An ecological model for employment preparation in high schools that is based upon successful post-school community job placement for students with severe handicaps is discussed. The paper addresses the functions of employment training, the components of a community-referenced model, and implications for model implementation. (Author/JDD)

The Training Opportunities Program (TOP) is an occupational project for New York City high school students. TOP trainees are placed in businesses and agencies with facilities, equipment, and human resources not available in the public schools. In 1983-84, the third year of the program's operation, TOP was funded to serve 2,000 students. An…

The JOBSTART demonstration was carried out between August 1985 and October 1986 to gain information on effective ways to solve the problem of high unemployment rates and low skills levels of many high school dropouts. JOBSTART was targeted to disadvantaged high school dropouts, and provided them with basic educational and occupational skills…

This manual profiles 55 school-business cooperative programs being carried out in the United States for the purpose of improving access to employment for high school students, particularly minorities and the economically disadvantaged, before they graduate. Each of the manual's chapters is devoted to a particular type of cooperative program and…

This manual is designed to assist school personnel, employers, parents/guardians, and students in understanding the policies and procedures required to operate effective occupational work experience (OWE) programs. The OWE mission statement appears first. Chapter I describes the OWE program, its structure, types of program organization, and…

Describes a job-specific career education program to foster high school completion by students with and without disabilities. The program involved a school/business partnership and student/school contracts (which guaranteed the student a part-time job while in school and a full-time job upon successful program completion and graduation). Students'…

This report discusses sheltered workshop programming and high school-level vocational training for mentally retarded (MR) individuals in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Sheltered workshops conducted by Goodwill Industries and Parc-way Industries were examined to determine client characteristics and the rate of placement in competitive employment.…

The Connection, a 15-month demonstration program which provided educational and social services to high-risk adolescents at South High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is reviewed and evaluated in this report. The program, conducted through a collaborative effort between the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis Public Schools, provided…

Employer recruitment methods and how their use varies by race and sex groups, by public and private sector, by education level, and other variables were studied to develop and examine more realistic theories of education's role in career development processes and to develop practical ways to help students make a successful transition from school…

This annual report is designed to provide information about the New Options program and to highlight recent program initiatives and accomplishments. It begins by describing the program, which assists middle and senior high school students, postsecondary students, and adults in exploring job opportunities traditionally held by the opposite sex. The…

The Employment Retention Program is a supported employment program involved in job placement and intensive worksite training of graduating handicapped youth, emphasizing retention strategies that transfer supervision to nonhandicapped co-workers and that promote social interactions between handicapped employees and co-workers. At followup, 60…

The JOBSTART demonstration program addresses the employability problems of school dropouts by testing a program of basic education, occupational skills training, support services, and job placement assistance for young, economically disadvantaged dropouts who read below the eighth-grade level. The program is being offered at 13 diverse sites,…

The 1986-87 Attendance Improvement Dropout Prevention (AIDP) Part-Time Jobs Program was begun in spring 1987 to place at-risk New York City, New York, high school students in part-time, unsubsidized jobs that would motivate them to improve their school attendance and academic achievement. Twenty-one community-based organizations (CBOs) contracted…

Designed for practitioners, this book provides ideas and strategies for designing, developing, and implementing the Youth Transition Program (YTP) for students with disabilities and special needs in Oregon. Chapter 1 describes the following: background and need for collaborative school-to-work (STW) programs; STW program purposes and components,…

This newsletter issue provides rehabilitation professionals with various information pieces concerning transition from school to adulthood for young people with disabilities. An introduction identifies specific challenges in transition programming and stresses the goal of fully integrating young people with disabilities as interdependent parts of…