Model 4: Curricular Alignment: Modifying Both Vocational and Academic Courses

The fourth model proposed by Grubb, Davis, Lum, Phihal, and Morgaine (1991) calls for modifying both academic and vocational curricula to be more compatible with one another. Modification can be accomplished through horizontal alignment or vertical alignment of the academic and vocational curricula.

Horizontal alignment occurs when an academic and a vocational teacher structure their courses so that students are learning about similar subjects at the same time in both courses. "Vocational courses can present problems to be solved, motivating their examination in academic courses, which in turn provides the general competencies for successful solution of the original problem back in the vocational courses," note Grubb, Davis, Lum, Phihal, and Morgaine (1991, p. 38). For example, an industrial arts teacher and a math teacher may align their courses so that mathematical topics required in various forms of production--including measurement, area, volume, the algebra associated with electricity and heat transfer, and simple trigonometry--are taught at the same time.

Vertical alignment occurs when sequences of academic and vocational courses reinforce and build upon each other. This coordination takes place over time, rather than occurring at the same time. An example of vertical alignment would be for students interested in a technical vocational program to take Algebra I in ninth grade, Principles of Technology in tenth grade, and then choose a vocational area of concentration (such as electronics, machining, or drafting) at an area vocational center for their junior and senior years. During those last two years, they would spend half the day at the vocational center; the other half of the day, they would take the conventional sequence of applied academic courses at the high school.