Search

A study examined the extent to which Texas vocational/applied technology programs and statewide and regional services and activities designed to eliminate sex bias and stereotyping are meeting students' needs. Questionnaires were sent to the directors/coordinators of 21 funded sex equity programs, administrators of career and technology education programs of 117 public secondary schools, and directors of Texas' 8 vocational consortia. Usable responses were received from 18 (88%) sex equity programs, 17 (14.5%) school districts, and all 8 vocational consortia. It was discovered that all of the required gender equity program characteristics were being implemented by more than 50% of the funded projects and responding secondary schools. It was concluded that, although progress is being made in eliminating sex bias and stereotyping in secondary career and applied technology programs and in increasing student enrollments in nontraditional programs, Texas' current system for reporting gender equity-related data remains inadequate. A model was developed for Texas' school systems to use in evaluating the extent and quality of programs/activities to eliminate sex bias and stereotyping. (Twelve tables are included. Appendixes constituting approximately 50% of this report contain the following: Delphi questionnaires, survey instruments, lists of responding program directors and school districts, and project evaluation report.) (MN)

A statewide assessment process was designed and pilot tested to determine the extent to which competency-based instruction (CBI) has been implemented in vocational-technical education programs and courses in all public community and technical colleges in Texas. The final report consists of two volumes. Volume I contains the rationale (Introduction), procedures, an overview of the presentation of findings, and the summary, conclusions, and recommendations of the project. Volume II presents the responses to the assessment made for each reporting technical education instructional program area and the evaluation model developed by the project. Instructors and program directors from 40 community and technical colleges participated in the assessment, which was designed and conducted by the University of Texas. More than 50% of the responding institutions had implemented 45 of the 52 required characteristics of CBI, and 15 of the 52 characteristics had been implemented by more than 90% of the institutions. The biggest barriers to implementation of CBI were faculty members' fears that CBI will make new demands on their time, no provision of release time for faculty to develop a CBI system format, and few state-provided incentives for development and maintenance of CBI. (Volume I contains the rationale and procedures of the assessment, an overview of the findings, the survey instruments, project summary, project conclusions, and recommendations. Volume II contains 96 tables detailing instructors' and program directors' responses regarding the degree of CBI implementation by program area and barriers to CBI implementation by instructional program area, and the assessment model.) (MN)

The extent to which competency-based instruction (CBI) has been implemented in postsecondary-level vocational-technical education programs and courses throughout Texas was assessed. Questionnaires were mailed to the occupational education deans/directors of 69 public community and technical college campuses. Each dean/director distributed the questionnaires to each occupational program chair/leader and one instructor of each occupational preparation program. Forty institutions returned completed questionnaires. Although more than 90% of the responding institutions were using competencies from the workplace when developing their curricula, less than 40% were using occupational competency examinations to determine students' achievement of the competencies. The biggest barriers to implementation of CBI were as follows: faculty members' fears that CBI will make new demands on their time, no provision of release time for faculty to develop a CBI system format, and few state-provided incentives for development and maintenance of CBI. It was recommended that the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board establish and use program standards for CBI and conduct or contract for professional development activities and/or programs to develop the knowledge and skills needed to implement and maintain CBI. (Appended are the first-round Delphi scores, sample assessment questionnaires, list of participating community and technical colleges, and model for evaluating CBI.) (MN)

One part of a five-phase study was conducted to develop a database that identifies the professional improvement needs of postsecondary health occupations educators as expressed by individuals responding to a survey and to disseminate the findings of the needs assessment to the coordinators/directors of local institutions for planning faculty development. Information was gathered through a review of literature that identified competencies/tasks performed by individuals employed as health occupations instructors. These tasks were then validated by practitioners at four Texas colleges. A needs assessment was conducted by mailing questionnaires to coordinators/directors of faculty development asking for the present and desired levels of development of their health occupations instructors for 106 task/competency statements. Biographical information also was collected. The study found that 49 percent of the 673 responding faculty had not completed a professional development course in technical/vocational education, and 51 percent felt that development efforts in their institutions were inadequate. The respondents indicated a need for professional development in all 106 competency/task statements on the questionnaire, with the most pressing needs related to program planning, development, and evaluation. Recommendations were made to develop more extensive professional development programs for postsecondary health occupations instructors. (Appendixes include a job inventory survey and the needs assessment questionnaire.) (KC)

One part of a five-phase study was conducted to develop a database that identifies the professional improvement needs of postsecondary career counselors as expressed by individuals responding to a survey and to disseminate the findings of the needs assessment to the coordinators/directors of local institutions for planning faculty development. Information was gathered through a review of literature that identified competencies/tasks performed by individuals employed as postsecondary career counselors. These tasks were then validated by practitioners at four Texas colleges. A needs assessment was conducted by mailing questionnaires to coordinators/directors of faculty development asking for the present and desired levels of development of their career counselors for 92 task/competency statements. Biographical information also was collected. The study found that 54 percent of the 185 responding career counselors felt that development efforts in their institutions were inadequate; however, 73 percent of the respondents had completed a professional development course in technical/vocational education. The respondents indicated a need for professional development in all 92 competency/task statements on the questionnaire, with the most pressing needs related to the implementation of career guidance programs. Recommendations were made to develop more extensive professional development programs for postsecondary career guidance counselors. (Appendixes include a job inventory survey and the needs assessment questionnaire.) (KC)

One part of a five-phase study was conducted to develop a database that identifies the professional improvement needs of postsecondary technical/vocational administrators as expressed by individuals responding to a survey and to disseminate the findings of the needs assessment to the coordinators/directors of local institutions for planning faculty development. Information was gathered through a review of literature that identified competencies/tasks performed by individuals employed in the administration of technical/vocational programs. These tasks were then validated by practitioners at four Texas colleges. A needs assessment was conducted by mailing questionnaires to coordinators/directors of faculty development asking for their present and desired levels of development for 133 task/competency statements. Biographical information also was collected. The study found that 54 percent of the 438 administrators who responded felt that their institutions did not provide assistance in developing a plan for professional development. The respondents indicated a need for professional development in all 133 competency/task statements on the questionnaire, with the most pressing needs related to program planning, development, and evaluation. Recommendations were made to develop more extensive professional development programs for postsecondary administrators. (Appendixes include a job inventory survey and the needs assessment questionnaire.) (KC)

One phase of a five-phase professional improvement assessment project developed a database that identified the professional improvement needs of postsecondary technical/vocational personnel and the policies and procedures of the institutional plans for faculty development in Texas. Following a review of the literature, a questionnaire was prepared and mailed to the coordinator or director of the institutional plan for faculty development of the 70 campuses of the 55 community colleges and technical districts in Texas; 47 of the districts responded (86 percent). The study found that each of the two-year postsecondary institutions had a functional institutional plan for faculty development. Sixty-four percent of the responding institutions used a committee to advise and/or assist with the professional development activities. The data revealed that policies of the institutional plans provided equal requirements and provisions for technical/vocational personnel and all other professional personnel of the institution. The study reached three conclusions: (1) each institution is making an active and sincere effort to plan and conduct faculty development activities to meet personnel needs; (2) institutions need technical assistance in maintaining a current assessment of the professional development needs of technical/vocational personnel; and (3) there is a need for assistance in planning and conducting activities to meet the identified professional development needs. The study recommended that the research and personnel development activities be continued. (The questionnaire is appended.) (KC)

The purpose of this study was to determine the actual tasks performed as compared to those tasks perceived as important by a selected population of postsecondary vocational-technical teachers in 40 public Texas community colleges. Prior to actual research methodology, the state-of-the-art of vocational teacher education, the competency-based movement in teacher education, and research studies in vocational teacher education were reviewed. Then a job inventory of 94 tasks was mailed to a population of 700 teachers; 461 usable responses, distributed among five vocational areas, were received. The overall finding was that differences did exist in the rated perceived importance and the percent of respondents actually performing the tasks. The report also contains a section devoted to approaches suitable for developing teacher education curriculum. Appendixes include a table of tasks ranked by mean of perceived importance; tables of the lists of 94 validated competencies for each of the five major areas, indicating percent of respondents performing the task, average time spent, and rank by percent of respondents; a table providing comparisons of ranks of tasks by perceived importance with ranks of tasks by the percentage of respondents performing the tasks; and a sample of the job inventory. (NJ)

As part of a project dealing with personnel training requirements for vocational educators who serve handicapped students, this investigation identified the training needs of both vocational teachers and teacher educators. According to the final report of this phase of the project, input was solicited from both vocational teachers and vocational teacher educators in the 50 states and Puerto Rico. Two national needs assessment surveys were used to identify the training needs with little difference found in the perceived training needs of vocational education teachers and vocational teacher educators. Top priorities assigned to training needs were derived from the knowledge, rather than the competency statements on the 96-item survey. The majority of these needs related to assessment of students and interpretation of the results; characteristics and capabilities of students; job placement; and legislative requirements. The greatest training need perceived by the teachers was how to interpret the reports of other professionals. Teacher educators identified long-range planning needs, using appropriate materials and determining appropriate student performance as priority needs; the highest need perceived by the teacher educators was orienting potential employers of handicapped students. It was concluded that the 96-item survey was a reliable document for surveying training needs of vocational education personnel working with handicapped students, and that future teacher education programs should be based on the findings of this and similar surveys. (KC)