This paper examines employment and earnings over a four-year period for a group of disadvantaged out-of-school youth who entered the Evaluation of the Center for Employment Training (CET) Replication Sites between 1995 and 1999. It assesses the importance of three key factors as barriers to employment: lack of a high school diploma, having…

The federal policy shift from skills training and toward work first strategies has come about, in part, from a misconception that "training does not work." A more comprehensive look at existing research reveals the documented effectiveness of skills training. A growing number of studies have shown skills training can increase earnings;…

The Annie E. Casey Foundation's Jobs Initiative is a six-city workforce initiative aimed at helping disadvantaged adults earn their way out of poverty. Between 1995 and 2002, the initiative enrolled more than 17,000 adults and placed 8,090 people in jobs. Most Jobs Initiative participants were working 18 months after enrollment in the program, and…

A study conducted qualitative interviews with 12 newly qualified pedagogues from 3 different training colleges in 3 different locations in Denmark. The project was launched because the formerly more specialized training program was being replaced by one standard education program that would be a general education in which students would gain a…

A study assessed the first two years of a three-year initiative to test the potential of extending sectoral employment strategies among 10 organizations, most of which were new to the sectoral employment field. Five organizations increasing low-income workers' access to good jobs were ARCH; PhAME; Training, Inc.; WIRE-Net; and Project QUEST. Five…

These case studies and analytic essays are intended to give the reader a richer understanding of when and how top managers succeed or fail in their efforts to use performance management (PM) systems to improve the functioning of federal, state, and local government in the United States (U.S.). The question mark in the title is intended to remind…

In September 1995, the U.S. Secretary of Education invited seven individuals to take part in a special project to study the problem of Hispanic student dropout. The Secretary's charge to the Hispanic Dropout Project incorporated the goals of increasing public awareness about Hispanic dropout issues; developing policy-relevant recommendations at…

This book looks at the issue of youth unemployment and examines policy responses. Part I considers the youth unemployment problem. Chapter 1 is an overview, covering size of the problem and the close relationship between youth and adult unemployment. Chapter 2 examines youth unemployment characteristics and distribution of unemployment across…

Too many of Britain's workforce lack the skills needed for a knowledge-based economy. To remedy this will require the commitment, in time and resources, of individuals, employers, the education and training infrastructure and the state. Adults with the lowest qualifications have the least access to employer-funded training, especially in small…

Funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this report examines strategies for linking the health and child care systems in an effort to improve poor children's health. Studies show that poor, African American and Latino children have less access to health care and worse health outcomes than middle-class or non-Hispanic white…

To be both fair and effective, student discipline law and policy must balance two separate rights of students: the constitutional right to a public education, and the right to a safe and orderly learning environment. Procedures and laws to protect students from arbitrary and wrongful discipline are necessary, as are procedures and laws to allow…

These three case studies highlight the implementation and impact of Mid South Middle Start by: (1) contributing toward an in-depth understanding of what it means to be a school implementing Middle Start; (2) describing a holistic portrait of the schools' participation in Mid South Middle Start; and (3) assisting the Academy for Educational…

This paper examines the controversial problem of the availability of and access to computers, training, and technology, and the availability of and access to all types of learners. Technologies must be designed with diverse learners in mind in order to fully realize their capacity and contribution to the field of education. If the need for…

The four papers in this document are centered around several themes in education reform: (1) the need to reimagine and recreate strategies; (2) the need to approach familiar obstacles innovatively; (3) the need to utilize all available resources; and (4) and the need to engage in this work cooperatively and with courage and vision. In the first…

This paper, one of a series from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's project "Higher Education and the Economy of the West," surveys the literature on all aspects of the relationship between higher education and the economy, and the teaching, research, and service missions of the academy, with special attention to…