Through support of the National Science Foundation's Department Level Reform program, "Engineering Students for the 21st Century" (ES21C) has implemented a ten-course sequence designed to help students develop into engineers. Spread across the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) curriculum at Oklahoma State University, these…

Outlines the external and internal policy context of high school career and technical education (CTE). Analyzes four policy options: (1) traditional sequential occupational courses; (2) elimination in favor of a common academic program; (3) CTE as an applied context for academics; and (4) integrated CTE and academics. Concludes that the integrated…

Provides references related to the most common learning goals mentioned in the eight general education programs described in this volume: civic education, communication, critical thinking, ethics, and international/intercultural education, along with mathematics, science, and technology. Includes a brief discussion of journals dealing with general…

Article discusses the problem of making vocational education viable and considers the challenge of reconciling the status of academic and vocational education. (RK)

The Humanities Project was a 2-year collaboration between the Austin Independent School District (Texas) and the University of Texas at Austin. The primary goals of the project were, first, to provide selected teachers with an opportunity for intensive study in selected works of world literature, and second, to help teachers with the development…

Describes difficulties faced by faculty and administrators at Kentucky's Jefferson Community College in implementing the college's general education program. Highlights issues related to ensuring teaching competency, assessing the program's effects, and maintaining a balance between fidelity to the ideas of general education and accountability for…

Addresses the institutional context, goals, philosophy, external constraints, and assessment implications of the general education program at Piedmont Virginia Community College. Indicates that establishing faculty ownership of the program, anticipating faculty turf battles, making larger external connections, and appropriately restructuring the…

Examines the eight models for general education programming presented in this volume, highlighting patterns found in the articles. Indicates that the programs emphasize communication skills, an appreciation for diversity, technological and mathematical literacy, the development of moral reasoning skills, and the improvement of student critical…

The All Aspects of the Industry (AAI) approach, one of a number of educational reforms designed to reduce the gap between vocational and academic education, provides a framework for schools to redesign their programs around broadly conceived, interdisciplinary, industry-focused programs. With an AAI framework, schools can prepare students for a…

This document contains a performance report, a master plan, objectives, and an evaluation plan for a project in which Valencia Community College (Orlando, Florida) is to facilitate increasing cooperation between vocational and academic departments and move toward integrating vocational and academic courses in high schools and postsecondary…

An evaluation was conducted to describe Tech Prep prototypes as they have been implemented in five sites in Indiana and to determine the effectiveness of the programs. Tech Prep is a curriculum initiative that: is performance based, provides students with skills necessary to gain employment or to pursue further education upon high school…

In accordance with a mandate included in the 1990 amendments to the Perkins Act, a national evaluation of Tech-Prep implementation was conducted. The evaluation had two main objectives: to determine how effectively Tech-Prep is being implemented and to identify useful implementation practices and challenges. Data were collected from the following…

This document contains six studies that were commissioned for the National Assessment of Vocational Education. "Introduction" (Ann M. Milne) provides an overview of the reforms of the 1980s. "The Impact of Educational Reform on Vocational Education" (Marion Asche, Donald E. Elson, Ann Echols, Arthur Williams) examines primary…

In the late 1980s, in response to a number of problems including consistently low academic performance by students and graduates lacking the skills needed by employers, Swansea High School in Swansea, South Carolina, launched a major reform effort designed to transform Swansea into a high-performance high school. During the multi-year reform…

In 1987, Walhalla High School in Walhalla, South Carolina, undertook a major restructuring effort to raise the school's standards and keep pace with the expectations of local high-tech businesses and industry. School and district leaders established an affiliation with the Southern Regional Education Board's High Schools That Work initiative,…