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

APPENDIX A

SITKA, ALASKA:

Mt. Edgecumbe High School (MEHS)

Mt. Edgecumbe High School offers an unusual example of a school preparing students for a dynamic global economy. Because MEHS is Alaska's only public residential school, students come from all over the state and represent many different ethnic groups. MEHS classes reflect Alaska's close ties to the Pacific Rim, and emphasize the development of entrepreneurial skills. Because Alaska's geography requires distance learning, administrators have identified technology as the future of work and learning and invested substantially in equipment and training to ensure that students are able to hook into computer networks and operate sophisticated equipment. Above all, because success in the future requires the ability to change, adapt, and engage in critical thinking, MEHS helps students develop self-determination skills and engage in a process of critical review and evaluation. The process is guided by the business-derived principles of Total Quality Management and MEHS's own Continuous Improvement Process.

Key features:

PHOENIX, ARIZONA:

Metro Tech Vocational Institute

The defining fact of life for Metro Tech is its students, about one-third of whom have dropped out of school or never attended high school at all. They face many barriers to completing their education, ranging from poverty and illiteracy to single parenthood. In response, Metro Tech has responded with a school-to-work initiative that is not a single innovation, but rather a collection of elements held together by a vision for accomplishing fundamental school reform within a vocational school. These elements include curriculum integration, campus-based student enterprises, work-based internships, and technology-based instruction. Metro Tech has a history of long-term partnerships with such major businesses as Honeywell Commercial Systems Flight Group, AAA of Arizona, Big 4 Restaurants, and Goodwill Industries, which have made extraordinary contributions to the school and its students.

Key Features:

EAST SAN GABRIEL, CALIFORNIA:

East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program (ESGVROP)

Serving many minority and poor students in an area threatened by gangs, the East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupational Program (ESGVROP) is an outstanding example of an urban school system rising to the challenge. ESGVROP provides vocational, academic, and support services to prepare students to continue their education or obtain employment after high school. Emphasizing active collaboration, ESGVROP cultivates partnerships with businesses, service agencies, and other educational institutions. Business partners serve on advisory committees, provide labor market data, serve as mentors and job coaches, and provide classrooms for worksite training. Classes are articulated with postsecondary institutions, in some cases through baccalaureate programs. Administrators and staff of ESGVROP strive for flexibility in arranging transportation and schedules and providing other support services. An emphasis on research conducted in collaboration with other educational institutions drives the development of ESGVROP programs.

Key features:

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA:

Graphic Arts Academy

To the north of Los Angeles, Pasadena High School educates a multicultural population whose diversity reflects the changing face of the United States in the 21st century. The Graphic Arts Academy is a school-within-a-school, serving about 100 students in grades 10-12. The Academy resulted from a partnership between the high school and the Printing Industry Association of Southern California, which represents more than 1900 printing businesses in the greater L.A. area. A team of five teachers is responsible for the integrated curriculum, which combines academic instruction with vocational training in classes deliberately kept smaller than regular high school courses, allowing for more cooperative learning and student-teacher interaction. Sophomores and juniors take almost all their course work within the academy; as seniors, they take advanced courses at Pasadena City College.

Key Features:

FORT PIERCE, FLORIDA:

Performance-Based Diploma Program

Situated in Fort Pierce, Florida, the Performance-Based Diploma Program enrolls students from throughout St. Lucie County who are considered at risk of dropping out. Designed as a school-within-a-school, the program is a self-paced mastery learning program. Students master academics through a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) program. Instructional leadership is crucial, for although the computer provides the lessons, teachers must be able to help any student in a classroom of 30 pursuing 30 different lessons. For vocational study, students choose from traditional high school vocational classes, a dual enrollment program at the community college, an internship program, or employment at a job they find on their own. All students participate in individual and small group peer counseling.

Key Features:

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY:

Shawnee High School's Aviation Magnet

Flying planes, arranging travel reservations, calculating complex flight patterns and time zones, running a cruise ship, and repairing complicated technical equipment--this is all in a day's work for students at Shawnee High School's Aviation Magnet. Within the two strands of Aviation and Travel & Tourism, students actively engage in learning the concepts of their chosen industry, couched in practical examples and the real-life experience of instructors and students. In the Aviation program, students participate in flight training and can earn a Federal Aviation Administration Certified Pilot's License or Federal Communications Commission License by the time they graduate. Students in Travel & Tourism participate in domestic and international internships in which they study and are responsible for all aspects of hotel, travel agency, and cruise operations.

Key features:

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND:

Baltimore Commonwealth

The Baltimore Commonwealth is an unusual partnership through which the city's business, education, community, and government sectors have joined forces to try to improve the prospects of Baltimore's high school students for academic achievement, college opportunities, employability, and personal development. Baltimore's Office of Employment Development has created a one-stop shop for student services and for businesses interested in employing students. Under the aegis of the Commonwealth, an array of programs and services is provided, ranging from internships to summer jobs to permanent employment, from career exploration to job readiness skills preparation. Career Clubs for seniors, offered during the school day at high schools, provide career counseling and coaching to students on specific job-getting and job-keeping skills.

Key features:

  • city's Office of Employment Development plays key role
  • career clubs for seniors
  • emphasis on marketing to business partners

    KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN:

    Kalamazoo Valley Consortium Education for Employment Program (EFE)

    A county-wide consortium, EFE coordinates a system of occupational education throughout Kalamazoo County, an area that includes 1.7 million students and nine school districts. The EFE's mission is to provide all students with opportunities to obtain basic educational skills, occupational skills, and employability skills. The system consists of more than twenty occupational programs, several worksite-based occupational programs, counseling and information services, and articulation agreements. The EFE has successful partnerships with major businesses such as the Radisson Hotel and two local hospitals, which have provided facilities for work-site based occupational programs. Kalamazoo Valley Community College is a full member of the consortium. The system has its own staff: an assistant superintendent, three area administrators, and several vocational counselors and workforce entry coordinators.

    Key features:

    ROTHSAY, MINNESOTA:

    Tiger, Inc.

    The rural town of Rothsay, Minnesota boasts a population of 450, harsh winters, a lagging economy--and an innovative high school which addresses these issues and prepares its students for work in creative ways. Rothsay High School's strength lies in its ability to adapt to challenging economic circumstances and prepare its students to do the same. Supported by a faculty advisor, students in Rothsay High School formed a corporation, Tiger, Inc., in 1991. Tiger, Inc.'s first enterprise was in response to community need: they took over the town's failing grocery store. Rothsay students receive credit for their work with Tiger, Inc. and for staffing the grocery store and the Rothsay hardware store in capacities such as accounting, advertising, office work, and carpentry. Rothsay students also host an entrepreneurial workshop for students and educators from across Minnesota. Teachers attempt to integrate vocational and academic study, teaching specific work skills as well as exploring careers.

    Key features:

    DAYTON, OHIO:

    Patterson Career Center

    Originating in 1913 as one of the first cooperative education centers in the United States, the Patterson Career Center today tackles the many serious problems that confront urban school systems. Patterson strives to offer its students, 82% of whom are disadvantaged, a variety of options in an administrative structure that promotes participatory management within a broader restructuring process. Working closely with local employers and the community college, Patterson Cooperative High School offers 11th- and 12th-grade students a schedule that alternates two weeks of classroom instruction with two weeks of full-time work at the job site in an eleven-month school year. Teams of academic and vocational instructors hold regularly scheduled "cluster" meetings several times a week to assure that academic and vocational components are integrated.

    Key features:

    EUGENE, OREGON:

    Youth Transition Program (YTP)

    Policy makers and practitioners across the country agree that the creation of a seamless school-to-work system for youth requires restructuring systems, but Oregon is one of the few states that has begun restructuring on a statewide level. Oregon's Youth Transition Program is a collaborative effort among the Oregon Department of Education, Oregon Vocational Rehabilitation Division, University of Oregon, and public schools in local communities across the state. YTP currently operates in 26 sites across Oregon, helping youth with disabilities make the transition from school to work. YTP aims to provide a "new pattern of services" to students with disabilities by achieving two goals: enhancing the ability of students to enter competitive employment after leaving school, and creating systemic change within schools and agencies serving students with disabilities.

    Key features:

    ROY, UTAH:

    Roy High School

    Options are almost unlimited for students at Roy High School. Because Roy is part of a state-level reform effort, administrators are able to develop flexible schedules for students, resulting in early graduation, innovative use of credits, and articulation with postsecondary institutions. The core of Roy's innovation lies in its comprehensive counseling and guidance program, which culminates in a Student Education and Occupational Plan (SEOP) individually crafted for each student. SEOP sessions, held with students and their parents several times a year, involve a process of career exploration, self-awareness, career choice, and identification of an appropriate course of study. Students learn more about their options through extensive counseling, a career center with computer accessibility throughout the school, a workplace skills course, and assistance from the local job services agency. Students must meet standards in communication, critical/creative thinking, social and personal development, self-motivation and adaptability, and preparation for life after high school.

    Key features:

  • comprehensive guidance and counseling program
  • individual Student Educational and Occupational Plans
  • early graduation and expanded day, week, and year courses

    CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA:

    Comprehensive Employment Work And Transition

    Based in Charlottesville High School in Virginia, CEWAT was initially created to help students with disabilities find paid job placements and develop good work behaviors, but is undergoing its own transition as it expands its services to at-risk students. Through a partnership between the school and a private nonprofit employment and training agency, CEWAT provides employment specialists who work with students to help them identify job prospects, apply for employment, and negotiate any difficulties that arise after they are hired. A network of employers, including a university dining service, grocery chain, and nursing home have hired students through CEWAT. CEWAT also connects students to assessment services provided by the state Rehabilitation Services Administration and to skills training provided by the vocational-technical center. The process of developing Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for students with disabilities now includes planning for transition to work.

    Key features:

    VERADALE, WASHINGTON:

    Student Career Opportunity Paths In Education (SCOPE)

    At Central Valley High School, half an hour from downtown Spokane, Washington, all students take part in SCOPE, a comprehensive career information and guidance program designed to get students thinking about possible careers before they begin high school. Through inventories of their interests, experiences, and skills, students identify with one of six career paths, each of which contains many career options. Students can then access both printed and computerized information about the education they would need to pursue a specific career. Equally fundamental to SCOPE is the infusion throughout the school curriculum of career-related activities, ranging from research assignments, to speakers, to work experiences. The school hired an experienced local business leader to arrange community placements to provide students with career experience.

    Key features:


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