Perceptions of Career and Technical Education in Montana: How Did A Nation at Risk Effect Workforce Education in the Late 20th Century and Now?

Career and Technical Education provides students of all ages with the academic and technical skills, knowledge, and training necessary to succeed in future careers and to become lifelong learners. It marries educational objectives and workforce skill sets identified by industry as critical and in high demand. Demand for employees with these skill sets are critical, yet employers are having an increasingly hard time filling these positions. Have stigmas and biases created by education policy such as A Nation At Risk, as well as, the resulting education shift from Career and Technical Education as a part of a well-rounded public education to College Preparatory curriculum in high schools created a “four-year or bust” societal norm?

The Editor’s Note

The Every Student Succeeds Act changes the role of the federal government in education and raises the question of who will define the education agenda. Similar questions came to the fore in the 1980s, when A Nation at Risk gave rise to a new education reform movement. Kappan editor Rafael Heller wonders if history is about to repeat itself and, if so, which players will take the lead.