School to Work: a Larger Vision

The School to Work Opportunities Act of 1994 (STWOA) qualifies as "historic" legislation for several reasons. STWOA is the first federal education legislation to declare that preparation for earning a living is a legitimate and important role of schooling for all students and the first education legislation to affirm that learning takes place in families, communities, schools, and workplaces rather than just in schools. Unlike previous federal legislation, STWOA does not largely bypass high schools or noncollege-bound students. Another innovation of STWOA is that instead of providing annual funding over many years, it seeks to leverage change through limited financial incentives. STWOA is not a euphemism for existing programs such as vocational education or career exploration; rather, it has the potential to facilitate systematic, comprehensive, community-wide efforts to help all young people prepare for high-skill, high-wage careers while gaining the foundation skills to pursue postsecondary education and lifelong learning. STWOA was created out of a widespread belief that most high schools are not working well, especially for the 75% of students unlikely to earn a baccalaureate degree. (Includes a biographical sketch of the author and annotated list of 12 recent publications from the American Youth Policy Forum.) (ERIC)