La. Admin. Code tit. 28 § LXVII-911

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section LXVII-911 - School-to-Work Transition

A. Employers state that it is difficult to find workers with the academic, analytical, and technical skills necessary to meet the demands of a highly competitive global economy. Realizing that education, skills training, and worker preparedness are essential to the country's economic well being, several pieces of legislation have provided the impetus and funding for the movement to educate students for the workplace. Beginning with the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act in 1990 through the Goals 2000: Educate America Act and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act in 1994, national attention has been focused on developing a school-to-work transition system to create a highly skilled workforce.

B. The School-to-Work Opportunities Act establishes a national framework to broaden the educational, career, and economic opportunities for all youth through partnerships between businesses, schools, community-based organizations, and state and local governments. Workplaces become active learning environments; employers become joint partners with educators to train students; and schools challenge students to higher academic and skill standards. School-to-work opportunities grow from strong partnerships at the state and local community level that design and implement systems tailored to meet specific needs.

C. School-to-work systems contain three core elements: School-based Learning, Work-based Learning, and Connecting Activities.

D. Strategies for better educating students for the workplace include:

1. career research and information beginning in early grades;

2. applied academic courses that present subject matter in a way that connects abstract knowledge to workplace applications using cooperative learning strategies;

3. integration of vocational and academic subjects;

4. counseling and career pathways to focus students in their choice of courses to study;

5. articulation between secondary and postsecondary education;

6. collaborative partnerships between education, business, labor, and communities in the total education experience of students;

7. integration of school-based and work-based learning through:

a. vocational cooperative programs-provides school-supervised work experiences;

b. apprenticeships-on-the-job training and related instruction;

c. career academies (school within a school)-integrates academic and vocational courses and provides workplace learning in a particular career focus area;

d. job shadowing-provides information about a job or position through the student following or "shadowing" a worker for a short period of time

e. job mentoring-provides more specific job information and actual work experience as a student is assigned to an adult worker (mentor) who models workplace behavior, skills, and training in a one-to-one relationship;

f. school-based enterprises-work simulation within the school in the form of stores, print shops, child care centers, etc. operated by the students;

g. work simulation-provides work experience education either in the classroom or in the community through simulated work experiences;

h. volunteer service programs-provides the opportunity to gain employability and work skills outside the classroom through experiences in developing and improving the community;

i. vocational student organizations-provides work-based experiences for students through formalized events, demonstrations, volunteer work, and leadership training.

E. Business educators are leaders in school-to-work transition and mentors for our fellow educators. Many resources are available for use in integrating school-to-work strategies into the curriculum and determining articulation guidelines that allow students to have a seamless transition from secondary to postsecondary education. Some of these resources are listed in the appendix of this document.

La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § LXVII-911

Promulgated by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, LR 30:1003 (May 2004).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. l7:6.