Current efforts to expand adult literacy services in the United States too often merely replicate past ineffective practices and fail to make use of alternative instructional and management approaches available to them. Learner participation practices are one such potentially useful tool. In them, learners are intentionally encouraged to take greater control of responsibility in the running of program activities. Not enough is known at present about the purposes, origins, forms, users, supportive or hindering factors, and outcomes of these practices as they have been developed to date. While there is evidence that the field has a growing interest in participatory approaches, only limited information and analysis have been developed to guide those hoping to improve and expand the use of these practices. To begin to fill in these gaps in knowledge, this study initially reviews the literature on participation and discusses three purposes for active learner participation: "efficiency," "personal development," and "social change." It then presents the results of a national survey of participatory practices in the instructional and management components of U.S. literacy programs. In instruction, learners are in some cases actively involved in planning, evaluation, peer-teaching, writing and reading practices, field trips, and artistic activities. In management, learners are taking leadership roles in public awareness and advocacy, governance, learner recruitment and intake, mutual support, conferences, community development, program staffing, income generation, and staff recruitment and training. Built on documents and interviews, the survey reveals that this interest is evident across the field, particularly within community based and volunteer programs. Next, intensive case studies describe participatory activities in two volunteer programs, two minority-language programs, and two programs for low-income women. These cases and the national survey provide the basis for an analysis of the origins, limitations, strengths, and critical conditions related to participatory efforts. Finally, the study recommends actions aimed at improving and expanding the use of these practices. These actions include building a deeper understanding of participatory literacy education, research and training, and expansion of the material and human resources needed to make these practices work.

This study was an examination of the safety trainers who work in large construction firms in the United States. It was conducted in the hopes of helping vocational educators improve construction safety training. The purpose of the study was to determine the 1) specific individual demographic characteristics of safety trainers, 2) challenges they experience when planning, delivering, and evaluating safety training programs, 3) relationships between selected individual demographic characteristics of safety trainers and the accident rates of their trainees, and 4) how safety trainers meet the challenges they experience. Most trainers in this study were white males with more than 20 years of construction experience. Approximately 57 percent of the safety trainers had earned a bachelor's degree or higher. Only five safety trainers had degrees in education. Safety trainers believed that they received more support from corporate management than they received from general management, such as project managers, engineers, and superintendents. This belief was found to be significant at the .01 level using a t-test. Additionally, safety trainers believed that they were better at planning and delivering safety training than they were at evaluating safety training. This belief also was found to be significant (p Six null hypotheses were developed to investigate the relationships between selected individual demographic characteristics of safety trainers and the accident rates of trainees. Among the findings for these hypotheses, the following was determined: 1. As company size increased, the accident rates of trainees decreased (r=-.328, p=.012). 2. As the educational levels of safety trainers increased, the accident rates of trainees decreased (r=-.440, p=.001). 3. There was no statistically significant relationship between the yearly amount of safety training that safety trainers received and the accident rates of their trainees (r=-.030, p=.826). 4. There was no statistically significant relationship between the number of years of construction experience that safety trainers have and the accident rates of their trainees (r=.054, p=.690). 5. There was no statistically significant relationship between the number of years of safety experience that safety trainers have and the accident rates of their trainees (r=.122, p=.363). 6. There was no statistically significant relationship between the number of years safety trainers have delivered safety training and the accident rates of their trainees (r=.146, p=.274). Safety trainers met the challenges of not receiving as much support from project managers, engineers, and superintendents as they received from corporate managers by making deliberate efforts to solicit buy-in from these individuals. Additionally, safety trainers met the challenges of not believing they were as good at evaluating safety training as they believed they were at planning and delivering safety training by receiving additional training in the area of evaluation. The study also discussed the conclusions and recommendations of the study. The study ended with a call for vocational educators to become more involved in the training of construction safety trainers. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2003. / June 10, 2003. / Construction Safety, Industrial Training, Training, Vocational Education, Construction, Safety, Civil Engineering, Industrial Technology / Includes bibliographical references. / William R. Snyder, Professor Directing Dissertation; Bonnie Greenwood, Outside Committee Member; Beverly Bower, Committee Member; Michael Biance, Committee Member.

This paper examines the integration of nonformal and formal education at the level of higher education, specifically for the training of nonformal education fieldworkers. Several patterns of possible linkages between these two educational spheres are defined and described. These patterns explain strategies ranging from programs centrally planned to rural level university programs. From this overview of linkages, seven conditions favorable for the development of integrative linkages are identified. An in depth study of a formal-nonformal integrated program in Indonesia is presented. Underlying this program are linkages between teacher training institutes and a government community education organization for the traning of nonformal education fieldworkers. Central to the program is a one-year diploma course in nonformal education. This paper examines the balance and merger of practice and theory in the curriculum, describes the field practicum, and evaluates staff development workshops and administrative relationships between these two educational organizations. The outcome of the study is an analytical framework that intersects the conditions favorable for integrative linkages with input and design factors. The framework provides a check list of program areas where integrative development might occur. Educational program planners can use the analytical framework as a tool to help design, examine, evaluate and transform programs that involve linkages between formal and nonformal education. In conclusion, nonformal education, while more reflective of community participation and needs, has neither gained the institutional stability nor credibility of formal education. Moreover, nonformal education fieldworkers have usually been poorly qualified and/or transient. More expensive and in greater social demand, formal education takes up the major portion of most developing countries' budgets. This study advocates that educational planners look towards the integration of nonformal and formal education at the level of higher education in the hopes of minimizing the weaknesses inherent in their separateness and capitalizing on the potential strengths of integration.

This explorative study sought to examine the educational experiences of older adults (from 60 to 80) who were participating in adult education programs. The study used a phenomenological model; three in-depth interviews explored the motivation, experience and meaning of late life participation in educational programs. Informed by psychosocial developmental theory, the study emphasized the task of life review within the last stage of adult development. The study found that in a small sample of ethnically diverse older adults personal motivation, experience, and meaning of adult education exhibited themes related to continuing early life constructs such as social class identity, family goals and early educational experiences. Hence, motivations for formal learning at this point in life were related to individual personal constructs; in several participants these included the phenomenon of life review. Many of the older adults returned to school to complete life goals which had not been satisfied at younger ages, others wanted to "compete" with younger versions of themselves, to prove that they were still capable of learning, to make clearer their own personal histories, or to find contributory outlets. Individual motivational themes were reflected in the participants' experience of adult education and in the personal and historical meanings they made of it. The study presents in detail the stories of six participants and attempts to tie together their motivation, experience and meaning within the larger population and within a psychosocial developmental framework. Implications for education are explored.

This paper examines planning considerations for universities' participation in nonformal education. The main purpose of the study is to help guide the policy-makers and planners in Korea who are engaged in the formulation of strategies which will lead to a greater involvement of Korean universities in nonformal education. This involvement is in keeping with the full intention of promoting nonformal and lifelong education in Korean society under the provisions of the new constitution as revised in 1980. The methodological approach combines a critical survey of literature, of three case studies and an analytical survey of needs assessments. The survey of literature incorporates a comprehensive review of educational dilemmas in the world context, the potentials of non-formal education in promoting people's lifelong learning, and the roles and values of higher education in the world as well as the Korean context. The case studies highlight the models appropriate for adoption within the Korean higher education system in order to maximize Korean universities' involvement in nonformal education. The survey of needs analysis, which is the most central aspect of this study, was designed for utilizing ideas and issues related to Korean universities' participation in nonformal education as major needs components for the formulation of the Nonformal Education Act. The several data gathering approaches suggest these major recommendations for increasing coordination between the Korean universities' and the nonformal education's efforts: establish a system for preparing specialists in nonformal education in universities; arrange for university representation in national nonformal education policy bodies; provide financial support to universities for nonformal education efforts; and increase the effective dissemination of university findings concerning nonformal education. This study supports the thesis that the tensions between formal and nonformal education in Korea can be a creative source of energy and ideas, building on the strengths of both systems.

The Swedish study circle is a type of popular, non-formal adult education which was adapted in Sweden from an idea which originated in the Chautauqua Literary Circles of the late 1800s. Study circles became instrumental not only in providing educational opportunities to adults but in promoting non-violent social change in Sweden. These are still the most popular form of adult education in Scandinavia. The conditions which led early Swedish educators to adopt the study circle as an educational alternative were similar to those which led a group of Latino educators in the United States to use an adapted model of the original version of study circles with three groups of Latinas in a community-based agency. Current study circles in Sweden have evolved far away from the original model and the intention of this project was to use the original concepts. This study reviews the history and variety of adaptations of study circles in different settings and explores the extent to which this model could be adapted and used for empowerment education, and how gender and differences of race, ethnicity, language, culture and class influence personal and collective development. The study uses a qualitative research methodology grounded in feminist principles. The author took a leadership role and participated in an action-oriented process which led this group of Latinas to begin a journey of reclaiming their integrity and heritage. The results of this study revealed that study circles as adapted can be a powerful strategy for Latinas to break silence about their particular experiences of oppression. The study circles promoted a safe and caring environment which allowed the women to begin a process of discovering their power and ability to name, to reflect upon, analyze and value their experiences. From this experience a different set of conditions emerged which were essential for the success of study circles. Some of these include having a foundation in an organization with a commitment to promote people-centered education within a process of consciousness-raising.

Active parental involvement in the special education process has historically been emphasized. In addition, legal impetus (94-142, 766) has been provided for this active involvement. However, research has indicated that some educators tend to disregard, manipulate, and often intimidate parents during special education TEAM meetings, thus violating their due process rights. As a result, parental involvement in the Team process and development of the IEP document has continued to be lacking. The purpose of this study was to investigate parental attitudes toward the Team process and the IEP document and to implement a training program designed to assist parents in the development of the skills necessary to critically analyze their child's IEP document's effectiveness. The underlying theory behind the training program was, that given the appropriate training and information, parental skills to effectively participate in the Team meeting and development of the IEP document would increase. A group of 15 parents from the central Massachusetts area participated in this study. Their experiences within Special Education ranged from 3 months to 11 years. Severity of the handicapping conditions of their children ranged from speech/language services to full time special education. A pre/post test design was utilized to evaluate parental perception of the Team process and IEP evaluative skills. Based on the data gleaned from this research, the following has been concluded: (1) in spite of 17 years of mandated involvement in the Team process and development of the IEP document at the Team level, the parents; (a) view the child's IEP as not being the product of the entire Team's input, and (b) indicated that they did not participate in the development of the document. In regards to qualitative effectiveness of the IEP, it was determined that: (1) the student profile section; (a) did not contain all of the mandated information, and (b) was not concisely written. In addition, other information (teaching strategies, service delivery and plan duration) was not contained within. In spite of their passive roles, the parents generally expressed satisfaction with their child's program and IEP document. The need for parent training and professional staff development was cited.

<p> This dissertation addresses 12 questions related to an overall investigation designed to determine if there is a relationship between teacher perceptions of professional development and student achievement in rural Maryland. During an era of federal, state, and local education reform, lessons learned could help dramatically redesign professional development for the future. &ldquo;Pedagogical Content Knowledge&rdquo; (PCK) coined in 1986 by Lee Shulman, a past president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and the 1995 book written by Stephen Brookfield <i>Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher </i> helped to form the conceptual framework of this study. </p><p> Twelve elements relating to professional development were part of the questions on the Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning (TELL) Maryland Survey of 2011 and 2013. The change in these TELL Maryland Survey teacher perceptions was correlated with the change in student High School Assessment (HSA) senior exit exam results for the same time period. Data were included from 79% (11,365 of 14,368) of teachers in 80% (63 of 79) of all rural high schools in Maryland that reported HSA senior exit exam data and responded at a 50% or higher rate on both studied years of the TELL Maryland Survey. </p><p> After analyzing statewide data, disaggregated by five regions, it was determined that three professional development elements had positive correlations and nine had negative correlations, although none of these were statistically significant. Those elements that correlated most positively with student achievement (with shortened titles used in the study) were collaboration, reflect(ion), and time. The literature review provided insight into some possible reasons for these results.</p>

In this sequential mixed methods study, teachers at three middle schools in a large urban school district were surveyed to determine the extent to which they applied learning strategies gathered from their professional reading to their classroom practice. Additionally, teachers were presented with examples of High Quality Professional Development, also known as Job-Embedded Professional Learning, indicating in which of those activities they had participated and in which activities they participated resulted in making changes to their classroom practice. Although teachers reported participating in activities that were descriptive of High Quality Professional Development and implementing changes in their classrooms, teachers were not familiar with the term High Quality Professional Development. Participants in follow up group interviews revealed that the professional development they received did not match the definition of High Quality Professional Development. Group interview responses supported survey findings that teachers were reading professional materials fewer minutes than found in earlier studies, but that more of their reading choices were about research in education. Teachers in this study applied strategies that they had read about to their classroom practice addressing their student' needs but were not aware of High Quality Professional Development as a result of their professional reading. Future studies could explore if teachers' participation in professional development activities changes when they include professional development in their professional reading choices. Research could also determine if those who plan professional development activities at schools are aware of definitions for High Quality Professional Development and how they ensure that teachers participate in professional development that matches its criteria.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Drexel University, 2005. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-141).