The School to Work Revolution [Hardcover]

Lynn Olson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1997

In today’s technology- and information-driven economy, businesses need an educated workforce to survive, and young people need to be educated to be employable. Yet the schools that prepare our future workers and the employers who hire them often remain worlds apart. In this clear, compelling book, longtime education journalist Lynn Olson makes the case that, for both economic and civic reasons, the only solution as America heads into the twenty-first century is for local employers and educators to join forces.The School-to-Work Revolution provides the first full account of how the “school-to-work” or “school-to-career” movement is reshaping American education. This new model of schooling, which places students in the workplace for part of their learning, is gaining popularity across the country. Olson shows, in practical terms, how and where these efforts have worked, the promise they hold, and the obstacles they face.Aiming to end the current “dysfunctional” relationship between business and education, this new approach to schooling uses apprenticeships, internships, and solid career guidance to supplement new and more rigorous academic curricula. Olson recounts the experiences of companies and schools from South Carolina to Texas to Massachusetts to California, demonstrating that school-to-work students become more motivated in their studies and employers feel more confident about future workers.While “school-to-career” efforts can help all students meet higher academic standards and prepare for a lifetime of learning, Olson points out that they need to be properly structured. In her case studies she shows how adequate follow-through is essential for businesses, and shows why educators need not feel their traditional purpose or role will be threatened.Both a theoretical blueprint for the goals of the movement and a practical guide on how to implement it, The School-to-Work Revolution will be essential reading for businesspeople, educators, and all those interested in our national debate on education reform.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Active partnerships between businesses and public schools, contends Education Week senior editor Lynn Olson, can dramatically reshape both the education system and the commercial world by helping today's students get ready for the careers they will hold in the future. In The School-to-Work Revolution: How Employers and Educators Are Joining Forces to Prepare Tomorrow's Skilled Workforce, Olson explores a number of such programs already in place and examines the steps necessary to implement new ones that will successfully address the needs and demands of all parties.

About the Author

Lynn Olson is senior editor at Education Week magazine, where her writing has won numerous awards. She wrote The School-to-Work Revolution as a fellow at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. A graduate of Yale University, she lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; 1st edition (January 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201149400
• ISBN-13: 978-0201149401
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,548,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent summary of current school-to-work initiatives, September 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The School to Work Revolution (Hardcover)

Funny how the workforce-preparation issue hasn't caught fire in the United States as it has in so many other industrialized nations. Certainly our nation's prosperity in the years ahead is dependent on the degree to which we educate ourselves to take on the challenges of participating in a globalized economy. As Hedrick Smith's Rethinking America (1995) and now Lynn Olson's The School-to-Work Revolution shows, other countries know this already. Yet we in the United States seem to be asleep at the wheel when it comes to education.

We're not talking about getting into a "good" college here, or about trends in standardized test scores among K-12 students. This is about a silo effect that's developed in most of our communities: educators have their agenda, and business and industry have theirs. But rarely does anyone bother to compare the two. That's too bad, because there is plenty of evidence that such willful ignorance of the other guy's concerns is going to have calamitous effects on our economic prospects and our social welfare in the years ahead.

Lynn Olson's purpose in writing The School to Work Revolution is to point a way out of the silos. Reporting on pilot projects in the United States and more established programs in Germany and Japan, Olson shows how school-to-work initiatives are facilitating educator/employer alliances that benefit students and their schools, and businesses and their communities.

Establishing school-to-work programs takes effort -- lots of curriculum and facilities planning, some serious financial commitments, and a perseverance that may be the scarcest resource of all. But the results can be astonishing, lifting a bored student in an aimless curriculum out of a dead-end career path and motivating him or her to levels of effort and achievement that amaze parents and teachers alike. Olson's book is full of such success stories.

Despite these happy results, school administrators don't always jump at the chance to implement school-to-work programs. For one thing, many discount the idea as old-fashioned vocational education dressed up with a new label. As Olson makes clear, this is a misconception. School-to-work is a bridge between what the student learns in the classroom and what the student will need to know in the workplace. (Haven't you ever heard yourself ask, "What are they teaching these kids anyway?" Well, there you have it!).

Practically speaking, school-to-work programs are also extremely labor-intensive in terms of staffing. They require lots of contact hours between students and teachers and often between employers and teachers as well. Moreover, school-to-work is also an idiosyncratic business. In most programs students are encouraged to develop their educational plans on the basis of heartfelt career interests, instead of quickly checking off a menu item on a guidance department form -- not necessarily an attractive proposition for an already overworked high-school staff.

But I think it comes down to this: We can come up with the resources to get this done now or pay a lot more later on. With my car, I've finally learned to fork out the money before things get out of hand. In the case of workforce preparation, Olson shows, the time to pay up is now. It will make for a much smoother ride later on.

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent overview, February 20, 2006

By 

Louise McCauley (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The School-to-work Revolution: How Employers And Educators Are Joining Forces To Prepare Tomorrow's Skilled Workforce (Paperback)

Too many teenagers are graduating today without the business skills that they need to succeed in today's workplace. This is a growing problem for employers who are finding it difficult to find qualified employees for demanding positions. One solution, says Lynn Olsen, a senior editor at Education Week magazine, are School-to-Work programs that offer both a solid academic foundation and on-the-job training. A School-to-Work program starts when businesses become involved in local high-school education at the community level.

Some examples of School-to-Work programs currently in practice around the country include the following:

· Cooperative learning: the student has a part-time job as a component of vocational education.

· Job shadowing and internships: Students visit work sites and follow professionals during the course of their daily routines. Internships provide valuable real-world experience.

· Technical preparation: The last two years of high-school is combined with a community college program earning a technical degree.

· Career academies: Schools within schools that focus on a particular industry, such as health care or finance. These programs may involve job shadowing or internships.

· Career majors: Students are encouraged to explore various careers and then organize their courses around the area that interests them most.

· School-based enterprises and service learning projects: Students identify needs in the community and organize projects to address those needs.

As a businessperson you can play a role by opening your doors to teachers and students for work-based learning experiences. Encourage and facilitate your staff to become involved. Talk with students, educators and parents about the skills and knowledge needed in the workplace. The benefits to business from involvement in these programs include the following:

· Recruitment

· Fulfillment of labor demand during shortages

· Ability to influence education and ensure that high-school graduates in your area have the skills necessary to enter the workforce.

· Ability to teach work ethics

· Forum for companies to give back to their communities