School to Work after the School to Work Opportunities Act
In July 1994, Congress passed the School to Work Opportunities Act (STWOA), allocating funds to establish statewide partnerships designed to prepare students with knowledge and skills required for employment in the workplace. Recent reports show that STW has varied considerably across these partnerships, resulting in differing views on the viability of its programs. Now that federal funding from STWOA has ended, what is the aftermath? What are the chances for sustaining STW now that funding has ceased? To what extent have STW efforts been institutionalized and supported by local business? How do the perceptions and commitment of teachers, educators, students and parents influence the self-sustaining future of school to work (STW)? This Myths and Realities looks at the issues as they apply to life after STWOA.
State Policies and Funding Strategies Ensure that STW Programs Are Sustained
There is no doubt that state policy to advance activities started under the federal grant will be a major factor in the sustainability of STW (Miller and Fleegler 2000). Already, some states have taken the initiative for bringing higher standards to education by offering incentives for business to participate in STW programs. In Colorado, for example, the General Assembly passed a law in 1997 giving businesses a 10 percent tax credit for participating in its School-to-Career program (Eslinger 1998). In Connecticut, efforts to sustain STW have involved the hiring of an STW coordinator whose main responsibility is to focus on community outreach (Cutshall 2001c).
Commitment is the key where state policy is involved. Alan Hershey, a senior fellow with Mathematica Policy Research Inc. in Princeton, New Jersey, has evaluated the progress of STW for the U.S. Department of Education. He predicted that unless states are actively committed to STW, the partnerships established through the STWOA would dissolve once federal funding ceases. States such as Michigan and Wisconsin will likely fund or find ways to use employment and training and technical education dollars to fund STW activities because they are committed to STW, as evidenced by their record (Kiser 1999). In Wisconsin, "85% of the school districts receive STW funds and 93% of high schools are involved in STW" (Hettinger 1998, p. 23). When states are as heavily committed to the tenets of STW as these two states, they are likely to find other funding sources to continue their STW programs (Hettinger 1998).
Not all states, however, have been able to muster enthusiasm for STW.
Money will not solve or make this problem go away, no matter how many social workers are hired. Schools will succeed despite their financial circumstances if they have the basic components of motivated students, parent support, caring teachings, and strong central leadership. While this is the typical model of a suburban school system, Wilson High School proves that it can work anywhere. When ones thinks of urban public schools, overcrowded classes, underpaid teachers, and a lack of resources often come to mind. The fact is these problems can happen anywhere. While the environment at Kennedy could never be compared to the worst DC high school, the assumptions made against these schools are the same. By erasing these notions and confronting the problems one by one, we will be one step closer to reaching equal education for all.
Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane is one of the first modern sound films. However, it was innovative in more than just sound, it introduced various cinematography techniques and structural ideas. With the help of Barry Fesler and Jamos D. Stewart, Welles introduced subjects such as deep focus sound, the use of voice texture, and the “lighting mix.” Moreover, he explored different camera angles, deep focus photography, elaborated on fluid continuity, and experimented with structure. Citizen Kane was produced during a rather unusual time as many studios were having financial troubles due to war in Europe. France was being invaded by the Nazis, which caused a shift from movies being shot in sound stages. Nevertheless, this politically intense period, gave rise to America’s press lord, William Randolph Hearst, who build an immense newspaper chain and published over the top stories. His ruthless behavior and troubled personal life inspired Welles to write Citizen Kane.
In your view, how does Welles’ portrayal of the complex nature of happiness contribute to the enduring value of Citizen Kane?
... past decade has not only affected teachers and valuable elective programs, but mostly importantly the education of today’s youth. The Georgia school districts have exhausted almost every way to make up for the billions of dollars of lost state financial support and they have reached the tipping point. Since over 9,000 teachers have lost their jobs, students are being forced into already bulging classes where they do not receive the kind of individual attention needed in order to boost student achievement. If Georgia leaders expect student achievements to improve, they must invest the necessary economic resources needed to achieve this goal. At the end of the day, one of the most important things in life is a good education, so we need to start putting more money into the K-12 school funding and help build back what years of austerity cuts have nearly destroyed.
Hinduism gave a view about achieving salvation, Dharma (duty), Karma to determine where you would be placed in the next life and so on. And Buddhism gave us its own view about the act of spiritual meditation and concentration and striving for salvation. Both religions were really interesting and the research about it added more knowledge to my understanding about other religions out there in the world
Privacy rights are a tough issue to argue for because so many Americans believe that they do in fact hav...
As we may all know our right to privacy is a human right and an element of various legal traditions which may restrain both government and private party action that threatens the privacy an individual’s background. These two men named Warren and Brandeis wrote that privacy is the “right to be let alone”, and focused on protecting individuals. The right to privacy is out own right to keep a domain around us, including things around us such as our own body, home, property, thoughts, feelings, secrets, and our identity. We have our right to choose who we let to access our parts also as to contro...
"What We Do." U.S. Department of Education, 2 Feb. 2010. Web. 23 May 2014. .
Cochran, Clarke, Lawrence Mayer, T.R. Carr, Joseph Cayer, Mark McKenzie, and Laura Peck. "Education: Conflict in Policy Direction." American Public Policy: An Introduction. Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. 334-335. Print.
The word “privacy” did not grow up with us throughout history, as it was already a cultural concept by our founding fathers. This term was later solidified in the nineteenth century, when the term “privacy” became a legal lexicon as Louis Brandeis (1890), former Supreme Court justice, wrote in a law review article, that, “privacy was the right to be let alone.” As previously mentioned in the introduction, the Supreme Court is the final authority on all issues between Privacy and Security. We started with the concept of our fore fathers that privacy was an agreed upon concept that became written into our legal vernacular. It is being proven that government access to individual information can intimidate the privacy that is at the very center of the association between the government and the population. The moral in...
Back in 2001, before the No Child Left Behind Act was proposed, the United State’s rank in educational performance was 16th. After the act was put into action, that rank moved up to where we now stand at 17th in the nation. Statistics also showed that because of America’s dropping education level, many teachers began to get discouraged in their professions. Although, America has not ever been able to hold the title ...
The fight for privacy rights are by no means a recent conflict. In fact, there was conflict even back in the days before the revolutionary war. One of the most well-known cases took place in England, ...
As society has progressed, there have been many new innovative and unbelievable developments in almost all aspects of life that have ultimately created an impact. More specifically, advancements in technology have rather had a much larger and intense impact on society as it continues to grow. Technology has allowed for many great and useful applications that has made life much easier and convenient. However, many aspects of technology have given a rise to a number of social and ethical issues, causing numerous debates and concerns. One of the more prominent concerns deals with the issue of privacy rights.
Smith, Jenna (2001). “Privacy and Private States.” The Private I: Privacy in a Public World.
The right to privacy is our right to keep a domain around us, which includes all those things that are apart of us, such as our body, home, property, thoughts, feelings, secrets and identity. The right to privacy gives us the ability to choose which parts in this domain can be accessed by others, and to control the extent, manner and timing of the use of those parts we choose to disclose (Privacy Concerns 1). “Everyone has the right for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right…” (Privacy concerns 2). In 1998, the Human Rights Act, the act sets out the fundamental rights and freedoms that individuals have, came into force; it incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 8 which protects the right to private and family life. Was the first time there was a generalized right to privacy recognized by law in this country.