Howard Rosenberg

Dropout Prevention in Vocational Special Needs Education

HOWARD ROSENBERG is Associate Professor; Wendy Cheyney is Associate Professor; Barry Greenberg is Professor all at Florida International University. * The Vocational Program Evaluation Profile was published in 1990 by EBSCO Curriculum Materials, P.O. Box 1943, Birmingham, Alabama 35201. 1-800-633-8623. IT IS CRUCIAL to determine the degree to which an individual is satisfied or dissatisfied with their vocational training program since feelings of personal worth, life satisfaction and ultimate work adjustment are significantly influenced by one’s level of vocational satisfaction or dissatisfaction. This, in turn, will affect one’s ultimate integration into the mainstream of society or segregation into the fringe existence of the unemployed. One of the more serious criticisms of American Education by personnel from business and industry has been inappropriate work attitudes of youth upon entering competitive employment. A positive attitude toward work has been identified

A Self-Evaluation Instrument for Work Performance and Support Needs.

Involvement of students and adult employees into the decisions that affect their education and employment can improve their transition into supported employment. One means for increasing involvement into these decisions is to gain their input into performance evaluations and support needs. The Job Observation and Behavior Scale: Opportunity for Self-Determination is an assessment designed to obtain such input from the perspective of students preparing for, and employees participating in, supported employment. This article presents the role of the scale in obtaining student and employee input into their own work performance and support needs; it summarizes the development and technical properties of the instrument; and it describes how this instrument can promote the self-determination of students and adult employees with disabilities.

Assessment of Critical Vocational Behaviors

Recent federal legislation has mandated a concerted effort to normalize the lives of handicapped and disadvantaged persons by enhancing opportunities for vocational development and work adjustment. Public school programs have been charged with the expansion of regular vocational services to accommodate individuals with special needs. In addition, postsecondary vocational training agencies have also expanded their efforts to make programs more accessible for this clientele. Effective preparation of special needs trainees for employment has been highly correlated with work attitudes and worker personality characteristics. Positive attitudes toward work have been identified as integral components of the work evaluation, work adjustment, and vocational training processes which lead to successful employment (Alfano, 1973; Brewer, Miller, & Ray, 1975; Ehrle, 1970; Kemp & Vash, 1971; Krantz, 1971; McClure, 1972; McFarlane, 1972; Murphy, 1972; Prep Research Reports, 1976). Ehrle (1970) recommended that development of work tolerance, work habits, positive attitudes toward employment, and learning how to present oneself as a worker be included as experiences in structured vocational development programs. Eleven similar critical vocational behaviors and nine critical employment-coupled behaviors were identified by Krantz (1971) as necessary elements of vocational work adjustment programs. Specific attitudinal areas identifed by Murphy (1972) included responsibility, pride in one’s work, being well groomed, honesty, and quality of one’s work. More than 1000 separate behaviors related to employability were identified and systematically content analyzed into 36 job seeking and job keeping categories in another study (Prep Research Reports, 1976). Some of the critical attitudinal constructs identified in this study