A study examined current research on the proficiency of vocational students in basic skill areas and explored current practices for improving the basic skills of vocational students at the secondary and postsecondary levels. Based on current research, vocational students, on an average, seemed to be less proficient in basic skills than were their academic track counterparts and made smaller gains in proficiency during their high school years. In addition, it appeared that basic skill proficiencies were more strongly associated with school-related outcomes such as further schooling and higher grades than with employment-related outcomes such as job placement and wages. An analysis of the strategies and approaches used by vocational educators in providing instruction in basic skills revealed that such strategies are likely to use a combination of the following four approaches: (1) remediation, or a compensatory approach; (2) reinforcement, or a support-oriented approach; (3) alternative schools, or a total organizational approach; and (4) inservice training, or an instructional improvement approach. Because the research on basic skills and vocational students is not a rich literature, researchers need to focus more attention on improving the methodological adequacy of available research and on filling in substantive gaps in existing research. Search strategies and sample characteristics tables are appended. (MN)