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…

Data from the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey were analyzed in a study of the relationship between literacy skill levels and dependency on welfare. The study focused on the following: literacy levels in the welfare population and in different demographic groups, the relationship between educational attainment and literacy and labor force…

This guide for high school-age students with mild disabilities encourages students to be involved in planning their future. Students complete exercises that promote their involvement in transition planning and help them start thinking about decisions for the future. Consideration is given to: the student's dreams for the future, supports for the…

College students are continuously engaged in attempting to successfully pass courses, fulfill degree requirements, and plan for their future careers. Career counselors who work in a collegiate setting, are often faced with situations where students are unable to pass their courses; are undecided about which major to pursue; or are uncertain about…

An annual study of physical science graduate students' background characteristics and degree recipients' employment outcomes was conducted for 1994. Surveys were mailed to about 13,000 graduate physics students and 6,800 were returned. Highlights include the following: (1) most U.S. citizens take an average of 6.5 years to complete a doctoral…

Efforts to link schools and workplaces in Australia, Sweden, and elsewhere were examined to identify preconditions and effective strategies for linking school to work in Australia. An Australian program that combines applied, contextualized learning structured according to industry standards with students' general education was shown to produce…

This guide is intended as a resource for implementing cooperative education skills standards certificate programs in Wisconsin under the School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWOA). Section 1 is an introduction/program overview in which information is provided on the objectives of cooperative education, program design, program eligibility, and…

The U.S. educational system and U.S. business share common problems of shrinking budgets, rapidly shifting demographics, and changes in their structure and missions. Meeting on common ground, pooling shrinking resources, and creating smooth transitions from school to work are critical issues. Creating, nurturing, and sustaining effective…

The international advisory committee of the International Project on Technical and Vocational Education (UNEVOC) held its second session in Paris in December 1994. Nine advisory committee members and observers from the United Nations' specialized, intergovernmental, and nongovernmental organizations reviewed the major UNEVOC project activities…

The deep economic and social problems associated with the Russian Federation's move to a market economy have extended to Vocational Education (VE). Nearly 50% of 1994's VE graduates could not get a job, and Russia's new constitution has thrown vocational schools into the market without any state support, thereby forcing many schools to become…

This study examined processes and strategies utilized by states to implement transition policies designed to facilitate coordination of the state-level service delivery systems of special education, vocational education, and vocational rehabilitation. The study used a model involving four policy instruments: mandates, inducements, capacity…

This proceedings contains an invited paper--"Employers Expectations of Graduates: Implications for Schools" (Henry A. Peel) and nine refereed papers from a conference on vocational education research. The refereed papers are the following: "Producing Knowledge in Career-Oriented Programs: Students' Perspectives on School Experiences" (Victor A.…

The employment records of a large northeastern manufacturing plant were analyzed to test the opportunity for career advancement within a large-scale industrial establishment. The employment records analyzed covered the years 1921 through 1937 and more than 28,000 different employees (male and female). The company was selected as being…

This paper reviews issues in fostering closer connections between higher education and the workplace and summarizes results of a 1995 survey of 404 New Jersey employers concerning the knowledge, skills, and abilities that New Jersey employers expect from higher education graduates and their suggestions for improving college-based workforce…

Using data from a 1994 national survey of student charges (tuition and fees) at state colleges and universities, this document looks at increases, their impacts, paying for college, and the benefits of college education. In a question and answer format the opening section provides information on recent college cost figures for 4-year institutions,…