This mixed-methods study examined the long-term associations between two kinds of politics courses--required political science courses and required family policy courses--and the political participation, knowledge, skill, efficacy, and politically engaged identity of child and family studies alumni. Two special cases were examined: those who…

This mixed-methods study examined the impact of professional nursing tutors on National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) success. Thirty-eight nursing student success rates from Northcentral Technical College, a two year technical college in Wisconsin, were analyzed by using NCLEX pass rate information, professional tutoring logs, and a…

More high quality child care is needed in the United States. This article evaluates the Better Kid Care (BKC) program produced by Pennsylvania State University Extension. Child care staff in Wisconsin were interviewed about changes they had made in their early childhood programs following participation in the BKC program. Findings show that 2…

This article describes the process and results obtained from an alumni survey administered at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Comparisons are made to similar surveys that have been implemented at other universities. The survey was administered to undergraduate and graduate alumni who graduated one year or five years earlier. Of the 2,763 alumni…

Every year 1.3 million U.S. high school students drop out of school with one quarter of female students failing to graduate on time. Female dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, to earn less when they are employed, to become pregnant before the age of 20, to become obese, to smoke, and to drink more heavily than their male counterparts. This…

This report briefly discusses the development of a survey instrument that will be used for an impact study of Wisconsin State University at River Falls. The questionnaire will be sent to 9,000 living graduates for whom addresses are available. Two books relevant to the study are briefly summarized. Both are entitled "They Went to…

Communication skills classes must prepare students for living and for earning a living. As the postsecondary technical-vocational schools throughout Wisconsin showed great differences in the content of their communication skills courses, both among schools and within various educational programs, a statewide survey was conducted to determine the…

To identify the needs of the employee for job entry in the automotive trades, data were collected by questionnaire from graduates of vocational and technical schools in the State and from their employers. The information obtained was intended to be utilized by educators in upgrading vocational school automotive programs and curriculums. Findings…

A study was conducted to determine the performance levels of competencies for job entry as a data processing programer. Specifically, the study sought to answer: (1) What tasks are performed by entry level programers? (2) How frequently are these tasks performed? (3) What level of performance is necessary for these tasks? (4) How important are…

A study examined the characteristics and features of vocational, technical, and adult education (VTAE) programs that encourage and/or inhibit entrepreneurship competencies. The study population included random samples of 50 students drawn from each of Wisconsin's VTAE districts, 30 occupational instructors from each district, and 30 graduates of…

In 1989, a graduate follow-up survey was conducted to gather data regarding student perceptions and activities following graduation from the Wisconsin Vocational, Technical and Adult Education System (VTAE). Primary objectives of the survey were to identify current activities of VTAE graduates, determine whether the activities were related to the…

A study was conducted to assess the relationship of competencies taught in the Wisconsin Vocational-Technical and Adult Education system Data Processing (DP) Diploma Programs to required on-the-job skills. DP graduates, their employers, and instructors were surveyed in order to obtain a comparative evaluation of the program, and a sample of…

Each year, a follow-up study is conducted to gather data on the activities and perceptions of students approximately 6 months after their graduation from Wisconsin's Technical Colleges (WTC). Specifically, the survey seeks to identify the current activities of the WTC graduates, determine the extent to which current activities are related to the…

In order to evaluate the employment success of Wisconsin vocational graduates and to measure the extent to which this success is attributable to the vocational program, the Center for Studies in Vocational and Technical Education conducted a followup study of 1,855 graduates. When only 55 percent of the graduates responded, a short form of the…

A search, primarily by telephone, in 1974 successfully located 97.4 percent of a sample of 10,317 subjects who had graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957. This high response rate was obtained partly because the original study incorporated several diverse types of identifying items which could lead to the future location of the respondents;…