The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PADOC) has implemented a 60-hour "Pathway to Success" course for inmates who wish to enroll in vocational coursework. The purpose of this course is two-fold: to ensure that PADOC inmates are enrolling in vocational courses for which they have both the aptitude and the interest to excel, and to…

Communities face powerful challenges--a high-school dropout epidemic, youth unemployment, teen pregnancy--that require powerful solutions. In a climate of increasingly constrained resources, those solutions must help communities to achieve more with less. A new kind of community collaborative--an approach that aspires to significant,…

As mandated by the Vocational Education Act of 1976, an evaluation was made of Pennsylvania's vocational guidance program for the 1979-80 through 1981-82 fiscal years. The study objectives were to describe the funded projects, evaluate their impact, and explore local capacity development. The study was guided by evaluation questions in five areas:…

A project was conducted to implement the third phase of a model--the Project SERVICE Model--to teach and train young persons from vocational-technical schools, comprehensive vocational high schools, private trade schools, labor unions, and minority organizations to develop the technical and pedagogical skills necessary to teach in existing, new,…

A Pennsylvania study analyzed the capability of the existing systems to deliver a comprehensive, articulated program of vocational education. A review of prior studies of vocational education in Pennsylvania found consensus about needed changes in the state's program. Areas of improvement included governance and administration; leadership;…

This document accompanies a narrative volume that reports a study of Pennsylvania's vocational education system. It contains the instrumentation, participant lists, and all other supporting documentation. Chapter 1 is a data analysis of the open-ended interviews and second Delphi questionnaire that were used to determine the strengths and…

The second part of a study of educational outcomes for high school students in Pennsylvania collected data from a statewide randomly selected sample of 3,364 members of the business and industrial community; a mailed survey yielded 749 usable returns (22 percent). Data analysis included an inspection of survey demographics, a review of descriptive…

A study was designed to develop a model that would describe the development of commitment to the administration profession in vocational-technical education and the degree to which it might be found among the individuals who possess it. Study participants were 197 administrators from 63 postsecondary vocational-technical institutions identified…

This booklet contains descriptions of the approach of each state member of the Action Team on Lifelong Learning in meeting the challenge to prepare and upgrade the skills of the work force. Each one-page discussion is followed by the name, address, and telephone number of a contact person in the state. The reported approaches of 10 states…

A project was conducted to implement six invitational counselor preparation workshops for the purpose of improving and updating counselors' skills and competencies in the areas of career development, guidance, and education. The following objectives were addressed during the project: to assess the present training practices of counselor education…

In a study of self-evaluated levels of competence of area vocational-technical school directors in Pennsylvania, the two areas of planning and leadership management were investigated plus the method of training with which skills in these two areas should be developed in future administrators. An evaluative instrument was developed and mailed to 75…

The Framework of Work Based Foundation Skills Project was undertaken to facilitate development of Pennsylvania's new workforce investment system Team PA CareerLink by identifying and developing common definitions of the foundation skills all workers need to function effectively in any workplace. A framework of 19 work-based foundation skills and…

This booklet, which is part of a series demonstrating the scope of employer involvement in school-to-careers, highlights the efforts of three retail employers and two "intermediary" organizations connecting workplace experiences to classroom learning for secondary education students. The introduction presents a series overview and lists…