School-to-Careers and Service Learning: A Partnership Strategy for Education Renewal
A Forum — January 31, 1997
Today's forum brought together a roundtable of key education, foundation and private sector leaders to examine the intersection between two much-hailed learning methodologies, school-to-careers and service-learning. Both initiatives advocate the importance of integrating real-world learning opportunities with school-based academic instruction--work-based learning experiences to complement theoretical academic and the classroom knowledge obtained in school-to-career programs and various forms of national and community service that provide the context for applying skills learned in the classroom through service-learning. Today's presenters examined the benefits of and obstacles to connecting these methodologies.
The panel included: Jim Pitofsky, Director of Leadership Programs and Government Relations, National Association of Partners in Education (NAPE); Jim Kielsmeier, President, National Youth Leadership Council; Laurie Regelbrugge, Vice President, Hitachi Foundation; Steve Kussmann, Executive Director, Utility Business Education Coalition; Christine Kwak, Program Director for Philanthropy and Volunteerism, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; and Jim Wernsing, Team Member, National School-to-Work Opportunities Office.
The discussion first focused on the similarities and differences between school-to-careers and service-learning. According to Wernsing, one key parallel is that neither is a training program; rather, both are methods of teaching young people how and what to learn, giving them a head start in school and in their career preparation.
Regelbrugge furthered the discussion by stating that both school-to careers and service-learning are "vehicles that place students in real-life experiences." This is a crucial similarity, as "most people learn very effectively when they're actually doing things." While both offer different environments for learning, they seek the same desirable educational outcomes.
These educational outcomes, according to Pitofsky, allow for the real-world component of learning (either work or service) to drive the development of academic and workplace skills. Simply put, it is not just "service [or work] for service's [or work's] sake." This allows for school-to-careers and service-learning to advance other educational goals, such as restructuring curricula around real-world experiences and engaging teachers in curricular and program design.
Kussman emphasized the importance of providing a place to learn outside the school and, in many cases, outside of traditional school hours: "After school, students are often stuck because there is such a void between school and work or service--it's hard to jump into the fray." Initiatives such as school-to-careers and service-learning can help to fill this void.
Kielsmeier warned that while school-to-careers and service-learning are similar, each has distinctive features, ranging from the nature of the real-world component (work or service) to the role of the student in these experiences. These differences, however, can be used by practitioners to create "a menu of applied learning" from which young people may choose, thereby expanding their learning opportunities.
Creating this menu requires a strategy that involves all relevant partners and sectors in planning and implementation. Kwak discussed the pieces of such a strategy, which include identifying relevant sectors and defining their roles; coordinating the work of school and community leaders with that of frontline teachers and workers; addressing the scarcity of resources and potential "turf battles"; and aligning projects and curriculum.
While implementing such a strategy poses serious challenges, implementing service-learning and school-to-careers as complementary strategies opens doors to improved methods of teaching and learning, argued Regelbrugge. Even if such strategies start small, the "synergy" between these two initiatives "can really lead to much bigger things."
Also examined were the broad benefits of school-to-careers and service-learning to a variety of sectors. As Pitofsky noted, participating students "receive and give," working side-by-side with full-time workers. In addition to young people completing substantive work and/or service, employees often find that they have much to learn from the students.
School-to-careers and service-learning can elicit an equally strong response from educators, with Kielsmeier comparing these efforts to a "Trojan Horse" in schools. Students who begin experiencing the rewards of work or service often ask why such programs are not a regular part of everybody's school day. As teachers and school leaders grow aware of the enthusiasm of the young people, they begin to initiate broader reform efforts to increase and enhance the integration of real-world and academic learning opportunities. This improves not only student achievement but also teaching practices. As Kielsmeier noted: "You get an excited educator, you're going to get a better educator."