Examines the effect of vocational coursework on the labor market success of the High School and Beyond seniors who did not attend college full time. Students taking 4 full-year vocational courses and 8 full-year academic courses in their final 3 years earned substantially more immediately after graduating than students taking 12 academic courses.…

The vocational versus academic education debate has focused primarily on public costs. This article compares both the public and private costs of technical-vocational and upper secondary education in Greece. There the private costs of education are much higher for academic than for vocational education, whereas the public costs are similar. (seven…

Occupational students constitute the majority of enrollments at community colleges. Moreover, over the last 15 years, the ''vocationalization'' of the community college has been one of the most controversial trends in higher education. However, little is known about how the educational experiences of occupational students compare to those of…

Charles Benson's 1992 (posthumous) essay presents a vision of a "new vocationalism" that integrates academic and occupational curricula, combines classroom instruction with work-based learning, and connects secondary with postsecondary education. It explains the rationale, summarizes existing evidence, analyzes obstacles, and discusses…

A new longitudinal study reveals that the negative association between hours worked and grade point average is weaker for high schoolers in cooperative education (co-op) than in "outside" jobs. High school co-op leads to higher wages soon after graduation. However, students who curtail their education to pursue full-time employment could…

Examines labor market outcomes of individuals with various types of postsecondary educational experiences, highlighting differences between students who have pursued technical programs, those who have pursued academic programs and those who have not pursued postsecondary education. Employs a triage model suggesting that employer-employee matches…

Examines individual high school graduates' postsecondary enrollment decisions, focusing on effects of institutional cost and proximity. Estimates a multinomial logit model of enrollment probability, using data from the 1980 High School and Beyond Survey. Improving vocationally oriented youths' financial accessibility to two-year colleges is more…

Using data from three longitudinal surveys of American high school students, shows that vocational courses helped noncollege-bound students start their work life more successfully. Short- and medium-term payoffs to vocational courses rose substantially between 1972 and 1980 and remained high in 1992. Job-specific skills are valuable. (26…