An overall strategy is reported for updating secondary and postsecondary vocational/technical teachers in the technologies of their teaching areas. It is designed for use by vocational educators and others who provide technological update: local school, institution, and district administrators and boards; teacher educators; vocational/technical…

This document reports the results of work in identifying promising approaches to the provision of technological update to vocational/technical teachers, and discusses barriers and facilitators to the use of these approaches. Technological update refers to the technical knowledge and skills needed by vocational/technical teachers to provide…

Teaching is a very difficult field to master, and the challenges faced by beginning career and technical education (CTE) teachers are especially great. Teacher induction, which usually takes 5-6 years, is the total of all the teacher's experiences from the moment the first teaching contract is signed until the teacher is comfortably established as…

Again today, as 40 years ago, the idea of setting standards for career and technical education (CTE) has come to the fore. CTE practitioners have learned some lessons about implementing standards, among them that there is no "standard" standard; instead, there can be a confusing variety of standards. An analysis of standards reveals that there are…

Career portfolios contain evidence of individuals' knowledge and skills and are useful tools in job search and career change, especially now that employers want generalizable workplace skills not well portrayed by traditional means and students are often inept at communicating their skills and knowledge to employers. Career portfolios contain and…

Vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies are required partners in the one-stop system mandated by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). The following features have long characterized VR: the primary goal of integrated competitive employment for persons with disabilities; state flexibility in VR systems, approaches, and structures; case…