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Provus, Malcolm; And OthersStaffing for Better Schools (Under Title I,Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.)Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, D.C. Div. ofCompensatory Education.0E-2304967OEC-1-7000103-010347p.Superintendent of Documents, U.S. GovernmentPrinting Office, Washington, D.C. 20402(FS5.223;23049, $0.30)

EDRS Price MF-$0.25 HC Not Available from EDRS.*Cross Age Teaching, *Differentiated Staffs,Disadvantaged Youth, *School Community Cooperation,*School Personnel, Teacher Aides, Teacher Education,*Volunteers*Elementary and Secondary Education Act, ESEA, ESEATitle 1

ABSTRACTThe introductory chapter of this booklet describes

the problems which ESEA Title 1 funds (over a billion dollars tolocal school districts) were intended to help solve. Each of fivechapters is devoted to descriptions of a number of specific Title Iprojects, presented as examples of what local school districts mightundertake in improving the experience of educationally deprivedchildren. The chapters and some of their subtopics are (1) "TrainingBetter Teachers and Getting New Ones"--a citywide workshop, summerteacher projects, shortcut to teacher recruitment, teachers onParttime schedule, master teacher and student teacher practicum,teaching remedial reading to subject specialists; (2) "Aides forTeachers"--home visiting-aides, training of child-care aides, layreaders, recruiting and training aides, foreign language laboratoryaides, typical duties of aides; (3) "School Volunteers"--volunteersfor a reading program and for conversational English, teenagevolunteers for libraries, senior citizen volunteers; (4)

"Child-to-Child Tutoring"--sixth graders tutor first graders,research in attitudinal changes of tutors, tutors devise their owncurriculum, tutoring built on out-of-school interests, a babysittingservice; (5) "A Community Has All the People a SchoolNeeds"--partnership with the university, high school remedial readingin college, guests from other lands, self-teaching by typewriter,adventure in a Kentucky Hollow, community resource representative.(JS)

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DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964states No person in the United States shall, on the ground of

race, color, or national origin, he excluded from participation in,he denied the bene#t, of, or be subjected to discrimination under any

program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.''Therefore, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Title I

program, like every program or activity receiving financial assistancefrom the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, must he

operated in compliance with this law,

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE

OFFICE OF EDUCATION

THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCEDEXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE

PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONSSTATED DO NOT NECESSARILY

REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATIONPOSITION OR POLICY.

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PROCESS WITH MICROFICHEAND PUBLISHER'S PRICES.MICROFICHE REPRODUCTIONONLY.

Staffing for Better Schools under TITLE IElementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

U.S. Department of Health, Education, and WelfareJohn W. Gardner, Secretary

Office of EducationHarold Howe II, Commissioner

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DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED.--Title VI of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964states: "No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race,color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be deniedthe benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any programor activity receiving Federal financial assistance." Therefore, theElementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Title I program, likeevery program or activity receiving financial assistance from theDepartment of Health, Education, and Welfare, must be operated incompliance with this law.

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIALBY MICR FICHE ONLY HAS BEEN GRANTEDBY CI* rTO ER IC AND ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING UNDER

AGREEMENTS WITH THE U.S. OFFICE OF EDUCATION.

FURTHER REPRODUCTION OUTSIDE THE ERIC SYSTEM

REQUIRES PERMISSION OF THE COPYR IGHT OWNER."

Superintendent of Documents Catalog No. FS 5.223:23049U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 1967

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing OfficeWashington, D.C. 20402 - Price 30 cents

FOREWORD

iii

American educators today arc earnestly seeking new ways to reach the minds and spirits of children. Tosome extent, this search for solutions to some of the age-old problems of education is stimulated by Federalprograms, particularly Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which funds local projectsto improve education for the children of poverty. But the spirit of innovation and improvement is notconfined to those schools serving the disadvantaged. Educational technology, improved understanding ofthe learning process, and a clearer concept of the pupil as a "whole child" are causing educators everywhereto reassess curriculum and teaching methods with a view to strengthening and enriching their schoolprograms.

Almost everywhere--and particularly in those schools serving disadvantaged childrenthe shortage ofskilled personnel seems a major obstacle to more effective programs.

We need more teachers and other skilled staff. Certainly we should spare no effort to encourage talentedyoung people to enter, and to remain in, the educational professions. At the same time, we owe it to ourteachers, and their pupils, to make the best possible use of teacher talent, through training, through the useof subprofessional or volunteer helpers, and through the wise use of available community resources. Manyschools, as Dr. Provus and his coauthors show in this book, have found that some unorthodox approaches toschool staffing may prove far more than a stopgap to the personnel problemthey may, in fact, enrich theclassroom experience for all, breach the "paper curtain" which has separated the school from the community,and help lead American education into a period of dynamic growth and progress.

"Staffing for Better Schools" was prepared by Malcolm Provus, director of research, Pittsburgh, Pa., publicschools, and research professor, University of Pittsburgh; Louis Long, psychologist, National Teacher Corps,'Washington, D.C.; Morri3 Haimowitz, director, Bureau of Human Relations, Chicago, Ill., public schools;Thorwald Esbensen, assistant superintendent of schools in charge of instruction, Duluth, Minn.; DorothyMillhouse, teacher, Los Angeles, Calif., public schools; Kiernan Stenson, assistant director, Action Housing,Pittsburgh, Pa.; Bernard Asbell, writer, Wilton, Conn.

We are grateful indeed to our distinguished authors for their careful research and lively presentation of thesecase studies, and trust that these examples may provide some constructive solutions to the complex staffingproblems that American educators face today.

JOHN F. HUGHES,Director,

Division of Compensatory Education,Bureau of Elementary and Secondary Education.

CONTENTS Page

FOREWORD iii

I. THE JOB CAN BE DONE 1

II. TRAINING BETTER TEACHERS AND GETTING NEW ONES 6A Citywide Workshop 6

A Short Teacher Training Program 7How Summer Projects Help Teachers 10

A Shortcut to Teacher Recruitment 10Teachers on a Part-Time Schedule 11

A Master Teacher and Student Teacher Practicum 11Teaching Remedial Reading to Subject Specialists 12

A Teachers' Seminar for Mutual Support 13

III. AIDES FOR TEACHERS 13The Teacher AidePart of a Teaching Team( 13

Home-Visiting Aides 14Training of Child-Care Aides 18

Lay Readers 19Recruiting and Training Aides 19

Foreign Language Laboratory Aides 20Typical Duties of Aides 21

IV. SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS 21VcilunteersAn Able and Willing Resource 21

A Versatile Volunteer Program 22Volunteers for a Reading Program 23

Conversational English 24Volunteer Teenagers for Libraries 24

Volunteers as Role Models 25Senior CitizensA Special Volunteer Resource 26

vi

Page

V. CHILD-TO-CHILD TUTORING 27Children Learn From Each Other 27Sixth Graders Tutor First Graders 27

Research in Attitudinal Changes of Young Tutors 30Tutors Devise Their Own Curriculum 31

Tutoring Built on Out-of-School Interests 32A Babysitting Service 34

VI. A COMMUNITY HAS ALL THE PEOPLE A SCHOOL NEEDS 34

Gold Is Where You Find it 34A Partnership With the University 35

High ,., ,i.t... 1. Remedial Reading in College 35Guests From Other Lands 36

Self-Teaching by Typewriter 37Adventure in a Kentucky Hollow 37

Community Mental Health 38The Community Resource Representative 38

The Helping Board 40

This bulletin was prepared pursuant to contract number OEC1-7000103-0103 of the Office of Education, U.S. Department ofHealth, Education, and Welfare, with Malcolm M. Provus.Contractors undertaking such projects under Government sponsor-ship are encouraged to express freely their professional judgment intheir writing. Points of view or opinions stated do not, therefore,necessarily represent official Office of Education position or policy.

ITHE JOB CAN BE DONE

Not long ago teachers in a Califor-nia city took part in a round ofseminars on how best to improvethe school experience of educa-tionally deprived children. Afterthe meetings the teachers wereasked to identify the single mostimportant thing that might helpteachers of the deprived teach bet-terand that would lure greatnumbers of new teachers to acceptthe difficult challenge d ghettoschools. A small number voted forhigher salaries, others for shorterhours or more equipment. Over-whelmingly, however, teachersplaced their highest priority on re-ducing the size of classes. Thisconclusion will hardly surprise any-body. Surveys in other places havecome up with the same result.

Satisfying that need appears, on thesurface, to be easy. All it seems totake is moneyto pay for moreteachers. And an important newsource of money is now available.This year Title I of the Elementaryand Secondary Education Act(ESEA) brings over a billiondollars to local school districts foruse in any reasonable way thatpromises to help erase educationaldisadvantage of school children.These are especially valuable edu-cational dollars, for the adminis-

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trator is given wide latitude inspending them. He may selectcritical areas in which n.oney canhelp produce maximum change andspend all his dollars there. Ifschool leaders judge that spendingmoney for more teachers is a gooduse of Title I funds, they are legallyfree to do so.

But as any administrator is sure todiscover, Title I dollars alone areno panacea. This freedom hasopened a new problem, vast, deep,and not to be solved simply:

Where are the teachers to comefrom?

Take a city the size of Detroit.If such a city were to reduce theenrollment of each class by fivestudents, it would need to hire 2,000teachers. If the same reductionwere spread across America, theincreased need for teachers wouldbe numbered in hundreds of thou-sands.

Yet, in trying to keep up with staffneeds for current enrollments, su-perintendents compete with one an-other in wooing graduates of teach-ers colleges; those who fall shortof their quotas raid neighboringschool systems for additional help.Precious as education graduatesare, each year 50,000 newly quali-fied teachers take jobs Other thanteaching. Each year tens of thou-sands of practicing teachers leavethe schools to marry, to have chil-dren, or to enter other occupations.

What is called a teacher shortageis therefore not a shortage at all;

instead, there is a shortage of teach-ers who work in the schools. Itfollows then that the first task inrelieving the shortage of activeteachers is to reattract qualifiedprofessionals back to the classroom.This can be done by making sala-ries and working conditions moredesirable, raising teachers' statusand sense of involvement by engag-ing them in planning, making themfeel a vital part of an important na-tional commitment, and deepeningtheir understanding of the deprivedchild.

If the children who suffer from theeducational deprivations accom-panying poverty are to get an equalchance at school success, schoolsmust do more than merely providefor smaller classes and additionalteacherseven if both were pos-sible. Classroom teachers shouldhave the help of supporting pro-fessionals. More than 2,000 spe-cialists are needed immediately inremedial reading. Yet, fewer than200 of these specialists graduateeach year from all the Nation's col-leges, according to one informedestimate. Many experts believethat each school should have oneschool social worker for every 150studentsor a national total of33,000 for poverty areas alone. Atpresent only 5,000 school social

workers are employed throughoutthe United States and fewer than250 new ones are graduating eachyear. Thousands upon thousandsof schools are without staff nurses.

Recently one State reported that

Title I funds had made it possibleto hire 40 nurses for schools thathad never had them before. Butthe joy of this announcement wastempered by an outcry from neigh-boring hospitals and nursing homesdeclaring that the nurses had beenstolen from them.

These disheartening facts measurethe staffing problem only in numeri-cal terms. A more serious problemis lack of quality. Until recentlynot much thought had been devotedto the need for a special quality ofteaching and for special programsfor schools of the educationally dis-advantaged. Failure of pupils tokeep up to their grade level wasblamed on the pupils themselvesrather than on teachers and schools.In teachers' lunchrooms shoptalkwas punctuated by a high incidenceof the word "dumb." If a teacherwas asked why kids were so dumb,his answer, after a troubled shrug,was very likely "I try in every wayI know to teach them, but theydon't want to learn. After all, lookat their IQ's."

That, traditionally, has been theteacher's ultimate condemnation.One of the rules taught at someteachers colleges has been that anintelligence quotient describes theclassroom potential of a child. Ifa child's score is low, he is a goner,unteachable, dumb.

Less than 5 years ago, however, the

idea began to crystallize in theminds of a few peoplea teacherhere, a foundation official there, a

professor of psychiatry here, a

school social worker therethatthe slum child is a child of anotherworld. Our laws do not bind him,our standard middle-class ambitionsdo not inspire him, our IQ's donot measure him and, most of all,our teachers do not reach him.Rules learned in college clearly

don't work in the slum school, butsome teachers cling to them, for no

one has taught them otherwise. In

first to third grades, the child be-gins to slip away; by the fourthgrade, he has fallen behind; by theeighth grade, he may be as manyas three years behind, his mindclosed, his behavior rebellious. By

high school age, he is more thanlikely a dropout, headed for chronicunemployment, disdainful of the"outside" middle-class world thathe believes already disdains him,secretly contemptuous of himselfa wasted human being.

In identifying and trying to de-scribe this child, educators havetried out a number of descriptivenames for him. At first, they

called him "culturally deprived"though some insisted on "culturallydifferent"; finally, they settled on"educationally deprived" and "ed-ucationally disadvantaged." Re-

gardless of the identifying label,what sets him apart is not the wantof money or nice clothes, goodfurniture or good food, but thepoverty of enriching experiences.These children are growing up un-equipped to live in an urban, pri-marily middle-class world of papersand pens, books and conversations,

machines and desks, and time-clocks.

Yet the failure of schools to educatethese children, though widespread,has not been universal. Here andthere an idated teacher has suc-ceeded. At first there appeared noready explanations. One success-ful teacher was authoritarian, an-other permissive. One would care-fully cover the ground of a lessonplan, another would depart widelyfrom it. But the fact that someteachers could guide the "unteach-able" to learn stood as an insistentchallenge. If a few could lead chil-dren in learning, the responsibilityfor failure could no longer beheaped upon the child. There wasa way, no matter now mysteriousand elusive, to make school a placeof success for children who hadseemed condemned to failure.The way has to be identified, de-scribed, and taughtto teachers.This remains the single most im-portant challenge to teachers, ad-

ministrators, and State and Federaleducation officials involved in thenew national commitmentprovid-ing children of the poor with edu-cation as a tool to self-advancement.

If successful teachers in schools ofthe poor have any special technique,

it appears to be in helping thechild to relate his learning experi-ence in school to the real world out

of school. One such successful

teacher is found in a large Mid-western city in an ordinary class ofslum children. Their IQ scores arelow. Their cultural deprivation is

3

severe. Their families are para-lyzed by poverty.

One day recently her first-gradeclass was reading aloud about spacecapsules and oxygen. One of thewords a child read was weightless-ness. Why not? The teacher hadfirst made them curious about grav-

ity, then weight and, finally,

weightlessness. Once they graspedthe idea, the children had need for

a word to describe it. She gavethem the word. They treasure itssound, its sight, and its correctspelling.

The teacher ignores IQ's and be-lieves there is no such thing as afirst-grade vocabulary. She be-

lieves children will learn wordsthey need to know and their needsdepend on the excitement in theirminds. To excite their minds, theteacher almost never talks at them.She asks q u e s t i o n scarefullychosen questions the children cananswer. She leads them in con-structing old information into newideas; they experience the joys offinding out, and delight in a feel-ing of success with every questionand every answer.

Since the teacher ignores the pre-scribed first-grade vocabulary, sheignores first-grade textbooks. Dur-ing breaks in activity children goto a "reading table," which is

strewn with books from many lev-

els, and choose a book that interests

them. If the ideas are interesting,they learn the words. They sel-dom select books that say "Look,Dick, LookRun, Jane, Run."

4

The unflagging interest in the room.' the brightness of the minds

make it easy for one to forget thatthese are culturally deprived chil-dren in a slum district. Theyseem to be a class of the especiallygiftedand of course they are.They are gifted with a teacher whoreally likes them and who believesthat all children, including slumchildren, want to learn whateveris exciting and useful. With ateacher in the first grade who helpsto mold them, they may not needa remedial teacher in the seventhgrade, when it might be too late.

All right, she is a great teacher.But can her techniques be trans-ferred to others?

Another spectacular success storyinvolves not merely a single class-room but a whole school district of23 virtually all-Negro elementaryschools, the Banneker district of theSt. Louis school system. Perhapsthe most surprising feature of thedistrict's achievement is that it wasattained with no significant changein classroom materials or studyplans. Yet the accomplishment,led by Samuel Shepard, Jr., districtsuperintendent, has raised schoolattendance from the lowest in thecity to the city's average. Pupils'academic achievement rose steadilyuntil eighth-grade graduates testedat national norms for reading andarithmetic and slightly higher thannational norms for language skills.

Dr. Shepard's success may beascribed to several things. He re-quired teachers to spend afterschool

time in visiting homes of theirpupils. Ostensibly, they madethese visits to advise parents on howto help their children do home-work; for example, by allottingtime and study space. What Dr.Shepard really wanted was to ex-pose his teachersmany for thefirst timeto the seemingly hope-less home and neighborhood livesof their pupils. On these visitsteachers urged parents to come toschool meetings to learn how tohelp their children by encourag-ing study. Parents were surprised;they had never been asked to schoolbefore unless a child was in trouble.The superintendent arranged studyplaces in libraries and communitybuildings and urged parents incrowded homes to bring childrenthere. He distributed homeworkassignment booklets to children andasked parents to sign them eachweek, affirming that they had in-spected their children's homework.He was less concerned with theinspection than with making theparents feel they were participatingand needed.

As pupils' academic achievementbegan to rise, a strange thing hap-pened. Teachers with senioritystopped asking for transfers to"nicer" neighborhoods, as teachersdo in almost all slum districts. In-stead, Dr. Shepard found himselfbombarded by applications fortransfers into his district at morethan five times the rate of vacancies.Just as the pupils and parentshungered for the nourishment ofsuccess, so did the teachers.

The success of this school districtwas built slowly over the last 8years. While funds available to-day under Title I can speed such aprocess if they are used creatively,they can also slow it and intensifythe problem. Misguided activitiesmay result in exhausting the best,most enthusiastic teachers and forc-ing them to seek transfers out ofthe problem schools. Thus theghetto again becomes a segregatedarea with inexperienced teachers orteachers who never quite made it in"better" schools.

The challenge presented by Title Iis not to add new ways of spending

money to old ways of runningschools, but to develop strategies in

engaging children's minds and inusing the talents and skills of dedi-cated personsthe teachers andadministrators who are determinedto make schools of the ghetto andbackroads into better places oflearning. And there are otherswho can help us in this taskbutthey must come from untraditionalsources.

Title I requires us to create morejobs for serving childrenbut with-out requiring more teachers. Does

every task performed by a teacherin a given day call for 4 to 6 yearsof college training? Obviously

not. This highly trained profes-sional can delegate many special-ized tasks to subprofessionals andhelpers who are available in abun-dance. Thus, the teacher wouldhave more time to teach.

Intelligent use of volunteers, sub-professionals, and paraprofessionalscan lengthen and strengthen thearms of a teacher. But helperscannot make a poor teacher into agood one. They cannot substitutefor a teacher's imagination, under-standing, and high expectations.They can hardly infuse educationwith a sense of reality if a teach-er-in-charge has an unrealistic senseof her pupils' lives. Volunteers,aides, and tutors can be valuablemembers of a team trying to win agame. But they are not a strategyfor victory.

Strategy must rest on sharpeningthe training of teachers and ad-ministrators in schools of the poor.The main effort must go intospreading the informationgleaned from case stories, here,there, anywhereon how disadvan-taged children have learned success-fully. This means relentless, am-bitious programs of inservice train-ing of teachers and the administra-tors charged with leading them.

A significant characteristic of many

of the case reports in the followingpages is that teachers were deeplyinvolved in planning the projects.This automatically makes themstronger projects; they are based on

the classroom experience of imag-inative professionals. The teach-ers involved in planning were in-vited, perhaps for the first time intheir careers, to think analyticallyand creatively about the unchartedsea of educating the poor. The

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planner sthe teachers them-selveshad a heavy investment inturning their ideas into successstories. Through such intangiblesof human motivation, worlds havebeen changed. Perhaps such in-tangibles can now be employed tochange the world of the disadvan-taged child.

Changing the world of this childmeans changing the school lives ofall children for the better. As partof the current concern for the dis-advantaged child, more experi-mentation and research are beingconducted in a single year thanpublic schools could previously af-ford in a decade. The questionsbeing asked are fundamental; forexample, questions about relation-ships between students, subjectmatter, teachers, and administra-tors. The questions transcend thespecialized needs of deprivedyoungsters. We are probing deep-ly into what motivates studentsall students. We must learn howto stimulate communication andrapport between teachers and ad-ministrators as well as teachers andpupils and how to relate schoolcurriculum to out-of-school experi-ence. These questionsand theanswers they are bound to pro-ducecannot fail to improve class-room procedures, personnel prac-tices, and the organization ofschools, regardless of the back-grounds of pupils.

vThe pages that follow give exam-ples of possible projects that localschool districts may chozze to un-

dertake for improving the qualityof their present teachers: for re-cruiting, training, and utilizingmany kinds of aides, either paid orvolunteer, to extend the arms of theprofessional teaching staff and fordeveloping new kinds of productiveties with the community.

TRAINING BETTER

TEACHERS AND

GETTING NEW ONES

A CITYWIDEWORKSHOPRecently a large Eastern school dis-trict conducted a 1-week summerworkshop on disadvantaged chil-dren which was attended by 150staff members, including classroomteachers, administrators, guidancecounselors, school psychologists,social workers, and communityagents. An obvious purpose of theworkshop was to promote the skillsand attitudes that help underprivil-eged children learn. But anequally important goal was to gath-er these professionals into a singleroom and focus their attention ona single program, in the hope ofuniting them in a common pur-pose and improving communica-tion between them.

A sociologist known for his skill inpresenting programs for improving

human relations conducted the firstday of the workshop. He demon-strated, through small-group dis-cussion, three conflicting forces inthe personality of each teacherinfact, of each person. Drawingfrom material in a currently popu-lar book on psychology, "GamesPeople Play," by Eric Berne, M.D.,he defined these forces as teacheracting in the role of parent, teach-er as adult, and teacher as child.Through role playing, he demon-strated that any teacher might ob-serve the same student behaviorthrough three different frames ofreference and thereby see three dif-ferent things. Therefore, what wesee, he pointed out, depends uponwhat part we allow to control ourobservations. A teacher might re-

duce a problem or contribute to it,depending upon the values hebrought to observing it.

The second day of the workshopdealt with methods of measuring achild's behavior. These includedstandardized tests, attitude instru-ments, and diagnostic and clinicaltests. There was also a review ofsuch statistical terms as median,mean, standard deviation, and cor-relation. Teachers then discussedsuch matters as gradeequivalencescores, the relationship between IQand school achievement, the impre-cision of tests as real measurements,

and the importance to instructionalplanning of a knowledge of eth-nic characteristics and individualprofiles.

On the third day, teachers were

given practice in role playing toheighten their awareness of whatit may feel like to be any of theparticipants in the kinds of real-lifeconflict that may take place in theschool. They took turns as a schoolauthority; then as a recalcitrantstudent, each acting out a dash;and then as a parent, a truant offi-cer, a teacher, even a small child.After "experiencing," in their roleplaying, a child's urge toward un-ruly behavior, the participants werebetter able to be objective aboutemotions, tantrums, and languagethat might otherwise be upsetting.

On the fourth day, participantsfocused on instructional problems.Teachers were asked to describetheir main instructional problemsand to suggest some specific solu-tions. Some were thrown off bal-ance when they were asked to ig-nore such restrictions as money,space and personnel. Thinkthrough, they were urged, whatthey would do if they had all the re-sources they wanted. How wouldthey reorganize their time? Howwould they reorganize people?How would they reach the mind ofa child in a way that they have notbeen able to reach it before? Howwould they help fill the child's lifewith interest, brightness, feelings ofaccomplishment. motivation, andambition?

The final day of the workshop wasdevoted to reexamining the pre-vious day's brainstorming in thelight of the practical realities.

How many of the dreamed up solu-

tions were actually possible justthrough sheer will, change of atti-tude, and perhaps some reorganiza-tion, but at no extra budgetarycost? How many of the ideascould come to life with the aid ofnewly available Federal funds?How many of these ideas are theyreally willing and eager to trywith expectation of successifmoney, space, and personnel weremade available?

By the close of the workshop, theparticipants had defined 100 prob-lem areas and had generated con-siderable enthusiasm for attackingthem during the coming schoolyear. Officials of this school dis-trict expect to use some Title Imoney on the ideas developed at theworkshop. They also plan to sub-mit a proposal for Title I supportof another workshop next summer.

A SHORT TEACHER-TRAINING PROGRAMTeacher training for ghetto schoolshas to begin with knowledge of theharsh realities of ghetto life. Someof the following pages, particularlythose dealing with school-commu-nity ties, describe methods for

bringing teachers into contact withtheir pupils' homes. A discussionof teachers' experiences in ghettohomes should be at the heart of atraining course but the courseshould also include a brief surveyof anthropology to accustom teach-ers to objective acceptance of cul-tural differences.

A training course ought not, how-

7

ever, to confine itself to culturaldifferences between teacher andpupil. It ought to provide toolsfor finding common ground. Thehuman relations director of a largeMidwestern school system accom-plishes this goal with techniquesthat seem disarmingly simple. Hedescribes them as follows:

"If there is a method that we thinkthe teacher should use in her class-room, we use it in the teacher-training program. If we want toencourage the teacher to divide herclass into small discussion groups,we divide into small discussiongroups. If we want her to involvechildren in role playing, we use roleplaying. If we believe that lectur-ing is a poor form of education andthat stimulating students to searchtheir imagination for answers isgood education, then we emphasizeasking questions instead of dispens-ing lectures.

"There is a parallel in the contentof our discussions. If we want ateacher to understand a child's mo-tivations, she might begin by betterunderstanding her own. So ourtraining program might begin byasking teachers to divide into pairsto discuss the question, 'What do Iwant out of life?' After 3 or 4minutes, the pairs report to thediscussion leader who writes theirmain points on a blackboard.Then the discussion leader pointsout what great philosophers in

many cultures have considered thepurpose of life. He might lead upto the sociologist, W. I. Thomas,

8

who concluded that everyone hasfour wishes: recognition, response,security, and new experience.Another eminent thinker has aslightly longer list. He says everyone wants power, respect, love, se-curity, well-being, knowledge, skill,and rectitude. Of course it neverfails that the blackboard list, basedon the class discussions, very closelyresembles what the philosophershave always said.

"Then the teachers break into smallgroups again to examine a newseries of questions. What kinds ofexperiences fill these universalneeds? How do you feel whenyou are denied these feelings?How can you create opportunity forchildren to have such feelings ofsatisfaction? And finally, doesyour answer to the last questionmatch your actual behavior in theclassroom?

"If the discussion is a good andhonest one, it may result in aston-ishment. Many participants arcstunned to find that they have beeninsuring their own satisfaction bydenying satisfaction of others.They may find they have been en-joying power by stripping childrenof power, demanding respect bydenying respect, and so forth.

"This leads us to discuss a possibleclassroom activity which someteachers find more difficult than anyother, yet the one we feel may bethe most beneficial in establishingcommon ground between teacherand pupil. We call this 'feedback.'A feedback technique that teachers

.

4TA.;

1

most use is the commonly knownquiz. A teacher gives a lesson inarithmetic, and a quiz gives her afeedback on the success of the les-son. But while the teacher almostalways judges her success by thecontent of lessons she gets across,real feedback may reveal that themost important thing happening inclass has nothing to do with con-tent. We demonstrate this by dis-cussing our own class.

"After the first meeting, we ask theteachers what they liked about itand what they disliked. Well, theymight say they liked the way thematerial was presentedby askingquestions instead of giving a lec-ture. Or they might say they likedthe use. of a blackboard becausewhen they expre9ed ideas the in-structor wrote them down. Thenthey might say they disliked sittingso long without a coffee break.They disliked it when somebodytalked too long without givingothers a chance. Then we bringout that the teachers like havingthis criticism of their own classmethods.

"Next, we ask teachers why theycouldn't have this kind of feedbackdiscussion in their own classrooms.The answer we most commonlyget, after a few embarrassed gig-

gles, is that they are afraid thechildren will criticize their teach-ing. At this point I tell them thatwhen I first started using this tech-nique I bought a bottle of aspirinbecause I was afraid I would de-velop a headache. That was 20

257-352 0 - 67 - 3

years ago and I still have most ofthe bottle. I don't know of anysingle technique that can be morevaluable for making life pleasantin the classroomor, for that mat-

ter, that can better educate teachers

about what really happens in

teaching.

"Another important area is whatwe call 'starting with the child.'Every child is unique. He has hadexperiences that deeply interest

him. If we know what really in-terests each child we can teach him

more effectively. How can we diginto the secrets of a child's real in-terests and strengths? In the pri-mary grades one way to find outis by an intelligent reading of achild's pictures. If we don't tellhim what to drawespecially ifwe don't suggest stereotypes, like

a pretty house, flowers, or the ris-ing sunhis pictures may tell usabout things that worry him. Af-

ter he draws pictures of whateverhe wants, we ask him to close hiseyes and make up a story about it.Sometimes this draws a blank.But sometimes we may get a storyabout how the baby at home burnedhimself on the stove, about a moth-

er and father who had a fight, about

a big boy down the street who likes

to beat up little boys, or whatever

else is on the child's mind.

"An even more fascinating kind of

projective is to play a record with-

out words, like "Rhapsody in

Blue." Then the children are

asked to draw a picture that seems

like the music. Finally they are

9

asked to write a story about thepicture. This produces the mostrevealing fantasy material for giv-ing teachers clues either to whatmay disturb children or what maybe of real interest to them.

"Another thing we try to get acrossto teachers is that their children dohave language skills to build upon,even if these are not in the samelanguage usage that a school ex-pects. One way to 'start with thechild' in building language skill isto ask him to make a `hiptionary:Children in small groups enjoymaking a list of words in the 'hip'language, with translations into

school English. The culminationof this project occurs when thechildren give teacher a quiz to seehow well she knows the 'hip' lan-guage. Meanwhile, their transla-tions have helped them go far inlearning school English, becausetheir lessons are based on somethingthat really belongs to them.

"The taste of food, lots of different

foods, is intensely interesting toevery child. This is another reli-able place to start building his learn-

ing. The teacher asks each childto make a `yummyology'a list offoods he likes and a word or phrasedescribing how they taste. Fromthis, a whole education can be ex-

panded almost indefinitely. The

children might discuss and writedown where the foods come from,

how they got to the stores where

they were bought, how mother pre-

pared them, what colors they are,

and what other foods are the same

10

color. This can be turned into anarithmetic and reading lesson.

The children can be given $3 inplay money as well as food ads fromthe newspaper. They could beasked to write down a menu of asupper that can be bought for $3.This discussion can stretch beyondarithmetic, reading, and writinginto the values of nutrition.

"I can't think of a more valuablediscussion a teacher-training classmight have than one inventing newways to 'start with a child.' Oneimportant result would be thatteachers would invent a lot ofingenious new ways. But moreimportant, the teachers would findthemselves thinking about what`starting with a child' really means:'

HOW SUMMERPROJECTS HELPTEACHERSWhat may appear as a side benefitof a school project often turns outto be as important as its main pur-pose. In 1966, hundreds of schooldistricts, large and small, used TitleI funds for a variety of imaginativesummer projects. The main pur-pose of these was to engage dis-advantaged children in school ac-tivities in a relaxed atmosphere. Amajor side benefit, however, wasthat it gave summer employmentto teachers.

Thus a summer program, beside itsmain purpose of enabling studentsto broaden their intellectual experi-ence, increases a school's power tohold its best teachers. It provides

the teacher with paid, professionalemployment during the nonschoolmonths. At the same time re-sourceful teachers discover, in anatmosphere of play combined withwork, novel ways of keeping theirstudents interested, fresh insightinto their students' personalitiesand, perhaps most important of all,a feeling of success as teachers.These experiences are bound to in-fluence the year-round techniquesof the teacher, and provide in-creased satisfaction in teaching thedisadvantaged. Finally, summerprograms enable the conscientiousteacher to add the important extrasomething to a child's school lifebut without adding a crushingburden of extra hours to the nor-mal school week.

For administrators, an importantadvantage of summer programs isthat they enable pupils to continuelearning without requiring an in-crease in staff.

The following are descriptions oftwo summer projects supported byTitle I in 1966:

A school system in the heart of thefruit-picking region of Californiaenabled 60 deprived children tospend 10 days touring the scenic,scientific, historical, and industrialwonders of California. The chil-dren, fifth, sixth, and seventh

graders, rode in school buses whichwere followed by a cooking truck.The trip was preceded by 2 weeksof research and planning in whichstudents participated. By the timethe bus was ready to leave, the chil-

dren were breathless with expecta-tion. After the trip, their enthu-siasm was channeled into a weekof discussion, relating what theyhad seen to what they study inschool.

A Minnesota city conducted a resi-dential summer camp for 80 juniorhigh schoolerstwo 2-week ses-sions of 40 students eachto arousetheir interest in learning a foreignlanguage. The school years imme-diately ahead of these studentswould require them to learn a for-eign language, yet their back-grounds in impoverished communi-ties hardly provided a stimulus.At camp, the youngsters witnessedsports of many countries, conversedin their selected foreign languageduring mealtimes and saw foreignlanguage filmsall this in additionto class instruction.

A SHORTCUTTO TEACHERRECRUITMENTTens of thousands of college grad-uates, many of them women whosechildren have all entered school,would eagerly become teachers ifcolleges more readily accepted theirpreviously earned credits and if cer-tification laws were more flexiblein course requirements. Hardlyanyone would disagree that manycollege-graduate mothers couldwalk into classrooms tomorrow andbe superb teachers.

California recently revised its re-quirements for a teaching creden-tial. This change permitted thepublic schools of a sizable city to

launch a recruitment program

which has proved successful. Un-der it an acceptable applicant hold-

ing a bachelor of arts degree ob-

serves classes as a student teacher in

a 6-week summer session of a neigh-

borhood school and simultaneouslytakes college courses in the sameschool. In the fall the trainee,called an intern, takes full chargeof a classroom and continues

courses in the evening, still at theschool where he teaches. Six in-terns are supervised by one masterteacher who has no other teachingduties.

The intern, while teaching on aprovisional credential, may becomefully certified after one or twosemesters of work, or he may take

up to 7 years for completing re-quirements. From the day of tak-ing charge of a classroom the internis paid at the rate of five-sixths of

the regular pay of the beginningteacher. Throughout the schoolyear, interns participate in inservice

seminars in addition to pursuingtheir college courses.

TEACHERS ON APART-TIMESCHEDULEMany ex-teachers who have left the

classroom to become housewivesand mothers are reluctant to goback to work on a full-time sched-

ule at the sacrifice of attention totheir own children and home.

Some schools, experimenting with

half-day employment of teachers

for kindergarten and preschoolclasses, have been surprised at

the number of qualified personswho applied for jobs after refus-

ing full-time offers. Kindergartenand preschool, of course, are es-pecially well-suited for half-timeemployment since the pupils them-selves usually come to school onlyfor half days. A school having

both morning and afternoon kin-dergartens may have a far easiertime staffing a room with two half-

time teachers than with a single

full-time one.

Part-time employment of teachersfor elementary and secondary

grades is rare. Some administra-tors, however, are beginning towonder why. One superintendentin a rapidly growing city in theSouth has worked out a plan foraccommodating the personal sched-

ules of qualified housewives. Ac-

cording to this plan, mothers willbe employed on a slighty reducedschedule-9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.enabling them to see their own chil-dren off to school in the morningand to return home in time to re-ceive their children in the after-noon.

For the first half hour in the morn-ing, the mothers' classes will bedivided among other rooms. Les-

son schedules for all rooms will be

rearranged so that the first halfhour is devoted to singing of songs,showing filmstrips and motion pic-

tures, and taking attendanceac-tivities not requiring a formal

teacher-pupil relationship. T h e

last half hour of the day will be

chiefly recreational, preferably out-

11

doors. In two of the experimentalrooms, classes will not be divided

among other teachers, but will bein charge of teacher aides at thebeginning and end of the day. Ac-

cording to the superintendent,whichever plan works out betterwill become a permanent practiceof his schools until the presentteacher shortage is over.

"Sure, either of these new plans will

involve some inconveniences," saysthe superintendent. "But it seemsto me far better to submit children

to a minor inconvenience for twohalf-hours a day than to have themspend all of their school time underthe handicap of being in classes toolarge for effective education."

A MASTER TEACHERAND STUDENTTEACHERPRACTICUMA university in the Northwest de-veloped a teacher training programthat brings individual studentteachers into an intimate workingrelationship with classroom teach-ers for long periods. In his firstyear the student, who is assigned to

a teacher as a "cadet," does many ofthe routine tasks necessary to keep

a classroom functioning smoothly.

In his second year the student is

reassigned to the teacher to partic-

ipate in professional planning and

in a team teaching group. Instead

of being limited by usual student-teaching assignments, the studentshares responsibility for every phase

of the children's school program

12

and also has the benefit of closeobservation and counsel by amaster teacher. The roles of teammembers are rotated so that at onetime or another the student teach-er is lecturer, discussion leader,counselor, or reference librarian.

In a third year of his experience inthe same school the student, nowcalled an intern, becomes a paidmember of the school faculty andcarries a diversified, if still some-what reduced load which enableshim to participate in problem-ori-ented seminars with experiencedteachers and university staff.

TEACHING REMEDIALREADING TO SUBJECTSPECIALISTSJunior and senior high schoolteachers tend to think of themselvesas subject-matter specialists. Yet,because of a wide range of readingability among their students, theyfind they must be reading teachers,too.

In an Ohio city, 30 teachers spent asummer in a Title I remedial read-ing laboratory program to learnhow to help slow readers deal withregular subject-matter assignments.The teachers spent 2 hours dailywith a total of 400 youngsters inneed of reading help.

In a week of orientation precedingthe program the teachers heard lec-tures on the problems of slowreaders, learned how to operateequipment designed to improvereading skills, and prepared wordwheels and phonics charts. After

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the program started, they workedwith small groups of slow readersno more than 10 to a group. Theyoungstersall were at least a yearbehind in reading but capable ofdoing betterattended the sessionsvoluntarily.

The hope was that the teachers,once they discovered how readinginstruction could be applied in his-tory, social science, English, orscience, would pass their new skillsalong to their colleagues.

A TEACHERS'SEMINAR FORMUTUAL SUPPORTNot long ago a Pennsylvania col-lege sent a group of student teachersto a nearby city, where they wereassigned to the poverty ghetto.The students, all women, lived to-gether in an apartment house.After a semester of student teach-ing, 33 out of 35 of the students de-cided not only to seek teaching jobsbut to seek them in areas of urbanpoverty.

This fact confirms a widespreadallegation that many schools of edu-cation are not properly preparingstudents for teaching the disadvan-taged. When these young womenreturned to their college for sum-mary discussions with their profes-sor, they began to critcize hismethods, which, they declared,wouldn't work out in ghettoschools. Fortunately the professorwas young and flexible; he stoppedtalking and began to listen.

What had happened to the girls to

give them such a positive view ofteaching the disadvantaged?

"Because we all lived together,"one student teacher explains, "wespent our evenings in each other'srooms or in the coffeeshop talk-ing about what happened that day.When one of us mentioned a prob-lem, another would say, 'The samething happened in my class.'

Then still another would say,

`That happened in my room, too,but I tried doing such-and-such andit really worked.' It's funny howyou don't get discouraged when youfind that others have the same prob-lems you have, and especially whensomeone comes up with an answer.Then you can't wait to try it your-self the next day. Before the se-mester was over, we all really gotthe feeling that we were learningsomething about how to make thesekids like school. We're supposedto make them feel success. Butthe thing that really drove us is thatwe were feeling success."

Having observed the discourage-ment of older teachers, the youngwomen resolved to organize semi-nars of their own in the schoolswhere they would be employedafter graduation. When the teach-er quoted above went to work in the

ghetto of an Eastern city, she con-vinced three other newly employedteachers in her school to get to-gether one evening a week for anexchange of experiences. They

soon discovered that an art teach-er in their school, a veteran of many

years' experience, was especially

13

successful in stirring the enthu-siasm of pupils and invited her tojoin the group. As the groupfound other enthusiastic and suc-cessful teachers, old or newandoften they are concealed behindclassroom wallsit invited themtoo. Soon, the informal seminaracquired a special status. Otherteachers made discreet overtures,hoping to be invited.

While the spontaneity and infor-mality of this "seminar" might behard to duplicate, it demonstratesthe value of a simple exchange ofideas as a method of continuing in-service training of the most dedi-cated teachers.

IIIAIDES FOR TEACHERS

THE TEACHER AIDE-PART OF ATEACHING TEAMIn the past several years there hasbeen an enormous growth in em-ployment of nonprofessional aidesto classroom teachers. In someplaces aides' duties are as simple asserving as monitors in the lunch-room; in other places, as importantas grading papers or taking partin the instructional process. Many

believe that in schools in disadvan-taged areas aides can do much tobridge the gap between neighbor-hood and school, that they can give

14

children the feeling that school ispart of a familiar world; and thatthey impart to neighborhood moth-ers a more direct knowledge ofwhat really goes on inside theschoolhouse.

But let's take the simplest and mostdirect purpose supposedly served byaides. Do they really free a teach-er's time to teach? Or does su-pervising them make more troublethan it's worth? This has been asubject of emotional debate eversince aides were first admittedthrough the schoolhouse door.

One answer was produced a fewyears ago when Charles B. Parkof Central Michigan College an-nounced the results of a 5-yearstudy in 25 Michigan public

schools. In this extensive investi-gation, teachers' activities were ac-tually measured by a stopwatch forlong periods before and after aidesjoined the staff. In a 2-year periodduring which aides were employed,teachers had slashed the percent-ages of time they devoted to routineduties: Correcting papers was

reduced by 89 percent; enforcingdiscipline, 36 percent; taking atten-dance, 76 percent; preparing re-ports, 25 percent; supervising chil-dren moving between classes, 61percent; monitoring written les-

sons, 83 percent.

What did teachers do with all thatnew-found time? They increasedtime spent on lesson preparation by105 percent; recitation, 57 percent;preparation of homework assign-ments, 20 percent; moving about

the classroom, desk to desk for in-dividual coaching, 27 percent.

As Professor Stanley L. Clement re-cently wrote: "We strive to improvethe quality of preparation for theteaching profession, yet we askteachers to perform duties far be-neath their level of training . . . .

We advocate higher teacher salaries,yet assign our able teachers to tasksthat could be done by people withfar less ability . . . . We seek toraise the professional status of

teachers yet keep them performingduties hardly professional ... . Westrive for good teaching morale, yetwe keep teachers dissatisfied by re-quiring that they perform dutieswhich they dislike (but othersmight enjoy doing). We wantteachers to be creativeto experi-ment, to improveyet we keepthem bored by clerical tasks . . . .

It is only common sense to placepeople at the level of their besttalent."

If almost all teachers wish they hadsmaller classes, is it valid to consideraides as a means of reducing ateacher-student ratio? Some years

ago Dr. James B. Conant proposedthat high school English teachersbe assigned no more than 100 stu-dents in all their classes. A super-intendent in a big Midwest cityreplied, "It would cost my city anadditional $2 million a year. If Ihad the $2 million, I couldn't getthe teachers. And if, by somemiracle, I could get the teachers,I couldn't get the classrooms.

What's the next best thing?"

At that time Dr. Paul B. Diederichwas becoming nationally knownfor preaching that the "next bestthing" was employment of college-educated housewives as lay readersof student papers. "Now after a6-year experience with this pro-gram," Dr. Diederich recentlywrote, "I am beginning to believethat it is a better thing: That theteam solution is superior to the in-dividual solution."

The paid aides become a regularpart of a school staff. They gen-erally are on duty from opening toclosing of the school, sometimesbeyond closing. In employingthem, a school makes commitmentsdue any employee, sets aside anappropriate portion of its budgetfor salary and other benefits andpromises a certain degree of job se-

curity. The school can require ofa teacher aide what it requires from

any employee, a high degree ofresponsibility to group discipline,punctuality, regular attendance, and

sudden changes of responsibility in

emergencies.

The following are examples of how

aides have been used successfully in

different grade levels and for var-

ious purposes.

HOME-VISITINGAIDESA Midwestern principal, a pioneerin the use of aides in his large in-dustrial city, says that of all the

valuable things an aide might doin stretching the arms of teachers,

none compares with the service ofa home-visiting aide.

His school is in a neighborhooddensely packed with families onwelfare. Mothers are so burdenedwith the problems of survival thatthey have little awareness of thesupport that their children need tomake a success of school.

Almost every contact betweenschool and home has been a disasterof communication. One day a sec-ond-grade girl appeared in schoolafter 3 days of absence. She hadno note from her mother, who wasilliterate. The teacher asked thechild if she had been sick. Thechild said no. Thl. teacher scoldedher and sent a sharp note homepointing out the consequences ofa neglectful attitude toward school-ing. The mother, who couldn'tread the note, correctly assumedthat the communication, like allothers she had received from theschool, was hostile. The truth wasthat the little girl's baby sister hadfallen against the stove a few daysearlier and died of severe burns.

"This kind of thing isn't likely tohappen in our school any more,"says the principal, "if the aide isdoing her job and if the teacher haslearned the proper way to workwith the aides. The home-visit-ing aide is an intelligent womanfrom the neighborhood, probablya mother herself. She has an easyrapport with the poor because she'sbeen poor. She probably has a

high school diploma. But themain thing is that she has sym-

pathy with the situation of bothschool and parent; she's not timid;and she knows her way around theneighborhood and the public agen-cies. At least, that's the ideal welook for.

"When a kid is identified as anabsence problem, the teacher andaide don't set as their first goaldragging the kid back to class.

Their first goal is to find out whathis problem is. If his sister didn'tfall against the stove, maybe thesoles fell off his shoes. We haveplenty of sources for getting newshoes if we can just find out whichkid needs them."

He describes the school problem:"In school, we give eye examina-tions. When a child needs glasses,we inform the mother. A few dayslater, maybe he still has no glasses.We send a second note home tomother. Still no glasses. Theproblem is not that a family can'tafford to buy eye glasses. If they'reon welfare, the welfare departmentwill supply them. If they're not onwelfare but very poor, there areclinics and charity agencies to :pip-ply them. But the mother doesn'talways know this. Sometimes she

doesn't understand our note andshe never gives it to the welfareworker.

"That's where the home-visitingaide comes in. If she knows thekid needs glasses and the motherdidn't arrange for them, the firstquestion the aide looks into is why.She brings the mother together

15

with the welfare worker or theclinic or you-name-it, and first thingyou know, the kid's wearing specsand he may have the first chance hehas ever had to learn to read.

"Since we've had home-visitingaides, we can call parents' meetingsfor the first time and expect themto mean something. First of all,the aide can go around among par-ents and ask them to come to school,not for a bawling-out, but to findout what Johnny does there all day,maybe even to find out how wellJohnny is doing. Not all the par-ents come, but the most lively onesdo. So now we have a chain ofcommunication to spread word,from one language to another, ofwhat school is all about. Theteacher can express himself to theaide in school language. The aide,who is bilingual, can pass the wordto parents in the language of thepoverty stricken neighborhood andhome. Even if a message only getsto the liveliest of parents, at least ithas penetrated into the neighbor-hood and will spread around fromthere. And don't think that theprocess doesn't happen in the otherdirection, too. As soon as the par-ents begin to understand throughan aide what school is all about, theteachers are bound to start learningwhat life in the neighborhood is allabout.

"What do we want to tell at par-ents' meetings? Simple things.Many of these parents never hadthe experience of homework. Sothey don't know that it is important

16

to turn off a TV set when a kidtries to study. It may never haveoccurred to them that a family ar-gument taking place when a kidhas his book open may be the endof his studying. From there, wecan move to more sophisticatedthings. If a family is large andits apartment is small, we can tella mother how much she can helpher child by bringing him to a li-brary to do his homework. No-body has ever told this mother thatshe can help her child, that she canreally be an instrument for hisschool success. It's the greatesthonor you can pay her.

"Of course, if you are going to dothis, you have to make sure thelibrarian isn't going to throw thechild out into the street becausehe is using schoolbooks instead oflibrary books. This is another ar-rangement that teacher and aide,supported by their principal, canmake with their neighborhood pub-lic library. Then, if you reallywant to get sophisticated, you cankeep your school open afternoonsand evenings, so that aides, paid orvolunteer, can coordinate a corpsof volunteer tutors to do homeworkwith children.

"There is almost no end to thebasic tasks a home-visiting aide can

help a school accomplishbutwhich the school, when isolated,can't do by itself. The biggestthing the aide can do is so simplethat some people are still shockedby its need. The aide can teach amother, just through a friendly talk,

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17

that she would be doing the great-est thing in the world for her childby reading him a story at bedtime.If there is no book around thehouse, let her read from the backof a cereal box. If the mothercan't read, that's still all right. Letthe child read to mother. Afterall, the purpose here isn't to havea formal exercise in remedial read-ing. The simple purpose is, first,to develop human contact betweenparent and childa contact whichthis child has had too little of; and,second, to introduce into the kid'slife the idea that the printed wordcan provide a warm way throughwhich two human beings com-municate. When a child finds outthat reading and writing are reallya way in which human beings cantalk about interesting things witheach other, your reacting problemsare going to crumble and yourreading grade levels are going tosoar.

"Teaching kids to read is morethan a technique of pedagogy. Ourteachers have the techniques andare ready to use them. They canreally begin to use them now thatthey have home-visiting aides whocan help create the simple out-of-school circumstances that will makeit possible for a child to open hismind to learning.

"There is one more thing we'velearned about home-visiting aides.The aide is usually a neighborwhom the child may have seenever since he was old enough toplay on the sidewalk. If he hasn't

18

known her personally, the childsenses that she is just like the neigh-bors he has known. Now for thefirst time a child sees 'one of ourkind' around the schoolhouse, talk-ing to principal, talking to teacher,acting as a school official. Afterschool, i.;.e child sees the aide out inthe neighborhood, climbing thesteps of tenements, talking to par-ents, greeting children in the street,this time in the role of a sympatheticneighbor. Just seeing her face pro-vides a link between school andhome, making each a little less aliento the other, making one a littlemore part of the other. I don'tknow how a teacher can accomplishthis, and certainly not a principal.But I do know that teachers andprincipals are strengthened indoing their professional jobs whenthis intangible link between schooland home has somehow been es-tablished."

TRAINING OFCHILD-CARE AIDESIn the last 2 yearsStart has stimulatedterest in preschool

Project Heada national en-training and

created a need for thousands ofadults with at least a minimum oftraining in the care and mentalstimulation of young children.Until recently nursery schools of-fered few opportunities for employ-ment; they were mainly a luxuryof the upper middle class.

Now that preschool education hasbecome an urgent national concern,fully qualified professionals cannotbe trained fast enough to keep up

with the need. Theretore, tnereis little doubt that subprofessionalaides, working under the directionof professionals, have an essentialpart to play in the preschool class-room. There is hardly any stand-ard practice to date, unfortunately,on the training of aides. Further-more, the staffing of preschoolclasses is often blocked by anti-quated laws requiring specific re-finements of training.

School systems frustrated by thisproblem today might profit by theodd experience a junior college hada few years ago when it set out toaccomplish a more limited purpose.It is a useful case study in avoidingcomplication, sidestepping annoy-ing formalities, and getting the jobdone.

A psychology professor went to theexecutive dean of the city's juniorcollege system and proposed a 2-year program to train nurseryschool therapists for emotionallydisturbed children. These aideswould help not only in handlingmaterials, keeping records, andushering children about but also inleading them in games and simpleactivities. Better still, they wouldperhaps become friends with thechildren and draw them out, fol-lowing the instructions of, say, apsychiatric social worker or psy-chologist.

The dean liked the idea. But hisstaff of fact'. lty psychologists andsocial workers balked. They werescared by use of the word"therapists."

"The people on my side," recallsthe professor, "decided to shop fordifferent names. Each name sug-gested cooled the fears of some butraised objections from others. Fi-nally we thought of 'child-care aide,'which didn't scare anybody. Thatwas great progress and it only took2 years. But, in the meantime, theexecutive dean had decided to dropthe courses. Nothing happeneduntil a year or so later when he gota better job elsewhere.

"As soon as a new executive deanarrived, I gave him a plan for acourse for child-care aides. Heliked it and recommended that weimmediately apply somewhere fora grant. When we had previouslydecided to train nurses in our juniorcollege system, we needed a grant.It took a year and a half to preparea proposal. We got the grant andthen spent another year and a halfdealing with various nursing asso-ciations to arrange the standardsand training. Now, after 4 years,we were training only 40 nurses.So, this time I decided to try a dif-ferent way.

"I went to all of the eight juniorcolleges, spoke to the deans incharge, and told them that theirexecutive dean had approved thisproject and that we should startimplementing it. Three of theeight were interested, but we foundnobody on their staffs qualified toorganize or give courses for child-care aides. In all the colleges theperson who seemed most interestedwas an English teacher, but a few

t

psychologists and art and musicteachers also wanted to go along.I told them that the State Depart-ment of Child Welfare had someexcellent people who might helpand that the nursery school expertscould be brought in to talk aboutbasic curriculum.

"An expert came down to informus of the legal requirements wewould have to meet in setting upa nursery school laboratorywhatsize of room and playground, howmany toilets, how doors mustswing, etc. After she had walkedthrough our college and found noroom suitable, she told us of anursery school close at hand thatwould be suitable as our trainingcenter.

"We sent a letter to every nurseryschool in the city inviting them tomeetings to discuss what ought tobe in our training program. Manycame. We divided people intosmall groups and asked them tolist problems they had observed innursery schools and things theywould like to learn if they were totake our course. The problemsthey came up with were simpleand real: How do you deal with atemper tantrum in a 3-year-old?

How do you stop children fromfighting? How do you teach art?How do you deal with belligerentparents? How can you introducesome formal education into a

nursery school when the law saysthat a nursery is not an educationalinstitution because nursery teachers

are not certified teachers?

"With these questions in mind, weoutlined a 10-week course. Thenwe took practical steps, like asking

an outstanding art teacher to teach

a class on teaching art to children.She asked, 'Should I give a lecture?'We said, 'No, we want each stu-dent in the class to act as if he werea 4-year-old, and you to act as if

you were their nursery teacher.'The class had two lessons in mak-ing group murals by pressing clayor potatoes into paint, then stamp-ing their shapes on the mural."

One of the experts engaged to teachin the first course, a holder of adoctoral degree in child develop-ment, soon became administrator ofthe program to train child-care

aides. It is now one of the largestspecialized programs in a commu-nity college anywhere.

LAY READERSAn Ohio city employs 24 aides for

high school English teachers at

$1.50 per hour for an annual costof about $7,500. Generally, oneaide divides her time between twoteachers. She checks compositionsfor errors in spelling, capitalization,

punctuation, sentence structure,

and word usage. She may indi-

cate need for improved organiza-tion, diction, transition, and similartechniques of better writing. In

some cases, she recommends agrade for the content of a paper.If papers are to be revised basedon a teacher's review and com-ments, the aides may check the re-

vision for compliance with the

19

teacher's suggestions. Occasion-

ally, the aides also grade objective'tests; vocabulary-papers, and rou-tine written drills.

Aides must have a college degreewith, preferably, a major in Eng-lish. They are given a standard-ized test for language proficiency.In an oral interview, the main qual-ities sought are a lively interest inwriting and an understanding ofways of developing pupils' skill inand appreciation of good writing.

RECRUITING ANDTRAINING AIDESA Maryland county recruited andtrained 42 aides for 25 elementaryschools in a poverty district. Whenthe county superintendent openedhis recruitment campaign by re-leasing announcements to the local

newspaper and radio station, hewas overwhelmed with applica-cations.

Each applicant was interviewed bya principal and the district directorof personnel. The 42 aides werechosen for their demonstrated in-terest in children and previous ex-perience with juvenile groupsBoyand Girl Scouts, 4H Clubs,YMCA, YWCA, or experience asa parent.

The University of Maryland joined

local school officials in conductinga 9-day inservice training program

for the aides. Through this pro-gram the aides learned somethingof the organization and policies of

the school district and the broad

purposes of elementary education.

20

In addition, they attended classesconducted by master teacherswhich dealt with techniques of

teaching spelling and reading, theart of storytelling, the enjoy-

ment of poetry, a review of arith-metic, and the use of an elementaryschool library. Experts gave theminstruction in running projectorsand other devices, making transpar-encies; keeping records of loanedequipment, and cutting stencils.

The instruction focused on hand-writing. Why handwriting? In

grades one and two, children spellout their words with printed let-ters; in grade three, they shift tocursive writinga shift which trou-bles many children. By helpingthem individually, a trained aidecan ease the transition.

FOREIGN LANGUAGELABORATORY AIDESA school in Maryland found thata foreign language laboratory is anespecially good place for an aide torelieve a teacher from a sizableamount of nonteaching duty.

Besides assisting the instructor inrecording audio materials, the aidekeeps an inventory of materials andequipment and periodically checksand cleans the rollers and recordingheads of tape recorders. Betweenvisits of students, the aide checksmachines for proper volume andsound quality, for condition ofwires, and for loose screws in knobs,microphones, and headsets. She

makes sure that master recordingsarc filed in proper sequence. She

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also sets up and operates projectionequipment and phonographs.

The aide should have a background

of training in one or more foreignlanguages in order to assist indi-viduals in small groups in conver-sations and drill.

TYPICAL DUTIESOF AIDESThe following list of effective usesof aides for routine tasks is com-piled from experiences of manyschools. Many duties in this com-

posite list will not be applicable toall-grade levels.

1. Taking attendance and keep-ing routine records.

2. Collecting funds for variouspurposes and keepingaccounts.

3. Correcting objective testsand making up lists andcharts for the teachershowing pupil perform-ance.

4. Supervising playground ac-tivities.

5. Supervising the lunchroom.6. Helping children in the pri-

mary grades with theirclothes.

7. Supervising children in theelementary grades duringlavatory periods.

8. Checking out library books.9. Caring for and operating

audiovisual equipment.10. Supervising the distribution

of milk.11. Typing and duplicating, an-

swering the telephone,and running errands tothe office.

12. Filing work in children'sfolders.

13. Mending books.14. Making arrangements for

field trips.15. Assisting children in con-

struction of bulletinboards, displays, andprojects.

16. Escorting children to thenurse.

17. Supervising quiet activitiesand rest period.

18. Listening to and sharingthoughts with childrenwho need to talk to anadult.

Some school districts have had re-markable success in assigning toaides more complex tasks than thoselisted above. In an elementaryschool in the Southwest, for ex-ample, aides work directly withstudents in a wide variety of situa-tions: reading stories aloud; lis-tening to children explain theirhomework, their plans for a newproject, or their interests in a fa-vorite subject; helping children findbooks and reference materials.

Occasionally, an aide may be par-icularly gifted in a subject or anart. For example, a part-time aidewas able to provide piano accom-paniments that would otherwisehave been unavailable. A retiredleatherworker was put in charge ofa program in leathercrafts.

Some States restrict use of noncer-

tified persons in the classroom.Administrators in many States,however, are relaxing their inter-pretation of old regulations or press-

21

ing for the. adoption of new ones.In doing so, they are acknowledg-ing the successful use of auxiliarystaff under the supervision of pro-fessional faculty members.

Meanwhile, professional organiza-tions are beginning to review olddefinitions of the role of teacher.A question asked is: Must a teachercontinue to be the sole direct instru-ment of instruction, or is there avalid new role for the teacher asthe manager of an instructionalsystem that makes use of othcr peo-ple as well as materials? In theschools of tomorrow, may thephrase "teacher and his staff" be-come as common as today's term,"teacher and his students?"

SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS

VOLUNTEERS-ANABLE AND WILLINGRESOURCEA new source of help similar tothe teaching aide program has re-cently become available to the

teacherthe volunteer program.This new program enables a school

to call upon the wide variety of

specialized abilities and talents

which are available in every com-munity and which many citizensare eager to contribute to schools

and children.

22

Because the volunteer is not paid,he is not usually required to ac-cept the obligations and disciplinethat are required of aides or teach-ers. He is seldom on the job everyday; 2 or 3 half-days a week is theusual schedule. The irregularschedule and the kinds of servicehe gives prevent his developing thesame close working relationshipwith a teacher or an administratoras a paid aide develops.

The two kinds of programs, aidesand vthunteers, are by no meanscontradictory. In many schools oneis a valuable supplement to theother. The following are examplesof effective uses of school volun-teers.

A VERSATILEVOLUNTEERPROGRAMA West Coast city, having a majoruniversity as well as a large com-munity of the poor, has developedan outstanding program of volun-teer work in the schools. More

than 300 volunteers-200 universitystudents and more than 100

motherscontribute more than20,000 hours a school year by work-

ing 2 or more half-days a week.

Because of the high educationallevel of the volunteers, many areespecially qualified to help in direct

instruction in science, math, Eng-lish, foreign languages, communi-cative arts, reading, storytelling,and special programs for the men-tally retarded, aphasic, and blind.

In addition to providing this directhelp to the classroom teacher, thevolunteer program has launched avariety of special projects so usefulthat other schools may wish to du-plicate them. By combining theminto a comprehensive program, aschool could change its entiretemper.

A Homework CenterEvery Tuesday and Thursday after-noon from 3:00 to 4:30, about 40pupils who want help in homeworkgather in a school cafeteria wherethey join more than a dozen volun-teer tutors specially qualified in

math, English, social studies, andforeign languages.

The volunteer in charge of the cen-ter is a retired teacher, and manyof the tutors arc university stu-dents, young enough to establishan informal rapport with students.The ratio of tutors to pupils is lowenough and the organization flex-ible enough to enable a pupil witha special problem to get an adult'sundivided attention, perhaps forthe first time in his life. For ex-ample, one seventh-grade boy hadrecently arrived with his familyfrom Hong Kong. His languagedifference, added to a personal shy-ness, at first kept him away fromthe homework center. When hedid come, he was taken over by auniversity student also of orientalbirth who, guided by his own mem-

ories as a newly arrived student,could help the boy overcome hisfeelings of strangeness with a newlanguage in a new land. (The

same university student on otherafternoons is volunteer adviser of aham radio club at another school.)

A Paperback Bookstore

In one school volunteers borrowedspace from the cafeteria and fundsfrom the PTA to start a storeof low-cost paperback books. Pu-pils act as clerks; a volunteer super-vises and maintains inventory.From the outset, inventory has beenmore of a problem than anyone an-ticipatedon the store's openingday almost the entire stock was soldout. Within a year volunteers intwo other schools had started

bookstores.

Noontime Concert Series

An industrious and music-mindedvolunteer in a junior high school isresponsible for launching a weeklyconcert that lasts through threelunch periods. The volunteer incharge started the series with a 40-piece baroque orchestra from a cityhigh school, then followed it withwhat seemed an endless supply ofvocal and instrumental talent fromall parts of the community. Stu-dent audiences numbered 250 to300 per concert. Volunteers arealso providing piano accompani-ment for classroom singing andspecial musical programs.

Afterschool Clubs

Volunteers took the initiative informing extracurricular clubs at anelementary school: Clubs for math,science, and drama, and two artgroups. Though they started in aschool where deprivation was a

characteristic of the pupils, an in-genious volunteer got the idea ofconducting meetings alternately atthis school and at an elementaryschool in an affluent neighborhood.Pupils of both schools were invitedto join and get to know one an-other through their club interests.The plan has been so successfulthat parents from the affluent

neighborhood have formed a volun-teer program of their own.

Systemwide Services

Besides services to individualschools, involving direct contactwith teachers and children, the vol-unteer program provides servicesfor the whole school system. Theyinclude:

Community Resources: Speakers,exhibits, and other resources forspecial presentations are providedupon request of a teacher or princi-pal. In one week, for example, ageologist, an airline navigator, aspeaker on Mexico, a physicist, anda cellist were brought into elemen-tary school classes to givc talks anddemonstrations.

Field trip guide: A booklet con-taining information about 50 toursthat classes might take in the sur-rounding region is periodically up-dated. For example, under thecategory "Industry, Business, andFarming," tours include bakeries;coffee, sugar, and salt companies;a dairy farm; and a petshop. The"Transportation and Communica-tion" section lists tours of news-papers, a shipping line, a seaport,and an airport. Each listing sets

forth the times when visits can bemade, the total time needed, themaximum number of children thatcan be accommodated, the gradelevels for which the trip is suitable,and other pertinent information.

Clipping service: Articles and pic-tures are gathered and filed for useby teachers and other staff mem-bers.

Central library service: Assistanceis given with the processing ofbooks in the central library.

Typing and mimeographing: Cur-riculum materials, class newspapers,staff notices, and form letters aretyped or mimeographed.

Special services: Short-term man-power for special needs is supplied.

All the groups of volunteersthose in each school as well asthose providing citywide servicesare self-operating under the direc-tion of a volunteer coordinator.The coordinators arc led by a di-rector, having full professionalstatus on the superintendent's staff.He and his secretary are paid bya grant of less than $15,000 from alocal foundation. Important func-tions of the director are to insurethat volunteer work is of value tothe schools and to minimize newadministrative demands upon thesuperintendent and school prin-

cipals.

VOLUNTEERS FOR AREADING PROGRAMIn an Eastern city hundreds of vol-unteers are engaged in an individ-

23

ual reading program, a projecthardly possible if it had to dependupon the use of paid professionalstaff.

Applicants for the service are care-fully screened; each one is inter-viewed and his references studied.Those selected are required to at-tend an orientation program andafterward to meet with the programdirector for a second interview.They serve a minimum of 3 hoursa day, 2 days a week. In additionthey attend inservice lectures andtake part in discussions led by spe-cialists in reading.

A volunteer meets with a child for45 minutes twice a week in a roomset aside for the program. Duringthe sessions he tries to cultivate arelaxed personal relationship withthe child based on the child's owninterests. Sometimes the volunteerreads stories him, and sometimes

they read aloud together. Theytalk about the stories and otherthings that might open new hori-zons for the child.

When the child indicates interestin subject material, the volunteertries to find simple books on thesubject that the child may takehome. He exercises the child indrill material furnished by his regu-

lar classroom teacher. He alsokeeps a journal of his observationsof each child, which becomes asource of information for the

teacher as well as a record of prog-

ress for the volunteer.

24

CONVERSATIONALENGLISHIn the same city volunteers have or-ganized an unusual group to helpchildren from non-English-speak-ing families learn to converse inEnglish. This is an essential prep-aration for their learning to readand write in English.

The techniques used by the volun-teers are oral and visual; they dealin no way with the written word.In games based on physical exer-cise, for example, a volunteer willwalk and run and then identifyeach activity with the words "walk"and "run." The child has no diffi-culty assigning the newly learnedword to the familiar activity. By

pointing a finger, the volunteerdemonstrates the meaning of a sim-ple sentence"I walk; you walk."Through pictures, he conveys fami-liar nouns: house, bread, man, car,pencil, apple. Through the ideaof color charts the child rapidlylearns the English names of colorswhich he already knows in his par-ents' tongue. After a few sessionsmany children find the grouping ofwords a fascinating and rewardinggame: "red car," "yellow house,""man runs," "my pencil," "pencilwrites." Their progress from sin-gle words to phrases to complex,spontaneous conversation is aston-ishingly rapid.

Usually, volunteers work with twochildren at a time, meeting themtwice a week for 40 minutes a pe-riod. On alternate days the chil-

dren meet with another volunteer.This helps them get accustomed todifferent speech patterns. Thepairs of children are carefullymat c h e dand sometimes re-

pairedaccording to their languagelevel and personality. Sometimes,when it seems advantageous, avolunteer meets with a single child.

Volunteers chosen for this programare expected to have patience andwarmth. They are screened forgood enunciation without markedregional or foreign accent. Theyneed no previous language train-ing, not even a working knowledgeof a foreign language.

Before beginning work, the volun-teers take a training course of four2-hour sessions and spend severalhours observing trained volunteersat work. Their training continueson the job through the guidance ofan experienced volunteer chairman,

who keeps a close watch on thework of new volunteers. Dailyconferences with teachers providean opportunity to review methods,regroup children, and discuss newteaching tools.

Children are screened for the pro-gram almost as carefully as volun-teers. The goal is a working fa-miliarity with English words andsentences. A child is not admittedif his only problem is a foreign ac-cent. He is considered in need ofthe program if he speaks no Eng-lish or speaks English haltingly orin stereotyped phrases.

VOLUNTEERTEENAGERS FORLIBRARIESA city on the shore of the GreatLakes has found special advantagein recruiting college students andteenagers for volunteer work in li-braries. Its aim is not only tolighten the load of librarians butalso to help make libraries moreuseful and inviting to disadvan-taged students.

The large number of extra man-hours provided by volunteers en-ables school libraries to add day-time programs and to stay openduring the evening. For littlechildren, teenagers conduct story-telling and storyreading sessions.To many of these children, a librarypreviously represented an alienplace where a severe authorityalibrarian instead of a teacherpresided, sometimes appearingmore interested in enforcing regu-lations than in spreading the joyof stories. With the informal teen-agers present, children find thefriendly atmosphere of stories andbooks far preferable to a home at-mosphLre of crying babies, cookingodors, insufficient light, and a blar-ing television set.

Older children in junior high andhigh school have also found an in-viting atmosphere in a librarymanned by visiting teenagers.These older students appear at easein getting individual help in prac-tical problems: how to decide whatbooks to read, how to expand abibliography by proper use of a card

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index, how to find books on libraryshelves, and how to use standardreference volumes.

VOLUNTEERS ASROLE MODELSThere is a growing feeling amongeducators and psychologists thatthe high percentage of brokenhomes among the poor often leaveschildren of poverty with little un-derstanding of what adults do inthe world of work and in a normalhome environment. How is a

child to know that he is expectedto work for a living some day, andthat schooling leads to employmentskills, if he has never had the simpleexperience of seeing a man get upin the morning to go to a job orof having an adult in his familybring home a weekly paycheck?Many experts believe that the ab-sence of self-supporting males inthe lives of these children is oneof the critical ingredients of theirdeprivation. Whether the sex dis-tinction is the critical factor or not,the child has little contact withelf-supporting adults. His obser-

vation is confined to mothers, en-slaved by too many domestic chores,and to socially disoriented males,hanging around on the sidewalks.

To combat this 'pecial form of dep-rivation, volunteers have been help.ful in a variety of imaginative ways.Sometimes their best use is not toteach but just to be, merely pre-senting themselves before childrento play with them, talk with them,enjoy them, and be enjoyed bythem. The hope is that their out-

26

look and behavior will rub off onthe rapidly forming attitudes ofgrowing children. In one city apreschool project made a specialeffort to enlist volunteer fathers towork with certified teachers in classplay, storytelling, and conversation.In another city adult men, espe-cially Negroes in predominantlyNegro neighborhoods, were re-

cruited as volunteer counselors,

tutors, and companions for childrenin elementary and high schoolgrades. Some were highly edu-cated as lawyers, doctors, and socialworkers; others were in the me-dium range of occupational achieve-ment--postal clerks, store em-ployees, service technicians, and thelike. The important thing wasthat they were "making it." Chil-dren could hardly fail to absorb atleast a trace of their attitudes ofdiscipline and aspiration.

A most effective and direct use ofadult role models was made by aMidwestern city with a large andespecially oppressive Negro ghetto.An assistant superintendent incharge of this district organized aroad show of 17 young Negroes,each trained in a skilled job, butnot so advanced that a 12-year-oldslum child could not imagine doingthe same. The road show traveledfrom school to school, appearingbefore parents and pupils. Ayoung principal of the district de-scribes the meetings:

"We tell the parents, 'Now we'vebeen saying that if your childworks hard in school it will pay off

in the long run. We're going totry to show you.' The audienceis skeptical. Whatever you say,they'll shake their heads for anhour and say `Yessir, that's right,'the way they've learned to do whenwhite people talk to them, butyou're not communicating. Thenwe bring in each of these 17 peo-

ple, start interviewing them beforethe crowd, and a change takesplace.

" 'Where do you work?'

" So-and-So Aircraft.'

" 'They make space capsules.'

"The young fellow illustrates on ablackboard what space capsules areand how he helps design them.We ask if he needs any training forsuch work. He tells about theschooling he had. Then we ask:`Did you get that kind of job thefirst time you went somewhere toapply for one?' You can hear thehall freeze with attention. Hesays, 'No. But I knew I was prop-erly trained and qualified. I knewthere was a place for me somewhereand I found it at So-and-So Air.craft.'

"Most of the adults in that hallhave never heard a young Negrofrom their own neighborhood sayanything like that beforebecausefor the most part it was never truebefore. Next we bring on a corn-puter programer who not only hasa good job but recently won anaward as the outstanding govern-ment employee in this area.

"The one who really shakes the

people up is a woman who's an ad-vertising artist for a milk com-pany. We ask her, 'How manychildren were in your family?'She says, 'Nine.' You feel a slighttremble in the hall from an excusecaving in. Then she adds that shewas the oldest and had to look afterall the others. Another excuse

hits the ground. She says, 'I re-member I had two dresses. WhileI wore one, I washed and driedthe other one for school next day.'You can't imagine the impact onthe people when she tells that.That's the story of every womanin the hall."

SENIOR CITIZENS-A SPECIALVOLUNTEERRESOURCEIn an extraordinarily successful

volunteer program involving al-most 1,500 lay persons in a Mid-western industrial city, it has beendiscovered that elderly people whoare young of mind, particularlyamong the retired, have a specialcontribution to make. Retiredpeople often miss practicing theirwork skills as much as children arefrustrated by the lack of them.Thus a purpose for each is servedby bringing together those whohave left the world of work andthose who have not yet entered it.

The kind of work hardly matters;in fact, the wider the variety, thebetter. In this city, retired ma-chinists visit school metalshops totalk with boys about metalworking

and to demonstrate tricks of thetrade. Students are as enlivenedby close contact with an oldtimepractitioner as the oldtimer was bycontact with the eagerness of youth.

An 82-year-old expert on forestrytook elementary classes on toursthrough the city's parks, and alongthe way conducted a running lec-ture-discussion about trees.

A retired labor arbitrator visitedhigh schools and participated in roleplaying with students to illustratehow collective bargaining worksand how people in a dispute, nomatter how heated, can alwaysfind some acceptable ground foragreement.

CHILD -TO -CHILD

TUTORING

CHILDREN LEARNFROM EACH OTHERAdults keep talking of the educa-tion of children as a responsibilitythat rests solely with certifiedschoolteachers and sanctified par-ents. But the obvious fact, as anychild knows, is that the most effec-tive teachers of children are oftenother children. Many who fail tolearn from teachers, do succeed inlearning from each otherin thestreets. They learn so well that

one becomes a carbon copy of theother's alienation, hostility, andaimlessness. This, too, is a kindof education and it demonstratesthe power of children as learnersand teachers.

"The idea of children's teachingother children is anything butnew," says John H. Fischer, presi-dent of Teachers College, Colum-bia University. "Games and songsthat show up in every generationhave been passed down literallyfor centuries by boys and girlsteaching them to others onlyslightly younger than themselves,"Dr. Fischer says. "Why shouldn'tit make sense to use the same proc-ess, the same energy, to teach otherthings? Wherever the practicehas been encouraged, the resultshave been at least partly good andin many instances highly successful.

"We should not expect that volun-teer tutors will make the profes-sional teacher's job easier. Theirprincipal service is to give theteacher time to concentrate on tasksthat untrained volunteers are notlikely to do very well, such as in-troducing new ideas or helpingyoungsters reason their way

through complex problems. Theteacher must also be on the lookoutfor misconceptions that are allowedin. But the advantages of allow-ing young people to share in teach-ing and to learn from one anotherfar outweigh the disadvantages.The practice should be widelyencouraged."

27

SIXTH GRADERSTUTOR FIRSTGRADERSIn a California school attendedmostly by children of the poor, firstgraders who were failing to learntheir ABC's and 1-2-3's from theirteachers are learning them eagerlyunder the guidance of sixth-gradechildren. Especially bright sixthgraders? Not always. Some ofthe tutors are not only backwardlearners themselves but rebelliousproblem children. But they areteaching effectively. Perhaps evenmore important, the teaching non-learners are becoming better learn-ers and showing remarkable im-provement in their behavior, theirdress, and their attitude towardslearning. Having responsibility forothers seems to make them moreresponsible about themselves.

A large number of sixth gradersare excused from their classes for45 minutes a day to work with firstgraders, who also leave their classes.It is perhaps more personal atten-tion than these little ones have everhad. Their teachers wisely haveprescribed no curriculum for theshort tutoring sessions. Each childout of his own sensitivity to hispartner seems to feel out the rightthing to Cal

An 11-year-old girl named Jana-thur, a fair student in sixth grade,tells about the problems of Robert,her first-grade partner, whose par-ents speak only Spanish. It is hardto tell which of the two children islearning more.

28

"When we started," said Janathur,"Robert didn't know nothing. Hecouldn't count more than five.

When I first tried giving him les-sons, he'd just look at me and notsay anything. For the whole firstweek he wouldn't tell me his name.Each day I kept asking him, but hewouldn't tell me. So I'd ask him,`Would you like to draw a pic-ture?' He'd shake his headno.Then I'd say, 'Would you like meto read a story ?' He'd shake hisheadyes. After a whole week ofthat, I asked him his name, andone day, he said, 'Robert.' I felt sohappy. I told him, 'My name isJan and I'm your tutor.' Then Iasked him what he wanted to do.He said, 'I want to learn numbers.'I was surprised because that wasjust what he could do least in class.Well, I began to write down num-bers. He could read 1 to 5. Butfrom 6 up, he didn't know any-thing. I said '6' and wrote downthe number. Then he said '6' and`7' and so on. I wrote numbers onlittle slips of paper, mixed them upso they weren't in the right order,and told him to make them right.Sometimes he got it, sometimes hedidn't. But pretty soon, he'd getit all the time. After he learnedhis numbers, he said he wanted tolearn about words. We started on

that and he learned them."

Janathur and Robert were not spe-cial. All the teams were absorbedin their work and were havingsome measure of success, amongthem Debbie and Patricia. Debbiebegan getting notes from her little

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partner's mother thanking her forteaching Patricia so much. Butclearly, the older girl was profitingat least as much as the younger.Debbie's mother, wife of a steadilyemployed sheet metalworker, said:

"We were thinking last year ofmoving to a nicer neighborhood,but I decided against it. I wasafraid that Debbie wouldn't get thisopportunity in another school.That girl has never been so con-tented, and I know it's just becauseshe has the chance of helping an-other person. After Debbie begantutoring, she'd come home everyday all excited about what she'dtaught that day to Patricia. Thenshe'd start planning next day's les-sons. She made us set up a backroom in the house as her school-work room. My husband worriedthat taking time to teach someoneelse might make Debbie's marks godown. But they've gone up. Sheused to get N in arithmeticthatmeans 'Needs improvement.' Nowshe gets G."

Debbie's and Janathur's assistancein relief of the Nation's teachershortage has long-range as well asshort-range implications. Tutoringresulted in their deciding to becometeachers. They were already de-veloping original and even profes-sional insights. A visitor to theirschool recently asked the girls whattutoring had taught them about ed-ucationthings that adult teachersmight not know.

"Teachers," suggested Debbie,"most always call on the smart kids

who know the right answers.When a teacher finally does call ona kid who doesn't know the answer,she just embarrasses him and makesfun of him in front of the wholeclass. She's always so busy withthe smart ones, she has no time forthe ones who need help."

"I've learned," added Janathur,"that it's best to teach somebodywhat he's interested in first. Hereally wants to learn the rest, buthe may be afraid. I wanted toteach Robert the alphabet first. Ikept thinking that's supposed to belearned first. But I'd ask himquestions and he wouldn't answer.When I gave in to him and let himlearn numbers, he answered. Afterthat, I saw he wanted to learn thealphabet, but was scared."

The girls were asked how tutoringhad affected their own work.

"Now, after we're finished tutor-ing," said Debbie, "I go back to my

class and think about the little kidswho want to learn. If I'm evergoing to teach them, I have to learneverything so I can help them learnit. That's why schoolwork is moreinteresting now."

"It makes my work easier," saidJanathur. "Like when we getwork in arithmetic, it looks so hard.

Then I tell myself I might have toexplain it to somebody else. Whenyou have to explain it, it makes you

see it more clearly."

"When my teacher does somethingthat I think is bad teaching," said

29

Debbie, "I ask myself now how Iwould do it. Then I make myselfmy own teacher, and I teach it tomyself the better way."

Young male tutors are usually moregruff than girls. Some teachers,more concerned with "good" be-havior than with learning, mightscold them for this. Yet the gruff-ness may be a form of interest andaffection, a familiar language be-tween boys that may make a tutormore valuable than the cleverestof textbooks.

In the California school a youngfirst grader in a pink sweat shirt,was being tutored by an older boyin a green sweat shirt, who himselfhad been little but trouble to histeacherfidgety, mischievous, dis-dainful of study, displaying all themakings of a school dropout. Bothboys were from impoverishedhomes. When the attention of theyounger boy wandered, the olderwould brusquely prod him to de-mand attention. Yet the youngersat hunching close, nudging hisshoulder into the side of his tutor,as though protecting himself fromthe cold. They seemed to be act-ing out a familial love each couldunderstand. The older got up togo to the water cooler. Theyounger traipsed beside him, notwanting to miss a moment of hisadmiration of the older. But soon,

sitting still and concentrating wastoo much. The younger went tothe water cooler himself. He re-turned, nudged his pink sweat shirt

into the green one, drilled some

30

more, then returned to the cooler.The older boy lost patience andscolded his youngster.

"Now, you keep getting waterevery minute, and you're going togrow up stupid and sitting on thesidewalk. You have to pay atten-tion if you want to learn some-thing."

This lecture on the economic con-sequences of ignorance was instruc-tive not only to the first grader butalso to the older boy, who, recallingmemories of idle men in the streetwhere he lived, was clarifying theconsequences to himself.

Sometimes the older child learnsdirectly from an example set by ayounger. A sixth grader namedRod was assigned a first-gradechild to tutor, even though Rodwas considered a "bad boy." Rod'smother was on public welfare; hehad four sisters and no father.

"Rod dressed like a ditchdiggerand never combed his hair," saysthe director of the tutoring pro-gram. "This wasn't because ofpoverty but his need for rebellion.But I could tell that behind his badbehavior, there was an organizedmind. He hated his class, so hecut up. He knew he'd be made tosit outside the principal's office.

He preferred that to sitting in class.When I asked him to be a tutor, hewas surprised but he said he'd try.By chance, the first grader assigned

to him was an immaculate child,but one who just wouldn't open upin class. Rod got him to answer

questions and study. Almost im-mediately, Rod stopped contrivingto be sent to the principal. Heseemed to realize he couldn't be acutup and a responsible teacher atthe same time. Pretty soon he be-gan washing his face and dressingmore neatly. I was certain, andso was his teacher, that he was re-sponding toward that little boy,something he previously had felttoward no one. And for the firsttime, instead of feeling shut out ofschool life, he felt a part of it."

RESEARCH INATTITUDINALCHANGES OFYOUNG TUTORSA Midwestern university's institutefor social research has been experi-menting with new ways of gettingolder and younger children to in-fluence one another constructivelyduring short periods of a schoolday.The experiments were conductedat two contrasting schools: oneprivate school populated mainly bythe bright offspring of universityfaculty members; the other, a pub-lic school with a biracial populationof working-class and public wel-fare children, many classifiable aseducationally deprived.

Sixth graders spent 45 minutes aday, 3 days a week, in a juniorkindergarten, helping the pre-schoolers learn to build, paint,paste, and listen to songs andstories. It worked so well that thesixth graders were permitted to be-come academic assistants in thefourth, third, second, and first

grades, helping younger pupilswith reading, writing, spelling, andarithmetic. Two afternoons a

weekalso for 45 minutestheolder children met in a seminar todiscuss ways in which the oldercould best help the younger. Theyexchanged ideas on what could berealistically expected of children ofeach age and on how errors couldbe corrected in a manner that wasencouraging instead of discourag-ing. Through role playing, theolder children pretended they wereyounger, by way of testing howthey would react to certain kinds ofpraise or scolding, friendliness orthreat. Their habitual disdain forthe ways of younger childrenturned to sympathetic constructive-ness.

"My kid took so long spelling aword yesterday," reported onetutor, "I wanted to hit him. But,of course, I didn't. I made sure Iwas patient."

A teacher asked one pupil what heknew now that he didn't knowbefore about four and a half-year-old junior kindergarteners.

"They all have troubles," the pupilreplied. "You wouldn't think theyhad troubles. I guess everyone has.

They don't like to be told what todo. They want to make up theirown minds and do things withouthelp."

American children, particularly

boys, are not naturally inclined toregard younger children with suchsympathy. Before undertaking

their experiments, the researchersconducted attitudinal tests to deter-mine how the pupils felt towardsolder and younger children. Theyfound that boys generally expectyounger children to be nuisancesand a waste of time, that girls aremore attracted to caring for youngerchildren in the manner of mothers,especially if the little ones are win-some or comical. But gir:,,, too,lose interest when the young onesbecome teases or demand too muchattention. Yet the class experi-ments showed the same pupilseager for responsibility if the re-sponsibility resulted in success withthe little ones and increased statusfor themselves.

Younger children, on the otherhand, regard older children withgreat admiration, and want verymuch to "be like them." When 9-year -olds were, asked to identifyindividuals "whom they wouldmost like to be like," they namedolder children 3 or 4 years olderthan themselves. It may come as asurprise to parents whose childrenare forever squabbling to learnthat half of the boys with olderbrothers named an older brother asthe ideal model and that almosthalf of the girls with older sistersnamed an older sister. Yet chil-dren get little chance for real asso-ciation with older models they ad-mireand could learn fromin asociety of school and play that em-phasizes rigid grading by age.

"If a child," says the project direc-tor, "has relationships with some

who are bigger and some who arcsmaller, he doesn't have to thinkof himself in the fixed position ofbeing little. If he can look up anddown at the people he lives among,a child gets a more realistic pictureof where he lives in society. He ismore able to see himself as engagedin a process of evolution."

TUTORS DEVISETHEIR OWNCURRICULUMAn enterprising teacher in anotherWestern school paired good readerswith slow ones in her fifth-gradeclass, good arithmetic studentswith poor ones. "The idea," shesays, "was to tap the strengths ofsome students to help strengthenthe others."

She told the tutors to prepare theirown teaching lessons, and evenavoided standing in front of theclass where her authority woulddominate the room. The childrenenjoyed the self-respect and self-discipline that came from being incharge. "I expected a great deal ofthem," she says, "and if you expectit, you get it."

Soon after that, the teacher learnedof a first-grade Mexican boy, Jose,who knew no English at all. Shearranged with Jose's teacher to puthim in the charge of a star fifth-grade pupil, Juan, who came froma Spanish-speaking family. Juan,thrilled, asked, "Do you reallythink I can do it?" His teacherassured him he could.

Juan began inventing teaching ma-

31

terials. He cut up cereal boxes forflashcards. On their unprintedsides, he drew pictures and labeledthem with Spanish and Englishwords. Jose rapidly began learn-ing to readin Spanish and Eng-lish simultaneously. Then Juanbegan consulting daily with Jose'steacher to find out what she wantedthe child to learn next. One dayhis teacher asked Juan whether hethought others in his class would.like to become tutors of youngerpeople.

"Sure they would," Juan replied.

This experiment-minded teachergot a notion to team other sixthgraders with first graders. That'swhen she began to learn how resist-ant many teachers could be to anew idea. The first-grade teachersseemed willing to try, but sixth-grade teachers balked. "If theytutor every day," protested one,"They'll miss my teaching."

The teacher cooled the protests bysuggesting that sixth-grade teach-ers, as skilled professionals, couldfind value in observing the tutorsfor changes in attitude in their ownclasses. The purpose, she empha-sized, was not only to help the firstgraders but to help sixth gradersdevelop feelings of responsibilityand more positive feelings towardsschool. The teachers, pleased bythis purpose, went along.

Next, the experimenting teacherasked other teachers to select halfthe tutors from among schoolmisfitsbright children who often

32

got into trouble with theirclassmates and school authorities.This time the first-grade teachershit the roof. They feared exposingtheir little ones to the influence ofolder "delinquents" and "mis-

behavers." The experimentingteacher persuaded them to with-hold judgment.

She arranged for the tutors to visitclassrooms to observe various teach-ers in action. Then the tutor.,talked among themselves about thebest ways to teach arithmetic ordiscuss the structure of a story.They decided it was important torefresh their memories of their owndifficulties in first grade. Some re-called they had found it hard tounderstand what the number "3"means until they learned to countthree circles or three pencils orthree anything. All agreed thatmultiplication tables were puzzlinguntil they understood the multiply-ing of real things. Thus these chil-dren were confronting themselveswith one of the basic philosophicalproblems in education, the movingof pupils from experience with con-crete realities to skill in manipulat-ing abstract symbols.

Occasionally, the teacher wouldgather the first graders togetherand let one of the tutors formallyteach a lesson on a blackboard.This was always a high spot for thetutor. A high spot for the teacherwas in observing, with repeatedsurprise, a tutor as he invented aningenious method of teaching.

One tutor, a shy boy who appar-

ently had a special empathy for theshyness of his first grader, madecolored cutouts of animals andequipped them with moving pawsand mouths. He would talk to thefirst grader "through" the ani-mal--using it as a puppetthengive the puppet to the child so hecould talk back.

Later, the inventor reported to hisfellow tutors that he noticed thefirst grader was much less reticentwhen his puppet was doing thetalking than he was when calledupon to talk by himself. Thatafternoon in the schoolshop almostall the tutors began making pup-pets of their own. (Since then, atthe University of Chicago, a psy-chologist with a Ph. D. has wonconsiderable attention for inde-pendently devising a similar tech-nique to encourage language art inverbally retarded children.)

One of the most successful teachinginventions by a tutor was the simpleuse of a blank piece of paper. Thetutor would ask a first grader tomake up a story. The older childwould write down whatever theyounger one dictated, then teachthe younger how to write it him-self. A New Zealand educator,Sylvia Ashton-Warner, recentlybased a best-selling book, "Teach-er," on a similar idea of teachingreading and writing through a self-prescribed vocabulary.

Another tutor got the idea of read-ing a story and stopping before itended. The younger child wouldmake up his own ending as an

exercise in imagination. Aftereach new invention, the teacherwould call the tutors together to seethe inventor demonstrate it, learnhow to make it, and talk about whyit was effective.

One evening, the teacher organizeda meeting of parents of the firstgraders being tutored. The tutorsdemonstrated the teaching devicesthey had invented. Parents askedif they could make teaching aidsand be coached in how to use themat home. The teacher recruitedvolunteer teachers to meet withthese parents. Thus, the stimula-tion of school spread out from theclassroom teacher in ever wideningcircles.

TUTORING BUILTON OUT-OF-SCHOOLINTERESTSA college in North Carolina hasbuilt a sizable tutoring force of col-lege and high school students whoare especially trained in "startingwith the child"capitalizing on hiscuriosity about the out-of-school

world.

As one novel activity, a tutor tellsan elementary-grade child to pre-tend he has $50 to spend during ascheduled tutoring session. Thenthey take a walk together to anearby shopping center. In thedazzling variety of shops and de-partments, the child "buys" any-thing he wants and writes downeach purchase and the amount ofmoney he has left. Obviously, this

I

I

ee:

t

1

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is good practice in arithmetic andin the spelling and writing of wordscharged with high interest.

But the experience accomplishesother important purposes, too. Thechild gets practice in making prior-ities of choices. The tutor hasmany openings for discussing dif-ferences between necessities andluxuries or between items of last-ing value and those rapidly con-sumed and ways of judging work-manship and good value. Tutorswere pleased when their pupilsdecided to save a part of their fic-tional $50 for things they mightwant later.

Another important byproduct isthat tutors get a direct insight intothe individual interests of theiryoung pupils. After a tutor hasserved for a while, he takes hispupil for a casual walk planned tosharpen the pupil's powers of ob-servation and expression. For ex-ample, they walk past a bakery andthe child is pleased by the smell.The tutor asks the child to tellabout the smellall the ingredientsthat help make it and things it re-minds him of. In a park the tutorpoints out two varieties of trees byname and stirs up a conversationabout what makes them different.

They spot a person walking alongthe sidewalk or shopping in a store.The tutor starts a game in whichthe child is asked to guess thingsabout the unknown person: where

34

he is going; where he is comingfrom; what kind of work he does;whether he is friendly or grouchy;what neighborhood he lives in.After each idea volunteered by thepupil, the tutor asks the child totry to explain what led him to thatopinion.

Instead of spending all their read-ing time with workbooks, thetutor uses "walking time" encour-aging the child to read signsthechild usually finds them far moreinteresting than workbooksandthey talk about what the signsmean. What kinds of foods areserved in a delicatessen, what kindin a Chinese restaurant? Whatdos "convenient lay-away plan"mean? Why is there "slight extracharge" for getting a suit cleanedin one day?

At the end of a tutoring session, a

child is asked to notice interestingthings that he sees on the way homeand on the way back to school.When he arrives the next day, heis asked to write about them. Ifthey were interesting enough toremember, the probability is thatthe words describing them are es-

pecially interesting words: candymachine, place where the cops hang

out, friend's house, broken bottle.Then the pupil is asked to draw a

map leading from his house toschool (he will probably need helpat first) and to show on the mapwhere each of these things wasobserved. Thus the child is gettingpractice in diagrammatic as well as

verbal symbolism. The child maythen be asked to take the map onhis trip home and mark it to repre-sent additional things he sees.

The tutor proposes games based on"making deals" which put bothpersons on equal footing. Thetutor asks the child at the end of asession to "bring in five words thatyou're pretty sure I don't know,and I'll bring in five words I'mpretty sure you don't know. We'llsee who knows most of the other'swords."

Tutors can have exciting conversa-tions with an individual child thatcan be valuable in helping himthink for himself and get a feelingof some mastery over his environ-ment. Some simple game ques-tions that might lead to such con-versations are:

What would you do if you discov-emd a fire in school?

What if you were carrying a bigtray of dishes with two hands andyou saw that one plate was about todrop on the floor?

What would you do:

If you saw a car parked on a hillslowly beginning to roll?

If you were taking a test and agood friend of yours whisperedthat he ,wanted to copy your

answers?

If you found a pocketbook that had$10 in it?

A BABYSITTINGSERVICETo attract young college educatedmothers into teacher training pro-grams, one school has provided ababysitting service for its trainees.The service is operated in a highschool as part of a domestic artsprogram and is run by high schoolgirls through every period of theschool day under the supervision ofa certified teacher.

A COMMUNITY HAS

ALL THE PEOPLE A

SCHOOL NEEDS

GOLD IS WHEREYOU FIND ITRegardless of the shortage oftrained people available for em-ployment in schools, almost anycommunity abounds with peopleeager to help broaden the scope ofschool activities. Many of theseare professionals in a variety offields, available as part-time con-sultants. Through them, a schoolmay enrich its services despite theshortage of educational profession-als. Several different ways of en-gaging professionals in the schoolsare illustrated by the resourceful-ness of a single school system in amiddle-sized city in Michigan.

First of all, the superintendent feltit necessary to get specialized lead-ership for administering ESEA pro-grams and coordinating them withthe local community action pro-gram. A nearby city had a longhistory of educational innovationand community action throughearly support of a private founda-tion. The superintendent arrangedwith the neighboring city for apart-time loan (on a paid basis)of a young man of diversified schooland community experience whohad impressed everyone as beingready for the first trials of respon-sible leadership.

Though the superintendent wasscrupulously aware of the researchand evaluation requirements of hisESEA Title I allowances, he hadnot been able to find a competentresearch and evaluation expert.Fewer than 200 of these experts areemployed by the Nation's publicschool systems, more than half ofthem by the 12 largest school dis-tricts. Nevertheless, the superin-tendent continued his quest in anearby State university with a goodeducation department. There hefound his mana research special-ist eager to accept the offer of aninteresting evaluation project intowhich he could bring a group ofbright undergraduates for a year'swork.

After still another search for anavailable health and recreation di-rector, the district found a graduatestudent in this field at anothernearby university, a student who

was happy to plan and administerprograms to meet some of theschools' needs while completing hisrequirements for an advanced

degree.

The district has had no schoolnurses in recent years, but it hasarranged with the county publichealth service for nurses, workingfor this agency, to regularly serveeach school and to be available oncall for emergencies.

For inservice training of classroomteachers, the district has arrangedwith the State university educationdepartment to have a team of ex-perts conduct continuous seminarson the "psychology of the disad-

vantaged child."

Reaching out beyond the need forprofessionals, the schools have ar-ranged for the university to supplystudents, majoring in education orother fields, to work as aides andtutors in poverty area classrooms.This arrangement, of course, freesteachers of the school district toteach. The university feels bene-fited, too, because its students ac-quire good, practical experience.

"If there's a source of help wehaven't investigated, I don't knowabout it," says the superintendent."You have to go out and beat thebushes for people, and do the bestyou can with what you have. This

often means doing something

you've never done before. Thealternative is doing nothing at all."

35

A PARTNERSHIPWITH THEUNIVERSITYSome time ago a school district inWisconsin urgently needed to pro-vide diagnosis and remedial workfor 125 high school students withproblems in reading and speech.Teachers were already overloadedand specialists not available. Theschool district found a satisfactorysolution by dovetailing its needwith an equally pressing need of apsychoeducational clinic at a neigh-

boring State university. Theclinic had ample facilities andmanpower for handling 125 clients,

and was eager for subjects.

Now, university people conduct 111diagnostic testing, though adminis-trators of the school district retainresponsibility for scheduling oftests and approval of recommenda-tions. Students with psychologicalproblems that might be the sourceof their poor performance in schoolare referred by teachers to univer-sity clinicians for remedial work.

HIGH SCHOOLREMEDIAL READINGIN COLLEGEA school district in the State ofWashington was determined to

make a last-ditch attempt at reme-dial reading for high school stu-dents on the verge of dropping out.The only "reading expert" avail-able was a guidance counselor withexperience in English and readinginstruction. Lacking other trained

36

people, the counselor used teachingmachines programed for illiterateadultssimple words but maturecontentas well as books on everyreading level from third grade up.

The program was successful, butmainly because, school officials

guess, the class was located 21/2miles away on a college campus.Use of the college's classroom andteaching machines made the pro-gram take on a seriousness and anadult quality that changed the at-titudes of students.

Results: Ten of the eleven stu-dents completed the programtheeleventh left to join the Job Corps.Of these, all showed substantialgains in readingfrom 3 to 5 yearson the averageand a general im-provement in their other school-work. All completed the regularschool year.

GUESTS FROMOTHER LANDSNo matter how isolated a smallcommunity may feel, it has withinit or close at hand perhaps a dozen,perhaps a hundred individuals, whocome from other countries.

A classroom teacher in a town insouthern Illinois was perhaps moreaware than her colleagues of theschools'. failure to take advantageof these people's experiences. Herparents were missionaries, and shehad lived abroad as a child. One

day during her geography lesson,perceiving that the children werebored with the way the textbook

An.

44/

arlik

rt

and map tried to convey the spiritof a distant place, the teacher re-membered that a number of foreignstudents were enrolled at a Stateuniversity 30 miles away. Throughtelephone inquiry, she learned thatthese foreign students would be de-lighted to meet smalltown Ameri-can schoolchildren and would ar-range their own transportationAmerican classmates of theirs whoowned cars were eager to be presentat the discussions.

Before long, the "isolated" elemen-tary geography class had had visi-tors from Egypt, Turkey, Brazil,Liberia, and Denmark. The guestswere bombarded with questionsabout language, clothes, sports, andjobs. Pupils then began to makecomparisons, explaining Americanways to foreigners. This exercisewas at least as valuable to the chil-dren as learning about foreign ways.In explaining their own customs,they were realizing for the firsttime that American ways may beforeign to someone else and werenot necessarily the ways of theworld.

In discussions emerging from thesevisits, the teacher learned that sev-eral of her children had foreign-born parents. One girl's mothercame from Italy, a World War IIwar bride. One day the teacherarranged for this mother to bringto the class a collection of Italianmagazines and pictures and to su-pervise preparation of genuine

Italian foods in the school lunch-room. Other visitors included a

father who had grown up in Swe-den and a mother who, as a smallchild, had come from Lebanon andwho still maintained ties with rela-tives there.

This new kind of geography classbecame the envy of the school. Thefollowing year the teacher foundherself virtually in show business,organizing a corps of foreign stu-dents at the university to put on aninternational fashion show for theschool assembly. Each fashionmodel gave a brief talk about lifein his native country and sang asong or demonstrated a nativegame.

SELF-TEACHING BYTYPEWRITERTwo years ago a school administra-tor in upper New York State per-suaded the manager of a machinefactory to contribute 25 portabletypewriters to the school. Theschool started a Saturday morningtyping class for sixth graders,taught by an office manager whohad had some volunteer experiencein a church group for children.The children were permitted totake the typewriters home for prac-tice during the week. Not one ofthe machines was lost or signifi-cantly damaged.

"The main idea," says the admin-istrator, "is not to teach childrenhow to type. Part of the idea isto say to children and their fam-ilies: 'Careers in offices and thebusiness world are available. It's

37

time to start getting ready forthem.'

"The lending of a new portabletypewriter to a deprived child canbe a major event in his life. He'llshow it to his family and his friendsand he'll want to learn how to useit. But, in order to do so, he mustknow how to spell and how tomake sentences and paragraphs.He'll have to practice with words,and, before you know it, his read-ing and writing ability has im-proved. That's the real philosophybehind this program. The ma-chine is only a vehicle."

Last year, the school system usedTitle I funds to buy portables for125 fifth graders in five predomi-nantly disadvantaged schools.

Each day, a teacher from a privateschool of businessthe school con-tributes her timegives a half-hour typing lesson at the publicschool. Children may or may notcome, as they please. Almost alldo come every day. Many taketheir portables home each night fordoing homework.

ADVENTURE IN AKENTUCKY HOLLOWAnwas

the

isolated Kentucky "hollow"recently fortunate in gettingservices of a worker from

VISTA (Volunteers in Service toAmerica, sometimes called theDomestic Peace Corps). Theworker, a retired psychologist, soon

discovered that of 133 adults livingin the district of a rural schoolhouse

only one had gone beyond the third

38

grade. School officials at thecounty seat were convinced thatmost of the families living in thevalley were mentally retarded andtheir children could hardly be ex-pected to learn. As a natural re-sult, most of the children did notlearn very well.

The VISTA worker decided to tryto establish some facts. Shegathered all the children of pre-school age and gave them a stand-ard nonverbal intelligence test.Even she was surprised with theresults. Not one child scored un-der 90 (even though older children,reacting perhaps to the low expec-tations of their teacher, often scoredbelow the normal range). Theworker informed school authoritiesof the results and did her best tolet parents know how bright theirchildren were. This led thecounty school superintendent tolook for new, ambitious ways topump up the quality of educationin schools along distant backroads.

The VISTA worker demonstratedto country schoolteachers how sim-ple a matter it was to administerand grade a preschool intelligencetest and showed them that it wasnot necessary to have a schoolpsychologist on the staff as a re-quirement for gathering basic diag-nostic information.

COMMUNITYMENTAL HEALTHA Midwestern city board of healthreceived a grant for a pilot programin mental health to serve one

of its poorest neighborhoods. Thebudget permitted employment ofthree research psychiatrists. Buteven this windfall of professionalskill seemed miniscule, almosthopeless, against the enormousnumbers who needed help in thepainfully crowded community. Asa first step, the psychiatrists formedan advisory committee of otherprofessionals in and around thepilot program area. After weeksof discussion, this committee de-cided the best place to begin a pro-gram was with children of the firstgradeof which there were 1,500.

In groups of about 15, the childrenwere observed and tested in freeplay situations. Those extremelyaggressive or withdrawn were ten-tatively identified as disturbed andlisted for further study. Mean-while, classroom teachers had beenasked to list their most difficultproblem children. The two listswere remarkably similar.

These identifications were followedby a long period of conversationsbetween psychiatrists and teachers,and psychiatrists and children.Sometimes a psychiatrist, teacher,and three or four children in agroup talked together. One ob-ject of these conferences was to de-velop a common understanding ofproblems so that individualsadults as well as childrenmightlearn to become more constructivemembers of the group. Anotherobject, however, was to identifychildren who showed little hope ofrapid improvement as group mem-

bers. To the relief of teachers, thepsychiatrists recommended thatthese children be removed fromregular classes. In many cases,when these problem children weregrouped in special classes and re-moved from the daily pressure ofbeing good according to otherpeople's standards, their behaviorimproved dramatically.

Of course, research grants for pilotstudies are not available to manycommunities. But funds are nowavailable to local communitiesthrough the Public Health Serviceand National Institute of MentalHealth to finance community men-tal health programs. Althoughskilled personnel in mental healthare at least as hard to find as skillededucators, these national programsmay enable school districts to makecooperative arrangements with lo-cal mental health clinics or socialwork agencies.

THE COMMUNITYRESOURCEREPRESENTATIVEA large Midwestern city school sys-tem has had success in employingparents as school-community re-source representatives in impover-ished neighborhoods. The par-ents, usually poor themselves, arepaid by the local Community Ac-tion Program with funds from theOffice of Economic Opportunity.As a liaison between neighborhoodand school, however, the represent-ative is responsible to the schoolprincipal.

The idea for the job grew out ofan attempt to acquaint parent , ofProject Head Start children withthe resources of school and city.A teacher had been assigned to in-vite parents to school, give themthe opportunity to observe class-rooms in action, and take them ontours to places of employment,museums, television studios, hospi-tals, and parks.

This effort seemed so useful that aschool official wondered why intel-ligent, resourceful parents couldn'tconduct similar programs in eachschool neighborhood. After thesupport of principals was won, par-ents were chosen for their previousinterests in PTA and other school-community functions and their tal-ent for organization. School prin-cipals were given the final selectionof candidates to make sure theywould feel comfortable in workingwith the school-community repre-sentative. The program beganwith a summer schedule of 8 weeksof full-time training. It consistedof four major topics: the school,the child, the community, andgroup dynamics.

Though the most important role ofthe school-community representa-tive is inviting parents to schools toget them acquainted with teachers,curriculum, the nurse, school psy-chologist, dietitian, librarian, andcustodian, she also assembles infor-mation about important resourcesoutside the schoolpolice offi-

cials, businessmen, hospitals, men-tal health centers, playgrounds, and

if

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even the political precinct captains.In addition, she finds out aboutpeople with specialized knowledge.Does the community have a residentchemist or photographer, someonewho raises tropical fish or is an ex-pert in weaving, a specialist of somesort who can help a teacher and herstudents? The resource represent-ative can be the arm of the teacherfor reaching these valuable indi-viduals and getting them into theclassroom.

THE HELPING BOARDPerhaps the most simple and di-rectand certainly successfulin-strument for linking school andcommunity was produced by atown in Virginia. It was called"The Helping Board."

The principal, in consultation withteachers and interested parents,made a list of community peoplewho knew how to get things done,had influence among their col-leagues, and desired to volunteerfor public service. For each schoola board of five to seven people wasorganized. Members might be adoctor, a lawyer, businessman, min-ister, labor union leader, or officialof a social agency. The board'sjob was to consider special prob-lems brought to them by teachers,parents, and children.

For example, a teacher, troubled bythe irregular attendance at schoolof a bright young girl, learned uponinvestigation that the child hadonly two dresses, her father was outof a job, and unemployment insur-

ance barely kept the family fed.The Helping Board first foundclothes for the girl and then locateda temporary job for the father.

Eventually, the Helping Board notonly aided parents and teachers insolving individual problems butmade valuable suggestions to theBoard of Education on changingcertain administrative policies.

There was the case of the teacherwho came to the Helping Boardto tell of a boy who was almostalways hungry because he had nomoney for lunch. "Why doesn'the bring lunch?" a board memberasked. "Bringing lunch, is notpermitted," the teacher answered."Why doesn't he go home forlunch?" The teacher explained

that the child's mother workeddays as a cleaning woman.

The Helping Board secured in-formation about a number of suchinstances and brought them to theattention of the Board of Educa-tion. School board members, sur-prised at the inconvenience causedby their inflexible lunch regula-tions, rapidly set about changingthem.

The Helping Board is easy to or-ganize and operate, and it canalleviate the difficulties of everyonein the school system, from super-intendent to the most impoverished,alienated pupil. As a bridge be-tween school and community, it canfind solutions to many difficultschool problems.

s.