The purpose of this study was to gather the perspectives of community partners regarding the work experiences for youth with disabilities to provide an understanding of (a) the community's role and (b) how connections in rural communities were formed. This study provided a deeper understanding of the processes that influence the phenomenon of…

Nearly four decades have passed since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ensured access to public education for students with disabilities in the United States. During the years following its introduction, there was a growing recognition that helping students, especially students with disabilities, in their transitions from…

Discusses a study undertaken to evaluate the influence of two community learning programs on the adolescent participants. Topics discussed include differences in staff roles in the programs, program characteristics, learning outcomes, and participant attitudes. Findings indicated that, in general, youth liked the community programs and learned a…

The study reports on a data-based work experience model for secondary students with autism. The objectives were to increase competency and independence, provide a variety of experiences to assess skills and preferences, and modify interfering behaviors. Five autistic students, aged 16-20, were sent to community work sites providing a variety of…

This article offers a preliminary report of the first 2 years of a 3-year partnership between a university faculty member and a public middle-school teacher. The partnership was guided by four questions: How does academic service learning transform curricular delivery and the critical identity of teacher as a professional? What is the impact of…

A study examined six cases where job training and economic development had been successfully linked through an interorganizational arrangement. Cases were nominated by U.S. Employment and Training Administration officials, job training and economic development experts, and published reports. The six organizations of primary focus were Pima County…

The State of New York conducted a follow-up study of the 76,000 students who completed an occupational education program in New York in 1987. Students were followed up by mail and telephone interviews, with an overall rate of return of 67 percent. Some of the major findings of the study were the following: (1) for all occupational education…

The document presents a teacher directed work education inservice packet that describes programs developed by the Pima County Developmental Career Guidance Project. Information regarding the project and two of its programs is provided: (1) Work Experience, aimed at providing tenth through twelfth grade students with an opportunity to spend…

This book on evaluating social programs is an outcome of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Evaluation Design Project, which produced a set of 10 guides for the evaluation of state and local JTPA programs. This book distills ideas from these guides and applies them to a larger context. Part 1 presents a general approach to program evaluation…

The report describes Experience-Based Career Education (EBCE) through examination of the concept as practiced at pilot programs in four initial communities. The first chapter discusses the creation of EBCE, identifies four crises to which schools must respond, defines EBCE, and describes program goals and characteristics. The next four chapters…

This case study describes the vocational education system and job training programs, especially those funded through the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act, in an unnamed metropolitan area of California. The data were collected as part of another larger national study of state and local response to the Perkins Act. Information was collected…

This document contains (1) a monograph investigating and describing conditions under which it is cost-beneficial to operate an enriched YCCIP (Youth Community Conservation and Improvement Project) design and (2) a guidebook to work project enrichment. The first sections of the monograph focus on the attributes of an enriched YCCIP activity in…

Designed to review service learning programs which interrelate the world of education, work, and community service and also to consider what contributions the American Council on Education can make in the areas of education, work, and the problems of American youth, this report discusses various service learning programs, both domestic and…

The first part of a larger study of Experience-Based Career Education (EBCE), this report deals with the implementation of EBCE during its first operational year and identifies six major themes which emerged from visits to the four laboratories which developed EBCE and to 10 EBCE pilot sites. The themes, each presented in a different chapter,…

This report surveys the vocational education system, work experience programs, and job training programs for youths in Chicago. The report is organized in five sections. It begins with a brief review of the socioeconomic context that affects youth employment in the city of Chicago. Section 2 examines vocational training in the Chicago public…