This qualitative study examined the actions of district and school leaders in changing from a traditional age-based grade-level structure to a standards-based student grouping model in a Western school district. Based on interview, observation, and artifact data collected over 5 years, the findings identify specific leadership actions that…

Despite the proliferation of data about student performance, secondary school educators have had difficulty accessing data on their former students' post-high school employment and earnings in the formal economy. This article describes how one community used state unemployment insurance data, merged with student record data, to investigate the…

Traces the evolution of selection and measurement of employees, and identifies the skills found to be most needed and least developed in today's labor pool--oral communication, listening, problem solving, leadership, and organizational ability. (Author/WD)

In this interview, the director of the Federal National School-to-Work Office explains the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. This comprehensive, systemwide investment covers all age groups and is designed to help communities examine their workforce preparation programs, identify gaps, and devise plans for a system that serves all students. (MLH)

Through the community's active involvement in developing, promoting, implementing, and maintaining Career Quest, the Dothan (Alabama) Public Schools have been restructured to meet all students' needs. District schools feature a high school tech prep/college prep curriculum and a comprehensive K-12 career education system. Area businesses are now…

According to a survey of 148 small business employers, schools should teach youngsters basic math, reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills, along with specialized skills needed for technology, business, public service, personal service, health, and consumer occupations. Schools should also teach good grooming, healthy habits, and the…

Summarizes the main claims of Herrnstein and Murray's "The Bell Curve," discusses the scientific arguments regarding these claims, and presents educational implications of the current state of scientific knowledge. If we fail to recognize the diverse abilities of students lacking high intelligence quotients, we will waste our nation's…

Any long-term solution to improving the American workforce through high school reform must address the fundamental issue behind the press for youth apprenticeships--the need for a formal, national system that brings together industry, government, and education to create a mainstream, high prestige, school-to-work transition program. The proposed…

Suggests a program for the semiskilled worker or nonacademic student that could help address the present needs of the students as well as prepare them for future careers. (WD)

A Texas school system's Tech Prep Career Passport program equips high school students with skills consistent with their career goals and businesses with a better-prepared workforce. The Passport documents a graduate's completion of a three-course concentration within one of six tech-prep career pathways. A resume, letters of introduction and…

A Portland, Oregon, high school adopted the tech-prep/school-to-work career pathway structure five years ago. This model offers a framework for a student's career development, based on a broad selection within a career path, such as human services, business and management, industrial and engineering systems, and other endeavors. Choice is flexible…

Instead of perpetuating a macroeconomic labor-exchange model, educators must discover how to promote individual career planning for everyone. If each person has one lifelong career, we must help people get and keep jobs, while helping them plan future worklives and balance work roles and responsibilities with other life roles. (22 references) (MLH)

Alabama has developed a course of science study that incorporates the National Research Council's standards in science teaching, professional development, assessment, content, program, and system standards. A group of Calhoun County educators and science-related industry leaders recommended that science courses stress hands-on activities,…

Missouri's A+ Schools Program is a legislated, statewide framework for providing universal quality education with a career focus and an academic foundation for lifelong learning. The program recognizes that an internationally competitive workforce will require many employees to have more than a high school diploma, but less than a baccalaureate…

Certified school counselors, because of their educational training and requirements, have considerable knowledge about human development, assessment techniques, team planning and implementation strategies, career education, future work force needs, and community resources. This article shows how the counselor's role can be expanded to serve the…