School-to-Work Transition Program of the Greater Southeast Healthcare System
An American Youth Policy Forum Field Trip — July 7, 1995
This six-year pilot began two years ago with 25 freshmen from Potomac High School in Oxon Hill, Maryland and 25 ninth graders from Kramer Junior High School in Southeast D.C. It has since moved with the Kramer students into Anacostia High School. In the coming school year, an additional 25 students from the Ballou High School Math-Science magnet academy in D.C. and 25 from Potomac High School will join the program. Participating students will be monitored for two years after their high school graduation.
The program represents a major commitment on the part of the Greater Southeast Healthcare System to respond to the needs of the communities in its service area. Greater Southeast is the largest employer in this part of SE Washington and the adjacent Maryland community. It considers the school-to-work program to be one element of its strategy to develop and serve its community.
Participating students are nominated by school administrators and teachers, must have minimum grade point averages of 2.0 and higher, and possess one or more risk factors, such as low family income, single parent family, high absenteeism, health problems/disability, etc. Students tended, however, to represent natural groupings with similar schedules within their schools. For example, one full class was selected for participation from Kramer Junior High School. Potomac High School students were selected from those involved in the Maryland Tomorrow Program whose math, science and English course schedules were blocked together. The Ballou students are part of the math-science magnet program and participate in most of the same courses.
During the school year, students attend their regular schools and participate in 50-minute career development classes each day led by Greater Southeast project staff on site at the schools. Students receive academic credit for these classes. They also participate in a number of enrichment activities sponsored by the program, involving guest speakers and professionals from the community. Opportunity for college attendance is promoted through many activities, such as identification of sources of financial aid and job placement, and college field trips.
The focus of the first year is on developing life skills and self-esteem. The second year is spent exploring various careers. As upper classmen, students are placed in part-time employment during the school year and full-time employment in the summer. (Those in need of tutoring work 20 hours and participate in 10 hours of tutoring per week during the summer.) Presently, these students work at job sites in the hospital and are paid by the Healthcare System. In the future, placements will be made with other business partners. Over 25 local businesses are participating with Greater Southeast Healthcare System in this venture.
A key part of the school-to-work program is the mentoring component, in which students are carefully matched with adult mentors, many of whom are Greater Southeast employees. Mentors maintain weekly telephone contact and meet twice a month with their students.
The curriculum, which was developed by project staff under a planning grant, emphasizes speaking, listening and thinking skills and stresses the importance of personal qualities such as responsibility, self-esteem and integrity. Instructors provide career development as well as tutoring in basic academic skills and closely coordinate their efforts with the student's employment experiences arranged through the program.
Our visit allowed us to observe the six-week summer work skills and leadership training camp (for students completing the ninth grade) and the summer work program (for students completing the tenth grade). The leadership camp includes field trips, work readiness training sessions, job shadowing one day a week, and academic enrichment. Students are paid minimum wage ($5.25) for participation in the half-day program. Students in the work component are assigned either full- or part-time employment depending on their academic needs.
A typical day in the leadership camp involves a motivational reading and discussion followed by a problem-solving activity, a specific leadership/self-esteem building exercise and academic enrichment. The previous day, students had gone on a field visit to two very different businesses--GEICO (insurance) and a small electronics business, Colonial Circuits. At GEICO, students observed employee training classes, learned about entry-level jobs, observed the computerized claims command center, and followed a robot through its mail delivery route. They were able to view a large company from the inside, get a sense of its complexity, observe the types of skills required and learn about careers in a large insurance company. Of this experience, we were told that the mail robot left a deep impression on students, underscoring the obsolescence of people who do not have in-demand skills.
We observed as a college intern with the program took students through an interactive activity requiring them to explore and examine factors affecting their value system based on their experience, life philosophy (e.g., whether they rely on good fortune or hard work); ideals and ideas, and significant individuals. Next, the students were treated to a visit and short talk from the Chief Executive Officer of Greater Southeast Healthcare System, Dalton Tong.
Tong provided an overview of the Southeast Healthcare System, describing its extensive business holdings. He also encouraged them to consider "college as the beginning of a journey of learning. To stop is to experience intellectual erosion." He told the students to have high esteem and respect for themselves, to recognize and take responsibility for what they can become, have the wisdom to nurture their minds, the purpose to set goals and the confidence to work toward those goals, the desire to communicate effectively, the adaptability to turn adversity into a possibility; the perseverance to win, and the perspective to develop ideas. He also answered many questions from students about his early education and the career path that led to his present position.
Tong then stayed and witnessed a spirited values "auction" in which each student received $1,000 in play money and bid on a number of life ambitions and accomplishments such as wealth, long life, a college degree, a house, a fancy car, a family, etc. In debriefing the activity, students talked about the relative value to them of these ambitions and accomplishments.
We later had the opportunity to talk with the students--both those in the leadership program and those with work sites at the hospital--to get their feelings about the program and what it meant to them. Several indicated that they would have nowhere to go or nothing to do this summer without the program. Several spoke about their mentors and the experiences these adults were opening up to them. A few suggested that they would not be there if they were not paid for the leadership program experience; most said they would.
Conclusion
It was difficult to understand all the components of the program since we were able to witness only a small part of the summer work skills and leadership training camp. Had time allowed, we would have liked to have known more about the leadership program curriculum and its goals for student behavior, achievement and attainment. We would also have liked to see students at their work sites and learn of the link to their classroom activities (both school- and project-based). We hope to revisit the program during the school year to observe the interface of the program staff with school staff, the education program at each school and how it is complemented by project activities.
Although we were very impressed with the Healthcare System's commitment to the community, its desire to create a school-to-work program, and willingness to organize other businesses to provide work experiences for youth, we were concerned about the continuity of the program once private funds for connecting activities are exhausted. We have seen few school-to-work programs that include such a comprehensive range of activities and want to know how components would continue to be implemented at the school and work sites. ( According to project staff, depending on the success of the pilot, the Healthcare System may consider institutionalizing the cost of the program.)
Some trip participants were concerned that students were getting paid for the leadership enrichment program as opposed to actual work experience and questioned whether paid study was needed or appropriate to motivate and support students. Project staff indicated that some of the students are over age for their grade and many qualify for summer youth employment. Also, all are from low-income families and cannot participate in volunteer or other unpaid summer experiences, even enrichment activities, without remuneration.
Contact Information
Ms. Marcia Fields Milton
Director, Commonwealth Grant
Greater Southeast Management Company
1310 Southern Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20032
(202) 574-6690
Mr. Dalton Tong
CEO
Greater Southeast Health Care System
1310 Southern Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20032
(202) 574-4610