To cut costs, some administrators are contracting with the private sector for such services as pupil transportation, facilities maintenance, and cafeteria operations. Proponents of competitive contracting assert that it can provide public schools with the kind of expertise, flexibility, and cost efficiencies not always available with inhouse…

This study examines the attitudes of Asian-born scholars and scientists who have settled in the United States and their role in the international scientific and educational community. It is based on interviews with 46 scientists and scholars born in China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Nine chapters focus on: (1) Asian scholars…

The primary aim of human-resource-development systems in companies is to improve organizational performance through satisfying the development needs of individual employees. This paper presents findings of a study that looked at how human-resource-development systems worked in practice, in particular, how performance management, selection,…

Four videocassettes provide the presentations and discussion of four panels from a 1994 summit on the nation's responsibility in relation to individuals with learning disabilities. Each panel examined issues of research, public policy and legislation, good practices, and consumer interest within its area of concentration. The first panel was on…

Governments have traditionally left the plight of street children and working children, who by some counts number over 100 million, to individuals and nongovernmental organizations, including many religious organizations. As a result, there are a multitude of small, uncoordinated, but highly effective projects throughout the world concentrated in…

A Manitoba survey examined child care use, child safety concerns, and parents' on-farm and off-farm work to determine the needs of farm families for child care services. Of 972 questionnaires mailed to Manitoba farm residences, 121 were returned by respondents who were actively farming and living on a farm with at least one child younger than 16…

This study examined the characteristics of dislocated workers' wage profiles upon reemployment. In particular, it related these profiles to the model developed by Mincer and Ofek (1982). An inference from this model was that workers recovered wage losses relatively rapidly. Explanations for a steeply sloped reentry wage profile were as follows:…

Designed to identify the effects of federal and state legislation on community colleges and, specifically, on Florida Community College at Jacksonville (FCCJ), this two-part paper provides a summary of provisions of House Resolution (HR) 1617, a bill to reform the nation's workforce and career training efforts, as well as a review of the 1996…

A study examined attitudes of Irish employers toward vocational training (VT) activities, state agencies responsible for administering VT, and the skills that employees would need in the future. Of a sample of 500 firms that were selected as being representative from the standpoints of size, sector, location, and form of ownership, 219 were…

Manitoba, Canada, workplace stakeholder groups were interviewed to determine the issues they faced and their awareness of, and ability to deal with, workplace basic skills issues. Interviews collected the opinions of 78 employer representatives, 121 employees, and 5 union representatives in the 6 emerging economic sectors of health care products,…

The last 2 decades of the 20th century have witnessed a growing movement to reform the American education system. While people debate why and how reform should be accomplished new initiatives are being developed and applied in many different areas: student performance standards, curricular innovation, assessment, accountability, professional…

This plan describes the contract training and technical assistance services provided by Wisconsin's Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) to area employers, focusing on the status of the services and ways to improve delivery for the July 1995 to June 1997 period. Following an executive summary, the second section focuses on contract services…

These four papers are from a symposium that was facilitated by Laura Bierema at the 1995 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (HRD). "The Status of Valuing and Managing Diversity in Fortune 500 Manufacturing and Fortune 500 Service Organizations: Perceptions of Top Human Resource Professionals" (Sandra J. Johnson) reports a…

A study was conducted to explore skills and work-related dispositions in technical work. It used a sociocultural approach to examine skills in seven target jobs in worksites representing diverse industries--health care, traffic management, transportation, and semiconductor manufacturing. It explored employers' strategies for obtaining the skills…

A study examined the structure of the food and beverages sector of Luxembourg, the continuing vocational training opportunities available, future training requirements, and the issues arising. It found that the food/beverages sector was relatively small and a traditional source of employment that was maintaining its craft character but developing…