Originally published in 1987, this book presents a novel approach to the study of competition between immigrant groups and native minorities (teenagers, women, and black men) in low-wage labor markets.

Originally published in 1987, this book presents a novel approach to the study of competition between immigrant groups and native minorities (teenagers, women, and black men) in low-wage labor markets.

This book describes and analyzes the current state of work-based learning. It begins with a review of the history of work-based learning and its place in policy-making around school reform, which establishes the theoretical and empirical basis for the rest of the book. Based on over five years of research on work-based learning in high school and community college programs across the country, it explores the potential for using work-based learning as part of a broad education reform strategy. There are no existing books that address the topic of work-based learning as directly and broadly, connecting theory to practice. The authors emphasize the importance of situated learning in understanding work-based learning and in creating engaging and educational experiences for youth.

This book describes and analyzes the current state of work-based learning. It begins with a review of the history of work-based learning and its place in policy-making around school reform, which establishes the theoretical and empirical basis for the rest of the book. Based on over five years of research on work-based learning in high school and community college programs across the country, it explores the potential for using work-based learning as part of a broad education reform strategy. There are no existing books that address the topic of work-based learning as directly and broadly, connecting theory to practice. The authors emphasize the importance of situated learning in understanding work-based learning and in creating engaging and educational experiences for youth.

In the United States, 1,200 community colleges enroll over ten million students each year-nearly half of the nation's undergraduates. Yet fewer than 40 percent of entrants complete an undergraduate degree within six years. This fact has put pressure on community colleges to improve academic outcomes for their students. Redesigning America's Community Colleges is a concise, evidence-based guide for educational leaders whose institutions typically receive short shrift in academic and policy discussions. It makes a compelling case that two-year colleges can substantially increase their rates of student success, if they are willing to rethink the ways in which they organize programs of study, support services, and instruction. Community colleges were originally designed to expand college enrollments at low cost, not to maximize completion of high-quality programs of study. The result was a cafeteria-style model in which students pick courses from a bewildering array of choices, with little guidance. The authors urge administrators and faculty to reject this traditional model in favor of "guided pathways"-clearer, more educationally coherent programs of study that simplify students' choices without limiting their options and that enable them to complete credentials and advance to further education and the labor market more quickly and at less cost. Distilling a wealth of data amassed from the Community College Research Center (Teachers College, Columbia University), Redesigning America's Community Colleges offers a fundamental redesign of the way two-year colleges operate, stressing the integration of services and instruction into more clearly structured programs of study that support every student's goals.

With job prospects clouded for even the well-educated, those who leave school with no training beyond high school now face great challenges in making the transition from school to work. Emerging research and experience in other countries have led many to believe that the workplace can play a much larger educational role than it now does. The School-to-Work Opportunity Act of 1994, for example, requires programs funded under the act to include educationally guided work placements as part of the educational strategy. Although there is a growing consensus that employers have much to contribute, significant barriers stand in the way of increasing work-based education. This volume, the result of a Brookings conference on employer participation in education, focuses on such questions as: How can an adequate number of employers be recruited? How can the quality of placements be guaranteed? How can discrimination and inequities in providing access to good placements be avoided? What must educators do to work effectively with employers to develop high quality on-the-job educational experiences? And what policies can encourage participation and monitor and improve the education that takes place on the job? The book includes the perspectives of employers, educators, and policymakers and draws lessons from experience with employer involvement in Europe. It concludes with suggestions for future research and policy designed to increase the quality and quantity of work-based education. Chapters were written by editor Thomas Bailey, as well as Paul Osterman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; David Stern, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; and Margaret Vickers, TechnicalEducation Research Centers. Comments are included by George Chambliss, Xavier Del Buono, Harry Featherstone, Jack Jennings, Governor John R. McKernan, Jr., Stuart Rosenfeld, Anthony Sarmiento, Bernd Sohngen, Marc S. Tucker, Cheryl Fields Tyler, Peter van den Dool, Joan Wills, and Robert Yurasits. Brookings Dialogues on Public Policy