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No description available.

No description available.

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to describe and evaluate the career counseling practices in all schools of engineering in the United States with ABET-accredited engineering Cooperative Education programs. Procedure. A thirty-two item questionnaire was developed and sent out to all ABET-accredited Cooperative Education offices. All the engineering coordinators in each office filled out the questionnaire. Eighty-six percent of the schools responded to the surveys. Findings. (1) Most engineering Co-op coordinators have educational backgrounds in engineering and have taken at least one class in career counseling. (2) Co-op coordinators tend to have caseloads and other responsibilities which restrict the amount of career counseling they can offer. (3) Little correlation exists between the amount of time coordinators spend career counseling and the ability of students to obtain jobs. (4) There is a slight negative correlation between coordinators' caseloads and their placement rate. (5) There is a slight positive correlation between coordinators' caseloads and the amount of time their students receive in career counseling. (6) There is a slight positive correlation between coordinators' caseloads and the amount of time they believe students should receive in career counseling. (7) There is no correlation between the total amount of time students receive in career counseling and their ability to secure Co-op jobs. (8) There are very slight positive correlations between the amount of time students receive in seven of eighteen specified career counseling services and their ability to get a Co-op job. Conclusions. The average coordinator was found to have a career counseling training level of one class. Many slight correlations were found between the amount of career counseling which students receive and their ability to secure Co-op employment. It was also found that coordinators with average amounts of career counseling training tend to spend the most time in career counseling services. Recommendations. (1) Similar studies should be conducted with engineering Co-op programs which were not necessarily accredited by ABET, and non-engineering Co-op programs. (2) It would also be of interest to correlate time spent career counseling with other measures of "success" such as cost-effectiveness, and student satisfaction.

M.S.

There is currently a shortage of African American vocational teachers. If the shortage is to be averted, vocational professionals must find ways to increase the number of African American teachers in vocational education (Arnold & Levesque, 1992; Martinez, 1991; Young, 1989). The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influenced African Americans to become vocational teachers and to identify experiences related to their progress in vocational teacher licensure programs. Factors identified as influencing African Americans to select vocational teaching careers were linked with factors found in the O'Neil, Meeker, and Borger (1978) Sex Role Socialization and Career Decision-Making model. This qualitative study consisted of structured interviews with 12 college students who were preparing to become vocational teachers. Students were interviewed at 6 campuses in 2 southeastern states. Students represented vocational programs in (a) agriculture education, (b) business education, (c) family and consumer sciences education, (d) marketing education, (e) trade and industrial education, and (f) technology education. Six of the students were from predominantly white universities and 6 students were from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The findings of the study revealed that the most significant influences behind respondents choosing vocational teaching careers related to teacher role models, family support, altruism, the intangible benefits of teaching, and love for vocational professions. Most of the factors identified related to factors found in the O'Neil et al. (1978) model. A factor, entitled the Spritual Factor, emerged in addition to those identified in the original O'Neil et al. model. Positive relationships with knowledgeable faculty, supportive peers, active participation in vocational organizations, and confidence in academic preparation, enhanced the progress of students in vocational licensure programs. All universities selected in the study shared similar elements. Students and faculty at HBCUs, however, tended to lean toward a student-centered focus while students and faculty at predominantly white universities tended to lean toward an academically-oriented focus. / Ph. D.

The study was made in an attempt to answer the question: Are selected films effective in an eighth grade occupational orientation program at California Junior High School in Sacramento, California? The purpose of the study was to see if selected films used as an aid were effective in giving occupational information.

This study was designed to investigate factors involved in the initial employment of African-American graduating seniors at a predominantly white university. More specifically, this study focused on examining the job activities which contributed to African-American seniors securing entry-level professional positions and the role played by the Mather Career Center in the job search of graduating seniors. Questionnaires were sent to the graduating seniors of the Class of 1992. From the ninety seven respondents, a subset of twenty four were selected for indepth interviews. Theses interviews provided the primary data for the study. Data was obtained by the use of two instruments. A survey was constructed using a Likert-type scale combined with open and closed form questions to assess how many job-seeking activities the seniors participated in at the Mather Career Center. One thousand questionnaires were distributed; ninety-seven were returned completed. The questionnaire included four categories: Self-Development and Marketing Skills, Networking System, Career Planning and Placement, and Post-Placement Information. Sixteen questions focusing on the individual experiences of twenty four African-American and white graduating seniors were used to determine those factors that may have been involved in securing an entry-level professional position. The findings of this study revealed that several factors are a consideration for sampled African-American graduating seniors in their job search activities: networking with relatives and other support systems, lack of support from faculty, focus on race and ethnicity, heavy course and workloads, and spirituality. A significant difference was found between African-American participants and white participants in the amount of hours worked during their college careers. One important finding is that, while 66.6% of the African-American graduating seniors of this study did take advantage of the Mather Career Center, most relied upon external resources outside of the University, such as their support systems to assist with actual employment. The study suggests that there must be a collaborative effort among faculty, administrators, students, parents and the private and public sectors to facilitate a smoother transition for graduates in becoming future professionals.

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A new national welfare reform, Family Support Act of 1988, has created relentless pressure among Welfare organizations to provide training for its recipients in preparation to make the transition from welfare to the work force. This reform mandates that all recipients (most of whom are women) whose youngest children are three years of age and are not exempted for other reasons participate in vocational training or basic skills education. One of the major components of the reform is an education assistance program. Typically, the aid consists of child care, transportation, and, in some cases, books. This new Act will make eligible tens of thousands of welfare recipients to enroll in vocational and basic skills programs. In Connecticut, the Welfare organization has endorsed many of their recipients' selection of a community college for educational training. Like most other community college systems, Connecticut offers a wide variety of vocational degree and certificate programs that are linked to its community work force needs. For factors unknown, some welfare students do not remain in college to the point of completing their programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the facilitating and hindering factors for women on welfare who are enrolled in community colleges under the benefits of the Welfare Assistance Program. A qualitative, phenomenological study using in-depth, semi-structured personal interviewing as a research method was used to collect data. The study was conducted with a small group of selected welfare women students from four community colleges. The data were analyzed for constructing composite profiles of the participants, and for identifying significant themes. Most notably, three hindering factors that are paramount to the success of the education reform were not only recurring themes but, even more significantly, fixable. Broadly, the themes were "Ineffective Communication", "Negative Attitudes of Welfare Service Personnel", and "Insensitivity of Faculty and Administrators". Finally, recommendations for further research were made, including a comparative study with male students and a study that would examine the issues and concerns of students who have completed their vocational training and are in transition to the work force.