Information and Knowledge Development Potential

Abstract

It seems clear from initial published reports and documents that the extent of knowledge development under the Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act of 1977 (YEDPA) has been disappointing. By presenting the findings from a specific YEDPA demonstration project, this article suggests that the rather limited success in meeting knowledge-development goals is due more to a misunderstanding of the phrase "knowledge development"than to an actual lack of important information. It illustrates the differential degrees of value of what was discovered concerning the ability of the private sector to improve work attitudes, skills, and youths' chances to find and keep unsubsidized jobs. It concludes with a discussion of the kinds of knowledge that can reasonably be expected from projects of this type.