Search Results

About four-and-a-half years ago, the NCRVE began a program of research and service to create and provide effective leadership development services for vocational educators, in response to a widely held view that vocational education does not have the number of effective leaders that are urgently needed. This report summarises the procedures and results of the evaluation of each of ten programs which have been funded at eight different institutions, and contains a meta-analysis of all ten programs. The principle purpose of the evaluation is to derive information and insights useful to others who are planning to develop their own leadership programs. Show less

This article appeared in the ATEA journal, 18 (4), 1991. The national Tech Prep education program consists of two years of secondary school and 2 years of higher education or an apprenticeship program, with a common core of required proficiency in maths, science, communications and technologies. Employers assist with curricular support for the program and contribute work-based experiences. Show less

This document is one in a series of Technical Assistance Reports. It was originally prepared for the Training Policy and Programme Development Branch of the International Labour Office (ILO), Geneva. The purpose of the document is to review the effectiveness of job training programs in the USA, focusing on the most recent and most sophisticated evaluations. The first section provides a detailed description of the variety of job training programs. In the following section the author analyses the preferred evaluation methodology of the most recent efforts and defines its strengths and weaknesses. The next section presents a series of results for job training programs, welfare-to-work programs, and special experimental programs. This is followed by the outcomes for various population groups, different types of services, the effects of programs over time, and for different programs. The report then outlines some recent cost-benefit analyses supported by tables showing the results of some of the major evaluations and discusses a number of possible explanations for the poor outcomes of job training programs. In conclusion, the author examines how reforms proposed for the education system may benefit job training programs and suggests strategies for restructuring in order to promote the development of more effective programs. Show less

In this paper, the author suggests that adult vocational education has largely been ignored by the field of education and that an educational system that is poorly equipped to meet the needs of adults has developed over the years. The rapid rate of change dictates that educational opportunities need to be made available to adults throughout their lives. The paper examines critical questions regarding adult questions. These include: to what extent is vocational education prepared to assist and support the learning needs of adults?; what, if anything, is vocational education currently doing to serve adults?; and which groups should vocational education be attempting to serve? The author defines and discusses the background of adult vocational education, and then describes some vocational education systems and programs designed for adults. Selected adult populations with special needs for vocational education are examined and the paper concludes with some recommendations for the future. Show less

The mini-sabbatical, Designing classrooms that work, was designed to help teachers learn how to make the kinds of curricular and pedagogical changes needed by the reforms to integrate vocational and academic education and to improve the school-to-career transition. This report describes the design, presents findings from the assessment of the pilot study and outlines the lessons learned from the study. The companion report (see TD/INT 57.232) has the goal of enabling teachers to acquire skills needed to achieve this. Show less

This report examines five case studies of workplace literacy initiatives. Workplace literacy is defined in this study as several sets of skills and attitudes believed to be necessary in order to function competently in the current workplace environment. The aim of the study was to develop a clearer understanding of what takes place within workplace literacy programs in order to evaluate whether vocational institutions have a comparative advantage over other providers of workplace literacy programs. Based on a literature review, the authors developed a series of hypotheses that supported the premise that vocational institutions have a comparative advantage. Each case study was tested against these hypotheses. The case study data was collected through formal and informal interviews, document examination, and on-site observation. The case studies revealed features of vocational institutional provision of workplace literacy training that supported the hypotheses and concluded that to claim a comparative advantage over other workplace literacy program providers, vocational institutions should capitalise on their strengths. Show less

In this paper, the author shares some thoughts of the National Alliance of Business on the current state of public-private partnerships and to discuss how these might be improved. The Alliance believes that a well-designed public-private partnership can be a powerful means of achieving goals that no one group could accomplish alone. The author addresses the following areas: defining a partnership and the steps in building partnerships; partnerships in job training; and opportunities for partnerships in vocational education. In conclusion, the author suggests that the challenge for the Alliance, for the National Center for Research in Vocational Education, and for others, is to develop, understand, and communicate the need for partnerships, the advantages of partnerships, the difficulties and challenges of successful partnerships, and the techniques for making them work. Show less

Vocational student organizations (VSOs) are an integrated part of the overall curricula in most educational institutions, providing many educational and work experiences in the classroom, as well as benefits to faculties, school administrators, and communities. They are an important bridge between the real world and the world inside the classroom. By participating in VSOs, educators can observe what technological training is missing in their vocational programs and consequently can take steps to ensure that their local VSOs either remain or become part of a more futurist-oriented educational society by serving as a vehicle for student exposure to and experiences with recent advances in high technology. Show less

This report summarises a number of opportunities for two-year colleges to foster community development in the context of business incubation and entrepreneurship education and training programmes. These are summarised from a practical standpoint to assist and inform administrators, instructors and students with an interest in entrepreneurship and community development. Sections cover: establish a business incubator, providing education and training opportunities in business incubation, supporting the business community, two-year college-based education and training in entrepreneurship, and facilitating school-to-work-to-business ownership transition.

This is the third in a series of three reports. The research base is derived from a national survey of entrepreneurs and managers in business incubators operating under different sponsorship arrangements, including support from two-year colleges (see report 1, TD/INT 57.250), and from case studies featuring business incubators operating under contrasting settings and organisation schemes (see report 2, TD/INT 57.249). Show less