<p> In the United States, colleges and universities are under pressure from multiple sources to improve course completion and graduation rates and to reduce the cost of obtaining a degree. This qualitative phenomenological case study, underpinned by the social constructivist perspective, explored second-year manufacturing degree students&rsquo; perceptions of the impact of their teachers&rsquo; servant leadership behaviors on their successful course completions at a Midwest technical college. Servant leadership was the theoretical base for the study, which consisted of Q sorts by, and interviews with, students from two manufacturing degree programs. One program had higher course completion and graduation rates and the other had lower course completion and graduation rates. The responses were coded using data from an extensive literature review and were analyzed for themes according to the perspectives of the participants&rsquo; Q sorts and responses to interview questions. While the study did not reveal a simple, straightforward solution to the very complicated student success problem in technical college manufacturing programs, it did identify the elements of an emergent model recommended for manufacturing teachers: servant teaching.</p><p>

Cybernation is a term used in a new context to identify a new era. It is a term that is associated with technical development and productivity. The implications that cybernation bring with it are twofold for the discipline of education. The first task that falls to education is the development of understanding and the identification of values that will enable mankind to benefit from his surroundings. Secondly, men must be trained to work the new machines. It is in connection with the second task of education that this thesis addresses itself. In Alberta, government-directed institutions of training have developed over the years in order to train apprentices, technicians and to provide other vocational training programmes. An outline of the development of each of these levels of training is presented including a tabulation of the number of people who participated in the different levels of training. The summary that is made herein of the number of people trained is in response to the question: What number of people are being trained and what is the per capita cost? The question is not unique to Alberta. It is suspected, however, that answers are not readily available and a review of the literature bears this out. Technical and vocational training has a history of nearly fifty years in Alberta. The gradual development of facilities through periods of economic crisis, pressures from enrolment, and Federal financial assistance is outlined before the detailed examination of enrolments and costs is presented for the decade commencing in 1956. The number of apprentices in training in 1956 was 2,195. By the year 1965 the number had increased to 4,572. In relative terms the increase was from 1.9 per one thousand population to 3.1. A similar increase was evident in the training of technicians. In 1956 the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology trained 303 technicians. By 1965 the number of technicians in training had increased to 1,701. Of this number, 950 were trained at the new Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. The relative change as measured per one thousand population was from 0.26 to 1.1. The number of persons in other vocational training and non-technical training programmes also increased. The enrolment of 2,379 in 1956 increased to 4,976 in 1965. The relative numbers in training increased from 2.1 per one thousand population to 3.4. An examination of the financing of apprenticeship, technical, and vocational training reveals that an expenditure by the Province in 1956 of $241.35 was required to train each apprentice. However, the net cost to the Province after reimbursements and adjustments, was $148.63 for each apprentice. In 1965 these figures had increased to $328.39 and $191.88 respectively. The expenditure and cost of training each technician in 1956 was $903.71 and $721.43 increasing to $1,464.25 and $750.75 by 1965. In 1965 the expenditure on each technician at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology was $1,989.13 and the cost $1,062.70. For other vocational trainees the expenditure made by the Province in 1956 amounted to $143.18 and the cost amounted to $98.35. This had changed by 1965 to a Provincial expenditure of $388.72 and a net cost of $116.82. The capital expenditure in the form of site, construction, furnishings and equipment for students at all levels of training, over the ten-year period 1956 to 1965, was $241.01. The capital cost was $93.06. The completion of this study for Alberta creates the need for comparisons. The reference points for enrolments and for costs have been established herein, but these must mark the beginning and not the end. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

This dissertation is a study of a phenomenon, namely the existence of individuals who have actively committed their lives to social change. The study was designed to explore two aspects of social activism: (a) how these individuals were able to follow careers in social change work; and, (b) that aspect of consciousness through which these individuals come to know the world in a certain way. This way of knowing involves a commitment to ending oppression, an understanding that oppression is a constructed phenomena that can be changed, and a commitment to change that is based on concepts of participation and volition. The most salient theme to emerge in regard to the career paths of these individuals was its gradual, unplanned nature. Within that theme, there were a number of commonalities or patterns that acted as catalysts for their career paths. These patterns were: (a) A sense of being different; (b) experiences of cognitive dissonance; (c) being "noticed" by others; and, (d) intellectual aptitude. As to the development of consciousness, the theme that illuminated all of the choices made by these individuals was their commitment to a set of values rooted in concepts of freedom and equality. Patterns or commonalities within this theme were: (a) The sense that these values had always been with them; and, (b) these values had led them to act outside of, or beyond, their socialization experience. Finally, the researcher focuses on her own meaning making which, while rooted in the themes and patterns that emerged, is neither a clear synthesis nor a prescriptive analysis. Instead, the meaning making moves the findings into new theoretical perspectives and brings to the foreground new phenomenological issues that deal with the acausal and multi-causal nature of the themes and patterns. Those relationships included the acausal phenomena of synchronicity, and the interactive and multi-causal nature of the other themes and patterns. She then suggests that neither socialization nor educational experience can fully explain either aspect of the phenomenon. Beyond socialization and beyond educational experiences, there seem to be some transactional connections between consciousness and a specific set of values.

The purpose of this study was to review successful models for school reform with a focus on the efficacy of the High Schools That Work model in vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts. This study compared and analyzed the results of learner outcomes in Massachusetts vocational-technical high schools by using the results in the Failing category from the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, which is a high-stakes test based on increased standards (The Massachusetts Frameworks). The study compared an equal number of Massachusetts vocational-technical high schools that are members of the High Schools That Work network with an equal number of those that are nonmembers. The study compared the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System Failing category results in English Language Arts and Mathematics from 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 between High Schools That Work vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts and non-High Schools That Work vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts. Students not in the Failing category for English Language Arts and Mathematics would be eligible to receive a high school diploma, while those students in the Failing categories would not be eligible to receive diplomas. The study also compared dropout rates between 1999, 2000, and 2001 to learn if increased standards and highstakes testing have led to a significant increase in the dropout rate in High Schools That Work vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts when compared to dropout rates in non-High Schools That Work vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts. Based on the comparative results of the dropout rates, this study has concluded that implementing the High Schools That Work model in vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts has done no harm in terms of significant increases in the dropout rates. Based on these results, this study has concluded that implementing the High Schools That Work model in Massachusetts vocational-technical high schools has done some significant good in effectively increasing learner outcomes on high-standards, high-stakes testing. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This qualitative case study examined the issues and concerns with preparing visually impaired people (VIP) for mainstream employment and their perceptions of the impacts of information and communication technology (ICT) accessibility on their personal and professional lives. The study focused on the experience of one Philippine-based non-governmental organization and their efforts to provide skills development and employment preparation support to VIP. Study findings discuss the organization's training program features, barriers to, enabling factors for, skills needed for employment, and the impacts of ICT accessibility. The transformation theory of adult learning provided the conceptual framework for the study and was used as the primary tool for analysis of findings. Conclusions highlight that while impacts have been positive over all, there is a need to increase VIP access to ICT across the socio-economic spectrum worldwide. Barriers to VIP employment need to be addressed, particularly related to employer attitudes towards hiring VIP. Concluding remarks additionally address implications for policy, practice and research.

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