By the time some Apex High School students landed internships at a Cary, N.C., computer company, they had soaked up resume tips and practiced job interviews.
They'd been trained in the school's Academy of Information Technology, where students learn programming and computer applications. And they knew how to integrate technology into regular courses, such as biology, by creating websites, video and PowerPoint presentations.
Only some of the academy's 285 students will choose careers in technology, but nearly all will go to a two- or four-year college, said Julie Oster, director of the academy, a "school within a school" at Apex High.
"These skills will help them no matter where they go," Oster said.
Technical training used to be tied to vocational education, which carries with it the history of students being shuttled into trades by teachers who didn't think they were capable of going to college. These days, education leaders say that nearly all students will need to go to college or get some specialized training after high school to make a living. And they're more frequently looking to the updated version of vocational education - a mix of college prep courses and classes related to careers - to get them engaged in school.
Career education now includes a focus on fields such engineering, computer programming and finance.
Recently, a group of business leaders, educators and legislators said greater emphasis on career and technical courses is a key to getting more high school students to graduate. North Carolina is trying to raise expectations for students and schools at a time when about seven out of 10 high school students graduate in four years. Graduation rates for black, Hispanic and American Indian students are as much as 12 percentage points lower.
North Carolina's recent application for the federal "Race to the Top" grant application stressed the importance of career and technical education. The state proposed developing specialty high schools connected to local industries, such as a biotech-agriscience high school in a northeastern county, and an aerospace-focused high school in a southeastern county.
Redesigning school
Others have seen the value in career education. About three dozen high schools in the state were "redesigned" with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to be organized around careers or other themes such as leadership and public service. For example, East Wake High School in Wendell consists of four small schools that focus on topics such as health science and engineering.
"The problem with career and technical education has historically been a subset of the student population was focused not on academics, but on skills," said Janice Davis, vice president for school development for the N.C. New Schools Project, a nonprofit group changing the state's high schools that the Gates Foundation helped start.
"We don't see it as an either or," she said. "The skills to move forward and be successful in today's workplace are the same if you're going to a liberal arts college."
Old rule dusted off
Thrown into all this talk of thematic high schools comes a recent report by the Career-Ready Commission, led by state Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson, suggesting the state should look to its past in order to advance. The commission recommends the State Board of Education reinstate courses in career and technical education, arts or Junior ROTC as a graduation requirement for high school.
The state used to have such a requirement for high school students who were not on the "college prep" track.
The State Board of Education changed the rules in 2007 when it shrank the three high school tracks to one common set of core courses required of all students. Beginning with this year's freshman class, the career and technical education classes are recommended for all students, but are not required.
The board should bring back the requirement, Atkinson said, because evidence shows that students who complete career and technical courses graduate at a higher rate than students who don't.
As evidence that career and technical courses help propel students through high school, the commission pointed to data showing that in 2009, the four-year graduation rate for students who completed the courses was 87 percent, higher than the overall statewide four-year rate of about 72 percent. There's no firm estimate on the cost to set up career academies, because some would need little in the way of special purchases, while others would require workshop equipment or computer software.
The commission passed its report to Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and his JOBS commission, which is looking at ways to align education with jobs that business leaders hope to create.
Well-coached interns
Having a paid internship is a graduation requirement for students in the Apex High academy, where the school has the responsibility to both prepare students for work and find businesses to hire them.
Matt Carter, who runs PCMedEvac in Cary, has hired high school interns for three years. Carter said training students helps build a pool of workers familiar with computer and network services.
Carter, whose son is a student in the Apex academy, said students came prepared for their interviews.
"I was impressed with the fact that they could all speak," Carter said. "When I was a high schooler, I couldn't put three sentences together if you paid me."
Some students in the academy said they applied to please their parents, but they found that their school and work experience helped them when it came time to apply to colleges.
Oz Profesorsky, a senior from Cary, said the practice interviews, class presentations and résumé coaching helped him land the internship at Carter's company. He's looking forward to taking college classes in topics he's already familiar with from high school.
Regardless of what field students end up in, knowing computers is a good idea, said Tommy Genduso, an Apex junior.
After all, he said, "they are some part of every business."
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