Losing Generations Adolescents in High-Risk Settings (1993) / Chapter Skim
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7 FROM SHCOOL TO WORK
7 FROM SHCOOL TO WORK
Pages 125-150
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From page 125... ...
For example, the job placement function takes less of school counselors' time than any other major job duty Chapman and Katz, 1981; Grant Foundation, 1988bl. After school, there is no institutional bridge or system to help noncollege youth make the transition from school to work unlike most other industrialized countries.
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From page 126... ...
General Accounting Office, 1990b; Grant Foundation, l988bJ. After a brief overview of the status of youth after high school, this chapter focuses on the two major government-supported programs for helping adolescents make the transition into the labor market: vocational education in the schools and the employment and training programs funded under ITPA and demonstrations programs supported by foundations.
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From page 127... ...
1 _ ~ ~ ~ ~ A_ ~ ~ my.. ~ u ~ HAT; l 1 ~~+ ah arm Left to themselves, then, many high school graduates flounder in the labor market, either jobless or obtaining jobs with low wages and little opportunity for advancement.
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From page 128... ...
128 / o oo ¢x ' 1 1 o CC CC .
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From page 129... ...
For those under 20, being raised in a Tow-income family is the strongest predictor of labor market inactivity iSum and Fogg, 19911. The United States differs from most other industrialized countries in its reliance on market forces to effect the transition of young people from school to work.
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From page 130... ...
There are also a small number of multisite research and demonstration programs typically funded by foundations that seek to involve both public and private agencies to provide options for Tow-achieving students and dropouts to move into the labor market. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Traditionally, helping adolescents make the transition into the labor market has not been an explicit part of the mission of public schools in the United States Grant Foundation, 1988b; Bishop, 1989J.
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From page 131... ...
were 40 percent less likely than schools in the top quartile to be able to send students to a vocational high school or area vocational center; poor schools offered vocational education in one-third fewer program areas; and poor schools offered less than half the number of advanced courses in a sequence of two or more ,. occupationally specific courses.
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From page 132... ...
It is clear, however, that the sorting occurs within vocational education programs. Specifically, Tow-achieving students and students from blue-collar families, as well as women and minorities, are more likely to be placed in vocational programs that are deemed to be of Tow quality or to have little potential for future employment, and less likely to be placed in those programs that are deemed to be directly applicable to students' successful transition to the labor market.
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From page 133... ...
Finally, employers often do not want to risk hiring recent graduates in a loose job market, especially given the reputation of vocational education courses ;Reisner and Balasubramaniam, 19891. If placing students in related employment is the goal of vocational education, then cooperative education ;a mode!
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From page 134... ...
Vocational education does appear to reduce dropout rates, although vocational students are still more likely to leave school before graduation than are college preparatory or general track students. This finding seems to result from the "dumping ground" phenomenon: potential dropouts often transfer into vocational education as a last resort, and many students who stay in school do so because of their vocational courses {Grant Foundation, 1988bl.
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From page 135... ...
youth had supervised employment for a sutt~c~ent period or dime, they would then be able to gain a foothold in the labor market. By 1977, disillusioned with the administration of CETA and its effectiveness, Congress amended CETA with the Youth Employment Demonstration Program Act jYEDPAl.
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From page 136... ...
These programs provide intensive, Tong-term job training and remedial education, as well as health care, counseling, and job placement assistance. lust as vocational education remains largely independent of academic instruction, so employment and training programs, under ITPA, are largely independent of the workplace.
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From page 137... ...
As a further consequence, ITPA has moved away from serving the youth at greatest risk of failure in the job market-dropouts and unemployed young adults who have been unable to find a niche in the labor market. More than three-quarters of youth served by ITPA are still in school or are high school graduates {Public/Private Ventures, 1987a; U.S.
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From page 138... ...
· Most employment and training programs have been of short duration or of [Limited quality; hence, there may be little reason to expect positive effects. · Program operators have had to respond to many shifts in regulations, accountability, and targeting procedures over the past two decades, which has made it difficult to establish and maintain high-quality programs.
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From page 139... ...
SWP offered temporary, transitional 12- to 18-month employment opportunities to low-income school dropouts with little prior work experience, while YIEP served both inand out-of-school disadvantaged youth. In addition to providing subsidized part-time employment during the school year, YIEP required that participants stay in school or return to school in orcler to stay in the program.
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From page 140... ...
Rather than focusing on work experience, lob Corps emphasized basic skills training, supportive services, occupational training, and job placement services for highly disadvantaged youth. Two models were implemented: (1J a residential program for out-of-school youth, reflecting the belief that youth needed a sustained period of time removed from high-risk settings; and j2J a nonresidential program offering similar services to in-school youth.
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From page 141... ...
This study used a random assignment design in which youths who were eligible for ITPA were randomly assigned either to a program group to participate or to a control group that did not participate. Young people aged 16-21 were classified into three service strategy subgroups: classroom training, on-the-job training and job search assistance, and other services.
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From page 142... ...
In short, women are less likely to be in the labor market, so programs can make a difference simply by increasing their participation in the labor market.
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From page 143... ...
Both STEP and Career Beginnings offer a range of services to high school students, aiming first, to keep students in school, and ~A im ret them for ~ successful transition into the labor market or postsecondary schooling. STEP is designed for 14- and 15-year-olds who are both poor and experiencing severe academic difficulty.
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From page 144... ...
Operated in 13 sites, JOBSTART was modeled after Job Corps and provided a range of occupational and academic instruction in nonresidential settings, in addition to job placement assistance and training-related support services, such as transportation and job training. Because TOBSTART involved investments of time and effort in education and training, it also entailed opportunity costs in foregone employment and earnings.
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From page 145... ...
Funding for higher education is regarded as a vital national economic investment, while support for labor market transitions, particularly for youths most at risk of failing to make the school-to-work transition, is viewed as a social, rather than an economic, responsibility. This reflects a consistent and continuing belief that employment and training are private matters, best left to individuals and the marketplace.
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From page 146... ...
lob training is not sufficient, especially for the many youths who enter the labor market with a range of needs; but only a very small proportion of ITPA funds are directed towards remedial education or support services Public/Private Ventures, 198 Pal. The in-program effects for STEP and YIEP on educational gains and employment increases, respectively, and the moderately positive results from Career Beginnings and TOBSTART suggest some potential merit of more comprehensive programs than are usually offered in either vocational education or ITPA.
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From page 147... ...
Toussaint 1993b JOBSTART: Final Report on a Program for School Dropouts. New York: Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, forthcoming.
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From page 148... ...
Kaufman, and J Lederer 1990 Order Amidst Complexity: The Status of Coordination Among Vocational Education, lob Training Partnership Act, and Welfare-To-Work Programs.
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From page 149... ...
Holzer, He. 1991 Youth and the Labor Market in the 1990s.
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From page 150... ...
lob Training Partnership Act: Racial and Gender Disparities in Services. GAO Report No.
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