A survey conducted in 1982 sought information on teacher education for the middle level schools. Responses to the survey from schools of education indicated that teacher preparation programs have not kept pace with the growing number of teachers needed, and the predominant emphasis in available programs has been at the undergraduate level. This…

The author states that vocational education leaders must face three kinds of decisions: (1) fundamental reexamination of the design and structure of the educational system; (2) whether or not vocational and nonvocational education should be co-mingled at the secondary and postsecondary levels; and (3) updating and upgrading of the school-based…

With the decline of manufacturing, industry faces the layoff of many low-skilled workers and a shortage of skilled workers. To fill the gap, workers will need more skills, often those not taught in schools. Language minority individuals are most affected by these changes. The situation has brought a new political focus on the role of vocational…

A policy analysis examined existing school-to-work transition programs in order to identify and evaluate the arguments for a national initiative to provide school-to-work transition services to high school seniors who are poorly equipped to obtain and retain jobs after graduation. To gather data for the study, the researchers conducted a…

Research conducted during the Youth Research and Technical Assistance project established that the process of designing effective job training/employment programs for at-risk youth can be framed in terms of the following broad themes: focusing on youth as youth by developing program designs that are appropriate for their age and level of…

This guide is intended to give the reader an understanding of the processes used and programs developed in the Boston School/Business Partnership Program. Chapter 1 discusses the rationale for partnership, including such topics as Boston's initiative to use business resources to upgrade educational curriculum, underlying principles, and one-to-one…

Guidance and vocational education personnel have continued to play key roles in responding to individual and societal needs that have arisen as a result of the occupational, social, and economic changes occurring over the last 80 years. Guidance programs serve as the link between providing occupational training and employment readiness for the…

This paper explains how worldwide economic, social, and technological changes are necessitating changes in the way vocational education is delivered. Vocational programs are encountering a whole new range of clients, including the following: people who are functionally illiterate, physically challenged, or long-term unemployed; out-of-work youth;…

One of six introductory modules in a 22-module series designed to train vocational education curriculum specialists (VECS), this guide is intended for use by both instructor and student in a variety of education environments, including independent study, team teaching, seminars, and workshops, as well as in more conventional classroom settings.…

The 14 Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA)-funded youth employment programs to which the Academy for Educational Development (AED) has delivered technical assistance for the past 5 years illustrate several important conditions for effective programming and "best practices" in the field of youth employment and training. Four of the JTPA…

Two sets of research findings are available that may provide a sound base for conducting vocational education research leading to systematic program improvement and to the attainment of excellence in education. The first is effective schooling research and the second concerns principles used by successful businesses in the United States. An…

Several decades of studies evaluating youth employment programs funded through the nation's second-chance system have demonstrated the shortcomings of programs that concentrate on work experience alone and try to reverse years of inadequate education, discrimination, and alienation in a few weeks or months. The School-to-Work Opportunities Act…

The booklet provides a general guide for the implementation of career education, presenting a sample inservice teacher course of study and a guidance career education course for grades 9-12. Part 1 deals with program implementation, discusses books, films, and statistical data useful in demonstrating to school superintendents and boards of…

SERVE offers a series of publications entitled "Hot Topics," research-based documents which focus on relevant issues of the day that are important in the region. This document, the first in a series of publications, is a practical guidebook to designing and developing youth apprenticeship programs to prepare noncollege-bound high school…

Despite the fact that, of all the 50 states, Utah has the highest percentage of state and local government expenditures for education and the highest proportion of adults who have graduated from high school, one out of every five adults in Utah lacks basic literacy skills. At present, the following adult literacy programs offer instruction in…