There is currently more focus than ever on the importance of earning a college degree. At the same time, many students and parents are dubious that America's expensive, one-size-fits-all higher education system can adequately educate students for an ever more diverse and sophisticated world of work. There are other educational options that are…

This report presents the findings of the cost-benefit analysis of Accelerating Opportunity, an initiative designed to help adults with low basic skills earn industry-recognized credentials in high-growth occupations and succeed in the labor market. It compares the value of the benefits associated with AO--principally labor market benefits--with…

Prior research has classified strategies to facilitate adult learners' transitions to postsecondary opportunities into five broad categories: advising, General Educational Development-plus (GED-plus), English as a second language, career pathways, and college preparatory (Zafft, Kallenbach, & Spohn, 2006). This two-part study relied on…

A 1973 state-wide Illinois study revealed an anticipated decrease of replacement personnel more than offsetting an increased demand for additional personnel in occupational education. Coordinated efforts of local/State educational agencies and teacher-education institutions will be essential for quality occupational education personnel development…

An Illinois study identified the important questions regarding the fundamental problems bearing upon the vocational education needs of blacks in the state. Following a review of literature to gain perspective, seventeen persons qualified by experience and position to address the questions were interviewed to refine the focus of the research.…

A 2-day sumposium, attended by Illinois businessmen, labor leaders, educators, and government personnel, was held to: (1) define the major problems and opportunities that will challenge the State over the next 10 to 15 years, (2) clarify the State's purposes and objectives that must direct the meeting of the challenges, and (3) develop a framework…

To ensure economic growth and increased employment opportunities for youth, there must be greater emphasis on the following: (1) providing self-employment skills to young people; (2) preparing them for highly technical jobs; and (3) preparing them for service industry jobs. Recommends the incorporation of entrepreneurship education in the…

A study examined the relationship between defense contracting and vocational education in Illinois. During the study, researchers analyzed data from a variety of national and Illinois state data sources, including the Department of Defense, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, the Research and…

The symposium was called by the State of Illinois Advisory Council on Vocational Education, a broadly based entity representing both education and consumers of education from a cross section of the State. Its major aims were: (1) to define the major problems and opportunities that will challenge the State of Illinois over the next 10-15 years, (2)…

The problems commonly associated with inner-city schools were not nearly as pervasive a century ago, when black children in most northern cities attended school alongside white children. In "Schools Betrayed", her innovative history of race and urban education, Kathryn M. Neckerman tells the story of how and why these schools came to…

Activities, results, and recommendations of a 2-year effort to implement and test a model for vocational and occupational education planning in Illinois are described. An introductory section presents an overview of the rationale and plan for establishing a Regional Occupational Education Coordinating Council composed of representatives of the…

Pursuant to developing an interactive system for planning and managing vocational education programs, the project focused on methods of obtaining student supply and manpower demand information. The goal was to operationalize a student data base that would facilitate planning and regulatory requirements of the Illinois Department of Adult,…

To facilitate curriculum improvement and career counseling in the field of agriculture, a survey was conducted to determine the marketability, or job placement, of the 1977 agriculture graduates from both two-year and four-year colleges in Illinois. A questionnaire was sent to the 1,832 graduates and was returned by 665. In response to a separate…

This extrapolation paper is intended: (1) to present a model of a pretechnical curriculum that has as its focus the self-empowerment of the individual and (2) to describe how the curriculum could be implemented in the schools. The first part of the paper discusses the need for a pretechnical curriculum in terms of a model for self-empowerment.…

This report reviews activities of a research project having the following objectives: (1) to design and conduct an appraisal of apprenticeship programs in Illinois, with special emphasis on the role of vocational education in the present system; and (2) to provide recommendations and alternatives for building a policy framework to guide vocational…