Giving Compass' Take:

• In this Hechinger Report story, Sarah Gosner highlights the vocational schooling system in New Jersey, including some of its downsides.

• How might other places implement New Jersey-like vocational schooling systems while avoiding segregation issues which stem from the admissions tests?

• To learn about the potential benefits of combined academic and vocational training, click here.

As policymakers seek to help more young people get well-paying jobs that require specialized skills, they are increasingly turning to models like New Jersey’s. Vocational education was once seen as a dumping ground for students who couldn’t make the cut for college, but New Jersey’s 66 county-run career and technical schools integrate work-based training with rigorous academic coursework to prepare students for both college and careers. The schools include large institutions like Tech that ready students for a variety of professional tracks, plus highly competitive “academies” that are built around a single field of study, such as medicine. Graduation rates at the schools top 97 percent — compared to about 91 percent statewide — and more than three-quarters of graduates continue on to college or other post-secondary education.

The model is also notable because the schools are run by county governments, not school districts. This close relationship with county leadership gives schools a direct connection with local businesses, allowing them to be nimble and responsive to employers’ needs. And they are popular: Of the almost 30,000 teenagers who applied for spots in New Jersey’s vocational programs in 2017, only about 13,000 received seats.

But ... the county-run model’s admissions process has produced a stratified system in which some of the elite vocational academies enroll a student body that’s significantly less diverse than the population of the schools’ home counties. This isn’t the case at Tech, but it is occurring at some of the academies, which require an admissions test.

Read the full article about vocational education by Sarah Gonser at The Hechinger Report