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Institutional researchers and others at East Carolina University have been concerned that requiring students to complete a survey, the institutional evaluation form, will have a negative effect on the ratings that students give the university. The responses to electronic forms of this survey completed by seniors and by sophomores are grouped with responses from other universities and colleges in the North Carolina state system, so a high response rate is desirable. To study the effects of the mandatory survey, survey responses were tabulated by the dates they were submitted, on the assumption that students who responded late in the process did so because they felt forced. Students were also given the opportunity to register their comments about the survey. Very few comments about the survey requirement were recorded, although more than 3,000 students completed the surveys. There was little evidence that the mandatory nature of the survey depressed rating on the sophomore survey or on the 1999 graduating senior survey. However, the later responses for spring 2000 graduates were clearly and consistently lower for most of the questions on the survey. The results are somewhat counter-intuitive because sophomores were more "forced" (unable to register without completing the survey) than seniors, and the differences may result from the way students were informed of the requirement. Sophomore requirements were well publicized, but seniors were informed through a letter attached to the application for graduation, and most late responses were the result of sending lists of students who had not completed the survey to the departments. An appendix contains some comments about the surveys. (Contains 10 tables.) (SLD)

This report focuses on partnership activities and projects at the School of Education, East Carolina University (North Carolina). Highlighted is the first year of funding of two initiatives: the BellSouth Reinvention Grant, a restructuring effort; and the university School Teacher Education Partnership. Following an introduction by the school's dean, a brief history of the school is presented. The following sections briefly describe activities and accomplishments of: the East Carolina Clinical Schools Network; the Office of School Services; the Department of Broadcasting, Librarianship, and Educational Technology and its virtual reality and education laboratory; the Department of Business, Vocational, and Technical Education; the Department of Counselor and Adult Education; the Department of Educational Leadership; the Department of Elementary and Middle Grades Education; the Department of Foundations, Research, and Reading; the Department of Science Education; the Department of Special Education; alternative licensure programs; university-school partnerships; the North Carolina Japan Center East, the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program; partnerships with businesses and industries; the PEN-PAL project; Project EXCEL; the Science and Mathematics Education Center, and the Training Challenge North Carolina project. (DB)

This final report describes the federally-funded Transition Challenge-North Carolina Project (TRAC-NC), a project that prepared 45 newly qualified individuals to serve students with low-incidence disabilities over the last four years. The project provides: (1) add-on certification and/or master's degree training to persons preparing to teach individuals with low-incidence disabilities (100 students are currently TRAC-NC scholars); (2) supplementary training to add-on certification and/or master's degree students to assure depth of knowledge in several specific areas of low-incidence disabilities; (3) an extensive library of print and video resources regarding low-incidence disabilities; and (4) a permanent masters degree program within the Special Education Department of the School of Education at East Carolina University. The project has also been approved by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction as a teacher-training site for certification in the area of severe/profound disabilities. Courses specifically designed for the TRAC-NC program include: Introduction to Low Incidence Populations, Methods and Curriculum in Elementary and Transition Programming for Students with Low Incidence Disabilities, Methods and Curriculum for Secondary Programming and Competitive Employment for Students with Low Incidence Disabilities, and six hours of supervised intern experience in programs for students with severe/profound disabilities. (CR)

This report is structured to educate East Carolina University about library materials preservation. The library-wide preservation program began at Joyner Library in 1993 with the organization of the Preservation and Conservation Department. The planning phase of the preservation program began in 1995 with the appointment of the Preservation/Conservation Needs Committee. This report is based on the background paper prepared by the Preservation/Conservation Needs Committee during the first planning phase and the task force reports, summaries of which are included in the final report. The study of the physical condition of a small sample of the general collection (100 books selected from 580,623 items in the HORIZON database) determined that education is needed for 35% of all books in the general collection. The need for staff and user education about preservation is based on the amount of current use of the collection; a preservation education program for users and staff can reduce damage to the collection resulting from frequent, sometimes careless, handling. According to the study, rebinding or repair is required for 15% of all books in the general collection. An insignificant percentage of the collection that appears to be missing indicates acceptable security measures within the library. The preservation goals and recommendations can be summarized with five key words: coordination, priorities, prevention, education, and cooperation. (AEF)

By the year 2000, the minority teaching pool is projected to shrink to five percent, although the minority population will increase to one third of school-age students nationally. To help persons entering teaching via alternate routes, Project ACT (Alternative Certification for Teachers), an accelerated alternative licensure program was developed. Project ACT is a year long "earn while you learn" program. The four major program components are: a self-paced module focusing on the foundations of American education; five weeks of preservice training in essential teaching skills; one academic year teaching, with beginning teacher salary, in a public school with monthly Saturday seminars at the university; and development of a portfolio to document teaching competency. The essential skills focus on: (1) the learners' social, cognitive, and physical development; (2) lesson development and instructional techniques and strategies; (3) learning theories; (4) children with exceptionalities and strategies for inclusion; (5) classroom organization and management; and (6) assessment and evaluation. Project ACT candidates are employed as alternative route teachers in public schools and are supervised by local mentors and university faculty. Of the 43 candidates that have completed the program and entered the teaching workforce, 16 (37 percent) are minorities. (ND)

This paper discusses the comprehensive evaluation of a new Ed.D. Program in Educational Leadership housed in East Carolina University's (ECU) School of Education. The program proposed to prepare students for professional life through development of career leadership skills; utilization, development, and dissemination of research; and service to the community through internship and research programs. The evaluation of the program was conducted through a survey and telephone interviews of a sample of doctoral students (N=38) enrolled in Spring 1996, graduates of the program (N=8) and the advisory committee members (N=12) for the program. The respondents in this study indicated that the academic rigor, the advising, the interactions among the students and faculty, and the schedule and structure of the program were effective. They felt, however, that the research and methodology component and the dissertation process could be strengthened and that possible gender and racial insensitivity may impact the effectiveness of the program. The data suggest that an adjustment to changing interpersonal dynamics between professors and students and deliberate planning are essential to the effective implementation of this type of program. The faculty has already begun to make changes in response to this study, including reconceptualization of the research sequence and development of new procedures for the approval of dissertation proposals. (Contains 13 references.) (PRW)

This study surveyed graduating seniors of East Carolina University relative to employment status immediately prior to graduation in the spring of 1974. The purpose of the study was to determine the number of graduating seniors who had accepted employment, the location of their work, and whether or not they were satisified with the employment offer. Other variables investigated were: (1) students who had offers but were still seeking employment; (2) students seeking employment but having no job offers; and (3) students not seeking employment due to further studies, military obligations, etc. These variables were categorized by degree level, sex, race, and marital status in a summary table, and by discipline and degree level in other tables. (Author)

A 30 hour remedial reading workshop, designed for all secondary language arts teachers and for selected secondary teachers in all subject areas, is described in this report. The workshop was designed for teachers in the Pamlico County (North Carolina) Schools by members of that school system and the General Assistance Center at East Carolina University. The first three sessions were devoted to investigation of the reading problem and resulted in a decision to design a reading workshop for students to be implemented into the curriculum. Sessions 4-10 were then devoted to formulating a rationale to govern the course, writing behavioral objectives, developing strategies to achieve those objectives, and then selecting materials with which to implement the strategies. The syllabus for the proposed course is included in the report. (MKM)

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 review, preparation of standards statements drawing upon the literature and emerging practice in business and industry, validation of the standards through regional conferences and a mail survey of professional business educators, preparation of the standards in a form for use, and formulation of recommendations for dissemination. Two hundred forty-seven program standards and 188 instructional standards were developed and disseminated through a nationally distributed news release; articles published in state, regional, and national professional periodicals; a brochure describing the project; and site visits to business, industry, and government agencies. (MN)

Over the 3 years of funding, 1983-1986, the Volunteers in Partnership with Parents Project (VIPP), a Handicapped Children's Early Education Program (HCEEP) Model Demonstration Program funded by the U.S. Department of Education, designed and implemented a program model for parents in rural North Carolina who had significantly handicapped preschool aged children. It was anticipated that rural parents would experience social isolation due to their lack of contact with other parents of special needs children and the scarcity of human resources available. It was also anticipated that the parents would need specific information pertaining to their children's development and they would need respite services provided by skilled caregivers. The use of volunteers as partners in working with parents was the cornerstone of the program. Project staff tapped into the parents' existing social support networks by requesting each family to identify a volunteer partner, who could be anyone other than a spouse. Sixteen families and a total of 17 children and 15 volunteer partners participated in the development of the model. Both formal and informal activities were offered to the parents and volunteer partners. These included: monthly group meetings; a monthly newsletter; a respite care service; a toy lending library; and social events. The children's program consisted of a developmental day care program and a home-based interventions program. Staff were also involved with the participants in the development and implementation of an individualized Parent/Partner Plan for working on goals of the parents' choice. Dissemination activities included the writing of two manuals, one on the "how to" of volunteering for a handicapped child and one on the implementation of a volunteer partner model. This report reviews each of the program's components, describes its evaluation study, and summarizes its major findings and recommendations. The following materials are appended: Fund Raising Publicity; Brigance Testing Results; Respite Care Program Evaluation; Parents' Needs Assessment Report; Family Social Support Scale; Parents' Feelings and Attitude Scale; Parent Exit Interview Schedule; Partner Exit Interview Schedule; Field Reviewer's Questionnaire; and Newsletter Evaluation Reports. (SG)

The development of instruments to measure the attainment of career education objectives in the middle grades was the objective of this study. The procedures used involved the following tasks: analysis of career education objectives by a jury of vocational and industrial arts teachers; writing test items appropriate for evaluating learning in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains related to the objectives; developing techniques for scoring the tests; and testing the instruments for validity and reliability. Since the objectives were pupil-centered and flexible it proved to be impossible to write objective items. The subjective nature of the test exposed an unanticipated problem of scoring, which was solved by the development of an explicit scoring key to be used by two independent scores. The final form of the test contains 25 self and work-related items calling for written responses and is to be used at the ninth grade level. The list of objectives sent to the judges, the revised list of objectives, the test, and the scoring key for the test are appended. (Author/EC)

A survey of alcohol consumption was conducted in the summer of 1977 during the freshman orientation at East Carolina University. The survey population consisted of incoming freshman and the survey instrument was a multiple-choice questionnaire in two parts. The first part requested background information about the incoming students. The second part included questions on the frequency of consumption of beer, wine, and liquor; attitudes toward drinking; effects of drinking on behavior; and the perception of high school drinking patterns. There were 1,342 questionnaires completed and analyzed (58 percent of the incoming freshmen). Response frequencies were computed. Cross tabulations were performed for all meaningful descriptive variables in relation to alcohol use and were analyzed for statistical significance using the Chi square test. Students were found to be largely white, middle class, single dormitory residents. Among the alcohol-use findings were: beer was the most popular beverage; about half or the drinkers did so to be sociable; most students felt that drinking never affected behavior in relationship to class attendance, studying, jobs, accidents, or friendships; and there was no significant relationship between age and alcohol consumption, although the age range was very narrow. A copy of the survey instrument is included in the appendix. The response rate for each question is shown, as well as the frequency and percentage rates for each answer. (Author/LBH)

A study was undertaken of the relationship between performance of the North Carolina State Board Test Pool Nursing Examination and grades in university courses of study of 441 nursing students (1974-78). Data were collected for each of the Ss and factor analysis was used to determine independent variable groupings. For each independent variable and its respective dependent variable grouping a step-wise multiple regression procedure was performed. Tables are used to compare the findings with 1964-68 nursing graduates, which show, among other things, that average scores in each area have declined but class means have increased for a high proportion of the undergraduate course grades measured. Overall the average course grades received by the 1974-78 graduates were higher, indicating possible grade escalation. However, the eight specific course grade measures (selected by factor analysis) used in various combinations as predictor variables for estimates of Board Examination scores did not show the general tendency (two increased, two decreased, four did not change significantly). The data collection sheet is appended. (PHR)

Activities and games that have been used successfully in elementary classrooms are contained in this booklet intended for use by educators who wish to develop simple and inexpensive individualized reading materials. The activities emphasize the improvement of a variety of skills, including knowledge of antonyms, categorizing, compound words, main idea, prefixes, sentence meaning, and syllabication. Each activity identifies the skill to be developed, lists the materials needed, and offers directions for students and for construction of materials. The booklet concludes with a number of word lists for use in starting the games or activities. Among them are lists of "C" and "G" words, synonyms, compound words, survival words, words describing types of transportation, and CB slang. (FL)

Results of a follow-up study of school of education graduates are presented. The first of a four-part questionnaire requested personal background information. The second part inquired about competencies gained through education that could be applied to work and to living. The third part requested information concerning the relevance of the college experience to actual teaching experiences. Contained in the fourth part was a self-rating sheet for respondents to assess their respective abilities as professional teachers. Three open-ended questions were included about the university itself, its teacher education program, and the adequacy of the questionnaire. (Author/JD)

This study was designed to determine the feasibility of utilizing North Carolina's community and technical colleges as a statewide system for providing inservice day care training. Seven aspects of training were addressed: (1) programs and resources whereby institutions could provide training; (2) institutional experience in providing inservice day care training; (3) extent of institutional interest in providing training; (4) types of training possible; (5) institutional needs for assistance; (6) program costs; and (7) obstacles. Questionnaires were sent to 2-year institutions, and interviews were conducted with college staff and day care personnel. Twenty-six of 30 institutions responded, indicating interest in providing a variety of training activities and estimating costs for the proposed program to be low. A possible lack of interest from day care providers was the chief obstacle identified. Findings supported the conclusion that an inservice training network of community and technical colleges could be developed, although institutions would require assistance to develop and promote programs. Similar programs in other states were considered worth examining for adaptation in North Carolina. Appendices include the questionnaire sent to colleges, a map locating North Carolina institutions and detailing the type of child care degrees each awards; and a description of day care licensing standards in Georgia. (Author/DB)

Recent action by the North Carolina General Assembly encouraged an even stronger link between teacher education in colleges and universities and classroom teachers through programs of teacher exchange. The plan presented in this document provides a procedure for implementing a functional long-range program of faculty-teacher exchange between East Carolina University and the public schools. Based on standards which use hours of involvement, up to two semester hours of release time for two weeks of public school work, or the equivalent, can be provided for exchange teachers. If release time is not possible during the semester of the exchange, it can be provided the semester after. Also, involvement in exchange teaching will be considered along with other pertinent professional efforts in consideration for promotion, tenure, and merit increases for faculty in teacher education degree programs. Included with this report are sample application and evaluation forms used in the program. (JD)