Progress 10/01/95 to 09/30/03
Outputs
Our work on youth apprenticeship emerged from international comparisons that revealed the absence of a system in the United States to support the transition from adolescence to adulthood of youth who do not graduate from four-year colleges, and the potential value of apprenticeship for that purpose. After designing, implementing, and evaluating a demonstration project to test such a system, we have pursued two lines of inquiry. One was aimed at understanding and promoting the creation of school-to-work systems. The other, more microscopic, has been to understand and improve adult teaching and advising or mentoring of youth in workplaces. This second purpose has been predominant during the term of this project (since 1995). We have confirmed that what mentors teach youth at work can be comprehended in terms of technical, personal, and social competencies and that how they teach can be usefully distinguished as demonstrating, explaining how, explaining why, monitoring,
reflective questioning, and problem solving. Furthermore, the first four behaviors are essentially universal, reported by nearly all mentors and youth who were questioned, but the last two were much rarer. We called them 'challenging' both because they appear to be more challenging to mentors and because they pose challenges to youth that we expect on theoretical grounds to be exceptionally valuable. An experimental intervention found that a training program fostered more reflective questioning among novice mentors and more problem solving among experienced mentors.
Impacts
Researchers concerned with mentoring are increasingly accepting our contention that for older youth an instrumental focus is more likely to be effective than a social-emotional focus that typifies mentoring relationships adults have with elementary-school-age children, as in Big Brothers/Big Sisters and other effective mentoring programs. They are also accepting our point that workplaces and service-learning projects are optimal contexts for such mentoring. (See Hamilton & Hamilton, 2004, and a forthcoming article and chapter.) The training program designed and used as an experimental intervention to help mentors learn to use challenging teaching behaviors is available on the web (http://www.human.cornell.edu/youthwork/) for adaptation and use by program operators.
Publications
- Hamilton, S.F., & Hamilton, M.A. 2004. Contexts for mentoring. In R.M. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.) Handbook of adolescent psychology. New York: Wiley.
- Hamilton, M. A., & Hamilton, S. F. 2004. Designing work and service for learning. In S.F. Hamilton & M. A. Hamilton (Eds.), The youth development handbook: Coming of age in American communities (pp. 147-169). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Hamilton, S.F., & Hamilton, M.A. 2003. Learning by teaching: How instructing apprentices affects adult workers. In J. Oelkers (Ed.), Futures of education II: Work, education, and occupation. Essays from an interdisciplinary symposium. Berne: Peter Lang.
- Hamilton, S.F. 2003. Specialization vs. flexibility: Research to support vocational education and qualifications in a changing world. In F. Achtenhagen & E.G. John (eds.), Meilsteine der beruflichen Bildung (Milestones of vocational and occupational education and training) Volume 3. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann.
- Hamilton, M.A. 2003. Educating teachers and trainers in the United States to foster work-based learning. In F. Achtenhagen (Series & Vol. Ed.) & E.G. John (Series Ed.), Milestones of vocational and occupational education and training: Vol. 2. Institutional perspectives of vocational and occupational education and training (pp. 291-301). Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann Verlag.
- Darling, N., Hamilton, S., Shaver, K.H. 2003. Relationships outside the family: Unrelated adults. In G.R. Adams & M.D. Berzonsky (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of adolescence.
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Progress 01/01/02 to 12/31/02
Outputs
'Mentoring Youth at Work' is a four-year project designed to understand and improve the mentoring that adults do for youth in workplaces. It relied on in-depth face-to-face interviews with experienced mentors, the development of a training program for workplace mentors incorporating our conceptual framework and what we learned from those interviews, and a then series of telephone interviews with trained and untrained mentors in eight locations around the country. The products include a training program to help workplace mentors more effectively teach and advise youth and research reports for scholars, practitioners, and policy makers.
Impacts
Improved understanding of how adult mentors teach and advise youth serving as interns or apprentices in workplaces. A conceptually-based and empirically tested program to train workplace mentors in how to use more challenging teaching behaviors.
Publications
- Darling, N., Hamilton, S.F., Toyokawa, T., & Matsuda, S. 2002. Naturally occurring mentoring in Japan and the United States: Social roles and correlates. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30: 245-270.
- Hamilton, M.A., & Hamilton, S.F. 2002. Why mentoring in the workplace works. In J. Rhodes (Ed.), New directions for youth development: A critical view of youth mentoring. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Hamilton, M.A., & Hamilton, S.F. 2002. Web site containing all mentor training materials developed and tested in the project: http://www.human.cornell.edu/youthwork
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Progress 01/01/01 to 12/31/01
Outputs
We have refined our training materials to make them usable to others and are in the process of adding them to our web site, www.human.cornell.edu/youthwork/. The site will have a 'mentor home page' entitled: Training Tools for Workplace Mentors. The tools are targeted toward workplaces, as well as service learning sites, to help and persuade adults in charge of youth employment or programs to add a mentoring component to what they already do with youth. Once these tools are running, we will need to strategize about how to inform potential users of their availability. An immediate step will include establishing links with other web sites. As discussed previously, we may wish to discuss with you other means of dissemination and other potential follow-up activities. We continued to refine our initial hypotheses and generate new ones in response to what we discovered. Essentially, we are testing the impact of the experiment, and seeking an understanding of three basic
hypotheses generated from the pre-experiment and the study design about challenging and universal mentor behaviors, the range of competencies taught, and the use of social influence processes. The results strongly confirm our initial distinction between 'universal' mentoring behaviors, which all mentors reported (and youth independently affirmed), and 'challenging' behaviors, which only some reported. Analyses performed in September on the control group in the experiment confirm these distinctions and the urgency for mentor training to raise the bar for all youth, especially those at risk. On theoretical grounds we expect challenging behaviors to be especially powerful; they were the focus of our training. Another form of data analysis involves developing case studies on how mentors teach particular competencies. Our students began to develop very helpful analyses based on several mentors' teaching behaviors through May and resumed their work this fall. Two of the students have
undertaken honors theses based on the data. Their case studies provide more insight into how mentors successfully implement more challenging teaching behaviors, as well as beginning understanding of the circumstances and implications of limiting oneself to only universal behaviors. In addition, these studies examine the relationship of the behaviors to the social influence process. In our writings, we draw on their case studies to illustrate examples of mentoring behaviors as well as mentor and youth perspectives.
Impacts
This project conducts data analysis and develops case studies on how mentors teach particular competencies. Our research assistants are developing very helpful analyses based on several mentors' teaching behaviors. The case studies will provide more insight into how mentors successfully implement more challenging teaching behaviors, as well as beginning understanding of the circumstances and implications of limiting oneself to only universal behaviors. In addition, these studies examine the relationship of the behaviors to the social influence process. Jean Rhodes is editing a volume entitled New Directions in Youth Development: Practice and Research, to be published December 2001 by Jossey Bass. Mary Agnes and Steve Hamilton submitted a second draft of a chapter, Challenges and promises for mentoring in the workplace.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/00 to 12/31/00
Outputs
OBJECTIVES: Having contributed through research and development to the policies and practices embodied in the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994, we have narrowed our focus to two related issues: building school-to-work systems; and and mentoring youth at work. We will produce research reports, information for practitioners (in both print and electronic media), and training programs on these issues. We are now in the third year of a project addressing the way in which adults teach and advise or "mentor" high school students in the workplace. We began by interviewing experienced mentors, asking what they try to teach youth and what they do. We then designed a training program to help novice mentors do what expert mentors do. We then used that program with novice mentors in four locations, which are matched with four other locations where we are not training the novice mentors. We interviewed both trained and untrained mentors four times, seeking indications that
the trained novices are behaving more like expert mentors than the untrained novices. We also interviewed a young person with whom each of the mentors had worked. Data reduction is underway.
Impacts
Our publication on school-to-work systems is contributing to a national effort to sustain practices associated with that initiative after federal funding terminates. It is especially useful to the more than 25 states that have passed legislation in support of those practices. Research and development on workplace mentoring and mentor training will inform practitioners and policy makers associated with a wide range of work-based learning approaches, including apprenticeship, internship, and cooperative education.
Publications
- Darling, N., Hamilton, S.F., Toyokawa, T., & Matsuda, S. (2001, in press). Naturally occurring mentoring in Japan and the United States: Social roles and correlates. American Journal of Community Psychology.
- Darling, N., Hamilton, S., Toyokawa, T., & Matsuda, S. (2001, in press). Naturally-Occurring Mentoring in Japan and the United States: Social Roles and Correlates. In Adams, G., & Berzonsky, M., Blackwell Handbook of Adolescence.
- Hamilton, S.F., & Hamilton, M.A., (2000). Research, intervention, and social change: Improving adolescents' career opportunities. In L.J. Crockett & R.K. Silbereisen (Eds.), Negotiating adolescence in times of social change. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Eckenrode, J., & Hamilton, S.F. (2000). One-to-one support interventions: Home visitation and mentoring. In S. Cohen, L.G. Underwood, & B.H. Gottlieb (Eds.), Social support measurement and interventions: A guide for social and health scientists. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Progress 01/01/99 to 12/31/99
Outputs
APPROACH: We will work closely with schools and employers that are providing work-based learning opportunities for youth, bringing the insights from our demonstration project and conducting research. In this manner we will identify and document effective practices. Dissemination will also be done jointly with partners. PROGRESS: 1999/01 TO 1999/12 In addition to continuing analysis of data following up youth apprentices and comparison students for two years after high school graduation, we have completed one new project and initiated a second. The completed project addresses the challenge posed by the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 to create "systems" supporting the school-to-work transition. We identified sites around the country that had made good progress toward creating systems, visited those sites, and wrote case studies describing them as an aid to policy makers and practitioners. The sites represented systems at the levels of individual schools,
school districts, regional consortia of schools and employers, states, and corporations. The newly initiated project addresses the way in which adults teach and advise or "mentor" high school students in the workplace. We began by interviewing experienced mentors, asking what they try to teach youth and what they do. We then designed a training program to help novice mentors do what expert mentors do. We are currently using that program with novice mentors in four locations, which are matched with four other locations where we are not training the novice mentors. In all eight locations we are interviewing the novice mentors approximately every six weeks, seeking indications that the trained novices are behaving more like expert mentors than the untrained novices.
Impacts
OBJECTIVES: Having contributed through research and development to the policies and practices embodied in the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994, we will narrow our focus to three issues that are central to helping young people identify and follow productive career paths by means of work-based learning: coaching and mentoring at work; project-based learning; and advising. We will produce research reports, information for practitioners (in both print and electronic media), and training programs on these issues.
Publications
- PUBLICATIONS: 1999/01 TO 1999/12
- Hamilton, S.F., & Hamilton, M.A. (1999). Building Strong School-to-Work Systems: Illustrations of Key Components. Washington, DC: School-toWork Opportunities Office (U.S. Departments of Education and Labor).
- Hamilton, S.F. (1999). Germany and the United States in comparative perspective. International Journal of Sociology, 29, 3-20.
- Hamilton, S.F., (1999). Preparing youth for the work force. In A. J. Reynolds, H. J. Walberg, & R.P. Weissberg, (Eds.). Promoting positive outcomes: Issues in children and families' lives. Washington, DC: CWLA Press.
- Hamilton, S.F., & Hamilton, M.A. (1999). Creating new pathways to adulthood by adapting German apprenticeship in the United States. In W.R. Heinz (Ed.), From education to work: Cross-national perspectives. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Hamilton, S.F. (1999). What work fosters adolescent development? In A. Booth, A.C. Crouter, & M. Shanahan (Eds.), Transitions to adulthood in a changing economy: No work, no family, no future? Westport, CT: Praeger.
- Hamilton, S.F., (1999). The prospects for work-based learning (Response to Bailey & Hughes). Centerwork, 10, (3-4, Winter), 18 (National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California, Berkeley).
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Progress 01/01/98 to 12/31/98
Outputs
A report has been submitted for publication that analyzes the directedness of the career paths of 59 youth apprentices and 48 comparison students over a two-year period after high school graduation. Each subject's career path was classified as continuous, redirected, exploratory or undirected depending upon the relationship of their career goal at graduation to their subsequent employment and/or educational activity. Regression analyses examined the impact of apprenticeship along with background (gender, family structure, parent's education, prior work experience), and school performance (GPA, college prep courses, Algebra II, and absences). The results suggest that high-quality work-based learning helped youth apprentices establish more directed career paths. The absence of an effect on academic achievement and the remaining effects of gender and parent's education provide evidence that broader education reform is needed in addition, along with specific supports to
overcome the disadvantages of gender and class. These findings have implications for other youth apprenticeship programs and for other school-to-work initiatives. A related study is underway that examines the outcomes of youth apprentices in relation to ratings of the quality of their work experience, defining quality in terms of the principles set out by the investigators in the publication, Learning Well at Work.
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/97 to 12/31/97
Outputs
Research continues on participants in the demonstration project and on a comparison group. Follow-up telephone interviews have been conducted and are being analyzed. In addition, a case study method is being applied to individual apprentices in an attempt to determine whether the quality of their placements (as evaluated by the investigators) is related to various outcomes. A partnership is underway with the Phipps Community Development Corporation in the South Bronx to support its School-to-Work initiative. Proposals are in development to conduct new research on mentoring youth at work.
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- Hamilton, M.A., & Hamilton, S.F. (1997). Learning Well at Work: Choices for Quality. Washington, DC: National School-to-Work Office.
- Hamilton, S.F., & Hamilton, M.A., (1997). When is learning work-based? Phi Delta Kappan, 78, 677-681.
- Hamilton, M.A., & Hamilton, S.F. (1997). When is work a learning experience? Phi Delta Kappan, 78, 682-689.
- Hamilton, S.F. (1997) . Commentary on evaluation of School-to-Work. In U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Evaluating the net impact of School-to-Work: Proceedings of a roundtable. Washington, DC: U.S. Gove
- Hamilton, M.A., and Hamilton, S.F., (1997). Turbo OJT Can Redefine Workplace Learning. Technical Training, 8 (8), 8-12.
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Progress 01/01/96 to 12/30/96
Outputs
Since completing the Cornell Youth Apprenticeship Demonstration Project in June 1995, the program has secured funding for three more years to focus more narrowly on specific issues that were illuminated by the demonstration and are crucial to the success of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994, which it helped to inspire. Dynamical models of visual attention are being constructed and studied in collaboration with J. Guckenheimer (Center for Applied Mathematics) in an effort to gain deeper insights into the relations between early thought and action. Relatively simple models can account for much of the data if they possess a few key properties, such as asymmetry and hysteresis. progress in this research program has been facilitated and extended by studies of fetal behavioral patterns in nonhuman animals done in collaboration with P. Nathanielsz (School of Veterinary medicine) and W. Smotherman (Psychology, Binghamton University).
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- Hamilton, S.F. (1996). Kritische Reflexionen zu der Symbiose "Wissenschaft und Politik" Critical reflections on the symbiosis of science and policy. In Forschung im Dienst von Praxis und Politik: Dokumentation der Festveranstaltung zum 25-jahrigen Bestehen des Bundesinstituts fur berufsbildung. Research in the service of practice and policy: Documentation of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann.
- Hamilton, S.F., & Lempert, W. (1997). The impact of apprenticeship on youth: A prospective analysis. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 6, 427-455.
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Progress 01/01/95 to 12/30/95
Outputs
The Cornell Youth Apprenticeship Demonstration Project concluded in June 1995. Youth apprenticeship continues in the Broome County, NY region, but it is in the hands of local schools and firms. A final report on the project is underway. It identifies seven principles for the practice of youth apprenticeship by employers: Employers offer 1.apprentices opportunities to learn basic and high-level technical skills through challenging work; 2. offers apprentices opportunities to gain personal and social competence in the workplace; 3. offers apprentices opportunities to gain broad technical skills and to understand all aspects of the industry; 4. conveys clear expectations and assesses apprentices# progress toward achieving them; 5. offers apprentices opportunities to learn from adults formally assigned to work on the program; 6. expects apprentices to achieve high academic standards; 7. helps apprentices identify and follow career paths. Practices that embody each of
these principles are described and indicators of their effectiveness offered. Several apprentices demonstrated substantial gains in academic aspirations and achievement, but grades did not increase at a significantly higher rate than those of comparison students. More than half of apprentices continued in the career area of their training as long as two years after the program. Less than a quarter were both not enrolled in post-secondary education and not employed in a job related to their apprenticeship.
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- Hamilton, S.F., & Hamilton, M.A. (1994). Schools and work places: Partners in the transition. Theory into Practice 33 242-248.
- Hamilton, S.F., & Hurrelmann, K. (1994). The school-to-career transition in Germany and the United States. Teachers College Record 96 329-344.
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Progress 01/01/94 to 12/30/94
Outputs
The Youth Apprenticeship Demonstration Project has achieved its two main goals. It has demonstrated the viability in the United States of work-based learning patterned after European apprenticeship. And it has produced data indication that young people (and adults) who participate benefit from the experience. The 100 youth who have participated over four years are predominantly B-/C+ students from families in which most parents have no more than a high school education. Minority youth are represented at twice their proportion in the youth population. In interviews, both young people and their parents described positive effects of participation including career planning, social and technical learning. Enrollment in post-secondary education among the two graduating classes was high for this population (85% for the class of '93,69% for the class of '94),and 83 percent of graduates are pursuing career goals; 75 percent of all graduates continue in career paths related to
their apprenticeship. The project and its products helped to shape the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, which was signed by the President in May 1994, and New York State's successful grant application under that authority. As the demonstration phase concludes, we transferring responsibility for the project to a local organization. We will turn our attention more fully to research, development, system design, and dissemination.
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- HAMILTON, S.F. 1994. Employment prospects as motivation for school achievement:Links and gaps between school and work in seven countries. In F.K. Silbereisen & E.Todt(Eds.), Adolescence in context: The interplay of family, school, peers, an
- HAMILTON, S.F. 1994. Social roles for youth: Interventions in unemployment. In A.C. Petersen & J.T. Mortimer(Eds.), Youth unemployment and society. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- HAMILTON, S.F., & HAMILTON, M.A. (1994) Opening Career Paths for Youth: What Can Be Done. Who Can Do It. Washington, DC: American Youth Policy Forum. (Reprinted with commentary in Youth Policy, 1994, 15 & 16 (12 & 1).).
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Progress 01/01/93 to 12/30/93
Outputs
The Youth Apprenticeship Demonstration Project is now in its third year of operation. Twenty seniors graduated from high school in June, 1993. Nearly all have continued their education in fields related to their apprenticeship. Four new employers were added, for a total of 10. The current number of young people is 47. Youth apprentices are engaged in three occupational areas: manufacturing and engineering technology, health care, and administration and office technology. They spend 10 hours per week or more in planned and supervised work experience that complements their school courses. The purpose of the project is to explore issues in developing and implementing a youth apprenticeship system in the United States. Research and program experience yield insights that are shared with practitioners and policy makers. The need for such insights has been magnified by the Clinton Administration's School-to-Work Opportunities initiative, which supports the creation of state
systems with the same key components as youth apprenticeship. We are, therefore, preparing to focus more effort on training and dissemination while continuing our research and development work.
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- HAMILTON, S. F. 1993. Prospects for an American-style youth apprenticeship system. Educational Researcher. 22(3):ll-16.
- HAMILTON, S. AND HURRELMANN, K. 1993. Auf der Suche nach dem besten Modell fur den Ubergang von der Schule in den Beruf. Zeitschrift fur Sozializationsforschung und Erziehungssoziologie 23:194-207.
- HAMILTON, S. F. 1993. Employment prospects as motivation for school achievement: Links and gaps between school and work in seven countries. In F. K. Silbereisen & E. Todt (Eds.) Adolescene in context. New York: Springer.
- HAMILTON, S. F. AND HAMILTON, M. A. 1992. Learning at Work. In J.E. Rosenbaum et al., Youth Apprenticeship in America: Guidelines for Building an Effective System. Washington, DC: Wm T. Grant Fd. Comm. on Youth & America's Future.
- HAMILTON, M.A. AND HAMILTON, S.F. 1993. Toward a Youth Apprenticeship System: A progress report from the Youth Apprenticeship Demonstration Project in Broome County, NY. Cornell Univeristy.
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Progress 01/01/92 to 12/30/92
Outputs
The Youth Apprenticeship Demonstration Project is now in its second year of operation. Twenty of the first year's 22 students are continuing in the program as high school seniors. Twenty new positions have been created for high school juniors and 17 of those positions have been filled. The remaining three should be filled in Janury. Six employers are now involved after the addition of IBM-Endicott and Anitec Imagining. One new high school has been added, for a total of six. Youth apprentices are engaged in three occupational areas: manufacturing and engineering technology, health care, and administration and office technology. They spend about 10 hours per week in planned and supervised work experience that complements their school courses. The program continues for two years after high school graduation with course work at Broome Community College. The purpose of the project is to explore issues in developing and implementing a youth apprenticeship system in
the United States. Research and program experience yield insights that are shared with practitioners and policy makers. The need for such insights has been magnified by the promise of President-elect Bill Clinton to support youth apprenticeship nationally. We are, therefore, preparing to focus more effort on training and dissemination while continuing our research and development work.
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- HAMILTON, S.F. 1992. School-work nexus: If any road can take you there, you don't know where you're going. Education Week 12(4):36.
- HAMILTON, S.F. and HAMILTON, M.A. 1992. Bridging the school-to-work gap. The School Administrator. 49 (3, March), 8-15.
- HAMILTON, S.F. and HAMILTON, M.A. 1992. A progress report on apprenticeships. Educational Leadership. 49 (3, March), 44-47.
- HAMILTON, S.F., HAMILTON, M.A. and WOOD, B.J. 1992. Creating Apprenticeship Opportunities for Youth: A Progress Report from the Youth Apprenticeship Demonstration Project in Broome County, NY. Cornell University.
- HAMILTON, S.F. and HAMILTON, M.A. 1991. New York apprenticeships stress adult roles, responsibilities. Student Apprenticeship News (No. 1) Oct., p. 5 (from the William T. Grant Found. Commission on Work, Family & Citizenship).
- HAMILTON, S.F. 1992. Apprenticeships for American youth. Transatlantic Perspectives, newsletter of the German Marshall Fund, Spring, no. 25, 6-9.
- HAMILTON, S.F. 1992. Gibt es ein leben nach der Schule. (Is there life after school). Mitteilungen, newsletter of the Institut fur Bildungsforschung der Wirtschaft, Vienna, Austria.
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