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This report on pupil, staff, and parent attitudes toward career education presents data obtained from a January 1972 inventory of sample populations in the six participating Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in the Comprehensive Career Education Model (CCEM) project. These data serve as a baseline for the CCEM installation efforts, and this initial survey is reported to provide more effective program planning information to the CCEM project staff. Findings from the survey showed that pupils (Grades 4-6 and 7-12), staff, and parents all had extremely positive attitudes toward career education, implying that a curriculum change in the direction of career education would probably be welcomed. There was one potential problem in the career education program: the granting of high school course credit for work experience. The survey showed that most of the parents did not approve of course credit for any of the nine job possibilities listed, but high school students wanted credit for two of the jobs and the staff members would grant credit for all nine. However, there was close agreement among the students, their teachers, and their parents about the value of career education and about their generally positive attitudes toward it. A second report will be made after June 1973 to compare the same populations and to identify changes in attitudes toward career education. (MF)

This study is designed in part to update a 1965 publication and to note changes in the pattern of State research and research related activities since that time. It is intended to provide State research directors with an exchange of State department practices in organization, staffing, funding, and contracting for research related activities; an identification of projects completed and under way; and an identification of personnel employed in State departments. Survey data were gathered through (1) site visits to 12 geographically representative States known to be active in research and development; (2) mailed questionnaires that probed into the organization, financing, staffing, and content of State activities -- not only in the research unit but also throughout the department; and (3) meetings at the nine regional USOE offices where RDDDE personnel from 31 States discussed the situations in their own departments. The procedures used to collect and analyze the data are described in one chapter; another chapter presents the results of the work; and the presentation concludes with a reflection on the meanings of the findings, an interpretation, and general recommendations. Eight appendixes contain definitions of terms, samples of instruments used in the study, lists of people participating, statistical tables, a project catalogue, and a project list. (Author/MLF)

A summary of a two-day conference held in September, 1973 is presented. The meeting was convened by the Planning and Policy Analysis Unit of the National Institute of Education (NIE); its purpose was to bring NIE staff together with developers, publishers, attorneys, and educators to develop input for a position paper on dissemination and copyright policies which the NIE staff was preparing for its National Council. The agenda included the following topics: 1) copyright models; 2) copyright policies; 3) effective use of materials; 4) educating users; 5) developers as distributors; 6) distributors as developers; 7) special products; 8) clearinghouse functions; 9) evaluation, review, and revision; and 10) royalties. The conference report first presents a conceptual framework for the related tasks of research, development, evaluation, demonstration, distribution, and implementation and then articulates seven principles upon which dissemination and copyright policy can be based. A total of 63 applications based on these principles and designed to produce more effective widespread use of NIE-sponsored products concludes the report. (PB)

This study was commissioned by the State of Rhode Island to provide a factual basis for future education policy decisions. Since Rhode Island has a higher percentage of children in nonpublic schools than any other State, the future of these schools is particularly crucial. Nonpublic schools in Rhode Island are divided into two basic types: Catholic and independent. Catholic schools enroll 21 percent of the State's pupils; independent schools, 2 percent. Demographic information in the study includes number and type of schools, enrollment, governance, faculty and student characteristics, class size, curriculum, facilities, and financing, as well as the history and legal status of independent and Catholic schools. Survey findings on Catholic attitudes toward Catholic schools are also included. Recommendations made to independent- and Catholic-school officials and to the Rhode Island General Assembly conclude the study. Eleven appendixes contain background material including all statistical information used in formulating conclusions. (Tables 1-72 may reproduce poorly in hard copy because of small print.) (MLF)

THIS PUBLICATION CONSISTS OF SPEECHES BY DR. DONALD J. MCCARTY, OF CORNELL, AND DR. HENRY M. BRICKELL, OF MANHASSET, NEW YORK, ON SCHOOL BOARD-ADMINISTRATIVE RELATIONSHIPS AND WRITTEN SCHOOL BOARD POLICIES. DR. MCCARTY EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF MUTUAL RESPECT AND CONFIDENCE BETWEEN BOARD MEMBERS AND ADMINISTRATORS AND DESCRIBES HOW A WORKING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BOARD MEMBERS AND ADMINISTRATORS IS ACHIEVED. DR. BRICKELL EMPHASIZES THE ROLE DEFINITION OF BOARD MEMBERS AND ADMINISTRATORS, DEFINES POLICY, AND DESCRIBES HOW A SCHOOL POLICY EVOLVES WHEN BOARD MEMBERS AND ADMINISTRATORS WORK TOGETHER. IN THE APPENDIXES ARE LISTED THE LEGAL DEFINITIONS IN NEW YORK OF THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF BOARDS OF EDUCATION AND DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENTS. ALSO SUPPLIED ARE THE NAMES OF BOTH THE MEMBER SCHOOLS AND THE MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. (FS)

This is the final report of a study that examined paraprofessional influence on student achievement and attitudes and on paraprofessional performance outside the classroom. The paraprofessionals studied were those employed in the New York City public schools and supported by district decentralized ESEA Title I and New York Urban Education Quality Incentive Program Funds. Close to four-fifths of these paraprofessionals serve as classroom paraprofessionals. Previous evaluation studies left unanswered the question of what connection, if any, exists between measured student achievement in cognitive and affective areas and the presence or absence of paraprofessional services. Pre-test and post-test pupil achievement results and post-test scores from two attitude inventories served as the study's dependent variables. The 63 experimental classrooms and 35 control classrooms selected at random for the study included 2,821 third grade students. Nonclassroom paraprofessionals, such as family assistants and family workers, perform as paraprofessional social workers. Because this part of the study began so late in the school year, it was agreed that the investigation would be limited to an examination of their background and the work they perform as paraprofessionals, rather than attempting to discover the effect they are having. (Author/JM)

THE STUDY OF THE DYNAMICS OF EDUCATIONAL CHANGE IN THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF NEW YORK STATE AND THE PROPOSED ORGANIZATION TO IMPROVE THE PROCESS OF EDUCATIONAL CHANGE WAS BASED ON VISITS TO SCHOOL SYSTEMS IN NEW YORK CITY AND THIRTY AREAS OUTSIDE THE CITY TO DISCOVER HOW THEY MADE DECISIONS ABOUT INSTRUCTIONAL CHANGE. ACTIVE, WELL-FINANCED SUBURBAN SCHOOL SYSTEMS WERE SELECTED. ADDITIONALLY, VISITS WERE MADE TO COLLEGES, PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS, AND CITIZENS' ORGANIZATIONS. THE FINDINGS INDICATED THAT THE PACE AND DIRECTION OF CHANGE WERE GREATLY AFFECTED BY THE LAUNCHING OF THE SOVIET SPUTNIK, BUT THAT SCHOOLS AS STRUCTURED INSTITUTIONS REMAINED STABLE. THE PROCESS OF CHANGE WITHIN LOCAL SCHOOLS AND THE ROLE OF OUTSIDE INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS WERE ANALYZED. THE MAIN CONCLUSION OF THE STUDY WAS THAT THE THREE PHASES OF INSTRUCTIONAL CHANGE--THE DESIGN, EVALUATION, AND DISSEMINATION OF INNOVATIONS--WERE NOT THE SAME. THE IDEAL CIRCUMSTANCES FOR EACH PHASE WERE WRONG FOR THE OTHERS, IDEALLY, THE CIRCUMSTANCES FOR THE DESIGN OF AN IMPROVED INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH WOULD BE ARTIFICIAL, ENRICHED, AND FREE, THOSE FOR THE EVALUATION WOULD BE CONTROLLED, CLOSELY OBSERVED, AND UNFREE, AND THOSE FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF CHANGE THROUGH DEMONSTRATION WOULD BE ORDINARY, UNENRICHED, AND NORMAL. ANOTHER OBSTACLE TO EDUCATIONAL IMPROVEMENT WAS THE FAILURE TO SUPPORT ADEQUATELY THE BASIC RESEARCH WHICH SHOULD PRECEDE THE DESIGN PHASE. THE SOLUTION RECOMMENDED BY THE INVESTIGATORS WAS FOR THE STATES TO STIMULATE NATIONAL ACTION TO SUPPORT BASIC RESEARCH AND FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO STIMULATE STATE ACTION TO SUPPORT PROGRAM DESIGN AND EVALUATION THROUGH FIELD TESTING.

The Ohio Career Development Program was evaluated and students were tested in order to carry out that evaluation. (RK)

Excerpts from a study conducted for the Rhode Island Special Commission to Study the Entire Field of Education outlining a criteria for public policy and suggesting alternatives regarding public support of nonpublic education. (LN)