This analysis of current and available information on the evaluation of vocational education and its policy implications includes a methodological appendix showing major studies of cost-effectiveness analysis, a critique of the various techniques employed in these studies, and an extensive bibliography of relevant source materials and related studies on vocational education evaluation. The present vocational education system is an umbrella for a wide variety of programs, which have as a common denominator their eligibility for Federal support through the different vocational education acts and amendments. These programs usually supply students with a marketable skill while providing them with a basic knowledge of the humanities and may include training in homemaking skills and consumer education. On-the-job training, apprenticeships, community colleges, and other programs supplement vocational education curriculums offered in public schools. In fiscal 1970, only one sixth of the total government expenditures for vocational education represented Federal funds, showing that Federal support is too small a percentage of the total for the Federal Government to be a primary change agent within vocational education. Part II of this report is available as VT 017 227 in this issue. (AG)