Organizational patterns and administrative practices for implementing the vocational non-cooperative distributive education program

Problem. To survey the various practices of administration and patterns of organization for implementing the Distributive Education non-cooperative preparatory program.

Purposes. The purposes of the study were to determine administrative practices and organizational patterns in states already offering programs; to determine those recommended by the states preparing to offer programs; to develop a comparison between the two; and, to develop suggestions for state and local administrative officials.

Method and Scope. A questionnaire was sent to each of forty-seven state and territorial supervisors of Distributive Education and thirty-one, of 66.0 per cent, were returned as usable data.

Findings. In most states and territories instruction is directed primarily to eleventh and twelfth grade students; however, the states already offering programs give more attention to tenth graders than the states preparing to offer instruction. Actual enrollment consists of students mostly in the eleventh grade.

Most states with established non-cooperative programs do not have a separate project laboratory whereas half of the states preparing to implement programs will schedule a project laboratory.

All states with established programs and the majority of states planning program implementation require or encourage the use of training plans.

The majority of states have or will have non-cooperative students become active or associate members of Distributive Education Clubs of America on the local level. Many of these students will represent their local chapter at the state leadership conference as delegates, contestants, or observers.

Twenty-three different descriptive titles are used to identify the vocational non-cooperative preparatory Distributive Education Program throughout the states.