Lynne M. Bailey

EDU 14

September 12, 2002

Annual Editions, Education (02/03)

Lynne M. BaileyDate: 24 September 2002EDU 14Professor Ross

Title and number of article (Topic: Charter Schools):

Article 7, p. 50: School-to-Work: Has it worked?

Briefly, state the main idea of this article:

In this article, the author, Sandy Cutshall, discusses the implementation of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWOA) passed in 1994. At this stage, six years and $2 billion dollars later, she finds that many states have successfully integrated this type of program, in different ways. She finds, however, that more time is needed for this initiative to be fully integrated into school curriculum nationwide.

List three important facts that the author uses to support the main idea:

1. Money provided by the STWOA has resulted in substantial increases in work-based learning experiences. Schools using work-related curricula increased from 66% in 1996 to 81% in 1999. During the same period, there was an increase of 59% to 69% of schools integrating vocational and academic curricula. Those schools actually connecting work-based learning to integrated curricula increased from 51% to 64%. These numbers translate to more than 2.5 million secondary school students in classes with a career-related curriculum in 1998. Additionally, there are currently over 1,000 STW partnerships, involving 26.3 million students in 50,000 schools.

2. As a widespread effort, the program has been successful. Individual states have only had to develop three main system components: school-based learning, work-based learning and connecting activities. Given this freedom, a variety of programs was developed with varying degrees of success. Some states have enacted comprehensive changes in their curriculum and policy; other states have developed specific new programs or concentrated on enhancing existing work-based learning programs. Fully incorporating STW in the overall education policy appears to be the key to ensuring sustainability. In New Jersey, all the federal mandates were incorporated into the state curriculum and the STW Coordinator therefore expects that the initiative to be sustained.

3. School-based learning includes curriculum change, career awareness and exploration, insight into various vocations and discovering student’s interests and aptitudes. Work-based learning include student-run enterprises within the school, internships and apprenticeships, and touring businesses to learn more about them and observing workers in a variety of fields. Connecting activities give students the opportunity to see the value of learning applied to work.

What information or ideas discussed in this article are also discussed in your textbook or other reading that you have done. List the textbook chapters and page numbers:

Students do get a broader education, learn more about specific industries and their communities. This type of program allows students to get insight into what they think they might like to do. As one student put it, “If you still love it, that equal success. If you don’t, that too equals success.”

List any examples of bias or faulty reasoning that you found in the article:

What is the purpose of education? One answer is building a productive citizenry. Many participants feel that STW is a good strategy for building a competitive workforce. Should school-to-work be, simply, school? At what point in a child’s life should we start pushing the connection of learning to work?

List any new terms/concepts that were discussed in the article and write a short definition:

Stakeholders in the education process include all aspects of society. Involving local businesses in the process definitely has merit.

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