Developing the productive capacities of students is a valid function of schooling and is not in conflict or competition with other educational purposes, such as academic excellence. Employers and young workers in the San Francisco Bay area noted attributes that workers need for success in entry-level unskilled or junior professional jobs. These…

Young workers should know what employers' standards are for hiring and job performance and behave accordingly in order to obtain and keep a job. This finding is based on a study that examined the perceptions of high school graduates and their employers' reports of hiring and job performance standards and employment outcomes. High school students…

A study used the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Force Experience Youth Cohort to determine the labor market consequences for young people of acquiring a General Educational Development (GED) degree in 1985. Three major consequences of receiving a GED were examined: labor force participation, employment status, and hourly wages. The…

This five-section guide is intended to lead marketing education personnel through the program evaluation and improvement process in Missouri. The first section is an introduction that provides a rationale for evaluation, discusses the resource, process, and product standards that should be used and suggests ways these standards can be applied. The…

The final report of the 3-year Valley Transitional School Project, serving Augusta, Staunton, and Waynesboro schools, all located in Augusta County, Virginia, contains information on the project accomplishments, population characteristics, evaluation activities, dissemination activities, replication, products developed, and conclusions and…

A study was conducted to determine whether the General Educational Development (GED) Test credential was acceptable to employers in hiring and promoting employees. Major employers in the Denver Metropolitan area were surveyed to determine (1) whether or not there are policies regarding GED credentials versus high school diplomas in governing the…

This technical assistance guide is written to help practitioners and policymakers involve large numbers of employers in providing high quality learning experiences in the workplace. Section I discusses the challenge of the school-to-work transition and guiding principles for new efforts. Section II focuses on strategies for recruiting and…

A study sponsored by the Bureau of Adult and Community Education, Florida Department of Education, was conducted by the Center for Needs Assessment and Planning at Florida State University to compare the success of General Educational Development (GED) and traditional high school graduates in Florida's work force. (GED graduates account for about…

This model evaluation program was developed to help marketing education teachers in Missouri to evaluate their courses and plan improvements. Following an explanation of the rationale and nature of the evaluation, the guide consists of six sections: (1) a marketing education course enrollment summary form and directions for completing the…

A study was conducted to determine how employers make hiring decisions for entry-level jobs. In simulated hiring settings, 56 employers in Columbus, Ohio, were asked to rate young job seekers first from their application forms and then from videotaped interviews. The applicants (aged 16-25) were seeking full-time employment in three fields:…

A survey of employers showed that high school grade point average had the strongest positive influence in the hiring of young people for entry-level jobs. Eight hundred and fifty employers in three fields (clerical, retailing, and machine trades) were asked to rate application forms of fictitious job seekers for specific positions. Other factors…

The findings of a research project undertaken by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) on student responsibility as it relates to job performance are reported. Forty high school students, 15 teachers, and 18 employers involved in Cooperative Work Experience and Experience-Based Career Education programs were interviewed. The…

A survey of over 3,800 employers found that school-provided vocational training was required for 9.5 percent of the jobs studied and "important but not required" for another 37.9 percent. In this study, new employees with relevant vocational education exhibited these characteristics: (1) were 6.5 percent more productive 6 to 36 months after being…

This guide was developed for the Southern Regional Education Board's High Schools that Work (HSTW) program in order to help employers and educators work together to raise student achievement by making high school valuable and relevant. Its purpose is to involve employers in the HSTW effort to build community support for higher-quality learning by…

This paper examines: (1) what those who directly employ and educate America's students after they leave high school think of the quality of the U.S. elementary and secondary schools; (2) what recent students and their parents think of the quality of the education they or their children received; and (3) what a cross section of Americans think…