It is 75 years since the first college-level program of cooperative education was implemented at the University of Cincinnati. Since that time there have been myriad developments-in scope of involvement and complexity of delivery as well as in cooperative education's role in American education. The authors of this paper believe that a retrospective, summary view of cooperative education together with some descriptive case studies, will enable co-op practitioners to plan better for a future that incorporates the integration of meaningful work and learning in the education of our nation's youth.
Programs of cooperative education in the United States of America encompass students from the 11th year of schooling up to and including the doctoral degree level, reflect the characteristics of various academic disciplines/curricula, and differ from one another in philosophy, format, and source of funding.· Work experience is also the key ingredient for many special programs, such as the Work Experience and Career Exploration Program (WECEP) designed for 14-and-15-year old potential dropouts.
While no one single definition of cooperative education adequately describes the range of secondary and postsecondary level programs of cooperative education currently operative, that proposed by the Cooperative Education Association (Collins & Cohen, 1977) provides a working framework for understanding cooperative education:
... the integration of classroom theory with practical work experience under which students have specific periods of attendance ... and specific periods of employment.
As implemented in most programs, whether at the secondary school level or at the college and university level, cooperative education:
The degree to which programs of cooperative education conform to these particulars and resemble one another depends, to a great extent, on how the academic discipline is structured and on how it is manifested in the workplace. As an example, it it relatively simple to develop productive job placements in engineering or business that use and extend students' knowledge and skills; it is more difficult to design work experiences that parallel the acquisition and utilization of the knowledge and skills of students majoring in philosophy or history. If cooperative education is to be an effective learning strategy, the pedagogical approach must, necessarily, differ in order to reflect these differences.
The combination of productive work experience with the school curriculum has been part of American education since the turn of the century (Barbeau, 1973). Credit for formalizing the introduction of work experience in both postsecondary and secondary school curricula is given to Herman Schneider, who instituted the nation's first cooperative education program in the College of Engineering at the University of Cincinnati in 1906. Other colleges and universities soon followed, and during the first two decades of this century, cooperative education programs were started in such places as Northeastern University (1909), Drexel University (1919), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1919). In each instance, cooperative education began in the engineering departments. It was only in 1921, when Antioch College inaugurated its program, that cooperative education was offered in liberal arts curricula.
Up until 1960 there was very little expansion of cooperative education programs. In 1929 there were 10 colleges and universities with cooperative education programs; the number grew to only 65 institutions during the next 40 years. By 1957, however, there was sufficient interest in cooperative education for the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation, with the assistance of Charles Kettering of the General Motors Corporation, to sponsor a conference. One important, direct outcome of this meeting of educators and business representatives was a national evaluation of cooperative education, planned and funded by the Ford Foundation, and carried out by Wilson and Lyons (1961). The Wilson and Lyons study, in turn, became the catalyst for a rapid expansion of cooperative education in institutions of higher education.
As a result of the 1957 conference, and as ongoing stimulus to expansion, the National Commission for Cooperative Education (NCCE) was established under the direction of Ralph W. Tyler. Through the efforts of NCCE, as well as in response to the turmoil in higher education of the late 1960's and early 1970's, many colleges and universities were attracted to cooperative education. By 1970 the numbers of colleges tripled, as 200+ institutions offered programs of cooperative education. The next growth spurt, in the 1970's, stemmed from the intervention of the federal government. In 1980, according to the Cooperative Education Research Center at Northeastern University, 1,028 programs were in operation-473 (46%) in junior (community or two-year) colleges, and 555 (54 % ) in four-year senior colleges and universities. Approximately 200,000 students were involved in cooperative education.
The median yearly dollar awards under Title IV-D and Title VIII of the Higher Education Act increased each year from 1972 to 1979. Specifically, the increase was from $21,250 in 1972 to $44,566 in 1979 for junior/two-year colleges and from $19,968 to $42,072 for four-year colleges (McMullen 1980). For the five-year period starting in 1974, however, the actual number of grants tended to decrease: in 1979 only 244 institutions of higher education received federal grant support to administer a cooperative education program. Note that this figure does not reflect all schools with cooperative education programs, but only those federally sponsored. Overall, only slightly more than 20 percent of cooperative education institutions were receiving government support in 1979; 8 out of 10 institutions were operating cooperative education programs from their regular budgets, indicating that the federal policy of providing "seed funds" had been successful. As a result of governmental intervention strategies, programs in more than 800 institutions were started, and 90 percent of these institutions report that without federal monies they could not have initiated their cooperative education program (National Commission for Cooperative Education, 1978).
Other data on cooperative education programs also underscores a major concern about many of the programs. While there had been a very dramatic increase in the number of programs, the number of students involved in any one program remained relatively small, except for a handful of institutions, such as Northeastern University and LaGuardia Community College/City University of New York where cooperative education is mandatory. To address this, in 1979 the Department of Education initiated a new category of support under the new Title VIII legislation and regulations. This option gave institutions an expanded opportunity to implement "demonstration" projects of two types: (a) grants for the development and implementation of comprehensive cooperative education projects, and (in FY 1980) (b) grants for special projects to explore the feasibility of new approaches or recommend solutions to special needs or problems encountered in the conduct of cooperative education projects. Under this authority, a comprehensive project grantee receives funds to expand the cooperative education concept throughout an institution, so that all or nearly all academic departments or disciplines and a significant majority of the student population are involved. Starting with the 1979-1980 school year, multi-year grants of up to three years duration have been awarded to a total of three colleges in amounts up to approximately $1 million. The first such comprehensive grant was given to the University of Detroit to establish, in all disciplines, a mandatory undergraduate cooperative education program. Drake University and Truman College (a two-year unit of the Chicago City College system) received comprehensive grants in 1980. In FY 1981, other institutions were added.
In 1981, $23,000,000 was obligated under Title VIII, and dispersed as follows: $13,000,000 to support 232 administrative grants; $9,000,000 for comprehensive demonstration grants; a $1,000,000 total to support 8 training centers and 5 research projects.
As federal legislation stimulated the growth of cooperative education at the postsecondary level, it has had a similar impact on high school programs. Federal interest in vocational education began in 1917 with the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act which provided $7 million annually for the areas of agriculture, trade and industry, home economics, and for teacher training. Cooperative education courses were recognized by the Federal Board of Vocational Education to encourage schools to establish these courses. The greatest growth in cooperative education at the secondary school level occurred in the last fifteen years due in particular to the Vocational Educational Act amendments of 1968. Part G of these amendments defined policies for these new programs (90th Congress, 1968):
... a program of vocational education for persons who, through a cooperative arrangement between school and employers, received instruction, including required academic courses and related vocational instruction by alternation of study and school with a job in ( any) vocational field. The two experiences, related vocational instruction and job, must be planned and supervised by school and employers, so that each contributes to the student's education. Work period and school attendance may be on alternate half days, full days, weeks or other periods of time.
Exact data on cooperative education at the secondary school level are not available. The Secretary of Education estimates that cooperative education enrollments for the school years 1967 to 1979 increased from 178,267 to 536,961 (Report to Congress, undated). Federal support began in 1970 with just over $7 million, increased to $24. 7 million in 1973. It then remained at around $19 million for the next four years. In 1978, federal expenditures fell to just over $11 million and in 1979 no specific authorization was made.
The Targeted Jobs Tax Credit, passed in 1978 as an amendment to the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, is another piece of legislation that positively affected the growth and development of cooperative education. This law provided tax credits to private sector employers who hire high school cooperative education students and was based on three principles: (a) work experience is a way for young people to gain the skills, training, and experience needed to succeed; (b) employment in the private sector offers the best solution for the problems of structural unemployment of youth; and (c) resources should be targeted for those most in need. Under the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit program, employers receive a federal income tax credit equal to 50 percent of the first $6,000 of wages paid to qualified employees in the first year, and 25 percent of the first $6,000 in the second year wages paid to the same employee. It is estimated that since its passage this program has resulted in a very large savings to employers: in the State of New Jersey alone, the savings approximated $27 million as of 1980.
In 1975, the Congress appropriated monies to conduct a nationwide study of cooperative education at the postsecondary level (Frankel; Cohen, Dean, 1978). Some of the key findings from this national assessment are that
Other conclusion drawn from the study are that:
To illustrate the diversity cooperative education engenders, five case studies will be presented: Northeastern University, which has the largest cooperative education program in the world; Fiorello H. LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York, the nation's largest and only mandatory program at the two-year college level; Drake University, which was one of the recipients of the first round of comprehensive demonstration grants; the experience of the State of New Jersey, which has a strong commitment to cooperative education at the secondary school level; and the New York City Board of Education, probably the largest single secondary (or, for that matter, postsecondary) program in the country.
Northeastern University Cooperative education in the United States and, indeed, throughout the world is closely identified with Northeastern University, whose cooperative education program started in 1909, the second institution in the country to adopt cooperative education. Beginning with the College of Engineering over the course of its history, Northeastern University has made cooperative education mandatory in all of its undergraduate programs with the exception of the College of Arts and Sciences, where it is optional. Cooperative education is also offered in the graduate division and in the School of Law. In all, approximately 8500 students are involved in any one year. The program functions with 30 faculty coordinators augmented by counselors, assistants, and interns.
Cooperative education relationships have been established with about 2500 companies. More than half of the cooperative jobs are within close proximity to the university. Students are also encouraged to take placements in other parts of the United States and in other countries. The university has a flexible policy regarding student placements with employers, permitting students, where possible, to have experiences with different organizations. Final responsibility for placement rests with the cooperative education faculty coordinator. The university uses a six-month full-time alternating pattern, with no academic credit provided for the experience. To qualify for the degree, however, students must still successfully complete their cooperative assignment. Students whose performance is not satisfactory are placed on probation or dismissed.
Northeastern University is recognized as a national and international leader in cooperative education. Through its Center for Cooperative Education and Center for Secondary School Work Experience, the university provides consulting services and training workshops for educators. The Cooperative Education Research Center conducts research in the areas of development, expansion, and improvement of cooperative education; it also maintains a clearinghouse of research studies and computerized files of program characteristics.
The Department of Cooperative Education offers a life/ career planning program that is required of freshmen in some programs and can be taken as an elective by upper-class students. This course is intended to prepare students for cooperative education by enabling them to assess their skills and interests, clarify work and personal values, explore careers within their chosen fields, set personal/educational/professional goals, develop job-finding skills and, for upper-class students, learn to use cooperative education as a career-planning tool.
Fiorello H. LaGuardia Community College LaGuardia Community College has pioneered cooperative education as the primary educational strategy for serving non-traditional, inner-city students. This institution, which opened in 1970 with less than 600 students, was established on a mandatory cooperative education basis to include all full-time students in all disciplines. In the first ten years of operation, the college has grown ten-fold, now enrolling more than 6500 full-time students. This growth has occurred in the face of dwindling enrollments at other colleges of the City University of New York.
A demographic study of freshmen in 1978 provides some background concerning the characteristics of the LaGuardia Community College student. The majority of freshmen were under 21 years of age, more than 75 percent belonged to a minority racial or ethnic group, and almost 70 percent were women. About one-fourth of the students were foreign-born, and almost one student in three reported that English was not the primary language spoken at home. The median family income was about $7700 per year, placing students in the lower-income strata of persons residing in New York City. Most working parents of freshmen were employed in blue-collar, service, semi-skilled, or unskilled jobs. The majority of parents had no formal schooling beyond the high school level.
Relatively few freshmen did well in high school and about 80 percent required at least some basic education-skill remediation. Their primary reason for going to college was to improve their economic status. As a community college committed to "comprehensiveness," LaGuardia offers programs that enable students to transfer to senior colleges as well as programs that prepare students for entry into the labor market upon completion of their two-year degree.
At LaGuardia Community College, cooperative education is offered in an alternating format. Although it is mandatory for all full-time students, it is optional for all part-time evening students. For the former, students must successfully complete three three-month cooperative education work experiences for which a total of 9 academic credit units is awarded (Heinemann, 1980).
Over the years, LaGuardia has focused on developing structural linkages between the work and classroom experience. Conceptually, the learning potential inherent in a cooperative education placement is seen as including both the work activity as well as the environment in which the work takes place. An instructional system to integrate the two components has been developed and given the acronym TAR: Teaching of concepts in the classroom, subsequent Application of these concepts while on the cooperative education work assignment, and Reinforcement and Reflection of these concepts by means of an evening seminar taken concurrently with the work experience. Field manuals have been developed by faculty which guide student learning and which include assignments that directly reflect concepts that have been initially taught in classes the student has taken. In effect, the cooperative education experience becomes a field laboratory. The content of the concurrent evening seminar is taken directly from the assignments in the field manual.
Since 1973, data have been collected on the labor market performance of LaGuardia graduates, including their starting salaries. In 1978 and 1980 information on current salaries and job positions of previous graduates was also collected. The data show the graduates are doing well, averaging at least a 10 percent increase in salary each year (Weintraub, 1980). As they progress, graduates are moving into positions of greater authority and responsibility.
LaGuardia Community College also houses an alternative high school on its campus, the Middle College High· School. Its primary mission is to keep in school those youngsters who have been previously identified as probable dropouts. The high school requires one cooperative education experience ( on either a full-time or part-time alternating basis) for each of the three years students attend the Middle College. The Middle College has achieved significant results which its administration believes is, in large part, due to the cooperative education program. Thus, for example, despite a high-risk student population, the average daily attendance rate is about 84 percent, significantly higher than the New York City average. The attrition rate is less than 20 percent--an impressive statistic for a population that has been characterized as probable non-persisters and one that compares very favorably with the citywide rate of 50 percent. Approximately 85 percent of the graduates go on to higher education.
Drake University Drake University is a prestigious liberal arts institution located in Des Moines, Iowa that has been involved with cooperative education since 1975. In 1979 when a decision was made to expand the Department of Cooperative Education by developing a comprehensive program, about 350 students were involved. The University received a $900,000 grant in 1980 to design and implement a demonstration model comprehensive cooperative education program.
With financial support from the federal grant, the University expects to expand the program so that a minimum of 1200 students will be in cooperative education by 1985. At the present, cooperative education has expanded to include the following units of the institution: the Colleges of Business Administration, Education, Fine Arts, Liberal Arts, Pharmacy, and the Schools of Law and of Journalism.
The Vice-president for Academic Administration views cooperative education as a way of providing a meaningful educational alternative for students by affording them first-hand experience on the job as well as in the classroom. The combination is seen as helping students develop basic intellectual, social, occupational and personal skills. The University expects to attract new students and increase retention rates through cooperative education. It will closely monitor the cost effectiveness of the program.
The program is supervised by faculty coordinators representing departments in the various Colleges. A central office is responsible for overall coordination and program administration. Most students are paid for their work experience. When placed in an assignment, learning objectives are developed by the student and faculty coordinator. These objectives are designed to meet individual student needs and are the basis for academic credit. The cooperative education experience is monitored by regular visits to the workplace by the college coordinators and, when possible, also by bi-monthly seminars. Various assessment means are now being designed to measure the students education performance. Those measures being considered include competence scales, traditional examinations, research papers, reading requirements, and logs. An orientation course prepares students for obtaining jobs by giving them practice in interviewing and resume-writing skills.
State of New Jersey Cooperative vocational education in New Jersey is a large, well-established effort to insure that high school students clarify their career goals while obtaining diploma credits through a combination of regularly scheduled part-time paid employment and job-related classroom instruction.
With funds from the New Jersey State Department of Education, cooperative education programs have grown from 272 schools in 1966 (encompassing 5200 students) to 919, currently serving approximately 19,000 students. Students' jobs involve more than 2000 occupational sub-titles in seven basic vocational areas of specialization: agricultural, distributive, health occupations, home economics, office education, industrial education, and work experience/ career exploration. Current student earnings from cooperative education are about $40 million annually.
The New Jersey cooperative education program is supervised by certified teacher-coordinators who are responsible for insuring that the students' employment is legal and educationally sound and does not jeopardize the students' health or well-being. Students work a minimum of 15 hours a week. A written training agreement exists between the high school and the employer and details the responsibilities of the teacher coordinator, the cooperating employer, the student, and the parent or guardian. The agreement requires the employer to be an active partner in training and supervising the student on the job. Moreover, it outlines the experience in which students can be expected to participate and provides for supervisory visits by the teacher-coordinator at least once every two weeks.
Students in cooperative education are required to take a related course designed to foster the competencies needed by all employees, those competencies needed in the student's occupational area, and those that may be peculiar to the specific place of employment. Student performance is graded and students can receive a maximum of 15 credits for the satisfactory completion of the total cooperative vocational education experience.
The New York City Board of Education The New York City program reports that about 12,500 students in 86 of the City's 100 high schools participate in cooperative education. The program offers both alternating and parallel placement options. In the 1979-80 school year, approximately 1,000 companies in the private sector and 35 governmental agencies provided cooperative education jobs at which students earned an aggregate of more than $17 .5 million.
Evaluations show that almost all (95 percent) cooperative education students complete high school-a percentage far above the average for the system. Their completion rate is particularly impressive considering that a significant proportion of students in the program had been identified as probable dropouts. Attendance of cooperative education students is better than 95 percent, again far above the citywide average. Six months after graduation, approximately 94 percent of the New York City's high school cooperative education students were either continuing their schooling at the postsecondary level or were employed in occupations that they explored during the cooperative education program.
The United States of America has 75 years' experience in linking productive work and learning through cooperative education, and a varied set of assessed models on which to base future directions. Undoubtedly, there is greater interest in expanding cooperative education on the part of educators, employers, and students than ever before. Cooperative education holds promise for redirecting education in ways that better meet society's needs today and that help address critical problems that have proven resistant to traditional forms of schooling. Incorporating productive work experiences into the curriculum, whether it be at the secondary or postsecondary level, should not only strengthen the instructional process but should make it more relevant as well-in terms of responding to both needs of the students and those of the nation. Cooperative education has demonstrated that this can be accomplished without sacrificing .the important traditional educational values: rational thought, effective communication, and good interpersonal relations.
The expansion of cooperative education will depend to a great extent on how it is perceived as a strategy for addressing the major concerns of the nation.