Resumen

This paper offers a portrait of educational trends affecting the practice of career and technical education in the United States of America. It argues that through a combination of governmental agenda, accountability discourse on legislation, and pressure from state governments and businesses alike, teachers have been having to make evident how their technical courses contribute to the achievement of academic parameters in mathematics. The interplay between the need for legitimation of their programs and for maintaining the authority over their courses has led teachers to focus on convincing authorities that their technical courses already teach a great amount of mathematics and science. Conversation with the socio-political strand of mathematics education literature is suggested as a catalyst for future research and action.