Helping Students Graduate To Jobs - services provided by Jobs for America's Graduates, Inc

Nation's Business, May, 1999 by James Worsham

A private program is helping thousands of at-risk students become capable members of the labor force.

For some of the students at Mount Pleasant High School in Wilmington, Del., one of the daily classes is far from ordinary.

It's not a course on a fringe subject or a session taught in an unorthodox manner. It's a class that's clearly relevant to each and every student--a session on preparing for, locating, landing, and holding a job.

The class for selected students at Mount Pleasant is part of Jobs for Delaware Graduates, a program that has been replicated in 26 other states and the Virgin Islands under the national auspices of Jobs for America's Graduates, Inc. (JAG).

"This was 'school-to-work' before the phrase was invented" says Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, the current chairman of JAG. This spring, the 20-yearold program--with nearly 50,000 students in 800 public high schools serving 1,106 communities nationwide--expects its graduate total to reach 250,000.

JAG's major beneficiaries are small companies. About 12,000 small firms have taken a major share of JAG graduates over the years, and 80 percent of the companies have gone back to hire additional graduates, according to JAG officials.

Delaware Gov. Thomas Carper, vice chairman of JAG, notes that "most of the kids work in small businesses while in the program," a reference to the requirement that students spend time at companies either working at or observing jobs. "A great many subsequently work in small businesses once they graduate."

The Students At The Center

The state chapters of JAG focus on at-risk high-school students. They are the students who, if they don't receive special attention and help, might not make it through high school and thus would be at a major disadvantage in the job market.

To be eligible for the program, a student must meet at least two of the following criteria for at-risk students: He or she comes from a low-income home, has an absenteeism problem, has been on probation at least once in the past year, lives with one or neither natural parent, has a mother who is not a high-school graduate, has close friends with limited education and expectations or who are dropouts, or is at least a year behind in school.

Once in the program, students report to a "job specialist," who may be an educator, a business person, or a social-services professional. Job specialists are responsible for getting students through the JAG program and must help them deal not only with academic requirements but also with personal problems that may threaten success in school.

"They have to be whatever is missing in that kid's life," says Kenneth Smith, president and CEO of JAG, based in Alexandria, Va. He says that could mean helping a student get eyeglasses, find day care, or deal with a family problem.

The job specialist helps his or her students plot their regular high-school studies and conducts one class a day with them, where the focus is on the skills needed to get and hold a job and develop a career.

Business's Involvement

The specialist also oversees another requirement of JAG students: While in high school, each must spend time working or in job-shadowing arrangements in local businesses. For a year after graduation, the job specialist follows students to help them get started in their new jobs.

About 12,000 small firms nationwide hire graduates. Nearly all students find employment in their home communities, and JAG affiliates make sure that graduates don't get stuck in dead-end jobs. "If our kids are in fast food, we make sure they are in a position to move up to assistant manager," says Smith.

Ideally, the program picks students in the eighth grade and starts them on a five-year program. But programs in several states are not fully developed, so students in those states are not selected until as late as the senior year in high school.

Examining The Results

In Delaware, there are programs in 23 of the state's 28 public high schools, and almost all the students are in the bottom half of their class academically.

Although the program is designed to help keep students in school and prepare them to find and hold jobs, it also aims to help them decide what kind of jobs they want through career counseling and job-shadowing arrangements. "It's important to understand what they want to do and what they don't want to do," says Wayne Bastian, president and CEO of Jobs for Delaware Graduates, Inc., a nonprofit organization.

Last year, 77 percent of Delaware's graduates landed full-time jobs. The rest found part-time work, entered training courses, went to college, or were not working.

In Montana, only 16 of the state's 177 public high schools participate in the Jobs for Montana Graduates program, and some of the schools have fewer than 100 students. "To be in rural Montana is a disadvantage in itself, and we need to teach the kids about the opportunities in the rest of the world," says Lorelee Robinson, state coordinator for the program, which is run by Montana's Department of Labor and Industries.