est national priority in education. The Office should be headed by a person who is eminently well qualified in the fields of vocational and technical education as a part of career education and be accorded the rank of Assistant Secretary. He must have an adequate supportive staff to enable the Office to function effectively. The establisment of this Office with the appropriate level of leadership will provide visibility and continuity in addition to decision making responsibility on behalf of vocational and technical education at the top levels of education and government. We urge Congress to accept the responsibility of appropriating the full authorizations that have been provided for down through the years for vocational and technical education. Funds must be provided for full implementation immediately, as well as providing the necessary funds for future needs. The vast majority of the public in our nation live by a familiar vision of our public schools. They believe our schools have traditionally fulfilled a dual function-preparing young people for a career in adult life and serving as transmitters of our cultural heritage. The Council implores our national educational policy makers to join in the full implementation of a viable educational program to provide for the full economic development of our human resources. To do anything less is to abandon positive educational leadership. Respectfully submitted, Lawrence Davenport, Chairman, Mrs. Louis Bachman, Daniel H. Beegan, Lowell A. Burkett, Frank Cannizzaro, Mrs. Joseph Coors, Jerry S. Dobrovolny, Marvin J. Feldman, William Gellman, Jack Hatcher, Mrs. Hugh Hughes, John W. Letson, W. E. Lowry, Duane Lund, Donald N. McDowell, Luis M. Morton, Jr., Thomas Pauken, George L. Ramey, Norman R. Stanger, Steve W. Stock, Delfino Valdez, Members, National Advisory Council; Calvin Dellefield, Executive Director. PART B EXCERPTS FROM THE STATE ADVISORY COUNCILS' 1970 ANNUAL REPORTS ALABAMA Chairman-J. E. Mitchell, Jr. Ex. Director-Jack Mitchie 1. Definition of Plan DISCUSSION A careful indepth study of the State Plan for Vocational Education reveals gross inadequacies in planning and in methods of determining state needs. The current plan calls for 900% increase in expenditures in 1975 with no provision to attract students or qualified teachers. As an example, in one service area the training output projections for 1971 are over 17,000 with an occupational demand of less than 1,300. In other service areas reported, the same idea is revealed. This points to a lack of understanding in the vocational education field of the needs of the business world for trained employees. 2. Human Resource Assessment In essence, we discovered that vocational education in Alabama is training six persons for each job opportunity that exists in specific areas related to this training. Since the unemployment rate in Alabama does not reflect this level of unemployed people, our only conclusion is that the trained student in Alabama is leaving the State to seek employment elsewhere. Alabama is losing its single most important resource: Trained manpower. In effect as noted in the survey, vocational physical equipment and facilities are adequate in the State of Alabama. However, within any given geographic area, duplication of effort by repetition of program has been noted. This duplication of effort has caused competition for students, resulting in small classes and high costs of training. It has been found that comprehensive high schools provide lower costs per student and more effective job placement opportunities than do area secondary vocational schools. An example of cost comparison can be taken from an area of the State in which a private school is training in a service area at $750 for a six month course with effective placement rate, when a similar program in the public school is two years in duration at a cost of $800 with a lower placement rate; this constitutes duplication of effort and unrealistic program length. 3. Impact of 1968 Amendments The intent of the Vocational Education Amendments of 1968 had a very positive effect on the State of Alabama through focusing attention on areas of need. However, the rules, regulations and guidelines set forth by the U.S. Office of Education as a result of the 1968 Amendments caused the State to develop a plan which in effect was merely a compliance document to qualify the State for federal funds and would not reflect the true intent of the 1968 Amendments. Change affected by 1968 Amendments cannot be measured because of lack of sufficient data but a data retrieval system is under development by the Research Coordinating Unit at the University of Alabama. It is hoped that within the next year this system will become operational and provide proper data basis. 4 Effectiveness of Meeting Needs The business community's assessment of graduates from area vocational education schools and post secondary technical schools is one of deep concern. Retraining is frequently necessary for employees who are a product of our vocational education programs. It has been long recognized that effective programs of vacational education require advice and guidance from local business and trade advisory councils. When individual members of local advisory councils were contacted for comments on the participation of the local councils in the vast majority of the cases, the local advisory council had not even met. In many other cases, individuals contacted were not aware that their name had been submitted as a member of the local advisory council. 5. Services and Opportunity Relevancy of vocational education is generally poor and the business community needs to be brought into the vocational education programs in all areas of the State. There is strong evidence that the needs of people are not being adequately met by many of the vocational education programs in the State of Alabama. Based on sample survey information, only 30% of the graduates were employed in training related occupations. When employers were asked about the relevancy of skills, it was found that the skills were far below what might be expected in many cases. It should be noted that there were some skill areas that were very effective. It would seem that adherence to traditional areas of vocational education as described in the Smith-Hughes Act would constitute a major cause in effectiveness of programs. In comparing the effectiveness of programs in secondary schools, namely comprehensive secondary schools and secondary area vocational schools, it was found that the vocational needs of students were being served best in the comprehensive secondary schools both in terms of courses, relevance of training and training related placement. Adequate data sources for job opportunities do not exist thereby handicapping the development of a relative vocational education program. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Construction of additional vocational education facilities should not be undertaken without responsible analysis of specific needs by area of occupation and existing facilities. 2. Counseling and guidance programs need to be developed which will serve as liaison between the student and the job opportunities, to help him find appropriate training areas and a job when training is complete. 3. An adequate data system should be developed in cooperation with other agencies as quickly as possible. 4. Every effort should be made to develop comprehensive institutions at all levels. Purely academic institutions should inaugurate vocational programs and vocational institutions should include academic programs. 5. A recruitment program should be developed to attract qualified teachers and administrators. There should be a continuous upgrading program to keep instructors current in their respective trade area. 6. A greater and more equitable share of the State's educational dollar should be directed toward vocational education, at least equal on a percentage basis to the number of students enrolled. 7. A program of cost effectiveness information development must be undertaken at once. ALASKA Chairman-Louis Licari SUMMARY STATEMENT The 1970 evaluation report of vocational education in Alaska has been conducted and finalized in the interest of assisting the total vocational effort to fulfill more effectively the objectives and purposes for which established. The Council is concerned with the fact that some people who could benefit from vocational instruction are deprived of that opportunity because their educational system does not offer such courses. Another concern is the image which vocational programs may have in some of our educational systems. The Council has specifically directed that all persons in a position to enhance the image of vocational programs should do so, since this also may be a barrier which would restrict the availability of some programs to those who could benefit from the instruction. Even though the funding for the new features of Vocational Amendments of 1968 were late in being approved by Congress the Council felt that these areas should have a preliminary evaluation to give guidance for future evaluations. A special strength of the evaluation report is that every member participated in some phase of the evaluation. The reports from each Council member was presented to the Council proper before becoming a part of the overall report. The Council was generally impressed with the total growth of vocational education in the State. However, this observation was tempered with the realization that there is still a long way to go before filling the objectives to be served by vocational education. The recommendations made in this report are directed toward this purpose. FISCAL CONTROL AND FUND ACCOUNTING PROCEDURES The present funding formula which takes into account the district's ability to pay the cost of program development, the students' disadvangement and/or handicap, and the manpower projected needs has this year for the first time equalized the funding and development of secondary vocational programs. As a result of the cost accounting approach, the legislature has gone from 10 to 20 per cent State Secondary funding in fiscal 1970, to 90 per cent funding in fiscal 1971. The 90 per cent funding now includes vocational education as well as the academic areas in the State school support foundation formula. The requirements under the 1968 Vocational Amendments appeared to work to the inequity of the community colleges. However, the 15 per cent federal set aside for post-secondary education during fiscal |