Despite staying-in-school longer than any other generation, Canadian youth continue to have high unemployment rates in comparison to the adult population (Heinz and Taylor, 2005) and take longer to make their school-to-work transitions than ever before (Statistics Canada, 2000; HRSDC, 1999). There are a plethora of programs and initiatives in Canada to address school-towork transitions. Provincial governments, intergovernmental bodies (i.e. the Forum of Labour Market Ministers and Council of Ministers of Education, Canada) and federal departments have made reference to this issue in policy position documents, but much research refers to the need for a more consolidated and collective strategy. The entries in WLKC’s school-to-work inventory highlight both the decentralized nature of school-to-work initiatives in Canada and illustrate the breadth and wealth of policies, programs and practices from which to draw upon to hopefully build more cohesive school-to-work strategy in Canada.

Components of Successful School-to-Work Initiatives

In Canada, there is a significant amount of research into school-to-work pathways of youth (see School-Work Transitions Project, Publication List, 1985-2004), but there is less research conducted on what makes for successful of school-to-work initiatives. In the United States, there is more research on programming; perhaps, as a result of long standing legislation on school-to-work transitions called the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, 1994 (STWOA). The STWOA is a federal act that provides money to states and local communities to develop schoolto- work systems. This act has led to the creation of many programs and partnerships and seems to have led to much research on its impact and the success of these initiatives. Morgan Lewis (n.d.) synthesized the research stemming from many of these programs to highlight six characteristics of successful school-to-work initiatives. According to Lewis, successful programs:

1. 1.Are guided by a comprehensive, strategic vision that makes linkages with all key stakeholders;
2. 2. Make special efforts to involve employers in their partnerships;
3. 3. Obtain commitment and support from all partners at all levels of government;
4. 4. Obtain adequate financial support – a variety of different sources have been developed;
5. 5. Give students a strong foundation of career information and an awareness of their own interests, goals and abilities that result from a planned sequence of learning experiences throughout their school years; and
6. 6. Integrate academic learning with occupational learning (Lewis, n.d.).

Beyond these six main characteristics, Lewis suggests that is necessary in school-to-work initiatives to: recruit enough employers who are willing to provide opportunities; provide teachers with the time, resources and support required to connect school-based and workbased learning; inform parents about the objectives of the initiative and counter erroneous perceptions; and, challenge assumptions and foster vocational maturity of high school students (Lewis, n.d.).

A commonly referenced book in US-based research by Kathleen Paris and Sarah Mason, Planning and Implementing Youth Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning (1995) speaks to another common set of key strategies for organizing effective school-to-work transitions programming:

1. 1. Develop an applied and integrated curriculum;
2. 2. Implement classroom-based developmental career guidance;