McLachlan Joan E. - Internships for todays world: a practical guide for high schools and community colleges

Internships for Todays World

Internships for Todays World offers something for any educator or business contemplating real-life work experiences for students. The book provides solid rationales for incorporating internships into schooling, examples of validations and feedback from students, business leaders, and educators, as well as details that could only be provided by authors who spent time in corporate management and more than a decade providing matches among students and intern sites at the nations premier and longest-standing external learning school, City-as-School, New York City. What to look for in prospective sites, how to make matches, pitfalls to avoid, linking assessment to practiceall are covered. The book can offer much to the field and to individuals at any stage of creating and maintaining quality external learning experiences. Steve Phillips , former superintendent, Alternative High Schools and Programs, NYC Board of Education

McLachlan and Hess have written a book that offers real hope for providing meaningful learning experiences for students that complement and fortify in-school learning. A recent national study demonstrated that only 28% of students are intellectually engaged in our schools, but internships offer opportunities for 100 % engagement. Realistically, school is not an ideal environment for providing all the necessary opportunities for becoming an adult. Instead, school is a particular kind of environment, honoring individualism and cognitive development. It imposes dependence on, and withholds responsibility from, students. We have lost sight of young peoples potential for responsibility. Internships, as outlined in Internships for Todays World: A Practical Guide for High Schools and Community Colleges , provides opportunities for accepting responsibility and offering real opportunities for students to feel and to be useful. It offers a practical guide for establishing a quality, sustainable internship program. This book provides conclusive evidence of the power of internships for student engagement and learning. Jerry Diakiw , faculty of education, York University, former superintendent of schools York Region District School Board, Ontario

What better way to prepare our young people for the future than to give them authentic access to real world experiences? As a 30-year high school principal, I will view my most fulfilling legacy as having established internships for ALL students in my schools. To this day, former students describe these dynamic opportunities as among the most powerful in their educational careers. This book provides a road map for secondary schools and community colleges to build internships that are authentic, engaging, and result in our young people making highly personal and informed career decisions. Jay Lewis , retired high school principal, associate dean, school of education, Hofstra University

Internships are one of the most powerful transformative experiences that a high school or community college student can have. They literally become a reality-based journey that opens the students mind to the world beyond the schools walls. They are unquestionably a superior preparation for college and careers. Internships for Todays World is a must-read for high school and community college educators. It offers a practical guide to developing meaningful internship programs. The authors in-depth insights and recommendations equip all educators with the tools to bring a high quality internship program to their schools. Matthew M. Mandery , EdD, director Nassau County Senior Year Network; executive director Nassau County Principals Association

The authors bring the world of student internships, externships, practicums and projects into an exciting and yet utilitarian book that will aid the imaginative educator in creating real world experiences for learners. Robin Calitri , former principal, Southside High School, Rockville Center, New York, principal of the year, NYS

Joan McLachlan has understood and practiced learner-centered, experiential education for decades. I first met her when she was doing that at City-as-School, one of the oldest and best public alternatives. She has co-authored a book about the core of that programinternships. In using this book the reader will understand what internships are and how to help students do them effectively. As we continue in the new millennium this approach will greatly increase in significance, as more and more new jobs are created that didnt exist just a few years ago. Jerry Mintz , director, Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO)

Internships for Todays World by Joan E. McLachlan and Patricia Hess is that rare occurrencea practical handbook and blueprint for setting-up internships as well as the philosophical rationale for doing so. Field-tested practices and implementation guidelines developed through research and best practices are yours to research, to assess, and to apply to your individual learning communitybe it high school, university, or organization in the private or public sector. This booka thoughtful, pragmatic offeringunderscores the need for true development of a work-based partnership which serves the intern as a career exploration experience and the learning resource (the organization offering the internship), a rationale for the internship, most welcome staff assistance, and possible staff recruitment. This book will provide a welcome resource, saving hours of false starts, conceptual cul-de-sacs, and conserve energy used to design, to create, and to implement effective internships. Richard G. Safran , co-founder (and former principal) of City-As-School High School, NYC

Internships for Todays World is a superb primer on the whys and hows of an effective internship program. Its clear language and comprehensive scope will enable any school to set up such a program and extract maximum benefit for its students. I cannot praise the book highly enough. Joan Chabrowe , former City-As-School resource coordinator

Internships for Todays World

A Practical Guide for High Schools and Community Colleges

Joan E. McLachlan and Patricia F. Hess

Rowman & Littlefield

Lanham Boulder New York Toronto Plymouth, UK

Published by Rowman & Littlefield

4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706

www.rowman.com

10 Thornbury Road, Plymouth PL6 7PP, United Kingdom

Copyright 2014 by Joan E. McLachlan and Patricia F. Hess

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McLachlan, Joan E., 1943

Internships for todays world : a practical guide for high schools and community colleges / Joan E. McLachlan and Patricia F. Hess.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4758-0601-4 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4758-0602-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4758-0603-8 (electronic)

1. Internship programsUnited States. I. Hess, Patricia F., 1943 II. Title.

LC1072.I58M35 2014

331.25'922dc23 2013046606

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American

National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library

Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

To Frederick J. Koury, who believed in real-world learning.

Contents

Preface

Look ahead thirty years. Can you predict the changes that will occur to our educational system? Can you predict the challenges schools will be facing? Do you know what the state of our economy will be? Can you predict the jobs that will be needed to help our economy continue to grow? Now look back thirty years. Were you able to foresee the challenges facing education today? Were you able to predict the roller coaster economy? Could you have predicted the impact technology and globalization have had on the economy and education? Could anyone have predicted the hold social media would have on our young people?