School Lessons, Work Lessons. Recruiting and Sustaining Employer Involvement in School-to-Work Programs.

A study was conducted to explore the motivation for (or against) employer participation in long-standing school-business partnership programs that offer substantive work experience and learning at the worksite. Information was gathered through a literature search, in-person surveys of school personnel and selected employers (n=21), a phone survey of a larger sample of 224 employers, and employer focus groups in 7 sites throughout the United States. A total of 18 secondary schools were included in the survey, along with participating employers. Highlights of the findings are as follows: (1) schools tended to have both worksite-based programs and programs without such a component, with work areas usually determined by faculty skills and the few resources allocated to the partnership programs; (2) the extent to which students learn occupation-specific skills varies greatly among work sites, with such tie-ins most likely in comprehensive vocational-technical schools; (3) the schools are usually able to place all willing students in these programs despite their lack of organized and focused employer recruiting; (4) employers are generally pleased with the student workers and consider them productive employees; and (5) employers are motivated to participate in the programs as much by the desire to acquire entry-level workers as by the desire for community service. Recommendations were made to improve the knowledge component of the worksite programs and to increase employer recruitment. (The survey instruments are included in the report. Contains 30 references.) (KC)