NCJ Number
75411
Date Published
1969
Length
41 pages
Annotation
Innovative prevocational and vocational training programs implemented by experimental and demonstration (E&D) projects authorized under the 1962 Manpower Development and Training Act are described, and their impact on methods of transforming disadvantaged youth into productive workers is evaluated.
Abstract
Prime sources of information for this study were reports from the more than 50 E&D projects conducted during the period 1963-1966 and visits to 7 projects throughout the country. E&D projects not only experienced planning and staffing problems in their early days but also discovered that most disadvantaged youths were seriously deficient in basic educational and communication skills. Furthermore, most were totally unfamiliar with the routines, responsibilities, and tensions of steady wage work. Several prevocational training programs which attempted to remedy these deficiencies are described, including the use of work crews for programs of subsidized work experience to develop work habits and dispersed work sites where youths worked alongside regular employees for half a day. Other projects established their own businesses to employ disadvantaged youths or attempted to build work experience programming into urban renewal activities. An alternative approach was seen in work sample programs, sheltered workshops, and vestibule training in which youths were taught skills in a noncompetitive environment. Funding arrangements for vocational training, skill centers, programmed instruction, and integrated basic education-job skill training. E&D vocational projects also served prison inmates and volunteers rejected for military service. On-the-job training (OJT) was particularly effective in teaching marketable job skills, but programs had to be reoriented to meet the needs of disadvantaged youths. The discussion of OJT also considers subcontracting, employer attitudes, and program elements which projects found to be desirable. Coupling of classroom and job site training was the most successful training method. Important issues regarding prevocational and vocational training methods are also explored, such as instructor qualifications, types of training interventions, and supportive services. Recommendations for future manpower programs are outlined. No references are given.