Summer Institute for High School Students: A Research Project in Pre-Vocational Education. Semi-Final Report.

A total of 160 high school students in the Pitt County and the Greenville city school systems participated in two summer institutes which were conducted to alter the attitudes and interests of students regarding vocational education. Participants for the institutes were chosen from the top two academic quartiles, after which an experimental and control group were established. The experimental group participated in a specially designed four-week institute involving many kinds of exposure to vocational education. The control group did not receive any treatment. Followup studies were conducted on both groups to determine the type of postsecondary education institution that participants chose to attend. Student attitudes and interests did change, more so for males than for females. Fourteen percent of the total experimental group enrolled in a technical institute, community college, or trade school compared to five percent of the control group. (Author/VA)