Lessons Learned: Five Years in the Urban Schools Network
This is a publication about schools and institutions from our
nation’s largest cities. It captures, in one place, the
collective lessons learned as a national network of schools and
institutions engaged in reform around the idea of school-to-work.
But it didn’t start out this way. We began as a two-week
residential summer institute for the development of integrated
curriculum and Tech Prep programs. We became a five-year national
network united by the desire to make schools better for all
students. During this time our ideas about what it takes to do so
have evolved significantly. And our ambitions have soared as
well. Whereas we began with an interest in programs like
integration and Tech Prep that often serve only some students,
our thinking continues to evolve as we consider school-to-work
efforts that involve all students.
At its core this publication is about hundreds of extraordinary
educators who have dedicated a significant part of their daily
lives to improving education and future outcomes for students. We
came to know these educators by sponsoring residential summer
institutes, yearly regional meetings, and site visits, as well as
through Network Fellows, expert practitioners, who provided
technical assistance to the sites. These opportunities allowed us
to assist schools and to learn together about their
implementation efforts. In July 1997 we held one final meeting of
Network members to synthesize our collective lessons after five
years of work. We reconvened representatives from twenty teams to
discuss topics that form the chapter titles of this publication.
These topics represent the areas of greatest work in the Network.
We wrote this publication to help educators engaged in similar
reform work and to assist policy makers engaged in the design of
effective legislation.
This publication provides an overview of five years of the work
accomplished by member schools and colleges in the National
Center for Research in Vocational Education’s (NCRVE’s) Urban
Schools Network. Each chapter, written by NCRVE Berkeley staff
and field consultants, varies somewhat in style and format,
depending on the topic and the authors’ work with Network teams.
Some chapters address key priorities of the Network since 1992,
while other chapters focus on more recent areas of emphasis.
Chapter One provides a history of the Network, defining its
purposes, participants, and priorities. Chapter Two addresses the
integration of academic and vocational education, a key area of
concern for all Network sites. This chapter reviews the features
of and rationale for integrated curricula and provides examples
from practice. Chapter Three looks at how Network sites have
developed work-based learning programs with a focus on quality
and connections to school learning. Chapter Four addresses
alternative scheduling, which was not an initial priority of the
Network but has evolved as a key strategy at several schools to
make time for innovative curriculum and out-of-classroom
activities. Chapter Five traces the evolution across Network
sites, from an emphasis on tech prep and integrated curriculum
programs that affect some students to the implementation of whole
school change efforts. Chapter Six addresses professional
development strategies used by Network sites to support complex
reform efforts. Chapter Seven provides snapshots of guidance
programs across the Network.
Along with fostering collaboration between academic and
vocational curriculum and between schools and business partners,
Network sites worked to build links between secondary and
postsecondary institutions, a topic touched on in Chapter Eight.
Chapter Nine discusses the challenges of program evaluation,
particularly when trying to track students within and between
different programs and institutions. Finally in Chapter 10 the
current Director of the Urban Schools Network, looks back over
five years of progress to synthesize the lessons about school
change applicable to any school reform effort.
Andrew E. N., Dornsife, C., Flack, M., Hallinan M. T., Jackson, L., Raby, M., & Steadman, M. H. (1997, December). Lessons learned: Five years in the urban schools network. Berkeley, CA: National Center for Research in Vocational Education.