EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

The enthusiasm for the school-to-work strategy among policy makers, researchers, and some teachers at this point comes, first and foremost, from the enthusiasm and excitement shown by the students who have participated in school-to-work activities. Indeed some program operators are concerned that when word gets out about the opportunities associated with school-to-work, high-achieving students will become increasingly interested, thereby reducing the opportunities for other students. For example, at Chicago's High School of Agricultural Science, where one-third of the students are involved in internships with local area businesses, the principal complained that the internships were so popular that they were attracting her best students--those that traditionally were involved in in-school activities such as the yearbook and school newspaper.

Many school-to-work programs in fact have high college attendance rates. For example, Chicago's High School of Agricultural Science sent 80 percent of its students to college in 1996, 60 percent of whom went to four-year colleges.[13] The Philadelphia Academies send nearly 60 percent of their students to postsecondary schools.[14] About 85 percent of the graduates of New York City's Cooperative Education enroll in college. A 1995 evaluation of three youth apprenticeship programs found between 69 and 84 percent of the graduates enrolled in some form of postsecondary training or education soon after high school; the highest postsecondary rate was for an inner-city school where postsecondary enrollment rates are usually low (Jobs for the Future 1995).

While these figures may seem high to many who think of school-to-work as a vocational program, such statements do not reveal the college attendance rate if the same students had enrolled in a traditional school or program. There is now a small but growing body of research that evaluates school-to-work programs using either observationally equivalent comparison groups or random assignment methods.

Relevant systematic research that measures direct effects of innovations in teaching is beginning to emerge. The recent work of Newmann and Wehlage (1995) shows gains due to the use of authentic pedagogy both in traditional test scores and in their measures of "authentic learning." Programs that include work-based components also have positive results. Graduates of the California Academies, despite working more hours during high school than a comparison group, are just as likely to attend postsecondary schooling according to a study by Stern, Raby and Dayton (1992). A recent evaluation of the Manufacturing Technology Partnership (MTP) Program in Flint, Michigan, also found positive effects (Hollenbeck 1996). The program enrolled 11th and 12th graders and supplemented a formal school-based curriculum in manufacturing with work-based experiences at General Motors. The evaluation, which compared participating students to a similar comparison group of non-participants, found that the average high school grade point average and class rank were higher for MTP students and that the program dramatically reduced absences.[15]

New York City's Career Magnet schools provide a particularly compelling opportunity to study the effectiveness of programs with important school-to-work characteristics. New York high school students must apply for admissions to the career magnets. One half of the students are selected by lottery. The lottery losers for the most part attend their local area high school. This selection process sets up a natural experiment in which placement into the treatment group (those accepted at the magnets) and the control group (the lottery losers who attend their local high schools) is determined by a random process (the lottery).[16] An evaluation using this methodology found that programs that have school-to-work features do have important positive effects on academic test scores. Among other findings, the project concluded that career magnet graduates were more likely to have declared a college major and earned more college credits when they went to college than their counterparts from area comprehensive high schools with no career focus or exposure. These magnet students were, on average, employed more months after graduation and earned significantly more college credits. [17]

[13] This is a school that admits many students who traditionally are not headed for college. Admission is determined by lottery and the school has no cafeteria, no library and no gym.

[14] Data from Chicago and Philadelphia were obtained from phone interviews with school personnel.

[15] Most studies find that working a moderate number of hours per week has small positive or no effect on academic achievement, but some studies do find negative effects (Greenberger and Steinberg 1986, for example). See Stern et al. 1995 for a review of the research. However, much of this research focuses on employment in general rather than specifically designed work experiences and internships, and is therefore not relevant to the issues addressed in this paper.

[16] For a detailed description of the sample and methods see Heebner et al. 1992.

[17] Unpublished data from in-process research being conducted by Anna Allen and Robert Crain and funded by the Department of Education through the National Center for Research in Vocational Education at the Institute on Education and the Economy, Teachers College, Columbia University.