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This article describes an instructional model designed to teach students generic employment adaptability skills. Failure to acclimate to a dynamic work environment has been suggested as a primary reason for job termination, The need to adapt to changes in work environments and maintain acceptable levels of work performance is critical for employment success. The model describes how to teach students to adapt to these changes and includes four major components: (a) decision making, (b) independent performance, (c) self-evaluation, and (d) adjustment. Implications for transitional programming are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Special education teachers are routinely taught to collect and analyze student performance data. Data collection and analysis are assumed to be necessary for accurate analysis of three possible trends: (a) an upward trend (when performance trend (when performance worsens). Few studies have examined the accuracy of trend analysis when teachers simply observe consecutive training sessions, nor has there been sufficient comparison of the accuracy of trend analysis based on various forms of data (e.g., raw data vs. data in graphic form). The present study examined the effects of observation and various forms of data on teachers' ability to accurately analyze trends. A 2-factor experimental design was used with 4 groups of randomly assigned subjects. Subjects analyzed 15 samples of videotaped student performance. All subjects viewed the tapes with or without additional forms of data and made judgment regarding the trend of student performance following exposure to each sample. The data were analyzed using a two-way ANOVA. Both the main effect for form of data and the interaction between form of data and type of trends were statistically significant beyond the .01 level. All subjects were able to accurately analyze upward trends in performance, but data were required to accurately analyze level and downward trends. These results are interpreted as support for the practice of training teachers to collect and analyze student performance data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a three year research and demonstration project to determine the feasibility of employing the educable retarded adult in a competitive work setting after appropriate vocational training, the training time and work performance of a retarded group were compared with the performance of nonretarded employees at Abilities, Inc. Results indicated that the retarded worker was able to learn the typical industrial and commercial skills needed at Abilities. The crucial matter in success was not in learning job skills per se, but in developing adequate work habits and personal social skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]