Virtual Reality Job Interview Training (VR-JIT) and Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth (VIT-TAY) demonstrated initial effectiveness at increasing employment among transition-age youth with disabilities engaged in pre-employment transition services. We characterized activities and estimated the labor and non-labor costs required to…

Purpose: The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association has outlined the primary roles and responsibilities of early intervention (EI)--based speech-language pathologists (SLPs). However, many SLPs feel underprepared to practice in EI. The purpose of this research note is to understand and describe the preparation experiences of EI-based SLPs…

In a previous randomized controlled trial (RCT), "Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth" (VIT-TAY) enhanced employment for autistic youth receiving transition services. For this study, a nonrandomized hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial evaluated whether VIT-TAY maintained its core implementation and effectiveness…

Library public services staff have primarily focused on providing services through interactions with their users. Although service quality and customer satisfaction are important in the delivery of these services, the emphasis and nature of the work have often been influenced by a library-centric philosophy rather than a user-centric philosophy.…

This study synthesizes lessons learned about the promising role of "career navigators" at community colleges to aid students in the transitions through disjunctures in their careers. Career navigators are student support personnel who follow students from recruitment, through their studies or training programs, to job placement. Findings…

Few professors teaching at community colleges today expect students to learn every nuance of every technological device they are likely to encounter throughout the course of their careers. Educators can expose students to enough of a base so that when the technology does evolve--and it will--they have the confidence and ability to adapt and…

This study examined whether the effects of employment-based policies on children's math and reading achievement differed for African American, Latino and Caucasian children of welfare receiving parents, and if so, why. Two kinds of employment policies were examined: "education-first" programs with an emphasis on adult education and job…

While public demand for education and job training--two consequences of a down economy--are at an all-time high, community colleges, many of which face record enrollments, are forced to do more with less. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 39 states report shortfalls for FY 2010; 36 reported cuts to higher education across…

A national provider of afterschool and summer programming plans to expand quickly into new regions, bringing its successful model of out-of-school learning to more children in disadvantaged schools and neighborhoods. A large number of staff members must be trained in the provider's program model in a short window of time. The organization needs to…

As President Obama said in advance remarks about the American Graduation Initiative: "[T]he hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won't be coming back. And that only underscores the importance of generating new businesses and industries to replace the ones we've lost, and of preparing our…

A survey of 498 firms that applied for Michigan Job Opportunity Bank-Upgrade grants received 157 responses, including 66 grant recipients. Data showed receipt of grants associated with large, significant (though one-time) increase in training hours and lasting reduction in product scrap rates. (SK)

Discusses a study to determine the extent that Michigan Adult Education Alternative Training (AEAT) providers used selected concepts of systematic planning in developing training programs. Finds that 55.6% of 65 responding AEAT planners utilized the concepts. Suggests that planners should also incorporate political and practical considerations.…

Describes a study of companies served by workforce training programs offered at 25 Michigan community colleges. Indicates that 90.6% (n=264) of business and industry respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with their training program, and that 94% thought the programs were important or very important. Discusses implications of the findings…

The jail population of women in the United States is growing at a greater rate than the population of men. Jails are short-term confinement facilities and many inmates will be released after a short period of time, only to be recycled again through the jail system. To reduce the level of recidivism for female inmates, interventions to address…