Stern, D., Finkelstein, N., Stone, J. R., III, Latting, J., & Dornsife, C. (1994). Research on School-to-Work Programs in the United States (MDS-771). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California.

Cooperative Education

Although evaluation of postsecondary co-op programs has been supported by the Higher Education Act (e.g., see Fletcher, 1989), most of these evaluations have been done in four-year colleges. Evaluations of co-op in two-year colleges have been too sparse and too limited to permit any firm conclusions or generalizations. We summarize here the few studies we have found.

Siedenberg (1989) has proposed a simple statistical model to isolate the impact of co-op education on students' initial wage after graduation. According to this model, the initial wage rate (W) that a graduate will receive is a function of her stock of human capital (H), a vector of personal characteristics and proxies for cognitive and affective traits (P), and labor market conditions (L). Formally,

Using data from 840 co-op and non-co-op students, Siedenberg found that co-op students received lower wages while in college, but after graduation their wages were no lower or higher than non-co-op graduates. He concluded that "participants in the co-op program had increased the quantity and quality of their human capital while at the college" (p. 26).

Heinemann (1988), an advocate of co-op education, described the benefits of a co-op program at LaGuardia College in New York. LaGuardia is the only two-year college in the U.S. where co-op education is mandatory for all full-time students. The program consists of three, three-month, full-time co-op education assignments. Heinemann's data shows that most students who complete their first co-op assignment go on to complete their degree. Employer evaluations reflect satisfied employers and enthusiastic and eager students. Approximately two-thirds of LaGuardia students continue their education (1983 data). The college is known for its co-op program, and it is believed that it is because of co-op that enrollments have grown.

The research problem addressed by Krebs (1988) was the perceived usefulness of the co-op experience for graduates who entered the labor force. He included graduates from two different co-op programs in his survey: the Production and Operating Management (POM) program and Marketing Management (MAM) program. It is important to note that the sample was relatively small (n=89), and that response rates were much lower for the MAM program (35%, versus 72% for POM). The co-op in this study consisted of a two-day per week compulsory placement in a company. The independent variables measured in the study were a match between co-op experience and first job, challenge of work experience, and demands made by the instructor. The dependent variable, usefulness of co-op experience, measured how often after graduation the graduates reportedly used the skills and knowledge acquired in the co-op experience. Regression analysis showed that POM graduates considered their co-op experience more useful than did MAM graduates, controlling for other predictors. The match and challenge dimensions of the co-op experience were strongly correlated with reported usefulness. Demands made by the instructor were found to have little effect on the perceived usefulness. Women from the POM program were found to have considerably higher means on all variables than men in either program.

Stern, Stone, Hopkins, McMillion, and Cagampang (1992) used 1989 baseline postsecondary data from the NCRVE longitudinal survey to compare 228 co-op students in two-year colleges to 375 non-co-op students at the same colleges, all of whom were employed in the same occupational categories. (Survey procedures are described in Cagampang et al., 1993.) The survey included questions about qualitative characteristics of the current job. Table 9 summarizes salient findings, which indicate that co-op students see a stronger connection between their present job and their expected career (statements 1a and 1b), express more interest in their current jobs (statements 2a and 2b), report more opportunity for learning in their current jobs (statements 3a and 3b), and see a closer connection between school and work (statements 4a, 4b, and 4c). Whether these qualitative differences in students' work experience contribute to subsequent educational or economic outcomes is not yet known.

Stern, D., Finkelstein, N., Stone, J. R., III, Latting, J., & Dornsife, C. (1994). Research on School-to-Work Programs in the United States (MDS-771). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California.