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PROCEDURE

Information about teacher involvement in and contributions to the facilitation of school-to-work transition was gathered through community profile studies. Since effective school-to-work transition must emphasize school-based learning, work-based learning, and linkages between the two, it was imperative that information be gathered from workplace and community representatives as well as educators. In order to establish a broad information base, it was important that persons from the education, workplace, and community subsets of each site be able to provide their respective views and perspectives. In the selection of community sites that would participate in the study, the following criteria were used:

the extent and effectiveness of school-to-work linkages and other involvement between schools and employers
the extent to which school- and work-based programs are fully operational and graduating students from these programs
documentation of the long-term commitment that schools, employers, and the community have made to school-to-work transition

Nominations for sites were sought through requests made to state school-to-work coordinators from across the United States. Other officials were contacted based on information about ongoing school-to-work activities in their states that were identified in the literature. The eleven community sites in eleven different states that were ultimately selected to participate in the study reflected a range of settings from rural to suburban to center city. At these sites, educational institutions we visited ranged from comprehensive high schools to secondary technical centers and technical colleges. At all the locations, schools were actively engaged in school-to-work transition activities and were closely linked with the workplace and the community. Further information about the various community sites is presented in the appendix.

At each of the sites, information was gathered through interviews with teachers, administrators, counselors, employers, and community representatives. These were individuals involved in school-based learning, work-based learning, and activities linking school-based and work-based learning. The primary information collection approach was the long interview, with a total of 199 persons interviewed at the eleven sites. The distribution of interviews was as follows:

30 school and school district administrators
25 academic subjects teachers
47 vocational subjects teachers
13 school guidance counselors
25 school-to-work and vocational education coordinators
42 business and industry representatives
17 community representatives

Included in the interview protocols were questions and probes designed to assist interviewees in identifying and describing best school-to-work practices teachers had used at each site, including those where they worked effectively with employers. The critical-incident technique (Flanagan, 1954) was utilized in the protocols to assist interviewees in describing examples of teachers' best practices. After the teacher, other educator, and business/industry/community protocols were drafted, we used them to interview several persons who were representative of those to be interviewed in the study. Based on this pilot use, minor changes were made to the protocols. As we began to interview people at the various sites, we found that minor revisions to protocol wording could improve the information gathering process. Based on our field experience, these changes were made to the protocols.

Following the recommendations of Hammersley and Atkinson (1983) and Miles and Huberman (1984), analysis began when the study was first being conceptualized and continued during protocol development and the interview process. However, analysis ultimately centered on identifying meaningful themes associated with teachers' school-to-work involvement and contributions imbedded in the interview text. It also gave consideration to the extent that aspects of these themes existed across sites. To handle the extensive text transcribed from the interviews, The Ethnograph software (Seidel, Kjolseth, & Seymour, 1988) was used. This software assisted us as we coded, grouped, coded again, and regrouped information according to established and emerging themes. To establish start lists of potential themes, we independently coded text for successive groups of interviewees from the first two community sites we had visited. After text for a small group of interviewees was coded, we compared our coding, discussed coding differences, and added and/or deleted themes based on mutual agreement. Successive rounds of coding and group discussions resulted in a meaningful start list of themes and descriptors related to these themes. When agreement was reached on the start lists, text for each remaining interview was independently coded by two of us and then we shared it with each other. Any differences in coding were discussed and coding changes were made based on mutual consensus.

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