Tech Directions - December 2007 - (Page 7)

● Creating flexible communitybased and work-based learning environments that provide hands-on learning, use innovative instruction To help young people avoid ending up in dead-end jobs, business and industry must become more involved. and lead to postsecondary skills and credentials. ● Engaging and providing incentives to business and industry to create employment opportunities in emerging areas of the economy. ● Scaling up successful workbased programs such as paid work experience, internships, apprenticeships, community service, and onthe-job training. This is only one plank of a sixpart agenda to reconnect youth. The Campaign for Youth wants to see reconnecting youth a national prior- ity, beginning at the top with a White House Office of Youth Policy. Also, communities should be supported in attempts to deliver services to disconnected youth, best practices should be called up to create a youth service delivery infrastructure, there should be support for research and assessment, and young people should be involved in finding solutions for their own generation. Evaluating the Center for Employment Training The Center for Employment Training (CET) celebrated its 40th anniversary this fall with a great track record of finding employment for the seriously disadvantaged— and some sobering experiences in trying to take a successful model to scale. As reported in a recent issue of Youth Today, the San Jose, CA-based program used creative strategies such as putting youth into full-time training in a work-like setting, integrating life skills and literacy into training, and letting trainees progress on skills at their own pace. Federal evaluations of CET in the 1980s were glowing, and it received federal funding to expand the model. However, a four-year study by MDRC that ended in 2004 found little difference between enrollees and a control group. Several of the 12 sites chosen to study closed down. CET officials give several reasons for the lackluster performance of CET when it tried to expand. Sites that received funding did not implement the model fully, few had the strong commitment from the business community that the original San Jose site had, and later on youth had more opportunities for training than when the model started. Also, the large positive effects of the earlier evaluation focused on severely disadvantaged youth, while later programs served a less disadvantaged group. Ten years ago CET was operating 45 centers in 15 states. Presently, the CET model is used at 27 centers in eight states and the District of Columbia. It’s that time again . . . Renew your subscription NOW to make sure you don’t miss any issues of techdirections! It’s easy online: www.techdirections.com/subscribe.html If you’ve already renewed this school year, you’re all set! www.techdirections.com WASHINGTON 7 http://www.techdirections.com/subscribe.html http://www.techdirections.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Tech Directions - December 2007

Tech Directions - December 2007 Technically Speaking Contents Direct from Washington The News Report Technology Today Technology's Past Mastering Computers Is This Op-Amp Any Good? Lab-Built Checker Removes All Doubt Here Comes the Sun! Residential Solar Systems Add Up to Savings Pinhole Cameras—For Science, Art, and Fun! Poster Project Maps Out Design Process Gifts for Geeks E-gallery More than Fun

Tech Directions - December 2007

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