School-to-work programs in postsecondary education have the potential to help young people find their first full-time jobs and acquire a capacity for learning while they work. Data show cooperative education students' wages are neither higher nor lower than those of non-co-op students. However, one evaluation has found the following: co-op…

Employers have played an important role in the education reform movements of the 1980s and 1990s; they have been vocal about the education deficiencies of the people they interview. They have focused on what the schools can do to improve education, but there are things that employers can do. The first thing is to make achievement matter by taking…

This issue focuses on contextual learning (CL), in which students master rigorous academic content in real-world or work-based learning experiences. "Emerging Trends in CL Show Positive Results for Students" discusses CL as an important strategy for improving student achievement. It describes: how CL raises the bar for all students,…

The Business and Education Transition Alliance (BETA) is a model school-to-work transition program that was developed to facilitate the school-to-work transition of at-risk youth in the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado. Among the BETA program's specific goals are the following: increase students' knowledge/understanding of demands of the…

The internship program at La Guardia Community College (New York) confirms the possibility of achieving the level of employer participation required for the success of an educational reform movement centered on work-based learning. The La Guardia program, which has existed for 25 years and has provided 1,800-2,000 internships annually, shares its…