Rigor and Relevance:
A New Vision for Career and Technical Education
The Changing Workplace:
New Help for Working Families
Key Research Findings and Implications for the Workforce
Investment Act
High School Issue Papers
1Boston High School Reform Gains Momentum: $13.6 Million Grant to Reach 10,000 Students
On July 7, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a $13.6
million investment in the creation of small high schools in Boston.
The grant supports the city's pioneering efforts to prepare all
students for college-level work by creating high schools where
students receive a rigorous, personalized education in a supportive
atmosphere. In four years, 30 percent of all Boston high school
students will be enrolled in such high schools.
As the coordinator of this citywide effort, Jobs for the Future
will work closely on the creation of the schools with the Boston
Public Schools and three other collaborating partners: the Boston
Plan for Excellence, the Boston Private Industry Council, and
the Center for Collaborative Education. Building on a 2000 grant
of $8.25 million from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to
provide all students with a high-quality high school education,
this investment will create new small schools and further develop
existing schools, serving a total of 10,000 students.
2MetLife/Urban Teacher Training Collaborative: Creating Resources for New Teachers
Jobs for the Future, with support from MetLife Foundation and
in collaboration with the Urban Teacher Training Collaborative,
is documenting the experiences of first-year teachers who participated
in UTTC's preparation program in 2001-2002. UTTC is a school-university,
school-based teacher preparation program that culminates in a
Master of Arts in Teaching. Tufts University's School of Education
has partnered with three pilot schools in Boston (the Boston Arts
Academy, Fenway High School, and Mission Hill School) to offer
the program since 1999.
During the coming year, JFF will be posting on our Website materials
that identify the challenges these teachers are facing, the strategies
they have tried, and the lessons they have learned.
3 State Financing Declines for Job Training: Need for Federal Funding Increases
At the same time as federal funding for job training is in decline,
fiscal challenges are forcing states to reduce funding for significant
numbers of state-financed job training programs, according to State Financing Declines for Job Training. Further, state
officials project reductions in coming budgets for nearly 90 percent
of the programs. The new issue brief, by JFF's Jack Mills and
Radha Roy Biswas, is based on interviews with officials in states
that have demonstrated a commitment to job training. The research
may have implications for the pending reauthorization of the Workforce
Investment Act.
4WINs Showcase 2003: Building High-Performance Intermediaries
Workforce Innovation Networks--WINs--invites you to Showcase
2003, which will bring together workforce development leaders
who understand and support the critical role that employer organizations
and other workforce intermediaries can play in driving local and
regional workforce development. WINs is a collaboration of Jobs
for the Future with the Center for Workforce for Preparation of
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Center for Workforce Success
of the National Association of Manufacturers. This multi-year
collaboration is creating partnerships that can address the workforce
development needs of businesses and communities.
WINs Showcase 2003 will take place October 2-3, in Washington,
DC, at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Participants will:
Share in the lessons of the WINs initiative;
Hear from high-performance workforce
intermediaries; and
Learn how to build career ladders to
advance workers and meet the needs of employers in your community.
5A Toolkit for Employer Associations:
How to Become a Workforce Intermediary
Employers continue to seek the skilled workers they need to build
their business competitiveness, and workforce intermediaries can
lead the way. For employer associations that want to become workforce
intermediaries, this toolkit from the Center for Workforce Success
contains a variety of resources, including a CD-ROM and companion
brochure on "The Role of a Workforce Intermediary" and how to
become one, two CWS publications on the role of employer associations
in workforce development and school-to-career initiatives, a format
for writing grant proposals, and a number of other items. It also
includes several WINs publications.
To order A Toolkit for Employer Associations, send an
email to: swagner@nam.org
6Local Intermediary Organizations: Connecting the Dots for Children, Youth, and Families
In an era of tight resources and increased local responsibility
for programs and services, communities are experimenting with
new ways to connect the service dots for children and families.
Local intermediary organizations are a promising approach for
efficiently and effectively connecting and delivering a range
of supportive services. Introducing policymakers and program developers
to local intermediary organizations, this issue brief was a collaboration
of Jobs for the Future with the American Youth Policy Forum, the
Center for Youth Development and Policy Research, the Coalition
for Community Schools, the Finance Project, and New Ways to Work.
7Beacons of Hope: SECME Focuses on Minority-Serving Institutions
In 2000, only 18 percent of all African Americans and 10 percent
of Hispanics completed a four-year degree by age 29, compared
with 34 percent of whites. According to "Beacons of Hope," in
the June 2003 Black Issues in Higher Education, "The reason,
experts say, is because disadvantaged students are not getting
the advanced level coursework they need during their high school
years to adequately prepare for college."
"Beacons of Hope" describes the response of SECME, Inc., as a
partner in the Early College High School Initiative. SECME is
an alliance of historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving
institutions, school districts, and professional societies focused
on preparing students for majors in science, mathematics, engineering,
and technology.
Beginning in the fall of 2003, SECME will establish eight small
high schools, each with a maximum of 400 students. These schools
will be located in SECME school districts and on or adjacent to
SECME member campuses, among them both historically black colleges
and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions. Each new high
school will be identified by themes that reflect rapidly advancing
frontiers of science, mathematics, engineering, or technology
and equate to high-demand career opportunities for graduates.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in partnership with Carnegie
Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, and the W. K. Kellogg
Foundation, has committed over $50 million to the Early College
High School initiative. With Jobs for the Future as the lead coordinator
and policy advocate, the initiative is creating over 100 small
high schools from which students leave with a two-year Associate's
degree or enough college credits to enter a four-year, liberal
arts program as a sophomore or junior.
8Shaping the Future of American Youth: Youth Policy in the 21st Century
The American Youth Policy Forum celebrated its tenth anniversary
in January 2003 by inviting 14 of America's leading experts on
youth affairs to write the essays and commentaries in Shaping
the Future of American Youth. These leaders, including JFF
CEO Hilary Pennington, accepted AYPF's challenge to step back
from their fully committed working days to: reconsider the development
of their particular field of youth affairs over the past decade;
take a leap into the future; and sketch their personal hopes and
visions for a positive and creative future for American youth
in the decade ahead.
9Community Colleges Eligible for Excellence Awards: Applications due August 1
Innovative community colleges are invited to apply for the 2004
MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence Awards. The awards
will recognize colleges that are breaking ground in helping underserved
youth and adults succeed in postsecondary education. Two winning
colleges will each receive a $30,000 award and national recognition.
Completed applications are due to Jobs for the Future by August
1, 2003.
Rigor and Relevance:
A New Vision for Career and Technical Education With the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education
Act due to be reauthorized in 2003, it is appropriate to ask the
question: what should the role of the federal government in career
and technical education be? To answer that question, Rigor
and Relevance draws upon a series of discussion groups, organized
by the American Youth Policy Forum, with a diverse range of individuals. Click here
to download.
The Changing Workplace: New Help for
Working Families
The summer 2003 issue of Ford Foundation Report examines ways
that business and nonprofit groups are easing the stresses of
jobs and family life. For example, "Working It Out" describes
how alliances like those emerging from JFF's WINs initiative are
helping communities train workers for high-skilled jobs and attract
businesses that will provide them. Click
here to download.
Key Research Findings and Implications
for the Workforce Investment Act
The Aspen Institute's Workforce Strategies Initiative has released
this policy brief of key findings from a multi-faceted investigation
of industry-specific or "sectoral" workforce development initiatives.
The brief also discusses the implications of these findings for
WIA. Click
here to download.
High School Issue Papers
Across the United States, young people and adults are organizing
to create public schools that work for all students. High School
Issue Papers is a set of publications designed to help parents,
young people, teachers, and community leaders in such efforts.
The papers cover a wide variety of topics, such as curriculum,
instruction, standards, and assessment and accountability. The
papers were prepared by Research for Democracy, a joint project
of the Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project and the Temple
University Center for Public Policy, with collaboration from Youth
United for Change in Philadelphia. Click
here to download.
Boston High School Reform Gains Momentum: $13.6 Million Grant to Reach 10,000 Students
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