Vocational Education’s New Job: Defend Thyself

Supporters Hope Congress Will Deflect Budget Knife

Georgetown, Del.

When educators from across the country, and even other nations, are looking for ideas on how to blend career and technical training with demanding academics, their search often takes them to this rural pocket of southern Delaware, the home of Sussex Technical High School.

Fifteen years after overhauling its mission, this school framed by fields and farmhouses has seen its test scores rise, its enrollment climb, and the local businesses that once lamented its poorly skilled graduates help shape its classes.

Like many other vocational-themed programs, the school relies primarily on state and local money to operate, but it also receives federal funding under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education...