This final brief in the series focuses on policy options that can foster more innovation and address challenges in career education (CE) program development. It is based on earlier research for a series of reports called "Career Opportunities," aimed at identifying ways that state and system policy can best support the CE mission of the…

To address the education and training needs of the current and emerging work force, states must take leadership in developing partnerships between adult educators, community-based organizations, and the private sector. Other strategies include special training funds, resources for high demand occupations, entrepreneurship training, and tax credits…

Describes the role of South Dakota's governor in initiating technology plans for schools that would promote distance education. Discusses a conclave of leaders in technology and distance education that addressed the successful implementation of the Digital Dakota Network, a statewide intranet developed to help students, empower the workforce, and…

This publication contains summaries of six papers presented at a conference on community and policy strategies for Latinos in Massachusetts. Each summary follows an executive summary format by briefly describing the project or argument and highlighting and summarizing major findings or recommendations. The papers are as follows: (1) "An…

This document explores the application of the community education process to restructuring activities at both the state and local level. The monograph contains the following papers: "In the Forefront of Restructuring" (Larry Decker, Valerie Romney); "Building Learning Communities: Realities of Educational Restructuring" (Larry…

This document is the 1996 update to a 1994 Comprehensive Plan for Workforce Training and Education in Washington State. The plan focuses on collective actions that public and private sector partners need to take to have the best work force development system in the nation. The plan details how jobs are increasingly demanding higher-level skills,…

This document records the oral and written testimony of witnesses at a U.S. Senate hearing on education, small business, and the economy. During the hearing, representatives of the public schools, vocational and technical training, and community colleges, as well as representatives of large and small businesses and persons involved in linking…

This report highlights the Washington State work force training system's initiatives from July 1995 to June 1996 in the following areas: Performance Management and Accountability, School-to-Work Transition, competency-based education, linking training with economic development, public awareness, and one-stop career center system/collection of…

Three evaluations analyzed program characteristics and participant results in work force education and coordination in Washington State. The Employment Security Department's evaluation of Job Training Partnership Act Titles II and III looked for an association between participant characteristics and the type of training they receive and between…

Resources available to Arizona through the School-to-Work Opportunities Act will not be concentrated in rural communities, although their educational and economic development needs are proportionately greater. Absent from education reform bills pending in the Arizona House and Senate is any reference to school-to-work transition or any explicit…

Establishment of a national-state system of world-class occupational skill standards is a first step in restructuring adult vocational-technical education and job training programs. Occupational skills standards provide the necessary foundation for addressing three major state policy issues: the state's proper role in private work-based training,…

Battelle Memorial Institute conducted outcome, net impact, and cost-benefit evaluations of six workforce training programs in Washington State for occupations that do not require a bachelor's degree: postsecondary workforce training at community and technical colleges; adult basic skills education at community and technical colleges; Job Training…

This study analyzes the gaps between supply and demand for workforce training in Washington State and recommends strategies for reducing the gaps. Using data from state and national surveys, supply and demand is analyzed in three categories: youth, adults, and adults with barriers to employment, from the perspectives of both employers and…

In 1997, 78,644 Alaskans participated in vocational education (VE) in a public secondary school or university. Enrollments in secondary- and postsecondary-level VE were approximately equal. At the secondary level, 57% of vocational students were male. Alaskan natives accounted for only 15% of the total vocational enrollment at the postsecondary…

The New York State Board of Regents conducted a formal review of the long-range goals and policy directions for vocational rehabilitative services to disabled youth and adults in New York. The first phase of the review consisted of an examination of major pieces of vocational and special education legislation, current federal and state economic…