Efforts by Federal Agencies to Develop 

Occupational Curriculum for Entry-Level Workers 

Purchase Order No.: ED-02-PO-0225 

James Jacobs 

Macomb Community College 

Commissioned Paper 

National Assessment of Vocational Education 

2004 

1
This report was prepared for the U.S. Department of Education under Contract Number 

ED-02-PO-0225. Elizabeth Warner served as the contracting officer’s technical 

representative. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or 

policies of the Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. 

Department of Education is intended or should be inferred.

2
I. Introduction 

One of the continual challenges facing secondary and postsecondary vocational educators 

today is the development of relevant curriculum for their programs. This is especially 

true in many of the newly-emerging occupational areas of information and computer 

technology. The ability to offer up-to-date curriculum becomes a critical component for 

determining the success of these programs at winning employment for the students. 

However, the curriculum challenge is not simply concentrated on the task of keeping up 

with changes in technology. With the growing recognition that vocational education 

should prepare students not just for entry-level work, but for career pathways, it is 

important to develop courses and programs that enable students to understand how the 

technology is used within the particular occupational context. Computer applications are 

found in almost all occupations, but even similar computer devices are used very 

differently. For example, knowledge of a Geographic Positioning System (GPS) as used 

by civil engineers making technical changes in the design of a highway is very different 

than the use of GPS by farmers in determining precision agriculture production. In both 

cases, preparation of a student involves not only mastery of the technology, but also 

knowledge of how it might be used in specific occupations. 

If being both “technically up-to-date” and providing “context” for particular career 

pathways matter, where do vocational administrators turn for the expertise? Certainly 

good instructors ultimately base the curriculum upon the specific needs of the industry or 

employers. However, at the secondary level, it is difficult at best for vocational 

instructors and administrators to cultivate these ties. In many cases the instructors 

themselves are unfamiliar with the new or emerging technology and the specific context 

in which it is used. 

The federal government has attempted to respond to the need for relevant occupational 

curriculum in a number of ways. The work of the National Skill Standards Board (NSSB) 

has been to develop and disseminate industry -based skill standards. While these 

standards are not curriculum, they provide a road map on which to construct curriculum.

The Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) provided initial support for state 

vocational education agencies to jointly develop curriculum focused around career 

clusters. 

However, there may be other federal sources for vocational curriculum. Many of the 

major agencies of the federal government are in need of specialized skills, often similar 

to skills needs in the private sector, and some introduce specialized training programs for 

these occupations. In addition through carrying out their legislative mission, the agencies 

interact with the private economic sector and are often knowledgeable about the current 

and future workforce demands within a key occupational area. For example, it is logical 

that the Federal Aviation Agency would assume the task of delineating the skills of

3
airport security staff, and perhaps would even develop the curriculum that could train 

staff to achieve proficiency in performing these tasks. The Department of Defense, a 

large employer with a workforce engaged in diverse tasks, may find it worthwhile to 

develop curriculum and course programs to train staff – programs that would have 

applications outside of the armed services. 

The purpose of this brief paper is to review the sources of vocational curriculum –

instruction that provides the skills necessary for individuals to perform entry-level jobs at 

the sub-baccalaureate level – that may be available from selected federal agencies other 

than OVAE.1

 The research method relied on an investigation of the Web sites of specific 

agencies. The paper outlines the relevant content of these sites, as well as some

challenges policymakers and practitioners may face in accessing the available curricula. 

II. Methods 

To perform this research, the Web sites of six major federal government agencies were 

examined: four were Cabinet-level agencies, one was a stand-alone agency and one was a 

cluster of research institutions within a Cabinet-level federal agency. They include: 

• Department of Agriculture 

• Department of Commerce 

• Department of Defense 

• Department of Energy 

• National Science Foundation 

• National Institutes of Heath

These agencies were selected with the expectation that the scope of their activity would 

include many occupations that are relevant to vocational education, for example, farming, 

manufacturing, and engineering. 

The process for identifying relevant curriculum was initially performed through a 

computer search of the Web sites of the agencies and their various units. The headings 

used in the search process were consistent: vocational curriculum, occupational 

curriculum and educational curriculum. In each agency, any program involving 

secondary or postsecondary education was examined to determine if there was suitable 

curriculum at the site. In addition, grant programs and other resources also were 

examined to determine if there was relevant material. When a promising area was found, 

phone calls were made to the agency to ask more specific questions about the program

and the available curricula. 

 

1

 The federal legislation that supports vocational education, the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical

Education Act of 1998, defines vocational education as preparing students for occupations that require less 

than a baccalaureate degree. 

4
In examining the extent of occupational or vocational curriculum found, three other 

assumptions were made in the search procedures: 

1. Curriculum or educational programs that produced curriculum for occupations 

that typically require a four-year or advanced degrees were eliminated from the 

search. For example, programs in the Department of Energy (DOE), the 

National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 

that help prepare engineers, scientists and physicians were not reviewed unless 

they could be adapted to other non-professional, sub-baccalaureate jobs, such as 

nursing or engineering technology. In comparison to the curriculum we found 

relevant to traditional vocational education occupations, products geared toward 

higher-degree occupations were far more extensive, perhaps reflecting the 

national policy of promoting advanced degrees in science and technology as 

critical to the national interest. 

2. Teacher professional development curriculums also were eliminated from the 

search. For example, there are many programs within NIH that aid in the 

training of teachers in medical fields or at NSF that are applicable to math, 

science and technology teachers. Excluding teacher training curricula reflects 

our priority on finding curricula that vocational educators could use to instruct 

students rather than improve their own teaching skills. 

3. Internal curriculum or course programs directed at agency staff were not 

considered. Most agencies run extensive internal education activities for their 

staff. This is curriculum intended to train workers at their agencies, not through 

educational institutions. For example, the DOE maintains a Federal Energy 

Management Program that trains federal employees from other governmental 

agencies in basic energy conservation and construction technologies. There is a 

Federal Training Mall, listing training opportunities across federal agencies, that 

is maintained by the National Technical Information Service of the Technology 

Administration within the Department of Commerce. An examination of the 

specifics of these programs was beyond the scope of the present study, but it 

appears many of these programs include curriculum that could be fashioned into 

a “dual use” – agency and civilian – curriculum strategy. 

III. Occupational Curricula Available Through Federal Agencies 

What follows is a review of selected departments’ curriculum offerings, with a brief 

discussion of the promising programs. The most useful Web sites are listed in Table 1 at 

the end of the paper. In addition, at the end of the paper there is a general discussion of 

the characteristics of the programs, and some suggestions are made for the development 

of a relationship between the Office of Adult and Vocational Education and the agencies 

of the federal government. 

A. Department of Agriculture (DOA) 

This department has enjoyed a particularly extensive relationship with higher education 

institutions in the form of partnerships with land grant colleges. In addition, there has 

5
been extensive interaction between the department and specific non-governmental 

organizations such as the 4-H Clubs and Future Farmers of America (FFA); this 

interaction has developed substantial curriculum and programs targeted at young people 

interested in agricultural occupations. Most of these however were not occupationally 

specific, but more designed to inform high school students and younger of the career 

opportunities within agriculture. DOA’s library will eventually house all curricula 

developed through the funded projects and extension centers, with a goal to establish an 

interactive data site for all inquires regarding DOA curriculum and products. Some

specific curricula already available include: 

1. Agriculture: DOA has several programs that are potential sources of curricula. 

The Workforce Preparation Initiative will “marshal the extension, teaching and 

resources of the land-grant university system to address workforce preparation” 

with a focus on agricultural occupations [Contact: Jim Terry, (202) 690-1227, 

www@reeusda.gov]. Second, the Higher Education Programs, under the 

Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES), 

administers programs to enhance the quality of food and agricultural sciences 

education in higher education institutions including community colleges. Some

curricula developed with the service’s support are already being used by some

community college vocational programs, such as agricultural technology 

instrumentation. According to staff of the unit, the curricula developed by these 

grants will be found at the Library of the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

(Contact: Higher Education Programs: 

http://www.reeusda.gov/serd/hep/hep.htm). 

2. Forestry: The Forestry Research and Extension service is supported by the 

CSREES, which works with land grant colleges and “qualifying forestry 

schools.” Curriculum has been developed in logger training and education, 

master woodland manager, and forestry management and includes a Forestry CDROM developed by an outside contractor for DOA Contact: Larry Biles, (202) 

401-4926, www@reeusda.gov).

3. Food Sciences: The National Integrated Food Safety Initiative, a component of 

the Integrated Research, Reeducation and Extension Competitive Grants Program

(IREECGP), has developed curriculum for and funds food handler certification 

training (www@fsis.usda/oa/consedu.html).

B. Department of Commerce (DOC) 

This department houses the Office of Technology Policy Unit. This is the “only office in 

the federal government with the explicit mission of developing and advocating national 

policies and initiatives that use technology to build America’s strength”(www.doc.gov). 

1. Marine Education: DOC’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

supports a Consortium of Ocean Research and Education, which maintains a 

database of K-12 curriculum in marine education, some of which was developed 

6
jointly with NSF. The unit also sponsors the New Millennium Observatory 

(NeMO) program, which produces other marine curricula for K-12 students 

(www.oaa.doc.gov). 

2. Manufacturing Technology: DOC includes three different programs that produce 

or support occupational curricula relevant to manufacturing. First, the National 

Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a Manufacturing Extension 

Partnership (MEP), a network of extension centers and experts offering technical 

and business assistance to small- and medium-sized manufacturers. The centers 

have developed a variety of curricula, including courses on Total Quality 

Management, an introduction to ISO 9000 and courses in specific manufacturing 

technologies (www.mepcenters.nist.gov/net101). Second, also in NIST, the 

Advanced Technology Program (ATP) funds industry partners to develop highrisk enabling technologies and some of these projects have produced curricula to 

train workers in advanced manufacturing technologies (www.atp.nist.gov/). 

Third, several programs under the laboratory research unit of NIST focus on 

specific technologies – for example, the Technical Vision Systems for U.S. 

Fiber/Textile Apparel Industry – that could provide the basis for manufacturing 

programs directed at incumbent workers (www.nist.gov).

3. Other Technical Curricula: The National Technical Information Services (NTIS) 

under NIST is designed “to distribute government technical, scientific and 

business-related information,” and part of this mandate appears to be the 

compilation of technical and vocational curricula, primarily for adults. NTIS 

develop CD-ROM products for other federal agencies (www.ntis.gov/).

C. Department of Defense (DOD) 

DOD has developed the most detailed and comprehensive sets of training curricula of any 

federal department or agency. Not only are many curricula accessible to civilians, but 

there also has been an attempt to standardize the methodology and description of the 

training in ways that make it easy to compare military occupational titles with civilian 

ones. There are some drawbacks with accessing these sites, however. Many require 

military clearance and the procedures for civilian use are not yet in place. Also, it is 

difficult to obtain permission to search through some specific areas of DOD to obtain the 

curricula. 

The U.S. Army Web site, http://www.armyeducation.army.mil, is an extremely welldesigned and easy to use system for finding training materials. It contains curricula for a 

wide variety of positions in the Army and was designed to coordinate with the 

Department of Labor’s ONET database. Through the Credentialing Opportunities OnLine (COOL) system it is possible to click on a military occupation and find: civilian 

credentials related to a military occupational specialty, the steps necessary to obtain these 

credentials and detailed training curricula for each of the occupations. Moreover, unlike 

others, the Army site specifically encourages civilian use – “This site is an important new 

7
resource not only for soldiers, but also for career counselors, recruiters, employers and 

credentialing organizations.” 

The Air Force appears to provide the widest access to curricula through its Web site, 

http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/pubs/publist.asp?puborg=AF&series=36. After reaching 

that site, scroll down to AFMAN 36-2108. This document contains a list of all the 

occupations in which the Air Force has provided curriculum. Each is divided into levels 

of management starting from helper, apprenticeship, journeyman through superintendent, 

and manager. We provide here only a small sample of all the occupations for which the 

military services have developed curriculum products. 

1. Communications and Electronics: The curriculum is very detailed, including tests 

and other instructional documents that can be downloaded from the Air Force 

Web site. While many of the Air Force occupational programs focus on specific 

functions for the repair and maintenance of air force equipment, they are readily 

adoptable to civilian repair and maintenance functions beyond the military.

2. Aircraft Machine Maintenance: Specific military bases also make training 

available in specific subjects. For example, the 81st Training Wing at Keelser Air 

Force Base, Miss., offers many aircraft and machine maintenance programs that 

are similar to the tasks of civilian airlines mechanics 

(http://wwwmil.keesler.af.mil/menu/index_1.htm). 

3. There are also many other occupations that fit traditional white-collar 

environments such as logistics planning, traffic management, information 

management, computer systems operations, medical support, paralegal, dental 

assistant and financial manager. 

D. Department of Energy (DOE) 

This department is responsible for most of the federal government’s energy programs 

including technology programs that deal with specific forms of energy. In addition, this 

department is responsible for the design, construction and testing of nuclear weapons. 

The department is not only very active in the promotion of instructional materials for 

energy-related industries, but also for other occupations that require scientific and 

technology skills. For example, DOE supports a number of curriculum development 

programs at their national laboratories. 

1. Energy Occupations: DOE maintains the Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy Clearinghouse (EREC), which collects curriculum for occupations related 

to the production and distribution of energy, such as wind power mechanical and 

electrical technicians – “windsmiths” – who are required to operate and maintain 

wind turbines. The clearinghouse distributes a CD-ROM called “Get Smart 

About Energy” that contains lesson material relating to energy occupations 

(www.eren.doe.gov/consumerinfo/). The Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and 

Technology also offers curricula for nuclear energy occupations 

(http://nucleur.gov/).

8
2. Networking Technology: Los Alamos Laboratory provides curricula for training 

in several technical occupations, including networking technology. It produces a 

curriculum called Model Networks Guide (http://education.lanl.gov/EPO/).

E. National Science Foundation(NSF) 

The National Science Foundation is a separate federal agency established in 1950 to 

support education and research in all scientific and engineering disciplines. The budget of 

the agency is more than $4 billion, about 3.8 percent of all federal spending on research 

and development. Most of the foundation’s activities are performed under contract to 

educational institutions and other vendors. There are more than 2,000 educational 

institutions from K-12 to postgraduate programs currently working on NSF contracted 

projects. The agency awards about 19,000 projects each year. 

Since the early 1950s, the agency has supported K-12 science and math improvement 

efforts. But only more recently has the agency been involved in programs that develop 

curricula relevant to vocational educators, particularly around technology and its 

applications. These programs have produced materials in several areas. 

1. Technical and Engineering Occupations (secondary-level curricula): In 

particular, the NSF program “Transitions from Childhood to the Workforce” 

encourages researchers and curriculum developers to adapt their efforts to 

applications in the labor market; for example, one project is called Cross Training 

Technicians and Engineers for Semi-Conduction Manufacturing 

(www.nsf.gov/sbe/tcw/start.htm). Many of the projects funded under this 

program may have curricula relevant to vocational educators. 

2. Technician and Engineering Occupations (sub-baccalaureate): The Advanced 

Technological Education Program (ATE) supports curriculum development and 

preparation and professional development of faculty, with a particular focus on 

two-year colleges and the education of technicians for high-technology fields. 

The ATE’s program supports nine major centers located at specific community 

colleges, with each responsible for the development of curriculum. For example, 

Sinclair Community College developed an introduction to manufacturing set of 

instructional modules. The Maricopa Community College District center 

concentrated on the development of curriculum in chip-making processes. A third 

center, located at Bellevue Community College in Washington has developed 

standards and a curriculum for the informational technology industry. Another 

center, the Texas College of the Mainland in collaboration with the Gulf Coast 

Technology Alliance, is leading the development of a competency-based 

curriculum leading to a portable national credential for process technicians. All 

centers are expected to develop curriculum products that can be marketed to other 

community colleges and interested parties 

(http://www.nsf.gov/search97cgi/vtopic.html). 

F. National Institutes of Health (NIH) 

9
The National Institutes of Health, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human 

Services, is composed of 27 separate institutes and centers. The NIH mission is to 

uncover new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone. NIH works toward 

that mission by conducting research in its own laboratories; supporting the research of 

non-federal scientists in universities, medical schools, hospitals and research institutions 

throughout the country and abroad; helping in the training of research investigators; and 

fostering communication of medical and health sciences information. 

While all are primarily involved with basic scientific research and are focused upon 

issues for medical scientific advancement, almost all of the institutes have outreach 

programs for young people. Many concentrate on the recruitment of minority youth to 

science. However, each institute has programs that develop curriculum of potential use 

by vocational educators. 

1. Medical Careers: The National Institute of General Medical Sciences has a 

science education unit that produces curricula, such as genetic research, relevant 

to a variety of medical occupations (www.Pub_info@nigms.nih.gov). 

2. Environmental Health Careers: In terms of curriculum development, the most 

important program appears to be found within the National Institute of 

Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The NIEHS Community Outreach and 

Educational Program has established educational centers whose mission includes 

the development and dissemination of environmental health curricula. For 

example, the Environmental Health Science Center at the University of Iowa has 

developed an Institute for Rural Youth, which maintains curricula that increase 

awareness of occupational hazards in agriculture. The Center at Oregon State has 

developed curricula that integrate mathematics, science and environmental 

technology. Access to these specific projects is available through the local web 

sites maintained by each center 

(www.niehs.nih.gov/centers/overview/purpose.htlm). 

III. Conclusions 

With the exception of the military education sites, the majority of federal curriculum

development activity occurs as a “by-product” of the agency’s main mission. Sometimes 

agencies have been forced to develop educational programs, if for no other reason than to 

generate public interest in their activities. The result of these more ad-hoc educational 

activities is not normally “off the shelf” curriculum that is easily used by vocational 

educators. There are several barriers to greater use by those not directly involved in the 

development. 

First, the curricula developed are often uneven in scope and focus. For example, there are 

extensive curricula related to marine education put together by the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration, a unit of the Department of Commerce. Yet, there are few 

curricula developed for trade and technical assistance, another DOC responsibility. 

Similarly, in the DOE, the main concentration of curriculum is in the areas of renewal 

10
energy, but there is little relating to the traditional fossil fuels of coal and oil. The 

unevenness and unfocused nature of the work makes it incumbent that these curricula be 

reviewed carefully before distribution to vocational educators. 

Second, much of the curriculum has been developed as the result of a specifically funded 

project or program. After the project has been completed and submitted to the agency, 

unless there are specific plans for dissemination, the curriculum remains within the final 

report. Few agencies maintain Web sites with the Future Farmers of America or 4-H 

Clubs, where curricula can be downloaded in an educational format. Only with the advent 

of large electronic databases, which can easily search through thousands of project 

records, can such curricula now be found easily. In all four major federal agencies 

examined, steps were being taken to ensure that all project records could be retrieved 

electronically from agency libraries or database centers. 

Third, an important question underlying this research is what do we mean by curriculum?

Many of the products available appear to be course outlines, sometimes with stated 

objectives, reading lists and other components traditionally considered parts of 

curriculum. Others are more elaborate CD-ROMs with very rich textual detail, problems 

to be solved, a student manual and a variety of other pieces of information. The vast 

differences among the materials available make it likely that much will need to be 

reworked in order to be useful to vocational educators. 

Fourth, there are wide differences in the words used by each agency to describe the 

occupations and careers. In most cases, the specific occupational codes and career 

cluster strategies promoted by vocational educators and the U.S. Department of 

Education may not conform to the occupations described by the agencies. For example, 

the Department of Energy has curriculum to cover career clusters in each specific 

renewal technology – solar, wind and geothermal. The Department of Commerce has 

curriculum for occupations associated with the marine industries. It is doubtful that most 

vocational educators, particularly at the secondary level, would want programs of such 

specificity. On the other hand, vocational educators could adapt and align their 

curriculum using part of what has already been developed by these agencies. 

Another potential barrier is the motivation for the curriculum developed. Curricula 

developed by most agencies are intended to encourage interest in a specific occupational 

area or subject matter. Whether the curriculum is broad enough to treat all aspects of the 

subject may be questioned. For example, the curriculum of the Manufacturing Extension 

Partnership program in the Department of Commerce is directed only to small and 

medium firms – would this curriculum be general enough to be used in programs where 

students may work in larger manufacturing establishments? Similarly, the 4-H programs 

assume a specific knowledge of agricultural production that may not be found in some

rural areas of the United States. Again, the issue may be how well vocational instructors 

are able to extract the relevant parts and blend them with other curricula components to 

meet their overall needs. 

11
Finally, with the exception of the Advanced Technological Education centers, in most 

other agencies, there was not a process in place to systematically review developed 

curricula and to update them on a regular basis. In many projects, the curriculum was 

created and then disseminated “as is.” This suggests that one role for the Office of 

Vocational and Adult Education may be to aid these agencies in not only selecting a 

focus for curriculum development, but also a process for regularly updating and 

distributing those updates through the vocational education system. 

A. Policy Suggestions for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) 

This initial investigation indicates there is a potential for obtaining useful curricula for 

vocational educators from other federal agencies. However, doing so is far from

automatic – indeed, OVAE may be interested in considering the following steps to make 

the process more transparent and viable for vocational educators. 

1. OVAE could develop relationships directly with the units of federal agencies that 

appear to be likely repositories for curriculum and curriculum-related products. 

This would be especially useful for the material contained in the Department of 

Defense sites. 

It would be useful for OVAE to have direct liaison with organizations such as the 

Library at the Department of Agriculture or the National Science Foundation’s 

Advanced Technological Education program. Not only will it sensitize the other 

federal agencies’ repositories about the possibilities of curriculum dissemination of 

their work, but also through these direct ties, OVAE may be able to stimulate more 

curriculum development by indicating the “gaps” that might be filled. In phone 

conversations with various departments and units, there appeared to be a willingness 

to have the material used by OVAE. Thus, a more systematic relationship may be 

possible. 

2. OVAE staff could become familiar with the missions, operating units and 

products of the federal agencies from other departments that are involved in the 

knowledge creation process. It may be useful for OVAE staff to hold an annual 

briefing for key personnel from these agencies, outlining specific curriculum 

needs faced by vocational educators. 

Many units within NIH and NSF are involved in increasing basic research into 

science, technology and health-related areas in order to increase knowledge. 

Curriculum development is a by-product of this process. The purpose of the direct 

ties between OVAE and the agencies would be to increase the likelihood that 

curriculum development in particularly relevant areas would become a more 

conscious part of the dissemination of their research. OVAE could choose these 

relationships carefully based on priorities for occupations that could benefit 

vocational education programs. Through this process, OVAE may become another 

“customer” of the other agencies’ research activity, potentially resulting in more 

beneficial products being developed. For example, in the case of the National 

12
Institute of Nursing Research – an NIH center – an interest expressed by OVAE may 

stimulate that agency to develop more curricula and course modules targeted to the 

production of associate degree of nursing students, as opposed to the present focus 

almost exclusively on advanced nursing degrees. As an additional specific activity, 

OVAE may be able to work with some of the military Webmasters so that portions of 

these sites may be open for civilian use. The “dual use” possibilities for the military 

training and education programs appear to have significant potential. 

3. OVAE could encourage its grant recipients to search through other federal 

agencies’ materials and make good curriculum available to vocational education 

through linkages between the National Dissemination Center for Vocational 

Education and other traditional sources of curriculum for vocational education. 

In the development of its own grants programs, OVAE could begin encouraging its 

contractors to use this federal resource as a pre-condition of OVAE grant awards. For 

competition projects, points could be awarded for research proposals that attempt to 

adapt and use curriculum from these other agencies. Some of these developments are 

already happening between the ATE programs and other parts of the Department of 

Education. These could be examined and improved upon by OVAE. The National 

Center for Research in Vocational Education might be asked to develop courses and 

programs that identify the current repositories of information. 

4. OVAE could develop a professional development module to be used by state 

directors of vocational education to adapt curricula available from other federal 

agencies. 

In large measure, the development of curriculum is essentially a state or more likely 

local activity. Through the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act 

of 1998, states are able to use grant funds for curriculum development and other 

activities. OVAE could encourage local leadership to use state-developed sources of 

curriculum. In order to undertake this task, some form of staff development materials 

could be produced by OVAE and distributed to state and local vocational educators. 

B. Final Thoughts 

While this paper was motivated by a very practical desire to more efficiently use 

governmental resources, there is an important theoretical and policy assumption that 

is related to this work. If the United States is becoming a “knowledge society,” then 

how knowledge is produced and disseminated matters more than in the past. It will be 

those societies that are able to manage the development, supply and implementation 

of new knowledge that will have a competitive edge. Viewed from this perspective, 

vocational education is a component of the knowledge creation process – playing the 

important role of imparting knowledge gained to young people. As a result, it is not 

simply practical good sense to develop ties between the federal agencies engaged in 

vocational education curriculum; it also serves to fashion a federal system of 

knowledge creation and dissemination. 

13
 

14