Vallas voc-ed plans spark debateLorraine ForteAnyone familiar with the Chicago public schools would no doubt agree: Vocational education needs an overhaul. Training and equipment are outdated, and programs often don't lead to jobs and careers.
Add-ons vs. integral change
"Voc-ed has been allowed to deteriorate over the last 10, 20 years," says Charles Vietzen, who resigned after a brief stint as vocational education director to return as principal of Hubbard High in Chicago Lawn. Reviving programs will require "making up for years of neglect," he adds. "It's a mammoth project, and it's not going to be done in a... > Read More |
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Teens clueless on careers, study showsLorraine ForteWhat do you want to be when you grow up? Most high school students have three or four wildly divergent careers in mind and little or no idea of the academic background and training required for any of them, according to researchers from the University of Chicago and the National Opinion Research Center.
Since 1992, researchers have been following some 1,000 students from 33 schools in 12 urban, rural and suburban communities across the country. The study, which is ongoing, aims to find out how young people form their ideas about work and how those ideas change over time. Preliminary... > Read More |
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Federal law seeks to retool teachingLorraine ForteThis year, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act is funneling $400 million in federal funds to model school-to-work programs across the country.
New initiatives funded under the Act must give students the academic background to qualify for post-secondary education, including 4-year colleges. And programs are required to integrate vocational and academic curricula by, for example, including more hands-on projects and applied learning.
These two provisions keep schools from using their work-related programs as "another form of tracking," says Lauren Jacobs of the Washington, D.C... > Read More |
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Chicago's rocky road to a federal grantLorraine ForteAfter several false starts, the Chicago Public Schools recently won a five-year, $4.85 million grant under the federal School-to-Work Opportunities Act. In the process, however, community groups that helped launch the effort have been left out.
In 1994, representatives from some 30 unions, businesses, community organizations, the Board of Education, City Colleges of Chicago and the mayor's office set out to write the grant proposal with the help of a $70,000 planning grant. The overall goal was to organize clusters of businesses, schools and community groups to provide career... > Read More |
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Shell Oil helps kids get ready for jobsMaureen Kelleher"You have to start where the kids are."
—Leon Jackson, local business owner
From the outside, the Shell Youth Training Academy looks like an extension of the cashier's booth at a gas station on the corner of 79th and the Dan Ryan Expressway. But step inside the gray steel door, and you'll find a classroom straight out of corporate headquarterscomplete with color laser printers, computers that run on Pentium microchips, and Microsoft Word 7.0 software.
Shell spent $2 million to construct and equip the academy, which opened in September and now serves 30 students, 15... > Read More |
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Edge/Up worries about its futureMaureen KelleherVictor Cornejo, a senior at Senn High School, hopes to attend the University of Texas at Dallas and become a psychologist. So why is he taking auto shop?
"I've learned things that I can use anywhere—business letters, memos," he says. "We're learning automotive technology—repairing cars, body work, electrical. I can use this making spare money for college or fixing my own car."
For Cornejo, college might not have been in the picture without Edge/Up, a school-to-work program based at Senn and Lake View high schools. In 1995, Edge/Up was the only Illinois program to win federal... > Read More |
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Milwaukee wants all schools in programCurtis LawrenceAt Milwaukee's Neeskera Elementary School, 3rd-grade students are working with a local printing company, learning how to make paper so they can make books for kindergarten students. At Muir Middle School, students work with landscapers to design their own environmental garden, where they learn how to analyze soil samples and conduct other scientific projects.
And at Milwaukee Trade and Technical High School, students in the print shop work daily on state-of-the-art equipment in class before leaving for part-time jobs, where they are paid to further learn the printing trade.
... > Read More |
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Old 'Boys Tech' tries new waysCurtis LawrenceEstablished in 1906, Milwaukee Trade and Technical High School has been a school-to-work school virtually all of its life.
In its early days, Boys Tech, as it was known then, specialized in a brand of vocational education that fed students directly into waiting jobs in one of the city's many blue-collar industries. The nature of work has changed, however, so the school itself is retooling.
"It used to be that we had the large industries where there were jobs available," explains Chuck Howard, who coordinates the school-to-work program at Milwaukee Tech. "Then the economy... > Read More |
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