This handbook describes a process and provides material for supporting instructor update/upgrade activities in any occupational field at both secondary and college levels. Examples and outlines tend to have a trade-technical orientation because a vocational education project developed the model. Section 1 overviews the update/upgrade activity and…

A one-year collaboration research project between San Diego State University and the Sweetwater Union High School District was carried out to test the notion that teachers of limited English-speaking students can effectively carry out research pertinent to them. It included 20 teachers, 16 student teachers assigned to them, two university…

A computerized faculty allocation and reallocation model is presented to aid the decision maker in evaluating the outcomes of various strategies. A unique goal can be computed for each department based on the average index of the institution, the average of the college, the preceding average of the department, and a goal established by management…

In this paper the author assesses the state-of-the-art on quality assessment and monitoring of medical care and makes recommendations for needed research in this area. Following a brief introduction, the content is presented in two sections. The first, providing a frame of reference, covers definitions; quality assessment and program evaluation;…

Overviews of schema theory, which focuses on the cognitive operations engaged in by the reader, and discourse analysis, which focuses on structural characteristics of the text itself, are presented in this paper. The first section explains the notion of cognitive schemata (patterns of expectations that are applied to incoming information) and…

A comprehensive, field-disaggregated analysis of the academic labor market is presented using data from the National Center for Education Statistics for first-year graduate enrollment and higher degrees awarded in distinct fields. The fixed-coefficient model of Cartter (1975) is enlarged and disaggregated into a model of the supply of master's as…

The monograph reviews theoretical, conceptual, and empirical research on occupational choice and achievement. It begins by delineating the major macro-theoretical approaches in occupational sociology and vocational psychology, leading to a consideration of conceptual development of occupational choice. An overview of status attainment models and a…

In order to sort out a comprehensible total picture regarding needs assessment and to develop a useful conceptual framework for this area, a comprehensive review of the needs assessment literature pertinent to the concerns of postsecondary education was conducted. The review found that needs assessment is a viable tool for input to planning, but…

Equal pay for equal work by persons of equal qualifications is the concept behind laws against race and sex discrimination in salaries in the United States. However, determining the existence and extent of discrimination is not a simple matter. A four-step procedure is recommended that attempts to uncover the existence of discrimination and begins…

An accreditation self-study was conducted by the University of Houston Central Campus. In the process of establishing the academic priorities for departments two dimensions were assessed: the current quality of the academic programs and the centrality of each program to the stated mission of the college under which it was housed. Based upon a…

Results are described for the first two phases of a study to develop and evaluate models of student progress in a technical training course being offered in a computer managed instructional environment at Lowry Air Force Base, Colorado. Several categories of models were developed in Phase I and defined by model type and by the type of variables…

One aspect of the State/Federally funded project VO-ED COMP (Vocational Education Curriculum Operation-Management Plan carried out in Alabama during 1978) was the determination of priorities for curricular development and management functions in Alabama's vocational technical education programs. A needs assessment study was made at the 1978…

A Florida Department of Education R & D project, "Collection and Dissemination of Validated Community-based Career Guidance Practices," is presented with a focus upon four areas: (1) the project staff's 12 working definitions of community-based career guidance practices; (2) nine trends noted in the national survey being conducted; (3) selected…

Based on a review of literature on educational change, this study explored the fundamental dynamics of stability and change in public school systems. Five major factors were identified that affect and interact with innovation. These factors include leadership effectiveness, external funds, external linkage, conflict, and support for innovation.…

The Pennsylvania School Improvement Program (PSIP) was initiated to develop and demonstrate curriculum improvement strategies in basic skills areas at the local school level in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Education and several research and development agencies. The PSIP process is a problem-solving method with five major steps:…