Nationwide, there are a number of coalitions aimed toward school reform. Why not connect networks like Jobs for the Future, the Southern Regional Education Board, and NCRVE's Urban Schools Network? David Stern, director of NCRVE, sees collaboration as an essential step for the school reform movement.
"All our efforts," Stern states, "while differing somewhat in emphasis, converge upon a common theme." The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), for example, which is a primarily rural coalition, focuses on changing education for a subset of "career-bound" students. SREB's objective is to upgrade the content of the academic classes which those career-bound students take. Jobs for the Future (JFF), another coalition, originated outside the schools with employer-initiated youth apprenticeship programs, and works with high school and two-year college students to prepare them for good jobs.
NCRVE's network is unique among the school reform coalitions in being the only alliance which is based in big cities and which aims to provide a work-related course of study for all students.
NCRVE's role as a research organization has a big influence on the network goals. As Stern says, "We are empiricists. NCRVE's statement of goals for students, and the practices for achieving those goals, are based on the evidence that's available. We think we see a changing demand for what kids should have when they come out of school; and we think we see how to meet that demand."
The "Agreement for Program Improvement," which will be mailed to member schools this fall, summarizes these objectives for students and the strategies for achieving them. For a more complete description, see the NCRVE document Legislative Principles for Career-Related Education and Training: What Research Supports. It's available from the NCRVE Materials Distribution Service at (800) 637-7652, and via NCRVE's electronic services.
To initiate collaboration, NCRVE co-sponsored two major conferences this summer: the National Leadership Forum in Boston, with Jobs for the Future; and Step by Step: Pathways to Connect Academic and Vocational Reform, in Berkeley with the Hands and Minds Collaborative (a joint project of the Center for Law and Education and the Rindge School of Technical Arts). Meetings are planned for the fall to discuss further strategies for collaboration.
NCRVE, SREB, JFF, the Hands and Minds Collaborative, and other organizations focused on providing the best possible education for America's students, face a common challenge as well: public awareness. As Stern says, "the notion of having some powerful new education is still not common sense. Far from it. The public is almost completely unaware that all of this is happening. The prevalent assumption is that college-bound kids should get rigorous textbook-style education, and non-college-bound kids should get employment training. New ideas about integrated academic and career-related education have penetrated the consciousness of lots of teachers, administrators, and even superintendents. But in terms of reaching the general public, it's hard to get through the noise of the O.J. Simpson trial and other media events. And the idea of integrating academic and work-based education could cause some discomfort at first. Most people would say, 'Why do you want to do that?'"
Stern believes, however, that "the likelihood of this kind of change happening in the schools is rooted in the palpable changes happening in people's work. As an awareness of these changes becomes more widespread, the traditional approach in schools will simply seem absurd. The reason thousands of teachers are going to conferences is that they can see this approach turns kids on. There is a wave behind us."