections
between school and the wider community, vary substantially.
The good news is that the kinds of negative effects academically ori-
ented critics might expect of schools with occupational themes have not
been found. There is no evidence of lower grades, lower test scores, or
lower rates of college-going. A judicious summary might be that there are
no obvious problems in theme-based education in the contexts in which
they have been studied and there is the potential for substantial improve-
ments in school climate, motivation, and other outcomes. Because this
approach to high school reform began seriously only about 20 years ago, it
is too soon to know its true potential.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
learning communities
