A growing number of businesses are affiliating themselves with local schools, giving time, money, and professional expertise to improve the educational system. What is the reason for this trend? Business leaders are recognizing that the schools alone cannot solve the complex problems that affect today's children and families. They also are increasingly concerned about the quality of the workforce of the future.
As a way to improve their own employee pool down the road, businesses are actively helping out in the following ways:
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Adopt-a-school plans provide a variety of resources to a specific school in the business's own community.
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Financial and other incentives are given to children for staying in school.
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Investments have been made in teacher-training programs.
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Employees are given time away from work to attend parent-teacher conferences.
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Students are being invited to spend a day at a business in the community to see how it operates.
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During lunch hours, businesses offer parenting and health-related classes to their workers.
- Businesses that hire students as part-time after-school employees are taking greater responsibility for the possible negative effect this work may be having on the students' performance at school.