The National Center for Education Statistics conducted a comprehensive analysis of the current context of vocational education (VE), employer perspectives on VE, trends in secondary and postsecondary VE, the academic preparation of students participating in VE, relevant school reform efforts, and VE students' transitions after high school. Among the main findings of the analysis were: (1) most employers of employees who had participated in work-based learning reported that those employees were superior to comparable new employees in terms of productivity and attitude; (2) high school students' participation in VE generally declined between 1982-1994; (3) the academic preparation of high school students participating in VE increased in 1982-1994; (4) vocational concentrators had lower overall rates of postsecondary completion than their peers; (5) vocational concentrators were more likely to be in the labor force 2 years after graduation than their college preparatory peers were; and (6) vocational concentrators and students completing general coursework in high school had similar labor market outcomes 10 years after graduation from high school. (Appendixes constituting approximately 50% of this report contain the following: 116 standard error tables; data sources and technical notes; and glossary. (Contains 37 references and 161 tables/figures.) (MN)