Capital Digest

Advocates last week urged that the Clinton Administration's proposed "school-to-work opportunities act'' be amended to insure that girls, as well as students with special needs, can participate in high-skill training programs.

In testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Productivity, Donna Milgram of Wider Opportunities for Women contended that girls have been poorly served by most of the high-tech, high-skill programs that are touted by the Administration.

A survey done by WOW this summer of school-to-work sites being overseen by the Labor Department found that participating girls were clustered in nursing and clerical work. There were no young women at all in the three sites offering metalworking and machining, and only one or two girls at three other sites offering training in repair...