In the classroom the teacher or teacher-coordinator provides vocational education instruction directly related to employment experiences. Regular parttime employment enables the student to develop and refine those occupational competencies needed to acquire a job, adjust to the employment environment, and advance in the occupation of his choice. Instruction on the job is supervised by the training sponsor-an employer or employee-who works closely with the coordinator or teacher-coordinator in planning and sequencing learning experiences appropriate for the student and compatible with his goals and those of the employer. The principal purpose of part G programs was to increase opportunities for vocational education students to participate in cooperative vocational education programs throughout the State, especially in those areas that had high rates of school dropouts and youth unemployment. Work-study Programs Work-study programs were initiated as part H of Public Law 90-576, and while California supported similar programs by the same name in 1963 and 1968, part H, work-study, was a new program with little precedent. Enrollment in 1972 was 2,278 and is projected to be 3,517 in 1977. Vocational education programs under part H of Public Law 90-576 are designed to provide parttime employment for fulltime students in need of earnings to begin or continue their vocational training. By law, employment has to be with a public institution. Most of the nearly 2,300 students working under part H programs in 1972 were hired by school and community college districts. To be eligible, students had to be between the ages of 15 and 21 and able to prove financial need in beginning or continuing their vocational studies. As with part A and part G programs, priority for funding was given to areas with large concentrations of unemployed youths and school dropouts. Benefits to students were financial assistance, realistic work experience, an opportunity to continue in school, and growth in selfconfidence and identity. Also benefitting were school and community college districts, which were able to expand their services because of student assistance. Decreased dropout rates, better student performance, and an improved school relationship with parents and community were also reported by the schools. Parents benefitted indirectly from the financial assistance and other benefits their children received. Research and Training. The California Research Coordinating Unit (CRCU) has been the focal point of research in vocational education. This unit administers and monitors part C research projects in the State, consults with all segments of education, assists in the design and initiation of research studies, acquires and reviews research studies, and disseminates summaries and bibliographies of research relevant to California. The CRCU was instrumental in developing curriculum materials dissemination systems for both business education and consumer and homemaking education. Small grants of $2,500 per individual were awarded to graduate students who investigated areas of interest in vocational education. The following are desciptions of three part C research projects completed in 1972: Location: University of California at Los Angeles Title: Allied Health Professions Project Secondary Schools Pilot and Demonstration Project Project No: 19-30049-C038-71 The design of this project provides for the development and testing of a model program that will provide high school students, especially dropouts and underachievers from disadvantaged areas, with the necessary skills and motivation for employment in allied health occupations. This is a multifunded project, with part C funds being used for the research activities within the project parameters. The purpose of the research portion of this study is to evaluate the experimental basic introduction to allied health curriculum in terms of the effects it has had in motivating students toward choosing and preparing for employment in health care occupations. Evaluation of the program will be made by measuring students' progress toward the intended objectives of the program, and by comparing the performance and progress of the experimental group who have participated in the program with those of a control group drawn from the same populations and selected to match the experimental group in interest, ability, and education, who have followed the standard general curriculum in the same schools as the experimental group. Location: Ventura County Superintendent of Schools The Ventura County Manpower Projection Model Project No: 56-10561-C007-71 The project is submitted by the Ventura County superintendent of schools office and jointly sponsored by Ventura County community college district with the participation of seven other Ventura County unified and high school districts and the cooperation of the California Department of Human Resources Development. It is designed to produce and test a manpower projection model for use in the Ventura County standard metropolitan statistical area. and its adjacent labor market areas. A variety of techniques will be tested including an industry occupational matrix, employer survey, and extrapolation of trends. The research will identify feasible methods for the use of regional and local educational units in making short- and long-range labor market projections for curriculum and facility planning. Activities of the project include identification and testing of various projection techniques and the description of a feasible model. A manual suitable for general usage which includes a step-by-step procedure for using the model will be produced. A panel of outside experts will be used to validate both the procedures and techniques. Results were disseminated by making the manual available to other California educational agencies and by offering a spring and summer workshop for practitioners in 1972. The results of this research can improve the planning capabilities and effectiveness of vocational educators in Ventura County and throughout the State. Location: Project No: Santa Barbara County Office of Education A Proposal for the Research and Evaluation of Follow-up Studies of High School Graduates Using Sampling Methods 42-10421-C048-72 The project has been designed to study the feasibility of using statistical sampling techniques to obtain followup information about job placement and progress of high school graduates. The intent of the project is to determine: (1) the particular methods that can be applied; and (2) the percentages of pupils that are required to be in samples for various vocational programs, in order to obtain the same information that would be gathered from a followup study of all the graduates of a given school district or area. A study will be made of the costs of using sampling methods in comparison with the costs of obtaining information through the traditional attempted followup of all pupils in given programs and/or graduating classes. Basic information will be collected from at least 95 percent of the 3,800 pupils who graduated in 1970 and 1971 from high schools in two districts in Santa Barbara County. Information will be gathered by personal interview, telephone interview, and questionnaire. School records of the pupils will be analyzed and relationships developed between actual occupational activity and vocational training received in high school. Statistical procedures will be applied to the basic information to determine the optimum sampling procedure, and size of pupil sample, for the various high school vocational programs, and pupil and community characteristics. Information obtained from sampling will be compared with the basic data compiled for the 3,800 pupils who graduated in the classes of 1970 and 1971 to determine the degree that the information obtained from sampling is representative of data obtained from a followup study of the entire graduating classes. The product of the study will be a tested model, complete with a manual of instructions, for a method of obtaining realistic, reliable information about employment activities of pupils who received. Vocational education in high school, by sampling techniques rather than by total followup studies. California Advisory Council on Vocational Education The California Advisory Council on Vocational Education and Technical Training is a 30-member advisory body appointed by the Governor. The council has been increasingly approaching its promise. Through its comprehensive representation, the many public needs for vocational education are constantly being brought to the attention of the State board staff. Moreover, their participation in the evaluation process insures greater visibility to the program of vocational education in the State. Annually, the California Advisory Council on Vocational Education and Technical Training prepares a report concerning its find ings on the effectiveness of the total program of vocational education in California. The California Advisory Council on Vocational Education and Technical Training was provided for in Public Law 90-576 and is established under the California statutes, education code section 6252. The purpose of the council is to: (1) Advise the State board of education and the board of governors of the California community colleges in the development and preparation of annual and long-range State plans for occupational education and training; (2) evaluate programs of occupational education and training maintained by local educational agencies, and publish and distribute the results; and (3) prepare and submit through the State board of education and board of governors of the California community colleges an annual evaluation report to the legislature, U.S. Commissioner of Education, and National Advisory Council on Vocational Education. The council's findings and recommendations are carefully analyzed by the State board staff and decisions are made as to disposition. These reports have proved both constructive and useful for planning. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS California has a long and colorful history in vocational education, beginning with the San Francisco Mechanics Institute in 1854 through the years to the present, with more than 1.25 million students enrolled in occupation-centered curriculums in the State's 763 high schools, 96 community colleges, and 193 adult schools. With improving employment opportunities and declining unemployment, couplied with shifting job markets, California must have a dependable supply of workers who have job-entry level skills or who can be retrained. Increasingly, employers are depending on the public schools and community colleges for training prospective employees in specific skills. The schools and community colleges are meeting the challenge through joint and area planning for local job markets, professional development of teachers and instructors, articulation between_secondary and postsecondary institutions, cooperation with the State employment agency, special emphasis on the disadvantaged and handicapped, consumer and homemaking education, comprehensive evaluation, and assaults on the problem on a number of other fronts. Suffice it to say that the program of vocational education is needed in California. Statements of support are both widespread and significant. Governor Ronald Reagan; State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Wilson Riles; members of the legislature; prominent members of business and industry; school and community college district superintendents, and noted private individuals alike have offered solid support for the purposes and prospects of vocational education. Too, public opinion toward vocational education appears stronger in light of changes in societal values. It is obvious to say that the Vocational Education Act of 1963 and its 1968 amendments have made a significant impact on the economy of California. All too often, vocational education, strengthened by Federal aid, is taken for granted. Persons with State responsibility for administration of Federal vocational education 99-988-73-pt. 1-5 funds have a vantage point to perceive, even down to the classroom level, what would happen to the program of vocational education if Federal funds designated for it were eliminated or cut back, or even if the priority for vocational education were subjected to competition with other priorities in education. It appears appropriate now to comment on the Vocational Education Amendments in 1968 and the special revenue-sharing feature of the Better Schools Act of 1973. Experience in California has shown the present arrangement of a block grant for regular, ongoing occupational preparation programs plus the special categories for innovative, exemplary, and target area efforts is altogether satisfactory in meeting the State's manpower and societal needs and challenges. Projections of labor demand in this State with its high population, high urban concentration fluid job markets, and mobile populace point to one conclusion: the State will need more resources from a supply that is established and dependable. It is therefore recommended that Public Law 90-576 be continued with funding levels commensurate with evident need. Further, funding should be settled 1 year in advance to avoid casualties in planning. Career education should be recognized separately from vocational education by enacting legislation to further test its promise. Sufficient funds should be appropriated to cover the magnitude of this undertaking. If special revenue sharing is inevitable, vocational education should receive special attention in the distribution of Federal funds, and the funds should be no less than currently authorized. Funds for the development of comprehensive career education in this case should be added to the vocational education categorical funds to augment career education development efforts already underway. |