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《从学校到就业机会法》（School to Work Opportunities Act）
1994-5-4
发文机构：美国联邦政府
行政级别：国外
国别：美国
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School-To-Work Opportunities Act (CFDA No. 84.278) I. Legislation School-to-Work Opportunities Act, Public Law 103-239, 108 Stat 568, May 4, 1994, (20 U.S.C.6 101- 6235) (expires October 1, 2001). II. Funding History Fiscal Year Appropriation 1994 $45,000,000* 1995 122,500,000* 1996 180,000,000* *Identical amounts were included in the 1994 and 1995 budgets for the Department of Labor; $170 million was included in 1996. III. Analysis of Program Performance A. Goals and Objectives The School-To-Work (STW) program--or school-to-careers program as it is often called--is a one response to more than a decade of renewed interest in improving American education. Since the early 1980s, researchers, educators, employers, and policymakers have sought ways to make education relevant to students’ future careers, adapt instruction to the ways in which students learn best, and ensure that students learn the habits and skills that employers value. By adding meaningful context from the world of work, educators hope to engage the interest and intellect of students and help them learn more effectively. Whether learning by doing and in context is accomplished at school, in a work setting, or both, STW seeks to improve career prospects and academic achievement in high school, and thereby boost enrollment in postsecondary education and increase the likelihood of high-skill, highwage employment. B. Strategies to Achieve the Goals Services Supported The STW program operates through a partnership between the Departments of Education and Labor. Every state has access to seed money to design a comprehensive school-to-work transition system, and to date, 37 states have competed successfully to receive one-time five-year grants to implement school-to-work systems. These systems integrate academic and vocational education, link secondary and postsecondary education, provide learning opportunities at the work site, and fully engage the private sector in the process. Although states and localities have broad discretion to design their own systems, each system must have the following core components: Chapter 410-2 ! School-based learning, including a coherent multiyear sequence of integrated academic and vocational instruction--involving at least two years of secondary education and one or two years of postsecondary education--tied to occupational skill standards and challenging academic standards; ! Work-based learning, providing students with workplace mentoring and a planned program of work experience linked to schooling; and ! Connecting activities, to ensure coordination of work- and school-based learning components by involving employers, improving secondary-postsecondary linkages, and providing technical assistance. STW funds are used primarily for grants to states and local communities to build lasting systems. In addition, the Departments of Education and Labor conduct a number of national activities designed to support the work carried out by state and local grantees. These activities include the following: ! Conducting a national evaluation of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. ! Establishing, in collaboration with states, a system of performance indicators and measures for assessing state and local progress. ! Providing training and technical assistance to states, local partnerships, and others. A Learning and Information Center has been established to provide technical assistance and disseminate information. In addition, the Learning Center manages a “line of credit” that each state with an implementation grant can use to purchase technical assistance products and services from a wide range of qualified experts. Major School-To-Work Grants and Contracts* Awards 1996 1997 1998** State development grants 15 0 0 State implementation grants New awards 10 15 0 Continuation awards 27 37 52 Average amount of award $7,260,000 $6,260,000 $6,270,000 Local partnership grants New awards 29 0 0 Continuation awards 0 0 0 Average amount of award $482,760 0 0 Urban/Rural Grants New awards 25 20 0 Continuation awards 53 78 98 Average amount of award $448,720 $408,160 $408,160 Chapter 410-3 Grants to outlying areas 7 7 7 Average amount of award $200,000 $200,000 $200,000 Program for Indian youth New awards 8 5 0 Continuation awards 18 26 31 Average amount of award $69,230 $64,520 $61,290 National evaluation 1 1 1 Learning and information center 1 1 1 * Awards reflect funds appropriated to both the Department of Education and the Department of Labar. ** FY 98 awards are projected based on Administration budget request. Strategic Initiatives Three major initiatives undertaken to support STW are (1) organization of state-level strategic planning institutes, (2) development of a STW Web site, and (3) creation of a technical assistance resource bank. Since August 1996, teams from 20 states have attended institutes designed to strengthen the connection among grant proposals, subsequent state strategies, and performance agreements. The STW Learning Center has developed and maintains an Internet home page with links to more than 40 other STWrelated sites (http://www.stw.ed.gov). Finally, a resource bank of 141 technical assistance providers has been selected in accordance with criteria related to ability to deliver technical assistance to states receiving grants for STW implementation. Grantees access services of the resource bank through a “line of credit,” enabling each state to customize technical assistance to meet its own needs. C. Program Performance—Indicators of Impact and Effectiveness The Departments of Education and Labor have identified a variety of indicators with which to assess program performance. These indicators include student participation, outcomes for in-school and outof-school youth, involvement of employers and educational institutions, and building school-to-work systems. For details, see attachment A at the end of this chapter. Several major activities to obtain accurate and timely data measuring program performance are under way. First, a five-year evaluation is being done to assess the progress states and communities are making in developing and implementing STW systems. Second, the National School-to-Work Office is working closely with states to develop a system of performance indicators and measures. Finally, several large-scale national surveys are assessing the participation of employers (V.3) and youth in STW (V.4). Student participation in School-To-Work Even this early in the development of STW, according to the National School-to-Work Office, states are reporting relatively large numbers of students participating in STW. In communities building STW systems as of June 1996, 10 percent of high school students were engaged in work-based learning tied to classroom instruction, and 26 percent of high school students were in classes where academic and vocational instruction is linked (V.5). Other data suggest, however, that students’ exposure to an in- Chapter 410-4 Survey results are representative of all 12th-grade students in Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, 1 Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, and Wisconsin. depth comprehensive set of school-to-work activities is limited. Preliminary data from a national evaluation show that 63 percent of high school seniors in an eight-state survey have participated in 1 certain career development activities, including work site visits, job shadowing, employer presentations, work-readiness class, and use of career interest inventories. Such activities are available to most students but tend to be of limited scope and duration. Therefore, relatively few students are selecting career majors integrated with academic coursework and participating in work-based learning tied to school activities. In fact, the evaluation estimates that at this point only about 2 percent of the seniors surveyed have participated in a comprehensive STW program of study that includes multiple key components of STW (V.1). Student Achievement Data on the educational status of out-of-school youth will be available in July 1998 from a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth being conducted by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (V.4). In addition, the national evaluation of STW is collecting high school transcripts to determine whether students participating in STW also take a full range of academic courses. This evaluation is also following high school graduates as they enter postsecondary education or the workplace. States and local partnerships will also develop ways to track the post-high school transitions of their graduates, and report this information in their progress measures. System Building--Leveraging State and Local Funds States report that in 1995 every federal dollar invested in STW grant funds leveraged one to two additional dollars from other public and private sources. These sources include new contributions, funds redirected from other programs, or in-kind contributions such as staff or facilities (V.2). Additional data is being collected in 1997. Employer Participation A recent national employer survey reported that 19 percent of employers were participating in one of the following work-based learning activities for high school and college students: internships, mentoring, cooperative education, job shadowing, registered apprenticeships, youth apprenticeship (V.6). Initial evidence from the national evaluation of STW and from grantee-reported progress measures suggests that considerable effort has been made to get employers to participate but that recruiting enough employers to provide many secondary school students with in-depth work-based learning opportunities remains very difficult (V.1, V.5). IV. Planned Studies Several major research, evaluation, and data collection activities are in progress: 1. National Evaluation of STW Systems Chapter 410-5 An independent national evaluation is currently underway to answer three basic questions: (1) Are states making progress in the development of school-to-work systems? (2) Is STW accessible to all students, and do trends in participation of various stakeholders indicate that STW is a viable long-term strategy? and (3) What are the educational and labor market experiences of students participating in school-to-work systems? This evaluation will provide concrete answers to policy-makers’ questions about STW. It will also provide states and communities with substantial feedback to improve their management and evaluation capacity. This evaluation, which is based upon a comprehensive data base suitable for detailed analysis, complements the very basic summary performance indicator information reported by states. To pursue the questions just listed and give states and local communities feedback on STW to improve program management, the evaluation has three major data collection and analysis components: a. Local partnership survey: A survey of all local partnerships in the 27 states with implementation grants as well as those receiving direct federal grants is under way and will be repeated in the fall of 1997 and 1999. This survey collects information on partnership organization, STW program features, links between secondary and postsecondary education, employer participation, strategies for addressing the needs of particular subpopulations, and aggregate measures of student participation in particular program activities. b. In-depth case studies: Detailed studies of program implementation and factors affecting program design and progress were conducted following site visits in spring 1996, and will be repeated in 1997 and 1999. The visits were conducted in eight states that have implementation grants and in four local partnerships in each of those states, as well as in six local partnerships that received direct federal grants. c. Student survey. In the eight states selected for implementation grants, a survey will be conducted of three cohorts of 12th-grade students, selected in spring of 1996, 1998, and 2000. Representative samples of these students will be surveyed about their high school experiences (including participation in STW activities); follow-up interviews 18 months later will ask the students about their postsecondary or labor market experiences. High school transcripts will be collected to provide further information about their course-taking patterns and academic performance. The 1996 student survey has been completed (80 percent response rate), and data analysis and collection of student transcripts currently underway. The first report from this national evaluation of STW was released in spring 1997 (V.1). Findings are summarized on pages 15 through 18 of this chapter. 2. Performance Measures The School-to-Work Act directs the Secretaries of Education and Labor to develop a system of performance reporting. In collaboration with the national School-to-Work Office, states have helped define measures of student, school, and employer participation in career awareness, career exposure, career exploration, and work-based learning activities, as well as “leveraged” funding for STW. Over the next few years these measures are expected to evolve into a stable, ongoing system of performance indicators as well as a foundation of core measures around which state and local management information systems can be built. Chapter 410-6 3. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) A National Longitudinal Survey of 12 to 17-year olds will be undertaken in 1997 to track broad national trends in the transition from school to work, and to create a benchmark against which to gauge state performance data. The survey is administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to collect basic demographic, educational, and labor market data on youth (including out-of-school youth). The Departments of Education and Labor have supplemented the core survey by adding several items relevant to the STW experience: participation in career majors, job shadowing, career counseling, work-site activities, and participation in various STW programs. Baseline results will be available in 1998. A companion survey of school administrators measures school policies and practices with regard to school and work-based learning. Initial results are due in 1997. 4. National Employer Survey This survey of 3,200 employers is designed and conducted by the National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce and the Bureau of Census. Initially administered in 1994, and again in 1996, this survey will be expanded and repeated in 1997. It will gather information on the extent of employer involvement with schools, and school-to-work in particular, and measure the costs and benefits to employers of such involvement. Findings from the 1996 survey indicate that larger establishments (more than 1,000 employees) were significantly more likely to offer work-based learning opportunities than were small and midsize companies.
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