The purpose of this paper is to provide information and insight into how state assessment programs are governed, how individual state and state-consortium assessment programs actually operate, and how key policy and technical decisions on these programs are made. To address these issues, this paper is divided into three sections: First, the New…

The focus article "Road Maps for Learning: A Guide to the Navigation of Learning Progressions" by Black, Wilson, and Yao (this issue) is a veritable tour-de-force, covering a great deal of education ground while spanning the heights from models of the interplay among curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment to interpretations of student…

The Massachusetts Workplace Literacy Consortium sought to upgrade work-related literacy skills at 22 partner sites in the state. Members included manufacturers, health care organizations, educational institutions, and labor unions. In its third year, the consortium served 1,179 workers with classes in English for speakers of other languages, adult…

This report provides data on the goals and outcomes of a consortium established in 1994 by public and private safety agencies and community colleges in California. The opening sections describe the formation of the consortium, indicating that its main goals are to reduce duplication of public safety course offerings at adjacent locations; create…

This study was undertaken to describe efforts in three states to create customized vocational training for specific client firms as part of economic development efforts. Approximately 70 persons from education, business, and state government were interviewed; documents from the three states (Ohio, South Carolina, and New York) were reviewed; and,…

Qualitative methods were used to analyze a sample of 23 representative California Employment Training Panel (ETP) projects to determine how ETP training affected companies. Data were collected through interviews, focus groups, surveys, observations, and document analysis. Among the factors found to affect quality of training design were: selection…

The 1995-96 evaluation of tech prep in Washington consisted of the following activities: an analysis of survey data collected from all 22 tech prep consortia in the state, case studies of 7 tech prep consortia, and an analysis of student survey data collected from more than 2,000 students in 4 high schools in the 7 consortia. The study found that…

These two newsletter issues of the National Transition Alliance (NTA) for Youth with Disabilities present articles concerning the transition of youth with disabilities from school-to-work (STW) and related informational items. The first issue contains the following articles: "Bringing a Complicated System into Harmony" (focus on the…

The development, organization, and operation of the Vocational-Technical Resource Consortia in Ohio was examined to identify those elements, policies, practices, and procedures that contribute to their effective operation and future growth. Data about individual consortia and general information were gathered by questionnaires completed by…

This report summarizes the comprehensive, written self-assessments comleted by seven Minnesota tech prep consortia. The 1993-94 cohort of consortia was the first group to use the self-assessment. Within each tech prep consortium, the evaluation was completed by cross-district teams of teachers, administrators, and others who had been trained by…

This report contains the comprehensive, written self-assessments completed by 10 Minnesota tech prep consortia. The 1994-95 cohort of consortia was the second group to use the self-assessment. Within each tech prep consortium, the evaluation was completed by cross-district teams of teachers, administrators, and others who had been trained by the…

A study examined the status of tech prep in Missouri as of 1993-1994. Data were gathered from a review of the request for proposals of Missouri's 12 consortia, assessment of Missouri's current status of tech prep, and structured interviews with the 12 tech prep coordinators. It was determined that up to 86 secondary schools were initially involved…

This is the final report of a Kansas state project which had four purposes: (1) Involvement of teacher training institutions with the unified school districts' career education program in order to gather information needed to provide realistic experiences for inservice education of future career education teachers, (2) involve the community in…

In accordance with a mandate included in the 1990 amendments to the Perkins Act, a national evaluation of Tech-Prep implementation was conducted. The evaluation had two main objectives: to determine how effectively Tech-Prep is being implemented and to identify useful implementation practices and challenges. Data were collected from the following…