The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine which measures of technical skill attainment and program hours predict positive post-program placement of secondary Pennsylvania career and technical education (CTE) students who completed a Phase I or Phase II program of study. Predictor variables included performance on the end-of-program…

There is currently more focus than ever on the importance of earning a college degree. At the same time, many students and parents are dubious that America's expensive, one-size-fits-all higher education system can adequately educate students for an ever more diverse and sophisticated world of work. There are other educational options that are…

A research and development effort was undertaken to provide definition and validate the emerging role of the Work-Based Learning Teacher Coordinator through the use of a DACUM process in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Cooperative Education Association with funding support provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Bureau of Career…

Cooperative education has been a long-standing component of career and technical education. The practice embodies many established theories of learning and is a premier delivery model for the school-to-work connections espoused by modern legislation. Yet in this era of high-stakes testing and academic accountability, allocated time for cooperative…

Research has discussed the benefits of cooperative education experiences for secondary career and technical education students. Yet, in this era of high stakes testing and program accountability, the amount of time that students are permitted to participate in cooperative education has diminished, fearing that time spent out of the classroom would…

This research will demonstrate how an experiential learning practicum can be successfully implemented into an academic curriculum, using Drexel University's (Philadelphia, PA) award-winning student-run record label, MAD Dragon Records, as a case study. It will describe the components necessary to implement and operate a real-world entity within…

Cooperative education is a method of instruction that enables students to combine academic classroom instruction (school-based learning component) with occupational instruction through learning on the job (work-based learning component) in a career area of choice. Emphasis is placed on the students' education and employability skills. Co-op is a…

This handbook is intended to serve as a resource for cooperative education coordinators who must instill in handicapped students an awareness and grasp of the job-seeking and job-maintenance skills that are so vital in today's competitive job market. Assembled in response to questions asked by vocational educators in Pennsylvania, the guide is…

Three county-wide coordinated cooporative programs in Pennsylvania were evaluated to determine their impact upon high youth unemployment and dropout rates, to obtain student and employer attitudes toward the program, and to ascertain bow well they meet their objectives. Current students (335), graduates (193), guidance counselors (25), and…

The purposes of the first annual Pennsylvania conference on postsecondary occupational education were to consider the role of area vocational schools, 2-year colleges, and senior colleges in a total program of occupational education; to provide participants an opportunity to exchange ideas on the various typics; to improve the expertise of the…

Intended as a guide for vocational educators to incorporate the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (1970) and the requirements of various Pennsylvania safety and health regulations with their cooperative vocational programs, the first chapter of this document presents the legal implications of these safety and health…

The Co-op/Disadvantaged First-Job Success Project was organized to provide inservice training to vocational teachers and cooperative education coordinators who work with inner city disadvantaged youth in the south central region of Pennsylvania. The project was organized in a manner that allowed project staff, co-op coordinators, and teachers to…

This curriculum guide for an occupation home economics program in food management and production services is designed for use in teaching commercial food service at the high school level. (The authors state that the guide materials are also adaptable for programs of prevocation education, vocational education for the handicapped, adult vocational…

Pennsylvania has three regional Professional Personnel Development Centers responsible for the delivery of services around a block of common objectives designed to meet the professional development needs of vocational educators. The Developing a Curriculum (DACUM) process has been used to address two areas of need identified by the Temple…

A project was conducted to implement the third phase of a model--the Project SERVICE Model--to teach and train young persons from vocational-technical schools, comprehensive vocational high schools, private trade schools, labor unions, and minority organizations to develop the technical and pedagogical skills necessary to teach in existing, new,…