files.eric.ed.govSummer internships 9 Other staff development activities 10 Gathering data on the labor market 11 III. Workplace Experiences for Students 13 Workplace visits 13 Service

ED 418 342

AUTHORTITLE

INSTITUTIONPUB DATENOTEAVAILABLE FROM

PUB TYPEEDRS PRICEDESCRIPTORS

ABSTRACT

DOCUMENT RESUME

CG 028 357

Rubin, Sarah; Cunniff, Catherine"I Would Have Taught You Differently": Bringing anUnderstanding of the Economy into the Schools. Alliance forAchievement.MDC, Inc., Chapel Hill, NC.1996-00-0051p.

MDC, P.O. Box 17268, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-7268; phone:919-968-4531; fax: 919-929-8557 ($15).Information Analyses (070) Reports Descriptive (141)MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.Community Colleges; Economics Education; *Education WorkRelationship; *Educational Benefits; *EducationalImprovement; Educational Objectives; EducationallyDisadvantaged; High Schools; School Community Relationship

This report offers ideas for expanding schools' partnershipswith employers. These partnerships can raise academic achievement,college-going rates, and career-awareness for low-income and minoritystudents. Topics include a discussion of the school-to-work movement andcareer guidance; raising awareness through workplace visits; summerinternships; staff development; studying the local labor market; ideas forclassroom visitors and activities; entrepreneurship education; makingchoices. The introduction presents a rationale for building alliancesbettween schools and employers. Chapter 2 describes learning experiences forschool staff, including workplace visits, and summer internships. Chapters 3and 4 present learning experiences for students in the workplace and in theclassroom, while Chapter 5 discusses ways to integrate career and educationalguidance into the school. Chapter 6 presents 3 mini-case studies in buildingschool-employer partnerships. Schools and programs are indexed. Contacts andresources are appended. (EMK)

********************************************************************************* Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made *

* from the original document. *

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SCHOOLSU.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

0 This document has -been reproduced eareceived from the person or organizationoriginating it.

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Points of new ce opinions stated in this docirment do not necessarily represent officialOERI position or policy.

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"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

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TO THETHE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

ALLIANCE FOR ACHIEVEMENT2

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

MDC works to expand the economy, develop the workforce, and increase percapita income in communities across the country, with a special focus on theSouth. Established in 1967 to help North Carolina make the transition from anagricultural to an industrial economy and from a segregated to an integratedworkforce, MDC has spent the last 30 years publishing research and developingprograms to strengthen the workforce, foster economic development, andremove the barriers between people and jobs. Since its 1988 publication ofAmerica's Shame, America's Hope, a study of how the educational reform move-ment failed at-risk youth, MDC has launched several projects to assist middleschools, high schools, and community colleges with the strategic planning,leadership development, and capacity building they need to increase educa-tional and career options for low-income and minority youth.

The Alliance for Achievement set out in 1992 on a four-year quest to raisethe academic achievement, college-going rate, and career opportunities oflow-income and minority students in economically distressed communitiesthroughout the South. Funded by DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund,The Pew Charitable Trusts, and BellSouth Foundation, the Alliance launchedcollaborative "school-to-college-and-career" initiatives in six communities,managed by teams from local middle schools, high schools, and communitycolleges. Over the life of the project, team members helped forge partnershipsamong schools and employers on behalf of four objectives: more rigorouscurricula, better career education, more parental involvement, andmoreeffective academic and career guidance. The funding of the Alliance programended in late 1996, but the Alliance-inspired teams and initiatives continue.

This report was written by Sarah Rubin and Catherine Cunniff. Specialthanks to four Alliance for Achievement sites whose career awareness andschool-to-work programs are highlighted in this report: Johns Island, SouthCarolina; Louisville, Kentucky; Stone County, Mississippi; and Wilmington,North Carolina.

Additional copies are available for $15.00 from:

MDCP.O. Box 17268Chapel Hill, NC 27516-7268

phone (919) 968-4531fax (919) 929-8557

www.mdcinc.org

"I WOULD HAVE TAUGHTYOU DIFFERENTLY"

B RINGING AN

U NDERSTANDING

O F THE

E CONOMY

INTO THE

SCHOOLS

IMDC1996 ALLIANCE FOR ACHIEVEMENT

4

CONTENTS

Preface

I. Introduction 1

The school-to-work movement and career guidance 1

Bringing an understanding of the economy into the schools 3

II. Raising Awareness Teachers, Counselors, Administrators 7

Workplace visits 7

Summer internships 9

Other staff development activities 10

Gathering data on the labor market 11

III. Workplace Experiences for Students 13

Workplace visits 13

Service learning 16

Youth apprenticeship 17

IV. Experiences in the Classroom 21

Adult visitors in the classroom 21

Applied learning activities 23

Entrepreneurship education 24

V. Career Guidance: Making Choices, Keeping Options Open 25

Alliance for Achievement principles for career guidance 27

VI. Building School-Employer Partnerships:How Three Communities Did It 33

Wilmington: Starting Small... Then Growing 33

Fort Worth: Citywide Approach 35

Guilford County: Community College Partnership 36

Index of Programs and Schools 39

Appendix: Contacts and Resources 43

5

PREFACE

The Alliance for Achievement set out to

raise academic achievement, college-goingrates, and career awareness for low-income andminority students in Southern communities.It began by forging partnerships among middleschools, high schools, and community colleges.This report was circulated to Alliance schoolsin draft form to offer ideas for expanding theirpartnerships with employers. Several Allianceschools responded by developing innovativestrategies, using the local economy as a"learning lab" to introduce students to careeropportunities.

This report draws on the experience of theAlliance schools and some two dozen otherefforts around the country. It describes manyapproaches taken by schools with help from

employers to raise students', teachers', andcounselors' understanding of the local economy.

MDC hopes this report will be useful to a variety

of people: educators concerned with career andeducational guidance; staff and board membersof business-education partnerships; high schooland community college staff who run school-to-work and tech prep programs; policymakers

6

and school change advocates who seek topromote the Alliance vision of high academicachievement and keeping postsecondary optionsopen for all students.

In the Introduction, readers will find a strongrationale for building alliances between schoolsand employers. Readers seeking programmaticmodels to adapt for their schools will find awealth of ideas in Chapters II through V.Chapter II describes learning experiences forschool staff, including workplace visits andsummer internships. Chapters HI and IV presentlearning experiences for students in the work-place and in the classroom, while Chapter Vdiscusses ways to integrate career and educa-tional guidance into the school.

Readers interested in the process of buildingschool-employer partnerships how theyevolve, the roles different institutions canplay can turn to the three minkcase studiesin Chapter VI. The Index lists all the programsprofiled, noting the key elements described andpage references. The Appendix lists people tocontact for more information on each programhighlighted in the report.

INTRODUCTION

Touring a high-tech laboratory, a high school teacher encoun-

tered one of her former students who was now an entry-level 11

technician. The young man was working with Pareto charts and \?',4.q,'C

Statistical Process Control. The teacher said, "If I had known the

workplace was like this, I would have taught you differently!"

That teacher returned to her classroom andbegan teaching differently. She asked her

students to work in teams; she devised assign-ments with real-world applications; she chal-lenged students to tackle complex problems thatdrew on interdisciplinary skills. And she beganinviting working adults into the classroom to

share their experiences with students.

Too often, neither students nor teachers have asolid understanding of the links between schooland work. Students wonder why they have tostudy algebra, for example, and many teacherscannot provide a satisfactory answer. Theyknow algebra is an important prerequisite tohigher-level math, but they do not know howstudents might need to apply algebra skills inthe workplace. Neither students nor teachers

realize how highly employers value skills liketeamwork and problem-solving in hiring entry-level workers. And students, teachers, andcounselors alike are unaware of the growingnumber of career opportunities that require atwo-year community college degree.

Schools need to understand the implicationsof national workplace trends; they also need toknow their local or regional economy. Youngpeople who will begin their careers locallyneed to be familiar with local opportunities andcareer paths. For all students, the local economyis the ideal learning lab to gain awareness ofcontemporary workplace expectations andopportunities. By building relationships withlocal employers, schools can create real-worldlearning opportunities for their students.

THE SCHOOL-TO-WORK MOVEMENT AND CAREER GUIDANCE

When the Alliance for Achievement started in1992, "school-to-work" was the passion of asmall group of educators and policymakers whourged American schools to devote more atten-tion to preparing students for the workplace.They believed this was important both for thesake of young people especially those who

7

did not plan to attend four-year college andfor the sake of our economy, which needs moreskilled workers to remain competitive.

Since the passage of the School-to-WorkOpportunities Act in 1994, a new philosophyhas begun taking root in many communities.

I WOULD HAVE TAUGHT You DIFFERENTLY

Federal school-to-work grants, passed throughfrom states to communities, have provided anincentive for schools to build partnerships withemployers. Schools have developed work-basedlearning opportunities (from job shadowing toapprenticeships), and have started to integrateacademic and vocational instruction. Someschool districts have restructured secondaryeducation, requiring all students to choose acareer path and take an academically rigorouscurriculum.

In some places, school-to-work is just a newtwist on vocational education. In other placesit is truly transforming schools, helping themprepare young people not just for the next levelof coursework or for four-year college, but forlife and work. In more and more communitiesemployers have joined with schools to providesupport for better education.

Paralleling the growth of school-to-work hasbeen a lower-profile movement emphasizingcareer guidance for young people. TheNational Occupational InformationCoordinating Committee has promulgated theNational Career Development Guidelines' with

benchmarks detailing what people of all ages,from kindergarten through adult, should knowabout making career decisions. Many middleschools now offer career education classes; manymiddle and high schools have on-line careerinformation databases and provide vocationalinterest tests.

Despite this new emphasis on guidance, manystudents still set unrealistic career goals or set

2

themselves up for failure because of inadequatepreparation. The Lilly Endowment's High Hopes,Long Odds study (see sidebar, p.25) found that59% of Indiana's 12th graders plan to be work-ing as professionals at age 30. This includesnearly 40% of the students enrolled in generaleducation programs and 20% of those enrolledin vocational programs, even though neither ofthese programs prepares students for professionalcareers. Many of the students in these twoprograms say that they plan to take academiccourses in college, but it is unlikely that theywill have the high school background to do wellin these courses.

Guidance remains a weak link in most middleand high schools. By and large, it is the respon-sibility of a few guidance counselors, each ..

assigned 500 or more students, who have theirhands full maintaining school records, helpingwith college applications, and intervening whenstudents experience emotional or family prob-lems. This leaves the majority of studentsthose with vague post-high school goals, thosewhose parents are not providing helpful guid-ance about college or career floundering.

Even the new school-to-work initiatives thatgive students more exposure to career optionsthrough career classes, job shadowing, intern-ships, and other means too often fail to providemeaningful guidance to students. That will hap-pen only when career guidance becomes theresponsibility of more adults such as teachersthrough advisor groups, adults in the communitythrough mentoring programs.

The most recent edition is National Career Development Guidelines: K-Adult Handbook 1996, edited by Linda Kobylarz andpublished by the NOICC Training Support Center, 1500 West Seventh Avenue, Stillwater OK 74074-4364.

FIGURE 1

I WOULD HAVE TAUGHT YOU DIFFERENTLY

BRINGING AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE ECONOMYINTO THE SCHOOLS

A survey of 37,000 young people done by theNational Assessment of Education Progress inthe early 1990s found that only 2.2% consid-ered school or academic activity to be useful ingetting or keeping a job.' Clearly, schools needto do a better job of showing students the linkbetween academic achievement and life afterhigh school. Young people will begin to see thatconnection when their education includes threeessential elements: meaningful career and edu-cational guidance; opportunities to learn aboutthe workplace through first-hand experience;and relevant curriculum that teaches skillsdemanded by the high-performance workplace.

Ultimately, that kind of school experience canhelp motivate students to stay in school andachieve by showing them the connectionbetween what they study and their future placein the economy. It can equip students to makegood choices regarding education and careerplans. And it can prepare students to succeedwhether they go to work directly after highschool or attend college first. (See Figure 1.)

None of that will happen unless teachers andcounselors themselves are knowledgeable aboutthe local job market and the changing work-place. They need to be prepared to provide

career and educationalguidance that isgrounded in reality.They need to developcurriculum andinstructional methodsrelevant to the chang-

0 ing demands of theworkplace, forinstance, by incorpo-rating applied learningtechniques and theSCANS competencies

(see sidebar) into theclassroom.

See connection betweenschool and work

Study rigorous curriculum

Learn from each other abouteducation and employment

Learn about the labormarket and changingworkplace

EMPLOYERS

Gain better, preparedworkers

Leann about schools

Help shape school reform

A good starting placefor schools seeking toraise awareness aboutthe economy is tobuild relationshipswith employers. Theserelationships can bepowerful both at anindividual level for

students, teachers, andcounselors and theinstitutional level, as a

2 Public/Private Ventures, Finding One's Way: Career Guidance for Disadvantaged Youth, 1993. Available from the U.S. Departmentof Labor, Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Development, Washington, DC.

S 3


force for school reform. At the individual level,when young people have positive interactionswith employers through job shadowing,internships, mentor relationships, and employervisits to the classroom they begin to see theconnection between school and work and often

THE SCANS REPORTS

The Secretary's Commission on AchievingNecessary Skills (SCANS) was appointed bythe U.S. Secretary of Labor in 1990 to examinethe skills that young people need to succeed intoday's workplace. The Commission engagedprivate businesses, public employers, laborunions, workers, schools, and parents in an in-depth study which resulted in recommenda-tions to schools and employers.

The Commission identified five generic com-petencies required for success in today's work-place: the ability to identify, organize, plan,and allocate resources; interpersonal skills; abili-ty to acquire and use information; understand-ing of the complex interrelationships thatcomprise systems; and the ability to use tech-nology.

Underlying those competencies are a set offoundation skills that SCANS believes all stu-dents should learn in school. These foundationskills include:

Basic Skills: reading, writing, math, listen-ing, and speaking.

Thinking Skills: creative thinking, decision-making, problem-solving, seeing things inthe mind's eye; knowing how to learn;reasoning.

ships often have grown out of businesses'concern that young people are not adequatelyprepared for entry-level jobs. They have raisedpublic awareness of the new demands of thehigh-performance workplace and have usedthis to shape major school reform efforts.

Personal Qualities: responsibility; self-esteem,'sociability, self-management, integrity, andhonesty.

SCANS issued a series of reports making far-reaching recommendations to both schools andemployers. It advocated "reinventing schools"to teach the foundation skills and competen-cies listed above; it called on employers toteach these skills to adults already in the work-place; and it urged employers to reorganizetheir workplaces, moving toward the "highperformance" mode that characterizes the mostcompetitive companies.

Some of the school change efforts described inChapters II-IV of this book are rooted in theSCANS study. They include Fort Worth's C'collaborative (p.11), Omaha 2000 (p.11), initia-tives in Concord-Cabarrus County, NC (p.12).and School-Work Plus, a SCANS-type studyconducted by high school students (p.15).

For more information on the Commission'sfindings and recommendations, see Secretary'sCommission on Achieving Necessary Skills,What Work Requires of Schools (1991) andLearning a Living: A Blueprint for HighPerformance (1992), U.S. Department of Labor,Washington, D.C.

become motivated to do better in school. Whenteachers visit workplaces and talk with employ-ers, they understand the importance of includingteamwork and problem-solving activities in theclassroom. They often get ideas for designingclass projects based on real-world problems. Inaddition, they are better able to counsel studentsabout career choices based on first-hand obser-vation and knowledge of opportunities in thelocal economy.

At an institutional level, business-educationpartnerships have been powerful forces forchange in many communities. These partner-

4

In addition to linkswith employers,schools can benefitfrom awareness ofdata on economictrends. Local andregional labor marketinformation is avail-able from a variety ofsources but is seldomtapped by schools. Themore teachers andcounselors know aboutthe labor marketwhich occupations aregrowing, what educa-tion and training theyrequire, etc. the

better guidance theycan provide tostudents.

The programsdescribed here areabout change in theschools, but partner-ships between schoolsand employers oftenspark change in the

workplace and the community as. well. At best,these partnerships result in a sense of sharedresponsibility on the part of employers andschools to support young people as they movefrom school to adulthood and career. The reportdescribes how business participation in commu-nity-based SCANS studies has resulted in broadpublic support for school reform, includingintegration of academic and vocational educa-tion and eliminating tracking in high schools. Italso notes how programs that encourage work-ers to volunteer in the schools or host studentinterns at the workplace have boosted employeemoral.

As school reform increasingly relies on school-employer partnerships and pressure to prepareyoung people for the high-performance work-place, what happens in small towns and ruralcommunities where there are few employersand even fewer that use 21st century mod8 ofoperation? It is essential to stretch young peo-ple's horizons beyond the opportunities in theirimmediate community. Rural schools shouldtake students to visit high-tech workplaces ina nearby city. They should form alliances withemployers not just in their own county but intheir region or labor market area. At the sametime, rural schools should recognize the valueof teaching entrepreneurship and agriculture-related skills that can empower young peopleto choose self-employment or small businessownership as a career.

No matter what type of community you livein from a rural county with one high schoolto a metropolitan area with a diverse, high-techeconomy, the schools can find ways to introduceyoung people to careers, broaden their horizons,and keep the options open for all students bypreparing them for postsecondary education.

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A Quiz:How MUCH Do YouKNOW ABOUT JOBS INYOUR LOCAL ECONOMY?

(answers at bottom of page)

The bottom line: How are employmentand earnings tied to education?1. In 1979, a high school graduate

earned $1,700 more, on average, thana dropout. By 1995, that amount hadincreased to $

2. In 1979, a college graduate earned$8,500 more, on average, than a highschool graduate. By 1995, thatamount had increased to $

3. In 1995, an adult with a 2-year col-lege degree working full-time, year-round earned an average of:a. $18,500b. $24,800c. $29,200d. $33,400.

4. In 1994, the average U.S. unemploy-ment rate for college graduates was2.9%. What was the rate for highschool graduates? High schooldropouts? (What are the rates inyour community?)

Changing job opportunities5. Name 3 occupations in your commu-

nity or region that require 1-2 yearsof postsecondary education and payover $20,000 starting salary

6. What are some of the high schoolcourses that are prerequisites to pre-pare students for these occupations?

7. Where in your community or regioncan one get training for these occupa-tions?

5

II. RAISING AWARENETEACHERS, COUNSEL-ADMINISTRATORS

"Teachers have to see their role not as 'getting kids through my

class' but getting kids into adult life successfully. And this can't

be done without involving the community."

Jon Snyder, Graduate School of Education,University of California at Santa Barbara

If teachers, counselors, and other school staffare to take on the charge of getting kids into

adult life successfully, they need to know moreabout what it takes to be successful in the con-temporary workplace. As the SCANS studyfound, the high-performance workplace hasbrought about radical change in employers'expectations, even for their entry-level workers.

There are new occupations including many

that require a two-year technical degree that

most adults are barely aware of.

When teachers and other school staff haveopportunities to learn about the new workplace,

WORKPLACE VISITS

Arranging visits to workplaces is a simple butpotentially powerful way to open the eyes ofteachers and other school staff to the new reali-ties of the workplace. To be effective, a visitshould be more than a plant walk-through anda speech by a personnel director. It shouldinclude ample opportunity for one-on-one con-versations with workers in a variety of positions,including supervisors and personnel staff. Thevisit may be preceded by brainstorming a list of

12

their reaction is invariably enthusiastic. They getideas that can improve the way they teach,counsel students, or manage the school. Active,experiential learning visiting workplaces,interviewing workers in a variety of occupations

is a particularly powerful form of learningfor school staff, as it is for young people. Thischapter describes programs that arrange work-place visits and summer internships for teachersand other school staff. It describes other typesof staff development activities and ways thatcommunities have brought an awareness oflabor market information to the schools.

questions to ask at the worksite, and it may befollowed up back at school with opportunity toreflect and share learnings.

Many schools arrange workplace visits for stu-dents (as described in Chapter III), and teachersgo along as chaperones. Visits set up specificallyfor school staff are less common. When a groupof employers, a high school principal, and theUniversity of North Carolina School of

7


8

Education formed the Triangle WorkforceInformation Group (TWIG)*, their first pro-ject was to introduce high school teachers tohigh-tech workplaces. Their hope was that theteachers' new awareness would percolatethrough the school that they would try out

TRIANGLE WORKFORCE INFORMATION GROUP

Coordinator: University school of education

Partners: Employers, high schools

The Triangle Workforce Information Group(TWIG) is an alliance among employers inNorth Carolina's Research Triangle Park area,local high schools, and the University of NorthCarolina School of Education. TWIG was initi-ated by business and education leaders, includ-ing the vice president of a high-tech companyand a former corporate vice president now onthe faculty at the School of Education. Severalbusiness partners were motivated to joinedTWIG because of their difficulty in hiringqualified entry-level workers. They wanted tointroduce high school teachers and administra-tors to the demands of the high-technology,high-performance workplace in hopes thatteachers would convey that knowledge tostudents and better prepare them for entry-level jobs.

TWIG arranges for groups of high schoolteachers and staff to visit leading employers,including IBM, Northern Telecom, TriangleLabs (a small high-tech firm), and area hospi-tals. During the first year (1993-94), all teach-ers at the semi-rural Orange High School madeat least one half-day visit to a participatingworkplace. After a year, the project expandedfrom one high school to two and drew in addi-tional employers. The simple experience ofteachers visiting workplaces has led to signifi-cant changes in attitudes and instruction attheir school.

These visits are more than simply plant toursto view technology. Teachers talk with entry-level employees about their responsibilities,what they have learned on the job, and howtheir work relates to what they learned in highschool. They talk with first-line supervisorsabout how work is organized for instance:the extent to which the workplace is team-centered, expectations regarding individual

new activities in the classroom and would havepractical answers when students asked, "Whydo we have to study geometry?"

That in fact happened at Orange High School,in Orange County, NC, where all teachers

participated in at leastone half-day workplacevisit during TWIG's

first year. Keys to theprogram's success

included: leadershipfrom an enthusiasticprincipal, saturatingthe school with work-place awareness byhaving all teachers

participate, and build-ing in time for personal

reflection on the expe-rience. Teachers were

expected to submitwritten comments onwhat they saw and onthe implications forteaching and learningat the high school.(See sidebar.)

responsibility, and opportunities for continuouslearning on the job. And they talk with person-nel directors about what they look for in entry-level employees and what it takes to move upthe career ladder.

Teachers return from these visits with a newunderstanding of the workplace, and many(with strong support, from their principal) havechanged the way they teach. Some teachershave found ways to inject SCANS skills such asteamwork and problem-solving into classroomactivities. Some have devised interdisciplinaryprojects after realizing, for instance, how asuccessful lab technician needs to combinechemistry, math, and writing skills. In addi-tion, many teachers have returned to schooleager for more contact with employers. TWIGhas responded by organizing summer intern-ships for several teachers at member firms.

TWIG is administered by a committee thatmeets semimonthly, with meeting places rotat-ing among the members one meeting isheld at a high school, the next at a memberfirm. It receives staff support from graduatestudents in the School of Education.

One employer, Northern Telecom, supports theprogram in a unique way: It gives release timefor employees to volunteer as substitute teach-ers when high school teachers go out on work-place visits. The Orange County SchoolDistrict trains these volunteers in accordancewith state law. This has been extremely helpfulin freeing up teachers for half-day visits tobusiness and industry. In addition, the experi-ence of substitute teaching has been valuablefor Northern Telecom workers they comeaway with an understanding of local highschools and a new appreciation for the workteachers do. Finally, the arrangement has beenbeneficial to students by providing interactionswith adults who work for a leading high-techemployer.

* Contact information for TWIG and all programs in bold type is included in the Appendix.

13

SUMMER INTERNSHIPS

If a half-day visit to a workplace can change theway teachers teach, imagine the impact of get-ting to know a business or industry moreintensely by working there for a week or longer.School districts that offer internship programsare enthusiastic about the impact on teachersand the school. Typically, teachers share theirexperiences.with students and other faculty bydeveloping applied learning activities for theclassroom.'

KENTUCKIANA EDUCATION ANDWORKFORCE INSTITUTE

Coordinator: Chamber of CommercePartners: Multiple school districts, employers

The Kentuckiana Education and Workforce Institute, no longer inoperation, was an award-winning business-education partnershipbased at the Louisville Chamber of Commerce. Its partners includedrepresentatives_ from local schools, community-based organizations,government, and local businesses. The mission of the Institute was topromote the development and delivery of an educated, quality work-force able to compete in the global economy. The Institute promotedthis mission through surveying businesses about their workforceneeds and disseminating this information to local schools and traininginstitutes. It also conducted programs such as the Education/IndustryExchange, described below, to promote communication and sharedlearning between businesses and teachers.

The Louisville Education/Industry Exchange

During the summers of 1992, 1993, and 1994, the Institute invitedemployers to sponsor teachers for month-long internships at the rate of$1,000 for 20 days of work. After signing on employers, the Instituteprepared a listing of "job descriptions" and invited teachers to apply forthe internships. Employers interviewed and selected interns from amongthe applicants. A total of about 20 internships were funded each summer.

Both the business sponsors and the teacher interns had high praise forthe program. Teachers.say the experience inspired them to improveclassroom instruction by focusing more on writing skills, active lis-tening, time management, teamwork, appropriate manners and dress,and computer skills all skills that are essential for successfulemployment. Businesses described the teachers as "excellent part-time,temporary professionals who start quickly and do high-quality work."

continued next page


Setting up internships is more difficult thanarranging workplace visits for teachers. Because

internships usually occur during the summer, asource of funds must be found to pay a stipendfor several days of work. In some cases thestipend is provided by participating employers;in other cases the school provides it through aschool-to-work grant or other source. In addi-tion, an administrative entity must developinternship positions, recruit teachers, and matchthem with employers. This management andcoordination role is often filled by a business-

, education partnership or tech prep consortium.

From 1992-94, teachers in Louisville, Kentucky,had the opportunity to participate in an intern-ship program coordinated by a business-educa-tion partnership the Kentuckiana Educationand Workforce Institute's Education/IndustryExchange. This program was financed by partici-pating employers, who paid teachers $50 a dayfor a 20-day internship. After their month-longexperience, interns invented classroom activitiesbased on their experiences. Since 1995, thisprogram has been restructured to offer week-long sessions with three days spent in the work-place. (See sidebar.)

At least one state . Illinois encouragesinternships for teachers and counselors by pro-viding stipends for summer internships of oneto eight weeks in length. The NorthwestSuburban Career Cooperative, a regional techprep collaborative in Palatine, Illinois, has beencoordinating an internship program for manyyears. Partners include three school districts, acollege, and over 100 employers. The programallows teachers and counselors to design theirown internship experiences in collaborationwith employers. Prospective interns apply to theCareer Cooperative, indicating what they wantto learn, and the Cooperative puts them intouch with firms that might provide relevant

3 Applied learning, which recognizes that many students learn best through practical experience, brings hands-on activitiessuch as computerized modeling, mock manufacturing or design, or actual on-the-job experiences. Students often developmore interest and enthusiasm for school when they see concrete results of their work. See page 23 for more on appliedlearning.

14 9

I WOULD HAVE TAUGHT YOu DIFFERENTLY

Kentuckiana, continued.

To maximize the impact of the program, interns were asked to developclassroom activities based on their experience for disseminationthroughout the school district. For instance, a teacher who workedat the Metropolitan Sewer District developed classroom projects thatused math, biology, and physics skills to measure water quality. Sincethe program's inception, the faculty at one Louisville high schoolthe Pleasure Ridge Park High School Magnet Career Academy haveused school-level professional development funds to allow all facultyto participate in at least one internship experience.

Since 1995, the Kentucky Education and Workforce Institute's variousfunctions have been assumed by the public schools and the PrivateIndustry Council. The summer internships now only three daysin length and called Teacher/Business Exchanges are coordinatedthrough a consortium of six counties, including Louisville's JeffersonCounty. Most of the funding for this program comes from the stateSchool-to-Work grant. Following their three days on the job, teachersspend two days developing curricula that incorporate what theylearned. During the following school year, the teacher's businesspartner comes into the classroom to help present the new lessons.This program began in the summer of 1995 with over 100 teachersparticipating; an additional 240 participated in the summer of 1996.

10

experiences. The teachers then develop intern-ship projects in conjunction with employers.

Their experiences have had impact in the class-room. For example, the chair of an applied tech-nology department who interned at the IllinoisDepartment of Transportation reorganized hisclasses to operate more like a professional draft-ing room. Students now check each other's workand collaborate to make corrections before sub-mitting projects to the "job boss" (the teacher).A math teacher who interned at AllstateInsurance Company learned that actuarialscience is a viable career for average mathstudents after observing that the day-to-daywork of actuaries involves the basics of ratios,percentages, fractions, and decimals. She alsodiscovered that communication skills are essen-tial to the work of actuaries, which affirmed hercommitment to incorporating presentations andprojects that use communication skills into hermath classes.

OTHER STAFF DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

Some schools have found it valuable to includediscussions with employers as part of staffdevelopment sessions for teachers and coun-selors. The Norfolk Vocational AdvisoryCouncil, a tech prep consortium associatedwith Tidewater Community College, arrangesregular opportunities for teachers to hearemployers' perspectives on education and train-ing. In a two-day tech prep institute each sum-mer, speakers from business and industry talkwith high school and community college facultyabout the changing workplace. At one staffdevelopment session, teachers heard the resultsof a local SCANS survey conducted by theNorfolk Chamber of Commerce. The core skillssought by local employers, they learned, arecommunication, math and science competency,teamwork, and problem-solving. The tech prepconsortium also has brought in national expertson the changing workplace, such as WillardDaggett, for, staff development events.

School & Main, a nonprofit organization thatmanages school change programs, has devel-oped a seminar to promote dialogue betweenemployers and educators. Called "Why EducateDifferently?," the seminar helps educators andemployers plan ways to work together to raisestudent achievement and better prepare stu-dents for the challenges of the workplace. Theseseminars can lay the groundwork forschool/business alliances and develop actionsteps for building a school-to-career system.

In Kingston, Massachusetts, south of Boston,School & Main used "Why Educate Differently?"to help faculty at Silverlake Regional High

School implement the statewide Goals 2000program. A school leadership team met withlocal employers to identify potential businesspartners for the school, discuss curriculumissues, and develop a SCANS-based career guid-ance system. The school has used its new

15

contacts in the community to develop servicelearning, mentoring programs, and career plan-ning partnerships. Elsewhere in Massachusetts,the "Why Educate Differently?" format helped atech prep consortium develop a holistic


approach to career education. Business profes-sionals now act as mentors for school guidancecounselors, who in turn help teachers incorpo-rate career education into classroom activities.

GATHERING DATA ON THE LABOR MARKET

The national SCANS study was a powerful forcein raising educators' and policymakers' aware-ness of the changing demands of the workplace.In some communities, Chambers of Commerceor joint business-education partnerships haveconducted local SCANS studies as a stimulus forschool reform. Teachers, counselors, and schooladministrators who recognize the importance ofthe SCANS skills often find ways to incorporatethose skills into the classroom.

When the school district and business leadersformed Fort Worth's Project C3 (Community,Corporations, Classrooms), their first majorproject was a SCANS-type study of the localeconomy. Project C3 was founded with a three-

fold commitment to: (1) defining success inthe workplace, (2) establishing performancestandards in the schools, and (3) linking class-room instruction to real-world applications. Thecommunity undertook a massive self-study by3,500 employees in 300 companies, whoanalyzed their jobs to determine the levels ofproficiency required in reading, math, writing,

OMAHA 2000/WORK KEYS

Omaha, Nebraska has won two National Alliance of Business AWardsfor Excellence in Education, and alsO received one of the first designa-tions as an America.2000 city. Its community - business partnershipchange, Omaha 2000, is run by a 534nember steering committee andstaffed by the Chamber of Commeree. Omaha 2000 began in1§91:'adopting the original six nationateducation gOals:OfArrieriCa 2000 asa framework for local efforts. The group surveyed schools to measureperformance as well as community inVolvement.Busine.sses used a"report card" to grade their support of the khool.i,- and. communityforums and surveys were held to develop specific reconimeridationgfor school change.

cost 114 nixti a ge

6

computer literacy, and other skills. This studybecame the impetus for change in the schools.The results guided the school in developinginstructional modules to teach the essentialworkplace competencies identified by the study.

The process of doing the study was as impor-tant as its findings. The thousands of workingadults who participated in the study becameattuned to the new efforts in the schools. Manyadults volunteered to help teachers designapplied learning activities. The whole C3 initiative

has led to fundamental changes in what citizensexpect from the schools as well as the schools'understanding of workplace demands. (See page35 for a more complete description of Project C.)

A national initiative to collect SCANS-type dataat the local level is the Work Keys program,developed by ACT (formerly known as theAmerican College Testing Service). Work Keysprovides an instrument that companies can useto assess the generic competencies required fordifferent jobs. A matching instrument measuresstudents' (or employees') strengths and weak-nesses in corresponding areas of competency.

One community that has used Work Keys as avehicle for school change is Omaha, whosebusiness-education partnership is called Omaha2000. Volunteers working with ACT and theChamber of Commerce profiled 45 job clustersaccording to the competencies they require. Atthe same time, the schools used Work Keys toassess high school students in skills such asreading for information and teamwork. Theresults have given students an impetus to sharp-en their skills in certain areas and have led tochanges in teaching and counseling. (See sidebar.)

BEST COPY AVAILABLE11


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Omaha Work Keys

Coordinator: Chamber of CommercePartners: Employers, school district, ACT

One of Omaha 2000's first initiatives was Omaha Work Keys, anassessment of workplace competencies required in the local economycombined with an assessment of high school students and how theirbasic skills measure up to workplace demands. The ACT Work Keyssystem was used to profile 45 of the most common jobs in the regionand assess over 7500 students. Six volunteers were trained to conductthe study of jobs; the schools administered the assessment of students.

Data from Omaha Work Keys are used inseveral ways by individual students and by the schools. Studentsreceive their individual test scores on skills such as reading for infor-mation, applied technology, teamwork, and applied math. They meetwith teachers and/or counselors to discuss ways to improve theirscores. They also compare their scores to the job profiles to see howwell prepared (or well-matched) they are for various entry-level jobs.(ACT has conducted Work Keys studies in other cities and providesthe results through a national database, so data on workplace compe-tencies is available for more occupations in addition to the 45 profiledin Omaha.)

The schools have built staff development sessions around the WorkKeys results, and have used the data to identify learning deficits thatneed to be remedied. For example, one high school set the goal ofeach student receiving a score of at least 3 (on a scale of 1 to 5) in lis-tening skills. Each teacher had to develop a plan to incorporate listen-ing skills into classroom instruction.

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Such efforts need not be limited to large metro-politan areas. In Cabarrus County, NorthCarolina (population under 100,000), theConcord-Cabarrus Chamber of Commerce con-ducted a study on workforce preparedness inconjunction with local employers and schools.As one piece of the survey, employers were

asked to rate the schools. They gave a "C" gradeand stressed the need to teach better communi-cations skills. Findings were discussed widely inthe community and resulted in the adoption ofthe SCANS goals as the basis for the school dis-trict's vocational education program.

The study, conducted in 1992, was a spring-board for broader school reform. The countydeveloped a tech prep program that broughttogether academic and vocational teachers forstaff development and arranged summer intern-ships in industry for teachers. Employers, teach-ers, college faculty, and community representa-tives worked together to develop articulationagreements for the tech prep program anddesigned an assessment system to ensureaccountability and continuous improvement.

Cabarrus County's experience is not unusual.Often, raising teachers', counselors', and admin-istrators' awareness of workforce issues leads tochanges in teaching styles and curricula thataffect the entire school culture. Involvementwith local employers can energize a school's fac-ulty and drive the reform process. Understanding

the workplace, whether through communicationwith employers or actual worksite experiences,helps teachers give students a better education.

HI. WORKPLACE EXPFOR STUDENTS

"We are not talking about working and then going back to school:

It is the integration between the two that is critical. It is the

appreciation and understanding that while on the job, you can

learn math and other subjects as well as while sitting in the

classroom." Hilary Pennington, quoted in Building a Systemto Connect School and Employment, American YouthPolicy Forum (1994)

positive interactions with working adultsthrough job shadowing, intemships, mentor

relationships, and visitors in the classroomhelp young people see the connection betweenschool and work. When these interactions takeplace in the workplace, they have an addedadvantage in introducing students to differentoccupations and work environments to helpthem begin making tentative career decisions.The school-to:work movement recognizes theimportance of experiences in the workplace andnames "work-based learning" as one of its three

WORKPLACE VISITS

Job shadowing or internship experiences canhelp give young people a meaningful introduc-tion to particular career areas that they mightpursue or convince them that a particularoccupation is not appealing after all. These pro-grams can be tailored to middle school or highschool students. They can be designed around

elements (the others being school-based learningand "connecting activities.")

Different types of work-based learning areappropriate for different ages. For middle schooland high school students, there are many waysto structure visits to workplaces as learningexperiences. Service learning also can providean engaging introduction to the world of work.For high school students who are ready to choosean occupation, youth apprenticeship provides asmooth transition from school to career.

short visits or longer internships of a week ormore. In some programs, students interviewadults on the job; in others, they work along-side adults in the workplace for a day or more.Regardless of how the program is structured, itis important to give students an opportunity toreflect on the experience.

4 Connecting activities bridge school-based and work-based learning, and may include matching students with employers:work-based learning opportunities; serving as a liaison among employers, schools, parents, and students; or collecting andanalyzing information about post-program experiences for students who participate in the school-to-work program.

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Louisville's Western Middle School, anAlliance for Achievement site, piloted a job-shadowing program that has now spread to all23 middle schools in Jefferson County. The pilotprogram began as part of Western's participationin the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation'sproject for disadvantaged youth. The ClarkFoundation funded a staff person who sched-uled job shadowing visits for Western and twonearby middle schools. Each eighth grader atWestern participates in job shadowing for atleast one day during the year. The students visitworkplaces in groups of five to eight, accompa-nied by a teacher. At the workplace, they workalongside adults; upon returning to school, theywrite about the experience in their portfolios.Students are enthusiastic about their experi-ences, and Western Middle School staff reportthat after participating in job shadowing stu-dents show a more positive attitude about thefuture, both in their portfolios and in conversa-tion, and they visualize a wide range of jobs thatthey believe are within their reach.

Another Alliance for Achievement school, StoneCounty. High School in Wiggins, Mississippi,offers workplace visits for all ninth and tenthgraders as part of the English curriculum. Thevisits are structured to provide practice in team-work as well as writing and oral presentationskills. Students are grouped in teams of four tofive, each with a team leader. When they arriveat the workplace, team members separate toobserve and interview workers doing differentjobs. Returning to school, the team members dis-cuss their observations and plan a presentation.

These visits were set up initially by the tech prepcoordinator at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community

College (and a member of the Alliance forAchievement team), who made personal visitsto local businesses to gain their support. Hecoached the businesses on emphasizing tostudents the importance of learning basic skills.Once a relationship was established with severalemployers, high school teachers began arrangingthe visits on their own.

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At best, workplace visits are integrated into thecurriculum. A good example is the nationally-recognized program at Albert G. ProdellMiddle School on Long Island, New York,which has been introducing students to careersfor many years. Seventh graders divide intogroups to study occupational clusters. Theyresearch occupations in their cluster and thenprepare questionnaires to guide them in inter-viewing workers whom they will visit. Studentstake a series of four to six weekly field trips torelated workplaces. For instance, a groupexploring medicine might visit several depart-ments of a hospital, a dental clinic, and a veteri-narian's office. A group exploring arts and com-munication careers might visit a newspaper, aradio station, a television station, and a theater.At each worksite, students interview employees.After each visit, the students reflect and sharetheir observations through oral reports andother means. They also write thank-you notes.

The school believes the program has multiplebenefits. It helps students form preliminaryideas about the kinds of careers they may wishto pursue. At the same time, they learn how toresearch careers that they may want to explorein the future. And they practice skills such asdevising interview questions, reporting on theirobservations through oral and written reports,and writing thank-you letters.

The program is orchestrated by Joanne Urgese,the school's Community Service Coordinator.

She teaches a sixth-grade course called "CulturalAwareness" to prepare students for worksitevisits and service learning. Working withteacher assistants, she also sets up the worksitevisits and accompanies students to the worksiteand coordinates service learning opportunities(see p.16).

A more intensive internship program for middleschoolers is Fort Worth's Vital Link' program,

which arranges weeklong internship experiencesduring the summer. After starting in 1991 with40 seventh graders working in four hospitals,

5 Vital Link is one component of Fort Worth's C' business-education partnership, described further on page 11.

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by 1996 Vital Link had placed 6,000 students at200 companies. Worksites span a wide range ofprivate and public employers including hospi-tals and health clinics, hotels, banks, retail andwholesale businesses, manufacturing firms,high-tech labs, law firms, city and countygovernment, and television stations.

SCHOOL-WORK PLUS

Coordinator: High school economics or social studies teacherPartners: Employers, middle school, local TV station

Originally developed as the Indiana-PLUS program, School-WorkPLUS was implemented in several states in 1992 and 1993. It wasco-sponsored by PLUS (Project Learning U.S., a collaborative effort ofthe ABC and PBS television networks), the U.S. Department of Labor'sSCANS Commission, and READ America (a nonprofit literacy organi-zation). School-Work PLUS is a unique model that touches high schoolstudents, middle school students, teachers, employers, and (throughthe participation of a local TV station) the entire community.

The semester-long program is based in a 12th-grade economics orsocial studies class. It has the following elements:

OrientationStudents are introduced to school-to-work issues, including thefindings of the SCANS study.

ResearchStudents plan and conduct field research using a modified versionof the SCANS questionnaire to interview adults about their jobs. Abusiness advisory council helps pave the way for these interviews,but students choose workplaces to visit and set up the interviewsthemselves. Each student conducts four to five interviews.Middle school surveyThe high school students survey middle schoolers to measure theirknowledge about workplace skills and career interests. This helpsthe high school students plan an appropriate presentation for middleschoolers and also serves as baseline data in evaluating what middleschoolers learn from the presentation at the end of the semester.Creative developmentClass members share their learnings with each other and then plana presentation to middle school students. Presentations can take avariety of creative forms, including handbooks, videos, skitS; andquiz shows.

Communication.,The semester culminates with a presentation at one or more middleschools, where high school students share what they have learnedabout the workplace..Role of the TV stationIn School-Work PLUS, the local ABC or PBS affiliate helped set upa business advisory board. It provided technical assistance to stu-dents in producing videotapes to share with the middle schools:

continued next page

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Participants in Vital Link spend a week at aworkplace, as part of a group. A teacher accom-panies each group to help supervise and leadgroup activities, including daily writing in ajournal. Each student is assigned to a mentor.Students participate in real work tasks such as:tracking shipments across the United States atthe Burlington Northern Railroad Billing Center;working on the sales floor and helping selectitems for the fall season at JC Penney andNeiman Marcus; helping research and writebriefs at law firms.

Vital Link has had a positive impact on stu-dents, teachers, and the business community.Students gain an appreciation for the rules thatadults must live by, and they learn that workcan be enjoyable. They also learn the impor-tance of communication, teamwork, andproblem-solving in the workplace. Teachers gainan understanding of the links between the class-room and the workplace. Businesses that hostVital Link report an increase in employeemorale, as mentors discover they can be teach-ers and see their jobs through the fresh eyes ofinterns. An additional bonus for the school dis-trict has been heightened support for publiceducation. The presence of so many studentsand teachers at the workplace has raised publicawareness that education is no longer businessas usual in Fort Worth.

An even more intensive model is School-WorkPLUS, a semester-long high school course thatgrew out of the SCANS study described inChapter 1. In School-Work PLUS, students workin teams to interview employers and developa videotaped presentation of their learnings,which they share with middle school students.School-Work PLUS exposes students to severalworkplaces and the generic skills they require.More important, the course itself teaches severalimportant SCANS skills that are often overlookedin traditional classes, such as teamwork, creativ-ity, time management, and seeing a projectthrough from its conception to a "public"presentation. Many students and teachers havedescribed School-Work PLUS as the best schoolexperience they have ever had. (See sidebar.)

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School-Work PLUS, continued.

Most importantly, the local TV station followed the stucknts'progress throughout the semester and reported on the project in thenightly news; some stations also produced hour-long specials on thechanging workplace. This news coverage not only gave the projecta high profile in the community thus fueling the students'enthusiasm but also raised community-wide awareness aboutthe high-performance workplace and the need for SCANS skills.

School-Work PLUS was received enthusiastically by participating stu-dents and teachers. Many described it as the best school experiencethey have ever had; one teacher said, "It changed my life." The modelis effective because it practices what it preaches it requires studentsto exercise teamwork, time management, responsibility, communica-tion skills, creativity, and other skills highlighted by SCANS. The pro-gram places the teacher in the role of coach rather than instructor.The concept of high school students sharing their leamings with mid-dle school students proved to have a big impact on middle schoolers.

Although national funding is no longer available for School-WorkPLUS, curriculum and related materials are available for schools thatwant to implement the program or selected aspects of it.

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SERVICE LEARNING

A variation on the theme of job shadowing andinternships is service learning combiningmeaningful work in community service projectswith reflection and learning. Through servicelearning, students gain an introduction tocareers while they practice responsibility, team-work, and relating to others. Many educatorsbelieve service learning is particularly valuablein nurturing early adolescents' sense of caringand self-esteem.

Like workplace visits, service learning is mosteffective when integrated into the curriculum. Itcan be initiated by an individual school, eitheras a separate class or a cross-disciplinary project,organized by teams of teachers.

Albert G. Prodell Middle School, whose job-shadowing program is described on page 14, hasincluded service learning as part of its curriculumfor nearly 25 years. All students take a six- toten-week unit of study which includes one hourper week of work in a community agency. Middle

schoolers work with young children in day careand Head Start centers; they lead learning

2 1

activities in elementary school classrooms; theywork with handicapped children at hospitalsand special education programs, and with theelderly in nursing homes. In the classroom, theylearn caring skills as well as gaining an under-standing of the age group they are working with.

Another middle school that integrates servicelearning into the curriculum is Martin LutherKing Jr. Middle School in San Francisco. Allseventh graders participate in service learningprojects planned by teams of teachers.Worksites are quite diverse, including humanservice agencies such as a food bank and ahomeless shelter, nonprofit organizations likethe Clean Air Coalition, and local parks.Students work in groups to plan their projectand go to the worksite twice a month. Atschool, they work on related assignments whichmay include writing about their experiences orconducting a related math or science project.

Service learning can provide rich and variedexperience for students. An illustration is pro-vided by one of the projects at Martin Luther

King Jr. Middle School the construction of anamphitheater at Golden Gate Seashore NationalPark. The students calculated how much of eachbuilding material they needed and measuredslopes and angles. They did the physical laborof moving dirt and mixing and spreadingconcrete. When the project was completed,the students enjoyed the fruits of their workby attending a program at the amphitheater.

James Taylor, principal of Martin Luther King Jr.Middle School, believes the sense of satisfactionand pride that comes from completing acommunity service project is extremely valuablefor his students. The projects also teach them

YOUTH APPRENTICESHIP

Youth apprenticeship represents one of thenewest, and one of the oldest, ways for studentsto learn about the world of work. Before theadvent of technical colleges, apprenticeshipswere a common way for young people to learnjob skills. Apprenticeships in the United Statesbecame rare as industrialization simplified mostjobs and mobility became more pervasive, andfor many years only a few thousand apprentices,mostly adults, were registered with theDepartment of Labor..But in the past few years,apprenticeship opportunities have begun to beoffered as part of the high school curriculum inschools across the country.

Apprenticeship programs, unlike other pro-grams profiled here, usually serve only a smallnumber of students. They are expensive forcompanies to administer students are paid asalary, must be closely supervised, and often areprovided with training classes at a local techni-cal institute and thus companies tend to behighly selective about the students who partici-pate in the program. But for those who are ableto participate, youth apprenticeship is aninvaluable experience. Apprentices thoroughlylearn a trade, and at the end of the programthey receive a nationally recognized credentialthat verifies their knowledge. These students are

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work-related skills such as planning together asa team and meeting deadlines. Service learninggives them the experience of applying math andother academic skills to real-world problems(as discussed below under "Applied Learning").And it gives them an appreciation and respectfor all kinds of work that people do, frommanual labor to design and management.

There is a growing service-learning movementin the United States, for all ages from middleschool through college students. A good sourceof information on service learning is theNational Society for Experiential Education inRaleigh, North Carolina.

in an excellent position to begin their career andoften continue to work for the training compa-ny as a permanent employee.

While it is easy to see youth apprenticeship as acontract solely between the student and thetraining company, the school must be involvedas well. Schools usually recruit students for theapprenticeship positions and they often evaluatethe programs. Most schools need to make cur-riculum changes in order to prepare studentsfor the apprenticeship, support them once theybegin the program, and provide flexible coursescheduling so that students can spend part ofthe day at the worksite. Many schools actuallyadminister youth apprenticeship programs,which means that they recruit training compa-nies, coordinate student selection, and handlethe administrative details.

An example of school-run apprenticeship is anew program at the Alliance for Achievement'sSt. John's High School, started by a team ofschool personnel and employers in 1995-96.This school is located on Johns Island, which ispart of the Charleston, South Carolina, schooldistrict but quite rural and isolated from thecity. Many Johns Island adults work in theresorts on nearby Kiawah Island, typically in

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1 WOULD HAVE TAUGHT You DIFFERENTLY

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METALWORKING CONNECTION

Coordinator: Network of small manufacturing firmsPartners: High schools, universities, state department of education

In rural Arkansas, a network of small metal fabricators known as theMetalworking Connection has designed a youth apprenticeship pro-gram which integrates intensive work-based learning with secondaryeducation. Metalworking Connection members developed the pro-gram to train a new generation of tool and die makers and machinists.

Prospective apprentices apply from many regional high schools, andthe employers select which students will participate. During theirjunior and senior years, the students attend school in the morningand receive paid on-the-job training in the afternoon. They receive144 hours of classroom-based technical training during the first yearof the apprenticeship. The Metalworking Connection also offers tutor-ing in any subject in which students need help.

After high school graduation, students may continue their educationin college while remaining in the apprenticeship program. After fouryears of training (junior and senior year plus two years post-secondary), they are certified by the U.S. Department of Labor asmachinists. Of the first cohort of apprentices who began in 1992,all expected to stay on as permanent employees with their trainingcompany when their apprenticeship ended in 1996.

The program is very popular with students, and companies receive farmore applications than they can accept. In 1995-96, 120 students wereperforming apprenticeships with over 50 companies, and the programexpected to enroll 70 more apprentices for 1996-97. Students are cho-sen on the basis of school attendance, math proficiency, recommenda-tions from teachers and former employers, and parental consent.

The Arkansas State Department of Education provides part of the costof training, with additional support from the Economic DevelopmentCenter of Henderson State University and the Arkansas Institute forEconomic Advancement of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.At first the program was funded solely by the state, but by 1996Metalworking Connection partners had assumed 75% of the cost of theprogram; their goal is to make the program self-supporting. Trainercompanies receive a state income tax incentive of 10% of the appren-tices' wages, up to a maximum of $2,000 per apprentice per year.

low-wage, low-skill jobs. The apprenticeshipprogram aims to propel St. John's graduates intoKiawah jobs with more opportunity foradvancement. Four occupations have been tar-geted food and beverage services, marketing,accounting, and horticulture. Kiawah employeestravel to the high school three times a week toconduct classes and job training in these fourareas, and students work after school or onweekends and through the summer at theresort. These programs will be registered as cer-tified apprenticeships with the U.S. Departmentof Labor, and students can earn certificates or

associate degrees in all four fields at TridentTechnical College in Charleston.

Some youth apprenticeship programs are run byemployers. Two examples of company-run pro-grams that are receiving national attention arethose of the Metalworking Connection and theSiemens Corporation. The MetalworkingConnection's program is unique because it isrun not by a single, large company, but by agroup of small firms who have joined togetherto form a flexible manufacturing network. Itdraws students from many regional high schoolsand offers an option of a combined high school/technical college program for students who wantto obtain a technical college degree as well ascertification from the U.S. Department of Labor.(See sidebar.)

The Siemens Corporation is a German electri-cal/electronics manufacturing company withplants located all around the world. TheGerman educational system is noted for itsstrong emphasis on work-based learning, andSiemens has brought German-style apprentice-ship .to American towns where its plants arelocated. The Siemens Corporation spendsaround $300 million each year nearly a mil-lion dollars per day training 13,500 appren-tices in 20 different countries. The companybenefits from the value added to its productionby well-trained employees, not only in produc-tion but in management as well. In fact, nearly40% of the company's upper managementincluding the current President and CEObegan their careers as apprentices.

Siemens has five fully operational apprentice-ship programs in the United States, in SantaClara, California, Lake Mary, Florida; Franklin,Kentucky; Raleigh, North Carolina; andAlpharetta, Georgia. Another 20 programs are invarious stages of development. All five pilot pro-grams involve high school students as appren-tices; some include adults as well. The youthapprenticeship programs are small, rangingfrom 5 to 32 high school students. They usuallyinvolve two years of paid work experience andtechnical training during high school plus twoyears of technical college. Training centers are

23

located in high schools, technical colleges, or atthe Siemens plant. Siemens works with localhigh schools to develop a curriculum forapprentices that connects with Siemens' on-the-job training and with the college's course ofstudy; students also have the option of getting afour-year college degree.

As an alternative to company-run programs andschool-run programs, some youth apprentice-ship programs are administered by business-education partnerships. In Louisville, theKentuckiana Education and WorkforceInstitute (a partnership managed by theChamber of Commerce) established apprentice-ship programs at five "magnet career academy"


high schools. Each school focuses on a clusterof occupations and has partnerships with relat-ed industries and colleges. Students learn aboutcareer options through presentations,mentoring, job shadowing, and other interactiveprograms and then spend part of their juniorand senior years gaining work experience withbusiness partners. These "apprenticeships" arenot the long, intensive, Department of Labor-certified programs like the ones at Siemens orthe Metalworking Connection, but studentsearn credit in technical programs at partneringpostsecondary institutions. (For more on theKentuckiana Education and Workforce Institute,see page 9)

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IV. EXPERIENCESIN THE CLASSROOM,

"To help our bids become the employees we need,

we all have to go back to school."

BellSouth advertisement

The programs described in Chapters II andIII take students, teachers, and counselors

to the workplace for experiential learning. Thischapter describes ways to bring real-world

experiences into the classroom through adultvisitors, applied learning, and entrepreneurshipeducation.

ADULT VISITORS IN THE CLASSROOM

Many schools invite adults from the communityto participate in career days or other eventswhich give students a taste of many careers. Butif these programs occur only sporadically, orwith little explicit connection to students' every-day learning experiences, they usually have littlelong-term benefit. Programs are more effectivewhen they bring guests to the classroom to talkabout their careers and how they made lifechoices, or have guests lead classroom projectsrelated to activities in the workplace.

As part of its participation in the Alliance forAchievement, Haut Gap Middle School (partof the Charleston, South Carolina, school dis-trict) developed an annual career day whereeighth graders interact with adults working in avariety of occupations. This event is the culmi-nation of a nine-week interdisciplinary unit oncareers, where students learn to apply knowl-edge from their academic classes to "real-world"problems. The daylong event features adults

25

from a variety of occupations, recruited byteachers, who speak to small groups of students.Parents also are invited to come and share theircareer experiences. Students dress "professional-ly" for the day, wearing their best clothes. Eachstudent chooses several occupations to learnabout. Adults describe what they do, why theyenjoy their work, and the path that took themto their present job. Occupations represented atthe 1996 Career Day included law enforcement,nursing, news reporting, law, public relations,and management.

Because of their close ties with employers, com-munity colleges can be a resource to put schoolsin touch with speakers from local business.The Partnership for Academic and CareerEducation (PACE) is a Tech Prep consortiumbased at Tri-County Technical College inAnderson, South Carolina. It publishes abiennial Guide to Area Business Speakers as aresource for K-12 teachers who want to bring

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speakers to their classrooms. The guide is com-piled by PACE staff who send area professionalsa survey asking if they are willing to visit

schools and discuss their careers. In addition tothe speaker's name, occupation, and address,the guide includes information on preferredtopics and activities for the visit. The surveysheets are arranged by type of occupation andindexed by speaker's name, company name,and speaker's high school alma mater for easyreference.

THOMAS NELSON COMMUNITY

Starting in the 1980s, Thomas NelsonCommunity College in Newport News,Virginia, spearheaded a regional partnership toinvolve businesses with education. The collegepresident called together leading employers inthe region to ask about their workforce needs.They quickly said they needed smarter front-line workers, and they told educators to makesure students develop higher-order thinkingskills. The college and the employers formeda partnership to help regional schools build apipeline to scientific and technical careers. Thepartnership first produced a white paper tocoalesce public support around the recom-mended changes in the schools. It then begansponsoring activities in the high schools. Soonpartnership members realized they had toreach younger students, and they initiatedhands-on learning and career educationprograms for grades five through twelve.

The partnership now sponsors a number ofprograms to expose young people to the work-place. One of these programs is ATOMS.

ATOMS(AdventureSin Technology =Options in Math and Science)

CoOrdinittor: Community collegePartners: Einployers, middle schools

ATOMS is designed to, convince seventh,and eighth graders that they need math andscience; and it has proven to be highly nioti-vating. The program Selects a group of seventhgraders for extra enrichment in Math'andscience, seeking out students who are "in theMiddle" acadentically those with test scoresbetWeen the 30th and 75th percentile in

Thomas Nelson Community College in NewportNews, Virginia, has gone a step further by orga-nizing a program to bring speakers from industryto hundreds of middle school classes. ATOMS

(Adventures in Technology = Options in Mathand Science) is designed to motivate seventhand eighth graders in math and science and tointroduce them to careers in technology. Teamsof workers from industry visit classrooms,bringing hands-on projects for students to workon. Students later visit "their" team at the work-

place. (See sidebar.)

COLLEGE AND ATOMS

math/science, who are taking math but are notin a "gifted" class. An ATOMS staff member,based at the community college, conducts acareer awareness session with the class, andlater they are visited by a team from one ofsix industry partners.

The industry team speakers bring hands-onprojects for students to work on, such as takingapart a copying machine and putting it backtogether. The students later visit "their" teamat the workplace. Students rate each team ofpresenters, and if they find the presentationboring, that team is not invited back. I.:ocalindustry is so enthusiastic about this programthat employees compete for the opportunity toparticipate On teams.

In eighth grade,.students must enroll in pre -algebra or a higher-level math course in orderto continue with the program. Eighth gradersvisit a high - technology facility to meet; withthe men and women who work there, and thenvisit Thomas Nelion Community College tolearn aboldpoStsecondary programs thatprepare people to work in these industries.Students obSerVe classrooms and labs, and,Thomas Nelscin faculty members talk withthem about ,the importance of tiding Well in

talchigh school and. the courses they ee to take.

Since ATOMS,began in 1990, 18,300 StUdentShave participated Because of the reqUiretnent, .

that eighth grade ATOMS students take. .

algebra or higher -level course their enrollment rates-in higher-level math and science:courses are much higher than'thoSe of their,peerS. ATOMS` students also'dn better chalk.. ..

their peers on therIowa Test of Basic Skills

26

As part of the Alliancefor Achievement proj-ect in Wilmington,North Carolina,Career Connectionshas developed partner-ships between schoolsand businesses to raiseteachers' and students'awareness aboutcareers in the localeconomy. Businesspartners includinga bank, a powercompany, a phonecompany, and a heat-ing and air condition-ing company metwith teachers to planactivities at eachparticipating school,including hands-onprojects in the class-room led by companyemployees. Middleschool studentslearned about bankmanagement; in mathclass they learned howto balance a check-book; and in languagearts class they wroteessays about banking.A technology classbuilt a scale modelof a bank. Another

middle school worked with the heating and airconditioning company to design an efficientcooling system for their school. High schoolstudents worked with electric company

APPLIED LEARNING ACTIVITIES

"Many times," writes Roger Perry in TheCommunity College Times, -it takes a 'eureka

experience' to focus one's attention on theobvious."6 His "eureka experience" was the real-ization that since most people learn by doing,schools should teach applied skills first andthen teach theory once students are comfortablewith the concrete.

Applied learning helps students understand theconnections between in-school learning and real-world knowledge. It brings into the classroomthe kinds-of activities a student might do in acommunity service project or job internship andcan be highly engaging and motivating.

When Fort Worth formed its Project C3(Community, Corporations, Classrooms) in 1989,

one of its three initial goals was linking classroom

instruction to real-world application. Appliedlearning has remained at the heart of Project C.While applied learning has been embraced bytech programs nationwide, Fort Worth is inject-ing it into the schools at all levels from kinder-garten through 12th grade. The school systemincludes one elementary school dedicatedentirely to applied learning, as well as a heavyemphasis on applied learning at all schools inthe district. Fort Worth's applied learning proj-ects are developed collaboratively by teachersand employers to provide project-driven, prob-lem solving and learning experiences for students.

The Fort Worth schools initiated applied learn-ing in 1991-92, when 38 teachers volunteeredto create instructional modules aimed at teaching


employees to learn how to generate electricity,keep financial accounts, and properly dispose ofthe waste produced by generation. (For moreon Career Connections, see page 33.)

the skills identified by Project C3's survey ofarea employers and by the SCANS report (asdiscussed in Chapter II). By the beginning of1997, over 400 teachers and 11,000 studentshad been involved in applied learning proj-ects. Many ideas from applied learning comefrom teachers who complete summer intern-ships in business and industry; other ideasare suggested by contacts in business andindustry who are drawn into the schoolsthrough Project C3.

Applied learning takes many forms in theFort Worth schools. For example:

In a high school biology class, studentswere assigned to grow something usinghydroponics. One group of students decid-ed to grow strawberries and use goldfish toprovide nutrients. When mites appearedon the fruit, they had to organize aresearch effort to solve the problem.

A fifth-grade class worked in teams toorganize a district-wide Young AuthorsConference for elementary students. Amongother things, the project involved writingletters to students and teachers throughoutthe school district and producing a collec-tion of essays by members of the class.

A high school English class worked withthe United States Army Corps of Engineersand Texas Parks and Wildlife Agency toresearch and produce a pamphlet forvisitors to a local nature preserve.

6 Roger Perry "It's Time to Teach the Way People Learn," The Community College Times, September 24, 1996, p. 3.

23


24

ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION

Many people, at some time in their lives, dreamof being their own boss of starting their ownbusiness. For young people growing up in ruralcommunities with few job opportunities, start-ing a business may be the only way to earn alivelihood in their home town. Indeed, arenewed spirit of entrepreneurship may be thebest hope for rural communities that are losingmost of their young high school and collegegraduates to the cities.

The typical career awareness program helpsyoung people learn about a variety of occupa-tions, but becoming an "entrepreneur" isdifferent from becoming a nurse or a lawyer.What advice should a guidance counselor givea student who aspires to own and operate asmall business? How can schools help potentialentrepreneurs explore their interests anddevelop their skills?

Over the past decade, educators have begundeveloping curricula to teach entrepreneurshipskills at the high school and postsecondarylevel. One of the best is REAL Enterprises(Rural Entrepreneurship through ActionLearning), used in rural high schools and com-munity colleges nationwide. The REAL curricu-lum is strong on experiential education, givingstudents the opportunity to experience first-hand what it means to be an entrepreneur.REAL students analyze the local economy andthen plan, set up, and operate their own smallbusiness. The program teaches students to con-duct research, work effectively in groups, deliv-er convincing oral and written presentations,solve problems and make decisions all skillsthat are important no matter what career thestudent ultimately chooses.

A Community Support Team at each REAL siterecruits local business leaders and businessassistance professionals to act as mentors andadvisors for the students, furthering the youngpeople's understanding of the small businessworld. Some sites have raised money for arevolving loan fund to help finance student-runbusinesses. At some schools REAL students startthe individual businesses, while in other sitesgroups of students manage school-relatedbusinesses.

In Chattaroy, Washington a small communitywith almost no businesses that could offer workexperiences to young people Riverside HighSchool has served as an incubator for student-developed businesses that employ other stu-dents. One business has the maintenance con-tract for the high school while another sellsrecycled paper pellets that are used to heat dis-trict school buildings. Riverside has found thatREAL motivates students to do better in theirother classes as they discover the connectionbetween mastering math, communication, andother academic skills and running a successfulbusiness. It also helps motivate students to goto college.

The REAL curriculum is usually taught by abusiness teacher at the high school, who attendsa two-week summer institute and becomesfamiliar with the program and its experientialteaching methods. Many teachers have foundteaching REAL to be a rejuvenating experience.Their role is more akin to a coach than a tradi-tional high school teacher, and they often findthey can apply some of REALs innovative class-

room techniques to their other classes as well.

2$

V. CAREER GUIDANCECHOICES, KEEPING

Seldom is career and educational guidance integrated into the

curriculum, starting in elementary or middle school, with teachersfr;

playing a primary role. And few schools successfully convey to

students the link between academic achievement and their future

prospects in the workplace.

Even when schools do the kinds of thingsdescribed in the previous chapters

raising teacher awareness about the local econo-my, providing opportunities for students to visitworkplaces, and offering relevant classroomexperiences guidance is often a weak link inthe school-to-work transition. Without appro-priate guidance from adults, career explorationmay not lead to good career and academic plan-

ning. Guidance coun-selors can play a leadrole, but they needsubstantial supportand help from teach-ers, counselors, familymembers, and othersin the community.

HIGH HOPES, LONG ODDS

High Hopes, Long Odds is a comprehensivestudy of young people's aspirations andachievement in Indiana, conducted for theLilly Endowment in 1991 and 1993 byGary Orfield and Faith G. Paul. The studyidentified a severe mismatch betweenstudents' high aspirations and weak acad-

emic preparation, and it made recommen-dations that get to the heart of career andeducational guidance. High Hopes recom-mendations revolve around seven funda-mental responsibilities of schoolsthings schools can and must do to

continued next page

How do young peoplebegin choosing acareer path? A surveyof Alliance for

Achievement schoolsfound the most preva-lent source of careerinformation was

family and friends.' Fifty to 75% of students inboth eighth and tenth grades listed parents as asignificant source of help in post-high schoolplanning. Siblings, other relatives, and friendswere significant sources for about 20 to 30% ofthe students.

In inner-city neighborhoods or rural communi-ties where family and friends work in a limitedrange of occupations, many youth suffer fromlow horizons while others aspire to unrealisti-cally glamorous careers inspired by televisionand sports heroes. And too often, no one helpsstudents make the connection between theircareer goals and high school coursework. Manystudents, for example, say they want to becomephysicians but fail to take the full complementof college prep science courses.

Fortunately, career guidance is beginning togain a higher profile in schools, due in partto the work of the National OccupationalInformation Coordinating Center (NOICC) andthe American School Counselors Association.The two organizations have promulgated theNational Career Development Guidelines, a set of

7 This survey of eighth and tenth graders was conducted by MDC in 1994, before the Alliance schools had implementedcareer education activities.

25 25


High Hopes, Continued.

promote opportunity for their sttidents.They are:.

1. Offer academic programs that arerelevant to the economy andlO theindividual opportunity of students.

2. Give students honest and fair advice inchoosing academic programs. Beforerecommending any academic programto students, guidance counselorsshould ask: Does the program keepfuture options open? Is it relevant totomorrow's labor market? Has theprogram been fully explained to thestudent and his or her family?

3. Ensure that gatekeeper courses areaccessible to all students. Gatekeepercourses are classes such as algebra,foreign languages, and rigorous Englishand science courses that are necessaryto enter a competitive college.

4. Help students with educational andcareer planning. Every student shouldbegin developing a plan in seventh oreighth grade and modify it as he/sheprogresses through high school. Ifschools have too few counselors tohelp every student develop a plan,other faculty, staff, or even well-trainedvolunteers should be enlisted to helpwith educational and career planning.

5. Give informed advice to help studentsselect postsecondary campuses.

6. Inform students about labor markettrends.

7. Free counselors from noncounselingtasks and give them better preparationso they can provide adequate informa-tion and help to students and theirfamilies.

26

competency-basedguidelines for ages

kindergarten throughadult. They havepublished handbooksfor every school levelon how to develop acareer awareness pro-gram that is integratedinto the curriculum.Some states (such asIndiana, NorthCarolina, Wisconsin,

and Oklahoma) and individual school districtshave begun developing their own career educa-tion curricula.

It is beyond the scope of this report to reviewcareer guidance curricula or to recommend acomprehensive approach to guidance. However,the Alliance for Achievement advocates thefollowing eight principles to help shape careerguidance in middle schools and high schools.Examples from the Alliance and other schoolsillustrate ways to put these principles intopractice.

NATIONAL CAREERDEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES

The National Career Development Guidelines identify three compo-nents of career guidance: self-knowledge, educational and occupationalexploration, and decision-making and career planning skills.

Self-knowledge includes awareness of one's interests and abilities.Students can develop this awareness through counseling, testing, self-guided reflection exercises, and experiential approaches. According toa study by Public/Private Ventures, this is a significant gap in careerguidance only 18% of the career education programs in schoolsinclude activities related to self-knowledge.'

Educational and occupational exploration includes understanding therelationship between school achievement and career options, knowinghow to locate and interpret career information, and developing job-seeking and employability skills. According to the Public/PrivateVentures study, most school-based career education programs addressthis aspect of career guidance, but typically it involves little more thanreading about careers in national sourcebooks such as the OccupationalOutlook Handbook. It seldom includes experiential learning or infor-mation on opportunities in the local labor market.

Decision-making and career planning allows students to establishrealistic career objectives based on an analysis of information aboutthemselves and about career opportunities. Students are trained tomake decisions rather than simply to receive information. These skillsare taught indirectly, by asking students (for example) to describeoccupations with which they are familiar and relate them to one'sinterests and abilities; to predict the likely outcomes of one's decisions;to identify requirements of secondary and postsecondary programs;and to identify alternatives in decisionmaking situations.Public/Private Ventures found that this aspect of career guidance isaddressed in about half of school career education programs.

1 Public/Private Ventures, Finding One's Way: Career Guidelines for DisadvantagedYouth, 1993

30


ALLIANCE FOR ACHIEVEMENT PRINCIPLESFOR CAREER GUIDANCE

1. Integrate career guidance into thecurriculum.

Career guidance should be integrated into thecurriculum as an ongoing, developmental activi-ty, not an isolated event. This can be done byinfusing guidance into existing structures suchas advisor/advisee programs or academic classes.

When it joined the Alliance for Achievement,Haut Gap Middle School on Johns Island,South Carolina, made a commitment to infusecareer awareness into its curriculum. The schoolbegan by training all staff on career opportuni-ties in the local economy. Teachers then workedin teams to incorporate career activities into thecurriculum for each grade level. Career aware-ness at Haut Gap begins in sixth grade, wherestudents spend four weeks of their Home Artsclasses on self-esteem and self-understanding.Seventh graders are introduced to career clustersand job skills, and in eighth grade students takea nine-week interdisciplinary unit on careers.During the nine weeks, all eighth-grade teachersplan activities related to careers which incorpo-rate lessons students have learned in class.

At the end of the nine weeks, teachers inviteadults from the community to school for a"Career Day" Adults representing a wide varietyof occupations meet with groups of students todiscuss their jobs and share personal storiesabout their career paths. (Haut Gap's Career Dayis described further on p.21.)

2. Involve teachers, counselors, other schoolstaff, and adults in the community.

If it is to reach all students and have an impact,responsibility for career guidance must beshared by adults within and outside the school.

Haut Gap Middle School provides a good exam-ple of a school that has tapped adults in thecommunity parents, friends of teachers, andothers to enrich career guidance for students(see the description of "Career Day," above).

31

The community college can be a resource inproviding educational and career guidance toyoung people. For example, Trident TechnicalCollege's Educational Talent Search programsends a staff person to Haut Gap Middle Schoolweekly to help low-income students beginthinking about college, to broaden their hori-zons and introduce them to careers.

A statewide initiative that draws on colleges toenrich career guidance at middle schools isSouth Carolina's Higher Education AwarenessProgram (HEAP). Sponsored by the SouthCarolina Commission on Higher Education,HEAP relies on two-year and four-year collegesto reach out to eighth graders, encouragingthem to stay in school and go to college. HEAPuses humorous handouts and videos to makethe point that education pays that peoplewho go to college will earn more and havebetter job prospects than those who do not.(See sidebar.)

3. Teach about job opportunities in the localeconomy.

Career guidance should include informationgrounded in the opportunities in the local andregional economy as well as the nationaleconomy.

Many of the best ways to learn about the localeconomy involve the kinds of experientialapproaches discussed in previous chaptersjob shadowing, service learning, and interview-ing workers about their jobs. Classroom projectsalso can introduce students to opportunities inthe local economy. One example comes fromMartin Luther King Jr. Middle School in SanFrancisco, which has developed classroomactivities using data compiled by a citywide eco-nomic development organization. In their socialstudies and language arts classes, students learnabout the growing sectors of the San Franciscoeconomy, from arts and recreation to services,trade, communications, medical and high-tech

27


research, construction,. and government. Theyselect an occupation that appeals to them ineach sector and research the skills it requires.The students then discuss how their middleschool studies could be helpful in preparing forvarious careers.

North Carolina's middle schools offer a semester-long elective course called "Exploring CareerDecisions" that covers self-awareness, work-place awareness, career exploration, and

HIGHER EDUCATION AWARENESSPROGRAM (HEAP)

The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education developed the

Higher Education Awareness Program (HEAP) to reach out to eighthgraders, encouraging them to stay in school and plan for college. The

Commission on Higher Education matches each middle school in the

state with a partner two-year or four-year college to help implementthe program. HEAP is designed in ten modules that can be integrated

into middle school English or history courses or taught as part of a

career class. It provides information to students and their parents onopportunities for college financial aid and on what courses to take in

high school.

The partner college assigns a staff person (usually from the admissions

office or career center) to help middle school counselors plan how to

implement HEAP. The college representative also leads some HEAP

activities in the classroom and participates in a parent meeting at each

school. Business partners are also involved; if a school does not have

existing business partnerships, the state Department of Education will

help to develop them. Schools have some flexibility in implementing

HEAP, but the state requires that all eighth graders complete HEAP

activities by February when they register for ninth-grade courses.

HEAP began in seven pilot middle schools in 1992. An evaluation of-

the program in 1996 (when the students from the pilot sites graduatedfrom high school) indicated that it was highly effective. The

Commission on Higher Education compared HEAP participants with

students from comparable "control" schools to determine if HEAP had

influenced students' post-high school plans. More HEAP graduates

said they intended to continue their education, and more had applied

to college. As many as 82% of the graduates from HEAP schools hadbeen accepted into postsecondary programs; compared to 67% from

the control schools.

HEAP will use sampling techniques to survey its second cohort of

participants, which included 18,000 students at 96 middle schools. By

its third year of operation, HEAP was in place at all middle schools. The

Higher Education Commission will continue to evaluate the programby measuring changes in college-going rates. It will also track HEAP

alumni as they move through college to determine how many graduate.

28

educational planning. It includes several activi-ties in which students research the local labormarket. For example:

Search a local newspaper's classified ads tofind jobs that require each of the following:less than a high 'school diploma; a highschool diploma; a two-year, postsecondarydegree; a bachelor's degree; and more thanfour years of college. What are the character-istics of these jobs? How much do they pay?

Interview a parent about his/her job; inter-view someone working in a selected occupa-tion about his/her job. (The curriculum sug-gests questions to ask.) Share 'earnings withthe class.

Investigate ten local businesses. Tell whatproduct or service they provide and whatkinds of jobs people do there. Use the YellowPages as a resource.

A good source of labor market information isprovided by the annual tabloids on careeropportunities published by State OccupationalInformation Coordinating Committees (SOICCs).These newspapers usually include informationon projected growth of different occupations,average wages, education and training require-ments, and other facts about occupations, aswell as articles abotit labor market trends. Whilethese publications do not include local labormarket information, they can provide a goodstarting place to help students explore jobopportunities in their state. The North CarolinaSOICC goes a step further by publishing theCareer Choices User's Guide, an activity book for

middle and high schools that draws on informa-tion in its tabloid, Career Choices.

4. Help students make the link betweenacademic choices and career options.

Most high schools do a good job of steeringmiddle-income, college-bound students into thecourses they need to enter college. Increasingly,

schools are trying to help a broader spectrum ofstudents plan their high school curriculum to fittheir career aspirations.

32

A simple step schools can take to help studentssee the link between their education and careeroptions is to produce "maps" that show thepathways to different occupations what typeof postsecondary education is required for dif-ferent occupations and which high schoolcourses are prerequisites. Many tech prepprograms provide that information for occupa-tions requiring a two-year degree. Better yet arematerials that include careers requiring fouryears of college.

Walhalla High School (in Walhalla, SouthCarolina) provides its students with clear infor-mation that helps them glance at a career cluster(such as business, engineering, or health sciences)and quickly see which occupations require atwo-year degree and which require four or moreyears of college. On the same page, they can seewhich tech prep or college prep courses to takein grades 9-12 to prepare for each cluster ofcareers, and which electives might be helpful. Inaddition to showing students how much post-secondary education they will need for differentoccupations and which prerequisites to take inhigh school, this information helps expand theirhorizons about possible careers within a fieldlike health services by listing unfamiliar as wellas common occupations (See sidebar.)

Community colleges also can help students seethe connection between academic achievementand career options. Some colleges send coun-selors to middle schools to lead career and col-lege awareness activities with students (as in theHEAP program, described earlier). Even some-thing as simple as a well-done brochure oncollege programs can be helpful in setting highschool students on the right track. Tri-CountyTechnical College in Anderson, South Carolina,for instance, produces brochures on its technicaldegree programs that are used by local middleschools and high schools. The brochures paint apicture not just of community college programsbut also of job opportunities in the local labormarket and what preparation students need. Forexample, the brochure on Industrial ElectronicsTechnology answers these questions:

What kinds of jobs are available to graduates?


Which firms have hired recent graduates?

How much will I earn?

What opportunities exist for advancement?

What preparation do I need to enroll?

What are some of the courses I will take?

How do I know I'm suited to a career inIndustrial Electronics Technology?

5. Develop deep and lasting relationshipiwith students to promote good guidance.

Meaningful guidance is built on a foundationof trust and understanding. Young people willtrust adults whether mentors, teachers,coaches, or others in the community whothey feel know them as whole people and careabout them, and that .kind of relationship takestime to develop. Too few schools build in thetime to nurture those relationships. Those thatdo encourage deep and lasting relationshipsbetween students and adults often do so throughadvisor groups.

One of the original Alliance for Achievementschools, Buchholz High School in Gainesville,Florida, has developed a comprehensive careerguidance system that matches each student withan advisor for the entire four years of high school.Advisors help their students think about careerdecisions and make the right academic choices.

In ninth grade, students explore career optionsand identify three job clusters that interest them.Each job cluster is associated with a four-yearstudy grid which students use to select classesthrough high school. Tenth graders use acomputer-assisted career exploration program tolearn more about the job clusters that interestthem, and by the end of tenth grade they selecta career major. The career major helps themchoose elective classes during junior and senioryears.

6. Include opportunities for experientialeducation.

As discussed in Chapters III and IV, experiencesin the adult world through job shadowing,internship, service learning, interviewing adultsworking in different occupations are

29


invaluable in helping young people think aboutcareer options.

7. Engage parents in students' decisionsabout high school and career.

Parents can be extremely influential in helpingtheir children make decisions about school,

college, and career. Schools can inform andinvolve parents through annual conferences todiscuss their child's school performance andplans, and through special programs on apply-ing to college and other topics. In rural commu-nities, where parents may have less exposure toemerging careers and high-performance

WALHALLA HIGH SCHOOL SUGGESTED COURSES OF STUDY BY CAREER AREA

Career Area:

Engineering

Tech Prep (2 year college)

Grade 9

English IMath (Career Prep, Algebra I)Physical SciencePE or ROTCCivics and World Geography1 Elective from Cat. I or general

College Prep (4, year college)

Grade 10

English IIMath (Cat. III)Science (Bio., PT)3 Electives from Cat. I, II,or general

Grade 11

English III or CommunicationsMath (Cat. III)U.S. History3 Electives from Cat. I, II,or general

Grade 9

English I (CP, II)Math (Algebra I, Geometry)Physical SciencePE or ROTCWorld History1 Elective from Cat. I or general

Grade 10

English II (CP, II)Math (Geometry, Algebra II)Biology (CP)Foreign Language2 Electives from Cat. I or general

Grade 11

English III (CP, II)Math (Alg. II, Alg. III/Trig.)Chemistry or PTForeign Language2 Electives from Cat. I or general

Career Area:

Healthand HumanServices

Tech Prep (2 year college)

Grade 9

English IMath (Career Prep, Algebra I)Physical SciencePE or ROTCCivics and World Geography1 Elective from Cat. I or general

College Prep (4 year college)

Grade 10

English IIMath (Cat. IV)Science (Bio., PT)3 Electives from Cat. I, II, IIIor general

Grade 11

English III or CommunicationsMath (Cat. IV)U.S. History3 Electives from Cat. I, II,or general

Grade 9

English I (CP, II)Math (Algebra I, Geometry)Physical SciencePE or ROTCWorld History1 Elective from Cat. I or general

Grade 10

English II (CP, II)Math (Geometry, Algebra II)Biology (CP)Foreign Language2 Electives from Cat. I, III,or general

Grade 11

English III (CP, II)Math (Alg. II, Alg.Chemistry or PTForeign Language2 Electives from Cat. I, III,or general

30 34

workplaces, schools may need to educate par-ents as well as students through joint field trips,parent seminars, and other forms of outreach.

The Alliance for Achievement's Stone MiddleSchool has used Parent-Teacher Organizationmeetings as a forum to get parents involved in

Grade 12

English IV or CommunicationsGovernment and Economics4 Electives from Cat. I, II, III,or general

Job fields you might expect to enter

Computer technicianElectric motor repairTelephone/cable installerElectrical technician (any industry)Sound technicianHeating/refrigeration/AC

Grade 12

English IV (CP, AP)Government and Economics (CP)1 Math (Alg. III/Trig., Calculus)2 Electives from Cat. I, IV,or generalEngineering graphics


Engineer: Aerospace, Agriculture,Ceramic, Chemical, Civil, Nuclear,Industrial, Marine, Mechanical,Electrical & electronics, Petroleum,Pollution control, Metallurgical,Architectural

Grade 12

English IV or CommunicationsGovernment and Economics4 Electives from Cat. I, II, III,IV, or general


Medical technicianDental hygienistLPN/RN, EMTLegal assistantHome health aidCosmetologistChild care specialistLaw enforcement officer

Grade 12

English IV (CP, AP)Government and Economics (CP)Math (Alg. III/Trig., Calculus)4 Electives from Cat. I, III, IVor general


Physical therapist, Food & druginspector, Dietician, Home economist,Medical doctor,* Pharmacist? Lawenforcement officer, Psychologist?Athletic trainer, RN/BS nursing,Medical technologist, Occupationaltherapist, Social worker, Teacher,Park ranger, Chiropractor, Optometrist

* advanced study required


their children's academic and career decisions.The schools uses Realizing the Dream, a packageof materials designed to help parents and stu-dents work together on career and educationalplanning. Realizing the Dream was developedby ACT and the National Career DevelopmentAssociation and is designed for presentation toparents in a 1-2 hour workshop. Parents receivea guidebook designed to help them be moreeffective career advisors; students receive theirown book that guides them in exploring deci-sions about their future. The guidebooks aredesigned to be used at home over the weeksand months following the workshop, and theycontain parallel topics and activities that providea common basis for discussion between parentsand teenagers.

The ATOMS (Adventures in Technology =Options in Math and Science) program(described on page 22) also encouragesparents to become involved in their children'shigh school and career decisions. Parents areinvited to all ATOMS activities, and they receivea newsletter to keep them informed aboutprogram activities. The newsletter also providesinformation about educational requirements fortomorrow's jobs and stresses the importance oftaking high-level courses in mathematics andscience.

8. Provide opportunities to dream andindividualized guidance.

Career guidance should give students structuredopportunities to dream and provide the tools tohelp them realize their dreams. At its best, aguidance program helps young people thinkabout their personal strengths and interests andhelps them make decisions about high schooland postsecondary education that will keeptheir options open. The Omaha Work Keys pro-gram, described in Chapter II, is an example ofa district-wide effort to provide students withindividualized counseling on career options andtheir related academic strengths and deficiencies.

Two other examples come from the Alliance forAchievement. As part of their involvement inthe Alliance, Stone Middle School in Wiggins,Mississippi, and Western Middle School in

31

ECONOMY AND SCHOOLS

Louisville, Kentucky, put in plaCe individualizedguidance programs to help eighth graders startthinking about careers and make informedchoices about high school. At Stone MiddleSchool, all eighth graders now take a test whichidentifies career-related interests and measuresacademic strengths and weaknesses related todifferent types of occupations. Test results areinterpreted individually by the guidancecounselor, and students also discuss them intheir social studies class.

"Robert" is an example of a student who bene-fited from career testing and counseling. Robertwas a star player on Stone Middle School's bas-ketball team, and was unable to see a future forhimself outside of the game, talking only of bas-ketball whenever he was asked about his aspira-tions. But the career interest inventory testshowed that he had a strong interest in botanyand horticulture. Staff at the school's career cen-ter supported this new interest with information

32

about related careers, their salaries, and whatcourses he should take in high school. While hestill loves basketball, Robert now has a muchbroader picture of the academic and careeropportunities open to him.

In Louisville, eighth graders must choosewhether to attend their neighborhood highschool or apply to one of the magnet highschools in the Jefferson County School District.In the past, most students from the isolated,low-income neighborhood where WesternMiddle School is located chose their neighbor-hood high school. Now, all eighth graders take astate career interest inventory test and discusshigh school plans with their advisor. All eighthgraders at Western Middle School also partici-pate in at least one job-shadowing experience,described in Chapter III. Partly as a result ofthese activities, the percentage of WesternMiddle's 1996 graduates who attend competitivemagnet high schools has risen to around 30%.

VI. BUILDINGSCHOOL-EMPLOYERPARTNERSHIPS:How THREE COMMUNITIt

How can we get a partnership started in our community?

What hinds of resources do we need?

How can we motivate people to become involved?

This report has described numerous schoolprograms that rely on partnerships with

employers. Those partnerships can take manyforms. In some communities business andindustry has pushed for school reform, motivat-ed by the demands of the high-performanceworkplace and the concern that too manyyoung people graduate from high school unpre-pared for the workplace or for college. In othercommunities, the school-to-work movement hasmotivated employers and school districts to joinforces to create new learning experiences for

students. In still other places, individual schoolshave reached out to form partnerships withbusiness and industry. And some communitycolleges have spearheaded partnerships betweenregional businesses and secondary schools,often through a Tech Prep consortium.

For schools that are just getting started in devel-oping relationships with employers, it may behelpful to examine the evolution of three suc-cessful partnerships with different histories, dif-ferent leadership, and varying levels of resources.

WILMINGTON: STARTING SMALL... THEN GROWING

Wilmington, North Carolina, began its careerawareness program, Career Connections, at thefour schools involved in the Alliance forAchievement plus a feeder elementary school.While originally small in scope, the programhas evolved into a two-county School-to-Workpartnership. Career Connections offers a modelof how school personnel can implement an idea

34

on a small scale and then attract funding andsupport to expand the program beyond itsoriginal bounds.

Career Connections

Career Connections began from the bottom up,led by the Alliance for Achievement team and inparticular team leader Pat Martin, Career

33


Development Coordinator at New HanoverHigh School. While the initial impetus for acareer awareness program came from Pat, shehad help from two strongly committed corpo-rate representatives on the Alliance team: RoyceAngel of BellSouth (now with the University ofNorth Carolina at Wilmington) and NicoaDunne of General Electric. Their input helpedPat and the rest of the Alliance team develop aset of career activities that became known asCareer Connections. Career Connections hastwo components: a year-long internship pro-gram for seniors and a partnership programinvolving schools and employers.

The internship program was designed by PatMartin, through a fellowship from the NationalSociety for Experiential Education. The intern-ship takes the place of one class during a stu-dent's senior year, and involves 5-10 hours eachweek working in a public agency or corporationof the student's (and employer's) choice. A men-tor at the worksite helps the student set upobjectives for the semester. The followingsemester, the student prepares a portfolio of hisor her learning experiences. Throughout theyear, students meet weekly with a school facultymember to discuss and reflect on their progresstoward their goals.

The schooVbusiness partnership was put intoplace in the beginning of the 1995-96 schoolyear with the help of a small supplementaryAlliance grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts.Alliance team member Nicoa Dunne and BrianCoughlan of Carolina Power & Light were theoriginal co-chairs of the partnership. Both oftheir employers encouraged, and provided leavetime for, community involvement. The programstarted small, with six partnerships formedamong the four Alliance schools (two middleschools, a high school, and the local communitycollege) and a feeder elementary school. Twobusinesses formed partnerships with the highschool. The intention was that the participatingbusinesses would help to recruit more partnerswhen the program expanded. (Classroom activi-ties that resulted from these partnerships aredescribed on pages 22-23.)

34

The Chamber of Commerce and the Boardof Education endorsed Career Connections,although neither committed funds to the pro-gram. Brian Coughlan credits the Chamber'spromotion of the program for his company'soriginal involvement and believes that the Boardof Education's support was helpful in legitimizingthe program. Neither the Board nor the Chamberplayed any governance role, except for thegeneral oversight that the Board of Educationhas over all school functions. For the first yearof the program, all of the financial support camefrom the two modest grants awarded throughthe Alliance for Achievement, and governancecame from the program's co-chairs and steeringcommittee.

The Alliance grant ended in 1996, and with itthe financial support for Career Connections. Inaddition, Nicoa Dunne's involvement with theproject ended when GE downsized and askedher to resign from Career Connections becausethe time commitment was too intensive. Theteam began looking for ways to keep thepartnership alive and developed a plan forits continuance.

Cape Fear Partners for Career Success

In 1996, Career Connections became the CapeFear Partners for Career Success (CFPCS), atwo-county school-to-work consortium. NewHanover and Pender Counties joined forces toapply for a Job Ready (North Carolina's school-

to-work program) Local Partnership grant,which included an expanded CareerConnections as well as stronger partnershipswith the community college and the develop-ment of articulation agreements (middle school-high school and high school-communitycollege). A planning grant was awarded in thespring of 1996, and the initial funds helpedsupport six new business/school partnerships.Bob Philpott, Dean of Instruction at Cape FearCommunity College, has become chair of CFPCS.

The governing board includes representativesfrom businesses, schools, and local employ-ment-related agencies. The partnership's successin obtaining grants and expanding to a second

38

county have ensured that what was once asmall, low-budget effort will continue and grow

Pat Martin had limited funds to work with andlacked the position of authority that many suc-cessful school reformers have when they begin.But she says that one or two people with energyand ideas, who are willing to spend timecontinually advocating and promoting a program,


can go a long way toward making changeshappen. "It's amazing what you can do, if youbelieve in what needs to happen," she says. Shealso credits the Alliance with providing validityto the idea of linking students with employers.The external authority and funding provided bythe Alliance attracted the attention and approvalof those in positions of power within the schoolsystem and community

FORT WORTH: CITYWIDE APPROACH

Fort Worth's Project C3 is an ambitious, district-wide partnership involving schools, employers,and the community. The Project encompassesmany different programs to promote academicachievement, equity, and career awareness. Itreaches students of all age levels and interestsand directly involves many area businesses andsix or seven thousand employees.

Project C3 was launched in 1989, when the FortWorth superintendent and members of theschool board began searching for ways to builda system of high-performance schools. They metwith the Chamber of Commerce and other busi-ness leaders and began to form a partnershipaimed at defining success in the workplace andtranslating it to classroom instruction. Twenty-four CEOs, motivated by a desire to improvethe school system, committed company resourcesand their own time. The partners were unitedaround clear goals: to define success in theworkplace, to establish performance standards,and to link classroom instruction to real worldapplications.

Initial Assessmentand Program Development

The new partnership began its work with asurvey of 300 local businesses, asking employ-ees at all levels to analyze the skills required intheir jobs. Over 3,500 employees completed thesurvey over a ten-month period. The informa-tion was studied carefully and became the basisfor C3's program development, as it indicated

9

how the skills learned in school have practicalapplications in the workplace. The results werealso cross-referenced by skill, and distributed inbook form to teachers for use in the classroom.

Program development was the next step.Members of the partnership divided into workteams, including an oversight steering commit-tee, program development teams, and imple-mentation teams. In time, Project C3 became theumbrella for a number of initiatives designed tobring about long-term change, including:

Applied learning, in which teachers collabo-rate with employers to link instruction withthe real world (described on page 23);

Equity 2000, a national effort of The CollegeBoard that seeks to increase the number ofeconomically disadvantaged and minoritystudents who attend college;

Vital Link, which provides workplace learn-ing experiences to all of the middle schoolstudents in the district (described on page 14);

Technology education, which involves chang-ing the curriculum to integrate vocationaland academic education;

Transforming student assessment, throughthe Portfolio Project and the New StandardsProject;

The High Performance Schools Project,a joint venture with JC Penney and the

35


36

National Alliance of Business, which helpsschools initiate restructuring through school-based management; and

The Connections Project, which provideseducational, social, and health services foryoung children and their families at localschool sites.

Governance and Staff

Unlike many collaboratives, the Fort Worthpartners did not establish a governing entityseparate from the school system or the Chamberof Commerce. Rather, people involved in thepartnership serve on committees which makedecisions about different programs. Staff sup-port is provided by employees at the school dis-trict and the Chamber. Although several peopleat each organization work primarily on partner-ship activities, they are employees of the schooldistrict or the Chamber rather than the partner-ship. Most funding comes from the existingbudgets of the schools, Chamber, or employers.

While the staff members at the schools and theChamber work together to keep the programsrunning, they play different roles. The Chamberof Commerce provides a link between theschools and the business community, promoting.business involvement and helping businessescommunicate with the school. The school dis-trict adjusts its programs and policies torespond to the needs that businesses articulate.

Recent Initiatives and Results

In 1996, the partners conducted another jobanalysis, going back to about one-third of thecompanies originally surveyed and adding

several new industries. This time, humanresource directors were asked to profile four orfive jobs from within the company, and CEOsalso developed profiles for the same jobs. Inanalyzing the responses, the partners found thattechnology needs have changed and that cre-ativity, speaking and listening, and problem-solving skills are even more important than theywere in 1990. These results will shape futureprogram development.

Development groups still meet monthly toassess progress, make adjustments, and contin-ue to design and implement new strategies. Thesuperintendent who helped to initiate the pro-gram has left the district, but his successor ishighly supportive of and involved with the ini-tiative. Teachers, members of the Chamber ofCommerce, CEOs, representatives from highereducation institutions, and other civic leadersalso continue to participate actively. The Boardof Education provides resources for the variousprojects, as do corporations and local andnational foundations.

A longitudinal study follows each seventh-gradestudent in the district after completion of jobshadowing which is many students' first expo-sure to the C3 program. The study has foundthat members of the oldest cohort (now ineleventh grade) are taking higher-level classesthan students not exposed to C3 activities andthey are less likely to drop out of school.

Future plans for C3 include extending job shad-owing to fifth-grade students. The logisticalproblems of working with 64 different schoolspresents a challenge, however, which will takesome time to work out.

GUILFORD COUNTY: COMMUNITY COLLEGE PARTNERSHIP

Guilford County's College Tech Prep program isone of many offered in schools across NorthCarolina. But Guilford County's program isunusual in that it relies on true collaborationbetween the community college and the school

district, with the community college providingmuch of the leadership. Employers are deeplyinvolved, not just in sponsoring workplacelearning opportunities but also in curriculumdevelopment, governance, and financial support.

4

Guilford County's program grew out of a seriesof breakfast meetings between Don Cameron,the president of Guilford Technical CommunityCollege, and Jerry Weast, the superintendent ofthe county school system. Both shared a com-mitment to the idea of helping all studentsachieve, and in particular the "neglected majori-ty" who do not go on to receive a four-yeardegree after high school. They envisioned acourse of study that would replace the generaleducation track, prepare students for well-paying technical jobs after completing twoyears of apprenticeship or a community collegetechnical degree, and also allow them to pursuea university degree if they chose.

Guilford County, in central North Carolina,contains two mid-size cities Greensboro andHigh Point and two interstate highways aswell as an international airport. Many manufac-turing companies are located in the region,drawn by these amenities as well as the mildweather, low cost of living, and wide-openspaces. While these companies offer high-payingjobs, they have historically been unable toemploy many local high school or even commu-nity college graduates because of weak technicalskills and inadequate math and science prepara-tion. Local businesses, therefore, were eager tosupport any initiative that would improve theskills of local students. The Chamber ofCommerce willingly became a partner in theformation of a College Tech Prep program.

The College Tech Prep Program

When Guilford County introduced the CollegeTech Prep program in 1994, it eliminated gener-al education classes all students now chooseeither the College Prep program or College TechPrep. The College Tech Prep program spans thefour years of high school plus two years in com-munity college or apprenticeship. Some CollegeTech Prep courses automatically transfer forcommunity college credit, and two years of aforeign language are the only additional coursesnecessary to meet admission requirements forthe University of North Carolina system.Academic teachers have designed integrated

41


lesson plans that apply academic skills to therelated College Tech Prep courses, using specialsoftware developed by InstructionalManagement System (IMS) that was alreadyused in the college's technical classes.

Collaboration

The College Tech Prep model, endorsed by thestate Board of Education and the CommunityCollege Board, is used by many of NorthCarolina's school districts. But Guilford Countyremains unique in the extraordinary degree ofcommunity college leadership and businesssupport afforded the program. The support isnot only financial, although donations of moneyand materials have been substantial. The com-munity college provides staff support, trainingfor high school technical teachers, materials forlabs, and the continued leadership and promo-tion of the program by its president. Businesseshave provided, in addition to large sums ofmoney, sponsorship for apprenticeship and job-shadowing programs.

The program operates as a thoroughly collabo-rative effort. Many communities have careerawareness programs that link employers to theschools, but often one organization providesstaffing and receives and distributes financialsupport. Guilford's College Tech Prep programis supported by staff from the community col-lege, the public schools, and the Chamber ofCommerce. While housed separately in theirrespective institutions, the staff members allconsider that they work for all of the organiza-tions involved in the partnership, not just theirown official employer. Another example of theprogram's remarkable level of collaboration isthat all of the funding for the program isapplied for, received, and administered jointly,through the college and the public schools. Thesuperintendent and the college president makejoint appearances whenever they promote theprogram to other organizations.

Employer Involvement

The Guilford Workforce Investment Councilfunctions as a board of directors for the College

37


Tech Prep program. The Council was formed inearly 1996 to link the many agencies concernedwith workforce development in the county. Itmeets monthly to oversee and coordinate localeducation and training agencies. When theCouncil was formed, 33 companies were invitedto participate; a condition of membership wasthe personal involvement of the chief executiveofficer. Twenty-eight CEOs accepted the chal-lenge and became active members of the Council.

The Workforce Investment Council overseesBusiness and Industry Councils in each occupa-tional area of the College Tech Prep program.These currently include metalworking, automo-tive technology, banking and finance, andchemical process manufacturing, with healthcare, furniture manufacturing, construction, andtextiles in the planning stages. These councils,comprised of representatives from employers,Guilford Tech, and the high schools, help plancurriculum for the high schools and communitycollege.

In addition to the community college, thepublic schools, and individual employers,the Greensboro and High Point Chambers ofCommerce and the Greensboro DevelopmentCorporation have been influential in developingand sustaining the College Tech Prep program.The two Chambers, with their strong ties tobusiness and industry, have brought the pro-gram to the attention of local employers. Theyhave jointly hired a staff member to providesupport to the partnership and are planning tomerge their education committees to provideintegrated support. The GreensboroDevelopment Corporation mobilized itsmembers the CEOs of the area's largest com-panies to pledge $3.1 million to the CollegeTech Prep program, supporting 225 apprentice-ships over three years.

Additional funds have come from individualemployers. For example, Ciba Geigy and DowCorning have donated funds for professionaldevelopment and youth apprenticeships, and

38

Metals Manufacturing Companies committed$9,500 for each youth apprenticeship studentthey sponsor. AMP Inc., which makes electricalconnectors, also committed money to the youthapprenticeship program. In addition, the countyhas received federal funds through NorthCarolina's Job Ready School-to-Work program

the $220,000 implementation grant awarded inMarch of 1996 was the largest of all of thegrants the state awarded to individual schoolsystems.

A seminal event in winning employer supportwas a December 1995 meeting sponsored bythe Greensboro Development Corporation inwhich journalist Hedrick Smith spoke to 200business leaders. Smith has written extensivelyabout the global economy and the changingworkplace. Guilford Tech President DonCameron believes Smith's eloquent presentationconvinced many CEOs to get involved in thetech prep program.

A final unique element in Guilford's program isthe "contract" between the schools and theemployer community, developed by theWorkforce Investment Council. For each levelfrom elementary school to college, it lays outresponsibilities of the schools and of employersin preparing young people for the workplace. Inthe elementary grades, for instance, the schoolshave pledged to introduce students to a varietyof careers through classroom materials andactivities; industry partners have pledged toprovide materials, guest speakers, and fieldtrips. In the middle grades, schools providecareer exploration courses and guide students inpreparing a career development plan; industrypartners provide teacher internships, job-shadowing, and professional development aswell as materials, guest speakers, and field trips.In high school and college, schools providecoordination for work-based learning and a cur-riculum that focuses on academic and employa-bility skills, while businesses offer internships,apprenticeships, and specialized equipment.

4 2

INDEX OF PROGRAMS

PROGRAM/SCHOOL KEY ELEMENTS (page references)

Albert G. Prodell Middle SchoolLong Island, NY

Workplace visits for middle school students (page 14)

Service learning for middle school students (page 16)

ATOMS(Adventures in Technology=Options in Math and Science)Newport News, VA

Classroom activities in middle school led by adultsworking in technical occupations (page 22)

Parental involvement in career awareness (page 31)

Buchholz High SchoolGainesville, FL

Linking academic choices and career options (page 29)

Cabarrus CountyNorth Carolina

Local SCANS study (page 12)

Career ConnectionsWilmington, NC

Classroom activities (grades 5-12) led by adults frombusinesses that partner with schools (page 22)

Evolving school-to-work partnerships (page 33)

Exploring Career DecisionsNorth Carolina

Classroom activities to learn about the localeconomy (page 28)

Guilford County College Tech PrepGreensboro-High Point, NC

School-to-Work program with strong communitycollege and employer involvement (page 36)

Haut Gap Middle SchoolJohns Island, SC

Speakers in the classroom (page 21)

Infusing career awareness into the curriculum (page 27)

High Hopes, Long Odds

4 3

Study of young people's career aspirations andacademic achievement (page 25)

39



Higher Education Awareness Program Curriculum that encourages eighth graders to stay in(HEAP) school and go to college (page 28)

South Carolina

Kentuckiana Educationand Workforce InstituteJefferson County, KY

Comprehensive business-education partnership withsummer internships for teachers (page 9)

Youth apprenticeship (page 19)

Martin Luther King Jr. Middle SchoolSan Francisco, CA

Service learning for middle school students (page 16)

Classroom activities to learn about the localeconomy (page 27)

Metalworking ConnectionRural Arkansas

Youth apprenticeship (page 18)

National Career Development Competency-based guidelines for career guidance,Guidelines ages K-adult (page 26)

Norfolk Vocational Advisory CouncilNorfolk, VA

Annual 2-day Tech Prep institute for teachers (page 10)

Northwest SuburbanCareer CooperativePalatine, IL

Summer internships for high school teachers (page 9)

Omaha 2000/Omaha Work Keys Study of competencies required in local workplaces;assessment of high school students in relation toworkplace competencies (page 11)

PACE (Partnership for Academic and Links schools with speakers from local businessCareer Education) Tech Prep Consortium (page 21)

Pendleton, SC

Project C3 (Communities, Corporations,Classrooms) and Vital Link ProgramFort Worth, TX

SCANS-type study of local workplaces (page 11)

Vital Link Program: Internships for middle schoolstudents and teachers (page 14)

Applied learning (page 23)

Comprehensive business-education partnership(page 35)

REAL Enterprises

40

Experiential curriculum to introduce high schooland community college students to a career as anentrepreneur (page 24)

44



SCANS National study of skills needed to succeed in today's(Secretary's Commission on Achieving workplace, with recommendations to schools andNecessary Skills) employers (page 4)

School and MainBoston, MA

Seminars to promote dialogue between educatorsand employers (page 10)

School-Work PLUS SCANS-type study conducted by high schoolstudents (page 15)

Siemens Corporation Youth apprenticeship (page 18)

St. John's High School Youth apprenticeship (page 17)

Johns Island, SC

Stone County High SchoolWiggins, MS

Workplace visits for high school students (page 14)

Stone Middle SchoolWiggins, MS

Involving parents in career guidance (page 31)

Individualized career and educational guidance(pages 31-32)

Triangle Workforce Information Group(TWIG)Durham-Chapel Hill, NC

Workplace visits for high school teachers (page 8)

Tri-County Technical CollegePendleton, SC

Informative brochures for technical careers (page 29)

Walhalla High School Materials on high school courses and postsecondaryeducation required for different occupations (pages 29-31)Walhalla, SC

Western Middle SchoolLouisville, KY

Job shadowing for middle school students (page 14)

Individualized career and educational guidance(pages 31-32)

45

41

APPENDIX:CONTACTS AND RES;

PROGRAMS PROFILED

Albert G. Prodell Middle School

Joanne Urgese, Community Service CoordinatorRandall RoadShoreham, NY 11786(516) 821-8210

ATOMS(Adventures in Technology =

Options in Math and Science)

Judy Remsberg, DirectorThomas Nelson Community CollegePost Office Box 9407Hampton, VA 23670(757) 825-2982

Buchholz High School

Susan Culbert, Assistant Principal5510 NW 27th AvenueGainesville, FL 32606(352) 336-2702

Cabarrus County Schools

Judy MisenheimerPost Office Box 388Concord, NC 28026(704) 786-6191

Career Connections

Bob Philpott, Dean of InstructionCape Fear Community College411 North Front StreetWilmington, NC 28401-3993(910) 251-5109

46

orPat Martin, Career Development CoordinatorNew Hanover High School1307 Market StreetWilmington, NC 28401(910) 251-6004

Exploring Career Decisions

June Atkinson, Director of Vocational andTechnical Education Services

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction301 North Wilmington StreetRaleigh, NC 27601-2825(919) 715-1626

Guilford County College Tech Prep

Gerald Pumphrey, Director of WorkforcePreparedness

Guilford Technical Community CollegePost Office Box 309Jamestown, NC 27282(910) 334-4822 x2608orSylvia AndersonGuilford County Schools120 Franklin BoulevardGreensboro, NC 27401(910) 370-8358

Haut Gap Middle School

Roberta Frasier, Principal1861 Bohicket RoadJohns Island, SC 29455(803) 559-6418

43


High Hopes, Long Odds

Indiana Youth Institute3901 North Meridian Street, Suite 200Indianapolis, IN 46208-4046(317) 924-3657

Higher Education Awareness Program (HEAP)

Mike Raley, DirectorSouth Carolina Commission on Higher

Education1333 Main Street, Suite 200Columbia, SC 29201(803) 737-2260

Kentuckiana Educationand Workforce Institute

No longer in operation.For information on Teacher/Business Exchange,contact Sharon Kauka at (502) 485-3122.

Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School

James Taylor, Principal350 Girard StreetSan Francisco, CA 94134(415) 330-1500

Metalworking Connection

Karen Cundiff, Program DirectorMetalworking Connection, Inc.Youth Apprenticeship ProgramPost Office Box 537Arkadelphia, AR 71923(501) 246-0320

Norfolk Vocational Advisory Council

Jane HosayNorfolk Public Schools, Adult

and Vocational Department800 East City Hall AvenueNorfolk, VA 23510(757) 441-2957

Northwest SuburbanEducation-to-Careers Partnership

Sally Griffith, Executive Director721 West Algonquin RoadArlington Heights, IL 60005(847) 758-2380

44

Omaha 2000

Connie Spellman, Vice President for EducationGreater Omaha Chamber of Commerce1301 Harney StreetOmaha, NE 68102(402) 346-5000 x234

Partnership for Academicand Career Education (PACE)

Johnny WallaceTri-County Technical CollegePost Office Box 587Pendleton, SC 29670(864) 646 - 8361x2381

Project C3(Communities, Corporations, and Classrooms)

Debby Russell, Executive Assistantto the Associate Superintendent

Fort Worth Independent School District100 North University DriveFort Worth, TX 76107(817) 871-2313orTasa Rice

Manager, Business/Education PartnershipsFort Worth Chamber of Commerce777 Taylor Street, Suite 900Fort Worth, TX 76102(817) 336-2491 x257

REAL Enterprises

Rick Larson, National Director115 Market Street, Suite 320Durham, NC 27701(919) 688-7325

St. John's High School

Harrison Washington, Principal1518 Main RoadJohns Island, SC 29455(803) 559-6400

School & Main

Betsy Baker, Manager750 Washington StreetNEMCH No. 328Boston, MA 02111(617) 636-9151

4

School-Work PLUS

Anderson D. Clark, PresidentREAD America103 North Duke StreetPost Office Box 1485Shepherdstown, WV 25443(304) 876-3992

Siemens Corporation

John Tobin, Director of AppliedTechnology and Training

1301 Avenue of the Americas, 44th FloorNew York, NY 10019(212) 258-4046

Stone County Middle School

Kathleen Kirker, Counselor532 East Central AvenueWiggins, MS 39577(601) 928-4876

Stone County High School

Steve Chambers, Assistant Principal400 East Border AvenueWiggins, MS 39577(601) 928-5492

OTHER RESOURCES

ACT

Post Office Box 168Iowa City, IA 52243(800) 553-6244

ACT developed and sells the Work Keys system, usedby Omaha 2000 and other organizations around thecountry to assess the skills of workers and students,and the Realizing the Dream program, which helpsparents and students work together to plan for high-er education and careers. Formerly known as theAmerican College Testing Program, ACT has changedits name to better reflect its range of programs andservices to students, schools, and colleges.

48


Triangle Workforce Information Group

Chuck NolanThe Center for Educational LeadershipSchool of EducationUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel Hill, NC 27599-3500(919) 932-6544

Tri-County Technical College

Post Office Box 587Pendleton, SC 29670(864) 646-8361 x2500

Walhalla High School

151 Razorback LaneWalhalla, SC 29691(864) 638-4582

Western Middle School

Linda HuberMiddle Schools Project Business Liaison2201 West Main StreetLouisville, KY 40212(502) 485-8345

American School Counselors Association

801 North Fairfax Street, Suite 310Alexandria, VA 22314(703) 683-2722

The American School Counselors Association hasworked with the National Occupational InformationCoordinating Center to promote the National CareerDevelopment Guidelines and raise the profile of careerguidance in the schools.

45


Council for Aid to Education

342 Madison Avenue, Suite 1532New York, NY 10173(212) 661-5800

The Council for Aid to Education is a nationalnonprofit organization whose mission is to enhancecorporate support for education. It has published aseries of reports on business-school partnerships.One recent report, Sustaining Change in Schools: A Rolefor Business by Diana W. Rigden (1994), presents agood framework for ways businesses can supportschool reform through money donations, human andmaterial resources, and advocacy. It discusses rolesbusinesses can play at a variety of levels from theclassroom to the school, the district, the community,and educational policy.

National Occupational InformationCoordinating Committee (NOICC)

2100 M Street NW, Suite 156Washington, DC 20037(202) 653-7680

As noted, NOICC has produced National CareerDevelopment Guidelines. NOICC has an affiliate in eachstate, often called the State Occupational InformationCoordinating Committee, or SOICC. SOICCs arerequired to provide at least two products to schools,JTPA Private Industry Councils, and other educationand training programs: an Occupational InformationSystem (OIS) and a Career Information DeliverySystem (CIDS).

The Occupational Information System (OIS) is adatabase of labor market information, including thenumber of jobs in each occupation and industry, thenumber of new workers in each occupation (basedon graduation rates from education and trainingprograms), and other information such as whichfirms hire for which occupations and wage rates byoccupation. Typically, the database is on computer

49

46

and available for the state, metropolitan areas, andJTPA Service Delivery Areas; in some states, data isalso available for community college districts or othersubstate regions. It is designed for use by programplanners and generally requires training in how touse it.

The Career Information Delivery System (CIDS) alsotypically takes the form of a computerized database.Unlike Occupational Information Systems, CareerInformation Delivery Systems are designed to beuser-friendly and are available to students and coun-selors in many middle schools, high schools, andcommunity colleges. Some states, including NorthCarolina, develop their own software for CareerInformation Systems while others rely on Choices,COIN, GIS, or other nationally produced software.All these systems include three components:

Self-assessment/exploration the student entersinformation on interests, aptitudes, desired level ofeducation, and other factors and gets a list of com-patible occupations;

Occupation-specific information provides infor-mation on job duties and requirements of specificoccupations as well as working conditions, earn-ings, and economic outlook; and

Education and training information providesinformation on postsecondary schools that offertraining for particular occupations, along with infor-mation on admissions, tuition, and financial aid.

National Society for Experiential Education

Sally Migliore, Executive Director3509 Haworth Drive, Suite 207Raleigh, NC 27609(919) 787-3263

The NSEE is a source of information about servicelearning, youth apprenticeship, internships, andother programs that involve students in work-basedlearning.

ALLIANCE FOR ACHIEVEMENTAdvisory Panel

Robert Penn, ChairVanguard Management Group, Inc.Chicago, IL

Wendy Best, Program Officer

BellSouth Foundation

Tamar Datan, Program Officer

The Pew Charitable Trusts

Katie Dorsett, Secretary

North Carolina Department of Administration

Andy Fisher, Program Officer

DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund

E.K. Fretwell, Chancellor Emeritus

UNC -Charlotte

Bobbi Kennedy, Vice President for Continuing Education

South Carolina ETV Network

Howard Maniloff, Professor

UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education

Gayle Williams, Executive Director

Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation

50

Expanding The Economy a Developing The Workforce

400 Silver Cedar Court, Suite 300, Chapel Hill, NC 27514

P O. Box 17268, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-7268

919.968.4531 Fax 919.929.8557

www.mdcinc.org

U.S. Department of EducationOffice of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI)

National Library of Education (NLE)Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)

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files.eric.ed.govSummer internships 9 Other staff development activities 10 Gathering data on the labor market 11 III. Workplace Experiences for Students 13 Workplace visits 13 Service