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The process developed and implemented by the Eastern Iowa Community College District (EICCD) to evaluate its vocational and technical programs is described. The process provides for the flow of information and recommendations from the faculty through administrative ranks to the Chancellor of the District. The EICCD is comprised of three colleges and serves 24 kindergarten-through-grade 12 school districts. The program evaluation process, developed through cooperative effort, consists of two phases. Phase 1 is an annual review, consisting of the annual collection, analysis, and review of discrete program data on 10 elements that are compared year-to-year over a three-year period. These data elements concern enrollment, contact hours, graduation and withdrawal rates, costs, class size, and success of program leavers and graduates. In Phase 2, all vocational-technical programs are evaluated on a three-year cycle with a sequence determined by the District Instructional Council. Five major components of Phase 2 are: (1) surveys of six target groups; (2) local labor market assessment; (3) faculty self-study; (4) Internal Review Team visit and report; and (5) faculty response. All documents compiled in the evaluation process are made available to college and district administration. All programs have been modified based on evaluation information; a few have been terminated. The decision-making process and use of evaluation results are considered. Examples of program evaluation surveys, labor market assessments, and the faculty self-study report are appended. (SLD)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert