Characteristics and functions of local vocational education advisory committees in New Hampshire

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics and functions of local vocational education committees in New Hampshire and the relationship of these committees to the vocational areas studied. Five areas were investigated: Business education, trades and industrial education, distributive education, agricultural education and occupational home economics education. The following research questions were developed to aid in accomplishing this purpose. (1) Is there a significant relationship between having active advisory committees and the recency of community surveys in vocational education in New Hampshire? (2) Is there significant relationship between having active advisory committees and the number of graduates placed in initial employment? (3) Is there significant relationship between having active advisory committees and the number of students taking vocational education? (4) Is there a significant relationship between active advisory committees and the amount of monies spent in vocational programs? (5) Is there a significant relationship between having active advisory committees and the training of the teacher in the development and use of these committees? Procedure: The sample was selected from all secondary schools within the State of New Hampshire having one or more vocational educational program(s) in business education, trades and industrial education, agricultural education, distributive education and occupational home economics education. All high schools were surveyed and those programs having more than one teacher had one teacher for that vocational program randomly selected with the use of a die or dice. The final sample consisted of 145 teachers from 63 high schools.