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In 2010, New York City, along with the rest of the U.S., was struggling with how to cope with the disruptive and economically serious consequences of a challenging recession. Unemployment was spiking, economic opportunities declined and far too many Americans couldn’t afford housing, health care or the cost of a middle-class life.
Does this sound familiar? It could describe what we are facing right now. But back then, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein approached IBM to see how the company might be able to assist. IBM was interested but made clear that it would not hire large numbers of young people with only a high school diploma — and neither would any other Fortune 500 company.
Across nine entry-level job categories, in areas involving hardware, software and consulting, IBM needed people with degrees in subjects like computer science and electromechanical engineering, along with solid workplace skills. Bloomberg and Klein asked the company to outline what a partnership could look like, and IBM responded with a blueprint for what would ultimately become P-TECH schools.
It would involve breaking down the barrier between high school and college, creating a dual-enrollment model where students would complete both a high school diploma and an associate degree in computer science or electromechanical engineering within four to six years. The company would provide volunteer mentors and paid internships, and ensure successful graduates were first in line for available positions.
Making Sure HS Students Are Ready for Free Community College
The initial P-TECH school, located in a distressed Brooklyn neighborhood, opened in fall 2011. Today, some 15 years later, there are more than 600 P-TECH schools in 16 cities and 28 countries, having graduated tens of thousands of low-income students.
The original P-TECH school was recently named the No. 1 vocational high school in New York City based on its reading and math scores, even with a population that is 99% low-income students of color. This verified the findings of an earlier independent evaluation that concluded Black male students who attended P-TECH were more likely to obtain a college degree than similar students attending other NYC high schools.
But even before these results, other cities and even countries became interested in replicating the P-TECH model, with additional industry partners such as Thomson Reuters, American Airlines, Cisco, Northwell Health, Micron and the New York Power Authority. When Rahm Emanuel was elected mayor of Chicago in 2011, he moved quickly to open five schools modeled after the P-TECH Brooklyn success. Then, governors in both red and blue states like New York, Connecticut, Colorado, Rhode Island, Maryland and Texas opened P-TECH schools after then-President Barack Obama highlighted the model in his State of the Union Address in 2013 and visited the original Brooklyn school later that year.
In addition, heads of states in countries like Australia and Ireland similarly launched P-TECH schools, expanding the model from dozens of schools to over 100 in just five years.
At the end of the initial school’s sixth year, 74% of graduates had achieved both a high school diploma and an associate degree — and that success in Brooklyn is mirrored across the U.S. In Colorado, a recent report commissioned by the state legislature concluded that “data confirm significant improvement in attendance, persistent and postsecondary persistence and outstanding student outcomes.” In Colorado’s St. Vrain Valley School District, P-TECH students had “higher GPA’s, PSAT scores, and reading, math and writing achievement, plus stronger college completion and career success.” In Dallas, a P-TECH school within a school is located in every high school in the city, and 2 of every 5 students districtwide graduate with both an associate degree and a high school diploma concurrently in only four years. Last year, Dallas had over 1,000 dual graduates.
NYC High School Reimagines Career & Technical Education for the 21st Century
P-TECH’s success is grounded in a laser-like focus not just on college readiness, but college completion, coupled with an emphasis on workplace skills and career opportunity — whether through stand-alone classes or enriched lesson plans in existing courses. These are reinforced during structured workplace visits where students and employees work collaboratively.
Nationwide, only 11% of graduates from high schools with large numbers of low-income students and students of color complete a college degree in science, technology, engineering or math, and the rate drops to only 8% among graduates of schools in high-poverty areas. If the P-TECH model were brought to scale serving this low-income minority population, college completion rates would dramatically increase, and far more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds could move into high-paying careers.
Amid Chaos, There’s Still Plenty of Good News on the Path to Higher Education
The P-TECH model offers benefits to students and families, employers across all sectors and the nation’s economy. Having more students completing college in high-demand fields will produce significant returns across the board. P-TECH is an innovation that needs to be replicated, and not slowly. The nation needs to move forward with a sense of true urgency toward the future, and P-TECH is a key part of the solution.
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