Building effective school-to-work systems requires evaluation, usually incorporating both process and outcome evaluations. Increasingly, school-to-work systems are conducting self-evaluations or hiring evaluation teams to determine how effectively the system is designed and implemented and whether it is achieving its purposes for students and the…

This book presents 11 papers which consider the central issues, methods, and resources for work in institutional research in higher education. The primer uses the idea of a "cookbook" or "manual" for its conceptualization, organization, and format. The chapter topics focus on what are expected to be the key issues facing…

This literature review focuses on the school-to-work transition, especially as it relates to school reform. The dual focus of the review highlights issues surfacing from research and evaluation of theory and practice in the field, as well as review and evaluation of programs that fall under three types of school-to-work transition reform…

A 5-year longitudinal study was designed to examine diverse and promising programs to integrate career and technical education (CTE) with whole-school reforms in schools serving predominantly disadvantaged students. A literature review focused on conceptual underpinnings: disadvantaged youth; transition points; whole-school reform; and CTE.…

More than 60 studies on prison education were reviewed to determine the following: relationship between prison education and offender behavior; effects of prison population control strategies on prison education programs; and effects of academic and vocational program participation on inmate misconduct and reincarceration. Among the main findings…

A study examined the need to include business-education partnerships in the integration of academic and vocational learning programs. First, literature dealing with the following topics was reviewed: the new economy, education and the economy, academic and vocational integration, the need for partnerships, and the history of business-education…

The structures of and issues facing vocational education and training (VET) in the United States and Canada were compared. Selected findings were as follows: (1) VET in the United States is shifting focus from preparing students for entry-level jobs to greater emphasis on academic preparation and a wider range of career choices; (2) U.S. community…

Career clusters are part of a response to changing work and a changing workplace, a way of broadening the focus of secondary career and technical education (CTE). The following are some of the changes in work and the workplace: the nature and structure of work; leadership styles and organizational structures; the knowledge and skills needed;…

This first volume of a sourcebook presents a framework for identifying best practices of integrating career preparation into the community college. An introduction identifies seven domains of competency critical for postsecondary students: foundation academic competencies, education for citizenship, job specific/technical skills, career…

The United States has no coherent strategy for helping noncollege-bound students develop the competence for middle-level jobs. The need for more emphasis on the needs of noncollege-bound students became apparent during the 1980s as less-educated workers began encountering more wage and employment difficulties and as occupations requiring…

This paper focuses on the demand for and supply of intermediate-level vocational skills within the United Kingdom (UK) economy. Using existing research from surveys and case studies, Part One argues that there is a lack of evidence that widespread intermediate-skill shortages exist within the expanding service sector. In the manufacturing sector,…

This combination literature review and guide is designed to provide classroom teachers, administrators, and teacher educators with practical information on the best academic and vocational education integration practices described in the literature. Section 1 examines the rationale for integrating academic and vocational education and summarizes…

The decline in vocational coursetaking from 1982-1998 is relatively small compared to increases in academic coursetaking. The potential trade-off between academic and vocational coursetaking seems to have been mitigated by students taking more courses overall and fewer courses in the general curriculum. Further, the decline in vocational…

The chronic scarcity of career jobs and increased demands for mental ability in the workplace have necessitated school-to-work (STW) transition programs that prepare noncollege-bound youths not only for their first full-time job but also for continued learning and career transitions throughout their working lives. Among the main ideas advanced for…

A long-standing dilemma in career and technical education (CTE) has been the best way to train new teachers. Recent literature reviews by Bruening et al. (2001) and Gray and Walter (2001) provide overviews of current CTE teacher education programs and CTE teacher licensing and preparation. Some of their findings include a trend toward more…