CONCLUSION
IEE researchers interviewed a wide range of individuals from around the country whose organizations are developing or implementing school-to-work programs. Many programs are worthy of acclaim; they have used school-to-work to enhance their students' potential of being accepted to and, more importantly, graduating from college. Many efforts have taken advantage of the latitude offered under the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 to create programs that, first and foremost, meet the needs of students. At least initially, this may not translate into a strict adherence to the three school-to-work components set forth in the act. Instead of trying to provide an increasing number of students with work-based, school-based, and connecting activities, educators are attempting to reform entire schools and offer a locally tailored, application-oriented, quality education to all students. Schools search for ideas and approaches that work regardless of what they are named. In many instances, programs with weaker connections to the formal school-to-work establishment have greater opportunities to create successful, mainstream reforms. Indeed, efforts to adhere too closely to the school-to-work triad and label students and their programs have failed to ignite the kinds of broad-based changes that reformers envisioned.
The programs investigated in this project illustrate the deep, philosophical changes that must take place outside and inside the school if school-to-work is to become a mainstream reform that touches the lives of all students. This report has attempted to present the strategies that quality programs have used to promote school-to-work ideals. These strategies are discussed in terms of one of three broad-based principles that school-to-work supports: (1) authentic teaching and learning, (2) guided educational experiences outside the classroom, and (3) career and interest exploration. Below is a recap of the strategies that many stellar school-to-work systems have used.
| 1. | Seize
the opportunity that integrated standards present; use standards as a vehicle
to promote the same authentic teaching and learning strategies that the
school-to-work ideology embraces. School-to-work administrators at both the local and state levels are in a remarkable position. They can take part in the growing cohesion between the academic and business communities based largely upon the shared support of application-oriented standards. Seizing an opportunity to share this support, school-to-work systems and states are structuring the authentic pedagogy around these more integrated standards. By using authentic pedagogy to teach application-oriented standards, school-to-work programs are demonstrating in tangible, measurable terms to students, parents, teachers, and academic institutions that this new reform agenda is perhaps the best way to offer all students the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. If, as one school-to-work administrator stated, application-oriented standards are to become the base or the "what" of what an educated person is expected to be, it is vital that school-to-work reformers function as key players in the development, implementation, and evaluation of those standards. School-to-work success stories will no longer be anecdotal but, rather, tangible proof of the benefits of the reform. This does not mean that the use of a standards-based curriculum in promoting the authentic teaching and learning strategies of school-to-work is without problems or obstacles. Carnegie Units are still widely used and accepted in the United States. Furthermore, teachers, both those in training and those in today's classrooms, are in need of professional development in order to become competent practitioners in new authentic learning and teaching methods. Third, there may be difficulty maintaining high levels of student performance as standard-based reforms and new application-oriented assessments are being instituted. This is a justifiable concern to students as well as their parents, teachers, and the postsecondary institutions to which they will be applying. Clearly, there is much work to do in achieving a well-functioning, standards-based educational system. That work must begin with a solid and well-structured implementation plan consisting of communication, professional development, and efforts to develop and fully test curricula and assessment instruments. |
| 2. | Become
a "work-in-progress"; support authentic teaching and learning strategies and
work to slowly overcome the obstacles and misperceptions of school-to-work.
Never lose sight of the real focus of school-to-work--the application of
knowledge. Although not fully embraced in all classrooms around the country, authentic learning and teaching has a stronger base of support than school-to-work programs that seek to incorporate employer needs and workplace scenarios into educational activities and academic curriculum. Authentic teaching and learning promotes a strong interdisciplinary and applied learning system that can be used to reform the entire school and support school-to-work. Successful programs seem to understand that simply moving instruction into the workplace will not ensure the growth and development of school-to-work. Programs must concentrate on ensuring that quality learning takes place that will enable students to apply their knowledge and not simply regurgitate it. For this reason, many of the successful school-to-work programs investigated during this project have first concentrated their energies on less controversial aspects of the reform such as authentic teaching and learning. They avoid using school-to-work titles and terminology that often promote misperceptions and fear. Despite the benefits of using authentic learning as a bridge to slowly promote school-to-work among hesitant individuals, there are dangers involved with slow, broad-based reform efforts. Local districts must be encouraged to personalize reforms to meet their needs but still must operate under some control from the state to ensure a unified direction. The state, under more stringent criteria than the local level to maintain positive outcomes and equity, is placed in the difficult role of keeping interest and enthusiasm high at the local level and offering some autonomy in program development. It is also difficult for all levels to maintain proper documentation when programs are in such an evolutionary phase. Teachers may find it difficult to report student achievement in a format that advances reform efforts yet is still familiar to higher education institutions, parents, and employers. This difficulty can prompt teachers to work against reform and advocate a more structured, static system. |
| 3. | Use
innovative ways to promote the use of guided experiences outside the classroom
and minimize the obstacles that come from workplace involvement in education. Unless otherwise convinced, some parents, students, and teachers believe that "vocational-sounding" programs such as school-to-work simply offer employers cheap labor and allow students the opportunity to file documents or answer phones.
|
| 4. | Focus
on the idea that using the workplace offers opportunities for students to
demonstrate adult behavior and take on additional responsibilities required in
college. One of the primary benefits that guided learning experiences outside of the classroom can offer students is an opportunity to function as more independent, mature individuals in a controlled environment with a strong support system of teachers and other concerned adults. Offering a guided learning experience to students makes it easier for high schools to emulate the autonomous environment that college students and adults face. Quality learning experiences offered outside the classroom allow even the best-prepared academic students to be spared the culture shock that often comes from entering the college community and the "real" world. |
| 5. | Offer
postsecondary institutions, parents, academic teachers, and students
alternative ways to report and interpret skills and knowledge; supply options
that meet traditional needs, while at the same time, present the richness of
skills and abilities that students gain through guided experiences outside the
classroom. Even postsecondary institutions that appear to have embraced experiential learning are often reluctant to abandon traditional admissions measures such as ACT and SAT scores in favor of skills and knowledge learned outside the classroom and reported in portfolios, résumés, references, and essays. School-to-work programs must offer hesitant individuals the opportunity to understand the benefits of a new way of learning and reporting skills but still allow them to take part in a system they know and believe in. Successful programs investigated during this project offered options for students, teachers, and parents so that they were exposed to the alternatives that guided learning experiences offer. |
| 6. | Be
more effective with the use of "electives" or the credits that have
traditionally been considered or labeled career or interest exploration courses. A school's traditional programs, activities, and curricula do not have to change with the inclusion of career and interest exploration. Programs can opt to integrate career concepts and ideas into mandatory courses so that all students gain the same opportunity to explore and reflect before high school graduation. This integration can be done without losing the academic rigor required in college-level courses. Moreover, programs can redefine elective courses and streamline mandatory courses so that students now make course selections that support an overall plan or focus for their lives. Students are not forced to make difficult choices between investigative courses and academic curricula. |
| 7. | Focus
on one philosophy regarding career and interest exploration. There is no need
to differentiate students based upon when they choose to enter the workplace;
all students benefit by being offered the opportunity to explore their
interests and ambitions. Ironically, programs can offer greater support for the school-to-work movement if they do not classify their students as "school-to-work" or "non-school-to-work" students. If programs are structured so that all students are offered the opportunity to explore career options and benefit from such exploration, the most difficult school-to-work obstacle can be overcome--the needless categorization of students. Empirical evidence is perhaps the most convincing argument for change. Programs that commit themselves to documenting the effects of their efforts will meet less resistance. Much needs to be, can be, and has been done to make school-to-work a reform that enhances student options after high school. Educators must remember that it is not sufficient to place students in jobs. Students must be given (or encouraged to get) quality work-based learning experiences that offer them the opportunity to mature and obtain the skills that will strengthen their classroom performance. Likewise, as a measure of success, it is not sufficient for an increasing number of school-to-work students merely to be accepted to college; they must thrive while in college and graduate. Avid opponents are being increasingly convinced that school-to-work offers the most powerful pedagogy and principles available to support changes taking place at the workplace and in the world. |