A survey of business support for the School-to-Work initiative: Does the local business community reflect the national trend

The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 is an education reform program designed to prepare students for careers in the 21st century. School-to-Work requires America's schools to place all students in workplace experiences before high school graduation. Because the School-to-Work Opportunities Act has recently passed, few studies have been conducted to quantify the number of employers willing to support the implementation of this program. The purpose of this study is to obtain research data to measure local employers' willingness to participate in the implementation of School-to-Work programs.;This study will identify whether employers within the local business community are willing to support job-training programs. Data for this study was generated through a survey of 370 Chamber of Commerce members, interviews with employers and interviews with School-to-Work coordinators. This data was used to assess whether the local business community reflects the nationwide support for School-to-Work as reported in the National Employer Survey. While this study is limited to a small geographic area, it provides information for schools to meet the goals of School-to-Work. This study finds the business community is willing to lend its support by providing business resources and opportunities to school age children. In most circumstances, the local employer survey reflects the results reported in the National Employer Survey. Approximately 95% of local employers participating in the survey indicated that they are willing to support partnerships with nearby schools. This finding exceeds the expectations established in the national survey.