Lake City Community College in Lake City, Florida, offers an array of services for single parents and displaced homemakers residing in a five-county rural area. The project emphasizes rural upward mobility through a team effort by staff of Florida's departments of continuing education and vocational training. The project staff includes four…

The Polk County School Board Single Parent/Homemaker Program was a multiagency effort designed to meet the psychological and educational needs of single parents and displaced homemakers who lack marketable skills. The program offered immediate support to clients who were in need of information and referrals; workshop sessions on personal…

This monograph describes and evaluates state initiatives dealing with displaced workers. These initiatives include the provision of programs to retain jobs and encourage economic development, as well as reemployment assistance provided directly to workers in the form of retraining programs and job search workshops. The focus is on more innovative…

Private sector training is a primary force in education in the United States for a number of reasons: (1) the sheer amount of such training makes it a major factor; (2) this training has a significant impact on the nation's productivity and competitiveness; (3) it plays a major role in creating innovative and cost-effective solutions to training…

The 18 papers presented at the conference reported in this document are grouped into four major sections. The first section, on the nature of open learning, includes "How Open Is Open Learning?" (H. Temple); "Open Learning and Community" (I. Cunningham); "Are We Really Open--With Our Learners and Ourselves?" (W. J. K.…

This paper describes the Community Transition Center (CTC) model, being tested in six districts in rural Wisconsin. The model is a way of conceptualizing and organizing the employment-related needs of mainstreamed mildly handicapped youths who are exiting secondary schools. The model emphasizes the role of secondary school transition programming,…

A globally competitive Mississippi must be built through investment in the education, training, and skills of its people. Recommendations for improving the system involve (1) a human resource and economic development strategy built on a partnership between the state and communities and (2) a state-level human capital strategy board. Critical…

Project BEST (Building Energy Systems Technology), a bilingual vocational training program, operated at Oakton Community College between March 1986 and September 1987. The purpose of the project was to provide 60 limited English proficient (LEP) Hispanic and Polish adults with sufficient vocational skills, English language skills, and appropriate…

A German Marshall Fund tour of education and training systems in Denmark, Sweden, and West Germany generated ideas that Oregon could use to evaluate and improve its own educational systems and programs. Four principles define the European model: (1) government policy and programs promote employment; (2) business and labor are powerful partners in…

This guide was developed to provide local policymakers and program managers with an approach for using performance standards as a tool for reviewing and improving performance of Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) programs at the local level. The guide is keyed to the Program Year (PY) 1990 U.S. Department of Labor adjustment methodology for…

This packet contains handbooks for vocational education teachers/counselors and for employers, outlining the Douglas County (Oregon) Business and Industry Internship Program. The employer packet describes the internship program, explains the payment plan, describes the application and site identification process, provides a list of suggestions for…

The U.S. economy is undergoing a transition that may rival the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution. The general directions are clear: an ever smaller share of the nation's work force is employed in the manufacturing sector; service sector industries are the source of most new jobs; and some "high tech" industries have had explosive…

Increasing concerns about the skill level of U.S. workers are driven by demographics, technological change, and international competition. Greater percentages of the labor force will be comprised of those groups that have traditionally faced the greatest barriers to full participation in the labor force. Rapid technological change is increasing…

This study examines the state of foreign language training provided to industry by British colleges, offers guidelines on how colleges should respond to that market, and identifies created materials that will train college personnel. The study reports that the colleges have a good product to offer but that it is inaccessible to industry because of…

This book investigates how workers use computers and how they learn the needed skills, based on a study of 140 occupations in which computers are currently used. Its main finding is that relatively few workers need a lot of computer-related training. Chapter 1, the introduction, discusses the rapid growth and spread of computers across a wide…