The teacher workforce does not look much like the adult population or the students they serve. Across the country, only 21% of teachers are from historically disadvantaged racial groups compared to 35% of working-age adults and 49% of students. Simple math suggests that the diversity gap between students and teachers will only close when teachers…

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PADOC) has implemented a 60-hour "Pathway to Success" course for inmates who wish to enroll in vocational coursework. The purpose of this course is two-fold: to ensure that PADOC inmates are enrolling in vocational courses for which they have both the aptitude and the interest to excel, and to…

This paper proposes three new measures of components STEM career preferences (affinity, certainty, and goal), and then explores which dimensions of "science learning activation" (fascination, values, competency belief, and scientific sensemaking) are predictive of STEM career preferences. Drawn from the ALES14 dataset, a sample of 2938…

This paper examines STEM-based informal learning environments for underrepresented students and reports on the aspects of these programs that are beneficial to students. This qualitative study provides a nuanced look into informal learning environments and determines what is unique about these experiences and makes them beneficial for students. We…

The GO-GIRL Program is a unique project, characterized by its ability to bring together pivotal elements within a youth-intervention program and foster collaboration between university and local communities in large and moderate-size urban areas through service learning. Designed to bolster the social-skill development, educational outcomes, and…

THIS IS A DESCRIPTION OF A NEW APPROACH TO VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE THROUGH THE USE OF EXHIBITS AND DISPLAYS. THE CHOICE OF APPROXIMATELY 150 SPECIFIC OCCUPATIONS TO BE EXHIBITED WAS BASED ON SUCH CRITERIA AS (1) PROJECTED NUMBER OF WORKERS IN EACH OCCUPATION, (2) APPEAL OF SELECTED OCCUPATIONS TO SECONDARY, TRADE, AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS, (3) APPEAL OF…

Data from a Pennsylvania longitudinal vocational development study were used to test the congruency aspect of Holland's theory of vocational choice with a sample of high school males enrolled in the vocational-technical curriculum. Limited support for the applicability of Holland's theory of congruency-incongruency was found. (MF)

A followup survey of Pennsylvania eighth grade students previously inventoried for agricultural interest indicated that those students who later enrolled in high school vocational agriculture courses had shown higher interest scores on the inventory. Both sets of data are compared, with implications for vocational agriculture counseling. (MF)

The report is an accounting of activities of the Vocational Development Study (VDS) project during the three-year funding period of July 1971 to July 1974. The longitudinal study, planned to cover a 10-year span, was begun in the fall of 1968. The project was developed to identify the effects of the high school experience on youth in vocational…

This outline for a middle school career development guide includes five sections and two appendices. Section 1 outlines the philosophy and objectives of middle level education at Selinsgrove Area Middle School in Pennsylvania. Section 2 outlines objectives of career development. Section 3 lists four types of course content, including classroom…

Student vocational interest and agricultural business surveys were conducted in Berks County, Pennsylvania to gauge career opportunities in off-farm agricultural occupations. The seven categories of businesses surveyed included agriculture supplies, agriculture mechanics, horticulture mechanics, floriculture, landscaping, turf, and garden center…

The Costerville Plans Project (Costerville being a pseudonym), sponsored by the Costerville Public Schools, Lincoln University, and the University of Pennsylvania, is concerned with the complex process of decision-making among black adolescents and with the influences of social change, counselor, teacher, and parent. The purpose of this pilot…

The Applied Biological and Agribusiness Interest Inventory was revised to reflect seven agricultural career clusters and to measure agricultural interest of eighth-grade students. A study conducted in Pennsylvania tested the interests of 8th-grade students and then developed scoring keys using 10th-grade students as the basis for the key. The…

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY WAS TO PROVIDE A DESCRIPTIVE BASE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF POST-HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS IN DISTRIBUTIVE EDUCATION. BASIC DATA WERE PROCURED FROM INTERVIEWS WITH SELECTED GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, EDUCATORS, AND OWNERS AND MANAGERS OF BUSINESSES DEEMED BEST QUALIFIED TO PROVIDE THE DESIRED INFORMATION. THE REPORT INCLUDES--(1)…

A survey of rural secondary school students examined the formation of adolescent occupational identity by identifying predictors of students' ideal jobs. Data were collected from 612 of the approximately 750 students in grades 7-12 in a rural Pennsylvania school district. Predictors of choice of ideal job, by descending influence, were gender,…