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The purpose of this project was to provide guidance to ERIC on how to facilitate product information retrieval. Information on practitioner needs, on the use of descriptors and abstracting procedures, and on alternatives for improving the system was gathered and circulated to NIE staff members. The resulting document described three alternative ways of improving access to practitioner oriented documents and presented draft guidelines for writing abstracts. The alternatives were: revising the method of descriptor assignment to produce documents; revising and expanding pubtype codes; and creating a separate system for all products, programs, and practice documents. This document was then sent out to all clearinghouse directors, directors of ERIC search services, and others with a request for comments. The responses were summarized, sample abstracts were developed and six recommendations were made: (1) pubtype codes should be refined, pilot tested, and refined again; (2) inter-clearinghouse inconsistency in indexing and abstracting should be reduced; (3) guidelines for abstracting product information should be agreed upon and entered into the Thesaurus; (4) successful computer search strategies for retrieving product documents should be available to all; (5) existing product information systems should be considered for coordination with ERIC. The above documents are presented in this report along with the responses. (DAG)

The document describes findings of the Education Subcommittee of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on the Rights and Responsibilities of Women regarding the impact of Federal vocational education legislation and HEW policies on women. Section 1, A Summary of the 1975 Report of the Subcommittee on Education (four pages), examines: Title 9, areas for further study, HEW record keeping policies regarding programs specifically for women, 5 recommendations regarding current legislation, and 10 recommendations regarding HEW policy. Section 2, Vocational Education and Women (27 pages), discusses the reality of the labor market, historical background on education and working women, the distorted face of vocational education for women, and underlying problems in vocational education. Section 3, Recommendations for Change (five pages), examines the Vocational Education Amendments of 1968 (VEA), the Administration's bill to revise it, and HEW policy and practice; and lists 10 recommendations to be added to the 5 from Section 1. Tables are provided. Appended material lists research and development projects dealing with careers and vocational education for women under States and under HEW (the National Institute of Education, Office of Education, and Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education [FIPSE]). (LH)

One of a series of sixteen knowledge transformation papers, this paper gives an overview of sex equity issues and suggests alternative strategies for administrators in vocational education to use in reducing sex segregation and fostering sex fairness. In the first section the nature of the problem is discussed; occupational sex stereotyping and segregation are recognized as major factors. Next, the relevant federal laws are summarized, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title II of the Education Amendments of 1976, and Executive Order 11246 (1965). The third section deals with a variety of strategies aimed at different aspects of the problem. For students, three areas are identified as targets: (1) recruitment measures to increase nontraditional enrollment, emphasizing career education programs, prevocational programs, and introductory vocational classes; (2) guidance and counseling to improve the retention rate of nontraditional students; and (3) placement programs to overcome occupational sex bias focusing on cooperative education programs. Sex stereotyping is also recognized as affecting special population students (displaced homemakers, minorities, the handicapped, and the disadvantaged), and strategies for change are offered in each case. On the staff level, two types of activities are discussed: inservice training and affirmative action programs. Additional communication efforts are recommended at the community and parent levels. (ELG)

This document presents the conclusions and recommendations of a study conducted to explain the inequalities faced by low-income women in job training, employment, and earnings. The study explored the dimensions of the problems such women face, possible solutions, and the extent to which a group of Health Education and Welfare (HEW) and HEW-related programs address or fail to address those solutions. This document is divided into two major sections. Section 1 presents the conclusions and recommendations and a summary of the report. A brief description of nine federal programs which have potential for helping low income women are also included in this section. Section 2 reports the study in more detail. It provides a discussion of the issues involved and information from the assessment of selected programs with potential for assisting low-income women to increase their earning power. Conclusions and recommendations are also included in section 2. The following information is appended: a discussion of women in non-traditional jobs; selected budget data on several federal programs included in this study; a glossary of terms; and an explanation of vocational-technical education categories. (BM)

Severe methodological problems were encountered in an attempt to investigate the impact of Education Division programs on girls and women--and, in particular, to learn whether these programs have a differential impact by sex or by race/ethnicity. (The "Education Division" comprises the Office of Education, the National Institute of Education, the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary.) The division remains in June 1977 unable to report fully and accurately what types of data are available by sex or by-sex-by-race/ethnicity. Gathering and reporting more kinds of data disaggregated by sex and by-sex-by-race/ethnicity is only the first step. Effective procedures also do not exist within the division for (1) analyzing the data and reporting them in a way that is meaningful to decision makers, (2) bringing the data to the attention of the appropriate decision makers, and (3) acting upon the data. Funding shortages and cutbacks have affected much related high-priority research. (In response to the problems identified, specific recommendations are addressed to specific groups within the Education Division for the generation and utilization of information necessary to the improvement of equity for women.) (JT)