School-to-Work Transition and Education Reform Under the Kentucky Education Reform Act
Louisville, KY
An American Youth Policy Forum Field Trip — November 16-17, 1995
The purpose of the Forum's site visit to Louisville, Kentucky was to provide participants from Congressional offices, federal departments and agencies, and national organizations with a first-hand view of state, city and neighborhood initiatives to improve the education and life options of young people. [Unfortunately, due to the federal shutdown, our federal participants were unable to join us.]
A Spirit of Collaboration
The trip to Louisville gave us a full sense of the level of collaboration that characterizes this area. Collaboration is seen from the cooperation between the Mayor of Louisville and the County Judge Executive of Jefferson County which are linked in many ways, including through the combined city/county public school system. While discord over funding required a complete overhaul of the state's education system in 1985, collaboration led to the creation of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) which provides the guiding principles behind much of what we saw in Louisville including the Magnet Career Academies and Family Resource/Youth Services Centers and the Jefferson County Public Schools/Gheens Professional Development Academy. From the collaboration between employers and schools, to the collaboration seen at the Youth Services Center between an elementary, middle and high school and community services, to the involvement of the Chamber of Commerce in the broad partnership that is the Louisville Education and Employment Partnership, we felt a real sense of connection between the individuals responsible for change.
A common question asked by the field trip participants was how dependent the success in Louisville is on the individuals involved and the fact that everyone seems to know each other. Institutionalization, to a point , is one of the local goals to help avoid losing momentum if people are lost. Dr. Stephen Daeschener, Superintendent of the Jefferson County Public Schools, said, however, that being a newcomer did not prevent him from participating in the collaboration that preceded him.
Mayor Jerry Abramson and County Judge Executive David Armstrong
The Honorable Jerry Abramson, Mayor of Louisville, is "one of the nation's most progressive and effective mayors" according to City & State newspaper and American City and County Magazine, and was named one of the nation's top twenty mayors by U.S. News & World Report. Mayor Abramson was first elected in November, 1985 by a record 73% of the vote. He ran virtually unopposed for reelection and in 1990 became the first mayor of Louisville in over a century to be elected to a third four-year term. He was president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 1993-1994, which also formally recognized him for leadership in involving the private sector in his city's efforts to address the needs of inner-city youth.
Jerry Abramson is widely respected for downtown revitalization, attracting industry, workforce and economic development, and developing public-private partnerships, including collaborative similar to the Boston Compact. He has also made his mark in the areas of affordable housing, the environment, teen pregnancy, children in poverty, and by helping Louisville secure Enterprise Community designation, qualifying it for $3 million in federal funds to provide more job-training, job transportation, and business incubators for some of Louisville's most impoverished neighborhoods. Abramson has also been recognized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors for outstanding personal leadership in involving the private sector in his city's efforts to address the needs of inner-city youth.
Mayor Abramson shared with us his concerns about block grants. He referred to block grants as a "scorched earth policy" which will have no benefit. He indicated that block grants will contain a 20% cut in current funding and cities will lose in the bargain. Although the purpose of block grants is ostensibly to get more money to the local level, Congress seems to misunderstand "local" as "state" level. In addition, Congress implies that one of the ways to make up the difference in funds is through the foundations and charities. However, the United Way has predicted giving will have to increase by 104% per year to make up for funds lost due to federal cutbacks.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors will propose the allocation of funds to major cities, but it has become more and more difficult to carry the message of Louisville and other exemplary communities to Washington, D.C. Abramson referred to the Washington "stealth budget" because, unlike previous times, there have been no committee hearings and no opportunities to testify. He and his colleagues in other cities are unable to see Dole or Gingrich.
County Judge Executive David Armstrong, who we visit next, was also concerned about the effect of block grants on human service provision in Jefferson County. His alliance is with other County leaders who have proposed a "new localism" to remind Congress that "local" does not mean "state". One request of Congress will be that County and City officials be involved when decisions are made regarding what to fund with block grants given to states.
Abramson predicted that, under block grants, groups that should continue in a collaborative spirit will get caught up in turf battles for the remaining pieces of pie. Abramson was particularly concerned about the effect this will have on children, since seniors vote and children do not. He reminded us that the United States has the best quality of life for seniors, yet we rank 22nd in the world in our care of children. In Jefferson County, one in four children are poor. In Louisville, this increases to two in four children.
On the issue of collaboration, the Mayor said he is willing to put any and all of his programs on the table, if it will help build a comprehensive system to benefit young people. Saving money on duplication and through increased efficiency could help stakeholders work together without fighting over limited funds. He believes that if a group of organizations are gathered together, come up with 10 common goals, and determine that collectively, they only fulfill 5 of these, and even duplicate a few, a few of them must change their missions to fill in the gaps. He even suggested that city funds could assist those organizations willing to change.
Human services in Louisville and all of Jefferson County are among the responsibilities of the County Judge Executive. The City of Louisville is not a human service provider. This focus allows some division of responsibility as well as need for collaboration between the city and county. From the County Judge Executive, the Honorable David Armstrong, we learned about several elements of the Community Support Plan which guides Human Service delivery in the County.
Alarmed by the numbers of families and children living in poverty in their community, the County launched this initiative in January 1993 by bringing together people from all sectors of the community with collaboration as a centerpiece. The overall goal was to develop a mechanism to provide for planning, development, and monitoring of the funding and provision of services to children and families. One of the means to meeting this goal was the creation of the "Young Families At Risk Coordinating Council" with 52 participants and organizations involved. Among the goals of this group are developing family-sensitive workplaces, increasing parent education and job placement, and providing better housing.
One of the key elements of the Community Support Plan, and the one which most directly related to our visit, are Neighborhood Places -- "one-stop" human services delivery centers that bring children and families together, by addressing children's needs in the context of their family. Services provided by a Neighborhood Place include financial assistance (e.g. food stamps, emergency financial assistance, and AFDC), health service (e.g. immunizations and well-child clinics), mental health assessments, child protection services, and assessment and referrals to job training and placement services. Organizations collaborate to provide staff to the three operating Neighborhood Places in the county. Staff come from the County Departments of Health, Human Services, State Departments of Social Insurance and Social Services, the Private Industry Council and Jefferson County Public Schools. Neighborhood Places will eventually be in eight regions of the county. Locations will vary; some will be in school facilities, some may be in shopping centers.
Jefferson County Public Schools Magnet Career Academies (Central High School)
Dr. Bernard Minnis, Director, Career/Workforce Education and Adult Alternative Programs, Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), provided an overview of career education reform in Jefferson County. Reform has included the eliminating half-day vocational schools, changing the name of vocational education to career technical education, eliminating old-style industrial arts classes, retraining Industrial Arts teachers, and increasing the attention paid to the local labor market. The creation of 14 Magnet Career Academies at a cost of $36 million is a central feature of career technical education restructuring in Jefferson County and an effort to bring career technical education in line with the Kentucky Education Reform Act.
Magnet Career Academies are four-year, technical magnet programs that focus on one or several career/technical programs. Each academy is different. In general, academies are located in comprehensive high schools and have some of the following components: a local advisory committee made up of industry representatives from both small and large employers; linkages with post-secondary institutions offering more advanced education in the academy's areas of specialization; a Technology Education Laboratory for career exploration; and a comprehensive Career Assessment Program to include the Career Passport and Transition Services.
Our visit took us to the Central High School Magnet Career Academy which has its own unique focus as the site for Medical and Allied Health careers. The program includes professional, technical and service-oriented, health-related careers in medical, dental, nursing and veterinary science, as well as support in Allied Health fields. Central has an articulation agreement with the University of Louisville, the University of Kentucky, Jefferson Community College, and other post-secondary institutions. The school as close to thirty work-based learning agreements with business and industry, covering such areas mentoring, shadowing and internships. Central High School has 964 students, of whom 230 are seniors. There are 270 Freshmen and a waiting list. Before the Brown v. the Board of Education decision, Central's student body was entirely African American. Today, Central is a fully desegregated inner city magnet high school. Academics at Central are rigorous. Students at Central have six of their seven electives in their major and must take extra math and science. Academic results are quite strong. Twenty-five students earned all A's. Central also had the highest number of Governor's Scholars (16) of any school in the district -- the next runner up having only four scholars. Three of the Central students we met were Governor's Scholars.
After an overview by Harold Fenderson, the Principal, and Joan Chambers, the Magnet Coordinator, we visited a number of career programs and school-based enterprises. The first stop was at the simulated pharmacy and the Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy lab where we learned about the educational background needed for both professions. The University of Kentucky has the third best pharmacy school in the nation. It has very strict entrance requirements (almost demanding a 4.0 g.p.a. of every applicant), and has just dropped its four- year pharmacy program. The University now only offers the six-year doctorate in pharmacy. There are other pharmacy schools in the State, but all are difficult to get into.
Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy require even higher grades, according to the instructor in this career major, and openings in college-level programs are also limited. Only 30 to 40 students graduate each year from these programs. The two-year programs are just as competitive as the four year programs. In the PT/OT program students shadow physicians, therapists and pediatricians. Student work-sites are at several physician offices in the area. Because a pediatrician is usually the only doctor they have ever seen as a patient, many students want to be pediatricians when they start their studies. Interestingly, many of the students in the Nursing Career Major also want to be doctors and go on to pursue medical school. Their instructor feels that high school science including anatomy, physiology an diagnostics helps them expand their view of career options in the healthcare field. Unfortunately, the Nursing Major, due to its title, attracts 95% women and very few young men.
The veterinary classroom has its own pet dog and a full range of clinic equipment. It actually opens its doors on Wednesdays to the public for pets general checkups and grooming for a fee of $10. Ever entrepreneurial, the school also has its own student operated bank -- the Yellow Jacket Financial Center which holds the proceeds from the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant on campus for the college scholarship fund and makes loans to students.
Central High School has a very caring environment which nurtures and
respects its students. The principal and magnet coordinator spoke
proudly of the students and gave them an opportunity to tell us about their
career majors at Central.
A student panel of mostly seniors described aspects of their common
experience in the Career Magnet at Central. Each student received
an organized introduction to the world of work beginning in middle school
when they received information on and were able to visit career academies
to which they could apply. In their freshman year, the students participated
in introductory activities and rotated through career majors finally selecting
the one they liked best. Students had many different reasons for
selecting the Career Majors that they did. One student, in computers, said
he was so sure of his major he resented learning about other ones.
Rotations helped other students decide between different fields within
a broader area like health care; one student rotated through Hematology,
Radiology before deciding she really liked Diagnostics. Two students,
initially interested in medicine, quickly determined in a hospital visit
that they did not like blood. One chose to pursue a major in hospital
administration and the other in business management.
In their sophomore years these students spent five hours job shadowing each semester and in May "declare a major". In the junior year, each student receives a mentor. In the summer between junior and senior year and in their senior year, each student works in a paid or unpaid position that they find themselves with the training and guidance of human resource specialists who spend time with students in small groups to assist with interviewing, resume writing, creation of a portfolio, and job hunting skills.
Students had a variety of mentors and work-experiences. Heather, with a Law & Government Career Major, worked in the Hall of Justice and a major city law firm where she helped her mentor with the estate of a man who had passed away. Heather has decided to pursue politics rather than law. Cornell chose a Career Major in Therapeutics/Pharmacy. His career goal is to be an orthopedic surgeon. He shadowed a surgeon at a hospital, has watched six surgeries, and seen work on a fresh cadaver. Tracy, in Diagnostics, was pleased to have dissected an eye while studying opthamology. Under the guidance of one of her mentors, a pathologist, she also was able to dissect a uterus. She did community service at an elementary school, helping give eye tests to three to seven-year olds. Delano, a senior with a Career Major in Business Management, is the General Manager of the Central High School Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant outlet, where he manages a staff of 69 and implemented new safety training which the KFC corporate office adopted. He is also on the staff of the school bank. A student with a career major in nursing and an interest in adult day care worked at Christian Church home where she bathed elderly patients, gave them their medication, and readied them for meals and sleep. The student majoring in computers works on the MIS system for the school district. Other mentors include a veterinarian at the Louisville Zoo and a hospital administrator.
We also visited three students at their work-sites: a doctor's office; Humana, Inc.; and at a local Kroger Pharmacy. We had ample opportunity to ask them about their mentors and their job responsibilities. At the pharmacy, the student worker had three mentors who provided him substantial college advice. The pharmacy also hired the senior they had last year full time, while he saves money for college.
Superintendent Stephen Daeschener
Superintendent Stephen Daeschener met with our group at Central High School to discuss education reform in Jefferson County. One of the areas he is most interested in is early childhood education. He informed us that 95% of the at-risk four-year-olds in Jefferson County have all-day care available to them. Twenty-three percent of all at-risk three-year-olds are in all- day care. Daeschener also highlighted the possible cost-savings for a local initiative that provides the same services as Head Start, but costs half as much per child. Project Jump Start is a public-private partnership that brings together children, curricula, staff and other resources from existing preschool programs to add a range of social services plus a socio-economic mix of students to better coordinate, facilitate, and provide services for three and four-year-old preschool children and their parents.
Daeschener also shared his views on education for careers. He feels that middle school is particularly difficult for students in part because they are not old enough to work. The Magnet Career Academies are particularly good because students gain skills which can provide them with high wages. A lover of hard data, Daeschener indicates that the Southern High School automotive program has produced graduates who are making $50,000 per year after five years on the job. Daeschener is also working to provide a skills guarantee to employers, so that students can be sent back to school if they do not meet the level of proficiency promised employers.
Louisville Education and Employment Partnership (LEEP)
Mr. Angelo Viccaro, Executive Director, Louisville Education and Employment Partnership (LEEP) spoke to us regarding this innovative youth program, originally modeled on the Boston Compact. LEEP was established to work with at-risk high school students, encouraging them to complete school and acquire skills needed for the workforce. The partnership was started with the assistance of the National Alliance of Business in 1988 and supported by the Jefferson County Public Schools, the City and County government, the Louisville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Private Industry Council (especially by providing JTPA funds for career planners in 18 schools), the Metro United Way and others. LEEP has provided mentoring, tutoring, college prep and job placement services to 1800 high school students for many years.
It is perhaps best known for its mentoring program. Mentoring teams from area companies/agencies work with schools to alert students to the importance of the school-to-work transition. Each mentoring team provides team building, job shadowing, workshops, and numerous one-on-one activities. Mentor activities help students form job goals and gain confidence as they prepare to enter the job market. The drop-out rate of students receiving LEEP services has been reduced by half, compared to a control group.
LEEP was also praised during our visit by the Mayor and Superintendent Daeschener. The Mayor was particularly concerned about cuts in the JTPA funding for LEEP due to an increased focus on youth who have already left school rather than on prevention. At Iroquois High School we were able to stop in on the training of the teachers to be involved in that school's LEEP program with Providian Corporation. Providian, JTPA, the Perkins Act and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act all provide some funding to Iroquois' LEEP program.
Family Resource and Youth Services Centers (FRYSCs)
Family Resource Centers (in elementary schools) and Youth Service Centers (in middle and high schools), created as part of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), are designed to enhance students' abilities to succeed in school by providing students and their families access to social services and/or information about those services. FRYSCs are attached to local public schools or consortia of public schools in which at least 20% of the enrolled students are eligible for free school meals. Once established, however, Center services will be made available to all students in the school and neighborhood residents. Each Center has a local advisory council made up of school personnel, parents, community representatives, and (in Youth Centers) students. At this time, there are 60 Centers serving 75 Jefferson County Public Schools. Carla Curry, Director, FRYSCs, Jefferson County Public Schools, told us that, under the KERA criteria, 130 of 150 county schools are eligible for the Centers. Ms. Curry also reminded us that Jefferson County schools compete against every school in the state for Center funding, not just against each other. Accountability is very important. Unspent funds in one Center are not rolled over, they are transferred to another Center if not spent.
FRYSCs sometimes provide services directly to clients. The Centers function as a vital link between families and the services necessary to meet basic needs. Services include assistance with full-time or after-school care, some health services, education to enhance parenting skills, and some family crisis and mental health services. Optional components of Centers vary at each site and may include parental outreach, recreational activities, community service, adolescent parent programs, skill development services, and peer support groups. More often, Centers will refer clients to other agencies with which the Centers work collaboratively, offering such services as: health and social services; employment counseling; training and placement; summer and part-time job development; drug and alcohol abuse counseling; family crisis and mental health counseling. These referrals dove-tail nicely with Judge Armstrong's Neighborhood Place program, established in response to the challenge of increased referrals from FRYSCs for which the human services system was initially unprepared. Eventually services referred out can all be fulfilled at a Neighborhood Place site.
We saw the Youth Services Center at Iroquois High School, where we were joined by the Iroquois Middle School Youth Services Center staff. The "Center" itself is a comfortable room with office, a couch, a phone that students may use with permission and friendly supportive staff. Center activities take place not only in this room, but all over the school, so we began walking to many areas of the high school. This high school takes up two full city blocks!
After visiting LEEP, we saw a "Community Youth Board" in action. Community Youth Boards are in place in fifteen locations around the city. One of the students we met is a crew leader from another site who came to help this group out. The Community Youth Board is a group of young people who meet twice a week to discuss neighborhood concerns, plan services to the community (such as helping senior citizens and young children; organizing a Christmas party for neighborhood children; and holding a candlelight walk against violence), and, in their own words, "to keep ourselves out of trouble" and "introduce us to positive people."
Next we saw the only child care center in a high school in the district, funded by the Carl Perkins legislation and by the teen parents, students at Iroquois Middle or High School, who pay a small fee, $15/week as allowed by AFDC, to enroll their children. The Center serves 36 children during the school day and reports that there have been no repeat pregnancies.
The school held a formal panel for us comprised of Center directors from the High School and Middle School, Center staff, a student and the High School Principal. According to staff and the student, students want to go to the Center, feel very comfortable there and do not see it as a negative or a stigmatizing experience. Full and part-time staff include counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Classes on self-esteem are taught in the Center and brought to the classroom by a dynamic woman who focusses on cultural awareness and her own brushes with many of the experiences students are up against. There is also a class on the immediate negatives of smoking. All reiterated that the Center is a valuable resource to refer students to, especially for things which can prove a barrier to learning, including homelessness, lack of clothes, depression. Iroquois High School is particularly in need of special student services., with 90% of students receiving free lunch, attendance problems, high drop-out rates, and the highest ESL population in the district. Staff wish the Center could receive more than the $90,00 per school cap on FRYSC funds.
The Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA)
Our special dinner speaker was Marilyn Hohman, a Senior Associate with the Center for Leadership in School Reform (CLSR). Ms. Hohman related the history behind and results of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) in response to the particularly bad educational situation in Kentucky, primarily involving the inequity of school funding across the state. After decades of challenges, the existing education system was declared unconstitutional by the Kentucky Supreme Court, and a new system set up in its place governed by the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) which became law on July 13, 1990. KERA lays out minimal characteristics of an efficient system for common schools including that they are to be free and equitable for all Kentucky children and that they provide each child with an adequate education, a term also defined in the Act.
Key components of KERA (many of which we saw during the site visit) include: statewide accountability standards for each school, recognized learner goals and mandated portfolio and performance-based assessments at grades 4, 8, and 12; Regional Service Centers (like the Gheens Academy) to focus on professional development of school employees; mandated statewide school site-based decision making by 1996; Family Resource and Youth Service Centers; a State Council for Education Technology and increased funds for education.
KERA mandates specific ratios of teachers, parents, and the principal on site-based decision making (SBDM) committees.
Across the state, KERA helps to reduce funding gaps between rich and poor areas. The year after KERA passed, some teachers had a greater than 100% salary increase. Kentucky went from 40th to 32nd in the nation in cost per student and from 47th to 29th in teacher salary. Some people were dismissed from their jobs. Professional development costs in the state went from $1 per student to $23 per student.
School-to-Work
Beth Brinley, Director of the School-to-Work Partnership Council, provided an update on School-to-Work (STW) in Kentucky. Kentucky received a first round STW Implementation grant from the National STW Office under the STW Opportunities Act of 1994. This grant was expected to provide $24 million to implement Kentucky's vision of a state-wide system of locally designed school-to-work programs that offer every young person in Kentucky the opportunity to develop a set of academic and job related skills to prepare them to participate fully in Kentucky's labor market. In October of 1995, Kentucky received the second year of funding, $8 million, under this grant. Future years of funding are more tenuous now as Congress considers rolling STW funds into block grants to states.
The Governor of Kentucky has appointed a 17-member State STW Partnership Council, chaired by the Secretary of the Cabinet for Workforce Development and made up of senior-level representatives from all sectors of the state, to guide the design and implementation of the Commonwealth's STW System.
The State Partnership Council has directed the STW Development Team to shape a system that reflects six key system design principles: the system must reflect business involvement at every level; state-wide performance standards and policies reflecting the needs of business and industry must drive change at every level; the system must reflect and be able to adapt to changing local labor market conditions; the system must support getting to scale as soon as possible; investment of resources needs to be focused on capacity building; and the implementation process must reflect a Continuous Improvement Model to address successes and failures as they occur. The State Partnership Council has developed a five-year Implementation Workplan with measurable objectives in four areas: Local Partnership Development, Public Awareness, Local Program Implementation, and Progress and Impact Evaluation. Among other activities, the state has hosted 10 forums on School-to-Work to receive input from all over the state including input from employers, educators, parents, students, organized labor, the community, and economic development organizations among others. The Council has also established state and local Performance Standards for 1999 and 2002 in areas such as student participation; dropout rates; recipients of Certificates of Initial Mastery and Career Major Certificates; recipients of post-secondary certificates, licenses and degrees; and post high school employment and wages.
As mandated in the STW Act the majority of the STW grant money is sent out to local partnerships -- $7.6 million of this year's $8 million grant. Local partnerships were established to correspond with 22 Local Labor Market Areas (LLMAs) in the state. Initially, Ms. Brinley and others thought there might be as many as 60 natural labor market areas, but taking a fresh look at the regions, workforce demand criteria, job growth, skill requirements, supply criteria, the skill level of labor force, and commuter patterns revealed only 22 such areas. LLMA Councils will guide the development, implementation, and expansion of local school-to-work programs. New guidelines have mandated that council membership now must include 51% business and industry members. Other local program criteria include a minimum number of worksite hours; required correlation with local economic development plans; required curriculum redesign; and required connecting activities.
Ms. Brinley reminded the group of some of the reasons Kentucky needs school-to-work. In Kentucky, students take an average of six years to complete a B.A. degree and three years to complete an A.A. degree. The school-to-work initiative can help to shorten the timeline for receiving portable credentials and eventually productive employment. Students in Kentucky colleges also switch majors two times on average. School-to-work can help students explore and shape goals for themselves which will save them time, money and frustration in pursuing a career they later decide they don't like.
Peg Plaut, Director of the Local Labor Market #13 School-to-Work Partnership Council, also shared some of the LLMA's goals with us. These include increased staff development, business/teacher exchanges, Saturday Academies, mentoring and job shadowing, career exploration and guidance, business recruited, increased job placement, curriculum integration, and services to out-of-school youth. The Saturday Academies are an innovative way to provide more rural counties adjacent to Jefferson, and also under Ms. Plaut's LLMA, with quality Career Majors without a major financial investment. For 24 Saturdays, students from these districts receive instruction at the Jefferson County school housing their career major.
This LLMA has a 58 member council, with a smaller subcommittee structure. The council includes 51% business and labor. Other members include 5 school superintendents, the Presidents of colleges, the University of Louisville and the largest proprietary school. They have also included the Catholic school superintendent whose responsibility includes 23,000 students.
Job Link and One Stop -- The Louisville Private Industry Council
Pam Anderson, Executive Director of the Louisville Private Industry
Council provided information on and a tour of Job Link, a service of
the Private Industry Council. The State of Kentucky and Job Link itself
were each awarded "One Stop" grants from the U.S. Department of Labor in
the summer of 1995. The Job Link/One-Stop Career Center system is
made up of 17 organizations --including the public schools, the Kentuckiana
Education and Workforce Institutes, the Private Industry Council, Jefferson
Community College, and the University of Louisville -- committed
to providing the highest quality of service to maximize the potential of
every resident who seeks services and to assist employers in building a
quality workforce for Louisville and Jefferson County. The Center
connects employers with a ready pool of qualified workers and provides
job seekers access to services needed to obtain employment including:
labor market information, skills assessment, interest and aptitude testing,
career counseling, basic skills training, job search workshops, available
job listings, vouchers for specific technical training, academic skills
upgrade/GED training; vocational rehabilitation information/service for
the disabled; workshops/classes in computers, life skills, college prep,
job placement, transportation and child care assistance, and referrals
as needed. More than 5000 employers and individuals annually access
services
The Louisville Chamber of Commerce/The Kentuckiana Education and Workforce Institute (KEWI)
Vanessa Ruffin, Manager Workforce Development Initiatives at the Louisville Chamber of Commerce provided an introduction to business and industry involvement in education and economic reform in Louisville and shared with us a list of over 80 companies that each donated at least $1000, in addition to other involvement, to make School-to-Work happen in Louisville. We also saw a video tape on economic development indicated that Louisville focusses its economic development on the strength of its workforce and its airport. The population in the Louisville area is down and there is a low birth rate. Unemployment is also low. Because the local economy needs every worker, it is critical that every potential worker is skilled. Jack Will, Executive Director, Kentuckiana Education and Workforce Institute (KEWI) of The Louisville Area Chamber of Commerce provided background and a video on KEWI. KEWI was established by the Louisville Area Chamber of Commerce in 1990 and funded by the James Graham Brown Foundation. It is a collaborative that brings together business, education, labor, government, and community organizations to identify the education needs of both the current and future workforce and to facilitate the creation of new programs and partnerships to meet those needs. KEWI compiles information from annual surveys, focus groups, and industry studies about the current and projected skills needed by companies in the region, which has been used in the systemic restructuring of vocational/technical education in the schools. Several copies of industry studies conducted by KEWI were shared with the group.Three business persons and one educator spoke to us about what career education means to them. Mr. Ervin Klein, President of Glanz Plumbing, Heating & Cooling spoke to us about the "industry model" for school-to-work. Under this model, students rotate between a group of small contractors for six weeks because small firms do not have all the equipment necessary for a student to become well rounded. Even though the firms are competitors, they work together knowing how important it is to help students join their field, in which he says students can make $54,000 in their first year after being fully trained.
Mr. Frank Howell, is Vice President of the firm he and his brother started -- Howell Brothers Machine & Tool Co., Inc.. They make the tools that make everything from jet engines, to pencils, to refrigerators. He indicated that students trained in this areas can make between $40 and $60,000 to start. Mr. Howell says that small firms often end up doing the training for big companies like Ford because large companies don't always do their own training.
Mr. Allen D. Rose, Vice President of HR and Government Affairs, The Christian Church Homes of Kentucky, Inc., shared his experience with training his current employees. He has found that helping employees in controlling anger and developing self-esteem is very important. In addition, through intensive safety training he has substantially reduced workman's compensation insurance costs. His business also used to lose a lot of employee time due to accidents -- but not even a band-aid has been needed yet this year. He hired 16 students last year, 14 stayed on for the summer, and 4 were hired at the end of the school year. Students need to learn a lot of things to work healthcare setting including, "quit giggling, you are going to see naked people", and the importance of manners.
Dr. Stephen Cunningham is the Area Vocational Director for adult programs in New Albany and Floyd Counties adjacent to Jefferson County. His mission is providing these adults -- part of the 80% of high school leavers and graduates who will never complete college -- with employable skills. At one of his schools of technology there are 1250 students, 22 trade areas including business management and pharmacy. He has implemented many educational reforms including revising the curriculum and replacing outdated courses. Fifty percent of the original staff has left because they did not like the reforms. Dr. Cunningham says, historically "we have a tendency to fit students into programs, rather than developing programs for students."
Jefferson County Public School/Gheens Professional Academy
The Jefferson County Public School/Gheens Professional Academy was established in 1983 to link the continuing professional development of all district employees to fundamental changes needed in the schools. The Academy, with a staff of 140, assists schools in a variety of ways by providing information, technical assistance, review and pilot testing of new curriculum, professional development, and assessment. The Academy receives thousands of visitors each year, including visits from states and cities wishing to start similar programs. Deborah Walker, the Academy's Executive Director, describes it as a think-tank for action research which has a history of offering "invitations to invention". Since the implementation of KERA, the Academy has taken on a new role. This role includes enforcement of KERA. There is concern that this role threatens the autonomy the Academy has enjoyed in its ten years of operation before KERA. However, combining Academy and district services has reduced inefficiencies and duplication. Now Gheens balances innovation and new practices with KERA implementation. The budget from the Gheens foundation used to be $4-5M per year. Now they are funded through the school system, NSF grants, Title II, Eisenhower. Funding and commitment from the district is not a problem.
The Academy must assess 10% of district students as required by KERA. Students are selected at random and without warning, providing an incentive for schools to help every child succeed. Assessments are performance-based and include both a team and individual portion. Lori Holland, the Academy's Director of Portfolios, described and had us participate in a groups performance assessment.
Contact Information
Jerry Abramson
Mayor
City of Louisville
601 W. Jefferson St.
Louisville, KY 40202
Phone: 502-574-2610
Pam Anderson
Executive Director
Louisville Private Industry Council
305 W. Broadway, Suite 600
Louisville, KY 40202
Phone: 502-574-4711, 502-574-4288
Fax: 502-574-4288
David Armstrong
County Judge Executive
Jefferson County Government
County Courthouse, Suite 400
Louisville, KY 40202
Phone: 502-574-5359
Beth Brinley
Kentucky School-to-Work Coordinator
Joan Chambers
Magnet Coordinator
Central High School
1130 W. Chestnut St.
Louisville, K 40203
Phone: 502-485-8226
Carla Curry
Director
Family and Youth Service Centers
Phone: 502-485-3703
Stephen Daeschner
Superintendent of Schools
Van Hoose Education Center
P.O. Box 34020
Louisville, KY 40232-4020
Harold Fenderson
Principal
Central High School
1130 Chestnut St.
Louisville, KY 40203
Phone: 502-485-8226
Marilyn Hohman
Senior Associate
Center for Leadership in School Reform
Phone: 502-895-1942
Fax: 502-895-7901
Bernard Minnis
Director
Career/Workforce Education
and Adult Alternative Programs
Jefferson County Public Schools
VanHoose Education Center
P.O. Box 34020
Louisville, KY 40232-4020
Phone: 502-485-3320
Fax: 502-485-3523
Peg Plaut
Director
Local Labor Market #13
School-to-Work Partnership Council
Angelo Viccarro
Executive Director
Louisville Education and Employment Partnership
546 South First St.
Louisville, KY 40202
Phone: 502-473-3787
Fax: 502-485-3811
Deborah Walker
Executive Director
Jefferson County Public Schools
Gheens Professional Development Academy
4425 Preston Highway
Louisville, KY 40213
Phone: 502-485-3909
Fax: 502-485-3628
Jack Will
Executive Director
Kentuckiana Education and Workforce Institute (KEWI)
The Louisville Area Chamber of Commerce
600 West Main Street, Room 200
Louisville, KY 40202
Phone: 502-625-0128
Fax: 502-625-0010
This information is from an American Youth Policy Forum field trip to Louisville, KY held from November 16-17, 1995. Reported by Donna Walker James.