Alternative Schools | NW Education

In the Library

WorkMatters

A unique series of teacher resources and student lessons, WorkMattersis a practical, activity-driven curriculum designed to help students develop the skills, habits, and self-awareness required to succeed in the workplace.

Appropriate for students in grades eight through 12, the curriculum includes five units:
1. Personal Resources—Students examine their own values and skills and set short- and long-term goals for meeting challenges. The unit includes strategies for achieving goals as well as lessons on job satisfaction, transferable skills, problem solving, and time management.
2. Human Relations on the Job—Strategies for building positive work relationships are emphasized in this unit, which includes lessons on workplace culture, employer expectations, dealing with conflict, and getting ahead on the job.
3. Career Explorations—This unit takes students through a career exploration process to increase their awareness of available jobs and careers. Lessons on work values, job interrelatedness, and self-employment are included, and students also learn how to access job-related community resources and agencies.
4. Workplace Skills—Student teams apply skills in the context of workplace situations to help them see Connections between what they learn in school and the skills they need for work. The unit includes lessons on communications skills, applying math skills at work, following and giving instructions, and budgeting for a small business.
5. Job Search—From resume to interview, students go through the process of a job search to examine the purpose of each step and develop strategies for conquering it. Students also role play as employers to learn how hiring decisions are made.

Course content in WorkMatters is delivered through modeling, guided practice and student discovery, and activities for individuals and small groups. Students maintain portfolios in each unit and are actively involved in their learning by making presentations, reading and writing, and working collaboratively.

Units can be ordered individually or as a complete set. The set includes five teacher resource books, step-by-step lesson plans for 60 complete lessons (each unit contains 12 lessons), and assessments for each unit.

NWREL, which had a major role in developing WorkMatters, provides interactive teacher training in using the curriculum. For more information, contact Andrea Baker at 1-800-547-6339 ext. 595 or e-mail bakera@nwrel.org.

WorkMatters is a product of Public/Private Ventures, a national, nonprofit organization that promotes successful youth development by removing barriers that prevent kids from progressing through school and into responsible adulthood. For more information on P/PV, call (215) 557- 4400 or check out their Web site at http://tap.epn.org/ppv/.

For pricing information or to order WorkMatters, contact Contemporary Books by phone: 1-800-323-4900, fax: 1-800-998-3103, or write: Contemporary Books, Inc., 4255 West Touhy Avenue, Lincolnwood, Illinois 60646-1975.

Designed to guide educators in developing effective programs for at-risk students, Hope at Last for At-Risk Youth provides practical information and step-by-step descriptions of programs that work.

Northwest authors Robert Barr and William Parrett debunk some of the myths surrounding what works in serving at-risk youth, identify factors that place a student at risk, synthesize what is known about students at risk, and describe essential characteristics of effective programs, ranging from kindergarten through high school.

Innovative ideas for restructuring and improving public schools to better serve all students are also provided. The authors advocate eliminating programs and practices that discriminate against at-risk youth, and redesigning the traditional teaching and learning approach that has been long used in public education.

"To be successful with all children and youth demands that schools must start as early as possible, work extensively with parents and the larger community, provide long-term comprehensive support, and significantly change the teaching and learning process that has been used in public schools," stress the authors.

From directories and newsletters to organizations and funding sources, the final chapter provides an encyclopedic list of resources dedicated to improving schools and the lives of youth. The chapter also contains an updated bibliography of research on critical issues, schoolwide approaches and interventions, and classroom strategies.

Finally, to determine the extent to which your school is addressing the needs of at-risk youth, self-evaluation checklists are provided in the book's appendix. Topics for evaluation include shared vision and goals, parent involvement, early childhood and preschool programs, curriculum and instruction, and social services.

Hope at Last for At-Risk Youth was published in 1995 by Allyn & Bacon publishers, a Simon and Schuster company.

In Educating At-Risk Youth: Practical Tips for Teachers, author Andrea Baker synthesizes the practices of teachers in the Northwest and throughout the country who are successfully motivating discouraged, disengaged youth by creating a learning environment that makes them want to return to the classroom each day instead of giving up.

Organized into five areas—curriculum, methodology, counseling and advocacy, community partnerships, and transitions—the guide includes "essential ingredients" for each area as well as recommendations from practitioners.

The essential ingredients for curriculum, for example, are:
• Make the curriculum useful and meaningful for the students today as well as in their futures.
• Structure academic success for all students and use their success to address positive attitudes and self-esteem.
• Communicate clear learning goals that are challenging and reachable for all students and frequently encourage students to articulate and apply the goals to their own lives.
• Within any subject area, teach reasoning, communication, and life survival, as well as work attitudes and habits.
• Make it experiential whenever possible (for example, provide opportunities for community service, individual or group projects, and internships).
• Adapt the curriculum materials so they speak directly to the needs of the students. Don't rely on educational materials you have been given; improvise and scrounge when necessary.

The 33-page guide is full of ideas contributed by teachers who are successfully redefining the roles they play in their students' lives. Instead of addressing major policy issues and roadblocks to effective teaching that often sidetrack teachers, Baker focuses on what a lone classroom teacher can do without additional resources or training.

To order single copies of the guide, send $10.60 to NWREL Document Reproduction Service, 101 S.W. Main Street, Suite 500, Portland, Oregon 97204. The guide is also available through ERIC Document Reproduction Service (Document Number: ED 319 875).

For teachers who believe that a solid educational foundation integrates academic, career development, and life survival skills, NWREL's Education and Work Program has developed Connections, a comprehensive set of products and services designed to link work and learning.

"The Integrated Workplace Learning Project," one available product, helps teachers structure and document what students learn outside the classroom, connect it to academic coursework, and determine guidelines for earning credit. In "Survival Skills: A Guide to Making It on Your Own," students learn real-life skills such as registering to vote and applying for a loan, and experts from the community "certify" students as competent in each skill. Strategies for recruiting community experts are included. "Learning in the Community: From A to Z," suggests more ways that students of all ages can learn using nontraditional resources in the local community.

Other offerings for teachers include an employer recruitment and orientation guide and a learning site analysis form. Career exploration and job shadow guides are also available for both staff and students.

For more information about Connections, contact Andrea Baker at 1-800-547-6339 ext. 595 or e-mail bakera@nwrel.org. The products can be ordered through NWREL's Document Reproduction Service, 101 S.W. Main Street, Suite 500, Portland, Oregon 97204.

Two other recent books provide in-depth information on alternative schools and at-risk youth.

John Kellmayer's How to Establish an Alternative School, published in 1995 by Corwin Press, addresses concerns such as curriculum options, the importance of school site, and the political realities surrounding start-up programs. Kellmayer, who has years of administrative experience at several alternative schools, also discusses what he considers the 10 key characteristics of effective alternative programs.

At-Risk Youth: Theory, Practice, Reform is a collection of articles by different authors on various facets of at-risk youth. Edited by Robert Kronick, the articles are organized topically and fall under one of the following headings: social, political, and health aspects of at-risk youth; intriguing theories on at-risk youth; students and mothers speak out in their own voices; cultures and ethnic groups that are often ignored; and needed and necessary changes. At-Risk Youth: Theory, Practice, Reform, was published in 1997 by Garland Publishing.

The September 1994 issue of Educational Leadership on "The New Alternative Schools" may no longer be new, but it still serves as a source of innovative ideas for teachers working with at-risk populations.

From a conversation with a co-principal at a highly regarded public school often considered "alternative" to profiles of programs that are helping troubled teens, the issue is packed with information on classrooms that are making a difference. In addition to features on programs for at-risk students, charter schools and home schools are also discussed.

One article states that despite a lack of "institutional legitimacy," alternative schools can serve as models for any school that seeks innovative change.

Issues of Educational Leadership are available for $6 from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1250 N. Pitt Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314-1453. Phone orders to 1-800-933-2723, and refer to September 1994/Stock No. 1-94211.

— Samantha Morrisey

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Date of Last Update: 9/28/01
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