Educators say Masschusetts's system of vocational-technical high schools could serve as a model for other states struggling with a critical shortage of skilled workers.

"Voc-tech" students in the Commonwealth typically spend their first year exploring up to ten different career and technical majors - followed by three years of on-the-job training and traditional high school courses.

David Ferreira, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators, said students graduate with the industry credentials needed to get hired.

"If you can come out as a pre-apprentice carpenter or pre-apprentice electrician and get into an apprenticeship program," said Ferreira, "you can make a very good living."

Three quarters of U.S. manufacturers say attracting and retaining quality workers are among their greatest challenges - but employers in the Commonwealth say voc-tech graduates are more job-ready than students from traditional, college-prep high schools.

Educational reforms in Massachusetts were made to better incorporate academics into voc-tech training, giving students once thought of as not college material a better chance at pursuing a degree or certificate.

Ferreira said voc-tech schools offer students from low-income households, in particular, a roadmap to financial independence.

"The worst thing that can happen is for a youngster to finish high school, barely pass MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System), and have no skills," said Ferreira, "because now they're out there looking for - you know what kind of job - low skill-set jobs that pay minimum wage."

Ferreira said the state's 36 voc-tech schools also teach more students with special needs compared to other public schools statewide and have a lower dropout rate. He said it shows that students engaged in small-group, hands-on learning stand a greater chance at success.

Vocational-technical schools also have industry advisory councils and build relationships with local businesses that provide equipment and training, as well as a direct pipeline to employment.

Tim Ross is a graduate of Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School in Rochester. He said he originally trained to be a mechanic, like his Dad, but was soon exposed to opportunities in computer information technology.

"I mean, it was just a diverse background, which again, applies to me even to this day," said Ross. "I still develop web pages, I do social networking. And if it wasn't for that background or skill, I wouldn't have had my interest peaked in my brain to go forward and do that."

Ross, like other voc-tech students, worked closely with the same teachers throughout high school and built industry contacts even before graduation - helping him become the systems analyst he is today.


Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

Schools across North Carolina report grappling with severe staff shortages. Districts began the year down more than 4,000 teachers, according to data from the North Carolina School Superintendents Association. The average starting teacher pay in North Carolina is around $37,000. Stagnating wages, plus pandemic burnout, are making it more difficult to recruit and retain educators.

Tara Whitbread, associate director of admissions At William Peace University, said the state's licensing and certification process can be another barrier, especially for people looking to begin careers in special education.

"A lot of districts are being creative to fill their shortages," Whitbread said. "So, they're taking teacher assistants, instructional assistants, who already have their bachelor's degree and they are putting them in a full time, lead teacher position."

According to a report by the nonprofit Best NC, traditional public school enrollment statewide has been on the decline since 2005, while the number of kids who are home-schooled or attending charter schools has increased substantially.

Whitbread explained someone with a bachelor's degree who wants a teaching license must enroll in an educator preparation program, which can take up to three years to complete, and said many non-licensed individuals are already working as instructional assistants or teacher assistants, which is a major issue.

"Teachers are working full-time as basically beginning teachers," Whitbread said. "And they either don't have the support in their school system, or they're working to manage being a teacher and take college level classes. (:13) So, they're not fulfilling their licensure requirements within those three years."

Whitbread said anyone interested in a teaching career should explore options for getting firsthand classroom experience, and to do the research on colleges offering educator preparation programs.

"If you've never been a teacher in a classroom before, see if you can be an instructional support teacher; be an IA, an instructional assistant or a teacher assistant," she said.

A recent state Supreme Court-ordered plan said North Carolina plans to spend an estimated $5-billion by 2028 on new teacher support programs, fellowships and residency programs to populate classrooms with qualified educators.

A Nevada nonprofit is celebrating a 94% graduation rate among its high school seniors for the 2021-2022 school year.

Tami Hance-Lehr. CEO and state director of Communities In Schools of Nevada, said the graduation rate is based on its 453 case-managed high school seniors, most of whom are students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, or are experiencing some other form of poverty.

Hance-Lehr pointed out Nevada's graduation rate for such students is around 82%. Compared with the state's overall graduation rate, African American students in the program are 17.1 percentage points above the statewide average, Hispanic and Latino students are 14 percentage points greater and multiracial students are ahead by 13 percentage points.

She noted the pandemic presented many challenges for students to cross the finish line.

"The other thing to keep in mind is when these students came to us, the majority of those seniors when they started working with Communities In Schools either in their junior or senior year were not on track to graduate," Hance-Lehr recounted. "They were most likely credit deficient."

Hance-Lehr explained it is not only identifying barriers keeping kids from attending school and working to get students back on-track, but also making sure they have goals after high school. The program puts a full-time on-site coordinator on every one of its 92 partnering campuses, to help in the effort.

Hance-Lehr stressed of the 453 high school seniors, half plan to attend college, 32% plan to join the workforce, 14% plan to get a certification, apprenticeship or attend a trade school and 4% plan to join the military.

While the program's focus is on K-12 students, Hance-Lehr noted they are prioritizing support to their alumni once they leave the program.

"We need to be focusing on our students after they graduate as well," Hance-Lehr contended. "Barriers that we remove for them and get them to graduation, do not just go away when we've given them a diploma, and then they enter into the world and say 'here you go.' There are still transportation barriers, there are still trauma barriers, there are still poverty barriers."

Hance-Lehr emphasized they have more than a hundred community partners and acknowledged the work they do would not be possible without them. She added community providers are able to help students with more individualized needs.

Missourians can now see how often their schools use seclusion and restraint to address student behavior.

A 2021 law requires that schools report these incidents to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, beginning this school year.

State Rep. Ian Mackey, D-St. Louis, said he proposed the original bill after many parents shared their children's school discipline experiences, many of whom qualified for special education services.

He said it allows the use of seclusion or restraint under very limited conditions.

"It cannot be used as a form of punishment," said Mackey. "It cannot be used punitively to teach a child a lesson. It must only be used if a child poses a threat, and as soon as the threat is mitigated, the seclusion and restraint must cease. That is what the law says."

The law also requires that schools notify parents when these interventions are used with their child.

Just over 600 Missouri students were secluded and 1,565 were restrained in the first half of the current school year.

Mackey said he hopes this law promotes the use of more positive approaches to behavior change in Missouri schools.

Amy Gott reported that her son was frequently secluded or restrained from first through fifth grade and that - in the beginning - the school rarely notified her.

In addition to being isolated from peers, Gott said he missed out on what was being taught when he was sent to what was known as the "recovery room."

"He would tell me, 'Well, she would sit me down in front of the same worksheet that they had in the classroom that I didn't understand, and tell me to work on it,'" Gott quoted her son had said. "And he said, 'I just didn't understand it.'"

Gott's son was eventually diagnosed with Asperger's, a high-functioning form of autism.

She began homeschooling him in fifth grade. She said she believes it was the school's misinterpretation of his behavior that led to years of being secluded from the classroom.

"A lot of times, at first especially, it would be like the rest of the day," said Gott. "And I mean from 10 o'clock on. Instead of him having autism and not understanding, he was being defiant."