Discusses how the idea that increasing literacy among the masses would result in disinterest in manual labor and increased social unrest affected education in Italy between 1809-1939. Government policies, which called for manual labor programs in primary schools to provide realistic training for students from lower socio-economic classes, are…

Research on the results of welfare-to-work programs is both encouraging and sobering. On the one hand, it provides evidence that states can effectively implement various work-oriented programs to encourage large percentages of the welfare caseload to prepare for and enter the labor market. These programs range from rather low-intensity programs…

The Opportunities Program is a collaboration between the Illinois state welfare program and the City Colleges of Chicago to educate/train welfare recipients in short-term programs. A review of the research identified these effective student retention strategies: student support, high quality instruction, and remediation. A review of research on…

The Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) represents a 6-year experiment in the privatization of public responsibilities that demonstrates that enlisting private energies to serve the public purpose is an appealing but deceptively elusive goal. Although contractors are evaluated and paid by reference to output standards, accountability is difficult…

The millions of disadvantaged youth, especially minority group youths, face a bewildering mix of job training and employment programs. Because of bureaucratic regulations and funding complications, most of these programs are not effective for the majority of youths who need them. To be effective, youth employment and training programs should…

A survey of state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) policies toward postsecondary training or education (PSE) shows that at least 40 states allow more access to PSE than would be countable under the House-passed reauthorization bill (H.R.4737). If it were enacted, these states would likely have to change their policies to reduce…

This review attempts to clarify adult education's role in moving individuals from welfare to work. Part 1 reviews research on this role, job prospects for low-skilled workers, and literacy requirements of workplaces. Part 1 reports these findings: the likelihood of being on welfare goes up as literacy goes down; a labor force attachment approach…

This special report from the National Commission for Employment Policy on coordinating federal assistance programs for the economically disadvantaged contains two parts. Part 1 includes recommendations for improving public assistance coordination programs in general and employment and training programs in particular. Eight recommendations focus on…

This is a background paper prepared for the conference "Community Colleges and Low Income Populations: Lessons from Research... Priorities for Policy." The paper sets out the framework that informs the conference. The author seeks to answer the question: What strategies, practices, and policies are needed if community colleges are to help people…

Although returns to military service may have been positive prior to Vietnam, since Vietnam the average veteran has neither benefited nor suffered economically from military service. Educational attainment is the primary reason veterans have earned more than nonveterans. Because the population as a whole has become more educated, military service…

This paper attempts to analyze the changing nature of work in today's economy and to investigate employment problems and mobility opportunities for disadvantaged workers. Principal dimensions of employment opportunities in the "old economy" of the 1950s and 1960s are highlighted, and the impact of the emergence of the "new…

Part I of this paper reviews research on effects of vocational course work on dropout rates, probabilities of employment, earnings, productivity, and basic skills. The review is organized around 10 questions. Answers to these questions include: (1) vocational education lowers dropout rates; (2) economic benefits are substantial; (3) economic…

A study examined the use of, and the need for, the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act funding reserves for sex equity programs and programs for displaced homemakers, single parents, and single pregnant women. Of 34 local program operators interviewed, 17 received sex equity grants, and 22 received displaced homemaker,…

These matrices summarize the content of the certification/chartering requirements established by nine first-round and three second-round implementation states to deliver services in One-Stop Career Centers. Seven areas or dimensions of design/operations are compared. The narrative accompanying the matrices is divided into two sections--a matrix…

American society is based on work. The industrial revolution exposed a growing proportion of the population to unemployment, underemployment, and dislocation. Early theoreticians believed that unemployment was a temporary labor market imbalance that would correct itself with downward wage adjustments. John Maynard Keynes, on the other hand, argued…