Findings From Vocational Education In The United States

Vocational course taking declined between 1982 and 1992, with especially large enrollment decreases occurring in general labor market preparation and consumer/homemaking education. Only a small proportion of 1992 high school graduates specialized in vocational education (VE). Among occupationally specific VE programs, business, and trade and industry had the highest enrollments. Special populations tended to participate more heavily in VE than did other high school graduates in 1992. A recent study established that vocational course taking and National Assessment of Educational Progress math scores have an unexplained inverse relationship. In 1991, public school vocational teachers served fewer students than did nonvocational teachers. In 1990, postsecondary vocational students accounted for approximately one-third of all undergraduates and one-half of all nonbaccalaureate students. At the postsecondary level, business was the most common major for vocational students, and community colleges had the largest vocational student enrollment. Vocational completers were more likely to be employers than were other individuals who do not participate in postsecondary education, and employment in fields related to postsecondary vocational completers' concentration was associated with higher earnings. Nonbaccalaureate students of low socioeconomic status (SES) were more likely to be vocational majors than were students with high SES. (Contains 13 figures/tables.) (MN)

Descriptions and evaluations of the vocational education services delivered to special populations, the effects of the Carl D. Perkins Act of 1984 in modernizing the vocational education system, the impact of vocational education on academic skills and employment opportunities, and other topics as mandated by Congress in the Act (Section 403[a]).