The purpose of this study was to provide descriptive and comparative data which would be useful in making industrial education department programmatic decisions, as well as, providing useful information to prospective doctoral students prior to their program selection. Therefore, the specific purpose of this investigation was to: 1. describe existing industrial and general vocational education doctoral programs.2. assess the criteria used by current industrial and vocational education doctoral students in their selection of specific programs.3. assess the criteria judged important by leaders in industrial education which should be used in selecting doctoral program in industrial and vocational education.4. determine if a relationship exists between:(a) criteria used by current industrial and vocational education doctoral students in their selection of specific programs, and(b) criteria which should be used in selecting a doctoral program in industrial and vocational education as judged by leaders in the field.5. provide specific criteria which can be used by prospective students for selecting a doctoral program in industrial and vocational education.(A doctoral program keysort selection system was previously developed in response to this fifth purpose.)Two surveys were conducted in order to retrieve information about resident doctoral students and doctoral programs in industrial and general vocational education. The resident doctoral student population had an N of 264. Eighty-six percent (227) of this number responded to the survey instrument. The department program leader population had an N of 62. Fifty-eight program leaders responded to the questionnaire for a return of 93.5 percent.In addition to the descriptive information sought from both populations, information and opinions were elicited concerning criteria used in making a doctoral program selection. This abstract will include information in both areas of investigation.A description of existing industrial and general vocational education doctoral programs was presented utilizing the following variables:1. program name2. degree type3. program emphasis4. Ph.D.-Ed.D. differences5. date of first doctorate awarded 6. enrollments7. tuition8. program offerings9. program requirements10. program entrance requirements11. hours granted for the dissertation 12. minimum hours to complete program 13. maximum transfer hours14. program breakdownIn addition to this descriptive information of a programmatic nature a current profile of the resident doctoral student in industrial and general vocational education was provided, considering the following factors:1. department affiliation2. sex, race and age3. marital status, number of children, and working spouse4 . citizenship and home state attendance5. financial support 6. degree objective and degrees held7. undergraduate and graduate majors 8. career objective 9. residency requirement - moving 10. individual program length requirement and transfer hoursA total of 29 selection criteria were assessed by both resident doctoral students and department program leaders. The following criteria ranked one through five, in order of importance, as judged by department program leaders:reputation of department and/or program reputation of university reputation of faculty members type of programprogram flexibilityThe following criteria ranked one through five, in order of importance, as judged by resident doctoral students:1. type of program2. reputation of department and/or program 3. reputation of university 4. program flexibility5. being granted an assistantship or fellowshipProgram department chairmen and resident doctoral students assessed the following five criteria in much the same way and therefore were in agreement as to the relative importance of the program selection criteria:1. reputation of the university2. reputation of the department and/or program 3. reputation of the department head4. programs reputation for developing teaching skills5. program flexibilityThe following criteria ranked one through five, in order of importance, as judged by resident doctoral students:1. type of program2. reputation of department and/or program3. reputation of university4. program flexibility5. being granted an assistantship or fellowshipProgram department chairmen and resident doctoral students assessed the following five criteria in much the same way and therefore were in agreement as to the relative importance of the program selection criteria:1. reputation of the university2. reputation of the department and/or program3. reputation of the department head4. programs reputation for developing teaching skills 5. program flexibilityThe two groups disagreed most on the relative importance placed upon the following five program selection criteria:1. program graduate(s) recommendation2. availability of married student housing 3. having tuition and/or fees waived4. being granted an assistantship or fellowship5. location of universityAfter analyzing the data on resident doctoral students, it would be fair to conclude that no true doctoral student profile is possible due to the diversity of those enrolled. However, the chances are good that the "typical" resident doctoral student enrolled in industrial and general vocational education would be a married, white, middle class, male, between the ages of 25 and 35, and who has at least one child. Further, the chances are also good that this individual's spouse is working at least part-time and that the family is receiving some sort of financial support during residency. Finally, the individual probably holds at least a masters degree, intends to be a university teacher or administrator and has moved less than 500 miles in order to meet residency requirements.Once again, upon analyzing the data, it appears that the vast diversity in program offerings prevents formulating a meaningful profile. Further, a profile of this nature, for the most part, would serve no useful purpose. Therefore, conclusions were limited to the following three areas: (1) program diversity, (2) Ph.D. and Ed.D. differences and (3) program reputation.It would seem reasonable to conclude that one of the major factors affecting program diversity is student flexibility need. Program flexibility ranked fourth out of the 29 variables assessed by students. Program diversity results from attempts to meet diverse student need.Also, it would seem reasonable to conclude that the stated differences between the Ph.D. and Ed.D. programs, in reality, might not exist, at least to any large extent. Two main areas of differences are usually indicated when comparing the Ph.D. and Ed.D. degrees. They are language and/or research and statistics. The percent of Ed.D. programs requiring research methodology and statistics was found to be nearly as high as that of the Ph.D. programs. Secondly, only four institutions indicated that substitutions were not possible in meeting the language requirement. Substitutions are mainly noted in the areas of research methodology and statistics. In addition, program structural differences between the Ph.D. and Ed.D. programs were found to be minimal.Since there is little, if any, comparative data on doctoral programs and since programs are usually not compared for quality due to professional standards of ethics, student assessment of program quality may be based on a natural defense of the decision to attend a given university department.In conclusion, this descriptive research was undertaken to provide insight into the current status of doctoral programs in industrial and general vocational education. Further, the study attempted to provide greater insight into the area of doctoral program selection. The results of this investigation have suggested some additional areas for study. The following list of recommendations are offered for consideration:1. Since geographic location of institution was not ranked extremely high as a selection criteria and since a little more than half of the students moved fewer than 200 miles, this inconsistency warrants futher investigation.2. Both "university and department and/or program" were assessed as being extremely important in the selection of a doctoral program. Further study of reputation formation and student selection justification would be in order.3. Since there is some question as to the actual differences between Ph.D. and Ed.D. programs, specifically in the areas of industrial and vocational education, further study limited to these programs might provide some additional insight into these differences.4. Due to the vast difference of assessed importance of "being granted an assistantship or fellowship," further study is warranted in the area of financial assistance and its effect on enrollment.Since there is virtually no information, on a national basis, concerning student ability to attain personal job oriented professional goals, (ability to get previously stated work in a given profession) and since the doctoral job market is becoming somewhat saturated, an investigation of ability to get a desired position upon graduation seems warranted.6. Little longitudinal data is available on doctoral programs in industrial and general vocational education. It is recommended that the national professional organization concerned with industrial education consider collecting and publishing such information on a yearly basis.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 473063

This study addresses itself to several issues in relation to public education in the United States. First, it examines the basic social philosophies underlying the development of mass education in the United States. Secondly, it asks the question: what is the purpose of public education? Thirdly, it relates the development of public education to a dominant source of social change--industrialization, and examines the relationship between the structure and function of education in the 1800's and early 1900's, and the needs of the marketplace. Fourthly, it examines the relationship between the curricula of education in the 1980's and the needs of high technology in the marketplace.

Little information is available which specifically applies to determining Tech-Prep program quality, effectiveness, and goal attainment as determined by the directors/coordinators of the programs. This research sought to determine if program performance indicators exist that Tech-Prep directors/coordinators deem necessary to determine their programs' quality, effectiveness, and goal-attainment. If so, is there consensus of agreement among the directors/coordinators on which performance indicators to utilize, and is there a pattern of preference when grouped into evaluation focus components? A questionnaire was developed by the researcher and distributed to Tech-Prep directors/coordinators in the Southeastern United States and Puerto Rico. Sixty-seven program directors/coordinators were asked to participate, and 85 percent responded to the survey. The following conclusions can be reached from analysis of the data: 1) The responding Tech-Prep directors/coordinators are in agreement on which program performance indicators to use to determine the quality, effectiveness, and goal attainment of their programs. These findings are contrary to the existing literature which suggest a lack of consensus on which performance indicators to utilize for vocational education programs. 2) Three different techniques — consensual agreement, consideration of the questionnaire non-response rate, and data analysis ensuring a 95 percent confidence interval of the standard error of the mean — were used to analyze the extent of agreement among the surveyed Tech-Prep directors/coordinators on appropriate program performance indicators. Using the three techniques, the extent of majority agreement on the program performance indicators ranged from 97 to 67 percent of the sixty selected indicators. These data support the conclusion that agreed upon performance indicators are available for comparison and evaluation of Tech-Prep programs among this population. These data fill the void in the literature that addresses generalizable performance indicators that can be used in the evaluation and assessment of vocational programs, such as Tech-Prep. 3) Program performance indicators were grouped into six focus components. Although the determination of which focus components are more appropriate for vocational evaluation depend on many factors, data from this survey indicate the STUDENTS focus component is perceived as most important, the RESOURCES focus component is least important, and CAREERS, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, ATTITUDE/PERCEPTIONS, and FACILITATORS focus components are deemed equally important by Tech-Prep directors/coordinators in the determination of program quality, effectiveness, and goal attainment. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of technological literacy for high school graduates. A panel of experts in technological literacy was used to formulate the list of characteristics and make judgments on each. The design of the study was the Delphi Method, using the Q-Sort Technique, with the Thurstone and Chave Method of Equal Appearing Intervals. Using the Method of Equal Appearing Intervals, median scores and Q-Values were calculated for each characteristic. The 80th percentile was used to determine when a characteristic reached consensus. A panel of experts was chosen from among seven groups: (a) philosophers of education, (b) technology educators, (c) engineering educators, (d) scientists, (e) science educators, (f) classroom teachers, and (g) business and education support. The results of the study provide a clearer focus on what is meant by technological literacy. This study identified a list of 24 consensus items to be used as minimum characteristics of technological literacy for high school graduates. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether statistically significant differences existed between high school Honors Physics websites and those of Advanced Placement (AP) Physics in terms of web-design, National Science Education Standards (NSES) Physics content, and NSES Science Process standards. The procedure began with the selection of 152 sites comprising two groups with equal sample sizes of 76 for Honors Physics and for Advanced Placement Physics. The websites used in the study were accumulated using the Google[TM] search engine. To find Honors Physics websites, the search words "honors physics high school" were entered as the query into the search engine. To find sites for Advanced Placement Physics, the query, "advanced placement physics high school," was entered into the search engine. The evaluation of each website was performed using an instrument developed by the researcher based on three attributes: Web-design, NSES Physics content, and NSES Science Process standards. A "1" was scored if the website was found to have each attribute, otherwise a "0" was given. This process continued until all 76 websites were evaluated for each of the two types of physics websites, Honors and Advanced Placement. Subsequently the data were processed using Excel functions and the SPSS statistical software program. The mean and standard deviation were computed individually for the three attributes under consideration. Three, 2-tailed, independent samples t tests were performed to compare the two groups of physics websites separately on the basis of Web Design, Physics Content, and Science Process. The results of the study indicated that there was only one statistically significant difference between high school Honors Physics websites and those of AP Physics. / The only difference detected was in terms of National Science Education Standards Physics content. It was found that Advanced Placement Physics websites contained more NSES physics content than Honors Physics websites. There was no significant difference found between the two types of high school physics websites in regards to web-design, and NSES science process standards. It is hoped that the results of this study may serve as a guide for researchers to explore the role of Web-Assisted Instruction (WAI) as an enhancement to traditional instruction in physics. With the first generation to grow up in the digital age now in high school, WAI may prove to be useful as method to improve critical thinking skills and provide opportunities for inquiry beyond the classroom. / by Ronald C. Persin. / Vita. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Text in Afrikaans / Hierdie navorsing getiteld 'n Ontwikkelingsperspektief van vakleerlingskappe in Suid-Afrika: implikasies vir die onderwysstelsel ondersoek die wortels van die vakleerlingskap stelsel sedert antieke tye, deur die koloniale tydperk in Suid-Afrika, die "armblankevraagstuk"1922-1960, voor-demokrasie 1950-1980, 1980-1993 en post-demokrasie 1994-2014. Die studie konsentreer op die kronologiese verloop van gebeure wat gelei het tot die formalisering van die vakleerlingskapstelsel in Suid-Afrika in 1922 asook die evolusie tot in sy huidige vorm. Spesifieke aandag is geskenk aan wetgewing, beide provinsiaal en nasionaal, wat bygedra het tot die vorming van die stelsels. Die vakleerlingskapstelsel van Amerika is ook ondersoek vanaf sy wortels tot die huidige era met al sy vorme van tegniese beroepsonderwys asook vakleerlingopleiding. Daar is gekyk na al die verskillende Amerikaanse kolleges en tegniese skoolstelsel. ‘n Vergelykende studie tussen Amerika en Suid-Afrika se vakleerlingskapstelsel is gemaak met spesifieke aanbevelings vir die Suid-Afrikaanse stelsel. / This research, entitled A developmental perspective of apprenticeships in South Africa: Implications for the education system, examined the origins of the apprenticeship system from its roots in pre-history, through colonial time in South Africa, the "armblanke-vraagstuk" 1922-1960, pre-democracy 1950-1980, 1980-1993 and postdemocracy 1994-2014. This study concentrated on chronicling the events leading to the establishment of formalized apprenticeship training in South Africa in 1922 and its evolution to its present form. Particular attention was paid to the legislation, both provincial and national, that provided for the establishment of the present system. The apprenticeship system of the USA was also examined from its roots up to the present time in all its forms of technical, vocational and artisan training. Looking at the different college systems and technical training schools of the USA. Comparisons between USA and South Africa‘s apprenticeship systems was made with specific recommendations for South Africa‘s system. / Educational Foundations / M. Ed. (Vergelykende Opvoedkunde)

Text in Afrikaans / Hierdie navorsing getiteld 'n Ontwikkelingsperspektief van vakleerlingskappe in Suid-Afrika: implikasies vir die onderwysstelsel ondersoek die wortels van die vakleerlingskap stelsel sedert antieke tye, deur die koloniale tydperk in Suid-Afrika, die "armblankevraagstuk"1922-1960, voor-demokrasie 1950-1980, 1980-1993 en post-demokrasie 1994-2014. Die studie konsentreer op die kronologiese verloop van gebeure wat gelei het tot die formalisering van die vakleerlingskapstelsel in Suid-Afrika in 1922 asook die evolusie tot in sy huidige vorm. Spesifieke aandag is geskenk aan wetgewing, beide provinsiaal en nasionaal, wat bygedra het tot die vorming van die stelsels. Die vakleerlingskapstelsel van Amerika is ook ondersoek vanaf sy wortels tot die huidige era met al sy vorme van tegniese beroepsonderwys asook vakleerlingopleiding. Daar is gekyk na al die verskillende Amerikaanse kolleges en tegniese skoolstelsel. ‘n Vergelykende studie tussen Amerika en Suid-Afrika se vakleerlingskapstelsel is gemaak met spesifieke aanbevelings vir die Suid-Afrikaanse stelsel. / This research, entitled A developmental perspective of apprenticeships in South Africa: Implications for the education system, examined the origins of the apprenticeship system from its roots in pre-history, through colonial time in South Africa, the "armblanke-vraagstuk" 1922-1960, pre-democracy 1950-1980, 1980-1993 and postdemocracy 1994-2014. This study concentrated on chronicling the events leading to the establishment of formalized apprenticeship training in South Africa in 1922 and its evolution to its present form. Particular attention was paid to the legislation, both provincial and national, that provided for the establishment of the present system. The apprenticeship system of the USA was also examined from its roots up to the present time in all its forms of technical, vocational and artisan training. Looking at the different college systems and technical training schools of the USA. Comparisons between USA and South Africa‘s apprenticeship systems was made with specific recommendations for South Africa‘s system. / Educational Foundations / M. Ed. (Vergelykende Opvoedkunde)