Public displeasure with schooling is related to the greater expectations people place in schools when events seem awry in the society at large, as attested by recent problems with crime, drugs, and high unemployment. Today, public dissatisfaction extends to all areas of the educational system and confidence in educational programs and in schools…

Responses from 143 individuals to a questionnaire mailed to 180 special education administrators from all regions of the country found that many first-year teachers enter the profession lacking skills critical to successful teaching and that those with only undergraduate degrees are at greater risk for failure than those with graduate training.…

A study examined state-level policies and practices regarding competency testing of vocational education teachers. Data on the use of competency tests in determining which candidates are admitted to and graduated from vocational teacher education programs were collected from a mail survey of 740 beginning vocational teachers, and data regarding…

The results of studies that examined the logical reasoning of secondary students in Jamaica are analyzed. A logical reasoning test was administered to 205 Jamaican students in grades 7, 9, and 11. Also analyzed were data collected using the same instrument on three other groups of Jamaican students in grades 7, 8, 9, and 10. As expected, test…

This paper reports on two studies in which the effectiveness of two types of student teacher supervisors was rated by cooperating teachers and by student teachers. The first study examined cooperating teachers' and student teachers' perceptions of specific performance aspects of university (college faculty) supervisors and of teaching assistants.…

One of the major areas of change currently affecting planning and policy in teacher education is the preservice and inservice preparation of educators for nonschool settings. Historically, institutional and organizational responses to the diverse educational needs of society have been legitimized in the classroom. However, changes in the…

Several projects at the University of Georgia's College of Education provide information for program planning and design. The Diagnostic Teaching Cycle (DTC), which is being used to evaluate the undergraduate program of the Division of Elementary Education, has five components: identify, hypothesize, formulate goals and objectives, instruct and…

Using data from the older men's file of the National Longitudinal Surveys, two issues related to the labor market implications of dual economy theory were examined: variations in rates of pay among economic sectors (competitive, monopoly, and public) and variation in relative opportunities for blacks across sectors. The primary analytical problem…

The progression of qualified surgical nurses toward capable proficiency was examined in an ethnographic study during which 25 nurses, including 4 who transferred to other wards, were observed to determine whether social mediation affects the process of proficiency development. The nurses were observed for 18 months. Data were also gathered through…

In the middle of the 20th century, job training was largely unnecessary, since workers were desperately needed to labor in manufacturing and construction jobs. Skills were learned on the job, and even a high school diploma was not needed for most occupations. Workers received wages that allowed them to raise a family comfortably and then to retire…

Describes a program for Russian high school students with teaching talent. Examines the program goals of (1) increasing the students' interest in becoming teachers; (2) fostering democracy in a formerly autocratic system; and (3) encouraging thought about teachers' problems. Suggests that successful teaching involves some acting talent,…

In 2000 and 2001, the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education conducted a series of projects on career and technical education (CTE) practices, trends and outcomes. Selected preliminary findings from a review of the reports on those projects are as follows: (1) integration of CTE and academic instruction in high schools remains…

A survey of 177 employers of Wyoming vocational education graduates sought to identify skills and competencies the graduates needed. A random sample of 525 businesses both Wyoming-based and foreign (home-based outside of Wyoming) were mailed surveys; 267 survey forms were returned, but only 177 provided data for analysis. Findings indicated that…

A strategic planning model for planning and conducting outcomes assessment was developed and implemented at Wayland Baptist University in Lubbock, Texas. First, the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) model was used to survey 100 undergraduate students regarding their perceptions of skills they would need after graduation.…

The scaling of a new assessment is a significant undertaking. The scaling of a new assessment designed as a multiple-level, criterion-referenced assessment is even more so. A Guttman approach to scaling was used with the Work Keys selected-response assessments, Reading for Information and Applied Mathematics. Assessments in development in the Work…