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<p> Transitioning youth in the foster care system to successful young adult living is essential. They must be able to achieve a high school diploma, which is challenging for many. Too often, foster youth and those in kinship care are at higher risk of homelessness, unemployment and incarceration. The purpose of this <i>Commitment Initiative</i> was to create a grant proposal to enhance the <i>Empowering Children to Achieve Academic Success: A Curriculum for Kinship Caregivers and Foster Parents,</i> by adding additional materials and making this updated resource available for use nationwide. This <i> Commitment Initiative</i> aims to provide foster parents, kinship caregivers, and child welfare workers who have 11^th and 12^th grade students in their care with resources to achieve postsecondary education, financial aid and employment. Included in the grant proposal is a budget, timeline, and staffing. Submission of this grant proposal was not required for the successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> This study investigated the construct of the learning organization in the restaurant industry. Descriptive accounts of learning were gleaned from face-to-face interviews, focus groups, observations, document analysis, and data from the Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) from 52 participants employed in three US non-national chain restaurants in the Suburban Maryland / Washington D.C. area. This multiple-site case study extends the conversation of the learning organization by focusing on an industry that was not previously explored and offers new insight by providing a qualitative picture of how learning occurs in restaurants. </p><p> Five overall themes emerged from the data. Participants cobble together learning experiences from pre-shift meetings, formal training, learning from mistakes, and being thrown into the fire. Participants learn from customers through conversation and through trial and error as they adapt their service behaviors. Managers at each restaurant served as a learning champion by promoting dialog and prompting questions often in conjunction with food and beverage tastings. Informal and incidental learning was ever-present as participants naturally shared bits of knowledge through everyday interactions. Learning also took place off-the-clock as participants discussed their personal learning pursuits, such as accessing mobile apps or websites related to food and beverage, going to wineries, breweries, and specialty food markets, as well as reading cookbooks and magazines. Lastly, job rotation is a frequent learning practice during new hire training to expose individuals to the various roles within the restaurant. Cooks often rotate through different stations as they acquire and build up their technical skills. </p><p> In consideration of the evidence gathered, three conclusions are offered: (1) collaborative, informal learning practices are well pronounced learning strategies in restaurants; (2) leaders encouraging the development of new products (e.g., beverage / food) facilitate learning and experimentation in restaurants; and (3) a climate of consistent learning practices and procedures exist in restaurants. Overall, Watkins and Marsick&rsquo;s (1993; 2003) learning organization model did not fully depict the learning culture in restaurants. Future learning organization research is needed to better capture the unique workplace realities of high employee turnover, tip-based compensation, and more narrowly defined jobs (e.g., bartender, cook, server) that comprise the occupational culture of restaurant workers.</p>

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During the summer of 1987 a study was conducted to determine the effects of a summer employment training program. Forty-eight mildly handicapped (learning disabled, emotionally handicapped, educable mentally handicapped) students participated. There were two types of treatment conditions: work experience plus employability and social skills training (WE + ESST); and work experience only (WE). Fifteen students served as a control group. All students had participated in a work experience program during the preceding Spring and again in the following Fall. Students in the WE + ESST group received direct instruction on employability and social skills in a classroom setting for on hour a day, twice a week for six weeks. Work experience for both treatment groups consisted of working for a minimum of fifteen hours a week. They were monitored by job developers on at least a weekly basis.

<p> <b>Purpose:</b> The purpose of this mixed methods study is to examine the degree to which Washington State community and technical college workforce education administrators perceive their institutions to be labor market-responsive based on the Community College Labor Market Responsiveness assessment&rsquo;s seven dimensions of labor market responsiveness (leadership and governance, organizational structure and staffing, organizational culture, resources and funding, information and data, relationship-building, and partnerships) and to explore the factors impacting each of the seven dimensions. </p><p> <b>Methodology:</b> This mixed methods study described 39 Washington State community and technical college workforce administrators&rsquo; perceptions of community college labor market responsiveness. An explanatory design was employed to collect quantitative data to describe, followed by qualitative data to further explain. Data was collected using a web-based survey instrument with fixed-choice Likert-type and open-ended questions. </p><p> <b>Findings:</b> Overall, 62% of workforce educational administrators perceive the community colleges in Washington to be somewhat or almost always labor market responsive. The two most displayed dimensions were leadership and governance and organizational culture, however, the weakest dimension was organizational structure. The most impactful factors identified were: resources, leadership, workforce focus, organizational factors and external engagement. An unexpected finding was the absence of the practitioners&rsquo; reference to entrepreneurial characteristics, even though this is emphasized by scholars. </p><p> <b>Conclusions:</b> Washington State community and technical colleges are experts in workforce development although many factors impact their ability to effectively respond to labor market needs. This study concludes that Washington State community and technical colleges are perceived to be moderately labor market responsive, yet committed to external relationships and partnerships, and in need of more adequate financial, human and information resources to reach their full potential. Secondly, although there is strong leadership supporting labor market responsiveness efforts, unsupportive organizational structures limit their impact. In addition, entrepreneurial approaches are necessary to navigate resource-limited environments and this is not adequately supported by community colleges. </p><p> <b>Recommendations:</b> Further research is recommended to include other populations, correlate perceptions with other indicators, and compare perceptions between more than one sample. An exploration of entrepreneurial characteristics and vocational program review processes of community colleges should also be studied.</p>

Thesis (M.M. (Public Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, 2013. / A new Vocational Educational Policy, Botswana Technical Education Programme policy (BTEP) has been launched by the Department of Vocational Education and Training to enable the learners to acquire the necessary learning experiences and attributes towards effective preparation for the world of work. The nature of the programme is such that facilitation approaches should be learner-centred. The Quality Assurance policies are aimed to support the implementation of the BTEP. However, they were factors which hindered the effective implementation of BTEP in the Technical Colleges. Consequently, the Colleges implemented the policy partially while there was non-implementation in certain programmes at some Colleges and as a result BTEP failed to increase access in the Technical Colleges as initially intended. This was the research problem of the study. The aim of the study was to explore factors that constrained the implementation of BTEP. The related literature was consulted to determine the changes that could be made to enhance policy implementation. Subsequently, document analysis and semi-structured interviews were used to determine the current BTEP delivery practices of lecturers at four Technical Colleges in Botswana, namely, Maun Technical College, Selebi Phikwe Technical College, Francistown College of Vocational Education and Training and Palapye Technical College. Thereafter, the requirements of the policy and the current practices of the lecturers were compared to determine the factors that had hindered the implementation of BTEP. Though the research identified a number of perceived policy successes, perceived policy failures were also identified as follows: Lack of capacity to implement the policy in the Technical Colleges, lack of support for policy implementation from DTVET, lack of commitment to the policy, diverse interpretation of the policy and lastly negative attitude towards the policy was also identified as a constraining factor. Regarding these perceived constraints it was firstly recommended that DTVET should ensure that there are officers who are held accountable for the progress of the implementation of BTEP at DTVET level. Secondly DTVET should develop strategies to guide and support lecturers to implement BTEP effectively. Furthermore DTVET should ensure that messages are communicated to all stakeholders and that feedback about BTEP is clear and consistent. DTVET should also encourage the Colleges to adopt the policy, mitigate resistance and manage the implementation of BTEP. Lastly DTVET should simplify strategies for implementing the BTEP policy and avoid complex initiatives. This study may provide a solution to the problem of BTEP implementation in the Technical Colleges in Botswana. I write this in particular to advice and encourage, the Department of Vocational Education and Training, Programme Design and Development Unit, Quality Assurance Unit, College Management teams and lecturers to make use of the issues raised in this study to help them improve BTEP implementation in the Technical Colleges.

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The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in an experiential based instructional program for exploring vocations in emerging and new technologies would enable academically able high school juniors and seniors to attain increased maturity of attitudes and competency in career decision-making skills as measured by the Career Maturity Inventory. A total of 64 students participated in the study. Participants came from a pool of 132 junior and senior high school students identified as having a grade point average that placed them in the top thirty percent of their class. A pretest and posttest utilizing the Career Maturity Inventory was administered to both an experimental and control group consisting of 32 subjects each. Statistical tests of significance for all null hypotheses involved the use of analysis of covariance. The effects of participation in the program, "Academically Able-Exploring Vocations in Emerging and New Technologies (AA-EVENT)" were determined by comparing the posttest scores of the experimental group and control group on the Attitude Test and each of five subtests of the Competence Test of the Career Maturity Inventory (CMI). In each case, the appropriate pretest scores were used as a covariate of the posttest to control for any initial inequalities. All null hypotheses were tested using a .05 level of significance. There was a significant difference (p < .01) in the maturity of attitudes critical in making realistic career decisions between the experimental and control groups. Participants in AA-EVENT scored significantly higher than non-participants. There was a significant difference (p < .01) in self-appraisal in regard to career capabilities between the experimental and control groups. Participants in AA-EVENT scored significantly higher than non-participants. Participants in AA-EVENT scored higher than non-participants on the "Occupational Information," "Goal Selection," and "Problem Solving" subtests of the CMI. Even though gain was significant at the .10 level for each subtest, it was not significant for the purpose of this study. The least difference between the experimental and control groups was obtained on the "Planning" subtest of the CMI. Even though the experimental group had the higher mean, the difference yielded (p < .65) was not great enough to consider participation in AA-EVENT as having an effect. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of author.) UMI

This study was prepared primarily to show the students of the industrial arts field and later teachers of industrial arts that the curriculum is providing them with both academic and technical opportunities. It will also give the layman an idea that time and effort has to be put forth in planning the curriculum.