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Papers compiled in this report from a conference on teaching a foreign language (usually French) to all primary school pupils in England reflects the national effort to extend language instruction in the comprehensive school programs now under development. The papers raise fundamental questions about the nature and purpose of the general curriculum and the methodology of language teaching. Problems related to the availability of trained teachers, the provision of equipment, and the development of course materials to suit pupils of varying ability are also examined. Resource materials and a list of participants are included. (RL)

The staff of the Michigan Department of Education prepared this paper to place in proper perspective the statutory role of the local school district in enforcing school attendance of children, aged 6 to 16 years, and the statutory responsibility of the State Board of Education for supervising nonpublic schools in Michigan. The paper is designed to answer many questions currently arising not only from within the ranks of school district officials, but also from parents of children attending or planning to attend nonpublic schools. The first section of the bulletin identifies and describes the responsibility of parents and of those public school officials where the parents reside in complying with the provisions of the compulsory school laws of Michigan. The bulletin then identifies and describes briefly the privileges of individuals and groups to establish and operate nonpublic schools for children between the ages of 6 and 16 years. The final part of the report identifies the responsibility of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, as set forth in the provisions of State statutes, to supervise private, denominational, and parochial schools. (Author/JF)

This paper proposes that a more flexible approach to the development of teaching groups, accompanied by the necessary changes in staff and facility utilization, would help solve problems arising from declining enrollments in elementary schools. Such problems presently occur in many elementary schools in Western Canada. The problems of educational planners in dealing with declining enrollments are examined in terms of school organization, staff utilization, and the utilization of facilities. Proposals especially appropriate for elementary schools with less than 150 students in eight grades are illustrated in four models for classroom grouping. Two models assume that teachers can develop teachable groups and a variety of activities; that students can benefit from extensive individualization of curriculums and changeable groupings; and that school facilities can be modified to allow for a variety of groupings. Two other models are more traditional, suitable for schools whose physical structures are not easily changed. Implementation of these proposals could improve the quality of education in areas of declining enrollment, while keeping costs down. (Author)

The school is viewed as a social system, composed of human beings interlocked in a network of social relationships and possessing a system of shared orientations which serve as standards for human behavior. Two related concepts are discussed: (1) pupil control ideology, conceptualized along a continuum ranging from "custodialism" to "humanism;" and (2) organizational climate, also arrayed along a continuum from open to closed. It is hypothesized that schools with open climates, and teachers and principals serving in relatively open schools, will be significantly more humanistic in pupil control ideology than schools with closed climates, or teachers and principals serving in closed climates. Two measurement instruments, the Pupil Control Ideology form (PCI) and the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire (OCDQ) are briefly described. These were used to collect data on 45 elementary schools in 30 school districts. Results indicate that public elementary schools with open climates are significantly more humanistic in pupil control ideology than those with closed climates. Also, teachers, but not principals, serving in open schools, were found to be more humanistic in pupil control ideology than those in closed schools. (TL)

The purpose of this workshop, held June 8, 1971, was to develop guidelines for planning career development programs for Grades K-12. Seven persons from various universities throughout the United States presented papers. The presenters, their positions, and their topics were: (1) Kenneth E. Hoeltzel, Assistant Professor of Education at State University of New York, "Change and Introduction of Career Development Innovations in the School," (2) Kenneth B. Hoyt, Professor of Education at the University of Maryland, "The World of Work: A Component in Career Development Programs," (3) Lorraine S. Hansen of the University of Minnesota, "Identifying, Organizing, and Using Resources in a Career Development Program," (4) George E. Leonard, Project Director at Wayne State University,"Career Guidance for Inner-City Youth in Action: The Developmental Career Guidance Project," (5) Harry N. Drier, Guidance Consultant for Wisconsin Public Schools, Implementing Career Development Programs in Senior High Schools," (6) Juliet V. Miller, University of Michigan, "Career Guidance Methods," and (7) Robert L. Darcy, Colorado State University, "Introduction to the Economics Component." (BH)

This document is a position paper prepared to assist teachers, administrators, and curriculum planners in general to determine direction and focus for their efforts in developing programs of physical education in elementary schools. The document is composed of a series of statements of belief on the following topics of physical education: the child and the need for instruction and instructors to consider the child's individuality and personal potential; the teacher and teacher preparation--centering on his or her need for understanding of the child; the criteria of an instructional program in physical education; the type of evaluation; time allotment, class size, teaching load, dress; equipment and facilities; and school related programs. (JA)

This paper examines the structure and function of CFK Ltd., an educational foundation devoted to school improvement using humanizing processes. Six ideas were developed to guide the foundation: Encourage potential clientele to determine the Foundation's areas of interest; given identified problem areas, encourage interested school administrators to develop a diversity of selected programs within their school districts; form a national collegial team of educational leaders to foster sharing processes among the school districts and professional-personal relationships among these leaders; encourage this group to determine the Foundation's practices and yearly plan of programs, services, and activities; employ a small staff to serve as a catalyst for this team; and after a period of time, dissolve the Foundation's relationship so that the involved educators can themselves become the catalyst. (Author/WM)

PROJECT CONCERN SEEKS TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE LOWER ACHIEVEMENT OF DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS IS AN "ARTIFACT" OF A NEGATIVE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE SLUM NEIGHBORHOOD AND THE SLUM SCHOOL. TO COUNTERACT THIS EFFECT, THE PROJECT HAS BUSED OVER 250 INNER CITY MINORITY GROUP CHILDREN, FROM KINDERGARTEN THROUGH FIFTH GRADE, TO FIVE MIDDLE CLASS SUBURBAN SCHOOL SYSTEMS ON THE PERIPHERY OF HARTFORD. ONE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP (E-GROUP) OF 213 CHILDREN RECEIVES SUPPORTIVE SERVICES INVOLVING REMEDIAL ASSISTANCE, SCHOOL-HOME LIAISON, AND POSITIVE ADULT IDENTIFICATION FIGURES. THE REMAINING 42 PUPILS, THE OTHER E-GROUP, ARE BEING EXPOSED TO A SUBURBAN SCHOOL PLACEMENT WITHOUT SUPPORTIVE SERVICES. DATA WILL BE COLLECTED ON CRITERION VARIABLES RELATED TO SCHOOL PERFORMANCE AND ON SUCH OTHER DIMENSIONS AS PUPIL ATTITUDE AND MOTIVATION, FAMILY PARTICIPATION, AND CLASSROOM CLIMATE. THE TWO E-GROUPS WILL BE COMPARED WITH GROUPS OF INNER CITY SCHOOL CHILDREN WHO HAVE OR HAVE NOT RECEIVED SUPPORTIVE ASSISTANCE. IT IS FELT THAT THE TREND TOWARD CUMULATIVE DEFICIT SHOWN BY DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN MIGHT BE REVERSED BY CREATING A "DISSONANCE" WITHIN THE STUDENT'S SELF-PERCEPTIONS WHICH WOULD PERMIT THE REINFORCEMENT OF POSITIVE BEHAVIORS AND ATTITUDES. THE SUBURBAN PEER GROUP WILL PRESENT AN EMULATIVE MODEL, WHICH, ALONG WITH THE SUPPORT OF AN INDIGENOUS ADULT IDENTIFICATION FIGURE, WILL HELP TO BRING ABOUT A POSITIVE CHANGE IN THE SELF-PERCEPTIONS OF THE DISADVANTAGED PUPILS. THE URBAN-SUBURBAN COOPERATION THAT THIS PROJECT REQUIRED IS FINANCIALLY AND OTHERWISE FEASIBLE FOR CITIES FRINGED BY MIDDLE CLASS SUBURBS. THIS PAPER WAS DELIVERED AT THE CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION AND RACIAL IMBALANCE IN THE CITY (HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, MARCH 2-3, 1967). (NH)

This position paper is designed to aid elementary school principals in the evaluation of instructional programs. Arguments are based on the premises that (1) evaluation should be unique for each teacher, (2) teachers should be actively involved in evaluation, (3) evaluation should be cooperative and supportive in nature, (4) the ultimate objective of evaluation is improved instruction and not a rating of teachers, and (5) evaluative attempts should not become preoccupied with evaluation of teachers at the expense of teaching. Goals proposed for evaluation include individual improvement of teachers and teaching, assessment of strengths and weaknesses of the staff and educational program, analysis of problem areas needing attention, and prescription of individual and group activities. Essential elements in the evaluation of teachers and the evaluation of teaching are presented in separate columns. A bibliography lists 27 selections on evaluation. (TT)

The document discussed the political realities facing American Indian communities as these communities move toward Indian control of quality education. The experiences with the Pine Point school suggested the 2 major functions of an experimental community school were: (1) to show methods for improving education; and (2) to demonstrate how to put together the resources to establish and nourish a program. The first function demanded educational resourcefulness and the second demanded political resourcefulness. The political dimension is usually unrecognized and underestimated, causing Indian communities to be badly served by schools almost all the time and making them politically dispossessed and relatively powerless. The document covered: (1) the history of the Pine Point Experimental Community School and problems encountered; (2) the legal argument for tribal recognition as political entity; and (3) re-emphasis on the political dimensions involved in alternative programs for Indian students with considerations for organizers of such demonstration programs. (FF)

This study attempts to show that it is possible for inner-city schools to teach basic reading successfully. Various successful programs were studied in order to discover the factors the schools had in common. The study was conducted during the School Year 1970-71 and four successful schools served as the basis of this report. Two schools were in New York City, one in Kansas City, and one in Los Angeles. The report describes the research goals and method; it also gives a detailed picture of the four schools and draws some conclusions. In particular, it is believed that the success of the schools identified shows that the failure in beginning reading typical of inner-city schools is the fault not of the children or their background, but of the schools. Appendix 1 deals with the test that was used to determine reading ability. Appendix 2 contains a comment on beginning reading achievement and income. (Author/JW)

Since the inception of the Arizona-Mesa Differentiated Staffing Project in June 1970, the project staff was charged with the responsibility of evaluating the effects of the changes brought about as a result of implementation in three pilot schools. It was found that experimental-design research in an ongoing social system was extremely difficult because of inability to control internal and external variables. After reviewing various methods used to evaluate social innovations, the staff decided on a combination of the case-study technique advocated by Weiss and Rein and the quasi-experimental design advocated by Campbell. Factors jeopardizing internal and external validity were identified and tentative research designs were outlined for five questions. The questions involved comparing project and non-project schools in relation to student achievement, school climate, staff attitudes, teacher ability to perform tasks specified in the original proposal, and degree of actual staff differentiation. Each research design specifies a hypothesis, data-gathering instruments, dependent and independent variables, and statistical treatment. (RT)

The authors describe an extension that has been made to and subsequently incorporated into the system known as Teacher Cost Models. This approach -- a dollar flow analysis -- identifies and quantifies the factors that contribute to dollar changes in the ON GRID teacher wage-bill from one year to the next. The methodology is applicable at both the county board and the provincial levels. Decisionmakers are provided with a detailed breakdown of teacher costs as they have evolved in the past and as they are likely to develop in the immediate future. This capability to quantify the dynamics of teacher costs should be of particular interest to school board salary negotiators for elementary and secondary school systems. (Author)

The principal is a functionary rather than a leader. Principals can become more effective in their positions through understanding their roles in the authority structure of the school. (Author/WM)

A principal who discusses his problems with his peers (which could lead to some new ideas), does some problemsolving exercises, and identifies some behavior patterns of individuals and groups on the job probably has gained more down-to-earth knowledge about the job than be did in his formal training preparatory to certification. (EA)

Vocational education in this decade must be conceptualized as life-long career development for every person who can profit from such a program. A framework for a career education system must be provided that will introduce the world of careers, provide exploration, guidance, counseling, provide specific skills, provide pre-technical and more technical education, and upgrade and retrain throughout adult hood. Objectives of vocational career development and the goals of vocational education are identified. Upon these, proposed elements of a career education model are stated. Some of these components are: (1) Career education will replace general education, (2) Priority will be given to special target groups, (3) Career education will begin in the elementary grades and continue through life, (4) Job placement and followup will be a continuous school function, and (5) Effective and continuous evaluation is required. To effect this system, the present vocational education delivery system must be modified. (GEB)

At this seminar, educational practitioners and researchers affirmed that school curricula must be redesigned to teach the student to reason, explore, and discover for himself. The seminar participants discussed innovations currently available and the steps that should be taken by elementary schools to supplant the teaching of facts with instruction in problem solving skills. Several participants presented position statements on emerging practices in education that bode well for the educational advancement of young learners. These statements and subsequent discussions are summarized under topics having particular implications for student-centered schooling in the coming years. (Author)

During the past 35 years, a voluminous body of literature and informed professional opinion has been developing on the topic of size in relation to the units of the educational organization which comprise a State school system. Size is most often expressed in terms of pupil enrollment. The prevailing assumption seems to be that size is an important factor to consider when a State undertakes the task of organizing its school districts into units which will produce the educational results the citizenry expects for its investment in public education. The literature supports this assumption. However, size, in and of itself, is not necessarily important; it is related to the objectives on which a state school system organization is based. Only after such objectives have been carefully developed, studied, and considered does the factor of size become meaningful. (Author/JH)

Seminar papers focus on two sequentially-related projects concerning the implementation phase of educational innovation: (1) a set of observational case studies of schools in their first year's effort to initiate differentiated staffing plans and (2) briefer but more pointed case studies of elementary schools that reputedly had succeeded in implementing a multiunit school model. The five papers in this compendium summarize some of the findings that have emerged from these two projects. The first paper describes the evolution of the differentiated staffing project in a school district, from a district-level view of events. The author analyzes the tacit and sometimes explicit assumptions about organizations, people, and change that guided the attempts by project administrators to innovate. The next two papers discuss the implementation process as viewed at the "grass-roots" level in two of the district's project schools. The fourth paper characterizes the adjustment problems that confronted teachers and paraprofessionals as they worked out their role relationships during the year of differentiated staffing implementation. The fifth paper brings together the studies of four elementary schools that have succeeded in altering their forms of staff organization. Selected bibliographies are included at the end of each paper. (Author/DN)

Three papers, each with an extensive bibliography, advance arguments concerning (1) the school site as a public land resource, (2) school board policy as related to economic alternatives for open space school site planning, and (3) the establishment of outdoor classrooms on school sites as public policy. In the first paper, the author contends that school officials should develop and implement comprehensive public land use policies applicable to the enhancement of the public school site, public policies that could insure the environmental quality of community-owned school sites and a land resource rightfully belonging to future generations. In the second paper, the author states that solutions to environmental problems of land development and utilization could and should be formulated by elected public officials such as school board members, with the land size of the public school site, its degree of development, and the natural and man made amenities contributing significantly to the formation of citizen attitudes. In the third paper, the author argues that learning opportunities for K-12 pupils could best be accomplished through the design, development, and implementation of an outdoor classroom on the school site. He offers an outdoor classroom public site policy to school officials as a model for implementation, in part, of a State masterplan for environmental education for elementary and secondary education. (Author/MLF)

This paper provides background information relating to a school finance reform movement in Utah and describes the passage of a 1973 bill that provides a power equalizing system to redistribute excess revenue from local taxes in combination with State uniform school funds for a guaranteed program to all districts. The law should bring the level of expenditure in the less affluent districts up to the level of the more affluent districts, provide for additional increases in all districts, provide extra support in those districts that have higher cost per student than the average, and relieve all students up through high school of any requirement to pay special fees or charges for their education. The paper describes the law's provisions for raising local school revenues for current operations and for capital outlay and debt service, for local property tax administration, and for property tax relief. The principal State aid program is described in detail along with the program's effect on selected districts. The document concludes with a discussion of the new law's legal implications. (Author/DN)