On May 4, 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the Opportunities Act of 1994, establishing "a national framework within which all States can create statewide School-to-Work Opportunities systems thatoffer opportunities for all students to participate in a performance-based education and training program." As a result of that act, schools across the country instituted programs designed to actively prepare students for the future job market. Now, Education World offers you a look at some of those results.
Passage of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act was based in part on Congressional findings that:
In addition, national studies reported that:
In short, students did not see a connection between the classroom and the workplace, and few schools or businesses were providing that connection. The School-to-Work Opportunities Act was an attempt to address those issues.
Today, school-to-work programs are operating in every state in the union. A recent employer survey, conducted by the National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce and the U.S. Bureau of the Census, found that 25 percent of U.S. businesses are now involved in school-to-work partnerships and that more than 90 percent of those businesses are providing students with onsite learning experiences, such as job shadowing, mentoring, internship, and apprenticeship programs. In addition, classroom activities now include career awareness lessons and community speakers, aptitude and interest testing, student-run enterprises, and career-based curricula, as well as technology education and character education that emphasized the development of interpersonal skills and the ability to work as a team.
The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 did not establish a program for career-based education. Rather it provided the funds that would allow states to develop their own programs. Consequently, though many programs share common elements, each is unique and each is determined by the needs of its own students. Some school-to-work programs focus on teacher training, technology education, or the use of technology for distance learning. Others provide direct student instruction, including specific career information and the administration of interest and ability inventories. Many provide those resources as well as work-based activities and employment opportunities.
The National School-to-Work Learning and Information Center cites some exemplary school-based and community-based programs which represent the various types of experiences available to students. They include --
Whatever form they take, all school-to-work programs are directed toward helping young people see a connection between their performance in school and the opportunities that will be available to them after they graduate. Not all components of the programs have been greeted with equal enthusiasm, however. Some parents claim that, by the use of interest and ability inventories, school-to-work directs students into careers they did not want or will not enjoy. Others claim that the programs encourage students to make career decisions too early, thus forcing them into educational paths that might make later, different decisions difficult. Labor leaders warn that school-to-work programs focus on the needs of businesses and ignore the rights of workers. And some educators fear that a curriculum based too-rigidly on career skills robs students of knowledge and activities that foster their growth as individuals and as citizens of a free society.
Despite those objections, the overwhelming majority of Americans who know about school-to-work programs appear to support them. A recent nationwide poll conducted by Jobs for the Future, a workforce training research group, found that three-fourths of those who knew about the school-to-work initiative were in favor of it. And 96 percent of respondents to a survey on education and workforce issues believed "a system of education that would provide a strong academic foundation for every student, hands-on learning experiences, and a learning opportunity for every student to practice what he/she learns in a work-based setting to be desirable."
Early reports on the success of several school-to-work programs appear to support that viewpoint. A study of high school students in Philadelphia found that students involved in their school-to-work program achieved higher GPA standings than students not involved. And Boston students who participated in that city's program were found to have a higher employment rate and higher earnings after graduation than students who did not participate.
The students themselves agree. More than 90 percent of teens who participated in a Teen Attitudes Toward Work survey said school would be more interesting and meaningful if it were taught in connection with careers.
Part 2 of this story focuses on a handful of successful Florida School-to-Work programs that work! Watch for this Education World story in the weeks ahead.
Related Resources
ADDITIONAL SCHOOL-TO-WORK INTERNET RESOURCES
Article by Linda Starr
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