Parents Want Business and School Teamwork to Prepare Students for Careers Public Forum Institute Study Carries Impact (NAPSA)—Parents and community leaders believe that it is important for high school students to have opportunities to learn in workplacesettings. That’s according to “Help Wanted: Workforce Development & the New Economy,” a report from the Public Forum Institute. In all, more than 81 percent of those asked believed it is “very important/critical” to “extremely important/critical” to provide opportunities for students to learn in workplacesettings. The report, which was the culmination of a series of community forums and independent research, also notes that an overwhelming majority of parents believe businesses should provide learning opportunities for students, while community leaders feel the private sector needs to play an active role in workforce development. Additionally, a majority of parents believe that high schools should spend more time teaching skills to prepare students for the workplace. “The acquisition of marketable skills through efforts such as job shadowing and internships was very important to those individuals who participated in this study,” said Jonathan Ortmans, President of the Public Forum Institute. “Some of those marketable skills of interest included decision making, team building andcritical thinking.” The Public Forum Institute is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organi- Both parents and community leaders believe students should get workplace experience. zation dedicated to creating the most advanced andeffective means of fostering public discourse. The Forum develops and coordinates public forums across the country— engagingcitizens, experts, commu- nity leaders, elected officials and others in substantive discussions on dozensofpolicy issues. Participants in the study were asked to respond to questions using an interactive audience response system. Additionally, the Public Forum Institute enlisted the independent research firm Newton Research to interview more than 1,000 parents of teens regarding their opinions on busi- ness/education partnerships. Results from both efforts were compiled into the “Help Wanted” report. The report is available at www.PublicForumInstitute.org.
