In the 1990s, federal education legislation and policies have encouraged state and local efforts in educational reform and placed a new emphasis on education for and about work. These initiatives have engaged the active participation of a broad range of partners and have spurred a variety of locally customized programs and practices. Nationally,…

This report examines local school-to-work partnerships in Pennsylvania and summarizes the lessons that can be learned from them. It includes information on how local partnerships work, functions of local school-to-work partnerships, and partnership activities such as establishing educator in the workplace opportunities, making business…

This guide is a tool to assist educators in the development of high-quality work-based learning sites in New Hampshire as part of the state's school-to-work program. The guide is divided into two sections. The first section, Common Elements of Work-Based Learning, provides information and guidelines for addressing program design issues for all…

School-to-work linkage refers to the concept of apprenticeship that begins in secondary school. It is an approach to education and training that allows high school seniors to be registered as apprentices with the U.S. Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training while completing their secondary school education. Senior high school students are employed…

This manual was written to assist communities, especially in Arkansas, in developing an educators-in-industry program, a graduate credit course that gives educators firsthand knowledge of the nature and range of employment in their regions. The guide contains 17 sections that give advice on how to set up and conduct the program. The guidelines…

Sixteen regional forums were held in Minnesota in the fall of 1995 to determine what form the Education and Employment Transition System, or School-to-Work System, mandated by state legislation, would take and which elements it should contain. Forum participants represented business, labor, education, parents, teachers, counselors, and other…

A series of five discussions with more than 50 people involved in the national school-to-work initiative created by the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 (STWOA) resulted in the following conclusions (among others): (1) Problems with the concept include a negative attitude toward the phrase "school-to-work," the complicated nature…

The State of New York conducted a follow-up study of the 76,000 students who completed an occupational education program in New York in 1987. Students were followed up by mail and telephone interviews, with an overall rate of return of 67 percent. Some of the major findings of the study were the following: (1) for all occupational education…

This implementation guide for Career Pathways (an Ohio educational plan linking academic, technological, and occupational course work and other educational experiences, leading to a career specialty) is a resource for leaders planning and implementing career pathways in vocational education planning districts and school districts. The document…

This document reports activities and findings of a study concerning the California State Job Training Coordinating Council's implementation of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). The study had the following objectives: (1) analyze the structure, role, and administrative policies of the council; (2) determine the effects and benefits of…

This book on evaluating social programs is an outcome of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Evaluation Design Project, which produced a set of 10 guides for the evaluation of state and local JTPA programs. This book distills ideas from these guides and applies them to a larger context. Part 1 presents a general approach to program evaluation…

A survey assessed the extent to which Arizona 10th-grade students selected career majors, planned a course of study for high school and beyond, and received adult guidance related to careers through the school. In total, 2,131 tenth grade students participated in the survey administered in spring 1997 after one full year of school-to-work (STW)…

This proceedings document provides the texts of 13 presentations given at a 2-day conference in 1991 which focused on policies, materials, programs, and activities being implemented in Alabama to foster the successful transition of youth with disabilities to adult life. Two papers address the national scene: "Transition: Old Wine in New…

This guide is a tool to assist educators in the development of high-quality work-based learning sites and other school-employer connections in New Hampshire as part of the state's school-to-work program. The guide provides implementation ideas for seven strategies for work-based learning experiences (industry tours, job shadowing, service…

As part of the effort to create a labor force that is competitive across the world, Connecticut is planning a School-to-Career System that would give high school students the opportunity to extend learning into the community and workplace. The state would provide schools with information about the fastest-growing jobs and skills needed for…