For the past 20 years, researchers worldwide have shared a consensus that tracking leads to failure in school. But educational systems continue to use this practice for many reasons. One argument used to support the practice is that students who enter the vocational track early in their careers tend to enter the labour market more quickly. Data…

In the past, worker displacement resulting from structural changes in the economy remained confined to industrial occupations such as manufacturing. The recent trends toward corporate restructuring, global competition, and military downsizing have created new groups of dislocated workers, including upper and middle management and military…

Although plant closings and layoffs have been happening for a long time, today's recessions, major changes in the structure of the economy, and a tight job market have combined to make plant closings a more serious problem. Workers are faced with unemployment from both traditional labor-displacing changes, such as the increasing use of robotics;…

This summary of a conference proceedings presents the main points and questions of a 1-day conference held to explore research and policy issues arising from the report of the Panel on Technology and Employment, "Technology and Employment: Innovation and Growth in the U.S. Economy." The meeting brought together more than 100 persons from…

A research project was conducted to assess public attitudes and awareness of workforce training and education issues, with an emphasis on school-to-work transition. The survey was designed to form a baseline against which to measure changes over time in public attitudes and awareness. Data for the research were gathered through executive…

A study assessed the attitudes of 702 Washington State employers toward vocational education at the secondary and postsecondary levels. The majority of respondents perceived community colleges and vocational-technical institutes, but not public high schools, to be doing a very good job of preparing students for job and careers. Over 90 percent…

This compilation is intended to assist the general public in gaining a further understanding of the work of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources to provide legislative assistance to Americans who are economically disadvantaged or structurally unemployed. The texts of the following pieces of federal legislation are included: the Job Training…

A study was conducted in Illinois to determine how effectively the vocational education system was meeting its responsibilities to train, retrain, and upgrade employed and unemployed workers in new skills for which there is a demand in the state, under the terms of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act of 1984. Responses were received from…

New corporate practices and strategies, technological advances and rising job skill requirements are making postsecondary training a virtual necessity for a high-paying job. This is driving a wedge between the earnings of education "haves" and "have nots." Corporate restructuring is eliminating hundreds of thousands of jobs,…

Today, this country is facing awesome challenges. Technology is changing all aspects of life, while work force requirements shift rapidly, swelling the numbers of workers who need to be retrained. At the same time, information technologies are creating changes in the automated office. Higher-level literacy is required for most workers in this…

These eight case studies illustrate the capacity of United Kingdom Colleges of Further Education to respond effectively to training needs of local industry and commerce. Case 1 demonstrates shifts across a range of local authority colleges towards provision in the new information technologies and the service industries. Case 2 illustrates a…

This document, a transcript of a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on a Reagan Administration proposal, discusses consolidation of existing federal vocational and adult education programs, simplification of requirements for states and other recipients participating in federal vocational and adult education programs, authorization of…

To assess the effectiveness of the Trade Adjustment Assistance and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Transitional Adjustment Assistance programs, the General Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed available Department of Labor program data and surveyed 20 states representing about 76% of all workers certified under the two programs in fiscal…

The New Economy Work (NEW) Scholarship is a proposed scholarship designed to reform federal training programs and to make them universally accessible to dislocated or disadvantaged workers. NEW Scholarships would accomplish the following things: (1) make access to training for dislocated workers as universally available as access to college; (2)…

Demographic, social, and economic factors are shaping the future environment and clientele of California's adult education system. Continued population growth means adult education will have to serve larger populations. Direct implications of increasing ethnic and racial pluralism are demands for more flexible delivery systems that accommodate…