CEW Annual Reports:

1996-97 ANNUAL REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

Topic: Maintaining our research preeminence

  • Evaluation report for the Department of Workforce Development on the local implementation of School-to-Work in four Wisconsin Schools.
  • Evaluation study report of employers reactions to Wisconsin’s School-to-Work initiatives.
  • A study School-to-Work urban initiatives in four schools in Wisconsin and Michigan
    • Provided technical assistance
    • Profiles developed and disseminated on the four schools
  • Conducting a National teacher education initiatives research in teacher learning in the workplace and community
  • Conducted a project to establish a national network of high schools and two-year colleges to integrate mathematics learning in programs linking education and work.
  • Conducted a national project to identify and study the characteristics of integrated mathematics-vocational education learning initiatives in secondary schools and post-secondary institutions which have adopted the curriculum and evaluation standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
  • Completed a series of four curriculum books on career development of women of color.
  • Created and published a workbook for young women and girls looking at occupations in science and technology.
  • Completed the third-party evaluation on a three year project entitled: Rock County Education and Criminal Addictions Program: A Cooperative Model of Quality
  • Obtained funding for the project: Seeking, Screening, Evaluating, Describing and Disseminating Approaches Used by Two-year Colleges to Serve Rehabilitation Services Clients with Severe/Multiple Functional Limitations in Highly Effective Ways.
  • Dissemination of the Center’s 225 publications that have been developed over the years. This past year 16,000 items were sold from our various publications.
  • Developed and published the Wisconsin Developmental Guidance Model: Resource and Planning Guide for School-Community Teams. This was published for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
  • The Center is a member of the National Center for Research in Vocational Education, along with several other national consortia. Thess consortia arrangements and direct funding support projects designed to develop new insights regarding the changing nature of work and specific intervention.

Topic: Rethinking our organization

  • The Center has begun a strategic planning process that will look at it’s mission based on the development of a vision for the Center. Following these processes the Center will be establishing a recommended set of goals. The third stage will be to have the proposed mission and goals reviewed by the Center’s national advisory board and the Dean of the School of Education. Following this review the Center will then utilize the goals to establish its program of work for the succeeding five year period.

Topic: Encouraging collaboration

  • Worked in cooperation with WCER on their Urban Initiatives: A comprehensive Regional Assistance Center for six states.
  • Co-editor of the Journal for Vocational Special Needs Education.
  • Collaborated with the UW-Extension and UW Eau Claire on the project related to their school-to-work initiatives and published the book, Educators in the Workplace and Community, as a result of that project.
  • Collaborated with the Department of Workforce Development to direct a project on career clustering which resulted in the product: 'Career Cluster Guidebook for Wisconsin.'
  • Coordinated an international workplace learning conference in collaboration with US Department of Education, US Department of Labor, 25 private and public sector sponsors and a 70 person planning committee consisting of employers, unions, educators, and government representatives from the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
  • Served as a state partner in the 'Wisconsin Workplace Partnership Training Program with the WI Technical College System, WI Manufacturing and Commerce and the WI State AFL/CIO. This partnership delivers education and training to employees at 20 work sites throughout Wisconsin through a 5.5 million dollar granted awarded by the US Department of Education.
  • Wisconsin Career Information System (WCIS)
    • WCIS and CEW staff have worked closely with the Department of Public Instruction on revising and updating the State’s Career Development Program Guidelines and in selecting and implementing the new Wisconsin Student Assessment System.
    • WCIS has continued an ongoing relationship with the Department of Workforce Development (formerly, DILHR) in sharing occupational data and in providing service to the State’s new One-Stop Centers and youth-oriented, Career Centers.

Topic: Updating the Wisconsin Idea (outreach)

  • Continued implementation of the Center’s National Consortium for Product Quality
    • Continued the use of our national standards for curriculum development in occupational education
    • Provided technical assistance
    • Disseminated information on curriculum development
  • Operate the Equity Resource Center that serves Wisconsin’s public schools and Wisconsin’s technical colleges providing resources and technical assistance in all areas of equity and diversity related to occupational education.
  • Developed curriculum for the statewide displaced homemakers program through the Wisconsin Technical College System on careers, job seeking, and job keeping.
  • Provided technical assistance in vocational equity and diversity to the public schools, postsecondary colleges, and businesses in Wisconsin.
  • Provide technical assistance and developed products to assist employers, unions and educators in delivering on-site training programs. Resources involved topics such as program disign and evaluation, effective marketing and recruitment strategies, educational skills analysis, and best practices.
  • With numerous state and national reports calling for educational reforms designed to prepare a highly skilled workforce, the Center produces products and services designed to meet this challenge. One of our major thrusts has centered on improving the information and guidance students receive regarding careers, the changing workplace, and postsecondary education options.
    • WCIS software and print materials are available and used at 75% of Wisconsin school districts, and technical colleges, at 100% of UW System Campuses, DVR Offices, and One-Stop Centers, and other locations, such as career centers, libraries, and social agencies.
    • WCIS outreach staff, during the 1996-97 school year, provided on-site training at more than 175 sites to more than 1,500 counselors, teachers, and administrators. Staff also provided monthly, regional hands-on training in use of WCIS software at computer facilities in Green Bay, Menominee, Wausau, Waukesha, and Madison. These 45 training sessions provided five hours of training to over 700 professional staff.
    • The content and focus of WCIS software and products is on Wisconsin careers, education, and business. For example, one software package includes information on over 104,000 employers in the State. WCIS obtains information directly from Wisconsin educational institutions, Wisconsin employers, and the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

Topic: Joining the global community

  • Established a web page for our School-to-Work evaluation projects that included:
    • Information on the projects
    • Links to STW resources
    • Highlights from various workshops conducted on the evaluation projects
  • Editor for the national electronic news group entitled Voced. transition.
  • Continued our outreach efforts nationally to better prepare educators, specifically counselors to improve their counseling and guidance programs and to be more effective in delivering career development programs through their school-to-work initiatives.
  • Established a web page for the School-to-Work evaluation projects that provides such information as information of the projects, links to STW resources, and highlights from the various workshops conducted on the evaluation projects.
  • Developed the second year staff exchange program for teachers between Wisconsin’s Technical College System and the technical college system in Scotland.
  • Center’s Director participated, as Wisconsin’s site director for the National Center for Research in Vocational Education, in a one week visitation program to Germany, focusing on the German apprenticeship system.
  • Center’s Associate Director participated in the Wisconsin/Scotland staff exchange program for the WTCS as the facilitator/coordinator of the project.
  • Hosted a one week visitation between the Scotland technical college system boards and presidents and the Wisconsin Technical College System.
  • Conducted the tenth annual national three day career conference that involved 1,600 participants.
  • Conducted an international three day workplace education conference that involved 1,100 participants from five countries.
  • Developed and conducted customized training workshops and seminars of 1-3 days on various topics around career guidance and School-to-Work issues. Over 50 workshops were conducted with attendance reaching more that 2,500 participants.

Topic: Using technology wisely

  • Increased use of publishing material on world wide web - Work Place Learning conference, School-to-Work, Wisconsin Career Information System (WCIS), National Center for Research in Vocational Education/Mathnet and catalog sales of Center publications and WCIS.
  • Utilization of world wide web for threaded school to work discussion and data collection for participants in wide geographic areas.
  • Implementation of new web site for updated links to career development and occupationally specific sites and information. These links are launched from within software products shipped with Wisconsin K-12 schools. Provides ability to update data daily without shipping new software during the year. New fall 1997.
  • Utilizing visual and voice communications over the internet with Connectix cameras and collaboration software. Permits interactive editing of materials and visual contact of the party/parties involved.
  • Net meeting. Software which allows collaboration with parties over the net.
  • Fall development of two new internet applications - entry of National Occupational Information Coordinating Council (NOICC) survey form on the web and potential lookup of customer orders for Pubs.