Student perception of the effectiveness of the area vocational secondary school programs of Texas in meeting self-perceived interests and needs

Statement of the Problem: This study investigated the effectiveness of area vocational school programs as they relate to self-perceived interest and needs of students. A determination of the level of student awareness of area vocational school programs was made. Counseling and guidance procedures used to enhance student awareness for vocational development were explored. Method of Procedure: To secure pertinent data, it was necessary to develop an instrument to which students could respond. This was done, and a field test of the questionnaire ascertained its proficiency in securing the desired type of information. Data from the Texas Education Agency was used to determine the area vocational schools in Texas which met criteria for involvement in the study. From this group 8 receiving schools and 22 sending schools were randomly selected. The student sample included 672 randomly selected subjects. Half were participators in area vocational school programs, and half were non-participators. The questionnaire yielded information from which an overall score for program effectiveness and student awareness was derived for each student in the sample. An analysis of variance, three factor design, was used to compare the dependent variables of program effectiveness (PES) and student awareness (SAS). The three factors were participation, type of school, and sex. Scheffe's method of multiple contrasts was used to determine specifically which groups differed and to what degree.