TEACHER ACTIVITIES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO
SCHOOL-TO-WORK SUCCESS

• Involving Students in Organized Workplace Experiences
• Helping Students To Understand the Workplace
• Involving Workplace Representatives in School Curriculum and Instruction
• Providing Workplace Experiences for Students Through School Activities
• Including a Workplace Focus in School Instruction
• Learning about the Workplace in Ways that Contribute to Better Teaching
• Working in the Workplace
• Initiating and Maintaining Contact with Employers and the Community
• Designing Classroom Experiences Around Workplace Expectations
• Following up on Current and Former Students

1. Involving Students in Organized Workplace Experiences
2. Helping Students To Understand the Workplace
3. Involving Workplace Representatives in School Curriculum and Instruction
4. Providing Workplace Experiences for Students Through School Activities
5. Including a Workplace Focus in School Instruction
6. Learning about the Workplace in Ways that Contribute to Better Teaching
7. Working in the Workplace
8. Initiating and Maintaining Contact with Employers and the Community
9. Designing Classroom Experiences Around Workplace Expectations
10. Following up on Current and Former Students

Involving Students in Organized Workplace Experiences

. . . every one of our teachers here also has students on internship placements. And although we have school-to-work support in the form of coordinators and job coaches, the teachers themselves also visit the businesses. We like them to make physical contact with every student in an internship setting at least once a month.

A number of interviewees commented on the value of involving students in organized on-the-job experiences. A manager of a large supermarket discussed how he viewed students' on-the-job experiences as helping them to develop. He indicated that most of the students who come to him were getting ready for their first jobs and were "nervous about meeting the public." The job experience "brings them out of the little shells they are in and they learn how to communicate and how to be more polite to people." A supervisor in a manufacturing firm provided several insightful comments about a youth apprentice program's positive impact on students:

Well, of all the [students] in the apprentice program, I think we made offers to almost all of them. There were a couple of exceptions. Those who didn't accept employment with us and those that we didn't offer employment to left here with a much better idea of what the work environment was going to be. They got a taste of what they were going to have to do once they got out of school and had a greater feel for how to interact with their superiors and what kinds of interactions there are between the workers on the floor, purchasing, engineering, parts, and human resources because they were actually in the workforce. They were dealing with all of those functions so they got a much broader view of what manufacturing is all about than they could ever get in the classroom.

They point out [the students'] weaknesses and deficiencies in a positive way. They [the students] need to learn and I try particularly hard to put it as a learning experience. I don't . . . come out and say that you're dumber than a box of rocks. I usually come out and say I need help in this area and now how can you help me?

As for the cooperative work experience teachers, the biggest difference I think I have seen is most of [these teachers] would be working with one student and one employer or one employer and two students. In this instance [youth apprenticeship with the large corporation], we are talking about an employer willing to hire 100, 200, or 300 students.

Right now for next year, [the coordinators] make contacts out in the workforce, get volunteers from the businesses, and approach them to come over and sponsor a student because the bottom line is we want money for scholarships. If [a fast food corporation] or a law firm would sponsor a kid and then in the summer let that kid come and work in the law office, down the road [the businesses] can see the benefit that we are turning out students they can use as employees. We pick the people, get them here, match them with the kids, and then . . . biweekly or monthly, the kids go out and spend time with the mentor. The mentor comes to the school, spends time with the kids, and gets to build a relationship. [So the student has] someone to look up to, someone to emulate; and if the kids are in fields where this is really where they want to work, [it is] a good step in the right direction. Opens doors.

Helping Students To Understand the Workplace

Well, it gives them [the students] an idea of the real world. In some places they go, they can see that you don't have to dress up but you have to wear equipment, so there would be safety devices. They can look at the ergonomics of it, the software used, the skills they would need, and when they talk to people they can get an idea that this person may basically sit a lot, or this person is on the phone a lot, or this person runs all over the place.

The kids actually get out there and get to see exactly what is going on and that there are real people out doing a job that requires X amount of education and they can actually make a living doing this. It might pay them X amount of dollars or whatever. But [the students] actually get out there and they can actually see what's going on and it kind of stimulates their interest . . . . [I]t shows them that in real life you have to know some basic science and math.

. . . what we are doing generally throughout our whole programming is not an occupation skills kind of connection with the employer. They are affective skills. [Employers] are dealing with students who are just becoming accustomed to the idea of work and who are in a sense meeting for the initial purpose of demystifying [the workplace for students].

We've had teachers [bring] their students. Our chef, our manager will greet them and show them room-by-room through our particular establishment, describing for them how every station in the house is functioning and permit them, on many occasions, to observe us during a meal period so that they can see first-hand how things are working.

It's a different thing when it is really happening. [The students] will call me a lot to find out if [there is] anything going on in court [for them to watch]. They do come down and they will watch the trials and different proceedings. We've taken them and introduced them to the courtroom personnel and the judges that sit on the bench. They really get a kick out of watching justice in action.

This year we didn't field trip as much because we were able to hit it locally. . . . We had the new building site coming up [and] the architect whom I work for during the summer was very helpful in coming in and helping with our local contest. He sent over bid sheets and kept the students up-to-date on what we were doing there. . . . It would be what I call a field trip. We just simply didn't have to leave campus this year because we had it on site.

a panel of business [persons] talk about what they are expecting in the next five to seven years in the welding industry. This way the students had an opportunity to ask any questions they wanted to the entire panel of seven different business [persons] who were either production managers or company owners.

Involving Workplace Representatives in School Curriculum and Instruction

Offering Advice

[The advisory committees are] pretty much advising the direction of the curriculum. In a way [they are] keeping the teacher in line; and I say this not that teachers should be intimidated. It's a resource for the teacher and the longer you are out of the workforce and industry, the more you're going to stray from what's currently going on. . . . That's [the teachers'] primary way of keeping in touch. It's happened where teachers have requested equipment that was totally unrealistic for what they were teaching and the advisory committee would say "you don't need that kind of equipment. It's outdated; we don't use that anymore in the industry. This equipment is what you need." [The advisory committee] is also a wonderful resource for providing internship sites for students in that program . . . almost all the advisory committee members have a vested interest in that program and are almost always willing to place students in learning experiences. So I see it as a direct follow-through of benefits to the students.

I guess the way [the advisory committee] links is because the people on my advisory committee are very active business people. For example, [one person on] my advisory committee is also the program coordinator and director of respiratory care services at a local hospital. She was very instrumental in putting me in contact with other rehabilitation professionals at the hospital. [Other committee members] also put me in touch with people they knew were actively involved and that were interested in student work experiences in the community.

Making Presentations

. . . [the guest speakers] come in and they show the kids something different. I mean [the students] see me every day and they hear me every day. But . . . if [the students] see this person come in, especially if [the visitor is] younger and more their age, [the students] tend to listen a little bit more. They come in and tell [the students] about their jobs and what they do and some of the problems that come about with their jobs or maybe a specific area of their jobs.

I think it opens a lot of doors for students in a way that they had not thought about. A lot of them have not even thought about the many professions . . . what jobs might be available to them, and this opens some doors for them. It [has] also closed some doors because some students were really interested in doing something and they started getting some more information and then they decided that was not meant for them. So it worked both ways, opening and closing doors for them.

We have guests in all the time. . . . I just have to call the commonwealth attorney. [This person] is coming over this coming Tuesday for [a county parent teacher conference day]. He's going to talk to all our students. . . . [A prosecutor] comes here every other week. She is supposed to leave her tapes [for use by the students] from the three trials that she prosecuted. Two of them are murder trials and the kids are always interested in that.

At a different site, a school-to-work director who also taught classes described a creative arrangement that enabled a person from industry to provide specialized content to students in the schools.

I have a teacher who comes in [from a manufacturing company] and gives me release time. He's a welder-machinist. He comes in every afternoon at noon and teaches the entire afternoon block for the whole week. . . . In turn, we do things for their company they can't do for themselves at a very reasonable rate.

Assessing Student Progress

I think that the professionals have a different kind of way of viewing what the students are doing because our objectives in the workforce are slightly different from the objectives [when] the teachers are teaching [the students] things. And so we have a tendency to observe different kinds of details and offer [the students] a different kind of insight and input on what they are doing that they would not get from their teachers . . .

For instance . . . we have CAD people come in from industry and they administer the test. They [the industry people] can give the student direct feedback from their background as to whether or not the test [outcomes are] something industry standards will accept. They give feedback to the teacher [and] . . . the students. In auto service, [the teachers] like to hold the students accountable. If [the students] can't pass the industry administered performance test, they either have to revisit those things they didn't do well [on] or they cannot go on to the next level.

Providing Resources

[For] the local schools here, I have purchased books. [The] schools can't always afford the training materials they need and we usually spend about $1,000 just purchasing training materials for the local teachers.

We have donated automobiles to the school here. We are trying to get them to teach the [automobile] technology as well as basic systems. We have given [the automotive program] what we call an IVLS, which is an Intelligent Video Learning System. This piece of equipment is really a computer that has a video disc and a light pen. [The students] actually interact with the computer [and] learn brakes and engines and electronics and things like that.

. . . using the industrial prints . . . makes the transition from the school setting to work smoother. So the students are familiar with the work when they go out [into the workplace]. It's "Oh, look at that. I understand this. This is not too hard."

Making Other Contributions

[The council] found that their ability to compete in the economic development arena was hindered by our weak and scattered vocational education here in the valley. They studied it for a couple of years [and] decided they needed someone from inside the system to work with them on it. So [the council] came to the school districts and college and asked if they could identify a person that was amenable to work for them. If [the council] would pay that person's salary, would the college and the school districts support the development of a plan for enhancing the vocational education profile in the community. [The council] then went through the process of selecting me.

We send this [form] out to all the employers once a month. They check off how many employees they have and that type of general [information]. But on the bottom, it asks them about their employment trends and what kind of classifications they will be hiring and what kind of skills these classifications need. We share that with the high school counselors to make them aware of general trends. If there is a general trend for more nurses or [fewer] nurses or more welders or more machinists . . . it helps [the counselors] in advising students as to what careers a student may get involved in. . . . [S]ometimes the local trends are opposite of what is going on at the national level.

Providing Workplace Experiences for Students Through School Activities

I think that the most important aspect of the whole thing is that the student can see what he or she is learning in the classroom or the work site will benefit him or her beyond his or her formal education . . . So many times the students get discouraged and drop out of school because they think what they're learning is not really going to benefit them directly. This practical application conveys to them [the relevance] in a very clear manner and I think it helps them tremendously.

All of our construction areas have projects that the boys and girls work on, either on campus or away from campus. For example, out at [one of our elementary schools] they needed some new classrooms. The electrical class, the masonry class, the carpentry class, [and] the welding class have all worked on [constructing] those classrooms. . . . If you were to go by one of those jobs you would not be able to tell whether it was a [high school] crew or whether it was a real construction crew working.

We had a renovation of our social services building that was handled by the vocational department. The students showed up and performed the work. Completing it saved us 6 digits, probably $250,000. The auto mechanics class has refurbished a mobile command center for the volunteer firemen, saving again thousands, tens of thousands, probably 25 to 30 thousand dollars with the finished product.

Including a Workplace Focus in School Instruction

We can no longer afford, as educators, to sit in our ivory tower and be unaware of the steep change in technology and workplace issues that our business community is facing, and teach students the way we taught them twenty years ago. . . . [E]xpectations in the workplace are significantly different than they were 20 years ago. One of the biggest problems is that too many, far too many, educators have spent their entire lives sheltered and isolated in the educational environment.

Approaches to Workplace Focused Instruction

Every student and every [teacher] is involved in VICA in some way. You teach a particular skill whether it's manicuring, whether it's servicing a car, whether you are making an omelet. All these things we mention [in VICA competitions] are job demonstrations. They are jobs that actual people can do in industry. But it depends on how well you do those jobs. One thing about VICA is that it builds the confidence level of the students, it builds their self-esteem to where they are making positive choices about their careers. . . . Many of the students have not gone out of the state . . . , out of [this city], haven't stayed in a motel for a weekend, or gone to the [VICA] nationals.

What I like about DECA . . . is that we use for real, real life things that come up in the workplace [as] for role-play activities. . . . [For example,] you've got customers, they're trying to pass off bad checks, they're on your bad check list. Now here's the store policy. How do you handle them? That's what I like.

. . . the only thing I can stress is how my subject is related to careers that [the students] are going into. I try to incorporate a lot of things. I have debates in my class. As a matter of fact, I've even had them go down to the law library and look up laws. And then I'll set up judges and prosecution and defense and have a mock trial. Anything that I can think of that fits in with the subject area, I'll try. . . . Some of the [students] are totally unaware of what's taking place in terms of the courtroom so we do several of those a year.

Academic Teachers and Applied Instruction

This past semester, one of my science classes was applied physics for the people in the woods program. We did a unit on heat transfer and we found out about "R" values and how you calculate them and then how you go about looking at heat losses in a whole house. And the examples I have came from the building permit people at the city hall. You know if I was going to change my furnace or something, [this is] the information [the building permit people] would want to know before they gave me a building permit.

I think it's been a real good program. . . . [W]e have a lot more students taking math and science than we would normally have, which is great. Whether [the students] are going on to a vocational field, going into a different type of area, or an academic field, I think this has [gotten] them more involved. We have students that we [would never] have thought would have ever taken . . . any more math because I had some [of these students] in the seventh grade. I know now that they are going through the Applied Math I and Applied Math II. They are taking sciences that I never thought they could have taken.

That's what really excites me about applied academics. I think applied academics really have merit for doing just that; being able to tie mathematics to what job or career choice you are interested in.

Speech and writing, listening skills, and employability are three goals in our high school . . . Therefore, we tie the goals into industry . . . Students work in groups because . . . industry has told us that [employees] do not work individually. They work in pods or groups. So you'll find more of our classrooms where teachers are setting up activities where students have to depend on each other.

Well, I think that what helps the kids is learning that they have to work together. And then when they get into the workplace, I know they are going to apply a lot of knowledge from the academics they've learned. But I think that just letting them know how to be able to communicate with people, and how to handle personality conflicts [is important]. That's really what I emphasize to the students because when they get out there later on, it's not always going to be fun.

Vocational Teachers and Applied Instruction

A school board member's statement about how a teacher in his district applies instruction provides a useful lesson for all teachers:

One thing does come to mind. We have a pastry chef in one of our programs who is a certified teacher but he's also spent many years as a chef out in industry. And they were able to recruit him to come in to teach. A lot of his business experience has gone into teaching that class so not only was he able to teach the kids about cooking, he was able to teach them about the restaurant environment. They actually set up a restaurant, they had meals, they had lunches for staff.

I run my shop as close to a dealership situation as I can and if these kids left my class and went to a dealership, they would instantly see a lot of similarities [with] what I am teaching. . . . I explain to them how commission pay works, writing repair orders, the way that cars are run through the shop, looking up information, and diagnosing problems.

So [the students] are able to go there and assist with reports and they're able to actually use some of their knowledge that they picked up from anatomy and physiology. . . . We've had a lot of comments from the doctors. They are amazed that the students know a lot about the pathophysiology of the body. But that's where academics and my course have played a major role in helping the students.

Learning about the Workplace in Ways that Contribute to Better Teaching

The Value of Learning about the Workplace

A lot of the teachers come right out of school into teaching so they may or may not know what goes on in a . . . business or industry. So this [experience in the workplace] gives them an opportunity to dispel some of the old myths about what happens in industry. . . . They can learn first hand and take that [information] back to the students and say "This is what the business expects you to do."

I think for the teacher who may have been in his or her classroom for a long period of time, the business world, the entire world is going through such changes. . . . Let's say that working my way through college I worked in a factory 20 years ago. If I went out [to that factory] today, the factory looks very different. That has had an impact on what the real world looks like . . . and it is important to share that information with students that I'm advising or teaching.

Employers were telling us that potential [employees] did not have the skills needed in the workplace. So, to understand a little bit more about what's going on in the workplace, and [to see] how there can be an alignment of our curriculum with what's needed out in the workplace, what better way to do it than to take [teachers] out and let [them] see the types of challenges, the types of industries, and the technology.

. . . if they [the teachers] could go into a business and find out the skills, the techniques, the different skill levels, that were required in a given business, then they could come back to their [classes] and not only be able to add that [content] to their curriculum but be able to field questions from their students.

Internships in the Workplace

Let me just stress the importance of having what I call a center of influence within the community and that person is the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. He has been very supportive of the school system in many of our activities--not just [the back to industry program]. I don't think I can overstress the importance of having someone in the community that's in touch with the business and industry people to . . . serve as that communication link.

I am assuming that [the teachers] had some say in the selection process because the ones that have been with us have been particularly interested in health care for one reason or another. [We have had] primarily science-oriented teachers, although we have had some communications [and] English teachers too. We bring these people in and talk at length about their interests and what they want to experience during the week with us. . . . [W]e have every minute scheduled for them so that they get as broad an experience as possible. [They] usually spend a day in a particular department [radiology, ultrasound, nuclear] and [put on appropriate clothing] and do hands-on tasks as much as possible so they are right in there seeing what happens. [The teachers] talk to staff about education requirements, [and] certification requirements, opportunities for financial growth. We saw samples of the reporting they do. They . . . keep a journal and go home daily and record their experiences in the workplace and write a report at the end. We are just really pleased and we [received] really good reports as to how valuable the time was [for the teachers].

I tried to get [the teachers] with the supervisors of those departments. Some days they spent maybe 30 to 45 minutes with those supervisors and then just stood back and observed. A lot of it was observing and just watching and they took notes as they went along. . . . they came to me if they had any questions and I tried to get everything answered. In fact, one [teacher] called back with more questions the next week after the program was over. She was trying to come up with a lesson plan and . . . a game plan to use the knowledge she got here at the bank.

. . . there is a two-week process in which there is actually classwork involved with what the business world is looking for, with what some of the concepts are. It includes everything from what one sees on the assembly line to actually touring various facilities, as well as working hands-on with some of the workers to seeing exactly what the workers do and [what] they need to know. . . . It's one thing to read in a book that this person puts a rivet in a hole; but you also need to see where you need to put the micrometer to measure, what you need to measure, what kind of math and [other] skills are needed, what personal skills are needed, [and] what skills are needed to be an employee.

Visiting the Workplace

This gives the teachers an opportunity to get into the businesses and see what is actually going on. When I was in the classroom, I did the VIP Program and it was a good way for me to go back and modify what I was doing in my classroom to meet what [were] actually the needs of the community.

At our company we haven't had many teachers. In fact, we haven't had any teachers doing any kind of job shadowing or summer job experiences. We've had teachers look at the areas, if it was lasers, if it was drafting; [and] spend a couple of hours looking at what we do and take back some information, [and] possibly some parts or equipment. So they have some understanding of what we do. And the teachers that we've had out have been very excited about coming back and [are] actually talking to their students about what's going on in the workplace.

. . . normally I will go in [to the company and] I like to talk to anybody from the shop foreman on up. If I can, I see the CEO. Generally, I talk to the human resources people and say "Hey, I want to come out and find out what you all are doing. I'd like to go through and see what's going on and how I can help you." Yes, I focus on how I can help them and how they can help me better prepare people for the workplace. And most of them are very happy to see me. They will spend a great deal of time and then they will take me out and introduce me to engineers or supervisors or plant managers. In fact, I am able a lot of times to give them suggestions. I went into a local business just four months ago and they were doing an operation that was relatively time consuming and I said "are you aware of this piece of equipment that is relatively new in the marketplace?" Well no, they had never heard of it, so I said "Would you be interested in knowing some more about it? I really think it could save you a lot of time and I know time is money."

Impact of the Workplace Experiences

I got really excited about [the] continuous improvement process and probably I should have known about it from some other source. But I didn't. And so I learned a whole new method of assessing what I was doing. [The people in the workplace] really stress the team approach, the value of work. And I now do everything, in every class, even keyboarding, in teams. I give team grades, not just individual grades. All that came out of that program [in the workplace]. It gave me a whole new way.

It's made many of them recognize the importance of incorporating work-based experiences in to their curriculum. It's also helped many teachers who have never been in a workplace setting [besides teaching] to understand what goes on in business and industry and what some of those requirements are. . . . [W]e have many teachers that went from college into teaching . . .

You can apply a real life work situation to the classroom. "Well, you know, I was out at ABC company last week and they are using this particular type of software." Students know they are getting up-to-date training. I think [the teachers] can bring what they have learned on the tours as far as what is going on [in the workplace]; maybe team concepts, working together . . .

Working in the Workplace

Most of the comments related to working other than teaching as an activity that linked the school and the workplace came from teachers. Commenting on the benefits of working in the workplace, a drafting teacher felt that vocational teachers had a distinct advantage over academic teachers because of their workplace experience:

I think the advantage we have over a traditional academic teacher is 99% of us have experience in the field that we're teaching in. So we know what an industry is asking for because we've done it.

Most of the teachers have been involved in the business world. We've had jobs just like everyone else besides just teaching. I think that has helped me more than anything else. I know how it [the workplace] changes; I learned interpersonal skills. I probably worked in the business world for about 15 years.

I think the thing that has helped me the most personally is working in the industry this summer because when I came back and started my class [I said] "you need to learn this because I just did it this summer and this is what you've got to do if you're going to go to work." . . . I'm a professional technician and to put it bluntly if I don't do something to upgrade my skills I'm afraid that I'm going to lose them and I don't want to be a teacher. I want to be a professional technician that shares my knowledge.

When [the businesses] have a problem they can't figure out, they will call me and I go in as a consultant and work with them. Some of those businesses will bring their vehicles to my home and leave them with me when there is a problem they can't figure out. . . . But when I finish the vehicle, I don't just take it back; I tell them what I found and how I found it and try to turn it into a learning process for them as well as myself and that's built a lot of confidence in the community.

Initiating and Maintaining Contact with Employers and the Community

Establishing Linkages and Partnerships

Teachers were most directly involved in establishing informal linkages. A marketing teacher indicated that "teachers in [the county] do see the community as a resource in assisting them in their teaching" and that "teachers have made contacts on their own." However, some teachers took the initiative to seek out partners and establish formal linkages with them. For example, a pharmacy teacher who was looking for employers to provide internships for students in her program stated,

. . . about a week before school started in September . . . I went after Kroger's [pharmacies] right away and probably at the end of November they agreed to [establish a partnership] but we didn't actually sign it until January or February.

Another meaningful partnership was spearheaded by a county Chamber of Commerce that helps keep students in school. Local Chamber of Commerce officials obtained agreement from both educators and numerous businesses and industries that employers would not hire youngsters on a full-time basis unless they had high school diplomas.

Several suggestions were provided by those interviewed for establishing linkages and partnerships. These have implications for teachers and others. First, it was suggested that schools provide an open-door policy for businesses to contact them. Second, as an educational administrator put it, "encourage teachers to go out and contact businesses. . . . We encourage the formation of partnerships when [the teachers] do that contacting." And third, ask what educators can do for the employer. An administrator explained the idea this way:

The first thing we ask the business is what can we do for them? What are their needs? What are they seeing in students that are coming in looking for employment? We find a need [and] then we find a way to address that need. That generally starts the partnership right.

Gaining Information about the Workplace

I think a lot of our teachers are involved through the local chamber and the local city groups. I think almost all the teachers belong to those groups and I think that enhances their knowledge of what goes on in the community and what they need to know in all the schools.

. . . once [my students] graduate I give them my business card. . . . It's got my home phone number on it and I tell them that "anytime you need to contact me, you contact me and I'll help you [and] answer any questions that you've got and won't charge you anything for it or anything like that." And I get a lot of feedback from [them] which tells me which directions we need to go.

Another thing we have learned . . . is that one party cannot do it [school-to-work transition] in the absence of the other. . . . The industrial people are light on pedagogy and how young people learn. The school people are real light on how you use algebra in the workplace. They're pretty clueless about that. So they need the benefit of that information. And it's been, so far, a very successful experience.

Gaining Access to Employer Support and Resources

Another thing the teachers have done, they have built relationships with various companies so that if companies have in-house training programs such as management training or conflict resolution or whatever, teachers are very good at saying "May we come to these?" For instance, [a large company] has a very intense management training program and they have taken over 100 teachers through that professional development . . .

Improving Student Job Development and Placement Opportunities

. . . one of the things that I feel I did when I first got [this teaching] job was to join the organization. We have a local early childhood organization and I became active in that. And I joined it mainly so I would have contact with the child care providers in the community because at that point I didn't know any of them. And of course over the years some of them have been real faithful. The placements [they provide] I use all the time; and they're real happy to have the students. So that's one piece.

I think it helps to start to know people in the industry, the contacts, and keep up those contacts. Because it also helps with employability afterwards. I have one particular daycare [center] that if they get an application and its from one of my students, they'll call. Or if they need people, lots of times they'll call and say "We have this opening." Or, "Do you have anybody?" "Who do you recommend?"

Well I think it contributes a lot because not only do [the students] hear me say in the class "You know that we're going to do this because this is what you are going to do if you get a job." Then when they . . . get a job in the industry and I come by and visit with them, . . . they say "You know, you were right, we are doing what we were trained to do." And they are kind of excited, so to say, about the fact that [they] learned something in school and [they are] going to use it.

I'm finding for the more successful programs we have in the school that represent school-to-work, that you'll find those teachers are out in the community developing placements for their students. And, as a result of that activity, they are really getting to know the employers and employees.

Providing Assistance to Employers and the Community

The [teachers in the school] did change their training. They got more into classroom work involving blueprint reading, tape measures, and math. They were already doing some of that but they modified it a little bit after those students were in here. The students actually went back [to the instructors] and said, "You know, we really need more of this; we need less of this."

. . . a lot of times the [teachers] are asked to speak at various . . . companies, to talk with employees about [the] jobs they are doing. They will go there and get to know the management and employees of the company, forming a bond so that the people in the organization will know the teachers are there to assist. . . . Several of our [teachers] have spoken at [the] Rotary and the Lions Club.

I went to [another city] four weeks in a row to receive training and right now I'm one of only two instructors [in the region] who are authorized to teach the new federal emissions program. So I can offer . . . some of the training when I go into these businesses.

. . . a service to the employers that if they ever need any help of any kind or if . . . the students they hire [need any help, they] can call me any time. . . . I can be of service to them.

Promoting the School and School Programs

Several teachers commented on the need for quality marketing. A graphic art design teacher stated that even a business card could spell the difference between marketing success and failure:

You know, I made sure my business cards looked very good since I'm trying to sell the [printing firms]. I mean everything has to be just right. I can't give them a bad looking business card; these are printers I'm dealing with. When I started here the business cards were horrible. So I printed up some new ones and made sure they looked good so the industry [will not] say "Doesn't he want me to hire his students?"

If you're going to try to sell something, first you have to have the product and then you've got to make it available in as many places as you can. Over the radio, through TV, and whatever. I think that's been our approach here. . . . If we need to train for a specific industry, well we'll do that. They [people from industry] come out here [to the school] and get more of an idea of what we're all about. We get more of an idea of what they're all about so we have a better appreciation of each other.

Designing Classroom Experiences Around Workplace Expectations

I think it's real important that we tie it all together with what happens when [the graduates] get a job. . . . Our public education for so many years is just taught from textbooks that never really expanded upon what happens after you get out of school.

I think [our education] links by letting the students know what is expected of them in the workplace. Many students are sheltered. They're not only sheltered at home; they are sheltered in their neighborhoods and they feel this is the only lifestyle. There is more than one lifestyle and we [teachers] hopefully give them a small introduction of what to expect in the real world.

The biggest complaint [from] manufacturers was the kids they were hiring out of high school . . . [they] didn't know how be on time. They didn't know how to handle themselves [in an] employer/employee situation. They didn't know how to dress. Is that the teacher's fault? Of course, its not. . . . But everything we do, I don't care what business you're in whether it is retail, manufacturing, doctoring, or lawyering, those skills you attain through on the job, or through college, or through your education, relate back to high school.

Planning

What happens is that when we designed our model we sat down with all the people that were involved. We looked at the [state] requirements . . . in terms of graduation requirements. We looked at the SCANS [Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills] objectives. We articulated with many groups--community, parents, [and] business personnel--to be sure that when we designed our model it incorporated all of these entities. As a result, we designed a Tech Prep program that addressed the needs of each person or each group. So that's really our main focus: to meet the needs because, again, we are trying to get these kids ready for the workplace, life-long learning, living and learning, etc.

It would have been a straight textbook type of curriculum. And what we did is we took the Academy's competencies and we transposed that . . . and we changed [the curriculum] in to real-life applications. And the curriculum changed dramatically from a textbook approach . . . to something of real-life engagement. They [the students] do accident re-creations, . . . they are out in the woods doing compassing, I mean they're doing all that stuff. And that's the hands-on engagement I was telling you about.

I believe [the school-to-work effort] was initiated because some of our teachers saw that there was a real need for this communication in the business world, and that we do prepare our students when they graduate to be able to enter that business world. So I think that some of us saw this as a very important thing to do . . . [t]he very fact that we're putting out that energy to understand the needs of the community. We're helping to forge that link between the high schools and the community, just by the fact that we are sensitive to these needs and we know where the kids have to go. We realize there's a deficit there; that linking is not going on between the high schools and the business community.

It was a consortium of educators and business leaders who got together and developed this program. . . . It covers the criteria that employers want students to be aware of when they become employees. Not only are the skills physical skills, [but] also being able to work together [and] being able to communicate. It is sort of like the SCANS requirements.

Teaching

Well let me tell you what we do. When we teach them something, or any of us that come in here teach in this environment, we try to use as many real world examples as possible. I've always used the term "real world" in anything I've done because if it doesn't relate to something you're going to use after you get out of my classroom, then you lose it.

One of the important things we've learned in [our school district] is that this sort of education is not about content. That you can take the traditional content we've always said is important, and it's just simply the way students experience that content. It's about pedagogy. It's about the way you organize classroom activities. It's about having students construct knowledge instead of just hearing it in a passive form. Having them actively involved in activities that construct knowledge is completely in concert with cognitive science and cognitive psychology . . . What we're doing [in our school district] is absolutely in concert with the new vision of how people learn and how people learn most effectively.

Following up on Current and Former Students

One administrator at a school we visited stated that teachers were held responsible for following up on their own students. This person mentioned that teachers were told, "Now that you think about it, yes, you are held responsible. And I do expect you to find jobs for this kid and follow-up on that kid: one, three, and five year follow-ups."

In another location, the executive administrator for school-to-work opportunities in a community indicated that

the teachers are involved in the placement of their students in permanent jobs. So that's not something that is solely handled by someone else, so to speak. So there is heightened awareness on the part of teachers as to what the employment needs are.

I like to visit the sites to get some feedback from the teachers in terms of what my students are doing, how they are doing. I like to visit in terms of keeping the personal contact up and being able to place students in the site because they know what's going on. And I like to see what's going on at the [child care] centers and sites myself in terms of knowing what kind of environment because the people [with whom] my students are placed are also doing the evaluation of my students for that time slot and everybody has different levels and different ways of evaluating students' work. So it helps me to kind of have a handle on that person . . . and sometimes if I get an evaluation that doesn't seem to fit the student, I can get an idea on that, too. I also get a lot of new ideas from visiting the sites that I take back to the students [who have not yet gone out on the job].

. . . to develop a good follow through and a good follow-up plan for their students. Many teachers feel that once their students are placed in jobs, that's it; but often these students need someone to check on them, to call them. They need a base where they can always come back and get advice, referrals, maybe even just to complete a résumé or get a good reference. I think teachers need to be aware of that. Their job is never finished. Once [the teachers] place students on the job, they need to be there for the students, to follow them through to make sure [the students] will be successful on the job.

A lot of kids today, I think, are missing that personal touch. You have a lot of one-parent families. You have a lot of both parents working. So who is really paying attention to Johnny or Mary in terms of their behavior in any situation? [The people in this youth apprentice program] have identified that as being significant to what is going on [here].