Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

A model to identify performance standards for mathematics in a two year post high school occupational program

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  • PURPOSE OF THE STUDY This study developed a model which identified mathematical needs in various vocational technical programs. This model provides a method which can be used to develop an adequate mathematics curriculum to support occupational offerings at community college/technical institutes, and can also help high schools and the colleges/technical institutes articulate their mathematics curriculum. The study also established a method to identify the high school mathematics prerequisites for the various occupational programs through a statistical model of significant differences of levels of high school mathematics. STATISTICAL DESIGN OF THE STUDY The study was divided into four major statistical subtopics: Subtopic I consisted of a two-way statistical test of significance establishing the need for mathematics in an occupational vocational program. Subtopic II utilized a two-way statistical test of significance establishing the need for mathematics in a particular vocational occupation. Subtopic III established a relationship between high school mathematics programs and the problems used in Subtopic II. Subtopic IV established a rank order list of mathematics subtopics as they relate to the occupation that was tested for this study and also established a curriculum subject outline for the occupation studied. PROCEDURE The Business Data Processing Program at Northeast Wisconsin Technical Institute (NWTI), Green Bay, Wisconsin was designated as the sample occupational program for the study. The student population for the study consisted of 105 persons who graduated with an Associate of Arts Degree in Business Data Processing at NWTI during the period 1968-75. Also surveyed were 41 high school mathematics instructors located within the NWTI district boundaries, 22 data processing instructors located and teaching within the technical institutes throughout Wisconsin, and 45 business data processing practitioners located within the NWTI area. The first subtopic addressed itself to the a priori need of mathematics for a business data processing program. Grade point averages of the students in business data processing were analyzed and reported in terms of the amount of prior mathematics studied. Subtopics II, III, and IV sought to develop a mathematics curriculum which would be relevant to the practicing programmer after graduation. A questionnaire containing 63 possible mathematics topics and 34 problems was submitted to three groups--data processing instructors, graduates, and practitioners. The respondents in each group were requested to answer each question by means of a 1-5 Likert scale, in terms of the degree of need for a typical business data processing programmer. The high school mathematics instructors were asked to establish the level of mathematics expected of a person to be able to solve the 34 problems submitted to the data processing community. FINDINGS The results of this study indicate that the use of instructors and practitioners of an occupation combined with the a priori study of students mathematics achievement levels provide an effective means to establish a mathematics support curriculum for that occupation. The model can identify areas where high schools and community colleges/technical institutes do and do not coordinate curricula so that they can work to better establish career education from job exploration through job preparation. The model establishes check points to indicate when conferences may be needed to bring curricular philosophies into accord in the event that these purposes do not mesh. The occupation studied seems to indicate that a "bare bones" utilization of the topic list and the student a priori mathematics analysis can establish a mathematics support curriculum for the occupation. The other elements of the study act as checks on the validity of the study.
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