Vocational Education in the United States: The Early 1990s

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Introduction

With passage of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWOA) of 1994, national attention has turned to the systems in place in this country for educating and training people for work. Historically, vocational education has made up the lion's share of such efforts. This publication provides educators, policymakers, and researchers with the most current data on the vocational education enterprise and some data that are available on other school-to-work activities. Specifically, the publication addresses the following questions:

• What is vocational education?
  
  
• How widespread is participation in vocational education?
  
  
• What types of vocational education do students take?
  
  
• Do students take coherent sequences of vocational courses?
  
  
• To what extent do students with different demographic characteristics participate in vocational education?
  
  
• To what extent do students who are disadvantaged or have disabilities participate in vocational education?
  
  
• How much academic preparation do vocational coursetakers receive?
  
  
• What outcomes are associated with participation in vocational education?
  
  
• What other school-to-work programs do schools and institutions offer?
  
  

While most of the above questions are addressed for both the secondary and postsecondary levels, some additional issues particular to each level of education are also discussed.

This report, which was produced about 3 years after publication of Vocational Education in the United States: 1969-1990, extends the available vocational education data through 1992, and provides some trend information on the decade spanning 1982-1992. It also provides information on public high school graduates and teachers and on nonbaccalaureate students (those pursuing less than a bachelor's degree) in a variety of postsecondary institutions. Additionally, this report covers a number of key issues emphasized in the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act Amendments of 1990 (1990 Perkins Act)--and echoed in STWOA. These include integration of academic and vocational education, access of special populations to quality programs, and access of individuals to programs nontraditional for their sex. Finally, this report provides information on most of the targeted populations identified in section 421 of the 1990 Perkins Act: (1)

• Women;
  
  
• American Indians;
  
  
• Individuals with handicaps;
  
  
• Individuals of limited English proficiency;
  
  
• Economically disadvantaged students (including students in rural and urban areas);
  
  
• Single parents;
  
  
• Incarcerated youths and adults; and
  
  
• Minorities.

Appendix B describes how variables were constructed to provide information on the above populations and explains why information on other targeted populations was not included.

This publication incorporates data from nine national databases. Effort was made to include the most recent data that were available during preparation of the report. However, because of the staggered timing of different national data collection efforts, not all desired data were available. Consequently, some of the information presented here is not parallel at the secondary and postsecondary education levels, since the available data differed somewhat at the two levels. Appendix B describes the national datasets that were included in the report and identifies areas where additional information could be provided in the future.

This report begins with text and figures covering the key questions outlined above and highlighting the most important findings. Extensive tables supporting these findings are presented in appendix A, which may be used by readers to investigate a broad range of questions related to vocational education and school-to-work in general. A guide to the tables is provided at the beginning of appendix A; a glossary of key terms used in the report in appendix C; and a bibliography in appendix D.

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[Table of Contents] [Key Questions]