What is Cooperative Education and who does it serve?

Cooperative vocational-technical education at the secondary level is a capstone program whereby select senior students combine academic classroom and occupational instruction (the school-based learning component) with on-the-job training (the work-base component) in a career area of his or her choice. It is a unique plan of education designed to integrate classroom and occupational study with connecting activities, such as "all aspects of the industry" with planned, supervised, credit-bearing, paid work experience.

Cooperative education is also a strategy that facilitates students' School-to-Career transition. Cooperative education improves students' workforce preparation by providing work orientation, job skills, and an understanding of employment opportunities and responsibilities.

The major components of equality Co-op programs are:

1. Quality Co-op placements, in which the student is allowed to perform work that provides opportunities to develop new competencies and contribute to the productivity of the organization.
2. Teacher-coordinators with appropriate occupational experience as well as professional preparation for operating a school-supervised work education program.
3. Close supervision at the worksite by a training supervisor as well as a mechanism by which the supervisor can share his/her own professional expertise with the Co-op students.
4. At the onset, an accurate and realistic description of the job for the student as well as accurate expectations by the employer of the skills the student brings to it.
5. Strong links between job training (work-base) and related instruction (school-base), which includes an individualized, written training plan that is correlated to the student's in-school curriculum.
6. Frequent and specific informal and formal evaluations of the student's work-based progress by the teacher/coordinator with feedback and follow-up to improve performance.
7. Involvement of parents or guardians.
8. Placement of graduates on systematic basis.
9. All Aspects of an Industry. The term all aspects of the industry means all aspects of the industry or industry sector a student is preparing to enter, including planning, management, finances, technical and production skills, underlying principles of technology, labor and community issues, health and safety issues, and environmental issues, related to such industry or industry sector.
10. Strong administrative support for the program.

Cooperative vocational-technical education is provided for in Section 5.218, Section 6.1, and Section 6.23 of the Pennsylvania Regulations of the State Board of Education, published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, Vol.23, July 24, 1993.