Curriculum innovations, such as Tech Prep, provide practitioners an avenue to change expectations, attitudes, teaching styles, and organizational structure. However, the benefits of educational innovations are not fully realized until those practitioners, such as administrators, academic teachers, vocational teachers, and guidance counselors, adopt and implement change in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to determine the concerns of Tech Prep practitioners at the secondary level in the state of Virginia as measured by the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM). The population for this study was 322 individuals consisting of administrators, academic teachers, vocational teachers and guidance counselors involved in implementation of Tech Prep programs for two years or longer. Based on the findings of this study the following conclusions are presented. Based on the theory of the CBAM and the mean scores of the Stages of Concern, indications are these practitioners are becoming experienced users of the Tech Prep concept. The two highest SoC mean scores for the four groups were either Collaboration or Consequence Stage. It was concluded that staff development should relate to strategies necessary to increase student outcomes and cooperation and coordination of others. Practitioners involved with Tech Prep have passed the self-concerns (Awareness, Informational, and Personal Stages) and task-concerns (Management). The Stages of Concern for all groups evolved around impact-concerns (Consequence, Collaboration, and Refocusing Stages). It was concluded that the level of involvement by administrators, academic teachers, and vocational teachers during implementation of Tech Prep is related to the Stages of Concern. There was not a significant relationship between the Stages of Concern and level of involvement for counselors. Selected recommendations drawn from the findings and conclusions are: • Attention should continue to focus on concerns, attitudes and expectations of practitioners as they proceed with the continuation of Tech Prep in Virginia. • This study should be replicated with larger sample sizes and questionnaires submitted at the beginning of the innovation adoption and at designated periods after the implementation process. Such longitudinal studies may determine linkage between time, staff development activities, integration of vocational and academic studies, and the SoC of practitioners. • Focus by teacher educators, the Virginia Department of Education staff, vocational-technical and academic personnel, should concentrate on collaborative techniques and student competencies. It is recommended that policy be developed to include extensive professional development and increased dialogue among practitioners as they implement Tech Prep programs. / Ed. D.

Learning in school requires active engagement. Student engagement is an important aspect for all students, whether urban, suburban, or rural, and regardless of socioeconomic background. Students enter Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs for a multitude of reasons and CTE programs offer unique support for student success by increasing student engagement. This study will focus on CTE teachers' perceptions of the influence that CTE programs and industry credentialing have on student engagement. Utilizing information on student engagement will help educators develop strategies to promote student motivation and student engagement, thus leading to student academic success. This study is a quantitative, descriptive statistical study in which the researcher examined studies that focused on student engagement and student engagement predictors. The research identified six qualities of student engagement: positive conduct and absence of disruptive conduct, school attendance, academic progress, social membership, high expectations in students' ability to achieve, and emotional support. The researcher developed a survey to examine teachers' perceptions of CTE influence on student engagement by including the six qualities of student engagement as guidelines for questionnaire development. Results of the survey indicate that CTE teachers identify all six domains of student engagement as represented within their course structure. Responses of all groups were similar, while their levels of industry involvement different. Additional results of all teacher responses are provided in the paper. / Ed. D.

The goal of this research was to assess the Virginia three-year provisional teaching license preparation path for earning a teaching license with an endorsement in Business and Information Technology (BIT) and Marketing Education (MKED). The study examined BIT and MKED teacher preparedness as it relates to core teaching and program management competencies for CTE educators who enrolled and completed Virginia's three-year teacher provisional licensure route to determine the effectiveness of the routes themselves. The research studied how the participants teacher preparation path impacted teachers' preparedness and how the elements of the provisional path contributed to the teacher's confidence in teaching. The study had one main research question and two sub-questions. The first sub-question emerged into five themes. They include lack of support system, struggle to implement essential teaching competencies, struggle to implement essential program management competencies, taking coursework while teaching does not work, and slight improvement by third year, but still a struggle. The second sub-question emerged into three themes. They include the need for effective support system, need for increased funding for teacher pay and required college courses, and need for focused training on specific CTE competencies. Three key conclusions from the study were BIT and MKED teachers need specific preparation training focused on core CTE teaching and program management competencies prior to entering the classroom, need a student teaching and/or co-teaching experience prior to entering the classroom by themselves, and need effective and active mentoring as well as administrative feedback and support during the entire three-year provisional licensure process. / Doctor of Philosophy / The study examined BIT and MKED teacher preparedness as it relates to core teaching and program management competencies for CTE educators who enrolled and completed Virginia's three-year teacher provisional licensure route to determine the effectiveness of the routes themselves. A qualitative research design was used for this study to determine the factors that affect the first year and third year provisionally licensed BIT and MKED teacher competency obtainment in the state of Virginia. A pre-survey of essential core teaching and program management competencies was given to create awareness of the interview topic to the interviewees. This survey was followed by an in-depth interview to gather rich data relating to the obtainment of core competencies. Three key conclusions from the study were BIT and MKED teachers need specific preparation training focused on core CTE teaching and program management competencies prior to entering the classroom, need a student teaching and/or co-teaching experience prior to entering the classroom by themselves, and need effective and active mentoring as well as administrative feedback and support during the entire three-year provisional licensure process. The results of the research may help improve the provisionally licensed teacher path route for prepare beginning BIT and MKED teachers in Virginia. The research will add to the literature by providing (1) information on how to improve provisional-teacher license preparation programs, (2) suggesting methods of training in these programs, and (3) showing the significance of beginning CTE teachers' professional relationships with administrators and mentor teachers. The results of the study could also assist school districts to better allocate resources and staff to effectively help provisionally licensed teachers.

This study identified the accuracy with which local career and technical education (CTE) administrators perceive the stereotypes of CTE students, teachers, and programs held by Virginia Department of Education administrators. In order to measure the aforementioned meta-accuracy: (a) the stereotypes of CTE students, teachers, and programs held by (VDOE) administrators were determined, (b) the meta-stereotypes of local CTE administrators regarding the stereotypes of CTE programs, students, and teachers held by VDOE administrators were established, and (c) the stereotypes and the meta-stereotypes were compared. Data analyzed revealed that some of the traditional stereotypical descriptors of CTE teachers, students, and programs were held by VDOE administrators. Some stereotypes of note were: (a) CTE students do not plan to go to college, (b) CTE students are good with concrete concepts, (c) CTE students enjoy nonacademic classes more than academic ones, (d) CTE students are not from middle to upper socioeconomic class, (e) CTE teachers have lots of on-the-job experience, and (f) CTE programs are isolated from the rest of the school. Local CTE administrators possessed meta-stereotypes that indicated that VDOE administrators would stereotype CTE students as: (a) not being leaders in school, (b) not having college-educated parents, (c) being motivated by material rewards, (d) enjoying nonacademic classes more than academic ones, (e) being easily influenced by peers, and (f) not being from middle to upper socio-economic class. Local CTE administrators had meta-stereotypes that indicated VDOE administrators would stereotype CTE teachers as: (a) being more of a practitioner than a theorist, (b) being good with concrete concepts, and (c) not possessing master's degrees. Local CTE administrators had meta-stereotypes that indicated VDOE administrators would stereotype CTE programs as: (a) being a good return on investment, (b) providing for the education of the whole person, (c) being beneficial to all students, (d) being expensive to maintain, (e) having enrollment typically of students from blue-collar or agriculture background, and (f) being for students who work better with their hands. Local CTE administrators were accurately able to predict the way VDOE administrators would respond to the statements depicting stereotypes of CTE students, teachers, and programs for 45 of the 62 items. Conversely, they were not able to accurately predict 17 out of the 62 statements. Overall, the accuracy of the meta-stereotypes (meta-accuracy) of local CTE administrators varied depending upon what was being measured. The meta-accuracy in relation to CTE teachers was highest (11 out of the 12 items) and the meta-accuracy was lowest in relation to CTE programs (10 out of 17 items). In relation to CTE students, local CTE administrators were accurate in predicting 24 out of the 33 items. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to describe the needs and concerns regarding the Virginia Credentialing Initiative (VCI) of career and technical education (CTE) stakeholders in rural southwestern Virginia. These stakeholders included central office CTE administrators, high school principals, guidance counselors, and high school CTE teachers. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (George, Hall, & Stiegelbauer, 2008) was sent to 355 participants with 260 responding for a return rate of 73%. All of the respondents were employed in Superintendents' Region Seven. There are seven Stages of Concern: 0 Unconcerned, 1 Informational, 2 Personal, 3 Management, 4 Consequence, 5 Collaboration, and 6 Refocusing. Results revealed that when categorized by occupational areas, central office CTE administrators and teachers had primary concerns that ranged from Unconcerned to Personal. Guidance counselors had primary concerns that ranged from Unconcerned to Informational. High school principals had primary concerns that ranged from Unconcerned to Personal. All groups had lowest concern levels at the Consequence and Refocusing stages. Results for each group varied slightly when the number of years of experience was used as a reporting category. The primary level of concern was at the Unconcerned stage for each group when the respondents had 5 or fewer years of experience. CTE teacher groups were also categorized by subject area as those with long-standing licensing history (cosmetology, nursing, welding) and those newer to credentialing (agriculture, business, family and consumer sciences, marketing). The fields of nursing and welding had primary concerns at the Unconcerned level, while those in the agriculture, business, cosmetology, family and consumer sciences, and marketing subject areas peaked at the Personal level. Further research is recommended in relation to CTE stakeholder concerns and the implementation and use of the VCI. The implementation of new state legislation will affect CTE stakeholders as they adapt to the new graduation requirements for students pursuing a standard diploma. It is also recommended that qualitative research be conducted to ascertain specific avenues for addressing stakeholder needs and concerns, such as professional development. / Ed. D.

In 2002, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation (U.S. Department of Education, 2002) was signed into law to help children in the United States receive quality education and learn the basic skills needed to be successful (Chadd & Drage, 2006). The central focus of this legislation is the core academic subjects, which are identified in the legislation as English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history and geography. Career and technical education (CTE) is not specifically mentioned in the legislation, which suggests that NCLB and the high-stakes testing associated with the accountability benchmarks could impact the future of CTE. Even though the primary expectation of high-stakes testing is to increase academic achievement in specific areas, many worthwhile school programs could suffer from unintended consequences of this high-stakes testing initiative. One of the strategies that many school districts are using to improve student performance in the core subject areas mentioned in the NCLB legislation is to devote more instructional time to the tested content subjects, such as reading, mathematics, social studies and science. Hence, the development of an unintended consequence of narrowing the curriculum offered to secondary students. As a result more CTE courses may be dropped from high school master schedules, which make the topic of specific concern for educational leaders (Gordon et al., 2007). School administrators and school leaders are concerned about school accreditation and student performance on state mandated tests. Therefore, examining career and technical education student performance on Virginia's Standards of Learning assessments and the graduation rates of CTE students would help to determine the impact of CTE enrollment on student achievement. As such, the impact of CTE on high-stakes testing in the Commonwealth of Virginia was the impetus for this topic of study. This purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the academic performance of CTE completers and non-CTE completers in the Commonwealth of Virginia on the Standards of Learning English and mathematics assessments, as well as cohort graduation rates. This quantitative study used descriptive statistics, such as mean and standard deviation, to determine if their pass rates and graduation rates differ during the 2008, 2009 and 2010 school years. A t-test was used to determine if they differ significantly from each other. Findings indicate that statistically (p<.05), CTE completers had higher mathematics and Grade 11 English reading pass rates from those of non-CTE completers. The CTE completers in this study also demonstrated higher cohort graduation rates. It appears that a concentration of career and technical education makes a positive impact the pass rates of students on the Standards of Learning assessments and cohort graduation rates. / Doctor of Education

Little is known about how students learn when using computer-assisted modular curriculum, if such curriculum truly promotes self-regulated learning, or if the cognitive principles of teaching and learning are integrated throughout the design of the modules. The purpose of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of student cognitive responses to learning with computer-assisted modular curriculum, based on the Phases and Subprocesses of Self-Regulation. This triangulation mixed methods case study connected qualitative and quantitative data derived from curriculum content analysis, student course evaluations, participant observations, and interviews. Thirty-six middle school students enrolled in an agricultural education course designed with computer-assisted modules served as the case study group. Data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed, leading to the emergence of six common themes. Overall, the design and content of the computer-assisted modules lack integral principles of teaching and learning. Participants prefer a mix of traditional and computer-assisted instruction because of the variety of instruction, opportunities for social learning, and the hands-on activities. When integrated properly, computer-assisted modules do not inhibit interactions among the teacher and the students. The activities associated with the modules do not encourage self-regulatory processes. However, self-regulation is innate and students engage in self-regulation at different levels during the learning experience. Despite intrinsic interest or value for a particular topic, participants felt it was always important to pay attention in school. Thus, when learning with computer-assisted modules, students engage in social learning with their peers and desire hands-on learning experiences, with or without the modules. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

The object of this study was to determine the extent to which coordinators of Industrial Cooperative Training programs in Virginia high schools used the directed study method in directly related instruction, to compare its use with other teaching methods used, and to determine the coordinators‘ evaluation of its effectiveness as related to other methods. A list of 30 programs providing a representative sampling of the I.C.T. programs in the state system considered above average on the basis of past performance was secured from state supervisory personnel. Questionnaires prepared by the researcher were mailed to the coordinators of the selected programs, and to seven other state departments of education to determine the procedure found most effective in their directly related instruction. The questionnaires provided data for the study. The other state departments reported use of the directed study method for directly related instruction. In Virginia, where each coordinator was found responsible for his own program, all but five of the coordinators questioned considered the directed study method most effective in directly related instruction. The researcher concluded that the evaluative judgment of the individual coordinators resulted in agreement that the most effective instructional procedure in directly related instruction was the directed study method. The researcher also concluded that additional research in Industrial Cooperative Training is needed in comparing the effectiveness of the directed study method with that of other methods in actual use in the classroom, and in other fields necessary for complete understanding and utilization of directed study. / Master of Science

This study was conducted to identify personal and institutional barriers preventing community college students from completing their education goals, whether that was a degree program, diploma program, or credentialing program. It was also conducted to identify strategies that can be used to assist these students in overcoming these barriers. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of students at one West Virginia Community and Technical College who dropped out of their programs of study. The study sought to identify actions and events that contributed to students choosing to drop out and strategies that can be used to reduce their dropping out. Understanding the students' perspectives concerning their decisions to drop out will assist community college personnel to evaluate the on- and off-campus factors influencing these decisions. This qualitative study sought to directly ask students about their personal lives and also about the people and events on campus that influenced their decision to drop out of Thompson Community and Technical College (pseudonym). The study contains three major research questions: What personal factors contributed to students dropping out of one West Virginia Community and Technical College? What institutional factors contributed to students dropping out of one West Virginia Community and Technical College? What strategies can one West Virginia Community and Technical College implement to enhance student retention and decrease student dropout rates? The basic qualitative research design of conducting one-on-one qualitative interviews was used for this study. Criterion and purposeful sampling were utilized to identify participants. Semi-structured interviewing and document reviewing was utilized to gather data to discover rich information from the participants' lived experiences. Participants were suggested by current or former faculty or staff members at one of the West Virginia Community and Technical College campuses in the state of West Virginia. They were students who had already attended for at least one semester and who had subsequently dropped out of their programs of study. Fifteen participants were interviewed for the study. / Doctor of Education / This study tried to find out if there were specific personal reasons or specific college reasons why students did not finish school and graduate from their community college. It also tried to find out if students had suggestions for what might have kept them in college. Finding out this information could maybe help colleges figure out how to help students stay in school and graduate. Fifteen former students were interviewed face-to-face by the researcher for this study. Each person had finished at least one semester at a West Virginia Community and Technical College, but then had left before they graduated. Three of them left for only personal reasons. Twelve of them left because of what happened at the college. They shared many stories and gave many suggestions for improvement. They also shared good experiences.

The purpose of this thesis is to present a history of the establishment and growth of the Crozier Technical High School in Dallas, Texas, with special emphasis placed upon technical phases of the school curriculum and the concrete outcomes in terms of actual results ascertained from the graduates.