Executive summaries and/or full text of recent NCRVE publications are available electronically on NCRVE's various online services. See the Cyberspace Update in this issue for instructions on how to access them.
MDS-727 September 1996 $6.00
New Perspectives on Documenting Employment and Earnings Outcomes in
Vocational Education--D. W. Stevens, J. Shi
Vocational education in the United States faces an uncertain future.
Congress periodically debates consolidating the federal government's investment
in education and training. Anticipated growth of markets for students who want
to acquire, extend or renew occupational competencies has led to a ratcheting
up of the accountability threshold that will have to be reached by successful
competitors. Consequently, vocational educators are being asked to provide
credible evidence of high, value-added performance at reasonable cost and in a
timely manner. This document introduces three decades of research, along with
multiple concepts and measures of employment and earnings. The authors look
beyond performance standards to satisfy the needs of local and state
authorities who seek a better understanding of the employment affiliations and
earnings paths of former students.
MDS-743 September 1996 $9.00
High School Restructuring and Vocational Reform: The Question of "Fit" in
Two Schools--J. Warren Little
How do vocational education reforms fit in with other secondary school
reforms? Where do the various reforms reinforce each other, and where does
vocational education reform get treated as the second-class citizen? Warren
Little uses three criteria of "fit" to examine two restructuring high schools:
1) are the schools questioning society's long-standing ambivalence towards
vocational education?; 2) do the schools readily embrace the integration of
academic and vocational learning? and; 3) do the schools enable teachers to
bridge the two worlds of academic and vocational teaching? She suggests that
the success of vocational education reform rests on whether work preparation is
seen as a goal for all high school students, as well as on whether
schools have the capacity to challenge assumptions of what high school should
entail. Educators trying to teach in the midst of several reform initiatives
will find this study an aid to thinking deeply and imaginatively about how the
question of "fit" presents a new opportunity to further the goal of "getting
kids--all kids--to confront where they're going from here."
MDS-812 October 1996 $6.00
Fostering Entrepreneurship Through Business Incubation: The Role and
Prospects of Postsecondary Vocational-Technical Education (Report 1: Survey of
Business Incubator Clients and Managers)--V. M. Hernández-Gantes,
R. P. Sorensen, A. H. Nieri
The U.S. Small Business Administration has indicated that approximately
half of all new businesses fail within two years. This high percentage of
small business failure suggests an area of opportunity for two-year
colleges--the teaching and fostering of entrepreneurship as a new form of
emerging vocationalism. Effective entrepreneurship can significantly expand
students' career options, since approximately 98 percent of all enterprises in
the United States are small companies. However, only a small number of
two-year vocational-technical colleges try to provide business incubation or
develop entrepreneurial services within their local communities. Why? For
those institutions which do foster entrepreneurship, what are the economic
implications for the students and the entire community? These, and related
questions, are considered in this survey of business-incubator clients and
managers.
MDS-893 August 1996 $6.50
Fostering Entrepreneurship Through Business Incubation: The Role and
Prospects of Postsecondary Vocational-Technical Education (Report 2: Case
Studies)--V. M. Hernández-Gantes, R. P. Sorensen, A. H.
Nieri
This document contains nine case studies and complements MDS-893,
Fostering Entreprenuership Through Business Incubation: The Role and
Prospects of Postsecondary Vocational-Technical Education (Survey Report).
The case studies reveal current efforts of two-year technical colleges to
work in partnership with business incubators, offer entrepreneurship courses,
and provide other related services to local entrepreneurs. The cases are
organized into three categories: rural, urban, and suburban settings. Case
studies are further analyzed with an eye to understanding how two-year colleges
can better support community economic development and efforts to serve women
and "minority" entrepreneurs.
MDS-895 September 1996 $7.00
As Teachers Tell It: Implementing All Aspects of the Industry: Supporting
Materials--E. Nielsen Andrew, with the Center for Law and Education;
Jobs for the Future; and The Learning Research and Development
Corporation
"All aspects of the industry" (AAI) is a powerful reform approach that
combines the real world richness of vocational education with the broad,
transferable skills associated with academic education. AAI means providing
students with a strong understanding of all aspects of an industry: planning;
management; finance; technical and production skills; underlying principles of
technology; community issues; labor issues; and health, safety, and
environmental issues. As Teachers Tell It includes extensive case
studies on implementing AAI from four schools. Teams of teachers and business
representatives, collaborating with national organizations, spent a year
developing their own case studies on the reform process. The case studies
demonstrate the power of AAI in accelerating academic and vocational
integration and strengthening work-based learning. They show how AAI ensures
that students are not locked into the industry they focus on, and helps prepare
students for a rapidly changing work world. As Teachers Tell It
includes a comprehensive introduction to AAI, a section relating AAI to other
reform streams, and an appendix with further resources. This groundbreaking
study will be useful both to those interested in AAI, and to everyone engaged
in the complex processes of school change.
MDS-885A Case Studies November 1996 $15.00
MDS-885B Supplemental Materials November 1996 $24.00
Student Services: Achieving Success for All Secondary Students--C.
Maddy-Bernstein, E. S. Cunanan
Student services, which span all school programs, from career planning
to childcare assistance, are designed to facilitate learning and the successful
transition of students to work and further education. Although current reforms
don't emphasize these services, a full range of counseling, assessment and
related opportunities is as important to student success as curriculum, faculty
and teaching techniques. This document will help secondary school
administrators and teachers develop a coordinated and comprehensive program of
student services, thus enabling increasingly diverse populations to learn well
in school and to develop their potentials.
MDS-1007 November 1996 $6.50
Leader Attributes Inventory: Directions for Administering, Scoring and
Preparing Feedback Reports--J. Moss, Jr., Q. Jensrud
NCRVE's Leader Attributes Inventory (LAI) measures 37 traits of good
leaders, from enthusiasm to persistence, accountability, and adaptability.
This report tells how to use the LAI for self-rating or for rating by
observers. Sample inventories, scoring worksheets, feedback reports, and
details about how to administer the LAI are included. The companion study,
MDS-730, explains the context and development of the LAI. This study is one of
a range of NCRVE monographs on leadership, such as Moss's reports on how to
help underrepresented groups succeed as vocational educational leaders
(MDS-736), and evaluations of leadership development programs (MDS-1025, 293,
and 461).
MDS-1049 November 1996 $19.50
MDS-1049A Leader Attributes Inventory Instruments November 1996 $14.00