This report of the Illinois Council on Vocational Education for 1987-88 is 1 in a series of 25 technical reports prepared to fulfill mandates of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act. It focuses on policies needed to strengthen vocational education programs, specifically the Illinois State Board of Education's education for employment initiative. The report traces the historical development of the initiative and offers advice to the board on policies that may improve/expand it. It suggests several options for refocusing the implementation of that policy: (1) identify clearly those skills that all students must possess in order to prepare them for their future work roles and bring teachers together in the high schools to address these skills; (2) improve and expand those aspects of State Board of Education and Illinois Board of Higher Education relationships that will prepare new teachers for positions in secondary and postsecondary settings; and (3) involve the private sector in modernizing education for employment programs by using advisory councils in all regions with membership representative of the regional work force. The council considers these options, while dramatic in their scope, critical to the long-term success of the State Board's education for employment initiative. (KC)