Mission/Goals

To provide employment training and education opportunities for students at-risk and/or with disabilities to gain skills, which will give students the ability, as well as the desire, to enhance their lives. The goals of the project are to assist students to (a) develop an awareness of career options and post-secondary opportunities, (b) develop employability skills and understand the relevance of such skills to the workplace, (c) develop the ability to set, attain, and evaluate reasonable goals, (d) transition from high school to work and/or post-secondary education, (e) develop skills necessary to be self-sufficient and live independently, and (f) use resources in the community including volunteers as supports.

Organization/Program Context

The School-to-Work program is a collaborative effort between the public and private sector. The program began as a result of a cooperative effort between Goodwill Industries and a coalition of local community agencies wanting to find ways to expand the career, educational, and job opportunities of students who are at-risk and/or have disabilities.

The program started as a pilot project serving 15 students in two schools and has steadily grown to include 13 schools serving over 1,000 students. The schools are identified based on student demographics and the success of their vocational programs. Goodwill works collaboratively with the school administrators and teachers to facilitate the classes.

Community Setting

Major city. This program is offered in Adams, Denver, and Jefferson counties of Colorado.

Population Served

The program serves 1,300 students, between the ages of 14 and 22, primarily who are at-risk and/or have learning disabilities. Other areas of primary diagnosis include mental retardation, deaf /hard of hearing, speech or language impairment, and visual disabilities.

Model/Practice/Strategy Description

The prerequisite for participation in this program is that students have been identified as at-risk and/or having a mild disability. Once in the program, students participate in both the classroom-based and community-based components.

In the classroom-based component, classroom facilitators, licensed by the State of Colorado, provide vocational assessment and job skills training. Additional skills crucial to success in the workplace, such as goal setting, development of interpersonal relationships, money management, leisure/recreational options, and how to access advocacy, legal, and medical services are integrated into the curriculum.

In the community-based component, employers and mentors are brought into the classroom to discuss job and career options, develop job leads, stage mock interviews, create job site visits and shadowing opportunities, and provide encouragement and guidance to students.

The partnership of these two components results in a program that helps students see their strengths, understand their options, find their career directions, and enter successfully into adulthood.

Exemplary School-to-Work Components

Career Exploration and Job-Seeking Skills - School-based Learning
Career exploration and job-seeking skills are the two topics covered in the classroom. In career exploration, students complete a self-directed search which helps them identify their employment interests and aptitudes. Volunteer speakers discuss a wide variety of occupations with the students. In job-seeking, facilitators help students search job advertisements, write a resume and cover letter, call and talk to a prospective employers, and complete mock interviews.

Job Shadowing - Work-based Learning
Students go through job shadowing in the field of their choice and make site visits to a variety of corporations and companies. During the site visit, students are exposed to all aspects and departments of a company and get a first-hand look at the work place. These activities provide an avenue for the community to connect with schools.

Mentorships- Connecting Activity
Students in the program are paired with mentors, who are recruited from local industries, businesses, and corporations. Mentors reinforce the employability skills that are taught in the classroom and help students make job contacts and career decisions. As a result of this interaction, a trust develops between students and mentors which is essential for the success of the program.

What Makes it Work?

• Staff members are committed and trained to ensure that students are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and support necessary to obtain permanent employment. The staff includes certified teachers in the classroom.
• The school-to-work curriculum is consistent and flexibile. The curriculum, developed by the facilitators, can be used in part or as a whole, depending on individual students' needs.
• Emphasis is placed on the success of students. There is a signficantly higher graduation rate among students in the program than students not in the program.
• The focus is on the individual student. The students are known, addressed by their name, and matched with mentors.
• The mentoring component enhances the involvement of community business leaders in helping students explore career development.

Staff

Manager
1 full-time

• Manages the program
• Acts as community liaison
• Assists in job development

Facilitator, State Certified Teacher
4 part-time

• Participates in individualized case management, including assessment and evaluation
• Acts as community resource liaisons
• Helps to support curriculum
• Provides in-class, individual assistance

Volunteer Coordinator
1 full-time

• Recruits and trains mentors and classroom speakers
• Provides job shadowing and visits job sites and employers
• Organizes parent involvement and community special events

Julie's Story

Julie had dropped out of school as a fourteen year old mother with an abusive boyfriend and a difficult home life. When Julie returned to high school, at the age of sixteen, she wanted to graduate and find a job. She was placed in the Alternative Cooperative Education Program (ACE), a vocational program for at-risk students affiliated with the School-to-Work program. The School-to-Work program matched Julie with a mentor who met with her weekly, providing her support and encouragement. Her mentor helped Julie devise a specific plan to identify and attain her goals. With the assistance of tutors, Julie made up missed credit through independent study while carrying a full load of regular classes, including parenting classes. As she progressed through school, Julie learned to value the importance of her education. The Career Exploration component gave Julie an opportunity to become familiar with various career options. She developed an awareness about her interest and aptitude for work in healthcare. Additionally, she learned to fill out a job application, write a resume, and prepare for an interview. This training helped Julie get a part-time job scheduling home visits for health aides. The program's focus on post-secondary education and training and Julie's new found appreciation for the value of education gave her the drive to access financial aid, go to a community college, and get a Certified Nurse's Assistant (CNA) Certificate. Since receiving her CNA certificate, Julie has been working full time and attending nursing school in the evenings. She will graduate from nursing school within the next two years and become a registered nurse. The School-to-Work Program provides an opportunity for students like Julie to realize and achieve their goals, because of a very simple philosophy of envisioning future success for every student regardless of their background.

The program's focus on post-secondary education and training gave Julie a new found appreciation for the value of education which motivated her to go to a community college and get a Certified Nurse's Assistant (CNA) Certificate.

This profile was generated by the School-to-Work Outreach Project at the Institute on Community Integration (UAP), University of Minnesota. The development and dissemination of these profiles was supported in part by grant #H029B30142 from the U.S. Department of Education.

For further information, contact the School-to-Work Outreach Project, Institute on Community Integration (UAP), University of Minnesota, 110B Pattee Hall, 150 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455.

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