Education & Pedagogy

Organization of this final report is based on the six major objectives of the project: To compile an annotated bibliography on metric education for vocational, technical, and adult education; to develop a position paper on metric education for the same target audiences; to develop and field-test metric packages for 75 vocational, technical program areas, grades 10-14 (77 areas were included); to develop and field-test metric instructional materials for adult basic education; to develop an inservice workshop plan for the metric materials and conduct the workshops in each of the 10 U.S. Office of Education (USOE) regions; and to develop an implementation guide for installing the metric packages in ongoing programs. Each chapter of the report discusses one of these objectives by describing the activities necessary to accomplish the objective, presenting the problems encountered and their solutions, and including the recommendations. Appendixes encompassing three-fourths of the document contain such related materials as references, research and evaluation instruments, schedules, and lists of participants. (BM)

The volume, developed for use in graduate level courses in vocational education, contains 12 papers written by the author in 1973 and 1974. The papers are grouped into four categories: (1) curriculum concerns, containing papers on design of programs, the use of follow-up studies for increasing curriculum relevancy, and increased relevance through curriculum revision for math based postsecondary vocational programs, (2) professional associations, containing papers on views on vocational guidance from an American Vocational Association (AVA) vice-president, a word about the AVA on the national scene, and the role of the State vocational association and the profession of vocational education, (3) vocational teacher education, containing papers on the mission of the department of vocational education with respect to graduate studies and research in the future and the future of vocational teacher education in the universities, and (4) some general considerations, containing papers on employing the chronically unemployed, professional women in vocational education, preparing people for occupations, and vocational education for the 1980's. (JR)

Vocational education, reflecting society at large, has been and is guilty of sex discrimination. Currently, individual program areas are predominantly one sex or the other, with the exception of distributive education. Females comprise approximately 55 percent of all vocational education enrollments, but half of this number exit from the system without specific skill training. Agriculture/technical education/trade and industrial programs contain only limited numbers of females. While females account for 45 percent of the total distributive education enrollment, their employment is concentrated at the lower levels of retail trade. Under Education Amendments of 1972, vocational education will have from one to three years to eliminate any sex-based course requirements, both written policy or attitudinal constraints. Priority areas for vocational education include: (1) a recruiting and informational plan conducted with guidance personnel to encourage males and females to enter non-traditional vocational programs; (2) a focus in home economics courses on examining male/female role expectations and their limitations; (3) units on discrimination in the work world; and (4) additional training and education programs for mature women, especially in skilled trades and apprenticeable occupations. (EA)

A discussion of current issues and problems in the area of business education as well as research materials produced in the field are presented in the document. The materials are divided in four sections. Section 1, The Role of Business Education at Various Educational Levels, provides an overview of the roles and functions of business education at the secondary school and vocational-technical school levels, and describes a one-year proprietary business school, community college business programs, and collegiate business education. Section 2, 1974 Research Foundation Conference Reports, includes four articles on particular problems in business education concerning graduate students, research methodology, measurement of teacher effectiveness, and an interpretation of the goals of business education. Section 3, National Association of Business Teacher Education (NABTE) Convention Reports, includes seven presentations based on premises about NABTE. Section 4, Research Reports with Curricular Implications, focuses on three studies--one in the area of office management and two concerning different issues and problems involved in advanced typewriting. (Author/EC)

This monograph on death education defines death education, discusses the need for it, and suggests ways of teaching it. Death education is defined as the process by which one explores man's relationship with life. The basic philosophy underlying death education is that through the study of death students will gain an appreciation for life which will be reflected in their behavior, and that by understanding death, they can try to prevent needless death for themselves and others. The monograph lists points which should be taken into consideration when planning a unit or course in death education and suicide prevention, and presents questions that teachers of such courses should be able to answer in defense of death education. Sample topics, behavioral objectives, and questions pertaining to death education for advanced high school students are also presented, along with sample assignments from a college level death education course. A bibliography of suggested class readings is included. Appended are suggestions for school personnel for helping bereaved students. A selected annotated bibliography of ERIC documents on death education concludes the monograph. (DDO)

The Wyoming Comprehensive Occupational Education Program (K through community college) focuses on positive work attitudes and job-entry skills. In kindergarten through grade six, occupational attitudes are incorporated into the existing elementary school curriculum. A career-orientation program is designed for grades seven and eight that provides occupational information, job interests and aptitudes, job applications and interviews, and the future employment outlook. Students are supplied with the Wyoming Occupation Resource Kits (WORK) from the State Department of Education. Career exploration is the theme in grades nine and ten; students are provided with the opportunity to explore various occupational clusters and to establish a tentative choice of occupational goal by age 16. This is followed by the development of career preparation broad skill programs in grades 11 and 12 that encourage the development of cooperative education programs: industrial cooperative education, distributive education, cooperative office education, cooperative agriculture occupations, cooperative service occupations, and diversified occupations. Postsecondary (grades 13 and 14) and adult education programs for training/retraining are provided by the community colleges. (EA)

Sixty-three projects, forty-five of which were approved and funded during fiscal year 1974 by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title III, and providing the funds to public school districts to demonstrate the feasibility of education innovations, are highlighted in this document about Wisconsin ESEA Title III exemplary ESEA programs. New and ongoing projects are divided into the following categories: alienation (3), career education (10), computer assisted education (3), computer managed instruction (3), early childhood education (4), education of the handicapped (8), educational television (4), fine arts (3), gifted education (3) Indian education (1), reading programs (6), rural schools (1), secondary education (5), social studies (3), and educational centers (6). (The figures in parentheses refer to the number of school districts demonstrating programs in each of the categories). A list of publications available from Wisconsin Title III ESEA are included. (AM)

This study sought to determine the perceptions of U.S daily newspaper publishers, editors, and education reporters regarding the desirability and feasibility of three approaches to increasing education news coverage: increased traditional local emphasis on education news coverage by daily newspapers, expanded wire service coverage of education, and multipage weekly regional education news supplements to daily newspapers. A questionnaire, sent to 606 individuals on daily newspapers, was accompanied by an eight-page tabloid prototype weekly education news supplement containing articles reprinted with permission from various education periodicals and other periodicals of general circulation. Analysis of the findings indicated that a majority of the publishers and editors were satisfied with present levels of local educational news coverage and wire service coverage of education, and that a majority of the publishers and editors did not regard publication by their dailies of a regional weekly education news supplement as either desirable or feasible. Several implications are derived from the results of the study. (Author/RB)

Secondary and higher education have at least who things in common with respect to career education. Assuming that students' career preparation is minimal, both must strive to compensate for this deficiency, and both levels sorely need faculty and staff inservice. At the secondary level alone there is a need to look at every student as having a career goal and as needing help with career planning. Career education implementation activities at the high school level include: career guidance and counseling, job information, career exploration opportunities, job preparation opportunities, cooperative education experiences, placement services, and realistic and relevant learning opportunities for dropouts. At the higher education level it is necessary to meet students' needs through innovative and flexible programing. A model for career education in higher education recently developed by the author and his students contains seven components: faculty-staff inservice, counseling and guidance, instructional program, field experience in the world of work, community involvement, placement services, and evaluation. Dealing with students as individuals who have stated and unstated career development needs is basic to program development in any institution. (Author/JR)

Based on the practical training experience of sixteen school districts and two universities which comprise the Wisconsin Career Education Consortium, this report presents training strategies for training superintendents, directors of instruction and/or supervisors of curriculum development, building principals and assistant principals, local vocational education coordinators, career education coordinators, and other elementary secondary school administrators. Five training objectives were formulated from a needs assessment: (1) promote administrative understanding of and commitment to career education, (2) develop administrative skills for effecting change and promoting career education, (3) enable school administrators to outline specific leadership roles, (4) develop skills necessary to plan and manage a comprehensive career education program, and (5) develop skills which will help school administrators to function as links between school and community in the delivery of career education to students. For each training objective specific training strategies are discussed. A model career education training/retraining program for school administrators consisting of a twenty-four cassette tape presentation is described in the appendixes. (LRA)

This report provides training activities found most effective for inservice training of university faculty and preservice training of aspiring educators enrolled in colleges and universities. The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and the University of Wisconsin-Stout developed and demonstrated model programs for inservice training of university faculty in career education and preservice training of aspiring school administrators, teachers, counselors, and other support personnel for career education. Based on a needs assessment, training objectives, competencies, and activities were formulated. Competencies were written for the (1) inservice preparation of university administrators, general faculty, and teacher/counselor education faculty; and (2) preservice preparation of elementary secondary administrators, classroom teachers and counselors and other support personnel. For example, a competency for university administrators would be to develop a working knowledge of career development theory. A competency for aspiring teachers would be to develop familiarity with model career education programs and career education models. Preparation activities help develop implementation skills associated with each competency. (LRA)

Convened to offer a forum for discussion of values education to over 100 representatives of public and private schools, the conference explored moral dilemmas, educational trends, cognitive moral development, and educational objectives. The keynote address by values education exponent Dr. Edwin Fenton (Director, Carnegie-Mellon Education Center, Pittsburgh) characterized the variety of values education programs which have proliferated in public and private schools in the United States since the 1950s. Examples of types of programs include values analysis, values clarification, hidden curriculum changes, and programs based on cognitive moral development concepts. Fenton also identified key issues related to values education in the schools, including the relationship between the school and the home, the role of the general public in setting educational guidelines, and moral education and the educational community. Other conference sessions dealt with goal setting, in-service programs in values education, moral development theory, and responsibility education. A directory of conference participants concludes the document. (DB)

This document is one in a series of monographs aimed at providing a narrative summary of ideas and thoughts gathered from particular community segments represented in a series of mini-conferences held to discuss the concept of collaboration in career education. In this monograph, the career education activities of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) are discussed. First, the FFA organization is described including its relationship to vocational agriculture instructional programs and to 4-H operations. Next the career education leadership efforts of the National FFA Center are reviewed. The career education responsibilities of vocational agriculture teachers are listed and several programs which help prepare vocational agriculture teachers to participate in career education are described. Finally, ways of re-establishing effective vocational education/career education relationships are suggested, based upon ideas expressed by participants in the mini-conferences. Appended are lists of mini-conference participants and of related issues and questions generated in the mini-conference. (The proceedings of each mini-conference are reported in detail in ERIC documents CE 020 110-111). (BM)

This booklet, which contains the papers, provides a variety of alternative points of view concerning the implementation of parent education in public schools. The first paper outlines a conceptual framework useful for differentiating between types and levels of educational change involving parents. The second suggests potential methods for implementing a comprehensive program of parent and family education. The third suggests some practical steps for implementing parent education in a way that will encourage local initiative. The fourth discusses organizational problems in institutionalizing parent education in the public schools. The fifth concentrates on four key questions that crop up in discussions of parent education and suggests how communities can begin to move at the local level. The sixth presents a number of criteria for successful parent education on the local level. The seventh examines the role of the public school in the parent's education. The eighth describes the California program as a model for parent education. The ninth examines the program characteristics necessary to bring about successful implementation. The tenth underscores the need for an informed and systematic approach as policy makers consider alternatives for implementing parent education in the schools. (MP)

British higher education's response to the emerging adult education trend is examined in this monograph. Examined are the following: institutions of higher education and their contribution to the education of adults; educational access; mode of study; financial support; the need for greater adult participation; various observations on the state of adult education; and concluding remarks centering on further developments in adult education. Tables provided indicate substantial evidence that adult education is definitely on the upswing and remains so in the near future. Institutions examined have readjusted traditional admission requirements and modes of study to accommodate adult educational demand. Attention is given to the need for financial support to make possible an adult's continuing education. It is concluded that institutions planning policy around the 18-year-old incoming freshman may suffer in the future; future emphasis on adult education may be the saving factor for higher education institutions. References are provided along with a publications list from the European Cultural Foundation Institute of Education. (LC)