The problem of this study was to determine the degree and level of research activity in the College of Education at North Texas State University through an examination of the doctoral dissertations produced by its graduates. The study had three basic purposes. One purpose was to analyze the dissertations in terms of types of study, focus of each study, subject headings of each study, design characteristics, statistical treatment of data, general results of experimental studies and data collection techniques. The second purpose was to synthesize the data of the present study with that obtained by Novak in her study, in order to provide an overall description of the characteristics of dissertation research in the College of Education from 1953 through 1986. The third purpose was to examine the research activity taking place in the College of Education in terms of the quality of dissertations produced by its graduates. Seven hundred and ninety-five dissertations were the sources of data for this study. The format developed and validated by Novak in her study of dissertation research from 1953 through 1974 was used in the analysis of the dissertations completed from 1975 through 1986. Based on the findings of this study, the following …

The problem of this study was to investigate the relationship of the variables of impulse control, adaptive behaviors, responsible behaviors, intelligence, and duration of institutionalization to job performance of the mentally retarded student at the Denton State School, Denton, Texas. The purposes of this study were 1. to ascertain the correlation of the variables of adaptive behaviors, responsible behaviors, impulse control, duration of institutionalization and intelligence quotient to job performance of the mentally retarded student at the Denton State School; 2. to determine which factor or combination of factors would be most useful for predicting job performance effectiveness of the mentally retarded student. It was concluded that of those variables included in this study, intelligence quotient was the best single predictor of job performance. The combination which was found to be the best predictor of job performance was impulse control and intelligence quotient. The variables included in this study (adaptive behaviors, impulse control, responsible behaviors, intelligence quotient, and duration of institutionalization), taken either singly or in combination, do not correlate highly enough with job performance to be of much value for predicting job performance.

This study enhances student acceptance of career investigation and contains extensive lesson plans for each day of the school year, plus one copy of each handout to be duplicated. The classroom is run as a business where students work for the instructor and are paid by check at the end of each week. Money is deposited on account and used to purchase course grades. The more money the student earns, the higher grade he can purchase. The findings show that students learn more about careers. Students became aware that the higher paying career fields required more schooling and/or training, resulting in changed attitudes about school. They were able to see how the relationship of the learning process could determine their future.

The purpose of this study was twofold. The first major purpose was to determine if Occupational Orientation teachers perceived the required certification courses to be useful in helping them provide the instruction necessary to prepare young people to make tentative choices about the world of work. The second major purpose of this study was to provide this information to the teacher educators and personnel at the Texas Education Agency, so that it might be used to modify the content of these certification courses so that they will be more relevant to the needs of Occupational Orientation teachers.

The purposes of this study were to determine the perceptions of vocational administrators, vocational counselors, and vocational teachers toward selected issues in vocational education. This study surveyed randomly selected vocational administrators, vocational counselors, and vocational teachers by means of a questionnaire designed to ascertain perceptions toward selected issues related to three categories: policies and procedures, curricula, and societal implications. The Likert-type scale instrument consisted of 26 items covering the three categories. A total of 116 returned useable questionnaires of the 150 sent. Vocational administrators returned 90% (4 5 instruments); vocational counselors returned 70% (35 instruments); and vocational teachers returned 72% (36 instruments).

The problem of this study was to identify the perceived characteristics and administrative skills of women administrators in vocational education in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived characteristics and administrative skills of women employed as vocational administrators in the United States. Additional sub-purposes were 1. To develop a profile of women administrators in vocational education; 2. To assist institutions of higher learning in preparing prospective women administrators in vocational education; 3. To assist local education agencies in the selection of women administrators in vocational education; 4. To provide information for women who aspire to become vocational administrators.

This study was designed to compare perceptions of an alternative model for the vocational education program at secondary comprehensive schools in Trinidad and Tobago. The groups compared were vocational education teachers, academic teachers of related subjects, secondary comprehensive principals and vice principals, and vocational education curriculum supervisors. A survey instrument was developed and was tested to ensure its validity and reliability. The instrument utilized a seven-point Likert-type scale to measure the intensity of agreement or disagreement. The items related to the proposed model were subdivided into administration and planning, curriculum and instruction, and evaluation components.

The problem of this study was the need for a systematic development of curriculum for Coordinated Vocational Academic Education (C.V.A.E.) Office Duplication Practice. Sources of data included recent research and information provided by the Texas Education Agency. The study is divided into five parts, including an introduction; background information; an overview of the Mid-America Vocational Curriculum Consortium and the Occupational Curriculum Development Laboratory; and a summary of findings, conclusions, and recommendations. Findings are that there are opposing forces in curriculum development. The study concludes that progress is being made in curriculum development, and recommends that the individual learner be the focal point of all curriculum development efforts.

This study concerns the contributions of Kelley Ezell to Air Force Education Services Programs and examines the impact of his educational leadership in developing the Education Services Program at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, into its current position as an officially recognized Air Force leader in program excellence. It determines the effects of his leadership on subsequent leaders in the Sheppard Education Services Center and identifies the systems and procedures which contribute most significantly to the Center's success.

The purposes of this study were to determine the role expectations of academic counselors in vocational education as perceived by home economics cooperative education teachers and academic counselors, to compare the extent of agreement between these two groups, and to determine if selected demographic variables caused significant differences in perceptions of role expectations. This study surveyed randomly selected counselors and teachers by means of a questionnaire designed to ascertain role perceptions and to collect demographic data. The Likert-type scale instrument consisted of 46 items that were categorized into six areas of counseling tasks. A total of 45 teachers and 158 counselors returned usable questionnaires.

The purpose of this study was to focus on the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 and the amendments of 1989 and 1990. Nursing assistants were placed in cluster groups of 300-hours, 120-hours, and 0-hours. Each subject's job performance of nursing care was observed using the Francis's Task Performance Rating Scale. The purpose of the analysis was to determine (1) if there was a significant difference in job performance of patient care between program completers and the challengers, (2) if there was a significant difference in the job performance of patient care between 300-hour and 120-hour, and (3) if there was a significant difference between the content required in OBRA mandated nursing assistant programs and actual job performance skills needed in patient care. It was determined that program completers' job performance of patient care was significantly different from the challengers.

The problem of this study was to compare the effects of two methods of filmstrip presentation on student achievement. One method employed a personal robot to automatically advance a filmstrip projector in sequence with an audio cassette tape while the other method had a person manually advancing a filmstrip projector in sequence with an audio cassette tape. These were the findings of the study: The pretested experimental and control subjects learned from the sound/filmstrip. The pretested experimental and control groups' mean posttest scores were significantly higher (p < .05) than their pretest mean scores. The experimental groups did not achieve significantly higher mean scores (p > .05) on a posttest, delayed retest, or module mean tests than the control groups. Using the findings of this study, the following conclusions were drawn. Students Learn from a sound/filmstrip on robotic technology whether it is presented by a human being or by a robot. A robot is a viable alternative to the human teacher in situations where the student-teacher interaction is limited.

The purpose of this study was to compare the achievement mean test scores in Technical Drawing of students enrolled for the NCE (Technical) program at the College of Science and Technology, Kaduna polytechnic, Kaduna, Nigeria. Test score means were compared between direct and remedial (preparatory) entry students and secondly among type of high school attended. Data were collected directly from students' permanent records. Two major hypotheses with three sub-hypotheses for each were tested. The first major hypothesis compared direct and remedial entry students. The second major hypothesis compared among three types of high schools attended. The One Way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data. The Duncan Multiple Comparison Test was also applied on the second major hypothesis. Both hypotheses I and II were retained at the .05 level of significance. However, hypothesis I was rejected at the .01 level of significance because the remedial entry students were found to have higher mean test scores than the direct entry students. Findings for hypothesis II indicated no significant difference among type of high school attended. It was recommended that selection for admissions for both the remedial and direct enrollments should not be based only on type of high …

This investigation, which was conducted on the post-secondary level and included vocational and academic students, was undertaken to develop an instrument to assess the attitude and knowledge of students concerning body language and to develop a module of instruction in body language to favorably influence their attitude and knowledge concerning body language. Hypotheses were formulated related to the differences in mean effective and cognitive scores of the experimental group who were taught body language and the control group. Additional hypotheses were formulated related to mean differences in the scores of students differing in age, sex, business experience, and prior exposure to body language. The findings of this study included first, the testing of the instrument; second, the testing of the validity of the research design and third, the testing of the hypotheses. The following conclusions are based on the findings of the study: the instrument seems to be acceptable for assessing the attitude and knowledge of post—secondary students concerning body language, the module of instruction in body language seems to be acceptable as a basis for influencing the attitude and knowledge of post—secondary students concerning body language, the mid-management and speech students were comparable in attitude and knowledge concerning body …

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the perceived attitudes of vocational administrators, vocational office education teachers, and marketing and distributive education teachers toward using microcomputers in vocational education programs. The sample forth is study was randomly selected from all vocational administrators , vocational office education teachers, and marketing and distributive education teachers employed by Texas School Districts. A total of 288 questionnaire were returned from the three vocational education groups. The return was seventy-seven percent. Statistical techniques included descriptive statistics, one-way, and two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) to describe the responses and to test the seven null hypotheses. The results of the study was reported in two categories: statistical significance of the tested hypotheses, and the educational inferences of the vocational administrators' and vocational teachers' responses to questionnaire items. There were significant differences in the perceived general attitudes of the three groups. There were no significant differences in the perceived general attitudes of the three groups when categorized by levels of age, occupational experience, amount of computer training, and availability of microcomputers. There were no significant differences in hypotheses which tested for differences in the perceived attitudes of the three groups toward utilizing microcomputers for classroom instruction …

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the Preparation for Adult Living skills training program by measuring the learning gains and learning outcomes of students participating in the training. The quasi-experimental posttest control group design was used. A treatment sample of twelve students received the Preparation for Adult Living training. A nontreatment sample was selected by matching the characteristics of educational and reading level and the gender of twelve students with no previous independent living skills training with those of the treatment sample. Students in the treatment sample were tested for learning gains using the Preparation for Adult Living Test. Both the treatment and nontreatment sample were tested using the post-training Preparation for Adult Living Scale to determine the level of their learning outcomes. The Preparation for Adult Living Test results were analyzed using the t-test for correlated samples of pretests and posttests. The t-test for independent samples was used to analyze the Preparation for Adult Living Scale results to determine the students' learning outcomes. A Pearson r correlation coefficient was calculated for Preparation for Adult Living Scale scores to determine if a relationship existed between employment and the life coping skills of the treatment sample. …

This study identified the admissions criteria for selected doctoral programs in vocational-technical education in Oklahoma and Texas and investigated the relationship of these criteria to success in the doctoral programs. Success in the doctoral programs was identified in terms of cumulative doctoral grade point average. Data were obtained through a questionnaire designed to ©licit both general information concerning admissions criteria for vocational-technical doctoral programs at the selected institutions and to collect specific information on a random sample of twenty doctoral candidates from each of the four selected institutions. Factors considered included birthdates, gender, scores on admissions tests, grade point average in the masters program, the year the latest masters was completed, number of colleges attended, and cumulative doctoral grade point average. A statistical analysis using nine separate one-way analyses of variance determined that four of the nine factors considered proved to be statistically significant at the .05 level or better when correlated with the criterion variable (cumulative doctoral grade point average). Those factors were gender, Graduate Record Examination verbal and composite scores, and masters grade point average. The results of the study basically parallel findings of research concerning admissions criteria and success in graduate programs in other areas. Additional research …

The purpose of this study was to assess the achievement of older learners when using computer-assisted-instruction tutorials with no time limits and to compare this achievement with that of other older students who were taught by the conventional lecture method of instruction. The effects of prior formal education, physical limitations, socioeconomic status, and sex were also identified. Students in the age categories fifty-five to sixty-seven and sixty-eight and over were placed at random in either a control group that would receive instruction in the conventional lecture method or a treatment group that would receive computer-assisted-instruction. Each of the students in the study completed a demographic data form, received instruction, and was tested over the topics which had been covered. The test scores and demographic data were summarized and analyzed using two-way analysis of variance. The purpose of the analysis was to determine (1) if there was a significant difference in the effectiveness of the two methods of instruction, (2) if there was a significant difference in the performance of the two age categories, (3) if there was a significant interaction between the age levels and the methods of instruction, and (4) if the test scores were affected by past formal …

The purpose of the study was to determine if occupational investigation teachers and vocational administrators held similar or differing attitudes toward the occupational investigation courses in relation to the mainstreamed handicapped students they served. The following conclusions were warranted from the findings of the analyses of the data. Findings derived from multiple T tests indicate that occupational investigation teachers perceive all survey item statements concerning Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) meetings and the content of Individual Education Programs (IEPs) as occurring to a significantly lesser degree than do vocational administrators. There is no significant discrepancy in their perceptions toward the current practices of occupational investigation teacher training, student assessment, classroom accessibility, course content, or special education assistance described in the survey items. The results of the multiple T tests indicate that there are no significant differences between the attitudes and perceptions of occupational investigation teachers and vocational administrators in Texas toward the future of any of the conditions reflected in the survey items. Teachers and administrators agree that all of the current conditions reflected by the items should be promoted to a higher degree in the future. The results of the multiple T tests indicate a high degree of significance …

This study investigated effects of selected demographic variables and styles of leadership on the self-perceived leader effectiveness scores of vocational administrators at two-year postsecondary institutions in Texas. Demographic variables were type of institution represented, teaching experience, age, trade experience, administrative experience in vocational education, highest degree earned, institutional enrollment and vocational enrollment. Seventy-eight administrators were mailed copies of the Leader Behavior Analysis II—Self (LBA) and a demographic questionnaire. The LBA contained twenty supervisory situations. Respondents were to select the alternative approach that most closely resembled action they might take. Scoring determined the respondents' primary leadership styles and leader effectiveness scores. One-way analysis of variance was used to determine if selected demographic variables or primary leadership style was significant in determining a difference in their effectiveness scores. Primary leadership style and degree held were significant in determining leader effectiveness scores at alpha .05. It was determined that 84 percent of the administrators completing the questionnaire preferred the supporting style. None of the administrators preferred delegating or directing styles. Recommendations included studies using the LBA with supervisors in associations serviced by the institutions to provide an understanding of relationships between the leadership style of the administrators of training institutions and those of …

The purposes of this study were to identify criteria which influence students' decisions to attend specific colleges and to determine whether different groups of students use similar criteria. The following groups were compared: white students and minority students, males and females, older students and younger students, university-bound students and vocational students, and full-time students and part-time students. The sample used for this study was taken from the students enrolled in freshman English classes at Vernon Regional Junior College, Clarendon College, and Grayson County College. Approximately 100 students at each college were selected to participate in the study. Each student in the study received instruction, provided demographic information, and completed a two-part survey. The survey asked respondents to evaluate each of twenty items on a Likert-type scale. The data provided were compiled and organized into groups by a data base computer program. Data obtained from specific groups of respondents were compared, first through an examination of means, then through a chi-square test of independence. It was determined that the most important college selection criteria to these respondents were the cost of attendance, the availability of specific programs, the size of the college, the size of individual classes, the location of the …

Freshmen at Sul Ross State University are required to take tests which are used for placement purposes. One of the tests given is the Nelson-Denny Reading Test which measures comprehension, vocabulary, and reading rate. The scores are used with American College Test or Standard Achievement Test scores to place students in either remedial or regular freshman English. Remedial students, who score below the tenth-grade competency level, are placed in English 1300. Regular students are placed in English 1301 or 1302. Twelve studies were found which had been done in this area since 1980. One was directly related to this study. The Anglo and Hispanic population of the freshman class of 1987 was tested. Blacks were not included as they comprised less than 9 percent of the freshman class. There were 69 students in the experimental group and 162 in the control group. A pretest-posttest design was used. A three-way analysis of variance set up data for statistical testing. The Alpha level was set at .05. The findings indicate a significant difference for Hypothesis 1, which predicted no significant difference in the posttest performance of students required to take English 1300 and the pretest performance of students who were not. Therefore …