How Psychology Can Contribute to the School-to-Work Opportunities Movement

How Psychology Can Contribute to the School-to-Work Opportunities Movement:
Report of the School-to-Work Task Force

Approved by APA Council of Representatives, August 1999

Contents

Introduction: Purpose of the School-to-Work Task Force

School to Work Legislation: Past, Present, and Future
     School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWOA)
     Evaluation of the STWOA
     Future of school to work programs

Adolescent Development
     Cognitive development
     Social cognition
     Decision-making
     Vocational development

Age-Appropriate Assessment of Students and Programs

Learning
The cognitive perspective
The situative approach

Agents of Influence
     Self and identity
          Individual differences
     Parents and Family
     School
     Peers
     Work during high school

World of Work
     Job analysis
     Work performance
     Antecedents of successful work performance and adjustment to the world of work
     Methods of classification of individuals into jobs or job families
     The future of the world of work

A Model Relevant to the School-to-Work Transition
     School/curriculum structures
     Implementation strategies
     Dissemination strategies
     Research directions

References

Table 1:	SCANS-Skills and Competencies Needed for Successful Employment
Table 2:	Hypothetical Skill Profiles for Career Clusters
Figure 1:	Knowledge and Decision-making About Occupations and Careers in World of Work
Figure 2:	Relative Levels of Effect on Vocational Knowledge and Choice for Four Sources of Influence Over the Life of an Individual
Figure 3:	Hypothetical Skill Profiles for Career Clusters

Continue: Introduction: Purpose of the School-to-Work Task Force