AN EXAMINATION AND ANALYSIS OF GORE PROGRAM IN CERTAIN MICHIGANSEGONDARY SCHOOLS FROM 1937 TO 1947 Biggermfian for degree of Pb; 13‘ Michigan State College ROLAND c. FAUNCE 194-7 . ‘ $59.3? THEs:s This is to certify that the thesis entitled An Examination and Analysis of Core Programs in Certain Michigan Secondary Schools from 1937 to 1947 presented by Roland C. Faunce has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for ___Ph. °D' __degree in Educaiggp gig-MW L. I. Luker Major professor Date/0—3—6/r7 H496 ,1 AN LAALINATION AND AYALYSIS CF COPE :ROGRAXS IN CERTAII KICEICAK SLCOT LARY SCHOOLS FROH 1957 TO 1947 by Roland C. Faunce A DISSLRTATION Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Kiohigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the reguirements for the degree of DCC TOR CF PHILOSOIEY Division of Education 1947 ,1!‘1L‘.5,;,' TABLL or Cd'rhrrs CLAiTLQ PAGE I. TEL PROBLLA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l The meaning of "core program". . . . . . . 1 Reasons for the study. . . . . . . . . . . 3 The schools selected for study . . . . . . 6 Limitations of the study . . . . . . . . . 7 Organization of study. . . . . . . . . . . 9 II. fiLJIhU OF ELLATLD PRACTICE IE TEE CRITTD STA L3 10 Origin and DeveIOpnent of the Core Curriculum in American Secondary Schools . . . . . . . . 10 Secondary education confronts new challenges 10 F3 he secondary school program nas changed, and 18 CA-Larlginé:o o o o o o o o o O o o o o 1-2 Basic studies were undertaken. . . . . . . 13 General education under study. . . . . . . 17 EXperiments in correlation develOped in local communities. . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Hypotheses on Whicn the Core Curriculum Was Based. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 The organismic psychology . . . . . . . . 21 The guidance novenent. . . . . . . . . . . 21 Education for denocratic citizensnip . . . 22 The egpnasis on learning aids. . . . . . . 25 The community school concept . . . . . . . 24 194355 iii CHAPTER PAGE III. REVIEW OF RELATED PRACTICE IN MICHIGAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Early experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 The Michigan Study of The Secondary Curriculum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The core curriculum developed as one trend of the Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 IV. MATERIALS AND METHODS EMPLOYED IN THE STUDY 34 IntrOdUCtiono O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 54 Basic materials on file . . . . . . . . . 35 Information deriving from consultant relationship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 The interview schedule. . . . . . . . . . 36 Outcomes of local evaluative studies. . . 40 Big Rapids Opinionaire. . . . . . . . . . 42 Conference on core curriculum . . ... . . 43 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 V. DESCRIPTION OF SELECTED PROGRAMS. . . . . . . 45 Big Rapids High Sohool. . . . . . . . . . 48 Bloomfield Hills High School. .'. . . . . 52 Denby High School . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Dowagiac High School. . . . . . . . . . . 59 Godwin Heights High School. . . . . . . . 62 Highland Park Junior High School. . . . . 66 CHAPTER Lakeview Junior High School. Wayne High School. . . . . . In conclusion. . . . . . . . VI. PURPOSES OF UNIFIED PROGRAMS . . VII. VIII. Introduction . . . . . . . Major purposes revealed. . Comparison with other core 1938 Workshop: programs. The Educational Policies Commission. INITIATION or UNIFIED PROGRAMS . . . Introduction . . . . . . . Questions in interview schedule. Influence of other schools . Core Curriculum Group. Role of consultant service in schools. Sources of local leadership. Extent of teacher leadership . Time for planning. . . . . . . . . . . INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES IN UNIFIED PROGRAMS Introduction . . . . . . . Changes in purposes and plan . . . Child growth and deveIOpment . . Trend of the times . . . . Criteria for selecting learning experiences Specific drill activities. Use of materials . . . . . iv PAGE 69 71 74 75 75 76 80 81 83 87 87 87 88 91 95 98 100 106 106 107 llO 112 114 118 120 CHAPTER IX. X. Changes in instructional techniques. . . Participation of parents and interpreta- tion to public . . . . . . . . . . . . . Instructional procedures in one core program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . smary. O O O O O 0 O O O O O O O O O O EFFECTIVENESS OF UNIFIED PROGRAMS. . . . . . Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changes in students. . . . . . . . . . . Holding power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Follow-up studies. . . . . . . . . . . . Reactions of present and former students Effect on total school . . . . . . . . . Parents' evaluation of the programs. . . Administrators' and teachers' evaluations. COflClllSion O I O O O O O O O O O O 0 O O SUIITAYIARY AND COPTCLUSION o o o o o o o o o o 0 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patterns of curriculum correlation . . . Reasons for differing patterns . . . . . Hypotheses regarding general education in secondary schools . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 125 129 132 148 150 150 154 166 168 170 175 184 187 206 208 208 208 210 218 CBAPTEIS Hypotheses regarding curriculum change Hypotheses regarding teacher education Implications for regional and state curriculum studies. . . . . . . . . . In conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . BIBLIOGMPLIY O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 APPENDIX. (3 {O (‘0 CO (D O) to (J \‘l TABLE I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. LIST OF TABLLS Data on Schools and Communities Selected For Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unified Program at its Point of Greatest Extent in the Eight Selected Schools .p. . Summary of Core Program in.the Big Rapids High School, 1942-45 . . . . . . . . . . . Summary of Unified Studies Progran in Bloom- field Hills High School, 1945-46 . . . . . Core Classes Taught at Denby High School, 1940-1947. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary of Unified Studies Program.in Godwin Heights High School, 1946-47 . . . . . . . Wayne High School Ninth Grade Tenn Program, 1946~47. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Purposes of Eight Unified Prograns, As Stated by Forty-five Teachers and Administrators Involved in the Programs . . . . . . . . . Outside Agencies Named by Teachers and Administrators as Having Contributed Largely to Initiation and Development of Eight Unified Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii 47 51 57 77 92 I. viii TABLE PAGE X. Types of Services Performed by Twelve Consultants, as Described by Forty-five Staff Members in Eight Unified Programs. . . 93 XI. Sources of Local Leadership in DeveIOpment of Eight Unified Programs, As Judged by Forty- five Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 XII. Provisions for Planning Among Teachers in Eight Unified Programs . . . . . . . . . . . 101 XIII. Effect of Current Events Upon Selection of Learning Experiences in Eight Unified Programs, as Summarized From Teacher Judgments . . . . 113 XIV. Criteria for Selection of Instructional EXperiences in Eight Unified Programs, As Summarized From Teachers' Statements . . . . 116 XV. Provisions for Instructional Materials in Eight Unified Programs, as Summarized From State- ments of Participants. . . . . . . . . . . . 121 XVI. Techniques Employed for Interpreting Eight Unified Programs to Lay Citizens, as Reported by Forty-five Participants . ... . . . . . . 131 XVII. Results of California Test of Personality, Administered TWioe to One Core Group at Denby High School, 1942-43 . . . . . . . . . 167 ix TABLE PAGE XVIII. Mean Raw Scores on California Test of Person— ality Made by 215 Core and Non-Core Students in 1946 at Denby High School . . . . . . . . 158 XIX. Results of California Test of Personality, as Administered to Seventy-seven Paired Core and Non-Core Students at Denby High School, 1944- 45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 XX. Class Rank in Achievement and Intelligence in June, 1945 of Twenty-three Denby Seniors Who Had Been Enrolled in Core Classes Four Years 162 XXI. Scores Made by Four Non~Core and Two Core Sections at Denby High School in June, 1942 on the Rinsland-Beck Natural Test of English Usage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 XXII. Number of Drop-Outs Due to Age or Jobs, From Four Core and Four Non-Core Classes at Denby High School From January, 1942 to January, 1946 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 XXIII. Judgments of Students in One Nine-B Core Section at Denby High School in January, 1946 as to Effectiveness of Core. . . . . . . . . . . . 173 XXIV. Summary of Responses of 550 Godwin Heights Students to Questionnaire on the‘Extent of Use of Unified Studies Techniques, June, 1942 C O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 176 TABLE PAGE XX . Effect of Eight Unified Programs on Total School, as Judged by Forty-five Teachers and Administrators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 XXVI. Advantages of Unified Programs, as Listed by Eight Groups of Participating Teachers and Administrators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 XXVII. Evaluation of Core Programs by Fourteen School Groups PartiCipating in the St. Mary's Lake Core Conference, January, 1947. . 195 XXVIII. Weaknesses of Unified Programs as Listed by Eight Groups of Participating Teachers and Administrators. 0 O O O O O 0 O O O O 0 O 196 XXIX. Effects of Eight Unified Programs on Growth of Teachers in Service, as Judged by Forty- five Participants . O O O O O O O O . . . . . 203 CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM This study was undertaken for the purpose of analyzing the core curriculum in eight Michigan secondary schools. The first chapter will include a definition of the term "core curriculum”, followed by a presentation of the reasons for undertaking the study. The statement of the problem will then be presented. Next, the chapter will include a list of the selected schools and the criteria for their selection. A brief resume of the limitations and organization of the study is given at the close of the chapter. .‘Thg.meaning‘g£,figggg program.” At the outset of any study it is well to define the terms used. That need becomes even more evident when such a term as "Core Programs” is em- ployed in the title. The word ”core" or the term ”core curriculum" has been used in educational circles to convey many different meanings. Sometimes it is intended to designate simply those courses which are required of all pupils. Again the "core" means the central body of purposes to which all the different elective and required courses are expected to contribute in some way. Some educators use the term ”core” as synonymous with ”correlation”, describing by its use the various efforts to develop relationships between two or more separate courses. 2 . Two additional interpretations should be.mentioned, for they jointly define core as employed in the present study. 0n the one hand, ”core" is often used synonymously with "unified studies", aiprogram.in which two or more sub- ject areas are brought together, either under the same teacher or under a team of teachers working together, with a block of time longer than the conventional single period, and with the definite objective of developing relationships between the subject areas in terms of certain basic objec- tives. On the other hand, the "core program! sometimes de- scribes a block of time in which the same group of youngsters works with the same teacher or teachers upon mutually deter- mined problems, but without any subject classification and usually without basic texts. It is preposed in the present study to examine and analyze certain Michigan high school programs which fall into one or the other of these last two interpretations of ”core”--either the unified studies type or the problemp study type in which there are no limitations as to subject areas. Either or both of these types will be referred to as ”core programs" even though they may bear quite different titles in the local situation. The following criteria distinguish the care programs referred to in this study: (1) They either combine or replace two or more subjects formerly required of pupils. (a) They either involve a single teacher for two or more periods, or a team of teachers who work together. (5) They involve a block of time longer than one conven- tional period. (4) They aim at larger objectives than would characterize any single subject area. (5) They involve, in varying degrees, the joint planning of these objectives, and of the means for achieving them, by both teachers and pupils. (6) They seek to establish relationships between subject areas by the study of problems which challenge the pupil to explore and utilize the knowledge and skills of more than Ione subject. (7) They are dedicated to improved guidance, both of individuals and of groups of pupils. (8) Their prhnary emphasis in instructional planning is the present psychobiological and social needs of the pupils themselves. Reasons _f_o_r the ppm. In Hichigan there have been rather extensive experimental efforts in the direction of the core curriculum, beginning about 1940. For many reasons the time appears ripe for an examination and analysis of these core programs. Michigan's experience with them has not 4 as yet been summarized or evaluated. They have been con- sidered until recently as isolated eXperiments in the total state program of secondary education; yet recent developments indicate that they may be significant of the future direction of the general education curriculum in our high schools. These core programs and programs related or similar to them have continued and extended rather widely. Such recent national reports as Education £93 All American 33121 and Planning g9; American m,3 which have wielded a tremen- dous influence and attracted wide attention among educators in secondary schools, depict programs of "common learnings" which.embody the core curriculum. The most recent Michigan guide3 for the secondary school curriculum, published by the Department of Public Instruction, presents the core curricu- .lum and the source unit method as a desirable pattern for the high school curriculum in our state. The Michigan Secondary Curriculum Study, whose member schools have been pioneers in the approach to the core curriculum in our state, is now in its tenth year. No intensive evaluation has as' O 1 Education For All American Youth. Educational Policies Commission (washington, D.c.: The National Educa- tion Association, 1944), 421 pp. 2 Planning For American Ybuth. The National Associa- tion of Secondary'gchool PrincipaIs (Washington, D.c.: The .Association, 1944), 64 pp. 5 r annin And Workin To ether. Bulletin 337, De- partment o c Ins rue on (Easing, Michigan: Depart- ment of Public Instruction, 1945), 191 pp. p .' 5 I .. (4;! .0 w‘ .‘0 O_ > _’ -I ~ I . . , ’ . ‘ Dion‘- , «' .3 ., I . 0 , V. 3 O. I. . I, ' J xi - “ .. t-I .’ , - w- . O ‘4- ~ ' . L .s - . V t ‘, l *7 ' P‘ lAi _ - ' . , w 1 . t _t - 4 . . , ,- a ‘ 3 1 e . (— . ". . v w s . . n i i in, "cor-.5 — a -..- . A_ _. -; a" a I. ‘ t. . | . , x. i .o' .L" r I h (- , ~—o—v —~ C ( . s l .V' ,o v..~ - .- ) t ......— 0 .- . . . '1 - e . . n .7) ’ O . . . - u§-r‘- .-- . .1 ‘i .' . 1' .. u . ,1 ..A ' . I . - , .' .x‘ D ‘It a ‘. “m..- o e - . w i I . . Q . I . . ... ‘l g . . t 1 a.. . s ‘. . - 5 yet been made of these programs. The State Department of Public Instruction, convinced that the core approach key- notes the future trends in secondary education, is current- ly interested in a study of the effectiveness of the pro— grams already carried on for several years in our own state. For these reasons, the present study has been undertaken. The purposes of the present study are: (l) to discover the emerging patterns of curriculum correlation in certain emperimental secondary schools of Michigan;4 (2) to discover the reasons for the differing patterns which have emerged in these core programs;5 (3) to isolate the factors which made for success and for failure, re- 6 sPectively, in these programs; and (4) to draw hypotheses from these data regarding the possible direction of general education in Michigan secondary schools.7 The deveIOpment of core programs in Michigan schools has not been uniform or stereotyped. As has been indicated at the beginning of this chapter, many different versions of unified curricula have emerged. In one school, the program has begun with the fusing of two required subjects into one block. In others, a problem-survey approach has been employed, without any subject designation. In still 4 Chapter V presents these patterns. 5 The reasons have been summarized in Chapter X, pp. 212-213. 5 See Chapter IX, pp. 150—207. 7 Chapter X presents these hypotheses, pp. 218-220. 6 other schools, a team or committee of teachers has started working together on the development of a correlated pro- gram of general education at certain grade levels. It has been judged important to devote some attention, in the present study, to these differing patterns of unified cur- ricula which have emerged in hichigan. By this means, it is hOped that the causes of such differences may be dis- covered. These causes may suggest significant leads as to the direction of general education in other secondary schools. An important question which must be asked is that of the degree of success or failure which attended these efforts at the deveIOpment of core curricula. What did they seek to achieve? To what extent did they achieve it? What weaknesses or failures characterized their deveIOpment? What were the causes of such failures? The answers to questions such as these may be helpful to teachers and ad- ministrators in secondary schools as they plan their own programs of general education. Finally, it is hOped that some conclusions, or at least some hypotheses may be drawn from the data obtained from the analysis of these eight programs. On the basis of these hypotheses, some leads may emerge as to the desirable direction which general education might take in Michigan. The schools selected for Egggy. The basis for selecting high schools for this study was as follows: 7 (1) They must have had several years of experience with some form of core curriculum, in the sense defined on Page 2. (2) They should be in various types of communities. (3) They should be of various sizes in enrollment. (4) They must be willing to cosperate in this study. On the basis of these four chief criteria the following high schools were selected for the study: } Big Rapids High School Bloomfield Hills High School Dowagiac High School Edwin Denby High School, Detroit Godwin Heights High School, Grand Rapids Highland Park Junior high School Lakeview Junior High School, Battle Creek Wayne High School Chapter V will include a description of the core program in each of these eight high schools. In that chapter a brief analysis will be mrde of the manner in which each of the schools complied with the above criteria. Limitations pf the study. Certain points should be clarified as a basis for the analysis of the data. First, evaluation will be applied to these programs in harmony with the philos0phy of local autonomy which ani- mated the programs themselves. The responsibility for planning, conducting, and evaluating the curriculum in these schools was in the hands of the persons locally involved in the program. This is in harmony with Michigan's basic curriculum policy.8 It will immediately be noted that this policy precludes the possibility of applying external cri- teria to the local programs. The evaluations which are made in this study will be the evaluations of local teachers, administrators, and pupils of their own program. It should be further noted at the outset that the persons involved in these eight programs have not done much evaluating. Since this study will hinge in large measure upon local efforts at evaluation, it will be handi- capped at the start by the general failure of high school faculties to evaluate fully their own progress and develOp- ment. For example, no general effort has been made in all schools to collect data regarding pupil growth during the period of the program. Follow-up studies, too, have been limited, partially as a result of the difficulties imposed by wartime dislocations. Another serious obstacle to evaluation has been the turnover of staffs, amounting in some cases to one hundred per cent during the period under examination. It has been difficult enough, administrators report, merely to keep the program going during the war _~ 8 Basic Instructional Policy for the Michigpn Curriculpm Program. Bulletin 314 (Lansing, Michigan: Department of Public Instruction, 1942), 8 pp. c u c u . . I a“ _-‘~‘. years, without making follow-up studies, student Opinion surveys, vertical growth studies, or other research activi- ties which would, under normal conditions, have been highly desirable. This study will therefore consist really of eight separate studies, conducted on a basis of data collected locally and interpreted in harmony with local purposes. Generalizations about these eight studies will be limited to those findings Which are based upon common or similar purposes, achieved in similar ways. It is hOped that, in spite of these limitations, certain helpful insights may be discovered from these pioneer ventures in curriculum development. Organization 2: 93291. In the next two chapters a brief review will be presented of the history of the core curriculum in secondary schools, both nationally and in Michigan. In Chapter IV the data and the methods em- ployed in the present study will be set forth, followed by a description in Chapter V of the core programs in the eight high schools selected for analysis. In Chapters VI, VII, and VIII, reapectively, the purposes of the eight programs and their manner of initia- tion will be analyzed, and their instructional procedures described. Chapter IX will consist of an analysis of the effectiveness of the eight unified programs. In the last chapter some hypotheses will be presented which appear to be valid in terms of this study. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATLD PRACTICE IN THE UNITLD STAThS L. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMLJT OF THE CORE CURRICULUM IN AMERICAN SECONDARY SChOOLS Secondary education confronts new challenges. During the past four decades the enrollments in public schools have increased over three thousand per cent. More than seven.million pupils are now enrolled in approximately twenty-five thousand high schools. This represents about sixty-five per cent of the youth of high school age. In 1900 only 11.4 per cent of our youth of high school age were enrolled in high school.1 Thus the range of academic ability and intelligence of high school pupils has become vastly greater as more and more youth are enrolled. "After four decades of such growth, our high schools are filled with youth of widely varying intelligence, skills, and cultural backgrounds".2 It is approximately correct to say that the ”upper” 2.5 per cent of our present high school pupils represent the level of intelligence and culture which characterized the entire high school p0pula- tion of the year 1900. It is obvious that even if the 1 Biennial Survey gprducation $3 the United States, 1934, 1936 IWaShington, D.C.: The U.S. Printing OffIceS, Vol. I, Chapter II. p- l. 2 Planning and Workin r0 ether, Bulletin 357, Michigan Department of Publ 0 Instruction (Lansing, Michigan: Department of Public Instruction, 1945), p. 35. ll curriculum met the needs of high school youth in 1900, that same curriculum cannot be expected to achieve similar results for high school students in 1947. This fact has been often noted in professional literature, but is still frequently overlooked in discussions about the ways in which secondary schools are trying to meet their problems today. During the past fifty years a basic change has de- velOped in the reaponsibility of the secondary schools, in harmony with their much broader base. Whereas the secondary school of 1900 was primarily dedicated to the limited ob- jective of providing pre—professional education for the future doctor, lawyer, teacher, or clergyman, the modern secondary school must provide a general education for all the children of all the people. During this same period life in these United States has become vastly more complicated. The insights, the skills, and the knowledge which might have enabled citizens to live successfully in 1900 would be quite inadequate to- day. Our world has become a complex, technological mael- strom of rapid transit, constant mutation, and interdepen- dence, in which the citizen.must acquire certain basic or critical abilities in order even to survive. In order to live as an integrated, secure individual, he must understand what is going on about him and within himself as well. With the relative dissolution of home and family life in our urban communities, the burden of providing these necessary 12 insights and abilities has fallen upon the schools. Thus the high school of today serves a vastly increased enroll- ment of widely differing mental and cultural backgrounds, and confronts a radically different challenge stemming from the personal and social needs of youth who live in a world like ours. The secondagy school proggam has changed, Egg lg changing. In response to the challenges of its new func- tion, the secondary school has broadened its program of subject offerings. It has added music and dramatics, practical arts, and vocational subjects such as agriculture, homemaking, and commercial courses. It has made at least an initial bow to the problems of civic education in such courses as problems of democracy, citizenship, and consumer science. The secondary school has also evidenced some recognition of the personal—social interests and problems of youth by its considerable extension of extracurricular activities, of athletics, social activities, music, drama- tics, debate, and hobby-interest organizations. Pupil participation has made some inroads in this extracurricular area, in the form of at least a nominal student council. An eXpanded physical education program has been developed in reaponse to pressures arising from our two national ex- periences with the selective.military draft. Most of these changes were initiated in our second- tary schools during the first three decades of this century. 13 By 1930 the typical American high school had introduced some, if not all of the above modifications of its elective pro- gram.of studies and of its extracurricular offerings. Yet the depression years offered.mnch convincing evidence that such changes were not enough. Youth of high school age were enrolling in the secondary school in greater numbers, it is true; they were also drOpping out with disturbing frequency. Without the lure of employment to explain the phenomenon, it was difficult for high school educators to dismiss lightly the fact that over half of those who enrolled in school in the kindergarten had dropped out before the end of the twelfth grade.3 Roving bands of unemployed and uprooted, youth alarmed the nation. The organization of the National Youth Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps to serve and save youth of high school age was evidence to many educators of the basic failure of the secondary school to.meet the needs of youth. ‘ggggg studies !g£g_undertaken. Under these conditions it may not be surprising to find that a keen interest de- veloped during the 1930's in a basic study of the purposes and program of the secondary school. This interest resulted in the organization of a number of carefully planned re- gional and national studies. In 1932, the Progressive Education Association Commission on the Relation of School 5 The In rovement of Public Education 1.3 Mich an (Lansing,-EIcHIgan: EIchI'g'an PuEIic Education Study Commission, 1944), p. 13. 1 . I I l s - .. n . i 0 . . a »’ _ .P . O '1 U u... ,4 2. . v0 ... . . ,. u \l , o ,_ , . . u 0 0‘ "-<» l4 and College launched an eight-year experimental study in- volving thirty member schools which were freed from.the conventional patterns of college preparation and given on- couragement and assistance in reorganizing their programs, .modifying subject content and curriculum structures, and introducing new types of pupil experience. The various reports4 of the Eightoyear Study con- stituted a milestone in the professional literature on the secondary school and made one of the most significant COD? tributions toward.the improvement of secondary education which had been made to date. In 1933 the COOperative Study of Secondary School Standards was initiated under the auspices of the National Association of Officers of Regional Associations, This study resulted in the development of the well known 4 Wilford M. Aiken The Stor of the may; Year 3mg: (New York: Harper a Brothers, TWIfISV pp. H. H. Giles, S. P..McCutchen, and A. N. Zechiel, Exploriggthe Curriculum (New York: Harper &.Brothers, 3 PF. 3. R. Smith, R. I. Tyler, et al, A. raisin and Recordi Student Proggess (new York: Harper & Brothers, 942 , 0 pp. Thirt Schools Tell Their Sto (new York: The ,ProgressIve fiducation IEsocIatIon, 2), 802 pp. Dean Chamberlin, Enid Chamberlin, Neal Drought, and William E. Scott, Did The Succeed _i_g College? (New York: Harper a Brothers, 194215, 29I pp. yo».- - i 4 a --. o I . '1 . . . . ' I O ’ 0 . . ' o . ....- . ,_ 0 e ' "‘ ‘ 4' «9‘. -... w -... . . ‘ 9 O I W. -'~o. . «V C a“ -. u .5 \ . ~~ , ' ' ’ ‘ 1 . .. .L . C I I n - ' . . ‘. t s I If ru‘ . . I '. I l I . -. o O ‘_ . V ..l ' ' I ' . Q I E , ~ Q ’ > . ' . . , ‘ ' . \’ o ‘ . e ’ I . ' . “..- '-r>'O-‘ ~-— us ‘o‘o—mgou v . . ~ . ' ‘ e . Q . ‘ D ' u ..nooo.~.' o. .- .J.._ _' _. ... .- . a“ ‘_. 15 Evaluative Criteria,5 and the widespread application of this instrument since 1936 to the evaluation of the effectiveness of secondary schools throughout the nation. The recent re- vision of the Policies and Criteria of the north Central .Association is one of the many results of the Cooperative Study. In the fall of 1935 the Board of Regents for the state of New York began a comprehensive two-year inquiry into the character and cost of public education in that state, of which one major division was secondary education. The report6 of the Regents' inquiry, published in 1938, contained an appraisal of the current program and recommendations of practical steps by which the state Department of Education light improve the work of the secondary schools. The state of California launched a five year study in 1935 in which ten member schools were encouraged.and assisted in the redefinition of improved activities and experiences.7 The American Youth Commission.was created in 1935 by the American Council on Education for the purpose of conducting a five year study of‘the care and education of 5 Evaluative Criteria (washington: The Cooperative Study of Secondary SchooI standards, 1940), 152 pp. See also How to Evaluate g.Seconda School (Washington: The COOpera- EI?e_Study of Secondary SchooI Standards, 1939), 139 pp. 5 Francis 1'. Spaulding, Hi School and Life (The New York Regents Inquiry, New or : Hofiraw'JHIll Company, 1938), 377 pp. 7 Information about the California Study is contained in the California State Department of Education Bulletin, Pro rams «of the Coo erative Seconds Schools in California, Bulls n 'TSacramento, CaIIfornIa: Tfie Department of Education, 1939), 82 pp. : D . . . ' . . . A . ~ . I ‘ ‘ . . ' . . v I ‘ . x 4 o ' e be - . I , k , ‘ . . ' g e . a I ' . ‘ \ ~ I 7 . I s I l I e . . e . , ‘ ‘ . . ‘ ' - I . . . . i v ‘ - . . A ‘ ‘ II . " - ..~ I e a. H -.. . .. . - - ' -‘ . | .--’ I e "' -- ‘ I ‘ e . I 4 y I . .- ' S ... . ’ a t e , . ' I . . ‘ I. c _ . l ‘. I e . . . . . . . .7 . . v . d . I I . _ -7 . I ., fl _ . . D, _ , I e I- , 1' I o - ‘ I. I . '1‘ ‘ ,k. ' ' s . . . ' 'l l . . b ) - - I .. - l i " ~ - . , 'J ’ . . D k A c ‘ . | ~ ‘ L r 'e a . c . . I - c u c , l o . ‘ I. . . I . . . . J . Q . ... --~ ...- ...—....4..._... ,_, . s . l '- I - fl ..I‘ID- o . . . _~ - . _ . _ .-.... _._~_ __’_‘. . , ‘ . ‘ ,r \ ‘ I O c ‘ , . I ' . I ' . I. .‘--- .w_ 5-, __"_ 16 American youth. Their published report8 sheds valuable light upon the problems and needs of youth of high school age, as well as high-lighting the current ineffectiveness of the secondary school. Other studies of secondary education launched during the 1930's were the United States Office of Education Comp .mittee on Youth Problems (1934), the Southern Association Commission on Curricular Studies and Research (1935), the plan for Curriculum.Reorganization in Secondary Schools of Ohio (1938), the National Association of Secondary School Principals Study of the Adjustment of Secondary Youth to Post-School Occupational Life (1939), the Florida Program for the Improvement of Schools (1938), and several state surveys of secondary education which were launched in the late 1930's in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Virginia,‘washingtcn, Oregon, Kansas, Texas, andidissouri.9 In addition to all of these stats, regional,and national studies, an extraordinary amount of experimental study was initiated in individual schools during the 1930's. This decade saw also the organization of the Educational 3 Howard M. 3.11, Youth Tell Their Story. (The American Youth Commission, Washington, 5.0.: American Council on.Education, 1938), 273 pp. ‘ 9 The Michigan Study of the Secondary School Curriculum, initiated in 1937, will be discussed in Chapter III. I. l7 Policies Commission, whose reports10 have had a profound effect upon reorganization trends in secondary schools. General education ggggg,§pggy. Thus the fourth de- cade of this century was an era of intensive study and ex- perimentation in secondary education. These studies sought the answer to the question of how the high schools could serve youth more effectively and meet their real needs. One outcome is so significant as to merit attention at this point. Whereas most of the adaptations already referred to as hav- ing been made earlier in this century were in the direction of additions to, and enrichment of the elective program and the extracurricular offerings, the experimental work of the 1930's went more deeply into the program.cf the secondary school and explored the "core" of the curriculum, the cone tral or basic program required of all pupils. High schools began, for the first time, to rc-examine the purposes and procedures which characterized such required subjects as English, science, mathematics, and the social sciences. For the first time, questions began to be raised about the al- .most universal departmentalization and subject-separation which distinguished the secondary school from the elementary school. For the first time, experimental programs began to appear which sought in various ways to restore relationships and unity in the pattern of subjects, to provide group and IO Especially The Purposes of Education‘;g.American earnin Duocrac , 1938,15? pp; gThe We 8 9: Democrac , :1915, 48% pp; and Education Porn MI‘Imer can Youth, I9Ed, 4&21 pp. (washington: The EducatIE—l PoIIc Ies Com Mssion, National Education Association). 18 individual guidance, and to provide longer periods of time for more flexible learning eXperiences. The "broad fields" courses, such as general science, general biology, general language, general mathematics, and social studies, (as distinguished from history or any other single branch of the social sciences), were common in high schools by 1940. These courses drew their subject matter from a single field, but cut across the divisive lines be- tween specific subjects within each field. The frequency of the broad fields courses, (sometimes referred to as "survey courses”), is an indication of the rather general interest in the devising of some subject organization which would enable students to relate an entire area of human thought to his own experience. In this respect the broad fields course was a forerunner of the core curriculum, which continued this same trend and extended it to include several, or all, areas of human experience. A second type of course which paved the way for the core curriculum in many secondary schools was the so-called unified studies course. In such a program, two or more sub- ject areas were fused together into a more or less inte- grated approach, with a longer time provision than the con- Ventional singde period, and with either the single master teacher trained in both areas or a committee of subject Specialists working in close cooperation. The most common 19 combination for this purpose was that of English and social science, but experiments were also undertaken in the unifi- cation of mathematics and science, home economics and manual training, and many others. Several examples of the unified studies approach will be included in later chapters of this study, for in Michigan, as in other states, many schools have undertaken the unified studies plan as the initial step away from a subject curriculum in the direction of the core curriculum. 0f the numerous examples of the unified studies approach which might be cited at this point, perhaps the most frequently quoted program is that which was undertaken in the Roosevelt High School in Destoines during the early years of the Eight-Year Study.11 Other examples of curricula which related to, or preceded the core program.are the "cultural-epoch” approach, which was employed in the program.of general education at the Horace Mann School in New'York City during the l930's;12 the ”social demands" approach which characterized.many state programs of curriculum reorganization13 during this period; and the ”adolescent needs" approach which was exemplified 11 See Thirty Schools Tell Their Sto , op. cit. pp. 216-230. 12 Ibid. , 403-430. 15 See for example the Mississippi program describedin. iMississippi Pro ram for the Improvement g§_lnstruction, 1e 5 (JacEson, fiississ pp : e Department of Education, 1938). 296 pp. 20 by the Ohio State University School14 throughout its period of core curriculum develOpment. These forerunners of the core curriculum are briefly analyzed in Volume Two of the reports of the EightéYear Study, Exploring ghg'Curriculum.l5 Experiments ig correlation developed ig,lgggl_gggr munities. Beginning about 1935, correlated programs of general education were exPerimentally undertaken in many schools throughout the nation. Such programs were developed in laboratory schools such as the West Virginia University Demonstration School, the Ohio State University School, the University of Minnesota High School, the University of Chicago High School, Lincoln School of Teacher's College, Columbia University, the University of‘Wisconsin High School, and the P.R.‘Yonge Laboratory School of the University of Florida. The various versions of the "unified” or ”core” curriculum were also increasingly to be found in large and small high schools across the nation, beginning about 1935. _Among the better known programs were those at Wells High School, Chicago, Illinois; the high schools of Denver, Colorado; the New School at Evanston Township High School, Illinois; the‘Central and Daniel webster.High Schools of Tulsa, Oklahoma; the New Trier Township High School of Win- netka, Illinois; the Long Beach California.High Schools; the Junior High Schools of Los Angeles, California; the McKinley Iiigh School of Honolulu, Hawaii; and the Theodore Roosevelt Iiigh School of Des Moines, Iowa. ‘ It-Tfiirty Schools Tell Their Story, 0p cit., pp. 718-727. 15 Exploring the Curriculum, cp. cit., pp. 34-48. 4””- . ~ I O . . a O . v I 0 u ‘t‘.. « \ I a . I u o -.4- ....- .. -- ...- 21 ILL HYPOTHESLS ON WHICH THE CORE CURRICULUM WAS BASED Upon what basis did secondary schools become in- terested in the core curriculum or in any of its various modifications? Most of these had as their purpose the provision of longer time blocks, increased freedom from subject limitations, and the achievement of correlation between two or more subject areas. An examination of the purposes of the various pioneer eXperimehts in the direc- tion of the core curriculum in the secondary school reveals that one or more of the following concepts played an im- portant role in their origin: (1) The organismic psychology. Secondary school educators were beginning to sense the implications of the relatively new organismic psychology for the secondary cur- riculum. If the child learns and experiences as a total organism, they wondered why the program of general educa— tion should be compartmentalized and segmented by subjects. The effort to seek relationships between subject areas and the learning experiences which went on in different re- quired courses led directly to "correlation", ”unified studies", or the "core curriculum". (2) The guidance movement. The increasing emphasis upon ynutn's problems and needs had alrgady resulted in the home- room movement. It had not, however, materially affected the 22 activities and content of general education. Some schools were instituting special counselor programs as a further effort to aid pupils to adjust successfully to school and vocational life. At its best, the homeroom was still an extracurricular development which did not aid youngsters particularly to discover.meaningful relationships between their classroom experiences and their lives. At its best, the counselor programs only touched the lives of a very few pupils in an incidental manner and provided little or no follow-up. Secondary educators began to wonder whether the classroom teacher could contribute to this emphasis upon guidance and at the same time vitalize general education in the process. To this end, longer blocks of time and a longer (vertical) pupil-teacher relationship were established through core programs. This development, it was discovered, reduced materially the number of different pupils for whom any one teacher was responsible and thus facilitated guidance activi- ties by classroom teachers. (5) Education.fg£ democratic citizenship. One result of the world-wide challenge to democracy during the 1930's 'was an increased emphasis in American schools upon education for democratic citizenship. It became increasingly apparent that no real achievement of effective education for demo- cratic citizenship was possible in secondary schools where experience in civic affairs was limited to the extracurricular 25 domain. In many high schools the teachers and administrators looked about them for areas in which pupils could have.mean— ingful experiences in choice.making, in critical thinking, and in cooperative planning and cOOperative execution of their plans. It became increasingly evident that such pro- cesses could be carried on in the general education class- rooms themselves if certain subject restrictions were re- moved which limited the opportunity to make real decisions as a part of the learning process. Thus a trend developed toward de-emphasizing subject matter as an end in itself and substituting a process of teacher-pupil planning of learning experiences. The core curriculum, with its freedom from.subject limitations and its flexibility for planning purposes, appeared a logical organizational measure for citizenship education. (4) The; emphasis 9; learning gig} The decade of the 1950's also witnessed a tremendous interest in such instructional devices as the moving picture, the trans scription and recording, the drama, the excursion, and the project method. These learning aids, too, were facilitated by the larger block of time and the increased flexibility which are characteristic of the core curriculum. Teachers dis- covered that there was not only more time nor such methods in a core class than in a singne period course, but also that the freedom from subject orientation encouraged the exten- aion of these learning side into the classroom. . o . e I u e l . e K ‘I \ ‘vo! . -. . . . e \ o p e . . ‘ , , l o e i l‘. s . , u s n O . 4 ...}.- s . _‘ l r‘ .-- 24 (5) The community school concept. With the growing interest in the community school, the core curriculum as- sumed increasing significance. Since it provided longer periods of time and greater freedom from subject matter limitations the core approach encouraged out-of-school learning.4 Both time and encouragement were furnished for exploring and experiencing the environment outside the school, and for rendering real services to the community. Thus there develOped a considerable degree of experi- vmentation in the correlation of general education during the 1930's at the secondary level, for the five main reasons given above. This movement has continued and extended since 1940. In the next chapter an examination will be made of the trend toward the core curriculum in Michigan. CHAPTER III REVIEW or mm PRACTICE IN MICHIGAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS _gpgly experimenps. In.Michigan, a few schools had experimented before 1955 with correlation of high school subjects through the sceperative planning of teachers. Such correlation through the use of the unit.method, the self- contained classroom, and the special teacher on call, had been characteristic of the better elementary schools for several years. Some of these elementary programs extended upward into the junior high school level, and.might there- fore be referred to as successful efforts to correlate the secondary curriculum. The Tappan Junior High School in Ann Arbor had de- veloped a rather closely correlated program of instruction by 1935. This program featured the extensive use of faculty- student committees, which planned various Classroom instruc- tional experiences around certain timely emphases and exerted an influence toward socialization and creativity in instruc- tion throughout the school. ' The faculty of the Roosevelt High School in Ypsilanti .nade a considerable amount of progress toward a unified curriculum through the cooperative planning efforts of teachers assigned to the same grade levels. This develop- .ment had resulted in a relatively effective program Cf correlation by 1932. -'fi e . __. . - v- - ..- ' .I .3 v a I . ‘ . a ' I . . ‘ u x ‘ t. v I A o . I ~ 0 O O ' ,7 , v I " ‘, . ~ - I. . ‘ n 1‘ V.) . ‘ t I U . . r..‘ ‘ _ 4- t e . t‘ ' J _ . . s ‘ I .. , t . ‘l I . . .‘ o s l ' ' O , , ‘ . -. | , l '4. 26 , A significant experiment in the core curriculum was carried on during the years 1933 to 1943 by one or two teachers in the Hutchins Intermediate School in Detroit. This program eventually employed a block of several periods and instruction centered around social and economic problems which were pupil-teacher planned. A carefully organized room.ccmmittee structure provided the means for insuring pupil participation in the planning. Undoubtedly examples of pioneer programs of this type could be cited in other Michigan communities. Such efforts were usually the result of the courage and vision of some educational leader. They did not influence other schools particularly at the time, and were modified as soon as the leader departed to other fields. Yet they are sig- nificant landmarks of the trend toward a unified curriculum in general education, which received its chief impetus in Michigan with the advent of the Michigan Secondary Study. 1113 Michiggp m p; The Secondapy Curriculum. The Michigan Study has been described in detail in certain pub- lished reports.1 It.may suffice to refer briefly in this chapter to the nature of the Study, and to its contribution in respect to the evolution of the core curriculum in Michigan. 1 J. C. Parker, I. w. Mange, T. 1). Rice, The First rive‘Years. (Lansing: The.Michigan Secondary Study, 1943), I65 pp. T. D. Rice and R. C. Faunce The Michi an Secondar Study, (Lansingz’ The Michigan Secondary Study, 1915), 45 pp. eo‘ .. -p a a I \ " I ,. n " s . ‘ 4 n - e a s .o w _ so! 0 I- \ . 2'7 The.Michigan Study originated in 1937 after one year of planning by the Department of Public Instruction and its chief advisory committee, the State Curriculum Steering Committee. It consisted of a voluntary association of fifty- four high schools, served by a consultant staff, financed by foundation grants, and headed by a state Directing Committee representing the chief state agencies and the organizations with an official interest in secondary education. The Study was housed with the Department of Public Instruction and maintained close working relationships with the staff of the Department, but was free of any legal or administrative re- strictions. As a means of insuring this freedom the Study was officially sponsored by the State Board of Education rather than by the Deparhment. It was planned to extend over twelve years and was primarily dedicated to the following purposes: "To discover, to develop, to evaluate, and to promote understanding and use of effective.modifications in secondary education in Michigan.'2 For the encouragement of the member schools in attaining that purpose, an agreement was obtained in 1938 with thirty-four colleges of the state, which was worded as follows: 3 The First Five Years, Op. cit., p. 16. - u . ,' . I . e . . d I O v s ‘ . A ( g o ‘ . . . ~ - ‘ . ~ . n w . . , . fl .1. v . ) - - , , . ‘ . . .. x L . . I"' ‘ 0 v \ s a I I . I . p .,' ,0. ' . \J 7- _ ~ I ‘ a u- . - J -. . - . o , -I Q .- ( Q . ' . ‘ s . ‘ C . .l -o A - a . I w I . , . _ . I. I.‘ e e . . .- L . .- . . o I. - .<- ...-a -- Q . .9 l ‘- e v I o n u s 4 .4 u a . ! J -r- ‘9 28 The agrees to admit graduates of schools included in the Michigan Study of the Secondary School Curriculum in terms of its adopted standards of ad- mission but without reference to the pattern of sub- jects which they have pursued, provided they are recommended by the school from among the more able students in the graduating class. *t is our under- standing that this agreement includes graduates of the schools in the years 1940 through 1950. Signed Title Date Thus the Study was launched voluntarily as a self- improvement venture by fifty-four Michigan high schools which were freed of the usual subject sequence requirements of college admission and aided by a staff of consultants. The point of view of the staff and of the Directing Committee has consistently been one of local initiative and self- determination in curriculum planning. No high school staff has been impelled in any way toward any particular kind of a curriculum as a result of its membership in the Study. The staff has conceived of its role as rather that of stimulation and resource help. Its philosophy as a staff may be summed up as a strong faith that a curriculum appropriate to our times and to the needs of youth in any local community will emerge when local administrators, teachers, pupils, and lay citizens learn to plan together effectively and to use all resources which can aid in that planning. The staff members have therefore rejected the urge to ”tell people how........ and What on .000 29 It is obvious, however, that staff members have not gone into schools completely devoid of any philosophy or point of view. Over the years, the following principles of curriculum development have mainly guided the Directing Committee and the staff as they worked with schools: The curriculum.should consist of real, basic experi- ences of living; such experiences must be found in life today; appropriate experiences cannot be selected ex- cept through consideration of the group at hand, and ex- periences require critical interpretation by the in- dividual and the group.... Those affected by policies should participate in their formulation, execution, and evaluation.... Schools should modify the curriculum to provide learning experiences which sample all major areas of everyday living and relate to the interests, needs, and abilities of students.... Schools should provide for continuity of students with teachers for purposes of guidance and for aiding students in finding relation- ships between diverse educational experiences. Schools should aid in the coordination of the citizenship- educating activities of their communities.... Initiative for modification and improvement of the instrucgional program should be retained in the local school. The chief role of the Study in implementing such principles as these has been stated as follows: The Study should aid administrators and teachers in clarification of their purposes and in devising proce- dures for effective work on their problems and for utilizing other resources in so doing. The function of these quotations relating to the purposes and philosophy of the Study staff is to make clear the manner in which the core curriculum programs emerged in the member schools of the Study. Such programs were not sold to schools by the staff, for such impulsions were not 3 The Michigan Secondary Study, op. cit. pp. 6-7. 4 T. D. Rice, ”Secondary Curriculum Study in Michigan”. California Journal p£.Secondary»Educatiop, 19:321-326, OtO 9r, 9 O e n . I . . , ‘a U . .o - d l D o - ---- a . . . C s . . n. e V. . ~‘)\ A . . ‘. . ‘ I . e V e . ', e ., . \ . . ‘ . e . I . . . . e ' .g ‘ ‘ . 4 _ . 'q . . r I . ‘ ‘ \ . e A - . J . - e .. 4 . e . , o . 4 ' e I . 4 t . . _ . u . ‘ . 1 . . ' 1 . I , -.— . . ' ‘ e ' I .. - - .a 4 '7-.--.- .- e .- . 4 . ‘ . ‘ _ . --r_..- . 30 characteristic of the work of the staff. Curriculum.modi- fications which developed in more than one member school originated, in general, through such means as study of published curriculum materials, visits to outstanding pro- grams in other states, and workshops and conferences. The core curriculum developed 33 one trend p£_the §Eggy. As a result of these and other means of dissemination, the trend toward the core curriculum gathered headway in the member schools of the Michigan Secondary Study. Some of the core5 programs which thus developed were in: Allegan High School Ann Arbor High School Battle Creek Lakeview Junior and Senior high Schools Battle Creek Central High School Big Rapids High School Goldwater High School Denby High School, Detroit Dowagiac High School Durand High School East Grand Rapids High School Godwin Heights High School, Grand Rapids ' Kalamazoo Central High School Kellogg Consolidated High School, Augusta \ thi 5 The term "core" is used here, and subsequently in 8 study, in the rather general sense defined on p. 2. 1‘ -.-.._. ._ 31 Marlette High School harshall High School Marysville High School North muskegon High School Reading High School In addition to the above-listed member schools of the Study, core prOgrems also developed in the following Michigan high schools during this same period (193 ~1947): Alpena high School Addison High School Ann Arbor Junior High Schools Battle Creek Junior High Schools Bloomfield Hills High School Dearborn Saline Junior High School East Lansing Junior High School Elkton high School Highland Park Junior High School Holt High School Mt. Pleasant high School huskegon Central Junior High School Wayne High School Certain points should be made clear regarding the above lists of high schools. First, it should th be assumed from the first list that the Only curriculum modification made in the member schools of the Kichigan Study was the core curricu- lum. This one type of curriculum program has been seleCted 32 .for study, thus deliberately excluding many other significant programs which were carried on during these years in schools of the Study. The present study does not purport to be a summary of the hichigan Secondary Study, but of the core cur- riculum in certain high schools. Furthermore, it is not alh;ged that the second list of programs received their entire impetus from the Study. Ihe influence of the Study is rather clearly traceable in most of them, but they might have develOped in any case. Finally, one should keep clearly in mind that the programs developed in the various schools listed above were not identical programs. Many of them were not called core programs locally. Kany of them were relatively limited in their SCCpe and purpose. They have been listed here as ”unified" or "core curriculum" programs 1; the general sense in which it was preposed in Chapter I to use the term. That is, they all tended to provide longer blocks of time; they all aimed at providing a correlation between certain subject areas; and they all placed guidance objec— tives very high on the r scale of purposes. As earlier indicated, it is the purpose of this study to make an analysis of the core curriculum as it has developed in certain Michigan high schools. The list has been reduced to eight schools by the application of certain criteria. It seems probable, however, that these eight schools selected for intensive analysis are somewhat representative of all the 55 secondary schools listed in this chapter. An effort has been made, for example, to insure that the eight include at least one representative of each type of unified program which has developed in hichigan. In Chapter IV a description will he presented of the methods which have been employed in the study of the eight Selected core programs. CHAPTER IV EATERIALS AND KETHODS EMPLOYED IN THE STUDY Introduction. The two preceding chapters have been devoted to the emergence of experiments in the unified curri- culum at the secondary level, throughout the United States and in Michigan. The present study has been limited to data from eight high schools in which representative unified programs developed between the years 1938 and 1947. In summary, these data fall into five categories: (1) materials on file with the Michigan Secondary Curriculum Study and the State Department of Public Instruction, largely consisting of self-survey re- ports, test results, schedules, and visitation reports; (2) in— formation collected during four years of intensive consultant activities in all of the high schools concerned; (3) results obtained from the administration of an interview schedule to thirty-nine teachers and administrators involved in the uni- fied program in seven of the eight schools; (4) results of certain evaluative studies made in each local situation by individual staff members; (5) results of an opinionaire sub- mitted by mail to nine teachers and administrators formerly involved in the Big Rapids High School program, which was discontinued in 1943; and (6) proceedings of a conference on the core curriculum, held at St. Mary's lake Camp, January 17, 18, 19, 1947. 35 Basic materials 9g file. Because of the interest of the Department of Public Instruction and of the Xichigan Secondary Curriculum Study in the present study, access has been obtained to the files of those agencies. These files contain much interesting and valuable material regarding the unified programs in all eight high schools, and es- pecially in the five which were participating schools in the Michigan Secondary Study-«Big Rapids high School, Denby high School, Domagiac high School, Godwin heights high School, and Lakeview Junior high School. In the case of these five schools an extensive file of descriptive materials has been develOped since 1938, including such items as the following: Self-survey reports Test data Parent opinion survey results Teacher Opinion survey results Sample home reports Correspondence with teachers and administrators Sample annuals, school papers, student handbooks Outlines of plans for curriculum change Outcomes of pre-school conferences and workshoos Visitation reports by staff members of the Study Annual reports on emerging changes and problems Results of miscellaneous local studies Bound volumes of complete school surveys, 1938-3 Bound volumes of studies of curriculum changes, 1938-43 In the case of the three remaining schools--Bloom- field hills high School, highland Park Junior high School, and Wayne high School, some items of the above list are also available in the files of the Department of Public Instruction. This is largely the result of the regular consultant visits which were made by the staff of the 56 Secondary Study in these non-participating schools where interesting curriculum modifications were developing. In addition, the annual self-survey reports which all school districts make to the Department of Public Instruction were of considerable help in the present study. As an initial step in the study, these file materials were rather carefully reviewed and analyzed from the point of view of their possible contribution to the purposes of the study. The items which appeared to be pertinent in any way were then borrowed from the files and have been employed constantly throughout the period of the study. Data from this source have been included in subsequent chapters. Information deriVing‘fggm consultant relationship. The author has worked as a curriculum consultant in all eight of the schools included in this study since February 1, 1943. The information and orientation secured through this consultant contact have been helpful in the present study. The interview schedule. As a means of securing additional information about the unified programs and of facilitating the process of evaluation of the programs by the teachers and administrators most directly involved in them, a series of group conferences was arranged, one in each of the seven schools where the program is still active. In the case of the Big Rapids program, where only two persons 37 of the large group once involved in the core program are now employed, a mailed opinionaire was substituted for the interview technique. In preparation for each school conference, the inter- view schedule included in the Appendix, pages 238-245, was prepared. A copy of the schedule was mailed to the principal about two weeks in advance of the first conference. This permitted a preliminary analysis of the schedule by the local teachers and administrators, thus facilitating the conference process. The names of the thirty-nine persons participating in the seven conferences are presented in Appendix C, pages 251-252. Each conference was Opened by a brief explanation of the study, followed by a discussion of the circumstances surrounding the origin of the program of unified general education in that school. Each participant was first simply asked to write out a brief statement Of his or her understanding of the purposes of the program. These statements were submitted, unsigned, with the completed interview schedule. One other statement was also written out by each individual before the discussion of the item, which dealt with the extent of teacher growth in service as a result of the program. Aside from these two items, participants wrote on none Of the questions in the schedule. Instead they dis- cussed each questinn fully and either reached a consensus for the record or suggested two or three statements which. would accurately represent the Opinions of those present. 38 Some portions of the schedule aroused protracted discussion. Other porti ms were dismissed without dis- cussion in some school conferences, when it became evident that the items were not applicable. A few items evoked considerable discussion even though they dealt with areas on which no evidence was obtainable. Such an area was that of evaluation in terms of pupil growth, which is Specifi- cally referred to in Item 3.1 of the schedule. Following an analysis of the completed interview schedule, another visit was made to the school or letters were sent to the principal for the purpose of securing some additional information, pursuing small studies which were mentioned in the school conference, and checking the com- pleted interview record for its accuracy. The data derived from the interview schedules have been classified as follows, for presentation in subsequent chapters: historical and descriptive information regarding the programs, (Chapter V); statements of original purposes of the programs, (Chapter VI); data regarding the leader- ship and other factors in initiating the programs, (Chapter VII); data regarding the specific Kinds of instructional procedures carried on in the classrooms, (Chapter VIII); and evaluative evidence concerning the effectiveness of the programs, (Chapter IX). Following this process of classification, the data bearing on each of the :oregoing tOpics were further .IC. 39 classified around appropriate sub-tOpics. Frequency charts were then constructed on each sub-tOpic, for the purpose of facilitating analysis of the data. Tables were develOped from these frequency charts.1 The following kinds of data are pre- sented in tabular form at appropriate points in subsequent chapters: Purposesof eight unified programs Outside persons contributing to initiation and development of eight unified programs Types of services performed by twelve consultants Sources of local leadership in deveIOpment of eight unified programs Provision for planning among teachers in eight unified programs Effect of current events on selection of learnirg experiences in eight unified programs Criteria for selection of instructional experiences in eight unified programs Provisions for instructional materials in eight unified programs Techniques employed for interpreting eight unified programs to lay citizens Advantages of eight unified programs Weaknesses of eight unified programs Effects of eight unified programs on growth of teachers in service In addition to the materials presented in tabular form, the following data were derived from the interview schedules and will be analyzed in subsequent chapters: Judgments of administrators in the eight unified programs as to the comparative cost, scheduling difficulties, demands on teachers, and effect on the school of the unified programs. Number of teachers withdrawing from eight unified programs because of ineffectiveness Data on relationships which develOped between teachers in unified programs and the total faculty groups Descriptive and historical data regardhng the eight unified programs 1 Complete titles for all tables are furnished in the List of Tables, pp. vii~x. O O . . O l l . I . ‘ . . ~ . . ‘ I k I I . . . n . . I . o . ‘ I , 6 n J M O I . v‘ 2 ' I " ~ I ' ‘ . . . n ‘ I I D . ‘ ~ . U‘ . . t 0 ~ ’ I o . I ' . .‘ -- l . . . ~ ‘ 4 ‘ . ’ ‘ . i . . . . u " ‘ I u - i ‘ l n " . O . . ‘ n ' ‘ h‘ .l . n o ‘ I ‘ I . I . . ‘ . . a ‘ I I O _ . . . ‘ . ‘ . 0 ' ' . h , :‘ , ' h , ' ‘s t I . ' l ‘ . I . . ‘v “ I . . ~ ‘ A ‘ . ‘ . . h . § . I . — u . ‘ { ‘ A A ’ ‘ - . v 4O Extent to which the eight unified programs were patterned after programs in other schools Effect of workshops and conferences on initiation of unified programs Extent of teacher-leadership in the eight unified programs Changes in purposes and administrative provisions in the eight unified programs Changes in instructional procedures in the eight unified programs ' Degree to which the eight unified programs were initiated and develOped on basis of known facts of child growth and development Data regarding the role of drill in the eight unified programs Data regarding extent of parent participation in planning eight unified programs . These data based on the interview schedules will be presented at appropriate points in ensuing chapters. Outcomes g£_lpggl evaluative studies. In six of the eight schools certain local studies were mentioned during the interviews. The results of these local studies were courteously made available by the persons responsible for them. The following data resulting from these studies will be presented at subsequent points in the present study:2 Percentile ranks on California Test of Personality for one ninth grade core class at Denby High School in January, 1942 and in January, 1943 Mean raw scores on California Test of Personality for 216 twelfth grade Denby students in 1946 Percentile ranks for seventy-seven paired students at Denby High School in September, 1944 and in June, 1945 Class rank in achievement and intelligence of twenty-three Denby seniors in June, 1945 Scores made by six sections at Denby High School on the Rinsland-Beck Test of English Usage, in June, 1942 ____ 2 Many of these materials are presented in tabular form. See the complete List of Tables, pp. vii-x. v . . \ V i . , - u . . . u ' l ‘ 1 A \. . a _ . .o i ‘ ‘ U Q ‘ I I l U . a I l ’ ' . u I ' . I ' ‘ ' ( ' ’ t . a . - n I I A ' ‘ v . i w a . ‘ . t | A ' Q '- . . l o . ‘ ' ‘ , O ‘ l O . . . O ‘ J‘ I ‘ O . 7 - 7 . ‘ J I . . . ' , , . . . . V A i f | ‘ h -7 .7-.. M . ¢ - ' ' ‘ .' — , ‘ ‘ " . . ~ - v >‘ . . I " — ‘ ‘ , I ‘i A - ‘ I ‘ ‘ . o } v ' ‘ L - . ,g . t ‘ . v 4 v ‘ A I - . I h v . ‘ a I. ‘ } i _ ’ § ‘ ‘ . ‘ v n > y l I I ‘ . . z , ‘ ~ _ ' ' . ~ _ . I I u . ‘ | ‘ I v . ‘ ' ‘ n ._ I C ‘ t ’ _ , ‘I V ‘ -V VI ' l , . . . " . ‘ ‘ A . v \ h l ‘ n U - . . . ' _ . ,L I h o I " ‘ ' ' s 7 ‘ I ‘ I . . . . ‘ | v . L ‘ g u- ‘ ‘ ' I Q I . v . ,‘ - n . . l .- > -~ . . I . § . . D, l h ' o n ‘ g _ “ ‘0 ‘ . 1 . . fl. . A ‘ . , _ . ..-. , . , v I - V . . . . _ I 41 Number of drOp-outs due to age or jObS from four core and four non-core sections at Denby High School, January, 1942 to January,1946 Average annual drop-out rate for ninth graders at Big Rapids High School for three years before the core program and for the first three years of the core program Number of drop-outs from four freshman sections at Wayne High School, September, 1946 to January, 1947 Number of clubs elected annually by core and non- core students at Denby High School, January, 1946 Judgments of three sections of core students at Denby High School as to the effectiveness of the class, 1941-1942 Data on re-election of the core program at Denby High School, June, 1946 ' Judgments of students in one ninth-grade core section at Denby High School in January, 1946 as to effectiveness of the class ‘ Responses of Denby seniors in January, 1946 to question of whether or not they would advise a younger brother or sister to elect a core class Judgments as to the effectiveness of unified studies by students in one section at Godwin Heights High School, June, 1942 Responses of 550 Godwin Heights students to questionnaire an extent of use of unified studies techniques, June, 1942 Judgments of nineteen parents at Godwin Heights in May, 1942, as to effectiveness of unified studies Annual data on decisions of Denby parents as to their children continuing in core Letters sent to Denby parents, 1941-1946, in connec- tion with the public relations program of core classes Sample evaluation instruments used in Godwin Heights unified studies classes, 1941-1942 DrOp-outs from Denby High School for each year 1938-1943 due to age or jobs Data on reduction in teacher load, Denby High School Date on diminution of failures, Big Rapids High School, 1938-1941 Report of community survey, Godwin Heights unified studies class, 1942 Unit materials, ninth grade core classes, Big Rapids High School Teachers' report on classroom planning in a Big Rapids High School core class, April, 1945 Faculty report on Godwin heights unified studies courses, 1943 Report of procedures in a tenth grade core class in Big Rapids High School, 1941 42 List of problems submitted and ranked by a twelfth grade unified studies class, Godwin Heights High School, 1942 Report bf planning in a twelfth grade class at the Big Rapids High School, 1941 " Teachers' report on he Denby core programs, 1940-1946 List of opportunities for democratic processes in Denby High School core classes, 1943 Cooperative Behavior Checking Schedule, Denby high School core classes, 1943 Report on a ninth grade Denby core class written by the students, 1943 Teacher's report on an eleventh grade unified studies class, Godwin heights High School, 1942-1945 Since this ar;a of local evaluation was one to which not much effort had been paid by the eight school staffs, such studies as were available proved exceedingly helpful in the present study. Big Rapids Opinionaire. As has been pointed out earlier in this chapter, the administering of the interview schedule was not possible in the case of the Big Rapids pro- gram. This was due to the fact that only two teachers (and no administrators) who have ever had any eXperience with the core pregram there still remain in the Big Rapids schools. It was considered important, however, to include in this study an analysis of the Big Ra;ids procram, both because of its extensive grade coverage in 1942-43, and because of the fact that it is the only one of the eight programs which was elimi- nated during the period of war-time teacher turnover. The interview schedule was therefore somewhat revised and a brief opinionaire form was developed from the longer document. A copy of this opinionaire is included in the Appendix, pages 246—250. 43 A 00py of the Opinionaire, together with a cover letter and a return-addreSsed envelope, was mailed to nine persons who had been connected with the core program at Big Rapids as a teacher or administrator.3 Six persons responded on the opinionaire, the re- sults of which were analyzed in the same manner as the data from the interview schedule.4 The data from the Opinionaire were summarized in frequency charts and included in the tables and discussion at appropriate points in the ensuing chapters. They were submitted anonymously as a means of in- creasing their objectivity. Conference‘gg'gggg curriculum. As earlier indicated, the Department of Public Instruction and the Michigan Secondary Study have expressed an interest in the present study. This interest arises from the current program of the Study, which is primarily concerned with an evaluation of the core curriculum in Michigan. As a means of initiating this evaluation, the Secondary Study sponsored a conference at St. Mary's Lake Camp near Battle Creek, on January 17—19, 1947. About eighty-five teachers and administrators from twenty high schools having core or unified programs of general education participated in 3 A list of these nine persons has been included in Appendix C, p. 253. 4 See p. 38. 44 this conference, the purpose of which was to promote an exchange of eXperiences with regard to the core curriculum, to evaluate its effectiveness to date, and to attack mutual problems relating to the core curriculum. . The author participated in the conference as consultant. Six of the eight schools of the present study were represented in the conference by thirty persons. The problems and results recorded from the conference, therefore, assume unusual sig- nificance in connection With the present study. A careful record of the conference has furnished much help in the analysis of the eight core programs. Data drawn from the conference record will be presented in subsequent chapters. Summary, Thus the present study is based upon data derived from (1) the files of the Michigan Secondary Study and of the Department of Public Instruction, (2) the ex- perience of the author as consultant in the eight schools involved, 1943-1947, (5) certain local research studies, (4) an interview schedule administered in seven of the schools through a conference of teachers and administrators, (5) an Opinionaire returned by six teachers and administrators who had been formerly connected with the Big Rapids program, and (6) a conference on the core curriculum, January 17-19, 1947. In the next chapter a brief description of each of these eight programs will be presented as an aid to subse- quent efforts to analyze and evaluate the programs. I‘ . --.. CHAPTER V DESCRIPTION OF SELECTED PROGRAKS It appears logical to begin the analysis of the eight unified surriculum.programs included in this study with a brief description of the programs. In Table I a picture is presented of the size and type of community in which each school is located, the pupil enrollments as of September, 1946, and the number of staff members. It will be noted that five of the eight schools are located in suburban residence areas adjacent to large cities ~- three neighboring Detroit, one Battle Creek, and one Grand Rapids. Only two are located in rural Michigan, although both Lakeview and Godwin Heights serve many rural tuition students each year. In size there is a somewhat greater range, from Bloomfield Hills, with 155 students in grades seven through twelve to Denby High School with 4,108 stu- dents in grades nine through twelve. 0f the others, Wayne and Highland Park are classified as ”A" senior high schools in terms of enrollment for athletic purposes, while the re- maining four, Godwin heights, Dowagiac, Lakeview, and Big Rapids have ”B” senior high schools.1 The junior high schools involved are of a size comparable to the accompany- ing senior high school in the same system. —“ 1 The Michigan High School Athletic Association classifies high schools as follows for athletic purposes: Class A, enrollment of 800 and above; Class B, enrollment 01'325 to 799, inclusive. 3 . . I I 1 . 5 .. O A i . ‘. ‘. ...- C . 1'1 Q t J o _ l t o -_-_. --.fc 46 This is a study, therefore, of certain curriculum modifications in two junior high schools, three four-year high schools, and three six-year high schools, with a wide enrollment range and staffs which vary in size from eight teachers in the smallest to 155 teachers in the largest. TABLE I DATA ON SCHOOLS AND COEXUKITIZS SELECTLD TOR STUDV School Number Grades enroll- of staff inclu— School City Type of ment members ded in community Sep- Sep- high tember, tember, school 1946 1946 Big Rapids Big Rapids Rural shopping 645 27 7-12 High School center, county seat Bloomfield Bloomfield Wealthy subur- 155 8 7—12 Hills high Hills ban residence- School community Denby High Detroit Industrial ’ 4,108 135 9-12 School metrOpolis Dowagiac Dowagiac Rural shepping 510 25 9-12 High School center and small indus- trial town Godwin Grand Suburban resi- 550 25 7-12 Heights Rapids dence and manu- High facturing center School _ Highland Highland Suburban resi- 1,050 45 BA-lOB Park High Park dence and shep- School ping center Lakeview Battle Suburban resi- 400 18 7-9 Junior Creek dence center High School Wayne High fiayne Suburban resi- 1,100 57 9-12 School dence and shOp- ping center 47 TABLE II UNIFIED Pecan-pi: AT ITS POINT OF calllxmzsr 327.1151ch Ii; THL “LIGHT SELECTED SCHOOLS Number Number Number High School Year of Grades of of School sections teachers pupils enrol} ‘ in core in core ment Big Rapids 1942- 14 7-10 15 420 620 High School 45 Bloomfield 1945- 4 7-8-9- 5 100 120 Hills High 46 11-12 School Denby High 2nd se- 12 9-12 12 420 5,548 School master 1944- 45 Dowagiac 1940- 8 9-10 5 220 550 High 41 School Godwin 1945- 17 7-12 10 512 542 Heights 44 High School Highland 1945— 50 8B- 25 1,200 1,200 Park 44 9A Junior High School Lakeview 1946- 9 7-8-9 6 289 400 Junior 47 High School Wayne 1946- 9 9 9 525 1,100 High 47 School ‘ ‘o. ‘-. 48 The core or unified program has not characterized the entire secondary curriculum in these eight schools. Table II presents the picture of the extent of the core program at its highest point in each of these high schools. It may be helpful to present a brief description of each of these eight programs as a basis for subsequent analysis.2 _B_i_g Rapids H_i_g_h_ School. The program of core, or ”social studiel", began in 1958 in the ninth grade of the Big Rapids High School with a one-period orientation.to the home, school, and community which was required of all ninth graders and replaced the former citizenship requirement. No basic text was used, but a syllabus gradually emerged through the regular planning conference of the four teachers, each of whom had a single section. Each of the ninth grade home- rooms was combined with a section of social studies. The informed procedures employed in this "social studies nine" course laid the basis for its continuation the following fall and the addition of one section of double period work which brought tOgether the ninth grade English and social 2 Further information about certain of these eight programs may be found in the following published materials: Seeking Better We a. Michigan Secondary Study (Lansing, Michigan: The studyT'I54I), pp. 18, 21, 52, 71, 84, 87. Youth Learns :2 Assume Responsibility. Michigan Secondary Study (Lansing, Elohigan: The Study, 1944), pp. 9, 18, 20, 24, 28, 33, 37, 47, 50, 51, 74, 94, 98, 104. Edgar G. Johnston, Administering The Guidance Program (Philadelphia: Educational Publishers, 1942), pp. 26-29. - ‘. o o ‘1 l n o .1 .,o-« 49 studies into a core class. The same fall (1959) the seventh grade geography and English courses were combined into a two-hour core called ”social studies". The fall of 1940 saw the repetition of the seventh grade core group and the ex- tension of this same kind of class into the eighth grade. The ninth grade program was expanded to include three sec- tions of double period work combining ninth grade social studies and English, and one section of three-period core. One section of tenth graders was also formed into a double period core in 1940. In 1941 the seventh and eighth grade groups were given three periods daily instead of two, the ninth grade double period program was repeated and four more sections of double period core work were formed in grade ten, thus providing a core eXperience for all pupils from grade seven through ten. This pattern prevailed, with slight modifications, until September, 1945. The advent of a new administrative staff and the turnover of nearly the entire high school faculty resulted in the elimination of all double and triple period core werk on that date. Texts were eliminated at only one grade level, the ninth, but dependence upon them as a source of planning tended to diminish sharply. The former homeroom were com- bined with the core groups and finally eliminated in 1941. One period daily was provided for staff planning at each 50 grade level. Cadet teachers from the twelfth grade were assigned to core groups for one period daily. A theme was pre-planned for each grade level, although all the groups departed from the theme as the trend of teacher-pupil planning suggested. The theme for each grade was at follows: Seventh gagg_ -- ”The Big Rapids High School” -- its history, traditions, schedule, room plan, organizations. "Our country and our peeple." The geography, ethnic make-up, economic and sociological patterns of America today. ”Our health." Problems of personal and public health. Eighth gggdg -- ”The story of America.” (”What to study in high school.” Ninth grade -- ”Our School." "Our Home." ”Our Community." Tgpgh'gggg_ -— ”Man's backgrounds and social heritage.” All core groups served as the political base for repre- sentation in the school's council. A considerable amount of time and attention was devoted to the current problems of room and total school life. Teachers usually remained with their groups for two years. In two cases a teacher continued for two more years with the same group. A summary of the core program in the Big Rapids High School in 1942-45 is shown in Table III. a 4 I -a-. i o 51 TABLE III SUMMARY OF CORE PROGRAM IN THE BIG RAPIDS HIGH SCHOOL, 1942-43 Number Grade Sections Title of Theme periods per day 7 5 Social studies 5 Our country and our people 8 5 Social studies 5 Our country's history 9 4 Social studies 2 Our school, our home, our community 10 4 Social living 2 Men's backgrounds 11 5 American history 1 Occasional correla- American litera- tion by teams ture 1 12 5 American problems 1 Occasional correla- English 7-8 1 tion, core tech- niques practiced in single period In the eleventh and twelfth grades no real core as such was organized. The American problems course in the twelfth grade, combining the former civics, economics, and sociology courses, embodied many of the features of the core in its approach. It originated in 1958 and continued as such 52 until 1944. At various times during the five years, 1958-45, a team of two teachers was attempted, with the eleventh grade English and American history teachers correlating their sub- ject fields and their eleventh grade homeroom assignments. The same kind of team was also tried in grade twelve duringf at least three different years. No great amount of correla- tion ensued, however, and it would not be accurate to say that a core existed in the Big Rapids High School excepting in grades seven through ten. The chief purpose underlying the core program at Big Rapids was that of improved guidance.5 Evidence as to the achievement of that purpose will be presented in Chapter IX. Bloomfield Hills High School. Another program of unification began in the fall of 1945, when the small high school faculty at Bloomfield Hills became interested in some device for correlating the highly departmentalized program there. The second year, 1944-45, a three period, single- section, unified group was set up for all seventh graders, in which the theme was ”Latin america." The course intro- duced the Spanish language and combined with language study 3 The word "guidance" is used here, and elsewhere in this study, to include those educational eXperiences which aid the individual to make a satisfactory personal- social adjustment, to live a rich, happy life, and to con- tribute maximally to his own welfare and to that of the social culture. 53 the geography and culture of our Latin American neighbors. A third period was secured by the use of one of the study periods assigned to seventh grade. ‘ The teachers employed textbooks, homework assignments, and teacher planning of content, but the course was character- ized by some degree of correlated study. As time went on, some more functional methods were develcped for this Latin America "core”. In the eighth grade, where a single section also accomo- dated all the pupils, a theme of ”Our American History" was adapted and the elements combined to form a three period core were eighth grade English, American history, and a study hall. Here also texts and homework were usual routines, but with a considerable degree of correlated study of literature and history. There also develOped a keen interest in sup- plementary reading materials, which placed a sharp emphasis on library usage. In the ninth grade the former citizenship and English courses were combined into a two-period core, or "unified studies" group enrolling all ninth graders in one section. Here also basic texts were used, but a considerable amount of attention was paid to community problems and social rela- tionships. Reading, writing, and Speaking assignments were correlated around the various civic problems dealt with under the theme "Community Citizenship”. A special interest was shown in attitudes and their improvement. 54 No unified program was attempted at the tenth grade level. The eleventh and twelfth grades were always small at Bloomfield, due to transfers to Cranbrook and Kingswood private schools. The two grades were formed into a single section which studied, in alternate years, American history and problems of American democracy. Here there was an effort made to develop a type of unified program through the use of teacher teams. The American history teacher and the American' literature teacher were invited to plan their courses as one two-period block. One year (1944-45) the same teacher had both subjects. Due to the unusual interest in subject mastery which had prevailed in the school and was a part of its tra- ditions, it proved difficult to achieve much correlation. In 1945-46 a double period class combining English and dramatics at the eleventh and twelfth grade level was scheduled. The social science program remained separate that year. This year (1946-47) the program at the eleventh and twelfth grade level again combines English and American history. Thus more success was attained at Bloomfield Hills in unifying the seventh, eighth, and ninth grade programs. As in Big Rapids, the influence of these unified studies programs appears to have extended into certain single period courses at higher grade levels. For example, the American democracy course which the group took in alternate years was taught dur- ing 1943-44 and during 1945-46 very much in the manner of a 55 core course, with pupil-teacher planning and a group problem- solving approach. The dominant purpose underlying these experimental pro- grams at Bloomfield Hills was that of correlating two or more subject fields. Table IV summarizes the unified program at Bloomfield Hills High School in 1945-46. TABLE IV SUMKARY OF UNIFIED STUDIES PROGPAM IN BLOOKFIELD HIIIS HIGH QCHOOL, 1945-46 W Grade Course Number Theme of course of periods per day 7 Latin American culture 2 Geography, history, and social~economic problems of Latin America, Spanish language 8 American civilization 2 American history, American literature Problems of commu- nity citizenship, creative writing, oral expression ll-lZ Problems of democracy 1 Political, socio- 1 logical, and econ- omic problems of America and world 11-12 English and dramatics 2 Increased skill in communication 9 Citizenship and English N 56 Eggpy_§;gg School. The core program at Denby High School was only one of several curriculum innovations which emerged from the first two years of that school's connection with the Michigan Secondary Curriculum Study. Those two years (1938-40) were characterized by a considerable amount of committee planning among Denby's many teachers. One of these committees, appointed in the fall of 1939, was called the ”Committee on the Nine-B Program". After several months of study, including visits to certain programs outside the state, the committee finally recommended in the Spring of 1940 that an experimental core program be set up during the ensuing fall semester as a sort of small school within the huge Denby program. This pattern may have been suggested by the New School at Evanston, Illinois, which committee members had visited. The committee's report listed certain areas . which the core program was to "cover” but recommended con- siderable freedom for teacher-pupil planning. During the summer of 1940 a group of Denby teachers, who were to undertake sections of the core program that fall, attended a Michigan Secondary Study Camp Conference at West- minister Camp near Saugatuck. During the six days of this conference the group acquired an interest in.the problem- approach to core, without limitations of subject area such as the committee had recommended. They secured permission to change the plan in that respect, and launched the first three sections of the program in the fall of 1940. These three 57 sections of ninth graders continued with the same teacher two periods daily for one school year. A summary of the additional sections of core deve10ped at Denby is presented in Table V. TABLE V CORE CLASSES TAUGHT AT DENBY HIGH SCHOOL, 1940-1947 v—L 1 y j [— Total Semester starting Number of sections: number of sections for year Grade Grade Grade Grade nine ten eleven twelve September, 1940 3 3 February, 1941 5 5 September, 1941 6 6 February, 1942 8 8 September, 1942 8 8 February, 1943 8 1 9 September, 1943 February, 1944 (DO) N p H H September, 1944 8 2 2 12 February, 1945 7 2 2 l 12 September, 1945 4 l 2 1 8 February, 1946 6 2 l 9 September, 1946 5 1 1 2 9 February, 1947 4 2 2 8 ,- ----— 58 Thus the Denby core program has remained somewhat constant as to enrollment, a smaller school within a school, enrolling about one fourth of the new ninth graders each fall and never over forty per cent of the incoming ninth graders in February. The number of tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders enrolled has never been great. The staff has been a well-knit group which has met regularly for core planning in a period set aside for that purpose. These teachers have, from the beginning, been considerably more free of subject emphasis than the teachers at either Bloom- field Hills or Big Rapids. They hay? rather consistently ad- hered to the practice of selecting instructional experiences on the basis of group planning and group decision, and have been restricted only by two predetermined themes -- an orien- tation unit in grade nine-B and an American history theme in grade eleven. The dominant purpose from the beginning of the Denby ‘prcgram has been the provision of more meaningful learning eXperiences for pupils through mastery of the skills of demo- cratic planning, execution, and evaluation. No basic texts are employed, but rich supplementary classroom libraries have been deve10ped. The pupils, together with the teacher, select the area of work, plan their approach to it, and continuously evaluate their progress. Much use is made of the small working group within the class. Further ilformation regarding the tech- niques employed will be supplied in a later chapter. r. 59 Dowagiac gggg School. The core program in Dowagiac High School has always been referred to locally as the English-history program.cr the English-social science pro- gram. This perhaps offers a clue to its origin and develop- ment. The blocking of the two courses together began ex- perimentally in September of 1941, following a semester of experimentation with correlated procedures in the English and social science classes. Preceding the actual block pro- gram, however, was a tradition of keen interest in correla- tion and in integration dating back to about 1935. This interest seems to have originated with the administrators and been kept alive by the reading and discussions of teachers, since not much school visiting was done by teachers prior to 1940. A strong tradition of community study and community service activated the school during the 1930's and Dowagiac had already become known, by 1940, as an outstanding com- munity school. One outcome of this emphasis was the evolu- tion of an experimental climate wherein anyone who had an idea for a change in the curriculum.in school activities, or in administrative plans might get a ready hearing and an op- portunity to try it out. The first block program began in grade nine with the object of providing an integrated learning experience for pupils who were required to take English and citizenship. The block was always composed of two periods and sometimes 60 included only two sections, but gradually extended until it has included all five sections at both grades nine and ten during recent years. It has varied in extent of cover- age in terms of such factors as the following: (1) Ease of scheduling (2) Degree of teacher interest (3) Availability of rooms (4) Availability of competent teachers The program has not been regarded as particularly experimental, partly because such experiments are part of the regular climate of eXpectations at Dowagiac, partly because a similar program has obtained for many years in the Junior high school grades. At present at least half of the seventh and eighth grader's day is Spent with his room teacher. As one result of this freedom for experimentation no such uniformity of procedure has obtained as in the Denby program. If a teacher wanted to dispense with a basic text and employ the problem approach, she did so and many Dowagiac ”core” teachers have used that approach. If she preferred to teach both classes with the same group, but teach them se- parately, that was considered acceptable. There have been cases of this sort at Dowagiac. Perhaps a brief account of the present (1946-47) seven sections of English-social science will give a suf- ficiently accurate picture of Dowagiac's program since 1941. Further details will be added in a later chapter. All of 61 the present sections are employing the social-problem approach, with the problems evolving from teacher-pupil planning. Three of the sections in grade ten use a text. The others do not. The three which employ a text appear to use it only as a point of departure. The current world scene constantly enters the planning picture and suggests new areas of study to the pupils. The groups are free to swing into almost any area of study which interests the children and teacher, with the single ex- ception that the three sections mentioned earlier have a theme. of world history as a frame work. Other elements in the Dowagiac program are as follows: (1) A keen interest in the Dowagiac community (2) Frequent excurSions outside the building (5) Active support of community and national drives (49 A vigorous interest in current affairs (5) A.constant emphasis on personal-social relations (6) A mother relationship of teachers with pupils -- an interest in the personal affairs of students and an under- standing of them. At various times other types of core classes have functioned at Dowagiac. Several times an eleventh grade team.has paired an American history and an American.1iterature teacher in the interest of achieving a correlated program. Several single period classes have also employed the core approach. One of the most functional of these was the 62 (elective) community problems course, 1941-44, which really served as a civic apprenticeship for Dowagiac citizens then in high school. In this course the youngsters spent most of their time in actual community service projects, such as drives, office receptionist services, assisting with hot lunches, and constructing a community calendar. The immedi- ate predecessor to the community problems course was another elective course in life problems offered for eleventh and twelfth graders from 1939 to 1941. This course dealt chiefly with the areas of community and personal problems and consumer economics. Godwin.§eights High School. As a result of some in- tensive workshOp planning by teams of teachers, the Godwin Heights unified studies program was initiated in 1940. First known as ”English and social studies", it was loosely called ”core” in 1941 and has been titled unified studies since September, 1942. It was definitely planned«from a guidance point of view and represented an effort to facilitate an adjustment of the non-college bound student. It was decided rather early that the subjects involved should be the re- quired English and social studies. It was also decided that subject areas should be merely brought together into an in- tegrated pattern for the purpose of reducing teacher's loads and facilitating guidance. Thus the phiIOSOphy embraced, at the start, no very startling departure from tradition. The subsequent evolution of a core curriculum in several of the sections was the result of insights later develOped by teachers. 65 At the beginning, two groups were organized in the seventh grade, and one each in grades eight through twelve -- seven sections in all. In February of 1942, all seventh and eighth grade sections were included in the unified studies program, and one or two sections added in the senior high school. In 1942-43, still more high school sections were added, and by September of 1943, the reQuired program of the upper six grades was organized into double period unified groups. Since 1944-45, the twelfth grade unified course has been dropped in favor of a (required) one period govern- ment course, which employs the problem-survey approach and is thus similar to the unified studies program in its pro- cedures. Table VI summarizes the present program of unified studies in the Godwin Heights High School. The policy at Godwin Heights has been similar in at least one reapect to that of Dowagiac. Each teacher has been quite free to teach her double period class in the way she knows best how to teach. If a teacher chooses to teach English and social studies separately, she is permitted to do so. The entire climate of the sChool, however, tends to place an emphasis upon teacher-pupil planning, upon problem solving, upon guidance techniques, and upon the close cor- relation of all learning eXperiences.4 Basic texts are 4 A more complete picture of the unified studies program at Godwin Heights may be obtained from an examina- tion of Table XXIV, pp.lV6-179. 64 TABLE VI SUEMARY OF UNIFIED STUDIES PROGRAM IN GODWIN HEIGHTS HIGH bUhOOL, 1946-47 Grade ' Number of sections Number of periods 7 5 2 sections - 2 periods 1 section - 3 periods 8 4 2 9 3 2 10 3 2 ll 3 2 12 3 government 1 sections ' used as a point of departure by most teachers. There has been a strong drive toward unification of learning eXperi- ences in Godwin's prOgram as a result of the following factors: (1) The principal of the senior high school has been an enthusiastic advocate of such procedures from the beginning. 65 (2) The teachers have been active in credit and non- credit workshOps every summer since 1938. Much interest in the so-called integrated curriculum has resulted from these workshOp contacts. (3) Rather frequent visits by certain consultants from the staff of the Michigan Secondary Curriculum Study, and from other agencies, have fortified this trend. With certain exceptions, then, the faculty members in the Godwin Heights Unified Studies program.have tended more and more to deveIOp "core" programs rather than to re- tain the mere link between two subject areas. The following procedures are somewhat typical of this trend: (1) Strong emphasis on development of group morale or "belongingness" (2) Social activities, games, parties (3) Definition of areas for study by teacher-pupil planning (4) Freedom from text as source of sequence (5) Group planning of methods of research (6) Small group study of special segments of main problem (7) Group planning of reporting or presentation methods (8) Emphasis on current social and economic problems, such as intercultural relations, war and peace, consumer problems, boy and girl relations, home and family problems 66 (9) Emphasis on individual and group evaluation (10) Interest in room and school government and student affairs Alongside this trend toward liberal procedures certain vestigial remains may still be seen at Godwin. Such pro- cedures as final examinations based on memorization, com- petition for scholastic honors, and concern for the mastery of language mechanics are ltill quite common. The homeroom system persisted in the school until 1945, although it had been functionally replaced by the unified ‘studies sections as early as 1942. The unified studies groups are now the representative base for the student council, which has assumed an important role in the government of the school. Weekly reports5 by unified studies teachers to the principal describe the scOpe and nature of the learning experiences in each class, and set forth the plans for the ensuing week. Highland Park Junior High School. In December, 1956, Dr. Hollis Caswell delivered an address in Lansing on the need for a unified pattern of general education. Certain administrators from the Highland Park schools were much impressed by the address and discussed its implications for 5 Representative materials taken from these weekly reports are presented on pp. 144-148. 67 the next several months. Out of these discussions developed several sections of combined English and social studies in the Highland Park Junior High School in September, 1937. These experimental efforts at a correlated curriculum cul- minated in the deve10pment of a real core program in the fall of 1940. The program was originally inaugurated at the eight-B level, with all pupils enrolled in core for most of the day. It was extended upward each semester until the entire eighth and ninth grades included a core program of at least three periods in length. In the ninth grade the core has combined English, social studies, and the homeroom since 1941. In the eighth grade it has also included mathematics and general science. In the Spring of 1941 a system of short-term workshops was deveIOped as a means of enriching the program for indivi- duals with special interests and of providing remedial work for those who needed it most. Some of the workshOps thus organized were in the fields of the arts, some in reading and arithmetic, some in exploratory short courses such as science and the foreign languages. The workshops usually met for one period daily, extended over a six-week period, and drew students by election or recommendation from the various core groups. A close planning connection existed between the core teacher and the various workshop teachers who had her pupils during the day. 68 The person most directly responsible for the de- ve10pment of the highland Fark program was the principal. The purposes of the program from the start were two-fold: (l) a better guidance facility, and (2) an integrated learn- ing experience for boys and girls. Unlike the Lowagiac and Godwin Heights programs al- ready referred to, the core program at Highland Park was initiated simultaneously in all ten sections of the eight-B grade, was soon extended through the eighth and ninth grades, and has been functioning as the only program in which children enroll at those levels. It is not regarded by teachers or parents as particularly ex erimental, as indicated by the comments recorded in the interview schedule. One feature of the Highland Park program deserves Special mention. It is the only one of the programs in this study there mathematics and science, as well as English and the social studies are brought into the core by the unit method. The degree of skill with which the unit method is applied varies from teacher to teacher. Some of them are still somewhat "subject-minded"; yet the entire group has always been characterized by a very great interest in child deve10pment, so that procedures tend constantly to be geared to the unit concept and there is wide use of teacher-pupil planning. The guidance emphasis, in short, has tended to liberalize instructional procedures. The arithmetic is usually taught by a Special teacher, who meets regularly 69 with the core teachers in the effort to build mathematics into the core. Certain skills in arithmetic, however, have become the function of the workshop already mentioned. Here the pupilengages in the drill necessary for passing an individual test in each skill, after which he drOps that particular workshop. The homeroom program has become an integral phase of the core classes. Lakeview Junior High School. The core program in the Lakeview Junior High School is the logical outcome of almost fifteen years of continuous efforts toward better guidance. It was first initiated as core in September of 1944, in grades seven and eight. As early as 1930, however, the practice had been followed of assigning the same group to a teacher for homeroom and for the class period which followed the homeroom period. For example, a science class the sixth period would meet with the same teacher in the same room the fifth period for homeroom. By this means a block of about eighty-five minutes was provided, which could be divided into a fifty-five minute class and a thirty minute homeroom period. Or, if the group and the teacher desired, the en- tire eighty—five minutes could be treated as one time unit and class instruction could thus be rather completely wedded to homeroom guidance and to school activities. After fifteen years of experience with this combined homeroom and class organization, the teachers reported that La- 70 it was difficult to distinguish between the guidance activi- ties and the instructional activities in the Lakeview Junior High School. Teachers also became used to the longer time block, with its greater flexibility. It is not surprising, then, to find a core program develOping from the homeroom and subject combination plan. During the late 1930's and early 1940's there was a considerable amount of visiting of other schools, in Michigan and the Middle West, by the Lakeview teachers. Numerous . consultants also visited the school. Yet the real leadership for the program came from the principal rather than from any- one outside the school system. The main purpose behind the program was better guid- ance, the need to know a few students better, and to provide time for testing, counseling, and other guidance activities. The guidance emphasis has always been prominent in the school. More recently the purpose of correlation of subject areas has become an object of interest with the core teachers. Basic texts are still used in the core groups, but only play a minor role in planning. Theresis much teacher- pupil planning and a regular period is also provided for the core teachers of each grade level to meet for planning. Last year (1945-1946) a two-teacher team in English and social studies did some correlated work in grade nine. During 1946-47 one section of core work has been organized in the ninth grade. In general, however, the ninth grade work is still departmentalized. 71 The seventh, eighth, and ninth grade core program includes three periods daily -- the former English and social studies period and the homeroom period. There are four sections each in the seventh and eighth grades and one in the ninth. Wayne High School. A phenomenal p0pulation growth furnished the challenge to Wayne High School teachers to provide a more meaningful curriculum. In the short Space of three years the school district expanded from ten thou- sand peOple to forty thousand, and the high school enroll- ment from four hundred to eleven hundred. The present principal has provided leadership to the constantly eXpand- ing high school staff in defining the task confronting it as a result of this stupendous growth. In the late summer of 1944 a pre-school conference was held for Wayne teachers, from which a high school Guid- ance Committee and a Curriculum Committee evolved. These committees continued to meet for tmaensuing two school years, first as separate committees but ultimately as a single study group. Out of the Curriculum-Guidance group emerged the ‘ recommendation, in April of 1946, that the subject depart- ments in grade nine be broken down. They recommended that three-fifths of the students' day be set aside for a cor- related program of general education, under the direction 72 of a team of three teachers for every one hundred ninth graders. These three teachers in each team were to repre- sent, respectively, the subject fields of English, science, and social studies. They were to have complete responsi- bility for the planning and achieving of the guidance and curriculum goals for their one hundred students. The former freshman homerooms were absorbed by the team plan. A free period was scheduled during which all three team members could meet regularly for planning. This plan was inaugurated in September of 1946 with nine sections totaling 325 ninth graders. Three teams or three teachers each were assigned approximately one hundred students each. One extra section of freshmen remained out- side the block, taught on a departmentalized basis. A sum- mary of the Wayne High School ninth grade team program is presented in Table VII. TABLE VII WAYNE HIGH SCHOOL NINTH GRADE TEAM PROGRAM, 1946-47 Number Number Number Team Teachers of of of periods sections students English 3 plus 1 Social studies one plan- 5 108 Science ning period English 3 plus 2 Social studies one plan- 3 109 Science ning period _ English 3 plus 3 Social studies one plan— 3 108 Science ning period a.-. v ‘a , .- ...-.1.- 75 Only one of the three teams has available a double, connected room which will accomodate the entire pupil group of 108. The other two teams employ three separate class- rooms each, but exchange individual students and groups of students at times. The planning has so far resulted in the Joint, or correlated teaching of three units. The goal of a correlated program.of general education is still before the team. The achievement of the goal ap- pears to be facilitated by the fact that tne three sections in each team meet in sequential periods, thus permitting continuous flexibility in exchanging students and in using the resources of the three teachers. During the two years of study (1944~46) two or three eXperimental attempts at teacher teams were made at various grade levels. During 1945-46, for example, a team plan was attempted composed of an algebra, an English, and a social studies teacher. Certain efforts have also been made to correlate American history and American literature at the eleventh grade level. For this year, however, the school is concentrating on the rather extended team program in the ninth grade. The Wayne High School team program has been included in the present study, in spite of its record of only one semester's trial, because it appears to be unique in the state. All of the other programs chosen for study employ 74 the master-teacher plan. The Wayne program seems to be the only team program in Michigan. 2g conclusion. This chapter has included a brief overview of eight different programs of integration. In succeeding chapters a more detailed analysis will be made of these programs. In the next chapter an examination will be made of the various purposes toward which these eight programs were directed. CHAPTER VI PURPOSES OF UNIFIED PROGRAMS Introduction. It has been pointed out in Chapter I that the programs under examination in this study will not be evaluated in any terms other than the purposes of those programs, as stated by the teachers themselves in each local situation. It therefore follows that those purposes have some significance in the study. As one approaches the ques- tion of how effectively the unified program achieved its goal in each school, certain prior questions must be raised and answered. What were those goals? What did teachers and administrators seek to achieve by the unified or core pro- gram? What was it supposed to achieve that would not be possible or easy under conventional programs of instruction? Why, exactly, was the core curriculum adopted in each school? In seeking the answers to such.questions as these, a section of the interview schedule which was administered in each school was devoted to the original purposes of the uni- fied program. The question was phrased as follows: "What, in your opinion, was the original purpose of this program?" In interpreting this question to faculty groups, the interviewer was careful to request their ideas as to the original purposes of the program, even though in a few cases the group included teachers who had not been members of the staff at the time the program originated. In such .‘ 70 cases the teachers were expected to respond from hearsay evidence or on the basis of their own goals as they entered the program. In view of the fact that most of these pro- grams reforned.their goals periodically and made a fresh start in terms of the orientation of new staff members, this condition perhaps offers no serious handicap to the inter- pretation of their purpose statements. A summary of the purpose statements written out by individual teachers during the seven interviews, plus state- ments received by correspondence for the eighth school, is presented in Table VIII. The items are listed in the order of their frequency of mention, wdth some classification of responses. The number of teachers and administrators re- sponding to this item of the schedule was forty-five. y§133.pugposes revealed. Some interesting inter- pretations may be drawn from the statements in Table VIII. The guidance1 theme evidently assumes a major emphasis in the thinking of these teachers in unified programs. In terms of their free responses to the question of their purposes in the program, such items as knowing pupils better through a reduced daily load, meeting pupil needs more effectively, understanding their needs, and developing a closer contact with fewer pupils are by far the most significant items. The synthesis or correlation of pupil experiences appears to be a close second in these teachers' purposes. 1 See Foot-note 3,p. 52. .- 77 TABLE VIII PURPOSES OF EIGHT UNIFIED PROGRAMS, AS STATED BY FORTY-FIVE TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS INVOLVED IN THE PROGRAMS Order Number of of . Purpose times ‘ mention . mentioned 1 More effective guidance 1.1 To provide better guidance 24 1.2 To know pupils better through reduced pupil load ' 13 1.5 To meet pupils' needs better 11 1.4 To develop closer teacher- pupil contact 5 1.5 To know pupils' needs 5 1.6 To give pupils Opportunity to develop potential abilities and be freed from domination .7 To combine guidance and our- riculum .8 To lay basis for counseling .9 To improve mental health .10 To adapt work to level of pupil .11 To provide security for pupil HHHH H HHHPN a 2 Synthesis 2; correlation g: experiences and learnings To correlate learning eXperiences 17 To make learning real and mean- ingful; to motivate English; to motivate foreign language; to revitalize curriculum 8 2.5 To teach via whole concepts; to avoid Balkanized education; to NM 0 O NH integrate pupil experiences 3 2.4 To strive for well-rounded individual ' 2 2.5 To provide more well-rounded coverage 1 TABLE;VIII_jcontinued) 3 Greater flexibility and adaptability 3.1 To provide more flexible program 3.2 To secure deve10pmental, dynamic program 3.3 To avoid mechanical time-breaks 3.4 To provide time for creative activities 3.5 To adjust program of non-college student 3.6 To break from formal patterns 4 Practical Application42£ theory 4.1 To apply theory to practice 4.2 To apply theory in community and in life 4.3 To develOp better consumers 4.4 To adjust education to changed conditions of living 5 Democratic processes 5.1 To teach democracy 5.2 To develop good citizens 5.3 To provide more effective pattern for exchange of ideas 5.4 To teach assumption of responsibility 6 Professional ggowth‘gg teachers 6.1 To provide inaservice growth 6.2 ”It's more fun!” 78 10 HH Hu H H» a HH m N» pun . . . - , . ' . . ’ ~ . . u ‘ . e . - V . > p) , . ‘ . § . . e 9 I II‘ I ‘ . ' - . I . . v . \' . . _ . . ’ , s ‘ l . . . ‘ . _L . VA . I C C l ‘ . ‘ . - a g”. v 0 1 I .4 ...— .. . as... D a- . . F q as -— s .. , 7 , - 9 O ' ' . 0 e 0‘ ‘ I . n I O o t w . . . v e I(I . ’ . _ v . 7 a C . .‘ e I ‘I ...g .. _ .- .r‘ n ..-... ... ~r *-‘-—0 s .c l ‘- 4 . g —,‘. . - .«, 1 .- . ‘ - - r. " ‘1+ ‘ - -. ,. ' : I . 1 .’ ___ l a a ‘1 , _.‘ ,. . .. ‘ g, C - a o - ' O C , . . g Q I i .. v ... sh ,) a . , . I _-, v ., _. o " ' ‘ ' ' l v , .. .. . . - - o J .I * v » . v - . ,O Q ‘ e . ‘ ' U. U .. ‘ s. '1 ,- ‘L ‘ .- . ...l ' . - ‘ - - .- -a| ‘ 1 | v" .... .. ,x x _ ‘ , u . . . .-. 1A.. ' a .. t .. « ‘ ' l .' I ' f C ‘ .L K 0“ .,. \' _ ‘ A ‘ r g. 6 o ’ . . ‘ _ "‘ ‘ ' I . I ' . , ‘g o ..-. . \ . A ).. . e — , - - 1 ' a l‘ e , , » V . . a. , ~ . j J ‘v I 3‘ . . " . 7' .. . " . . ~ to ‘- . o . ‘ _ 'I . ' ea. . . . l I , ,_ ' 1' b \4 c' , v a. a ’« , , . '. . ‘ ' ‘ - 0 I ‘ 3 ‘ . . P fgflgv‘ ‘ . . ‘ . I ' . O n , . n n t '. Jr— ' .. ~' . - u - . . L 9 “ J C .' ' : ‘ "7 f «v, -. ‘-' V' O n.‘ . . ..,_. .' ‘ ~ . -. \‘ A . 0 '.‘ .' ». ... f . . ‘ V' . . ‘ I x Q . _ '. ‘ .... . f '. - _ )- . a. ‘.. v ‘ , ' . _ Iv ’ , ' ‘M. ‘ ‘1 i ‘l " 4 " J “r r . I . ‘ A - 7 . '- s ... . U . .. u . ou‘ . . .-. ...,» . i . _ ,_ I ‘ s - . . , _ ’1 . M ‘ ... .. . . ‘ - l u . o I . 7 ' ‘ .. l I" . . I ' - ~ . . .3 , \ J . I t ‘ . . , , ' _ , I J y) x L l . j ‘ . » ' A, J ’ 1. ' _L ‘ , J . l , ’ 0-“ cl.- 0‘ I P .H l ‘o‘r-vc .n-“b. - r u- . 'n ‘0 e i -. ... - “ ‘ e e a . . ~ I we! r. - q . _ ‘- . ,. . ‘ ' , .- . ’ ‘ ~ I .L ' .'. "..» . . l _. x ._ ‘ . - u ' - ‘~' :. _ . o: ' . _ . .' . . - -. .. . t' t 0“ .,_. 3- u n ' , I . ' ' ‘ F . ' I‘ 9 I '._ . .r n >.‘ ‘_ . » _, .a -J . a \- a h g . ,.' .«L - - .' c . ~ ‘ a . Q! . 7., . . ~ . A h ' - .‘ . .. . __, . _ .A ‘ -+.." v I; 3" -_) . "1‘ .. - .e ~ ~ “" k. A » , ~ . -.. ~‘~---—. ~ -— N...— .-...--W — . ‘“ .-wcA-nfli -- u... M— In...” ----..a - 0-. o . ~- .9 “a“, “1* <- 114 Representative of the reports showing the effect of current events upon classroom planning is the following, written for the files of the Secondary Study by a core teacher in the Big Rapids High School in April, 1945: We are now studying the causes of the first World War leading to the present conflict, and the factors involved in trying to solve the post-war conditions. We are using Who's Who In Uniform, Your Army, and The Thousand Million. we use correspondence materials, even after students join the armed services. The solution of post-war problems will occupy the entire six week period. Emphasis will be placed on the copious literature we have acquired in the nature of pamphlets as the basis for seeking information and tentative conclusions in our quest for universal peace. A report of the Unified Studies faculty of the Godwin Heights High School in 1943 states: We are teaching more worthwhile things than we were eight years ago. We feel that there are more practical things being done which are more helpful to the students; air-raid signals are being taught, the rationing program is being studied, manners, current events, the Atlantic Charter, our enemies and our allies, tolerance, the armed forces, inter- American relations, and juvenile delinquency are being studied in the majority of classes. These statements are typical of numerous reports in the files of the Secondary Study, reflecting the strong influence which the events of the times had upon instruc- tional programs in all eight of these high schools. Criteria for selecting learning experiences. The .more general question of what criteria served as the basis for the selection of learning experience was included in the interview schedule as Item 2.4. The replies to this 115 question are summarized in Table XIV, which furnishes additional light on the manner in which activities for instruction were chosen in these programs. An examination of Table XIV does not reveal any consistent emphasis on the child-centered school. As has been noted earlier, the events of our times play an im- portant role in all eight programs in the selection of learning activities. Second in order, with six groups mentioning it as a criterion, is the teacher's own judg- ment as to what eXperiences are valid and desirable. Six groups also mention the citizenship factors, including group adjustment, problem solving, and self-eXpression. Five groups mention the present needs of students, other- wise phrased as his present school, social, and vocational life and its needs. Four mention interest, and four list pupil-teacner planning as a basic criterion. In three schools the text still occupies a prominent place, and three schools also list the I.;., reading level, and level of knowledge as criteria. The four remaining factors, each mentioned by one school, are the availability of materials (Wayne), the parents' demands for homework (Bloomfield), the course of study (Highland Park), and the history theme (Dowagiac-- one grade). . These criteria are sufficiently conservative to lend weight to their objectivity. While items like personal— 116 1131311? 02mm 1'03 SEIBCTION OF INSTRUCTIONAL EXPERIENCES IN near UNIFIED PROGRAMS , AS SUMMARIZED FROM TEAMS' STATEMEH‘S W Criterion Number of schools in which mentioned Trend of times 8 Teacher‘s Judment 6 Level of citizenship: Adjustment to group 6 Ability at problempsolving Level of reasoning Level of self-expression Present needs as revealed by student 5 Interest 4 Pupil-teacher planning 4 Text- Book 3 Reading Level, I.Q., amount of knowledge 3 Availability of materials 1 Parent demand for homework. 1 Course of study 1 History theme ‘ _ 1 ‘ h I - m I I A. 7‘ , .. v ., . .- . —."v V \ . . e v . 8 - v. \ - . ' . , . , I I ~ . - . I. L . \ ‘. s ‘ . ~ flat I . e - I ' - a _. _. . A ’ ~ , l . . - i .1 ' I . - . . \ . ,_ - .-x . -,. .'. ,a. n. .‘ _ ... '4, ... _ i . ,. ' . . . ,, ‘4. _,_ _ r _, dd” ‘I'- r.~ - ’2 0‘. _- u~0su~ . ~'.—-.~‘ w” 4." - ' ‘-«.— 'I-I -. - ”4' v x. . Au' .-- “I‘ -..-am m-b-m . I- No. ~> “M“. ‘ --'— U‘ 0 ..m-..—-. .... -- - 4....- “gm." --...- «_ A~m - M“... ...- no.“ ’d‘wv- “out. ‘ -- ca .... . ‘--II. 7 - In... on Om»- cue-w--.” ll? social needs, interest, and civic ability_reflect a liberal point of view, teachers in these programs also frankly men- tion that their own adult judgment, the text books, and the course of study still play a prominent role in many of these core courses. With reapect to the text-books, teachers in the three schools which listed this item added that they felt free to depart from the text and did so upon occasion. It still furnishes a frame of reference. The following statement by the director of the Secondary Study appears to summarize the criteria for selecting learning eXperiences in a core class. It also helps to round out the picture of how instruction was carried on in the more effective core programs of the present study. The statement was submitted in 1942 to the core teachers at Denby High School upon their request. THE IKPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CORE COURSE (1) genres of experiences. annuities, nontent: The problems, needs, interests of the students in living in the community day by day (2) Methods_gf derivation and selection: Teachertteacher-parent-student planning (5) Fur oses: Meeting the personal-social problems of the boys and girls.thereby develOping competencies with the pro- cesses involved in meeting situations in everyday living and formulating some basic values for social living '\ \- s I L . | . ' ’ n K It . . . v .I n a a . -.. . o 118 (4) Organization and administration: From one-half to all of the school day Required of all students grades seven through fourteen Teacher with broad background, interest in and under- standing of youth, flexible, "democratic" Large attractive room with flexible furniture -- tables and chairs Wide variety of books, "fugitive" materials, newspapers; no textbook Problems of scOpe, sequence, continuity cared for by teacher-student-parent planning -~ not pre-determined charts or outlines If credit must be assigned, full credit should be given in whatever subjects seem most apprOpriate. (5) Teaching procedures: The teacher a member of the group, who earns reapect and the privilege of leadership, who helps individuals and groups work things out. The informal procedures of planning, carrying out, and evaluating are most effective. The individual students must be permitted and assisted in the formulation and the pursuit of purposes. (6) Evaluation: The clear formulation of purposes is an integral part of the procedure accompanied by the determination of the evidence necessary and available for individual group decision regarding the excellence of achievement. The teacher is not the evaluator. Marks should not be assigned by anyone. (7) Relationships: The core course utilizes subject matter, data, facts, ideas from any or all disciplines as necessary and helpful in planning and carrying out the plans. Guidance is an integral function of the work of the core course. Planning for the students' eXperiences in other aspects of the school program should be a part of the core course. Specific drill activities. An interesting aSpect of recent curriculum trends is the reduced emphasis upon drill. Especially in core courses there has been a trend toward the elimination of specific drill as such. Dr. Harold Alberty, for example, suggests that drill has no place in 119 the core course but should be assigned to Specialized courses where it can play an individualized, remedial func- tion.2 In answer to Item 2.5, teachers in these eight core programs generally replied that drill, as such, was little used. The areas where it appears to be used for review pur- poses are Spelling, grammar, and penmanship. In the social science area it was reported not to have been used at all. Drill procedures sometimes appear in situations where stu- dent chairmen or student committees are checking the group. In two schools teachers reported that students demand some grammar drill and help to plan its method. Some representative comments regarding the drill question were as follows: "we use it in individual cases, to raise the level of a pupil's performance." "Used sparingly but occasionally deemed necessary.” ”Used as a tool of learning." "Little emphasis." ”Not used except by pupils' choice and direction." "Some review by drill under student chairmen." ”Not used at all in history." "Little used." 2 "Some Criteria For The Inclusion of Problems in a Core Curriculum." Source Materials Epg'The Development '2; Core Course‘. (Lansing, Michigan: The Michigan Secondary Study, 1958), p. 29. 120 "No emphasis on drill.” "It varies with the teacher." Egg 2: materials. Item 2.6 dealt with the use of materials. Any technique which departs from the text book and employs a problempsolving approach may be logically assumed to involve supplementary materials. In Table XV are summarized the responses of core teachers in each of the eight schools to the question (Item 2.6) as to what pro- vision was made for materials which would not have been made if the program of integration had not been developed. Examination of Table XV reveals certain common char- acteristics of these eight programs, with regard to materials. Seven of the eight programs have been characterized by the intensified use of supplementary materials, and the eighth reports the demand but not its fulfillment. This trend has resulted in the deve10pment of classroom libraries and in the increased use of the central library, in most cases. The ma- terials used are of three types: (1) extra cepies of books which appear to have a basic contribution, (2) fugitive or pamphlet materials, especially dealing with civic affairs, and (3) fiction and non-fiction books for individual free reading. Librarians in several schools report a noticeable increase in demand for materials by students in core classes. Teachers say that the free reading programs have increased the number of books read as compared with the assigned read- ing method. Some of the classrooms in these eight programs TABLE XV PROVISIONS FOR IKSTRUCTICNAL HATEAIAIS IN ZIGET UNIFIiD PROGRAHS, AS SUIfiaRIZLD FROL STiTRILhTS OF PAH-ICIPAHTS School Provision for materials Big Rapids nigh Texts used, 7th, 8th, and part of 10th grades School Extensive room libraries, student materials fee, 9th and 12th Visual aids program expanded Library use intensified Bloomfield hills Library and room libraries much eXpanded-- high School especially fugitive materials Recording equipment, doubled film use Texts used-~all grades Denby High School No text Extensive room libraries, student materials fee Increased use of visual aids Increased use of central library Dowagiac high Some texts, some not School Expanded supplementary materials Purchased more books More use of visual aids I Godwin heights Classroom libraries - 100 to 200 books High School Kuch sup lementary (current) material Texts uSed in some groups Central library much expanded and used highland Park Basic texts us:d Junior high more free reading School More pamphlet material Kore guidance material (mental hygiene pamphlets) Lakeview Junior Basic texts used High School Uhildren read more books Demand much increased by free reading periods More use of films and radio Wayne nigh School Basic texts used Children demand and need more material, but haven't yet received it 122 have as many as five hundred books available in the room, but children still press the central library for nore ma- terials. There appears to be a particular interest in bulletin and pamphlet material. Teachers express the de- sire for such materials, Lith a low vocabulary power and adolescent or adult reading interest, for retarded readers. Five of the eight scnools report a significant increase in audio—visual techniques. Film use has increased considerably-- doubled in one school. Slides, film-strips, and posters are in demand. Recording equipment was purchased in one school as a result of the unified program. Four of the programs still employ basic texts "as a point of departure." Three more employ them in some sec- tions and not in others, depending presumably upon the teacher's preference. Only one school—~Denby—-has rejected the basic text completely in all its core classes. It appears that these eight programs have not moved very far away from the basic text as an instructional tool, even though the teachers insist that they are only used for re- ference, or as a point of departure, or for source material. In the three schools where this decision is up to the in- dividual teacher, the group judgment of participants in this study indicated that those teachers who had gone farthest in develOping core procedures were the ones who had abandoned the use of texts. There seems to be a belief in these schools 123 that the single text as a basic tool is not apprOpriate to the core curriculum,‘3 but that neophytes need it for greater security at the Start. Some experienced and Skillrul teachers retain the text, however, not so much Ior their own security as for the pupils' and their parents'. The alternative to a basic text is a much extended use of supplementary materials of various levels of difficulty. This, in turn, calls for the eXpenditure of funds by the school or for the collection of student materiais fees. Teachers sometimes shrink from the eternal battle for the right to collect and help students plan the expenditure of the funds for materials. In any case, not too much pro- gress has been made in substituting multiple materials for the basic text in the majority of these eight schools. There is nevertheless a clear trend in that direction in the re- sponses of these teachers and administrators on the interview schedule. The following description of a tenth grade core class in the Big Rapids High School sets forth the techniques ‘which were practiced in many of these eight programs with regard to instructional materials. It also furnishes an example of how core classes were organized and conducted. The description was filed with the Secondary Study in 1941.4 5 This belief probably arises from the obstacle which the singde text interposes to teacher-pupil planning. 4 Also published in Youth Learns 22_Assume Responsibility, lhichigan.Secondary Study (Lanaifig, Michigan: The Study, 1944), pp. 24-250 a 124 In organizing the group our first step was self- determdnation. Thirty-four of the thirty~nine members of last year's core voted to take a chance on the three-hour setup. We agreed to use the same method of government we had used last year and proceeded to elect the usual officers. Every day began with a regular business meeting carried on in our own adap- tation of Robert's Rules 2; Order. All problems of finance and discipline were dISposed of in this time. These meetings were very informal and resembled my conception of the old New England town meeting. We got things done. Our second democratic step was in book buying. We found that sharing books would give us a lot more for a lot less. Our funds were pooled and in addi- tion to three sets of texts, we bought seventeen sub- scriptions to the combined edition of the §cholastic and single subscriptions to Life, Look, Colliers, Pepular Science, United States News, FieId and Stream, and Glamour. We Had a definite program for-the _§gn§I§E§I§_and we used the others for free reading and scrapbook work. *The most important factor in our scheme of getting things done was our planning committee. Whenever we began a new step we took a day or two in free class discussion of ways and means. All ideas were put on the board in outline form by the chairman. When the group was talked out, these notes were put together by a planning committee of five students and the teacher. The committee condensed the material and made a hectographed c0py for every student. It was again discussed and final suggestions written in. There was a sharing of responsibility in the tying together process. Each student and each group had the job of presenting the finished product to the class. We tried to use all the known techniques of class procedure to provide interest and variety. We used panels, contests, quiz programs, dramatics, testing, scrapbooks, construction, and the Socratic methods. we have on occasion invented new ones on the spot. . The club program was the students' own. They were given Friday with the single provision that they told me a week ahead of time whether they needed one, two, or three hours, These programs were supervised by our vice-president. She appointed a program chairman for each week. The chairman picked their own helpers. The committee had to meet a double requirement-~every Friday club period must be entertaining and educational. They ranged from spelling becs with whistled vowels to hikes up Mitchell Creek to roast hot dogs for lunch. 1‘ 125 Changes in instructional techniques. Item.2.7 rounds out the picture of the instructional process in these pro- grams. It asks what changes occurred in instructional techniques as the program develOped. It should be noted that only teachers who had been working with the program from the beginning were really in a position to discuss this question intelligently. Responses on this item are thus somewhat less general than on some of the other items. Several techniques were mentioned, from.which a picture of the trends in these courses can be obtained. The increased use of teacher-pupil planning heads the list, with small group or committee techniques second in order of mention. An increase of teacher-teacher planning was also noted by several, as was study of world government and of intercultural rela- tions. Teachers in two schools agreed that they were now emphasizing the study of formal grammar less, and stressing creative writing and oral exPression more. One school has stressed free reading more since the program started. Two other groups report an increased emphasis upon individual and group self-evaluation. Two groups agree that more art activities have been used as the program deve10ped. One school group has come to stress social develOpment through social activities in the classroom. In summary of this item, it appears that the trend of change has been toward giving students more voice in planning and evaluating 1‘ 126 activities, more creative experiences, and greater under- standing of intercultural and world relationships through direct study of these areas. The following list of problems was submitted and ranked in the order listed by a group of twelfth grade unified studies students at the Godwin Heights high School in 1942. It illustrates the types of instructional tOpics which teacher-pupil planning produces in a unified class: Problems Suggested By 12th Grade Unified Studies Classes3 (1) To make a survey of our community from the standpoint of its facilities, resources, and needs. (2) Does everyone know wnat he is going to do when he gets out of school? (3) What can we do to prepare for what we are going to do when we get out of school? (4) What snould be done about students who find it impossible to get subjects wnich they need? (5) How can we determine what we are best qualified for? (6) How can we improve our personalities? (7) How can-we make ourselves more self-reliant? (8) What ways and means might be used to relieve the possible boredOm whion might arise in a course such as this? (9) How can we prepare ourselves against compe- tition for our chosen vocation? (10) How can we make our subjects fit our vocation? (11) How can we learn to tolerate all types of people? (12) What possibilities are there for employment in our community? 5 Unpublished report to Kichigan Secondary Study, 1942. 6 A report of such a community survey conducted by a Unified studies class at Godwin heights has been included in appendix I, p..275. - 127 (13) How can we get the most fun out of our senior year without letting our marks go down? (14) How to be interviewed. (15) What are some of the things we are going to accomplish this year? (16) What are the possibilities of our taking field trips? (17) We must learn to work together for the common good. (18) How can me choose the best college? (19) What‘ere some of the ways we can relate our English and American government? (20) How can we better become acquainted with our teachers? Another report submitted to the Secondary Study by the teacher of a twelfth grade problems course at the Big Rapids High School in 1941 furnishes additional light on the types of activities and problems selected for study by teachers and pupils:7 Twelfth Grade American Problems Description of Course.. A one-year course for seniors, which satisfies the former civics-economics requirements. Taught for seniors only, this year enrolled eighty-five of the ninety-five seniors. Instructor is also senior homeroom teacher and senior adviser. No formal text used, but large library accumulated in fields covered. hxceptionally good facili- ties with respect to periodical and neWSpaper use. Plan of course flexible, not rigid, Adapted to the needs and desires of the group. Units wnich follow were those studied by this year's group. F Some representative unit materials prepared by Big dapids High School core teachers have been included in Appendix J, pp. 276-295. 128 (1) General objective of the course "To recognize and learn how to meet the problems which confront us now and which will confront us as citizens of the United States after graduation." (2) Units studied as problems by the 1939-40 classes (a) Problems connected with graduation: Hours, points, honor credits, citations Financial problems, clothing, invitations (b) Problems of class organization and finance: Various senior parties Sales campaigns Senior Scandals Senior play School parties put on by seniors School "Thrift" ticket, senior participation Skip Day Swing-out Senior Breakfast Senior Gift (0) Problems of commencement...pageant of progress depicting history of Big Rapids (d) Problems of the home (e) Problems of the church (f) Problems of education (g) Problems of community, state, county, and national government (h) Problems of industry and transportation (3) Example of how one unit was broken down for study ' Unit on Home and Family Relationships A--Home, its history and background B— Problems in founding and preserving a home 1- Marriage a- Choice of a mate b- health 0— Education d— Religion e- Personality 2~ A place to live a- The building b— The locality c~ Neighbors 0- Economic aspects of founding a home l~ Taxes 2- Making a budget 3- Wills and prOperty, deeds, leases, petitions, assessments 4- Divorce 5- Juvenile delinquency 6- Insurance ... . 129 Participation g£_parents and interpretation £2 public. It has been noted earlier that these eight pro- grams resulted in a significant increase in planning activities among teachers. The extent of such team plan- ning is probably without a parallel in these eight schools,, with nearly all of them making a regular time provision in the schedule for grade-level planning. Item 2.12 raises the question of the extent to which lay citizens were involved in the planning or execution of the program. Item 2.15 asks the means whereby the programs were in- terpreted to parents and other lay citizens. In reply to Item 2.15, six of the eight school groups replied "Not much," "Not significantly," or "Not at all." A seventh, the Denby group, mentioned some evening parent meetings,8 some parent evaluations requested annu— ally, and a tear-off reply letter used annually for secur- ing parent consent for continuing the program in the tenth grade.9 The Denby teachers concluded, however, that their response might well be that there had not been much parent participation in the planning of the program. The last group, Big Rapids, listed many interpretive activities and some ways in which lay citizens had participated as resource persons in the core courses. They did not mention any COpies of two letters of invitation to such meet- ing may be found in the Appendix, pp. 258-259. 9 A copy of this form letter is included in the Appendix, pp. 256-257. 130 parent participation in planning. Evidence from other sources, however, reveals this lack throughout the period of the Big Rapids program. I In short, parents and other lay citizens did not participate in the planning of these eight programs. In response to Item 2.13 some interesting trends in home reporting appear. In Table XVI are listed the tech- niques employed for interpreting these eight programs to lay citizens, in the order of the frequency with which each is mentioned. It appears from Table XVI that the eight schools in this study have devoted more effort to interpreting their programs to lay citizens than to involving lay citizens in the planning of those programs. In this reSpect they merely share a failure which is common to most schools. In spite of the comparative interest in interpretation which is revealed in Table XVI, certain deficiencies appear. It is evident that mass techniques still obtain, in general. The report card, the public program, and the mimeographed form letter still hold sway as the principal interpretative techniques, even in these pioneer programs which might be presumed to need a maximum of public support. Individual interpretation, as represented b, the conference with parents and the home visit, are still a poor second in these schools. Ehile TABLE XVI 131 TECHNIQUES EMPLOYED FOR INTERPRETING EIGHT UNIFIED PROGRAMS TO LAY CITIZENS, AS REPORTED BY FORTY-FIVE PARTICIPANTS ======re Order Number of school of Technique groups mentioning mention technique 1 Parent Nights, P.T.A. 5 Parent institutes 3 Forums 2 Student exhibits l 2 Improved report cards 5 S-U 3 Descriptive items 2 3 Letters to parents 5 4 Individual conferences 5 5 Surveys of parent Opinions 5 6 Home visits 3 7 Use of newspaper 3 8 Luncheon clubs 2 9 Using local resource persons in class 2 10 Family dinners l 152 there is some tendency to use parents as resource persons and to interpret the school program through the press, less than half of the groups report using these methods. In many of the school conferences related to the present study, teachers even expressed satisfaction that there had been no curiosity about the school on the part of parents, and no crisis which would demand intelligent interpretation. Yet within a month of these conferences one of the eight schools faced a teacher strike because citizens were unwilling to pay teachers adequately and another was embroiled in a squabble with parents over the morality of group showers for girls. One of the eight programs, as earlier noted, was discontinued in 1945. The immediate occasion, all par- ticipants agreed, was the unprecedented turnover of teachers and administrators. It is clear, however, from other evidence that Big Rapids parents had no idea of the purposes and unique nature of the core program and were quite willing to leave such matters to the admini- stration and to the teachers. In a situation where the parents had been actively involved in the planning and where interpretation had been otherwise on a high level, no such wholesale discontinuance might have been neces- sary or even possible. Instructional pgpcedures ip‘gg§,gggg program. As a means of clarifying the picture of what goes on in 13:5 core classes, it may help to examine at least one repre- sentative core program in somewhat greater detail. The Denby High School core groups have been selected for such analysis, both because of their relatively long tenure under veteran teachers, and because the Denby core program appears to represent the basic purposes toward which the other seven programs are gradually working. The following description of core teaching at Denby was prepared by Dr. Rosalind Zapf for the purpose of interpreting the Denby version of core to in-service classes at Wayne University. CORE TEACHING Denby High School Detroit, Michigan I. Nature of the experiment A. Core deals with some of the common learnings for citizens in a democracy, Specifically with those in the area of democratic citizenship. 1. As a correlative the Care classes assume some responsibility in the areas of pupil guidance and human relations. II. Experimental assumptions A. The primary common concern of citizens in a democratic society is to isolate the problems which arise out of group life, to give these prob- lems adequate study and consideration, and to arrive at wise and equitable decisions concerning them. B. An education which will adequately prepare one to participate in this type of democratic action will require more than a studying about the nature of government and the problems of democracy. It will require a real Opportunity to learn and ractice the skills and techniques of democratic cItIzenship. 134 C; These skills and techniques we believe to be. 1. The ability to think cooperatively with one's fellows 2. The ability to work cosperatively with others in the solution of common problems 3. The ability to utilize the best techniques for solving problems III. Core procedure The essence of the method of core teaching is the arran ement of opportunities for pupils to work in sItuatIons thEh can realIze the purposes which seem fundamental to the education of an individual in a democracy, namely cooperative thinking and working and the ability to solve problems when they arise. This necessitates giving boys and girls as many Opportunities as possible to make decisions which are 2; importance to them and which, Because of this-Importance, seemTEo them worthy of their consideration. A. Content of the courses 1. The content of Core courses in the ninth and tenth grades is not predetermined with the exception of three units, an orientation unit and a unit on democracy in the ninth grade, and a unit on English grammar in the tenth grade. With these exceptions it is determined by the groups and is based on needs and interests as expressed by then. The subject matter is unlhnited. ' a. The subject matter selected by tore classes has, to date, largely fallen within the following areas: 51; Present day war problems Vocations (3) Countries of the world (4) Famous people (5) Social problems (6) History (7) Biology (8) Miscellaneous 2. The content of the eleventh grade Gore is at the present time American History by choice of the pupils. s a _ . . no t . . , a. .7-.. . .. ; s . . s e 3 . , . s 2' ' . ’ . . o‘ . I ' o t . e - “ - . ' | .. . . _\ » n . eve. I L . .J - .- O c a > u . . J. \ 06 ‘. O .L , B. Introduction to a core class 1. Orientation a. Getting acquainted with the school: rooms, school nurse, library, principal, ssistant principal, rules, school paper, time schedules b. Getting acquainted with classmates and teacher 2. Unit on democracy a. Is used as a transition from almost completely teacher-dominated classes to the idea of pupil-teacher planning 3. Letter sent to parents introducing them to purposes of core10 C. Major activities of the course 1. Establishing goals or purposes of class. 2. Selection of areas of work, together with tepics and projects within these areas, pynphg pupils themselves through such methods as: a. GeneraI“class discussions b. Small group discussions 0. Weighting techniques 5. Planning by the pupils, either in small groups or by the class as a whole: a. For the solution of a problem b. For Special projects 0. For the week's or month's work 4. Work periods on topics or projects selected by the pupils. This involves division of the class into small working groups of three, four, or five pupils, the division being made on the basis of common interests of pupils. The work of these groups may include: a. Collecting information b. Collecting illustrative material c. Discussion of material gathered . d. Writing of reports, plays, or radio scripts e. Art projects 5. Presentation of material to class: a. Panels b. Reports 0. Plays d. Quiz programs a. Scrapbooks f. Models g. Charts, graphs, maps “ 10 See the Appendix, pp. 254—255for a copy of this letter. 1‘ 6. Evaluation by the pupils a. Of class and individual projects b. Of class and individual progress toward accepted goals (1) card marking on this 7. Reading and discussion of news events 8. Use of library, both core and school library 9. Counseling of individual pupils 10. Other teachers are asked to assist when help is needed at Specific points a. Speech teacher--to help pupils become aware of points to be watched in giving an oral report or play before the class, a lesson or lessons may be given in the fundamentals of good speech. b. Craft teacher-~to help pupils in find- ing new ways to illustrate particular projects, to cpen to them the possibilities of manual expression, the craft room serves a great need. c. Art teacher--pupils needing assistance in the field of illustration may go to the art teacher. d. Vocational teacher~-pupils needing shop tools for construction work in a particular project may use the sheps. e. Counselors-~during the nine-A grade boys' and girls' counselors are asked to give assis- tance in planning the future curricular programs. f. Groups of teachers--at the beginning of a semester a group of teachers was asked to come in over a period of four days and discuss with the pupils those problems which it seemed im- portant that pupils should be thinking about. Thus possible new areas for‘work were Opened to students. D. Core is not the laissez-faire, "Let the pupil follow his own interest", kind of education. 1. There are definite goals, objectives.and procedures. 2. These goals and objectives are not a body of knowledge and facts but facility with the skills involved in working with others, attacking group problems, and making individual and group decisions. a. The learning of these skills does not depend upon any particular problem or body of subject matter. l '7 1 (:3 rther light may be shed upon the Denby program by the following list of opportunities provided for direct practice of the goals of core. The list was develOped by the Denby core teachers. Learning pp,Act Together gg‘g Social Group Denby High School Core Classes 1. Opportunities provided for group determination of needs, goals, and achievements a. Chance for discussion given to all. b. Class decided what officers were necessaryg Each member had opportunity to express his Opinions on officers needed and on duties of each Office. Un- limited discussion. Voting. c. Small groups working on tOpics discussed their needs and goals. d. Each small group determined the probable date of conclusion of their work. 6. Class decided on points to be considered for giving an A, B, C, etc. for card marking. Done in light of goals class had established earlier in the semester. f. Class discussion of value of self-marking vs. other-pupil marking. g. Class decided at beginning of a unit what factors would be of importance in giving reports, such as notes, bibliography, Objective, interest, notebook. h. Class discussion of and formulation of an answer to class problems. i. rl‘hrough class discussion the method of evalu- ating individual reports was evolved. j. Planning committee report considered by class as a whole. k. Class determination of objectives of the course. 1. Class determination of the marks of a good news scrapbook. m. Selection and weighing of tOpics to be studied. 2. Opportunities provided for assumption of individual responsibilities a. Individual offers to do things. b. DevelOp unit by themselves. c. Individual assigns things to be done. 138 d. Individuals go to school library to work independently. e. Individuals reaponsible for signing up for books from Core library. f. Individual undertakes a project and through trial and error finds a way to do it. g. Individual members of groups work without pressure--must assume reaponsibility in order to complete work. h. Individual work contracts returned and any changes to be made recorded. _ 1. On back of contract pupil listed what he in- tended to do to improve his work. 3. Individual was responsible for checking his own report after getting it back from person who had corrected it. k. Pupil free to go to cupboard and take a book to read after he had completed his work. 1. Individuals were free to ask help from other pupils and to give help to others. m. Roll taken by an individual in each group and reported absentees to teacher. n. Individuals assumed responsibility for definite jobs in a small group. o. Opportunity for individual to review his own progress and consult with the teacher. p. Opportunity to seek vocational and course advice. q. Opportunity to lookfbr answers to vocational problems and to make own evaluation of possible chances available. r. Class officers with regular duties for which they are responsible. s. Rotating news reporters. t. Reaponsibility for recording of reading done during the week. u. Keeping of individual news scrapbooks. v. Contract system: pupil assumes reSponsibility for gathering and assembling material by a certain date. 3. Opportunities for group appraisal of achievements a. Class discussion of reasons for not progressing in their work. Reasons listed on the board. b. Small groups corrected and evaluated each other's reports. c. Certain pupils showed rest of the class their completed unit. 139 d. For card marking each pupil evaluated every other pupil in the class. e. Group goals used as guides to determine evaluation of reports being given to the class. f. Requirements for grades A to E determined by class discussion. 4. Opportunities for self-appraisal a. Individual evaluated himself for card marking. b. On back of individual contract of work each pupil listed his reasons for not progressing farther in his work. 0. After reading other pupils' evaluation of his report, each pupil wrote his own evaluation. d. At end of unit each pupil summarized what he had tried to do and how he thought he had succeeded. The COOperative Behavior Checking Schedule which follows furnishes some amplification Of the meaning of one of the important core objectives at Denby: COOPERATIVE BEHAVIOR CHECKING SCHEDUEE DENBY CORE EVALUATION A. Contributes pp_class I. Expresses relevant ideas in class discussions.. 2. Brings materials for class files............... 5. Volunteers for special jobs.................... 4. Makes pertinent preposals in planning sessions. 5. Makes suggestions for class activities......... 6. B. Helps other individuals 1. Suggests sources of materials.................. 2. Brings material to particular students......... 3. Shows individuals how to use materials......... 4. Attends to the comments and reports of others.. 5. C. Recognizes group roblems I.‘Listens courteoust to contradictory Opinions.. 2. Carries his Share or the Workeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeec ::| 3. Helps others get fair share of Opportunities...‘__ 4. Makes suggestions for improving ways of working or the group................................... 5. -... . . ’Q.‘ .u- o - A > n - ~e—o v - - _ - v r - 4 ,. §-_ «.- ..w- 0" > .. ----.-; - . '1.- .....0000 140 D. Observes class rules and regulations 1. Accepts decisions of the majority.............. 2. Is prompt in getting ready for work............ 5. Has reports prepared on time................... 4. Observes rules for use of classroom materials.. 5. These items suggest a form for developing a rating or checking schedule dealing with COOperative behavior. These items were taken from the list made by core teachers. Some plan for grouping the Specific behavior descriptions under major aspects of OOOperative activi- ties in core classes will probably be helpful not only in summarizing the ratings, but also in directing ob- servations. Further analysis of the concepts of co- Operation that are developing in the classes at Denby will undoubtedly reveal additional meanings of this objective which are not covered by the four major classification headings here. The following account of a Denby core class was written by the students themselves. It may help to complete the picture of the core program at Denby, especially with regard to the cooperative planning procedures which were carried on:11 "How Our Core Class Is Run," To you, that line would probably mean that our core class is run by the teacher, but it is not. No, we have selected officers to lead our class. Now do not think that our teacher has nothing to do with us, because she has. She helps and guides us whenever we need help and guidance. Our core class is Often called a "democratic class" because everything we would like to do, or that we have to do, is discussed by the class and then voted on to see whether it is worthwhile, what good it will do us, and whether we approve of it. Every day our class is Opened by the president who calls the class to order. He then asks the secretary to read the minutes. After this the class corrects the minutes, and a motion is put on the floor to pass the ‘11 This flpyHTp.Democracy, unpublished report of a year's work in a core class at Denby High School. Michigan Secondary Study files, 1943. Published in Youth Learns 23 Assume Responsibilipy, Michigan Secondary Study Tiansing, Michigan: The fitudy, 1944), pp. 33-55. ' . . .. Cocosioeltcsoo O . . .- oseoooleeseo . I . .,.‘ . . Its-000.005.0000... ‘_' . .. A. n .. 0 g . r n' r v r _ _ , . . ' | O . _ . . h I . O l . o I l e ' v ' A x o I O . . . . , v. . , . . . a... A . ‘ , , , . .A ,. . O . . . o ‘ no \ r l I . v . - . J .4 . l' ' ‘ ' O O O ‘ . I ‘ I , - ‘ . | . R l ’ Q ‘ e . , . . _ . e , . Q. ' ‘ '7 . 1 t . . . , I I ‘ s . . I l' e .l 4 a . . . - , . r u. - a O . ~ \ e ( ' ' C v s I s , v I ‘ OD ’ . g ' - , W .J ' ‘ I ‘ I Q d i I u . | e *A , O s A s . u e ' . u , . , — o, . _ ' ‘I | _ ‘ . _ o . p. ‘ . . C _ ' n a . I 1 K 9 v‘ -.v - - .-4.- -..... h- H- e ' . p -- . , - e . ‘ j . . . - Y C n I . , v . , O f . e . o I 141 minutes as read and corrected. The clerk takes the attendance and the president asks if there is any busi- ness to be taken up. If there is we discuss the tOpic that is brought up. For exgmple: One day we.may dis- cuss the organization of a baseball team, another day we may discuss our marking system, both of which take much time. The business meeting is then adjourned, and the teacher takes over the class. Some of the students prepare our bulletin board, while others may go to the library to work on tOpics or read books. Every week the president and vice-president get together and choose a committee to work on a schedule for the following week. The schedule they make then goes on the blackboard and tells us what we will do the week following. So you see our core class is not just an ordinary class. OUR warn 30mm In Core I, our class planned our work as it came along but we found it did not work out well because we were always leaving something out. The teacher, while visiting a core class in Evanston, Illinois, noticed that they made a weekly plan. They put it on the blackboard and in this manner the class could tell at a glance what the week held in stare for them. In that way they included the things that would otherwise have been omitted. At the beginning of Core II a member suggested that we follow their example, which was approved by the class. The president chooses a group of students each week to make the plan. The class corrects it and it is then written on the blackboard. A special Space is set aside on the blackboard, which is used for re- cording our weekly plan. It looks like this: CORE II , Period 5 Period 6 honday Scholastic Discussion of Test Scholastic Articles Tuesday Creative Work on ‘ Writing TOpics Wednesday Report: Work on Caroline P. Topics Thursday Book Work Book Work Friday Free Reading Bree Reading Library-201 Library-201 z‘ 142 The following paragraphs briefly review in diary form what was done one week by students in the core class who reported their schedule-making procedures above. Monday, October 28, 1942 The class was called to order by the acting chair- man. For our business discussion today we considered the problem of electing our class officers. This discussion proved to be of help to most of us. We discussed the qualifications for the various offices during both periods. It would have lasted longer if the class had not been disturbed by the bell at the end of the hour. Tuesday, October 29, 1942 The meeting was Opened when the acting chairman called the class to order. We discussed what officers were needed to carry on our business. We discussed and voted on whether we should have the following: a presi- dent, a vice-president, a secretary, a clerk, a hostess, and a general substitute. During our second hour we voted for our class officers. Wednesday, October 50, 1942 With the help of the teacher the new officers con- ducted the class for the first time. We then discussed what topics would be interesting and valuable for study. In our second hour we voted on what topics we would like, and it was unanimously accepted that we have as our main tOpic ”Special Interests.” Thursday, October 31, 1942 The president called the class to order, the secre- tary then read the minutes, and the clerk took the attendance. Both reports were accepted as read. Some of the pupils went to the student forum meeting at which the Negro problem was discussed. The remainder of the class worked in the room and in the library on their topics. ' During the second hour some of the pupils remained at the forum meeting. The pupils who were left went to the library to find some information that would help them further with their topics. The bell ended our class period. 143 Friday, November 1, 1942 We had our news events today, which proved to be of interest to all of the class. After discussing the news, the entire class went to the library, as it was our library day. Further information from students in the same core program concerning the procedures in working on problems, preparing, and presenting them, is provided in the follow- ing paragraphs: After the pupils have chosen problems to work on, they decide on a certain length of time in which the reports must be finished. Before a person starts work on his problem, he prepares a plan or outline of what he is going to include in it. Also a bibliography is made of all the material he can find on his topic. He then Spends days and often weeks collecting in- formation on his subject. After a time all this ma- terial is put together and made ready for a report. When all is ready he presents his work to the class. Sometimes it is in the form of a tOpic, sometimes a play, or perhaps a scrapbook is presented. The report is judged by the class on such things as the speaking ability of the person, the way he holds the attention of the class, how well he is prepared, how well he has organized his material, and how thoroughly he has covered his subject. This is to help him see how he can improve his work and do an even better job another time. After all this is finished the pupil is ready to start on another problem. It will be recalled that the description of the Denby core was not included because it was typical of all eight programs involved in this study. Teachers in some of the other schools employ a basic text. Some of them place greater emphasis upon the verbal skills and even upon temporary command of certain facts than do the Denby teachers. In some of the schools there is less emphasis upon the skills of group planning and group evaluation than at Denby. f. 144 In terms, however, of the purposes defined in Chapter VI, and of other supplementary evidence, such as may be obtained from visiting classes and conferring with teachers, it is clear that the Denby program represents a stage of deve10pment toward which most of the core teachers in these eight schools are striving. It has therefore been treated in some detail to enable the reader to interpret the goals of the core curriculum in terms of classroom proce- dures and other learning emperiences. It may be helpful to compare the foregoing descrip- tion with another account of a unified program. The following report describes an eleventh grade unified studies class at the Godwin Heights High School during the first semester of 1942-43. It was submitted to the Michigan Secondary Study by the teacher of the class. UNIFIED STUDIES ELEVENTH GRADE GODWIN HEIGHTS HIGH SCHOOL Last week, before the end of the semester, we drew up a tentative list of things we wanted to do this semester. This week we became involved in a series of discussions on these tOpics, which I have listed below: (1) Penmanship ~- definite improvement (2) Latest and newest books -- good literature ~- encourage reading (3) Reader's Digest plan for improving reading (4) Same grading system to be used -- a letter to parents written by both the student and teacher on progress of individuals at mid-term marking period (5) Work for greater class participation (6) Obtaining better suggestions from the students (7) Creative writing 145 (8) Grammar (those who need it) (9) Intensive work on the Scholastics (10) Discussion groups on the Scholastics (11) Series of debates on present day questions (one each month) (12) Preparation of a radio broadcast (13) Study of (a) Background of this war (b) From war to peace at home (c) Latin American problems (d) Asiatic problems (e) Post-war plans (f) Making democracy work (14) COOperative survey with student council of ”Our Rights and Obligations" (15) Program and study of Bill of Rights during "Bill of Rights Week" (16) Vocabulary -- (intensive) (17) An individual term paper for each individual -- some of the tOpics already selected are: (a) Vocations in Industry (b) Vocations in Armed Forces (0) Music-study and composers, their art of directing, actual composition of a song -- Lyrics and music by Ruth DeGraves, B. Lackey, L. Elwell, and G. Bush (d) Illustrated outline of American history with EurOpean background covering period from 1870-1943 (e) Creative writing notebook -- some poems, essays, two short stories, and a novel (f) Study of the President's Cabinet, the working of the government as organized for war and peace Japan and China Alaska -- its place then and now Guide book on rationing -- usable by teachers in other classes 8 h i vvv These will be all decided upon by Friday, February 5th. (18) Completion of war mural and world strategy map I feel that these suggestions are very worthwhile and that they will provide some very meaningful experiences for these students. 146 SUKHARY OF WORK DONE IN UNIFIED STUDIES CLASS -- ELEVENTH GRADE -- SEPTEKBER TO JANUARY, 1942 - 1943 (1) Completion of First Aid Training Course -- 10 weeks (2) Regular reading and study of the combined edition (English and social studies) of the Scholastic Magazine (3) Study of the short story and the essay -- (readings from our literature book) -- followed up by a contest in our group and the winning essay by Lois Covey published in the Grand Rapids Press (4) Study of the colonial period, Revolutionary War period, and the Civil War period in our American history -- followed up by a mural, not yet completed, of the famous wars in the history of our country (5) Study of thirty-three men prominent in the present- day war -- prepared a short biographical sketch on each man -- followed by an identification test (6) A world map painted (not yet completed) by Eldon Potter, Jim Berkey, and Roy Conant -- when finished, we eXpect to follow more closely the activities of the war by means of flags and painted thumbtacks, representing the Allied and enemy forces -- also plan to have a flag for the relatives of our group who are in service -- a flag for each person wherever he may be stationed and serving (7) thensive work on sentence construction (8) Written work on the Hunorous Prose section of our literature book (9) Complete reading together of Booth Tarkington's "Seventeen", Halliburton's "Royal Road to Romance", and part of Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough's "Our hearts Were Young and Gay"; complete reading of ”See Here, Pvt. Hargrove", and Agatha Christie's "The Big Four" -- reviewed several other books for the group upon request: "Dragon Seed", by Pearl S. Buck, "Inside Latin America" by Gunther, and "They Were Empendable" by W. L. white (10) A great deal of reading aloud by the group -- in the study of the drama, the entire group took part: The Trysting Place -- Tarkington Where The Cross Is Made -- O'Keill Nathan Hale -- Clyde Fitch Joe Louis Famed The War -- (Scholastic) (11) (12) (15) (16) (17) (18) 147 A series of debates planned and given with only two non-participating members of the entire group -~ some of the tOpics: (a) Tolerance -- racial b Post-war planning now (c) Women in industry after the war (d) The question of 18 and 19 year olds being allowed to vote (e) Problems confronting 18 and 19 year olds at the present time A notebook prepared and written by the entire group the first week of school on the armed forces of the U.S.A. -- written for the purpose of being used throughout the school whenever other classes might need the information we had gathered Sang a great deal -- current patriotic songs, popular songs and folk songs from our literature book which fell in with our study of the Civil War period A news committee made up of volunteers -- up-to-the minute news of each day for the first ten minutes each morning -- valuable in keeping us all well informed as to latest events -- committee also pre- pared a typical radio broadcast of news, a play, and some commercials Extensive speech work -— impromptu Speeches,. selling Speeches Some of the individual projects: (a) The dramatization of a play (For Women Only) (b) Manners -- prOper things to say and do (0) Study of the Morse code (d) The American history mural (e) The world map (f) Study of philos0phy -- became too involved and was eventually drOpped (g) Study of the entire problem of rationing Several symphonic programs -- records from the personal collection of Frank Stanford -- most enjoyable as he told the story which accompanied each record and those who did not understand music beforehand knew what to listen for Conducted a survey for the purpose of securing positions in the local stores for the holidays -- not completed in time -- may go on with this next semester 148 (19) The last two weeks of the semester, the fourth hour each day, worked on five group projects -- three of these groups prepared a syllabus (one in each group) and these were on (1) History of America, (1942 -- through reconstruction period) (2) South America (3) Africa -- other two groups worked on the war mural and on the world map -- last two groups consisted of three members each, the history of America, 13 college preparatory students; South America, 7 members; and Africa, 6 members -- each group had chairman -- great variety of individual reading and research was done -- some students unable to adjust themselves to working in the room, so worked outside on their project -- brought typewriters into the room and had all of our materials brought over from the library (20) Brought several anthologies of poetry from the library and had peOple choose the poems they liked the best to read aloud -- along with this, studied some of the best loved poems in American literature -- among these: Thanatopsis, Vision of Sir Launfal, The Raven -- one of the boys, Frank Stanford, wrote a poem of his own to read aloud, and Roy Conant brought two volumes of poetry to be read This summary does not include all we have done but it gives a general picture of the type of thing that is being carried on in the class. Summary. It has been noted that the purposes and scOpe of the instructional procedures which characterized these eight programs gradually became broader during the seven years under analysis, in Spite of the difficulties imposed by teacher shortages and wartime demands. Teachers did not begin with any great concern or understanding of growth and development data, but exhibited an increasing interest in it as the programs progressed. Their chief criteria for the selection of learning experiences were the events of the times, the judgments of the teacher and 149 of the group as to their needs, and the level of their skills, both in academic areas and in social adjustment. There was little emphasis upon drill or upon the mastery of knowledge as an end in itself. There was much emphasis upon the problem approach, small group study, social and creative experiences, and upon the techniques of critical thinking, including evaluation. These emphases led class groups to employ many types of materials and to go far beyond the basic text, even though the text was still usually retained. There was a definite tendency to share the reaponsibility of in- structional planning with the students, but little effort was made to involve parents or lay citizens in such planning. Indeed, the programs were only interpreted to parents by the conventional mass devices and it is the collective Judgment of all eight groups participating in this study that most parents do not understand the program. It has probably en- dured and even progressed chiefly because of the caliber of teachers involved. In the next chapter the effectiveness of instructional procedures in these eight programs will be analyzed on the basis of such data as are available. I.l CHAPTER IX EFFECTIVENLSS OF UNIFIhD PROGRAKS Introduction. In Chapter III it was emphasized that evidence relating to the effectiveness of these eight uni- fied programs was largely lacking at the outset of the study. This failure of teachers and administrators to evaluate the core program was due to several causes. In the first place, the problems involved in teaching and ad- ministering a school during the war were many and difficult ones. New functions, such as pre-induction training and physical fitness, were suddenly thrust upon the secondary school. New tasks confronted the teachers-~issuing ration books, conducting war stamp, bond, and salvage drives, or- ganizing air-raid drills, holding patriotic assemblies, and many other responsibilities which were added to those which the teacher shared in wartime with other citizens. The same period witnessed an unprecedented turnover of personnel, which is still continuing in some degree, two years after the war. The case of the Big Rapids program has been mentioned; the new superintendent and high school principal confronted the school year 1943-44 with only five core teachers left of sixteen who had been involved in the program. At Godwin heights the turnover was somewhat less dramatic, but even more continuous. Every year of the 151 unified studies program there saw one or more new teachers replacing experienced personnel, often during the school year. The Bloomfield hills faculty changed constantly. The Wayne group has had two substitutions in the small team group of nine teachers since September, 1946. The three teachers who share the entire core program at Dowagiac this year are all new since 1945, two of them since 1946. The Lakeview and highland Park groups have remaited somewhat more constant and the Denby group has enjoyed the greatest continuity of the eight. Yet even in these last three schools there has been an annual prob- lem of orienting new teachers to the core program. Under these conditions, administrators and teachers have experi- enced great difficulty in maintaining the program through- out these years, without devoting any effort to research or evaluation. None of the eight schools has a director of research as such. The burden of conducting research thus falls upon the busy principal or classroom teacher. A second factor which has contributed to the general failure to conduct controlled evaluative studies in these programs is the difficulty which teachers ex- perienced in measuring the unique goals of the core cur- riculum. It is perhaps unnec ssary to remark that the measurement of subject mastery is a simple matter com- pared with the measurement of social adjustment, critical 152 thinking, and such civic skills as the ability to assume reSponsibility, plan effectively with others, and make wise choices among several alternatives. It is true that much progress has been made in recent years in the development of new instruments designed to measure achievement toward such goals as these.1 The instruments devised by the Evaluation Staff of the Eight—Year Study, under the direction of Dr. Ralph Tyler, are representa- tive of the growing body of evaluation devices which can contribute to the measurement of progress toward personal- social development and intelligent citizenship. Such instruments as these were rather commonly used in.most of these eight schools. In five of the schools partici— pating in the Michigan Secondary Study a comprehensive battery of such tests was administered in 1939. These testing programs served several useful purposes. They are not of any help, however, on the present problem of analyzing the effectiveness of the core curriculum. It is possible that they.might have served that purpose if personnel had been available to direct and interpret the testing programs toward the goal of measuring Specific programs within the schools. Teachers and administrators 1 See, for example, J. W. Wrightstone, Appraisal of Ex erimental High School Practices (NeW‘York:IBureau 'ET'Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, ¢\ v‘ 1‘ 153 in these eight schools were not generally successful in applying instruments of measurement to the core programs in their schools. A third reason for the failure to measure the outcomes of core objectively lay in the fact that teachers and administrators in seven of the eight schools did not enter upon the programs with an experimental philosOphy. In all of the schools except Denby, the unified program was gradually adOpted during these years, not as an in- structional experiment which required testing and sup- porting evidence, but rather because of the convictions of teachers and administrators that it was an improved way to organize instruction. It was develOped in accor- dance with the philosophy of participants, but so gradu- ally in most cases that the completed interview schedules reveal little thought of the program as revolutionary or eXperimental. Teachers in Lakeview and Highland Park even eXpress surprise that one should be interested in "their eXperimental" program. ”It isn't an experiment," they say with a trace of indignation, "it is an estab- lished program-~we've done it for years." Something of this attitude may be noted in all of the schools except Denby, where the core courses were deliberately intro- duced as an eXperiment and have been maintained on an experimental basis, for a few sections of students, throughout the years. This fact may explain why Denby is the only program of the eight in which there has been a beginning of research on the effectiveness of the cor . The preceding remarks have not been offered as excuse or extenuation for one obvious inadequacy of this study. They are intended to help the reader to interpret that which follows. In presenting such data as are available, the evaluation of the unified progrars will be based upon the following types of data: (1) Data on changes in students (2) Data on the holding power of the programs (3) Data on follow-up studies (4) Data on student reactions to the programs 5) Data on the effect of the programs on the total school (6) Data on parents' evaluations of the programs (7) Data on administrators' and teachers' evalu- ations of the programs. . Changes ;3 students. In two of the schools there are some data on the growth of students enrolled in the program. In one of these, however --Highland Park-— the data are confined to the issue of whether or not children have retained an "adejuate" command of the subjects which are conventionally offered. With reapect to that one 155 issue, the results of the annually administered Stanford and Metropolitan achievement tests give clear evidence, in the words of the principal, that ”there has been no significant difference in the areas of skills and know- ledge between the core groups and the groups in separate subjects prior to 1940.” No measurement of social ad- justment of civic skills has been.made at Highland Park, excepting those represented by teacher Judgments reported in this chapter. No careful equating of groups was pos- sible or apprOpriate, since the program was instituted throughout an entire grade level and has been gradeawide ever since its introduction. It is therefore difficult to generalize from the Highland Park achievement testing program, beyond the fact that it has satisfied teachers and parents there that there has been no loss of the conventional subject command as a result of the core pro- gram. Since that program was not primarily develoPed for the purpose of increased command of conventional sub- Ject matter, it is evident that these test results have little bearing on the goals of the Highland Park core program. At Denby there has been a rather active interest in testing and evaluation since 1942. This interest has been manifested, for example, in the testing of personal- social adjustment, which was one of the basic goals.of 156 the Denby core classes. One core class in the ninth grade was given the California Test of Personality, Intermediate Eorm A, at the beginning and end of the year Janurry, 1942- January, 1945. The percentile ranks on separate items of the test, for January, 1942, and for January, 1943, are presented in Table XVII.2 This one core class of thirty-four students made a considerable improvement, as measured by one test, in both self- and social-adjustment. Of particular interest is the gain in freedom from anti-social tendencies, ‘ (percentile gain from 50 to 65), in school relations, (60 to 67.5), and in community relations, (60 to 80)..5 The same test was also administered in 1946 to 216 twelfth grade students, of whom 36 had never heen enrolled in a core class and seventy-nine had had one, two, or four years of experience in core. In Table XVIII the results of this test are summarized in terms of the raw scores on self-adjustment, social-adjustment, and total adjustment. Ag Evaluation 2: Curriculum Changes, Edwin Denbx High School 1958-1945. Unpublished report to Michigan Secondary Curriculum Study, p.41. 3 No test of statistical significance can be applied to these data, due to the fact that no index of standard deViation is available for the scores. The raw scores were not retained and the data were reported in terms of the percentile ranks based on national norms. 157 IABEEiIVII RESULTS OF CALIFORNIA.TEST OF PERSONALITY, ADMINISTERED TIICE TO ORB CORE GROUP AT DENBY HIGH SCHOOL, 1942-1943 11:34 Test areas ‘ Bercentile ranks ' Jan. 1942 Jan. 1945 ,, Self-adjustment (total) . 50 70 Feeling of belonging . 45 65 Self-reliance 45 80 Sense of personal worth 40 60 Sense of personal freedom 50 80 Freedom from with-drawing tendencies 5O 85 Freedom from nervous tendencies 50 65 Social adjustment (total) 60 65 Social standards 70 70 Social skills 65 65 Freedom from anti-social tendencies 50 65 family relations 50 50 Oomunity relations 60 80 School relations 60 67.5 , Total adjustment 50 67.5 -..... -- v' .. - . -.- ,- - O .. ,_ - - O— . u I ‘. » I . ear o ‘ l . . ,v o |. . . ‘ u 3e 1 ' .. -..-”-....- ...—- ’~A. .IIA-r .~*-.fi ‘ a o .- .. eve -_‘. - ...- -fi-~o 7.. .5.— i ' Y . ‘ ,.. ---- .... ., . .— - 7..., out. I A 6 -» ...-......" . a- o; - - r:eO-—m-»aw ~--. -~‘ -- ...“... .- ..- \Q: I t e ( e 9 o nut-w w _._, --. Ia - e u a - 1. c \ \ . . I x .4 . a .. . 158 TAEIE XVIII HEAR RAH SCORES ON CALIFOWVIA TIbT 0F PERSOXALITY KADE BY 215 CORE AND NON-CORE STUDLNTS IN 1946 AT DERBY HIGH SCHOOL Sigma of Self- Social Total total adjustment adjustment adjustment adjustment. scores Students who had been in 74.74 75.49 150.24 18.75 core classes (N a 79) Students who had not been 72.02 73.02 145.79 18.56 in core classes (N - 156) From Table XVIII it appears that the experimental group of seventy-nine core students exceeded the control group of 156 non-core students in total adjustment by 4.454, as .measured by this test. Application of a test of statistical significance to this difference reveals that there are about ten chances in a hundred that the obtained difference is attributable to chance. Thus it cannot be considered a sig— .nificant difference. . I -_0-. \\ \ ‘. 159- In September, 1944, the California Test of Personality was given to seventy-seven paired students, thirty-four in a core group and thirty-three in an English class of the same grade level (ninth). The pairs were approximately equated in terms of their intelligence ranking. The test was then repeated with the same groups in June, 1945. The results of these two administrations of the test are shown in Table XIX. TABLE XIX RESULTS OF CALIFORNIA TEST OF PERSONALITY, AS ADMINISTERED T0 SEVENTY-SEVEN PAIRED CORE AND NON-CORE STUDENTS AT DENBY HIGH SCHOOL, 1944-45 (I h _—:_ 3-— ExPerimental Control group group (N = 54) (N = 55) Sept. June Sept. June Summary %ile, Self Adjustment 75.0 95.0 70.85 78.75 Summary %ile, Social Adjustment 72.0 87.5 72.5 65.75 Summary %ile, Total Adjustment 75.75 92.14 70.85 76.25 Differences, %iles, Total Adjustment 18.58 5.42 Mean Raw Scores, Self Adjustment 76.29 81.62 75.64 76.75 Mean Raw Scores, Social Adjustment 77.79 81.85 76.67 76.55 Iean Raw Scores, Total Adjustment 154.58 165.47 152.50 155.09 Difference, Mean Raw Scores, Total Adjustment 9.09 .79 160 It will be noted that the thirty-four core students registered a marked improvement in all aSpects of adjust- ment, as measured by this test. They exceeded the control group considerably in both self and social adjustment, and the final difference in the net gains of the two groups in total adjustment appears significant -- (core students, 18.58 percentile, non-core 5.42 percentile). No test of statistical significance can be applied to these differences, due to the lack of a standard deviation index.4 One aSpect of growth, though surely not the chief aspect as it is commonly regarded, is scholastic achievement. No careful research has been done on this matter of scholastic achievement in most of the schools, due to the absence of a control factor. In six of the eight schools, all pupils en- roll in core classes at certain grade levels. At Wayne, nine out of ten sections of freshmen are in the team program. There is thus no basis for comparing the scholastic achieve- ment of adequate numbers of students in core classes with the achievement made by any comparable grade group. In Denby high School, where the core program has been maintained at an experimental minimum, at least one study has been made of scholastic achievement. Twenty-three stu- dents in the twelve-A core group in June, 1946 were ranked in intelligence, as measured by the Detroit General Aptitude 4 See foot-note 5, p.156. 161 Eggp, and in scholastic achievement for the four years of senior high school. The results of that comparison showed that eighteen of the core students obtained a four-year achievement rank in their class higher than their intelligence ranx, while five obtained an achievement rank lower than their intelligence rank. This difference is rare at Denby, accord- ing to testimony of senior counselors. It appears that this group of students, all of whom had been enrolled in core classes for four years, made an unusual scholastic achieve- ment throughout their high school careers. In Table XX the actual differences in the ranking of this group are shown. It is obvious that the data in Table RX should be interpreted with caution. There are many possible factors which might explain the unusual scholastic achievement of this group which was the first to graduate from Denby after four years of core. Whatever the cause, it is evident that this group broke precedent at Denby by exceeding their in- telligence rank in scholastic achievement. Another goal of the Denby program has been growth in the ability to communicate with others. This goal is often interpreted by English teachers to imply, or to require as its basis, the command of English usage and grammar. English classes in Denby, as in most high 162 IABLE XII CLASS RANK IN ACHIEVEMENT AND WIGMGE IN m, 1945 Oil' TlEHTY-THREE DERBY SENIORS WHO HAD BEEN ENROLLED IN CORE'CLASSES FOUR YEARS Student Achievement Inte1ligenee Difference rank rank Bettiahill 55 225 {157 Berner 56 109.5. I 53.5 Born 224 126.5 - 97.5 Dietz 96 160 I 64 Dorbard 49 78.5 I 29.5 Dost 125 155 I 59 Eagle 138 139‘ I 1 Green 92 168 I 76 Johnson 150 131 - 19 Kbhnt so 109 l 25 Kaiser 95 159 I 46 33108 101 56.5 - 45.5 Lambert 133 145 I 10 Link 210 84.5 ~126.5 Pennant 115 126.5 I 11.5 Pickett 65 198.5 I133.5 Bettie 82 121 I 59 Schalk 105 153 I 48 Beeeo 161 201 I 40 Stereni 172 184.5 I 12.5 Slenhrenek 155 153 I 20 weyne 61 182.5 I121.5 liederoder 140.5 81 - 59.5 schools, include exercises in formal grammar at nearly every grade level. tutes a major emphasis. The Denby core teachers remain unconvinced that At some grade levels the grammar work consti- ,. g u a a t . . . . I \ . v ., e . - - ...... -.. -.an- o. s a I pI-.».-a-.~.— .1 ..0— -- ’0‘.“ u ‘ur-r -, ...—7“ o "1 ', \_ o ‘_ t ' 1 e ..v Q s n - ‘nl . t o _- - ‘ | A. "1.: .; :0 \’ D ' ~ * . .I W ‘ '. i - -. . l .- > \ O ; T K e " ~.\ a.- u .g .1 k. . \’ _- 4'. “ 9 O ... ....- q t 3 ' C. O L ..r",¢"'..§' ,4 "J" 3 l ' 4",- ‘- - - .-.- .---.¢- 'I.— —~ . 9A”... or r..- ...-.-- .. - was... .- ~ --. 5M «*M.-wa--c-uud--o ~oA .o ..a ”- ”IN- “...-p“ .. ‘. ‘-.°‘$-:. .- .. t ‘ I : '.u. . . - \I' ML , . ,. L -.L I": :- 1. .. '. b I .I ."-L- -V K! g r -"‘"J. r" . , J c 39-. f"- 6 V ‘ t ' I I J. ’ ~1 ._ ,-‘.‘.a r ' '- ‘ J . v ‘-J-~ _-v-- Hs-“u—ws .... -_‘~.-M -W w -v—M. -wafl'“ -. O” - Wt ...... .1 'r 'Y] L _ 'o .4. r' r ' *: A ' l .‘ " ' x. i‘ ' ,; " fl . .4 ‘ . . 5 '. r:'\ v‘ -o'o - L ‘-' ~n‘v’. “...-~- .~--.. rec-— rd»- —- w-gn “n. , .0 n A‘ ’ -“O L _ . ' Q .‘ . .. ~ 1. ,. '. 51‘ , . | J 5) ll '3' (*J ‘4‘ ; -' .1! . .’ O r . . a _ . ~ 0 '\ p r. {.1} ... .L --4-6 d .1 a ' - 5 ’ 'c , t ’ 1 ‘1 \l-’ .L-J '. I .. L '4 n .. _ i; . :1 .A O 6'-) o- ‘D j“ '- v .- t‘ u ~.-'-l. .. f 1‘. '\‘\ V' 'II fir! - A- ! _LJ.1\- \z e :' F' . V U .. ._ nun). o- _. . ‘. . :.. \ .0 _ MI I. '. nA‘ - '3 1 'J ru 0- e‘ r . P "- ‘ ..‘-' r - .- - ” ‘.. '1 J. ‘ J « ' — - "' " ‘ . s ., ,- . , . - J '- . . \ 0 fl. ‘ . I . it- I 4.31 - x' . V . x 2‘ l 4 I. '_ ' '-g I - ‘ ‘ ' 'f .‘ " “ . ‘1 v ,_ yr .. ...- "5k; ' f : ~ : . m... 4--L-'. . -. I" - Q U. h'.«‘. .J . . ‘ r I 1' , l o .-x.- u 5+3- 3. ‘ ‘. J. ‘ 9‘] _9 2 6 . :1 \ {‘_ LU \I 11‘ 0!- D-I ' r? ‘ I r ,3 b, \-0 _ J‘ ...~ n -' r - " new ..L‘ ‘ L 00» .t. a - r 0 . w .- I _\ I . t. w. Jim... .u . ft “.r 0‘ rlfl'll'". a 3‘ ‘a’ J... 15.3... ‘. '6- . f .L. or r, . v . ' £0 ‘ '1‘ ’- ‘ an.- '~ 0 p . - Q . ' ._'\ ‘ ‘ r ‘ . y) :‘.‘L .‘ h ' ... ... n' .3. '1 -.-—-t *p- A"- I ‘ I a ‘ A I . . o “ ‘ I 163 communication skills depend in any significant measure upon knowledge of grahmar. They have continued to adhere to the selection of content by pupil-teacher planning. As a result, the only instances where students have made a formal study of punctuation and grammar are the few cases where such eXperiences were deliberately chosen by the group. There has been practically no formal study of grammar in core classes. In light of the above fact, the data which follow are interesting. The Rinsland-Beck Natural Test of English Usage, Form A, was given to six classes at the end of the nine-A grade. Three of the classes, A, B, and C, were the t0p sections according to intelligence. The A and C sections were non-core classes which had had a year of training in hnglish grammar. The B section was a core class which had had no formal grammar work. The other three sections, E, F, and G, were lower on the scale according to intelligence ranking. The E and G sections were non-core and the F section was a core class. In Table XX15 a summary is presented of the scores on this test of English usage for the six sections. It is lb :3 tan < {J 1...: C 'D (+- H. on 2f Curriculum Changes, op. cit. p. 41. 164 TABLE 111 scans MADE BY FOUR NON-CORE AND TWO CCRE SECTIONS AT DERBY HIGH SCHOOL IN JUNE, 1942 ON THE MNSWWK NATURAL TEST OF ENGLISH USAGE W H I. Mechanics 1;. Grammar Total 01“: n. 8.1). n. 5.1). u. 3.5. A 31 60.06 6.06 57.19 5.94 117.26 10.42 B (core) 37 57.62 5.96 57.30 4.57 114.92 8.95 C 31 57.03 7/90 55.61 5.42 112.64 11.50 E 25 53.52 6.73 52.48 6.48 106.00 11.22 I . (core) 29 46.95 6.76 49.76 7.11 96.69 11.73 G 27 44.63 8.35 46.07 9.49 90.70 14.90 evident from the table that the six classes scored in the exact order of their reSpective intelligence rankings on Test I, which deals with punctuation. In Test II, dealing with grammatical use of English, the B (core) section exceeded the A (non-core) section, despite its lower intelligence ranking and despite 2‘ -...— .-~—.- -u- ‘9.“ -..-p; L. 1‘“.- .0 O .--“..n-J ~ . ‘. . , . 4 l - . . . . i I '- . ... 1 {' . Q .‘.._.w..A-. — ...n-. ., . A _ g I - v~ _ o -. ‘ .4 “00%...- na— _,'..-. ...-u *1". - ...- 'b ‘ v..- .u. .HA.. «a ,- ,, u - , .... D.‘ o J. o - .... 5.“ J?" o O» - -1. --—.-. . n n yum. .6 c. .- -~.m§ ... l '. ... . . on» . ,, - c... u- -. e _ - n. n - ...7- “5...... -r“‘v- ,v .-- -- I c .‘ .0. - .- .— - ...- - -.-..._ -....- O _ - ‘ ...--_...--.-..'-—n- -— _ _ -l .-.... a *7- o - .5..‘...-. v . I , . ‘ o l \ e D I .. . . 0 ' I 6 . 6 . I L . 1... ' ... - . . . .7-.-’ . . s _u.-. 165 the fact that the students ip‘ip had had g9 formal grammar. In the three lower groups, E, F, and G, the scores on both tests fall according to the intelligence nankings. It appears from Table XXI that scores on an English usage test depend more upon initial intelligence than upon instruction in formal grammar. On the basis of one test, at least, it seems reasonable to conclude that the core classes involved diSplayed a command of English usage which met the normal expectancy for ninth graders at Denby. Such data have no bearing upon the purposes expressed by Denby teachers for the core program; however, they assist other teachers to feel secure about the program, and thus have an important bearing on the continuance of core classes in a school. At least one other kind of measure of pupil growth has been applied in the Denby program. Since one of the goals of the core program was social adjustment, it was considered by teachers that membership in high school clubs might be a valid criterion of improved adjustment to school life. A studyvne made in January, 1943 of 222 twelfth graders at Denby as to the number of vclub semesters" they had experienced. A club semester was in- terpreted as membership in one club for one semester. One hundred and thirty-two of the seniors studied had had no 1‘ 166 eXperience in core courses. Ninety had been in core classes from one to four years. It was discovered that the Ida/non-core seniors had $90 club semesters to their credit, while the ninety/core seniors had 598. Thus the students with core background averaged 3.644 club se- mesters per student as compared with an average of 2.954 for the non-core students. It is evident that the core students were more active in the extracurricular life of the school. If the criterion is a defensible one, this demonstrates a measure of superiority in social adjust- ment for the students with a background of core. holding_power. One purpose expressed by core teachers in this study was that of aiding students to adjust successfully to school. It might reasonably be asked whether students in core classes demonstrate such adjustment, at least by remaining in school. In the two junior high schools involved in this study, teachers rejected this criterion because legal compulsion kept all students in school until age sixteen. The same point was raised in some of the senior high school groups. An unusual drop-out rate accompanied the war period, which further complicates the picture. A few data are available, however, on this matter of holding power. For example, one study made at Wayne 167 reveals that of 113 ninth graders enrolled in one team of three core sections, there were four drop-outs dur- ing the period September, 1946 to January, 1947. Dur- ing the.same period, the one non-core section at Wayne lost ten students out of forty-three by the drop-out route. A study in June, 1941 of the ninth grade drop- outs in the Big Rapids High School revealed that the average annual ninth grade loss by drop-outs was 14.2 students during the three years 1935-1938. With the initiation of the ninth grade core program in 1938 this dr0p-out rate diminished markedly. During the three years 1938-1941 the average annual ninth grade loss by drOp-outs was 4.6 students. The average annual enroll- ments for the six years were approximately equal. In October, 1946, a study was made of drop-outs of core and non-core students at Denby High School. A summary of this study is presented in Table XXII.6 An advantage is shown in Table XXII fbr the four core classes as compared with the four non-core classes of the same grade level. The dr0p-outs included in this survey were due to "over-age" or to ”work". It was 6 A summary of the Denby data.on drop-outs due to age or jobs from 1938 through 1943 has been included in Appendix F, p. 264. s _- 7 . l r , . I I D I I I . I . ‘ Q I I I I . . o . I Q I II I ' . . ... I .. g I II . I - I I I . V . ‘ -. I , e ‘ . I . I - In I I t I I . . o - - I I I I I . . . ' . H I I I . ‘ - I ._ I O I I . A a- I I I v . I I ‘ . . t I . - - I v I . - .. I ' ' . t I I I I I I ' I l , .- . I I l ‘ I ' . ~ . ‘ . ’ l ‘ ..- ‘ i . I 0 II I I O i I . . - ...-.. 7-4—.-7--H.-¢—'- ”II“ ‘ 6 .- . 4' ~ I ' I . I . I I I I g t I 168 TABLE XXII NUEBER OF DROP-OUTS UE TO AGE OR JOBS, FROM FOUR CORE AND FOUR NON-CORE CLASSLS AT DENBY HIGH SCHOOL FROM JANUARY, 1942 TO JANUARY, 1946 Core sections Non-core sections 1002 - 5 1001 - 1 10.3 - 7 10.7 - 13 10.5 - 8 10.8 - 10 1006 “' 14 10010 - 20 Total 54 Total 44 *iNo data were available for Sections 10.4 and 10.9, both non- core groups. assumed that these two categories are likely to include youth whom an effective program of curriculum and guidance might have retained in school. DrOp-outs for military service, death, or transfer to other schools were not included, since it was considered that those categories lacked relevance to the study. Follow-ER studies. No formal follow-up study has been made by any of these eight schools of their gradu- ates or drop-outs. Bloomfield hills has one now under 169 way, and at lenst three other schools have signified their intention to make such a study. Five of the schools were included, however, in the college followeup study made by the Kichigan Second- ary Curiiculum Study between l943 and 1945. This study of the college records of 382 gradu tee of twenty-three member schools in the Secondary Study covered the three college years 1940-45. Included in the study were the records made in five Michigan colleges -- Wayne Uiiversity, University of hichigan, hichigan State College, Western hichigan College, and Central Michigan College by gradu- ates of Denby, Big Rapids, Dowagiac, Godwin Heights, and Lakeview high Schools. The sunnary of the findings of this study were as follows: Graduates of the eXperimental programs made about the same scholastic record, the same eitracurricular record, and the same gersonfl adjustment record in college as did their control groups. One generalization which seems significant is that these five studies provide little basis for the aseunption that the reiuirement or non-requirement of any particular pattern of subject sequences in high school will either aid or diminish one's chance for success in college. It appears from the limited evidence of this one follow-up study that the unified curriculum programs in Michigan Study of the Secondrry Curriculum, 50K? Went to College (Lansing: The study, l945), p. 47. 170 the five schools concerned had not hindered the students' chances for success in college in 1945. It should be remembered, however, that only a few students had ex- perienced the core curriculum and gone on to college by 1943. Data from similar studies support the thesis, nevertheless, that the core curriculum prepares students for college as effectively as do separate subject re- quirements.8 Since college preparation is not one of its basic goals, this fact assumes all the more significance. Reactions 2: present and former students. Since one of the purposes of the core program has been the deve10pment of ability in critical thinking and evalua- tive judgment, it seems reasonable to measure the program's effectiveness, at least in part, in terms of the judgments of present and former students of core classes. It is obvious that such judgments are partially a measure of the teacher's effectiveness, as distinguished from the effec- tiveness of the core plan as such. The effort has there— fore been made, in the few studies which have been conduc- ted of student reactions, to secure judgments of those as- pects of the program which appear to be unique to the core. 8 For example, see D. Chamberlin, E. Chamberlin, N. Drought, and W. Scott, Did Thev Succeed lg Colle e? (New York: Harper and Brothers, $9425, 291 pp. 171 Teachers in the Lakeview program report that tenth graders formerly in the core program.come back from the senior high school and always mention how well they knew their core teacher in Junior high school. Highland Park teachers state that tuition students who transfer into that school "enthusi- sstically endorse" the program. In both of these cases it may well have been the teacher who was receiving these accolades. Three groups of core pupils at Denby were asked, at the end of the school year 1941-42, to state the ways in ‘which they believed the core class had been of help to them. These unsigned statements rank as follows in respect to the number of pupils who made than: (I) Learned how to work with other pupils (8) Learned to make friends (3) Learned to look up material (4) Learned to take notes (5) learned to present material to the class in many different ways (6) Studied subject in which we were interested (7) Learned to take part in.a discussion and speak before a group (8) Learned a great many facts (9) Learned to be independent 172 Each semester at Denby the core students are asked to make an anonymous statement of their attitude toward school. An examination of these statements for four semesters prior to January, 1943 reveals that the great majority like school and look forward eagerly to their future in high school. Over half of the core students at Denby regularly request permission to continue core work.9 Since the number of sections is held at a mini- mum, most of these requests must be denied. In June, 1946 fifty-six out of one hundred nine-A's reguested permission to continue in a core class. Reactions of students in one section of core at Denby in January, 1547 reveal some interesting Judg- ments when comparison is made with the purposes expressed by core teachers in Chapter VI. Table XXIII contains a summary of these evaluative comments, ranked in the order of number of mentions. The judgments presented in Table XXIII are unani- mously favorable to the core method, even though the stu- dents were not asked to sign them. This is not unusual at Denby. Each year core students are asked to evaluate the core class anonymously, and each year the verdict 9 Random selection governs the initial formation of core groups at the ninth grade level. 173 TABLE XXIII JUDGMENTS OF STUDEKTS IN ONE NINE-B CODE SECTION AT DENBY HIGH SCHOOL IN JANUARY, 1946 AS TO EFFECTIVENESS OF CORE Order Statements Number of times mentioned 1 It has helped us to work together 13 2 It has helped us to understand each other 10 3 It has helped us to prepare for later life 10 4 It has helped us to understand democracy 9 5 It has made history and English more clear 4 6 It has shown us how other people live 1 7 It will help prevent wars 1 8 It will help me to prepare to be a core teacher 1 is strongly favorable. No group has ever recorded a negative reaction as a group. Opinions are more strongly favorably after one year of core work. In January, 1946 twelfth graders who had had core class for one year were asked the question "WOuld you advise a younger brother or sister to elect the core class if they had the chance?” Forty-two replied in the affirmative. Thirty-five, or nearly half, said "no". Of the twenty-seven seniors who 174 had had two or more years of core, however, twenty-five J said "yes" and only two "no" in anonymous response to the question. The students in one unified studies section at Godwin heights were asked to evaluate the course in June, 1942. Some representative comments were as follows: I don't think the class is perfect but we have a grand start and next semester I intend to put my nose to the grindstone..we know where we stand now. Now that I have the opportunity to help make decisions in class, I use it to best advantage at times and at other times I abuse the privilege, I am sorry to say. But I have learned to do things on my own initiative, deveIOp my thinking power, if any, improve my speaking ability, broaden my scope, improve my personality, enlarge my friend- ships, learn to know people better, and I have learned to distinguish between that which is best for me and that which I want to do. Unified studies has done a lot for me. It has helped me to overcome being frightened in front of a group. In this class we have more of an opportunity to eXpress our opinions than we do in an ordinary class....I have learned to rely on myself, not to talk out of turn whenever I please-- if you make such a mistake the whole class Jumps you! I have found many new interests and learned about more things. This makes the class more interesting, so that's one reason I like it. The class is very informal, it seems as if I belong here or as if it was a home or headquarters from which I go to other classes. The above comments are highly revealing of the techniques employed in this section of unified studies, which closely approximated the ideal of the core cur- riculum. The first student sionificantly employed the 175 "we" pronoun both in Speaking of past accomplishments and of future plans. The second student frankly ad- mitted that she occasionally abused her privileges of group planning, but went on to attribute to the course a number of personal gains which she had made. The third student attributed his self-confidence and self- reliance to the class methods, and emphasized group discipline. The fourth comment stresses the guidance or security goal which loomed so large in the purposes of these teachers, as set forth in Chapter VI. Effect 23,2222l school. Another interesting kind of evaluation was made at Godwin heights in June, 1942. It represented an atterpt to discover the extent of the unified studies goals, as judged by all the students in the junior and senior high school. At the time of this survey, there were twelve sections of unified studies at Godwin, enrolling about 350 pupils. The ntnber with eXperiencs in unified studies would some- what exceed 350, however; 7 it is probable that four hun- dred students of the 550 responding to the questionnaire had been, or were then in a unified studies class. Table XXIV contains a summary of the responses to forty questions, together with a cOpy of the form employed in the survey. ' The responses summarized in Table XXIV repre- sent the judgment of an entire student body as to the 176 extensiveness with which certain purposes of the unified studies program were being implemented throughout the school. These judgments therefore constitute one neasure of the effec— tiveness of the program in influencing the Lethods of the total faculty group. TABLE XXIV SULIaRY CF RLSPONSES OF 550 GCDWIN hEIGhTS STUDhNTS TO qULSTIONNAIR; ON Th3 LKTLNT OF USE OF UNIFIED STUDIES TECHNIQULS, JUNE, 1942 Prepared by the Evaluation Committee ' ~ Godwin Heights Public Schools Grade of Pupil Directions: (To be read carefully by each pupil) This is not an examination. In order that the program for the next year may be well-planned, it is necessary to ask each student some questions. Please take enough time to answer each question carefully, thought- fully, and correctly. Your answers will have value only to the extent that you are perfectly honest and truthful. The directions are simple. Read the question carefully, think about it until you know the answer, then encircle one of three words after each question. If you cannot make up your mind draw a circle around the word uncertain. Do not encircle more than one answer. In reading and ”thinking over” the question pay eSpecial attention to such words as some, usually, most, often, and the like. these words have been underlined to help you recognize them. Since we do not wish to discover what any particular person believes, please g2 Egg sign your name. Number of responses Question W_ Yes No Uncertain 1. Do you as a member of your classes have the Opportunity to help plan your work? 363 141 21 2. Do the teachers plan most of the work you do in school? 371 122 20 3. Do the teachers ask your advice in planning your school work? 527 172 34 4. Are class activities often changed because something more important arises? 237 233 56 TABLE XXIV (continued) R U. 10. ll. 13. 16. 17. 18. Do you always stick to the subject: for instance, in mathematics class do you sometimes discuss other subjects? DO you have a chance to work with other classes on projects? DO you use a planning committee in any of your classes? Do you have an Oppcrtunity to do more than the r gular assignment if you are able? If you are doing the best you can, are you given credit for your effort? If you use a planning committee in any of your classes is the teacher a member? As a member of your planning committee, does the heacher usually eXpect her suggestions to be followed? Does your planning committee have full :harge of the class several days at a li'le.’ Does your planning committee have full charge Of the class for short periods an y. . Does your planning committee ever have full charge of the class? Do you ever have an opportunity to eXpress an Opinion about the work Of other pupils in your class? DO you ever have an Opportunity to help decide what things determine your marks? Do you ever have an opportunity to Offer suggestions for improvement of other pupils' work? In marking are such things as co- Operation, citizenship, attention, responsibility, taken into con- sideration? 424 361 254 93 179 165 319 396 459 NO 78 74 146 34 177 Uncertain {0 CD [‘3 O 64 71 50 64 56 31 28 .2 . . . . . . o . . . . .. . . . o . Du. . . l 4. . . a . u‘ . u u v i . c . . c . a . p. n, p o t I u . . y . . ‘ .J . i . I , o . . a I 178 TABLE XXIV (continued) Yes No Uncertain 19. In most of your classes does the teacher alone determine your grades? 387 118 22 20. If you do not understand why you received a certain grade do you have an Opportunity to discuss it with your teacher? 474 37 22 21. In class discussion does the teacher usually do most of the talking? 210 306 29 22. In class discussion does every- one have an equal chance to take part? 474 58 6 23. In class discussion do a certain few of the pupils usually do most of the talking? 407 118 13 24. DO you ever have an Opportunity to continue a discussion the same day from.one class to another? 192 287 54 25. If a new tOpic arises in a class discussion do you have a chance to discuss it immediately? 282 136 107 26. In class discussion do you usually follow a fixed set of rules, (Parliamentary Law)? 212 257 74 27. In your classes do you sometimes hsvc,an Opportunity to talk to- gether about a certain topic with no particular person in charge? 400 102 26 28. In most or your classes are you permitted to think about and ex- press things in your own way? 404 91 38 . 29. Do most of the things you learn in school help you in everyday living? 395 96 41 30. In most of your classes is everyone required to work on the same activity at the same time? 253 251 30 ...-v- a . —° . ' n . 1 . . o e . .... . . e . D , . , . .le ' v - a- u . . . . . . . . a . I n A . u . . . e - o . . v 0 I 7 , .1 . t ... .v a“ _ A ~ ., v f . - - ,, . ..—.. o . . H u _. ' ‘ v "‘ u e s ' . . ‘ c - . . .. e I . '\ . v I. ,- . ., ’ . a J ' I '- I O J l . ,. I .. D I -- .0. v I v -.. .-.; 179 TABLE 7 continued Yes NO Uncertain 31. In some or your classes are you permitted to work on individual activities? 437 81 15 32. As a.manber of a class do you feel that you have an Obligation or duty to the other.members of the class? 325 135 73 33. DO the things that you do in most or your classes help to improve your school and community? 280 159 95 34. In most or your classes do you have EEO Opportunity to help other students and be helped by them? 379 134 16 35. In.most of your classes do you have a chance to work in small groups when the Opportunity arises? 397 121 14 36. In most Of your classes do you usuaIIy have to work as one whole group 305 201 27 37. In.most or your classes are comfifttees used whenever possible? 229 .244 54 38. In.mOst of your classes do certain persons have the responsibility for keeping the room orderly? 173 343 23 39. DO most Or the students usuall have to be tOld what to do? 341 145 46 40. Do some students bring in outside material for use in classes 'without being asked to do so? 316 163 52 ...... .. -..... . a - y..--..—.. -7 . o ' s “D'- b e- - ~-- - fi~ ... CI..- a .v c— . - ‘ as a 4 .d..-"_. --- co flpw- v...- o . -.. - - 4» - . .. . . I . e ' I v a e e . I I ' ‘ ‘ I a e . ' . A . . . . g . ‘ ‘ . l l ‘ e . - a . . s. n . a , _ 4 . . . y; , . n . I , c . . O ‘ . I . ' ~ . . . , | \' we a ‘ . ' ' . . ' . a . 7 I I , o 7 e ‘. . . , e I v . e . . __ . . . ’ a a . ‘ , . v . .7...- - .- o ‘ J n I - I . J . ' | . . . , I . . r ‘ I ' ‘- ‘~ ’\ . ~ . . _ D x . . , a . I . A an . O ' ' O A) ' . . ' . | .- ...) ‘ . J . 1 , C“ D e . e n . . v ' e 4 I A , . 1 I - .I .. . _ 7" ‘ . . ‘l I . _ I . . ~. . . , I . ~...-. I . n I - . . . _ . _ V& - -.. - --.. ' - e . l . . . V . ' — A - . 7 ‘ 8.x Q . f ’ .7-. sun-....» e ' . . ' - _ A | .A ‘ ~I , . e - e 4.. l ‘ ~ . a ’ ' .2 F. 3 . J . e 1‘ 0‘ ' . 'n ' ' ' t ‘ ‘ n . . . ’ s ’ I . . « ~ g. ._ ' , ., . is a --, - . - e ~ ’ . e e . . I' ’ I 4 ' d a - '| a ‘ e ' t a ' a a . . ' a . ' I . y ‘ f l . . N . , - . » s)- . u, .. I l ' ‘ L I c x,‘ _. 5 , A - . ‘ ‘ ‘4 .....--. -1 .. .Fl .. '0 .-.—7.....1.. .. - 0 5., . - .. ._ . -.u -» ‘ up. .. .»—-..-—.-ar - .-. .. . a..- .--. -.-. -. -. -‘~ o »_*_..”aa-..~-..__ .... .. ...-r -‘ 160 Students generally believed, as shown in Table XXIV, that pupil-teacher planning was wide-spread but that the teachers still planned most of the work, very Often seeking students' advice in such planning. About half were aware of a student planning committee, of which the teacher was generally a member. The majority did not believe the teacher dictated the committee's decisions. About a third of them had emperienced situations in which the student planning committee had had full charge for several days at a time, while about forty per cent reported such instances for short periods only. Most of them felt that they had an opportunity to eXpress opinions about the work of other pupils, or even to help determine their own mark. Most of them reported opportunities to make suggestions for improving the work of others. A large majority believed that co- Operation and citizenship were taken into account by the teacher, but about three fourths reported that the teacher largely determined those marks. With respect to flexibility of planning, the students were almost evenly divided on such issues as changes in class activities or "sticking to the subject". Only about one in five reported any Opportunities to work with other classes on projects. Other comments might be made about these forty responses. In summary, the responses give a picture 181 of a generally liberal faculty group in a transition stage between teacher domination and pupil-teacher plan- ning, but with a decided leaning toward giving pupils more responsibility in planning &fiQ evaluating. lhe forty-five participants in this study were asked to react to the question of that effect the uni- fied program had upon total school policies in the eight high schools (Item 2.14 in the interview Schedule). Table XXV summarizes the responses to this item, in order of their frequency of mention by the eight school groups. In examining Table XXV it should be recalled that the Denby program, which has perhaps best exempli- fied the core curriculum in its procedures, has never enrolled more than fifteen per cent of the Denby students in any one year. The response of the Denby teachers to the question of how the core program had affected total school policies was "not much".10 In summary of Table XXV, it will be noted that four items were stated by six or more rf the eight school groups. In terms of those four items it may be 10 The trend toward an integrated curriculum, however, was manifested in many other courses at Denby besides the core classes. "Integrated" coursesgfusing English and a social science class, for example, have been repeatedly offered. 182 TABLE XXV EFFECT OF EIGHT UNIFIED PROGRALS ON TOTAL SCHOOL, AS JUDGED BY FORTY-FIVE TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS Order Statement Number of times mentioned 1 Effects upon evaluation and reporting procedures Resulted in plan of citizenship marking Resulted in adOption of S-U reports Resulted in more evaluation with students Eliminated number and per cent marks Resulted in more descriptive marking 2 Effects ppon ppomotion and retardation Resulted in less failures ‘wfi Resulted in more consideration of effort factor Resulted in less bragging about number failed 3 Effects u on extracurricular program Resulted n club activitiEs permeating class rooms Improved student government [003 01 H {\3 IPQ l—‘l—‘NNNCD 4 Effects upon school morale Closer relationship within grades Heightened room morale Students' work generally more meaningful 5 Effects pppn examinations Reduced number and emphasis on examina- tions Resulted in less fact testing HUI #3 l—‘NCflG 6 Effects ppon classroom procedures throughout $05601 Resulted in more flexible procedures Resulted in more class and club meetings in classrooms 7 Effects upon_guidance More student conferences 0103 P NO: 8 Effects upon public relations More public forums More parents come to school ideam 185 stated that teachers generally believe the unified pro- gram has liberalized marking and promotion policies throughout the school, tended to reduce the separate extracurricular program and bring it into the classroom, and develOped a ”homeroom" feeling in the student body. About half of the groups believe further that the uni- fied prOgram has de—emphasized examinations and resulted in more flexible classroom procedures throughout the school. In three schools an increase was noted in counseling conferences, and in two schools an increase in parent contacts in the school. The responses presented in Table XXV should be examined with some care. They are based upon subjec- tive opinions of teachers who may have had motives for hOping that their own programs were influencing the total school. They may, therefore, represent at least some degree of wishful thinking. There is also the possibility that the changes noted did occur, perhaps simultaneously with the unified program, but without any cause and effect relationship. Such trends as those noted in Table XXV were "in the air" during the years included in this study. Ifiiwould probably be impossible to trace an indiSputable cause relationship between these trends and the programs reported in the 184 present study. Table XXV is of interest, at least, in its revelation of which factors these teachers believe have affected the total school.ll Parents' evaluation ngthe programs. It is prob- able that the validity of parents' evaluations of any program depends directly upon their acquaintance with and understanding of it. In the light of the fact revealed earlier that th 1e parents and lay citizens had no connection with the planning of these eight programs and did not understand them very well, their evaluations might have little value as appraisals of the effective- ness of the programs. In any case, the issue is an academic one, for little formal evaluation of these pro- grams has been made by parents. In 1958 a rather extensive survey was made, in member schools of the Secondary Study, of parent Opinions regarding curriculum change.13 Five of the eight schools of the present study employed this survey with parents and lay citizens. Reaponses to this survey were surpris- ingly consistent in their points of view. The following 11Two further statements regarding effects of core programs upon the total school may be found in Appendix G, pp. 264-265. 12A summary of the responses to this survey may be found in Planning and Workin Together, Bulletin 337, IDepartment of Pu lic Instruct on Lanaing,‘ michigan: The .Department of Public Instruction, 1945), p. 183. 185 ten statements of purpose for the secondary school were considered ”of great importance” by fifty per cent or ' more of the parents and lay citizens reaponding in Big Rapids, the Denby community of Detroit, Dowagiac, Godwin Heights, and the Lakeview District: (1) To make intelligent decisions for himself (2) To plan for himself ways of meeting his owh problems (3) To select and participate in satisfactory kinds of recreation (4) To take part in social affairs with other boys and girls (5) To understand and to meet the problems related to living in the home (6) To collect and use information about his own problems (7) To COOperate with other boys and girls in working on their own problems (8) To cooperate with other boys and girls and 'with adults in working on problems in the community (9) To understand and make use Of important principles of science that he or she can apply in everyday life (10) To judge for himself whether his work in school is satisfactory or unsatisfactory 186 By equally decisive vote these citizens rejected those ends of education which were subject-centered. It was evident that parents and lay citizens in these five communities were highly receptive to the purposes and procedures of the core curriculum in 1938, if one can judge from their reaponses on this survey instrument. In May, 1942 one unified studies teacher at Godwin Heights submitted a simple evaluation instru- ment to the parents of her students in one section. of the nineteen replies received, eighteen requested continuance of the child in unified studies for an additional year. Some sample comments of parents were: I like the idea of not Spending so much time on ancient history and English. seems to be learning something for the first time in his life. He likes school better this year. I have noticed some change in his manners. I would like to continue in this type of class as she is much more self-confident and is also more interested in school than before. This, to my mind,. is the ideal method of teaching. I don't know whether to credit '3 im- provement to this type of class or to Miss Earkoff. The final comment reflects the weakness in this kind of informal evaluation. It is quite difficult for parents to distinguish between the program of instruction and the teacher in estimating the value of any kind of education. The emphasis upon personal-social develop- ment and upon pupil interest may, however, be signifi- cant. At the end of each ninth grade year the parents of core students at Denby have been asked for a kind of evaluation of the core course, and for a reaction as to whether or not they wish their child to continue in the core work. These evaluative judgments have, unfortunately, not been kept on file. Each year, however, a decided majority of the parents request cure for their children for the ensuing semester--requests which cannot be en- tirely granted because of the limited number of sections. It appears evident that the parents of core students at Denby have a relatively high opinion of the program. In summary of the admittedly limited evidence, parents and lay citizens seem to support these unified programs in the few instances when their opinion has been sought. It is quite possible, however, that they are supporting the superior teachers who staff these programs and that they have no basis for judging the instructional methods of the core curriculum. Administrators' and teachers' evaluations. In Chapter I it was pointed out that a major emphasis throughout this study would consist of the evaluations of the eight programs by the forty-five participating 188 teachers and administrators who have been involved in the programs, in terms of their own purposes and goals. While such evaluations may lack the objectivity of such factors as test scores and drop-out data, they have cer- tain important compensatory advantages. No outsider could acquire an orientation comparable to that of these participating teachers. No one but they can really understand and interpret their own phi1080phy and pur- poses, upon which the evaluation must rest its case. No one but they can have quite the same motives for such evaluation. No one but they can derive the same pro- fessional advantages from the eXperience of evaluation. Finally, no one excepting these teachers and administra- tors can so effectively free themselves from the customary labyrinth of verbiage and come directly to that which happens in Room 28 at nine o'clock on.Monday morning. These persons were on the firing line. Their opinions of how the battle went assume corresponding significance. Some of the judgments which depended most heavily upon individual reactions were made anonymously. A few items on the interview schedule were answered by group consensus, after discussion. Direct questions which bear upon the effective- ness of the program included Items 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.10, 2.11, 3.11, and 2.10. 189 3.2 What hzve the evaluative procedures employed locally revealed about the relative strength or weakness of the program, as measured by pupil growth? 3.3 What, in your Opinion, appear to have been the outstanding strengths or advantages of the program, in comparison with conventional organization for in- struction? 3.4 What were its chief weaknesses in comparison with whatever prcgram preceded it? 3.5 What, in your opinion, could have been done to remedy the weaknesses of the program? 3.10 What do administrators think about the program as regards its comparative cost, schedule dif- ficulties, demands upon teacher personnel, effect upon the total school program? 2.11 Did teachers become more effective as they worked in the program? 3.11 What has been the effect of the program on teachers' growth in service? 2.10 What relationships develOped between the teachers involved in this program and other teachers ‘ in your school? Item 3.2 is based upon the evaluative technilues employed to measure pupil growth. As already revealed, such measuring techniques were employed to a limited 190 degree in these eight schools. In the one school where some testing was done-—Denby--the teachers appear not to have discussed findings. At any rate they were un- able to make any reSponse to Item 3.2. In Highland Park the group agreed that in recent years behavior problems less often reach the stage where they must be dealt with by the counselors. The director of pupil personnel at Highland Park states that counselors handle less be- havior problems, a condition which he attributes to the core program. The function of the counselors has there- fore tended to become advising the core teachers, at the junior high school level. Item 3.3 asks the participants to list the strengths or advantages of the core program. The re- aponses to this item are summarized in Table XXVI. The responses were developed by discussion and consensus in seven of the eight groups. The Big Rapids responses were obtained by individual Opinionaire and included in the tabulation if they were listed by a majority of the reapondents. It is interesting to compare these judgments of the advantages of the unified programs with the purposes set forth for them, as shown in Table VIII, pages 77-78. The first two advantages listed, and the only two which were listed by all eight groups, tally with the purpose .T\ N A 354/ ALL! TABLE XXVI 191 NTAGES OF UNIFIED PROGRAHS, AS LISTED bY EIGHT GROUPS OF PARTICIPATING TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS Order Statement Number of groups mentioning item 1 Enabled us to understand the needs, interests, abilities, and problems of the individual pupil better 8 2 Facilitated a real homeroom feeling among pupils--a sense of security and a family feeling for his group 8 3 Enabled pupils to learn democratic citizenship by practicing it; making decisions and governing themselves, free from teacher domination 7 4 Taught pupils to work with others and to adjust to group situations 6 5 Gave individual pupil a better chance to develOp through individualized and small group activities fitted to the learner 6 6 Taught critical thinking through use of wide variety of materials and activities 5 7 DevelOped better orientation, morale, and school spirit 4 8 Gave more Opportunity for develOping individual initiative 3 9 Pupils were more interested 3 10 More reading was done 2 11 There was a better chance to learn by eXperimentation 2 12 There was less confusion among learners l 13 There was a lower pupil load 1 14 There were less behavior problems 1 15 There was better implementation of health services 1 16 There was more learning by doing 1 192 which ranked first, namely, better guidance. In that same category of guidance, certain other advantages were judged by participants to be present in the core program-- for example the items ranked fifth, seventh, thirteenth, and fourteenth in Table XXVI. The second general purpose area which participants consider is being achieved is that of training for demo- cratic citizenship. This aim ranked fifth among purposes and third and fourth among achievements listed in Table XXVI. The "critical thinking" achievement, ranked sixth, also relates to this purpose. The purpose area which ranked second in Table VIII, that of synthesis or correlation of learning ex- periences, appears only incidentally in the judgments of participants as to effectiveness of the programs. It received one group's vote as the item ranked twelfth in Table XXVI. It was often not well achieved, as pointed out in Chapter V. When it was achieved, it does not often appear to teachers as a significant gain. The ”greater flexibility and adaptability" goal, ranked third by teachers in Table VIII, also received rather casual attention when teachers evaluated their achievements. It appears in Table XXVI as an aSpect of the item ranked fifth and mentioned by six groups and as a phase of the item ranked sixth and mentioned 193 by five groups. The connection of purpose to achieve- ment, however, is somewhat indirect in reapect to these items. "Practical application of theory," ranked fourth among purposes in Table VIII, does not appear at all 'among the achievements listed, unless we interpret the last two items on Table XXVI as belonging in that cate- gory. In summary, when the participants' evaluations of the advantages of these eight programs are interpreted in the light of their own purposes, one discovers a consensus that there has been achievement on the guid- ance and citizenship goals, only incidental mention of success on the goals of flexibility and the application of theory, and scarcely any awareness of progress toward the goal of synthesis or correlation. It may be of value to compare the evaluative judgments presented in Table XXVI with the responses of core teachers who attended the St. Mary's Lake Conference January 17-18-19, 1947. The twenty school groups repre- sented at this conference all represented secondary schools with some exPerience in the core curriculum. Six of the eight schools of the present study were repre- sented at the conference. In response to the question "What is your judgment as to the advantages and disadvantages of the core 194 curriculum?" each school group prepared a preliminary report. The group answers of fourteen schools are tabu- lated in Table XXVII in the order of their mention. It will be noted that these core teachers, like those in the present study, set the guidance and citizen- ship achievements high on the list and omit mention of any progress in the synthesis and correlation of subject areas. Indeed, most of the evalmative comments made by this group of teachers and administrators might be roughly classified in the two areas of guidance and civic educa- tion. When they were asked to list the advantages and disadvantages of the core curriculum, their first response concerned the better adjustment of the individual and of the group. Their negative responses were so few and so scattered as to render their tabulation useless. Items 3.4 and 3.5 in the‘interview schedule administered in the eight-school study ask for an evalua— tion of the chief weaknesses of the program and for suggestions as to how they could have been prevented. The reaponses to the first of these items are tabulated in Table XXVIII, in the order of the frejuency of their mention by school groups. 195 TABLE XXVII EVALUATION OF CORE PROGRAXS BY FOURTEEN SCHOOL GROUPS Order PARTICIPATING IN THE ST. KARY'S LAKE CORE CORFERENCE, JANUARY, 1947 Item Number of groups mentioning item More effective guidance 10 (Better pupil-teacher relationships, better understanding of individual development, better adjustment by problem children, more home calls and individual conferences, more attention to growth and deve10pment) Better social adjustment by students 8 (Greater participation in social activities, more assumption of leader- ship, more personal poise, better boy and girl relationships, greater concern for welfare of others, less cliques and individual isolates) Greater skill in group processes 7 More practice in democratic plan- ning, more individual initiative, better group leadership, more general leadership, better acceptance of group judgment and of group control) Greater understanding of self and group 4 (more interest and skill in self-and group-evaluation of growth, greater skill in self analysis, greater under- standing of group psychology, more self reSpect as an important member of a planning group) 196 TABLE XXVIII WEAKNESSES OF UNIFIED PBOGRAKS AS LISTS BY EIGHT GROUBS CF PARTICIPATING TLACHERS AND ADVINISTRATORS : x. Order Statement Number of groups mentioning item l The teachers were not always ca- 4 pable or well oriented 2 Evaluation was weak 3 3 Subject emphases and formality were often retained 3 4 Rooms, supplies, and materials were inadequate 3 5 The programs were not well inter- preted to the public 2 6 Kore planning time was needed by teachers 1 The suggestions for the improvement of the program, each of which received support from only one school group, were as follows: Allow only eXperienced, skillful teachers to handle core classes Revise college training programs so as to turn out improved teachers AdOpt the program more gradually Give more attention to the superior student Involve lay citizens in planning, executing, and evaluating Sharpen evaluation procedures Give new teachers more guidance Hold annual pre-school conferences Set aside funds for materials 197 There is a thread of continuity running through Table XXVIII. In summary, the participants believe that the core curriculum demands a more skillful teacher than either pre-service or in-service education programs have as yet produced in sufficient quantities; with more time to plan, better orientation to their unique task and better provision for the classroom equipment and in- structional materials than has yet been.made. They be- lieve there is still too much subject emphasis and for- mality, which is surely a criticism of the teaching rather than of the core curriculum as such. They believe evaluation procedures were inadequate and that social in- terpretation was weak. It may be noted that there is much greater agree- ment on the strengths of the core program than on its weaknesses. The largest number of groups mentioning any one item on Table XXVIII is four, or half of the number of groups involved. This is still more apparent when the groups attempt to suggest remedies for the weaknesses. It is probable that the six areas of weakness named for these core programs in Table XXVIII are weaknesses char- acteristic of the secondary school curriculum in general, not unique shortcomings of the unified approach. Even a casual analysis of the literature on the secondary school curriculum reveals such criticisms as these, but levelled at the entire program. 198 It is also probable, however, that the employment of the core approach highlights and even accentuates the common weaknesses of the secondary curriculum. A rela- tively poor teacher may, in a conventional or traditional approacn, buttress herself in various ways and prevent her inferiority from becoming evident to all. She may avoid, for example, those techniques which would enable her to know her students better, but which would also, by the same token, enable her students to know her better. The procedures common to the unified classes would Speedily reveal and dramatize her ineffectiveness. From one point of view, such unmasking of the ineffective teacher is not a weakness of the core program, but an asset. In the same way, it is probable that such defici- encies of our secondary curriculum as inadequate or misdirected evaluation, poorly equipped classrooms, in- ferior instructional materials, poor interpretation pro- grams, and inadequate time for planning are merely high- lighted or brought out into the cpen by the challenging instructional procedures of the core curriculum. Item 3.10 on the interview Schedule was directed especially to the administrators of the eight schools. It asked their judgment as to the comparative cost, scheduling difficulty, demands on teaCher personnel, and effect on the total school, of the core program. 199 With regard to the cost factor, administrators in all eight schools agreed that the core program had not cost any more than the conventional program which pre- ceded it. The number of pupils in a group was not reduced, in most cases. The "lower pupil load” referred to by teachers (see Table XXVI)_was a result of grouping pupils together for more than one period. At Denby the pupil- teacher ratio remained the same as for other Classes at the same grade level, except for an occasional twelfth grade section of core. At Dowagiac a conference period for unified studies teachers reduced the pupil-teacher ratio but this practice was common to many other kinds of programs there over the years. As to the cost of instructional materials, the pupils usually absorbed this added cost through fees. The testing program at Denby requires about $150 annually, which was not considered an item of any significance in the Denby budget. One administrator responded to this item of cost by saying: ”It didn't cost any more, but it should have. Good education usually cosusmore than poor education." As to scheduling difficulties, all eight admini- strators again agreed substantially that these are not excessive. Four of them mentioned some difficulty in fitting in electives after a block of time had been 200 provided. The Bloomfield Hills program was reduced by one period because of such conflicts. On two occasions the Dowagiac program was reduced due to conflicts, but later expanded again. It appears that the administrators consider the block program less flexible but not really impossible to schedule. The eight administrators are in agreement that the core assignment makes unusual demands upon teachers; yet three of them hasten to add that they do not consider these demands impossible, another calls them.”worthwhile”, and two more say that the challenge carries with it some commensurate rewards. At Denby the core teachers are freed of hall duty in recognition of their programs At Dowagiac an extra conference period is allowed for the same reason. Several of the administrators also mentioned the reduced number of different students which characterizes the core teacher's assignment, and the rewards of satis- faction which accompany a creative, professional task. In response to the final question of the effect of the core program on the total school, there was some divergence among the administrators. In four schools their answer was "good”. One principal mentioned the social- izing effect and attributed an improvement of freshman morale to the core program. A superintendent stated that the core program had ”consolidated and enriched" the total 201 school curriculum. Another said it had unified faculty thinking and improved guidance throughout the school. At Denby, the answer was "not discoverable”. Some other comments were: It has given meaning to the pupil's total experience. It has highlighted the shortcomings of our former methods. 1‘t has exerted a leavening effect upon all levels by stimulating teachers to discuss and evaluate their procedures. It has interested our teachers in.meeting and planning together. It has made our staff less timid about eXperi- mentation and more diaposed to exercise educa- tional leadership. In summary of Item 5.10, these eight administrators consider the problems of cost and scheduling negligible, the extra demands upon teachers bearable, and the total effect upon the school good. One important test of the success or failure of a program may be the extent to which those involved in it become increasingly effective or ineffective. There is little objective evidence on this point from the present study. It has been pointed out that turnover of teachers was high in these eight programs; yet it was not as high as the total‘school faculty, in each case. Over 150 teachers handled core or unified classes in these eight schools during the period 1937-1947. Of this large group, only five teachers were mentioned in the interview 202 schedules as having given up the assignment or having had it removed from them, because of their ineffectiveness as teachers. The high rate of turnover appears to have been due to other factors than ineffectiveness. Two direct questions were included in the inter- view schedule: "In your Opinion, did teachers become more effective as they worked in the program?" (Item 2.11) and "What has been the effect of the program on teachers' growth in service?" (Item 3.11). The responses to these two questions may furnish light on the question of changes in the effectiveness of the teachers. Table XXIX contains a summary of the responses of the forty~five participants to Items 2.11 and 3.11. A few scattered, individual comments were made by participants on the negative effect of the program upon teachers: ”I think of some who became lost because of the latitude allowed them." "Some teachers were inadequate.” When the group consensus was recorded, however, it was uniformly favorable to the core program in reapect to its effect upon teacher growth, as revealed in Table KLIX. The eleven items recorded by these teachers and ed- ministrators appear to present a rather well-rounded por- trait of the effective teacher. it is evident that the 51...... TABLE XX K V?‘7 T3 OF EIGHT UTIFIED FROGRAIS N GROWTH OF TEACHERS IN SJRVICL, AS JUDGED EY FORTY-TIVE PARHICIPANTS Order Item Number of groups mentioning item Teachers became more active as partici- pants and leaders in local and state committees, conferences, and workshOps Teachers wrote more for publication Class groups became easier to work with; students were increasingly COOperative; the longer you worked in core the more fun it was Teachers became more interested, more sympathetic, and more understanding of growth problems Teachers became more skillful in plan— ning and discussing with other teachers Teachers had more creative eXperiences in common; they became more alert to the world and local events and more aware of new materials and methods Teachers became more active in research activities Teachers became more interested in gradu- ate study Teachers observed needs of child more skillfully Teachers became more capable at teaching discussioz skills Subject matter became more meaningful to teachers participants believe the core assignment, with its unique purposes and special challenges, is a rewarding and en- riching professional experience. This is not equivalent to saying that it is therefore an effective kind of in- Struction for children. It may be reasonable to assume, however, that any instructional program in which the teachers become increasingly skillful in such ways as those listed in Table XXIX is likely to be increasingly effective in the results achieved with children. One other criterion of effectiveness might be mentioned. Item 2.10 in the interview schedule asked what relationships develOped between the teachers in- volved in the core programs and other teachers in the schools. This item was included on the assumption that the degree of acceptance of the program by the total faculty of a school was one test of its effectiveness. That assumption may be open to challenge. It appears quite possible that a highly effective program might go forward in a large school without understanding or support from the total faculty group. Indeed, the Denby core program illustrates that point. As already noted, the faculty at Denby has never become oriented to the core program; yet the core classes have demonstrated their effectiveness in various respects. In the long run, however, a program like Denby's must be judged on the basis of its acceptance for the 1" 205 total pattern of general education in that school. If teachers and counselors outside the program continue to Oppose or ignore it, there is little likelihood of such extension. The other seven groups declare that the unified programs now enjoy general acceptance by the total faculties. Two of them, besides Denby, state that there was originally some antagonism toward the program or jealousy toward the core teachers because of their favored status in the school and in the Secondary Cur- riculum Study. Such feelings appear to have been re- moved in the seven smaller schools by such techniques as the following: faculty meetings, round-table dis- cussions, jury panels, outside speakers, social events, .mixers, picnics, dinners, all—school committees, sharing of resource persons,visiting each other, use of art, .music, or commerce teachers as resource persons in core classes. Bloomfield Hills teachers met together before school every morning as a total faculty group. Lakeview, ‘Wayne, Eig Rapids, and Dowagiac teachers had regular bridge parties, picnics, and other informal social func- tions. An extraordinary degree of social orientation has been achieved among Godwin heights teachers through social functions. The regular planning periods described in Chapter VII played an important role in this matter of achieving total faculty orientation to the programs. 206 In summary, it ap ears that seven of the eight programs have achieved general acceptance by their total faculties, while one has made little progress toward this goal. Conclusion. This chapter began with the basic question of wnat evidence there is as to the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the eight programs included in the study. The somewhat limited objective data tend to show that pupils have held their own in reSpect to the con- ventional goals of instruction, uhile, at the same time, they have m;de some gains in the personal-social adjust- ment and citizenship goals. They appear to like schoel better, to remain longer in attendance, and to understand rather well their own growth in relation to the purposes of the program. Parents appear to favor the program in the few instances where their views have been solicited. Teachers and administrators consider the unified courses successful in their constructive effects upon children, a rich professional experience for teachers, and a salu- tary influence upon the total school. They believe, however, that the core approach makes unusual demands upon the teaching personnel and judge the eight programs of this study as neax in their approach to evaluation and in their general failure to involve the lay public in planning, or even to interpret the programs effectively to the public. 207 In interpreting such a summary statement as the above, it must be repeated that no single, consistent pattern of instruction has existed in these eight programs. The evaluation throughout this study has been made in terms of the philOSOphy, purposes, and stage of progress of each faculty group. Their judgments of the program which they know best must be interpreted constantl, in the light of the purposes presented in Chapter VI. Generalizations which are made by luMping those purposes and the procedures which implemented them must therefore be challenged. It would probably be more accurate to summarize this chapter by stating that each of the eight programs appears to have been successful, in the judgment of those who participated in it. The final chapter will deal with the question of the implications of this study for secondary education, for state and regional curriculum studies, and for teacner education. CHAPTER I am: may AND COITCLUSION Introduction; In the introductory chapter of this study the following objectives were set forth: (1) To discover the emerging patterns of curriculum correlation in certain eXperimental secondary schools of Idiohigan (2) To discover the reasons for the differing patterns which have emerged in these care programs (3) To isolate the factors which made for success and for failure, respectively, in these core programs (4) To draw hypotheses from these data regarding the possible direction of general education in Michigan secondary schools. The concluding chapter will be addressed to the analysis of the study with reapect to these four objec- tives. It will also include certain hypotheses regarding teacher education and curriculum studies at the regional and state level, which appear to be implicit in the study. Patterns 2: curriculum correlation; Three distinct types of correlated curricula are represented in the eight scnools of this study. The first stage, correlation through team planning, is exemplified by the Wayne program. In this stage no basic changes have been made in the high 209 school schedule except the grouping of three subjects into sequential order for each class group and the provision of an additional, common period for teachers in each team to use for planning activities. This plan is intended to facilitate correlated teaching Yitfl a minimum of schedule change. The second stage is the unified studies plan, where two subjects are grouped together for consecutive periods under a single teacher, and are correlated as much as possible. This plan has been employed as the chief approach in Bloomfield hills, but it was also the starting point for many teachers in other scnools. The third stage is the core curriculum, with a block of time set aside for a master teacher and a group, in which the content of the course is not subject- oriented but emerges from an attack upon problems by teacner-pupil planning. Denby high School's core classes exemplify this stage of development. it has also been the Egg; in the programs at Big Rapids, Dowagiac, Godwin Heights, highland Park, and Lakeview. These five pro- grams began by making the provision for the block of time, and by encouraging teachers to develOp correlation between the two subject areas which furnished the basis of the block. As the program continued and developed, the more enterprising teachers tended increasingly to eliminate the subject divisions and employ the problem-solving 210 approach. In short, unified studies became a first step toward the core curriculum in these five schools. At any given time, however, each of the five schools could have revealed to the visitor examples of both types of corre- lated programs in Operation in the same building. It should be noted that the six schools which had the home- room plan combined it also with the instructional block. In Denby and Bloomfield hills too, the core teachers tended more and more to perform homeroom functions. Reasons for differing_patterns. Why have these three types of correlated programs emerged ir the various schools? In Bloomfield hills, with its large percentage of college—bound students and its resulting emphasis upon subject mastery and excessive homework, the unified studies plan appeared most feasible. It was too small a school for the team plan and had too conservative a set- ting for the immediate introduction of the core curriculum. After three years of effort, most of the Bloomfield hills courses have still not moved beyond the unified studies stage. In Wayne, a similar conservatism and traditionalism prevented an immediate introduction of the core curriculum. It was decided that teachers would feel most secure and be challenged to plan and worn together if each were per- mitted to retain his subject specialty but were to seek ways in wnich a correlated program could be develOped. The three teacher teams at Wayne are therefore another kind of initial step to ard the core curriculum with a minimum of immediate change. This plan was made pos- sible by the large enrollment in Wayne's ninth grade. In the case of Denby High School, which is even larger than Wayne, a minimum program was also introduced, but minimum in the sense of the number of sections in- volved. At Wayne, nine of the ten freshman sections were in the teams. At Denby, the Core courses at grade nine have never enrolled more than eight of the twenty fresh- man sections. Since the program.was kept at a quantita- tive minimum, it was possible to launch the few core sections on a full-fledged core curriculum.from the start. As has been noted, these few sections have been notably successful, but the program has not been extended. Its high point was 1944-45, with twelve sections of core classes in grades nine, ten, and eleven. The year 1946- 47 saw a total of eight sections in grades nine, ten, and twelve. In short, the full-scale core curriculum plan has not resulted in extension at Denby. The other five schools began, in most cases, with a grade-wide program of unified studies and attempted to extend it into other grades, and at the same time to liberalize procedures within the unified studies in the direction of the core. In terms of the extension of these five programs, this choice appears to have been wise. The Dowagiac program is the only one of the five which has remained relatively constant in reapect to the coverage of the unified program. The remaining four moved rapidly on to school-wide coverage. The Big Rapids program was nearly school-wide at the time of its abandon- ment in 1943. The Godwin heights, Lakeview, and Highland Park programs are still school-wide. In terms of the progress made toward the achievement of a true core cur- riculum, the five programs which began with unified studies have probably fallen short of the Denby program. The evidence presented in the preceding chapter, however, indicates some progress. Each of the five schools had an active nucleus of three to seven teachers whose prac- tices exemplify the core curriculum, and each of them had a number of other teachers at various levels of progress toward that goal. The reasons for beginning with unified studies in these five schools appear to have been a desire to give teachers a sense of security, a desire to change the pro- gram more rapidly than could be achieved by experimenting on a limited scale with core classes as such, and a preference for employing the already required subjects as a basis for an integrated pattern of general education. This made for less disturbance, fewer public relations problems, and less eXpenditure of money than would have 213 resulted from the addition of a new and unknown core re- quirement. It may also have resulted in some stereotyping of the program, or freezing it at the unified studies level. Reasons for success 93 failure. The question of success and failure of these eight programs has already been dealt with in the preceding chapter. In terms of their own purposes, it appears that the programs have been rather consistently successful, due to the follow- ing factors: (1) They have enjoyed consistent local leader- ship, both from administrators and key teachers. (2) They have been assisted by outside consul- tants who served as stimulators and resource persons rather than as proselytists or prescribers. (5) They have made maximum provision for teacher planning in the regular school day, in workshOps and conferences, and in local pre-school conferences. (4) They have employed classroom.methods which capitalized upon student interests, met student needs, and aided in social adjustment. (5) They offered teachers a creative, exciting, professional role, both as Joint workers toward common local goals and as leaders in the state program. (6) Perhaps most important of all, the planning and teaching philOSOphy and methods discoverable in to ...: .b these eight programs, at their best, were democratic. The liberalizing effect of this approach, the freeing of intelligence, and the respect for human personality, contributed strongly to the success of the programs. They tended increasingly to give all persons concerned a voice in the enterprise, which always makes for long-run efficiency. The Big Rapids program was discontinued in 1943. Whether or not that discontinuance is evidence 223.22 of the failure of the program is debatable. To the extent that abolition constitutes failure, the causes of that failure appear to have been as follows, according to the group judgment of the teachers and administrators responding to the Opinionaire in the present study: (1) An unprecedented turnover of teachers and administrators in 1945 (2) A failure to involve the lay public in planning the program (3) A failure to interpret the program in- telligently to the public (4) A failure to evaluate the unique goals of the program in sharply defined ways These same four criticisms appeared when par- ticipants in the other seven schools were asked to list the weaknesses of the programs. In addition, they listed the unusual demands which the core-assignment ’imposes upon teachers. In the light of subsequent evalua- tion, however, these criticisms cannot be interpreted as evidences of failure in at least seven of the schools. It is probable that the Big Rapids grogram.would also be in Operation today if a continuing group of experienced teachers and at least one administrator had remained. This statement is not intended to invalidate the criti- cisms of the program; the term "failure” is a relative one, however, which requires some analysis and interpre- tation. - It does not appear that the problem of teacher turnover can be regarded as a unique failing of the core program, although its effects may have been more detri- mental in the case of eXperimental programs than in con- ventional ones. The remaining three weaknesses may also have been more serious in their effect upon the core pro- gram than in their general effect. It seems reasonable to eXpect the teachers and administrators in any new program to involve the public in its planning, to in- terpret the program with intelligence, and to evaluate its achievements. These things the teachers and admini- strators in the schools of the study failed to do. There is little evidence that they involved lay persons in planning, although such an activity was implied by their own stated purposes. They made few contributions to the educational prOgress of the state with reSpect to social interpretation. Perhaps the worst failure which emerges from this study is that of evaluation of the programs. Only one of the eight schools made any serious effort to evaluate the core program in comparison with other alternatives. In general, little or no effort was devoted to evaluation. There were no follow-up studies made, no vertical growth studies, and no controlled comparison of groups except at Denby. What testing was done was diffuse and not directed toward the evaluation of the core program. Such test scores as were obtained were not used effectively. It should be acknowledged that time and personnel for administering testing programs were lacking, that the goals sought in these curricula do not readily lend them- selves to the tehting process, and that curriculum im- provement has rarely been effected by the mere accumula- tion of test data. The fact remains that the evaluation process might have made a significant contribution to program deve10pment in these eight schools, in the following ways: (1) It might have shed additional light on the progress, or lack of progress, which core teachers and pupils were making toward their own declared goals. (‘3 O3 217 (2) It might have challenged and assisted them to define their goals more clearly. (3) It might have contributed to the students' skill in self-evaluation, which was a goal of all of these programs. (4) It might have given teachers more security and satisfaction in their work. (5) It might have contributed to parents' under- standing of the core programs. (6) It might have given direction and stimulus to the planning process. Such testing instruments as have been develOped could have been used more intensively and interpreted in terms of child deve10pment in the core classes. Additional instruments could have been devised and validated, with the assistance of qualified consultants. Devices for in- terpreting children's behavior, and the drives and con- flicts which it reflects,could have been used more generally. For example, the wishing well, the anecdotal record, the problem check-list, the day dream analysis, the autobiography, the pupil progile, the interest in- ventory, and many other similar devices would have been helpful to core teachers. Devices for measuring the deve10pment of skills in group planning, such as the score-cards for chairmen and for groups, and group I‘- £18 self-rating scales would have been useful. The filing of work samples over a period of years would have shed much light on improvement in verbal skills. Friendship scales and other sociometric devices for measuring group adjustment would have been ricn sources of information about Children. Follow~up studies, which were admittedly rendered difficult by the war, would have shed much light upon the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of these core programs. In summary, the eight programs included in this study were most inadequate in social interpretation and in the evaluation of the achievement of their own goals. In Spite of these deficiencies, the evidence presented in this study appears to warrant the conclusion that these unified programs have been successful, in the Opinion of the teachers, administrators, and students who participated in them. Hypotheses regarding general education lg secondary scnools. The eight programs included in this study have been develOped on the basis of certain hypotheses,l or assumptions. Some of these appear to have a certain degree of validity, in terms of this study. The following hy- Potheses appear to be valid, with reSpect to the curriculum 1 The basis for these hypotheses was set forth at the beginning of the study. They are summarized on pp. ‘ 21’240 219 of general education in se undary schools. The statements are not presented as irrefutable conclusions from this study. They are based upon the authoris convictions, but they appear to be consistent with the faCLS which the study has revealed. (1) Larger blocks of time than a single period are needed throughout the junior and senior high school for an effective combination of guidance and general education. (2) The subject areas in general education-~at least English and the social sciences--gain meaning and significance for students when they are combined into a correlated unit. (3) The purposes and activities of the homeroom plan are identical with those of general education; the homeroom can therefore appropriately be included in the block of time devoted to general education. (4) The most effective single instructional ac- tivity for general education lies in a group attack upon current socialoeconomic-personal problems. (5) More small group and individual activities are needed within the total class group. (6) A direct attack upon the deve10pment of constructive habits, ideals, attitudes, and social ad- justment is more fruitful than teaching for transfer. (7) Students can learn to make wise choices, to plan and work together, and to assume individual and DD {0 C group reaponsibility by the process of bein 'engaged daily in such activities in the classroom. (8) Students should have a continuous and in— creasing role in individual and group evaluation of their work. (9) The problem-solving approach in general edu- cation requires many and varied types of reading materials and.learning aids. (10) The classroom teacher in such a general education group can be the most effective sirgle agent in the guidance and counseling process. (ll) Materials and eXperiences which are denou- strably ill suited to the interests, needs, and abilities of a class group are'not appropriate for use in general education. They may be righly apprOpriate for indivi- duals or for selected groups in specialized courses. (12) Kinimum group standards of subject mastery, competitive marking cystens, failure and academic re- tardation are concepts which are inappropriate or damaging to the social—adjustment functions of general education. Continuous progress and meeting the needs of all youth should be the goal. hypotheses regarding curriculum change: (1) Curriculum change is most effective when teachers, parents, and other lay citizens have an active, 221 responsible role in planning and in evaluating activities. (2) Curriculum Change is most effective when it begins where teachers are, with the problems which they face. (5) Curriculum Change demands time for profes- sional planning, both during tue regular school day and in pre-school conferences. (4) The deve10pment of significant curriculum improvement demands active participation by teachers in WOTKShOpS, in working conferences, and in similar in- service activities which are so organized as to offer numerous opportunities for leadership by teachers. (5) Curriculum improvement comes about most effectively under leadership which arises from function, as opposed to that which arises from Status. Creative group planning demands many different kinds of leaders. The school administrator who is most effective in cur- riculum improvement is he who has the ability to evoke leadership in others. (6) The techniques of evaluating progress toward the social-civic goals of education should be develOped and sharpened to a focus in Specific, local curriculum programs. (7) Significant curriculum improvement does not come about merely through controlled experimentation in small, selected groups. ryn we, 2 (8) Local curriculum planning depends to a consider— able degree upon the deve10pment of a strong feeling of local responsibility, even of building autonomy in the faculty group. It follows that any measure which helps to develOp such local autonomy is valuable. The basic instructional policy of Michigan's Departnent of Public Instruction and the College Agreement freeing the sec- ondary schools from the sequence requirenents are of immeasurable importance for curriculum improvement. Hypotheses regarding teacher education. It was not one of the original purposes of this study to explore the problems of teacher education. Certain hypotheses regarding the preparation of teachers appear to be valid, however, on the basis of the study. They are as follows: (1) The general education program of the secondary school needs more teachers with a rich general background, as Opposed to mere subject Specialists. (2) Both under—graduate and graduate courses should give prOSpective teachers continuous experiences in plan- ning their classroom activities and in small group work, employing the problem-solving approach and other core curriculum techniques. (3) Future teachers should have rich eXperience in individual and group self-evaluation and in the use of recently develOped instruments for measuring social adjustment and critical thinking skills. (4) Future teachers should have a wide, varied emperience in planning and working with community groups of adult, lay citizens, as well as in employing core cur- ricullm methods with pupils. (5) The colleges and universities should devote less attention to controlled eiperimentation and research of the laboratory type and more to furnishing consultant help for local sonool curriculum planning. (6) The consultants who go into schools from the teacher-education institutions should Operate as resource persons who reapect local purposes and who stimulate, not retard, local planning efforts. (7) Teacher-education institutions should lend vigorcus support to Kichigan's policy of local curriculum planning. (8) A new concept of the school administrator must be develOped in graduate courses in administration. This concept should stress the role of leadership in democratic planning and the new devices for achieving flexibility in schedule building. Perhaps most important of all, the new concept of administration should stress the importance of the eXperimental climate, the willingness to re-examine, and the interest in continuous improvement thich char- acterize the creative school. (9) Colleges and universities should extend and liberalize their summer and school year workshOp programs in harmony with the concept of local curriculum planning. 224 (10) Colleges and universities should extend the coverage of the present College Agreement and interpret its provisions with increasing liberality. Implications for regional and state curriculum studies. In a sense, the present study has constituted an evaluation of certain aSpects of the Michigan Secondary Study. It is certain that it would not have been postible except for the groundwork which was done in these eight schools by the Secondary Study. It may be appropriate therefore, to list some implications which it appears to have for regional and state curriculum studies. (1) Teachers must share actively in such studies, both as participants and as leaders in planning at the local and state levels. . (2) Parents and lay citizens must participate actively in planning such studies, at least at the local level. (3) Direct participation by teachers on problems real to them is a more fruitful approach to such studies than the dissemination of information. (4.) The consultantaw‘no core-.2 into local schools from the staffs of such studies should Operate in terms of local purposes and stimulate local planning. (5) Controlled experimentation in selected areas is a less fruitful approach to curriculum improvement than is assistance to local school groups in clarifying purposes and devising procedures for effecti a work on their local curriculum problems. 225 (6) The summer and school-year workshOp on local curriculum planning is a rich resource for aiding in curriculum improvement. Faculty teams from local schools should participate in such workshops, accompanied by at least one administrator. (7) The August working conference of six days in a camp situation, now the responsibility of the Michigan Secondary School Association, should be continued and extended. (8) The local pre-school conference, two to five days in length, with teachers on salary status, should be encouraged and extended. (9) The newly enacted College Agreementz should be promoted widely, implemented by every possible means, and enforced with vigor upon the college admissions officers. (10) State or regional curriculum studies should continue, probably organized in a voluntary association of schools in each area. The official termination of the Michigan Secondary Curriculum Study in 1950 should rather become a merger into a number of area studies of high schools under the protection of the new College Agreement. 2 The College Agreement of the Michigan Secondary Study (See Page 28.) was modified during November and December, 1946, and extended under certain conditions to any accredited high school in Michigan. For the text of the New Agreement, see the Bulletin gf_the hichigan Secondary School Association, TIYEZ, April, 1947. IO {3 O) In conclusion. This has been a study of certain pioneer trends in eight Michigan high schools. Its base 'may be considered too meager for the many, resounding generalizations included in this chapter. It is true that there are many important curriculum modifications of other kinds than the core or unified curriculum and in other schools than these eight. Certain national and state trends already referred to, however, appear to focus increasing importance on the movement toward an integrated pattern for guidance and general education in the secondary school. It is becoming.increasingly evident that the chief cause for criticism of the Secondary school lies, not in its occasional failure to provide advanced, Specialized, vo- cational training for the individual, but rather in its well-nigh universal failure to develop citizens who can live successfully in a democracy in this perplexing and amazing world. This is the task of general education, It was for this function that tax-supported, free public schools were first instituted in this country, and it is to this end that they are still maintained. This is the principal need of more than seven million young pe0ple who now fill our high school classrooms; it is even more strikingly the challenge represented by the three millions of apprOpriate ages who are now rejecting the secondary school. m {\3 <1 In the light of this challenge, any eXperiments wnich offer guidance toward a solution assume great sig- nificance. It appears evident that the eight secondary school programs represented in this study have contributed much through their efforts toward the unification of guidance and general education. If the present study helps to focus attention upon these pioneer trends as a means of gaining parapective about the chief problem which confronts the secondary school, it will have been amply justified. BIBLIOGRAPHY Books and Bulletins Aiken, Wilford M., Th3 Story 2: the Eight-Year Study. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1942. 157 pp. Alberty, narold, Reorganizigg The High School Curriculum. New York: The NacMiIlan Company, 1947. 468 pp. American Council on Education. What the High Schools Ou ht to Teach. Washington, D.C.: American Council on ducation, I940. 36 pp. American Council on Education, Commission on Teacher Education, Teachers For Our Times. Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education, 1944. 178 pp. American Social Problems Study Committee, Guide For the Study of American Social Problems. New York: Columbia University Press,_1942. 181 pp. American Youth Commission, Youth and The Future. Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education, 1942. 296 pp. Association For Supervision and Curriculum Development, Leadership Through Supervision. washington, D.C.: The National Education Association, 1946. 163 pp. Bell, Howard M., Youth Tell Their Story. Washington, D.C.: The American Council on Education, 1938. 273 pp. Biddick, Mildred, The Preparation and Use 9: Source Units. (Mimeog.) New York: The Progressive Education Association, 1939. 379 pp. Biennial Survey pf Education i3 the United States, 1934-1936. Washington, D.C.:- The United States Printing Office, 1936. Volume I. 311 pp. ' . Bingham, Alfred, The Technigues 3: Democracy. New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pierce, 1942. 314 pp. Caswell, H. L., and Campbell, D. S., Readin 8 ip Curriculum Development. New York: American Book Company, 1937. 753 pp. 229 Chamberlin, Dean, et a1., Did They Succeed ip College? New York: Harper and Brothers, 1942. 291 pp. Committee on Relationship of School and College, Progressive Lducation Association, Thirty Schools Tell Their Storg. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1942. 802 pp. COOperative Study of Secondary School Standards, Egg 22 Evaluate g Secondary School. Washington, D.C.: The National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1939. 139 pp. , Evaluative Criteria. Washington, D.C.: The National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1940. 152 pp. Corey, Stephen, Everett, Samuel, and Hand, Harold, General Education lg the American High School. Chicago: Scott, Foresman, and Company, 1942. 319 pp. Curricular Chapges ip Eighteen Michigan Schools, 1938-1943. Elohigan Secondary Study. Lansing, Michigan: The Michigan Secondary Study, 1943. 15 pp. De Lima, Agnes, and High School Staff of Lincoln School, Democracy's high School. Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, New York: Columbia University Press, 1941. 90 pp. ' Department of Public Instruction, Basic Instructional Policy for the michigngurriculum Prggram. Bulletin 314. Lansing, Kichigan: The Department of Public Instruction, 1942. 8 pp. Department of Public Instruction, The Improvement pf Public Education in Michigan. Lansing, Michigan: The Department of Public Instruction, 1945. 301 pp. Department of Public Instruction, Planning and Working Together. bulletin 337. Lansing, Michigan: lhe epartment of Public Instruction, 1945. 191 pp. Department of Superintendence, Social Studies Curriculum. 14th Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, 1938. 498 pp. . o A . .. ¢ . -...- .. c o . . o D . D \ ' o o I _ - p C C ' I ‘n u . ( .-- A O C ' | . a - . . .—. I . u . l‘ 30 ()3 0 Department of Supervision and Curriculum Development, leaderstip at h’ork. 13th Yearbook. Washington: JLhe National Lducation Association, 1943. 248 pp. Department of Supervision and Curriculum Development, Toward 5 New Curriculum. 16th Yearbook. Washington, D. 0.: National Education Association, 1944. 191 pp. Department of Supervisors and Directors of Instruction, mental health ip the Classroom. 13th Vearbook. Washington, D. 0.: National Education Association, 1941. 304 pp. Educational Policies Commission, Education For All Arerican Youth. Washington, D. C.: National LducatiOn Association, 1944. 21 pp. Lducational Policies Commission, Education of Free Len in x: Jerican Democracy. Washinggton, D. 0.: National Lducation Association, 1941. 113 pp. Educational Policies Commission, Lee rning the Keys of Democracy. Washington, D. C.: National Lducation Association, 1940. 486 pp. Educational Policies Commission, The Purposes of Education in Amr ican Derzocracy, Shington _D. C.: National Lducetion Association, 1940.137 pp. Everett, Samuel, The Community School. New York: D. Appleton-Centuly Company, 1938. 487 pp. Follow-gp 2: Secondary School Students. Michigan Secondary Study. Lansing, Lichigan: The Kichigan Secondary Study, 1943. 70 pp. Giles, H. H., ficCutchen, S. P., and Zechiel, A. N., Lyploring the Curriculum. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1942. 362 pp. Hanna, Paul, Youth Serves the Community, New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1936. 303 pp. Hepkins, L. T., Integration, Its iieaning and Application. New York: D. Appleton-Centuly Company, 1937. 313 pp, 231 NOpkins, L. T., Interaction, The Deraocratic Process. Boston: D. C. Peath and Company, 1941. 490 pp. Kansas State Lepartment of Education A Guide For szloratory ‘ork in the ICansas irograr for the Improverent of Instruction. Bulletin 3. TOpeka, Kansas : State Departhent of Education, 1937. 388 pp. Kilpatrick, U. L., Remakipg the Curriculum. New York: Newson and Company, 1936. 128 pp. Leonard, J. P., and Lurich, A. C., editors. Ag Evaluation 2E Lodern Education. Lew York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1942. 299 pp. local Ire-School Conferences. Hichigan Secondary Study. Lansing, hichigan: The Michigan Secondary Study, 1944. 42 pp. LacConnell, Charles, Lelby, L. D., and Arndt, C. 0., New Schools for a New Culture. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1943. 229 pp. Larshall, L. C., and Coats, R. M., Curriculum-Nakingip the Social Studies. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 193 . 232 pp. ' . Meek, Lois Hayden, and others, Personal-Social Relations 2g Boys and Girls with Implications for the Secondary School Proeram. New York: The Progressive Education Associat on, 1940. 243 pp. Kississippi Proggem For The Improvement of Instruction. Bulletin 5. Jackson: The State L'epartnent of Education, 1938. 296 pp. Myer, Walter L.,and Coss, Clay, Lducation For Democratic Survival. Washington, D. C.: The Civic Education Service, 1942. 264 pp. National Council of Teachers of English An Experience Curriculum in English. NGW’YOLK: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1935. 323 pp. National Education Association, COOperation, Principles and Practices. 11th Yearbook, Department of‘Super- visors and Directors of Instruction. Washington, D. C.: National Education Association, 1938. 244 pp. 232 New York Regents' Inquiry, Education for American life. L. H. Gulick, editor. New York: KcGraw-hill Company 1938. 167 pp. New York Regents' Inquiry, High School and Life. F. T. Spaulding, editor. New York: NcGraw-Hill Company, 1936. 375 pp. North Central Association, A Study of In-Service Education. Chicago: The North Central Associat1on, 1944. 40 pp. Ohio State University High School Class of 1938, Were 32 .Quinea,£ig§? Chicago: Henry Holt Company, 1938. 303 pp. Parker, J. C., Henge, J. W., and Rice, T. D., The First Five Years. Lansing, Nichigan: The Michigan Secondary Study, 1943. 160 pp. Peddiwell, J. Abner, (pseud.), The Saber-Tooth Curriculum. New York: MoGraw—Hill Company, 1939. 139 pp. Pierce, Paul R., Developing a high School Curriculum. New York: American Book Company, 1942. ‘36? pp. Planning For American Youth. The National Association of Secondary School Principals. Washington, D. C.: The National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1944. 64 pp. Prescott, D. A., Emotion and the Educative Process. Washington, D. C.: American Council on Education, 1938. 323 pp. Programs of the Cooperating Secondagy Schools in California. California State Department of_ Education, Bulletin 3. Sacramento, California: The State Department of Education, 1939. 82 pp. Progres ive Lducation Association, Commission on the Secondary School Curriculum, Science in General Education. New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1938. 391 pp. The Social Studies in General Education. New York: *_D. Appleton-Century Company, 1940.401 pp. Lan ua e in General Education. New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1945. 226 pp. 233 , Mathematics in General lducation, New York: D. Appleton-Century Coupany, 1940. 423 pp. , Visual Arts in General Education. New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1940. 166 pp. Reid, Chandos, "A Study of Teachers' Problems Resulting From New Practices in Curriculum." Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University, Evanston, 1943. 396 pp. Rice, T. D., "Cooperative Planning in Certain Secondary Schools." Unpublished doctoral dissertation, North- western University, Evanston, 1943. 487 pp. Rice, T. D., and Faunce,R. C., The hichigan Secondary Study. Lansing, Michigan: The Michigan Secondary Study, 1945. .45 pp. Rugg, Harold, American Life and the School Curriculum. New York: Ginn and Company, 1956. 451 pp. Rugg, harold, editor, Democracy and the Curriculum. 3rd Yearbook, John Dewey Society. New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1959. 536 pp. Seeking Better Ways. Michigan Secondary Study. Lansing, Kichigan: The hichigan Secondary Study, 1941. 95 pp. Smith, E. R. and Tyler, R. N., Appraising and Recording Student Progress. New York: harper and brothers, 1942. 550 pp. Some Went 22 College. Michigan Secondary Study. Lansing, Michigan: T e michigan Secondary Study, 1945. 53 pp. Source Materials For the DevelOpnent 2g Core Courses. Kimeograpned Report, Michigan Secondary Study. Lansing, Richigan: The Michigan Secondary Study, 1938. 57 pp. Southern Association Study, The Story_2£.Holtville. Nashville: Vanderbilt University, 1943. I91 pp. Spaulding, Francis T., High Scnool and Life. The New York Regents' Inquiry. New York: *THe American Book Company, 1940. 400 pp. 234 Spears, Harold, The Emerging high School Curriculum and Its Direction. ‘New York: The American Book Company, 1940. 400 pp. Spears, Harold, Secondary_hducation in American Life. New York: The American Book Company, 1941. 400 pp. Stolper, J. R. and Fenn,-H. 0., Integration at Work. Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1959. 166 pp. Thayer, V. T., Zachry, C. D., and Kotinsky, Ruth, R organizing Secondar' iducation. New York: D. Appleton-Century Conpany, ‘1940. 485 pp. heeks, Ruth J, editor, 5 Correlated Uurriculum. New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1956. 526 pp. Kitty, Paul and KOpel, David, Reading and the Lducative frocess. New York: Ginn and Company, 1959. 574 pp. Wrightstone, J. W., Appraisal 22 nxperimental high School Practices. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers Colleg., Columbia University, 1956. 194 pp. Youth Learns to Assume Responsibility. hichigan Secondary Study. Lansing, Licnizan: The Lichigan Secondary Study, 1944. 107 pp. Zacnry, Caroline and Lignty, kargaret, emotion and Conduct in Adolescence. New Torn: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1940. 565 pp. BIBLIOGRAFRY Periodical References Alberty, narold, "Core Curriculum at Lincoln High School," California Journal 23 Secondary Education, 12:71-85, February, 1957. , Babson, helen, "The Place of the Core in the Curriculum," Curricul1n dournal, 11:517-520, “ovember, 1940. bostwick, Prudence, "A high Scnool Core PrOgram," Curriculum Journal, 9:204-207, may, 1958. Deboer, J. J., "Subject Teachers Plan A Unified Curriculum," Curriculum Journal, 11:271-2 5, October, 1940. Faunoe, Roland c. , "II-Lichigan'EPlan For building Better Citizens," California Journal 2; Secondary Education, 20: 217-221, April, 1945. Giles, H. h., "It Can Happen," Educational Leadership, 1:206, January, 1944. Hanna, Lavonne, "The Plan of the Core Curriculum in Tulsa," Curriculum Journal, 10:550-552, Decenber, 1959. Jacobson, iaul D., "Inaugurating the Core Program," The Clearing house, 18:592, harch, 1944. Leonard, J. Paul, "Some Reflections on the Secondary Core Curriculum," Curriculum Journal, 10:250—253, October, 1959. Igackenzie, Gordon N., ”Core Curriculum Developments in California," School Review, 47:557-551, Kay, 1959. Iflallory, Beatrice, "A Proposed Plan for A Core Course in the Secondary Scnool," Journal g£_home Economics, 26:81-85, February, 1959. IQcClellan, n. N., "General Education in Seventeen California Secondary Schools," Curriculum Journal, 14:177, April, 1945. lgoran, Aatherine, "General Education in Will Rogers high School," Curriculum Journal, 14:151, march, 1945. /) nice, Theodore L., ."A high School Core Progran," Curriculum Journ a , 9:201-205, hay, 195". Rice Theodore D. "Secondar* Curriculum Study in ’ ’ b hichigan," Caliiorhia Journal 3; ESCOL ary Education, 19:521—526, Catcher, 1944. Saur, Gladys, "A Unified Pro; ram That Works," The School Lxeoutive, 66:44, A; ril, 1947 Scrafford, Ralph, "United we Sta nd," The English Journal, 55:247, Lay, 1944. Sparhawk, Elizabeth, "Core Curriculum," Secon dry Education, 7: 202-206, September, 1959. Spear, Hilliem, "Community Survey in a Grade Twelve Unified tudi 65 Clear, " The North Central Associatitn gparterly, l :552, April, 1945. Wrightstone, J. U., ”Appra is al of Newer Practices in Selected Puolic Schools ," Teachers College Rec r" :718- -7l9, May, 195.. no 9. I. I. D. H. E. P. A. to 03 CD APPENDIX A INTLRVIEY SCHEDULE UliVLY OF PEOCRLZIS OF IICIEfi-EA'I'IOF IN IIICRIGATT’ SLCONDARY SCHOOIS 1957-1946 1. Origin 2: the Program 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 What, in your Opinion, was the original purpose of this program? When did it originate? By what title was the program known? (i.e. core, unified studies, general education, others) At what grade or grades did the program begin? Did it unite or replace former subjects in the pupil's program? 15111 a t ? To what extent was the program originally patterned after some other school's program? Rho was most influential in providing local leadersnip in the organization of the program? (individual teacner, teacher committee, princi- pal, supervisor, superintendent, parent, etc.) 239 1.8 Did any individual teachers or administrators provide outstanding leadership in planning the total program from the beginning? If so, please name them and identify their subject field or position. 1.9 What persons or agencies outside of your comp munity provided inspiration or consultative assistance in the initiating of the program? 1.10 What kinds of committees or teams were formed among members of the faculty involved in the program? 1.11 In what ways, if at all, did lay persons in your community participate in the planning of the program? ' 2. Development of the Program 2.1 In what ways, if at all, did the original purpose of the program change during its de- velopment? 2.2 In what ways, if at all, did the program de- ve10p in terms of known facts about growth and deve10pment of children enrolled in the program? v . . l - 7 . ~ . . ‘ , , , A ) _ . ‘ . c u l . . . . c‘. .. , « O . . 4 . 2.3 2.5 2.9 In what ways have the events of our times in- fluenced the selection of learning activities in the program? List the criteria which serve, in the main, as a basis for selection of instructional eXperi— ences in your program. Describe the role of Specific drill in your program of general education. What provision was made for text or supple- mentary instructional materials which.would not have been made if the program of integra- tion had not been develOped? Please describe any changes in instructional technigues which occurred as the program de- veloped. Please describe briefly any changes in the administrative plan of the program.which occurred as it develOped. Was provision made for time for teacher plan- ning, individually or with others involved in the program? If so, please describe the pro- visions briefly. 2.15 2.14 241 What relationship develOped between the teachers involved in this program and other teachers in your school? EXplain any tech- niques employed to facilitate deve10pment of constructive working relationships through- out the school. In your Opinion, did teachers become more ef- fective as they worked in the program? If so, please list the chief means by which this growth was accomplished. If.not, please list probable reasons. In what ways did lay citizens contribute ac- tively to the program as it developed? By what means, other than those listed in 2.12, was the program interpreted to lay citizens, including parents? ” What effect, if any, has the program had upon such total school policies as examinations, marks, promotion, etc. ? 3. Evaluation 2; the Program 5.1 Please list the principal techniques which were 3.2 3.4 used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program, in terms of pupil growth. (Marks, promotion, achievement, test data, attitude scales, person- ality tests, incidence of behavior problems, conditions of school plant, participation and leadership in other classes and in extracurricular activities and school government, etc.) Briefly, what do such evaluations reveal about the relative strength or weakness of the program, as measured by pupil growth? What in your Opinion appear to have been the out- standing strengths or advantages of the program, in comparison with conventional organization for instruction? What were its chief weaknesses in comparison with vhatever program preceded it? What, in your opinion, could have been done to remedy the weaknesses of the program? 3.9 3.10 Has the program been reduced in SOOpe or abolished since its inception? If so, what were the chief reasons for this curtailment? What is the relative holding-power of the pro- gram as revealed by drOp-Out data for students enrolled in the program and for students generally? What does evidence from follow~up studies of graduates and drOp-Outs reveal regarding the effectiveness of the program? What do surveys of parents Opinions reveal re- garding their attitude toward the program? What do administrators think about the program as regards its comparative (3) Cost (b) Schedule difficulties (c) Demands upon teacher personnel (d) Effect upon the total school program 244 5.11 What has been the effect of the program On teachers' growth in service as revealed by such data as (a) Personnel turn-over in the program (b) Teacher participation in roles Of pro- fessional and community leadership in school, community, region, or state (0) Teacher promotions (d) Studies of esprit de corps (e) Pupils' evaluations Of teachers (f) Teachers' participation in research projects ‘ (g) Teachers' writing for publication (h) Teachers' doing further study in institutions (i) Teachers' participation in conferences, school visits, or workshOps 3.12 What do surveys of present or former student Opinions of the program reveal concerning its effectiveness? 3.13 What does evidence of re-election of the pro- gram reveal concerning its effectiveness? 9 45 246 APPENDIX B OPINIOHAIRE S BVEY OF PROGRAH OF IE EGEnTIOh K BIG RAPIDS EIGh ECnOOL 1937-1943 1. Origin 2; the Program 1.1 What, in your Opinion, was the original purpose of the core program in the big Rapids High School? 1.2 Did any individual teachers or administrators provide outstanding leadership in planning the total program.from the beginning? If so, please name and identify their subject field or position. 1.3 What persons or agencies outside of your local community provided inspiration or consultative aszistance in the initiating of the program? 1.4 In what ways, if at all, did lay persons in your community participate in the planning of the program? 2. DevelOpment g£_the Program 2.1 In what ways, if at all, did the original pur- pose Of the prOgram change during its deve10p- Inezft? 247 2 In wnat ways, if at all, did the program (‘0 U“; {\7 develop in terms of known facts about growth and deve10pment of children nrolled in the program? In what ways did the events of the times in- fluence the selection of learning activities in the program? List the criteria which served, in the main, as a basis for selection of instructional ex- periences in your prOgram. Describe the role of Specific drill in your prOgram of general education. what provision.was made for text or supplemen— tary instructional materials which would not have been made if the pro ram of integration had not been developed. {\3 0 Q 2.11 248 Please describe any changes in instructional techniques which occurred as the program de- veloped. Was provisiin made for time for teacher plan- ning, individually or with Others involved in the program? If so, please describe the pro- visions briefly. Uhat relationships ‘evelOped betneen the teachers inVOlved in this program and other teachers in your sonool? EXplain any tecr- niiues employed to facilitate deve10pment of constructive working relationships throughout the scnool. In your opinion, did teachers become more ef- fective as they worked in the program? If so, please list the chief means by which this growth was accomplished. If nOt, please list probable reasons. In what ways did lay citizens contribute ac- tively to the program as it develOpei? 249 2.12 by What means, other than those listed in 2.11, was the program interpreted to lay citizens, in- cluding parents? 2.13 hhat effect, if any, has the program had upon such total school policies as examination, marks, promotions, etc.? 3. Evaluation 2; the Program 3.1 What in your opinion apgear to have been the out- standing strengths or advantages of the program, in comparison witn conventional organization for instruction? Ci} 0 m Khat were its chief weaknesses in comparison with whatever program preceded it? 3.3 What, in your Opinion, could have bben done to remedy the weakness of the program? 3.4 flas the program been reduced in scope or abolished since its inception? If so, what were the chief reasons for this curtailment? 3.5 What did you think about the program with re- gards to its comparative (a) Cost_ (b) Schedule difficulties (c) Demands upon teacher personnel (d) Lffect upon the total school program 3.6 What was the effect of the program in teachers' growth in service as revealed by such data as (a) Personnel turn-over in the program (b) Teacher participation in roles of pro- fessional and community leadership in school, community, region, or state (c)Teachers' writing for publication (d) Teachers' participation in research projects (e) Teachers doing further study in in- stitutions (f) Teachers' participation in conferences, school visits, or workshOps 251 “15771.7“7'1' (‘ A. .L 1.41 .-'.L.’L u T :‘V‘Y V f '7‘. m ;\“'V 1' ~1~ F‘ A ) Tvg \FT‘, Tf’ . ’_' C A” ‘1'“7"’ "l“‘f 1‘ MD TELL L3 1L ”.5113.“ .L 'C.......... 131.1111...” 1111.0 I.-. ...-...J..,:\' LVLJOC’H ~- '-\~T~'. ~-_;~~~r'1 1' ”I GL‘LLHJ.‘ . 1.4-. 11-41:.3 Bloomfield hills xish School hr. Carroll Lunshaw, SnwtrlhthL‘nt hr. Richard Spiess, principal Ifliss Rutf ‘.'oc:hnan, unified studiess1uxacher since 1944 in grade :5 8i ht and nine hiss D11:othybiugnes, unified studies teacher since 194b in grade seven hrs. Lvelyn Vershure, unified studies teacher since +- .U September, 1946, in grade e1; Denby High School hr. Fred Eu ulder, chairre n uf mathematics departnnn and coordi later of curriculum studv sirce 1938 Er. Rosalind Zapf, ceie teacher, and chairman of core teache'“ sin e s 0. February 1, 1041 hiss nelen nelley, core teacher since 1941 hrs. Lleanor iujp, core teacher since February, 1942 mr. Cha les Canfield, superintenrent since September, 1 in unified program at various level L sf Lary Ann J-Jlius, .eachcr in on K':Fd Ln list zrf 5001;. studies since 5 pte:ber, 1945 lien: Targsret Ektitzer, tczmfiier in coplfizw—d prrgrrr: since 1941 “r. “C1 blarn, teacxcr “n combined prosren since 19 hiss Mercia Lookyer, teacher in combined progrrn sine: Septtnber, 1946 hiss Bonnie Fisher, teacher in conbired period progran since Sentenber, 1946 hr. is he Ancerson, social .ie e teacher since 1 January, ..°, °...:- '.‘ x, ‘ GOG :ln “(3: 1... S rig", hqulCJUl h M m mrs. Gladys Sour, princi,el for en merino C1 Lnifi:d studies prof.ar, 1940-1J4? Lies garish schhiefiing, unified studies t:305er since 1940 mrs. habelle Van Atta, unified studies t {crer since 1940 1" 25 1.;r. Liallace l'flair, principal of junior high school lQaO-AS and 1945-4? ‘ iniirco Klenk, prigcipal o _p junior high ‘ICT Ligh school , principal senior high school . Iioy Rubi s n, administ“ative or s 1‘ charge cfi'.m.st.ucticdrsaizce 1937 hr. Ross Smith, prirciga 1 of junior iigh school hr. Gordo: hiefsmiller, former homeroom and teacher sirce 19 hiss nary ueffries, homeroom and core teacher since 0 01" 62 ...! 9.7 hiss Lary Daniels, homeroom and core teacher siz;ce i. 7 E“ (a JLakx-wiew Junior 11;; uchool hiss Louisa Eurham, p incipal of junior high school since 1930 hiss hula Pray, Ciro t acher, 1945-47 hrs. Eernadi. e staples, core teacher, 1945-47 hiss Gladys Staufier, core teacher, 1945— 47 Sr. Ieon ¢askin, Depar tnont of Publ ic Instruction mayne Llfh School Mr. Don h and 11, principal of high school since Saptember, 1943 his ss iaraaret Street, English teacher 1945-47 irs. Agnes nichham, Lnglis h teacier, 1946- 47 hr. Larry hammond, social science teacher, 1946-47 hiss Lleanor hiedermeier, social science teacher, 1946-47 or. nenry Iucock, ocial science teacher, 1946-47 Zr. Palmer frown, :cience teacher, 1946-47 hr. herbert BirtOI science teacher, 1946-47 253 DHINISTRATORS AND TEACHERS TO WHOT OPINIONAIRE ON EIG RAPIDS HIGH SCHOOL CORE PROGRAH WAS MAILED Mr. M. L. McCoy, superintendent of schools, Wayne, Hichigan 1943-1947; superintendent of schools in Big Rapids, 1958-1943. Mr. Walter Godlewski, now teacher in the Allegan High School; core teacher in the Big Rapids High School, 1941-43 0 Hr. Laurence Grosser, now director of Michigan Forensic Association; core teacher, Big Rapids, 1941—43. Mrs. Ruth Allen Jones, now substitute teacher, Battle Creek Public Schools; core teacher, Big Rapids, 1938-41. Mr. Albert Potts, now enployed by Dun & Bradstreet, Detroit; core teacher; Big Rapids, 1938-42. Kr. Harold Wisner, now counselor, Office of Veteran's Affairs, Grand Rapids; core teacher, Big Rapids, 1938-41. Mr. Carl Wood, principal, Blissfield High School; 1943- 1947; core teacher, Big Rapids, 1941-43. Miss Gertrude Yonker, now social science teacher, Big Rapids High School; core teacher, 1939-43. Mrs. Laura Zetterstedt, now English teacher, Big Rapids High School; core teacher, 1939-43. 254 APPENDIX D SAMPLES OF LETTEAS TO PARENTS Detroit Public Schools D E N B Y H I G H S C H O O L 12800 Kelly Road Detroit 24, fiichigan Warren E. Bow Superintendent of Schools Dear This semester your child is a QB student at the Edwin Denby high School. Among other things he has prob~ ably told you that he is in a Core class. bince he may be a bit confused, as yet, we feel tLSt it would be well at this time to give you a brief description of the type of work that is being done in these classes.so that you will have a better understanding of the problems your child will meet and of the work we are trying to do. Denby High School has been making a definite effort to develOp a type of class that will help its students to fit themselves into the life of the school and to enable tnem to be successful nowrand in later life. We have called tnis type of class a Core class. The outstanding aim of the-Core class is to help our students to live democratically and work~democratically, that is, to think and work with other boys and girls instead of merely reading about democracy in a book. We belieVe that the more infernal classroom situation pro- vides opportunities for your child to develOp natural social contacts with boys and girls about him. Since the class meets two consecitive periods each day and re- mains with the same teacher for the entire first year in high school, it provides oogortunities for pupils and teachers to know each other well enough so that the teacher may help, guide, and counsel the pupil in his perSonal, social, or educational difficulties. 255 The work is planned around tOpics that are important in the students' minds as well as in the mind of the teacher. he use all kinds of lihrary and resource ma- terial to answer questions and solve problems. Your child will learn to help himself and grow in knowledge and self-confidence. This is, of course, a very brief and incomplete description of the Core classes. Perhaps, however, it will serve to give you some understanding of what we are trying to do. If you have questions that you would like to ask, please feel perfectly free to come and talk the matter over or to visit the Core classes at any time. From time to time we will se d home further information as to what we are doing. R. L. Zapf In charge of Core work. Approved: L. G. COOper 256 Edwin Denby High School 12800 Kelly Road Detroit 24, Michigan Dear : For the past year your son/daughter has been a member of a core class, which has replaced the usual ninth grade ~history and hnglish classes. There are eight of these ninth grade classes at Denby. The chief purpose of such classes is to help boys and girls learn to live together in a democratic fashion and to solve such problems as come within their field of interest and needs. Emphasis is placed on helping the pupil to learn to think care- fully and critically, to recognize his problems, to plan how to solve them, and to work at them until he has done the best that he is capable of. Time is Spent in help- ing him to judge his own abilities, his citizenship as a member of a group, and his achievement in the classroom work. In other words, we help him to measure his own success and failure in meeting problems of daily living. This type of classroom work helps pupils develOp habits of tolerance, self-control, fair-mindedness, and a sense of responsibility. The pupils themselves have stated, among other things, that this type of class has helped them to develOp poise, to be able to stand on their feet and discuss things with other people, and to solve their problems with greater ease. Pupils in schools throughout the United States where this type of class has been in Operation have, upon attendance in college, succeeded in academic subjects as well as, or better than pupils having had the regulation courses. In such things as initiative, skill in dealing with problems, knowledge of contemporary and world af- fairs, and in social participation they have been far ahead. Your son/daughter has eXpressed a desire to continue in the tenth grade core class. All who have said they wisn to continue in a core class will not, of course, be able to do so since the class can have in it only 40 pupils and for some pupils it will be impossible to fit it into their programs. however, in order to help us determine how many pupils are available, will you answer the following question and have this sheet returned at once. z‘ 257 Are you in favor of having your son/daughter continue in a core class in the tenth grade . Signed: If at any time you would be interested in visiting any of the core classes or in talking to any of the core teachers concerning the work we would be happy to have you come. Sincerely, L. G. COOper, Principal Pupil's Name Teacher . 258 Detroit Public Schools Denby high School 12800 Kelly ROad Detroit 24, kichigan Warren E. Bow Superintendent of Schools October 27, 1944 Dear : As you know, the boys and girls in Core (6) have been together as a class for two years, some of them for three years. We all feel that our time Spent together has been an eXperience that we will never forget. Now that the group is coming to the end of the eleventh grade, several questions have come up which are very important to us. For one thing we are anxious to know just how the parents feel about the Core program, that is, have they been satis- fied‘with the progress their boy or girl has made, or have they been dissatisfied. Another problem which we are facing cnncerns the possibility of carrying Core work into the twelfth grade. Since these questions concern the parents directly as well as the pupils, we are holding an evening meeting here at Denby for both parents and pupils of the Core (6) class. It will be held on Wednesday evening, November.l, at 7:15 o'clock in Room . We would like to have as many mothers and fathers come as possible and would be so glad to have an Opportunity to meet you. Won't you come? Please have you child return this slip by Tuesday, October 51. will I be able to come. will not Signed 259 Edwin Denby high School 12800 Kelly Road Detroit 24, hichigan October 15, 1944 Dear : This semester your child is a student at Denby high School. Among other things he has probably told you that he is in a core class. We are very anxious to have you know what we are trying to do in this class. He feel that a greater understanding on the part of parents may contribute greatly to the success of the pupil's school eXperiehce. For this reason we are inviting the fathers and mothers of the boys and girls in your child's core class to come to Denby on ‘ evening, October . At that time we will explain the purpose of the core work, what the boys and girls do in this class, and answer yuestions that you may have. The meeting will be in Room 202 at 7:50 P.M1 otclock. We would like to have as many mothers and fathers come as possible and would be so glad to hate an Opportunity to meet you. Won't you cone? R. M. Zapf In charge of core work Teacher of class Approved: L. G. COOper Please have you child return this slip by _______ I be able to come. will not Signed 260 APPENDIX E smrrin PUPIL EVALUATION ILISTRULL‘ms GODWIN ELIGmTS HIGF SChOOL UNIFIED PROGRAK 1942 Name: (last), (middle) (first) Address: Telephone: 1. 2. 3. 10. ll. On what committees do you serve in your morning classes? have you served on the Planning Committee yet? (circle the right answer) Yes No have you served as chairman of any of the committees on which you have served? (circle) Yes No Did you assist in the planning of the noon sale we Spon- sored? (circle) Yes No how many times have you been tardy this year necessarily unnecessarily How many times this year have you been absent necessarily unnecessarily Have you ever discussed this course with your parents? (circle) Yes No Do your parents approve of what we are trying to do in this class? (circle) Yes No Would you approve of having your parents come up to visit our class to see what we are doing? (circle) Yes No Do you feel that as time goes on, this course is be- coming increasingly boring? (circle) Yes No If so, do you find it any more boring than most of the' other traditional courses you have taken in the past? (circle) Yes No l‘ 12. 15. 261 Would you be in favor of our "junking" the plans we have made thus far and go bacm to start something different? (circle) Yes No Are you sold on the idea of pupil-teacher planning? (circle) les ho Considering the seven different criteria suggested by members of the class for arriving at the students' grades, what grade do you feel you deserve for the first five weeks of school? Grade ‘ In the Space below, will you kindly write any-remarks or conments which you feel your instructor ought to be informed of before she decides your grade for the first school period. T Name Address Telephone how many times have you been tardy this year? how many times have you been absent this year? What would you say is the purpose of a course such as this? Have you ever discussed this course with your parents? Do your parents approve of what we are trying to do? have you taken charge of a lS-minute period yet? Will you take charge of a l5-minute period? What services have you performed for this group? (Such as making suggestions, serving on committees, holding office, etc.) Do you feel that you are accomplishing more, or less, in this class than in the traditional kind of class? If you feel that you aren't accom,lishing nuc , what can you do about it? Do you like this class more, or less, as time goes on? What suggestions have you for the improvenent of the class? 263 hhat have you accomplished? Has this class helped you do it? Considering everything, that grade do you feel you deserve for the first five weeks of school? 264 A: "9127311: F ngcr- ours FOR LACIE Y: 5:9 19 {58-1945 LU: m0 Ag; AITD ”10:12:, LD:~:I:~ D::YB1:7 Ill-(7:: E10--OOL.* Year Number Over Age Work Total 1958-39 252 2 234 1939-40 589 2 591 1940-41 590 55 425 1941-4? 531 104 435 1942-43 651 81 712 ¥ Lvaluation of Curriculum Changes, Edwin Denby High School. Unpublis ned report to michigan Secondary Study. 19;3. p. 18 APPLIIDIIL iiLDUC TICT I? TLACZLR LOAL, LEVIN DL7WY HICL] SCEOOL 1938-19L "The decrease of 35.5 different students (19.35) taught by each teacher per week is a very substantial re- duction. It is accounted for by two factors: (1)A substantial decrease in the average size of classes, and (2) A definite increase in the number of cases where a teacher heets the sane group of pupils for two periods a day--eitner in double period core classes or in the Integrated Classes wnere a teacher meets the same group of pupils both for English and for history."* * Lvaluation 2: Curriculum Changes, dein Denby High School. Op. Cit. p. 250 265 FAILLQnS LIL FILLLC, EIG RAYIDS EI'E SCHOCL “It is a well-known fact that failure has diminished in our junior high echo 1 since 1958. One result of this nenonenon has been the practical abolition of the Special education department due to the lack of candidates. With- out any particular pressure in that direction, the core teachers now seem to think it their province to help the lower ten per cent to succeed up to the linit of their power as much as the upper ten per cent to the limit of theirs. it is certainly clear that we have learned something about individualization in the seventh and eighth grade."* * high School Principal's Report, June, 1941. Big Rapids high School 266 ‘I‘LJ‘ i). H LLAIEL; OF CCLPl.T;: IITLVVILL’ SCLLLUIL Edv in Denby high school ‘7 )TY" 1f "f" \~;/‘h' "-r a T“ '" draw? “"5: \ TA «1*- UTILJJ—a . OJ L Ukr.‘ f“ L’F ..L'. (Fa-'(“Lii .L I? i ' IF ,. l- .LLL JbJA-o -u A-..1-/— J 11. QLJVVDARV SCHOOLS 1937-1946 . ‘ ‘- ra- , ' -ri?in of the Proiran 1.1 What, in your opinion, was the orig 0‘inal purpose of this prograr ? To develop a series of areas of work for ninth U grade puuils while would be suited to the level f tne pupils. To fit needs of students in high school-~to give them onnortunity to develop their potential abilities and to lecoue good Renters of a cum— muni To inprove the Cirriculim for ninth grade pupils so as tm>ggive thrrquJrh that VKHlLi have {J3 hir{ for them an: fill their needs. The g‘rpose was to adjust education in t e n: nth grade to t7r e chargzu conditions of living and ensuring BCLCS of,edolescence. The charred conditions include cu,h things as the changes union oc “cu red after the first Horld War, in— eluding such things as ircreE"€€ leisure, changed econOJuic coh v I , w ) O 1" . - T . _,‘ , .l -, C . O A. .' s . ' . I . l _‘ t O 4 . ‘ r . . '- i O !_ ‘. s" '- . . I I O I _.. _ | , I < L ~l -.. «O f o . ) .en. 1. . I .. e L O ., . . I e . . . . - . ~ , ( . .a C'- ‘I ~ , ,. . . . ‘ , ' ‘ 1. ' ‘ .'. _ e . IQ . I u ‘ ' o . A .‘ .‘_ ‘ s » , U ‘ . -0 5a _ _ ‘ . e I . ' . . C . ( ( l' A’ ‘ A ‘ D .. O ' ( I l ' I. u. .>-‘ . . I'. O‘ . \. . 1 . \ - .' r - l. I . . w W“ I ‘ .. , . . -§ D I g . e 9 . . I . . . . ( . . . . b . - A I I s x. m-> st .. IO ‘ -. . I I L i . -ta 0 9 > I , n . | \ . v or J on. I o e a . u . - Q , . o . -7: '. r e . . ‘ .. . .. ( ., -.- ' "t O s s lo. ‘I e e . L. , 1 .’ 4 x .I . (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) 2 U) 5 Read about the history of our school government Read about the officers and their various duties Hold daily homeroom meetings, presided over by Us president and with minutes kept; observe parlia— mentary usage; hear the council reuorts on the day following that meeting Study about the simyle rules of Parliamentary pro- cedure fut through a petition or a bill of legislation which is silly or harmful, to show the other pupils the need of weighing evidence in reaching a decision '..'rite tests on the facts about our high school government Criginate legislation for student council repre- sentative to carry back to council Evaluate by group discussion the behavior and success of the student projects like sessions, chapel prOgrams, hall-use, gym use, parties, etc. Rate (and discuss) the sessions and halls every week B - Activities for certain pugils ’(l) AAA/\Ar—x/‘x C) \7 O3 ()1 J:- C“ {\3 VV VVVVVVV LO l—‘I—Jr‘ HO v Report on the great names in the history of democracy in Big Rapids High School. Examples -- Dr. rhillips, Gerald Grunst, Harold Hisner, Lan Silver, John Mangrum, David Uhalen, Floyd Heydenburg, JacK nriss, Edmund Ellefson, Esther hodrou, nuth Everette, Lusty Davis. Report on various topics from the student handbooK. Report on permit and attendance regulations. Report on fire drills. Report on yard supervision. Report on chapel conduct. Report on locker inspection Report on Ch. XXI KcAndrew Social §tudies - (need for education in a democracy). Weekly reports by student council representatives Sit in hall for a half-hour and list, (then lead discussion of) offenses and violations observed. Draw up occasional petitions to the council or iomeroom. {Materials ;5 each room -- Unit Two: Educational Policies Commission, hearnin The Wh s of Democrac '(Washington, D. C.: The NatIon Educat on ssociation, 1940). The Big Rapids High School Student Handbook Files of the Cardinal, our high school paper Democrac ggwnction, Department of Public Instruction BEIIe¥in 525 lLansing, Michigan: The Department, 1941). Minutes, Big Rapids High School Student Council Halter Helen Societ In Action Topic 8 p. 70- Topic 11, 5. 73—131; opl‘c' Ir p.'7e. ’ ' Distin uished Americans: ”How The Panama Canal Was Built;' 6'The Boy Grater of the Platte”; "John Mitchell"; ”From Plowboy To Post”; "How the Red Cross Came to America"; ”The Cowboy Philosopher." ‘Parliamentagz Practice: Pp. 25-26; p. 88; p. 95; p. 99. .— ~‘m (‘ e i . L. f} . - I .... , _. .. I e . . ~«. 3 I b ... I “ o— . _I ‘ I n . . s k a . . e s An I q.- ...-n, -. O .- 5. I ( r . *a-o s "V “An- —. a \.;‘t- s . ' a m A J A - .' D — - _- _‘r C .’ . ”ho—~— - e T ‘ O A .— - l . ‘s \ . r a -. no ". I" - , N.-“’- A...- ~‘b‘o s e ~—. - ..- .._. -. . .4, o 0"» J l . .1 .. ~ - - -... -. e A I ‘.~ -<-‘ h 0 o _. h ‘ . (“I , (I o l . - c. r , .4 ..x) I -' e. - hr ..-: ' , o ‘ ‘ . . -. _ . s -. u»- . ..., - .KH-.. h ‘ J -- -’ ’-- .“ . O s " ( C” v ‘ s ' .... . e -) . a . I ‘ a. -. A... . . ...-u“ . T TWO -- “Y U YOUR HO IE SOME POSSIBLE PHASES Q§,THIS UNIT (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) ('7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) Developing and maintaining better relations in the home Entertaining family and friends in the home Developing good manners in the home The "Golden Rule" in the home Creating a favorable home-study environment Understanding the need for, and the importance of the heme Participating in the regular duties of the home Caring for personal belongings Helping select and buy efficiently for the home Improving the appearance of the home Sanitation in the home Safety-first in the home mourn AIMS 9;: UNIT TWO: (1) (2) (3) (4) To develop an appreciation of the need for the family and of the importance of the home in the modern sociological structure To develop the ability to get along with the other members of the family group To foster the concept of sharing the duties of the home and assuming a prOper responsibility for a share in its management To develop an understanding of the practical imp portance of aesthetic standards, sanitation, and safety in the home - a. .Q O-v—Ob -.a - 7.. --..O “O ova “‘1 u .-g as. A, 4.. -- < —" t. A ‘— am _\ o. o. . g‘ -7 0,»- 4 -.> a. ‘- 0 s A ' s - s . . . T s y . ' i. . -1 .. . ‘v ‘ ‘ 5 4 . C Q s ‘ ‘ — v . I . .. .A . . N ‘ ( , , I ., l -‘ ' i . l . , . ' e ' ‘ r I ~ ‘ , \ I. _ _ A I o .1 I - 'o _I ‘ I u e- b A ‘ I ‘ I . - O ’ v u e t , 7 . r .- k .« s ‘ . o v - ~I . . I . . e - e . i ‘ I ' ." . . o _ .I ’ v . ‘ _ . s .' (a ‘- , a I - ' . .. . - .4 r ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ . 4 t . . . . , s e ‘ 1 v . A . D . u l t ‘ ' z . ‘ - s u r 1 ’ _ a- l ‘ I- . s g . . _ ' ‘ . . , .' . _ - t - ,.__ \ \ _ a ;. - O I ~ . . .1 1 x i r , ) ‘0 i . a ’ a . L) - ‘ 7L ‘ ' O . a .7 -4- -.. .- --‘a on“. w... .fi- 0 r . ‘ . . l a V ‘ . ' ' ( .- . . ‘ . ‘ - ‘ I. s ‘- . ’ . c l . . _ . . . - .» J . . t . .- - . v . ' ‘ a e V ‘ _ ' L l ‘ ' . v ...-a - e ‘ . ( ,. . 4 .l - l .. ._ I . A \49’ ‘ , . I . . - , ' . . v x p“ ' " g g. , .‘ ‘ ; .. I h a ‘ t ' . - \. . - » r ' . '. -'. . , . , , . . , . - W. . . ( , e . ' ' . , ‘ '1 o . . . a e -" ‘7. . ‘ I s ‘ 4 | , ’ t .- s . . - . . . ' ' ~ . " . T _ .: - V _ o .- , . a . b . u . , '5 ‘ A 1 L ' l . v - I ' v o e . . . b . . ‘ .~ * . . I v . . . ' r. . v ‘ . \ ' U \ i ' . I 1 a . _ ‘ Q O ap- \ e .1 s I I V 0 «~- . . I ' ( l I | u \5 . . . ”a- 288 UNIT THREE -- 'YOU'éEQpYOUR COMMUNITY” some gossgsm was 9; THE UNIT (1) Studying the vocational Opportunities in the (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (‘7) community, with a view to their promise for the student Ezploring the recreational and aesthetic oppor- tunities in our community, with a view to their improvement Studying sanitation and public health in our community Considering the processes involved in proper comp munity planning, expecially with relation to our community Studying the city government of our community, with accent on the responsibility or the voter and of citizens in general Considering the various exemplirications of the principle that cooperation is essential for good democratic government, especially with reference to our own community Studying the type or farm.activities carried on within a.marketing distance of our community, with emphasis on their implications on retail merchandising, recreation, education, health, vocations, etc. mums AIMS 9; UNIT THREE. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) To introduce the student to a survey study of all the local vocational opportunities To impress upon him the importance of direction in his life To produce an appreciation of the history, traditions, and aesthetic contributions which our own community offers To develop the concept that cooperation of all is needed in democratic community government To foster and extend the concept that worthy use of leisure time is an important community responsibility 1 .»OOO‘ .« A u ‘ . . .‘1 . I I o J a- l i i ... W- -... .. -....- -—- m -.., . ‘ . . ~ . ,I_ . I . . o c ' al_ 0 '-' . O . . \ f ., 4‘ - f ‘ - I ’ . — C . ‘ l'] . s - x I u . I 'l n o p ‘. - n s t ‘ , . J . \ .1 i . \ ‘l - ‘ O . 1 O i ‘ o .‘4. ' 1 q R- . . v o .. . J O ' I . v . < _ , n . ~ 1 . ~ I‘ ‘ . \ o , , I! ' ,t D ‘ . . . . _ . O o . .l . . - g o \ q- t ‘ 3:. . 4, i - 4 _V v D . 4 .- a . .r o 'a ' c .k \ U ~a ‘r . .- ... wt. t...— ce‘- ‘4’." , r ‘ « J . a s in r - K p ‘. . r' I a e , I o . . . t . l '1 it » ‘ ' ' ‘ . . . . , x , n ‘A- I , , “\ a ‘ as . — -.. 1* " ,. l I . . k ‘ I g I \ r I u u , - 'e—Q- “ '_" (6) To develop an appreciation of all the community does for the individual (7) To emphasize the need of beauty, sanitation, health, education, and recreational facilities in a com-unity (1) (2) (5) (4) (5) (6) (73 (9) SCXB ACTIVITIES - UNIT THREE Visit live-stock marKet, furniture and machine tools factories, creamery, stores. Study history of Big Rapids: Lumbering traditions First settler First claim filed Study city government Study housing conditbns Analyze recreation needs What are they? What do we have? What do we lack? Study health--beautification Milk and water Health unit Study vocational Opportunities Visit: Hospital Newspaper Falcon plant Filtration plant Read about Michigan: Geography and resources—-highways--resorts Educational institutions State police Hospitals, asylums Legislature, governor Industries Study about Necosta County: Draw map-townships rivers roads Visit officers and study their duties--Board of Supervisors sheriff clerk treasurer prosecuting attorney probate judge Read history or county Who was.first settler? Study Resources: Potatoes, corn, cattle, beans, gas, timber, butter [\Z‘ ...! m L0 to [S '3 IE I? $2.3 (1) To instill in young Americans a desire to show respect, honor, and loyalty to the flag 2) Learn the pledge to the flag 3) Learn the preper ways to display flags (4) Learn at least the first verse of the Star Spangled Banner (5) To help our pupils to become better citizens ACTIVITIES: (1) Reports on references given in bibliography, followed by discussion (2) Group discussion on the material presented in the pamphlet-Jrlag of the as." (3) Study and discuss the Flag Code (4) Look up, collect, and read various poems about our flag (5) Read, or listen to, the declamation, ”The makers of the ling" (I. K. Lane) (6 Present a flag display in the homeroom (7 ‘Nake posters illustrating proper mode of flag usage (8) Learn the code, the national emblem, and the pledge to the flag, and practice their use (9 Have a flag-raising ceremony for the entire school (10 Write reports on various phases of flag history and observance (ll) write and present plays about the flag (12) “eke note-books or scrap-books en the flag materials for every pupil: A.Rededication.gg American Ideals, Fl;g,2£ the U.S. References: Com tons Pictured Encyclopedia Vol. 5, page 85. Britannica Junior 01. , page 60 Encyclerdia Brit ica Vol. 9, page fig; .9“. I Q V-C- "‘4‘ - --—o~ Q - c— Q... a . b «- ..v - - 0 ~ 0 - ' v ‘ . g . a . . A . l . .0 .. - a A' '. . ‘J - - ‘. r 2 |~ , 0 . \. k . I ’ , a I - '1 ‘ 1 a . a. p _ ‘ , I o ‘ ' '1'!‘ ~ ’~ . p . , .a . _r' ‘ ‘ a. ._ ‘ ’ 1 '7 . _; ‘ a 3 - ‘ r a O , V. ,s . ' ’ ‘ . a a . ,‘9 ‘ . I 4. . .. J - - t .. , , i I . . .. ‘ ' l I I - \l . . , ‘ . O I h 7 f“ ~—-~' p 9 , a. _-~ \ k‘ l a ..V " , ' a ’ '_ m ' ‘. .4 .. . t a a ‘ I . ‘ L I D - ~ g I l- ' ‘ " .\ J. ~ . J . _ . L L ' . l . ' ‘ “ o . . . l ‘ . . ‘ I L. ' .a ‘ x d.- ,.. O C ' ,- . I l ( I ‘ J a . . r- A ‘ ' . ' I , , t , I n a . . ‘ I t. _ . \ a I t ‘ I v - L a < ‘ t e ’ l ‘ 9 I | l - \ ~ . O . ’ -. A A I '— ‘ i' ' . , . O ‘ ' x'. . . ' n I v ‘ C . , r -_ A . ' L‘ _ A _ . ‘ ‘ . p Q ‘ ‘ .- .. r 9 .~ . Q a . D t L' z . ' .. . ‘1 u . . . . , . a v C I . . t - p . p \ a _ , ‘ _ I . I u ' ..' . ‘ ' ' A -t m c a r‘ \a " ' ‘ a . - . ‘ l . . _. a , - a Jo . \ ‘ . ’ 1 I Ia .‘ . o I 4 . a 4 l 1 , . t . , a - - \ w I . ‘u _ . ,. ‘ g " t ‘ .A.‘ I \ , l V. _ v I . . a ’ ‘ l ‘ I ’ I . v n . . . .7-- -..—n .-.,r ...H I i a ' , . - ~' - ,.-. < - V o v u- .7 m p... \-»—a-a.J ,._ » ' u: a . . fi HA ' ‘- « ' C . ‘. ‘, _ . , - I a , - ' \' - 4... ...—“..-.“ ....a.-dn—..a_v . ., ,. .-.. . .7 . . -- _b.-_ O c ’ O . - I . I ’ . . ' . ,. i -‘ C . - .. - . -u, _ - - - I s - O .. a. . s a . 7“ V , . . -‘ 'e-Owc -.....~ v - ---e . v. a . i .. -- .w .- — The Book of Knowled e Vol.‘I§, page 7§§1 Winstone Enc clo edia VoI. I Columbia EncchOEedia 701. 1, page 6 ‘__g uorld Book V01. 6, page 154 The Ame leana V01. 2, page 324 National Geo ra hie Vol. 52 , page 286 Law Standard Enozolopedia 70$. 4 L1 The American Reference brag: Vol. 3, page d1 Ym mg Folks Enczclopg a age 242 New Students Reference Work ,gpaeé Theo Col mbia Egezclopedia Page 632 to to H: BODYfl FOR BASIC USE IN :.AC:T CORE GROUP Andrew, Social Studies (Little, Brown, and Co.) Halter, Society 12 Action (Inor Publishing 00., N.Y.) NcKown, Homeroom Guidance (NcGrew-Hill) MoNelly, Study Nastery (Students Buy) s ... __ d—lLLL—u NL B0073 CN P”7'D“NCE SHELF IN TIRQXQY Hall, Nrnners For Bo; s and GE r13 Stevens, The Correct Thing La nier The Eook of Braver Stewart and henna, Adventures in Citizenship Whitconb, Heroes of history Shepherd, boys' Oun Boo: Augg, Introduction 0 Proo-=ns 9: Americgn Culture Yright, Getting Alon Tar;en, here 8 g; P . e HOOd, 8nd ()t‘riEJl‘S, jJIZK'f'EI'l {i Centei, Tbe orker eri i Redford, The lex and 518 De Evens, ”verloin rirs Rosengarten, Cnoosihg Your life Jork flux The AneiiovlLfiat ‘ .f L:im~ ndnonson and IJOILUCHD‘, au, C'i—i ens .ip Ti‘rough T‘roblercs Jte vens, Ike Correct Thiln I Post, Et ette Richerdsc , Lti3uette a Taylor v e_r"de Li'mhe ii I l . L—I The remil; grade I AcAndrew,— L-ociel Studies Roosevelt, Aheriren Ideals —- Chapter S Johnston, Faxcus Lisroverers e.hd Lxrlorere 23_Areriee Thrilling~NiCuoles, The Girl and E33 home are 5, Girls and Their-Trot in. .i Cades, Cozd Looks for Cirl Guitar 08 For Youth Leilis, Aerere 0f Discovery in America bemley, Lita beTUcl and You -_' Justin erd gust, home living ntttcvm The ‘ fuss: and 1’s Cere r0 Llovd,l;1cnv to Finenc Imee Life ecrneg e“ To Iih Triehds and Influence People A Little Amerigg hith Byrd hill and his Lo her, 295 Cadee, Jobs For Girls Kinyon, Junior Home Problems Forbes, 53 e to Succese--Personal Efficiency Ilee, “ead n American Inventors Dennis, Livin o etherm n t e mily MacGibbon, anners n Bus ness DeKruif, “en K ainst Death DeKruif, EIErobe Eunters Bechdolt, The Modern Handbook for B0 5 Lenders, The Modern Handbook for —GIrls Horee, The—New Household Discoveries Gibson, Bein A Gir Joseph andn _Jo nson, 5r ganized Busine: 5 Knowledge Morgan, Our Presidents Hallock, Past eur (He alth Hero Series) Edwards, Personalit Pointers Juster and Fast, JrobIeme In Home Living Blakeman, Regort g; a Truan maule, She r vee To Conguer Phill 1pa , “‘sETxx—‘Baigf‘ mason and MIIEEeII', Social Games For Recreation S endin the“ y ncome Marshall, a Star amuman OFFO rees Brooks, The Stu en 'E'Han Harkneee and Fort, You t5 Stu§Iee Alcohol TESTS AVAILABLE: Purdom Diagnostic Blank American Council Test Iowa Silent Reading Test Hardy Scale of Beliefs mcClueky Teete ‘m WE [my £011“? 0 W‘-