Work-Based Learning (WBL) has been at the heart of school-to-work initiatives in the 1990s. Local partnerships funded by the 1994 School-to-Work Opportunities Act are placing high priority on developing WBL opportunities for students. However, there is still controversy about whether work really contributes to students' education, and results of…

A study adopted a sociocultural perspective to examine work-based learning (WBL) in different types of programs in Los Angeles that served similar populations of mostly minority students. The programs were a transportation career academy, a medical magnet high school, and a school-based enterprise. To understand workplaces as learning…

Designed to assist local education agency representatives and prime sponsors of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) programs in initiating and implementing awarding of academic credit for work experience, this report reviews the issues evolving from the Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act of 1977. Three major sections…

Copies of twelve recordkeeping forms are provided in this record book designed for use by vocational agriculture students in a supervised occupational experience program (SOEP). The forms are organized into three sections: (1) receipts and expenditures (money received, money paid out, cash flow, financial statement, and profit and loss statement);…

Research on the effectiveness of career exploration as viewed by 1100 senior high school students involved in Experience-Based Career Education (EBCE) projects in 16 states is reviewed. Results suggest that the learning potential of community experience can be improved in the following six ways: (1) offering challenging work; (2) selecting…

A conference is reported in which experiential education practitioners addressed the utility and acceptability of the policy guidelines for work oriented experiential education developed by a national advisory panel of management, labor, education, and community representatives. The first part of the report contains the full text of the five…

A study was conducted to provide insight into employer participation in Georgia youth apprenticeship programs that offer work experience and learning at the work site. Data were gathered through a survey sent to a random sample of 206 employers, of the 450 employers involved in youth apprenticeship programs in the state. Analysis of the 121…

Many people fail to realize the extensiveness and comprehensiveness of federal and state child labor laws. Although the 1994 School-to-Work Opportunities Act did not detail the legal compliance needed by its state-funded agencies, it clearly indicates that federal and state child labor laws will apply to its employment and employment-related…

One way of revitalizing the liberal arts in community colleges could be through the development of a career program in liberal arts for students planning to enter the work force as entry-level employees in positions that do not require specific vocational skills. The skills required for entry into many careers are those that are also the goals of…

A study tested the claim that work-based learning can have positive effects on academic learning. Data were obtained through interviews with faculty, staff, students, and employers, and observation of classroom-based links to the work-based learning components at three sites involved in a work-based learning project. At the three sites, a total of…

The November 1989 conference described in this document was about social dialogue in vocational education. An introduction summarizes the conference as a whole, pointing out that participants were able to hear reports of the situation in Denmark, Spain, Italy, France, and the European Community as a whole. Summaries of 10 individual presentations…

A comparative case study of education and work programs was conducted from an anthropological frame of reference to determine how each sets up a program culture for learners to achieve program goals. Three variables structured into the original research design of the project were (1) the length of the program; (2) the type of community served, and…

This business education journal contains two articles and three class activities related to teaching business skills relevant to today's economy. The first article, "Skills for a Changing Economy," provides an overview of the skills needed in today's business environment. According to the article, as many as half of recent high school graduates…

Four units of instruction are provided in this curriculum guide designed for vocational agriculture teachers in planning and conducting classes for students with supervised occupational experience (SOE) placement programs. Unit 1 contains three lessons on starting an SOE program. Lesson topics are placement programs to consider, getting started in…

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between the quality of a supervised occupational experience (SOE) program (in terms of income and scope of program) and level of academic achievement on a test measuring technical knowledge in production agriculture. A fifty-item multiple choice achievement test was administered to…