National Recognition Program for Exemplary Vocational Education Programs Serving Special Needs Populations / Thomas R. Wermuth and Maureen Coyle-Williams.

Professionals who work in the area of vocational education for students with special needs were surveyed to determine how they identify exemplary programs. Those students include those who are handicapped, disabled, dropouts, of limited English proficiency, immigrants, displaced homemakers, dislocated workers, disadvantaged, single or teen parents, nontraditional enrollees, blind or hearing impaired, and incarcerated individuals. For the 500 surveys distributed in several states, 366 responses were received from vocational teachers, local administrators, university teacher educators, vocational special needs teachers, special education teachers, and state-level administrators. The kinds of information the respondents thought were most valuable in describing effective programs and practices were educational goals, including anticipated learner outcomes; special population of students served; and detailed description of the program components or intervention. The most credible student outcome evidence for judging vocational special needs programs and practices was said to be acquisition of employability and survival skills; job placement data and training-related and unrelated jobs taken; and enrollment and completion data. The information most helpful in judging the effectiveness of vocational special needs programs and practices was found to be evidence describing the effects of the program upon student attainment of intended outcomes; number and type of special population students enrolling and completing over the previous 3 years, and case studies describing individual students before, during, and following program enrollment. Twenty preliminary components of exemplary vocational education programs were identified through this and a related study. (CML)

TASPP Brief, v1 n3 Dec 1989. ericd

Microfiche. [Washington D.C.]: ERIC Clearinghouse microfiches : positive.