Registered Apprenticeship for young people is an earn-and-learn program for women and men in their late teens and early twenties. It combines academics with paid work experience across many sectors. An essential part of the apprenticeship experience is to be paired with a mentor, who supports, advises, and instructs an apprentice(s) on the job.…

Current career pathways initiatives recapitulate in many ways both the issues motivating the school-to-work movement of the 1980s and 1990s and its recommended solutions, notably more work-based learning, especially apprenticeship. But that movement's energy dissipated in the face of college for all. Nonetheless, some of its achievements and many…

This article is the first of three brief commentaries on this volume. The authors are highly influential pioneers in the study of youth mentoring relationships, and their contributions helped shape the focus of the conceptual framework featured in the opening article by Karcher and Nakkula. Their commentary sheds light on the history of key issues…

The Learning Web--an alternative educational organization discussed in this paper-matches high school students with adults who can teach them a skill. Staff members either contact a young person who has been referred by a school, or a young person initiates contact with the organization. An intake interview is followed by placement of the…

Examines German research on apprenticeships with a focus on four questions: How are young people allocated to apprenticeships and thereby to occupations? What are the occupational prospects for those who have completed apprenticeships? How does apprenticeship affect political socialization? and How does it affect personality development? Offers…

Work-based learning is a way to increase students' engagement in learning and prepare them for employment. Inspired by the apprenticeship concept, the 1994 School-to-Work Opportunities Act supports other types of work-based learning, including visits to workplaces, work-like experiences, and employment. Article notes youth apprenticeship…

West German apprenticeship combined with part-time vocational schooling--the dual system--provides a smooth transition from school into careers for German youth. One source of complexity in the structure of apprenticeship is the relationship between apprenticeship, which is controlled nationally, and vocational schooling, which is controlled by…

The challenge of engaging students with learning has led educators to rediscover apprenticeship. German apprenticeships enroll 70 percent of noncollege-bound teenagers in various manual, technical, and administrative fields in work/school programs that are not dumping grounds for weak students. The roles of U.S. employers, teachers, cooperative…

While the United States has no effective bridges between school and work, half of West Germany's 16 to 18-year-olds learn a career in the workplace while attending school one day a week. This model can be adapted for American students to increase their employment opportunities and make academic learning easier. (Author/LHW)

Tackles the "floundering period" between high school graduation and noncollege-bound students' first career-entry job. Blames age, an unfavorable labor market, and disjunctions between the labor market and the school system. Describes West Germany's system of apprenticeship and part-time schooling and advocates exploiting experiential…

Youth jobs can serve as an introduction to employment, but few jobs for young adults in their 20s make use of their skills. Young people will be motivated to succeed in school only when they can find employment in jobs that pay well above minimum wage and provide benefits, security, and opportunities for advancement. In order to improve the…

Simply placing young people in workplaces does not guarantee they will learn. This article discusses seven effectiveness principles (governing technical competence, breadth, personal/social competence, expectations and feedback, teaching roles, academic achievement, and career paths) and recommendations derived from a youth apprenticeship program…

Youth apprenticeship is the ultimate school-business partnership. The article explains youth apprenticeship, then describes the Youth Apprenticeship Demonstration Project, which created a school-to-work transition system. The program combines two years of high school and two years of postsecondary technical education to students who probably would…

One focus of a year-long study of West German apprenticeship was the conditions that are most supportive of learning on the job. The study design incorporated two distinctions that the Germans consider critical: manual versus white-collar occupations and size of training firm. Two occupations were studied--auto mechanic and…

Compares American and German educational system structures, emphasizing organizational and curricular features of school- and work-based preparation for the labor market. The countries have fundamentally different school to work transition models which significantly affect their students. The article makes recommendations for improving both…