Guide to Vocational Education Materials and Practices.

Overview & Synopsis

This guide was designed to help vocational education supervisors to link existing resources for program improvement with actual teacher practice. The guide has two general purposes. First, it provides information relating to the special resources available and the challenges faced by vocational education teachers. Second, it helps in four problem areas that are of broad interest to teachers and administrators: (1) how to locate instructional products fitting a perceived need; (2) how to select the best products available; (3) how to choose among alternative ways those products might be disseminated to constituents; and (4) how to help ensure that the products are used most effectively. The guide is organized in four parts. Part 1 contains general information on how to use the guide, how to find instructional products, and how to disseminate instructional products. In part 2, general resources are listed by major curriculum areas and by state. The third part of the guide contains resources and references by the following program and topic areas: agriculture and agribusiness education, business and office occupations education, health occupations education, home economics education, industrial arts education, marketing and distributive education, technical education, trade and industrial education, basic academic skills, competency testing, computer applications, cooperative education, and instructional technology. The final part contains sample organizational abstracts providing information on organizations that are national or of interest to many program areas. These abstracts list the major functions, vocational areas, description, major products, and contact information. (KC)