1New Publications for Education Reformers Jobs for the Future and the Education Alliance/Northeast
and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University
have released two major reports:
Competencies That Count provides case studies of selected methodologies
that schools and employers use to assess high- performance
skills. It offers a starting point for those who seek
to equip students with a broad range of skills, which
are increasingly critical to success in secondary, postsecondary,
and workplace education. Businesses want employees to
address complex, real- world problems; high schools seek
to expand beyond traditional curricula and outside school
walls; and parents want their children to develop cross-cutting
skills necessary for success in higher education and high-skill
careers.
Benchmarks for Success in High School Education: Putting Data to Work in School-to-Career Education Reform presents
an intensive, detailed process for holding accountable
all of the players involved in establishing community-connected
learning as a whole-school reform strategy: schools, business
and community partners, postsecondary partners, and school
districts. It describes the experiences of the Boston,
Massachusetts, and North Clackamas, Oregon, school systems
in implementing and evaluating community-connected learning.
Download these reports from the JFF Web site or the Education
Alliance Web site www.lab.brown.edu.
For print copies, contact the Education Alliance at (401)274-9548.
Jobs for the Future and the Education Alliance have extended
their collaboration, which will focus on two areas this year.
"Effective Learning Environments" will draw on JFF's From the Margins to the Mainstream Initiative (see #3 below). "Leadership
at the Intersections" seeks to strengthen the linkages among secondary
education, community colleges, businesses, and community leaders.
Jobs for the Future drafted Low Wage Workers in Today's Economy: Strategies for Productivity and Opportunity to provide a foundation
for a coherent national policy agenda that can help low-wage workers
advance in employment and earnings. Over the coming months, we
will solicit endorsements of the statement and commitments to
disseminate it and its recommendations to the new administration
in Washington, as well as to policymakers in the states and other
important constituencies. This policy statement had its origins
in "Low Wage Workers in the New Economy," a national conference
held in May 2000. Jobs for the Future organized the conference,
which was sponsored by eight national organizations (representing
business, labor, government, and the policy community) and supported
by five national foundations. In December, a group of individuals
whose organizations had sponsored, attended, or presented at the
conference discussed related policy priorities for new leadership
in Washington and the states. The resulting statement reflects
their input, although Jobs for the Future is solely responsible
its content.
At a critical moment in the growing movement to improve high schools,
a new Jobs for the Future initiative looks for solutions and strategies
outside the box of the one-size-fits-all traditional high school. From the Margins to the Mainstream seeks practical answers to the question
of how school systems can take advantage of breakthrough possibilities
offered by emerging, powerful learning environments—inside and
outside of the school building, school day, and school year. Launched
with major grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and
the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the initiative
will identify what works in powerful learning environments, analyze
the barriers—real or assumed—to the wider implementation of
their core features, and introduce these lessons to influential
audiences.
Jobs for the Future has launched two projects to improve the ability
of community colleges to respond to the needs of low-income people:
With funding from the Ford Foundation,
Jobs for the Future's research on "Best Practices in Community
Colleges" will identify high-leverage strategies for enabling
community colleges to better serve low-income people.
The study will focus on two questions: What are leading
community colleges now doing to meet the needs of underserved
youth and adults? How can employers and other stakeholders
in community college education best promote effective
change throughout the nation? Download
the report.
With a major grant from Metropolitan
Life Foundation, Jobs for the Future will identify exceptional
community college efforts to serve at-risk students and
low- income adults. Jobs for the Future and the foundation
will research best practices, and they will also recognize
with a new award those leading-edge institutions that
meet the needs of at-risk students and low-income adults,
two traditionally underserved groups. Click here for more information
on the JFF-MetLife Foundation collaboration.
5Advancement Strategies for the Retail Industry In another new project, Jobs for the Future and the Business for
Social Responsibility Education Fund are collaborating to assist
employers in developing career advancement strategies in the retail
sector. This joint effort is developing a strategic how-to guide,
an issue brief, and practical tools that:
Demonstrate to employers the value of
strengthening career advancement opportunities in the retail
sector; and
Foster the creation of a knowledge base
among retailers and practitioners regarding the use of employee
advancement strategies in general and career ladder models in
particular.
For more information, contact Heath Prince, hprince@jff.org.
New Publications for Education Reformers
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