Audit says city should adjust curriculum at career schools
Share with others:
To maximize students' employment prospects, the Pittsburgh Public Schools must adjust its career and technical education offerings to better reflect labor-market needs, state auditors said.
The audit was performed last school year by the Education Department's Bureau of Career and Technical Education. School board members received an overview from district administrators last night.
It was the state's first look at the CTE curriculum in more than 10 years, and the results come as the district considers significant upgrades to CTE programs.
The three auditors offered some compliments and made some recommendations for improvement. The trio also demanded some changes, such as steps to ensure that each program "prepares students for employment and is supported by local employers."
"It can't be, 'We always had this program, and we like it,' " said Linda Lane, deputy superintendent for instruction, assessment and accountability.
The district already had begun to modify its offerings to reflect market demand. Among other changes, it scrapped the public-safety magnet at Pittsburgh Peabody High School in East Liberty.
The auditors said some district programs did not offer as many hours of instruction as the state requires.
They found an insufficient number of cooperative agreements with local colleges and cited insufficient tracking of CTE students. The auditors said they wanted documentation that students who complete CTE programs advance to postsecondary education, apprenticeships or jobs.
Officials last night presented the district-level audit, saying audits of individual schools' CTE programs would be provided later this month. The board is scheduled to vote on an improvement plan, to be submitted to the state, at its Sept. 29 legislative meeting.
First Published September 3, 2009 12:00 am
