Reexamines Ashenfelter and Krueger's estimates of schooling returns (13%), using three additional years of the same twins survey. Finds a 10% return per year of schooling completed. The within-twin regression estimate of schooling's effect in the log wage is smaller than the cross-sectional estimate. (14 references) (MLH)

Summarizes the literature on twins-based estimations of schooling returns. Examines implications of endogenous determination of which twin goes to school longer and of measuring schooling with error. Twin-based estimation may complement other methodologies, but is vulnerable to the same inconsistency that afflicts conventional cross-sectional…

Reviewed and analyzed findings from transition literature that identified secondary transition outcomes for students with disabilities, focusing on 11 socially valued outcomes. By comparing programming efforts to valued outcomes, the study was able to evaluate the accomplishments and shortcomings over 20 years of intervention research.…

Replicates a U.S. study using Israeli data to refute Hotchkiss's criticism of the authors' earlier study. Confirms that vocational school completers in occupations related to training have higher earnings, although Hotchkiss contends that this results only from being in well-paid occupations. (SK)

Offers statistics on employment placement as reported by PhD-granting English departments in United States universities. Discusses the departments surveyed and number of doctoral recipients reported, their placement in and outside higher education, numbers of PhDs awarded to men and women and their placement, numbers and placements of minorities,…

Traditional counseling assumptions, constructs, and techniques have produced mixed results with minority-group college students, including illusory conclusions and lack of preparation for the world outside college. Culturally relevant strategies to assist minority students in making gainful insights in job preparation and employment are discussed.…

Describes the now widespread community college involvement in contract training, explaining how this involvement arose and analyzing its impact on the community college. Information comes from national data on contract training and from case studies of the forms contract training takes in community colleges in five states servicing five very…

Expansion of higher education in Britain is driven by political expediency, resulting in imbalance between initial and recurrent education. To reach the goal of a learning society, there must be a better distribution between working time and education and recognition of learning as a social activity, not merely a human capital investment. (SK)

Examines recent returns to schooling and vocational and occupational training in OECD countries. Provides estimates of short-cut, Mincer-type, and internal rates of return to schooling and alternative estimates of returns to formal and informal post-school training investments. High-return countries include Austria, Canada, France, Mexico,…

Three central Minnesota school districts, the Chamber of Commerce, business representatives, and public service organizations decided to help teachers translate workplace expectations into school lessons. The result was the "Relevance Counts Institute," which shows teachers specific occupational skills one day and employee applications…

The Hollywood High School mentoring program was developed as part of its career academy to serve students coming home to empty houses. The program provides each qualified student with a caring adult from the community, introduces students to the workplace, and provides cultural and educational activities. Most students surveyed improved their work…

Looks at trends in vocational coursetaking among high school students, examining these trends in the light of labor market changes. Data from two High School Transcript studies show that the decline in vocational coursetaking from 1982 to 1998 is relatively small compared to increases in academic coursetaking. The decline was due primarily to…

Discusses the historical context of the relationship between liberal study and professional specialization in higher education. Describes the emergence of three different university missions during the 19th century (utilitarian, research, liberal arts), shifting emphases during the 20th century, the current diversity in undergraduate education,…

Discusses economic realities for liberal arts educators to consider: the knowledge economy requires skills learned through liberal education; despite advantages, liberal arts bachelor's degrees don't lead to the best entry-level jobs; when liberal education leads to graduate or professional school, success is guaranteed; and under-investment in…

Analyzed early career outcomes of recent Canadian college graduates by discipline. Found that many outcomes conform to expectations: the professions and other applied disciplines generally experienced lower unemployment rates, closer skill and qualification matches, and higher earnings; however, fine arts and humanities graduates are more…