Education & Pedagogy

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles deal with the following topics related to teacher education in reading and communication skills: inservice education in secondary reading for English teachers; prospective English teachers' attitudes toward composition; the relationship of teacher licensing procedures to pupil reading achievement; the development of preservice teachers' verbal communication competencies; the assessment of student progress in preservice reading methods modules; an inservice program for secondary content-area teachers in teaching content reading; a stage centered method of teaching dramatic literature to prospective English teachers; inservice approaches for teaching elementary teachers about spelling research and practice; attitude change in college students while learning methods of teaching English; prospective teachers' knowledge of dictionary facts and skills; evaluation of a preservice English education program; variables that predict success for reading specialists; a course to aid teachers in listening effectively to students; and the preparation of preservice early childhood teachers for the teaching of reading. (GW)

The 1974 seminar for State directors of vocational education focused on improvement of vocational curricula at the local education agency level. One hundred fifteen persons, representing 43 State vocational units, one territory, and Washington, D.C., attended the seminar. Sepcial emphasis was given to processes and innovative concepts relating to professional development and self-improvement of State directors of vocational education and key members of their staffs. Guidelines and information papers were presented to explain and define methods that can be utilized by State vocational education personnel in discharging responsibilities in the field of curriculum development. The seminar covered the following areas: vocational education programs for persons with special needs (three papers); State level programs to facilitate the dissemination and implementation of new curriculum ideas (three papers); State level management information systems for curriculum improvement (three papers); curriculum changes and improvement in local education agencies (two papers); mechanisms and approaches to curriculum development (two papers); need for curriculum for State personnel development supervisors (one paper); and implementing career education programs (three papers). The full texts of all papers are included in the document. The seminar agenda and a program participant list are appended. (Author/EC)

In order to ensure that man keeps step with the changes in the world it is necessary to continue the learning process throughout adulthood. Although many authorities see obsolescence as the only alternative to continuing education, some authorities and professions are beginning to speak of mandatory adult education. Since adult education is based on the precept of the adult learner as a volunteer, the basic philosophy of adult education is attacked when it becomes compulsory. Furthermore, regulation raises questions of who will regulate and what criteria will they use. Whether compulsory or not, however, there is a need for the revitalization of adult education, a process which will have to originate in the education profession. To this end the North Central Association's standards for adult high schools provide a step in the right direction. Now, when elementary and secondary school enrollments are dropping, it might be opportune to deflect some educational resources into adult continuing education rather than have the funds eliminated from educational budgets. Although the task of continuing education for adults may forever remain unfulfilled, all educators must do everything in their power to help adults meet their educational needs now and in the future. (JR)

It was not until the 1960's that the subject of higher education started to disturb governments, or the issue of government policy on higher education became a topic of national debate. Some thoughts on the likely evolution of British higher education to the 1980's and beyond are apparent after looking to: the Robbins Report of 1963, which proposed massive expansion of student numbers and "that courses of higher education be available for all those who are qualified by ability and attainment to pursue them and who wish to do so;" to the system as it is now; and finally to issues in North America and Europe. Since there is no agreement about the Good Society, and thus about aims and content, the mandate for the pragmatist is to create a variety of higher education institutions that can fulfill a variety of functions. The direction in which higher education should move is toward greater diversity and greater fairness between the sectors as well as more social justice. What we shall be talking about in 1985 is a system of post-school education in which systems of higher education throughout the world are already moving, and British higher education is set in the same direction. (Author)

The book sketches the career education concepts and learning activities which have been developed for inclusion in the academic curriculum of one Missouri school, from kindergarten through secondary grades. Several learning activities are suggested for each elementary grade level. The primary-level activities are intended to increase students' awareness of self and others; the intermediate-level activities emphasize awareness of occupations. Two page special education and remedial reading career education guides supplement recommended commercial materials by indicating very briefly, in the former, learning activities related to 10 occupational clusters; in the latter, activities related to farming and home-making. The section intended for use by junior high and high school teachers is organized by academic or vocational education subject, with several career-related lesson suggestions offered for each. It assumes that only female students will be taking certain sections of the home economics curriculum. The concluding section lists the career education resources available to teachers in the school which produced the career education guide. The book also contains an outline of the career education responsibilities of the guidance counselor at each grade level from 7 to 12 and an overview of the vocational curriculum available in the area vocational-technical school. (AJ)

The three-day conference focused on giving clearer direction and visibility to community resources utilization in preparing persons for employment. It sought to clarify the scope of cooperative education as a plan for delivering occupational skills and to examine selected issues which would serve to stimulate expansion, improve practices, and cooperative relationships among educators, employers, and organized labor. The 148 conference participants included State Department and university personnel, local educators, union officials, employers, representatives from national organizations, and other federal agencies from 45 states, the District of Columbia, and Trust Territories. Background papers include Education in a Changing Society (C.H. Madden), A Prospectus for Cooperative Vocational Education (W.F. Pierce), and Critical Issues in Cooperative Vocational Education (R.M. Worthington). Different viewpoints from the areas of business (J.A. Pinkston), labor (J.C. Turner), and education (P.W. Briggs, R.L. Bennett, and E.C. Roberts) are presented. Seven issues dealing with cooperative vocational education were the topics of group reports: role expectations in career education, expansion of cooperative education in career/job preparatory curriculums, relationship to apprenticeship training, liability considerations, participation of students under age 16, rural and urban considerations, and employer participation. J.K. Coster's evaluation of the conference concludes the document. (Author/EC)

Intended as workshop guidelines, the model for career education implementation contains six modules which outline the procedure for integrating career education into the instructional process, and describes a multi-media approach to guide administrators through the developmental process. Module one, Preparation for District Career Education Implementation, provides an overview of career education for key school administrators and outlines a positive plan of action to implement a K-12 career education program. Module two, Development of School District Goals and Objectives, outlines realistic goals and objectives for career education products and processes. Module three, Conducting and Interpreting Career Education Needs Assessments, pertains to instruments for conducting assessments and materials for interpreting their results. Module four, Building Staff Awareness and Orientation, provides guidelines for a presentation to assure staff awareness of the career education concept. Module five, Processes and Resources, suggests commercial and teacher developed materials and provides guidelines for a slide/tape presentation demonstrating the diversity of approaches to career education curriculum infusion. Module six, Implementation, discusses teachers' development of plans for career education curriculum infusion by grade level and subject matter area and the selection of faculty teams to insure sequential curriculum change. (Author/JR)

Responding to the need for qualified personnel for career education, the authors designed the guide for use by university program or instructional planners in the preparation of undergraduate/graduate personnel for implementing career education in grades K-12. The basic components of the document consist of: (1) 105 broad general goals in career education personnel development significant to quality career education for integration into existing educational personnel preparation programs; (2) two or more alternative strategies for achieving each of the 105 goals; and (3) 25 university staff approaches for integrating career education into existing university personnel development courses or programs. Goals and alternative strategies were developed from a synthesis of field data collected by classroom observation and interviews in 25 university/college sites in the United States, appropriate data selected from the literature, and project staff training and experience. Appendix A consists of information relative to interest and efforts in career education collected informally from additional university sites. Appendix B is a listing of contributors to the data collection. An index of terms common to teacher education preparation and career education concepts, coded to the 105 goals, is also included. (EA)

As the fourth volume in a five-volume series of position papers on Indian education, this publication presents seven papers relative to the technicalities of the financial, political, and legislative problems of Indian education. Papers are titled as follows: (1) "State Responsibilities for American Indians--Minnesota" (the question of Federal versus State funding); (2) "State Responsibilities for American Indians--Texas (the success of the Tigua Indians of El Paso, Texas in gaining State support); (3) "Jurisdictional Problems of Indian Controlled Schools" (the problem of providing Indian people with the monetary, informational, and manpower resources to secure effective control of Indian schools); (4) "Public School Financing Considerations for American Indian Education" (numerous educational finance models are presented); (5) "Federal Financing of Indian Education" (documentation of the laws and programs earmarked for Indian education with an explanation of the way in which both can be subverted); (6) "Sources of Financial Aid for American Indian Students" (emphasis on Federal sources other than BIA higher education funds); (7) "Federal Treaty Responsibilities for Indian Education" (consideration of the types of educational provisions found in treaties in view of the future of Indian education). (JC)

Vocational education personnel at twenty secondary high schools and vocational skill centers in Michigan were interviewed to (1) identify vocational educators' perceptions of sex-role stereotyping (SRS) in vocational education, (2) determine whether school personnel had identified effective means of reducing SRS and sex bias in vocational education programs, and (3) determine the current needs of vocational educators concerning the issue of SRS in vocational education programs and services. Perceptions generated from the interviews were compared to the nature and extent of SRS as evidenced in vocational education enrollment data, staffing/structural patterns, and curriculum materials developed for student and teacher use. All role groups identified a need for a collaborative effort among students, parents, and school staff to eliminate SRS in vocational education programs. However, for a majority of the respondents, SRS and sex bias in the schools were not perceived to be a major cause of limited vocational opportunity at the secondary level. Eight recommendations were made for systematic, long-range changes to be instituted within and outside the educational sector to bring about expanded vocational opportunity for secondary students. (The interview instrument is appended.) (LMS)

This study is designed to provide adult educators with information relevant to adult education training. In the first of six chapters an overview of adult education in Canada is presented. The definition of adult education, its history in Canada, and models expressing adult education goals are reviewed. Chapter 2 examines descriptive and analytic literature concerning adult education training. Theoretical and philosophical issues related to training are explored. The third chapter focuses on the training process and examines the training content, methodology and organization, and the institutional placement of training responsibility. Chapter 4 discusses leadership development practices and training approaches employed in Britain, Europe, the U.S., and Canada. Chapter 5 reports data drawn from three Alberta field surveys which record perceptions of adult education training needs and content/organization preferences. The final chapter summarizes the conclusions, which are described as generally applicable beyond provincial and national boundaries. It is suggested that the status of the adult education field will greatly depend on the quality and effectiveness of its program provisions. Appendixes contain selected Canadian/Albertan statutes, a distribution of Alberta's Further Education Councils, a list of barriers to expanded learning opportunities, instructional materials references, and a non-vocational teacher training model. (CSS)

A project was conducted (1) to determine the effectiveness of using career education practitioners from the field in providing prospective teachers with an understanding of career education concepts relative to teaching responsibilities and (2) to demonstrate and compare the effectiveness of delivering career education activities through the use of five different organizational bases. Before the implementation of the project, pretest instruments were administered to teachers, student teachers, students, and parents to determine the level of understanding of career education among these different groups and to determine the effectiveness of the project activities. A posttest was later administered after the completion of one year's activities. The major activities accomplished by the project were the development and dissemination of a planning and implementation guide; numerous workshops and in-service meetings; a career education newsletter; a search file; and a collection of resource materials. A comparison of the test results between experimental (project participants) and control (nonparticipants) groups revealed no significant differences except in the area of teachers' attitudes toward career education. (Also included are individual region reports, audit reports, and assessment data from all regions on each instrument.) (Author/BM)

The framework presented in this paper uses an organizational perspective to describe and compare alternative approaches to teacher education. Alternatives in teacher education such as competency-based teacher education, humanistic education, or programs typified by academic-oriented, liberal arts teacher education are discussed from the viewpoint of their basic assumptions on the learning and teaching processes. Two assumptions are presented to provide a two-dimensional framework for classifying and comparing alternative instructional approaches. The first is the perceived variability of students and the second the perceived nature of the instructional process. It is suggested that through the use of this framework the identification of an innovation through its underlying assumptions can provide insight into the consequences of that innovation. The point is made that a conceptual framework based upon organizational features can illuminate differences in alternative teacher education approaches. A primary implication of this paper is that as the profession comes to better understand the nature of schooling, the purpose of schools will become more specific and will require teachers with special expertise and experience. Greater attention will need to be devoted to linking the goals and purposes of a teacher education program with the types of public school organizations in which the teacher education graduates will teach. (JD)

The document views citizenship education from the perspectives of the past and present and offers recommendations for improving citizenship education programs. The document is presented in three chapters, preceeded by an introductory essay highlighting major developments in citizenship education in the United States since the colonial period. Chapter I focuses on the challenges of citizen education today. The major challenge is developing citizen competence. Major considerations of citizenship education are described, including increasing social complexity, global interdependence, and conflicting interpretations of the subject area. Chapter II reviews the level of desired civic competency and provides illustrations of representative programs in schools, media, government, labor, religious organizations, and business. Chapter III reviews findings from research on citizenship education and offers recommendations to improve citizenship education programs. It is recommended that citizenship education programs will improve if the federal government and local communities convene commissions on citizen education. These commissions should involve members of the research community and representatives of a wide cross section of American society. Commission members would be responsibile for developing criteria and for clarifying educational frameworks and objectives for citizenship education programs. (DB)

Two North Dakota home economists developed consumer education curricula based on adult performance level (APL) objectives and the perceived needs of their vocational students. They worked with local directors of adult basic and secondary education (ABSE) to incorporate the curricula into regular ABSE classes. Project objectives were to (1) identify consumer education needs of a sample group of adult basic education (ABE) students; (2) assist students in reaching the APL goal "to manage a family economy and demonstrate an awareness of sound purchasing principles" by formulating and testing teaching methods geared to the twenty APL objectives and student objectives; and (3) document effective methods for teaching consumer education to ABE students. The consumer education needs of students which surfaced most frequently included personal budgeting, using banking services, using consumer information resources, consumer protection and redress, and advertising phychology. This documentation was prepared to serve as a guide for home economics instructors. Ten self-study units developed as a result of the project included buying foods, buying clothing, buying automobiles, housing, budgeting, credit, insurance, consumer protection, home furnishings, and advertising. (The appendixes contain a sample learning packet and a sample lesson plan.) (LRA)