1Wall to Wall: High School Reform Jobs for the Future and the Education
Alliance/Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory
at Brown University have released Wall to Wall: Implementing Small Learning Communities in Five Boston High Schools. Written by Lili
Allen, Cheryl Almeida, and Adria Steinberg of Jobs for the Future, Wall to Wall looks at three years of experience as Boston has
encouraged schools to restructure entirely into smaller learning
communities. Wall to Wall discusses key Boston findings and their
implications for reform in other school districts choosing small
learning communities as a whole school reform strategy.
Boston is one of the school districts participating
in JFF's Connected Learning Communities Initiative. The CLC involves
schools, employers, and other community allies in helping young
people achieve higher academic standards, expand their access
to postsecondary education, and improve their career prospects.
2Linking Worker Advancement with the Needs of Employers The Greater Cleveland Growth Association, San Francisco Works,
and the Workforce Connections program of the Pennsylvania Economy
League are pilot-testing the Skill Supply
Chain Model. Skill Supply
Chains meet both employers' needs for a workforce with the right
skills and low-wage, low-skilled workers' needs for advancement
opportunities.
To develop the Skill Supply
Chain Model,
Jobs for the Future engaged in an innovative, collaborative research
and development process. Partners in the R&D; included the three
groups taking part in the pilot, as well as the Connecticut Business
and Industry Association, the Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce,
and a number of employers and workforce development service providers.
The pilot will center on a draft of the Skill Supply
Chain Guidebook, which is scheduled for initial release
late in 2001. After the pilot, Jobs for the Future will work closely
with the Center for Workforce Preparation of the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce and the Center for Workforce Success of the National
Association of Manufacturers to revise the guidebook for distribution
nationwide.
Jobs for the Future is creating the Skill Supply
Chain Guidebook and Model for Workforce Innovations Networks—WINs,
a multi-year collaboration with the Center for Workforce Preparation
and the Center for Workforce Success to address the workforce
development needs of businesses and communities.
In a parallel WINs pilot, San Francisco
Works is testing a new tool for helping employers determine the
value they receive from investing in workforce development initiatives.
Jobs for the Future is in discussions with several additional
organizations about pilot testing this Return on Investment Tool.
For more information, see Newswire
#6.
This past spring, Jobs for the Future released Employer-Led Organizations and Skill Supply Chains: Linking Worker Advancement With the Skill Needs of Employers. This Issue Brief
introduces employer organizations and their potential partners
to the benefits of developing and utilizing Skill Supply Chains
and reviews key elements and processes involved in creating them.
3Economic Opportunity for Inner-City Young Adults For several years, Jobs for the Future has provided technical
assistance to Annie E. Casey Foundation's Jobs Initiative. The
Jobs Initiative is a multi-year, multi-site effort to help 18-
to 35-year-old residents of targeted inner-city neighborhoods
enter the labor market and advance to jobs that pay family-supporting
wages.
Jobs for the Future is engaged in a number
of activities in support of the Jobs Initiative, including the
following:
obs for the Future (together
with Integral Assets, Inc.) developed the Framework for Labor Market Systems Reform for the Jobs Initiative Sites. The Framework focuses on understanding the nature of
the metropolitan or regional labor markets that Jobs Initiative
sites are targeting for change.
This past year, Jobs Initiative
sites used the Framework to develop plans for labor market
systems reform. In August 2001, Jobs for the Future and
Integral Assets, Inc., drew on their experience to prepare Systems Reform in the Jobs Initiative: Lessons from Using the Framework for Labor Market Systems Reform.
In September 2001, the Casey Foundation,
with the assistance of Jobs for the Future, is holding
a "Showcase Conference" that presents significant "how
to" lessons for workforce development practices in the
post-welfare reform era. The Showcase conference is an
opportunity to present lessons learned from the first
five years of the Jobs Initiative, as well as to look
ahead.
Community colleges can play a pivotal role in improving the options
for success and advancement available to low-income Americans,
but many obstacles and disincentives keep colleges from embracing
this goal. Driving Change in Community Colleges, prepared by Jobs
for the Future for the Ford Foundation, identifies high-leverage
strategies that can change the alignment of forces, pressures,
mandates, and incentives that make it hard for promising practices
to diffuse widely and reach significant scale.
The research yielded four major findings:
Community colleges have a significant,
untapped potential to promote economic development and
help low-income people advance to self-sufficiency.
Promising practices can be found
in a number of community colleges around the country,
but these efforts tend to be small, isolated, and not
very comprehensive.
Three forces can influence the
ability of an individual college to take on this agenda
for large numbers of students: policy, partnerships, and
leadership.
The likelihood of success is greatest
when external stakeholders and internal leadership work
together toward a common vision.
5Reminder: Applications Due October 1 for Community College Awards MetLife Foundation and Jobs for the Future will recognize two
community colleges that are breaking new ground in taking an institutional,
community-wide approach to educational and career advancement
for traditionally underserved youth and adults.
Applications are due October 1, 2001. The
winning colleges will each receive a $30,000 award and national
recognition in awards brochures, related publications, and an
on-line, "virtual tour" of its institution.
The winners of the 2001 MetLife Foundation
Community College Excellence Awards will be leaders in integrating
exemplary practices in all parts and programs of the institution.
This program will reward institutions that: cross boundaries between
education and workforce development; are focused on achieving
high levels of access, retention, and advancement for underserved
learners of every skill and age level; and reach beyond their
walls to high schools, four-year colleges/universities, and community-based
and business organizations to forge a concerted community effort
to help underserved people advance to economic self-sufficiency.
6www.whatkidscando.org Jobs for the Future is pleased to be a founding partner, with
the Rural School and Community Trust, the Forum for Youth Investment,
and the Coalition of Essential Schools, in WHAT KIDS CAN DO. This
national nonprofit, founded in 2001, documents the value when
young people work with teachers and other adults on projects that
combine powerful learning with public purpose for an audience
of educators, policymakers, journalists, community members, and
students.
WKCD puts youth voices and work at the
forefront of all it produces, on the Web and in print anthologies
of work by and for students. It combs the country for compelling
examples of schools and communities working together to: challenge
young people intellectually, enlist their help with real problems,
nourish their diverse talents, support their perseverance, and
encourage their contributions as citizens.
WKCD board member Adria Steinberg also
directs Jobs for the Future's project, From the Margins to the Mainstream. This initiative, which shares many goals and principles
with WKCD, 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.
Wall to Wall: High School Reform
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