There have been few studies concerned with the analysis of costs incurred in compliance activities associated with federally mandated social legislation at institutions of higher education, and those that have been conducted included recommendations for more intense cost analysis concentrating on particular programs. The major purpose of this study, therefore, was to add to the literature on the institutional costs incurred in compliance with federally mandated Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity legislation. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of two career orientation and exploratory programs on the vocational maturity level of seventh grade students. Two independent variables involving type of program and length of program were manipulated by the researcher by using a 2 x 3 factorial design to analyze adjusted treatment effects upon the dependent variable of vocational maturity. The experimental groups were composed of seventh grade students participating in the"Careers and You" and"Interest Block" programs, while the control group consisted of students in band and/or choir who did not receive instruction in either of the two treatment groups. The participants selected for the study were students from four junior high schools within the local school division. Each participant was pretested on both the Career Development Inventory and Career Maturity Inventory Attitude Scale test instruments. Results of the pretest mean scores for the groups indicated significant differences on the CMI Attitude Scale scores between the"Careers and You" and"Interest Block" groups. Inasmuch as the strength of the difference was small (R² = 0.04), valid posttest comparisons were felt to be statistically appropriate. One-half of the participants in the three groups were posttested on the CDI and CMI Attitude Scale at an 18-week time interval, while the remaining participants were tested at the end of a 36-week interval. Posttest analysis was conducted using a two-way analysis of covariance, with the pretest scores being used as a covariate to adjust for group bias and to add sensitivity to the dependent variable measure. Nine hypotheses were tested at alpha equals .05 with the following results: The first six hypotheses dealt with comparisons among the three groups on the Total Scale of the CDI and the Attitude Scale of the CMI. Because the F values showed no significant group effect, hypotheses one through six failed to meet the rejection criteria. Null hypotheses seven through nine pertained to effects of the length of program within the various groups. Results indicated by both the CDI and Attitude Scale of the CMI were not significant. Therefore, hypotheses seven through nine failed to meet the rejection criteria. / Ed. D.

In the last five years federal attention has addressed the provision of services to handicapped learners through interagency collaboration. This has been one result of The Education for All Handicapped Children Act and guidelines delineated by the Education Division General Administrative Regulations. The literature is replete with information regarding interorganizational relationships, programmatic models and evaluation studies relative to other service areas. Few studies have examined special education 1 s involvement in the interagency arena. The purposes of this study were to identify: (1) decision points utilized in developing collaborative efforts; (2) problems encountered during the developmental and operational phases; and, (3) solutions and resources utilized to overcome these difficulties. Other information as it related to the developmental process also was obtained. Three data collection strategies were used: (1) state agency interviews; (2) local agency interviews; and (3) state-wide mailed survey. Interviews were conducted by the researcher with state and local representatives from Special Education, Corrections/Juvenile Courts, Rehabilitation, Mental Health/Mental Retardation, Health and Social Services. Survey instruments were sent to area, regional and local agency offices throughout the state. The data revealed that certain steps were used in planning a collaborative effort. The steps were: (1) determining need; (2) defining the population; (3) identifying and contacting agencies serving the target population(s); (4) defining program policies and service responsibilities; and, (5) comparing programs to identify gaps and overlaps. The data indicated that problems of communication, territorial ownership, funding and lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities were present during both the developmental and operational phases of collaborative programming. Resolution strategies which were identified as being used most often by respondents were negotiation and persistent communication; resources included the individuals involved in the difficulties or other staff members as was necessary to resolve tHe problem(s). Other related findings confirmed information obtained through testimony and found in the literature relative to the ties which keep agencies working together and the driving and restraining forces to interagency collaborative programming. The data also indicated that respondents consider multiple agency delivery of services as being efficient, effective and generally successful in providing services for handicapped learners. Finally, recommendations for interagency collaborative programming were offered by state and local interviewees. It was concluded that interagency collaboration was not a well defined process. The lack of evaluation procedures contributed not only to the lack of definition but to the continual resurfacing· of develop- mental and operational problems. Finally, the solutions and resources utilized to solve the problems were not always appropriate or sufficient to resolve the difficulties. Thus, it was recommended that state and local personnel be inserviced on: (1) the service requirements and responsibilities governing their respective agencies; (2) the summative and formative aspects of interagency collaborative programming; and, (3) conflict management, problem resolution and use of a third party as problem solving techniques. Finally, it was recommended that state agencies jointly develop, disseminate and inservice local personnel on the procedures and steps necessary to developing and operating an interagency collaborative effort. / Ed. D.

M.S.

M.S.

The summary of the data was presented in five major divisions: 1. The summary of the background data. 2. The summary and conclusions of the extent of the turnover. 3. The summary and conclusions on the location on the turnover. 4. The summary and conclusions of the effect of marital status and sex on the turnover. 5. The summary and conclusions of financial, administrative, teaching experience and certification, health and normal advancement, and miscellaneous other reasons for the turnover. In summarizing the data and drawing the conclusions the writer adhered to two considerations: (1) The questions of the problem should be clearly answered from the data analyzed. (2) The summary and conclusions should reveal clearly to others the result of methods and questions used in this study, which might prove beneficial in future studies of this kind. / Master of Science

M.S.

M.S.

M.S.

A need exists for the State of Virginia to have a data network for its televised distance education program. A combination of a terrestrial and a satellite data network can be utilized for the purpose. The network is analyzed and its strengths and weaknesses are presented. A data protocol has been written to control such a network. Delays and throughput of the network have been calculated. The leased telephone line network can be utilized for transferring data from distant class sites to Blacksburg. Six pages of text for 75 off-campus students can be transferred from distant class sites to Blacksburg using this network, in one hour. When the terrestrial network is used for voice and data communication at the same time, a delay of approximately 30 seconds is introduced between two voice connections. This delay is too high for a distance education network. The satellite data network should be utilized for transferring data from Blacksburg to all distant class sites. A very good 19.2 kbps carrier is available with bit error rate (BER) of 1E-6 or less. A very small aperture terminal (VSAT) network has also been proposed for the purpose. / Master of Science