Discusses issues such as reforming the academic-vocational dichotomy of schooling in the context of the history of vocational education and Dewey's perspective of integrated education through the occupations. Also illustrates the concepts presented through promising whole-school reform designs for democratizing the public education system.…

Data from 7,179 graduates of high schools that sent students to Altoona Vocational Technical School (AVTS) and 962 responses to a questionnaire provided information about enrollment trends, vocational credits, postsecondary experience, and work experience. (SK)

To make the junior high/middle school curriculum more responsive to early adolescents, Illinois teachers evolved the ACT curriculum. Its three missions are applied academics, career exploration, and technological literacy, organized around themes relevant to the lives of young people. (SK)

Explores the social circumstances of academic writing. Looks at student and professional academic writers and readers as participants in a complex literary genre, with its own conventions, ideological assumptions, and epistemological implications. Argues that academics must become cultural critics. (RAE)

Findings of this study (n=2,500) revealed that student attitudes toward academic coursework were highly positive regardless of school quality, but to a large extent were significantly more positive in schools of lesser quality. The paths that lead to student attitudes also were different in schools of unlike quality. (JD)

Provides references related to the most common learning goals mentioned in the eight general education programs described in this volume: civic education, communication, critical thinking, ethics, and international/intercultural education, along with mathematics, science, and technology. Includes a brief discussion of journals dealing with general…

Since December 1992, the Capac (Michigan) Community School District has adopted zero-based budgeting for 40% of its budget. Instead of building on the previous year's budget, the superintendent requires every staff member and school to justify projected expenditures based on contributions to future educational goals. Academic programs benefit.…

The workplace demands both theoretical knowledge and practical experience. Employer-educator partnerships should focus on workplace skill requirements, give real work experience reinforced through classwork, and provide realistic career awareness activities that eliminate preconceptions and misconceptions about jobs. (SK)

Reading skills of Norview (Virginia) High School students were improved by establishing computer-equipped reading labs and preparing English, math, science, and vocational teachers to teach reading across the curriculum. Strategies included using prior knowledge of a subject, discussion, group reading projects, and paraphrasing. (SK)

Includes "A National Report Card for Vo-Tech. Excerpts from NAVE--the Federal Government's National Assessment of Vocational Education"; "The Path to a New Perkins Act" (Plawin); and "Good Intentions Gone Bad? NAVE Didn't Mean for Skill Training to Be Removed from High Schools. Doing So Would Be a Terrible Mistake"…

This panel discussion from the American Vocational Association Convention covers definition of school-to-work transition; its implications for curricula and delivery systems; role of government, business, and industry; and how to change parental attitudes and expectations for their children. (SK)

High school is an inescapably vocational institution whose occupational focus is largely hidden. Integration of vocational and academic education through academies, occupationally focused schools, and occupational clusters may eliminate "shopping mall" course selections, improve teaching of all subjects, enhance student engagement with learning,…

The relationship between the history of the student and contemporary student life is explored, and enduring patterns are identified in three areas: the social origins of students; student culture and activism; and the perceived academic quality of students. It is concluded that students should be heard and taken more seriously. (MSE)

A study of the relationship of high school academic and vocational education courses to success in college for 224 freshmen found that courses taken in high school are not significantly related to college grade point average or college graduation. (JOW)

Research has demonstrated that small groups exert powerful emotional influence on members. Learning group effectiveness in American schools is hindered by groups' short-lived character. Article recommends that American educators stress group persistence by keeping discrete groups of students and teachers together over long time periods, reorganize…