SOME OF New Jersey's brightest high schoolers graduate from county vocational-technical high schools, contradicting the assumption that these students are merely there to "learn a trade."

"Today, over 60 percent of our graduates continue on to college or further study and it surprises people to learn that county vocational-technical schools are among the highest achieving schools when it comes to average SAT scores in the state," says Judy Savage, executive director of the Trenton-based New Jersey Council of County Vocational-Technical Schools.

A growing number of these students are also enrolled in dual-degree programs that allow them to simultaneously earn college or vocational credit toward a postsecondary degree. And many administrators are encouraging their students to take classes intended for those beyond the 12th grade.

James Rogers, superintendent of the Morris County Vocational School District, says the Denville-based school is one of the many high schools across the country reaching so-called articulation agreements with local colleges and universities. One of these agreements between the school and Morris County Community College lets some of the district's students spend their entire senior year at the college.

Through these types of programs, district students graduated with an average of 23 college credits each in 2005, according to the school.

In the central part of the state, Union County Vocational Technical Schools has a program that gives students the option of earning an associate's degree upon graduation, says Thomas J. Bistocchi, district's superintendent.

A longtime educator and former member of Gov. Jon Corzine's transition team for labor and work force development, Bistocchi says his school has set its sights on becoming the first to link four institutions-one secondary and three post-secondary schools-through articulation agreements.

In addition to its ongoing arrangement with Union County College, the Scotch Plains-based school is working to collaborate with Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, says Bistocchi.

Having high school students enrolled at local colleges and universities is one way to help ensure that the state will retain at least some of its high-achieving students, he says.

"We'd like to avoid having these students go off and take root somewhere else. We want to keep them here," says Bistocchi, referring to students who may otherwise head to out-of-state colleges and never return. This, despite some of the top colleges and universities in the country being here, he says.

He adds that the state will need to produce or attract a large number of allied health professionals within the next several years.

The Union County district's Academy for Allied Health Sciences enrolled 260 students in 2005. Through an articulation agreement between the academy and Union County College, students can earn an associate's degree in liberal studies upon graduation.

"Allied health professionals will be most crucial in the state as the result of the aging of the country's 75 million or so baby boomers," says Bistocchi.