LAC 28:LXXXI.903. Workplace Skills Education and Training

A. Strategies for better educating students for the workplace include: 1. career research and information beginning in early grades; 2. applied academic courses that present subject matter in a way that connects abstract knowledge to workplace applications using cooperative learning strategies; 3. integration of vocational and academic subjects; 4. counseling and career pathways to focus students in their choice of courses to study; 5. articulation between secondary and postsecondary education; 6. collaborative partnerships between education, business, labor, and communities in the total education experience of students; and 7. integration of school-based and work-based learning through: a. vocational cooperative programs―provides school-supervised work experiences; b. apprenticeships―on-the-job training and related instruction; c. career academies (school within a school)―integrates academic and vocational courses and provides workplace learning in a particular career focus area; d. job shadowing―provides information about a job or position through the student following or "shadowing" a worker for a short period of time; e. job mentoring―provides more specific job information and actual work experience as a student is assigned to an adult worker (mentor) who models workplace behavior, skills, and training in a one-to-one relationship; f. school-based enterprises―work simulation within the school in the form of stores, print shops, child care centers, etc., operated by the students; g. work simulation―provides work experience either in the classroom or in the community through simulated work experiences; h. volunteer service programs―provides the opportunity to gain employability and work skills outside the classroom through experiences in developing and improving the community; and i. vocational student organizations―provides work-based experiences for students through formalized events, demonstrations, volunteer work, and leadership training.