This study was designed to analyze the text of autobiographical writing using three stage theories of constructive developmental psychology. The writing samples examined in this study were twenty (20) "prior learning portfolios", work-related autobiographies of adult students seeking credit for life experience. The students were undergraduates enrolled in the University Without Walls program of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The developmental variables employed in the study were social perspective-taking as defined by Basseches (1984), subject/object balance from the self psychology of Kegan (1982), and self-knowledge development as discussed by Weinstein and Alschuler (1985). The writing analysis was patterned after the oral interview scoring processes commonly used in determining cognitive developmental stage levels: codable items in the text were reviewed to obtain an overall stage score for each of the three developmental models. The developmental scores were then compared with academic credit awards assigned to the portfolios. Significant results were found in statistical analyses correlating increases in credit award with increases in stage scores for social perspective taking and subject-object balance. Other significant findings included a positive correlation between social perspective-taking and subject-object balance. Moreover, increases in the external knowledge of another's internal processes were matched by increases in one's own self-knowledge. The study's success in conducting constructive developmental analyses of narrative writing has potentially positive implications for lifespan developmental psychologists, educators, and writers.

The purpose of this dissertation is to describe how school library media specialists can realize a new role of resource persons for teachers and each other. The re-definition of their role from reactive to proactive enables then to plan and team teach with classroom teachers and to integrate library media and research skills programs into the classroom curriculum, using the cooperative learning model. In addition, a library media specialists' peer support group has been developed for professional growth. The positive ramifications of this for teaching and learning is described. Literature on the role of advisor, library media standards, effective teaching, procedural models, and cooperative learning are reviewed to identify characteristics and methods necessary for school library media specialists to become proactive resource persons and catalysts for change within their schools. Many of these same objectives, characteristics, skills and programs are identified by the American Library Association's (1988) guidelines, Information Power. This qualitative research study involves six library media specialists over a period of three years. Data are collected through observations, questionnaires, field notes, interviews, transcriptions of meetings and document analysis. Conclusions drawn from these data indicate that it is possible for library media specialists to realize their potential as resource persons who co-plan and implement instruction in collaboration with classroom teachers. Other conclusions indicate that a peer support group is extremely valuable for self-directed professional growth and development. The study concludes with recommendations for further research in the areas of beliefs and behaviors of practitioners, support groups and teaching models.

The general purpose of this study was to obtain information about foreign language teachers' instructional practices, evaluation procedures, and attitudes. The specific purposes were: (1) To obtain relevant demographic and attitudinal data pertaining to the in-service training needs of selected foreign language teachers. (2) To apply data obtained to in-service training program planning initiatives. (3) To study the relationships between demographic and attitudinal data obtained and in-service training program planning. The study outcomes present a demographic profile which suggests a generally healthy climate for foreign language education in the state as evidenced by teachers' professional involvement, awareness of current practices, concern about issues, and agreement with a proficiency-oriented approach to foreign language education. The data suggest areas of concern and future direction for officials of the state department of education and the state foreign language association as they do long-range planning to meet global and student needs in foreign language education, and to meet the specific needs of the foreign language teachers in Massachusetts. Officials of other state departments of education and foreign language associations might look to the results of this study to assess the professional growth and development needs of foreign language teachers.

Typical parent education programs expect that parents of teenagers can (1) be empathetic listeners, (2) identify and express their own inner feelings, thoughts, and opinions, etc., (3) tolerate diversity of ideas, (4) set limits for their teenagers, and (5) take a perspective on their parenting processes. In other words, such programs assume that all parents of teenagers have the same abilities and are at the same developmental level. This study challenged this assumption and addressed the issue of readiness for parenting. Robert Kegan's subject-object theory was used as a context for the study. Twenty parents of teenagers were interviewed using Kegan and colleagues' subject-object interview. The interviews were used to determine how parents were thinking about their parenting experiences, or, in other words, how these parents were structuring meaning around their parenting experiences. The analyses of these interviews, which were done by a certified subject-object assessor and myself, determined what was "subject" and what was "object" in the parents' meaning-making structure. We found subject-object data that represented six different meaning-making structures, or in other words, six different developmental levels. The subject-object data demonstrated abilities and kinds of enmeshment specific to the developmental level. My research suggests that identification of abilities and specific kinds of enmeshment can be useful to helping professionals. This kind of identification which is defined from subject-object developmental levels can; (1) locate the source of authority in the parenting, (2) utilize a language that matches the enmeshment, (3) anticipate the kind of projections that will be generated by the parents, and (4) estimate the level of skill mastery in these four areas: empathetic response and active listening; communication of inner process and leveling; conflict resolution and problem solving; and, limit setting.

Christian women's organizations in Zimbabwe have a long history. Prior to independence, both the Catholic church and the major Protestant denominations had mother's unions or women's clubs. These groups met at the congregational level weekly for prayer, singing, Bible study and support. Education was also an important function of these groups. After independence, many ecumenical and non-denominational Christian women's groups were formed. The purpose of these groups was to assist in national development and in women's development. This dissertation explores the role of these women's organizations in facilitating women's participation in development. The premise of the study was that the church in Zimbabwe plays a large role in development and that women are heavily involved in church life. It was not clear, however, that women's involvement resulted in their benefiting from the church's development activities and efforts. It was assumed that women's organizations would be one way that women could access those activities and the resultant benefits. The literature review includes feminist theories, women in development (WID) and women's organizations. This provided a foundation for exploring the theoretical underpinnings of WID efforts and women's organizations, as well as the appropriateness of those theories, efforts and organizations for women in Zimbabwe. The field research consisted of in-depth interviews with the heads of various types of Christian women's organizations as well as leaders within the Christian Council of Zimbabwe. Unpublished documents produced by the organizations were analyzed. And observations were done of one indigenous community development organization and one church-related women's club. The data revealed that women are benefiting from church development efforts and that women's organizations are largely responsible for that. Also, that women's organizations on their own contribute greatly to community development. Christian women's organizations in Zimbabwe have a major role to play in facilitating the full participation of women in development.

This study presents the perceptions of Foster Care Providers in one western Massachusetts county who are integrating one or more adults with developmental disabilities into their family. This arrangement is called "Adult Foster Care," "Shared Living," or "Supportive Living." It is a new model in the health care field, and no studies have documented the perceptions of providers who have the responsibility of twenty-four hour care of individuals with cognitive disabilities and physical handicaps. Little is known about how providers make sense of their role or what pressures and tensions they are facing as they interact with their new family member. The major findings of the study centered around the difficult and evolving role that shared living providers play in today's health care system for individuals with developmental disabilities. Providers occupy a precarious middle ground between natural family units and more rigidly bureaucratic agencies and institutional systems. In a series of interviews, the following themes emerged as central concerns or issues for the shared living providers who participated in this study: Personal, family and work history; what is it like to be a provider; relationships between providers and individuals with developmental disabilities; organizational issues and tensions, and support systems for providers. Most providers entered the role expecting to work directly with their new family member outside of the regulations and restrictions imposed by group home mandates. They became frustrated and disillusioned by the increasing bureaucratic pressures and need for accountability. In their relationships with individuals with developmental disabilities, they sought to establish new patterns of interactions and to promote greater personal independence. At the same time, they struggled with the community's conception of developmental disabilities. Many reported that inadequate day programs and respite care supports blocked their efforts to build a new concept of health care delivery.

The study explores the complexity of female literacy from the live experiences of women. The purpose of this qualitative research is to describe rural women's perceptions about literacy to assess how it impacts their lives. Female literacy is exceptionally low in Nepal. In spite of the efforts to raise women's educational status through literacy programs, women have rarely benefited from them. Most literacy programs are top-down, short-term, often organized by outside literacy providers, usually males. These programs are resource intensive, keeping their services from reaching a multitude of illiterates. In addition, the teaching methods, materials and program strategies used in most adult literacy programs hardly reflect, in particular, the interest, needs and concerns of women. Since there are few studies describing women's perceptions about literacy, we have little understanding of the complexity of female literacy. What did literacy mean to rural women? What did the women perceive as benefits from literacy? What types of literacy programs are beneficial to them? The study sheds light on these fundamental questions. Using the participants' observation, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, this study collected qualitative data from 150 hours of observation, 15 individual in-depths interviews and six focus group discussions with 48 rural women. The data was collected from twelve sites across the country over a period of two years. The study indicates that rural women need literacy skills for fulfilling their needs as expressed in social, cultural and economic practices. The need for literacy to actively participate in economic activities was, however, felt strongly by most of the rural women. Changes in women's lives were indicated by their increased knowledge, positive attitude and new behavior. Rural women's abilities to articulate their concerns, participate in decision-making, and to organize themselves for collective actions were some of the examples that entailed a change in their lives. Even for those who did not become fully literate, these experiences were empowering. The study also indicates that rural women benefited from literacy programs that focused on both functional and liberating elements.

Agencies providing literacy education have sought to introduce program innovations that more closely reflect learners' everyday lives. A growing number of studies have documented the situated nature of literacy practices and their implications for program design. The concept of learning is at the periphery. Despite innovations and new insights into literacy practices, practitioners are more attuned to diverse content than learning or literacies. Researchers are more attuned to the concept of multiple literacies and their socially situated nature than learning. The Women's Economic Empowerment and Literacy (WEEL) program integrates literacy and numeracy education, savings and credit group concepts, and livelihood training for Nepali women. This dissertation is a case study of the WEEL program, focusing on staff members', participants', and facilitators' perspectives on learning. The research questions were designed to elicit research participants' narratives of their learning experiences. Four themes emerged as the most salient: the powerful role of aspirations; the meaning of education; learning as change; and the life-long, long-term, and life-wide nature of learning. The aspirations are closely associated with Scribner's (1984) conception of the metaphors of literacy: as adaptation, as power, and as a state of grace. Education is interlinked with issues of the women's social identity; gender and caste; concepts of modernization; and the women's hopes for the future. Descriptions of learning are associated with access to knowledge, "doing" or activity, and seeing from a different perspective. An understanding of learning beyond the program's boundaries is found in the themes of life-long, long-term, and life-wide learning raised in the interviews. This research confirms and supports the movement towards more localized programs that is occurring in the field of adult literacy education. Program staff provided evidence to this effect, as the findings show how they consider a perspective of literacy and learning oriented to life-long, long-term, and life-wide learning as they engage in program design. The final chapter develops strategies to bring insights from a conception of literacy as metaphor and from adult learning theories to help strengthen program design and ensure programmatic responsiveness to learners' lives.

Cooperative education has been in existence for approximately eighty three years as a tool to supplement classroom instruction with practical work experience. Some reports suggest that the combination of classroom learning and on-the-job training provides substantial benefits to cooperative education students. Despite these findings, cooperative education has not achieved the recognition that it probably deserves. This may be due to a number of reasons including: (1) lack of adequate promotion, (2) lack of adequate funding, and (3) lack of understanding of the program itself. A major contributing factor to these three limitations, is the failure of cooperative educators to sufficiently document the benefit of cooperative education programs. In fact, the reports attended to above have recognized the need for greater documentation of program benefits. The present study was undertaken to provide some empirical data regarding the perceived benefits of a community college cooperative education program. In conducting the study the researcher hoped to contribute to the existing data base on the benefit of cooperative education by examining the professional development and personal growth effects of a cooperative education program. The study was an ex post facto retrospective survey conducted among 460 former cooperative education students from Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, Massachusetts. A survey instrument called the Cooperative Education Assessment Survey (CEAS) was developed specifically for the study. The results indicated that a majority of the participants assessed the professional development and personal growth benefits of the program positively. No gender differences were observed. However, significant race, age, employment status and enrollment status differences were found.

This study explores higher education's role in meeting small business employees' continuing education needs. There is a growing need for the interpretation of knowledge in small business today. To stay competitive, and even to survive, businesses need a more rapid dissemination and application of knowledge. This challenge for small businesses is being created by changing skill requirements in the workplace, an aging workforce, a worsening labor shortage, demographic changes (including more women, immigrants, and minorities), and international competition. The challenge for small businesses is further emphasized by the Hudson Institute in Workforce 2000 when they predict that new jobs and most of the new wealth over the next decade will have to come from non-manufacturing small businesses. They predict that many of these new jobs will require much higher skill levels than the jobs today. On-the-job-training programs in small businesses often lack the structure and content needed by employees. Many small businesses neither have the expertise to develop continuing education programs adequate to meet their employee needs, nor the resources to purchase programs outside as larger businesses do. These are important gaps. Small businesses see the tasks of educating their employees particularly urgent as they prepare for the demands of the changing economy with their limited resources. This study will provide necessary data about current and future small business employees' continuing education needs. It will be of interest to higher education institutions who wish to participate in employee continuing education for small businesses. It is a demand survey that identifies key training issues and gaps, and provides detailed information on the nature of the demand of small businesses for employee continuing education. Fifty-six different eastern Massachusetts small businesses from thirty-one different communities were surveyed through structured personal interviews. The results suggest that small businesses consider employee continuing education to be an important function of their business. They would like to work more closely with higher education institutions in closing the gaps in their employees' continuing education needs.