In this second annual summary of the their work, the Investing in Community Initiative provides practical advice for community leaders and policymakers around four critical issues. First, how should local needs be defined? Chapter 1 argues that data about local economies can show whether communities are best served by creating new jobs,…

The goal of this American Association of School Administrators (AASA) youth apprenticeship toolkit is to encourage the creation of school and business partnerships as a viable and expansive pathway to success in school, career and work. This toolkit provides resources for secondary and community college administrators to advocate for and build…

Developing a youth apprenticeship in the United States would boost productivity, improve the preparation of youths for the skill demands of a global economy, and simultaneously offer minority youth an avenue into the economic mainstream. Germany's "dual system" of youth apprenticeship could be adopted to form a national skill-building…

The foundations of Iceland's vocational education and training (VET) system were laid in the last quarter of the 19th century and first decades of the 20th century. Many components of Iceland's VET system are based on Danish models. Most development of VET in Iceland occurred in 1966-1990. Iceland's Act of Vocational Education was passed in 1966,…

This book explains the process of designing, developing, and implementing cooperative apprenticeship, a form of structured workplace training in which an employer, employer group, or industry, union or other community-based organization joins forces with a vocational-technical school and/or community college to provide formal instruction that…

Selected papers from an adult education conference are as follows: "Learner Involvement in Literacy Education" (Acton et al.); "Faith in People" (Ambury et al.); "Beginning to Tutor Problem-Based Learning" (Ambury); "Exploring Literacy through Theatre" (Andruske); "Developing Learning Packages for…

A party of vocational educators from the United Kingdom (UK) traveled to the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) to observe current experiments with the first year of apprenticeship training or, as it is called in Germany, the Berufsgrundbildungsjahr (BGJ). During its study, the visiting party focused its attention on the objectives, design,…

The factors responsible for the atypical success experienced by some English further education (FE) colleges were examined through case studies of eight FE colleges that have managed to extend their high-quality vocational education and training (VET) provision in recent years. The 8 colleges were selected from only 56 identified as having…

The new emphasis on welfare reform, self-reliance, and individual accountability and the new time limits imposed by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program have resulted in large numbers of people between the ages of 18 and 24 entering the work force. The three main career options for youth in transition from school to work are…

This document contains 24 papers examining strategies for reforming initial vocational education and training (VET) in Europe. The following papers are included: "Reassessing VET Reform Strategies in a New Context: Implementation of the SPES-NET (Sharpening Post-16 Education Strategies by Horizontal and Vertical Networking) Project"…