Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on June 2, 2009) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Georgia Southern University, 2007. / "A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education." Education Administration, under the direction of Charles Reavis. ETD. Electronic version approved: December 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-137) and appendices.

In 1993 a Career and Technical Preparation Task Force, was formed in a nothern Virginia suburban school system, to study and recommend changes to the vocational education curriculum and two high school vocational centers. The task force met for thirteen months and concluded its study in a report entitled "Securing Our Students' Future in a High Tech Global Economy." The Division Superintendent presented this report and its recommendations to the county school board on January 12, 1995. The Board voted unanimously to accept the recommendations of the task force. After that point, an Implementation Task Force met from 1996to 1996 to plan the implementation of the original task force's seven recommendations. The recommendations represented a paradigm shift by advocating the elimination of the traditional vocational education philosophy of training some students for jobs while academically preparing others for future education. Vocational education was transformed into Professional Technical Studies, an academic discipline that integrated academic and career education. High school academies were established to replace the two vocational centers located within two existing high schools. The history that surrounded the implementation of the task force recommendations is presented in this study. / Ed. D.

This project is a Progam Manual for the International Business Academy of La Sierra High School for at-risk students to show how to successfully run an academy and graduate students in compliance with the California High School Exit Exam.

Career Academy instructors’ technical literacy is vital to the academic success of students. This nonexperimental ex post facto study examined the relationships between the level of technical literacy of instructors in career academies and student academic performance. It was also undertaken to explore the relationship between the pedagogical training of instructors and the academic performance of students. Out of a heterogeneous population of 564 teachers in six targeted schools, 136 teachers (26.0 %) responded to an online survey. The survey was designed to gather demographic and teaching experience data. Each demographic item was linked by researchers to teachers’ technology use in the classroom. Student achievement was measured by student learning gains as assessed by the reading section of the FCAT from the previous to the present school year. Linear and hierarchical regressions were conducted to examine the research questions. To clarify the possibility of teacher gender and teacher race/ethnic group differences by research variable, a series of one-way ANOVAs were conducted. As revealed by the ANOVA results, there were not statistically significant group differences in any of the research variables by teacher gender or teacher race/ethnicity. Greater student learning gains were associated with greater teacher technical expertise integrating computers and technology into the classroom, even after controlling for teacher attitude towards computers. Neither teacher attitude toward technology integration nor years of experience in integrating computers into the curriculum significantly predicted student learning gains in the regression models. Implications for HRD theory, research, and practice suggest that identifying teacher levels of technical literacy may help improve student academic performance by facilitating professional development strategies and new parameters for defining highly qualified instructors with 21st century skills. District professional development programs can benefit by increasing their offerings to include more computer and information communication technology courses. Teacher preparation programs can benefit by including technical literacy as part of their curriculum. State certification requirements could be expanded to include formal surveys to assess teacher use of technology.