Exploring Summer Youth Employment Programs: Increasing Access Through Career Pathways builds the case and provides actionable recommendations for state-led support in the intentional alignment of summer youth employment programs (SYEP) with career pathways and the work-based learning continuum, including through Career Technical Education (CTE).…

Research shows that employers are less likely to hire workers with little to no experience for the "first jobs" that many younger workers rely on to build their skills and credentials. Without those first jobs, many will face fewer paths to enter the workforce. To help the non-college-bound, the nation's education system needs to create…

The past decade has seen a resurgence of interest in career and technical education (CTE) as a way to engage students, help people build the skills necessary to succeed in a technologically advanced economy, and meet employer demand for workers. MDRC--which has a three-decade history of developing and evaluating CTE programs, including a landmark…

Career academies are increasingly prominent in American secondary education. However, our understanding of these academies is limited by a paucity of research about the factors that make them viable and effective. This case study highlights, from the perspective of 52 academy coordinators and teachers and 41 students, distinctive features that…

The past decade has seen a resurgence of interest in career and technical education (CTE) as a way to engage students, help people build the skills necessary to succeed in a technologically advanced economy, and meet employer demand for workers. MDRC--which has a two-decade history of developing and evaluating CTE programs, including their…

These are the technical appendices for the report, "Supporting Student Parents in Community College CalWORKs Programs." The appendices include: (1) CalWORKs and EOPS Programs at California Community Colleges; (2) Survey of Program Directors; (3) Survey Instrument; (4) Survey Summary Statistics; and (5) Analysis of CalWORKs Students.…

Many Californians face difficulties connecting to good jobs because of limited education. This is especially true for poor families who receive cash assistance from the state's CalWORKs (California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids) program. Few CalWORKs parents have more than a high school degree, and many struggle to balance family and…

The Loyd E. Williams Pipe Trade Training Center in San Jose, California, prides itself in going beyond the scope of traditional apprenticeship by offering a comprehensive "Journey Level Training Catalog," thus encouraging journeyman graduates to continue their training. The catalog contains a full slate of courses that can be utilized to…

In response to the Kerner Report, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the prodding of a few reporters on the staff, the "San Francisco Examiner" began an internship program in the summer of 1968. With some modifications, the program is continuing in 1973. By early 1971, 21 interns of minority background had completed the…

In 1990, Cuesta College (CC) conducted a needs assessment of local employers to determine the type of work done by their employees, number of employees, hiring plans, the current level of employee training, and training needs. The mailed survey had 266 usable responses for a 40.9% return rate. Study findings included the following: (1) 31% of the…

The principal roles for publicly sponsored retraining programs are twofold: (1) to reduce the private and social costs associated with unnecessary delays in the reemployment process; and (2) to assist in the replacement of specific human capital lost when a permanent layoff takes place. Nine different demonstration projects and operating programs…

A study by Management and Economic Research, Inc. (MERI) of the occupational education in a 2-county area analyzed employer and student needs and existing facilities. To reduce wasteful competition, it recommended a change from local to area planning and the organization of a Regional Occupational Center (ROC) System with subsystems in contiguous…

The existing vocational education delivery systems for exceptional students (grades 9-12) in Orange County, California, were evaluated. In the first phase, a needs assessment survey was developed to identify vocational education programs/classes available for handicapped students through sheltered workshops, high schools, community colleges, and…

A NATIONAL SURVEY WAS UNDERTAKEN TO PROVIDE DATA FOR THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THREE OBJECTIVES--(1) TO INVESTIGATE THE TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE AND MANIPULATIVE SKILLS OF AVIATION MECHANICS AS REQUIRED BY THE AVIATION INDUSTRY, (2) TO IDENTIFY A CORE CURRICULUM FOR THE TRAINING OF AVIATION MECHANICS, AND (3) TO IDENTIFY THE SCOPE OF TRAINING OFFERED BY…

This article reports findings from an assessment of the effectiveness of privately administered "structured on-site training" (SOST) programs funded by the California Employment Training Panel. It reports on the characteristics of SOST programs that increased trainees' competitiveness in the internal and external labor markets. In…