THE 1997 AGENDA FOR THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

MDS-1121

Graduate School of Education
University of California at Berkeley



Consortium Members

The University of California at Berkeley
The University of Illinois
The University of Minnesota MPR Associates, Inc.
RAND
Teachers College, Columbia University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
The University of Wisconsin

National Center for Research in Vocational Education
Graduate School of Education
University of California at Berkeley
2030 Addison Street, Suite 500
Berkeley, CA 94720-1674

Supported by
The Office of Vocational and Adult Education
U.S. Department of Education

May, 1997

FUNDING INFORMATION

• MISSION STATEMENT
  • The Organization of NCRVE's Agenda
• PART ONE: RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
  • Area I: The Economic Context of Vocational Education
  • Area II: Institutions, "Systems," Governance, and Policy
  • Area III: Curriculum and Pedagogy: Innovative
    and Effective Practices in Vocational Education
  • Area IV: Students in Vocational Education
  • Area V: Personnel in Vocational Education
  • Area VI: Accountability and Assessment
• RESEARCH PROJECTS
  • Area II:
    Institutions, "Systems," Governance, and Policy
    • Project RII.4
      Developments in State "Systems" of Vocational Education and Job Training
    • Project RII.5
      Learning and Doing: The Future of Workforce Education and Training
  • Area III:
    Curriculum and Pedagogy: Innovative and Effective Practices
    in Vocational Education
    • Project RIII.4
      School-to-Work Opportunities in the Middle School: Concepts and Issues
    • Project RIII.5
      An NCRVE Policy Game on Workforce Education and Training
  • Area V:
    Personnel in Vocational Education
    • Project RV.3
      The NCRVE Initiative on Teacher Education
  • Area VI:
    Accountability and Assessment
    • Project RVI.1
      Next Steps Toward the Integration of Academic and Industry
      Skill Standards
    • Project RVI.5
      Southern Regional Education Board Technical Assistance Summary
• DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
  • Area II:
    Institutions, "Systems," Governance, and Policy
    • Project DII.1
      New Designs for Two-Year Institutions of Higher Education
    • Project DII.3
      Urban Schools Network Development Project
    • Project DII.5
      Field Consultants
    • Field Initiated Activities
• PART TWO: DISSEMINATION AND TRAINING
  • Dissemination Program
  • Professional Outreach Program
  • Office of Student Services
  • Publication Minigrants
  • Getting to Work Training
  • New American High School Initiative
• Index
• PROJECT DIRECTORS

MISSION STATEMENT

The National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) is the nation's largest center for research, development, dissemination, and outreach in work-related education. Headquartered at the University of California at Berkeley since 1988, NCRVE is presently an eight-member consortium, with Berkeley assisted in its efforts by the University of Illinois; MPR Associates; the University of Minnesota; RAND; Teachers College, Columbia University; the University of Wisconsin; and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The presence of NCRVE or one of its members in nearly every region of the country puts it in contact with the enormous diversity of educational institutions and labor markets in the United States. It also connects NCRVE with practitioners in each geographic region of the country.

NCRVE plays a key role in developing and disseminating a new concept of vocational education as it works towards fulfilling its mission to strengthen education to prepare all individuals for lasting and rewarding employment and lifelong learning. NCRVE believes such education

• offers every student the option of a high-quality, career-related course of study.
  
  
• integrates curricula, maintaining an emphasis on learning through applied problem solving--a strong feature of traditional vocational education--while including a rigorous course of academic study.
  
  
• simultaneously prepares students for immediate employment, further education, and lifelong learning.

Effective change must do more than transfer research knowledge to user communities. It must also do more than transfer working knowledge to other practitioners and back to researchers. Beyond transfer of knowledge is collaborative knowledge creation. Through development, dissemination, and outreach activities, NCRVE serves as a change agent in helping schools to create answers themselves for the dilemmas they face.

NCRVE strives to integrate its research, development, dissemination, and outreach with practice from the outset, to the extent possible, through a collaborative change process that recognizes that the individuals involved in the production, transfer, and use of new knowledge must participate throughout the entire process of research, development, dissemination, and outreach.

This strategy involves implementing four principles:

1. Change depends on building and maintaining networks that support and expand the collaborative development and sharing of working knowledge, as well as research knowledge.
   
   
2. Change requires continuous communication among all vocational education actors who produce and use knowledge.
   
   
3. Change is developmental, initially helping people to commit to change and then assisting them to implement policies and practices that accomplish the desired change.
   
   
4. Change uses multiple, simultaneous strategies to reach a wide range of audiences, recognizing persons and the groups to which they belong change at different rates, times, ways, and so on.

The Organization of NCRVE's Agenda

Research and Development Areas

Area I:	The Economic Context of Vocational Education
Area II:	Institutions, "System," Governance, and Policy
Area III:	Curriculum and Pedagogy: Innovative and Effective Practices in Vocational Education
Area IV:	Students in Vocational Education
Area V:	Personnel in Vocational Education
Area VI:	Accountability and Assessment

[Note: Activities are not necessarily funded in all of these areas in any specific year.]

Dissemination and Training Programs

Professional Outreach

Office of Student Services

Publication Minigrants

New American High School

PART ONE: RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Area I: The Economic Context of Vocational Education

Area II: Institutions, "Systems," Governance, and Policy

Area III: Curriculum and Pedagogy: Innovative
and Effective Practices in Vocational Education

Area IV: Students in Vocational Education

Area V: Personnel in Vocational Education

The agenda of this theme area is based on two premises. First, teachers can and should serve as a professional link between the educational institution, including its philosophy, mission, goals, programs, courses, and content, and the students--where students learn, what they learn, and how they learn. Second, administrators, by virtue of their positions, are potential agents of change. Administrators can and should provide leadership in transformational ways that enable education to evolve from what it is to what it should be.

Area VI: Accountability and Assessment

This area of research encompasses methodological concerns about evaluation, performance measures and standards, new forms of assessment, and other mechanisms of accountability. Understanding in all of these arenas is necessary in order to determine whether the system of vocational education has, in fact, been responsive to the changing conditions of work and whether vocational programs have prepared individuals for rewarding employment over the long run and supported the shift to a high-skills equilibrium.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Area II:
Institutions, "Systems," Governance, and Policy

Project RII.4
Developments in State "Systems" of Vocational Education and Job Training

At the same time, states have been proceeding on their own. Even if Congress fails to act, substantial changes in the nature and governance of state "systems" is likely, with potentially important consequences for vocational education, job training, adult education, and state economic development activities. However, the variety of these existing state activities is substantial, and there is no centralized information about what states have done, how many real changes have taken place in response to these changes, or whether certain approaches have more promise than others.

This proposal will examine state developments in education and job training "systems"--and federal developments, if any emerge between now and the end of 1997--in order to provide better information about alternative approaches to the governance of work-related education and job training. This project is divided into three major components. The research will have both a descriptive component--uncovering what is going on in different states--and a more normative component, finding examples of what might be "good practice" around the country. This investigation will also establish ties with a number of other national organizations interested in similar questions.

1. The Descriptive Analysis: Developments in the States

2. Identifying Promising Practices

The results of this portion of the study will be a review of some of the most effective practice, with information about the mechanisms of implementing them.

3. Linking with Other National Organizations

A monograph will be written, describing the results of both the descriptive analysis of states, and the efforts to uncover exemplary local practices. In addition, the information from this project will be invaluable in outreach activities designed to improve local programs. Third, collaboration with other national organizations will enable this research to inform the activities provided by a larger network of organizations. Finally, in the event that Congress finally passes consolidation legislation, the results of this project will be helpful in helping states decide how best to respond to the opportunities that consolidation opens to them.

This project will be coordinated with NCRVE's examination of school-to-work programs during 1997, since the efforts in this project to determine what states have been doing in their vocational education and job training are complementary to efforts to determine how they have decided to administer their STW funding.

Project RII.5
Learning and Doing: The Future of Workforce Education and Training

What should national policy for workforce education and training be at the beginning of the 21st century? In its final year, NCRVE will seize the opportunity to address this question squarely and thoroughly. At a minimum, the project will produce a substantial "policy paper" aimed at a wide audience of researchers, policymakers, professional associations, and the interested public. The publication will include a retrospective look at the evolution of the policies and practices surrounding education for work in the United States, and will also describe how "learning and doing" could form a more comprehensive, systematic foundation for organizing education and work in the next century. This product will also fulfill NCRVE's statutory responsibility to prepare an annual report on research pertaining to the transition from education to work.

The work at MPR will be closely coordinated with two other Year Five activities: the policy game being developed at RAND (Project RIII.5) and the concluding work on academic and industry skill standards at Teachers College (Project RVI.1). Two additional Year Five projects will be drawn upon: the study of state systems (Project RII.4) and new designs for two-year institutions (Project DII.1).

Area III:
Curriculum and Pedagogy: Innovative and Effective Practices
in Vocational Education

Project RIII.4
School-to-Work Opportunities in the Middle School: Concepts and Issues

Specifically, this project will do the following:

• Identify literature and research studies related to STW opportunities for middle school students.
  
  
• Identify exemplary locations where STW opportunities for middle school students have been implemented.
  
  
• Conduct interviews with persons at selected exemplary schools and school districts who coordinate STW opportunities for middle school students as well as with representatives of selected national educational organizations.

Project RIII.5
An NCRVE Policy Game on Workforce Education and Training

RAND and others have found policy games and similar interactive exercises to be uniquely valuable in assessing changing situations and increasing shared understanding of potential future opportunities and pitfalls.

A diverse group of some 60-70 leaders will be invited to participate in a two-day policy game. Participants would include state and federal officials, academicians, teachers, employers, and others who have expertise and decisionmaking responsibilities related to education and training for work.

Several written documents will be disseminated though regular RAND and NCRVE dissemination channels: a game report, a discussion guide, and a short issue paper. Research findings from the project will be disseminated through professional meetings.

Area V:
Personnel in Vocational Education

Project RV.3
The NCRVE Initiative on Teacher Education

During 1997, several synthesis and culminating dissemination activities will be undertaken to extend the work begun in 1996. These activities serve several useful purposes, including (1) summarizing NCRVE's work to date and its implications for improving and reforming educator preparation programs; (2) identifying and tracking reforms in teacher preparation that have been initiated by other groups; and (3) identifying potential research, development, and dissemination needs related to preservice and inservice professional development. The activities include the following:

1. Complete the syntheses of relevant NCRVE research (begun last year) in order to provide a basis for developing new design and implementation features for teacher education and professional development initiatives. The syntheses will produce at least one refereed journal article and an NCRVE brief which will posit a set of design principles for expanded community- and workplace-based professional learning.
   
   
2. Continue to monitor, critique, and disseminate information on current reform efforts being advanced by various national organizations. To date, information on these teacher education reforms have been compiled into a large database and matrices have been prepared illustrating the common ground and unique positions of the organizations.
   
   
3. Plan and conduct a Local Barriers and Resource Assessment Survey designed to identify the status of professional learning community development nationwide. Survey results will inform efforts by state agencies, colleges and universities, and others interested in promoting high quality, continuous learning opportunities for preservice teachers, inservice professionals, university faculty members, and staff development leaders. The findings and recommendations emerging from the survey will be published in an NCRVE brief in the spring.
   
   
4. Extend the search for promising programs and practices that are aligned with the general design principles for connecting professional learning communities to workplaces. To date, 15-20 programs and practices have been abstracted and the search for others will continue. Five to six innovative programs and practices will be visited. Detailed documentation profiles will be prepared. In-depth case studies of programs will be undertaken.
   
   
5. Sponsor a National Conference or Seminar focused on connecting professional learning communities to workplaces and out-of-school learning sites. This conference will provide interested professionals and policymakers with opportunities to develop their expertise in constructing professional learning communities.
   
   
6. Symposia are planned for sessions at the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association--Teacher Education Division, the American Vocational Association, the American Association of Community Colleges, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education.

Area VI:
Accountability and Assessment

Project RVI.1
Next Steps Toward the Integration of Academic and Industry
Skill Standards

Having worked closely with school-to-work educators, policymakers, and those involved in the development of industry skill standards, NCRVE is in a good position to move forward in an effort to develop a strategy for integrating academic, technical, and generic skills. Our 1996 Skills Standards Conference, Integrating Academic and Industry Skill Standards proved successful. After spending two days forging new relationships and evaluating the existing standards, it became clear to the participants and NCRVE staff that a follow-up conference is needed to develop actual integration techniques and prototype curricula.

Given the importance of this issue, this activity will organize this follow-up two-day conference. Similar to last year's conference, the conference will be structured as a working conference where participants develop the applied curricula necessary for integration using the standards as they now exist. Participants will include educators, in addition to policymakers, industry leaders, employers, and employees in fields relevant to the standard projects that we have chosen.

The following are the substantive issues, arising from last year's conference, that we will address in the conference:

1. Facilitation of the much needed communication and coordination that began last year between academic, industry, and policy leaders. This year we plan to push participants to produce tangible products from their efforts.
   
   
2. The tangible products from the conference will be in the form of actual outlines and examples of applied curricula that integrate academic, industry, and generic standards, using a scenario-based approach to educate and train students and workers.
   
   
3. We will look at the potential of creating standards that can serve both workplace and general education needs without diluting them.
   
   
4. Specific implementation issues will be addressed from the employer, educator, and policymaker perspective.

Project RVI.5
Southern Regional Education Board Technical Assistance Summary

In 1997, MPR Associates proposes to conduct a summary evaluation of what has been learned about the HSTW sites during our seven-year involvement in the SREB effort. We are primarily interested in assessing which sites have and have not made significant progress on the performance criteria adopted by the consortium, why some have succeeded and others have not, and how these findings could be generalized to other sites (inside and outside the HSTW network) seeking to develop a challenging high school curriculum of integrated vocational and academic education.

To carry out this work, we will perform three subtasks: (1) analysis of quantitative data already collected on HSTW sites, (2) case studies of selected sites, and (3) a final report.

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

Our development sites and their work will provide answers to the "what is it," "how to do it" questions, formative data, and a process for identifying additional issues and questions for further study. With this information we can create and provide richly informed descriptions, evaluations, and strategies. Ultimately, development activities will create success stories, will establish exemplars of policy translation, and will develop a cadre of leading practitioners.

A particular focus of the development work is to provide NCRVE with opportunities to test, refine, clarify, and more deeply understand the reform principles and ideas advocated and mandated in the 1990 Perkins Act and the 1994 School-to-Work Opportunities Act. The central points are (1) integration of vocational and academic curriculum, (2) combination of work-based with school-based learning, and (3) creation of links between secondary and postsecondary education.

We have established the following benchmarks to assess our success in meeting this purpose. Through development activities we will

• deepen and expand our knowledge and vision of effective schools and colleges, gathering more descriptive knowledge of programs as well as the complex implementation processes involved in creation, institutionalization, and replication.
  
  
• discover, through evaluation, the validity of our theories.
  
  
• synthesize our lessons from research, development, and training activities and, therefore, improve our ability to serve the field by creating and disseminating information that is more user-friendly.

Four different types of development activities are funded:

1. Initiatives to form more intensive long-lasting relationships by creating networks that will unite schools, colleges, and NCRVE as we all work toward implementing key ideas articulated in the Perkins and School-to-Work Acts.
   
   
2. Activities which add a development component to NCRVE research projects.
   
   
3. Projects that improve NCRVE's capacity to respond to requests from the field for assistance in implementing the Perkins and School-to-Work Opportunities Acts.
   
   
4. Activities to collaborate with other organizations such as the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) and state departments of education to discover answers to pressing questions from the field.

Area II:
Institutions, "Systems," Governance, and Policy

Project DII.1
New Designs for Two-Year Institutions of Higher Education

1997 activities are focused on bringing the project to culmination, integrating the project with other NCRVE initiatives, and providing continuity in service to the field after 1997. The major project efforts during 1997 will include the following activities:

1. Publishing an executive summary of New Designs concepts in paper and electronic format.
   
   
2. Developing a description of benchmark practices. Written case studies and, where feasible and appropriate, short videotapes of reasonable quality will be used as the medium for the descriptions.
   
   
3. Disseminating new designs for the two-year institution through conferences, meetings, and workshops held by other groups and agencies.
   
   
4. Providing direct technical assistance to institutions wishing to implement new designs for the two-year institution.
   
   
5. Holding an institute for postsecondary institutions interested in in-depth exploration and implementation of New Designs concepts and specifications.
   
   
6. Forming partnerships with other individuals, organizations, and agencies who have expertise related to improving and expanding on the design process and implementation of New Designs to ensure continuation of technical assistance to the field.
   
   
7. Preparing a manuscript for a book which will describe the New Designs concepts and the benchmark case studies.
   
   
8. Assisting in developing a vision for vocational education, and education more generally, in the two-year institutions of higher education, through collaboration with Project RII.5.

Project DII.3
Urban Schools Network Development Project

In the final year of the grant, we will work to ensure team longevity and institutionalization. To do so, we will involve significantly more educators within the networking schools, districts, and states, and we will develop further collaboration with other organizations sharing a similar purpose.

In the analysis of our efforts to date, two primary issues have surfaced leading to our current systemic focus:

1. Full-School Redesign. The ideas embodied in Tech Prep, integration, and school-to-work call for nothing less than full school redesign. In addition to understanding new ways of thinking about education, these reforms require practitioners to reconsider ways of working together both as colleagues and with the community at large.
   
   Our response is to work more intensely in the sites. We propose three ways of doing this: (1) we will encourage teams to expand their efforts to a schoolwide focus, (2) we will help to develop the school-districtwide infrastructure necessary to support the school teams, and (3) we will supply more technical assistance through fellows and field consultants. Taken together, we will improve our efforts to work more broadly and deeply with sites.

2. Comprehensive Evaluation. The use of data collection and evaluation serves both a summative purpose as well as serving as an important tool for both problem solving and advancing school change. We will teach teams about data collection and school improvement methods.
   
   In order to continue to meet schools' needs and inform policy, NCRVE will document their progress carefully, feeding back into the network and policy circles stories of institutional progress. Our careful documentation will also be helpful to school as a marketing tool to demonstrate what works.

• Network Meetings. A national network meeting will be hosted in Fall 1997.
  
  
• On-Site Visits. In 1997, we will continue to provide on-site assistance by fellows and field consultants related to team goals with an eye on systemic thinking, broadening and linking up team efforts to a larger institutional purpose. Team managers and the program improvement coordinator will join fellows on-site to gather data about program improvement efforts, and to collect information about the five-year history of implementation and association with NCRVE.
  
  
• Network Collaborations and On-Site Institutes. In keeping with our systemic focus, NCRVE will serve as a co-sponsor of other organizations' events, encouraging team participation in these activities. In addition, we will also help teams sponsor their own summer institutes on-site.
  
  
• Network Book. The teams essentially have created four, one-year plans rather than a multiyear vision. NCRVE will weave these five years of implementation history into a publication, which will discuss common themes as well as lessons learned.

Project DII.5
Field Consultants

Field Initiated Activities

Project Director:	David Stern, University of California at Berkeley (Year 1 of 1)
Keywords:	entrepreneurship education; school-based enterprise; curriculum integration

In 1996, an allocation was set aside to support activities that were initiated by requests from the field, either by practitioners or policymakers. Most of the 1996 allocation was spent on the conference School-to-Work: Preparing Students for College and Careers held at the State University of New York, Purchase Campus; and on the School-Based Enterprise (SBE) Technical Assistance Project with the Oakland (CA) Unified School District. In 1997, an allocation will be set aside to continue work on the SBE project, and like activities.

In 1997, the Oakland SBE project will continue to provide ongoing guidance to teachers and administrators developing enterprise initiatives in career academies. This is an innovative effort to develop SBEs that support an integrated vocational-academic curriculum. The Oakland initiative has entered its second year of operations, expanding to six career academies. After NCRVE's summer teacher training workshop, teachers requested follow-up assistance in several areas (e.g., identifying ways enterprise development can enhance core curricular objectives). In addition to conducting individual site visits, NCRVE will hold several workshops to reflect on progress made during the fall, to facilitate discussion and information sharing among teachers, and to provide follow up training on entrepreneurship curriculum. As with all field initiated activities, this effort will conclude with a written report.

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PART TWO: DISSEMINATION AND TRAINING

As NCRVE enters Year Five of its current grant period, its dissemination and training program has three major goals:

1. Better usability of products and services by NCRVE's different audiences
   
   
2. Improved accessibility, especially by practitioners and policymakers
   
   
3. Increased visibility for NCRVE as a whole and products and services in particular.

To help realize these objectives, the dissemination and training agenda for 1996 and 1997 will consist of several major initiatives involving marketing and disseminating the Center's products; and professional outreach and technical assistance.

Dissemination Program

Program Director:	Peter F. Seidman, University of California at Berkeley (Year 5 of 5)
Keywords:	information dissemination; publications; referral/information brokering; resource databases; social marketing/public information; electronic communications

The Dissemination Program is an integral part of NCRVE's infrastructure, offering a consistent, reliable method of translating and brokering R&D-based knowledge, practitioner-based knowledge, and policy-based knowledge in ways useful to our constituencies and usable by them, facilitating the movement of that knowledge to these persons. In doing so, the Dissemination Program strikes a balance among user-driven responsiveness, targeted dissemination, and social networking, organizing itself around three basic functions: (1) knowledge distribution, (2) knowledge acquisition, and (3) knowledge collaboration. Each of these components uses a varying blend of several approaches, including database development and use, information brokering, publications, marketing/promotion, direct interpersonal linkages, and electronic communications.

Dissemination Program Databases (DPDs)

The DPDs provide major technical support for all three of the Dissemination Program's collaborative change components. These databases are local, online, and designed and operated by the University of California at Berkeley. They comprise three major databases: (1) Products, (2) Addresses, and (3) Brokering.

1. The Products database is used to track each product through the multiple-step review and publication process, and is a major repository of information about the history of NCRVE products.
   
   
2. The Address database contains approximately 18,000 address records used for general NCRVE business and for the NCRVE newsletter mailing list. All records in the database are coded to allow the generation of customized mailing lists.
   
   
3. The Brokering database contains records of information brokering activities of all Dissemination Program staffers; all substantive information requests received by phone, in person, or via electronic mail are logged in the database.

Knowledge Distribution

The Dissemination Program engages in the following activities in order to effectively distribute knowledge to its user communities:

• Product Review/Revision/Production/Distribution
  
  
• Derived Materials
  
  
• Product and NCRVE Promotion/Marketing and Public Awareness

Product Review/Revision/Production/Distribution

The Dissemination Program operates NCRVE's product quality assurance/control system. This process is NCRVE's review/revision/production/distribution process, resulting in the distribution of quality materials.

The Materials Distribution Service (MDS), which produces, markets, and distributes all primary and most derived documents, will be continued.

Electronic versions of NCRVE publications are maintained on the NCRVE WWW site. All products published since August 1995 that have passed through the regular NCRVE publication channels will be maintained online. In addition, all smaller publications of the Dissemination Program (e.g., the CenterWork newsletter, CenterFocus digests) will also be made available online. The Dissemination Program will also continue to offer selected NCRVE publications and other information via alternative electronic means, such as gopher servers, electronic mailing list distribution, and file transfer protocol (ftp) archives. This is consistent with the Dissemination Program's commitment to pursuing multiple, simultaneous strategies of access so that the largest number of users, regardless of their environment's technological status, are able to access NCRVE materials.

Derived Materials

Derived materials result from one of two processes: (1) op/ed articles, NCRVE-guest-editorship of a journal issue, and topical briefs; or (2) an intentionally opportunistic process which captures materials which develop naturally from a project's activities. Papers presented at conferences and proceedings from NCRVE-sponsored meetings are two examples.

Formal Translation Process

This form of derived materials results from a formal, rational, and systematic translation process which develops spin-offs from project outcomes into forms useful to and usable by NCRVE's user communities. Among the planned materials, the formal translation process includes the following:

• The Reprint Series
  
  
• CenterWork: NCRVE's newsletter
  
  
• CenterFocus: NCRVE's series of knowledge synthesis papers

Opportunistic Translation Process--The Working Papers Series

In addition to its formal translation process, the Dissemination Program maintains a process through which it captures, opportunistically, fugitive generated materials such as papers presented by NCRVE staff or presentations made at NCRVE-sponsored meetings.

Promotion/Marketing and Public Awareness

The Dissemination Program has the task of marketing both the NCRVE's publications and the NCRVE (including assisting other NCRVE programs in targeting their marketing and public information efforts for their services/products). The Dissemination Program uses both printed materials and other marketing tools such as conferences, an 800 telephone line, and electronic channels, providing the general public with front-line, easy access to NCRVE expertise.

Public Information Program

Dissemination maintains an aggressive public information initiative. Printed materials include institutional advertisements, press releases, pitch letters, periodicals, brochures, information packets, various publications promoting our documents, and the complimentary distribution of documents to targeted audiences. In addition, the Dissemination Program has a booth at approximately twelve national conferences each year. Last, the Dissemination Program subscribes to ProfNet, an e-mail distribution list of public information officers (PIOs) that provides journalists and authors convenient mediated access to expert sources, chiefly at institutions of higher education. This service not only provides the requesters with needed information; additionally, with each contact, the NCRVE is marketing itself as a viable resource to the media.

Program-Generated Materials

The Dissemination Program provides a publicity venue for the entire NCRVE through publication of a brochure, which describes the NCRVE, a yearly Agenda, and an annual NCRVE Personnel Directory, which respectively describe NCRVE's mission and areas of work, and NCRVE's personnel and areas of expertise. The Dissemination Program also publishes the following periodicals: CenterWork, NCRVE's newsletter, and CenterFocus, the Center's knowledge synthesis series. The Products Catalog, mini-catalogs, and New Publications flyers promote NCRVE publications across all programs.

Knowledge Acquisition

Knowledge acquisition involves assisting NCRVE's clients to access information. NCRVE will use the following major technologies to implement knowledge acquisition:

• information brokering
  
  
• electronic communications
  
  
• national vocational education databases

Information Brokering

The overall mission of information brokering will be to operate as an intermediary for a variety of information services, products, and human resources to educators, researchers, policymakers, and business/industry/labor.

To carry out brokering's mission of providing a variety of information services and products, the Dissemination Program will

• search NCRVE-maintained databases.
  
  
• seek resources, data, and information over electronic networks (e.g., several Internet discussion lists, gopher servers, WWW servers).
  
  
• participate in relevant partnerships with relevant information clearinghouses.
  
  
• maintain a referral network among all NCRVE sites.
  
  
• produce "Net Gain" (a column which discusses electronic resources of interest to the AVA readership) for each issue of AVA's journal of record, Techniques.
  
  
• maintain an 800 number for information brokering.
  
  
• manage electronic communications resources through the AskNCRVE e-mail address, VOCNET, and DISSMN8, as well as through membership in major relevant electronic discussion groups.

Electronic Communications

Electronic communications will be used to receive information requests, to respond to these requests, to provide information directly to clients, and to seek information for clients in need of such information for decision-making. NCRVE's electronic communications program falls into two broad categories: (1) information servers and (2) electronic mail.

Information Servers

World Wide Web. The cornerstone of NCRVE's electronic services is its World Wide Web server, which was launched in April 1995 and has grown steadily in both scope and usage. The Web server is one-stop electronic shopping for information by and about NCRVE.

Gopher and FTP. NCRVE plans to continue providing materials on these servers to accommodate those who may not yet have WWW capability.

Electronic Mail

The VOCNET e-mail discussion list continues to be a major feature of NCRVE's electronic offerings.

The DISSMN8 e-mail discussion list has been in existence since August 1995. Its focus is educational dissemination systems. DISSMN8 is the first of what we hope is a series of special-interest e-mail groups that can be formed on an ad hoc basis. Another list just begun is NAWI, for members of the National Association for Workforce Improvement.

Finally, e-mail is a major tool in the information brokering activities of the Dissemination Program.

Knowledge Collaboration

Knowledge collaboration promotes the multiway flow of NCRVE-produced knowledge. NCRVE will use the following key implementing approaches the Center will use in encouraging this flow:

• electronic communications
  
  
• linkages with other key knowledge transfer networks

Electronic Communications

NCRVE promotes and facilitates the exchange of information among itself and its user communities by electronic means. NCRVE participates in e-mail discussion lists and in existing practitioner networks in order to maintain contact with those user groups; the bulk of NCRVE's electronic knowledge distribution, acquisition, and collaboration efforts are channeled through the World Wide Web and VOCNET.

Electronic Mail

The Dissemination Program staff also participates in relevant e-mail discussion groups which deal with education and training issues. Through such memberships, NCRVE assists user communities to access needed information and other resources, but also monitors discussions, participating as appropriate.

Linkages with Other Key Knowledge Transfer Networks

NCRVE collaborates with other key knowledge transfer networks in order to more effectively integrate knowledge producers, transfer agents, and users into a shared effort at developing and using knowledge generated through formal dissemination activities as well as practice.

The Dissemination Program maintains linkages with the following organizations:

• the National Association for Workforce Improvement
  
  
• the OERI Regional Laboratories
  
  
• the ERIC Clearinghouses on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education; Junior Colleges; Rural and Small Schools; and Urban Education
  
  
• the Education Writers Association

Deliverables

Written Products

The Dissemination Program will produce and distribute the following public-domain materials:

• CenterWork, a quarterly newsletter
  
  
• CenterFocus, a series of up to four synthesis papers on topics of concern to the NCRVE
  
  
• Institutional advertisements in Education Week
  
  
• Press releases and pitch letters as necessary
  
  
• The 1997 Agenda for the National Center for Research in Vocational Education, which abstracts all 1997 projects/programs
  
  
• The NCRVE Personnel Directory, which lists the contact information for and expertise of NCRVE's administrative, R&D, and D&T personnel
  
  
• "Net Gain," a column on electronic resources of interest to AVA members, published in each issue of AVA's Techniques
  
  
• The Reprint Series
  
  
• The Working Paper Series
  
  
• Primary contractual publications
  
  
• New Publications Flyer, quarterly flyers targeted to appropriate customers
  
  
• Product catalogs, an annotated list of all NCRVE products organized by major R&D themes as well as (to date) five topical catalogs (Tech Prep, special populations, curricular integration, assessment and accountability, school-to-work)

Public Information/Materials Display

MDS will have a public information/materials booth at approximately twelve conferences.

Professional Outreach Program

Program Director:	Phyllis Hudecki, University of California at Berkeley Curtis Finch, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Year 5 of 5)
Keywords:	professional development; resource databases; technical assistance: school to work issues

The 1997 Professional Outreach Program includes a variety of activities through which researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from both vocational and academic programs will have an opportunity to develop their professional capabilities. Activities include

• continuing collaborative efforts between NCRVE and other national organizations through cosponsoring outreach activities as well as continuing efforts to collaborate between and among the eight NCRVE sites in providing outreach activities to showcase NCRVE's work throughout the nation.
  
  
• maintaining a system for providing technical assistance to individuals and groups in implementing educational reform both through the School-to-Work Learning and Information Center as well as requests directly from the field.
  
  
• organizing National Council for Occupational Education (NCOE) pre-sessions/ keynote sessions.
  
  
• maintaining an updated electronic national calendar of events.
  
  
• compiling a database of all professional outreach activities sponsored by the eight NCRVE sites.

Office of Student Services

Project Director:	Carolyn Maddy-Bernstein, University of Illinois (Year 5 of 5)
Keywords:	school to work; student services; special populations; guidance and counseling; information dissemination; publications; conferences; resource databases; exemplary programs

NCRVE's Office of Student Services (OSS) works to promote quality programs and services that assist all students at the secondary and postsecondary levels, including members of special populations, to successfully transition from school to work. The 1997 goals of the OSS are to accomplish the following:

• Encourage systems change so that student services, which are based on the developmental career needs of all students, become an integral part of the educational process.
  
  
• Promote exemplary/model program activities and the adoption of model practices.
  
  
• Identify and/or design and implement effective methods of communication and dissemination.
  
  
• Develop resources to assist educators to improve services to all students.

Activities

The following activities, listed by objective, are proposed:

1.	Encourage systems change so that student services, which are based on the developmental career needs of all students, become an integral part of the educational process.
	1.1.	OSS staff will collect and disseminate information on effective student services practices through the OSS World Wide Web database; during conference presentations; through news releases; and through phone, fax, and on-site requests for information. Additional avenues of communication include distributing information through agencies with collaborative agreements with OSS.
	1.2.	OSS staff will work with MPR staff to identify materials to complement the Getting to Work program developed and marketed by NCRVE in 1996. Materials will address career awareness needs of elementary and middle school students. Materials will be disseminated as a supplement to Getting to Work as well as a stand-alone resource.
	1.3.	An advisory committee of practitioners and leaders in the field of career development will be convened to guide Activity 1.2.
	1.4.	OSS staff will work with MPR staff to develop an OSS BRIEF on the materials developed in Activity 1.2.
	1.5.	As a part of Activity 2.1, the staff will continue to identify and disseminate information about effective career guidance and counseling programs that are part of a larger student services program. The staff will write a journal article synthesizing information about exemplary programs.
	1.6	OSS staff will develop a monograph addressing the need for early, holistic assessment to enhance the placement of students in learning environments and opportunities appropriate for them and to provide the support service to increase their chance for success.
2.	Promote exemplary/model program activities and the adoption of model practices.
	2.1.	OSS staff, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education, the American Vocational Association, and the State Supervisors of Guidance and Counseling, will identify exemplary career guidance programs in 1997.
		A one- to two-day national conference featuring these exemplary career guidance and counseling programs will be held for counselors, teachers, administrators, and other professionals.
	2.2.	Information about exemplary programs (e.g., program descriptions and contact information) will be disseminated through (1) news releases, (2) a journal article, (3) materials distributed through OSS in response to national and international information requests, (4) announcements submitted to newsletters, (5) announcements submitted to electronic bulletin boards and listservers, and (6) conference presentations by staff and program representatives.
3.	Identify and/or design and implement effective methods of communication and dissemination.
	3.1.	Currently the OSS information database contains over 5,000 entries. The staff will continue to build this database, which is also available on-line; through the World Wide Web; via mail, telephone, and fax; or in person.
	3.2.	The staff will continue to respond to information requests related to student services and vocational education.
4.	Develop resources to assist educators to improve service to all students.
	4.1.	Review all past activities conducted through OSS, including those of the former Office of Special Populations.
	4.2.	Develop a series of two OSS BRIEFs based on the research and technical support activities conducted through OSS from 1988-1997. The resources will focus on practices related to serving students who are members of special populations, improving the practice of career guidance and counseling, and providing services to all students.
	4.3.	The materials for the BRIEFs will be expanded and submitted for publication as an NCRVE monograph.

Deliverables

The OSS will produce the following deliverables:

• Three topical papers (BRIEFs)
  
  #1 BRIEF on past word
  
  #2 BRIEF on past work
  
  Getting to Work supplement BRIEF
  
• Monograph on assessment
  
• Getting to Work Supplement--Elementary
  
• Getting to Work Supplement--Middle School
  
• Journal article on exemplary career guidance programs

Publication Minigrants

Program Director:	David Stern, University of California at Berkeley (Year 1 of 1)
Keywords:	publications

The goal of the Publication Minigrants is to contribute toward NCRVE leaving a lasting legacy of officially archived work.

Individuals affiliated with NCRVE will be awarded small monetary grants to facilitate the development of work funded by NCRVE for publication in the form of books that reference and citation services and libraries archive for use in future research endeavors. These minigrants will free up enough time to permit the completion of a writing project that otherwise would take longer or perhaps never be finished.

Getting to Work Training

Program Director:	Gary Hoachlander, MPR Associates (Year 2 of 2)
Keywords:	school-based learning; school to work; curriculum/training material; professional development; technical assistance: curriculum/program improvement

In 1997, MPR Associates will continue to provide training for states and localities on how to best use Getting to Work: A Guide for Better Schools. While most of this activity will be done on a cost-recovery basis, this task will support one or two NCRVE-sponsored workshops in 1997.

New American High School Initiative

Project Director:	David Stern, University of California at Berkeley (Year 2 of 2)
Keywords:	exemplary programs; referral/information brokering; professional development; curriculum/training material; educational reform

The New American High School initiative, begun in 1995, promotes the preparation of students for college and careers. Such schools are places where students achieve high levels of both academic and technical skills within a caring community and through a learning-by-doing approach, often within a career-related context.

The New American High School initiative will continue in 1997, focusing on the following activities:

• Write the text of a practitioner's guide for schools interested in using career-related themes as part of a whole-school reform strategy to help all students achieve high academic standards. The guide will be based on the actual experience of the 10 showcase schools as well as the 21 honorable mention schools involved in the New American High School Project. NCRVE will produce the text and deliver it to OVAE for formatting and printing as a U.S. Department of Education publication.
  
  
• Coordinate responses to requests for information about the 10 high schools showcased at the New American High School Conference in May 1996, answering questions by telephone, distributing printed information, and hosting site visits.
  
  
• In collaboration with OVAE and the 10 showcase schools, make presentations at conferences and to other schools and school districts about New American High Schools.
  
  
• Make information and resources available to staff from the 21 high schools that received honorable mention at the May 1996 conference, as well as to any of the 10 showcase schools that request it, for the purpose of continuing to develop specific features of their programs. Included among other approaches will be joining the Urban Schools Network (see Project DII.3 description above) and Getting to Work training (see Getting to Work Training description above).

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Index

community colleges DII.1 conferences Office of Student Services curriculum development RVI.1 curriculum integration RVI.1,RVI.5,DII.3,DII.5, Field Initiated Activities curriculum/training material New American High Schol Initiative educational planning DII.1 educational reform RVI.5, DII.3, DII.5, New American High Schol Initiative electronic communications Dissemination Program employment and training RII.4 entrepreneurship education Field Intiated Activities exemplary curriculum RVI.1 exemplary programs RII.4, RIII.4, RV.3, RVI.5, DII.1, Office of Student Services, New American High Schol Initiative futures RII.5,RIII.5, DII.1 guidance and counseling Office of Student Services information dissemination Dissemination Program, Office of Student Services middle schools RIII.4 model development: community college design DII.1 model development: skills standards development RVI.1 network development DII.3 partnerships RVI.1, DII.1, DII.5 performance evaluation RVI.5 policy gaming RIII.5 professional development RV.3, DII.1, Professional Outreach Program, New American High Schol Initiative

professional learning communities RV.3 public policy RII.4, RII.5, RIII.5 publications Dissemination Program, Office of Student Services, Publication Minigrants referral/information brokering Dissemination Program, New American High Schol Initiative resource databases Dissemination Program, Professional Outreach Program, Office of Student Services school to work RIII.4, RV.3, DII.3, Office of Student Services, New American High Schol Initiative school-based enterpriseField Initiated Activities school-based learning New American High Schol Initiative skill standards RVI.1 social marketing/public information Dissemination Program special populations Office of Student Services student services Office of Student Services teacher education RV.3 Tech Prep DII.3 technical assistance: curriculum/program improvement DII.1, DII.3, DII.5, New American High Schol Initiative technical assistance: partnerships DII.5 technical assistance: school to work issues DII.5, Professional Outreach Program urban schools DII.3 workforce education RII.4,RII.5

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PROJECT DIRECTORS

Name	Site	Phone Number	E-Mail Address
William Ammentorp	Minnesota	(612) 624-1352	billa@maroon.tc.umn.edu
Thomas Bailey	Teachers College	(212) 678-3091	tb3@columbia.edu
George Copa	Minnesota	(612) 624-9284	copax001@maroon.tc.umn.edu
Curtis Finch	Virginia	(540) 231-5982	crfinch@vt.edu
W. Norton Grubb	Berkeley	(510) 642-3488	wngrubb@uclink4.berkeley.edu
Gary Hoachlander	MPR	(510) 849-4942	ghoachlander@mprinc.com
Phyllis Hudecki	Berkeley	(510) 642-4004	herriage@uclink.berkeley.edu
Carolyn Maddy-Bernstein	Illinois	(217) 333-0807	maddy2@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
Erika Nielsen-Andrew	Berkeley	(510) 642-5759	erikana@uclink.berkeley.edu
L. Allen Phelps	Wisconsin	(608) 263-2714	aphelps%cew@soemadison.wisc.edu
Bill Schwabe	RAND	(310) 393-0411, ext. 7663	william_schwabe@rand.org
Peter Seidman	Berkeley	(510) 642-4004	seidman@uclink.berkeley.edu
Cathy Stasz	RAND	(310) 393-0411, ext. 6326	cathy@rand.org
David Stern	Berkeley	(510) 642-4004	dsstern@uclink3.berkeley.edu

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