Before Charles Benson passed away in July of this year, he had begun to make substantive changes in the activities of the National Center. Based on observations of schools and colleges beginning to implement school-to-work efforts, and as NCRVE's Director, he was concerned that the School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWOA) would become "just another training program, carrying little impetus toward fundamental change in the way schools do their work." Seldom mentioned in school visions were academic and vocational integration, coherent sequences of instruction, or topics of professional development. He stated,
"it behooves us to place a larger part of R&D work closer to points of practice. Working face-to-face with people in sites, we can facilitate change, learn about the requirements for change and then spread the word to sites in the next stage of readiness."
Therefore, following his lead, beginning in 1995 NCRVE will reallocate part of its research and development budget to create more opportunities for development activities.
What is development?
While an increase in development activities represents a dramatic shift in priorities for NCRVE, such activities are intended to supplement, and not supplant, the Center's ongoing research, development, dissemination, and training agenda. Settling the specifics will take some time; however, we are clear that effective development activities will take over where research leaves off. Within a participatory design we will engineer examples of school-to-work activities in the field with the participation of practitioners. As equal partners, NCRVE researchers and practitioners will jointly determine the design, and work on the engineering, implementation, and documentation of innovative activities.
Development provides NCRVE with opportunities to test, refine, clarify, and more deeply understand the reform principles and ideas advocated and mandated in Perkins II as well as the STWOA. We have established the following benchmarks to assess our success in meeting this purpose. Through development activities we will:
To this end, researcher and practitioner partnerships--of equal exchange and benefit in the development of self-sustaining sites and simultaneous study of reform-- will need to play a variety of roles. For researchers this includes coaching, mentoring, planning, training, evaluating, and developing local infrastructure. For practitioners, in addition to actual innovation, the list includes defining questions and design, and documenting change through data collection or journal writing.
Equally important to development design is an iterative process, cycling repeatedly between design, implementation, testing the design efficacy, and then redesigning once again. Development projects may be designed in the following ways:
First, we will continue to do "action research," in which experienced practitioners work in collaboration with researchers (as we have been doing in the Urban Schools Network). This type of work demands NCRVE serve a variety of roles, including researcher, coach, provider of assistance, evaluator, and analyst, in order to gain the deepest understanding of reform possibilities.
A second approach will be for NCRVE to work alongside state and local administrations in the implementation of the STWOA. This might be seen as providing technical assistance, and that should be part of it. We do have knowledge of the principles and practices fostered by Perkins II, and on the school-based side, STWOA embodies those principles and practices precisely. This second approach should also embody a set of learning experiences about processes of implementation, with NCRVE persons, both senior and junior, taking time to reflect on what they are participating in and to record their observations in journals.
A third approach will be to collaborate with schools and colleges on testing and implementing theories about new forms of vocational education. Activities in the sites, we hope, will provide answers to the "how to" questions, identify issues and questions for research and policy makers, and assess the effectiveness of reform.
What will we study?
The topics of development projects are consistent with our research theme areas because development efforts are driven by lessons from research and training and in turn drive future research, dissemination, and training agendas. Our current theme areas are:
However, theme areas alone are not necessarily sufficient to build a coherent development portfolio. Development projects must fit together to collectively inform our understanding of school-to-work specifically and, more generally, institutional change. We acknowledge the synergistic nature of schools--and that studying program components in isolation is somewhat artificial. Working holistically is the best way to capture the realities of reform--and consequently the depth, and systemic nature, of change. Looking at an entire school, and how all the theme areas are working together is what will ultimately allow us both to understand educational changes already in process, and to effectively develop, test, and document future change.
A particular focus of the development work will be to help implement the key programmatic ideas contained in Perkins II and the STWOA. The central principles 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. By collaborating closely with schools on turning these ideas into reality, we will achieve a better understanding of these principles as well as the obstacles to their realization. Much of the research in the theme areas listed above is relevant to these programmatic ideas and their implementation.
To pursue our development strategy, we aim to create an Alliance for Education and Career Development. Members of the Alliance will include secondary schools, community colleges, state departments of education, schools of education, and representatives of employers. The nucleus of the Alliance will be the existing NCRVE urban schools network. Other schools and colleges that will be invited to join with us include those with career academies, tech prep programs, school-sponsored enterprises, career magnet programs, and others that organize a significant part of their curriculum around occupational themes. Some of these initiatives are already affiliated in networks. We will attempt to unite efforts from urban, suburban, and rural areas under the Alliance umbrella, using both the resources of NCRVE as well as others' we will seek out inthe pursuit of the core principles now embodied in the federal law.
What will we learn?
Development activities will provide us with the in-depth information the field demands for both implementation and the design of policy that best enables change. Experience to date has taught us that the school change process is an intricate act of translating policy in ways appropriate for many unique contexts, coupled with an arduous process of implementation. But, change is complex as a second lesson NCRVE has learned demonstrates: lasting and significant change depends on the energy and will of grassroots efforts in delicate balance with top-down incentives, flexibility, and support. Schools want help in this process--the voice of a neutral outsider, a careful listener to the realities of implementation. NCRVE researchers--as coaches, analysts, and developers--are necessary agents in the change process, whose role includes helping the various "players" to understand each other.
Our development sites and their work will provide answers to the nitty gritty "what is it" "how to do it" questions, formative data, as well as provide a basis for identifying additional issues and questions for further study. We can create and provide richly informed descriptions, evaluations and strategies. Ultimately development activities will create success stories, exemplars of policy translation, and develop a cadre of leading practitioners.
Through these activities we hope to enhance the usefulness of our previous research and help guide practice and further research in the coming years. We welcome this challenge.
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The National Consortium for Product Quality in Vocational Education (NCPQVE) was formed to serve the vocational education field by advancing curriculum design and practice through research and technical assistance. While other fields of study at the secondary level have rapidly embraced national curriculum standards and goals, vocational education continues to vary widely in content, scope, and methodology across the nation. At present, the notion of establishing "national standards" in this content area has focused largely on developing industry skill standards.
Yet in today's changing world of work, critical evaluation of curriculum is a helpful step toward realizing national education goals (such as those outlined in Goals 2000) and in fulfilling the vision of new and emerging vocationalism (e.g., tech prep, youth apprenticeship, career academies). Standards for curriculum and instructional products, encompassing appropriate student outcomes and highly effective instruction, would establish benchmarks for products used by schools and postsecondary institutions in implementing these new school-to-work initiatives.
The NCPQVE was established to accomplish a twofold mission: to develop and implement vocational education curriculum product standards; and to develop a national review process by which voluntarily submitted materials can be reviewed, evaluated, and nationally disseminated.
The NCPQVE provides research-based evaluation and technical assistance for local, state, and national developers of curriculum and instructional materials. Its members assist in curriculum networking, identifying curriculum sources, and reviewing any submitted curriculum or printed instructional material. The NCPQVE standards and indicators provide developers with an essential tool to evaluate both new and existing materials for content, instructional strategies, assessment, and equity and diversity considerations. When curriculum developers submit materials to the NCPQVE for formal review, they are assured of a high-quality, third-party review and evaluation of materials. The submitted materials may also have the opportunity to progress to a national review, receive awards, and gain valuable exposure via inservice, vocational curriculum networks and organizations, and NCPQVE profiles and newsletters.
NCRVE's site at the University of Wisconsin-Madison manages the NCPQVE project. National use of the NCPQVE standards and the opportunity to apply these standards to a host of instructional materials will help create a positive interface of curriculum design, content, and program use. In the end, that successful interface is critically important to the ultimate beneficiaries of our work: students.
For more information, contact Barbara Dougherty or Margaret Ellibee at 800-446-0399.
In New York City, high school students are salvaging housing that would otherwise be uninhabitable.
The construction project, from Cooperative Technical High School, rehabilitates individual structures and helps increase the value of neighboring properties. Furthermore, after students leave the program, they will continue to maintain local housing, not only if they find paid jobs in the construction industry but also if they fix up their own residences and neighborhoods.
One student remarks, "You could be your own handyman. If you have an electrical problem, you could fix it up prim and proper. You could install new tile. A teacher in this program told me how he built his own house because he knows how to do everything, with the foundation, built the house, everything. So someday I can do that."
From part-time job to federal legislation: The history of school-based enterprises
School-based enterprises, which engage students in production of goods or services for other people, have long been a feature in high schools and community colleges. School-Based Enterprise: Productive Learning in American High Schools, recently published by Jossey-Bass, is based on NCRVE research conducted by several Center researchers--who are also the publication's authors (David Stern, James Stone III, Charles Hopkins, Martin McMillion, and Robert Crain). The book describes the benefits and potential of several school-based enterprises which have, for the first time, been recognized in legislation. The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 includes "school-sponsored enterprises" among the eight "promising school-to-work activities" on which new school-to-work systems are encouraged to build. The Act explicitly allows school-sponsored enterprises among the activities that fulfill the work-based learning component. It also permits states to use implementation grant funds to develop school-sponsored enterprises.
This encouragement of school-sponsored enterprises by the new Act stems from a recognition that finding large numbers of high-quality placements for students in non-school enterprises will be difficult. Although priority is given to state implementation grant applications that require paid work experience, the Act also prohibits employers from using students to displace regular employees or from accepting students if any regular employees are on layoff. These prohibitions will increase the difficulty of finding placements outside the school.
The explicit inclusion of school-sponsored enterprise in the School-to-Work Opportunities Act reflects a growing recognition that productive activities organized by schools can play an important educational role. Already there are many high schools and community colleges where students build houses, publish books, run restaurants, staff child care centers, produce original research, raise crops and livestock, repair cars, and provide other goods and services.
The benefits of school-based enterprise
School-Based Enterprise is based on case studies at 16 sites, of which two are community colleges and the rest are secondary schools. It describes projects that are part of traditional vocational programs, others where the focus is on academic development, some that combine academic and vocational education, and other projects where the focus was on community development or where the enterprise was a seedbed for individual entrepreneurship. (For a related story, see Strengthening the Development of Entrepreneurs, Stern is also co-author of Examples of Integrated Academic and Vocational Curriculum from High School Academies in the Oakland Unified School District (MDS-483), which is available from NCRVE by calling (800) 637-7652.
School-based enterprises appear to produce three types of benefits: educational benefits for the students, material rewards for other people, and positive social outcomes. These benefits are all illustrated by specific examples in the book.
Learning in a practical context enables students to apply subject matter from the classroom, integrating academic and vocational knowledge as they learn the aspects of an industry. Productive activity also helps students develop their capacity for problem solving and time management. They improve their ability to work in teams, and they find out how to use work as a deliberate learning experience. In some enterprises, students learn to participate in organizational redesign--good preparation for workplaces where organizations increasingly must reinvent themselves.
In addition to their educational advantages, school-based enterprises also provide immediate material benefits. They often yield revenue or reduce costs for the schools in which they are located. Most also subsidize customers or clients by offering goods or services at less than market prices. Some promote economic development of the local community or region, by spinning off activities that become part of the local economic base.
The superintendent at Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka, Alaska, relates how he helped create SBEs to provide unavailable goods and services in the seacoast hamlet of Metlakatla, where he was previously stationed as school superintendent:
We also opened up a bakery. There was no bakery in the village, so one day a week the people in the town could come to school and buy their baked goods. Then we set up another business. We got a Mercury marine dealership for the school. . . . We got the other shop teacher going on boat building, and we started to manufacture aluminum skiffs.
School enterprises also make an important economic contribution that is more indirect: practices they develop may point the way for non-school business enterprises who want to help their employees learn while working. This is an increasingly urgent concern as companies realize that continual learning by employees, up and down the line, helps companies remain competitive.
Over and above these educational and economic benefits, school-based enterprises also produce positive social outcomes. These include a heightened concern among students for the quality of goods or services they are producing, an increased interest in community service, and a reduced risk of dropping out of school.
If it's such a good idea, why doesn't every school have a school-based enterprise?
Literally thousands of school-based enterprises have come into being without any legislated support. However, existing school enterprises tend to involve only a small fraction of the students in their host schools, and those students only for a small part of their time. Why don't school-based enterprises play an even larger role?
Part of the answer is that school enterprises are not easy to start, or to keep running. Initiating a school-based enterprise requires choosing appropriate goods or services to produce at an appropriate price, avoiding competition with local suppliers, hiring qualified staff, and recruiting students. Once they are up and running, enterprises must develop a curriculum and methods of instruction, maintain students' motivation, cope with staff turnover, and find a way to keep balancing the demands of production and education. Successful enterprises have found partnerships and resource networks to help them. All of these issues are illustrated with specific examples in the book
Realizing the potential of school enterprise on a large scale will require widespread recognition by educators that learning and production have become increasingly connected in workplaces outside the school, and so combining them within the school is a sensible way to prepare students for lifelong learning at work. The further development of school-based enterprise could be fostered by modest investments in developing curriculum and teachers. Some of this may happen as a result of the School to Work Opportunities Act.
Student voices, student perspectives
How do the programs of emerging vocationalism (such as tech prep and youth apprenticeship) look to the students involved? Surprisingly enough, this question has not received much attention.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison are interviewing students about their experiences, in an on-going study. Research is based on three guiding questions: (1) What are the learning experiences or events deemed important across interviews and programs? (2) How do students describe these experiences or events across programs? and (3) What are the students' evaluations of such experiences or events?
A positive climate
The single most important factor in creating positive experiences was a supportive environment, with caring teachers who listen to and encourage students to do their best, and a culture of educational and occupational opportunities. These were the only components of school climate mentioned consistently within and across programs.
Who was studied?
Researchers are interviewing 150 students from 11 different sites over a period of three years. Particular emphasis is placed on students who are traditionally under-represented in the literature (e.g., female, Hispanic, Asian students) and on those who are enrolled in programs with systematic links between vocational and academic knowledge, school-based and work-based knowledge, and secondary and postsecondary institutions.
Two thematic reports are expected to be published early in 1995 and four more during 1995-96. Project staff anticipate these reports will be published in the following areas: (1) school climate, (2) indicators of emerging vocationalism, (3) development of student career and academic aspirations, (4) student experiences and perspectives on authentic learning opportunities, (5) student experiences after graduation, and (6) students' perspectives on emerging vocational programs based on diversity (e.g., gender, ethnicity).
What is being learned?
In supportive school environments, students learn more about themselves, as well as learn specific skills. The educational and occupational opportunities imbedded in the school environment may serve as the catalyst to shape the students' decision making process as they decide what to do after high school. As one student put it: "[My experience at this school is] helping me to decide what I like. Because I'm not positive about anything yet, you know. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up."
School climate appears to be nurtured and highly influenced by the orientation of the school. For instance, students enrolled in two magnet schools thrive in an environment where curriculum opportunities lead to a future in college. "Here they have classes that will make me more prepared for college . . . maybe I can get a scholarship," said one student. Meanwhile, students enrolled in programs where work-based opportunities are in place function well in an environment where both awareness of occupational careers and further education are stressed. Said one student, "The business program offers a lot of things . . . they give you a wide view of what to do with your future."
Promises and expectations
Emerging vocational programs appear to function in a school climate full of promises, expectations, and dilemmas. The promises are in the form of educational and occupational opportunities to be delivered in a nurturing and supportive environment. The expectations come in the form of rigorous curricula and high standards for both the teachers and students. The dilemmas lie in how to keep a balance between a demanding and supportive environment.
Have you developed a curriculum guide, or are you familiar with any you feel deserve national attention? The National Consortium for Product Quality in Vocational Education (NCPQVE) is interested in reviewing and nationally disseminating information about high-quality vocational-technical education curriculum.
Specifically, we're seeking curriculum and instructional products, designed for elementary through postsecondary and adult programs, which reflect the following:
The review process
A two-stage review process will be used. Phase I, conducted by the National Consortium staff, includes a preliminary review of all products using the standards and indicators formulated by the NCPQVE National Task Force. (For a comprehensive list of these Standards and Indicators, you may write to NCPQVE, at the address listed below.)
Phase I
The Phase I review will provide a general indication of the extent to which the curriculum or instructional product reflects the quality standards. A completed Phase I Review Feedback Form will be returned to the nominator for each product received. This feedback may be helpful in considering the curriculum for adoption, making revisions and enhancements, and guiding future curriculum development efforts designed to expand or supplement the initial curriculum.
Phase II
Materials and products receiving high scores on the Phase I review will be forwarded to the National Consortium's Panel of Reviewers. This Phase II review will consist of an in-depth assessment of the product by three to five experts selected because of their familiarity with both the content and instructional design of the product.
Products emerging from the Phase II review with high scores on the standards and indicators will be deemed a "Quality Instructional Resource." The pool of Quality Instructional Resources will be developed slowly to ensure that the highest standards are maintained for curriculum efforts in new and emerging vocational education.
Comprehensive Product Profiles will be prepared and disseminated nationally for Quality Instructional Resources. Dissemination will occur using such vehicles as the NCPQVE newsletter, NCRVE's VocServe electronic bulletin board system, and the National Network for Curriculum Coordination in Vocational and Technical Education (NNCCVTE). The Product Profiles will provide such professionals as instructors, administrators, and curriculum specialists with detailed information on the product and its content, instructional design features, format, availability, and cost.
Materials receiving Phase II reviews will be submitted to the Vocational Instructional Materials (VIMs) organizer to be considered for their national award.
How to submit material
For more information on this project, contact Margaret Ellibee and Barbara Dougherty, project co-directors:
Center on Education and Work
1025 West Johnson St.
Madison, WI 53706phone 800-446-0399
FAX 608-262-9197
email:
bdougherty%cew@soemadison.wisc.edu
mellibee%cew@soemadison.wisc.edu
If you are interested in nominating or submitting curriculum or instructional products which you feel are worthy of national consideration, please contact us for a submittal application form.
The NCPQVE Toll-Free Number Is
800-446-0399
"Families are life's first teachers, often of lessons that are never forgotten," said Education Secretary Richard Riley in an address to students at Georgetown University earlier this year. Yet the role of this important "first teacher" has not been examined in much detail. Now a new study at the University of Wisconsin is examining how families influence adolescents and young adults in their preparation for the world of work.
The structure of success
Most parents have dreams for their children. Spoken, articulated dreams are powerful. Yet the structures families build, the ways that they handle conflict and communication, and the attitudes of parents towards work and learning, may be just as powerful for young people as they develop the skills and attitudes necessary to succeed.
Results from this study indicate that families contribute to work-related learning processes and readiness in three ways: through parents' intentional interactions with children about work, through the work values present in the family, and through the day-to-day patterns of family functioning.
The pattern of interaction between parents and children signficantly influenced the learning strategy each student in this study chose as most comfortable. Some students functioned from a sense of intrinsic orientation (learning for learning's sake) while others found extrinsic orientation (learning for the sake of others or other things) most natural. Still others were motivated primarily by a sense of self-efficacy (having a sense of control over one's own learning).
A family value on "cultural activities" (whether music, art, travel, or...) and learning for its own sake was related to student's self-efficacy in learning.
Likewise, families which value autonomy tend to teach autonomy and self-reliance by example, while children from families with a great deal of enmeshment tend to have an extrinsic orientation toward learning.
In addition, factors such as the amount of communication in the home, and the degree of family cohesiveness significantly affect students' academic and personal integration in school.
Family influences and other societal factors
The first phase of this study looked at the experiences and goals of 1720 high school seniors. The second phase of the study looked at the experiences of adults enrolled in technical colleges. For both phases, researchers examined whether family influences differ according to such factors as socioeconomic status, gender, or race.
Among the adolescents studied, it appeared that young women had less career indecision, stronger work effectivness skills and work values, and stronger vocational identities than their male counterparts. This situation may be in part due to how family work values and functioning were experienced/perceived: young women reported stronger work values and less idealistic versions of how their families were functioning than did young men.
Ray Marshall and Marc Tucker, in their book Thinking for a Living: Education and the Wealth of Nations, point out that, "it will do the country little good . . . to restructure schools unless we make families better learning systems and include families as integral components of restructured schools." Job training and school-to-work transition programs sometimes try to involve parents, but may be hampered in those efforts by lack of clear understanding about how families actually can and do contribute to work preparedness. With the findings of this study, parents and parent educators will be better able to give targeted attention to helping families nurture career development. For educators working in job training and school-to-work transition programs, these findings can be extremely helpful.
For more information
The book Lessons from Life's First Teacher: The Role of the Family in Adolescent Work-Related Learning(MDS-724) is expected to be available in 1995. For more information about the study, contact Marilyn Martin Rossmann, 1954 Buford Avenue, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108 or Wendy L. Way, 1300 Linden Drive, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, telephone (608) 262-1963.
As low-wage, low-skilled jobs move overseas, individuals in the U.S. increasingly find that they need to be highly skilled in order to find satisfactory employment. At the same time, both urban and rural communities are looking for strategies to revitalize their economies. Some communities are responding to these challenges by strengthening the development of entrepreneurs.
At the same time that the economy is undergoing profound change, American society is becoming increasingly diverse. ÒMinorityÓ students are a growing segment of the population, and, on some states, are becoming the majority. Historically, ÒminorityÓ students have not been well served by public schools; and both women and minority students have been (and are) underrepresented in certain parts of the economy. Unless schools can do a better job of educating all students, shortages of well-educated labor will become more severe.
These issues pose challenges for the educational system. One promising, if partial, solution which speaks to these concerns is to strengthen the development of effective entrepreneurs.
This study, which began in 1993 and runs throughout 1994, is intended to determine the role of community/technical colleges in strengthening entrepreneurship, as well as to develop a shared understanding of what ÒentrepreneurshipÓ means. The project seeks to develop an understanding of the character of entrepreneurs, to characterize experiences that promote entrepreneurial skills, and, finally, to identify implications for training and education which can be provided by postsecondary institutions.
Case studies were completed from five community/technical colleges and five business incubators located in the west, south, and midwest regions of the nation. Individual interviews and focus groups were conducted with college administrators, teachers and students. Focus groups included at least five participants, chosen with gender and ethnicity in mind.
Preliminary findings indicate that five individual characteristics are associated with entrepreneurship: personal abilities (e.g., self-confidence, hard work, risk taking), technical knowledge of products and services, creative use of informational services, administrative skills (e.g., marketing and financing), and cultural and interpersonal skills (understanding of social context). In addition, successful entrepreneurship programs share an emphasis on problem solving, critical thinking, management skills, and the creative use of information.
Further, the analysis of case studies helped determine strategies for fostering entrepreneurship in postsecondary education. For example, using real-life information when formulating business plans appears to be an effective way to help students strengthen their entrepreneurial skills. Another strategy is to provide entrepreneurs with well-defined professional services and access to updated information.
To complement the study, a national survey with a sample of 200 business incubators and five entrepreneurs representing each incubator were conducted. These incubators were selected from the membership of the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA).
A final report of findings and a guidebook describing some promising practices used by community and technical colleges to foster entrepreneurship will be produced early in 1995. The guidebook will also describe effective strategies to implement partnerships with business incubators, so as to provide education and training opportunities for entrepreneurs.
For more information, contact Victor Hernandez at the University of WisconsinÐMadison, 964 Educational Sciences Building, 1025 West Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706 or call (608) 265-4578.
Students, parents, community partners, teachers: all are essential players in the successful school. At Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the Professional Development Program nationally provides a variety of activities for educational professionals across the United States: the Professionals-in-Residence program (see side-bar), two national satellite teleconferences, pre-sessions at the American Vocational Association Annual Convention, and a national workshop.
A national workshop entitled "Educators' Roles in School-to-Work Transition" was held in Baltimore, Maryland, July 14-16. Over 50 breakout sessions were held, focusing on guiding principles and models of school-to-work systems, as well as implementation strategies. The workshop was co-sponsored by Community Television for Southern California in Los Angeles (KCET). A copy of the related document, Educators' Roles in School-to-Work Transition, MDS-883, may be purchased by calling the Materials Distribution Service (MDS) at (800) 637-7652.
Two national satellite teleconferences have been broadcast live this fall. The first teleconference, "All Aspects of the Industry" was broadcast October 12. The second teleconference, "Educators' Roles in School-to-Work Transition," was broadcast on November 9. Both teleconferences will be available on videotape, and may be purchased by calling MDS.
Three AVA pre-sessions will be offered by NCRVE on December 9, 1994, at the AVA Annual Convention in Dallas, Texas. George Copa, NCRVE, University of Minnesota site, will be offering a four-hour pre-session on "New Designs for the Comprehensive High School." Charles Hopkins, Sherry Schwartz, Jerry Moss, and Lillian McDonald, NCRVE, also from the University of Minnesota site, are presenting a pre-session on "Leadership Development Program for Underrepresented Groups in Vocational Education." Carolyn Maddy-Bernstein and Zipura Burac Matias, NCRVE, University of Illinois site, are co-sponsoring a pre-session with AVA on "Exemplary Programs: Special Populations, Nontraditional Students, and Guidance and Counseling."
For more information
For further information about the Professional Development Program, please contact Susan Faulkner at (510) 642-9220 or Curt Finch at:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
NCRVE,
Vocational and Technical Education
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0254
(703) 231-7337; FAX (703) 231-3292.
Professionals-in-Residence Program Focuses on
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 professional, business and labor leaders, international educators, researchers, and analysts. Thus far, over 100 individuals have requested applications. Applications for participation in the program may be submitted at any time. Those selected for the program will spend from one to nine months at one or more of NCRVE's seven sites. Selection is honorary and thus non-salaried. For more information and application forms, contact: The Professional development Academy
|
Many states are still struggling to prepare local education agencies for their eventual role as the frontline in Perkins accountability and program improvement requirements; this despite three years of state effort to implement the Perkins program improvement provisions. To assess how federally mandated performance measure and standard systems are progressing, the NCRVE is conducting research on adoption efforts in seven states. Meetings with state vocational administrators, and secondary and postsecondary faculty and staff have given the Center remarkable insight into the standard-setting process.
What we found
Substantial progress has been made in implementing measures and standards in all states we visited; however, much work remains to be done. Most measures and standards were initially developed in a timely manner. However...
Why the delay?
We uncovered several factors responsible for the variation in the states' responses to requirements for performance measures and standards. These factors can be usefully categorized into one of two categories. The first set of factors flow from individual state context, and hence, are less directly subject to federal policy intervention. These are discussed in the full report, Improving Perkins II Performance Measures and Standards ...( available by Spring, 1995).
Factors in the second set are directly related to Perkins II, which contains a number of provisions that influence state implementation strategies. While the legislation gives states the flexibility to develop a sense of ownership as well as enabling states to adapt the accountability system to their existing program review and monitoring efforts, lack of knowledge at the state level has complicated system adoption. Potential sources of confusion include:
Given limited staff and resources, and lacking clear guidance in the law, state agencies found it necessary to set their own resource and action priorities among the different Perkins initiatives.
Although case studies were limited to a few states, results suggest some specific action required of federal policy makers if the implementation of Perkins II measures and standards are to be improved. Potential actions include changes in regulations, reallocation of resources, and new capacity-building initiatives to address concerns common across all states. A detailed discussion of these recommendations as well as a comprehensive review of case study findings will be contained in the upcoming report ( Improving Perkins II Performance Measures and Standards (MDS-732) (Available by Spring, 1995). For more information,contact Mikala Rahn at
MPR Associates
2150 Shattuck Avenue
Suite 800
Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 849-4942.
Educators in five western states will be meeting and sharing curriculum ideas in "virtual space," using VocServe, NCRVE's online conferencing facility, bulletin board, and document retrieval service.
The VANGUARD project, one of six U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) grants for implementing integrated academic/vocational curricula, is administered by Sonoma State University (California). The project is in the first year of a four-year cycle, and this year will meet with eleven practitioner teams at ten workshops. All those teams will use VocServe to hold online meetings, discuss research and implementation, and share newly developed curricula. Participants began training sessions in October that included technical assistance in curriculum development and an introduction to the use of VocServe for communication.
VANGUARD is just one of several vocational groups who are finding VocServe a convenient way to communicate and share information:
The National Network for Curriculum Coordination in Vocational and Technical Education (NNCCVTE) is a federally funded national consortium of six curriculum centers with representatives from each state. NNCCVTE members use the electronic mail and discussion group capabilities of VocServe to collaborate in locating curriculum resources. Many of the members do not yet have internet connections, so they find the direct modem connection an important option.
The ERIC Clearinghouse for Adult, Career, and Vocational Education (ERIC/ACVE) maintains a library of ERIC Digests and other short articles on VocServe, and includes an e-mail link to the ERIC/ACVE acquisitions coordinator to solicit materials for inclusion in the ERIC database.
Trainingfor ACCESS is a project on bilingual vocational instructor training administered by Sonoma State University (California) and funded by a grant from OVAE. The project has just begun setting up an area on VocServe containing a forum for questions and answers and a library of materials for reading online or downloading.
Members of State Councils on Vocational Education (SCOVE) in the southeast region of the United States are testing the use of VocServe to share information. If the test is successful, the group will suggest that SCOVE members nationwide join in.
If you belong to a vocational-education-related group whose participants are geographically distant but work closely together and need to share information or resources, find out how VocServe can help meet your organization's needs. Contact David Carlson at the National Center for Research in Vocational Education by e-mail (dcarlson@uclink.berkeley.edu) or phone (800-(old phone deleted)). Since VocServe is accessible via the internet and also by direct modem dial-in, a group's members can participate, regardless of their individual system's level of network connectivity.
The VocServe bulletin board can now be reached from the AskERIC gopher. If you have access to a gopher client, point it to the AskERIC gopher (ericir.syr.edu) and look under the "Other Education Resources" menu; the last item on the list is "VocServe (Vocational Education Bulletin Board)." This way of connecting is equivalent to using telnet to connect directly to VocServe (vocserve.berkeley.edu). If you are a frequent gopher user and would like to keep a bookmark to VocServe handy, you can now do so!
A number of documents are now available on VocServe. Since June, the following documents have been posted: the most recent issues of CenterWork and CenterFocus, and the 1994 Agenda of the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (descriptions of NCRVE projects and programs). In addition, the online version of the NCRVE Products Catalog has been reorganized to make it easier to view descriptions of individual products
In addition to VocServe, NCRVE has a listserv discussion list, VOCNET. VOCNET has grown 25% since June, to the current high of 630 subscribers. Messages cover a wide range of vocational education topics, and subscribers are from several parts of the world: the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, and Asia. (See the instructions at the end of this article to see how you can join VOCNET.)
| Educators in five western states will be meeting and sharing curriculum ideas in "virtual space," using VocServe, NCRVE's online conferencing facility, bulletin board, and document retrieval service. If you belong to a vocational-education-related group whose participants are geographically distant but work closely together...find out how VocServe can help met your organization's needs. |
Since its inception in 1992, VOCNET has been an unmoderated discussion list, which means that anything members posted to the list was automatically distributed to subscribers. As the number of users has increased, so has the amount of "noise"--messages posted accidentally to the entire network, when the sender actually meant to reply to just one individual. One of the most valuable functions of a list is to allow subscribers to share information and resources, but only some messages are intended for the entire group. Therefore, NCRVE has decided to bite the bullet and make VOCNET a moderated list. This means that all items posted to the list are screened to ensure that they are appropriate for distribution to subscribers; messages that are intended for a particular individual are forward to that individual, rather than the list. Distributed items are passed on to the list unchanged, and senders of items that were not distributed receive a note about how their item was handled.
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.
|
The May 1995 issue of Education and Urban Society will highlight NCRVE research, focusing on urban vocational education issues. Entitled "Vocational Education and School Reform: New Links From School to Work" and co-edited by Peter Seidman and Kim Ramsey, NCRVE's Dissemination Program Director and a RAND-site researcher respectively, this special issue discuss issues important to any long-standing and coherent reform: the history and structure of the system, development of its professionals, curricular innovations, and benefits and returns to its graduates. Both Norton Grubb and Kim Ramsey address the dual personality of cities--as progressive, dynamic leaders for educational reform and, simultaneously, as problem centers.
Through the voices of New York City career magnet students, Amy Heebner's study gives voice to the powerful effect of schools organized to foster resiliency in students through developing a community of caring, high expectations, and youth participation. Judith Warren Little's investigation juxtaposes the broader issue of professional development, specifically teachers' "opportunity to learn," with the issue of how the workplace context of teaching supports and impedes curriculum integration between vocational and academic education.
Debra Bragg and Jim Layton, and Jim Stone each report on an ongoing program, which is given a reformist spin in the current school-to-work initiative. Bragg and Layton investigate the urban public community college system--is it working and contributing to educational reforms, especially such vocational reforms as tech prep? Stone investigates the effectiveness of urban coop education, including a discussion of issues of work-based learning in urban environments, a major component of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act.
Francisco Rivera-Batiz discusses the labor market consequences as well as the differential literacy skills achieved by urban and minority population recipients of alternative types of high school certification--a high school diploma versus to General Equivalency Diploma (GED). Rivera-Batiz concludes that "a GED provides substantial economic returns to high school dropouts."
Finally, Gary Hoachlander offers a policy- and practice-oriented summary of the issues raised by his NCRVE colleagues in the preceding articles.
Dr. Lois Beeken, 56, died August 1, 1994, after a long battle with ovarian cancer. Beeken worked as Director of Inservice Education with the National Center for Research in Vocational Education from January 1989 to September 1992. Dr. Beeken was the first recipient of the NCRVE Lois A. Beeken Distinguished Service Award, established in 1993 to recognize major contributions to the Center.
Jerry Hayward, NCRVE's Deputy Director at the time the Award was presented, said of Beeken, "Her national and regional workshops, national conferences, coordination of professional activities and, most dramatically, national teleconferences gave the national prominence we sought for the Center. Parenthetically, much of our work before Lois reminded me of the last scene from the movie, The Candidate, where they've won the election and Robert Redford turns to his campaign manager and says, `Now what'll we do?' After Lois Beeken became our Director for Inservice Education, we had an answer: Let Lois do it. And do it she did."
Earlier in her career, Beeken had taught English, French, and Spanish at the high school in Christianburg, Virginia. She later earned her doctorate at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. She served in the Virginia Community College System as a faculty member and public information officer and assisted in college resource development.
Beeken is survived by her parents and mother-in-law; her daughter, Lora Beeken Kingma; her son, Anthony S. Beeken; and by her four grandchildren.
Dr. Gordon Swanson, who had long been battling cancer, died November 4, 1994. He was 74. Swanson was Associate Director of the National Center for Research in Vocational Education from September 1988 to July 1991.
Swanson, a World War II veteran who received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, finished his doctoral work at the University of Minnesota after the war, then began teaching others how to teach agriculture.
He also traveled the world, training teachers in agricultural techniques as part of various United Nations efforts.
He was a faculty member with the University of Minnesota for more than 40 years. Although he had officially retired from teaching in 1992, he continued to work with the Department of Agricultural Education, College of Education, at the University of Minnesota.
Swanson belonged to numerous civic and social organizations, including the American Vocational Association, the Minnesota Vocational Association, the National Rural Education Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was a neighborhood Cub Scout master. Says his son, Dean Swanson, "I was always proud that the guy trying to maintain order with all the fidgety eight-year-olds was my father."
Swanson was awarded the Dunwoody Institute Prosser Award and the University of Minnesota College of Educational Alumni Outstanding Educator Award.
Swanson is survived by his wife Dorothy; daughter Jan Mackenthun; sons Dale, Dean, and Charles Swanson; and brothers Arnold and Kenneth.
The following new reports are available from the NCRVE Materials Distribution Service. You may order these documents by phone (800) 637-7652, by e-mail 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.
Building a Preferred Future with Tech Prep Systems --D. D. Bragg, C. L. Kirby, P. A. Puckett, K. A. Trinkle, L. Watkins
How might local practitioners construct new Tech Prep systems that bridge the federal Tech Prep Education Act with the new School-to-Work Opportunities legislation? Bragg and her colleagues present the perspectives, core concepts, and processes needed to develop such a shared vision of Tech Prep, offering numerous practical ideas about Tech Prep planning and implementation.
MDS-713 OCTOBER 1994 $7.50
Tech Prep Implementation in the United States: Promising Trends and Lingering Challenges-- D. D. Bragg, J. D. Layton, F. T. Hammons
In 1993, Bragg and her colleagues surveyed nearly four hundred local tech prep coordinators in the United States in order to understand the trends and challenges surrounding the implementation of tech prep programs. The authors report out on five issues: (1) the characteristics of local tech prep consortia and their coordinators; (2) the goals, elements, and outcomes of local tech prep initiatives; (3) the progress of local tech prep initiatives and selected tech prep components; (4) the perceived barriers to local tech prep implementation; and (5) the extent to which changes are needed in state and federal policy.
MDS-714 SEPTEMBER 1994 $7.50
Leader Attributes Inventory Manual
The Leader Attributes Inventory(LAI) yields a diagnostic assessment of a vocational education professional's leadership performance. The LAI manual contains (1) the rationale for, (2) the development and psychometric characteristics of, and (3) an explanation for the use of this assessment tool.
MDS-730 SEPTEMBER 1994 $8.50
Local Accountability Systems: Addressing Perkins Mandates for Special Populations
This handbook is organized into three parts. Part I focuses on (1) measuring the success of programs serving students who are members of special populations and (2) improving programs that do not meet the established standards. Part II provides examples of performance measures and standards that were adapted from selected states' accountability systems. Part III presents definitions of relevant terms and suggest operational definitions gleaned from some statewide accountability systems. The implementation of an accountability system is intended to be an ongoing process of system development and improvement to better serve the nation's diverse student populations. This book is intended to assist vocational educators as they develop comprehensive accountability systems.
MDS-748 NOVEMBER 1994 $TBA
ETP: The Productivity Program--A Report to the Employment Training Panel
The Employment Training Panel is an independent state agency housed within the California Employment Development Department that contracts primarily with employers and public and private schools for short term job training. Training is employer-specific and usually customized to meet the needs of individual companies or groups of companies. The Panel is funded by a payroll tax collected as part of the state unemployment insurance system.
This report is part of a project designed to assist the Panel in developing and sharpening its priorities and to offer alternative suggestions to effectuate those priorities. This report may be helpful to individuals in other agencies responsible for administering a large training fund.
MDS-890 WORKING PAPER $4.50
Choosing Wisely for California: Targeting the Resources of the Employment Training Panel
The purpose of this report is to offer recommendations to the Employment Training Panel on how it can refine its targeting process and most effectively use training funds for the greatest economic benefit to the State of California. While it may be argued that all or nearly all employment-related training in any occupation or industry is likely to improve nearly all employment-related training in any occupation or industry is likely to improve economic performance, ETP funds are not unlimited and choices between applications must be made.
This report begins by developing economic rationales for thirteen principles on which the Panel can base funding decisions. Next, a series of alternatives are presented to help the Panel with the implementation of these principles. Finally, a specific allocation model is presented to help the Panel with implementation in the future. This report may be helpful to individuals in other agencies responsible for administering a large training fund.
MDS-891 WORKING PAPER $8.50
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