The 1990 Perkins Amendments and the 1994 School-to-Work Opportunities Act encouraged high schools and community colleges to combine academic with vocational curriculum in a program that includes work-related applications and creates clearer pathways from secondary to postsecondary education. To ensure the readiness of educators, institutions that…

To remain competitive in world markets, the United States must boost the skills of its work force. Two attractive school-to-work approaches are apprenticeships (based on European examples) and high school academies promoting specialization in financial services and other fields. A sidebar discusses the growing momentum for building state workplace…

This publication provides educators, policymakers, and researchers with vocational education data through 1992. It begins with text and figures covering these key questions: what is vocational education? how widespread is vocational education participation? what types of vocational education do students take? to what extent do students with…

The Annual Performance Report submitted by each state to the Office of Vocational and Adult Education was used to monitor what states have developed and how and to what extent states have implemented their accountability system. The following findings of this analysis are synthesized in this report: (1) 32 states require evaluation of all programs…

In North Dakota, a statewide assessment was made of compliance with Public Law 101-392 (the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act) through questionnaires completed by 171 secondary school administrators (representing 77 percent of the 211 secondary schools in North Dakota), in 1991. The assessment showed that secondary…

The vocational education programs offered in Michigan's juvenile corrections institutions were reviewed. Information was collected from the following sources: review of student outcomes; student and teacher surveys; and team reviews and surveys of students at two residential training schools for juveniles (Maxley and Adrian training schools); site…

Congress is working to complete legislation to create block grant funding for work force development. Nearly 100 vocational education, job training, adult education, and other work force education programs that previously were separately funded will compete for the reduced funding available. The Carl D. Perkins Act of 1990 and School-to-Work…

Six papers address issues in the transition of students with disabilities into the adult world of work. The first paper by Richard Ashcroft and titled "Attachment and Transition for Troubled Youth," reviews the literature on attachment, transition, social skills, and troubled youth and school, and offers a transition strategy which…

This report provides a summary of the activities of vocational education programs in Iowa in Fiscal Year 1997, especially in regard to the use of federal funds. The following 11 sections cover the main components of the state's vocational education program: (1) use of Perkins' funds; (2) vocational education goals and performance standards; (3)…

This report provides a review and summary of the activities of vocational education programs in Iowa in Fiscal Year 1995-96, especially in regard to the use of federal funds under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act. Funds distributed through the act were awarded in Iowa in the following titles: Title…

In North Carolina, work force development education (WDE) begins in grade 6 with exploratory courses and leads to specialized classroom instruction in grades 11 and 12. Since 1992-1993, North Carolina's WDE programs have been evaluated with respect to eight long-range performance standards. Only in the case of standard 1 (all students will have…

Assessing students for workplace readiness requires that schools know what skills and knowledge students need to succeed at work and how to foster their acquisition. Having seen that the educational systems of global competitors provided them with a significant advantage over the United States, policymakers have attempted to address some…

During the 1997-98 fiscal year, the New York State Middle School Guidance and Career Development Cadres continued to be funded under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act. Twenty career cadres formed by each Tech Prep Consortium continued training middle school staff in career development principles. These career cadre projects…

This report presents the opinions of the public on aspects of vocational and technical education in Minnesota as expressed in two public hearings. The report begins with an introduction that states the purpose of the public hearings and describes the format of the two meetings--one in the Twin Cities and one in Duluth. The following section is a…

If educators, policymakers, and school administrators Employment Policy's current project on at-risk youth aged 9 to 15 school, graduate, and enjoy learning. Unfortunately, the current policy on education is targeted to young people who go on to college. Another fundamental problem with schools is that the school curriculum has become disconnected…