COLORADO

State Director-M.G. Linson

INTRODUCTION

Mr. Chairman; members of the committee, I appreciate the opportunity to speak in behalf of the Vocational Amendments of 1968 (Public Law 90-576) and to report the excellent progress which vocational education has made in the State of Colorado in recent years.

The U.S. Congress, by enacting the Vocational Education Act of 1963 and the 1968 amendments to this act, provided the leadership for a substantial expansion and improvement of occupational training. The results in the State of Colorado are impressive. Briefly, occupational training is now available to many more people than ever before, the individual has a much greater choice of occupations, and the quality of training is greatly improved.

The growth can be measured in enrollments, in the number and variety of vocational programs, and in the number of schools and colleges which provide vocational training. There have been substantial increases in all of these areas.

The table above shows how enrollments have increased since enactment of the Vocational Education Act of 1963, and contains a projection for 1977. A large percentage of the enrollees are now actually people who have completed their training in vocational education and have become productive, employed citizens who pay taxes and contribute to the economy of the State and the Nation.

The true measure of the quality of occupational training is the employment success of its graduates. Followup studies now underway in Colorado in the early returns are very encouraging.

Evaluation of individual programs by qualified teams shows a marked improvement in the quality of training. The Vocational Education Act of 1963 and the 1968 amendments have done much to stimulate professional development, vocational guidance, innovative programs, facility improvements, involvement of employers and actual workers, and other methods of improving the training of skilled workers.

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PUBLIC LAW 90-576-PART B-STATE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS

a. Job Training Enrollments

In accordance with the suggested format for this report, we submit the following information on job training enrollments for the State of Colorado:

Secondary vocational program enrollments made spectacular growth in the last 10 years, as shown, advancing from 4,190 to 30,435. The number of school districts which provide occupational training has grown accordingly. In the fiscal year 1972, vocational education was provided for secondary students in 154 of the 178 Colorado public school districts which maintain high schools. This compares with approximately 110 districts which provided some type of vocational training in 1963.

Colorado is approaching one of its principal goals for vocational education-to make this type of training available to all, with enrollments of at least 50 percent of all high school juniors and seniors in occupational programs of their own choice.

The contractual programs have done much to advance the State toward this goal. By contracting with area vocational schools and community colleges, small and medium-sized high schools can increase occupational offerings to their students substantially. For example, Swink High School in southeastern Colorado, has fewer than 100 senior high school students, yet it provides skill training in 12 different occupational areas. Only two are available in Swink's own facilities. Students are bused to the Central Arkansas Valley Occupational Center at Otero Junior College for training in the

other 10 areas under a contractual agreement. Contract programs similar to Swink's have become common throughout Colorado. Larger high schools also use contract education to supplement their own vocational offerings, thus increasing the occupational options of the students.

These increased opportunities for students in high schools of all sizes are made available at a nominal cost.

In areas presently too distant from community colleges and area schools for feasible busing, mobile units are used to provide occupational facilities. The units are complete shops, offices, and laboratories, with adequate training stations and necessary classroom space. One unit normally operates at one high school in the morning and moves during the lunch hour to another high school for the afternoon session. In the evenings the mobile units are available for adult classes.

Efforts are now underway to articulate occupational education wherever possible. Now under construction on adjacent sites just west of Denver are comprehensive vocational buildings of the Community College of Denver, Red Rocks Campus, and the Warren Occupational Technical Center of the Jefferson County Public Schools. There will be no duplication of programs in these two facilities. Programs of both facilities will be equally available to the secondary students of the Jefferson County Schools and the post-secondary students of the Community College of Denver. A student in any of nine Jefferson County high schools can select his occupational training program from 66 programs at the two vocational schools, as well as those operated by his home high school.

c. Postsecondary Courses

Postsecondary vocational education in Colorado has nearly matched the spectacular growth at the secondary level.

In 1963-64, the State had only six 2-year colleges. They were junior colleges, operated by local districts, with very limited vocational offerings. There was only one institution in the Denver area which provided occupational training beyond the secondary level. This was the famous Emily Griffith Opportunity School, whose programs were almost entirely at the adult level.

Enrollment in Colorado postsecondary vocational programs was very small, and the few available programs were of the standard, traditional pattern.

By 1972 the number of postsecondary schools had increased to 13 community colleges on 16 campuses, and four designated area vocational schools operated by local school districts. In addition, one 4year college provided vocational training in an area vocational school. Most of the older colleges had greatly expanded their vocational departments. All of the newer ones were strongly oriented to occupational training from the beginning. Emily Griffith Opportunity School was offering postsecondary occupational instruction as well as contracting to train students from some of Denver's secondary schools.

By 1972 vocational enrollments at the postsecondary level had increased nearly 5 times-to 14,868.

Colorado's system of community/junior colleges and area vocational schools encourages vocational programs in the newer job

fields. Programs in public service occupations, environmental activities and health occupations, and new technologies are planned, nurtured and expanded at the postsecondary level.

d. Disadvantaged Students

There were very few students in the category of special needs during the early years after enactment of the Vocational Education Act of 1963. It has taken time to identify students who need special training, to locate and recruit instructors with special abilities needed to train the disadvantaged, and to develop appropriate training programs.

1 The first records of Colorado special needs enrollments, made in 1964, listed 730 students in both handicapped and disadvantaged programs.

As the above figures indicate, many of the problems have been overcome and students with disadvantages which require special programs are being trained in increasing numbers to fulfill their role of successful citizens in our society.

Special summer programs have been an effective method of training disadvantaged youth so that they can take their places in regular programs during the school year.

Particularly in rural areas part G cooperative programs encourage the placement of disadvantaged students in on-the-job training positions which fit their abilities and interests and enable them to progress at their own speed in developing employable skills.

The Denver Metropolitan Youth Center is a school for dropouts, operated jointly at several locations by the Denver and Jefferson County public schools. Enrollment is voluntary, although limited to young people who have been out of high school for at least 6 months. There is a waiting list of prospective students. Students select their own programs, assisted by vocational counselors. This school, and others like it, has two types of successful "graduates"those who complete skill training and find employment and those who decide to return to their high schools and complete requirements for a high school diploma.

In Adams County, in the northern part of the Denver metropolitan area, a school district's dropout school increased its capacity by enlisting the facilities and training personnel of the Colorado Air National Guard for vocational training of dropout students in many occupational areas. Here, a 1-to-1 instructor-student ratio produced outstanding results for a very small expenditure of special vocational funds.

The flexibility of the community college system, which adapts its curriculum, facilities, personnel, and school terms to fit the needs of the individual student, rather than forcing every student to fit the same rigid instructional pattern, encourages successful skill training of the disadvantaged. A student can begin training at any time. There is a staff of qualified people to assist him with his special problems. His training is completed whenever he's ready for employment.

e. Handicapped Students,

As with the training of the disadvantaged, there were numerous difficulties in establishing special training programs for handicapped persons in the early implementation of the Vocational Education Act of 1963, as the following statistics show:

Enrollments in handicapped programs

1963 1968. 1972.

1977 (projected)

(1) 518 2, 742

4, 838

I The first records of Colorado special needs enrollments, made in 1964, listed 730 students in both handl capped and disadvantaged programs.

The Colorado Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education, cooperates with both the State Department of Vocational Rehabilitation and the Special Education Division of the State Department of Education in a work experience type program which has produced maximum benefits and greatest possible services to handicapped persons.

A handicapped program which has received regional and national acclaim is the Community College of Denver program for the hearing impaired. This program provides the services which a person with hearing defects needs to compete successfully with hearing students in regular vocational training. The services include tutors and interpreters. Many college instructors have been trained in the use of sign language.

The success of this program has led to the establishment of a center for physically handicapped students on the permanent Red Rocks campus of the Community College of Denver, which is now under construction. This center is expected to open in early 1974. It will provide a large number of services for people with a great variety of handicaps so that they, like the hearing impaired, can compete successfully with ablebodied students in regular occupational training. The services will include tutors, bus service to any of the three college campuses, a prosthetic appliance repair shop, special tools designed for use by the handicapped, and a specially equipped

1 What appears to be a decline in enrollment actually results from 2 causes: 1. With the expansion of community junior colleges and area vocational schools, many programs traditionally classified as adult programs are now operated by community colleges and area schools and, as such, are classified as postsecondary. 2. Because of a change in reporting methods, only those adult programs which receive State and Federal reimbursement have been reported in recent years. Actually, adult training and the need for it continues, enough that schools continue to provide many adult programs without the assistance of State and Federal funds. Adult vocational training is particularly important in the retraining of people whose skills have been made obsolete by economic changes.