The Institute has launched SHANKER BLOG, a forum for discussion of research and ideas pertaining to labor, education, and democracy. Rather than the quick, sound-byte content that dominates so much of our public discourse, our blog will attempt to provide in-depth, research-based commentary that is both thorough and accessible. We will focus on content that both pertains to the Institute's work and/or that we think are worthy of public attention. Our first posts deal with such critical issues as teacher performance pay, charter schools, and unrest in China.
Experts Debate the Role of Career and Technical Education
Education reform will fail a vast number of U.S. students unless the role of career and technical education (CTE, formerly called vocational education) is reconsidered, recast and placed in the mainstream of K-12 curriculum design. These were some of the conclusions of a small group of top federal and state policymakers, educators, business and labor leaders, practitioners, researchers and other workforce experts who took part in an informal conversation on Feb. 17, hosted by AFT president Randi Weingarten and sponsored by the Albert Shanker Institute.
&Read the full list of participants
SHANKER INSTITUTE NEWSLETTER
Seminar Looks at Workplace Career Advising System
The AFT and the Albert Shanker Institute were among the sponsors of a June 29-30 seminar in Washington, D.C., aimed at bringing a national workplace career advising system to workers in the United States. The workplace adviser system under consideration may be modeled on the UnionLearn program, which was created by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the United Kingdom. That program, which places union learning representatives (ULRs) at the workplace, has enjoyed enormous success. The AFT and the Shanker Institute have focused on the lessons learned from the UK experience as they contemplated piloting such a program in the United States.
Institute Conversation Takes on Civic Education
A remarkable group of researchers, policymakers, journalists and other leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., on May 3 for a thoughtful, in-depth discussion of civic education in the United States sponsored by the Albert Shanker Institute. The conversation, led by AFT and Shanker Institute president Randi Weingarten, touched on a wide range of issues pertaining to civic education, including what it means for democracy and political participation, how to expand coverage of the topic in U.S. schools' curricula, and the arguments for doing so.
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Last updated: July 2010