School-to-work legislation calls for local partnerships to develop curriculum that integrates academic and vocational courses and links school-based and work-based learning. In at least 37 states, individualized state and local partnership systems exist. Contains 11 references and cites a program that brings teachers into the workplace. (MLF)

This guide provides an overview of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 to help familiarize legislators with the law and its implementation and to give them information to answer questions from their constituents about the act. The following information is presented: (1) the goals of the act; (2) how school-to-work initiatives work; (3)…

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…

The School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWOA) of 1994 provides flexible funding and technical assistance to the education reform strategy known as the school-to-work movement, which offers a broad range of students work-based learning opportunities. In 1994, just before passage of the STWOA, the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation…

Over the past 5 years, 6 states and an estimated 100 local communities have established youth apprenticeship systems; 8 other states have passed legislation that could include apprenticeship programs; proposed federal legislation would fund state and local programs. Critics cite costs, the fear of diverting resources from existing school programs,…

The simplicity and "common-sense" quality of school-to-work's (STW) basic concepts are the greatest threats to the full implementation of STW. Implementation requires a fundamental restructuring of secondary education and far greater involvement of employers in the preparation of young people for work. A synthesis of findings from eight…

This bulletin focuses on workplace mentors for all students involved in work-based learning as required in the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. It reviews these key issues that should be addressed in developing an effective mentoring component in a school-to-work system: a recruitment plan for mentors; eligibility screening for mentors and…

The federal legislation that created school-to-work (STW) was to meet the educational, economic, occupational, and skill-training needs of the future work force and the needs of employers competing in a global economy. Three key concepts characterize the STW initiative: school-based learning, work-based learning, and connections between school and…

A 3-year research project focused on whether sufficient numbers of employers could be recruited to create a national school-to-work system with a substantial work-based learning component as called for by the 1994 School-to-Work Opportunities Act. Research methods were as follows: case studies of 12 work-based learning programs at 9 sites located…

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 Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources and the House Committee on Education and Labor (now the House Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities) asked the Office of Technology Assessment to examine the potential opportunities and possible pitfalls of work-based learning that would be supported by the School to Work…

This guide for work-based learning, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and the North Carolina Wage and Hours Act is designed to serve employers, educators, agency placement staff, labor organizations, and all those involved in school-to-work initiatives by helping them to understand a variety of issues related to students in the workplace. Based…

This report of a survey of eight states which implemented the School to Work Opportunities Act (STWOA) provides information on provisions in the state plans, the extent to which special educators participate in planning and implementation efforts, and how the needs of students with disabilities have been addressed. An overview is provided of the…

This bulletin focuses on the requirement of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 that school-to-work initiatives engage representatives of organized labor in the development, implementation, and governance of a school-to-work system. The first section outlines what organized labor brings to the school-to-work initiative. The next section…

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)…