Offering first-rate entrepreneurial skill development will require new program designs, increased options, and less focus on traditional structures. Entrepreneurship education should be offered as a career option and should be taught only to those who are intellectually, emotionally, and functionally ready. (JOW)

Today's employers desire a number of qualities in their workers: self-confidence, technical knowledge, positive attitude, communication skills, teamwork, and the ability to learn. Also important are the various aspects of reliability: punctuality, attendance, commitment to excellence, and listening skills. (SK)

Describes the Southern Regional Education Board-State Vocational Education consortium, which envisions a major change in the way vocational education is delivered. Students must be educated for jobs, not trained for them. (JOW)

There is agreement that students need stronger basic skills when they leave secondary programs; employeers seek entry-level workers with problem-solving and decision-making skills as well as math, science, and communication skills. Basic skills instruction must be an imperative component of vocational education programs. (JOW)

Describes a program at Pennsylvania's Dauphin County Technical School that has moved beyond providing vocational students with basic communication and mathematics skills and is incorporating vocationally-oriented competency-based instruction into all academic areas. (JOW)

Describes a pilot project in applied academics that involved hiring certified mathemathics and science instructors so that students could obtain academic rather than vocational credit for material that vocational instructors had previously taught. (JOW)

Describes development of an expanded home economics curriculum in Kentucky that emphasizes learning of basic skills and their applications to home economics-related tasks. (CH)

No U.S. school district is world class. Radical systemic reform must (1) recognize that learning in context works; (2) assert that noncollege careers have worth; (3) raise standards and expectations. Foundation skills needed include basic, thinking, personal, resource, interpersonal, information, technology, and systems. (SK)

Research into guidance efforts that successfully integrate basic skills into vocational education programs indicates that counselors play a key role in helping students gain the new basic skills. Their roles will have an impact on students and on the field of vocational education. (JOW)

Georgia's Certified Literate Community Program is a state-supported, community-based effort that provides all levels of instruction--from basic skills to technical writing--to adults at all educational levels. The goal is to enable every capable adult to attain reading, speaking, writing, problem solving, and comprehension skills. (SK)

BASICS: Bridging Vocational and Academic Skills is a resource package based on the premises that (1) academic skills are embedded in vocational tasks; (2) vocational tasks allow real-world application of basic skills; and (3) basic skills and vocational skills should be taught together. New Bern-Craven County Schools (North Carolina) have…

Eight vocational schools in Jefferson County, Kentucky, use computer-assisted instruction (CAI) for remedial work in math, reading, and language skills. The use of CAI in the career development centers has led to other programs--for adults, dropouts, and potential dropouts--and has brought about a close working relationship with Louisville…

Vocational educators can play a significant role in workplace literacy programs by collaborating with business and industry in program development and advocating policy changes that integrate basic skills into vocational education curricula. (SK)

At De La Salle Vocational, a Philadelphia day treatment facility for youth offenders, basic skills are tied to specific job tasks through a literacy task analysis. Local businesses provide information on literacy skills needed on the job, which is integrated into instructional modules. (SK)

In Oklahoma, specialists in mathematics and communications show vocational teachers how to emphasize academic content within their technical area. The program maintains a balance between theoretical and practical teaching so that graduates are prepared for the working world. (JOW)