In this article, we present the anticipation guide as a tool for preparing Extension audiences to learn the main points of Extension materials. Anticipation guides improve learner comprehension by appealing to an individual's natural curiosity and helping the individual focus on key ideas. Anticipation guides can be used with all types of…

The Vocational Education Resource System (VERS) helps career/vocational educators, counselors, and administrators improve and expand programs for special populations. It offers technical assistance in program administration, instructional strategies, finances, accountability, and grant writing. VERS maintains a regional database of educators,…

This booklet describes the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The ATE encourages improvements in advanced technological education at the national and regional levels using curriculum development and program improvement at the undergraduate and secondary school levels. The ATE not only…

Describes the video program of Zimbabwe's Department of Agricultural, Technical, and Extension Services (Agritex), which produces and distributes training aids for extension staff, farmers, and ministries involved in rural development. Main problems with use of video in Agritex are discussed, and recommendations are offered for improving the video…

A project to propose a system for managing curriculum improvement at the state level (1) identified the basic functions necessary for a statewide curriculum management effort, (2) explained the supporting activities required to initiate and maintain its operation, and (3) developed a model system for curriculum management. The five functions…

The research and development (R&D) projects funded by the Florida Division of Vocational Education are intended to have utility for vocational educators in their efforts to improve vocational education programs and practices. This project was conducted to determine why some R&D products are accepted by potential users while others are not…

This project was conducted to provide state-adopted Career Merit Achievement Plans (Career MAPs) and program guides for selected trade and industrial programs in Florida. The plans and guides were intended to provide each comprehensive high school, area vocational-technical center, and community college with authoritative guidelines for planning,…

This final report provides detailed coverage of the progress of a project to meet the need of preparing vocational teachers and curriculum specialists for delivery of effective vocational education programs to the handicapped. It begins with six quarterly reviews of project activities, the main activities being (1) training of state vocational…

With the existence of 67 monographs and approximately 60 practitioners trained in action research in the western and central parts of Pennsylvania from project years 1995-98, the 1998-99 Section 353 project expanded the action research network (ARN) to include teachers, administrators, and researchers in the northeastern and southeastern parts of…

Since vocational education leaders will require many more and different skills in the future, this project was conducted to develop and implement a relevant and responsive field-centered, competency-based certification program for vocational administrative directors in Pennsylvania's western region. To this end, the following objectives were…

A project was conducted to provide inservice training for 100 teachers of specially designed vocational programs and to determine the best practices for program management and standards. Included among the major accomplishments of the project were the following: a review of literature on specially designed vocational programs and their management,…

The Navy is finding it increasingly difficult to attract personnel with aptitude scores high enough to make them eligible for entry into Class "A" technical schools. Training courses were developed for low aptitude students that would increase their mastery of the prerequisite skills and knowledge (S/Ks) they would need for success in…

This final program performance report contains an eight-page narrative and supplementary materials from a competency-based vocational education (CBVE) staff development project. The narrative reports the project whose purpose was to promote curriculum-improvement activities as identified by teachers through a self-evaluation process with the end…

Designed to improve industrial education programs through the development of minimum uniform quality standards, a project developed a task list, educationally sequenced the identified tasks, and developed a recommended shop layout and equipment list for four occupational areas: diesel repair, appliance repair, office machine repair, and small…

A project was conducted to develop and disseminate a set of standards for excellence common to business education programs and to define instructional standards for excellence common to information processing. The following five procedural phases were used over an 18-month period to develop the standards: completion of a comprehensive literature…