ML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
i L. Barber, Jim Lawson, Bruce
McPherson and David Rattray.
Note: Postings on today's topic that appeared on the Web
site by 8:00 PM Pacific time are included in this
summary.
Should California monitor students' success in making
the transition from formal education to gainful
employment? Why or why not? Should this be a part of the
accountability system in a Master Plan? How could this
monitoring be done?
- Most participants agreed that measuring transition
success is important. Employability is a better
measurement of educational success than academic testing.
- Measuring accountability for programs and delivery
systems must be based on their mission and target
population. The Plan should outline general parameters
of accountability, leaving state governing agencies to
define the particulars.
- Other participants expressed concern about this type
of measurement citing difficulty in ensuring that an
indicator would be fairly applied, feasible, and
reasonable in costs; difficulty in agreeing upon a
definition of "successful transition"; and the indirect
connection between education-to-employment in some fields
(e.g., arts, humanities).
- However, if the state wants to facilitate a successful
transition to the workforce, they could monitor and
provide funds for vocational training as well as create
academic standards. The idea of program funding
contingent on program performance was suggested.
- Suggestions for monitoring students' success included
the existing Performance Based Accountability system; a
survey of several work areas each year in which
companies are asked about their needs and employees are
asked about their preparation, successes and problems;
by confidentially collecting information at the
institutional level; getting labor market data from
businesses; enhanced school reporting and data entry to
an anonymous publicly available database.
- Clear reliable data on what happens to people in the
labor market after school is needed so programs can
improve based on feedback, the public and policy makers
can know if they are getting what they are paying for,
and program managers are accountable for linking their
programs to the labor market.
- If we do not know where our students go after school,
we cannot possibly design a program to prepare them for
that. Currently the focus is on college prep, in spite
of the fact that less than 30% of students actually
complete any postsecondary education program.
- The Plan needs to use education to prepare children to
face the reality that most new jobs in the coming decade
will pay less than $10.00 an hour, in spite of the
growing demand for high-skilled, tech-savvy workers.
Should educational institutions integrate career
preparation in their curricula for all students,
including academic courses? What are the best ways to
prepare students for their working lives? Can "real
world" applications be included in all curricula? What
preparation would teachers need to implement this
change? How can school and work be better aligned?
- A preponderance of respondents agreed the Plan needs
to address job training programs. All students need
workforce preparation skills, which many believe cannot
be obtained through a simple "integration into academic"
strategy.
- Others believe integrating practical skills into
academic courses is adequate. Schools should integrate
career preparation in their curricula for all students,
including academic courses. Applied academics are one of
the best ways to prepare students for work. The more we
create "real world" experiences for students and focus
on relevancy, the more long-lasting learning will occur.
- Concern was expressed that the current Plan pushes
college-bound curriculum at the expense of Career
Technical Education at the secondary level. The intense
focus on college prep seems unjustified. While we need
to improve education, attempting to do it by removing
technology and career education is unacceptable. Good
accountable Technology Education programs can provide
meaning and context to make academics relevant.
- Several suggestions were made to support workforce
preparation skills: incentives for business and industry
to collaborate with schools to provide "real world"
experiences (e.g., job shadowing, on-site classes,
internships); bringing technology teachers into the
workplace, obtaining resources from the business
community; Junior Achievement, diplomas that
differentiate a range of accomplishments and mastery of
academic and vocational skills; business internships for
educators; strong, well-integrated technology education;
community college programs that combine on-the-job
training with academic skills; high school career
pathway programs.
- While internships do motivate, show relevance and
build a sense of validity, they do not teach technical
knowledge and skills the way technology education does.
The draft Plan suggests partnerships with business.
How would this help students in their transition to
work? What are the challenges businesses will face as
they partner with schools, colleges, and universities?
What are the challenges for the educational
institutions? What are the conditions needed to
establish successful partnerships?
- Students and educators benefit through work-based
learning (e.g., internships, job shadowing, field
trips), school-based learning (e.g., classroom
speakers), project based learning, and mentors etc.
Students benefit from having curriculum and its
application current with respect to the labor market.
- Partnerships provide an opportunity for students to
apply what they learn to real life/work situations, to
be productive and competitive in the labor market, to
explore different fields and career options, to identify
the environment in which they are most comfortable. This
will help employers with retention and reduce ramp up
time and training expense.
- Participants cited several challenges: inadequate
staffing and expertise to develop or maintain
partnerships, dramatically different cultures of
educational and private sector, and the potentially
overwhelming number of schools approaching businesses.
- To help reduce teacher resistance, we need to package
the partnership from the perspective of making the
curriculum come alive, relevance for students, and
building a connection.
- Building the connection between a standards-based
curriculum and the world of work can actually generate
higher student performance and community support.
- Communication must be fostered between education and
business. There needs to be coordination within the
education community so that not every school
individually seeks to build a partnership with local
business. Schools need to give appropriate recognition
to the participating businesses.
- Successful partnerships need administrative support
and adequate funds for teacher preparation and staff
development.
- Many participants think of schools as "preparing the
workforce" for business. If the vision is this directed,
the creative arts are left out. There needs to be more
exposure to broad areas of learning, rather than
narrower training modes.
- Partnerships with business should be limited to
supporting schools financially and with technical
assistance.
- The Plan needs to give the Career and Technical
training and academic courses equal importance; support
business linkages wherein industry and education work
hand-in-hand in "work scholarship programs", which
serve "at risk" students; and enhance the current adult
continuing education system.
- Plan must call for new partnership between industry
and education to (1) develop career/technical
curriculum, (2) fund local Chambers of Commerce, (3)
mobilize industry's desire to reach out to "at risk"
youth, via mentoring and tutoring, (4) foster parental
support programs, (5) clarify and amplify Tech Prep
efforts, (6) highlight need for professional
development, (7) promote renewed commitment to provide a
quality education--academic and career--to ALL
students, (8) recognize the gender inequity in the workforce as
it relates to NTO's (Non-traditional Occupations).
- The Master Plan should promote access, program
coordination, alignment and operational efficiencies,
without the significant disruption likely to result from
placing the governance of adult continuing ed under the
community college system. Moving adult ed out of the high
schools and into the community college campuses would
further erode the ITE system.
- Concern was expressed about increased emphasis on the
traditional A-G track. Career and technical education
and A-G need not be mutually exclusive. They can be
integrated allowing the student flexibility and choice
and more than just one pathway to success.
- The Plan must clearly define the meaning of the terms it uses
(e.g., instructional technology, computer applications, computer
technology, technology). "Technology" as used in these dialogues
is a misnomer. It is mostly being used to refer to programs that
teach how to use computers, not including tech literacy, integration
of computers into the curriculum, how computers work or technological
subjects other than computers.
While this summary contains the highlights from the many
ideas that were offered, far more comprehensive
information may be found in the
discussion archives.
We highly recommend that you read the original postings
to discover the full richness of the discussion. We
suggest you chose the Thread viewing option.
Background summaries, daily topics, questions and background information are available from the
Agenda
page and the Briefing Book.
Monday, June 10 will focus on School Readiness.
I welcome your comments on the summaries.
Sally Hedman
Reporter