Improving Education and Employment Opportunities for the Handicapped: Expanding the Commitment of Vocational and Special Education. Final Report.

Overview & Synopsis

Results are presented of a national workshop designed to improve educational and employment opportunities for handicapped and disadvantaged persons by providing a setting for fifteen university teams (one from each of the ten U.S. Office of Education regions and five at large) to develop specific plans of action for the creation or expansion of programs to improve the preparation of vocational education teachers serving the special needs learner. Pre-workshop planning activities are described, including a brief analysis of the 1976 workshop on vocational education for the special needs student. Workshop activities are described; these focused on seven individual presentations relative to special needs programs from three perspectives (vocational education, special education, and a local education agency), legislation affecting vocational education, and the preparation of professional educators. A report of team action planning and strategy sessions is also presented. An evaluation of the workshop follows, along with a report on post-workshop activities which occurred during the seven-month interim between the workshop and the final report. A forty-four-page appendix contains a variety of forms used for the workshop; planning, review, and evaluation instruments; and a team report questionnaire. (BL)