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In 2000, a survey of 148 local government officials in West Virginia sought information in eight areas of local issues, including community needs. This paper focuses on responses of about 11 categories of community needs and compares them to findings from a similar study conducted in 1996. The categories are governmental administration, financial management, public finance, economic development, planning and land use, infrastructure and environmental management, transportation, housing, public health and social services, public safety, and education. Responses were analyzed for the state overall and for the 10 regional planning and development councils. Findings indicate that economic development, particularly recruitment of new manufacturing industry, continued to be the top concern among West Virginia local officials. Education and housing issues remained important overall issues, but public health and social services issues and planning and land use issues gained in importance. Meanwhile, public finance, infrastructure, and environmental management matters became less of a concern. Domestic violence became a more important issue, but the average score remained the same. Appendices present statewide responses by category, overall rankings of all issues examined, and a list of top 10 concerns by planning and development council region. (TD)

Despite increased government investments in education, West Virginia continues to have one of the nation's highest high school dropout rates and is among the states with the highest unemployment rates. Human capital theory provides the conceptual basis for evaluating the relationship between investment in education and economic development. An ordinary least squares regression method was used to examine the implications of high school dropouts in the economic development of West Virginia. Results revealed that increases in high school dropout rates and the state gross domestic product increased employment rates, while an increase in unemployment compensation decreased employment rates. Thus, the increase in employment rates may likely be in unskilled and low-paying jobs. The conclusions suggest several implications for policymakers. The opportunity cost to invest in education is low when an area is still attracting firms that require unskilled and low-paying jobs. As long as dropout rates positively correlate with unskilled and low-paying jobs, the poverty cycle in West Virginia will perpetuate. The perpetuation of low income and poverty will result in increased government expenditures on transfer payments such as income support, while generating low tax revenue. The perpetuation of unskilled and low-paying jobs will force most educated community members to leave because of the inability to find suitable jobs, and the community will lose a significant portion of returns on its investment in these people's education. Recommendations are offered for state and local long-range strategies to stimulate students to stay in school and pursue further education. (Contains 44 references.) (TD)

This report highlights the services and programs for workforce development that are available through West Virginia University's (WVU) statewide network of schools, colleges, regional campuses, extension offices, and research units, but does not include four-year undergraduate or graduate programs. Specific sections address the following services, programs, or schools: WVU extension service; Health Sciences and Technology Academy; rural health education partnerships; University Affiliated Center for Developmental Disabilities; the North Central Nursing Workforce Network; School of Social Work and Public Administration; College of Human Resources and Education; job accommodation network; Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and Development; College of Business and Economics; Institute for the History of Technology and Industrial Archaeology; software engineering; mining extension service; National Research Center for Coal and Energy; alternative fuels project; College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Consumer Sciences; Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism; College of Law; School of Physical Education; WVU at Parkersburg; Potomac State College of WVU; WVU Institute of Technology; and West Virginia Clearinghouse for Workforce Education. (DB)

This final report describes activities and achievements of a federally supported 3-year program to train school guidance counselors and rehabilitation counselors to provide transition services for students with disabilities. The report is organized around the program's five goals: (1) develop, refine, and implement a training program to develop competencies of school and rehabilitation counselors (S&RC) in transition areas; (2) provide an externship for S&RC trainees to apply and demonstrate newly acquired competencies; (3) measure the impact of the training program on services for students with disabilities in West Virginia; (4) disseminate information, results of developed procedures, program model, program evaluation, and activities of those who completed the program; and (5) internalize the program into the college's graduate offerings. Ninety-one participants were served in the program. Appendices offer an excerpt from a transition practicum checklist, the program advisory committee, samples of responses to the transition evaluation survey, a flyer, and a listing of transition references and resources. Contains 170 references and 32 organizational resources. (DB)

This report provides information on 12 indicators of child and adolescent health, education, and economic status in West Virginia at the state and county level. It includes a state profile, a minority profile, and 55 county profiles. Each of the indicators is discussed on a state-wide basis. The bulk of the report consists of one-page county profiles, each of which contains a chart showing the percentage increase or decrease in each of the 12 indicators from 1980 to 1991, actual rates in each period, state rate, and county rank. Tables outlining county demographic and family income data are also presented. The report documents several alarming trends. First, nearly 30 percent of West Virginia women giving birth for the first time are starting families with significant disadvantages, falling into at least 2 of 3 categories: they have less than 12 years of schooling, they are unmarried, or they are under age 20. The state's unmarried teen pregnancy rate also increased by 60 percent from 1980 to 1991. On the positive side, the report notes that rates have declined significantly for infant and child mortality, high school dropouts, and overall teenage pregnancy. Appendixes provide information about indicator definitions, methodology, and sources, along with the raw data for each county. (MDM)

This paper addresses issues involving the designing of new job training and education programs in central Appalachia in response to national policies for economic improvement. In March 1994, the Reemployment Act of 1994 was announced as the Clinton administration's response to problems caused by radical and worldwide economic restructuring. The goal is to focus on labor force preparedness through training highly skilled workers, in hopes of attracting capital investment. Data from West Virginia, the only state entirely within the central Appalachia region, indicate that high-paying jobs in coal mining, manufacturing, and other areas have declined by 22.5 percent, while lower-paying jobs have increased by 24.4 percent. Because of economic factors and changes in the labor market, women in this region are moving into a growing contingent labor force that offers little job security. Barriers to a highly skilled workforce in central Appalachia include low educational attainment and difficulties that preclude women from pursuing educational goals and job training opportunities. Interviews conducted with 44 eastern Kentucky women reveal that gendered statuses in families, poverty, the lack of support services for economically distressed families, sexism, classism, and domestic abuse have acted as barriers to educational attainment for these women. Suggestions include linking education and job training programs to changes in labor markets, providing job training programs aimed at meeting the needs of participants, increasing availability of support services, and strengthening desirable "informal" economic activities. (LP)

The education of students in the techniques of critical appraisal of drug studies has been identified as a deficiency in many health sciences curricula. Errors in research design and inconsistencies in the reporting of study results persist in professional pharmacy and medical journals. Thus, thorough and accurate review and interpretation of journal studies are essential for assuring that patients receive proper drug therapy. This project developed an interactive, computer instructional program that would teach students to evaluate all aspects of published drug efficacy studies. The content for the program was identified, prepared, and designed for an interactive computer format, and the program was developed using "Authorware Professional." The program, "Evaluation of Clinical Drug Studies," consists of 10 main sections with several subsections. Two consecutive classes of pharmacy students at West Virginia University tested the program, which was found to increase significantly their knowledge of critical drug study evaluation techniques compared to a control group and pretests. Appendices include the timetable for the project; "Development and Evaluation of a Computer-Assisted Instructional Program To Teach Critical Evaluation of Drug Studies" (Marie A. Abate, Arthur I. Jacknowitz, James M. Shumway, and Anne H. Nardi)--an article published in "American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education," Volume 57, Winter 1993; computer program evaluation summary for 1994; and information for FIPSE. (SWC)

It is generally recognized that age, by itself, is not an adequate criterion with which to judge a person's ability to drive. Individuals do not age at the same rate, and there are large intraindividual differences in the aging process. This study, the first phase of a proposed two-phase research project, investigated the relationship of physical fitness to older driver performance by examining descriptively the relative contributions of various measures of cardiorespiratory efficiency, range of motion, and reaction time/movement time to field-based assessments of older driver performance. A total of 106 subjects, ages 20-35 (N=43) and ages 60-75 (N=63) were administered a battery of health, psychomotor, and physical fitness tests and a field-based assessment of automobile driving skill. In general the results indicated that the physical fitness of older drivers was related to their ability to safety drive an automobile. Older people with higher levels of physical fitness tended to be more proficient at driving than were older people with lower levels of physical fitness. Joint flexibility and reaction time were found to be most predictive of driving ability with cardiorespiratory fitness somewhat less related to driving ability. If a sufficiently strong relationship is established by further research, the older driver may be given a test of physical fitness as part of a driver's licensing examination to determine the levels of his or her driving ability. Plans for phase 2 of the research are briefly outlined, and a list of 83 references is appended. (ABL)

The document contains the final report of a model educational program for handicapped preschoolers in Preston County (West Virginia). Section I offers the history of the project and background information on the geographic location, operating characteristics, children served, and staffing pattern. Section II outlines the original project objectives while section III covers the objectives accomplished in the following areas: services for children, services for parents, staff development, demonstration/dissemination, and administration/management/evaluation. A final section reviews findings and recommendations. It is noted that data show statistically significant growth in most areas assessed; that products revised and/or developed include a revision of the West Virginia Assessment and Tracking System (WVAATS), curricular materials, and a measure of parental involvement; and that standard program efficiency information would be useful to distribute among project directors. Appendixes make up half the document and include a copy of the WVAATS; sample curriculums in visual, auditory, and tactile responsiveness; a parent needs assessment survey form and a parent/family involvement index; an outline of a model for parental involvement in the special education program; the text of a slide-tape show; sample newspaper articles; and a paper on conrolled evaluation of instruction methods. (SW)

As a result of trends toward increasing instead of decreasing population growth in rural areas (as confirmed by the 1980 Census of Population), a sample of 2,752 rural residents from 967 households in 9 West Virginia counties were surveyed in 1981 to gain information that might be useful in public policy, education, and related programs. The sample was a relatively heterogeneous group, representing a broad cross section with respect to socioeconomic characteristics (housewives, students, and retired persons accounted for a relatively large proportion of household members). Although low household incomes were reported fairly frequently, intermediate income levels were more typical, and a substantial number were relatively high. Educational levels among adults varied considerably. Income, education, and household composition were important socioeconomic factors that were related to other characteristics or attitudes of the persons interviewed. Several characteristics tended to vary with location (communities, residences, and individuals); however, a central coal mining county was similar to the southern coal mining counties. The majority of in-migration seemed to be from out-of-state and has become more common during the last 10 years, with more during the last 5 years. (AH)

A comprehensive third-party evaluation of a regional career education project covering an eight-county area in West Virginia focused on the project's most recent year of operation (1975-76). The evaluation attempted to measure the degree of attainment of stated goals and objectives and was designed to develop a guide and lend direction to local schools in designing comprehensive career education programs. A process/product evaluation model focused on three developmental stages within the career education program: Career awareness (grades 3 and 6), career exploration (grade 9), and career preparation (grade 12). The process component, featuring specific operational and procedural (e.g., organization, materials, inservices) aspects of the program, was assessed by means of analysis of all available project records; interviews with selected personnel: county superintendents, principals, and teachers; and unobtrusive measures. The product component, incorporating expected changes in the behavior of selected students (in grades 3, 6, 9, and 12) and changes in attitude and knowledge of representative administrators and teachers, was studied through specialized tests. It was found that the process dimension attained creditable success in both implementation and support and that career education awareness by teachers saturates the region. Since it was not possible statistically to attribute student career development gains directly to teacher participation, the establishment of behavioral objectives that relate learning activities (process) and learning outcomes (product) is recommended. (Appendixes, one-third of the report, contain demographic description, evaluation instruments, project publicity, and data tables.) (TA)

The purposes of this paper are to (1) present a theoretical background on the reasons for the hastened exodus of rural Appalachians and (2) describe occupational patterns of Appalachians and, in particular, West Virginians in Cleveland, Ohio. The data presented were secured in 1967 by a survey of West Virginians living in the so-called Appalachian ghetto and in the suburbs of Cleveland. Among the findings of the study were: among West Virginians in Cleveland, ghetto residents were much younger than suburbanites; probably more than any other variable, technical skills differentiates the four survey groups, and particularly the three groups of migrants; returned migrants have the largest proportion of unskilled workers, ghetto, the largest proportion of semiskilled, and suburbans, the largest proportion of skilled workers; there was a great turnover between the migrants' occupation before migration and his first Cleveland job; as compared to West Virginia, migrants in Cleveland from West Virginia had a lower proportion of unemployed and retired; and, Cleveland migrants, and in particular suburbanites, had considerably higher income than people from the State of West Virginia as a whole. (Author/JM)

Described is a comprehensive special education plan for Marion County, West Virginia prepared by the technology and education department at West Virginia University. The rationale for special education in the country is discussed in terms of national and local historical developments and implications are suggested from reviews of current literature and legislation. Reported are surveys of programmatic needs in Marion County, including program evaluation and scope, and of agency cooperation needs, including major cooperating agencies as well as private agencies. Detailed in the chapter on the opportunities survey are the organizational survey components (description, procedure, analysis, and conclusions), the survey on exemplary programs, and a list of potentially cooperating organizations (such as religious and business organizations). The development of ideal and alternative plans for the handicapped is dealt with in terms of school and life stages, from detection to vocational experience. Results of the study are said to indicate the need for expanding currently sound practices in a continuum of services to include such groups as the learning disabled and the socially maladjusted. Specific recommendations for such aspects as detection, preschool instruction, and cooperative work experience are given. Included among the six appendixes are letters of cooperation and business-industry-service materials. (CL)

Distinct questions come up concerning industrial seniority practices and higher education. (1) Would retrenchment by seniority--rank or institutional--destroy academic tenure as such and institute instead a new system? (2) Can "bumping" be used in academe? (3) Would seniority discourage academic transfers? (4) Would seniority effect disciplinary actions? (5) Concerning merit, would industrial seniority, as it would be applied to higher education, supercede exemptions for meritorious performance in the classroom or in a first-level administration position? That retrenchment will increasingly be used by college/university administrators to solve budgetary problems and to maximize institutional growth is an inevitable truth. Both administrators and faculty members must immediately become aware of the cataclysmic impact of retrenchment by seniority on higher education. (Author/KE)

The Center for Teachers in the Technologies was designed to upgrade teacher competence in: (1) instructional strategies, (2) diagnostic skills, (3) background information, and (4) curriculum. Viewing itself as a service organ for teachers, the center responded to needs articulated by the educational community by designing and delivering brief, well-focused units on problem solving in the technologies. The center provides leadership, information, and instructional resources for the community in areas such as teaching the metric system, technological curriculum in the elementary school, aerospace education, etc. The objectives and accomplishments of the center are described in detail, and the appendixes concentrate on the inservice and instructional units that the center has developed. (EMH)

In order to determine rural land use in the Monongahela River Basin, 11,528 landowners, controlling 40 percent of 10 contiguous counties in north-central West Virginia and constituting 19 percent of the rural population, were surveyed. Data derived from 892 questionnaire responses were analyzed in terms of past, present, and future land use; land valuation; market trends; tenure; and prospects for potential conflicts among competing rural land uses. Specifically, data encompassed: (1) population statistics, 1950, 1960, 1970; (2) export industries; (3) rural land use in 1972 (acreage distribution, land values, mineral resources, idle farmland, farm income, agricultural crops, crop acreages, livestock income); (4) changes in land use, 1962-72; (5) anticipated land use changes, 1982; (6) land use problems (farm operation, water sources, and disturbed lands). Results indicated rural landowners: (1) owned less than 100 acres; (2) large tracts were few, averaging 177.9 acres; (3) beef cattle sales comprised the major source of farm income, but most owners earned greater incomes off the farm; (4) large owners of timber and mineral rights were notably absent from the survey population; (5) 50 percent of those surveyed had coal reserves, 80 percent had coal rights, and 13 percent indicated willingness to sell; (6) farmland will decrease and farms will increase in size; (7) livestock production will be the major determinant of the surveyed land. (JC)

The proposition that Appalachian religion persists because it is performing a significant function as a mechanism helping the adjustment of people who due to modern changes, have become dislocated socially, economically, and psychologically was tested. Religiosity was defined on the basis of 4 variables: (1) religious beliefs; (2) need to use religion as a buffer to the outside world; (3) preference of religion as a way of life; and (4) church participation. Also tested were 3 sets of hypotheses dealing with: (1) the 4 religiosity aspects and socioeconomic and sociopsychological dimensions; (2) the sectarian, non-sectarian dichotomy; and (3) religiosity and community size and migration to the city. Approximately 1,100 male household heads from Mineral, Hardy, and Raleigh counties in West Virginia were interviewed. Clusters from the counties were selected on the basis of community size; region of state (mining, non-mining, northern and southern part of the state); and socioeconomic status. The hypothesis that the dispossessed, deprived, and alienated resulting from the upheaval of social and technological change in Appalachia would be those exhibiting the greatest need for the support of religion, was substantiated by the data. The aged, poor, less educated, alienated and infirm, all ranked significantly higher in religiosity than did the socially well-adjusted. (NQ)

This document describes "Project Open," a curriculum development services agreement between the Wetzel County Board of Education and the West Virginia University Board of Regents, to be implemented in two county high schools. This agreement is designed to provide the school system with a planned educational curriculum and personnel development program in the technologies. The purpose of "Project Open" is to provide opportunities for young people to understand the highly complex technological world in which they live, and thus focuses on the industrial arts. The document is divided into two parts, each of which relates to one of the high schools involved. Both of these parts are divided into six sections. Section one discusses the nature of the project in relation to the community, the school system, the teachers, and the students. The purpose of the project is set forth in section two; this section includes long- and short-range objectives, student and community needs, and a list of course descriptions. The third section describes inservice training, course design and implementation, physical facility modification, and industrial arts club activities. Section four is comprised of internal and external evaluation reports by the principal, teachers, consultants, the state curriculum development specialist, the field coordinator, and the field liaison. Future progress is discussed in section five, and section six (the appendix) includes the contract agreement and course content charts. (BD)

This is the 1974-75 progress report of Project Open at Cox Landing Junior High School in Cabell County, West Virginia. The first chapter contains a description of the Project Open concept and is followed, in chapter two, by a statement of purpose which declares that the project was established to create a uniform program in the fine and practical arts that would entail a relevant scope and sequence to assist in preparing students living in a technological society. Major achievements of the 1974-75 project year and internal and external evaluations are the subjects of the next two chapters. Future plans, and conclusions and recommendations for the project are discussed in the final two chapters. Appended are the Project Open contract, a list of identified unified arts programs, a list of sample teacher development unified arts units, the inservice schedule and workshop agenda, a draft of the Cabell County unified arts curriculum guide, the school schedule, a sample elementary technology unit plan, and a sample of a daily log. (RC)

This is a progress report of Project Open in Mason County, West Virginia. The first part of the report details the progress made in the first year of an attempt to design and implement a new course entitled Career Education in Technology at Point Pleasant Junior High School. This part of the report lists the eight purposes of the project and contains an outline of the content of the course, including additions that were made to the original outline. Program additions to the original guidelines are also briefly discussed. An outline of the major activities of the course precedes a list of the problems encountered during the course. Observations, evaluations plans for the future, conclusions and recommendation, and an appendix containing evaluative correspondence and a metric memorandum conclude this part of the report. The second part of the report details the second year of a similar project at Wahama Junior High School. It begins with a brief introduction explaining the purpose of the project. The first section of this part describes the activities of the second year of the project beginning with the summer of 1974 and including curriculum and program revision, objectives a topic outline of the program, and selected materials. The second section deals with the implementation of the program. The third and final section contains a summary of the project including results, conclusions, and recommendations. (RC)

Operating under the assumption that: (1) state agencies routinely collect large amounts of data; (2) these data possess significant potential for evaluating VR programs; and (3) the program evaluation potential of these data has been largely untapped, the W. Va. Research and Training Center has been developing techniques for evaluating rehabilitation programs. This publication contains three papers, the first of which details the basic rationale for a technique developed in the Research and Training Center that is designed to simplify the ultimate development of standards for self-evaluation of VR programs. This technique, called Profile Analysis Technique, takes currently existing data and formats it in such a way as to increase its intelligibility. The second paper, dealing with Marco and Micro Aspects of Program Evaluation in rehabilitation, takes the theoretical approach developed in the previous paper and shows its application to a number of real-life situations. The third paper, dealing with Measurement of Client Outcomes, continues with a demonstration of how routinely available data can generate fine-grain analysis of program functioning. (Author)

This document, prepared by a Study Group of the Institute on Rehabilitation Issues, highlights some of the more basic and timely issues regarding the measurement of client outcomes. Areas in which change should be measured, in priority order, are vocational functioning and potential, economic independence, physical functioning and psychosocial functioning. The document is not intended to be a guide or an outline of how to establish and implement a program for measuring client outcomes. Instead it reviews current practices, emerging aspects and implications, presents issues, and makes recommendations. (Author/HMV)

The major objective of this pilot survey was to pretest questions for use in the development and design of a larger, more definitive survey of residents of rural communities in Appalachia, planned for the spring of 1981, and to obtain preliminary descriptive data about the area's residents. Telephone interviews covered respondents' family characteristics and attitudes toward their communities and potential new energy developments. Complete, usable interviews were obtained from 129 of the 151 residents contacted (87%). Limitations included the small sample size and the fact that respondents were exposed to much publicity and controversy after interviewing was concluded. Those favoring the energy industries comprised 72%, while 13% opposed and 14% "didn't know." When characteristics of those favoring the industries were compared with those opposing such industries, it was found that older respondents, those with less education, larger families, and lower incomes tended to favor the industries, while respondents who were younger, had more education, smaller families, and higher incomes tended to oppose the establishment of the industries. A larger survey has been planned to determine more definitive relationships relative to these preliminary findings and furnish data useful to others in the field of social impact assessment of energy developments. (AN)

This project developed an effective science curriculum, "Science for the Hearing Impaired" (SFHI), through adaption of two Houghton Mifflin science programs for use with hearing impaired adolescents (ages 9-13). This adaption included reorganization of objectives and content within lessons, deliberate and appropriate teaching of science processes and inquiry skills, multi-sensory presentation of content through active participation, paraphrasing of text and use of language and identification cards, a selected science vocabulary taught through active experience, a variety of communication techniques, and a placement and evaluation system for science learning designed around the capabilities of the hearing impaired. Results from a 1981 trial period were used to produce a final edition of the program, the first available program at the national level providing early adolescent hearing-impaired students with an easily accessible and effective science curriculum adapted to their specific needs. Additional assessment of student progress included cognitive development level, pre-post unit tests of science learning and language development, and science interests and attitudes. Included are the project's developmental and evaluation processes, evaluation results, and in five appendices: project activities/staff listings, trial center descriptions, evaluation instruments, and media material guide to accompany use of the SFHI program. (Author/JN)