vocational education and school-to-worklead to credentials recognized in the labor market, either...

The LSS Review is a product of the Laboratory for Student Success (LSS), the Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory atTemple University, one of ten regional educational laboratories funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S.Department of Education. LSS seeks to provide research-based information to significantly improve the educational capacity of theregion, including Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC, and the nation. Inquiries about the work ofLSS should be sent to the Outreach and Dissemination Unit, Temple University, 1301 Cecil B. Moore Avenue, Philadelphia, PA19122-6091, [email protected]. Copyright © 2003.

LSS

Volume 2 • Number 2 • June 2003

Vocational Education and School-to-WorkThe Emerging SynthesisWilliam J. Stull, Temple University; James R. Stone III, University of Minnesota; and JoAnn B. Manning, Executive Director,Laboratory for Student Success, Temple University

Work-based education (WBE),including traditional vocational educa-tion and other career-focused pro-grams, was an important curricularcomponent in American schools formost of the 20th century. The 1990swas a period of substantial changefor work-based education (WBE).Spurred on by a concern about theinternational competitiveness of theAmerican economy, numerous re-form efforts were launched duringthe decade, many with federal sup-port. The federal initiatives includedthe Perkins Amendments of 1990,the Goals 2000: Educate AmericaAct of 1994, the School-to-WorkOpportunities Act of 1994, and thePerkins Amendments of 1998. Inaddition, many states and localitiesdeveloped their own innovative WBEprograms.

WBE is at a crucial moment inits long history. On the one hand,there is now a solid infrastructureof new research-based program-ming in schools as a result of thepreceding reform efforts. On theother, this accomplishment is nowchallenged to adapt to new wavesof educational change associatedwith the standards movement, school

choice, whole-school reform, andthe 2001 No Child Left Behind Act(NCLB). There is a need to examinethe legacy of the WBE reforms ofthe 1990s in an educational landscapenow largely shaped by NCLB andother initiatives. Educators, parents,and policymakers remain concernedthat students not only excel academi-cally but also find satisfying path-ways to productive adulthood. WBEhas an important role to play inthis new environment, and WBE re-searchers and practitioners mustwork together to define that role.

Within this context, a nationalinvitational conference, “VocationalEducation and School-to-Work: TheEmerging Synthesis,” was held inPhiladelphia, PA, on February 10–11, 2003. Sponsored by the Labora-tory for Student Success (LSS), theMid-Atlantic Regional EducationalLaboratory at Temple University,the conference focused on the rela-tion between the school-to-workmovement of the 1990s and currentvocational education influenced byacademic reforms. To frame dis-cussion, the conference organizerscommissioned papers from WBEresearchers on a variety of topics

that are important for understandingcurrent WBE policy and practice.Educators, researchers, policy-makers, and parents were invited todiscuss the implications of the papersand to discuss their experiences,concerns, and lessons learned.

The papers and general discus-sion centered on the role of WBEtoday, the legacy of the school-to-work movement, and critical issuesin the field. Topics discussed includedvocational-education reform, the re-lation of WBE to today’s economy,participation in and results fromschool-to-work programs, the ef-fectiveness of Tech Prep, and thedevelopment of WBE leaders. Par-ticipants also met in small work groupsto explore issues raised in the gen-eral discussion and to generate next-step recommendations for linkingWBE research to practice and forchanging WBE programs so that theyplay a significant role in the chang-ing educational climate. Groups wereasked to make research, policy, andpractitioner recommendations, toconsider the most significant resultsof school-to-work programs, and topropose ways that WBE can sup-port the goals of NCLB.

2The LSS REVIEW • June 2003

This issue of the LSS Reviewprovides a synopsis of those rec-ommendations and summaries ofthe commissioned papers. In doingso, the issue contributes to a goalthat conference participants identi-fied as crucial to improved WBE:dissemination of research and prac-tical knowledge in an understandableform that can facilitate the policiesand school-level efforts that lead tosuccessful transitions from school tocareers for America’s young people.

Next-Step RecommendationsAlthough not all work-group par-

ticipants agreed on all points, theconferees achieved considerableconsensus on next-step recommen-dations. Grouped under five headings,the recommendations are as follows.

RESEARCH

Since some of the conferencepapers presented evidence that vo-cational education is beneficial andpracticable, the conferees recom-mended further research to exploreand better understand the actual andpotential benefits of vocational edu-cation. For example, research onthe variables that influence students’curricular placement decisions shouldbe conducted to deepen understand-ing of the characteristics of studentsin WBE programs and to reform WBEso that it best serves all participat-ing students. Moreover, research-ers should focus on the relation ofvocational education to K–16 edu-cation and beyond as a whole, notjust on high-school programs. Espe-cially important to study is the ef-fectiveness of connections betweensecondary and postsecondary WBEin programs like Tech Prep. Toidentify best practices and modelsthat work, researchers should in-vestigate the impact at the statelevel of career and technical educa-tion (CTE), school-to-work (STW)programs, and youth programs un-der the Workforce Investment Act(WIA) on educational outcomes.

More assessment of the impact ofprograms at the student level shouldalso be conducted.

Because vocational education isnot currently an educational priorityfor governments, participants sug-gested that researchers should lookfor resources for their studies fromprivate-sector sources, includingfoundations and corporations. Tosupport the funding of vocationaleducation itself, researchers shouldexplore whether or not, where fund-ing for programs like CTE is lost orreallocated, more children are leftbehind through increases in dropoutand other negative academic effects.Moreover, to supplement their ef-forts, American researchers shouldexamine research from other nations,which may provide successfulmodels for reforming and sustainingWBE. Researchers should also notoverlook the value of WBE practi-tioners in collecting data on pro-gram effectiveness and outcomes.

POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION

Conferees agreed that researchmust be linked to vocational-educationpolicy and implementation of pro-grams. For instance, policymakersshould use research to develop stan-dards for the evaluation of vocational-education programs. This workwould determine which CTE andSTW activities should be institution-alized and linked with state standards.Research findings can help policy-makers explain to school administra-tors how the chosen activities helpstudents pass basic skills assessments.It is also important that policymakerswork to ensure that vocational pro-grams meet current labor-market de-mands. Programs preparing studentsfor engineering technologies and othertechnical professions in which work-ers are in high demand should befostered. Since business skills arealso in demand, WBE policy shouldsupport training in entrepreneur-ship and financial skills. More WBEprograms should be designed to

lead to credentials recognized in thelabor market, either postsecondarydegrees or certificates and licensesin occupational fields.

Policymakers and WBE educa-tors must look beyond the programsthemselves to provide students withconnections to careers. To promoteeffective curricular and career choice,schools should implement K–12 ca-reer guidance systems for studentsand parents. Facilitated by careercounselors and vocational teachers,these systems should give studentsaccess to career information, in-cluding data on relative wages andadvice on developing a full set ofskills for workplace success. Guid-ance systems should also promotethe notion that all students need tobe prepared for work. Furthermore,policymakers and school leadersshould advocate increased numbersof internships and mentorships, whichhave proven particularly helpful forguiding students toward appropri-ate college and career choices.

Like researchers, vocational-education practitioners face dimin-ished federal and state governmentinterest in the current policy envi-ronment. Advocates of vocational-education programs should lookfor alternative sources of support.Since locally driven programs oftenwork best, advocates should focuson getting local legislators and em-ployers to support programs. Othersources of community supportshould be cultivated, including par-ents, who can be effective advo-cates in the private sector.

ALIGNMENT WITH NO CHILD LEFT

BEHIND

Participants observed that edu-cators today are predominantlyconcerned with reforming schoolcurriculum and instruction to meetthe accountability requirements ofthe No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)of 2001. Since the act focuses onachievement in academic subjects,vocational education may itself be

3 The LSS REVIEW • June 2003

left behind if its advocates do notattempt to align programs with NCLBefforts. To the extent that WBE in-creases school engagement, its de-mise may presage an increase instudent dropouts. Participants pro-posed several recommendationstoward that alignment.

Vocational educators should usetheir expertise to become active in-ternal promoters of improvementsin CTE and other programs linkedto academic curriculum instead ofmerely reacting to the external pres-sure from NCLB. Schools shouldtake advantage of the opportunitythat NCLB provides for solving prob-lems with some vocational programs,such as lack of academic challenge,low expectations, and tracking.School leaders should collaboratewith policymakers and researchersin the development of strategies formerging improved CTE implemen-tation with NCLB reforms. Com-mon denominators like the emphasison math skills in both CTE andNCLB should be found, and CTEcourses should be made more rigor-ous where necessary to help schoolsand students meet NCLB standardsand assessment goals. This workshould involve greater integration ofacademic and vocational curricula.

To raise the academic quality ofvocational education of all types andalign programs with the goals of NCLB,resources and efforts that are nowdivided among programs like TechPrep, STW, and WIA should be com-bined at the local and school levels.Moreover, to guide the integrationof vocational education with NCLBreforms, researchers should pro-vide educators with forecasts ofthe state of education (such as ex-pected state assessment results)and the economy (such as wagesand earnings) in the years duringwhich NCLB is implemented.

DISSEMINATION

Conference participants em-phasized that wide dissemination of

findings from research and prac-tice is essential to strengthening vo-cational-education efforts such asWBE that can affect national, re-gional, and local economies. To fa-cilitate communication of findings,it was agreed that educators anddisseminating agencies shouldwork together to develop a com-prehensive and consistent vocabu-lary for describing vocational-education activities and defining theroles of participants. Moreover, itis particularly important that re-search results showing advantagesfor students in WBE programs aredisseminated to win support forWBE and to increase enrollments.Regional educational laboratoriescould take the lead in this effort.It is also important that dissemina-tion of results from WBE researchand practice includes private-sectorleaders as sources and targets ofinformation.

To promote the wider aware-ness of vocational education in thecurrent policy environment, federaland business representatives shouldbe included in important communi-cations and conferences centeredon vocational education. Includingthem may provide advocates withpoints of leverage needed to makevocational education a central edu-cation reform issue. To that end,one conference work group rec-ommended the innovative idea ofbringing together vocational-educationstakeholders—education agencies,teacher associations, and business,industry, and labor groups—in oneumbrella organization to representvocational-education efforts nationwide.This organization would establishgoals for vocational-education re-form and develop a position papercarrying the charge that vocationaleducation is for all students andleaves no child behind. This paperwould be widely distributed to re-form leaders, especially those inthe Congress and the Departmentof Education.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

University education depart-ments and school district profes-sional development staff shoulddevote more attention to establish-ing training for emerging leaders invocational education. Initiatives forteacher and leader training in theprivate sector should be encour-aged. Teacher training programs inuniversities should encourage newteachers to use career paths as atheme around which to structureacademic curriculum. Policymakersand school leaders should activelyrecruit potential vocational leadersand teachers and support their on-going training. Legislators in particu-lar should provide fiscal supportsfor the professional developmentand certification of vocational lead-ers and teachers. Advocates of vo-cational education should work tomake career-related teaching seemattractive to talented educators. Inlight of the need to integrate voca-tional and academic curricula, it isespecially important to encourageteachers with high academic cre-dentials to gain certification as vo-cational educators.

CONCLUSION

The conference papers, generaldiscussion, and work groups allpointed to the conclusion that voca-tional education, especially when itis linked to academic standardssuch as those mandated in NCLBlegislation, can benefit students’academic learning and help preparethem for lifelong success. Increas-ing knowledge among policymakersand educators about effective voca-tional-education practices is bothachievable and necessary. Strength-ening the links between evidence-based research and vocational-education programs can benefitboth students and all those in theschool and larger community whoshare the responsibility for helpingthem make the transition fromschool to work.


The terms work-based educa-tion (WBE) and career and technicaleducation (CTE) both describehigh-school coursework in whichthe performance goals includework-related skills as well as aca-demics and the outcome goals in-clude successful transition to workand higher education. This paper re-views the history and context ofhigh-school WBE programs, de-scribes the characteristics and extentof programs today, and examinesWBE teachers and students.

History and ContextWork-based education has sig-

nificant historical foundations. Be-fore the 20th century, high schoolwas not widely attended and fea-tured only one academic curriculumfor privileged children. However, in-creasing numbers of working-classchildren began to attend high schoolin the 20th century, presenting edu-cators with a problem. These stu-dents were bound for work, notcollege; the academic curriculumwas largely irrelevant to them. Thesolution was to divide the curricu-lum into academic and vocationalprograms. Some argued that itwould be more democratic for allstudents to follow an academic pro-gram; others recommended integra-tion of academic and vocationalcurricula. The debate over the valueof this division continues.

Work-based education viewsstudents as individuals; thus onecurriculum cannot appeal to all. Thecommon academic curriculum, incontrast, focuses on what is bestfor all students. Work-based educa-tion exists in a complex context thatincludes problems such as pooracademic skills and high dropoutrates as well as reform strategiesaimed at solving the problems. Mostnational and state reform efforts

now focus only on academic skillsand high-stakes examinations. AlthoughWBE practitioners have argued thatincreased testing and courseworkrequirements decrease the time avail-able for electives and thus reduceCTE enrollment, research suggeststhat instead, CTE students take moreacademic courses.

The emphasis on academics in-fluences postsecondary plans. Moststudents plan to get a 4-year collegedegree and pursue a professionalcareer. Of respondents to a 2001–2002 survey of 4-year collegefreshmen, only 4% of males and1% of females indicated plans for anonprofessional technical career.Despite their preference for post-secondary education, in reality athird of students go to work aftergraduation. Further, while collegeenrollment has risen, college suc-cess has not. The 6-year graduationrate at Division-One universities isabout 50%. High-school dropoutalso remains a national concern. Be-tween the 8th and 12th grades, onein every four students drops out.Among Hispanic American stu-dents, the dropout rate is estimatedto be almost one in two. These stu-dents are least likely to be enrolledin CTE, which is associated withlower dropout.

The present workforce contextsuggests a need for technical train-ing. Professionals with 4-year de-grees are generally assumed to bethe largest group needed in thehigh-skills/high-wage workforce.However, technicians are in equaland, in some fields, greater demand.While firms recruit professionalslike engineers nationally or interna-tionally, they look for technicianslocally. Regions without a growingtechnically trained workforce willhave difficulty supporting high-value businesses.

Learning theory indicates thattechnical training is essential. Mosthigh-school instruction is based onthe assumption that knowledge canbe learned apart from practicalcontext. Yet cognitive researchfinds that knowledge learned out ofcontext remains unusable and isquickly forgotten. Classes taught indecontextualized modalities are ef-fective only for a small number ofstudents. For most students, skillsand knowledge are best learnedwithin realistic situations.

Work-Based Education TodayAn important characteristic of

WBE today is that it is elective.While most states have mandatedgraduation requirements, these typi-cally do not include WBE courses.To follow a WBE curriculum, stu-dents must commit to more coursesand effort. The teen in the academicmiddle may find it easy to declineWBE. A second important charac-teristic of WBE is that most of itsfunding is local. This money is dif-ficult to raise; public pressure holdsfunding constant. Programs withoutsufficient enrollment are eliminated.Reformers must ask whether stu-dents will elect WBE programs, be-cause if they do not, local schooldistricts will not offer support.Reformers must focus on how pro-grams can be improved while re-maining interesting. Faced withcurrent proposals for WBE as amodality to teach academics, notoccupational skills, WBE profes-sionals worry about students’ re-actions to these changes. Theenrollment decline in technologyeducation suggests that studentsdo not enjoy applied math and sci-ence coursework that lacks voca-tional content. Practitioners feel thatsuch unappealing curricula maydestroy WBE.

Overview of Work-Based Career and Technical Education inthe American High SchoolKenneth Gray, The Pennsylvania State University


High-school WBE is extensive.One fifth of credits earned are inWBE coursework. In 1998 the av-erage number of CTE credits com-pleted was 3.17. Students who electCTE courses can be divided intotwo groups: those who take CTEcourses as electives to gain skills,and those who take at least threerelated courses in a single labor-market area. These students, called“concentrators,” make up one quar-ter of the U.S. high-school popula-tion. The number of CTE creditsearned declined in the early 1990s,mostly because of economic trendsleading to a consensus that aca-demic coursework was requiredfor college and economic security.Since the mid-1990s, however,CTE course taking has increased,particularly in trade/industrial andhealth occupations.

Teachers and Students inWork-Based Education

About 25% of secondary teach-ers are CTE teachers. Of these,79% teach in comprehensive highschools, the rest in vocational highschools. In comparison to academicteachers, CTE teachers are olderand more often male. Because inmost states, certification in trade/industrial, law enforcement, andhealth fields requires work experi-ence, not academic degrees, 16%of CTE teachers lack degrees. Gen-erally, however, states have madecertification requirements more rig-orous. There is also a shortage ofboth academic and CTE teachers,but the stakes are higher for CTE,since inability to fill a vacancy canlead to program elimination. Mean-while, university programs offeringCTE certification have declined. Ofthe 432 institutions offering CTEprograms in the 1980s, about twothirds remained by the 1990s, oftenin consolidated form. An important ef-fect of this reduction is that certify-ing institutions can no longer offer avariety of discipline-specific programs.

In a 1998 study, 70% of high-school graduates completed anacademic concentration, 20% acombined academic and CTE pro-gram, 4% a traditional CTE-onlyconcentration, and 6% no concen-tration. Males were more likely tocomplete both a combined and atraditional program. African Ameri-can students were significantlyunderrepresented in traditional pro-grams. Hispanic American studentswere underrepresented in bothacademic and traditional concen-trations. Similar percentages of aca-demic and combined programstudents take a 3-year math andscience sequence. Considering thatcombined-program students alsotake about 6.5 credits of CTE, thissimilarity is unexpected.

Curricula including CTE posi-tively affect student performanceand outcomes. In the 1998 study,traditional CTE students were theworst prepared for high school,while academic students were thebest prepared. Significantly, whileacademic concentrators enteredhigh school better prepared thancombined concentrators, the achieve-ment gap was small or insignificantby graduation. Traditional CTEstudents graduated with the lowestachievement. Moreover, employersare generally satisfied with the skilllevels of CTE graduates. The prob-ability of combined-program gradu-ates going on to college is 60%.These students have a higher GPAand are more likely to persist intheir freshman year than most high-school students. Students whocomplete a CTE concentration andpursue related employment earnhigher wages and experience lessunemployment. Further, taking CTEcourses is related to persisting tograduation, with the relation maxi-mal at a ratio of 3 CTE credits to4 academic. Most important, thisdropout-prevention effect wasstrongest for those students atgreatest risk of dropping out at

entry to high school: those with testscores and GPA at entry one stan-dard deviation or more below themean. For most youth with specialneeds, who earned 43% of voca-tional credits in 1992, CTE is abeneficial curriculum.

Research suggests, then, thatCTE teaches the academic skillsvalued in current education policy.Nevertheless, there is room for in-structional improvement. In typicalCTE classrooms, teachers miss op-portunities to teach and reinforcecommunications, math, and scienceprinciples. Particularly when teach-ers lack advanced degrees, the aca-demic skills they are asked to teachare those they have never formallystudied. In one survey, 35% ofCTE teachers indicated they neededmath instruction. Half needed helpteaching science concepts, integrat-ing communications skills in theirclasses, and aligning skills withstate standards. Fully 80% indicatednot receiving staff development inthese areas.

ConclusionsThis overview indicates that

WBE is a helpful alternative forsome high-school students forwhom an academic program is in-consistent with interests, aspira-tions, or learning style. Reformersmust improve WBE so that it re-mains an attractive alternative for acritical mass of students. The ste-reotype of a CTE student as aca-demically backward is generallynot true. While CTE students enterhigh school less academically quali-fied than their peers, they show noachievement gap at graduation.Following a CTE curriculum re-duces dropout risk, and two thirdsof those CTE students who alsotake an academic concentrationproceed to college. Policies to im-prove teacher training and local pro-gram support are needed to ensurethat WBE can continue contributingto student success.


Developing the Next Generation of Leadership in Work-BasedEducationN. L. McCaslin, National Dissemination Center for Career and Technical Education, The Ohio State University

The greatest challenge facingwork-based education (WBE) is thedevelopment of the next generationof leaders. The number of experiencedWBE leaders is declining because ofretirement of career-and-technical-education administrators, lack ofcoordinated policies for recruitingand developing leaders, and eco-nomic and social changes, like theincreasing importance of informationtechnology, that make the future roleof WBE leaders uncertain. Meetingthis challenge requires promotingthe development of WBE leaderswho can see the future, identify fu-ture workers’ needs, and implementeducational reform. Promoting WBEleadership also demands a learner-centered, interactive model of lead-ership development.

The development of WBE lead-ers is influenced by the Perkins Vo-cational and Technical Education ActAmendments of 1998 and the NoChild Left Behind Act of 2001. ThePerkins amendments require statesto identify core indicators of stu-dent attainment of state-establishedvocational and technical skill pro-ficiencies, attainment of related creden-tials, and placement in and completionof postsecondary education, ad-vanced training, or employment.The No Child Left Behind legislationfocuses on strengthening account-ability for results, increasing flex-ibility and local control, expandingschool-choice options for parents,and emphasizing proven teachingmethods. Both these laws are in-tended to ensure equal educationalaccess, promote educational excel-lence, and help close the academicand technical skills gap betweendisadvantaged minority students andthe majority.

Effective WBE leadership playsan important role in achieving theseintentions. To increase understanding

of WBE leadership development inthis context, this paper examinesmethods of delivering leadership devel-opment programs, suggests contentfor such programs, and describesan exemplary program. The paperconcludes with recommendationsfor implementation and policy sup-port of programs.

Methods of Delivering LeadershipPrograms

Several approaches to deliveringleadership programs are currentlyavailable. The first is the widely usedface-to-face approach, which includesregularly scheduled meetings throughwhich potential leaders develop theirleadership skills. Many postsecondaryinstitutions offer face-to-face leader-ship programs for teachers andadministrators. As of 2001, 25 statesoffered a statewide leadershipacademy, consortium, or institute.Twenty-two of the programs are forprincipals and superintendents; someof these are also open to teachersand staff members. Successfulcompleters of statewide programsgenerally receive a certificate fromthe sponsoring agency. A more re-cent approach has been to deliverleadership-development programsonline, either synchronously or asyn-chronously. Programs offered throughthis approach vary from short one-time sessions to integrated programsof several sessions with relevantlearning activities. The increased avail-ability of computer technology hasmade it possible to combine the face-to-face and online delivery methods.

Content of Leadership ProgramsThe content of programs to train

WBE leaders is influenced by currentissues in education, including decen-tralization, educational options, ac-countability, and reconfigurations inlearning environments. Recommended

content for training of WBE leadershas been identified. State leadersshould learn to work collaborativelyin a political environment, balancemultiple priorities, manage resourceseffectively, advocate WBE, and pro-mote accountability. College andschool WBE leaders should learn tobuild coalitions, master technology,tolerate ambiguity productively, un-derstand multiculturalism, and de-velop vision, confidence, courage,and judgment. The following programdelivers such content for WBE lead-ers nationwide through a combinedface-to-face and online approach.

National Leadership InstituteIn 2001, the National Center for

Career and Technical Education es-tablished the National LeadershipInstitute. The 2001–2002 programconsisted of 33 scholars from 11states, and the 2002–2003 programincludes 25 scholars from 13 states.Each scholar in this nondegree pro-gram must develop an individualleadership plan for enhancing lead-ership capability and achieving ca-reer goals. The 12-month programincludes face-to-face meetings, onlinemeetings via distance technology,the leadership plan, mentorships, in-ternships, and thought-provokingreadings and discussion.

The institute helps current andfuture WBE leaders plan and imple-ment effective programs, createconditions for high learner achieve-ment and skill building, meet politi-cal and financial challenges, leadeducational reform, use researchand evaluation effectively, engage incontinuous learning, and understandleadership. The program addressesfive major themes. First, leaders de-velop leadership capability throughtraining in leadership philosophy, style,and skills and in perpetual learning.Second, leaders learn to establish a


vision and mission for WBE throughworkforce development, academicachievement, and evaluation and ac-countability. Third, leaders addressissues related to leading change, in-cluding change processes and edu-cation reform, establishing andmonitoring partnerships, risk taking,conflict resolution, and new modelsof career and technical education.Fourth, leaders study aspects ofpolicy development, including deci-sion-making processes, legislativeand budget processes, high-impactcommunication, networking, andinfluencing policy. Finally, leadersdevelop cultural understanding,learning about diversity and plural-ism, ethics, civility, and globalization.

Recommendations for ImplementingLeadership Programs

Candidates for WBE leadershipprograms should have a passion forexcellence and a willingness to takerisks. Candidates should be committedto high achievement, actively seekingnew and creative ways of implement-ing WBE and solving problems. Toencourage network development andmutual support, the number of partici-pants in a leadership program shouldnot exceed 35. Participants shouldcollaborate in cohorts to developgroup relationships, balance groupand individual growth, provide a chal-lenging learning environment, andeffectively address tensions that arise.

Leadership programs should fo-cus activities on a specific vision forWBE that acknowledges the impor-tance of WBE in preparing studentsfor the workforce. Programs shouldfocus on key themes and emphasizeaction learning in which participantswork together on real problems orcase studies that address the chal-lenges in WBE today. Programs shouldalso include meetings with state andnational leaders and discussion ofstrategic agendas for advancing WBE.

Individual leadership plans arecrucial to program success. The planshould feature each participant’s

vision for WBE and an action planthat includes goals, areas of develop-ment, barriers and facilitators, re-sources, a realistic timeline, andopportunities for evaluation and re-flection. Mentorships and internshipsshould be key components of leader-ship plans and implementation. For-mal mentorship agreements shoulddefine the goals, activities, resources,outcomes, and timeline for the mentor-ship. Internships should engage par-ticipants in experiences beyond theircurrent leadership position in orderto move them to a higher level. Thosecompleting internships should pre-pare an evaluative report reflectingon their experience.

In general, leadership programsshould provide challenging learningexperiences, opportunities for writtenreflection on learning and clear feed-back about performance. Programsshould provide resources and rewardsto facilitate achievement of goals.Finally, programs should evaluatetheir effectiveness through data fromparticipants and program leaders.

Policy Recommendations forLeadership Programs

To develop a high-quality andeconomically competitive work-force, the United States must haveeffective WBE leadership programs.To that end, coordinated policy isneeded from the national to the locallevel. At the national level, Congressshould further amend the PerkinsAct to provide awards for graduateeducation of WBE educators. Perkinsshould also provide awards for indi-viduals selected to participate in na-tional noncredit WBE-leadershipprograms and fund mentors and in-ternship supervisors for such pro-grams. The Office of Vocationaland Adult Education should developregulations to enhance training forWBE teachers and should sponsorconferences that address the con-cerns of WBE leaders. Moreover,national education associations likethe Association for Career and

Technical Education should supportleadership programs through activi-ties such as conferences and specialstudies. Associations should workwith the private sector and withnational governmental groups likethe National Governors Associationto promote legislation supportiveof WBE.

In states, legislatures shouldfund postsecondary WBE leadershipcurricula and other innovative trainingprograms. To increase the supply ofWBE leaders, legislatures shouldprovide education incentives suchas scholarships. Furthermore, stateeducation agencies should sponsorconferences on WBE leadership andactivities that train WBE leaders incurrent topics such as career acad-emies and integration of academicand technical skills. Agencies shouldalso identify and nurture WBEteachers with potential to becomeeffective leaders.

At the local level, diverse groupslike community colleges and busi-nesses should form partnerships toconduct WBE leadership develop-ment. Schools and districts shouldprovide WBE teachers and adminis-trators with time and financial assis-tance for participating in leadershipdevelopment. University research-ers should focus more attentionon best practices in leadership pro-grams and effective recruitment ofleaders from diverse populations.Business and labor organizationsshould fund WBE leadership pro-grams and provide educational op-portunities such as internships.Business and labor leaders shouldserve as speakers in WBE leader-ship programs.

All stakeholders should collabo-rate to promote WBE leadership. Ifeducation for the workplace is tokeep pace with rapid economic andsocial changes, it needs strong lead-ers. With effective training programs,WBE leaders can acquire the skillsthat will in turn raise the skills ofthe American workforce.


The vocational-education (VE)community responded reactively tothe 1983 report, A Nation at Risk(NAR), and to the academic reformsit engendered. The community pur-sued a separatist approach to reform.In doing so, it committed a strategicerror. By laying particular claim tostudents it deemed non-college-bound, the community validated thetraditional view of VE as exclusivelyfor children at the socioeconomicmargins. VE reform rejected academicliteracy in favor of workplace literacyin which affective skills such asteamwork are valued and academicsare limited to basic skills. Thus VEremains at the curricular margins inschools, while calls within the fieldfor integrating academic and voca-tional knowledge go unheeded. Thispaper considers the context of VEreform and discusses the reactionof the VE community to two wavesof reform following NAR. It exploresthe implications of curricular track-ing and proposes reform that offersvocational literacy to all students.

Reform ContextFor most of the 20th century, VE

was an alternative to the dominantacademic curriculum. The curricularpaths were separated after the de-bate on VE between John Deweyand David Snedden. Dewey arguedthat VE should lead to critical citizen-ship and that curriculum should fo-cus on general vocational knowledgefor all. Snedden argued that VE shouldlead to jobs, that curriculum shouldfocus on job-specific knowledge,and that students’ occupational po-tential should determine their curricu-lar path. Job-specific VE has persisted,although the conditions justifying ithave disappeared. The industrialeconomy supporting VE has meta-morphosed into today’s informationeconomy requiring knowledge-based

work and workplace dispositions suchas cooperativeness and adaptability.

In this context, does the voca-tional track still provide adequateworkplace preparation? Those tech-nical skills that are still important canand sometimes must be gained throughcollege programs and industry ap-prenticeships. High-school VE onthe old job-specific model seems in-sufficient and unnecessary today.Meanwhile in Europe, a reform move-ment toward a “new vocationalism”has developed, featuring emphasison combining academic and techni-cal curricula. The new vocationalismis not part of mainstream reform inAmerica. However, the 1998 PerkinsAct Amendments did stipulate thatvocational programs improve boththe academic and technical skills ofparticipants. The new-vocationalemphasis on curricular integrationwas thus established legislatively,moving VE away from Snedden’sview. Yet Dewey’s conception is farfrom being achieved.

First-Wave ReformNAR argued that global economic

competitiveness demanded greateracademic rigor for all students. Con-nections between academics and theeconomy characterized the first waveof reform following NAR. Schoolsstrove to bolster academics, and en-rollment in VE consequently declined.Vocationalists reacted by arguing thatVE complemented academics. The1980s saw a sharp change in VE,with education for jobs being sup-planted by education for broader ends.A national commission made the casefor continued public-school VE byarguing that an academic focusharmed students not bound for col-lege. The commission suggested thatVE address nonacademic goals suchas personal attitudes, communica-tion skills, employability skills, and

career planning. It is difficult to dis-tinguish aspects of first-wave voca-tional advocacy driven by genuinereassessment of the nature of VE fromthose that were defensive and self-serving. One must question whetherreform advocacy offered studentsunique skills compensating for theopportunity costs of foregone aca-demics. It is unclear whether the goalof providing students with generalskills instead of job skills was ben-eficial. Far from beneficial was theavoidance of issues of curricular seg-regation. In this period, VE increas-ingly became a curriculum for thesocioeconomically marginalized. VEresearchers and educators generallyremained silent on this score.

Second-Wave ReformBy the 1990s, arguments against

academically focused reform of VEgained momentum. In a second waveof reform, consensus emerged thatglobal competitiveness could be in-creased by improving not academicliteracy but workplace literacy. Focus-ing on workplace literacy and build-ing on the idea that schools shouldsupport the non-college-bound, VEdeveloped its nonacademic versionof reform distinct from mainstreamreform. This wave derived legitimacyfrom commissions that recommendedworkforce skills and from Tech-Prepinitiatives geared to workforce train-ing. Reformers did address academic-achievement issues by advocatingapplied academics and curricular in-tegration, but they failed to addressvocational tracking of the marginal-ized. While this separatist reformwave was premised on the idea thatmost students were non-college-bound and thus needed work skills,it claimed academic respectabilitythrough curricular integration. Mean-while, the academic standards forvocational students remained low.

Work-Based Education and ReformTheodore Lewis, University of Minnesota


Curricular integration was a funda-mental element of vocational legisla-tion in this period. Analysts praisedthe goal of integrating academics andVE but questioned whether it couldbe achieved through legislation alone.Comprehensive, effective curricularintegration would require systemicrestructuring through whole-schoolreform. Despite its rhetoric, second-wave reform left VE a vehicle forsegregation, not integration.

TrackingAdmittedly, the decades of re-

form since NAR have been a periodof creativity in VE. New forms ofschooling such as career academieswere developed, new articulationsof secondary and postsecondary edu-cation suggested alternative pathwaysfor the underprivileged, and newtheories such as critical pedagogywere explored. Yet despite these ef-forts to bridge the academic–voca-tional divide, schools continue tostructure curriculum in inequitableways. If academic and vocationalteachers planned curriculum jointly,students could see correspondencesbetween subjects, and effective in-tegration with academic and voca-tional knowledge would be possible.But existing curricular integrationlargely involves applying academicknowledge in vocational courses, bur-dening vocational teachers withoutraising the low status of their courses.

To provide an effectively inte-grated curriculum, schools would alsohave to abandon segregative trackingpractices. Separatist reform ensuredthe survival of VE but also reinforcedthe separation of students into differ-ent curricula and career paths. Em-phasis on workplace literacy allowedemployers’ needs to dictate whatstudents learn. Though employersclaimed to need highly skilled work-ers, they disregarded highly academicskills like foreign-language mastery.Instead they encouraged modest aca-demic accomplishments and strongsocial skills. Abandoning tracking

would mean revising this relation be-tween schooling and employer needs.

Although vocational researchersignored tracking, social scientistsanalyzed it extensively. Many identi-fied VE as the primary instrumentof continuing segregation in schools.The negative consequences of track-ing minorities were well documented.African Americans typically receivesocially undesirable curricula—gen-eral or vocational tracks leading tomenial social positions. Minority stu-dents are often placed in low-statuscourses despite superior test scoresor grades. Students placed in low-ability curricula tend to remain therein subsequent years. This problemseems impervious to reform. A studyof tracking in high schools withdifferent levels of African Americanenrollment found that establishedschool procedures existed for usingachievement scores and teacherrecommendations to make trackingdecisions. A belief prevailed thatstudents’ educational prospectscannot improve after they begin highschool. Thus tracking was viewedas merely accommodating the stu-dent characteristics.

In schools that have attemptedto de-track, parental resistance as-sociated with privilege has arisen.One study concluded that someparents resisted de-tracked classesfor fear that racial mixing would re-sult, reducing the power differen-tial they wished to maintain betweentheir children and minorities. Parentssustained leverage over curriculumby the threat of flight. These find-ings support the argument of edu-cation critics that schools assignsuperior status to the knowledge ofthe socially privileged. Some criticspropose solving this inequity by en-couraging working-class parents tofind ways to gain power. Otherscontend that legal action againsttracking is appropriate, because intracked curricula, educational op-portunities are not equal to the ex-tent required by law.

Vocational LiteracyAlthough Dewey’s ideas are of-

ten cited as the theoretical basis forcurrent vocational reform, its sepa-ratist practices oppose his vision ofcomprehensive VE for all. Reformhas approached Dewey by recom-mending connections with academicsubjects, but its tracking practices areprecisely what made Snedden’s viewof VE revolting to Dewey. The VEcommunity is wrong to resist broadacademic reform. When schools arepressured to improve the academicperformance of all students, thosechildren traditionally left behind in VEclasses benefit. Large numbers ofstudents in nonacademic tracks arecapable of improving their performanceif given better opportunities to learn.Further, by holding all students tohigh achievement standards, academicreform can encourage schools to aban-don tracking. Academic standardsmotivate schools to find alternativestrategies that help all students excel.

In a de-tracked curriculum, VEwould function chiefly as educationabout work. Offered to all students,it would feature reformulated curricu-lum based on what students need toknow and experience about work toprepare them for responsible and criti-cal citizenship. This curriculum wouldinculcate vocational literacy synthe-sizing knowledges, experiences, anddispositions learned through activitiespertaining to work. The curriculumwould highlight collaborations acrossdisciplines and combine academicand vocational knowledge throughcontextualized learning. Activitiescould include modules on pertinenttopics such as “Inside the Computer,”structured work-related projects,and actual work experiences. Effortsto increase vocational literacy wouldbe neutral to race, socioeconomicstatus, and probable student destina-tions. If VE is to survive amid persis-tent calls for increased academic rigor,it must pose intellectual and creativechallenges for children across thespectrum of abilities and interests.


In recent decades, the mostpopular work-based education (WBE)programs in Canada have been co-operative education (co-op). Theseprograms consist of credit coursesfor 11th- and 12th-grade students, within-school and (typically unpaid) work-place components. This paper exam-ines recent developments in WBE inCanada. The paper analyzes the aca-demic/vocational dualism in second-ary education as a threat to WBE,explores education reform related toWBE, and considers the knowledgeeconomy into which graduates move.The article also shows the insuffi-ciency of a skills emphasis in prepar-ing students for that economy andoffers knowledge-economy thinkingand entrepreneurship education asalternatives. Curricular and researchrecommendations are also offered.

The Basic DualismBy offering a route different from

that leading to postsecondary education,WBE has reinforced a longstandingdualism in education between aca-demic and vocational curriculum. Thedualism is unbalanced, mirroring thehigher social status given to theoreticalknowledge than to technical knowl-edge and vocational practice. So perva-sive is this privileging that assessmentsof WBE are frequently based on aca-demic indicators, reinforcing the du-alism. Thus programs are viewed asvaluable when they help students main-tain good grades and take difficultcourses. The privileging extends toCanadian universities, which often donot accept high-school co-op credits.The emphasis on the academic poleof the dualism overlooks the pointthat education must ultimately pre-pare all students for the world of work.

Reform EffortsTwo Canadian provinces have ini-

tiated curriculum reforms to improve

the school-to-work transition, but re-search suggests that these reformshave met with little success. BritishColumbia implemented an appliedacademics curriculum to integrateacademic and occupational education.However, the content was less rigorousthan that in the competing academiccourses, and enrollment declineshave rendered the reforms nonviable.Ontario also introduced reforms, includ-ing a more demanding 4-year curricu-lum (replacing the province’s 5-yearcurriculum), a required career studiescourse, and a teacher advisor program(TAP) including career planning. Co-op was recommended for all students.

Studies of the Ontario reformshave reported distressing results. Themore challenging 4-year curriculumresulted in fewer credits being awarded,especially in mathematics. New WBEcourses were hampered by small en-rollments and lack of facilities. More-over, the 4-year program decreasedopportunities for students to partici-pate in co-op, although a chief aimof the reform was to enhance suchprograms. In one study, only 15.2%of students indicated they were takingor intending to take co-op. Of thosenot taking the program, 33.6% citedinability to schedule it, and 8.1% citedfear that co-op would prevent theirgraduating in 4 years. Additionally,the TAP program appears ineffective,with students rating TAP as less im-portant than parents and friends ininfluencing career plans.

Standardized testing with pub-lished results has been implementedin Ontario at the same time as WBE-related reform, making classroomteachers reluctant to grant to careereducation time otherwise availablefor academic work. Researchers haveargued that these practices decreasethe likelihood of implementing reformelements designed to meet nonaca-demic expectations. The province

has not prepared teachers to under-stand how career-preparation experi-ences differ from traditional academics.Because teachers know academicsubjects best, they understandablystay with what is most familiar underthe uncertainties of reform. To changethis trend, teachers need to be givenincreased exposure to workplacesother than their own. Curricular changeseeking to redress the academic/voca-tional dualism will flounder unlessteacher education programs helpteachers understand the need to aban-don the dualism. Further, curriculumintegrating WBE and academics re-quires assessment measures that honorthe changed nature of learning andthat help students meet the challengesof the knowledge economy.

The Knowledge EconomyThe term “new economy” or

“knowledge economy” encompasseseconomic activities that rely on informa-tion and communication technologiesand related innovations in production,finance, and work. The imperativesof the new economy and WBE reformare related. Research shows that theeducational bar is higher for job seek-ers in this new, knowledge-basedeconomy; high-quality education pre-paring students for rapidly changingworkplaces must be provided for all.Schools must foster innovative knowl-edge in the workplace. This demandsboth ending the academic/vocationaldualism and embracing WBE for allstudents. Education must move be-yond old-economy thinking that as-sumes that formal knowledge canbe readily transferred to workplaces.This rationalist view must give wayto recognition that the new economydemands experiential knowledge.

The Skills ResponseThe shift to the knowledge econ-

omy has increased demand for highly

Curriculum and Learning in Work-Based EducationImplications for Education in the New EconomyHugh Munby, Nancy L. Hutchinson, Peter Chin, Joan Versnel, and Michael Zanibbi, Queen’s University, Canada


skilled workers. Employers’ decla-rations that many entering the work-force lack necessary skills haveprompted responses to address theskills gap. One such response hasbeen the development of essentialskill profiles to increase employeeproductivity and skill portability. Asecond response has been developmentof skills sets related to employability.In 1991, the Secretary’s Commis-sion for Achievement of NecessarySkills (SCANS) identified fundamen-tal skills and workplace competenciesneeded by American workers. InCanada, the Employability Skills Fo-rum produced tools for enhancingemployability in three skill categories:fundamental, personal management,and teamwork.

Unfortunately, there is little evi-dence that these responses have suc-ceeded. Employers require highlycontext-dependent skills. A skills-listapproach to developing curriculumoverlooks the importance of contextin today’s economy. Workers mustadapt to new circumstances and ac-quire new skills throughout life. Fur-ther, workers must do more thanperform rote skills; they must partici-pate in team projects and take respon-sibility for end products. This workrequires not a greater number of oc-cupation-specific skills but a greaterability to function in work systemsthat demand varied skills and auton-omy. Today’s workplace features aless hierarchical management struc-ture with more decisions made byworkers, yet the educational systempreparing them for work remainshierarchical, unable to train workersto anticipate and respond to rapidchange. A skills focus, then, has littlepoint in school-to-work curriculum.We need a curriculum that helpsstudents learn in the workplace howto use and adapt skills in responseto change.

Knowledge-Economy ThinkingCurriculum thinking must

match knowledge-economy thinking.

Predictability, an idea basic to cur-riculum planning, must be questioned.Given unpredictability in the neweconomy, curriculum thinking shouldstress change and uncertainty. Yetcertainty can be found at a differentlevel. An analysis of work demonstratesthe prominence of routines. We canimprove workplace preparation byintroducing WBE students to ideasabout routines, the ways they differin context, and the questions learnerscan ask about them. The concept ofroutines can be taught, and beingmetacognitive about routines givesstructure to workplace learning. Whenwe teach students to identify gener-alizable functions of routines, weengage in metacognitive instructionthat invites them to analyze their ownwork routines, enhancing their learn-ing at work. Further, analysis of themeaning of changes in routines situ-ates unpredictability in the curriculum,preparing students for the nonroutinedemands of the new economy.Transferability is not at the level ofroutines themselves but of recog-nizing when the nonroutine must beanticipated. This nondualistic viewof education acknowledges that alllearning is aimed at doing that is in-timately related to understanding.High-school education should thusbe considered prevocational: helpingstudents develop an active, anticipa-tory stance toward work.

Entrepreneurship EducationHigh-school WBE should consider

the importance of small and mediumenterprises (SMEs). As of 2000, 43%of Canadian private-sector GDP wasattributable to SMEs. In the last de-cade, self-employment accounted for80% of job creation in Canada, andresearch shows a positive correla-tion between business start-ups andeconomic growth. Schools shouldprovide experiences that develop thesense of entrepreneurship crucial tothe success of SMEs. Being entrepre-neurial means knowing how to learn,adapt, and innovate in the knowledge

economy. Entrepreneurship educa-tion teaches students about startingand running businesses and aboutentrepreneurial skills such as creativ-ity, adaptability, and risk management.Entrepreneurship education reflectsthe ideals of a new vocationalismfor all students, and it should be anessential component of WBE.

RecommendationsThe dualism in secondary cur-

riculum should be rejected. Much oflife after schooling is vocational, sosecondary curriculum should beprevocational, emphasizing careereducation and entrepreneurship edu-cation. Moreover, high-school cur-riculum should be reformed tobalance authenticity and academicintensity. Authentic, experientialcourse content prepares studentsfor flexible, innovative thinking inthe knowledge economy. For suc-cessful reform, WBE courses mustbe accepted as appropriate prepara-tion for university entrance. Parentsmust be persuaded of the academicintensity available in WBE, and teach-ers must gain experience in the worldof work beyond school walls. Finally,workplaces must offer appropriatescaffolding so that high-school stu-dents can maximize the value of theirWBE placements.

These curricular reforms requiresystematic investigation. Further re-search on instructional relationshipsin workplaces should help determinehow WBE provides students withtransferable knowledge. Researchshould also consider the literature onadult workplace learning, which fo-cuses on issues relevant to WBE suchas mentorships. Further, the lessonslearned from recent school-to-workreform efforts in Canada suggest thatmore research should investigate howto make implementation effective.Researchers, parents, teachers, andemployers must collaborate to makehigh schools more anticipatory ofthe demands of the new economyfacing high-school graduates.


The 1994 School-to-WorkOpportunities Act (STWOA), moti-vated by the early labor-market in-stability experienced by some youth,aimed to provide a more effectivetransition from school to stable em-ployment. Researchers claimed thatearly instability is costly and sup-ported STWOA to impose more or-der on transitions to careers. Nowthat STWOA funding has ended andstates are deciding whether to con-tinue support of existing programs,it is appropriate to assess availableevidence on the effectiveness ofschool-to-work (STW) programs.Two central questions arise in thisassessment. One concerns the premiseof STW—whether unstable early la-bor-market experiences hinder long-term economic success. The otherconcerns the promise of STW—whether programs are effective. Thepaper discusses the premise and prom-ise, examining the effects of earlylabor-market stability on adult out-comes and the effectiveness of STWprograms, and offers conclusionsand directions for future research.

The PremiseContradicting the premise of STW,

labor-economic data offer compel-ling evidence that workers receiveadvantages from transitions througha variety of jobs. A study using datafrom 1957 to 1972 showed thatone third of wage growth for malesduring the first 10 years in the labormarket was attributable to job chang-ing, as workers learned about apti-tudes and interests by trying differentjobs. The returns to this “job shop-ping” suggest that funneling workersquickly into long-term jobs couldprove counterproductive for thosewho may otherwise have found bet-ter job matches. The STW premisewould be strengthened by statisticalevidence that youth with early unstable

employment suffer long-term con-sequences. One important difficultyis that research on this question mustgrapple with the possibility that earlyjob stability and adult wages are de-termined by common factors unob-served by researchers, confoundingestimation of any causal relationsbetween them.

The PromiseNumerous obstacles have hin-

dered determination of the effective-ness of STW programs in improvingadult labor-market outcomes. Large,representative data sets on STW pro-grams have been unavailable. Estab-lishing causal relations betweenprograms and outcomes is difficultbecause individuals typically chooseto participate, making the cause ofthe outcome—program or individualcharacteristics—hard to determine(a statistical problem called “endog-enous selection”). The goals of STWare difficult to quantify. Researcherscan finally address some of these ob-stacles, because the 1997 NationalLongitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97)makes it possible to study the im-pact of STW programs on early tran-sitions from school while at leastpartially accounting for selection.

Examining the PremiseTwo earlier studies have linked

early labor-market experiences tolater outcomes. One found that earlymobility (during the first 2 years inthe job market) is associated withhigher wage growth. The otherfound considerable early mobilityfrom low-wage jobs to high-wagejobs, with little mobility in the otherdirection. Both sets of results suggestthat early job-market stability is notnecessarily advantageous. The analy-sis of the premise of STW reportedon here differed from those studiesin making long-term connections

between early and adult labor-mar-ket experiences and in accountingfor the influence of unobservedworker characteristics and of en-dogenous determination of the rela-tion of early stability to later success.

The data set for the analysis wasNLSY97 for 1979–1992. In the 5years (in windows from 1979–1983to 1983–1986) following labor-mar-ket entry, transitions from entry tosteadier employment were observed.Entry was regarded as the first yearin which individuals no longer re-ported schooling (other than at 2-year colleges, where many obtaintraining during early employment).The analysis focused on two char-acteristics measuring stability, longestjob tenure and number of employersduring the 5-year window. To studyadult outcomes, data for one of theyears from the 1990–1992 periodwere used.

Examination of outcomes cen-tered on adult wages. The only indi-cation of a positive effect of earlystability on adult wages was for thenumber of employers. Longest jobtenure was negatively related to wages.A potential source of bias in the analy-sis was unobserved, ability-relatedworker characteristics that couldinfluence wages. If high-ability indi-viduals had stronger returns to jobshopping, then they might changejobs more frequently, biasing theresults negatively. Thus ability indi-cators—test results and parent edu-cation—were used to control this bias,but they had no appreciable impacton the findings. Further, when pos-sible bias resulting from good earlyjob matches linked with higher wageswas accounted for, the relation be-tween number of employers andadult wages became insignificant.

The analysis also consideredeffects of early stability on theemployee benefits most strongly

Assessing the Premise and the Promise of School-to-WorkDavid Neumark, Public Policy Institute of California


associated with good jobs—healthinsurance and pensions—and on theprobability of holding a full-time job.For men, longest job tenure was posi-tively related to receiving healthbenefits; for women, tenure waspositively related to both benefit types.For both genders, there was no sig-nificant relationship of benefits tonumber of employers or of full-timeemployment probability to eitherstability characteristic. There wasthus no strong association betweenearly stability and good adult jobs.

A potential source of negativecorrelation between stability and adultwages was unobserved heterogene-ity in the returns to search, suchthat those with higher returns wouldboth exhibit less early stability andsearch more successfully, generat-ing the negative correlation. Thisfactor was as problematic as over-stated positive correlations due togood early job matches. To controlfor these factors, youth labor-marketconditions—unemployment rates fromthe entry years—were used as in-strumental variables (IVs) for earlystability. Where the IV estimation wasinformative, results indicated stronglythat both characteristics of earlystability improve adult wages. Whileevidence of gains from early stabil-ity fortifies the premise of STW, itdoes not address their effectiveness,which must be assessed directly.

Examining the PromiseEvidence that STW programs

improve labor-market outcomes isweak. Many studies do not constructreasonable comparison groups orconsider selection bias. Even stud-ies with good comparison groupsfind only limited short-term labor-market benefits. Benefits of someprograms dissipate over a few years,as comparison-group membersfind good jobs. A recent report onSTWOA does not even attempt pro-gram evaluation, arguing that STWimplementation has been too broadto distinguish between participants

and comparison groups. One ex-ception to this dearth of rigorousevidence is the recent Manpowerevaluation of career academies. Itshowed no impact of academies onhigh-school graduation, postsecondaryeducation, or early employment.

Educators and administratorsmay have the most current evidenceof STW effects. To assess STWeffectiveness at this level, a casestudy was undertaken in Michigan.The current incarnation of STW inMichigan is the Career PreparationSystem (CPS), with goals parallel tothose of STWOA. Elements of CPSthat developed from STWOA arecareer pathways and education de-velopment plans for secondary stu-dents. The case-study strategy wasto interview state and local STWeducators and administrators re-garding STW in Michigan and findevidence on the effects of STW onyouth education, employment, andcareer decisions. Interviews re-vealed that the state and localitieshave gathered little useful informa-tion for assessing STW. The statedoes collect data on vocational-education graduates to determinelinks between their education andcurrent job or schooling. However,the surveys provide no comparisongroups or selection controls. Similarproblems arise in local efforts. Littleconvincing evidence of the effec-tiveness of STW in Michigan couldbe found. Such evidence may existfor other states, and effectivenessstudies there should be supported.

Without random-assignment ex-periments, difficult to implement forSTW initiatives, longitudinal dataare likely to be central in assessingSTW effectiveness. The presentanalysis used NLSY97 data to thatend. NLSY97 provides survey dataon high-school participants in arange of STW programs. Outcomedata are limited to effects of STWprograms on students’ subjectiveassessments of future schoolingand work. Participants could not be

studied as if they were randomlyassigned to programs, so selectionbias was controlled for. Results didnot show that STW participation af-fected likely college attendance.There was slight evidence that par-ticipation influenced intentions ofgetting a high-school diploma, ex-pected work at age 30, and intendeddegree of labor-market involvementthe year following high school. Re-search is now under way to assesshow well these subjective expecta-tions accord with behaviors ob-served in later NLSY97 surveys.

ConclusionsSome support exists for the

premise and promise of STW.Some adult labor-market gains re-sult from early job-market stability.Insofar as STW can increase thatstability, it may improve adult out-comes, but STW assessment hasproven difficult. Perhaps the stron-gest evidence is the association ofSTW participation with greater ex-pected labor-force commitment.More reliable evaluations of STWprograms are needed. Given the na-ture of STW, no longitudinal datacan provide meaningful observa-tions on outcomes of interest priorto program participation, whichwould help evaluate actual programeffects. The most convincing evi-dence must come from well-de-signed evaluations of existing ornew STW programs. Educatorsmust dedicate resources, assign po-tential participants to treatment andcontrol groups, and face the possi-bility that programs are ineffective.Researchers must accommodatepractitioners’ concerns. It will becritical to work on two fronts, withresearchers engaged in statistical,nonexperimental studies and re-searchers and educators cooperat-ing on experimental studies. Theseefforts can help to identify whichSTW programs (if any) make thetransition from school to workmore successful for students.


In the last decade of the 20th

century, federal legislation to improveworkforce-development opportuni-ties for high-school students fo-cused on improving both academicand technical competencies. Despitethe legislation, the proportion of high-school students concentrating in ca-reer and technical education (CTE)declined during the period, while anew dual curricular concentration,in which students take both a strongacademic and a CTE program, devel-oped from reform efforts. This paperreports on a study investigating pat-terns in CTE participation and otherstudent characteristics in the late1990s. The paper reviews reformefforts and study data and methods;then it examines findings on curricu-lar concentrations, on CTE-relatedactivities, and on student outcomes.

Reform in the 1990sThree legislative efforts related

to workforce preparation affectedhigh-school students graduating inthe late 1990s. The 1990 PerkinsAct Amendments attempted to up-grade CTE and develop all students’academic and occupational skills.The amendments created the TechPrep (TP) program. The amendmentsalso called for curricular integrationto help more CTE students acquiretransferable academic skills and forstate-level accountability in CTE pro-grams. Passed in 1994, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWOA)encouraged states to bridge the gapbetween education and work for allstudents. STWOA established a na-tional framework of coalitions amongeducation stakeholders. The actfunded school–employer partnershipsto promote work-based learning(WBL) and called for high educa-tional and occupational standards.The 1998 Perkins Act Amendmentsplaced CTE in a broader reform

context. The amendments furtherintegrated academics with CTE andprovided strong secondary–post-secondary connections. The legis-lation’s most important aspect wasfurther emphasis on accountability.New core indicators for CTE-pro-gram performance were established,and annual performance evaluationswere mandated.

Data and MethodsThis study used data from the

National Longitudinal Survey ofYouth 1997 (NLSY97), a nationallyrepresentative sample designed todocument the transition from schoolto work. Data from 1999 surveys werethe focus of the study. The NLSY97surveys, administered through personalinterviews, gathered information onstudents’ education, including cur-ricular concentration and participa-tion in WBL activities. The samplemembers’ schooling was influencedby STWOA and the later Perkinslegislation. Thus NLSY97 may indi-cate effects of those reforms.

Most analyses in the study useda subgroup with respondents in 9th

through 12th grade during the 1999surveys. Key variables were CTE-related activities outlined in STWOA:career pathways (CP) or career majors,TP, and six WBL activities. Thesewere cooperative education, jobshadowing, workplace mentoring,school-based enterprises, intern-ships, and apprenticeships. Responsesto survey questions about participa-tion in curricular concentrations(academic, general, CTE, or dual)and in the CTE-related activities yieldedthe key findings. Use of existing sur-vey data posed some limitations.For instance, NLSY97 included onlya limited list of CTE courses. Also,data were based on possibly inaccu-rate student self-reports, and differ-ences in curricular-concentration

data between NLSY97 and separatetranscript-based studies were found.

FindingsCURRICULAR CONCENTRATIONS

Data on concentrations showedthat about 5% of youth identifiedthemselves as CTE concentrators,less than a 1992 estimate of 18%.Other studies corroborate this de-cline during the 1990s. There weresignificant differences among studentsin the four concentrations. Femaleswere underrepresented in CTE anddual concentrations, Blacks wereoverrepresented in CTE, and Whitesand Hispanics were underrepresentedin CTE and dual. Urban youth weredisproportionately enrolled in CTEand dual concentrations. Moreover,CTE concentrators were predomi-nantly from lower income families.Middle-income youth were distrib-uted more uniformly, while nearly60% of higher income youth weregeneral or academic concentrators.

Significantly, there were differ-ences among concentrations in coursetaking. Such course-taking patternsare noteworthy because they predictbaccalaureate completion—and pos-sibly career success—better than GPAor college-entrance test scores. CTEconcentrators took more math thangeneral concentrators. Fewer aca-demic than dual concentrators re-ported taking two to five math courses.Although dual concentrators took moremath than did academic concentrators,the latter took a greater number ofadvanced math courses. Addition-ally, more CTE concentrators tookharder math courses (starting withgeometry) than general concentrators.

Differences in science coursetaking were similar. Fewer CTEthan general concentrators reportedtaking only one science course;more reported taking between twoand four. More dual concentrators

Career and Technical Education, Career Pathways, and Work-BasedLearningChanges in Participation 1997–1999James R. Stone III and Oscar A. Aliaga, University of Minnesota


took two to four science coursesthan did other concentrators. MoreCTE than general concentratorstook biology, chemistry, and physics.More dual than academic concen-trators took biology and physics.

Dual concentrators took moreCTE courses than did CTE concen-trators. More CTE than general con-centrators took all categories of CTEcourses but one. More dual than aca-demic concentrators took all catego-ries. Surprisingly, more than 25% ofboth CTE and dual concentrators re-ported taking no CTE courses, per-haps because of limited course typesin survey questions. These findingssuggest that 1990s reforms encour-aging more academics for CTE stu-dents may have had an impact.

CTE-RELATED ACTIVITIES

Patterns of correlation amongparticipants in CTE-related activitieswere also analyzed. Participation inthese activities slightly but consis-tently fell over the three rounds ofinterviews. Youth engaged in CTE-related activities took more math,science, and CTE courses than thestudent population generally. Analy-ses indicated that curricular choiceand participation in CTE-related activi-ties were a function of student char-acteristics. The analyses showed thatCTE concentrators were more likelyto be Black than White and to comefrom less affluent households. Theywere likely to report lower eighth-grade GPA. General concentratorswere similar in GPA and income butmore likely to be White. Dual concen-trators were likely to be male andBlack. They did not differ in eighth-grade GPA but took more CTE coursesthan others. Academic concentra-tors came from higher income house-holds, and their eighth-grade GPAwas higher than others’.

Participants in CP were likelier tobe Black and to be CTE or dual con-centrators. CP participants took morescience and CTE coursework thanothers. TP participants were likelier

to be Black. They were more likelyto be CTE or dual concentrators,and they took more CTE coursesthan academic concentrators. WBLparticipants were more likely female,Black, and in CTE or dual concen-trations. They took more math andCTE than the student population.

Analysis of specific WBL activi-ties found correlations between par-ticipation and student characteristics.Cooperative-education participantswere likely to be CTE or dual concen-trators. They took more math andCTE than the student population, al-though cooperative education leavesless time for coursework. This find-ing may indicate the impact of 1990slegislation on CTE program rigor. Job-shadowing participants took moreCTE courses but did not identify asCTE concentrators. Mentoring par-ticipants were likelier to be Black orHispanic and take more CTE courses.Youth in school-based enterprisestook more CTE courses and werelikelier to be male and CTE or dualconcentrators. Internship or appren-ticeship participants were likelier to beCTE concentrators. Youth from poorerhouseholds were not more likely toparticipate in WBL activities, nor didacademic ability predict participation.

OUTCOMES

The study examined relationshipsof student characteristics, curricularconcentration, and CTE participationto two student outcomes: cumulativehigh-school GPA and engaging inrisky behavior. In a limited analysis,all concentrations and activities ex-cept TP correlated with GPA. In afull analysis including student char-acteristics, concentration remaineda significant, if less important, GPApredictor. General concentratorsshowed a greater difference in GPAfrom academic concentrators than didCTE concentrators. This finding mayresult from the greater number ofmath and science courses CTE con-centrators take. CP participants re-ported higher GPAs than others. Males,

Blacks, and Hispanics showed lowerGPAs than females or Whites.

Other analyses related concentra-tions and CTE participation to studentreports of risky behaviors—sex,smoking, drinking, and marijuana use—associated with low GPA. Academicand CTE concentrators did not differ.Dual concentrators were likelier tosmoke and use marijuana than aca-demic concentrators. General con-centrators were likelier to engage insex, smoking, and marijuana use. TPparticipants were no more likely toreport risky behaviors than the stu-dent population. CP participants werelikelier to use marijuana. WBL partici-pants were likelier to smoke and drink.

ConclusionsThis study showed that the pro-

portion of CTE concentrators re-mained about the same throughoutthe 1990s, while the proportion ofdual concentrators rose. Participa-tion in CTE-related activities steadilydeclined from 1997 to 1999. CTEand dual concentrators were morelikely to be Black. CTE concentra-tors also came from poorer house-holds and had lower eighth-gradeGPA. These findings suggest racialand class distinctions may exist inhigh-school counseling regardingcurricular choice. Moreover, theemphasis on academics in Perkinslegislation may be affecting course-taking patterns among CTE and dualconcentrators. In the 1999 NLSY97survey, CTE concentrators took moreand harder math and science. Beinga CTE or dual concentrator pre-dicted participation in CTE-relatedactivities. Course-taking patternscorrelated with participation in theseactivities, with some participantstaking more math and science thanothers. Finally, participation in CPhad a significant impact on high-school achievement, science and CTEcourse taking, and avoidance of somerisky behaviors. Encouraging CP—and CTE generally—may increasestudents’ likelihood of success.


Work-based learning (WBL) en-compasses activities from brief work-site visits to intensive apprenticeships.The goal of WBL is to enhancetraditional schooling objectives—teaching academic skills, preparingstudents for citizenship and work,and helping them develop into matureand responsible adults. The 1994School-to-Work Opportunities Act(STWOA) gave WBL a boost in highschools, making it central to nationaleducation reform and leading to sig-nificant growth in some WBL activi-ties. Since STWOA funding expiredin 2001, federal reform policy hasincreasingly focused on more strin-gent standards, testing, and account-ability, while support for WBL as anational initiative has faded. WhileWBL remains valuable in strength-ening the education and developmentof many students, given its costs instaff resources and student time, itis important to understand its benefits.

Reported here are results froman inquiry into one form of WBL, in-ternships. The inquiry involved 25students observed at internship sitesand schools. Internships lasted froma few weeks to several months andincluded unpaid and paid placements.Students, work supervisors, and in-structors were interviewed and docu-ments related to the internships wereexamined. The inquiry exploredwhether WBL could benefit all stu-dents, not just those bound for workafter high school. It also attemptedto identify the mechanisms of WBLeffects. This paper examines the ve-racity of three main claims made byits advocates: that WBL reinforcesacademic learning, that it enhanceswork-related skills and career under-standing, and that it advances students’social and emotional development.The research findings also suggestthat WBL engages youth in modes ofthought seldom fostered in schools, and

that the curious relationship betweenschool and work creates a dialecticthat contributes to students’ learning.

Academic SkillsCognitive theorists suggest that

people use skills differently in class-rooms and on the job, and that learn-ers do not easily transfer knowledgegained at one site to the other. It fol-lows that youth should have learningexperiences both in and out of school,but it does not directly follow thatout-of-school learning will improvein-school learning. Advocates of WBLassume that workplace experiencereinforces academic learning in threeways. First, school-based knowledgemay be applied at work and thussolidified. Second, the utility of aca-demic knowledge may be tested atwork more elaborately and profoundly.Third, WBL may motivate academiclearning, when students recognizethat scholarship is relevant to attrac-tive careers. To test the claim thatWBL benefits academic learning, thisinquiry posited that the benefits mustbe detectable in details of students’workplace experiences. For evidenceof engagement in school-like knowl-edge at worksites, internship datawere examined for content knowl-edge, use of academic skills, andmotivation toward schoolwork.

It was difficult to identify work-place knowledge corresponding withclassroom knowledge. Workplacelearning usually deepened not academicknowledge but knowledge about theworking world. Surprisingly, learn-ing related to school skills was hardto find. Students rarely used skillsthat drew obviously on school knowl-edge. Reading, for instance, was high-ly episodic, and its function wasusually to gain specific work-taskinformation. Only a few studentsengaged in substantial mathemat-ics requiring complex operations.

Reinforcement of science conceptsdid occasionally happen, especiallyin hospital internships. For 9 of 25students investigated, no evidence ofacademic learning was found. Twelveexperienced some simple applicationof school-based knowledge, whileonly three tested and explored thatknowledge. As for effects on moti-vation, some students claimed thatscholastic improvement was due toincreased interest in topics or fieldsrelated to internships.

Work Skills and CareersA commonsensical argument for

WBL is that students acquire practi-cal skills and learn about careers.Many have proposed lists of work-place skills that schools should teach,such as that of the Secretary’s Com-mission on Achieving Necessary Skills(SCANS), which itemizes funda-mental skills and workplace compe-tencies, including basic skills likereading, thinking skills, and personalqualities, as well as interpersonal,resource-related, informational, andtechnological work competencies.The internship study examined whatsite-specific skills and competenciesinterns displayed, including SCANSitems, and whether they participatedin communities of skilled practitio-ners. The results were encouraging.Many students performed simple orelaborate context-specific skills. Somemight be useful in other workplaces.Salient, SCANS-related skills acquiredincluded mastering work proceduresand improving personal and socialskills. Many students had opportu-nities to follow through on tasks andmaintain control in difficult circum-stances. This demand for respon-sible behavior was among the strongestelements of skills learning. As forSCANS competencies, while somestudents were able to practice them,because the students were low in

The Continuing Contribution of Work-Based LearningThomas R. Bailey and Katherine L. Hughes, Teachers College, Columbia University; and David Thornton Moore,New York University


status, few used them extensively.Interns participated in work com-munities to a limited extent. Theyhad marginal roles and performedprescribed tasks, but they did formgood working relationships. Mostobserved and interacted with practi-tioners in ways not available in schools,while building rudimentary skills.

Many assert that internshipsfoster career exploration and plan-ning. Some interns did get a strongfeel for career tasks, from the rou-tine to the technical. Most witnessedmuch ordinary occupational life, anadvantage in making career decisions.However, interns rarely exceededthe daily-life perspective on careers.Some conversed with co-workersabout educational preparation andcareer paths. But students rarely en-gaged knowledge about longitudinalaspects of occupations or thoughtsystematically about career trajectories.

Youth DevelopmentThe internship study demon-

strated that WBL can contribute toyouths’ social and emotional devel-opment. Work-based learning givesyouth extended interactions with sup-portive adults and offers legitimateroles in professional workplaces. In-terns explored adult roles and respon-sibilities, promoting their development.As students learned new roles andtasks, adults provided scaffoldingthat led eventually to autonomouswork. Interns showed significantdevelopment of self-confidence. Tak-ing on challenging work in adult con-texts, they felt proud that adults reliedon them to complete it. Moreover,by allowing youth to engage in adultroles, WBL participation broadensthe range of professional and produc-tive selves youth can imagine. If theincreased maturity and motivation gen-erated by WBL transfers to the class-room, workplace experiences mayinfluence academic achievement.The potential relationship betweenWBL, personal development, andacademics merits further research.

New Modes of ThoughtStudents in WBL learn new

thought processes not available inschool that add value to WBL experi-ences. Differences between schooland work generate thought and con-tribute to student learning. Work-place and classroom thinking differ,for example, in the way that prob-lems are formed. In school, studentsfollow standard, teacher-suppliedprocedures to solve ready-made prob-lems, while in workplaces, ambigu-ous and shifting problems requiresolutions that make sense of com-plex issues. In the internship study,students learned to define problemsin ways unlikely to arise in class-rooms. Interns developed a reper-toire of solution skills and learned torecognize subtle contextual differ-ences. Workplace and classroomthinking also differ in using the work-place itself for cognitive functions,rewarding minimum time and efforttaken on tasks, and emphasizing cog-nitive teamwork.

Moreover, as workers, internsmust work competently in produc-tive activities, while as students, theyare by definition incompetent, need-ing to learn. If exploited by effec-tive pedagogy, this tension betweenroles can be enlightening. While in-terns work, they can ask questions,make mistakes, and explore the work.They can ask not just about workprocedures but about their rationale.The role contradiction can producea learning dialectic: a compelling im-pulse to make sense of the work andbuild competence. While engagingin the rich cognitive activity of thisdialectic could develop higher ordercognitive processes needed in ad-vanced academic work, the dialecticmay fail to develop. Students mayview the work experience only fromthe worker’s perspective, supervi-sors may remain focused on interns’productive role, and school-basededucators may not know how to ex-ploit the dialectic in classrooms. Someinterns explored the dialectic by asking

co-workers questions about institutionsand careers, while others gave littlesign of perceiving the bigger picture.

ConclusionsEducators should do more to

facilitate WBL in schools, particu-larly setting student goals for WBLand tailoring pedagogical practicesaccordingly. Given the effort re-quired from educators, employers,and students to implement effectiveWBL and declining enthusiasm atthe national level for the practice,some might wonder whether it isworth pursuing. However, WBLwas a significant educational prac-tice before STWOA, engaging hun-dreds of thousands of students inapprenticeships and internships.Some WBL programs, including ca-reer academies, continue to growdespite the end of STWOA funding.Work-based learning gives manystudents substantial academic, ca-reer, and personal advantages.

What next steps should WBLpolicy take? National education policyappears directed toward local deci-sion making and accountability; WBLis compatible with this direction.Many state and local initiatives havebeen effective and should be sus-tained, and certainly we would notrecommend that WBL replace asignificant amount of classroomlearning or that it substitute for class-room preparation for tests. Further,the federal government can promotelocal research on WBL initiativesand disseminate the results. Researchshould include refined inquiry intopromotion of adolescents’ cognitiveand psychological developmentthrough WBL. Research should ex-plore the spectrum of adolescents’nonacademic activities, including in-ternships, service learning, and ex-tracurricular activities. In sum, WBLbrings more adults into students’lives, while it facilitates the use ofthe world outside schools as a learn-ing environment. These are goodreasons for furthering this practice.


Policymakers have a longstand-ing interest in helping students pre-pare for successful careers. Thefederal government has supportedvocational and other career-focusedprograms in high schools for nearlya century. Even after the reductionsrecently proposed by the Bush ad-ministration, these funds will stillrepresent one of the largest federalcommitments at the secondarylevel.

The goals and form of high-school career-focused activitieshave evolved considerably sincetheir inception. As a growingnumber of students plan to attendcollege, some policymakers havequestioned the value of traditionalvocational programs, particularlythose that focus on narrow occu-pational skills and prepare stu-dents for jobs that do not requirea college degree. This has led someschools to develop career-focusedactivities designed to complement,or even reinforce, the academiccurriculum and to prepare stu-dents for at least 2-year collegeprograms.

This paper draws on recentsurveys of three cohorts of stu-dents in eight states to examineboth the extent of student partici-pation in specific career-focusededucational activities and the poten-tial value of those activities. Thesurveys include a 12th-grade base-line survey of the classes of 1996,1998, and 2000, as well as a fol-low-up for the classes of 1996and 1998 that was conducted 18months after the students gradu-ated. Surveyed students were ran-domly selected from the 12th-gradeclasses in 69 high schools coveredby the school-to-work initiativesof the eight states. The rest ofthe paper outlines findings relatedto (a) the challenges that students

face as they seek to achieve theireducation and career goals, (b) theextent and recent growth of high-school activities designed to helpstudents achieve their goals, and(c) the ways that students valuethese activities and appear to makeuse of them.

Career-Related Challenges forYoung Adults

The paths young adults take asthey leave high school reflect someof the challenges they face in defin-ing and pursuing career goals. Whilesome people figure out their goalsearly in life, most change theirgoals as they accumulate work ex-perience. As young adults formu-late and refine their goals, they oftenneed to change their educationalplans accordingly. Conversely,those discovering that they do nothave enough resources or prepara-tion for postsecondary-educationprograms may need to revise theircareer goals. The ways in whichyoung adults’ postsecondary pathsconform to, or deviate from, theirexpressed goals point to challengesthey face and needs that educatorsmay be able to address.

Most of the students surveyed18 months after high-school gradu-ation had ambitious educationalgoals, but, for economic reasons,many dropped out or did not enrollin postsecondary programs. Despitea nearly universal intention to obtaina college degree, 305 of the respon-dents were not enrolled in and hadnot completed any postsecondaryprogram. About 14% of those whohad enrolled in college droppedout. Half of those dropping out ornever enrolling cited an inability topay tuition or a need to work asthe reason.

Most of the high-school graduatesobtained low-paying jobs unrelated

to their career goals. About 71% ofyoung adults who were employed18 months after high school re-ported that their job was in a differ-ent field than their career goal. Thepay and benefits of most students’jobs was usually modest, with theaverage student earning $7.76 perhour. With these earnings, it is un-derstandable that many youngadults report difficulty financingpostsecondary education.

In designing career-focusedhigh-school activities, educatorsmust confront the instability ofyoung adults’ career and educationgoals, the economic difficultiesthey face in securing a postsec-ondary education, and the low av-erage quality of their jobs. Educatorsshould try to identify which high-school activities help studentsclarify their goals. The economicfactors that prevent many studentsfrom completing postsecondaryprograms point to the potentialvalue of both financial-aid policiesand efforts to help students securegood jobs that can pay for theireducation.

Participation in Career-FocusedActivities

We analyzed the extent andgrowth of student participation inthree types of activities: (a) career-development activities designed toexpose students to alternative ca-reers or help students develop edu-cational plans; (b) vocational andacademic classes or assignmentsthat students perceive to be relatedto their career interests; and (c) workexperiences developed by schoolsfor students, including paid andunpaid workplace positions andschool-based enterprises.

Brief career-development activi-ties engage the largest number ofstudents, and some of these activities

Preparing for Productive CareersStudents’ Participation in and Use of Career-Focused Learning ActivitiesJoshua Haimson and John Deke, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.


expanded during the late 1990s.Nearly all (99%) of the members ofthe class of 2000 in the study schoolsparticipated in at least one of sixcareer-development activities (name-ly, job shadowing, group worksitetours, employer presentations, careercounseling, career-interest invento-ries, or the selection of a careerarea to plan for). The activities in-volving the largest percentage ofstudents were career counseling(84%) employer presentations(82%), and career-interest invento-ries (76%). During the late 1990s,there was growth in the percentageof high-school students who re-ported attending employer class-room presentations (from 78% ofthe class of 1996, to 82% in theclass of 2000) and in the percentagewho had at least one job-shadowingexperience (from 25% to 43%). Bycontrast, the more intensive career-focused activities—including voca-tional and academic classes focusedon careers and extended intern-ships—attracted somewhat smallerfractions of students and did notgrow appreciably.

The growing popularity of ca-reer-exposure activities probably isdue partly to the feasibility of imple-menting these activities without dis-rupting the academic schedule orimposing a large burden on schoolstaff members. In addition, theseactivities often are perceived as be-ing relevant to all students, sincethey are designed to help studentsselect high-school classes and de-velop postsecondary plans. How-ever, as schools increasingly focuson academic achievement, it is un-certain whether these activities willcontinue to grow.

Assessment and Use of Career-Focused Activities

After high-school students grad-uate, the way they perceive and makeuse of specific high-school experi-ences can point to both the valueand the limitations of these experi-

ences. The student follow-up survey,conducted 18 months after gradua-tion, included questions on the ex-tent to which students (a) perceivedthat specific high-school activitieswere useful in clarifying their careergoals, (b) made use of postsecondarycredits earned during high school,and (c) found postsecondary jobswith help from high-school staff.

Students responding to the 18-month follow-up survey reportedthat their high-school workplaceactivities and career-focused classeswere particularly effective in help-ing them clarify their goals. Spe-cifically, more than 60% of thoseparticipating in job-shadowing ex-periences, paid jobs and intern-ships found through school, andcareer-focused academic classesreported that these activities were“very helpful” in clarifying theircareer goals. In contrast, studentsgave much lower ratings to vari-ous other career-focused activi-ties—such as group worksitetours, employer presentations, andschool-based enterprises. Both ca-reer-focused classes and paid in-ternships may allow students to gleanwhether they would enjoy specificcareers. In addition, students mayperceive that internships and job-shadowing experiences were morehelpful in clarifying their goalsthan were worksite tours and em-ployer presentations, because theformer tend to provide more op-portunities for one-on-one discus-sions with employer staff.

To help students prepare for apostsecondary education, somehigh schools have expanded oppor-tunities to earn postsecondary cred-its during high school. About 5% ofthose enrolling in postsecondaryeducation said they had earned andmade use of college credits fromhigh-school vocational courses.But many students did not makeuse of college credits earned inhigh school. Among students en-rolled in college who reported tak-

ing a class offering postsecondarycredit in high school, only 43%said that those credits had beenrecorded on their college tran-scripts. Some states are trying toincrease the use of these credits byencouraging all state 2-year col-leges to accept credits for specificclasses.

Although only a fraction ofthose leaving high school (about5%) found jobs with help fromschool staff, these positions appearto have significant, qualitative ad-vantages over the positions stu-dents found in other ways. Thesepositions did not pay higher wages,but instead were more likely to re-late to students’ goals, providetraining, and offer tuition reimburse-ment. Moreover, these apparent ad-vantages persist even after onecontrols for a limited set of studentcharacteristics.

While these findings suggestthat some students may benefitfrom career-related activities inhigh school, many uncertainties re-main. We still do not know whichcareer-focused activities, if any,really help students choose betterpostsecondary education and jobs.Researchers need to determine theimpacts of career-focused activi-ties on students’ ability to enterand succeed in a chosen career,taking into account all preexistingdifferences between those who par-ticipate in these activities and thosewho do not. Clearly, high schoolshave a variety of competing pri-orities and demands on their re-sources. Assuming that somecareer-focused activities can im-prove students’ long-term out-comes, educators nevertheless willneed to make sure that these activi-ties do not interfere with academicor other activities that are deter-mined to have a greater impact onstudents’ outcomes. Addressingthese questions and issues couldhelp more students prepare for pro-ductive careers.


This paper focuses on selectedstudent outcomes from the firsttwo years of a 5-year longitudinalstudy investigating promising sec-ondary programs that integrate ca-reer and technical education (CTE)with whole-school reform to im-prove the academic outcomes ofat-risk students. The schools ex-amined serve high percentages ofeconomically or socially disadvan-taged students who are at risk ofnot completing high school. Afterdescribing the study and the sample,the paper presents results fromanalyses of math achievement andgraduation progress.

Research BaseResearch on education for at-

risk youth reveals that providingstudents with opportunities to learnmore math at younger ages canimprove achievement, and thattracking has strong effects ondifferential student outcomes inmath. At-risk students who attendschools offering insufficient op-portunities to take algebra are hard-pressed to achieve in math to theextent that government policies de-mand. Research on CTE showsthat students participating in CTEactivities are more likely to take ad-vanced courses in math and sci-ence. CTE can motivate studentsto stay in school and take moreadvanced coursework. Studentsattending high schools that com-bine reforms with CTE may thushave better math outcomes andschool-completion rates than dostudents attending schools that donot integrate reform efforts.

Study SitesThe three study schools are

involved in different whole-schoolreform designs and CTE reformefforts, and they serve a range of

at-risk populations. The first studyschool, called Academy High School(AHS), is located in a large city.AHS uses the Urban Learning Cen-ters reform design, which includeshigh academic standards, stake-holder governance, and onsitelearning supports. All centers areK–12 schools housed as one inte-grated facility. AHS curriculum isstructured around career academieswith a strong college-preparatoryfocus.

The second study school, calledVocational High School (VHS), islocated in a medium-sized city. Be-fore reform, VHS was in danger oflosing accreditation. Adult author-ity had broken down, with educa-tors afraid of gang violence. Afternew leadership succeeded in mak-ing the school safe again, VHSjoined the High Schools That Worknetwork, which advocates rigorousacademics and an integrated cur-riculum for CTE students. Helpingentering students get to grade levelin math and English is a major fo-cus at VHS. The school has alsoimplemented a college-preparatorycurriculum designed to help stu-dents meet state-mandated aca-demic standards.

The third study school, calledComprehensive High School (CHS),is located in a small city. The schoolhas reformed its curriculum aroundcareer pathways, which replacetraditional tracks. Students chooseone of five pathways at the end oftheir freshman year. Electives arealigned with pathways, and aca-demic teachers attempt to incorpo-rate pathways.

Study schools were matchedwith control schools. For eachstudy school, its control school iseither in the same community anddistrict or in another community inthe state with similar demographics.

However, none of the controlschools is involved in a schoolwidereform effort.

Participants and MeasuresParticipants were students in

the study and control schools whowere in the 9th or 11th grade duringthe 2000–2001 school year and notparticipating in special education.Participants were preponderantlyminority and economically disad-vantaged students. Although notall students made yearly progressto graduation, these cohorts arecalled the class of 2004 and theclass of 2002, respectively. In the2001–2002 school year, data werecollected again for students fromthese cohorts, whether or not theyhad advanced a grade.

Data were collected on mathcourse-taking patterns and onprogress to graduation. Mathcourses were grouped into threelevels of difficulty: low (coursesless difficult than Algebra 1); me-dium (higher courses less difficultthan trigonometry); and high(trigonometry and higher courses).Math progression was evaluated bycomparing students’ math coursesduring each year with the school’smath sequence. After taking maththe first year, a student might ad-vance to a higher course, repeatthe previous course, or take nomath course. Graduation progresswas measured in terms of threepossible outcomes: repeating agrade, advancing a grade, or leav-ing the school.

ResultsResults for each school are re-

ported separately. As for level ofmath difficulty, AHS studentsgenerally took higher level mathcourses than Control-A students.AHS students also opted out of the

Selected Measures of Student Progress in Schools WithCTE-Centered Whole-School ReformMarisa Castellano and Sam Stringfield, Johns Hopkins University; James R. Stone III, University of Minnesota;and Jeffrey C. Wayman, Johns Hopkins University


math sequence less often than didControl-A students. Students fromControl-B were more advanced inmath level than VHS students. Stu-dents at CHS generally took mathat higher levels than did students atControl-C. For the class of 2004,differences were largest in themedium level of math courses for2000–2001; this difference led to asignificant difference in high-levelcourse taking during the sopho-more year for the majority of thesestudents.

As for math progression, ad-vancement for the class of 2004was almost identical at AHS andControl-A. No AHS students re-peated a math class the followingyear. The class of 2004 at VHS ap-peared slightly more successful inmath progression than their Con-trol-B peers, with more studentsadvancing to a higher course andfewer repeating a course. Resultswere reversed for the class of2002, with more of them repeatinga course and fewer advancing atVHS. Math progression for theclass of 2004 at both CHS andControl-C was similar. A similarpercentage of the class of 2002 ad-vanced at each school, but fewerof them repeated a course at CHS,and fewer took no math course atCHS.

As for graduation progress, theclass of 2004 from AHS and Con-trol-A advanced at similar rates,but students in the class of 2002at AHS were more likely to ad-vance. Students at Control-A weremore likely to leave school thanAHS students. VHS and Control-Bstudents were similar in promotionand school leaving. Control-C hadmore students from the class of2004 on track to graduate than didCHS. At both schools, the class of2002 had similar rates of progresstoward graduation. Although moreCHS students were a year behindin graduation progress, fewer CHSstudents had left school.

DiscussionACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL

While the class of 2004 at AHSand Control-A progressed equally,the class of 2002 at AHS outpacedControl-A. The academic and per-sonal supports that are part of theUrban Learning Centers designmay have helped students succeedin math. Moreover, at AHS, stu-dents in the class of 2004 whowere not on target to graduatewere much more likely to be inschool a year later. At Control-A,one quarter of the class of 2002was not attending school a yearlater. The career themes at AHSmay provide some students a rea-son to continue through the chal-lenges of an academically rigorouscurriculum.

VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Of the VHS class of 2002,almost one quarter took trigo-nometry or higher in 2001–2002,whereas before the reforms wereimplemented, few students tookhigher math at VHS. Although stu-dents in the class of 2002 at Con-trol-B did take significantly morehigh-level math courses, two thirdsof the VHS class of 2002 whomoved out of medium-level mathwent on to high-level math, whileonly one third opted out of math.Conversely, at Control-B, only halfof the class of 2002 moving out ofthe medium level went on to high-level math; almost half opted outof math. That VHS has kept pacewith another high school in the dis-trict is a positive finding, and is es-pecially encouraging given its highnumbers of initially low-achievingfreshmen.

COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL

Both classes at CHS and Con-trol-C were similar in math pro-gression. However, the highernumbers of ninth graders who tookmedium-level math in 2000–2001at CHS led to a significantly higher

number of 10th graders takinghigh-level math in 2001–2002.More students passed math at CHSin 2000–2001; but by 2001–2002,Control-C students had caught up.CHS students took higher levelmath courses and progressedthrough the math sequence fasterthan did their Control-C counter-parts. The greater achievement atCHS may be due to career path-ways, which encourage students toplan their futures. Students mayhave realized the career signifi-cance of taking math classesthroughout high school; fewerCHS students in the class of 2002opted out of math. Fewer studentsfrom the class of 2004 at CHSwere on track to graduate, but ofstudents not on track, more per-sisted at CHS.

ConclusionsThe results show that those

schools that have infused careerthemes into their schoolwide re-forms are either achieving parity orshowing a clear advantage overcontrol schools. At AHS and CHS,strong retention is noteworthy.Overall, the results suggest that at-risk students can experience im-proved math achievement andgraduation progress when CTE andwhole-school reforms are blended.Schools attempting to implementsuch comprehensive reforms needsupport from districts and localemployers, because integrating ca-reer themes or programs into acurriculum with higher academicexpectations requires extensive ex-ternal support. Success for at-riskstudents at the schools examinedhere was related both to increasedemphasis on academics and tocommunity support helping stu-dents relate schooling to careergoals. The comprehensive, well-supported reforms seen at theseschools could be usefully imple-mented elsewhere to help at-riskstudents achieve.


Research indicates that the roleof dissemination in vocational-edu-cation reform is weak. The influentialEducational Resources InformationCenters (ERIC) database containsfew documents on vocational edu-cation. This article critically exam-ines the problems involved in gettingknowledge on a major type of voca-tional education, work-based educa-tion (WBE), into policy and practice.The article defines dissemination;surveys federal efforts addressingdissemination; examines the roles ofdisseminators and users; exploresrelations among research, policy, andpractice; and discusses implicationsfor WBE dissemination.

Dissemination DefinedViewed most broadly, both dis-

semination and diffusion can be con-strued as socially shared cognitionthrough which individuals interactand relate new ideas to shared knowl-edge and culture. Dissemination maybe distinguished from its more in-formal partner, diffusion, by its em-phasis on purposive and goal-orientedcommunication of information that isspecific and useable. The intent of dis-semination in education is to improveeducational organizations and practice.

Major Federal ProgramsRegular communication channels

are a feature of effective dissemina-tion systems, and in the 1970s, theUnited States experimented with ef-forts to establish state and nationalnetworks that could fulfill this func-tion. These projects, which werebased on the 19th century model ofthe agricultural extension system, havebeen maintained but not expanded.As in the extension system, designatedagents answer individuals’ questionsby consulting research and research-ers. In turn, researchers use extensionagents to communicate new findings

rapidly to the field. While the exten-sion model has been effective, it limitsdissemination and knowledge use toserving individuals’ needs. The prob-lems of education, however, are as-sociated with schools as organizations.

The federal government initiatedthe ERIC dissemination project in thebelief that inaccessibility of researchcontributed to low levels of innovationin education during the 1960s. TheERIC system evolved with little at-tention given to how educators woulduse the system; it has not been practi-tioner-friendly, although federal effortsto launch more active disseminationstrategies in the 1970s did try to showERIC’s usefulness for teachers andadministrators. The need to justifyERIC still drives dissemination policy,focusing it on the knowledge base,not on solving users’ problems.

The regional educational labora-tories (RELs) initiated in the 1960swere another major effort to improveeducation through research and de-velopment. The RELs became thebackbone of the government’s gen-eral-purpose dissemination systemserving the broad needs of schools.Despite their central position, theRELs have been bypassed in criti-cal knowledge-use and school-improvement projects, includingthose targeted at vocational educa-tion. For example, many federalprograms, such as Title I, designatespecial-purpose assistance centersto provide information and techni-cal help to program recipients. Amajor feature of special-purposecenters has been isolation frombroader strands of school reformand from each other. The isolationof general-purpose disseminationefforts, such as ERIC and the RELs,from other special-focus projectsis typical of the tendency of fed-eral policies to promote competi-tion rather than integration.

The Roles of Disseminators andUsers

Disseminators are individuals orgroups that link weakly connected so-cial systems. These linking agents arepositioned to move research knowl-edge into practice. Much attentionhas been paid to ways for dissemi-nators to make information moreuseable, particularly scholarly reportsand large computerized databases likeERIC. However, most efforts to movebeyond research reports to alternativemodes of presenting research haveaddressed only the spread of infor-mation, not its use. Disseminationshould go beyond merely spreadinginformation by addressing incentivesfor individual change, targeting use-able knowledge to practitioners, cre-ating shared understandings of howknowledge can improve local prac-tice, stimulating increased diffusionof new knowledge within and be-tween educational agencies, and em-phasizing social processing involvinginterpersonal contact.

Knowledge use occurs when adecision maker uses disseminated re-search findings for problem solvingand decision making relevant to im-proving an education system such asWBE. From the user’s perspective,relevance is key; practitioners shouldsee a match between their perceivedneeds and the information provided.Since research began to focus onknowledge use, conflicting views onhow knowledge affects practice havearisen. While the relevance of construc-tivist perspectives to educationalpractice is debated, several of its te-nets correspond with important con-cerns for disseminators. For example,constructivists suggest that “all knowl-edge is local.” While disseminationis based on the presumption that prac-titioners have much to gain from ideasthat are not local, information gener-ated elsewhere must be compatible

Effective Dissemination Strategies for Work-Based EducationIncreasing the Connection Between Research and PracticeKaren Seashore Louis and Lisa M. Jones, University of Minnesota


with existing beliefs and have localutility. Constructivists also see knowl-edge as contested, an idea supportedby cognitive research that views con-testing knowledge and measuring itsvalidity as central to learning. Thetruth and utility of research will notautomatically strike practitioners andpolicymakers. To transfer knowledge,disseminators must understand theneeds of the users who interpret it.

Research, Policy, and PracticeMany WBE scholars lament that

their research is not incorporated inpolicy. Findings show that despitethe close relationship between WBEand economically significant employ-ment policies, policymakers are notturning to WBE research for guid-ance. However, researchers haveoverlooked the relationship betweenpolicymakers’ existing knowledgeand new research, which is mostapplicable when it is compatible withexisting beliefs, diffuses rapidly, hasobvious local utility, and is discussedin ways that accommodate it to lo-cal preferences. Linking agents (andresearchers) must recognize that theirwork must fit policymakers’ needs,and they must draw clear connectionswhen immediate utility is not obvi-ous. They must also recognize that“mainstream knowledge,” whetherresearch-based or not, tends to crowdout divergent voices, no matter howwell established in research. Knowl-edge becomes a political instrumentsubject to critical validation.

At the federal and state levels,the interactions between researchersand those who commission researchare crucial. Governments typicallysponsor research by noted scholarsbut rarely use it fully without consid-erable interaction between the schol-ars and policymakers. This politicalreality is particularly relevant to WBE,where funding is largely limited tofederal agencies with mature policyagendas. At the local level, organiza-tional problems arise that need quicksolutions. Local decision makers do

not have the time or the resources toconsider knowledge systematically.Most instances of research use atthe school level involve small-stepdecisions made with limited delibera-tion and based on earlier decisions.

Characteristics of schools anddistricts, such as their socioeconomiccomposition, also affect knowledgeuse and reform. More disadvantagedschools often have weaker connec-tions to sources of knowledge andtechnical assistance, and are thuslower in internal capacity to useknowledge to solve problems. TheWBE community should not ignorethe consequences. Most studentswho could benefit from WBE re-search are located in disadvantagedcommunities unable to implementresearch-based innovation.

The larger policy setting is alsoimportant for WBE, because schoolshave pressing incentives to meetstate performance standards. Com-prehensive high schools with weakstudent test results have de-empha-sized WBE by requiring students totake more remedial courses as aquick fix. This strategy ignores thelong-term solution, advocated byWBE scholars, of integrating aca-demic and vocational subjects; herethe research–practice gap is wide.

Other features of school organi-zation influence teachers’ ability touse WBE knowledge. Shared memo-ries of previous school learning situ-ations can create openness to futurelearning. In WBE, however, sharedmemories can be a constraint, ifteachers remember a “golden age”when WBE was central and thus re-sist change. Further, communicationlinks within schools are often attenu-ated. Teachers possess knowledgeabout their own discipline, but theylack the skills to discuss practiceacross programs, an important stepin creating cooperation betweenacademic and vocational programs.Because WBE teachers are often iso-lated in comprehensive high schools,their expertise also remains on the

margins. Since teachers must inter-pret and distribute innovative ideasbefore they can be put into practice,the development of internal com-munication networks can provide afoundation for school change.

ImplicationsThis article suggests implica-

tions for dissemination practice. Re-search generated in universities isonly one source of knowledge, andits use must be negotiated througha process involving teachers andschool leaders. Where barriers tochange exist in school organization,redesigning the school should bepart of sustained efforts to improveknowledge use. Utilization and im-pact can only be assessed over thelong term, when knowledge-useefforts have improved organizationand practice so that practitionersperceive benefits. Given the latentdemand for research informationamong practitioners, disseminationcan be consistent with both a bot-tom-up approach to school reformand with government mandates.

The article also suggests impli-cations for dissemination policy.Coordination between knowledgeproducers and potential users needscontinued policy attention. If schoolsare directly involved in universityresearch, the chances of utilizationand the probabilities of future col-laboration increase. The WBE andfederal education disseminationsystems must include practitionersas partners more intensively. Thesecomplex systems must become morecoordinated, user-friendly, and re-ciprocal. Dissemination systemsshould provide incentives for prac-titioner knowledge use that can bestimulated by policy. Disseminationcannot be micromanaged at thepolicy level. Its success—and thatof students who benefit from re-search knowledge—depends oncreating environments for compe-tent communication and use at theschool level.


Tech Prep (TP) emerged fromthe Tech Prep Education Act of the1990 Perkins Act Amendments. TPwas promoted to meet the needs ofdisengaged students, who often gradu-ate without competencies needed forwork success, by integrating rigorousacademics with vocational educationand formally linking secondary andpostsecondary curricula. Federal lawmandated that federal TP funds beadministered through local consortiaof secondary and postsecondary in-stitutions. TP initiatives must includearticulation agreements formalizingpartnerships and core curriculumwith progressively rigorous, sequen-tial academic and career-and-techni-cal-education (CTE) coursework.This work must lead to a 2-yearcertificate, associate’s degree, orformal apprenticeship.

After several years of assessment,a national evaluation of TP sponsoredby the Office of Vocational and AdultEducation (OVAE) praised consortiafor strengthening stakeholder collabo-ration and career guidance, empha-sizing applied instruction, and linkingemployers with students. However,evaluators criticized TP programs forlacking consistency and for failingto create seamless curricular pathways.The evaluators suggested that programswith whole-school reform goals weretoo unfocused and underfunded.

At about the time of the nationalevaluation, new Perkins legislation autho-rized TP funding beyond 1998 andencouraged alternative instructionalstrategies for learners not well servedby current curriculum. Contextuallearning and work-based learning (WBL)received greater attention. The legislationalso supported 2+2 TP programs articu-lated with baccalaureate programs in2+2+2 options; accountability wasemphasized. This article analyzes TPas a reform strategy. It summarizesthe current reform context, examines

a longitudinal study of TP programs,and considers implications of the study.

Reform ContextTP emerged on the cusp of a new

vocationalism focusing on both rig-orous workplace requirements andhigh academic standards. This newvocationalism also emphasizes progres-sion from entry-level to professionalpreparation, the changing nature ofeducation and work, curricular inte-gration, learner-centered instruction,assessing outcomes accountably, fac-ulty collaboration on reform, and theprominence of WBL in school reform.

American educational reform hasevolved in three waves since the 1983A Nation at Risk report. First-wave re-forms aimed at increasing academicrequirements and standards from thetop down. Second-wave reforms aimedat deepening the relationship betweenschools, families, and communities.The current reform wave aims atwhole-school reform. The 2001 fed-eral No Child Left Behind (NCLB) leg-islation is consistent with the currentwave’s emphasis on holding schoolsaccountable for student achievement.NCLB also gives state and local offi-cials the flexibility to find solutions tolocal problems without undue bureau-cratic interference. In the complex con-text of the new vocationalism and NCLB,making TP an effective reform strat-egy is both challenging and worthwhile.

Longitudinal StudyStudent experience in TP was cen-

tral in a 4-year longitudinal study,funded by OVAE and beginning in 1998,called “Community College and Beyond”(CC&B). The study used a longitudi-nal design that followed students fromhigh school to community college andinto employment, combining qualita-tive cross-case analysis with quantita-tive assessment of student outcomes.Study sites were representative and

longstanding consortia showing strongcommitment to TP and implementingprograms effectively. Multiple inter-views were conducted with high-schooland community-college administrators,teachers, students, and other stake-holders. At each site, comparativeassessment of student outcomes wasconducted, drawing heavily on analysisof student records and follow-up sur-veys. A sample of TP participants(locally defined) and nonparticipantswas selected systematically withineach consortium. The sampling tech-nique allowed generalization of resultsto all schools within the consortia.The study assessed transition to post-secondary education and employment,controlling for individual differencesassociated with academic ability.

Implementation ResultsIn study consortia, TP focused

mostly on secondary curriculum re-form during initial implementation. Acollege TP model emerged in someconsortia. This model emphasized thecoursework required for admissionto 4-year colleges, except that TP par-ticipants took CTE courses ratherthan a foreign language. Participantsengaging in college-prep courses in theinitial high-school years progressed toadvanced academics more readily thanthose taking basic courses. This patternwas most evident in states with rigorousgraduation requirements. New articula-tion agreements allowing concurrentenrollment and dual credit increasedcollege-credit opportunities. All consortiaestablished some 2+2+2 agreements andenhanced pathways to 4-year degrees.Changes in secondary CTE curriculumappeared in all consortia. New CTEprograms were integrated with TPbecause of required postsecondarycomponents and local labor-marketneeds. Career clusters (groupingsof related careers) and career path-ways (secondary–postsecondary

Understanding Tech Prep as ReformMajor Results and Policy Implications of the “Community College and Beyond”Longitudinal StudyDebra D. Bragg, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


career preparation) were emphasized.They were helpful in building sequen-tial core curricula leading to multipleexit points and credentials, includingnew occupational certifications.

Community colleges also addedCTE programs, although these werenot usually associated with TP. In somecases, curricula integrating clusters(e.g., allied health professions) withrelated academic studies (e.g., biologi-cal sciences) were already long inplace. A few community-college learn-ing communities sequenced curriculawith secondary curricula. The designof TP curricula leading to multiplecredentialing points helped link second-ary and postsecondary levels. Increas-ingly, TP programs awarded collegecredit for high-school courseworkby utilizing certifications as bench-marks of college-level skill acquisition.

Attribution of participation andoutcomes to particular student groupswas hampered by differences in keydefinitions. Because the stigma oftracking associated with vocationaleducation kept some students awayfrom TP, leaders advocated involve-ment of all students, exacerbatingconfusion about program purpose.Practical issues regarding articulationagreements and alternative curriculumcharacterized implementation. Someconsortia aligned TP curriculum effec-tively with state standards. Substantialeffort was made to replace standardacademic pedagogy with contextualteaching and applied academics. Allconsortia implemented workshops forteachers on this pedagogy. Severalsponsored teacher worksite visits.

Extensive professional develop-ment of administrators was beneficial.In communities where TP was per-ceived as opposed to academic reform,it helped to have former academicteachers lead consortium activities.Communication between constituentinstitutions was crucial to successfulimplementation. Better articulationagreements resulted from commitmentsto ongoing communication betweenkey secondary and postsecondary

personnel. Local leadership turnovercomplicated and slowed implementa-tion, and funding was often too limitedfor effective implementation. Some con-sortia found state support useful,while others complained about lackof state guidance or protested againstexcessive state interference. Businesssupport of TP was strong.

Student OutcomesStudents in TP did not differ sub-

stantially in race and socioeconomicstatus from comparison-group students,suggesting that racial and economictracking was not occurring for thesegroups. However, TP had more maleparticipants in four consortia, probablyas a result of male-oriented CTE spe-cializations. Course requirementswithin consortia influenced academicand CTE course taking. Consortia thatprogrammed TP with academic sub-jects such as math and science hadstudents who took more intensive mathand science. Math course taking wasslightly greater for TP participants infour consortia. TP participants at onesite started significantly below theircounterparts in math level but endedsignificantly higher. In five consortia,nonparticipants exceeded participantsin total semesters of science taken.At two sites, dual TP/college-prep en-rollment was comparable to or greaterthan general-population enrollment incollege prep. Course enrollment in CTEwas enhanced by TP programming.WBL activities such as co-op wereprominent among TP participants.Articulated course taking was substan-tial for TP participants at five sites

The percentage of students attend-ing 2-year colleges was high. TPparticipants slightly exceeded nonpar-ticipants in 2-year college enrollment.Attendance at 4-year colleges was par-ticularly evident where higher educa-tion options were plentiful. Collegeenrollment among TP participants in-volved substantial continuation of CTEin related postsecondary fields. How-ever, most TP participants need re-medial courses in college. Completion

of 2-year college degrees or certifi-cates was not common among studyparticipants, with only about 10% earn-ing a credential 3 or 4 years aftergraduation. Some TP participants ad-vanced beyond low-wage jobs afterhigh school, indicating potential labor-market advantages for TP training,which seems relevant to semiskilledor technical employment.

ImplicationsAnalysis of CC&B suggests impli-

cations for policy and practice. Consor-tia are supporting NCLB by aligningTP with other state and local effortsto enhance student achievement and de-veloping rigorous secondary–post-secondary curricula. Full-scale reformfocused on core academic curricu-lum and CTE enhances learning best.Consortia progressing most with TPimplementation distinguish betweenTP and secondary CTE programsgeared to immediate post-high-schoolemployment. Because TP, like CTE,continues to be viewed as tracking,consortia should encourage rigorousacademics and recruit students of allabilities and traits. Overcoming gen-der inequities is important. Effectiveassessment of TP impact requiresclear definitions of programs and par-ticipation that enable innovation andconsistency. Assessment must providedetailed information showing howreform benefits students over time.

Consortia have accomplished con-siderable change despite limited funding.If TP is to function as whole-schoolreform, additional funding at all levelsis needed. Also essential are dual-credit programs for advanced CTEand academic courses. Communitycolleges must play a key role in ad-ministration, articulation, curriculum,school–businesses links, and evalua-tion. To strengthen their role, it willbe important to learn from consortiawhere the colleges are active. Bycollaborating effectively in TP imple-mentation, secondary and postsec-ondary institutions can increase allstudents’ chances of success.


Effective education practices arelinked to effective policies. In work-based education (WBE), today’spolicies are made and implementedin a complex reform environment.This paper examines WBE from theperspectives of policymaking. It definesWBE, relates WBE to standards-basedreform, outlines a new approach tohigh school incorporating WBE,discusses benefits of WBE, presentstypical programs and schools, andoffers policymaking implications.

Defining Work-Based EducationRanging from career fairs to in-

tensive apprenticeships, WBE is notclearly defined in policy or practice.One definition might include onlylearning that occurs at a worksite,while another might include what isoften called career and technical edu-cation (CTE), which encompassescareer-related coursework in schoolbuildings. The concept of WBE couldalso embrace related activities suchas community service and alternativeeducation programs using work tomotivate students. Also difficult todefine is the link between WBE andacademic standards, a link that mostpolicymakers would question. Mean-ingful, comprehensive, and rigorousWBE is rare in high schools. Policy-makers still define WBE in terms ofvocational shop programs, and un-fortunately, many high schools stillonly offer outmoded programs thatreinforce this view.

Federal education policy does notfocus on WBE, and few membersof Congress are familiar with WBEprograms. The upcoming reauthori-zation of the Perkins Vocational andTechnical Education Act will raisequestions about the role and value ofWBE. Moreover, states do not focuson WBE because they are engagedin addressing the academic progressrequirements of the No Child Left

Behind Act (NCLB). States are alsofacing budget deficits that could re-sult in fewer dollars for WBE. Be-cause local programs vary widely,WBE remains unequally supportedand inconsistently defined.

Work-Based Education andStandards-Based Reform

Given the education policy land-scape focused on NCLB, WBE ad-vocates must consider ways to linkWBE with improving academic per-formance. Standards-based reformis focused on relating curriculum andinstruction to improved performance.The impact of standards-based re-form on WBE is still unclear. Somefear that career and technical courseswill be crowded out of secondarycurriculum. All high-school studentswill have to participate in a rigorouscourse of study. If WBE programsare weak academically, they will beeliminated. Reformers interested inWBE must address the question,“What should WBE look like to helpstudents meet standards?” Newmodels for high schools that help allstudents succeed will be important;such models can include WBE.

A New Approach to High SchoolThe American Youth Policy Forum

(AYPF) has conceived a theoreticalhigh-school model, High Schools ofthe Millennium, that offers rigorous,motivating curriculum and collegeand career preparation that meetsadolescents’ developmental needs.Major elements of this model are highstandards and expectations, provisionsfor civic involvement, use of commu-nity resources for learning, person-alized learning communities, instructionbased on interactions with adults anddevelopment of real-world competen-cies and career goals, ongoing as-sessment, and accountability to thecommunity and to NCLB mandates.

This model emphasizes that highschools must focus on rigorous aca-demic curriculum and high achieve-ment. Although no evidence indicatesthat WBE participation improves high-school students’ test scores, researchdoes show that participation can in-crease attendance, grades, graduationrates, and postsecondary entry. Thisevidence can show policymakersthat WBE leads to successful aca-demic outcomes. The many ben-efits of WBE merit examination.

BenefitsBy providing interesting content

related to future activities, WBE en-gages students in education. Careersprovide the context for academicmaterial, teaching students not justacademic skills but the relevance ofschooling to career goals. Careerlearning helps teens see how studieslead to success in both careers andcollege, providing a double incentiveto work hard. Learning in the contextof meaningful, real-world problemsoften excites students discouragedby an abstract teaching approach.Furthermore, WBE students can ben-efit from working with professionals.Such connections with caring adultsare a key factor in adolescents’ suc-cess. Workplace mentors can havevaluable influence on youth who lackother adult support. Industry-relevantWBE also provides students with oc-cupational skills that enable them tosupport themselves after high school.Employability skills not usually learnedin high schools, such as reliabilityand effective professional commu-nication, are also gained through WBE.

In sum, WBE is a beneficial con-text for learning, provided it is notlinked with watered-down curricu-lum. Rigorous academic courseworkis required to ensure that all studentsmeet standards. Many students needextra academic support in the early

Policy Perspectives for Work-Based Education in U.S. High SchoolsBetsy Brand, American Youth Policy Forum


The LSSREVIEW

Mark RohlandEditor

This publication is supported inpart by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Edu-cational Laboratory, the Laboratory forStudent Success. The opinions expresseddo not necessarily reflect the position ofthe supporting agencies, and no officialendorsement should be inferred.

For more information, write LSS,Temple University, 1301 Cecil B.Moore Avenue, Philadelphia, PA19122-6091, or call (215) 204-3000.Selected LSS publications and ab-stracts of articles, including back is-sues of The LSS REVIEW and theCEIC REVIEW, are available at http://www.temple.edu/LSS/lssreview.htm

high-school years, and WBE activitiesshould not interfere with that support.If policymakers replace low-expec-tation vocational education with new,academically challenging programs,WBE can help students reach bothstandards and career goals. A numberof innovative programs and schoolscan serve as models for policy.

Leading Programs and SchoolsA well-known program that has

helped modernize vocational educa-tion is Tech Prep. Federally funded,Tech Prep links secondary and post-secondary technical studies in a se-quenced program using applied careerlearning and leading to a 2-year post-secondary degree. Dual enrollmentprograms are similar, featuring oppor-tunities to take community-collegeoccupational courses during highschool and progress toward a collegedegree. Career academies have gar-nered interest because they are oftenstructured as small schools, whichbring many benefits. Academies havestrong business partners who providestudent internships, a strong incentivefor participation. Classes are set incareer contexts. Similar programs usecareer clusters, small learning commu-nities focused on career-related, col-lege-preparatory coursework. HighSchools That Work (HSTW), a wide-spread program, features rigorousclasses with high credit requirementsin English, math, and science. Aca-demics are integrated with career-oriented occupational learning. HSTWschools have shown performancegains on national standardized tests.

Many schools use the leading pro-grams to provide rigorous academiccurriculum integrated with WBE oppor-tunities. The following exemplary schoolsprovide rigorous academics for all stu-dents; comprehensive curriculum,student support, and postsecondaryeducation paths; career themes forintegrated learning and student engage-ment; learning opportunities in the com-munity; small learning environments;and considerable contact with adults.

• Saunders Trades and TechnicalHigh School in New York usesthe Tech Prep program in partner-ship with postsecondary institu-tions. Programs of study are of-fered in technological, vocational,and occupational sciences. In smalllearning environments, studentswork with the same teachers forthree years in a career major. Alter-native assessments such as studentprojects are widely used. Of gradu-ates, 95% enter postsecondaryeducation.

• The Bergen Academies in New Jer-sey use a career academy programgeared toward college preparation.Seniors locate internships with awide range of employers in nearbyNew York City. Of 1998 gradu-ates, 100% entered 4-year colleges.

• Sussex Tech High School in Dela-ware, using the HSTW model, of-fers programs in career areas suchas business and industrial/engineer-ing technologies. The school fea-tures an integrated academic andoccupational curriculum leadingto postsecondary education. Post-secondary entry in 2001 was 87%.

Policymaking ImplicationsAs the Perkins Act faces reau-

thorization, the following factors willshape the future of WBE.• Standards-based reform and clos-

ing the achievement gap will driveeducation policy for years to come,making it necessary to align cur-rent education laws with NCLB.

• Tight budgets are here to stay. WBEstakeholders must ask, “How canwe innovate using the money wehave?” Fiscal pressure will growas other federal laws competewith Perkins for reauthorization.

• The federal government will in-creasingly require research dem-onstrating programs’ effectivenessin boosting student performance.Programs must have an evaluationcomponent or collect outcomedata. Evidence that WBE increasesstandardized test scores and other

factors related to achievementwould help support programs.

• The appropriate federal role insupporting youth and high schoolswill come under review. The ad-ministration wants to better under-stand how current programs serveyouth and to identify effectivepractices for disadvantaged youth.

• The Program Assessment RatingTool, comprised of assessmentcriteria on program performanceand management, will be used torate many education programs, be-ginning in 2004. The tool could pro-foundly affect future WBE funding.

In this context, advocates mustclarify how WBE fits into the largeragenda of helping youth succeed. Forexample, WBE offers connections withcaring adults and service opportunities,which are increasingly recognizedas important for youth. Advocatesshould make sure that these benefitsare considered in discussion of edu-cation policies. Finally, some politicalrealities pose serious threats to WBE,while others provide opportunities.It is time to link WBE to mainstreamreform efforts and demonstrate howWBE can help students succeed.

Non-ProfitU.S. Postage PaidPhiladelphia, PAPermit No. 1044

The Laboratory for Student SuccessThe Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory at Temple University1301 Cecil B. Moore AvenuePhiladelphia, PA 19122-6091

vocational education and school-to-worklead to credentials recognized in the labor market, either...

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