Funding, Planning, Conducting and Evaluating Three Career Guidance Workshops

During June, 1976, three career guidance workshops were conducted for four school districts in Central Illinois. Funded with monies through the Division of Adult, Vocational and Technical Education, Illinois Office of Education, these five-day workshops established a model for districts of all sizes to follow in developing curriculum based career guidance programs. The paper, Funding, Planning, Conducting and Evaluating Three Career Guidance Workshops, illustrates the steps involved from the workshop\u27s conception to its completion. Four parts illustrate the different phases of the workshops. Writing a Proposal. Since a career approach to education is needed in the schools in Illinois and since educators generally are not familiar with methods for teaching with a career emphasis, a plan was proposed which would design, develop, test, and evaluate a workshop model. The proposal which was presented to the Division of Adult, Vocational and Technical Education, outlined the plan and included rationale for such a project, step-by-step procedures, an itemized budget, a time-table for completing the steps, and personnel qualifications of workshop leaders. Planning the Workshops. After the contract was granted, work began to establish a format which would be useable at a later time in any school which is interested in developing a curricular based guidance program. The specific steps to be taken, as well as the forms to be used, methods for selecting representative schools, processes for deciding upon material to be used in the workshops, and a means for gaining background information to better understand the people to be involved, are included. Conducting the Workshops. During the first three days of the workshop, materials developed by the PAGE 2 Project (Programmatic Approach to Guidance Excellence) were used. These programmed activities led participants through steps of (1) identifying career guidance goals, (2) establishing priority, areas needing change, and (3) determine means for achieving changes. After going through simulated exercises, the last two days of the workshop were devoted to formulating a specific, detailed, district-wide plan, a building plan, and, in some cases, even a room plan for a career guidance program for the 1976-77 school year. Outlined were procedures for inviting a panel to present their feelings as to the needs of the community, as well as procedures for meeting with the superintendent and key administrators to gain direction and approval of the proposed plan for implementing a district-wide curriculum based career guidance program. Evaluating the Workshop. Instruments were developed to measure the changes which took place in the thinking of seventy-eight participants as a result of having attended the workshops. These findings were tabulated and a number of responses were recorded. It is very reasonable to assume that by making minor modifications to meet individual district needs, the material contained in this field experience, as well as the material contained in the PAGE 2 materials which are available through the Illinois Office of Education or Eastern Illinois University, similar workshops could be conducted with similar amounts of success. A final report which gives additional information will soon be available through ERIC