Recent work in the field of vocational education indicates that pooled data may be useful in (1) making decisions about the content of vocational education programs at orientation, exploratory, and preparatory levels, (2) evaluating the effects of vocational education on vocational maturity, and (3) teaching about career and curriculum…

A consortium of 39 schools, colleges, and departments of education along with representatives of the Office of Education convened to study the salient problems in secondary teacher education. Areas of interest included: the working cooperation between administrators and faculty; the development of new curricula despite declining enrollment; the…

The general goal of this curriculum laboratory, funded under Title I, E.S.E.A., is to be a place where teachers and others can assume an active, personal role in a process of continuous educational development and change in relation to specific instructional problems with which they are dealing. It offers three types of services: information…

A panel of state staff, Professional Development Center directors, and other experts reviewed current or previous exemplary projects in Pennsylvania and in the U.S. and published project descriptions in a newsletter ("FOCUS" bulletin). Twenty-two special projects were selected as exemplary based on a five-point scale for innovation,…

This paper describes how Wichita, Kansas, public school teachers developed a grade K-2 social studies curriculum focusing upon the developmental needs of children. A group of teachers met to examine textbooks and recommend a future social studies basal textbook adoption. They were not pleased with the primary level texts available through…

As a collaborative process, action research begins when educational researchers, university faculty, and teachers assist each other in developing the skills to identify and conceptualize problems. The fundamental principle of collaborative research is that the research process is based on a system of discussion, investigation, and analysis in…

This report on research studies was compiled in an attempt to analyze, summarize, and disseminate information on the current status of research and development activities in vocational, technical, and pratical arts education. In the five-state Upper Midwest Region (Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin) a priority list of mutual,…

Part of the AIR Career Education Curriculum Project for grades K-9, the handbook is intended for school district administrative personnel considering introduction of career education for their districts. Report 1 lists and describes procedures for career education implementation, with potential options for each procedure. Focus is on the first,…

Issues associated with the evaluation of 61 educational curriculum units, which was conducted by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) are described. The units were adapted to the AIR Career Education Curriculum framework by creating 133 instructional units within which students could develop career skills in an orderly sequence. The…

As part of Project IMPACT's efforts to develop procedures for complying with the impact requirements of Public Law 94-482, a case study was made of the Illinois Occupational Curriculum Project (IOCP). The top-down study traced the IOCP from its developers to its users and documented measurable changes in the 1971 versus the 1979 curriculum…

This report summarizes the proceedings of an Ohio Department of Education conference convened to describe, define, and develop activities that would provide a working model of the school principal as the instructional leader. First, the results of a pre-conference principals' needs assessment, which formed the basis for conference planning and…

Presents seven brief essays addressing recent research efforts and policy initiatives aimed at reforming the history curriculum. Notes that policy recommendations are rarely informed by research on either historical or pedagogical thinking. Authors include Keith C. Barton, Matthew T. Downey, Terrie L. Epstein, Linda S. Levstik, Peter Seixas,…

This report emphasizes the rationale for and procedures of a high school graduate follow-up telephone survey in Hampton, Virginia, conducted on classes of even-numbered years. The survey instrument and charts of results from 1982-86 comprise over three-fourths of the document. The follow-up survey was initiated to gather information for a school…

The Instructional Planning Team is based on the Research and Instruction Unit of the Wisconsin R & D Center for Cognitive Learning. To determine if the IPT as an organizational arrangement would increase the ability of a group of classroom teachers to use research-based information to improve their instructional program, a pilot test was conducted…

A curriculum project is described which illustrates the use of collaborative inquiry, a cooperative effort between university researchers and educational practitioners. Four tenets of collaborative inquiry are outlined. (1) Researchers and school practitioners work together on all phases of the effort. (2) The effort is focused on real world as…