Model
7: Occupational High Schools and Magnet Schools
The seventh model proposed by Grubb, Davis, Lum, Phihal, and Morgaine (1991) calls for the development of vocational high schools or magnet schools that are devoted to an occupational area or have an occupational focus. These schools generally prepare students for a broad occupational area. Examples include schools for aviation, business careers, health professions, agricultural sciences, electronics, or computers. These schools are similar to academies, except that they exist on their own instead of being a school within a school.
Occupational high schools often are successful in integrating vocational and academic education. "Since all academic teachers are preparing students within a single broad occupational area, the incentives to bend academic instruction toward this particular occupation are strong, and the resources to do so--especially the vocational teachers with whom examples and exercises can be developed--are right at hand," note Grubb, Davis, Lum, Phihal, and Morgaine (1991, p. 50). Not all magnet schools have an occupational focus, however. Those that have such a focus often develop a curriculum that supports the occupational area with teachers emphasizing pertinent applications.
