This document, which draws heavily on lessons learned during 11 years of the Southern Regional Education Board's High Schools That Work initiative, is intended to help state leaders review their existing system for assessing accountability in vocational education or plan such a system. The document begins with a discussion of the purpose of…

The impact of career and technical education (CTE) reforms and comprehensive school reforms in high schools on education outcomes for at-risk youth was examined in a review of research on current reforms. The review identified a series of individual, family and home, school, and community factors that can place students at risk of failing to…

Recent educational approaches that have career and technical education (CTE) components have integrated work-based learning (WBL) with traditional academics. Among positive effects of the association between WBL and secondary students' educational outcomes are: (1) increased attendance, (2) decreased dropout rates, (3) increased number of academic…

During fiscal year 1994, enrollment in secondary-level vocational education (VE) in Alabama totaled 202,402. Secondary school districts provided VE to 17,037 adult students, and postsecondary institutions provided regular occupational/technical training to 80,764 adults and training for business/industry to 19,723 adults. Secondary and/or…

During fiscal year 1994, South Dakota's vocational-technical education delivery system served 30,498 secondary students, 3,809 postsecondary students, and 8,358 adults. Of South Dakota's 178 school districts, 132 had to organize into some type of consortium arrangement to qualify for Perkins Act funds. The Perkins funds were used to provide…

During the 1993-94 program year, the 16 local Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) postsecondary districts delivered a total of 98,191 services to 36,071 clients through grant activities funded by the Carl D. Perkins Act. The WTCs board developed a format and process for reporting performance measures. All 16 WTCS districts exceeded the 35%…

A 3-year national assessment of vocational education (VE) examined various issues related to improvement of VE programs, their academic and employment outcomes, participation of special population students in VE, and Perkins funding and administration. The assessment established that most secondary VE is still very traditional and that Perkins…

In the late 1980s, in response to a number of problems including consistently low academic performance by students and graduates lacking the skills needed by employers, Swansea High School in Swansea, South Carolina, launched a major reform effort designed to transform Swansea into a high-performance high school. During the multi-year reform…

The extent and quality of school-to-work (STW) programs in the state of Washington were evaluated through a survey of all school districts receiving state STW funds and case studies of programs in four school districts (Bethel, Methow, Sumner, and Wapato), one consortium (Columbia River School-to-Work Consortium in Clark County), and two…

Federal funding from the School to Work Opportunities Act (STOWA) has ended. There is no doubt that state policy to advance activities started under STOWA will be a major factor in the sustainability of School to Work. Already some states have taken the initiative for bringing higher standards to education by offering incentives for businesses to…

In 2000 and 2001, the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education conducted a series of projects on career and technical education (CTE) practices, trends and outcomes. Selected preliminary findings from a review of the reports on those projects are as follows: (1) integration of CTE and academic instruction in high schools remains…

This document presents 1999 outcome information for Minnesota's Summer Youth Employment and Training Programs (SYETPs). The document begins with a summary of statewide outcome information for the SYETPs, which served a total of 4,644 youths under Job Training Partnership Act Title IIB and 2,993 youths through the Minnesota Youth Program at an…

In 1987, Walhalla High School in Walhalla, South Carolina, undertook a major restructuring effort to raise the school's standards and keep pace with the expectations of local high-tech businesses and industry. School and district leaders established an affiliation with the Southern Regional Education Board's High Schools That Work initiative,…

In 1992, school leaders and teachers at Wallace-Rose High School in Teachey, North Carolina, began a multi-year whole-school improvement initiative that included the following actions: (1) identify low-performing students; (2) develop a team of faculty and administrators to work with low-performing students; (3) reduce class size for…

This document contains 24 papers examining strategies for reforming initial vocational education and training (VET) in Europe. The following papers are included: "Reassessing VET Reform Strategies in a New Context: Implementation of the SPES-NET (Sharpening Post-16 Education Strategies by Horizontal and Vertical Networking) Project"…