THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VOCATIONAL EXPECTATIONS OF PARENTS, TEACHERS, AND WORK SUPERVISORS OF LEARNING HANDICAPPED YOUTH AND MCCARRON-DIAL WORK EVALUATION SCORES

Educators need ways of predicting vocational potential for learning handicapped (LH) students. This study has attempted to determine what parents, teachers, and work training supervisors expect from LH students. Such expectations, including perceptions of work attitudes and work related behaviors, were rated by questionnaires administered to each group. These responses were compared with the McCarron-Dial Work Evaluation System (MDWES) profile to determine if this system might also be a useful predictor of vocational success. Two main themes were explored in depth: (1) comparative ratings of teachers, parents, and work training supervisors regarding vocational potential and work related behaviors; and (2) comparison of MDWES ratings with the ratings of parents, teachers, and work training supervisors.

Significant differences were found in about one-third of the statement comparisons. The analysis also revealed generally unfavorable perceptions of LH students regarding vocationally related attitudes and behaviors. Parents, teachers, and work training supervisors disagreed most of the time with statements related to positive vocational issues. They placed them presently (1) at lower than average vocational levels and (2) at less than 70% of typical worker productivity rates. Despite these negative perceptions, all groups predicted a longer range potential for competitive or near-competitive community employment. This long range positive prediction is contradictory to the negative ratings given by parents, teachers, and work supervisors for the majority of the statements. This study also catalogued the similarities and differences in ratings by the groups on specific items. Teachers were generally more optimistic about students' motivation for working after high school. Work supervisors were at least as positive as other groups regarding work situations and productivity levels. The MDWES ratings were similar to other group ratings except for the predicted vocational program placement level.

In summary, this study supports the following conclusions: (1) That all group responses indicated generally negative perceptions of LH students as related to vocational potential. (2) It is paradoxical that responses of the same individuals predict low short term potential on the one hand, but long term success on the other. (3) In our area of major concern, namely, predictions of vocational potential, MDWES ratings were significantly different from other subjective measures.