National School-to-Work All-Purpose Template:
General Guidance/Use of Terms
General Guidance: The All-Purpose Template "introduces a common format for planning, reporting and analysis of STW systems." It's a collaborative instrument that will be "owned" by the grantee as well as provide a means for federal project officers/GOTRs to monitor grantee progress and provide technical assistance to help grantees achieve their STW system-building goals. As such, it is important that the completion of the template be a collaborative process and that there be flexibility to accommodate local needs without sacrificing the basic format that will allow the National School-to-Work Office and other interested parties to assess on a nationwide basis how local partnerships are addressing common elements of STW system-building, access, and management.
Use of Terms -- Template Column Headings
- Baseline/5-Yr Goals: these are the points from which and to which progress will be measured. The baseline and 5-yr goals should be specific, and quan- tifiable to the extent possible; e.g., the number of collaborative agreements, the number of career clusters, the number of structured work experiences, etc. Goals should be consistent with those identified in the grantee's approved project.
- Planned/Actual: these are the strategic planning elements and outcomes for each of the three STW components' key elements. They are changes to the baseline. They should measure performance and provide accountability. Performance should be measured against "benchmarks" where possible. Perform- ance measures should reflect or be consistent with those reported on the STW Progress Measures Chart. Student outcomes should also be tracked here. Local variation in the use of strategic planning terminology; e.g., strategies, action steps, etc. is expected. Proposed plans and outcomes should be consistent with those identified in the grantee's approved project.
- Funding: approximate amount of STW, Perkins, ESEA Title I, Tech Prep, JTPA, and other funds -- to show integration of and relative allocation of resources. The amounts for the Current Project Year and Next Year should be separated by a slash: e.g., $20,000/$40,000.
Template "Key Elements"
1. Building the System
1.1 The School-Based Component
a. Participation: e.g., participates in decision-making, actively participates in meetings, etc.
b. Restructuring Schools: e.g., implementing career/program majors: students have opportunities to pursure different careers, such as dental hygienst, x-ray technician, etc. The career/program majors may be grouped in clusters such as health, business, and industrial technology.
- implementing block scheduling and/or other alternative scheduling.
- changing the length of the school day.
- changing the roles of school staff, such as the use of interdisciplinary team leaders as well as department chairs.
Is there a continuum of career awareness/career exploration and guidance, beginning in elementary school and continuing through middle school, high school and into postsecondary education, including the development of individual career plans/options?
c. Integration: There are numerous models and degrees of academic and occupational curricula integration.
d. Professional Development: Includes in-service training, teacher internships in industry, etc. Is staff development consistent with your STW program initiatives?
1.2 Work-Based Component
a. Offering a Continuum of Work-Based Learning: For definitions of job shadowing, internships, service learning, school-sponsored enterprise, and entrepeneurial projects, see the School-to-Work Glossary of Terms.
b. Utilizing Occupational Skill Standards: Skill standards have been developed in many industries. Skill standards, as used here, also refers to those general competencies contained in the Report of the Secretary [of Labor]'s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills ( SCANS). Also see definition of Skill Standard in the School-to-Work Glossary of Terms.
1.3 Connecting Activities
a. Participation: e.g., participates in decision-making, actively participates in meetings, etc.
b. Agreements specify ways in which the two parties will collaborate.
c. Collaborative Agreements specify how career paths will be implemented -- what credits will be required/accepted at the postsecondary institution (articulation agreement), etc.
2. Ensuring Access to the System -- see definition of "All Students" in the School-to-Work Glossary of Terms. Also see "Serve all students and provide equal access to all program components ..." under the School-Based Components of the NSTWO's "The School-to-Work Template."
a. Youth in Alternative Schools/Settings refers to "alternative schools," "continuation high schools," schools in or operated by correctional institutions, etc. Unlike Out-of-School Youth, these youth are in institutional settings.
3. Managing the System
a. Organizational Structure: This element has to do with the governance/organization of the overall STW partnership as well as the organization of the project staff/team and their respective functioning.
b. System Evaluation, etc.: What provisions are there for system evaluation, data collection, system improvement? How do they interact? This element relates to the whole system, not just activities supported by STW project funds.
c. Fiscal Management: This element relates to the systems that are in place to assure accountability by the grantee and subgrantees as well as adherence to specific federal financial management rules and regulations.
d. Strategies to Make System Self-Sustaining: This element relates to the leveraging of other program resources, the "replacement strategy," as well as efforts to infuse STW concepts throughout the system.
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