Current policy discourses on "equity" in VET tend to gloss over the nature of the socioeconomic disadvantage that underlies questions of the participation and achievement of the so-called "target equity groups." While indexes of socioeconomic disadvantage are widely applied in education, their application to VET participation…

Vocational education and training (VET) research in Australia has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. In a 1993 report titled "No Small Change," VET research was characterized as a fragmented activity that was underfunded and had little or no relevance to policy or practice in the VET sector. Since that time, increased funding through the…

This paper explores spatial theory, and particularly a Foucauldian analysis of space, power, and the subject, as a frame within which to examine moves toward security in North American urban schools. We bring into play empirical data from an ethnographic study of New York City and Toronto schools where policies and technologies of record-keeping,…

A recent National Research Council study, "Improving Schooling for Language-Minority Children: A Research Agenda" examined the status of bilingual education research and the direction of future studies. The report is discussed here, in a format corresponding to the report's sections on domains of research and practice: bilingualism and…

The human capital and growth accounting approaches to measuring the benefits of education both have serious weaknesses. Like other goods and services, educational services have effects on the economic well-being of individuals and families. Because the economic well-being effects of education include private marketed and non-marketed impacts as…

Statistical issues associated with the supply and demand of science and mathematics teachers are reviewed in this conference report of the Committee on National Statistics. The conference was held to generate a plan for a study that would make recommendations to improve the information, sources, statistics, and models used in estimating and…

This final report summarizes Phase II of the study of employment demand data for agriculture/agribusiness in New York State. Analysis, procedures, findings, recommendations, and products of the study are reported. During Phase II, the final eight months of the study, the data collection was completed; procedures were implemented for conducting…

Anthropology research should be relevant to public policy formation. If anthropologists continue to produce research which reflects a "detached observer" perspective, their studies will not enjoy widespread credibility. The use of policy-relevant anthropology (applied anthropology) will depend in large part on the efforts of anthropologists toward…

This collection of papers on parent-child relationships consists of three research reports, six research reviews and two position papers on issues critical to research and practice. Papers included were selected on the basis of their relevance to the work of practitioners who counsel parents. The volume's four thematic sections are entitled: (1)…

The criterion-oriented problem of test bias and fairness in selection is compared to the construct-oriented problem of comparability of test scores in cross-cultural research. These problems are shown to have important similarities, and their studies may supplement each other. In a formulation of psychometric criteria for the comparability of test…

Because of various flaws in their design, most research studies that have up to now examined the transition of youth to the work setting have failed to pinpoint ways of improving existing programs. Many of these design flaws (including lack of a uniform set of outcome measures, failure to routinely incorporate control groups, and failure to design…

An interim study was conducted in Kentucky to determine the effectiveness of Competency Based Vocational Education (CBVE) and to compare its effectiveness to that of traditional teaching methodologies. Research surveys of those directly involved in the implementation of CBVE were used to ascertain if CBVE is meeting its self-stated goals.…

This report reveals the problems with claims made by Arizona state public education officials that English Language Learners (ELLs) are thriving under English-only instruction. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the state's accountability system, Arizona LEARNS, require all students, including ELLs, to participate in statewide…

A study performed in 1962 by Norbert Elias on the adjustment of young people to the transition from school to work had five areas of inquiry; adjustment to relationships with older workers and supervisors; adjustment to job problems; adjustment to role as workers; adjustment to role as money-earner in home relations; and adjustment to role as…

Data from the Work History and Attitudes survey of the Social Change and Economic Life research initiative (SCELI) enquiry of 1986-1989 and the first wave of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) were analyzed to determine their continuity and comparability with regard to employee attitudes in general and job satisfaction and work centrality…