A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Study of School-To-Work Initiatives
Cross-Site Analysis June 1995

CRITICAL ELEMENTS OF SCHOOL-TO-WORK REFORM

ELEMENT NINE: PROGRESSIVE SYSTEMS THAT START BEFORE GRADE ELEVEN

Programs that do not start until eleventh grade miss the chance to make a difference for many students. It is crucial to reach younger students before they become discouraged, disengaged, or drop out. Common sense and research both support the concept that a student who understands the connection between school and work--between lifelong learning and a successful life--will be much more motivated to succeed in school.

Programs must take a progressive, sequential approach that includes preparatory, age-appropriate "feeder" programs starting as early as elementary or middle school. Children in elementary school can begin to understand the range of careers that are available to them through "Career Days," "take a child to work" days, field trips to different types of businesses, classroom visits from parents talking about their work, and career awareness and exploration integrated into the curriculum. Middle school students also benefit from field trips, career days, speakers (employers and workers as well as parents), and curriculum integration, but also learn from more intensive and informative strategies, including one-day job shadowing, summer internships, adult mentors, computer-based career information, and systems of educational planning for high school linked to careers. Students in high school explore career options in greater depth through more intensive job shadowing, summer internships, and individualized career planning.

Education for Employment Program, Kalamazoo, Michigan

In Kalamazoo, the career planning or Educational Development Plan (EDP) process begins in the eighth grade. Its purpose is to shift the emphasis to asking students what they want to be, rather than whether they are going to college. The consortium has eliminated the general education program, requiring students to choose either the baccalaureate or tech prep option.

All eighth graders take the ACT (American College Test) and CPP (Career Planning Program) tests to help them start determining their career interests. Also in the eighth grade, the approximately 2,500 eighth graders in the county attend a visitation day at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Part of the purpose of the day is to expose them to career areas in eleven career clusters, and part is to familiarize them with the community college. Before the visitation, vocational counselors make presentations, and students complete interest inventories and choose career areas of most interest to them. Organizers prepare individual schedules for each student based on at least some of their top choices. Session presenters include business people as well as teachers or college faculty. Experiential learning experiences are emphasized to help students recognize interests and aptitudes: for example, planning a restaurant menu, producing a video, making teeth imprints, taking blood pressure, making a t- shirt.

The EDP process is fundamentally a process of long-range planning. Based on the testing and conversations among students, parents, and counselors, students begin setting career goals. They receive a notebook of career cluster options along with a listing of the necessary high school courses for associate and baccalaureate degrees. Sample jobs are listed within each "job family," and students meet with counselors to decide which courses would be best for them. Each student goes through this process to produce an individualized plan that shows what courses they need to complete in high school in order to pursue the career path of their choice, including community college and university training.

Shawnee High School's Aviation Magnet, Louisville, Kentucky

Shawnee High School's Aviation Magnet has made it a priority to reach out to middle and elementary schools, and has in effect become the aviation resource center for the school system. Shawnee sponsors field trips for non-Shawnee students and magnet faculty make presentations at elementary and middle schools to help students understand the magnet program. One staff member has developed a middle school curriculum called The Sky's the Limit. It is an aviation exploratory program which offers students an opportunity to learn about the field of aviation through a multi- disciplinary approach. Students learn about the science of flight, the importance of math and geography, and the history of flight. Students visit the airport, tour aviation related businesses, and receive instruction in a full motion simulator at Shawnee High School. The program culminates with each student flying an actual training aircraft. Not only has this program helped the magnet recruit, but it has effectively taught middle school students about aviation and the importance of this industry to the region. It has also shown middle school teachers how to teach different aspects of the curriculum through the lens of the aviation industry.

The system supports students in their freshman and sophomore years as well. As soon as students reach the Aviation Magnet Program, they begin the process of narrowing their career focus. During the first semester, all freshman in the magnet take an 18- week introduction to aviation course. This course covers all aspects of the aviation and travel industry, both technical and non-technical. After completing the course, students select their area of concentration. They may select avionics or flight training under the aviation component. Plans for an airframe/power plant maintenance concentration are being finalized. In the Travel and Tourism component, students can concentrate on travel and tourism or customer service. Within each component, students can choose a specific area of study. The curriculum is then divided into courses that reflect the specific nature of the different areas, with students taking two or three courses per semester in their area of concentration. By their junior or senior year, most of the students in Travel and Tourism are working after school in the industry and most of the students in flight training are flying.

Pasadena Graphic Arts Academy, Pasadena, California

In order to ensure that students are motivated, prepared, and aware of the opportunity to attend the Graphic Arts Academy, the Pasadena school district instituted a system which reaches out to elementary and middle school students in the area. Called ALIVE (Academic Learning Integrating Vocational Education), it is intended to be a systematic approach to improving technical education that "extends and elaborates" on the academy model. The concept offers a vision of technical education that begins in elementary school and extends into the postsecondary years. The transition system is designed to channel students forward with the options of employment and further postsecondary training. It is also designed to channel students from the middle schools into the academies. All students in grades seven to eight tour the academies. They are allowed to transfer after eighth grade to the high school which houses the academy to avoid the disruption in friendships and other connections that make students hesitate to transfer after ninth grade. The district sponsors assemblies in ninth grade in which representatives of all the academies take part. Graphic Arts instructors also visit ninth grade classes.

In addition, of the three middle schools, two offer "pre- academies," which together enroll ninety students. The pre- academies are not organized around a specific occupational field, but they do engage students in teamwork, critical thinking, and computer studies. A Saturday Science Academy operates along similar instructional principles, enrolling students as early as fourth grade.


-###-

[Element Eight: Integrated career infromation and guidance system] [Contents] [Element Ten: Articulation with postsecondary institutions]