Glossary School-to-work Programs

Every business or industry has its own vocabulary. The school-to-work movement is no different. Here’s a quick run down of some of the school-to-work jargon.

Career Academy (or academy): A “school within a school” model organized around a career cluster. Academic and vocational curricula are integrated, and career and technical applications within the field are included in classroom instruction and structured work experiences.

Curriculum Integration: Workplace application of academic skills (calculating dosage for medication, for example).

Internship: A student works for an employer for a specific period learning about a particular job, industry or occupation. Interns may or may not be compensated.

Job Shadowing: A student (or a teacher) follows an employee at a company location to learn about a particular occupation or industry.

Mentoring: The relationship between an employee and a student for which a mentor advises, instructs and critiques the student’s performance over a period of time.

School-to-career: Another term for school-to-work. “Work” is sometimes perceived as negative in connotation, especially to parents concerned their kids are being tracked into vocational programs instead of academic.

Tech Prep (Technical Preparation Associates Degree): A school-to-school transition linking the last two years of high school with the first two years of community college, allowing students to train for jobs while completing an academic program. Emphasis is generally on science, math and workplace applications.

Work-based Learning: Learning related to work and careers. Job training and work experiences, including workplace mentoring and apprenticeships, aim at developing pre-employment skills.

Youth Apprenticeship: A multiyear program that combines school-based and work-based learning in a specific occupational area. It’s designed to lead directly into a postsecondary program, entry-level job or registered apprenticeship program. Youth apprenticeships may or may not be compensated.

Workforce, May 1997, Vol. 76, No. 5, p. 34.