AN ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CAREER EDUCATION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN

This study was designed to assess the status of career education in Michigan and the nature and extent of its implementation in the Michigan public schools.;The survey instrument was mailed to 424 randomly selected classroom teachers and 106 career education contact persons from 106 out of Michigan's 529 public school districts. Each one of the 53 Career Education Planning Districts (CEPDs) was represented by two school districts. The data collection effort yielded a return from 82.1% of the selected contact persons and 87.0% of the teachers, representing a total return of 86%.;An analysis of the data yielded profiles of responding teachers and contact persons. Further analysis indicated that in 83% of the selected districts, contact persons and teachers had a similar understanding of the career education theoretical concept, even though this understanding was not always correct. Teachers responded to the theoretical questions with an accuracy of 49.3% and contact persons attained an accuracy of 63.4%.;When data was analyzed on a state-wide basis, a lack of agreement was found between teachers and contact persons regarding the extent of career education implementation in school districts and in classrooms. However, when the data was analyzed on a district-by-district basis, it was found that these differing responses of contact persons and teachers regarding district implementation were not significant in 78% of the school districts and that these differences were not significant in 79.2% of the school districts for responses about classroom implementation of career education.;A three part, eighty-nine question survey was designed for the purposes of this study. This instrument was conceptually based on dimensions of career education as identified in the literature. The first part of this survey sought to describe the background of the respondents. Part II of the survey ascertained the amount of theoretical knowledge that the respondents possessed about career education. The third part of the survey determined the extent of career education implementation within Michigan school districts and classrooms as perceived by the district contact persons and teachers.;It would seem that at least half of the career education factors identified by the survey have been implemented at the district and classroom levels. However, the lack of agreement between career education contact persons and classroom teachers regarding these factors prevents a more accurate assessment of the extent of career education implementation in the Michigan public schools.