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Many, but not all, of the admissions selection criteria favored by U.S. colleges and universities unwittingly create incentives for educational dysfunctional behavior by secondary students, teachers and administrators, and by voters in school budget referenda. These include nerd harassment, peer cultures that denigrate achievement, various efforts by students to take the easy road to graduation, and practices by teachers that reward students who have not really done the work. Tests, such as the Scholastic Assessment Tests and the ACT Assessment, do not really assess the material that students should learn. They are actually aptitude tests, and aptitude has become the leading consideration in college admission. There is evidence that curriculum-based external examinations improve teacher-student relationships and the norms of the student peer culture. Many of the dysfunctional effects of basing admissions decisions on course grades and rank in class could be eliminated if colleges had perfect information about the instructional quality and grading standards of each course taught at each high school and then could adjust the grades to a common metric. Of course, this is not possible, but some adjustments can be made to admissions policies. Especially useful would be the use of curriculum-based external assessments in place of the current college entrance examinations. (Contains 2 figures, 12 endnotes, and 37 references.) (SLD)

In 1999 Michigan implemented the Michigan Merit Award program, a program to motivate high school students to take their studies more seriously. The program offers 1-year college scholarships to students who meet or exceed state standards on Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests in reading, mathematics, science, and writing. This paper discusses the Michigan program and similar state programs. Section 1 documents the lack of engagement of American high school students and compares the time they devote to schoolwork with the time their foreign counterparts spend on schoolwork. Section 2 assesses the social costs of student disengagement and lack of effort. Section 3 analyzes the structure of the Michigan Merit Award program and shows how it attacks the problem of motivating students to become more engaged in their studies. Section 4 provides evidence on the likely effects of the programs by reviewing studies of other moderate-stakes external-examination systems in other states and several Canadian provinces. Appended are detailed and official descriptions of the Michigan Merit Award program and information on the design and validity of the MEAP, which is used to measure academic achievement in the state. (Contains 31 references.) (WFA)

A group of 2,594 employers identified as having hired a new employee prior to 1981 served as the population for a study of the provision and outcomes of on-the-job training of new employees. Respondents were asked how much time the new employees had spent on four types of training activities during their first 3 months of employment. A simple theory of training investment was constructed, and a multivariate analysis of the determinants of training investment was offered. Training effectiveness was analyzed in relation to training provider, establishment size, and generality of training. On average, new employees spent 47.3 hours watching others, 10.7 hours in formal training programs, 51 hours receiving informal training by management, and 24.2 hours receiving informal training by coworkers. Training resulted in substantial increases in workers' productivity during their first year on the job. Informal training by coworkers and training by watching others had higher benefit/cost ratios than informal training by management. The benefit/cost ratio for formal training depended on how the model was specified; however, the marginal rates of return to training appeared to be quite high. Highly general training had a larger effect on wage growth than specific training. (Contains 12 tables, 32 references.) (MN)

The accuracy of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projections of occupational employment growth was investigated for the period 1972-1989. BLS was found to have consistently underpredicted the growth of skilled occupations and overpredicted the growth of occupations requiring low or moderate skills. A regression-based forecast was indicated as doing a better job of forecasting future occupational staffing ratios than the judgmental approach used by BLS. A regression analysis of the substantial changes in occupational shares that occurred from 1972 to 1989 predicted substantially greater upskilling than BLS. BLS's projections of the supply/demand balance for college graduates were also evaluated and found to have been consistently wrong. An examination of this balance was done by comparing past and projected percentage rates of change in employment in high skill jobs to actual and projected percentage rates of change in the stock of well-educated workers. Projections indicated that the labor market for college graduates was tight and would get even tighter. Findings implied high social returns to a college education and the need for a public policy response to ameliorate the shortage. (Appendixes include 14 tables and 42 endnotes.) (YLB)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projections of occupational employment growth have systematically underpredicted the growth of occupations that require the most education and training. The latest data on occupational growth rates show that the BLS's recent projections of occupational employment growth to the year 2000 probably suffer from the same bias. Based on a regression analysis of trends in occupational shares, forecasts of occupational employment demand imply substantially faster growth of higher level occupations. A comparison of past and projected percentage rates of change in employment in high skill jobs to actual and projected rates of change in the stock of well-educated workers illustrates the supply/demand balance for college graduates. Findings show that, during the 1980s, employment in high skill occupations grew at nearly the same rate as the stock of workers with one or more years of college; employers wished to increase the proportion of workers in these ocupations who had a college education. A shortage developed and the wage premium for college graduates rose to unprecedented levels. Policy implications include the following: (1) the social returns to a college education are extremely high and likely to go higher; (2) continuing inequality in wage premiums will put U.S. corporations at a competitive disadvantage; and (3) public policy must focus on increasing the supply of technically and scientifically trained individuals. (40 endnotes) (YLB)

This paper attempts to provide a general equilibrium framework for comparing the merits of alternative methods of raising the income of the employable poor. The strategy is to specify a complete and interacting set of factor markets, parameterize alternative program types in a manner convenient to this specification, and then solve the system of equations that characterize this economy for the comparative static response to the initiation of a small version of each program type. Within the income maintenance category the rankings implicit in impact effect analysis recur when general equilibrium effects are considered. Wage subsidies are more transfer-efficient than the negative income tax, or earning supplements. The size of policy multipliers are, however, quite sensitive to elasticities of substitution in production. The general equilibrium impact of targeted employment and training programs is quite different from the impact effect. Expanding the employment of the skilled lowers the income of the less skilled, especially when elasticities of substitution and occupational choice are low. In general, equilibrium effects of transferring workers from the low to the high skilled work force imply that education and training are by far the most effective means of aiding the low skilled. (Author/AM)

Data from a survey funded by the National Institute of Education involving 3,847 employers were analyzed to examine the relationship between school-provided vocational education and employer-provided on-the-job training. Employers reported that school-provided vocational training was required for 9.5 percent of the jobs studied and "important but not required" for another 37.9 percent. School-provided vocational training seemed complementary with on-the-job training. Jobs that have school-provided vocational training as a prerequisite for hiring offered newly hired workers greater amounts of on-the-job training. A comparison of occupants of the same job at the same firm showed that new hires with relevant school-provided vocational training required about 7 percent less on-the-job training and were significantly more productive than new hires with no training. New hires with a good deal of relevant job experience took less time to train and had higher productivity indexes than those with none. On-the-job training created externalities--social benefits not captured by the trainer or trainee. (Appendixes, amounting to approximately two-thirds of the report, include alternative measures of the impact of occupationally specific training and the Gallup organization's report on survey procedures and the survey instrument.) (YLB)

The key to high school student motivation is recognizing and rewarding academic effort. Compared to the United States, students in foreign countries study harder and their parents demand more of the schools because labor market success is determined by how much is learned in high school. Schools in the United States, however, reward students for time spent in school, but offer few benefits for students who study hard. This failure to reward academic achievement is the result of the following phenomena: (1) the labor market fails to reward effort and achievement; (2) college admission is based on relative measures, such as Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores and class rank and grade point average (GPA); (3) classmates actively discourage academic effort that would result in an upward shift of the grading curve; and (4) parents do not demand higher standards that would place students at risk of not graduating, but would not improve SAT scores or GPAs. The following reforms are suggested: (1) institute statewide achievement tests; (2) establish new graduation credentials; (3) expand the Advanced Placement Program; (4) replace the SAT; (5) modernize the cognitive content of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB); (6) encourage employers to use high school grades and a spectrum of achievement tests for hiring; (7) require all applicants for civil service positions to submit school and college transcripts; (8) base admission to the armed forces on competence in science and technical subjects; (9) extend school operations; (10) require students who are experiencing academic difficulty to attend remedial programs; and (11) institute cooperative learning strategies. Statistical data are presented in one table and seven graphs. A 63-item bibliography is appended. (FMW)

The research literature on the preparation of young people for work proves that policy recommendations are based on two false premises--academic skills are good substitutes for occupation-specific skills and increases in job turnover and skill obsolescence rates have caused a decline in the return to occupation-specific training by schools. Analyses provide strong evidence that both generic technical competence and occupation-specific competencies have large effects on worker productivity and other indicators of labor market success. The decline in occupational turnover means the social returns to occupational skills training have increased. The rapid obsolescence of skills implies greater need for occupational skills development, not reduced need. If vocational students learn less mathematics and science than many academic students, it is because they take less demanding, not fewer, academic courses. School-based occupational training produces four effects: within-job productivity, technology-skill transfer, job access, and job stability. Because getting a training-related job is essential for the training to pay off, greater emphasis needs to be given to ensuring that graduates find such employment. The payoff to teaching computer applications is very large. Most high school vocational students could develop their skills more rapidly if their program presented greater challenges and expected more of them. (Includes 12 figures and 18 tables. Appendixes contain 172 references and 38 endnotes.) (YLB)

Recommendations favoring generic academic rather than occupationally specific skills are based on false premises. Research evidence contradicts the following assertions: (1) academic skills are good substitutes for occupational skills; (2) skill obsolescence reduces the payoff to vocational training; and (3) rising job turnover reduces the payoff to school-based training. (SK)