EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Work-based Learning for Students
in High Schools and Community Colleges

by Cathleen Stasz and David Stern

• Purposes of Work-Based Learning
• Delivering WBL
• Assessing The Quality of Teaching and Learning at Work

NCRVE is releasing a new series, called CenterPoint, summarizing and synthesizing research on key issues of educational policy and practice. The first issue, Work-based Learning for Students in High Schools and Community Colleges, by Cathleen Stasz and David Stern, will be available in mid-October, 1998. Subsequent issues will include:

• Professional Development
• Performance Standards and Assessment
• Linking Secondary and Postsecondary Education
• Integrating Curriculum
• New Designs for Comprehensive High Schools
• Systems of Vocational Education and Training

Here are some excerpts from Work-based Learning for Students in High Schools and Community Colleges:

I knew I wanted to work with people but I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do. And then I was able to go on an internship at an elementary school nearby and work with third graders, and through that experience I made my full decision that I wanted to be a teacher. [1] -- Student from Roosevelt High School in Portland, Oregon

Some students say they have found their true calling as a result of their work-based learning (WBL) experiences. Others say WBL helped them find out what sort of work they do not want. This kind of career exploration is one of several possible benefits WBL can offer students. In this paper we describe the range of potential benefits, and the means by which high schools and community colleges are trying to provide them.

WBL differs from work experiences gained in regular youth jobs because WBL is intentionally structured to promote learning by linking work with school. WBL is not new -- cooperative education has been recognized by federal authority since the 1917 Smith-Hughes Act -- but in the past it has been associated primarily with vocational education programs. Traditionally, co-op in high schools and community colleges has been an adjunct to vocational training that leads to employment in specific occupations. However, in the 1990s interest in other forms of WBL increased, and the expressed purposes of WBL became wider and more complex.

An example of a newer kind of WBL is Food from the 'Hood, a school-based enterprise at a Los Angeles high school, which began in 1993 as a community garden. Recently, the student-owners decided to create a product that they could successfully market on a wide scale, and "Food from the `Hood" salad dressing was born. Student-owners learn the tasks associated with running the business--from weeding and watering the garden, to marketing, selling produce at local farmers' markets, and dealing with suppliers and customers. Learning can happen in many ways, but most of it is hands-on. In the office, for example, a new student learns to use the invoice system through one-on-one instruction by the program coordinator. Other students take a class in accounting from a volunteer mentor, a business professor at a local university. In these respects, Food from the `Hood is similar to some school-based restaurants and other enterprises that have operated as part of traditional vocational education.

What distinguishes Food from the `Hood from its traditional precursors is the explicit emphasis on academics, which take nearly as much of students' time and effort as the work itself. The office calendar posts both business-related events and SAT test dates. Volunteer mentors work closely with students to help them study for the SAT and to complete college applications. Student conversation is often about school, grades, classes, and college. And nearly all the student-owners go on to college, as compared to fewer than half of the students enrolled in the same high school.

In this paper we [2] will illustrate some of the recent developments in WBL, and explain some of its dimensions. The three main sections of the paper explain:

• the range of purposes WBL may help students achieve;
• various ways of structuring WBL in relation to these purposes; and
• some key aspects of teaching and learning in the context of work.

Purposes of Work-Based Learning

The transformation of WBL from a component of traditional vocational education to an element of broader school reform is attributable to at least three factors: federal legislation (especially the 1990 Amendments to the Carl Perkins Act, and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994); research studies that found improvement in learning when situated in a context that lends it meaning and motivation ; and changes in the nature of work which suggest a growing demand for continued learning and problem-solving at the workplace.

Urquiola et al. in School to Work, College and Career(1997) identified five main purposes for WBL: (1) enhancing students' motivation and academic achievement; (2) increasing personal and social competence related to work in general; (3) gaining a broad understanding of an occupation or industry; (4) providing career exploration and planning; and (5) acquiring knowledge or skill related to employment in particular occupations or more generic work competencies.

How successfully WBL is accomplishing any or all of these purposes is a question. Nor should we necessarily expect that any single program would meet all the varied purposes described here. It is essential, therefore, that schools and colleges offering WBL programs try to keep track of whether it is accomplishing its purposes.

Delivering WBL

Examples given in this paper illustrate that WBL can be organized in a variety of formats. The most common are:

• Paid work experience : students receive training in the context of a paid job off-campus. This is traditional in cooperative education, and is viewed as desirable in STWOA.
• Unpaid internship : students learn while they carry out productive responsibilities in a work setting outside of school, but they are not compensated. This is standard practice in certain industries, particularly health care.
• Service learning : community research or unpaid internship, usually in a government office or nonprofit agency, with primary focus on serving the community rather than building students' skills, though considerable learning may occur.
• Job shadowing or field studies : students visit worksites for the purpose of observing, but are not responsible for carrying out any of the work there, and are not paid.
• School-sponsored enterprise : students produce goods or services for other people, in connection with a school class or other school activity.

The choice of format depends on the purposes WBL is intended to serve. Here we highlight certain key structural dimensions, and how they are related to the various purposes of WBL.

Does WBL Take Place On-Campus or Off? If work is defined as activity that provides goods or services for other people, there are numerous on-campus student activities that qualify as work, and which therefore provide possible opportunities for work-based learning. Some students help out in school offices, cafeterias, or recycling centers, for example. Others work in school stores, banks, gardens, or child-care services. Many participate in school publications, musical performances, or dramatic productions -- all of which provide benefits to other people.

Offering WBL on campus has some practical advantages. It avoids logistical problems such as travel cost and extra insurance. The school can have more control than in an off-campus setting. For instance, students can more easily be organized in groups, their activities can be more closely monitored, and their learning more easily assessed if it takes place at the school site. In addition, work placements off-campus are hard to find in some communities, and the only way to provide WBL for large numbers of students in such places may be for the school or college to organize enterprises of its own.

As shown by illustrations given in this paper, several purposes of WBL may be more readily addressed through on-campus activities. Linking WBL to the academic curriculum may be easier because teachers are more likely to be in charge, and can therefore find the opportunities to apply and reinforce academic concepts. Teaching some generic work skills, such as teamwork, and helping students gain a broad understanding of an occupation or industry, also may be more readily accomplished in a school store, newspaper, or other school-based activity than in its off-campus counterpart. For instance, it is more feasible in an on-campus enterprise to give students a role in deciding what to produce, and what price to charge for any goods or services that are sold.

Other purposes, however, are more successfully addressed off-campus. Some knowledge or skill for employment in a particular occupation or industry can be obtained only by working in an off-campus business or agency, where technology and procedures are up to date. Some kinds of personal and social competence -- for instance, communicating effectively with adult supervisors, co-workers, and customers -- also can be learned only by actual experience with such adults in a workplace off-campus.

Do Teachers Supervise WBL? Who Else? Teachers have special knowledge about the curriculum and how to work with students. To the extent that WBL is intended to improve students' academic achievement, participation by teachers is essential -- including teachers of academic subjects like English, math, science, and social studies. Many of these teachers, however, have never worked anywhere other than a school. Therefore, a number of high schools and community colleges offering WBL for students have provided internships for teachers in local businesses, to give the teachers some first-hand knowledge of other worksites, and help them structure activities for students that bring out the academic content of work. Even if students' WBL takes place on campus, it is useful for the supervising teachers to know how similar work is done in non-school enterprises.

If the purposes of WBL include more than improving students' academic achievement, other adults must also share the supervisory responsibility. This shared responsibility is a defining feature of "cooperative" education -- so named because teachers cooperate with students' worksite supervisors to plan, monitor, and evaluate students' performance. Job supervisors' participation has been essential because the main purpose of co-op has been for students to acquire skills and knowledge for employment in a particular industry or occupation, and job supervisors must be involved along with vocational teachers in defining and developing that know-how at a particular worksite. Their participation also seems important if the purposes of WBL broaden to include building students' generic work skills, personal and social competence, and broad understanding of an occupation or industry.

Just as some teachers lack knowledge about workplaces other than schools, some worksite supervisors lack knowledge about education. They may not know how to relate students' activities on the job to the school curriculum, or how to assess what students learn. Collaboration between schools and outside employers can therefore be enhanced not only by teachers spending time in non-school worksites, but also by worksite supervisors becoming informed about the school curriculum.

ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING AT WORK

In addition to considering what students are intended to learn from WBL, and the different ways to organize it, teachers and administrators are concerned with the quality of actual teaching and learning that takes place in the context of work. Evaluating WBL program quality means consciously looking at the workplace as a learning environment.

A recent NCRVE study of students' WBL experiences outlined three aspects of the workplace learning environment:

• the types of tasks students perform and the social means by which these tasks are established, accomplished, and processed;
• the influence of the community of practice--how it goes about teaching students what they need to know and how it defines the student's role; and
• the worksite "pedagogy"-- the training philosophy and practices for promoting learning at work.

The study found that students' WBL experiences can vary widely, even within the same program. We illustrate some key differences with examples from three types of programs: a school-based enterprise (SBE), a transportation career academy (TCA) and a medical-magnet high school (MMHS).

Characteristics of the Social Context. An important characteristic of the social context is whether an individual is highly supervised or has some discretion over work tasks. Greater discretion provides more opportunities to learn how to make decisions, organize one's work, and make use of the resources at hand; this greater independence is associated with job satisfaction. Students in a school-based enterprise had the most latitude in choosing work tasks and work times, while work in the other programs was more closely monitored and scheduled.

Sometimes there are good reasons for close monitoring. MMHS students, for example, worked on experiments in a university-based science laboratory. The design of the experiments dictated the order in which tasks had to be accomplished.

Participating in a Community of Practice. When students go to work they enter a particular community of practice--a set of relations among people, activity, and their work setting over time. MMHS students, for example, entered a community of research scientists; TCA students entered a community of construction engineers or planners. As high school students, they were outsiders entering into an adult world. SBE students, by contrast, created their own unique community of practice, with guidance from adult supervisors and mentors. SBE students had more say in defining the rules for behavior or performance, while students in real work settings had to "learn the ropes."

TCA students fully participated in their work community: they attended staff meetings, were able to take advantage of company training opportunities, and were accepted as junior-level employees. MMHS students, however, were not seen as full members of the community: they were invited to social events but not to weekly meetings that dealt with the lab's program of research, and they had low status. Some co-workers ignored the students, and some even resented their presence.

Pedagogy of Worksites. Differences in worksite pedagogy led to very different kinds of teaching and learning experiences. Training for TCA students followed a "just-in-time" approach: students were taught what they needed to know when the task required them to learn it. If a task required finding and copying dimensions from a blueprint, for example, a supervisor or co-worker would simply show the student how to read the blueprint and record the information. Then the supervisor would monitor the student as needed. For MMHS students, learning in the science lab followed more of an apprenticeship model, where teaching was embedded in nearly every activity and where individuals were expected to train and teach others. Their mentor had extensive teaching experience and even created a special curriculum tailored to the students' needs.

SBE advisors, also talented teachers, utilized an array of strategies to help students reach a variety of learning goals, including a talented mentor pool, outside conferences or workshops, free advice from experts, and opportunities to practice in a "fail-safe" environment. While training for TCA students was primarily geared to supporting productive work, the other sites provided training in support of other goals, such as raising students' academic skills.

Looking at WBL along these lines provides important information about the quality of a program. Asking the right kinds of questions can help program developers determine whether a work setting will provide opportunities for students to learn the kinds of skills or attitudes that they want them to learn.

• Will the job give them opportunities to take responsibility, make decisions, learn technical skills or work in teams?
• Does the setting provide the social supports that students need to learn?
• Will students get adequate feedback on their performance to help them learn? Who teaches at work?
• Does the employer want workers who take initiative, or workers who take orders?

Insight into the social context of the work can also help educators better match students to work settings. In settings where students are expected to do productive work, for example, they must adapt to just-in-time training and have the social skills to interact with others in ways that promote their learning (for example, asking questions or requesting help). Shy students, even if they are motivated, may have difficulties if learning on the job requires social assertiveness. In the absence of information about social context, program developers may rely on less relevant criteria, such as grades, interest, or availability of transportation.

School learning does not always instill an appropriate orientation toward learning and work. In order to learn on the job, students must interact in a social setting to learn their tasks with the goal of eventually carrying them out on their own. Students must know when to ask questions, have the confidence to solve problems, and know how to work with others. For example, one MMHS student revealed a crucial difference between school and work in terms of what it meant for her to ask questions. At work,

"She [the supervisor] told me to always look interested and alert. . .to ask questions even when I'm on my way to the library or passing by another lab. I try to think of questions [to ask], but sometimes they answer before I can ask."

At school, in contrast,

"Listening works out in school because the teacher has too many students to answer all the questions. Not asking questions means you are listening to your teacher, not sleeping in the back of the class or talking to your friends."

Presently, many WBL programs do little to prepare students for the social challenges of working. An appreciation of the social context of a workplace can illuminate those challenges and help program developers prepare students and select sites in ways that promote the program's learning goals.

Cathleen Stasz is a senior behavioral scientist and NCRVE site director at RAND.

David Stern is the director of NCRVE and a professor of education at UC Berkeley.

[1] Source: NCRVE fieldwork.

[2] This discussion is based on research conducted at NCRVE by ourselves and others. A partial list of publications is included in the list of References.