Tech Giants And Public Schools Embrace Vo-Tech

Excited students bubble into the basement cafeteria of a Brooklyn, New York, high school, both sexes favoring thick-framed geek-chic glasses--fitting for a school in which geek is very chic. The kids have gathered this morning for a competition: They must design drinking-straw "rockets" that can traverse a fishing line using only balloons for propulsion. But the jerry-rigged shuttles aren't the only models being evaluated.

The school itself is an experiment, one intended to prepare average urban students for entry-level tech jobs. If the rockets work out, the winning team will get iTunes gift cards. If the school succeeds, it could help fill 14 million science, tech, engineering, and math (STEM) jobs over the next decade. Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) opened in September 2011, the brainchild of Stan Litow, president of the IBM Foundation and former deputy chancellor of New York public schools. "The question was, what can schools do to connect more directly to jobs?" says Litow. The answer: Tap IBM and the New York City College of Technology to create a collaboration-oriented curriculum that enables students to graduate in six years with an associate degree in applied science and a spot "at the head of the line" for entry-level IBM tech jobs. To enroll, students need only attend an orientation session.