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This document focuses on five major themes: (1) What's Right and What's Wrong with Vocational Education, (2) Technology for Elementary School Children, (3) Setting Performance Objectives for Learning, (4) A Practical Program for "Real" Learning, and (5) Vocational Guidance: An Unfulfilled Challenge. It is recommended that vocational education needs to renew itself according to the following priorities: (1) implementing the chief recommendations of the 1963 panel of consultants on vocational education, (2) presenting a realistic picture of the world of work in elementary schools, (3) shifting an emphasis from "teaching," in which a dominant adult makes a series of external demands upon children for externally desired responses, to "learning," in which a student interacts directly and intimately with things and people and learns to generalize from these experiences, and (4) developing a whole new curriculum which emphasizes attainment through performance objectives. (CH)

IN RECENT EFFORTS OF THE U.S. OFFICE OF EDUCATION TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN DEVELOPMENT AND ADAPTATION OF EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE, VISIBILITY HAS BEEN GIVEN TO COMMUNITIES WHICH HAVE INTRODUCED NEW CURRICULUMS, TEACHING METHODS, AND INSTITUTIONAL PATTERNS. FIVE LOCALLY-INITIATED PROGRAMS WHICH HAVE ATTEMPTED TO PROVIDE A FLEXIBILITY OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM TO MEET THE NEEDS OF STUDENTS OF VARIOUS BACKGROUNDS AND ABILITY LEVELS HAVE BEEN SELECTED FOR EXPOSURE ON THE BASIS OF COMMUNITY SIZE, GEOGRAPHICAL REGION, AND PROGRAM TYPE. THE "RICHMOND PRETECHNICAL PROGRAM" NOW OPERATING IN 19 HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA USES STUDENTS' PRACTICAL AND OCCUPATIONAL INTEREST AS A MEANS OF DEVELOPING GENERAL AND ACADEMIC SKILLS BY UNIFYING PHYSICS, MATH, ENGLISH, AND SHOP COURSES TO ELIMINATE ARTIFICIAL FRAGMENTATION OF SUBJECT MATTER. GEORGIA'S 18 POST-SECONDARY VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS, GEARED TO INDUSTRY DEMANDS, REQUIRED CHANGED ATTITUDES AND NEW ADMINISTRATIVE TECHNIQUES TO GROW FROM A SCHOOL SYSTEM DEVOTED ALMOST ENTIRELY TO TRAINING FOR AGRICULTURAL OCCUPATIONS. THE "MARKET STREET SCHOOL" IN WARREN, OHIO, BROUGHT SIXTH TO NINTH GRADE SLOW LEARNERS TOGETHER IN AN ENTIRELY NEW ENVIRONMENT TO PROVIDE NEEDED GENERAL AND VOCATIONAL SKILLS. PHOENIX, ARIZONA, BUILT INTO ITS EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURE A COMPLETE PARAMEDICAL TRAINING CAPABILITY BY COOPERATIVE EFFORT OF THE PROFESSIONS, HOSPITALS, EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, AND EDUCATION LEADERS AT STATE AND LOCAL LEVELS. QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS, IS AN EXAMPLE OF A CITY IN WHICH VOCATIONAL EDUCATION HAS SHIFTED FROM TRAINING FOR A SINGLE SKILL TO PREPARING INDIVIDUALS FOR A CLUSTER OF OCCUPATIONAL SKILLS. THIS DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE AS FS5.280--80047 FOR 30 CENTS FROM SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS, U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20402. (JM)

THIS REPORT OF A NATIONAL PLANNING CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION FOR DISADVANTAGED YOUTH CONTAINS SUMMARIES OF THE CONFERENCE'S PANEL DISCUSSIONS AND TEXTS OF SEVERAL ADDRESSES. THE PANELS CONCENTRATED ON THE NATURE OF THE 1965 ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT (ESEA) TITLE I PROGRAMS, THE EXTENT OF THE SCHOOL'S RESPONSIBILITY TO ELIMINATE EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL DISADVANTAGEMENT, TEACHER TRAINING AND TEACHER AIDES, APPROACHES TO CURRICULUM AND LEARNING, PARENTAL AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT, AND RESEARCH AND EVALUATION. ESEA TITLE I PROGRAMS FOR MUSIC, THEATER, AND DANCE AND THE RELATIONSHIP OF TITLE I TO SCHOOL DESEGREGATION WERE ALSO CONCERNS OF THE CONFERENCE. SPEECHES WERE DELIVERED BY THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, THE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, AND THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR ADVANCED STUDY IN THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES. THIS DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE AS CATALOG NO. FS-5.237--37004 FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS, U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20402, FOR $0.55. (LB)