Every child deserves an education that allows the opportunity to achieve his or her dreams. This is the shared belief of The James Irvine Foundation and the Bridgespan Group. Unfortunately, California's education system is failing to provide young people the foundation for success in adulthood. Irvine believes that young people must be offered…

The paper describes the design of an Experience Based Career Education program (EBCE) in West Virginia, a program designed to provide high school juniors and seniors with systematic and coordinated experiential learning. The basic design strategy consists of a matrix that establishes workable relationships among elements of the system design,…

Presented is a sequential, non-graded curriculum for secondary students who have a specific neurological dysfunction which has been designated as "brain-injured syndrome." Following a discussion of the curriculum's philosophy are program outlines for the following areas (sample subsections are in parentheses): career skills development…

Based on pioneering work at a school in Sheffield, England, this book explores the universal issues of access and inclusion in employment and education for children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). It describes the challenges educators faced in establishing and running an integrated resource room for children with ASD within…

As American society has changed from the industrial age to the information age to the knowledge/imagination age, the notion of a comprehensive high school in its originally envisioned form has again become a high priority. If all students are required to obtain a rigorous academic education and an applied education related to a life or work…

The Occupational Survival Skills (OSS) Modules were designed to offer high school students an opportunity to develop skills applicable to a wide range of jobs in the work world and to develop positive attitudes, perceptions, and motivations toward work. The primary purpose of this study was to describe and interpret the influence of the OSS…

Recent educational approaches that have career and technical education (CTE) components have integrated work-based learning (WBL) with traditional academics. Among positive effects of the association between WBL and secondary students' educational outcomes are: (1) increased attendance, (2) decreased dropout rates, (3) increased number of academic…

A process study was conducted between 2000-2001 in order to gauge the progress of 98 Connecticut institutions that received state school-to-career (STC) grants. Progress was measured against national averages. The following were among the findings: (1) grantees made significant progress in implementing fundamental STC components, such as career…

This report contains descriptions of 34 best practices of North Carolina high school/community college Tech Prep (TP) consortia from a 2000 review. All consortia were allowed to choose their best effort or accomplishment completed or in operation at the end of 1999-2000. Among the practices described were: a comprehensive career development…