The Social Work Education Planning and Assessment (SWEPA) System is an information system designed to function within social work education toward two main purposes: (1) to help schools more effectively specify their own educational objectives, plan their social work education projects to achieve these objectives, mark their progress toward this…

Student achievement data from 92 school districts in South Carolina were analyzed to determine which input variables were most likely to affect educational quality. Fourth and seventh grade samples were scrutinized to determine the effects on achievement when the shared variation between achievement and the context variables was removed. The data…

The growing complexity of policy decisions in such areas as education and manpower necessitates increased research, which in turn requires an adequate data base and adequate methodology. Recognition that the variables affecting the vocational and educational choices of high school graduates are interrelated and require examination from several…

The Naturalistic Evaluation Methodology presented here rests on a transactionist theory of child development, an ecological view of human behavior and the quasi-clinical method of inquiry. It is intended that the procedures will lead not only to the improvement of the quality of preschool education but will generate knowledge about children's…

The purpose of the paper is to analyze U.S. policies toward financial investment in developing nations. The paper is presented in two sections. In section I, the controversial effects of direct foreign investment on development are discussed. Case studies of investment policies toward India, the Philippines, Ghana, Guatemala, and Argentina are…

The report is a composite of competency interviews and a compilation, evaluation, and analysis of data on agricultural products occupations (bakery, dairy, meat, and flour milling industry job titles). The study was conducted to obtain information which would identify the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed by employees in selected job titles…

In establishing educational goals through the Delphi technique, convergence of perception is of paramount interest. Progress toward integrated schools and changing sex roles make the perception of educational goals by groups defined by race and sex of practical significance. In three studies involving panels of community leaders, educators, and…

An analysis of the achievements of a large sample (4,388) of Wisconsin men during the 10 years following their 1957 high school graduation focuses upon their educational attainments, occupational achievements, and in particular, earnings, in terms of their social origins. Analysis uses a recursive structural education model of achievement. Seven…

Previous research studies revealed that teachers' background characteristics (mainly educational trade experience, and teaching experience levels) had different effects on teaching experience. Since an examination of teaching effectiveness should be considered in the teacher certification process, the study focused on determining the effects of…

The cooperative education planning study provides an overview and initial analysis of the varied postsecondary cooperative education goals and realities and identifies key issues and indicators of program success to be considered in evaluation cooperative education programs. The study involved several data sources and approaches, including: (1) a…

The central purpose of the study was to determine if a relationship existed between public relations practices and enrollment in secondary level area vocational schools in Texas. Contributing objectives of the study were: (1) to identify the degree to which selected public relations practices were being used as reported by the directors of area…

The issue addressed by this paper concerns one particular aspect of sociological theory and method in the analysis of social inequality. While not often made explicit, a temporal aspect is built into the sociological notion of social stratification as a general and comprehensive phenomenon, under which many observable forms of inequality may be…

This paper is concerned with the problem of social inequalities and economic development in rural communities. Two ethnically different communities were chosen in the most southern state of Brazil: Garibaldi, of descendants from Italian immigrants, and Candelaria, of descendants from German immigrants. The data were gathered through application of…

Because of the pragmatic need of school districts to respond to questions posed by those interested in their efforts to implement career education and the equally practical need to further its definition, there exists a demand to assess the results of efforts to implement the concept. The main body of this monograph provides an operational…

A demand for more and better education has driven educators to seek the help of systems analysis in the process of decision making. Basic to the entire systems notion is the concept of a model, a simplified but controllable version of the real world. The systems approach, once the problem is defined, is to specify the subfunctions and…