Education & Pedagogy

Two task forces, a Career Development Team and a Curriculum Development Team, were formed from the Career Education Committee appointed in 1976 at the College of Education, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to assist students while in college to make informed career choices within the field of education (i.e., career development), and to help them acquire sufficient knowledge of infusion techniques to permit them to function effectively in a career education position after graduation (i.e., career preparation). The Career Development Team developed and field tested a career checklist of questions for student use to (1) identify and analyze undergraduate career needs; (2) list available career resources; (3) match the career needs with the resources; and (4) order the phases and steps in deciding to teach and becoming certified. Of the sixty students who evaluated the checklist in the field test half reacted favorably and 80% said they would use it if given a copy. The Curriculum Development Team concentrated on meeting the need for preservice and inservice experiences in career education and developed six course modules in career education which are offered for credit to students of the College; also they published a monograph of their articles about career education as a team function. Future projects for both teams involve participation of community leaders, and the Career Development Team plans to further test and implement its checklist's use. (Included are a history of career education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a draft of the checklist.) (ELG)

Papers summarizing evaluation efforts and results from four local education agency evaluation experts and one paper summarizing selected findings from U.S. Office of Career Education sponsored demonstration projects are presented in this monograph. The first paper describes two studies of the reading and mathematics achievement of fith grade Texas students; results show that career education can make a difference in the academic achievement of students. The second paper describes the Jefferson County (Kentucky) career education demonstration project on the base methods and techniques for use with low-income students; results show that the program had an overall positive impact on reading and mathematics achievement. Summarizing findings from a three-year study of a K-12 career education program in Dade County, Florida, the third paper reports gains in career awareness during the second and third years of program installation for all elementary schools involved. Results of studies reported in the fourth paper show that among the differences between students in grades 3-12 who had high exposure to career education and those with limited exposure, there was a greater understanding of specific skills and abilities required for careers. The fifth paper summarizes several evaluation studies (from Part D of the Vocational Education Amendments of 1968, Office of Career Education demonstration projects, and National Institute of Education research projects) providing evidence of achievement in six major goals of career education. (TA)

The subject of career education is a vast and complex one. For example, it often emphasizes alternative educational programs for high school and junior high students that may involve substituting work for academic experience in industrial settings outside the schools. Or it may encompass recurrent or lifelong education programs for adults that provide additional education which may or may not be work related. The youth oriented ideas can mean less education while the concepts aimed at adults suggest more. No one would deny that education and work are related. The real issue is what form any advocacy movement takes and whose interests it serves. The rationale behind much of the federally supported career education effort is weak, and many of the programs seem to be more in the interests of big business than in the interests of our nation's youth. Career education cannot solve the youth unemployment problem, but certainly there are youth problems that well-directed career education programs could help with. The American Federation of Teachers advocates dissemination of more information on job availability, occupational projections, and job access. It supports job training programs which build upon a basic education by combining further academic experiences with on-the-job experiences, but it strongly opposes any occupational education program that would diminish general liberal education or that would endanger present child labor, minimum wage, early school leaving, and health and safety laws. It also strongly opposes programs that involve turning over some of the responsibility for public education to the private sector. (BL)

The document is the final in a series of four competency-based modules produced for use with inservice teacher education programs in consumer education. The main objective of the program is to assist curriculum developers and elementary and secondary classroom teachers as they plan, develop, implement, and evaluate a multidisciplinary consumer education program. This module presents numerous exercises to help teachers evaluate student performance in consumer education programs and offers suggestions for evaluating consumer education programs. The module also presents pretest exercises to assess knowledge of evaluation techniques, a glossary of evaluation terms, and suggestions for follow-up activities such as analyzing poor test items and constructing valid test items. Activities involve the teachers in matching and multiple choice exercises, taking true and false tests, writing essays, discussing evaluation techniques, giving examples of cognitive processes, recording observational data, and providing justification for various methods of evaluating student attainment. Background information is presented on norm referenced and criterion referenced tests, collecting and analyzing observational data, test data, measurement characteristics, and test validity. Upon completion of the exercises in this module, teachers are expected to be able to describe the end products, elements, and processes of evaluation; construct test items based upon a given content; and apply basic guidelines for writing objective test items. (Author/DB)

In accordance with PL 93-380, Section 406, calling for the development of state plans for career education, this plan deals with elementary and secondary schools in Idaho. Following the definition of career education is a section on its conceptual base. The next section discusses career education as meeting a demand for educational reform. Then, previous career education efforts in Idaho are reviewed. Career education goals are identified for both the state department of education and the state itself. Target student learner outcomes are outlined for the following areas: (1) educational awareness, (2) self awareness, (3) occupational awareness, (4) decision making, (5) economic awareness, (6) leisure awareness, and (7) work entry preparation. Various program strategies are considered, such as curriculum infusion, special courses, guidance counseling, and placement. To aid in the successful local development of career education, a section is provided on activities shown to have functioned significantly in demonstration projects. Charts are included for both short- and long-range process goals, specifying activities, strategies, and parties responsible for meeting each goal. Evaluation of the state plan focuses on four aspects: content, input (which assesses attitudes and resources), process (which assesses strategies and activities), and product. Also included are plans for dissemination; funding; adult and postsecondary career education activities; planning, implementation, and administration by state education agency; organization and role of advisory council; assessment of career education needs; training and retraining of school personnel; and timelines for the state plan's development. (ELG)

A third-party evaluation was conducted during the second year of operations of the project Statewide Infusion of Career Education into the Preparation of Teachers, Counselors and Administrators. Sponsored by Oregon's Interinstitutional Consortium for Career Education (ICCE, which is composed of all Oregon institutions of higher education which prepare teachers, counselors, and administrators), this project focused on three essential aspects of preparing educational personnel for expanded and extended roles in career education. Those aspects are staff development for college and university faculties; program development for preparation of teachers, counselors, and administrators; and teacher certification and training program accreditation. Three types of evaluative data were collected: self-evaluation data, user evaluation data, and third-party evaluation data. The evaluation procedures employed sought the answers to the following questions: (1) How can a state infuse career education into its personnel preparation programs through a statewide system of higher education? (2) Is it realistic for career education concepts, methods, and procedures to become an integral part of teacher, counselor, and administrator education content? and (3) What measurable changes in attitudes toward career education were evidenced and what observable changes were there in staff and student behavior? Positive shifts in attitudes toward career education tenets were evidenced on the part of both participating students and staff. Several evidences of student and staff changes were observed that can be attributed at least in part to the influence of the project. Evaluation instruments and response tabulations are appended. (See CE 019 260 for a description of the project activities and products.) (BM)

The first convention of People United for Rural Education focused on creating awareness of the value in rural education and small schools. In two general sessions, recognized national leaders spoke on the following topics: the small school experience; rurally responsive teacher training; conventional wisdom in rural education; and past efforts and future opportunities for improving rural education. The first day's concurrent sessions offered a variety of topics including: how Oregon and Texas have organized for the improvement of small schools in their states; what career education projects have been developed for rural schools in Washington State and Oregon; how colleges in Illinois and Vermont are training rural educators; what Iowa Area Education Agencies and community colleges can do to regionalize opportunities for rural students; how the principles of individually guided education work in small schools; financing of Iowa schools; a status report on the Department of Public Instruction's Equalization Study; and an in-service work session for the rural educator. The next day's concurrent sessions dealt with the programs operating in Iowa's small rural school districts. A panel of legislators discussed possible legislative solutions to rural education problems in Iowa. The closing session featured a panel of Iowa educational association leaders who discussed the future of small schools. (CM)

Trends within the educational system of Sweden which increase the existence and/or potential of democratization are examined in this monograph. The process of democratization is interpreted as referring to educational objectives such as equal opportunity, as well as to structural changes within the system which increase the likelihood that stated goals will be achieved. The document is presented in nine chapters. Chapter one introduces the scope of the study (elementary and secondary education, higher education, and adult/continuing education). Chapter two explains how the comprehensive school system was introduced and examines how students are channeled into different courses of study according to their interests and abilities after basic education is completed at age 16. Chapters three and four focus on some of the problems of this differentiation process, including equal opportunities for both sexes, separation according to theoretical and/or practical orientation, changing a track after an extended period of time in one study program, and variation of standards among schools. Chapter five elaborates on extra provisions for underprivileged populations. Chapters six and seven examine the relationship between school and working life and analyze how parents, community groups, educators, and administrators can work together more cooperatively. Chapter eight investigates recurrent education. The final chapter summarizes preceeding chapters. Conclusions are that although some evidence is found of equalization of educational opportunities (i.e., the between-school differences in educational standards have been reduced and access to upper-secondary education has been increased), most advances toward a democratized education have come about as a result of measures taken to democratize Swedish society at large. (DB)

Major issues that will affect Texas higher education in the next decade are addressed. Data and information about the higher education system are presented, and an attempt is made to determine the impact of trends and issues upon colleges and universities. Concepts and perspectives on the appropriate response by higher education and planning approaches at the state and institutional level are considered. Projections for the 1980s are made about the following conditions: inflation, impact of energy costs on higher education, energy resources, taxpayer resistance, water resources, and the Texas economy. The following new developments are addressed: enrollment in Texas colleges and universities; the funding issues pertaining to costs, formulas, and reallocations; accountability, management effectiveness, and tighter governmental control; instructional television; construction slowdown; and collective bargaining. Issues of ongoing concern include: leadership, tenure, faculty salaries, research, college curricula for the 21st century, articulation, continuing education, Blacks and Hispanics in Texas public higher education, and postsecondary education and occupational demand. The situation in the public sector, fields of instruction, the community colleges, education for the health professions, private higher education, student financial aid in the 1980s, and the governance structure of the state higher education system are addressed. Recommendations are offered to the legislature and to colleges and universities, and priorities for the coordinating board are listed. (SW)

A study of legal education and professionalism conducted by an American Bar Association committee is examined along with the historical background of legal education and reform attempts, financial resources for stability and reform, and recommendations of the committee. The study rationale is explained, and aspects of prelegal undergraduate education, legal education, and postgraduate professional education that are amenable to reform are addressed. The literature review on legal education and the legal profession focuses on empirical findings and their implications for reform. The literature review addresses the following issues: questions about choosing legal education and a legal career, questions about law school, the background characteristics of law teachers, questions about transition from law school to law practice, and the extent to which the legal profession is stratified and the consequences. The problem of financial resources is considered because it is an important prerequisite to implementation of the committee's recommendations. The recommendations are designed to provide guidance for those making policy decisions affecting legal education and the legal profession. The committee recommended that there be a study of existing law school programs that augment the core curriculum, and that the skills training recommendations of the Cramton Task Force be supported and implemented. A bibliography of American Bar Foundation studies and a statement on prelegal education of the Association of American Law Schools (1953) are appended. (SW)

Rising youth unemployment has been arousing increasing concern in nearly all the industrial democracies, while it has become more clear throughout the 1970's that prolongation of schooling has brought severe problems of adjustment for young people who are being held in school through a combination of parental and societal pressures, and are not deriving much benefit from it. Discussed here are the ways these problems are being met in other countries. Chapters address these issues: schooling, employment, and community behavior; special problems of young women; sixteen as the school-leaving age; current reform proposals for schooling, employment, and youth service; education for work and work as education; new directions in vocational education; fundamental restructuring of schools; equality of opportunity (access to education); the responsibilities of postsecondary education; costs and methods of financing reform; better paths into labor markets; employment policies for the deprived; current proposals for youth service; a national education fund as a path to self-help; a balance sheet of costs and benefits to society; and responsibilities of the U.S. Congress, the administration, the states, school districts, mayors and city councils, colleges and universities, and foundations. Appended are "Lessons from Other Industrial Countries," a list of Carnegie Council volumes on education and youth employment, participants and observers of international symposia (1976 and 1977), and a list of experts on aspects of youth problems. A bibliography is included. (MSE)

SPEECHES GIVEN AT THREE MEETINGS ARE INCLUDED--(1) A FACULTY MEETING OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, AUBURN UNIVERSITY (JANUARY 31, 1964), (2) THE ANNUAL SPRING CONFERENCE OF THE ALABAMA ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS (APRIL 26-27, 1964), AND (3) A CONFERENCE SPONSORED BY THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AUBURN UNIVERSITY (JUNE 22-23, 1964). THE SPEECHES ARE--(1) "THE ROLE OF THE JUNIOR COLLEGE," BY B. LAMAR JOHNSON, (2) "SOCIAL FORCES AFFECTING SCHOOL PROGRAMS," BY ROBERT R. WIEGMAN, (3) "EMERGING PURPOSES AND PROGRAMS FOR COMMUNITY EDUCATION," BY RAYMOND E. SCHULTZ, (4) "EMERGING PATTERNS OF ORGANIZING, ADMINISTERING, AND FINANCING COMMUNITY EDUCATION," BY ROBERT R. WIEGMAN, (5) "PROGRAMS IN NORTH CAROLINA," BY FRED EASON, (6) "PROGRAMS IN FLORIDA," BY JAMES L. WATTENBARGER, (7)"PROGRAMS IN CALIFORNIA," BY FRED L. WELLMAN, (8) "OVERVIEW OF STATE PLANS IN ALABAMA FOR TRADE, TECHNICAL, AND JUNIOR COLLEGE EDUCATION," BY AUSTIN R. MEADOWS, (9) "DEVELOPMENTS AND DIRECTIONS IN JUNIOR COLLEGE EDUCATION IN ALABAMA," BY BEN A. FORRESTER, (10) "ALABAMA PLANS AND PROGRAMS WITH NEW FEDERAL LEGISLATION IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION," BY J. FRED INGRAM, (11) "ALABAMA PLANS AND PROGRAMS FOR VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL EDUCATION," BY DORSEY L. HAYNES, (12) "ALABAMA PLANS AND PROGRAMS FOR JUNIOR COLLEGE EDUCATION," BY ERNEST R. KNOX, (13) "CONFERENCE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS," BY MAURICE LITTON, AND (14) "PROBLEMS CONFRONTING ALABAMA," BY TRUMAN M. PIERCE. (PA)

The purpose of these essays is to examine what is involved in moral education and what can be expected of a program designed to implement its aims. The essays are organized into four major sections. The first section deals with the limits of moral education. Essays introduce the reader to various ways in which people think erroneously about moral problems and thus escape the demands of moral thinking almost entirely. Moral education in relation to other non-moral forms of values education is discussed. There is a dialogue on the possible relationship that might exist between moral and religious education. The final paper of this introductory section argues that moral education is a necessary ingredient in any program of political education committed to democracy. The essays in the second section deal with the nature of moral education. One paper debates the place of moral language in moral education. Another argues for the importance of moral rules and principles which make it possible to avoid the arbitrariness of subjectivity and the pitfalls of indoctrination. Other topics discussed include the concept of moral motivation and the cultivation of moral sensibilities. In the third section the contributors attempt to come to terms with the perplexing problem of the form and content in moral education. There are those who would argue that no justifiable reasons exist for teaching specific moral content to children and young people. In the final section of the publication, which deals with the developmental hypothesis of moral education, the problems of form and content are raised again in the context of Kohlberg's influential work on moral development. (Author/RM)

A project is reported which developed a Pennsylvania State University bachelor of science degree program in health occupations teacher education to qualify persons to teach at secondary and postsecondary levels. The growth in health occupations and the general need for teachers are traced. Results of two background surveys are reported: a survey of state supervisors of health occupations education to determine status of such teacher education programs (response of thirty-three states, eleven of which offer programs); and review of Pennsylvania constraints on administration and operation of programs through the State Board of Education, national registries or certifying boards, and state boards which regulate mandatory licensure. To document the need for the program the status of present Pennsylvania secondary and postsecondary health occupations education offerings is summarized, and program goals are examined in relationship to the Pennsylvania State University Academic Policy Plan and the Master Plan for Higher Education in the state. Finally, the plan itself is presented: objectives, admission requirements, outline of baccalaureate degree requirements (46 credits) and requirements for the major (81 credits), and discussion of program administration. A final note indicates that the proposed curriculum has received the approval and support of the Division of Occupational and Vocational Studies and is currently being reviewed by the College of Education prior to submission to the University Senate. (JT)

Prior to an intensive 3-day conference, position papers were prepared by a select group of Mexican American scholars, representing the areas of history, anthropology, bilingualism, sociology, political science, education research, psychology, and cultural arts. Under suggested guidelines, selected Mexican American educational leaders reacted to the papers in small group sessions at the conference. Based on these reactions, the papers were then revised for this publication, which is divided into two sections. The first contains two introductory papers concerning the general topic of education for the Mexican American. The second section includes a paper discussing specific problems of the Mexican American child and the eight main position papers. Topics of the papers are: a challenge for educational institutions--an educational philosophy for the instruction of Mexican Americans; anthropological implication in the education of Mexican Americans; toward a philosophy of education for the Chicano, bilingualism and intellectual development; current educational research, the basis for a new philosophy for educating Mexican Americans; politics and education; a tri-partite development for the cultural arts in the education of the Mexican American; the ethnocentric response of public education to the Chicano, implications for school administrators; the psychology of the Mexican American; a historical perspective on the Mexican American. Each paper is preceded by a short preface and followed by a list of the panel members and their reactions. (NQ)