No description available.

The purpose of the study was to examine the administrative structure needed to coordinate the numerous institutions of higher education offering postsecondary degree programs on an Army installation. The study then identified the management problems and solutions to those problems, as perceived by Education Services Officers when coordinating among the participating institutions. The population consisted of representatives from eleven U.S. Army Continuing Education Services Centers.The Education Services Center representatives having the responsibility for coordinating the postsecondary programs were interviewed by telephone to collect the data. An interview form was designed to elicit non-directed responses to perceived major problems confronting the representatives, problems at Department of the Army and possible solutions to the problems.Education Services representatives encountered difficulty in providing a quality program during a period when on-Post program effectiveness was evaluated by Department of the Army. Major problems existed in the coordination among several institutions with differing administrative policies, requirements, and recognition of transfer credit.Solutions to the problems included the adoption of an Advisory Committee concept to assist in academic advisement and evaluation, the incorporation of evaluation in program, the development of guidelines for evaluation, and clarification of the requirement for negotiation of the institution agreement. Other recommendations were to develop more concise guidelines for quality assurance and evaluation, and for the closer correlation between academic needs of Army students and professional development needs of the U.S. Army. The reduction of the number of participating institutions was seen as a positive way to improve management and quality control of the on-Post programs.

The purpose of this study was to gauge the perceptions and attitudes of participating soldiers toward the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges Associate Degree (SOCAD) Program. SOCAD is a voluntary off-duty associate degree program designed for Army noncommissioned officers and warrant officers. Two major research questions guided this inquiry. The first question was designed to determine the perceptions and attitudes of participants toward SOCAD. The second question related to the relationship between soldier participation and selected demographic variables such as age, gender, educational level, pay grade, marital status and term of enlistment. The questions were investigated by conducting a cross-sectional survey of the views of SOCAD participants on eight factors: (a) overall program impressions, (b) program mechanics, (c) program quality, (d) motivation, (e) benefits, (f) leadership influences, (g) progress toward the associate degree, and (h) demographics. From a verified Army Data Master File, 1,959 SOCAD participants were stratified by pay grade and randomly selected from a population of 9,799 active duty respondents to participate in the survey. A 65% return rate was attained. The questionnaire schedule was used as the principal method of gathering the information. The instrument was pilot tested for validity, and reliability was established at .83 by computing an internal consistency alpha level. All data gathered were coded and analyzed using the SPSSX software package. The chi-square test of association was used to determine statistical significance of relationship between SOCAD participant satisfaction with the program and selected demographics. Summary of findings: (a) 85% of the SOCAD participants reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied with the overall operation of the program; (b) over three-fourths of the respondents rated counseling support as good or excellent; (c) nearly 85% of all respondents indicated that they were satisfied or very satisfied with the educational services provided by SOCAD colleges; (d) the top motivating factors for entering SOCAD were desire to get a better job when discharged from the Army (93%), being able to work on associate degree regardless of location (93%), and opportunity to use tuition assistance (85%); (e) one-fourth of the respondents agreed that involvement in SOCAD has encouraged them to stay in the Army; (f) among all pay grades, 34% agreed that they receive leadership encouragement to participate in the program; (g) slightly more than two-thirds of the respondents were satisfied with their rate of progress in the program; (h) when stratified by demographics most SOCAD participants were satisfied with the program. Very few differences in satisfaction levels were noted among the subgroups used in the study, and even then the differences were only slightly significant. Open-ended comments and additional analysis supported the above findings. In conclusion, the SOCAD program was perceived by the respondents to be a very effective and highly respected program that is meeting its goal of providing soldiers the opportunity to earn associate degrees in selected technical areas. Several program operational areas are identified for further study. / Ed. D.

No description available.

No description available.

The problem of this study was to determine through a review of the literature the reliability and validity of using student, alumni and faculty perceptions of program quality as criteria in the evaluation of off-campus programs, developing data gathering instruments to obtain these perceptions, administering the instruments, and determining if there were significant differences in the ratings within and between the three groups.

This study was conducted to investigate mathematics and reading comprehension skill retention of Navy’s 1987 Functional Skills Program graduates over three to twelve month period immediately following training. Two separate studies were conducted. One studied math retention for a course using Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI). The other study investigated a reading comprehension course using Personalized System Instruction (PSI). subjects (N = 97) were divided into four groups based on the length of time elapsed since graduation (3 to 12 months). The sample was the same for both courses, which ran concurrently for eight weeks. Subjects were primarily low academic achievers. The majority were male caucasians (median age 23) from low socio-economic background. A quasi-experimental design using pre-, post, and delayed posttest with a two-way within-subjects ANOVA (Achievement x Time) with repeated measures on the time factor was used to analyze the data. Fisher’s LSD tests were utilized in post hoc contrast of the group’s pre-, post and delayed posttest mean scores. Supplementary data collection and analysis conducted using an orally administered questionnaire suggested that many students were intimidated by computer-based instruction. They also reported that Navy related materials used in the PSI course were too easy to read and did not challenge the reader enough. A statistically significant increase was detected between the pretest and posttest of the math groups under the CAI treatment, indicating that learning took place from pre- to posttest. However, a significant decline was found in math skills over time (posttest to delayed), possibly due to the lack of opportunities for practice of those skills after the training. Likewise, the reading comprehension course using PSI modality produced evidence of a significant increase between pretest posttest scores. This treatment showed no evidence of significant changes over time in reading skills from posttest to delayed test. Practice effects of informal reading activities and the self-motivating effect of skill development were offered as explanatory mechanisms for sustaining these skills. / Ed. D.