The research and evaluation consultant for the North Carolina Advisory Council on Vocational Education summarizes the position of the National Advisory Council based on their special 1974 report entitled "Report on Urban Vocational Education" supplemented by the annual reports from 1972 to 1975. Noting that the report summarizes hearings held in five different cities (Washington, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Houston, and Los Angeles) providing testimony about some innovative and exemplary programs, he notes the common concerns: (1) The development of career education, K-12, (2) the expectation that schools address broad social problems which do not have simple solutions, (3) the high unemployment rate among youth in cities, intensified by racial discrimination which is more serious in large cities, and by the flight of businesses to suburbs, (4) the low range of occupations offered by school vocational programs, (5) too few students being reached by vocational programs, (6) inadequate preparation of students in basic English and math, (7) females being kept out of high-paying fields, and (8) programs not meeting the needs of local employment markets. Recurrent themes from the testimony are said to indicate areas of special concern for improving urban vocational programs: Program expansion, funding, relevance of courses, coordination among employers and unions and schools, counseling and placement, image of vocational education, private schools, discrimination, and needs of handicapped students. Specific recommendations based on information gained through the hearings, substantiated by information from the reports of the state advisory councils, are listed for federal, state, and local levels. (JT)