539 matches found for How People Learn Brain,Mind,Experience,and School Expanded Edition. in 7. Education Through Theme-Based Learning Communities
Select a page to see where your word(s) or phrase(s) are located in the OpenBook. Excerpts from the chapter provide context.
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...Theme-Basecl Learning Communities...
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...Creating schools with occupational themes is a promising new school...
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...reform strategy for making the curriculum more relevant and personally...
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...In schools that have tried this approach, the theme often has a broad...
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...ing that is elastic enough to encompass a variety of types of learning,...
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...including standard academic subjects. This strategy is different from that of...
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...schools focus on international trade and others examine urban issues or the...
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...environment. Current common themes for magnet schools include technol-...
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...School in New York, for example) a range of related occupations....
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...The theme-based approach has various roots and appears under differ-...
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...ent names. Some have labeled the thematic approach to high school educa-...
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...from traditional vocational education; others refer to school-to-work or...
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...school-to-career programs, invoking the School-to-Work Opportunities Act...
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...iThe School-to-Work Opportunities Act added work-based learning to earlier efforts to...
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...integrate academic and vocational education and to incorporate "tech prep," but many people...
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...have adopted the school-to-work label for programs with an occupational focus even though...
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...they lack any work-based learning....
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...EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 169...
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..."college and career" programs, stressing the dual outcomes possible,2 and...
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...quently combines within itself more of the factors conducive to learning...
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...disciplines, and creating projects that span several classes. One intent is to...
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...replace the current high school curriculum made up of independent, dis-...
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...see how subjects are related. The extent of integration varies among schools...
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...and depends substantially on teacher planning time. Successful examples...
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...occur in schools that have eliminated conventional divisions between aca-...
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...demic and vocational instructors....
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...after high school, or for a combination of college enrollment and employ-...
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...eral education" tracks or an academic track, with its single-minded pursuit...
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..."tech prep" or "2 + 2" programs that integrate a high school program with...
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...school as part of a longer K-16 continuum....
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...This approach to high school education sometimes incorporates forms...
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...of learning outside of school, including projects in the community or the...
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...work world, job shadowing and internships, and cooperative education...
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...that integrates substantial amounts of work-based learning into the curricu-...
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...lum. Once a school has been reorganized to include occupational "majors"...
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...or schools within schools, the links to work-based opportunities are easier...
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...2see especially Stern (1999) and Urquiola et al. (1997)....
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...40n the power and limitations of "college for all," see soesel and Fredland (1999) and...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...tions" require a substantial change in the ways communities and employers...
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...work with schools; both students and the community can benefit....
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...small schools, or schools within schools, capitalizing on the advantages of...
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...the closer relationships among teachers and students.5 The three most...
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...common organizational forms are career academies, high schools with ma-...
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...jors, and high schools with themes....
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...Career academies are schools within schools with 200 to 250 students...
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...and a group of teachers who teach core subjects such as English, math,...
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...an academy its focus (see Institute for Research and Reform in Education,...
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...20021. Students stay with each other and with these teachers for 2, 3, or 4...
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...years, and instructors integrate their courses in various ways. Academies...
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...sources and opportunities, such as representatives who visit the school,...
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...summer jobs, internships, or employment after high school....
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...Academies were the earliest examples of thematic high schools. No-...
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...nia, and finance and tourism academies supported by American Express....
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...Networks have been formed to strengthen and extend the academy model.6...
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...tional subjects electricity, automotive occupations, and health occupa-...
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...ers, communications or journalism, and engineering. As schools within...
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...schools, career academies have the advantage of requiring the cooperation...
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...faculties of large high schools must all work together in new ways....
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...High schools with majors, or clusters, require every student to choose a...
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...academies in 1969, considerably predates the recent interest in small schools, often dated to...
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...6Regarding academies, see Stern, Raby, and Dayton (1992) and Stern, Dayton, and Raby...
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...of California at Berkeley' the National Academy Foundation at http /Iwww.naf.orgl and a...
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...network of 38 Junior ROTC academies sponsored by the u.s. Departments of Defense and...
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...EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 171...
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...encourage the integration of curriculum across subjects and to provide links...
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...to employers and the outside world. A number of districts have developed...
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...individual high schools with majors or clusters; for example, Oakland,...
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...California, has been transforming all of its high schools into cluster schools....
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...A number of the New American High Schools have followed this model,...
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...and the Talent Development High School at Johns Hopkins University also...
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...Some high schools adopt a theme or focus for all students. Examples...
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...include schools emphasizing the arts or the performing arts; health-related...
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...high schools; an agriculture high school in south Chicago; magnet schools...
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...emphasizing areas such as computers, business, and communications; High...
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...Tech High in San Diego, with an emphasis on technology and project-based...
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...learning in all classes; and Aviation High and the High School of the...
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...schools with 400 to 800 students. The extent to which the focus permeates...
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...are more like conventional high schools, with some afternoon classes in the...
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...The reforms described in this chapter reshape the high school as a...
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...whole, and require rethinking its purpose, structure, and relation to the...
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...tive to the traditional monolithic high school, dominated by the academic...
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...courses of the college prep curriculum. The traditional high school has...
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...electives, and it does not link school to the world of work or the community...
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...in the way that schools with a theme or focus do....
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...The challenge is to see whether theme-based high schools enhance...
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...motivation and engagement, or any of its correlates, including persistence,...
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...graduation, or measures of learning. We review three kinds of evidence: (1)...
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...motivation and engagement in general; (2) the perceptions of teachers and...
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...students who have been engaged in these reforms; and, most importantly,...
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...7Regarding high schools with clusters, see Grubb (1995a); regarding the Talent Develop-...
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...ment High School, see Legters (1999) and McPartland, salfanz' Joan, and Legters (1998)....
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...8 Considerately less has been written about such high schools, but see Katz, Jackson, Reeves,...
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...and Benson (1995). However, many magnet schools have a theme or focus....
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...with the basic precepts about motivation and engagement described in...
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...Chapter 2, have many potential benefits and few negative effects. Because...
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...yet. However, their success depends critically on the details of implementa-...
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...PRACTICES ENHANCING MOTIVATION AND ENGAGEMENT...
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...known from existing research about motivation and engagement. An analy-...
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...creating programs that engage students in learning. We concentrate on six...
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...version of schools with occupational themes, it does reflect the goals of...
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...tionships. The research summarized in Chapters 2 and 4 supports the value...
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...of social contexts for learning that are accepting and supportive and that...
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...facilitate personal connections.9 The recent "movement" for small schools,...
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...pational themes follow this precept in creating smaller learning communi-...
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...ties within the high school, academies, and clusters or majors where students...
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...remain with other students and with a few teachers over 2 to 4 years. In...
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...addition, most themed high schools are relatively small....
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...of these approaches. Thematic programs usually develop work teams and...
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...learning that have always been part of vocational education (Achtenhagen...
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...and Grubb, 2001), and sometimes mimicking the social nature of work...
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...(Lave and Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 19981. In addition, programs with occu-...
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...9See Ames (1992) and Stipek (2002). See also the February 2002 issue of Principal Leader-...
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...ship for testimonials about the value of small schools, small learning communities, and career...
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...EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 173...
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...to make connections to fellow workers and supervisors. The national...
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...school-to-work evaluation found that students value these one-to-one con-...
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...nections (Hershey, Silverberg, Hamison, Hudis, and Jackson, 1998~. An-...
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...other review concluded that practices such as small class sizes and weekly...
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...seminars helped build relationships among teachers, students, and worksite...
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...personnel, creating a "family-like atmosphere" (Pedraza, Pauly, and Kopp,...
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...ments or educative and supportive cultures; thus, work settings must be...
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...carefully chosen and monitored. Kemple and Snipes (2000) found that...
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...ships with adults and to provide career awareness actually disengaged stu-...
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...dents from school. Hamilton and Hamilton (1997) and the Institute for...
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...Research and Reform in Education (2002) recommend using a private case...
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...tance and academic support....
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...some autonomy in selecting tasks and methods, and in which they can...
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...construct meaning, engage in sense-making on their own, and play an...
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...active role in learning, rather than the passive role typical of teacher-cen-...
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...tered classrooms (Ames, 1992; National Research Council, 1999; Ryan and...
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...either in which thematic school they attend or in which theme they partici-...
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...pate among an array offered in their school. Research on motivation sug-...
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...self-determination and thus engagement....
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..."New voc" programs typically foster autonomy and active roles in...
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...several other ways. They are more likely to use projects and other forms of...
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...direct investigation, both in occupational classes and in activities that in-...
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...projects, and some, particularly senior projects or "capstone" projects, can...
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...feelings of competence and pride, which motivate further efforts (Stipek,...
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...moted the benefits of "hands-on" learning, which usually refers to some...
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...features of adept instruction in the workshops the process of showing and...
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...These results are drawn from Grubb and colleagues (1999, Chap. 3) and from the review of...
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...the German and English literature in Achtenhagen and Grubb (2001)....
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...doing, with the student practicing what the instructor has shown; the devel-...
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...opment of visual, manual, and interpersonal skills; the development of...
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...teamwork, communications, and problem-solving skills; opportunities for...
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...of students in the workshop or lab; and opportunities for feedback from...
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...apprenticeship mode! described by Collins, Brown, and Newman (19891....
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...tonomy and engage in active learning. In case studies of three career-related...
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...programs, Stasz and Kaganoff (1998) noted that students in school settings...
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...dents often determine on their own how to obtain information they need to...
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...Third, motivation and engagement are enhanced in well-structured edu-...
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...pational theme, can be both well structured and clear in their purposes...
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...because they are linked both to future employment opportunities and to...
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...subsequent educational enrollment. In addition, high schools with clusters...
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...and theme high schools often dispense with the electives and extracurricu-...
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...lar activities of the "shopping mall high school" (Powell et al., 1985) be-...
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...cause no time is left over after fulfilling academic, occupational, and work-...
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...comprehensive high school, where courses are typically unrelated to one...
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...another and where the curriculum is not clearly related to future goals aside...
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...lum, high expectations, and a strong emphasis on achievement. Theme-...
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...track. For example, the Talent Development High School mode! and the...
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...more demanding integrated programs. Carefully structured workshops also...
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...are designed to enhance learning and are integrated with classroom instruc-...
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...tional education's tendency to simplify content and to become largely...
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...avocational boys working on cars, girls styling hair, and students devel-...
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...Work-based placements provide another setting that supports learning,...
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...especially if these work opportunities are integrated with school-based learn-...
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...EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 175...
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...emies learned different but complementary competencies in school and...
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...duction, while school components taught the theories underlying these pro-...
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...cedures. Many forms of nonschoo! learning can emerge from work settings,...
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...Fifth, motivation and engagement are enhanced when students have...
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...diverse opportunities to develop and demonstrate mastery. "Education...
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...artistic success, success in making and repairing devices, and success in...
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...developing competencies related to employment as well as formal schooling....
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...national evaluation of school-to-work programs (Hershey et al., 1998)...
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...found that students valued internships and job shadowing more than other...
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...theme motivated students to succeed both on the job and in school because...
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...they knew they might be dropped from the program if their schoolwork...
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...criticism of the high school by Goodman (1956) in Growing Up Absurd....
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...adult status. High school for many students is an infantilizing activity in...
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...disconnected them from adult life and real experience, a frequent complaint...
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...about high school.12 Carefully constructed work experiences provide op-...
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...complementary school- and work-based components, described in Villeneuve and Grubb...
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...12See also Stern (1989) and the various commission reports of the 1970s that complained...
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...about the isolation of high school students from the worlds of adults: Carnegie Council on...
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...Panel on High School and Adolescent Education (1976), Panel on Youth of the President's...
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...Science Advisory Committee (1974), and Timpane, Abramowitz, Bobrow, and Pascal (1976)....
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...of "youth jobs." Without abandoning adolescence as an experimental and...
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...transitional period, occupational themed high schools can provide opportu-...
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...nities for youth to do something real and adult-like, consistent with the...
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...Finally, helping students develop education and career pathways can...
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...enhance their understanding of school and their motivation to participate...
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...fully. Students are unlikely to be highly engaged in schoolwork if they do...
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...not understand its relevance to their future goals (Schneider and Stevenson,...
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...ous future careers, develop direct information about careers, and under-...
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...stand related educational requirements. Both Crain et al. (1999) and Pedraza...
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...et al. (1997) reported that school-to-work programs provided a clear work-...
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...technology students began to understand the structure of the biotechnology...
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...industry with some sophistication, with different levels of understanding...
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...developed in high school, in work placements, and in the college compo-...
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...nent. Their varied experiences helped them envision a career in science and...
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...High schools offering majors and career academies use a variety of...
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...For example, in one school offering six majors, students in 9th and 10th...
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...choose two for a second and more intensive "exploratory," and then choose...
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...tional themes usually have a choice of work placements and an opportunity...
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...substitute for weak high school guidance and counseling programs. As we...
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...derided as "test 'em and tell 'em" or advising "college for all."...
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...and engagement, but the advantages we have described are not automatic....
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...Theme-based high schools need to be carefully structured to include well-...
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...integrated opportunities to develop a wide range of competencies. In schools...
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...schools with outdated equipment and poor prospects for meaningful work...
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...placements, implementation may be more difficult. Work-based learning is...
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...students and have more positive effects than most of the work students find...
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...EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 177...
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...engaging and educative work experiences also require the most careful...
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...planning and development....
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...PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS AND TEACHERS...
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...the comments of teachers, students, administrators, and other participants....
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...often unsystematic, and sometimes merely anecdotal. Advocates often...
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...record positive comments, but not negative ones. A few studies, however,...
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...have interviewed students and faculty systematically....
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...students (as well as teachers and work supervisors), and profiled 10 stu-...
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...compared their academy experiences to those in other high schools. These...
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...students corroborated many elements related to engagement and motiva-...
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...tion: the diverse settings for learning and the importance of career and...
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...support from their teachers both in school and in their work settings. They...
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...commented on the value of working one-on-one with supervisors and being...
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...able to ask many more questions that even small school settings allow....
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...As part of Crain's analysis of career-oriented magnet schools (Crain et...
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...al., 1999), Heebner (1995) interviewed 70 students and 60 adults in four...
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...schools. There was no comparison group; implicitly, most students com-...
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...pared their experiences in magnet schools to their earlier experiences in...
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...nonmagnet schools. Students said they valued internships, after-school pro-...
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...grams, co-op placements, and other opportunities to learn and practice...
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...planning for the future, often for multiple job and career options. Students...
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...13Students who find positions through their school programs compared to those who...
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...ing time, get more feedback about their performance, and see more links between school...
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...studies and their job requirements (Hershey et al., 1998)....
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...14See the discussion in Villeneuve and Grubb (1996) on the differences in work placements...
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...between employers with a "grow your own" philosophy and those who view interns as a...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...school, a lack of role models among teachers and administrators from...
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...minority backgrounds, and overloaded teachers....
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...In the early stages of a random assignment evaluation of 10 academies,...
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...tributed questionnaires to students and teachers in both the academy group...
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...and the control group, who were in the same high school but not in the...
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...academy. Academy students consistently ranked their schools and their...
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...tions, and more concern about their performance and their futures. Stu-...
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...in school paid off; and they were less likely to be bored and to think that...
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...1997, Tables 3.2 and 3.31. Similarly, academy teachers reported more col-...
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...ence over instruction and administrative policies, more opportunities to...
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...learn, more colleagues who emphasized personalized attention to students,...
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...and generally higher levels of job satisfaction and efficacy (Kemple, 1997,...
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...support and learning for both students and teachers....
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...In an evaluation of the Talent Development High School replications in...
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...Philadelphia, researchers interviewed 185 students and 34 teachers and...
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...praised the separation of ninth graders from older students, and over-...
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...study skills, and work habits were developed). Furthermore, students val-...
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...they ha] learned earlier. Teachers liked being part of a team. Their negative...
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...coaches.~5 In addition, the teachers in one school suffered from the instabil-...
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...i5See "Philadelphia's Talent Development High Schools: Second-Year Results," from the...
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...about these interviews with students are available in Corbett and Wilson (2001); more details...
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...and Reumann-Moore (2001)....
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...EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 179...
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...experiences, even though they clici not finci them very challenging. Work...
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...seemed to enhance social skills and positive attitudes toward work, but it...
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...between school and work were perceived to be weak, despite practices...
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...with school, inclucling having less time to clo homework and thinking they...
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...and structured so that they are challenging and reinforce academic compe-...
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...tencies, and that they may compete with schooling if not well connected to...
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...the academic program (Greenberger and Steinberg, 19861....
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...Although interview studies suggest that teachers and students are gen-...
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...erally positive, this kind of evidence is always suspect. Teachers and stu-...
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...formance, learning, persistence, or unclerstancling. Even if motivation is...
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...have examined career academies rather than high schools with majors or...
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...occupational high schools, simply because academies have been around the...
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...longest.l7 Finclings generally favor academies over comparison schools, but...
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...ranclomly assigned to academies and there are complex selection proce-...
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...clures in some cases that influence the results in both positive and negative...
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...matched by race, gentler, and achievement test scores (Stern et al., 1992,...
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...16High schools that have developed from traditional vocational programs tend to look...
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...from conventional academic high schools tend to look like academic schools with a little...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...emies and 14.6 percent in the comparison group for the first cohort, of 6.6...
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...percent and 14.3 percent in a second cohort, and of 2.8 percent and 2.2...
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...percent in a third. While they were enrolled, academy students showed...
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...better attendance, failed fewer courses, earned more credits, and obtained...
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...better motivation and engagement....
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...ates were more likely to be employed, and to have been employed longer,...
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...Another evaluation of academies was conducted in a school district...
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...that has incorporated multiple academies into every high school (Maxwell...
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...and Rubin, 20001. These evaluations compared academy and nonacademy...
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...English proficiency, special education status, and lOth-grade achievement....
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...In both uncontrolled and controlled results, academy students rated their...
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...program higher on several dimensions related to motivation and engage-...
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...tudes toward schooling, being prepared for their current education, and...
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...meet work deadlines, and helped them see the relationship between school-...
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...ing and work. Academy students also had higher grade point averages...
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...(GPAs) and were more likely to attend 4-year (but not 2-year) colleges. All...
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...increase graduation rates indirectly as was also true for both 2-year and...
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...limits the conclusions that can be drawn. In both schools, the graduation...
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...of the high schools was 12 percent for Latino and African-American stu-...
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...dents and 7 percent for Asian-American students. (At the other school it...
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...EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 1 81...
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...placements. In one school, 57.6 percent of students attended the commu-...
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...year college, and 13.6 percent planned to enter another 2-year college....
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...Comparable figures for the second school were 48.3 percent, 38.3 percent,...
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...and 6.7 percent. Although judging these figures is difficult, they clearly...
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...nity college, and more than half received a certificate within a year. Stu-...
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...dents cited the value of having a clear progression from high school to...
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...students that might account for differences between academy and non-...
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...has been paid to a random assignment evaluation conducted by the MDRC...
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...group (21.3 percent versus 32.2 percent) and average attendance was higher...
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...overall and more credits in selected college preparation subjects, and they...
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...37.7 percent), confirming that academy students took more academic and...
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...to have researched college options, to have taken the SAT or ACT, and to...
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...have submitted college applications. Academy students, however, did not...
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...have better math and reading scores than nonacademy students. Based on...
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...these results, academies appear to enhance the motivation and engagement...
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...of high-risk students, improve completion rates, and enhance their planning...
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...for the future, although not the academic skills assessed by standardized...
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...achievement tests (Kemple and Snipes, 2000, especially Tables 3.1,3.2,3.3,...
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...3.51. The results for students in the medium- and low-risk groups were...
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...these were statistically significant, and a few were in the "wrong" direction....
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...high school completion rates for academy and nonacademy students were...
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...school by receiving a GED (7 percent versus 5 percent, though this difference was not statisti-...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...be more likely to graduate on time (56 percent versus 50 percent), and to be...
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...sample sizes (of 80 and 56, respectively) may be to blame. The high-risk...
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...(63.8 percent versus 48.2 percent), and all three risk groups were more...
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...emphasis of academies (Kemple and Snipes, 2000, Table ES.2, Figure 8,...
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...effects on motivation and engagement. Furthermore, there are no obvious...
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...The Talent Development High School mode! also has been assessed,...
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...both at its initial implementation site at Patterson High School in Baltimore...
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...and at its replication sites in two Philadelphia schools. Attendance at...
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...tion, while it declined in other Baltimore high schools by 3.2 percentage...
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...Maryland State Functional Exams increased by 28 percentage points, and...
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...the school's performance index a state-specified composite of climate,...
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...attendance, promotion, and academic achievement rose by 7 points, while...
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...the next best Baltimore school improved by only 3.2 points. Other high...
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...schools averaged a decline of 0.2 points. Student reports of safety, rules,...
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...state of the bathrooms, and the overall school were substantially better...
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...than other Baltimore schools (McPartiand et al., 19981. The Talent Devel-...
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...opment High School mode! was developed to bring a large, out-of-control...
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...high school back into control through the development of schools within...
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...schools; evidently this goal was largely met....
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...ventional diploma (see Cameron and Heckman, 1993; Murnane, Willett and Boudett, 1995)....
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...EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 183...
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...to two matched high schools. In the Talent Development High Schools, the...
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...schools, from 33.2 percent to 38.9 percent. The proportion promoted to...
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...school, and from 41.5 percent to 75 percent in the other, compared to small...
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...decreases in control schools. The increases in math scores on the Stanford-...
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...9 achievement tests were substantially higher than control schools (3.5...
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...worsened (although not by as much as in control high schools). In the...
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...second year, the school climate continued to improve, with substantial...
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...drops in arrests and suspensions and increases in attendance; the propor-...
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...faulted for being nonrandom, in every dimension of performance the Talent...
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...Development High Schools outperformed the control high schools.~9...
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...An evaluation of magnet high schools with broadly occupational themes...
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...magnet high schools in which half of the students were admitted by lottery,...
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...while the remaining half were chosen by the school in a competitive pro-...
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...cess. The lottery thus created a random assignment opportunity. Evidence...
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...from four magnet schools one in health, one in business, one in business...
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...communications, and one in engineering indicated that completion rates...
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...were worse for those students in magnet schools: 25 percent of lottery...
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...result to the fact that the career magnet schools were more academically...
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...demanding than the comprehensive schools, and the career magnet schools...
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...enforced standards by limiting the occupational program to only a fraction...
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...these magnet schools came in the long term. Interviews with both lottery...
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...winners and losers indicated that graduates of the career magnet earned...
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...more college credits and were more likely to have chosen a college major in...
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...their first or second year after high school graduation. The career magnet...
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...something," and to have developed a career identity during their high...
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...school years, a result consistent with Heebner's (1995) findings that magnet...
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...19For these results, see "The Talent Development High School: First-Year Results of the...
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...Ninth Grade Success Academy in Two Philadelphia High Schools 1999-2000" and...
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..."Philadelphia's Talent Development High Schools: Second-Year Results," both from the Phila-...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...ment and postsecondary education goals. Overall, the authors concluded...
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...future college and career decisions....
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...Finally, we note some intriguing statistical findings by Arum and Shavit...
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...(1995), based on the High School and Beyond data collected on sopho-...
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...mores in 1980 and followed through 1986. They focused on the effects of...
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...academic, vocational, and general tracks, but also included a "mixed"...
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...track with academic and vocational courses. Students in the vocational...
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...education.20 Furthermore, for those who were not still in school, students...
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...have described as theme-based high schools because such programs barely...
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...existed in the early 1980s. However, these results indicate that a mix of...
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...academic and occupational courses does not necessarily reduce post-...
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...secondary enrollment, and can increase employment for those who do not...
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...Compared to traditional high schools, the reforms associated with...
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...theme-based high schools are, in theory, more consistent with general con-...
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...ditions necessary for student motivation and engagement small size, envi-...
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...ronments where students can play a greater role in their own learning,...
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...clearly structured, coherent curricula, relevance to the outside world, and...
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...adhere to some of these precepts: The New York magnet schools, for ex-...
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...ample, are not always small learning communities, and some reforms may...
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...slight learning about careers and their connections to schooling. But, in...
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...theory, these reforms have promise for improving American high school...
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...Both students and teachers report positive experiences in these settings...
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...more than in traditional high schools. Students value smaller learning com-...
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...(academic and vocational) concentrators, with much lower proportions for general students...
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...(69 percent) and vocational concentrators (56 percent) a higher differential between aca-...
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...demic and dual concentrators than Arum and Shavit found, but still implying that mixed...
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...EDUCATION THROUGH THEME-BASED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 185...
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...munities and the variety of instructional settings; they appreciate informa-...
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...tion on careers and future options, and the possibility of "parallel career...
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...bound and non college-bound students. In programs incorporating work-...
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...based learning, students report that they learn in different ways in different...
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...have enough time for collaboration. Overall, however, the level of satisfac-...
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...The effects on motivation and engagement appear to be relatively strong...
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...and consistent. In most cases, attendance is improved, engagement with...
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...school seems to go up, and negative behavior seems to be reduced. The...
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...conducive to learning is especially remarkable. The detailed results in...
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...Ryken's (2001) study of a high-quality academy reveal the attachment and...
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...learning that can take place in programs with several different learning...
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...schools, suggest the value of "education through occupations" in orienting...
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...students toward future opportunities in both employment and education....
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...Even in the most rigorous random assignment study (the MDRC study),...
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...schoolwork, and more engaged peers....
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...The conclusions about outcomes, however, are more mixed. The quasi-...
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...experimental studies of academies typically report higher grades and higher...
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...on direct measures of learning. The recent findings of the MDRC random...
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...likely to complete high school or enroll in postsecondary education. The...
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...differences between academies and other schools on measures of engage-...
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...ment and motivation evidently do not necessarily lead to clearly improved...
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...The lack of effects on learning has important implications for practice....
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...may not increase learning if a reform does not also pay attention to the...
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...is taught than on how teaching was done, with the exception of more...
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...opportunities for learning in real-worId settings. Taken together, research...
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...on theme-based schools and research on instruction (Chapter 3, this volume)...
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...ENGAGING SCHOOLS...
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...and Snipes, 2000), any good idea can be undermined by mediocre imple-...
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...mentation, and some evaluation results have been affected by weaknesses in...
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...tors can construct integrated curricula and in their connections to employ-...
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...ers and postsecondary institutions. The New York magnet schools seem to...
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...include relatively little occupational coursework, and have not developed...
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...small learning communities within these large high schools. The Talent...
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...Development mode! has struggled with getting districts and unions to free...
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...up sufficient time for teacher preparation, and in some cases been plagued...
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...by instability of teachers and administrators. In addition, the availability...
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...and quality of work-based learning, and more generally of connections...
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...between school and the wider community, vary substantially....
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...ented critics might expect of schools with occupational themes have not...
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...they have been studied and there is the potential for substantial improve-...
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...ments in school climate, motivation, and other outcomes. Because this...
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...approach to high school reform began seriously only about 20 years ago, it...
A total of pages of uncorrected, machine-read text were searched in this chapter. Please note that the searchable text may be scanned, uncorrected text, and should be presumed inaccurate. Page images should be used as the authoritative version.