ERIC Number: ED160895
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1978-Sep
Pages: 41
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Private Vocational Schools and Public Policy.
Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ. Education Policy Research Institute.
The Vocational Education Act of 1963 allows public agencies to purchase the services of private vocational schools on a contractual basis where such schools can make a significant contribution to attaining the objectives of the state plan for vocational education and provide substantially equivalent training at a lower cost or can provide equipment and services not available in public institutions. Because so few states used these private resources between 1973 and 1977, a study was undertaken to review the extant literature to determine the legal, administrative, and attitudinal barriers to contracts between public and private vocational schools. It was found that (1) statutes in many states do not provide authority for such contracting or are unclear about the existence of such authority; (2) most states lack administrative procedures for managing contracts with private vocational schools; (3) accreditation and trade regulation policies need to be developed and enforced so that abuses by private vocational schools of federal loan and grant programs, as well as other fraudulent practices, will be eradicated; (4) the major barrier to effective use of private school resources appears to be the attitude of local and state authorities who not only regard proprietary schools as inferior but distrust profit-motivated education and fear their competition; and (5) because of the lack of information on the administrative, legal, and attitudinal issues, further research is necessary to identify incentives for the more effective use of private vocational schools and, in particular, to examine the extent of attitudinal barriers. (ELG)
Descriptors: Accreditation (Institutions), Administrative Problems, Business Responsibility, Contracts, Educational Attitudes, Educational Finance, Educational Policy, Educational Problems, Failure, Federal Aid, Federal Legislation, Legal Problems, Literature Reviews, Postsecondary Education, Private Schools, Research Needs, State Legislation, Vocational Schools
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ. Education Policy Research Institute.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Not available in hard copy because of light print in original document