The American Vocational Association reminds readers of this publication that the information contained in this publication was gathered and compiled over a six month's period. It is an almost impossible task to present data that is completely accurate at the point of publication. The materials presented here were prepared and submitted by State Directors of Vocational Education and represent the facts existing at the time the information was submitted. Generally, this publication is an attempt on the part of the authors to show the change and progress that has resulted in vocational education since the passage of the Vocational Education Act of 1963. The authors, in the Foreword, spell out certain limitations of the report. Lowell A. Burkick Executive Director American Vocational Association March 1968 NEW DESIGNS in VOCATIONAL, TECHNICAL, AND PRACTICAL ARTS EDUCATION in the Public Schools H. M. Hamlin - John A. Roeder J. Robert Warmbrod FOREWORD A project to summarize and publicize new developments in vocational, technical, and practical arts education was authorized by the Committee on Public Information of the American Vocational Association in December, 1963. Reports issuing from the regional studies involved in the project were published in the American Vocational Journal in December, 1964; November, 1965; April, 1967; and December, 1967. Data from the northeastern and middle western states were gathered in 1966 and 1967. New data from 25 southern and western states were sought in 1967 to update the earlier reports. Reports from the western states were obtained and summarized by Dr. Allen Lee, now Research Professor, Oregon State System of Higher Education; those from the Middle West by Dr. J. Robert Warmbrod, Associate Professor of Agricultural Education, University of Illinois; those from the northeast by Dr. John A. Roeder, Associate Professor of Vocational-Technical Education, State University College, Buffalo, New York; those from the South by Dr. H. M. Hamlin, Consultant, Center for Occupational Education, North Carolina State University. This manuscript was prepared by Dr. Hamlin. Credit is due Dr. John K. Coster, Director, and the staff of the Center for Occupational Education, North Carolina State University, for assistance in securing data and preparing the manuscript for publication. The reports from the states were most commonly made by state directors or persons they designated. In some states, their reports were supplemented by teacher educators. The new designs reported are those in the local public schools, the public area schools, and the supportive services provided in the state divisions of vocational education and the colleges and universities. Much larger programs of vocational and technical education outside the public schools are not included. Developments at the federal level are reported only as they have impinged upon the states. The report is further limited because it deals only with vocational, technical, and practical arts education and most states have reported only developments in the federally-aided program of vocational and technical education. It omits new designs in many other forms of education which contribute to occupational choice, competence, and advance ment. A summary derived from the information available to the writers will necessarily be unfair to the programs in some states. Programs described as new in some states may be old in other states. The working definition of a "new design" had to be a design new to the state reporting it. The space and attention given each state varies to some extent with the information the states provided, which varied from meager to abundant. The cooperation of those who furnished it exceeded even our high expectations and is much appreciated. The publication has been prepared primarily for persons outside public vocational, technical, and practical arts education. It is hoped that it will also be of value to the profession and that professional vocational educators will aid in disseminating it to educators of other types and especially to influential lay citizens. The message the publication brings is one which the Committee on Public Information has believed to be needed since the Committee was formed in 1959. The false stereotypes of vocational education reported in 1959 to be widely held are far more misleading now, if they still persist, in view of the tremendous developments of the past few years, some of which this publication reports. A similar message is conveyed by a recent publication of the Bureau of Research, U. S. Office of Education, entitled New Directions in Vocational Education. Case Studies in Change. This booklet reports new designs in five situations: the bay area of California; Georgia; Warren, Ohio; Phoenix, Arizona; and Quincy, Massachusetts.1 1 OE-80047, Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing March 1968 |