Schools do a very poor job of preparing noncollege-bound youth to make the transition from high school to employment and adult life. A lack of formalized transition systems compounds the problems that many noncollege-bound youth encounter as they try to obtain meaningful, career-sustaining employment in primary labor markets. Various instructional…

A study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of El Camino College's Cooperative Career Education (CCE) program, which awards credit for on-the-job experiential learning related to a student's course of study. Surveys designed to obtain demographic data, information on course withdrawals, and perceptions of the program were distributed to 735…

The Corny Cookie Corner is a vocational programming component offered to special education students in North Fayette Community Schools, West Union, Iowa. The project's primary goal is to help students develop appropriate jobsmanship skills and work attitudes prior to vocational placement in off-campus sites. The project consists of a…

As one activity of the Workplace Mentorship study, 75 interviews were conducted in 15 programs to examine 30 mentorships. In each program five persons were interviewed: two mentors, two students, and one program staff person. Students were in eleventh or twelfth grade or recently out of high school. The interviews collected from the three types of…

Credit alternatives allow local school systems to take advantage of community learning resources as an enrichment for, or supplement to, school learning experiences. The first part of this handbook describes credit alternatives that may be used by local school systems to provide individualized curricula for diagnostic and prescriptive instruction.…

This report provides a first-year review (1980-81) of the Liberal Arts/Cooperative Education Program at Pima Community College. Following introductory material, the project's planned objectives and activities are enumerated and described. Next, brief descriptions are provided of the program's accomplishments in the areas of: (1) classes relating…

An Experience-Based Career Education (EBCE) exemplary project was conducted for three years in four high schools in Greenville County, South Carolina, and then evaluated for this final program report. Guidance and community components made up the program's major strengths. A third component (academic) proved nonessential. The guidance component…

This document contains the proceedings of a two-day symposium conducted to analyze four different perspectives (psychological, economic, anthropological, and sociological) on evaluating experiential education programs. The perspectives are represented in papers by Samuel H. Osipow, Psychology, Ohio State University; Nicholas M. Kiefer, Economics,…

This book provides descriptions of youth involvement projects that have made significant contributions to young people, their schools, and their communities. Each description is intended to provide information for starting and operating similar youth projects. They explain how a particular project began, mention the important problems encountered,…

The educational performance of 690 14 and 15 year old dropout prone students given limited labor market experience was evaluated in a mationwide study. The students worked 28 hours per week during the 1971-72 school year, which was found to be excessive. Working increased grade point averages up to a point, after which favorable impact declined or…

Urban Little Schools (ULS) is a model that presents an alternative to failing urban schools. In these schools, each student's education is planned and guided in trusting teacher-student relationships where students take responsibility for their own learning. Secondary ULS students work alongside people in their community to learn to be…

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…

A study examined employer involvement in the school-to-work (STW) internship strategy by comparing characteristics of participating employers to a sample of nonparticipants. The five STW programs chosen for study were ones in which students spent a significant amount of time in work-based learning outside the classroom. A telephone survey gathered…

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,…

This report highlights the various strategies used to relate cooperative education (CE) work experience to students' academic programs by profiling 17 colleges and universities that are members of the National Commission for Cooperative Education's College Partner Program. Each profile includes a brief statement from the institution's president;…