Career Education Curriculum

Career education—preparing students with the skills to earn a living—did not come out of nowhere; it had its precursors. The first and maybe the most important of these was accountability. Performance contracting was one of the ways that accountability could operate. Performance contracting guaranteed that schools would achieve specific, measurable results within a specific time period at specific costs for a specific purpose. In other words, the schools would deliver on their promises. The process called for a school district to enter into a contract with an outside firm or teachers' group to accelerate the skill development of a limited number of educationally deficient youths, usually in such curriculum areas as mathematics or reading. Reimbursement to the contractor was based on the actual performance of ...