When Jeff Deckman, founder and president of Synet Inc. in Warwick, graduated from high school, he had no idea what he wanted to do. He had struggled through 12 years of education, felt discouraged as a mediocre student, and even turned down a full college track scholarship because he was “intimidated by the prospect of four more years of academic learning.” So at 18 he took a job working construction for a New Jersey cable company.
“I had been taught if you weren’t smart you should work hard,” he said. “So I did. But at the same time I learned. By the age of 23 I oversaw the entire engineering staff.”
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Two years later at 25, Deckman started his own business, a company that has brought him more than a decade of success in Rhode Island.
“I became an engineer through applied learning; my whole career has been the result of applied learning,” Deckman said. “Almost all of my education as a child was done academically, but I, like a lot of folks, don’t fit in to that model.”
His own experiences have led Deckman to take an interest in the School to Career program. Now, he is collaborating with other businesses to establish a curriculum for school to career programs, as well as working with the state legislature to secure funds for it and other similar programs.
The program was created through the Work Opportunities Act, signed into law in 1994. The law provides seed money to states and local partnerships of business, labor, government, education, and community organizations. There is no single model for the program. School-to-Career is an innovative approach to learning for all students, created jointly by the federal Department of Education and the Department of Labor.
The program is based on the concept that education works best at delivering the highest academic standards and preparing students for the best career options when students can connect their academics to the world or work, their future lives, and their daily lives.
“We have inadvertently set up a system that spends 16 years getting students ready for reality,” said Peter McWalters, commissioner of the Rhode Island Department of Education. “But we can’t prepare for reality without being in it. This kind of education is very powerful. It gives kids choices.”
This year, the program has set performance goals for all students that are expected to be accomplished by the year 2002. Some of those goals include: engaging all students in career-focused exploration; involving 60 percent of large businesses and 30 percent of small businesses in providing work-based , school-based, or connecting opportunities for students; and including all Rhode Island school districts in organizational and curricular changes essential to the incorporation of the program.
Linda S. Soderberg, director of the Rhode Island School-to-Career, said the goals are “aggressive but achievable.
“We created a solid base to build on over the last two years,” she said. “It’s important not only to set goals, but also to get them out publicly.”
This year the program is also reaching out to the community with a series of public service announcements in conjunction with ABC Channel 6 television.
“Nothing is more important to our efforts than public education,” Soderberg said. “It’s vital that we communicate clear messages to parents, teachers, and employers to make sure they get a true picture of School-to-Career.”
In its first two years, the program has already brought about some change in programming. According to a recent study conducted by MPR Associates of Berkeley, Calif., in four of the five regional School-to-Career partnerships between June 1997 and July 1998, eighty-eight percent of elementary schools provided one time events, such as classroom speakers, 65 percent of middle/junior high schools provided structured exploration activities that were linked with career exploration, and 85 percent of secondary schools provided activities which used work-related curriculum.
“In its third year the program is gaining momentum in Rhode Island,” said Lee Arnold, executive director of the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training. “It’s an example of how to combine school and the work environments. I think we need to build on those principals and encourage others to be part of these activities.”
Gov. Lincoln Almond agreed.
“This innovative initiative gives youth hands-on experience to meet the challenges of the workplace as well as fueling our economy,” he said. “It’s also fueling our efforts to grow our work force. It’s a quality program that meets the needs of the students and the business community.”
Brian Fielding, education coordinator for Fielding Manufacturing said the program has been a real asset for his company, which previously paid most of the costs associated with training its workforce. A recent study conducted by the National Employer Leadership Council on return on investment, found the benefits of School-to- Career involvement exceeded costs in the eight companies studied, with returns ranging from 40 cents to $5.64 per dollar invested. Benefits were due largely to high student productivity, lower employer recruitment costs, and reduced employer training and supervision costs.
“Now, the manufacturers or the industry picks up the cost of training workers with the basic skills, which theoretically graduating seniors should have when they leave school,” Fielding said. “If that’s going to change, a dialogue needs to be developed between schools and the industry. The School-to-Career program really seeks to foster that dialogue.”
Fielding said it’s exciting to see “the light bulb” that goes on above the heads of students when they tour the factory, or work as an apprentice.
“Getting the students out of the classroom and in a different environment really makes a difference,” he said. “They can say ‘that’s how my geometry applies.’ They can see the importance of team work, problem solving, and communication and they can connect it to what they have learned at school.”
Deckman agreed that the program is vital in creating a more diverse work force for a variety of industries.
“It also aims to increase (our) human resource pool,” he said. “Either we hire workers and train them or we hire some that are trained, who usually come from another company in the field. It doesn’t help industries to cannibalize themselves; we need to create a workforce, and this program is a way to do that.”
Deckman said he believes the program could change the way Rhode Island school students learn.
“How would I interest my child in riding a bike without putting them on it?” he asked. “If you talk to them while you teach them, they listen. I think the same is true of all school children.”
