Award Date

1-1-1997

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Committee Member

Clifford R. McClain

Number of Pages

96

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the effectiveness of summer teacher externships on affecting change in a teacher's curriculum or method of instruction so that students are better prepared to meet the employment needs of business and industry upon graduation; The federal School to Work Opportunities Act of 1994 was designed to create the mechanism to promote a partnership between education and business. The goal of this partnership is to involve business in education, and educators in business, in order to give America's students the high skills needed to compete in today's global economy; One of the programs designed to facilitate this partnership is the summer teacher externship program. In this program, educators spend a period of time, normally during the summer months, actually working in business and industry. The concepts and new skills learned are then brought back to the classroom so that students can be kept abreast of new requirements and changes taking place in the workplace; In order to measure the effectiveness of this program, a survey was sent to the 226 Nevada educators who have participated in this program since its inception three years ago. The purpose of the survey was to determine whether or not the goals of the externship program were being met. A secondary goal was to determine if the federal funding provided to the externship program was an effective use of funds to promote change; The overall results of the study were extremely positive. Of those responding, 52% reported an increase in skill knowledge as a result of the externship. Fifty-five percent of the teachers stated that they made significant changes in their curriculum and 61% reported changes in teaching methods and strategies. When asked if they would like to participate in another externship, 82% said that they would and many recommended the program to others; The recommendations made as a result of the study include continuing the program and expanding it to give more educators an opportunity to become aware of the current needs of the workplace.

Keywords

Business; Business-school Partnerships; Curriculum; Determine; Externships; Impact; Methods; Partnerships; Schools; School-to-work; Study; Summer; Summer Teacher Externships; Teacher; Teaching; Work

Controlled Subject

Curriculum planning; Community colleges

File Format

pdf

File Size

3061.76 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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Rights

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