Like many countries, Australia has persistent rates of school exclusion, juvenile offending and recidivism. In response, there has been a growth of 'alternative education' provision -- interventions that support young people to engage with learning opportunities outside the conventional education system. While alternative education programs…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that schools assist students with disabilities to develop independent living skills and abilities essential to succeed in most of their life's endeavors. According to the law, each student with a disability must have an individualized education program (IEP), and the IEP must address…

The impact of the No Child Left Behind Legislation has left Career and Technical Education searching for methods and strategies to infuse academics into their curriculum to help students, through a rigorous and integrated educational experience, develop competencies required for higher education and ultimately, work. Unfortunately, there were…

Suggests that given the current weaknesses in empirical bases for specifying competencies and the problems with assessment, the first rule of individuals and groups with power or influence in education would be not to legislate competencies or objectives and not to legislate competency based education. (Author/AM)

A study was conducted to (1) examine and evaluate existing vocational programs at the secondary level and to identify such programs or components of programs which appear to be meeting the needs of the learning disabled and the employer; and (2) share these findings with persons responsible for providing vocational education for learning disabled…

This report documents the main challenges associated with the implementation of the Offenders' Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) and suggestions for overcoming some of these barriers. The evaluation is examining the implementation of OLASS in three development regions, prior to a national roll out in July 2006. Within a flexible framework, the…

This is the third and final report from the evaluation of the new Offenders' Learning and Skills Service (OLASS). The evaluation examined the impact of OLASS on: (1) Assessment of learners; (2) Monitoring procedures; (3) Information, advice and guidance (IAG); (4) On the offender learning/criminal justice workforce on provision for offenders (in…

The Individualized Education Program (IEP) becomes a management tool when it is used to administer programs proactively. The IEP can have an impact upon program effectiveness and student competency development when a systematic process of assessment, goal setting, planning, and evaluation is followed. (SK)

This evaluation of 9 months of the first year of the federally funded Utah Manpower Development and Training Act Skills Center with 89 enrollees examines the program's effectiveness by means of a literature review, personnel interviews, preparation of training program objectives, and the utilization of these objectives as success criteria for the…

An impact analysis of the Vocational Opinion Index Transition System (VOITS) was conducted by studying the first six months of its implementation at a Minneapolis vocational training center. (The VOITS program provides skills training personnel with an early diagnosis of an individual's "Job Readiness Posture" and guidelines for the…

This document presents one in a series of twenty-three case studies derived from in-depth interviews using a sampling of former participants in the Mountain-Plains program, a residential, family-based education program developed to improve the economic potential and lifestyle of selected student families in a six-state area. Each case study…

This document presents one in a series of twenty-three case studies derived from in-depth interviews using a sampling of former participants in the Mountain-Plains program, a residential, family-based education program developed to improve the economic potential and lifestyle of selected student families in a six-state area. Each case study…

The document examines the efforts to consolidate secondary vocational education and special education in Pierce County, Washington. Studies are described for three phases of the consolidation: (1) a determination of vocational education staff input and involvement in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process at the secondary level (data…

Profiles are presented of programs effective in delivering special education services to students in rural areas. Projects are reviewed in terms of title, contact, strategy setting (occupations, income, special education staff, number of special education students), problem, strategy description, potential users, population affected, special…

A study was undertaken to determine the degree of implementation and effectiveness of the individual plan (IP) requirement for secondary school students approved by the Utah State Board of Education. Questionnaires were administered to measure the experiences and attitudes of a stratified random sample of 850 students, 759 parents, and 672…