Two years ago, the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) launched the School-to-Work Transition Project. That project has now yielded an early assessment of 16 innovative school-to-work programs in communities spread across the country. The title of the report is Home-Grown Lessons: Innovative Programs Linking Work and High School. The authors are Edward Pauly, Hilary Kopp, and Joshua Haimson. Given the close connection between Perkins II legislation and the recently signed School-to-Work Opportunities Act, and given also the very strong standing of MDRC in the social science research community, I suggest Home-Grown Lessons is worth a close look by readers of CenterWork. Five types of school-to-work programs were examined in the study: career academies; occupationalacademic cluster programs; restructured vocational education programs; tech prep programs; and youth apprenticeship.
For those who may not yet have a copy at hand, I would like to review what I see as some of the main findings and conclusions of the MDRC report.
In summary, MDRC's report on school-to-work is generally positive and thoroughly convincing. Copies of Home-Grown Lessons may be obtained for $12.00 (post-paid) from the Publication Department, Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, 3 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016, telephone (212) 532-3200, fax (212) 684-0832. (See New Products section of this newsletter concerning a relevant NCRVE publication [MDS-771].)
Charles Benson
NCRVE Director
A major focus of the work at the University of Minnesota continues to be leadership development in vocational and technical education. One project brings to closure the sixyear effort to develop two leadership instruments-the Leader Effectiveness Index (LEI) to assess leader performance, and the Leader Attributes Inventory (LAI) to provide a diagnostic assessment of the attributes that predispose effective leader performance. The project directors have finished drafting the technical manuals for the LEI and the LAI. These instruments will now be ready for use by vocational educators who wish to improve their performance as leaders or who wish to measure the effectiveness of leadership development activities.
While the Center's research and training activities for leadership development have, thus far, focused on formal (classroom) educational programs as the intervention, a current research activity expands the Center's scope of study. The project will identify the experiences that organizations can provide on-the-job to facilitate the leadership development of vocational educators. Researchers will explore the utility of on-the-job experiences as a means for sustaining and supplementing the leadership development begun in formal classroom programs. Further, such experiences might well provide a means for reaching and impacting vocational educators who have not yet had an opportunity to participate in formal programs. The project seeks to answer three major questions:
The sample for the study consists of the chief vocational administrators in community colleges, technical colleges, and secondary vocational schools who were a part of the 1993 study to create norms and standards for the LAI, and who scored in the top one third on the LEI. Subsequent projects will try out the most promising experiences (or locate them in operation) and evaluate their effectiveness.
In the New Designs for the Comprehensive High School project completed in 1992, researchers at the University of Minnesota drew on a historical and international review of secondary school practices and on meetings with students, teachers, and members of the business community to provide a new design for secondary schools in the United States. Special attention was given to outcome-based education strategies, integration of vocational and academic education, education reform and transition in the future, and giving the school a unique focus and character. Included in the report, New Designs for the Comnprehensive High School (MDS-282) were also a series of research and synthesis papers which formed the background for the report itself. This activity has been revived. The present project will extend the development, dissemination, and training on new designs for the high school begin in 1991. Project activities include semiannual design updates; videotape descriptions of cutting edge, benchmark practices supportive of the new designs; dissemination of new designs through professional conferences and workshops; and technical assistance to schools wishing to implement aspects of the new designs.
For more information on these projects, please contact the following individuals at NCRVE, University of Minnesota, 1954 Buford Avenue, R-460, St. Paul, MN 55108:
How can practicing and prospective teachers approach the process of integrating vocational and academic education? How can they experience vicariously what teachers have experienced at schools that have successfully implemented the integration? How can they expedite team and consensus building activities? A project underway on Preparing Teachers to Successfully Integrate Vocational and Academic Education: A Case Study Approach provides help in answering these questions.
For the project, 51 prototype cases were developed in 1993 based on outcomes of previous research (Teachers' Roles in Integrating Vocational and Academic Education, MDS-275). The case studies, written in narrative form, realistically capture experiences of teachers in the process of integrating. The cases address the needs of vocational and academic teachers who are thrust into instructional settings where integration is an expectation.
Situations portrayed in the cases come from transcripts of interviews completed at 10 high school sites across the United States--schools selected on the basis of their exemplary integration efforts. The purpose of the cases is to move research to the applied level. Integration is not reached by simply identifying academic competencies already addressed in vocational programs nor by teaching one or two academic competencies in an applied context in academic courses. It requires taking the content of academic and vocational curricula and having teachers work together to develop new methods to align, sequence, and mutually reinforce academic and vocational concepts and skills. The case studies explore real-life experiences teachers have had in achieving integration. They provide a vehicle for facilitating the development of the cooperative relationships vocational and academic teachers must achieve to work together.
External review and initial field testing of a sample of the 51 cases is complete. All cases are now undergoing extensive field testing at more than 15 university and school-based sites across the United States. Written evaluations assessing outcomes of cases at all sites and focus group session input gathered from selected sites will provide information needed to refine the cases. Cases should be available to the general public shortly after December 1994.
For additional information about the project, please contact B. June Schmidt, Curtis R. Finch, or Susan L. Faulkner at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, NCRVE Site, Vocational and Technical Education, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0254; (703) 231-5982; fax (703) 231-3292.
Secondary schools and community colleges across the United States are attempting to develop and implement tech prep curricula. Educators at these secondary and postsecondary institutions who are working to create applied curricula that are essential to successful tech prep programs need curriculum assistance at the course and program levels, as well as help in staff selection and development. Tech Prep: Applied Curriculum and Staff Development, is an ongoing project responding to these needs.
To date, over 20 sites in various states have been visited to gather meaningful information about Tech Prep curriculum and staff development. Selected secondary and postsecondary systems that have been observed are in various states of Tech Prep program implementation.
While the research has not yet uncovered any clearly defined "best practices," preliminary results suggest that commitment to Tech Prep is very important. The site visits have yielded two lessons regarding commitment. First, there must be an individual who serves as champion for Tech Prep. Second, there must be a clear sense of purpose that supports the Tech Prep direction to improve instruction for a greater number of students. Additionally, the research has identified issues and questions needing to be addressed when developing applied, integrated, and core curricula for Tech Prep.
A long term goal of the project is to prepare a handbook that describes how Tech Prep curricula may be developed. A main feature of the handbook will be to provide information about the preferred mix of academic and vocational/occupational courses within a Tech Prep occupational area.
For further information about the project, please contact James L. Hoerner or Darrel A. Clowes at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University NCRVE Site, Vocational and Technical Education, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0254; (703) 231-5982; fax (703) 231-3292.
The Dissemination Program has the primary responsibility of transferring the outcomes of Center activities to persons who most benefit from use of the new knowledge generated by NCRVE. We accomplish this purpose by publishing materials, brokering information requests, promoting not only publications but also the Center itself, and linking together the vocational education as well as dissemination communities' members.
The Dissemination Program publishes, promotes, and distributes primary reports, spinoffs, and promotional materials. Across these three types of materials, we handle fourteen product lines. This year, the Dissemination Program's Materials Distribution Service (MDS) is expected to move over forty manuscripts from drafts to published materials. These reports represent two product lines: R&D reports and technical assistance reports. Continuing an additional product line, MDS will duplicate and distribute videotapes of several NCRVE national teleconferences to be broadcast this year.
Reprints and working papers (such as conference papers) constitute two major types of spinoffs distributed by the Dissemination Program. The other major spinoffs are CenterWork, CenterFocus, and Change Agent. CenterWork is NCRVE's quarterly newsletter, while CenterFocus is the general title of its four-page syntheses of research in major areas of interest to the vocational education community. At least two issues of CenterFocus will be distributed this year, usually as an insert in CenterWork. Change Agent is the Dissemination Program's quarterly twelvepage digest of selected NCRVE products. Often this publication has a special focus, such as tech prep or alternative assessment. Change Agent is produced by MDS and distributed by subscription only. Contact MDS if you are interested in subscribing.
MDS produces a products catalog as well as focused minicatalogs (e.g., the integration of academic and vocational education). The Dissemination Program at Berkeley produces the NCRVE informational brochure, the 1994 Agenda for the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (abstracts of the Center's 1994 activities), and the Human Resource Directory (a listing of all Center staff, contact information, and areas of expertise). In addition, the Berkeley Dissemination Program distributes bimonthly New Products flyers to targeted markets.
Annually, the Dissemination Program staff handle over a thousand requests for substantive information. The major consideration in the design of the brokering operation is customer access. For this reason, multiple methods for reaching the Dissemination Program are used: a toll-free phone line is maintained in addition to regular toll lines, while electronic access is possible through Internet as well as modem. VocServe (the Dissemination Program's electronic bulletin board system) is accessible both ways; VOCNET (the Dissemination Program's electronic discussion group) is BITNET/Internet accessible. (See NCRVE's Electronic Communication Services section for information on accessing both of these systems.)
While the basic premise at NCRVE is that everyone is responsible for promoting the Center, the formal task of doing so rests primarily with the Dissemination Program. Thus, not only does the Dissemination Program market its products, but, also, the Center itself. As described above, we produce and distribute a variety of promotional materials. Many serve the dual purposes of product and institutional promotion. For example, the product catalogs contain the Center's mission statement as well as consortiummember contact information, while the Agenda alerts readers to new products that will be in production after a certain cycle of activity. In addition, many seemingly nonpromotional materials are, at heart, promotional. For example, CenterWork not only announces new products and upcoming teleconferences, but underlying the knowledge transfer purpose of all its articles is the intent to inform you that the Center is moving forward on important agendas; Change Agent has the same dual purposes.
Two other major marketing devices are used. MDS staffs promotional booths at major conferences such as AVA, AERA, and AACC. These booths are designed to market Center publications as well as the Center itself, this last activity through encouraging visitors to put their names on the Center's mailing list, as well as encouraging them to ask questions or offer comments concerning NCRVE activities. Such inquiries are funneled to the Dissemination Program Director for response.
Electronic communications is the second device. The Dissemination Program reaches several hundred to over a thousand potential customers each time a product is electronically marketed or an inquiry is electronically responded to within a discussion group (as compared to personal email). A specific electronic marketing plan is developed for every new NCRVE product. Each is announced over a set of electronic resources whose subscribers are chosen for potential interest in the subject. Each such announcement, formally and with intent, promotes the Center, while every electronic response to a discussion list informally but, again, with intent informs readers about the Center and its purposes.
NCRVE's new online service, VocServe provides a central source of online information and a forum for communicating among all stakeholders in the vocational education enterprise. VocServe is designed not as a comprehensive, self-contained resource, but rather as a vehicle to assist persons to communicate with others as well as a gateway to other resources such as VOCNET, AskERIC gopher services, and ERIC materials.
In addition, the Dissemination Program works with other national dissemination networks to improve the effectiveness of educational dissemination, basically by continual information sharing so the left hand and right hand are informed of each other's activities. Ongoing contacts are maintained with such entities as the six national vocational curriculum coordination centers (NNCCVTE), the National Diffusion Network (NDN), the Education Writers Association, and the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) as well as OERI's regional labs.
The Dissemination Program's purpose is to contribute to the development of a national education dissemination system that shares resources to improve the transfer of useful, usable knowledge to those entities most in need of such innovation. For example, NDN's State Facilitators and the NNCCVTE's State Liaison Representatives are two federally supported, state-based, in-place knowledge transfer structures that could be used to promote educational innovation whether the origins are an NCRVE report, an NDN validated applied math program, or state developed career counseling guidelines.
The time is ripe for all folks interested in educational reform to work together. The Dissemination Program staff believe that the methods our program uses to translate inquiry-based knowledge into practice greatly contribute toward this end of collaborative dissemination of educational innovation.
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NCRVE's Electronic Communication Services VocServe: an electronic bulletin board system with discussion groups, NCRVE publications for reading online or downloading, real-time conferencing, and other features.
VOCNET: a BITNET listserv discussion list for anyone interested in vocational education issues.
For more information, contact David Carlson at 800-(old phone deleted) or dcarlson@uclink.berkeley.edu |
The U. S. Army Recruiting Command, with the Support of the National Consortium of State Career Guidance Supervisors, has established the Army Planning for Life Awards Program: Recognizing Career Planning Excellence in America. "Planning for Life will recognize and spotlight exemplary career planning programs to underscore the importance and necessity of planning as a basic and lifelong need. An important element in the Planning for Life awards program is the emphasis on coalition building between school, family, and community." Please contact Harry N. Drier, Executive Secretary, National Consortium State Career Guidance Supervisors, Center on Education and Training for Employment, 1900 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1090. Telephone (614 ) 292-4353; Fax (614) 292-1260.
Charles Benson
NCRVE Director
The Jossey-Bass Education series has recently published School-Based Enterprise: Productive Learning in American High Schools, by D. Stern, J. Stone, C. Hopkins, M. McMillion, and R. Crain. The book is based on NCRVE research conducted by the authors.
Tens of thousands of high school students across the country participate in school-based enterprises (SBEs). They build houses, run restaurants, staff child-care centers, and provide other goods and services under school auspices. Drawing on observations and interviews with students and faculty at sixteen sites, the authors illustrate how SBEs work and describe the range of benefits they offer.
The cost of this book is $29.95 plus shipping and handling. To order the book, please contact:
Jossey-Bass Publishers
350 Sansome Street
San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 433-1767
The National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) and the Community Television for Southern California, Los Angeles, California (KCET) are co-sponsoring a national workshop. The workshop, entitled "Educators' Role in School-to-Work Transition," will be held July 1416, 1994, at the Holiday Inn North, Baltimore, Maryland (Room Accommodations: 800-289-4499). The goal of the workshop is to assist educators in developing and implementing school-to-work systems. For more information, call NCRVE's Professional Development Program at (703) 2315847 or (703) 231-7337. To register for the workshop, call (703) 231-9487 or FAX (703) 231-3746 by July 1, 1994. The cost per person is $195.
The Leadership Project of NCRVE is sponsoring a pre-session July 13 entitled "Transforming Educational Leadership." For more information about the workshop pre-session, call (612) 624-7718.
The National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) has initiated a Professionals-in-Residence program that will run through 1997.
NCRVE is seeking applicants from a wide range of career fields related to workforce preparation: policymakers, academic and vocational education professionals, business and labor leaders, international educators, researchers, and analysts. "Our objective is to attract accomplished midcareer professionals who would like to participate in NCRVE's vision of reshaping education-for-work strategies and creating an economy dominated by a skilled and flexible workforce," says Susan Faulkner, Associate Director of NCRVE's Professional Development Program.
Those selected for the program will spend from one to nine months at one or more of NCRVE's seven sites, working with the Center's staff on research projects, site visits, field work, and development of materials and strategies. Participants will be selected on the basis of demonstrated talents and achievements that reflect a commitment to creating educational change. Selection is honorary and thus non-salaried. An applicant's employer or organization is encouraged to monetarily support this unique opportunity.
For more information and application forms, contact:
The Professional Development Academy
NCRVE: Professionals-in-Residence
332 Lane Hall, Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0254
Phone: (703) 231-7337 or (703)231-5847
FAX: (703) 231-3292
The following new reports are available from the NCRVE Materials Distribution Service. You may order these documents by phone (800) 637-7652, by email msmds@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Internet), or by sending your request and/or purchase order to: NCRVE Materials Distribution Service, Western Illinois University, Horrabin Hall 46, Macomb, IL 61455.
Improving National Data for Vocational Education: Strengthening a Multiform System--E. G. Hoachlander, K. Levesque
This report describes a study which was designed to (1) identify and rank needs for national data on vocational education, (2) examine current data collection activities and identify gaps in information on vocational education, (3) examine conceptual and methodological issues complicating data collection, and (4) assess the data collection and reporting capacities of local and state providers of vocational education.
MDS-767 | NOV 1993 | $10.50
Research on School-to-Work Transition Programs in the United
States--D. Stern, N. Finkelstein, J. R. Stone, J. Latting, and C.
Dornsife
As states move to implement the new School-to-Work Opportunities Act, tough questions arise: Which programs work? Which don't? How should limited federal dollars be spent to achieve the best results? This report is a valuable resource for states and localities facing these decisions. The report, which questions the wisdom of creating separate programs for the non-college-bound, assembles findings from previous research and the Center's own longitudinal study on a range of programs in high schools and two-year colleges.
MDS-771 | APRIL 1994 | $11.50
CenterWork
National Center for Reserach in Vocational
Education
University of California at Berkeley
Address all comments, questions, and
requests for additional copies
to:
NCRVE
2150 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 1250
Berkeley, CA 94704