The purpose of this study was to determine what employers were looking for in recent high school graduates. The study also tried to determine if high schools were currently meeting the needs of employers. A survey was sent to one hundred employers in the Southern New Jersey area asking about the importance of skills taught in high schools. Southern New Jersey is comprised of rural and suburban communities. The most widespread industries in Southern New Jersey are construction and hospitality/gaming. The survey asked questions about the importance of academic skills, social skills, work readiness skills, and higher level thinking skills. Of these surveys, forty-one surveys were returned before the cut off date of March 1, 2002. The major conclusions found from this research were that most employers felt that social skills, such as settling differences with coworkers, and basic skills such as attendance are very important skills for high school students to acquire before graduation. Employers could not agree on the importance of academic skills.
","abstract_html":"<p>The purpose of this study was to determine what employers were looking for in recent high school graduates. The study also tried to determine if high schools were currently meeting the needs of employers. A survey was sent to one hundred employers in the Southern New Jersey area asking about the importance of skills taught in high schools. Southern New Jersey is comprised of rural and suburban communities. The most widespread industries in Southern New Jersey are construction and hospitality/gaming. The survey asked questions about the importance of academic skills, social skills, work readiness skills, and higher level thinking skills. Of these surveys, forty-one surveys were returned before the cut off date of March 1, 2002. The major conclusions found from this research were that most employers felt that social skills, such as settling differences with coworkers, and basic skills such as attendance are very important skills for high school students to acquire before graduation. Employers could not agree on the importance of academic skills.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Armstrong, Christopher"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"M.A. in Educational Leadership","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Educational Services and Leadership","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Sernak, Kathy"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2002,"date_issued":"2002-05-16T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2002-05-16T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:14:25Z","subjects":["High school graduates--Employment; Teenagers--Employment--United States","Educational Leadership"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/1390","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Sernak, Kathy"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Armstrong, Christopher"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-05-11T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Educational Services and Leadership"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.A. in Educational Leadership"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["High school graduates--Employment; Teenagers--Employment--United States","Educational Leadership"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/1390"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The purpose of this study was to determine what employers were looking for in recent high school graduates. The study also tried to determine if high schools were currently meeting the needs of employers. A survey was sent to one hundred employers in the Southern New Jersey area asking about the importance of skills taught in high schools. Southern New Jersey is comprised of rural and suburban communities. The most widespread industries in Southern New Jersey are construction and hospitality/gaming. The survey asked questions about the importance of academic skills, social skills, work readiness skills, and higher level thinking skills. Of these surveys, forty-one surveys were returned before the cut off date of March 1, 2002. The major conclusions found from this research were that most employers felt that social skills, such as settling differences with coworkers, and basic skills such as attendance are very important skills for high school students to acquire before graduation. Employers could not agree on the importance of academic skills.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Understanding the need to transition high school students from school to work"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Sernak, Kathy"],"dc:creator":["Armstrong, Christopher"],"dc:date.available":["2016-05-11T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The purpose of this study was to determine what employers were looking for in recent high school graduates. The study also tried to determine if high schools were currently meeting the needs of employers. A survey was sent to one hundred employers in the Southern New Jersey area asking about the importance of skills taught in high schools. Southern New Jersey is comprised of rural and suburban communities. The most widespread industries in Southern New Jersey are construction and hospitality/gaming. The survey asked questions about the importance of academic skills, social skills, work readiness skills, and higher level thinking skills. Of these surveys, forty-one surveys were returned before the cut off date of March 1, 2002. The major conclusions found from this research were that most employers felt that social skills, such as settling differences with coworkers, and basic skills such as attendance are very important skills for high school students to acquire before graduation. Employers could not agree on the importance of academic skills.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/1390"],"dc:subject":["High school graduates--Employment; Teenagers--Employment--United States","Educational Leadership"],"dc:title":["Understanding the need to transition high school students from school to work"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Educational Services and Leadership"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.A. in Educational Leadership"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:14:25Z"}