Until 1983, there was no common language for discussing AAI. At that time, Paul Weckstein of the Center for Law and Education, a national advocacy and technical assistance organization, articulated the following goal: "providing students with strong experience in and understanding of all aspects of the industry they are preparing to enter." The Center's VOCED Project has continued to lead the AAI movement by advocating that federal vocational education and School-to-Work policy be shaped around AAI, and by working with communities and schools to translate the concept into reality.
As early as 1984, AAI gained the powerful support of Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. Speaking to the Senate on October 3, 1984, Senator Kennedy explained his reasons for supporting AAI:
This provision is very important on both educational and economic grounds. In educational terms, it helps to ensure that our Nation's renewed focus on educational quality and excellence is carried into the vocational wing of the school and that vocational education will not be used to limit the educational opportunities of students. In economic terms, it helps us to move away from the notion of "throw-away" workers, trained for a narrow set of skills and disposed of when the need for those skills disappears.In 1990, AAI became part of federal law with the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act Amendments (Perkins II), which fund secondary and postsecondary vocational education programs. Perkins II defines "general occupational skills" as "experience in and understanding of all aspects of the industry the student is preparing to enter, including planning; management; finance; technical and production skills; underlying principles of technology; labor and community issues; and health, safety, and environmental issues." Planning and accountability procedures at both the local and state levels focus on providing students with experience and understanding in all aspects of the industry.
The School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWOA) of 1994 (which provides assistance for localities and states to develop school-to-work systems) places an even greater emphasis on AAI, making it one of five overall requirements for funded programs. In addition, program performance measures under the Act are to include "student experience in and understanding of all aspects of the industry" as a criteria.
Also in the early 1990s, individual states began to adopt the AAI approach and initiate development work. When Massachusetts enacted a far-reaching education reform bill in 1993, it adopted an AAI approach to vocational education. Missouri's Instructional Materials Laboratory took the lead in designing technical assistance materials when it convened five industry advisory committees to flesh out the competencies expected in each aspect of those industries. Based on that early work, the Laboratory has since created AAI training modules. As California's School-to-Careers Committee members began development of curricular frameworks in 1995, they planned to design them around AAI.
Each school and each state implementing AAI has taken the concept in its own direction. Adding aspects (ethics, history, professional responsibility) is common and is an indication that AAI is stimulating important discussions about what communities expect from vocational education and school-to-work programs. Other impacts can be viewed from the vantage points of the different parties involved: students; schools and staff; and businesses and communities.