A JOURNAL OF PILOT SITE VISITS AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL NOTES CONCERNING METHODS, PROCESSES, IMPEDIMENTS, AND FACILITATORS TO INTEGRATE CURRICULUM TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ BASIC SKILLS.

This journal provides an account of pilot site visits and other professional notes from July 1989 to June 1990. It begins with a description of an initial meeting to determine the author’s role in the Applied Academics Project, namely that of facilitator of the integration of academic and vocational education with local teachers. Other entries record his perceptions of meetings and conversations dealing with project planning, project content, identification of vocational and academic teachers, contacts with teachers, barriers, and applied curriculum materials. Other topics covered are as follows: presentations made by the author; development of the script for the applied academics or integration videc; journals kept by teachers that recorded their activities in developing integrated curriculum; drafting of the Quality Assistance Plan for a regional vocational system; and discussions of admissions standards vIth directors of admissions at various higher education institutions. A copy is included of a report from the Applied Academics Project Integration Synthesis Summit. This report lists barriers and incentives to integrate academics into vocational education; describes a process for use in integrating academics with vocational education to increase students’ basic skills abilities; lists comments on use of this process; contains a proposed outline for a guidebook for local teachers and administrators; and comments on the guidebook.