GLOSSARY OF WORK-BASED LEARNING
TERMS
Age Discrimination Act
This federal law was written to prevent discrimination against people because
of age, specifically, to protect older people applying for jobs.
Affirmative Action
This federal law was designed to end discrimination against minorities,
and it requires that minority students and job applicants receive the same
opportunities as other students and job applicants. The statements declaring
businesses to be equal opportunity employers and schools to provide equal
opportunity education, comply with affirmative action.
Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA)
This federal law prohibits employers, schools and agencies from discriminating
against individuals with disabilities regarding employment, public services
(especially transportation), public accommodations and telephone services.
Access issues such as wheel chair ramps, TDD communications, and Braille
signs are addressed in this act.
Applied Technology Education
(ATE)
Applied Technology Education offers a sequence of courses that provide individuals
with the academic and technical knowledge and skills necessary to prepare
for further education and for careers. These courses include competency-based
applied learning that contribute to the academic knowledge, higher-order
reasoning, problem-solving skills, work attitudes, general employability
skills, technical skills and occupation-specific skills. ATE was previously
referred to as vocational-technical education.
Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships offers students the combination of paid, on-the-job training
and related classroom training in a specified career. Apprenticeship programs
are registered with the United States Department of Labor and are designed
to culminate in certified journeyman-level skills attainment and nationally
recognized credentials. Apprenticeships are sponsored by an employer, who
is responsible for providing journeyman-level mentorship and supervision
to the apprentice and seeing that the apprentice completes all required
course work.
Bureau of Apprenticeship
and Training (BAT)
The Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training is an agency of the federal United
States Department of Labor that governs apprenticeships. Apprentices and
their employers are registered with the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training.
Career Apprenticeship $tarts
Here (CA$H)
This program was developed to provide high school students with a carefully
supervised combination of on-the-job training and classroom instruction
to prepare them to achieve their career goals. See the definition for apprenticeship.
Career Fields
Career fields are a means of classifying careers into broad groups that
have common characteristics, requirements and skills. These fields help
organize career information, provide a framework for career exploration
and lead to future career selection. They may also be called career clusters,
career strands or career majors.
Career Fair
Career fair activities bring the workplace to the school. Employers representing
various industry or career areas are invited to come to the schools where
they set up booths or display various equipment or other career related
items for students to see. Students have the opportunity to visit different
demonstrations, hear presentations and talk to industry representatives
about various aspects of the represented occupation or industry. Variations
on career fairs include Vehicle Days, Uniform Days, Hat Days and Tool Days.
Clinical Work Experience
Clinical work experience consists of structured practical application of
previously studied theory. These experiences usually take place in medical
settings, where students have opportunities to practice the skills they
have learned in the classroom and may be a combination of course work and
part-time workplace experiences. Clinical work experiences are different
from other structured work experiences in that they are required and graded
as part of the student's certification program and some require on-site
supervision by a certified teacher or faculty member.
Comprehensive Counseling
and Guidance (CCG)
The Comprehensive Counseling and Guidance Program is a proactive approach
to counseling consisting of individual planning (SEP/SEOP), guidance curriculum,
responsive services and system support.
Cooperative Work Experience
(CWE)
Cooperative work experiences are long-term structured work experiences,
which integrate with specific classroom learning. These training opportunities
are directly linked to the Student Education Occupation Plan (SEOP) and
emphasize strong coordination and integration between the work site and
the classroom.
Educator Internships
Educator internships are educational experiences at a work site for teachers
or administrators. These usually involve actual participation in the function
of a business for the purpose of individual study, skill development, professional
growth and awareness of business/industry trends. Such experiences help
teachers adapt curriculum and teaching to reflect current workplace applications,
practices and needs and also make course work more meaningful and relevant
for students.
Fair Labor Standards Act
(FLSA)
This federal law is designed to protect youth from employment in conditions
detrimental to their health and well being. The law defines child labor
restrictions and sets guidelines for youth workers aged 14-17.
Field Studies
Field studies are career awareness and exploration activities where groups
of students visit community work sites or other settings. These short, on-site
visits allow students to gain first-hand information related to specific
topics of classroom study or areas of interest.
Guest Speakers
Guest speakers are business professionals or industry specialists, who come
into a classroom to present firsthand information about a specific career
area or provide reinforcement activities that support the Utah State Core
Curriculum and to applied concepts currently being studied. Guest speakers
can be used throughout the career development process from awareness to
application and are valuable at any grade level.
Hazardous Occupation (HO)
The Fair Labor Standards Act states that minors may perform all work except
in seventeen occupations considered too hazardous for youth under age 18.
Some exceptions apply for youth aged 16 and 17 with formal work agreements
such as apprenticeships.
Individual Education Program
(IEP)
An IEP is a statement written by a team of professionals, including the
parent, describing a student's current level of functioning, needed special
education and related services, annual goals and benchmarks and decisions
regarding specified issues (as applicable) relating to an individual student's
educational program.
Individuals with Disabilities
Education ACT (IDEA)
This federal law requires that a "free and appropriate public education
and related services" be provided to children with disabilities. Work-based
learning is a related service. Anyone providing a service to children with
disabilities must work closely with the special education team at the school.
Internships
Student internships are experiences where students, 11th-12th grade, work
for an employer for a specified period of time to learn about a particular
industry or occupation. Internship programs extend formal classroom learning
into the community. Internships are linked to a related internship class,
paid or unpaid (usually unpaid), time limited, connected to career goals
and the SEOP, and offer opportunities to explore career options in a particular
field of work.
Job Shadow
A job shadow is a work site experience during which a student spends time,
typically three to six hours, one-on-one with an employee observing daily
activities and asking questions about the job and industry. Job shadowing
is a career awareness and exploration activity that allows students to gather
information on a wide variety of career possibilities. Such exploration
activities help students make good career decisions and assists them in
focusing their studies once a career interest is identified.
Mentorship
Mentorship is a formal, long-term relationship between a student and a professional
role model who provides support and encouragement to the student. The mentor
assists the student in learning specific skills and/or provides experiences
for the student to explore career interests.
National Occupation Information
Coordinating Committee (NOICC)
There are 12 competencies established by the National Occupation Information
Coordinating Committee as national career development guidelines. These
12 competencies and their indicators are used in comprehensive counseling
and guidance curricula.
Nontraditional Occupation
The term nontraditional occupation refers to occupations and jobs in which
either men or women make up 25 percent or less of the total number of workers.
Occupational Safety and
Health Act (OSHA)
This federal law enforces the standards of health and safety at the work
site.
Portfolio
A portfolio is a collection of work that documents a student's educational
performance over time. It typically includes a range of materials selected
by the student. A brief introduction and summary may describe how the portfolio
was assembled and what was learned in the compilation process.
School-based Enterprises
School-based enterprises allow students to put into practice what they learn
in the classroom by running an actual small businesses. The money generated
from the business can be used to fund student organizations, materials,
equipment, facilities, improvement and other items necessary to maintain
or improve the program or school. While participating in these activities,
students learn overall business operations such as managing costs, ordering
supplies, working under pressure, conserving supplies and maintaining facilities.
The Junior Achievement program can assist a school in setting up a school-based
enterprise.
Secretary's Commission on
Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS)
In 1991, the U.S. Department of Labor convened the Secretary's Commission
on Achieving Necessary Skills to examine the demands of the workplace and
to determine whether the current and future workforce is capable of meeting
those demands. The commission reported that reading, writing and mathematical
computation are still vital to a strong workforce, while adding personal
qualities and thinking skills to the critical skills list. Personal qualities
include relating to others, individual responsibility and self-esteem. Thinking
skills include critical thinking and problem-solving. These skills and qualities
are reflected in the USOE Life Skills.
Section 504
Section 504 is a clause in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requiring that,
"no otherwise qualified handicapped individual shall, solely by reason
of her or his disability, be excluded from participation in, be denied the
benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity
receiving federal financial assistance."
Service Learning
Service learning combines community service with classroom instruction.
It focuses on critical, reflective thinking as well as personal and civic
responsibility. As an instructional strategy, service learning enhances
already existing curricula. It offers teachers a tool that complements learning
and increases educational relevancy. It is an approach that combines academic
learning with service activities that are structured to address real needs
in the community. Service learning offers youth a chance to solve problems
and become involved in the community. It opens the door for students to
practice what they have learned in school and allows students, as a learner,
to make an impact through serving others. This teaching strategy gives students
an active role in the community and provides contextual, real world learning
experience. Service experiences should be engaging and meaningful. It is
engaging when students are actively involved in selecting, planning and
carrying out the activity. It is meaningful when it is tied to learning
objective and meets real needs identified by the students, teachers and
service recipients.
Student Education Occupation
Plan (SEOP)
Each secondary student is required to develop a Student Education Occupation
Plan with guidance from school teachers, counselors and parents to guide
course selection, encourage self-awareness, support career-awareness experiences
and support employment/education decisions leading to the student's chosen
career field.
Student Education Plan (SEP)
Each elementary student is required to develop a Student Education Plan
with guidance from school teachers, counselors and parents to set goals,
encourage self-awareness and support career-awareness experiences.
Tech Prep
A technical preparation program, which combines two years of secondary education,
with a minimum of two years post-secondary education (2+2) in a non-duplicative,
sequential course of study. Students are prepared for employment or further
education. Tech prep programs integrate academic and technical instruction
in order to build student skills in academic and technical subjects. Work-based
learning is part of a tech prep program.
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments to the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination
on the basis of sex in all educational institutions that receive federal
financial assistance or that have students receiving federal financial aid.
Students and employees are protected by this law.
Utah Occupational Safety
and Health Act (UOSHA)
This state law enforces the standards of health and safety at the work site.
Work-based Learning
Work-based learning is one of the myriad components in a successful educational
system. It refers to education experiences that occurs in cooperation with
business/industry and other community partners. Work-based learning is defined
as a coherent sequence of career awareness, exploration, job training and
experience activities that are coordinated with school-based learning activities.
There are work-based learning activities appropriate for every grade level
to support students in developing career awareness, exploring careers options,
developing appropriate workplace skills and relating academic skills to
real-world applications. Typically students complete written assignments
before, during and after work-based learning experiences to help them understand
and reflect on what they see, hear and learn from the community partner.
There are many types of work-based learning activities.
For more information, contact
Sherry
Marchant
Career Connections Specialist
Career and Technical Education
Utah State Office of Education
250 East 500 South - PO Box 144200
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-4200
Should you have questions or comments about this page, please contact the CTE WEB HELP.
Page last updated on February 6, 2007
Glossary of Terms
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