connected learning

Leadership, Nov, 2000 by David E. Brown

School-to-career principles offer deeper learning opportunities for students, who can see the purpose and application for new knowledge and skills.

Even before "A Nation at Risk" appeared in 1983, and certainly since that time, we have been served a non-stop supply studies and surveys that bemoan the decline of quality in American public schools. Amidst the reports and lists of recommendations is a reform direction that has its center in "connected" contextual learning.

The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 included in its authorizing language a specific call for an educational system that creates a smoother transition between school and the workplace. It suggests that students should fully understand and appreciate the purpose of the curriculum they study, and how the knowledge and skills associated with their learning connect to their future.

Six years ago, an article in Fortune magazine (April 28, 1994) made the following assumptions:

1. Students' skills are failing to keep pace with rising workforce qualifications and school reform has not kept pace with expectations.

2. Business involvement in education has yielded a staggering lack of progress in proportion to the size of its investment.

3. Business-education partnerships are difficult to manage at the implementation level, and few achieve significant results.

As discouraging as this sounds, one positive statement came out of the same article. "Results are achievable by business-education partnerships that are strategic, concentrate on the quality of their management and hold all partners accountable." This has become the chief operating principle of productive partnerships today.

Of course, being strategic requires time. Fortunately, many successful school-to-career programs and partnership efforts are proving that patience, clear objectives and accountability are producing measurable payoffs.

If there was an answer for how we could increase academic rigor for all students, would we be willing to listen and then use the methodologies? Clearly, there are still many doubters who refuse to let go of the traditionally honored "screening and sorting" model that limits access to the most aggressive curriculum to the "best and the brightest."

What about the vast majority of young people today who do not complete a college/university experience? Is it possible to better prepare those who complete academic training with high school and/or community college diplomas as well as college-bound students with a more rigorous and meaningful educational experience?

Fortunately, there is an answer and it exists in the definition of school-to-career principles. In its simplest form, deep learning occurs when the learner sees purpose and application for newly acquired knowledge and skills.

Although not a particularly new concept, the lights are going on in the heads of many educators regarding the vital importance of connected learning. Often referred to as contextualized learning, school-to-career, hands-on, tech prep or practical learning, the notion of connected learning is probably the most consistent thread found in nearly every reform model of the last 50 years.

Many California and U.S. educational design models have often been justifiably accused of having curriculum that is "a mile wide and an inch deep." Although the intentions of the educational community were pure, efforts to expose students to every bit of knowledge, skill and concept we could conjure up have unwittingly contributed to the diluting of the educational experience.

At the core of meaningful learning is an experience that creates an "ah-hah," or -- using the jargon of today's brain research -- increases the number of neuron synapses and consequently enhances one's potential for recalling and ultimately using information in a productive way. For students who have on-the-job opportunities to see applications of the theories they learn, "ah-hahs" are a common occurrence.

Examples of niche programs that have demonstrated that academic rigor and career connections are not mutually exclusive are now abundant in California schools. They occur most successfully where businesses and elected officials support the community's obligation to partner with K-12 schools, providing job-shadowing opportunities, internships and classroom instruction provided directly by business partners.

Rigor and application can co-exist

Those communities that have developed effective school-to-career programs recognize that the conversation of conflict between application education and academic rigor is misplaced. In the words of former U.S. School-to-Work Director J.D. Hoye, "School-to-career and academic rigor are not mutually exclusive; rather, increased rigor and depth of learning through application is what enlightened school-to-career programs are achieving."

Alan Greenspan recently made it quite clear that one of our nation's most pressing economic issues involves how we deal with our youthful workforce. Perhaps while we argue the issue of rigor, we ought to also recognize the need to make our classrooms interesting and relevant. Students involved in School-to-Career programs demonstrate better test scores, attendance and even college acceptance rates. They sense the value of their education and consequently thrive in a more connected environment.