ABSTRACT
If work-based learning is to be effective, it requires the active participation of employers. During the 1990s, the most ambitious advocates hoped that many of the country’s workplaces would play a central role in the education of a significant number of young people (Hamilton, 1990; Lerman & Pouncy, 1990). But employers are not in business to educate adolescents. Indeed, during the discussions and debates of the last 15 years about education reform, many observers have questioned the quality of training that American employers provide for their own employees (Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, 1990; Dertouzos, Lester & Solow, 1989). These observations led many analysts to be skeptical about whether enough employers could be recruited to provide work-based learning opportunities for a substantial number of students (see, e.g., the articles published in Bailey, 1995). Thus, Osterman (1995) wrote that “the prospects for widespread employer participation seem bleak” (p. 79). Klein (1995) evaluated the economic incentives for employer participation, and wrote that further market-based encouragement would be needed.
