A group of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in the US now advocate multiple pathways for technical college training and career readiness, a viewpoint that broadens the current college-for-all norm with its single-minded attention to ratcheting-up core academic skills in a rigorous one-track, standards-based curriculum. The reformers' perspective was derived from careful cross-cultural examinations of the vocational education and training (VET) sector recently published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This chapter (a) explains the American policymakers' assertions about educational reforms to public schools; (b) details career pathways that facilitate tertiary technical training in the USA, including a national board exam model; (c) describes some of the findings from the 17-country OECD study; and (d) explores a model derived from international comparisons of academic achievement in high-performing countries. The findings of the OECD reports might well be a starting point for a policy borrowing or policy transfer process taking place in career and technical education in the US. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. All rights are reserved.
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