Through the Benchmark Communities Initiative (BCI)-- a multi-year, foundation-funded initiative-- five communities are working to create better pathways between high school, further learning, and high-skill careers for all students. The communities include Boston, MA; Jefferson County, KY; Milwaukee, WI; North Clackamas, OR; and Philadelphia, PA.
The report, entitled A Year of Progress in School-to-Career System Building: The Benchmark Communities Initiative, shows that the effort to build school-to-career systems in five communities has been well received, that school-to-career is being embraced as both an education and labor market reform strategy, and that progress is being made in building the infrastructure for sustaining school-to-career systems in these communities.
Says David Hornbeck, Superintendent of the Philadelphia Public Schools, "School-to-career has helped unify and energize our education reform efforts. We're using school-to-career to raise expectations and academic standards for all students, to more effectively measure what students know and are able to do, and to break down the walls between individual teachers and academic subjects so that learning is made more meaningful and all students can achieve."
For more information, contact: Mary Ellen Bavaro, 617-742-5995, or Brian Faith, 202-667-0901.
. . . for people in workplaces and schools who plan, direct, or evaluate work-based learning opportunities for youth. The choices that determine the quality of work-based learning provide the guide's framework. It is grounded in a four-year demonstration project that adapted elements of European apprenticeship in the United States and emphasized opportunities for youth to learn at work.The demonstration project tested approaches that can be adapted to other communities and incorporated into more comprehensive systems. But the general lessons we learned are more important than the specific details of the project. Both the project and this guide were motivated by the belief that lessons about creating high-quality youth apprenticeship programs can be applied to create, expand, and strengthen all types of work-based learning.".
For more information, check out the Cornell Youth and Work program at the following URL: http://www.human.cornell.edu/youthwork/ or send email to cywp@cornell.edu.