Shop Course Links Trades to Academics

In John Puckett’s wood shop class, the more important half of the building is the part where there are no machines, no projects and no wood.

His students at Katella High in Anaheim depend for their future employment on the reading, math, history and science lessons he integrates into PowerPoint presentations on framing and flooring.

The state’s only high school with a four-year, industry-supported construction academy, Katella’s integration of trade terminology into students’ core curriculum signals a shift in vocational learning that educators say is necessary to revive shop classes after decades of decline.

“It needs to be something for all students, integrated with academics -- something that can give academics more meaning,” said Assistant Supt. Patrick Ainsworth, director of the state Department of Education’s High School Leadership Division.

Still, others are concerned that vocational education in any form curbs students’ potential for college preparation.

Driving the rebirth of shop classes are employee-hungry industry groups such as the Orange County Building Industry Assn., which is sponsoring the Katella program.

Wood shop, deemed by many to be irrelevant to 21st century education, had been fading from school curricula nationwide as educators emphasized state standards, test scores and college preparation over vocational education.

Two-thirds of shop programs statewide have closed since the 1970s, with only 140 schools statewide offering wood shop to about 13,000 of California’s 6 million students last year, according to state figures. Although the decline has leveled off in the last decade, state educators are still trying to erase the stigma associated with vocational education, now dubbed “career technical education.”

The focus at most California high schools shifted after tax-cutting Proposition 13, which state voters approved in 1978, cut funds for many vocational programs. New high schools were built with technology labs instead of shop classrooms, and many existing shop classes were converted to take advantage of their spacious proportions.

Vocational academies such as Katella’s aren’t the only sign of new life for the vocational education system.

A state law passed last fall requires the California State University system to accept vocational classes for credit.

Jon Robertson, president of the county’s Building Industry Assn., has presented the concept around the state and hopes other school districts can use it as a model.

Katella’s program, in its second year, now has a waiting list a couple of dozen students long. Students enrolled in the academy said they take other classes more seriously now that their meaning is reinforced. For example, a formula for computing volume is used to calculate how much concrete is needed for a building’s foundation.

“I hate math, but I know I have to keep up on it if I want to have a good future, whether it’s in construction or whatever,” said senior Vianey Montejano, 18. She enrolled after her brother dragged her to a class last year, when she was making up a failing grade in math class during summer school. Once they learn skills such as reading blueprints or framing houses within the California code, students can find work in the industry immediately after graduation, Puckett said.

“We can’t teach them everything,” Puckett said, “but they’re going to be able to transfer everything they learned in these classes into a good job.”

The academy will probably add a certification program in the next couple of years. Until then, the building association is committed to getting students apprenticeships and exposing them to industry specialties through field trips, such as one they took last week to a cabinet factory in Chino.

Glendale High has a program similar to Katella’s, but it is entirely school-funded, with little involvement by industry.

Too often, the classes are alternatives to learning the basics, not supplements, said Carol D’Amico, assistant secretary for vocational and adult education for the U.S. Department of Education. She is concerned that students on a vocational track such as Katella’s won’t have the same opportunities as those whose academic classes emphasize college preparation.

Still, Puckett and others said vocational classes are essential for the large number of high school graduates who don’t go to college. That’s so they can learn the fundamentals of any trade -- even if they don’t pursue lifelong construction careers.

“Helping them pass tests doesn’t mean anything if all they’re qualified to do is flip hamburgers,” said Fred Hovenier, whose Corona company donates framing materials to the academy. “I think we’ve failed them miserably if that’s all we’ve prepared them for.”

Although the drop in vocational course enrollment has leveled off during the last decade, educators say it will take more than a few innovative programs to entirely counteract the threats to it.