Way beyond vocational training

By Emily Richmond

Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008 | 2 a.m.

The future of career and technical education in the Clark County School District has a face — 17-year-old Pamela Matsumoto.

The senior at Southeast Career and Technical Academy, formerly known as Vo-Tech, is the first National Merit Scholar finalist in the school’s 42-year history.

“She’s going to be recruited like a football or basketball player,” Assistant Principal Faron Springer said. “It’s nice to see a student get that kind of attention for their academic prowess.”

The National Merit Scholar program recognizes students with the highest scores on the PSAT, a run-up to college entrance exams. There are 15,000 finalists nationwide, representing the top 1 percent of eligible students. Later this spring, 8,200 of the finalists will be awarded scholarships.

Matsumoto represents a successful shift in focus for the district’s career and technical education program, which until a few years ago was known strictly for vocational training. But the revamped program requires students to be equally prepared for college, postsecondary training or the workforce.

The increased emphasis on academics is paying off at Southeast CTA. The school has long enjoyed some of the district’s best graduation rates, lowest dropout rates and highest passing rates on the statewide proficiency exams.

But as recently as 2004, its graduates were struggling at state colleges and universities; more than 50 percent of them had to enroll in remedial classes as college freshmen.

In the following two years, the remediation rate dropped to 40 percent, according to the school’s most recent accountability report.

Research has long shown the benefits of career and technical education, and that students who are interested and engaged in their classes are more likely to study, attend class and graduate. That’s why the School District is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in building new career and technical academies, and increasing magnet school opportunities at its traditional comprehensive high schools.

The Northwest CTA opened this academic year, and four more campuses are to follow in the next two years. The East CTA will be first. It’s slated to open in August.

Student interest in the CTA model appears to be strong. Frank Pesce, principal of Northwest CTA, has received more than 2,100 applications for the 510 open spots in the 2008-09 freshman class.

“It’s off to a very fast start,” Pesce said Wednesday. “We’re thrilled our school has been this well received.”

At a recent open house, Pesce chatted with a student from a nearby high school who was interested in transferring.

“I asked her how she was doing in school and it turns out she’s No. 1 in her freshman class,” Pesce said. “It’s exciting that we’re attracting students of that caliber, and that they’d be willing to leave their home high school to come to us.”

To compete with the new CTA campuses, Richard Arguello, Southeast CTA’s principal, is adding two programs for the upcoming academic year at the trailblazing school — pharmacy technician and sports medicine. The number of Advanced Placement and honors classes also continues to increase at Arguello’s campus.

And just as at the new Northwest CTA, Arguello has no shortage of interested students. He’s reviewing more than 2,000 applications for 500 spots.

Matsumoto enrolled at Southeast CTA as a freshman after recruiters visited her middle school and extolled the virtues of the program.

They talked about the chance to begin training for a career while in high school, and Matsumoto already knew she wanted to work in a health-related field. She is leaning toward dentistry.

Matsumoto says she would probably be a successful student no matter where she attended high school but attending Southeast CTA certainly helped.

“A lot of it has been because of my teachers,” Matsumoto said. “I think because the classes are smaller, they can pay more attention to the students.”

The counselors have more time, too, said Matsumoto, who will probably face the enviable task of fielding scholarship offers from some of the nation’s top colleges and universities. She has already heard from the University of Oklahoma, which has a program catering to National Merit Scholars. Matsumoto is also eyeing Amherst College and Northwestern University, but there will probably be plenty of other universities trying to win her over soon enough — she has a perfect grade-point average and will be one of Southeast’s valedictorians. In addition, she is vice president of the school’s chapter of the National Honor Society.

Officials were quick to point out that Matsumoto is just the latest in a string of exceptional students to come out of Southeast CTA. Recent graduates of Vo-Tech have gone on to Ivy League schools and have received prestigious appointments to military academies.

The school is proud of its history, and giving up the Vo-Tech name in August wasn’t easy, even if “CTA” is considered by the district to be a more accurate reflection of the school’s focus.

“That’s been a touchy subject for a lot of alumni of this campus,” Arguello said.