The National Assessment of Vocational Education (NAVE) evaluated and described the vocational education services delivered to special populations under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act, the effects of the act in modernizing the vocational education system, the impact of vocational education on academic skills and employment opportunities, and other topics. Some of the findings and recommendations of the NAVE are the following: (1) the Perkins Act is a weak mechanism for achieving its goals because little additional direction has been provided on federal or state levels on the targeting of federal funds for supplementary services to disadvantaged and handicapped students, nor has technical assistance been provided on effective practices for serving these populations; (2) secondary education greatly needs improvement, and six major objectives for federal policy in vocational education are proposed; (3) although postsecondary education is a growing enterprise, its major problem is that many students do not stay in it long enough to receive in-depth training, and federal policy changes should be made to improve rates of program completion, especially among targeted groups; and (4) the federal role in vocational education should be strengthened and changes should be made in the current legislation. (KC)