The vocational education research and development (R & D) provisions in Public Law 94-482, the Education Amendments Act of 1976, are the primary focus of this commentary by the counsel and staff director of the Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor.…

In examining how one state (Illinois) approaches the development of a comprehensive state capacity for program improvement in vocational education, it is helpful to review federal legislative action. Research and development (R & D) did not become an official legislative element of vocational education until the 1963 Vocational Education Act…

Congress, using Public Law 94-482 entitled Education Amendments of 1976, instructed the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to develop, implement, and operate the Vocational Education Data System (VEDS). As mandated by legislation, the primary purpose of VEDS is to provide a national reporting system to generate uniform data from the…

The lack of systematic, national data on the priority problems being experienced in the field operation of vocational education programs has been a barrier to the design of effective strategies for program improvement. The major purpose of this study was to provide a preliminary assessment of the field operation needs of vocational education. From…