October 2004
Contact: Holly Brooker
845 255 1450 xt. 1301

Ulster BOCES High School That Works Program Makes Top 50 List

The Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center in Port Ewen has been named one of the Top 50 High Schools That Work (HSTW) for delivering quality career and technical education experiences. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), a corsortium of 1,500 high schools in 30 states dedicated to improving the nation’s schools and raising student achievement, made the designation.

The primary challenge for high schools today is preparing students for post-secondary education and careers, according to Gene Bottoms, senior vice president of SREB and founding director of HSTW. “High-achieving schools teach all students a rigorous academic core, show students the relationship between high school studies and future success, and provide students with personal support,” he says. “High schools listed in the Top 50 by SREB have met the challenge by integrating academic instruction, career and technical instruction, by establishing mentoring and teacher advisement, by expecting more of their students, by working with local colleges and universities, and by cooperating with the business community.”

School leaders and teachers at the Career & Technical Center use student assessment and program evaluation data to create a climate that encourages higher achievement. “We optimize the learning environment,” says Howard Korn, director of the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center in Port Ewen, explaining how the high school achieved the high ranking from SREB. “We are constantly working to improve school and classroom practices and student achievement.” Korn adds, “We are continuously improving the school’s curricula, instruction, organization, and management with the ultimate goal of advancing and improving student learning.” Also, the Career & Technical Center’s student-teacher ratios and the use of block scheduling gives students and teachers more time for guidance and advisement, vital to student success. “Our teachers – an extremely supportive, dedicated group of people – have high expectations for their students and are very good at getting them involved in their study program and career and post-secondary education planning.”

Students attending the Career & Technical Center have access to intellectually challenging career and technical studies, with a major emphasis placed on using high-level mathematics, science, language arts, and problem-solving skills. Students who lack adequate preparation to complete an intensive program of study are provided with a structured system of extra help, ensuring the completion of their program. High Schools That Work is the nation’s first large-scale effort to engage state, district, school leaders, and teachers in partnerships with students, parents, and the community to improve the way high school students are prepared for work and further education. The HSTW initiative provides a framework of goals for accelerating learning and setting higher standards. The program is based on the belief that, in the right school environment, most students can learn complex and technical concepts.

“Sometimes a student picks a skill and stays with it… and that’s good, but that’s really not our ultimate goal,” Korn says. “What we do want to do is give students a full foundation of skills to succeed in whatever they choose to do. Most students don’t go into the trade in which they’re trained in at the high school level. That’s the bottom line. So what’s the best way to give them what they need? Without a doubt, it’s the foundation skills – reading, writing, communication, and math skills. A good foundation will enable them to do anything, to go into any career.”

The Southern Regional Education Board, founded in 1948, is a multi-state compact for education. The High Schools That Work initiative, created by SREB in 1987, is supported by member states as well as grants from organizations such as the DeWitt Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund, Goldman-Sachs Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Clark Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education. For more information about the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center and the HSTW program, please call the Career & Technical Center Guidance Office at 845-331-6680.