Quality system awards offer blueprints for assessing quality in vocational education as well as in business and industry. The three most prestigious awards recognizing quality improvement in business and industry are the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award, Deming Application Prize, and ISO 9000 Registration. When comparing standards for the quality…

In the past, employer-provided, job-specific training for new employees and continuing education for those who wished to advance in their jobs were often sufficient to keep abreast of technological changes. This is no longer the case, however. The substantial monetary and time expenditures associated with retraining programs that are begun only…

Mastery of literacy skills may be a preventive and proactive way to address the problem of the high cost of imprisonment and the huge increase in the prison population. However, correctional educators contend with multiple problems in delivering literacy programs to inmates. Findings of the National Adult Literacy Survey indicate that, of the 5…

In 1991, a study was conducted at Riverside City College (RCC), in California, to determine the development of science reasoning among students. A science reasoning test was administered at the beginning and again at the end of fall 1991 to two samples: a college-wide sample of 843 students enrolled in one of 55 courses, and a science-oriented…

Many older workers in Canada today are perplexed and dismayed by the swift and dramatic changes occurring in the workplace. Plant closures, downsizings, restructuring, new technologies, international trade agreements, ecological concerns, and changing demographics have affected the Canadian workforce, particularly workers in their forties and…

This digest reviews the role of community colleges in delivering remedial education. With demand for remediation increasing, community colleges are under pressure to provide, with very limited financial resources, the bulk of developmental courses for students. In finding effective solutions to this dilemma, policy makers should consider a broad…

Educators are considering ways to help youth identified as "at-risk" succeed in school and beyond. Alternative programs (AP) can be effective environments for students who may not fit the mainstream mold and need additional support. Effective AP use a holistic approach that encompasses social, academic, psychological and career-related…

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…