Arizona State Board for Vocational and Technological Education

The report addresses the Board’s ability to fulfill its statutory role in overseeing vocational education. In order to fulfill its mandate, the Board needs to address and resolve many of the important issues impacting vocational education. For example, the Board should pursue partnerships with Arizona employers to better determine how vocational programs can meet their needs and encourage school districts to implement the Board’s Workplace and Technology Skills standards. Further, the Board needs to address problems in implementing recent state funding changes that tie funding more closely to vocational programs’ success in preparing students for work. To provide better oversight, the Board needs to devote additional time to vocational education issues at its meetings and revitalize its Vocational Education Advisory Committee. To further enhance its oversight role, the Board should also ensure improvements are made in the Department of Education’s (ADE’s) system for monitoring vocational education program outcomes. While ADE collects information about school district program outcomes, several problems limit the usefulness of this information in assessing program quality.