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Work-based learning, as practised by high schools and community colleges in the United States of America (USA), describes structured work placements designed to promote student learning through a working experience that links work and school. This issue of 'Centerpoint' describes the potential benefits of work-based learning programs (WBLs) for students and presents some of the strategies by which high schools and community colleges provide such experiences. The authors outline the five main purposes of work-based learning: enhancing academic achievement and motivation; increasing personal and social competence related to work in general; gaining a broad understanding of an occupation or industry; providing career exploration and planning; and acquiring knowledge or skill for particular occupations or more generic work competencies. They then go on to discuss the structures for delivering WBL and assessment of the quality of teaching and learning at work in relation to the types of tasks students perform and the social context within which the learning takes place, the influence of the community of practice, and the worksite ‘pedagogy’. Show less

Prompted by federal legislation, particularly the 1990 Perkins Amendments, State authorities in the United States of America (USA) embarked on the process of designing new school-to-work systems in secondary schools and two-year colleges. This report supports this process by presenting results from research on existing school-to-work programs in the USA. It begins with a brief discussion of the difficulties of school to work transition and the elements of school-to-work programs. It is suggested that school-to-work systems must prepare young people for their first jobs and, in addition, for continued learning and career transitions throughout their lives. The report then examines two types of programs: school-and-work arrangements, characterised as school-supervised work experience, which allow students to work and attend school during the same time period and include cooperative education (co-op) programs, new youth apprenticeships, and school-based enterprises; and, school-for-work programs, including traditional and newer forms of vocational education, which provide instruction specifically preparing students for work. The report also includes a section summarising a selection of programs for young people not attending school, such as the Job Corps. The authors conclude by examining the relevance of vocational education to subsequent employment and the implications of the research for states designing new school-to-work systems. One important issue is whether to design systems only for students not expected to attend college, or to include within systems those students who may attend a four-year college or university. Appendices contain examples of school-to-work programs, program elements, and program names and locations. A list of references and a bibliography are included.

A discussion of the results of this study entitled ‘School-to-work programs in postsecondary education’ is indexed at TD/TNC 62.306. Show less

This report describes two innovations within community colleges designed to contribute to workforce preparation in the USA. These are the integration of academic and occupational education and tech-prep programs that link community colleges with secondary schools. The report aims to demonstrate the many forms the innovations take and to clarify their benefits to students, employers and the community colleges themselves. The report contains four sections. Section one, 'Federal initiatives and other support for innovation in workforce preparation', which outlines the different sources of support for curriculum integration and tech prep. Section two, 'Integrating academic and occupational education to enhance student achievement', contains the following sections: Combining academic and vocational content in individual courses; Combining academic and occupational perspectives; Tandem courses, clusters, and learning communities; Capstone courses; Basic skills and English as a second language in occupational contexts; Benefits of curriculum integration; Costs of curriculum integration. Section three, 'The community college role in tech-prep', contains the following sections: Community college activities in tech-prep; Factors limiting change within community colleges; Emerging tech-prep models; System building and the future of tech-prep. The final section, 'Requirements for the future', summarises the benefits of the innovations and highlights future needs including changing the culture of community colleges and ensuring institutional commitment, stability and administrative leadership in order to institutionalise ongoing support for curriculum integration and tech-prep. Show less

This report examines three non-traditional program areas that have emerged as a response to changes in the community college operating environment: (1) workforce development, which provides training for employees of particular companies; (2) economic development, in which colleges act in various ways other than course provision to stabilise or increase employment in their communities; and (3) community development, in which colleges promote the well-being of their communities in political, social or cultural areas. The authors suggest that these new roles have facilitated the development of ‘a college within the community college, operating with a new culture, new rules and regulations’, labelled in this report as ‘the entrepreneurial college’. This term is designed to encapsulate the entrepreneurial perspective, market-oriented drive, and responsiveness of these colleges to external organisations. The findings of the research suggest the following recommendations: the entrepreneurial college demonstrates considerable potential for serving local community needs, including groups that may have been neglected previously, and that more attention should be paid to this emerging college role; community colleges need to find ways to integrate the ‘regular’ and ‘entrepreneurial’ college or they will continue to grow apart, and several strategies are proposed, including sharing teaching staff and integrating funding, student services, and administrative and physical locations; state governments need to reconsider funding and regulatory policies if they are to support the entrepreneurial college; and further research should be undertaken by both colleges and governments to help improve the effectiveness of the entrepreneurial college. Show less

On October 18 and 19, 1991, the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) conducted an on-site national conference entitled 'Community college professional development: sharing what works'. The objectives of the conference were to focus on innovative approaches to designing, implementing and evaluating effective professional development programs and to share outcomes from research projects relating to technical, junior and community colleges. The papers are divided into five areas. Section one, 'Development and implementation of technical preparation (tech prep) programs', contains the following papers: Effective leadership strategies for planning and implementing tech prep / Debra D. Bragg and Glenda K. Huffman; Small business management-tech prep / Helen M. Harvey; Educational reform and the new mission / James L. Hoerner; The development and implementation of a tech prep program designed to integrate academic and vocational education in the feeder high schools of a community college district / Paul McInturff; Tech prep in Texas: an implementation strategy / Carrie Hughes Nelson; Tech prep: an integrated curriculum / Till J. N. Peters and Linda S. Peters; Educational reform: a broadening of tech prep / James Suksi. Section two, 'Integration of academic and vocational education', contains: The high technology high school: a campus-based collaborative effort / Brian McAndrew, Thomas Bistocchi and Gregory DeCinque; An evaluation of the outcomes of the applied mathematics demonstration sites in Indiana / Jerry Pepple, Steve Tozer and Frank O'Connor; Integration of occupational and academic education: illustrated using interior design vignettes / Thomas D. Sepe, Dorothy Miller and Margaret Wylie. Section three, 'Professional development of occupational/technical faculty', contains: Human resource development for higher education and industry / Lowell D. Anderson, Robert E. Croker and Ivan V. Simmons; The Georgia Instructor Academy / K. Brent Askins and Michael J. Galloy; Evaluating part-time faculty / Corrine M. Brown; Innovative solution to an educational challenge (a consortium approach for faculty development) / Midge Carleton, Fernon P. Feenstra; Candis M. Martin and Lawrence E. Ordowski; The C-A-R model: linking administrative performance and professional development with institutional planning / James A. Drake; Strategies and resources for part-time faculty programming / Dee A. Fentiman; The preparation and nurturing of occupational education leaders / Curtis R. Finch; An introduction to teaching consultation / Michael Kerwin and Judith Rhoads. Section four, 'Strategies for teaching at-risk youth and adults in the 1990s', contains: Faculty inservice: alternative strategies for students with disabilities / Susan B. Asselin and Jeananne Dixon; The Technology Intervention and Support Program / Shirley Barton and Elaine Shively; Interinstitutional educational alliances as an at-risk student recruitment and retention strategy / John L. Bradley; Exemplary vocational education programs serving postsecondary special needs populations / Carolyn Maddy-Bernstein and Zipura T. Burac; Creating a special place for unique students today / Judy Rotkis and Nancy McDaniel. Section five, 'Miscellaneous', contains: Empowerment: the link between faculty development and curriculum improvement / Peggy Ball and Sharon Morrissey; Using instructor-produced videos to teach an open-entry/open-exit automotive technology program / John J. Clifford; Juvenile justice computer assisted instructional program / Arthur B. Cordova and Brian Fitzpatrick; Pictures in the head: keynote luncheon speech / David L. Crippens; A framework for learning advanced vocational skills / John W. Schell; Health careers opportunity program: Summer Institute 1991 / Linda Shields and Margaret Thompson; Developing faculty course planning skills with an artificial intelligence software package: the secrets behind an expert system / Daniel E. Vogler and Thomas Leitzel. Section six, 'Roundtables', contains: How to spell vocational education with three 'Rs': integration of occupational and academic education / Ethan Allen and Gloria Garner; The Integrated Thinking Skills Project: teaching teachers to teach thinking / Diane D. Cheatwood; Teaching the fourth 'R': integration of occupational and academic education and development of occupational/technical faculty / Robert S. Clark and Mary E. Myers; Integration of academic and occupational education at Eastern Idaho Technical College: a practical application / Kenneth Erickson; Inservice education needs of part-time business faculty / Susan L. Faulkner; Institute for Professional Development of Part-Time Occupational Instructors / David L. Goetsch; Training for the development of tech prep / Robert C. Harris; Identification and dissemination of articulated tech prep: practices for at-risk students / James L. Hoerner, Darrel A. Clower and James C. Impara; Strategic planning: charting the course / Linda Luehrs; American colleges and universities offering coursework on two-year institutions: results of a national survey / D. Barry Lumsden and G. Bryan Stewart; The National Network for Curriculum Coordination in Vocational and Technical Education: the network that works / Richard C. Makin; Faculty development strategies for meeting the needs of senior and novice occupational faculty / Elaine Mohn; Tech prep in Texas: an implementation strategy / Carrie Hughes Nelson; Teaching for success: a fresh approach to part-time faculty development / Jack H. Shrawder; Job search techniques: a required course for the associate degree / Merilynne Smith; Relevancy in the classroom: using current media to teach reading, writing, and critical thinking / Merilynne Smith. Show less

In the United States of America (USA), the school-to-work transition process is often a difficult one for many young people and policy makers have responded to this situation by designing school-to-work systems. Community, junior, and technical colleges have increased the number and range of such programs on offer, supported by a wide variety of cooperative arrangements with organisations in the community. This issue of 'Centerfocus' describes school-to-work programs in two-year colleges which include co-op or work experience, traditional apprenticeship programs, and career counselling and job placement services. The discussion is based on findings from the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) study ‘Research on school-to-work transition programs in the United States’, by David Stern et al. (see TD/TNC 62.309). Show less

Some colleges have made extensive use of local business resources in programme and curriculum development and in recent years have sought to improve these connections through school-to-work activities, including apprenticeships, co-op programmes and work-based learning. Despite the importance of such activities, very little is known of their extent, which types of faculty members participate, and the barriers to making connections. This document reports on evidence from a study of community college linkages with their local labour markets and their wider communities. Show less

The author asserts that the conclusion that community colleges provide their graduates with no economic advantage is quite clearly incorrect. Associate degrees, as well as certificates among women (but not men), provide substantial long-term increases in earnings above those that high school graduates receive - increases that result from enhancing access to professional and managerial occupations and to careers with stable employment, on-the-job training and upward mobility. However, some individuals fail to benefit - those who fail to complete courses, those who enter low-paid occupations, and those who fail to find related employment. The implications of these conclusions for community college and technical institute administrators are discussed. Show less

In response to demands for improved performance and efficiency, many secondary and postsecondary schools in the United States of America (USA) are undergoing significant change. This process of change affects the roles and responsibilities of the teachers staffing those schools. This publication presents the outcomes and recommendations of a research project which was funded by the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) as part of a two-part study on ‘Redesigning education of instructional staff for high schools and community colleges’ (the other study is indexed at TD/TNC 62.872). The researchers sought to develop a conceptual framework for the new roles and responsibilities for staff in support of educational change, to devise a list of competencies appropriate to the new roles, and to recommend preservice and inservice staff development programs designed to develop these competencies. Show less

The Center on Education and Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison undertook a national study to examine strategies to foster entrepreneurship through business incubators and postsecondary programs supported by community and technical colleges. This paper describes some of the preliminary results of the study and discusses the implications for entrepreneurship development, considering education and training opportunities in and out of business incubation and in business partnerships with postsecondary institutions. Survey information was provided by 74 business incubators from around the US. Interviews and focus groups were also conducted with business entrepreneurs and managers associated with programs to develop entrepreneurial skills. Administrators, teachers and students at community colleges providing entrepreneurship education were also interviewed. The analysis was based on quantitative and qualitative descriptions of the experiences of entrepreneurs in and out of business incubation. Preliminary results were used to develop a profile of entrepreneurs, key factors associated with entrepreneurship, and the implications for facilitating entrepreneurship through business incubators and community/technical colleges. Show less