Current career pathways initiatives recapitulate in many ways both the issues motivating the school-to-work movement of the 1980s and 1990s and its recommended solutions, notably more work-based learning, especially apprenticeship. But that movement's energy dissipated in the face of college for all. Nonetheless, some of its achievements and many…

While talk abounds in the buzzword-happy education arena of what it means to develop students who are college and career ready, the author paints a portrait of a vocational-technical school district in northern Delaware that is actually doing both with its students, and has been for some 40 years. The vo-tech experience is not for students who…

Why school? The 48th Annual PDK Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools included questions about the purpose of schooling, standards, homework, school funding, and parents' relationships with their schools. The 2016 poll, which was conducted by Langer Research Associates, was based on a telephone poll of 1,221 adults during April…

International educational benchmarks make disappointing reading for Americans, but they also indicate a way forward. PISA results show strong performance is possible. Whether in Japan, Korea, Finland or Canada, many countries display strong overall performance and show socioeconomic background doesn't determine results. Some countries show that…

In Project STAR, 11,571 students in Tennessee and their teachers were randomly assigned to different classrooms in their schools from kindergarten to 3rd grade. Researchers learned that kindergarten test scores are highly correlated with such outcomes as earnings at age 27, college attendance, home ownership, and retirement savings. Students who…

One education reform that has the potential to leave its mark on education for many years is the P-16 initiative. The name refers to the range of "grades" included, beginning with preschool and running through the postsecondary undergraduate years. Though such efforts are most commonly called P-16, they are in some cases referred to as…

The U.S. work force is changing. Professional and related occupations and service occupations will be the fastest-growing sectors for the foreseeable future. Both demand strong communication skills for sharing complex ideas across diverse communities. In addition, the 21st-century economy will require its members to think creatively and critically…

Frantic parents trying to ensure that their children can maintain an edge throughout their school careers have become a fixture of today's society. Perhaps one key to the puzzle of academic motivation is to make school make sense, not just to those who structure the school systems or rely on them to educate their children, but to the young people…

Describes implementation of school-community partnership for student career success in Springfield, Massachusetts, stimulated by a state school-to-work grant supported with funds from the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994. (PKP)

Describes several lessons learned from the design and implementation of a performance-measurement system required by the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994. For example, very complex systems of performance measurement can compromise the quality and quantity of data obtained. Makes several recommendations to improve the quality of such…

Educators and business people must recognize that there is no shortage of skilled labor but a shortage of jobs requiring skilled labor. Corporate America appears to be hiding decades of mismanagement behind presumed faults of the education system. The salaries of skilled laborers have actually declined 3 percent since 1987, and about 20 percent of…

Indicts educational journals and teacher education programs for serving up esoteric gobbledygook and failing to provide practical experiences for prospective teachers. (Author/WD)

If we can bring ourselves to realize the intimate relationship between liberal and useful knowledge, between traditional and corporate education, we can overcome the mutual prejudice and distrust between university and corporation and tap vast reservoirs of human energy. (Author/IRT)

Faculty members at America's colleges and universities have long thought that an alarming number of high school graduates do not arrive on campus with the writing skills they need. Now leaders of major U.S. corporations are joining their academic colleagues in complaining about a serious deficiency in the writing skills of today's college…

Summarizes findings of the National Institute for Work and Learning study of 14 school-to-work transition programs. Success depends on administrative leadership, provider commitment, cross-sector collaboration, student self-determination, school- and work-based learning, integrated career information and guidance, a sequential approach, access to…