Intended to assist practitioners in vocational education in improving program planning and evaluation, this paper provides an overview of needs assessment, which is a method of acquiring evaluative data required by the Vocational Education Amendments of 1978 (P.L. 94-482). The first two sections discuss various definitions of educational needs…

Seven chapters present 31 propositions challenging traditional ideas about the nature and practice of program evaluation. Methods to improve evaluation models and approaches and ways to address intermediate and advanced evaluation issues are explored. The discussion also serves as an introduction to the most analytical and comprehensive of the…

In August of 1978 the Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) published an annotated bibliography on Education Needs Projection and Rural Development; this synthesis paper follows that bibliography and is intended to relate some of the useful applications derived from the survey of the literature. Five papers are included in the synthesis. The…

This paper, which is intended for individuals responsible for information management at British further education (FE) colleges, describes the attempts by a number of FE institutions to manage their information effectively and provides guidelines for FE institutions to follow when developing their own information management strategy. After a brief…

Recent national policies and legislation have made it imperative for the United Kingdom's further education (FE) institutions to adopt strategic approaches to the management of quality, change, and organizational development. It is necessary that any strategic approach developed by an FE college integrate processes, culture, and structure into a…

This bulletin aims to provide guidance to business companies in developing an employee volunteer literacy program in which employees volunteer their time to assist in such aspects of community adult literacy campaigns as advocacy, public relations, fundraising, community leadership, and tutoring. A section on assessing local community needs…

One of a series of sixteen knowledge transformation papers, this paper presents an educational planning model which incorporates citizen involvement at the local level and provides a more responsive and efficient vocational education system. In the first section techniques are discussed for encouraging community participation, such as general…

The report provides a survey of staff development (SD) managers in 505 English, Welsh, and Scottish further education colleges (227 responses). The objective was to determine how much SD has changed and matured since incorporation, and how much it has created benchmarks. Findings indicated that few staff developers had a relevant SD qualification.…

An editorial and articles are presented on a European unit/credit system for modern language learning by adults. The contents are as follows: "A European Unit Credit System" by J. L. M. Trim; "The Analysis of Language Needs: Illusion--Pretext--Necessity" by Rene Richterich; "Learning a Language Is Learning to Communicate" by D. A. Wilkins; "The…

This survey of vocational English as a second language (ESL) for adult learners covers the following areas: (1) language content (pronunciation, structure, vocabulary, style and conversational strategies, literacy training, motivation); (2) program design, including a variety of program models; and (3) materials development (needs assessment,…

This report, which is written for curriculum managers, student services managers, and learning support managers in further education (FE) colleges throughout the United Kingdom, summarizes and examines the results of a study in which eight FE colleges worked with the Further Education Development Agency to evaluate different approaches to learning…

Economic, technological, and political changes have created a new employment relationship characterized by an externalized labor market, more tenuous ties between workers and employers, and growing wage inequality. To date, policymakers have sought to address these problems through a supply-side approach focused on education and training. What is…

Changes in work and the workplace are transforming the kinds of knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for successful work performance. Educators and school reformers are updating curricula and redesigning school programs to ensure that, in addition to academics, young people have opportunities to learn work-related skills and attitudes. A…

Older teens living in families receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) face serious sociodemographic disadvantages. When combined with the characteristic risk-taking behaviors of adolescence, these disadvantages pose a threat to TANF teens' immediate and future physical, psychological, and emotional health and to their long-term…

A study examined the career education opportunities available to mentally handicapped adults in British Columbia. The primary objectives of the study were to assess the effectiveness of various methods and models in meeting the needs of mentally handicapped adults, to explore the policy implications of the program strengths and weaknesses, to…