Increased emphasis in succession w...

Increased emphasis in succession workforce preparation for our nation's youth, particularly for midlevel and higher skill progress to maturity requires greater postsecondary educational preparation, expanding the part of community colleges in indoctrinate reform and school-to-work transition system-building. Local, state, and federal reform initiatives have begun to directly and indirectly pres community corporations and secondary schools to be more closely coordinated.

Most central are three federal policies-Tech Prep of the Vocational Education Act, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWOA), and Goals 2000: Educate America Act. All three bring four priorities: (1) foster high academic standards and occupational skill development; (2) prepare learners well for further education and occupational skill development; (3) support more integration between K-12 and postsecondary institutions; and (4) reform public education generally.

Drawing upon site visits and interviews, this Brief examines in what manner four community colleges are responding to these hurrys and priorities. The four - single each from North Carolina, Florida, strange Jersey, and Pennsylvania-were selected from among state officials' recommendations about community corporations that were exemplary in Tech Prep STWOA, and contract training. These corporations also reflect a range of population density in their counties and differ widely in their state support.

The Community Colleges

One association studied, located in central fresh Jersey, serves a diverse array of urban and rural communities. Although it has coordinated the county's Tech Prep initiative since 1991 it has not ever engaged more than 9 of the county's 20 institute districts, and its Tech Prep initiative is primarily a series of ingredients The local high schools vary widely in in what manner much they participate in Tech Prep and in their inclusion of any of these component parts often limiting it to just vocational education or targeting high-risk pupils The college participates in pair STWOA partnerships but has a limited part in them.

Researchers also considered at a large, multi-campus, urban community society in Pennsylvania that serves single in kind county with 43 school districts, ranging from rural to suburban, and undivided large urban district. It views its mission as linking education and economic progress to maturity and broadly interprets its community service part Although the state's school-to-work initiatives are uncoordinated and give priority to secondary train reform, this college has created well-defined 2+2 programs leading to associate order programs in seven technical areas. by means of Tech Prep, they have formed curriculum progress to maturity teams (with business representatives) to create applied academic courses in math, science, and English. In addition, they have several plans with local school districts, primarily to improve close examiner preparation and extend the college's community service function.

Another society studied was a large urban community community with five campuses in sum of two units Florida counties. Shifting its mission to workforce and economic progression in a continuously ascending gradation this college and its brace partner school districts combined Tech Prep and STWOA to integrate the secondary drills and community colleges and prepare pupils for advanced technical jobs. Pooling their resources, the partners expanded articulated and applied curricula and work based learning experiences. The Tech Prep and STWOA consortia have broad business and education representation and an elaborate subcommittee infrastructure to support the exhibition of curriculum frameworks, staff unravelling and a career development program for middle gymnasium students. More than a fourth of the high sect students are designated as Tech Prep and more than half take Tech Prep courses.

Finally, researchers examined a society that serves a large region in rural North Carolina, including pair small cities and one countywide gymnasium district. The college and the secondary gymnasium district collaborated to establish a K-14 educational continuum emphasizing high academic standards and technology. The partners combined Tech Prep STWOA, and other federal and privately storeed initiatives. Working closely with the local chambers of communication they evaluated their educational vexed questions and established standards for improvement, resulting in a Tech Prep approach with postsecondary articulation. The three partners - the teach district, the community college, and the business representatives - established seven technical programs of investigation and revamped the high teachs into college prep and college-tech-prep tracks. They also lay opened integrated curricula, career development plans, articulation agreements and industry-sponsored scholarships.

Forms of Collaboration

Awareness activities. Because parents, counselors and teachers were frequently unaware of the changing career opportunities and had misconceptions about technical fields, all four associations conducted a variety of awareness activities. Although these activities reached large numbers of learners parents, employers and educators, they were usually low-intensity and of short duration (eg individual day career fairs).