The existing education indicators for performance and achievement fail to provide relevant information about what young adults at the end of education need in terms of skills, and in particular, whether they will be able to play a constructive role as citizens. Does education provide the basic knowledge and skills needed for living an individually…

In spring 1997, Oregon's Regional Workforce Committee commissioned a study to investigate the feasibility of creating a technical and industrial skills training center in Region 12 of the state. Interviews were conducted with 40 individuals from area companies, social service agencies, and training organizations regarding the need for such a…

Both the school-to-work system and youth development theory emphasize preparing youth for adulthood. They share the following characteristics: prevention of problem behaviors, a belief that young people develop by learning actively and in context, a conviction that young people need opportunities to interact with and be respected by adults who…

The School-to-Work Opportunities Act broadens the meaning of curriculum by calling for integrated learning organized into coherent sequences around broadly conceived career majors. Work experience, as well as academic and occupational study, is an assumed element of the integrated school-to-work curriculum. A variety of strategies for curriculum…

This bulletin focuses on the requirement of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 that school-to-work initiatives engage representatives of organized labor in the development, implementation, and governance of a school-to-work system. The first section outlines what organized labor brings to the school-to-work initiative. The next section…

This bulletin highlights strategies to enhance professional development for employers and enable employers to develop structured work-based learning opportunities for employees. The first section highlights these strategies: ensuring top-level support; providing assistance in developing structured work-based learning opportunities; training…

This bulletin begins with a discussion of the role of postsecondary institutions in school-to-work. The following section presents strategies to engage postsecondary institutions in school-to-work: articulation agreements, developing partnerships and systems, coordinated learning, multiple admissions standards, assessment and follow-up, and…

Work force development systems have three primary subsystems: youth development and preparation for employment, adult work force entry, and worker retraining and transition assistance. Programs targeting youth pose one of the greatest challenges to those striving to develop or improve work force development systems. School-to-work will not…

The impact of changes in work organization on development of Portugese workers' skills was examined. At the macro level, a national study was conducted to identify current and possible future relationships among initial training, continuing training, the labor market, and industrial relations in Portugal. At the micro level, cases studies of three…

Education is an important contributor to productivity growth and has a major influence on the standard of living of the U.S. population. Economic productivity depends on human as well as physical capital. This report is the first in a series of indicator reports recommended by the congressionally mandated Special Study Panel on Education…

A study was undertaken to determine the extent to which the California Community Colleges (CCC) helped the state's welfare recipients obtain employment, increase earnings, and decrease welfare dependence. A literature review indicated that, while relatively few studies exist, community colleges do play a role in redistributing resources from…

This booklet is the sixth in a series of profiles of "what works" at high schools in the High Schools That Work program. The first part of the booklet presents the key practices of High Schools That Work and descriptions of 10 schools that have replaced or are in the process of replacing the general track. The second section contains 23…

This qualitative study explored the professional socialization experiences of doctoral students enrolled in the school of education at a public research university with emphasis on the graduate assistantship as a mechanism for doctoral students' professional socialization, and the effect of financial concerns on graduate students' socialization…

In 1986, the Ontario Women's Directorate launched the Change Agent Program to encourage the development of workplace equity programs and to share information and knowledge gained by these programs so that others might benefit from them. This report describes a 20-month pilot project, Education at Work, a joint labor-management initiative between…

This serial issue contains five articles relating to career exploration for middle school youth. The first article makes up most of the publication. It explains the concept of Future Options Education, basic tenets of which are the following: (1) career and college preparatory interventions need to be age and stage appropriate; (2) effective…