[Business-Education Partnerships].

Overview & Synopsis

This document consists of three separate brief articles by the same author on the subject of "business-education partnerships and industry-education cooperation," extracted from three different newsletters (not fully identified). The author is president of the National Association for Industry-Education Cooperation. The first article, "Business Education: Rhetoric Outstrips Reality," focuses on understanding that the real reason for business/industry participation in elementary and secondary education is a recognition that the entire educational system needs help. Suggestions are made regarding how business/industry and education can get organized into a local, broad-based industry-education council type of structure. The second article, "Business-Education Partnerships in the Last Decade: Rhetoric over Substance," also addresses basic steps in organizing industry and education (public and postsecondary) into a broad formal structure/alliance--an Industry-Education Council with support staff--to start incremental and substantive collaboration in fostering school improvement. Career education is promoted as a key objective and integral part of the industry-education collaborative school improvement process. The third article, "Making Sense of It All: Role in Systemwide School Improvement," argues that the real reason for business-education collaboration is the development of an academic and vocational program that better meets the needs of both students and employers. It recommends a much broader level of commitment of resources by industry. (YLB)