March 2004

Since their creation by the Legislature in 1948, New York's Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) have offered a vast array of vocational and college preparatory programs and services to school-age and adult students. New York's BOCES enable school districts to pool their resources and share costs, providing professional development and other services that otherwise would be uneconomical or unavailable.

New York's BOCES system is unique. While 41 states offer education services on a regional basis, and 27 states have a statewide network of programs, New York's BOCES system is alone in the breadth, variety and opportunities for excellence it offers students. National experts agree that New York's BOCES are, by far, the largest and most effective in the nation.

In 2001-02, the state's 38 BOCES served some 1.6 million students with a total budget of nearly $2 billion. They are worth every cent - and much, much more.

"New York has a strong system. It is one of the finest systems in the country," said Bob Stephens, director of the Institute for Regional Studies in Education, based in Edmond, Okla.

Stephens, a highly respected figure in the field of regional education and former professor in the Department of Educational Planning and Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park, said New York's BOCES generally operate at a higher plane than other states. Beyond offering students basic vocational and occupational education programs - such as cosmetology, auto mechanics and welding, Stephens noted New York's BOCES feature "sophisticated programs that just aren't found, except in isolated cases, in other states."

Indeed, the BOCES of today are far different from the BOCES of a generation or two ago, when the network primarily served special needs children or students who struggled in traditional classroom settings.

"They've totally outgrown that. Now that's just a small portion of what they do," said Kari Arfstrom, associate director of the Virginia-based Association of Educational Service Agencies. "New York's BOCES is a Tier 1 program."

While special education, alternative schools, adult education and vocational training remain at the core of BOCES' mission, the programming offered through today's BOCES is among the most specialized, high-tech training offered by any public education system in the country.

The Monroe 1 BOCES, for example, operates the Bathysphere Underwater Biological Laboratory (BULB), a simulated, interactive underwater exploration of Lake Ontario. Student teams, after working on tasks at computer stations, board a Deep Submergence Vehicle at the Rochester Museum and Science Center and take a simulated "voyage" to research the lake's aquatic environment. The project's goal is to create an authentic learning environment where students can study environmental themes, using communication, technology, teamwork, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Other BOCES also offer highly innovative and challenging programs that prepare students to meet New York's higher learning standards. For example:

• Students from the Saratoga-Adirondack BOCES' Horticulture and Landscaping Program designed and constructed a half-acre American Patriot Garden on Roger's Island near Fort Edward.

• Questar III's New Visions: Mathematics, Engineering, Technology & Sciences introduces students from Rensselaer, Columbia and Greene counties to such fields as biomedical, environmental and electrical engineering, computer science, material science and physics, and allows them to work with some of the world's leading scientists and engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
• Orange-Ulster BOCES students learn "hands on" computer networking skills such as cable construction, router configuration and network troubleshooting, preparing them for careers in computer network administration and design, and in telecommunications.
• Students in Oswego BOCES Commercial Art & Graphic Design course use the latest technology to learn both traditional art techniques and computer competency, both critical in the emerging field of visual communications.
• The Nassau BOCES this year is involving 5,000 Long Island students in a virtual study of the rain forests of Panama. The project connects Long Island classrooms with others around the nation and the world and involves students in interactive exchanges with researchers at the expedition site. Students learn about biology, the environment and scientific techniques.
• The Capital Region BOCES Maritime Academy takes students who are struggling in a traditional classroom setting and teaches them woodworking in an unusual way. Students build wooden boats. Last year, students constructed a Norwegian pram - a traditional boat used by Norway's fishermen - and a replica of an 18th century French bateau, a kind of boat used in the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars.
• Some 2,400 students in the Erie 1 BOCES take both traditional skilled-trades programs and pre-engineering, pre-med and pre-teaching programs. In addition, Erie 1's Workforce Development program offers job skills and training to hundreds of displaced workers from across Western New York.

NEXT: 7. "Opening the Doors to Opportunity'"