Vocational Education

Standards that accurately reflect the skills students will need in the work world, says a new report, must move concurrently toward two goals: They must strive for the short-term goal of making clear to schools and employers what job skills students need to know and the long-term aim of fitting into broader education reforms.

"While both sets of goals are important," it says, "the nature and governance of skill-standards systems designed to meet the long-term goals may differ sharply from systems focused on the short-term goals."

The document, "Making Sense of Industry-Based Skill Standards," is one of three reports on different aspects of vocational education recently released by the Berkeley, Calif.-based National Center for...