* Executive Editor, Boston College Third World Law Journal (2003–2004).
1 See Jennifer Cheeseman Day & Eric C. Newburger, The Big Payoff: Educational Attainment and Synthetic Estimates of Work-Life Earnings, Current Population Reports, July 2002, at 1–2, 4. Average annual earnings ranged from $18,900 for high school dropouts to $25,900 for high school graduates to $45,400 for college graduates to $99,300 for workers with professional degrees. Id. at 2.
2 Id. at 3.
3 See id.
4 See William Julius Wilson, The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy 103 (1987) (reporting research suggesting that inner-city schools train minority youth so that they feel and appear capable of only performing low-paying jobs).
5 See id. at 102 (noting that the skills-mismatch between inner city minority students and the jobs available to them have resulted in high rates of unemployment and labor-force dropout).
6 See Day & Newburger, supra note 1, at 6–8. The census bureau does not disaggregate results by socioeconomic status. See id. at 9.
7 See id. at 7.
8 Id. at 6.
9 Id.
10 See id.
11 Day & Newburger, supra note 1, at 1–2.
12 See School-to-Work Opportunities Act, 20 U.S.C. § 6101 (2000) (“[T]he workplace in the United States is changing in response to heightened international competition and new technologies, and such forces, which are ultimately beneficial to the Nation, are shrinking the demand for and undermining the earning power of unskilled labor.”).
13 See Richard Kazis & Hilary Pennington, What’s Next for School-to-Career?, 6–7 (1999).
14 See id. at 35; Day & Newburger, supra note 1, at 1–3.
15 See 20 U.S.C. § 6101 (2000).
16 See § 6102.
17 See id.
18 See infra Part II.B.
19 See infra Part II, II.A.
20 See infra Part II.B.
21 See infra Part III.C.
22 See infra Part II.B.
23 See infra Part IV.
24 See infra Part I.
25 See infra Part II.
26 See infra Part III.
27 See infra Part IV.
28 See W. Norton Grubb, Learning to Work: The Case for Reintegrating Job Training and Education 105–10 (1996).
29 See School-to-Work Opportunities Act, 20 U.S.C. § 6102(b) (2000).
30 See Grubb, supra note 28, at 1–8.
31 See id. at 4; Richard W. Riley, The Role of the Federal Government in Education—Supporting a National Desire for Support for State and Local Education, 17 St. Louis U. Pub. L. Rev. 29, 30 (1997).
32 See U.S. Const. art. I, § 8; U.S. Const. amend. X.
33 U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 1; Riley, supra note 31, at 31.
34 See, e.g., United States v. Butler, 297 U.S. 1, 65 (1936) (upholding a broad reading of the general welfare clause of the Constitution); Riley, supra note 31, at 36.
35 See U.S. Const. amend. X; Riley, supra note 31, at 36.
36 20 U.S.C. § 3403(b) (2000).
37 See generally San Antonio Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1 (1973) (holding that education is not a fundamental right).
38 See William E. Thro, Judicial Analysis During the Third Wave of School Finance Litigation: The Massachusetts Decision as a Model, 35 B.C. L. Rev. 597, 602 n.29 (1994) (stating that all states, with the lone exception of Mississippi, have constitutional provisions requiring that some sort of system of public education be maintained).
39 See U.S. Const. amend. XIV; see generally Plyer v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982) (striking down Texas law denying public education to the children of illegal immigrants on Fourteenth Amendment grounds); Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1 (upholding constitutionality of Texas apportionment system that allocated greater funding to wealthier school districts).
40 See Thro, supra note 38, at 601–03.
41 615 N.E.2d 516, 548 (Mass. 1993). In its relevant provision, the Massachusetts state constitution provides:
Wisdom, and knowledge, . . . being necessary for the preservation of [people’s] rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education . . . it shall be the duty of legislatures and magistrates, . . . to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, . . . especially the . . . public schools and the grammar schools in the towns.
Mass. Const. pt. II, ch. V, § 2.
42 McDuffy, 615 N.E.2d at 548. The court, however, affirmed the power of the executive and the legislature to delegate the implementation of some of the duty to state administrative agencies and to local authorities. Id.
43 See id. at 553–54. The undisputed facts of the case noted specific deficiencies in the plaintiffs’ schools, such as: “large classes; reductions in staff; inadequate teaching of basic subjects . . . neglected libraries; inability to attract and retain high quality teachers; lack of teacher training; lack of curriculum development; lack of predictable funding; administrative reductions; and inadequate guidance counseling.” Id. at 553. Rather than striking down the Massachusetts school financing scheme as unconstitutional, the court articulated broad, guiding principles for the legislature to consider in remedying constitutional infirmities. Id. at 554. The court stated that the ultimate goal of the system of public education in Massachusetts is to produce educated children. Id.
44 Id.
45 See generally Michael D. Weisman & Mark A. Simonoff, McDuffy v. Secretary of the Executive Office of Education: A New Era for Public School Children in Massachusetts, 38 Boston B.J., Feb. 1994, at 4, 14.
46 Cf. Avidan Y. Cover, Note, Is “Adequacy” a More “Political Question” Than “Equality?”: The Effect of Standards-Based Education on Judicial Standards for Education Finance, 11 Cornell J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 403, 405 (2002) (arguing that a concern for equality will inform the application of an adequacy standard but that the nature of its influence is complicated and unpredictable).
47 See id.
48 See McDuffy, 615 N.E.2d at 553 (comparing and contrasting public schools in poor and wealthy districts in order to determine the adequacy of education in poor districts).
49 See id.; Cover, supra note 46, at 405. The legislative response to the issues raised in the McDuffy case, which was actually passed several days prior to the court’s decision, has yet to be scrutinized under the McDuffy standard. See Weisman & Simonoff, supra note 45, at 14. The Education Reform Act established the concept of “foundation” funding, so that all school districts would be entitled to a floor of state funds, with additional amounts available based on need. Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 69, § 1B (Lexis 2002); see Weisman & Simonoff, supra note 45, at 14. Moreover, the legislation required the Board of Education to devise statewide curriculum goals and standards. Ch. 69, § 1B.
50 See Grubb, supra note 28, at 4. Although aggregate federal education outlays represent only a small fraction of total spending on education, the federal government nonetheless plays a significant role in shaping national education policy. See Riley, supra note 31, at 54.
51 Gen. Accounting Office, School Finance: State and Federal Efforts to Target Poor Students 6 (1998). Statistics were generated from data for the 1991–92 academic year. See id. at 5.
52 Id. at 8.
53 See Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 2.
54 See D. Mark Wilson, Time to End the Troubled School-to-Work Program, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder, Sept. 22, 1999, at 2.
55 Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 2; Wilson, supra note 54, at 2. This percentage was calculated by dividing $37 billion in federal funds authorized by Congress in 1997 by $2.3 billion authorized over the duration of STWOA. See Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 2; Wilson, supra note 54, at 2.
56 See U.S. Const. art. 1, § 8, cl. 3 (providing that Congress shall have the power to “regulate commerce . . . among the several States”); Riley, supra note 31, at 34.
57 See United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 555 (1995).
58 Pub. L. No. 87–415, 76 Stat. 23 (1962).
59 Pub. L. No. 97–300, 96 Stat. 1322 (1982).
60 See Grubb, supra note 28, at 9–10. The Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973 (CETA) provides another example of a jobs program administered with federal oversight. See Pub L. No. 93--203, 87 Stat. 839 (1974); Grubb, supra note 28, at 9–10.
61 See Grubb, supra note 28, at 3.
62 See id. at 2–3. Indeed, certain job programs, such as the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) program, passed as part of the Family Support Act of 1988, Pub. L. No. 100–485, 102 Stat. 2343 (1988), were administered in close association with the welfare system. Grubb, supra note 28, at 4.
63 Grubb, supra note 28, at 2.
64 See id. at 4.
65 Id.
66 See Rebecca M. Blank, The Employment Strategy: Public Policies to Increase Work and Earnings, in Confronting Poverty: Prescriptions for Change 168, 188–89 (Sheldon H. Danziger et al. eds., 1994).
67 Id. at 189.
68 Id.
69 See Grubb, supra note 28, at 110.
70 School-to-Work Opportunities Act, 20 U.S.C. §§ 6102(5), 6114 (2000).
71 See § 6103(11)(B)(xiii) (identifying PICs among the local partnership entities that may be responsible for administering school-to-work programs).
72 See Grubb, supra note 28, at 106–10.
73 See 20 U.S.C. at § 6102(a)(1)(C), (7)–(13).
74 See § 6102(a)(4)–(6), (8)–(10).
75 See §§ 6101(4)–(5), 6102(a)(2); Office of Tech. Assessment, Learning to Work: Making the Transition From School-to-Work 1 (1995).
76 Office of Tech. Assessment, supra note 75, at 2, 3. The youth apprenticeship model is contrasted with the clinical training model, which is similar to the youth apprenticeship model in all respects except that it does not contain as much opportunity for career exploration. Id. at 3. Cooperative education is also similar to youth apprenticeship except that it does not readily permit students to transition from high school programs into post-secondary school alternatives. Id.
77 See 20 U.S.C. §§ 6112, 6113, 6114; see Office of Tech. Assessment, supra note 75, at 2.
78 See 20 U.S.C. § 6112(1).
79 See § 6113.
80 See § 6114.
81 See §§ 6121–6125.
82 § 6235.
83 See §§ 6121–6125. The Act also contained provisions allowing for the direct federal subsidy of certain local partnerships and certain national programs designed to further the purposes of the Act. See § 6145.
84 § 6144(a).
85 Id.
86 § 6123(a)(6).
87 § 6102(4) (stating that Congress intended “to use Federal funds . . . as venture capital, to underwrite the initial costs of planning and establishing statewide School-to-Work Opportunities systems that will be maintained with other Federal, State, and local resources”).
88 See Office of Tech. Assessment, supra note 75, at 1–3.
89 20 U.S.C. § 6148.
90 See § 6144.
91 § 6123(c); see Goals 2000: Educate America Act, Pub. L. No. 103–227, 108 Stat. 125 (codified at 20 U.S.C. § 5842 (1995)) (establishing guidelines for setting voluntary national opportunity-to-learn standards). Goals 2000 encourages state and local educational agencies to develop content standards to assess the quality of information students’ learn and opportunity-to-learn standards to assess the quality of teachers’ instruction. Michael Heise, Goals 2000: Educate America Act: The Federalization and Legalization of Educational Policy, 63 Fordham L. Rev. 345, 357–58 (1994).
92 See Office of Tech. Assessment, supra note 75, at 15; Daniel Shapiro & Maria Iannozzi, The Benefits of Bridging Work and School, 559 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 158, 159 (1998).
93 See Office of Tech. Assessment, supra note 75, at 15.
94 See Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 2, 13.
95 See id. at 25. The inclusion of all students within the scope of STWOA, however, opened the Act to criticism that it required every student to participate. Id.
96 See 20 U.S.C. § 6143 (leaving individual states considerable discretion in devising appropriate school-to-work programs).
97 Janet Kroll, Learning to Do: An Analysis of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 xi–xii (2002) (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania) (on file with author).
98 See Thomas Spiggle, Comment, School-to-Work: A Movement in Crisis, 8 Geo. J. on Poverty L. & Pol’y 429, 433–35 (2001).
99 See id. at 433.
100 Pub. L. No. 89–10, 79 Stat. 27 (1965).
101 See Spiggle, supra note 98, at 433.
102 See id. at 436–37.
103 See id. at 437–38.
104 See Virginia Miller, The New Definition of Standards in American Education, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder, Apr. 4, 2001, at 7.
105 See School-to-Work Opportunities Act, 20 U.S.C. §§ 6102, 6103, 6112, 6123, 6124, 6143 (2000).
106 See § 5801(4)C (200).
107 See §§ 6102, 6103, 6112, 6123, 6124 & 6143.
108 See Spiggle, supra note 98, at 445.
109 See infra Part II.A.
110 See infra Part II.A.
111 See infra Part II.A.
112 See infra Part II.B.
113 See infra Part II.B.
114 See infra Part II.B.
115 See Mary G. Visher et al., School-to-Work in the 1990s: A Look at Programs and Practices in American High Schools 13 (1998) (stating that schools are less likely to implement connecting activities that demonstrate a serious commitment to school-to-work than they are to implement less comprehensive measures).
116 See Elliot Medrich, School-to-Work Progress Measures: A Report to the National School-to-Work Office for the Period July 1, 1998–June 30, 1999, at 14 (2001). The percentage of schools providing activities that used work-related curricula was 68% in 1996–97. Id.
117 See E-mail from June Foster, Curriculum Developer, TERC, to Aaron Javian (Feb. 4, 2002) (on file with the author).
118 See Visher, supra note 115, at 6–9.
119 See id. at 41. A chemistry curriculum implemented by a high school in Brighton, however, provides an exception to the norm of limiting work-based curricula to the classroom setting. See Lili Allen, On the Cutting Edge of District Reform: A Case Study of Brighton High School, Brighton, Massachusetts, in Reinventing High School: Six Journeys of Change, An In-Depth Look at Six High Schools that Are Transforming the Way We Think About Secondary Schooling 35, 38 (Jobs for the Future et al. eds., 2000). The program, which allows students to work alongside (by way of the internet) researchers at Tuskegee University on behalf of NASA, is developing methods to enable humans to produce their own food in outer space. Id.
120 See Visher, supra note 115, at v, 6, 9–10.
121 See Medrich, supra note 116, at 17.
122 See id. at 18.
123 See id. Student participation estimates are conservative because many schools noted difficulty in estimating the number of students who took part in school-to-work related activities. See id. at 17.
124 See Visher, supra note 115, at 17.
125 See id. at 14–15.
126 See Ivan Charner, Study of School-To-Work Initiatives: Studies of Education Reform (1996), available at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/SER/SchoolWork/study3.html (last visited Jan. 20, 2004). The successful Education for Employment initiative in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, for example, features off-site occupational programs in health, law enforcement, and hospitality in which lead instructors, who are industry professionals, help to integrate academic study, professional skills training, and work experience. See id. at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/SER/SchoolWork/study7k.html (last visited Jan. 20, 2004).
127 See Visher, supra note 115, at 25. Characteristics examined included school size, school location (urban/rural), geographical region, student to teacher ratio, student to computer ratio, socioeconomic status of district in which school is located, and percentage of minority students. Id. at 54.
128 See id. at 25. Large and medium-sized schools (over 1000 and 500–1000 students, respectively) were more likely to provide school-to-work programs than small schools. See id. at 25, 54.
129 Id.
130 Id.
131 Id. at 25–26.
132 See Visher, supra note 115, at 26.
133 Id. at 26 n.16.
134 Id. Unfortunately, the analysis conducted did not permit a precise test of the relationship between students’ socio-economic status and school-to-work offerings. Id.
135 See Katherine L. Hughes et al., School-to-Work: Making a Difference in Education, A Research Report to America 10–11 (2001) [hereinafter Making a Difference].
136 See Elliot Medrich & Ann Dykman, Work-Based Learning, School-to-Work: Strategies to Expand Students’ Horizons, Fall 2000, at 1.
137 Id. at 2.
138 See Charner, supra note 126, at 3–4.
139 See id. at 3.
140 See id. at 5.
141 See Making a Difference, supra note 135, at 7; Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 4–5. In Massachusetts, for example, beginning in 2003 high school students have been required to pass the state-mandated Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in order to graduate. Boston Pub. Sch., Focus On Children II: Boston’s Education Reform Plan, 2001–2006 1 (April 25, 2001) [hereinafter Focus], available at http://boston.k12.ma.us/teach/FOC2001.pdf (last visited Jan. 20, 2004).
142 See infra Parts II.B., III.
143 See Marc S. Miller & Aaron Yeater, Boston Private Industry Council: Creating, Implementing, and Sustaining the Vision 1, 3 (1999). School-to-work programs had their genesis in Boston in the early 1980s. Id. The Boston PIC initially served as the city’s primary broker placing students in summer jobs. Id. The Boston PIC’s authority broadened following the passage of the JTPA in 1981, and, soon thereafter, it expanded its reach to include school improvement initiatives. Id.
144 See id. at 3; Allen, supra note 119, at 37.
145 See Miller & Yeater, supra note 143, at 4. Some partners affiliated with the Boston PIC and Boson Public Schools include FleetBoston Financial, State Street Corporation, Massachusetts General Hospital, The Gillette Company, Boston University, Harvard University and Boston College. See Boston Private Indust. Council, Summer Jobs: Overview, at http://www.bostonpic.org/employer/summerjobs.htm (last visited Jan. 7, 2004).
146 Allen, supra note 119, at 37.
147 See Miller & Yeater, supra note 143, at 2, 3. Under the original Boston Compact, employers promised to provide jobs for high school graduates in exchange for a promise from schools to improve student test scores, attendance and drop-out rates. See Allen, supra note 119, at 37.
148 Allen, supra note 119, at 37. The four high schools that received school-to-career coordinators were Boston High School, Brighton High School, Dorchester High School, and East Boston High School. Glenda Partee, High School Reform and Systemic Districtwide Reform in Boston, Massachusetts: American Youth Policy Forum Field Trip—April 3, 1997, at n.2, at http://www.aypf.org/tripreports/1997/tr040397.htm (last visited April 7, 2003).
149 Allen, supra note 119, at 37.
150 Id.
151 See Adria Steinberg, Reinventing High School: Six Journeys of Change, in Reinventing High School: Six Journeys of Change, An In-Depth Look at Six High Schools that Are Transforming the Way We Think About Secondary Schooling 7 (Jobs for the Future et al. eds., 2000).
152 See Miller & Yeater, supra note 143, at 4.
153 See Nat’l. Inst. for Urban Sch. Improvement, District Partner Profiles: Boston Public Schools 2000–2001, at 23 (2001) (listing American Express, Fidelity Investments, Fleet Bank Services, Putnam Investments and a number of colleges and universities among active school-to-work partners).
154 See Allen, supra note 119, at 38.
155 Id.
156 Id.
157 Boston Pub. Sch. Office of Communications, The Boston Public Schools at a Glance, 2002, BPS Facts, Sept. 2002, at 1, available at http://boston.k12.ma.us/bps/BPSglance.pdf (last visited Jan. 20, 2004).
158 See Boston Pub. Sch., Brighton High School, School Report Card: A Report on Teaching and Learning 1 (2002), available at http://boston.k12.ma.us/schools/ RC624DEC2002.pdf (last visited Jan. 20, 2004). In academic year 2001–2002, 51.9% of students enrolled at Brighton High School were black, 33.4% Hispanic, 7.7% white, and 6.7% Asian. Id. According to the U.S. Census, 49.5% of Boston’s residents in 2000 were white, 24% black, 14% Hispanic, and 8% Asian. See Boston Redevelopment Auth., Boston’s Population-2000, Changes in Population, Race, and Ethnicity in Boston and Boston’s Neighborhoods 1980–2000, at 3 (2001).
159 See Allen, supra note 119, at 37.
160 Id.
161 Id. “Career pathways” combine traditional academic curricula with an introduction to a particular industry. See Boston Public Sch., School-to-Career, About School-to-Career, Strong Partnerships: A Boston Tradition, at http://boston.k12.ma.us/stc/ aboutstc.htm (last visited Feb. 2, 2004). They provide students with the opportunity to supplement school-based learning with industry-related field trips, community service projects, and internships. See id.
162 See Allen, supra note 119, at 36, 37.
163 Brighton High Sch., Brighton High Online: Pathways/Learning Communities, at http://boston.k12.ma.us/Brighton/Cpath.html (last visited Feb. 2, 2004).
164 See Allen, supra note 119, at 41.
165 Boston Pub. Sch., Brighton High School-to-Career Pathways, Health Professions Pathway, [hereinafter Health Pathway], at http://boston.k12.ma.us/stc/ brighton.htm#health (last visited Jan. 9, 2004).
166 Id.
167 Id.
168 Id.
169 Id.
170 Health Pathway, supra note 165.
171 Id.
172 See Boston Pub. Sch., Brighton High School-to-Career Pathways, Law, Government and Education Pathway, at http://boston.k12.ma.us/stc/brighton.htm#lawgov [hereinafter Law Pathway] (last visited Feb. 2, 2004).
173 See Allen, supra note 119, at 45; Burns & Levinson LLP, Pro Bono and Community Services, at http://www.b-l.com/ (last visited Feb. 2, 2004). TeachBoston is a citywide program designed to inspire students to seek careers in education by providing them with school-based, after-school, and summer programs. See Boston Pub. Sch., TEACH Boston, at http://boston.k12.ma.us/stc/teachboston.htm (last visited Jan. 20, 2004). In total, 279 students are enrolled in TeachBoston at the four high schools offering the program, Brighton High School, Boston High School, Dorchester High School and East Boston High School. Id.
174 See Allen, supra note119, at 45.
175 See id.; Burns & Levinson LLP, supra note 173.
176 See Law Pathway, supra note 172.
177 See Allen, supra note 119, at 45; Burns & Levinson LLP; see also Mass. Dep’t of Educ., Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System Overview, at http://www. doe.mass.edu/mcas/overview_faq.html#faq1 (last visited Jan. 5, 2004).
178 See Allen, supra note 119, at 44.
179 See Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 20.
180 See Allen, supra note 119, at 45.
181 See Boston Pub. Sch., Business and Technology Pathway [hereinafter Business Pathway], at http://boston.k12. ma.us/stc/brighton.htm#business (last visited Feb. 2, 2004); Boston Pub. Sch., Media, Arts and Communication Pathway [hereinafter Media Pathway], at http://boston.k12.ma.us/stc/brighton.htm#media (last visited Feb. 2, 2004).
182 See Media Pathway, supra note 181. For example, as part of a video production class, eleventh graders are assigned the task of applying their knowledge of arts, media, and communication to create a video that portrays the important components of a career pathway. Boston Pub. Sch., School-to-career Pathway Video, at http://boston.k12. ma.us/stc/signature/pathwayvideo.htm (last visited Jan. 20, 2004).
183 See Business Pathway, supra note 181.
184 See Boston Pub. Sch., School-to-Career High Schools [hereinafter Boston School-to-Career], at http://boston.k12. ma.us/stc/stchigh.htm (last visited Feb. 11. 2004); Mass. Dep’t of Educ., Massachusetts Work-Based Learning Plan Skill Gain Study 2 (2001), available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/stc/wbl_resource/report.pdf (last visited Jan. 20, 2004).
185 See generally Boston School-to-Career, supra note 184. The construction, transportation, and design pathway provides students at Dorchester High School with linkages to the construction trades and technology as well as mentoring relationships through Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. See id. Through partnerships with the Urban Ecology Institute at Boston College, Sea Grant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Boston Harbor Islands National Park, the environmental and agricultural sciences pathway provides students at Odyssey High School with extensive after-school internship possibilities, job placement, and tutoring. See id.
186 See id. Students at East Boston High School in the hospitality, tourism, and recreation pathway compete in a citywide business plan competition, run the school store, and have access to community partners such as Boston Duck Tours and British Airways. See id.
187 See Mass. Dep’t of Educ., supra note 184, at 1.
188 See Boston Pub. Sch., About School-to-Career, The Nine School-to-Career Competencies, at http://boston.k12.ma.us/stc/aboutstc.htm (last visited Feb. 2, 2004).
189 See id.; Mass. Dep’t of Educ., supra note 184, at 1.
190 See Mass. Dep’t of Educ., supra note 184, at 1. The work-based learning plan includes a job description, a list of tasks to be completed by students, a checklist showing what competencies are relevant to each task, and an evaluation form that asks the supervisor to evaluate the student’s work in each of the applicable competencies, set goals, and provide comments. Id.
191 See id. at 3.
192 See infa Conclusion.
193 See School-to-Work Opportunities Act, 20 U.S.C. §§ 6102(1)–(3), (9)–(10) (2000).
194 See John Foster-Bey, Bridging Communities: Making the Link Between Regional Economies and Local Community Development, 8 Stan. L. & Pol’y Rev. 25, 39–40 (1997).
195 See supra notes 50–55 and accompanying text (noting that STWOA accounted for a very small percentage of total federal expenditures on education). In addition, social scientists cannot even agree that direct aid programs reduce poverty, never mind indirect programs such as STWOA. Compare John D. Kasard & Ting Kwok-fai, Joblessness and Poverty in America’s Central Cities; Causes and Policy Prescriptions, in Housing Policy Debate 387, 414 (Fannie Mae Found. ed., 1996) (tracing the increase in urban poverty to employment disincentives provided by government welfare programs), available at http://www.fannie maefoundation.org/programs/hpd/pdf/hpd_0702_kasarda.pdf (last visited Jan. 20, 2004), with Michael B. Katz, The Undeserving Poor: From the War on Poverty to the War on Welfare 113 (1989) (noting that government transfer programs were responsible for lifting approximately half of the poor over the poverty line between 1965 and 1972).
196 See Rosella Gardecki & David Neumark, Order from Chaos? The Effects of Early Labor Market Experiences on Adult Labor Market Outcomes, 51 Indus. & Lab. Rel. Rev. 299, 299–300 (1998).
197 See 20 U.S.C. § 6102; Gardecki & Neumark, supra note 196, at 299–300.
198 See Gardecki & Neumark, supra note 196, at 301. Without randomly assigning students into school-to-work and non-school-to-work environments, it is impossible for statistical research models to render causal results and very difficult to untangle potential, unobserved confounding factors such as individual differences in motivation. See Making a Difference, supra note 135, at 13–14.
199 See Gardecki & Neumark, supra note 196, at 300 (noting that there is ample evidence supporting the proposition that workers benefit from job shopping early in their careers). The process of job shopping allows young people to sample a variety of professions and enables them to make a career choice that is informed by their experience. See id.
200 See Making a Difference, supra note 135, at 9.
201 See id. at 9 (concluding that available research on school-to-work education weighs in favor of its continued use). Some of the costs include expenses incurred by community partners in providing school-to-work education, expenses incurred by school districts to connect schools with community partners, and taking away student class time from more traditional educational pursuits. Id.
202 See infra Part IV.
203 See Susan Imel, School-to-Work, Myths & Realities, No. 4, 1999, at 2; Spiggle, supra note 98, at 429.
204 See Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 23.
205 See id.
206 See Robert Holland, What’s Wrong with School–to-Work?, Educ. Rep., May 1997, at 1, available at http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/1997/may97/holland.html (last visited Jan. 20, 2004). Holland writes, “School-to-Work . . . injects the federal government deeply and dangerously into shaping the curriculum of American schools. It puts the United States in the camp of regimes that decree what knowledge is ‘official,’ and, even more than that, how that knowledge should be taught and for what purpose.” Id.
207 See Miller, supra note 104, at 7.
208 See Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 22–23; Spiggle, supra note 98, at 433–34.
209 Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 25.
210 See Pub. L. No. 107--110, 115 Stat. 1425 (2002); Spiggle, supra note 98, at 436–37.
211 See 20 U.S.C. §§ 6311(b)(3)(C), (h)(2)(A) (2000); Office of the Under Sec. of Educ., No Child Left Behind: A Desktop Reference 9–10 (2002).
212 See Miller, supra note 104, at 5–6.
213 Id. at 5.
214 Id.
215 Id. at 7; Wilson, supra note 54, at 4.
216 See Miller, supra note 104, at 7.
217 See id.
218 See id.
219 See id. at 6–7.
220 Id. at 6.
221 See Miller, supra note 104, at 6–7; Holland, supra note 206, at 1. Holland asserts:
School-to-Work drastically narrows the curriculum, making it less likely that schools will produce literate, well-rounded generalists who can cope with rapid change in civic life as well as the workforce. School-to-Work is about the servile arts, not the liberal arts. We should remember that the liberal arts derive from the Latin libera, which means freedom. Vocational training can be liberating, too, but not compulsory training to meet state workforce quotas. That is a form of slavery.
Holland, supra note 206, at 1.
222 See Gardecki & Neumark, supra note 196, at 319. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth for the years 1979–92, the authors examined wages, benefits, and full-time work as measures of adult labor market success to determine whether adults who had completed school-to-work education programs experienced greater labor market success after five years than adults who did not receive school-to-work education. See id. at 300–01.
223 See Miller, supra note 104, at 9.
224 See Imel, supra note 203, at 1; Miller, supra note 104, at 10.
225 Robert Bozick & Keith MacAllum, Does Participation in a School-to-Career Program Limit Educational and Career Opportunities?, 18 J. Career & Technical Educ. 1, 3 (2002), at http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JCTE/v18n2/bozick.html (last visited Jan. 20, 2004).
226 See Miller, supra note 104, at 9–10.
227 See id.
228 See generally Bozick & MacAllum, supra note 225.
229 Id.
230 See Peter Cappelli et al., Employer Participation in School-to-Work Programs, 559 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 109, 114 (1998).
231 See Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 25; Holland, supra note 206, at 2–3. Holland writes:
[T]he School-to-Work Opportunities Act declares as a federal purpose “integrating academic and occupational learning,” and “integrating school-based and work-based learning.” It also calls for “all students” to participate in “high-quality, work-based experiences” (including apprenticeships) during the school day. ALL students, mind you.
Now, some students might prize the opportunity to serve as apprentices in local industries. But shouldn’t that be optional, not a condition of universal education? And shouldn’t such work be done after school, so that precious class time is spent on learning the basics of language, literature, science, mathematics, and our heritage as Americans?
Holland, supra note 206, at 2–3.
232 See Marie Cohen & Douglas J. Besharov, The Role of Career and Technical Education: Implications for the Federal Government 18 (2002).
233 See Miller, supra note 104, at 11.
234 See Cohen & Besharov, supra note 232, at 18–19.
235 See Making a Difference, supra note 135, at 9.
236 See Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 26.
237 See Making a Difference, supra note 135, at 11–12.
238 Id. at 21.
239 See id. at 19.
240 See Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 19; Spiggle, supra note 98, at 441.
241 Making a Difference, supra note 135, at 19. One study found that at-risk high school students who participated in school-to-work education were 34% less likely to drop out than a group of randomly selected students that did not participate in school-to-work programs. Id.
242 Id. at 19–20. According to one study, California school-to-work students were just as likely to graduate on time from high school as students on a more traditional, academic track. Id.
243 See Mass. Dep’t of Educ., supra note 184, at 5–6.
244 See id. at 1, 5–6.
245 See id. at 5–6.
246 See Making a Difference, supra note 135, at 17.
247 See id. A study conducted in California comparing student grades before and after joining a school-to-work programs found that students’ grades rose the longer the students remained in school-to-work programs. Id.
248 See id. at 18. Data in New York State revealed that students with intensive participation in school-to-work activities took more rigorous courses, including science and math, than students who did not participate. Id.
249 See Making a Difference, supra note 135, at 23.
250 Id.
251 See id. (citing research indicating school-sponsored jobs are more diverse and enriching than jobs obtained outside of school).
252 Id. at 27–28. Graduates of school-to-work programs in Maryland reported working more hours per week and earning a higher wage than non-participants. Id. at 28.
253 Imel, supra note 203, at 1.
254 Id.
255 Robert I. Lerman, Helping Disconnected Youth by Improving Linkages Between High Schools and Careers 15 (“[S]chool-employer programs can reduce the negative influence of peers by exposing young people to constructive adult peer groups.”), available at http://www.urban.org/urlprint.cfm?ID=6149 (last visited Jan. 20, 2004).
256 See id.
257 Id.
258 See Making a Difference, supra note 135, at 29–30.
259 Id. at 6.
260 Id. at 24.
261 See Bozick & MacAllum, supra note 225, at 1, 7.
262 See Imel, supra note 203, at 1.
263 Id.
264 See Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 25.
265 See id. at 42.
266 Id. at 25.
267 See Imel, supra note 203, at 1.
268 See Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 25.
269 See id.
270 See Thomas Bailey & Donna Merritt, Nat’l Ctr. for Research in Vocational Educ., School-to-Work for the College-Bound 9 (1997), available at http://ncrve. berkeley.edu/AllInOne/MDS-799.html (last visited Feb. 11, 2004). Anecdotal evidence supports the proposition that directing school-to-work programs to all students helps such programs to avoid the negative stigma typically attached to vocational education. For example, a business teacher at East Peoria Community High School in East Peoria, Illinois, where school-to-work education programs have been offered to students for many years, noted that students and parents in the community no longer regard work-based education as something solely for non-college bound students. See John O’Connell, Life Lessons—School-to-Wor Programs Give Students Valuable Insights into the Working World -- and Themselves, Peoria J. Star, Jan. 30, 2004, at C12.
271 See Mass. Dep’t of Educ., supra note 184, at 1–6. By examining data gathered pursuant to the Commonwealth’s Work-Based Learning Plan, the Department of Education found that school-to-work activities promoted skill gains by participating students across all of the workplace competencies. Id. The data show that school-to-work activities that generated the highest skill gain among students occurred in workplace settings where supervisors and participating companies displayed a strong commitment to school-to-work programs. Id. at 4.
272 See Focus, supra note 141, at 1, 7–8 (emphasizing the importance of high standards and accountability in developing more effective schools and teachers).
273 See id. at 1. The requirement that high school students must pass the MCAS to graduate and the fact that students’ MCAS results are being used to assess the performance of particular schools has sparked significant controversy in Massachusetts. See Anand Vaishnav, Students Face MCAS Second Round as Groups Debate Test Exams Given in Next 2 Weeks, Boston Globe, May 14, 2001, at B12. Similar issues have also dominated the national education discourse in the wake of the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act and its requirement that states impose similar, objective requirements in order to receive federal funding. See Anand Vaishnav, 30% Don’t Graduate on Time, Study Finds High School Students Unprepared for College, Poised for Low Income, Boston Globe, Sept. 17, 2003, at A2.
274 See Martin Liebowitz, Learning for Success: Connected Learning Communities Initiative Evidence Report 6–10 (2000).
275 See 2003 Mass. Legis. Serv. Ch. 26 (H.B. 4004) (West); Marc S. Miller & Robert Fleegler, State Strategies for Sustaining School-to-Work, Issue Brief: School-to-Work Intermediary Project, Mar. 2000, at 5. Under the Act, the Commonwealth will contribute one dollar for every two dollars that private employers pay in student wages for structured, work-based learning experiences. Miller & Fleegler, supra, at 5. In 2003, connecting activities funding helped place 20,129 students in internships with 7903 employers and 13,200 students in job shadowing programs with 2900 employers. Mass. Dep’t of Educ., Massachusetts School to Career: Connecting Activities, at http://www.doe.mass.edu/stc/con nect/ (last visited Feb. 11. 2004).
276 Id. at 6.
277 Liebowitz, supra note 274, at 6.
278 See Allen, supra note 119, at 37; Boston Pub. Sch., School-to-Career High Schools: School-to-Career Pathways and Technical Vocational Programs, at http:// boston.k12.ma.us/stc/stchigh.htm#chart (last visited Jan. 20, 2004).
279 See Liebowitz, supra note 274, at 7.
280 Id.
281 Id. at 8.
282 Id. at 9.
283 See Miller & Fleegler, supra note 275, at 6–8.
284 See Liebowitz, supra note 274, at 6.
285 See Miller & Fleegler, supra note 275, at 7.
286 See Mass. Dep’t of Educ., supra note 184, at 5 (“The Work-Based Learning Plan is a valuable evaluation tool because it provides a non-obtrusive method of gathering data.”).
287 See id. at 5–6. The first comprehensive analysis of student skill gain in work-based learning revealed that internships providing longer than average job descriptions, that focus on 3–6 workplace competencies, and that take five or more student interns are likely to result in increased skill gain for participants. Id. at 4.
288 See Liebowitz, supra note 275, at 7–10.
289 See Allen, supra note 119, at 36.
290 See id. at 49–50.
291 See Nat’l. Inst. for Urban Sch. Improvement, supra note 153, at 18.
292 See Allen, supra note 119, at 37–39.
293 See Kazis and Pennington, supra note 13, at 3, 4.
294 See Medrich, supra note 116, at iii–iv. 81% of secondary schools in reporting partnerships offered school-based activities that used work-related curricula. Id. at 14. As of June 1998, over 1200 local partnerships had received STWOA grants. Id. at iii. Those partnerships affected more than 50,000 schools enrolling over 26 million students and involved nearly 244,000 private, public, and non-profit employers. Id.
295 Hughes et al., Work-Based Learning and Academic Skills 36–37 (Inst. on Educ. & the Econ., Working Paper No. 15, 1999) [hereinafter Work-Based Learning].
296 See Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 33.
297 See id. at 32–38.
298 See id. at 37–38.
299 See id.
300 See Allen, supra note 119, at 49.
301 See id. at 45.
302 See Kazis and Pennington, supra note 13, at 37.
303 See id. at 33.
304 See id. at 20; Allen, supra note 119, at 49.
305 See Laurie J. Bassi & Jens Ludwig, School-to-Work Programs in the United States: A Multi-Firm Case Study of Training, Benefits and Costs, 53 Indus. & Lab. Rel. Rev. 219, 219–20 (2000).
306 See Kazis and Pennington, supra note 13, at 37.
307 See id. at 33.
308 See Boston Redevelopment Auth., Jobs and Community Services: Youth Opportunity Area, at http://www.cityofboston.gov/bra/youth_opportunity_area.asp (last visited Feb. 12, 2004).
309 See Kazis and Pennington, supra note 13, at 33.
310 See Boston Redevelopment Auth., supra note 308. A disadvantage of this approach, however, is that, unlike STWOA, which extended the availability of school-to-work education to all students, relying on the Department of Labor to provide intermediary support might reinforce the impression that school-to-work represents second class education for non-college-bound students. See Cappelli et al., supra note 230, at 114.
311 See School-to-Work Opportunities Act, 20 U.S.C. § 6142(d) (2000).
312 See Kazis & Pennington, supra note 13, at 8.
313 Kroll, supra note 97, at ix–x.
314 See 20 U.S.C. § 6112 (encouraging states to promote career awareness at the earliest possible age, but no later than seventh grade).
315 See Kazis and Pennington, supra note 13, at 35.
316 See Work-Based Learning, supra note 295, at 35–37 (noting the difficulty of successfully implementing work-based learning curriculum).
317 See Kazis and Pennington, supra note 13, at 35.
318 See id.
319 See generally Michael E. Porter, The Competitive Advantage of the Inner City, Harv. Bus. Rev., May–June 1995, at 14-23 (noting that the proximity of inner cities to downtown business districts, transportation centers and regional industrial clusters, their high population density, and their abundant supply of inexpensive human resources make them potentially attractive locations for entrepreneurial activity).
320 See Visher, supra note 115, at 26 n.16.
321 See Liebowitz, supra note 274, at 7–10.
322 See Miller & Fleegler, supra note 275, at 5.
323 See School-to-Work Opportunities Act, 20 U.S.C. § 6122 (2000).
324 See Bassi & Ludwig, supra note 305, at 219–20.
325 See id. at 219.
326 See Cappelli et al., supra note 230, at 114–15, 118.
327 See id.
328 See Miller & Fleegler, supra note 275, at 5.
329 See Kazis and Pennington, supra note 13, at 38.
330 Id.
331 See id.
332 See Spiggle, supra note 98, at 445.
333 See Liebowitz, supra note 274, at 7–10.
334 See Miller & Yeater, supra note 143, at 1–5.
335 See Liebowitz, supra note 274, at 6–7. Expanding school-to-work curricula is risky because, notwithstanding one study conducted in Boston, there has been almost no evidence linking school-to-career education with increased scores on standardized, content-based exams such as the MCAS. See Making a Difference, supra note 135, at 19; Miller, supra note 104, at 7. If it became apparent that school-to-career education simply could not transmit universal, substantive knowledge of the type required by the MCAS, then the Boston School District would be in a very difficult position. See Miller, supra note 104, at 7 (questioning whether contextual learning can ever supplant traditional teaching methods).
336 See Miller & Yeater, supra note 143, at 11–14.
337 See id. at 2; Charner, supra note 126, at 2–6.
338 See Kazis and Pennington, supra note 13, at 38.
339 See id. at 19.