Susan Imel is retired from Ohio State University. From December 1981 until December 2003, she was the Adult Education Specialist at the ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education and Director from 1987 through 2003. This essay begins with a brief overview of the ERIC system including goals for the clearinghouses, followed by a…

An outgrowth of the educational reform movement is interest in alternative forms of assessment. One response to the call for increased rigor in measuring learner progress has been the suggestion that assessment should be restructured to resemble real life, with learners taking more responsibility for assessing their own progress. Portfolio…

Adolescent pregnancy and childbearing rates remain higher in the United States than in most Western nations; more than 500,000 teenage girls have babies every year. As these teen parents mature, they have diminished educational and career expectations. A small number of programs directed toward the career needs of teenage parents was developed…

Labor market information (LMI) describes the interaction between occupations and employers. Three major components make up LMI: economic or labor force information, occupational information, and demographic information. Various agencies, including federal departments and state employment security agencies, compile LMI. A guide to the information…

In the past, worker displacement resulting from structural changes in the economy remained confined to industrial occupations such as manufacturing. The recent trends toward corporate restructuring, global competition, and military downsizing have created new groups of dislocated workers, including upper and middle management and military…

Individuals who are bored or dissatisfied with their career or are feeling stalled or plateaued in their career, may be suffering from the career doldrums. Although career doldrums may be associated with certain life and career stages (for example, middle age or the stabilization stage of career development), they may also depend on how personally…

Even though the economy is recovering, recession and restructuring have permanently changed the way successful job searchers approach the task of finding employment. Many individuals who have been successful in their job search have adjusted the process to accommodate the recent recession and the continuing restructuring. Informal, external…

School-to-work transition (SWT) programs are comprehensive programs to prepare young people for high-skill, high-wage careers and teach them the basic skills needed to pursue postsecondary education/lifelong learning. Interest in SWT programs has been stimulated by several factors, including declining U.S. competitiveness in the global market, the…

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that educational institutions make all of their programs, services, and activities readily accessible to and usable by learners with disabilities. The ADA also requires that all screening and testing procedures used to evaluate learners with disabilities be fair, accurate, and nondiscriminatory.…

To assist career education and career development practitioners in helping students use occupational information, this Practitioner File begins by discussing the role of occupational information in career decision making. The next section addresses considerations and concerns in using online information such as user proficiency, quality of…

Computer-based career information systems (CCIS) provide local labor market information. Guidance counselors frequently use CCIS in conjunction with clients, but youth and adults also access CCIS independently to obtain career information. The best known CCIS are the state-based career information delivery systems (CIDS). Although developed by a…

Achieving meaningful life work is a process that involves aligning one's work with one's true essence or core self. It is an ongoing process that involves self-reflection to discover the deep passions within and then exploration of how to bring those passions or interests to bear in meaningful ways at work. In response to the need to address the…

Four representative issues affecting the fields of adult, career, and vocational education are examined. These issues revolve around the following questions: (1) What career-related curriculum should be incorporated into the new basics? (2) What contributions can vocational and career education make to reducing the dropout rate? (3) How can…

In an effort to shift the focus of employment programs from unemployment to reemployment, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is funding the development and implementation of a one-stop employment system. The DOL has largely left states free to design their one-stop systems provided programs have these features: (1) universality, (2) customer…

Since the introduction of one-stop employment systems, many states have attempted to merge traditional employment and training services to provide consolidated programs and easier customer access to services. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA), passed in 1998, requires the formation of locally based one-stop service delivery systems to deliver…