Most such partnerships focus on the economic benefits of preparing students to become workers. But some emphasize academic learning. Engineers and machinists were recruited to help a class of 11th-graders see the purpose in studying trigonometry. When the engineers announced that the disk was perfect, students' baseball caps went flying in the air. Although these initiatives are supposed to reform education as well as contribute to the nation's economic well-being, most of the program evaluations deal solely with the economic side of the equation.
Sidebars provide references and cite a program that brings teachers into the work place.
Reproduced with permission from the March 1998 issue of The American School Board Journal . The American School Board Journal is an editorially independent publication of the National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed by this magazine or any of its authors do not necessarily reflect positions of the National School Boards Association. This web page may be saved to disk, printed out for individual use, or reproduced in quantities of less than 100 copies for academic use only, provided this copyright notice remains intact on each copy. This web page may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced without the consent of the Publisher.