THE RELATIONSHIPS
OF SELECTED SCHOOL DISTRICT
CHARACTERISTICS TO THE USE
OF EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION
IN MICHIGAN HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Thesis For The Degree Of Ph. D.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Stuart Kenneth Bergsma

1963

,,:__._,.._ - _ _ _,"_. _’,~¢——'—~“.

4 E515

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

THE RELATIONSHIPS 0F SELECTED SCHOOL DISTRICT
CHARACTERISTICS TO THE USE OF EDUCATIONAL TELE-
VISION IN MIZCHIGAN HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICTS

presented by

Stuart Kenneth Bergsma

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

33.11. degree in_Ed.u.c.a1:.i_on

I . r
. '/ ,’ C/J’
'1 [VI/1&1" '/fi /. ://:l s h "(

./

 

Major professor

Date August 7, 1963

0-169

 

 

  
   
   

  

LIBRARY

Michigan State
University

THE RELATIONSHIES OF SELECTED SCHOOL DISTRICT
CHARACTERISTICS TO THE USE OF EDUCATIONAL
TELEVISION IN MICHIGAN
HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICTS

by

Stuart Kenneth Bergen:

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan Stnte Univerlity
in partial fulfill-eat of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

College of Education

1963

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To Dr. Richard L. Peatherstone, chairmen-of the advisory
con-ittee, the writer expresses.his deep appreciation for
the influence he has had both upon this study-and the pro-
fessional life of this student. His help and advice, his
unfailing, enthusiastic encouragesent have been a proteund;
aid in the pursuit of this thesis. The writer is very
grateful to have been the recipient of such kindness.

To the other nenbers of the cosnittee - - Dr. Clyde
I. Caspbell, Dr. Iwao Ishino and Dr. Jeses‘w. Costar - -
the writer is grateful for the many significant contribu-
tions sade to his doctoral program, his professional growth
and this dissertation.

The writer acknowledges the help given to the study by
the hundreds of Michigan school adninistrators who willingly
participated by giving their tine and sharing their knowb
ledge and opinions. To the Bank of Detroit and the‘Hichigan
Advisory Council in Detroit the writer expresses thanks for
their cooperation and the voluninous data they provided for
the statistical analysis.

Finally, to Dr. Janes B. Tintera, project supervisor,
neuter and especially friend, goes an indescribable volune
of gratitude for the intercession, help and advice given
just when it was nest needed. But of his friendly influence
has cone a new career. His contagious enthusiass about

educational nedia has already spread to faraaway places but
the discovery of even sore distant horizons is the inevit-
able result of knowing his well.

To Debby

Who was so interested and
who helped so much

acmmmmxrs . . . . .

LIST OF
LIST OF

CHAPTER
I.

II.
III.
IV.

VI.
CHAPTER

I.

II.

III.

V.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I‘DLES O O O O O O O O 0 O O O 0 O O O O 0
FIGURE 0 O O O O O O O O . . . . . o . .

I THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITION OF TERMS . .

TheProblal...............
Background
Advantages of Educational Television
Social Resistance to Innovation
Educational Television in Hichflgan
Need for Research
Definition of Terms .
Purpose of the Study .
Hypotheses e e e e e e
MCthOdeeeeeeee
Overview of Subsequent

0°.

0 O
O O
O O

O O 0 0
O O O O
O O O O O
O O O O 0
O O O 0 0

0
0
O
0
O

.0000

Chapters
II HISTORICAL AND THEORETICAL ANTECEDENTS

ThOFCCtOPBeeeeoeo
Period of Introduction
Period of Rapid Diffusion

sequenceooeeoooeooooeooeo
Awareness
Interest
Evaluation
Trial
Adoption

0 O O O 0 O 0 0

Influences................
Personal Factors
Biographical Deterninants
Psychological Determinants
Classification of Individuals
Classification by Attitude
Social Factors
Cultural Factors
Situational Factors
Inplicatidns for Educational Innovation .
Earlier Studies of Educational Innovations

iii

Page
ii

viii

ll
14
15
18
20

22

25

27

45
47

V.

III THE STATUS OF EDUCATIOHAL TELEVISION
II’HICHIGAH SCHOOLS . . . . .

Period of Introduction and Experinentation

\ The Sequence of the Acceptance of Television

“. “ m0‘t10u1 'DO'i-c. e e e e e e e e
The Analysis of Response to the
Questionnaire

Sun-ary..................

IV THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHODLPDISTRICTS,

Selection of the Characteristics- . .
’Op‘IItIM I‘d SIIPIO e e e e e e e e
Statistical HypothesismandhlrecsdunemI
“'1’31. 0" the Data e e e e e e e e
The Physical Characteristics . .
The Binanciéi Characteristics .
The Educational Characteristicse~
smryeeeaeeeeeeeeeee

e a e e e g e~e
aeeeoeae
a e e e e e e a-

mnn‘ v SMRY ‘Nn CONCLUSIOHS . Q Q Q o 0 g Q
”BLIqum O O O O O V. O O O O O O O O O O O O 0

APPENDIX ........

it?

58
$8

64

86
87

88
90
92
95
96
125
151
171

175

.195

‘ 200

Table

II

III

VII

VIII

II

XIII

LIST OF TABLES

Observed Values for Factors
and Television Use . . . .

'Frequency Table for Factors
and Television Use . . . .

Frequency Table for Factors
and Wealth . . . . . . . .

Frequendy Table for Factors
and fledian Personal Income

Frequency Table for Factors
and Effort e e o e o e o 0

Frequency Table for Factors
and Quality 0 e e e o e e e

Frequency Table for Factors
Location and Size . . . . .

Frequency Table for Factors
Location and Effort 0 . . 0

Frequency Table for Factors
Location and Quality . . .

Frequency Table for Factors
Location and Television Use

Frequency Table for Factors
Location and Television Use
Accredited Schools . . . .

Frequency Table for Factors
Location and Television Use
Unaccredited Schools . . .

Frequency Table for Factors
and Television Use . . . .

Frequency Table for Factors

of Size

of Size

of Size

of Size

of Size

of Size

of

of

O 9 O O

of

0 0 O O

of

of

of Quality

of

Location and Educational Level . .

Page

98

99

102

104

106

108

111

113

114

115

118

120

122

124

Table

m:

XVIII

XXII
XXIII

XXIV

XXVI
XXVII
XXVIII

XXII

Frequency Table for Factors of
and Television Use . . . o o 0

Frequency Table for Factors of
andmalitYeoooooose

Frequency Table for Factors of
and Pupil Teacher Ratio . o .

Frequency Table for Factors of
and Location . . . . . o . . .

Frequency Table for Factors of
and Television Use~... . . . .

Frequency Table for Factors of
and wealth O O O O O O O 0 O 0

Frequency Table for Factors of
andEffortoooo......

Frequency Table for Factors of
and Television Use 0 o o . . 0

Frequency Table for Factors of
and Wealth o . . o o o o o . 0

Frequency Table for Factors of
and Pupil Teacher Ratio 0 o 0

Frequency Table for Factors of
and Educational Level . o . .

Frequency Table for Factors of
and Location . . . . o o . . .

Frequency Table for Factors of
and Quality 0 e e o o o e e 0

Frequency Table for Factors of
Educational Level and Size . .

Frequency Table for Factors of
Educational Level and Effort 0

Frequency Table for Factors of
Educational level and Quality

vi

Page

128

130

132

134

136

138

140

143

144

146

147

149

150

154

155

157

Table

XXIII

XXXIII

XXIIV

IXXVII

XIIVIII

XXIII

Frequency Table for Factors of
Educational Level and Wealth o o o . .

Frequency Table for Factors of
Educbtional Level and Television Use .

Frequency Table for Factors of Pupil
Teacher Ratio and Quality . a . . . .

Frequency Table for Factors of Pupil
Teacher Ratio and Effort . . o . . . .

Frequency Table for Factors of Pupil
Teacher Ratio and Hedian School Years
conpleted 0 0 O O O O O O O O O O o 0

Frequency Table for Factors of Pupil
reaCher Rat-tit?) and Location 0 o o e o 0

Frequency Table for Factors of Pupil

Teacher Ratio and Size 0 . . . . o . .

Frequency Table for Factors of Pupil
Teacher Ratio and the Use of
Educational Television . o . . . . . .

Frequency Table for Factors of Quality
andEffOI‘teeoeeoooooeoeo

vii

Page

158

160

162

164

166

167

169

170

172

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1 Use of Visual Devices in 114 Michigan
School Districts Not Using ETV . . o o o . a 74

2 Use of Visual Devices in 62 Michigan
School Districts Using ETV . . . . o . . . . 75

3 Factors Ranked First in Negative Influence
Upon Use of Instructional Television . . a . 80

4 "Factors Ranked Second in Negative Influence
Upon Use of Instructional Television . . . . 81

5 Factors Ranked Third in Negative Influence
Upon Use of Instructional Television . . . . 82

6 Use of Educational Television in Michigan
School Districts w 1961 . . . . . . . . . . 126

viii

ABSTRACT

THE RELATIOISHIPS OP SELECTED SCHOOL DISTRICT
CHAI‘CTBRISTICS TO THE USE OF BDUCATIOI‘L
TELEVISIOI II MICHIGAN
HIGH SCSOOL DISTRICTS

by Stuart Kenneth Berg-us

A review of social research revea1s~that~thowratignale
which proposes that schools unable to provide highmquality
instruction in specialised areas such as science, language
or nathenatics because of their snall sise, distant loca-
tion or financial stress, stand to gain sore free the use
of television and would, therefore, tend to sake use of it
nore readily, runs counter to findings described in studies
of the adoption of innovations. To conpare these patterns
outlined in diffusion literature with the growth of educa-
tional television in Michigan, a questionnaire was sent to
adninistrators of high school districts located within the
range of a broadcast television station. Analysis of the
responses ends by 176 educators revealed that educational
television enjoys a phone-anally high adoption rate in
Hichigan.

Although sone najor problens of high cost of television
participation, scheduling of subject natter presentations in
class to coincide with the telecasts and the blending of
televised naterials into the local curriculun continue to
nilitate against television use in the schools, the pro-
gnosis for a rapid expansion of educational television is
well founded. When the criteria expounded by sociological

2 Stuart Kenneth Bergsna

research are applied to this educational innovation one

finds that:

(1) Although costs of television are high, rapid

(2)

(3)

(4)

(S)

(6)

returns for anounts invested favor rapid acceptance.
Television is not excessively conplex for the '
consuner.

Educational television is a very visible innova-
tion, open to exanination and subject to dis-
cussion which would tend to favor its rapid
acceptance.

This new'nediul.lends itself to linited trial
and experimentation, a very important factor in
the adoption of any innovation.

Television teaching is compatible to values of
educational efficiency and economy and therefore
is entertained as an instructional alternative.
However, the device is incompatible with values
of independence, local control over educational
content and scheduling.

A predisposition towards technological aids seens
to tenper earlier or increased use of never in-
ventions in schools. Schools using television
tended to use all types of audio visual aids to

a greater extent than nonmtelevision schools.

To further verify earlier research findings and to as-

certain the nature of factors influencing the adoption rate

of television eight adninistrative characteristics of school

districts were selected for analysing

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)

Quality

Location

Size

Level of Personal Income
Ratio of Pupils Per Teacher

Median School Years Conpleted

3 Stuart Kenneth Bergsna

(7) Effort

(8) Wealth

It was hypothesized that large, accredited school dis-
tricts, located in urban areas, with a greater nunber of
pupils per teacher, enjoying the benefits of greater wealth
both in real estate and personal incone, showing a higher
degree of effort in tax assessnent rates and a higher aver-
age level of education would tend to use educational tele-
vision to a greater extent. A chi square neasure of statis-
tical independence was used to deternine whether relation°
ships between the characteristics existed. All of the char-
acteristics related significantly to television use except
one. There was no significant difference between the char-
acteristic of wealth and that of television use. Further-
nore the characteristic of pupil teacher ratio had a strong
inverse relationship to television use. In other words,
schools having fewer pupils per teacher tends to use tele-
vision to a greater extent.

In conclusion it was found that school districts using
television tended to be: (1) accredited to a greater extent,
(2) located in urban areas, (3) larger‘in population of neu-
bership pupils, (4) those having a higher level of personal
incons, (5) districts having fewer pupils per teacher, (6)
those areas in which the adult population had conpleted a
larger nedian nunbers of years in school and (7) connunities

which supported education by scans of a higher tax nillage

rate.

CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED

During recent years there has been a tremendous surge
of interest on the part of educators, as well as critics of
the schools, in the possibilities for the inprovenent of
instruction through the use of technological processes.
However, the introduction of change into the life of any
society nay generate emotions of anxiety and insecurity.
As Poster indicates: ‘

Sociotechnological development...is a cultural,
social and psychological process as well.
Associated with every technical and material
change there is a corresponding change in the
attitudes, the thoughts, the values, the beliefs,
and the behavior of the people who are affected
by the naterial change. These non-material
changes are sore subtle. Often they are over-‘
locked or their significance is underestimated.
Yet the eventual effect of a material or social
inprovenent is determined by the extent to
which the other aspects of culture affected by
it can a ter their forns with a nininun of dis-
ruption.

I. THE PROBLEM
W
Few educational innovations have caused a greater
degree of controversy than television. Some have feared

that it night replace the teacher in the classroon,

 

1000110 No Foster. M We and the
launch at W Chance New York: Harper and
Brothers, Publishers, 1962 p. 2.

perhaps with some justification, as the Very Reverend
Laurence V. Britt, S.J., President of the University of
Detroit indicated in a speech before the Economic Club of
Detroit:

At the present time, when we are terribly cone

scious of the need for more trained scientists,

engineers and mathematicians, for example, it is

estimated that something like 40 per cent of the

mathenatics teachers in our high schools and

elementary schools have themselves never taken

a truly college-hHwel nathematics course? Educa-

tional televisioniis here to stay and poor teach-

ers may wonder whether they ares but frankly, I

think the time has come when we jusfi cannot

afford the luxury of poor teaching.
Easy people are concerned about the limitations of educa-
tional television. The learner is passive and telecasts
cannot cater to has individuality. Because of its capa-
bilities of use as a supervisory tool which might lay bare
the teacheer weaknesses and open his to unusual criticism
there is a danger that intensive use of television might
'destroy academic freedom. Educational television is
difficult to schedule. The decline of local autonomy and
control over curriculum is disturbing both to teachers and
administrators.

However, proponents of instructional television see

its great potential as a mass educational communication

 

2Laurence V. Britt, ”Educational TV-The Sky's the '
Limit", (address given before the Economic Club of Detroit,
Michigan, January 23, 1961).

device. A growing body of evidence indicates its economy
when used on a large scale. "At Penn State and Miami Uni-
versities cost analyses have shown that when course enroll-
ments exceed 200 to 220 students, television instruction
becomes cheaper than regular classroom instruction.“3

There are many far-reaching qualities of educational tele-
vision in the upngrading of curriculum and intensifying
the impact of instruction.

Television simply makes it possible for the
better and more experienced teachers to give
lectures and demonstrations to an unlimited
number of students, each of whom has the advant-
age of having a front seat. In direct or open»
circuit telecasts, in addition, we have found
that an individual teacher may at times have an
interested audience of upwards of 100,000
peeple. .And if you stop to think of it, this
means that this will be more than he might ever
expect to contact or influence even in an eatire
lifetime in an ordinary classroom approach.

It has been reported that greater efficiencies in the use
of school plant and space and facilities can be achieved
through television instruction.s Multiple experflinntal

situations reported by C. R. Carpenter have shown that

 

3C. R. Carpenter, "Research in Television", fig!
1n‘fignggtign (washingtonx Health, Education and welfare,
April 20, 1960), p. 48.

4Britt, on. 213., p. 12.

5Joe Hall, ”ETV, A Major Resource,"

Educational
mm. The next Inn has: (Stanford: The Institute
for Communication Research, 1962), pp. 40-51.

students in a wide variety of courses can learn as well or
better by television than in control groups‘taught in con-
ventional ways by the teacher in the classroom. Guba stated,
”There is no doubt from the evidence that learning can be
provided by television and that television is as effective

a medium as any conventional teaching method."6 More than
two hundred distinguished educators have participated in

the planning and production of a program which is reaching
out over six states to a potential student audience of
approximately five million people. The personnel of this
endeavor, the Midwest Program of Airborne Television Instruc-
tion, are demonstrating that high altitude transmission of
educational television signals over a wide area, bringing
high quality instruction in language, science, mathematics

and social studies is possible.

W

“The literature advocating a greater use of television
for instructional purposes has included the theme that the
medium of television communication has provided the pro;
fession with the possibility of projecting the talents of
teachers with high ability into many classrooms simultan-

eously.

 

6Egon Guba, "Ten Years of Research in Instructional'
Television", North Central Association Quarterly, XIIVx4,
April, 1961; p. 303.
“3"

More than 25,000 of the 125,000 public schools

in the United States are still one-teacher schools.

One of every six high schools has less than 100

students. Even the best teachers in these

schools cannot teach all subjects well; Often

some subjects are not taught at all. Reaching

into the most isolated school, BTV insures that

thousands of students are not deprived of essen-

tial subjects.
School districts in outlying areas, too small and poor to
afford the salaries of language and science specialists,
can enrich their program merely by turning on the telef
vision set, thereby receining instruction given by a mas-
ter teacher who has received more time and material with
which to prepare his presentations than it is possible to
give most teachers. Furthermore, it is believed that such
schools can have the assurance that their pupils are
receiving the same high quality instruction and content
that students in more affluent areas are obtaining.

0n the basis of such arguments, then, one would expect
that instructional television would have its greatest
appeal and most widespread use in those school districts
that are too small and poor to afford high quality, special-
ist teachers.

Small schools - - especially at secondary level - -

find it difficult to provide the physical fac-

ilities and/or teacher skills necessary to offer

a well-rounded curriculum. Thousands of rural

communities, for example, cannot offer a high

school course in physicis or chemistry - - no
teacher for the subject; no equipment; not a

 

7Ford Foundation, ETV A Ford Foundation Pictorial '
Report (new York: Office of Reports, 477 Madison Avenue,
March, 1961), p. 34.

large enough enrollment to make the course econ-
omically feasible without raising instructional
costs out of reason . . . Largecarea television
broadcasts of courses that require specialist
teachers and facilities can bring courses toPsmall
schools that gight not otherwise be available to
the students.

Carpenter focuses on the problem even more sharply when he
asserts:

Furthermore it should be observed that poor schools
may benefit more than good or superior schools

by the test pattern of televised instruction.

The poor schools have more possibilities for

gain . . . Also it should be observed that in-
school systems using instructional television,
courses can be made available where they do not
now exist. The alternatives here are not instruca
tional television versus conventional instruction
but television versus no instruction. '

 

One can expect that televisionOs usefulness as an
educational tool may be increased as it is technically
refined. Production of equipment which will provide the
kind of programming flexibility essential for maximum uti-
lity in all schools, might create a system of storage and
retrieval of information which may have as great an impact
on education as the book has had. If schools are to obtain
the benefits which televised instruction can presently offer
them and begin a process of intelligent experimentation

with a communication medium which offers great benefits for

 

8p... Foundation. seam m: an == .. flaming m
fishngllflnithIzglgxigigg QNew‘Yorks Prepared by Dave Chap-
man, Inc., Industrial Design for Educational Facilities
Laboratories, 1960) p. 11.

9Carpenter, Inc.,giko

7

the future, it is imperative that educational leaders at all
levels recognize some of the problems which confront them
in their contact with this technological innovation. These
problems may be difficult to recognize in that they are a
part of the very social and psychological climate in which
the educators themselves live and work. For example, casual
observation of the schools in Michigan leads one to suspect
that the theoretical advantages inherent in instructional
television have not been capitalized upon by the small,
poor school districts. Perhaps this is to be expected, in
that the whole idea that the administrators of under-
developed school districts will jump at the chance to imp
prove the variety and quality of their instructional pro-
gram by the use of television runs couiter to much of the
research of social analysts. Poster raises the question:

What is the socioeconomic position of people who

seem to adopt new practices most easily? well-

to-do people, obviously, have the means to acquire

many innovations inaccessible to their less-well-

off neighbors. When it is a question of items of

material culture, this group is often the most

receptive. But frequently these people are basic-

ally conservative. They are content with their

position and if major changes in the way of life

of their community occur, there is no certainty

that they will continue to enjoy this advantage.

Further, such people often have a deeper commit-

ment to the dominant local values than do less
fortunate people.10

Social research has provided us with a wealth of this kind
of insight about diffusion patterns and the forces of resis-
tance which influence the degree to which an innovation is

 

1°Poster,‘gp..git., p. 170

accepted. When one is seeking ways in which to meet the
challenges thrust upon education of our day -- (l) a rapidly
expanding population needing to be educated, (2) the pro-
liferation of new information that has to be learned as
knowledge in all disciplines accumulates at an ever more
rapid pace, (3) a smaller proportion of teachers available
to instruct our youth -- the potentials of instructional
television must not be ignored. Rather, educators should
be making a concerted effort to achieve a more rapid integb
ration of the positive values of this and other educational
innovations that are becoming available than has been poss-

ible in the past because of our ignorance concerning social

dynamics.

 

Has any progress towards achieving such integration of
valuable instructional techniques into Michigan school pro-
grams been made? Investigation into this problem began in
1960. To determine the exact status of educational tele-
vision the Michigan Department of Public Instruction insti-
gated an extensive study involving every private and public
school district as well as colleges and universities in the

state. The research was carried out in 1960-61 and the

results were published in the booklet Instrngtgn‘inkflighiz

gln.11 Among other things, the data collected by interview

 

lla.... 8. Timex-a. mm in WI: (Lao-inn
Michigan State university. September 15, 1961.)

and questionnaire indicated that out of 613 responding public
school districts, there were 165 using educational televi-
sion in some way. However, only fifty-four public school
districts were actually participating in the administrative

operation of some educational television enterprise.

Wu

At the time these pages are being written, it is posse
ible to look back on an interim period of time in which an
intensive focus of imterest on educational television has
occurred. The Midwest Program on Airborne Television In-
struction enlarged the scope of their field work and
improved the volume and quality of their telecasts. There
was interest in educational television on the part of the
Federal Government out of which legislation may be enacted
which will provide monetary aid to develop broadcast fac-
ilities for education in every state. The Superintendent
of Public Instruction of the State of Michigan has had work-
ing committees on educational television in operation to
aid him in the assessment of need and in the determination
of the direction to be taken in this state.

This kind of interest and publicity of television has
served to make the public more aware of the existence of
the péssibilities inherent in this teaching technique.
Its utility and feasibility have been confirmed. Educa-
tors have had their knowledge increased and reinforced by

new information in the form of demonstrations, discussions

10

at conventions, and publications, activities which, as we
shall see in the next chapter, are powerful determinants
of attitude towards a new system of operation.

In spite of the publicity television has received
there is still some confusion and lack of information about
the numbers of schools using it. Very little is known;
about the nature of the schools that are making the greatest
use of instructional television. There are very few re-
ports of research in which the activities of school dis-
tricts as discreet social environments have been analyzed.

There is little precedent for studying a school dis-
trict in a way which ascribes traits or personality to the
administrative unit as an organization having boundaries
and characteristics peculiar to itself. .This may be a re-
sult of the fact that such a research design has the limi-
tation of making it difficult for the investigator to isoé
late many influences at work in the organization which have
a profound effect on how it functions in a given situation.
An organization is made up of individuals, each having his
impact upon the affairs of the group. To ascertain the
cause of a given organizational effect it might be nec-
essary to study the individuals in the organization, their
drives, motivations, status and other psychological and
social forces at work within them.

However, even though this is true, in an official
organization such as a school district, individuals oper-

ato within certain boundaries imposed by factors amd

11

influences beyond their immediate control. For example, a
school district has a certain wealth. Individuals may
press to have tax rates raised, to attract industry and
other sources of wealth to the district, but at a stated
point in time they have to function with what they have.
Again, the district has a specific number of children to
be educated among whom the wealth must be distributed
equitably in the form of educational opportunity. Or, for
example, the district has a recorded tax rate which repre-
sents the groupgs attitude towards paying for their schools
and as such is indicative of their interest in education
and is an index of their efforts to support it. The dis-
trict has a reputation. Other organizations such as uni-
versities and the North Central Association of Colleges

and Secondary Schools, evaluate.hheir programs and faci- .
lities and flake judgments about their quality. A school
district has a geographic location which to a great extent
is a determining factor of the attitudes, needs and actions
of the people in it. The values of a community near an
urban complex are frequently very different from those of
rural populations. These kinds of characteristics undoubt-
edly have an influence upon activities that go on within
the school district, and will be the concern of this thesis.

II. DEFINITION or TERMS.
In subsequent portions of the dissertation it will be

necessary to mention terms which are being given specific

12

meaning. To avoid confusion and misinterpretation the words
and phrases are defined below and will be used in this sense
in the balance of the discussion. The meaning of words used
in the text infrequently and which are open to misinterpre-
tation will be defined in situ.
Ea1aatad_§ahaa1_Distaisi_£haraciczia&isa refer! to factor-
of:

£113 as determined by resident pupil membership. For
purposes of this thesis the schools in the sample will be
divided into three size categories of large, medium and
small, having respective memberships of 5,000 students or
more, 4,999 to 2,000 students and 1,999 students or less.

Locating as determined by: (1) Size in total popula-
tion of the community. (2) Distance from an urban complex.
urban values are often operative in communities of 5,000
residents or more and even in smaller towns if they lie very
close to a large urban industrialized center. To provide
some distinction in this study between rural and urban
school districts, an urban district will be considered to
be either a town of 5,000 residents or more or any town
that is physically located within five miles of a city of
25,000 residents or more.

Englth,as determined by the State Equalized Valuation
per resident member in the school district, that is to say,
per resident child of school age in the district. Three
wealth categories will he used; (1) $15,000 or more, (2)
$10,000 to $14,999, (3) $9,999 or less.

13

fiftgzt as determined by the total millage approved by

the voters of the district as the tax assessment rate for
the support of the educational program in the district.
Four millage categories will be used: (1) More than twenty
mills, (2) Sixteen to twenty mills, (3) Twelve to sixteen
mills, (4) Below twelve mills.

23.11;! as determined by the accreditation status of
the district as awarded by thellorthec-mtral Association
of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Two categories will he
used: (1) the accredited schools and (2) the non-accredited
school districts.

Enn11_1ggghgz_§gtig as determined by the average num-
ber of resident membership pupils per professional staff
member in the district. Three categories will be used:

(1) twenty-four or less pupils per teacher, (2) twenty-
four to twenty-eight pupils per teacher and (3) twenty-
eight or more pupils per teacher.

Educatigng1_Lgxgl as determined by the median number
of school years completed by all individuals twenty-five
years old or more in the community. Three categories will
be used: (1) ten years or less, (2) eleven years, (3) twelve

years or more.

Lsxsl_n£_£szssnal_lncasc as determined by the median

391‘?! of the people in a community. Three levels of income
will be used: (1) Below $5,000, (2) $5,000 to 36,000, (3,-‘.
Above $6,000.

14

WW refer- to those tele-
vision programs used specifically by teachers for in-school,

instructional purposes, transmitted through the air by means
of video and audio impulses which can be translated into
picture and sound by television receivers located within

the signal range of the originating stations. The term

will be used.synonymously in this paper with‘lngtzngtigngl
jhlggigign for purposes of variety even though this term.is

coming to be recognized as referring to actual teaching
performed over television as contrasted to any type of pro-
gram which is informative and therefore educational. The
broader definition is used in this investigation in that
it encompasses both dimensions of televisionVs educational
application. The pertinent factor here is the deliberate
use of some television program by a teacher in the class-

room.

WW refers to public school districts
in the State of Michigan that are operating a Kindergarten

through High School program within the geographic signal

area of a commercial or educational television station.

III. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This study will provide a means of determining whe-
ther there has been any increase in the use of broadcast
educational television in the State of Michigan during the
time that has passed since the State TV Study was conducted
and the time of this writing. Furthermore, although the

15

extent of the use of television in schools has been indi-
cated there has been no formal attempt to determine the
characteristics of those school districts that have found
television useful nor of those that have made no use of the
medium in their instructional programs. Analysis of data
collected for this dissertation will indicate the relative
size and affluence, reputation, effort and quality of dis-
tricts using the medium and will serve to give some indi-_,
cation of the nature of factors that have prevented its
use in other districts.

The results of this investigation should not only
provide a better understanding of the issues involved in
the use of educational television but should also give
administrators and leaders working both in the school dis-
tricts and in television enterprises a basis for achieving
a higher level of communication with each other about their
problems, thus Opening an avenue for more penetrating at-
tempts to improve the availability of television and its

effectiveness as a teaching tool.

IV. HYPOTHESES
The emphasis of the literature on the value of in-
structional television9s capability of providing high
quality instruction at low cost, might lead one to gen-
eralize that there would be a greater use of this communi-
cation device in those school districts that have the most

to gain from it, namely, those that are small and isolated,

16

unable to afford high quality teachers in special subject
areas. However, social research has provided a great deal
of information about the diffusion process and the ways in
which the adoption of innovations takes place. In order to
benefit from the insights of prominent social investigators
representative literature on this subject, as well as ear-
lier analyses of school districts elsewhere, will be re-.
ported in chapter two. it this point it is enough to state
that the weight of evidence concerning adoption patterns
would lead one to hypothesize that large, wealthy, pro-
gressive, urban school districts with a higher level of
education and personal income would be more likely to adopt
television as an instructional aid than the distant, small,
poor schools who actually have more to gain from its use
proportionately.

The selected characteristics of the school districts
will be examined and statistically evaluated for signifi-
cant relationships that may exist. It will be the inten-
tion to accept or reject the several following null hypoth-
eses after applying a Chi Square statistical assessment of
significance to each factor:

A. There is no significant difference between

the use of instructional television and the
size of school districts.

3. There is no significant difference between

the use of instructional television and the
location of school districts.

C. There is no significant difference between

the use of instructional television and the
wealth of school districts.

17

D. There is no significant difference between
the use of instructional television and the
financial effort of school districts.
8. There is no significant difference between
the use of instructional television and the
quality of school districts.
F. There is no significant difference between
the use of instructional television and the
pupil teacher ratio of school districts.
G. There is no significant difference bwtween
the use of instructional television and the
educational level in a school district.
8. There is no significant difference between
the use of instructional television and the
personal income of a community.
V. METHOD
A questionnaire (Appendix A) was sent to all school
districts in the state that had reported that they were
not making use of television in school. The responses of
the administrators of these districts to the questions of
the instrument sent to them will be reported as one source
of information and insight about the status of televisnon
in Michigan schools and the problems concerning its use.
Because a questionnaire has severe limitations in its
ability to elicit revealing answers to attitudes and bias,
it was believed that interviews with a selected group of
people in negative school distmicts would be advantageous.
A small selection of geographically representative districts
were visited. Interviews with superintendents and princi-

pals provided the opportunity to probe more deeply into

these unanswered questions and unexplored attitudes which

18

the questionnaire left unstated because of its form and
brevity. Where these conversations shed additional light
upon items in the questionnaire, the insights and opinions
of these school administrators will be reported.

From the information provided by the questionnaire as
well as analysis of the data collected by the State of

Michigan Television Study, it was possible to ascertain
which high school districts are presently using, or not
using educational television in some form. Analysis of the
data also brought out interrelationships which exist between
the characteristics. These patterns whichbecame apparent
will be summarized and their implications for administra-

tive application and for future research will be explored.

VI. OVBI$IEI*GP SBBSEQBEHT CRKTTERS

Chapter two will be devoted to the development of a
summary review of literature which is intended to paint the
background of the larger vistas of social research against
which the details of this investigation will be drawn in
closer perspective. The intention on the one hand, is to
outline the findings of research which are representatively
descriptive of the influences at work in the process of the
adoption of innovations. On the other hand, it is intended
to describe earlier educational reserach pertaining to
change taking place in school districts, and the influences
which brought about that change. It is hoped that against
these frames of reference the facts developed by the analy-

sis of data collected for this project will be more revealing.

19

Chapter three will include a report of the opinions
written by school administrators in response to the ques-
tions about television use. Chapter four will contain the
statistical analysis of the relationships between the
selected school district characteristics and the use of
television in school, as well as the relationships between
the various characteristics and each other. Chapter five
will provide a summary of the findings and will give the
opportunity for deriving some conclusions and to point to

problems requiring further investigation.

CHAPTER II

HISTORICAL AND THEORETICAL AHTECEDENTS TO THE STUDY

The concern of this dissertation is to focus upon the
role of institutional characteristics in the process of
diffusion of a particular technological innovation in educa-
tion. In this chapter representative literature concerned
with cultural adoption theory and general research in the
field of educational innovation will be reviewed in order
to place this study in perspective.

Barnett defines innovation ”as any thought, behavior,
or thing that is new because it is qualitatively different
from existing forms."1 He argues that this process, where
novelty and creativity bring about a revhsion of some ori-
ginal object or practice, is a universal phenomenon. It
is a complex process which generates crisis that requires
the inventiveness of some people to be used and accepted by
others. For this to occur necessitates advocates of the
change to relate the innovation to experiences with which
the acceptor is familiar making the new technique more
desireable than the old. Over a period of time all indivi-
duals act both as acceptors and rejectors of innovation,
their amenability to change depending on one or another
criteria of whether (1) it satisfies their needs more accept-

ably than previous means, (2) fits their psychological and

 

la. G. Barnett. hummus m m
ghgngg (Mew'Tork: McGrawbflill Book Co., 1953 pp. 6-9.

21

biographical patterns more closely, (3) that it appeals to
those dissatisfied with the status quo, the frustrated, the
resentful, the non-conformist, the indifferent.

Brameld suggests that education, in light of its
important role as a culture carrier, should not be a passive
evaluator of world crisis. It should not be a pawn of other
overpowering material or spiritual forces beyond control
and resolution. In a word it should seek to occupy not the
role of acceptor or rejector but rather the function of

innovator. He argues:

But whether the international or the local level
is being considered, educators should not forget
the admonition of experts that a crisis situation
can be settled in more than one way. If schools
remain largely so indifferent to the wmptflof'
crisis that now prevail, they will, in fact, con-
tinue to have their part in its resolution. As
has often been pointed out, indifference to contro-
versy is itself a choice among alternative choices.
It means that education has chosen to allow other
agencies - economic pressure groups are one - to
shape courses of action that it should itself be
helping to shape. Resolution by default is nei-
ther the most responsible nor the most in accord
with what the culture - theorists are helping us
to learn about education as a tool of culture.

There is evidence to indicate that education lags be-
hind other social institutions in the adoption of new prac-
tices or technology. In an extensive and comprehensive

study of Pennsylvania schools Mort and Cornell3 were able

 

2‘l'heodwr‘e Brameld. Minna]... Matias of Education.
All Interdissinliam W (New York: Harper and
Brothers, Publishers. 1957 pp. 154, 155.

3Paul a. Mort and Francis G. Cornell, W W
‘13.:ggggitign (lew‘Tork: Bureau of Publications, Teachers
College, Columbia university, 1941) p. 53.

22

to describe a time scale of the rate of introduction of
educational practices. Their findings indicated that an
average period of fittees years elapsed between the time of
initial introduction of a practice and that of its diffusion
into three per cent of the schools. From their charts they
were able to infer ”that it will take a half-century for
the average adaptation to diffuse completely."

Studies of diffusion have provided many insights into
(1) the patterns whereby the adoption of innovations takes
place and (2) the characteristics of the people involved
in various phases of the process. Ross states:

In reference to the diffusion of valid inven-
tions two generalizations may be drawn:

1. The distribution of a specific invention,
with time as the horizontal axis, forms an
ogive curve.

2. Certain definite patterns or modes of
diffusion can be identified and are useable
classifications for the ways in which a1-
most all adaptations spread.4
I. TIME FACTORS
Studies by Farnsworth, Bateman, Rogers and Beal as
well as Hort and Cornell indicate that the adoption of an
innovation generally goes through two long periods 6! sllw
change. The first period is that of the time between the
first recognition of a need and that of the actual inven-

tion and introduction of some means whereby the need is met.

 

4n...“ H. Ross. ed... in: W.
11. m Agencies and m of. chance in Schmu-
New York: Metropolitan School Study Council, Teachers

College, Columbia University, 1951) p. 24.

23

The second period is the time between the first introduce
tion of the innovation and its complete diffusion.
W '

Parnsworth traced the development of five educational
practices which had become accepted procedure of the
schools, mandated by law. He found that during the nine-
teenth century the initial period involving the invention,
introduction and sporadic trial of the innovation tooh ’
longer than the subsequent period of complete diffusion, in
some cases more than a hundred years.5 In the study of
Pennsylvania schools by Mort and Cornell,6 they indicated
that this period lasted until about three per cent of the
schools had adopted the innovation, an average time span
of fifteen years. Bateman°s7 observations of the rate of
adoption of county-unit organization of schools in Utah
showed that this preparatory period lasted three times as
long as the subsequent period of more rapid diffusion. A

 

5PM“ 1'. Pam-worth. Mutation 21:92:64.2: in run“
£91122]. éuteu as W 121 a sum .91 £112 W
mm: is W m in New Igrk, cgnngggg-

gut, and flaggaghnggttg (New York: Bureau of Publications,
Teachers College, Columbia University, 1940) pp. 22-121.

6'0“; no Meg Po 33°

7Edvard A. Bataan. Wat of. the mm-

§thnsl.211tzitt.in.fltah8 A.§tnnx.in.hdantahilitxo New
York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia

University, 1940) p. 27.

24

more recent investigation by Cooking,8 involving a nation-
wide saspling of school districts, developed a composite
curve representing the average rate of diffusion of an!
educational practice in the United States. He found no
significant difference in the rate of diffusion among the
six regions of the country during the first fivererwcent
diffusion period, and indicated that from the first reported
introduction of a practice to the three per cent level
involved a mean number of 20.3 years, as compared to
approximately seven years for diffusion to the ten per
cent level.
Wm

Cockinng composite curve representing educational
diffusion rates, Parnsworthos projections for early and
late diffusion periods and the Pennsylvania studies all
indicate that adoption rates, after the three per cent
level has been reached, make a sharp rise. Acceptance of
the new practice is achieved in a majority of schools in
a much shorter period of time.

Lionberger9 describes the research of Rogers and
heal which approaches the analysis of the various adoption

time periods of agricultural technology as a means of

 

8Walter Cooking, gegi gnal _g§gggg§§iggL Educatigggl

Wmmmmummm.
lew‘Tork: Institute of Administrative Research - Study
I6, Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia

University, 1951) pp. 40-42.

9Berbert Fe Lionberser. Adootion of. m Inns and
,Zgggtiggg. (Ames: The Iowa State University Press, 1960)

p. 37.

25

developing a classification system of the people involved.
They found that "adoption of specific changes tends to con-
form to the normal, or bell-shaped, curve" and that it was
therefore possible to ”classify adopters in terms of stand-
ard units and to compare an individual°s position in the
adoption pattern for one change to the relative position
of the same individual in another.” Over a given time
continuum innovators constituted two and one half per cent
of the population at the lower edge of the curve, early
adopters thirteen per cent, majority group of sixty-eight
per cent and laggards approximately sixteen per cent.

Hort summarizes their findings of the time required
for adoption of nine adaptations in schools by saying,
"as the average it takes seven times as long for the first
ten per cent of diffusion as for the second, third, fourth

or fifth ten per cent.'10

II. SEQUENCE
lot only does the adoptive process go through a
sequence of time periods but it also involves a series of
stages through which the individual adoptor passes. A
publication issued by the North Central Rural Sociology

Committee11 summarizes a large number of agricultural

 

1°Hort and Cornell,.gn.‘git., p. 53.

”Joe 1'1. Bohlen. et- ale. Morton of. In! Ban lam.
(East Lansing: Cooperative Extension‘Service, Michigan
State University, October, 1961). '

26

~«reseerethredectsa Theywdeseribemsrsystnm}rise-fiepedtby
'wilheninglz‘and'othersarof*dividingwthermmntsiupgoeess
thremglrwhieh‘ n» individud""passes from first henidng
-sbeut a new idea to its final adoption. 1
Amos .~

In this stage the individual first learns abent'ntnew
practice, usually through the mass media, particularly
farm.magasines, though other farmers, extensions-e;gices
and commercial sources of information may be involved.
lotus-t

During this period the individuale curiosity is
aroused and he actively seeks more information about the
innovation. Research studies indicate that mass media
and other farmers are most frequently named as information
sources. Extension and vocational agriculture agencies
also are frequently consulted.
W

There comes a tine when the individual must decide to\
apply the neu idea to his own situation. At this point
other farmers are the most important source of advicefiand
counsel. Agricultural agencies rate second in degree of

influence as well as commercial sources. The mass media

 

128. A. Wilkening, Adoption of Improved Parmwirsczices
as Related to Family Factors. (Madison: UisconsimWNgr -
cultural Experiment Station Research Bulletin 183, '
December 1953).

37

play a minor role at this stage.

The individual finally uses the innovation on his elm
farm on i listens; trial basis to determine its usefulness
to him. At this point the advice of friends and neighbors
is most heavily depended upon.

Alsatian

Taking this final step involves the development of
conviction that the new technique is demonstrably superior
to previous practice. The individuale own experience with
the innovation and the actual experiences of others ore of
greatest influence in the decision to adopt. At this stage
the mass media and agencies reinforce attitudes positively.
Commercial sources have little impact.

III. IIPLUBICES ’

A decision to adopt or reject an innovation, whether
as a result of conscious evaluation and trial or as a
result of an unconscious process involving attitudes or
bias, ultimately rests at the level of the individual per-
sonality as he interacts with his social and physical en-
vironment within the context of his cultural heritage.
These influences are profound in that they really deter-
mine the status and progress of an individual, or the
organisation which he represents within the adoption cone

tinuum.

28

zonoooal_£aotons
Those characteristics of an individual which influence

his behavior, can be divided into the two categories of
biographical and psychological determinants. Factors of
age, education, experience and location are biographical
influences which have a definite impact upon an individual's
decisions. Similarly, elements which are more closely”?
related to personality such as degree of curiosity, mental
acumen, self concept and dependency upon others play a
powerful role in an individuale approach to the problems

of daily life.
WW. «1) Ace. a....,1.3.n...,14

Marsh,15 and others have shown that there are some relation-
ships between receptiveness to innovation and age. Elderly
farmers seem to adopt new practices less readily than younger

ones. However, a study by Wilson and Gallup16 which sough

 

13!. Gross and H. J. Taves, PCharacteristics Associa-
ted with Acceptance of Recommended Pans PracticesyP‘angl
fingiglggz, 17 (December, 1952) pp. 32i~27.

14C. Hess and L. P. Miller, Song EggsonaL,

W9
and. .antona.Inflooooiaslanionaoaiauootioasnand.
gmggggg. State College: Pennsylvania Agricultura1 Experi-

nent State Bulletin 577, June, 1954).

15c. P. Marsh and A. L. Coleman, PThe Relationshi of
Farmer Characteristics to the Adaption of Recommended
Practices,P fin:gl,§ggiglggy20 (September-December, 1955)"
ppe 289-96 s

16H. c. mu... and G. Gallup. 2mm W..m
and.9thoz Esotoos That ‘flflfli‘fllrflt Alstonltnosl and
flog:‘Ecnngligs‘fizgotiggg. ‘Washington: U.S. Dept. of Agri-
culture Federal Extension Service Circular 495, August,

1955 .

29

to determine more effective extension teaching methods
found that differences in receptivity of new ideas

between elderly and young farmers were not great enough to
warrant programming to meet their specific requirements.
Lionberger17 points out that differences in receptivity
may result from very practical considerations of declin-
ing energies and scope of operation as the elderly far-
mer approaches retirement. The middle age farmer is at
his peak in strength and drive and because of the fact
that he is established in the work and is seeking maximum
income he is more likely to be able to entertain change in
methods. The young farmer may be prevented by the fact
that he is newly established, in debt and perhaps unsure
of himself. (2) Education and Experience. The level of
formal schooling attained by a person is closely linked

to the whole interacting universe or traits which make

the individual what he is. However, reports on“he func-

18

tions of information sources and the personal and social

factors19 in the adoptive process indicate that there is

 

17Lionberger, on. git., pp. 96-97.

18J. H. Copp, M. L. Sill, E. J. Brown, PThe Function
of Information Sources in the Farm Practice Adoption Pro-

ce-I9'=*.&ma1 We 23. June 1958. pp» 146~57o

19-7» n. Corp. Wandfiooialfiaotomhanooiatod
othccomndodlamlmtioosinonggattlo-
‘ngn. Manhattan: Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station
Technical Bulletin 83, Sept. 1956).

30

some association between higher adoption rates and education
of more than eight years. It is difficult to assess whe-
ther the more favorable attitudes towards the acceptance of
new practices were engendered in school or as a result of
the many casual learning situations a person encountered

in daily life in his environment. Followbup studies of.
high school and college graduates tracing the degree to
which they utilise techniques taught in school which are
innovations in their professional areas might shed some

light upon this problem. Copp9s20

study of Kansas cattle-
men gave some indication of the fact that a higher level

of education, reflected in a more favorable orientation to
the value of specialized reading, made an impact upon rate
of adoption. Cattlemen with high adoption scores were
more likely to be readers of media that were more difficult
to obtain, necessitating greater effort. Subscribers to
specialized farm periodicals had adoption scores forty per
cent higher than those subscribing to general magazines.

Also, subscribers to weekly newspapers had lower adoption

scores than non-subscribers. Young21 found that farmers

 

“m.

21J. H. Young, The Influence 2; Nei hb 'figzng

on m Diffusion of Wei Earn We Lexinstonl
University of Kentucky, 1959).

31

with higher adoption scores used all media sources of
information more than those with lower scores.

Emery and Oeser22 studied a wide variety of influences
upon rate of adoption. Thcylfound*d*pssitive association
between adoption rate and what they termed an Pindex of
urbanisation.P This index constituted a scale of whpther
the farmer had more than a primary education, came from a
family with non-farm.background, had urban work experience
and military service. They theorize that:

The attitude to knowledge of members of an
agrarian culture differs in important nspects
from that displayed by members of an urban,
industrialized culture. Among the farmer,
knowledge must be achieved and tested by per-
sonal experience, and is handed on from father
to son and ”between contemporaries by means of
the traditional rules, by face to face communi-
cation. In an urbanized culture, however, knowb
ledge is accepted as being instrumental rather
than traditional; as generally or publicly
holdable; and as testable by means other than
personal practice and experience...problcms
tend to be solved theoretically before they are
tackled in production. _

,zgyghglogiggl,nptgg-ilgntg. It is impossible tb make
clear cut distinctions between factors of personality-and
the elements in the biographical environment which mold the
individual. As a result attitudes reflecting professional
orientation, flexibility, conceptual skills, orientation

patterns and dependencies may spring out of education and

 

”In 8. Bear! and .A- Geller. Intonation Minion
gag Lotion. (lew'York: ambridge University Press, 1958 .

32

general life experience. (1) Professional orientation and
conceptual skills. In a study of the rate of adoption of

a new drug by physicians,23 it was found that early adopters
were more professionally oriented in that they were more
conscientious about attending conferences and medical
specialty meetings and read a greater volume of profess-
ional literature. lany similar‘studies in the field of
agriculture have pointed out that a higher degree of
professionalism, indicated by greater contact with ex-
tension services24 and knowledge of their role and func-

26

tion,25 membership in farm organizations, use of pro-

fessional literature27 have a positive association with

 

23J. Coleman, et a1. PThe Diffusion of an Innovation
Among Physicians,P figgigletzg, 20, (December, 1957) pp.

34w. L. Slocum, o. L. Brough, u. A'. Stun-.m-
sion contacts. iolootod Shamotoaiatioa. motionzaad'
Attitudes of mm Earn Emilia. (Pull-anz' Vaihinr
tonsggricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 584, April,
195 .

25E.‘Il. Rogers and G. H. Beal, Reference Group

mummnmummm
Ames: Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station Journal
Paper 3373. 1953).

”Cow. on. sit.

17a. n. Beal and J. n. Bohlen, In W mg.
(Ames: Idwa Agricultural Service Special Report Number 1 ,

March, 1957).

33

rate of adoption. Emery and Oeser28 found direct associa-
tion between exposure to mass media and agricultural exten-
sion agents and conceptual skills. Rogers and Beal29 also
found that ability to deal with abstract stimulus pictures
was highly correlated with adoption. (2) Flexibility.
Rogers3o reported a mild association between adoption and
responses given to a truncated version of Rokeacth dogma-

31 Copp32 categorized cattle farmers in a

tism scale.
Prfliidity-flexibility' continuum. He indicated that far-
mers at the rigid end of the scale regarded farming in a
more traditional light of operating by set formulas.
Flexible farmers, on the other hand, were more progressive

and considered their work to be a challenge in problem-
solving. This reinforces Spaulding9s33 findings that

 

28Emery and Oeser, on..cit.

29Rogers and Beal,.on.‘git.

30E. M. Rogers. PPersonality Correlates of the Adap-
tion of Technological Practices,P ‘gnga1_§gciglgg1, 2233
(Harch 1957) Do 3.

31M. Rokeach m m m M m. (New York:
Basic Books, 1960).

32flow. on. oit.

33:. A. Spaulding, Ram .roxzaton lino fioaoo orienta-
.oaotiooao

andtho thoidootionofilooomondodfiamf’
Kingston: Rhode Island Agricultural Experinent Station

Bulletin 330, July 1955).

34

rigid involvement with the field system of an individual's
farm work was highly related to non-adoption of conserve;
tion practices that required changing that system. (3)
Orientation and dependency patterns. Wilkening34 showed

a positive influence upon adoption to be familial values
of (a) a desire for high educational achievement indicated
by giving priority to expenses for education over those
for farm operation, (b) high value placed on social status
and participation in formal social groups, (c) high desire
for home improvements and conveniences. Factors having
negative influence were (a) high degree of family labor,
(b) father domination in family decisions, (c) high emphasis
on familism, (d) high degree of participation in informal
social groups, and (c) great value placed on owning a
debt-free farm. In a later study, Rogers and Beal35 noted
that high adopters were less dependent on family ties,
associated less with friends and neighbors and were less

likely to consider neighbors as having normative reference

value.
flmiiioationoflndixidnolotxlinoofhdootiono f_
Lionberger's36 comprehensive summary of the adoption lit-

erature classifies individuals by their place in the

 

345. A. Vilkenins. Adoption of. Impound 2am Broo-

tiooa as Related to Emily. tattoos. (Madison: Wisconsin
Agricultural Experiment Station Research Bulletin 183,

December, 1953).
35Rogers and Beal, gn.,git.

36L10nber‘erp as may pps 36-410

35

time span of the adoptive process. (1) Early Adoptors.
Characteristics of early adoptors are: (a) they have lar-
ger farms and larger incomes than the average farmers in
their area, (b) they are willing to take risks, (c) they

are likely to be middle-aged or younger, (d) they are

inclined to use many new farm practices and are among the
first to try them, (e) they have many outside contacts,
and participate in agricultural and informational organi-
zations such as central extension and commercial agencies,
(f) they seek information with discretion and travel fur-
ther to obtain it. (2) Late Adoptors. Characteristics
of late adoptors are: (a) they have smaller farms and
incomes, (b) they tend to be middleoaged or older, (c)
they are security oriented and are hesitant to take risks,
(d) they participate less in formal organizations except-
ing church, (e) they seek information primarily from
nearby farmers and are not selective of them with respect
to technological competence, (f) they subscribe to gen-
eral farm papers and magazines as sources of information
as well as media such as radio and almanac and are unfavor-
able towards extension services and county agents. (3)

The Majority. Characteristics of the majority group are:
(a) they have average size farms and incomes, (b) partic-
ipation in formal groups is largely confined to local
organizations such as church and P.T.A., (0) they are gen-

erally receptive to guew ideas, though they may not actively

36

seek them, (d) their information contacts are nearby far—
mers, (e) they read, but not usually technical papers and
magazines, (f) they listen to radio and TV but avoid’ex-
tension services,'preferring commercial sources of informa-
tion and advice.
anumm. -.
There is evidence to indicate that there seems to be a gen-
eralized trait of adoption proneness, in that State adop-

tion of one practice is likely to be associated with late,
adoption of others."37 Barnett38 indicated that dissatis-

faction may play a powerful role in the attitude develop-
ment which fosters adoption proneness in a person. He
classified adoptors in four groups. (1) The Dissident.
There are individuals who consistently oppose the conven-
tions of their membership-reference groups. Sofie are act-
ive in their opposition, some are passive and merely with-
draw from as much contact as possible. In that an innova-
tion within this context represents a means of expreshing
opposition, the dissident is more likely to be an acceptor..
of change than those who are content with their status quo.
(2) The Indifferent. Some individuals participate in their

membership-reference groups and receive satisfaction from

 

37L10nb0r‘0’, ”a may pa 41o

”H- 6- Barnett. mm: m m of mm
thflll- (lew'York: McGraw Hill, 1953), ,

37

doing so. However, they are not totally dedicated to the
conventions of the group. They are not enthusiastic in
their identification with the ideas and behavior expected
of them. In their indifference they find no contradiction
in adopting innovations or in abandoning what their peers
value highly. (3) The Disaffected. some active and en-
thusiastic participants in a social group can experience

a gradual, or even sudden, change of attitude as a result
of an event, or series of events, affecting them directly.
As a result an individual participant comes to experience
the same kind of aversion for group norms as does the dis-
sident. This finds expression in taking advantage of every
propitious opportunity to accept an innovation as an al-
ternative to his previous convictions and practices. (4)
The Resentful. The fact that some group goals are very
difficult to attain makes them highly valued. Only the
exceptional person in the group reaches these goals. The
majority of the group accord such an individual the praise
and admiration and rank he has earned. But some feel that
they have been unjustly treated. They are resentfhl at
having been denied the achievement. In his resentment of
the group, such an individual is more susceptible to,inno-
vation and change because he has less to lose by adoption.
In cases that have become extreme, group sanctionh may
have begun to operate upon the individual and he finds
that by adopting an innovation he may have nothing to lose

38

and everything to gain.

The difficulty with a primarily negative categoriza-
tion such as this is that it does not include individuals
who may accept an innovation within the context of group
approval. Many groups include those who are admired for
their wise utility of novel methods. Some groups are de-
dicated as organizations to bringing about change, though
not necessarily within their own ranks and value system to
be sure. Nevertheless, a classification of this kind
gives many insights into the reasons some accept and others
reject a new idea.
finsial.£ani2:s

Man is a social creature. Whatever his feelings toe
wards others may be, he operates within the milieu of some
kind of group, subject to its values, pressures and expec-
tations. The fact of birth thrusts a person into the soc-
ial context of family. As life progresses this field of
contact expands to include friends, teachers, employers
and all of the complex interrelationships which constitute
the structure of community. The threads of love, friend-
ship, obligation, distrust or hatred pull with different
degrees of tension upon the individual and form the mental
set which determines the direction of his decisions to act
in a specific way. These decisions may or may not be con-

scious, understood by the individual making them.
£3|i1111,1n£1ngnggfi. The research dealing with the

39

impact of oneVs family upon attitudes towards adoption has
been mentioned in earlier pages. Members of one9s family
usually have a profound influence upon the attitudes, deci-
sions and conduct of a person. Research conducted by Wil-
son and Moe39 include a finding that presence of children
in the home made an impact upon attitudes of women. A
“higher proportion of women with small children enrolled
in and completed a sewing course over television than older
women and those without children. Wilcox and Lloyd40 re- i
ported that the help and stimulation received fromwives
had a distinct impact upon variations in labor income.
W’ilkening41 showed that unanimity of a families attitudes
towards the childrens0 participation in 4-H Club work was
positively associated with adoption of more improved farm
practices. ;

Diana]. 5mm: human. Lionberser“ winterized

 

fl

3911. c. Wilson and a. o. Hoe, W 91%,“.
1111211 in mm gains We Washington‘s U. .
Department of Agriculture Federal Extension Serfiice Cir-

cular 466, June 1951).

49w. w. Wilcox and o. G. hay-d, m m m in
the W at Indiana Lam. (Lanfzae'et'ueg Indiana '
Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 369, August 1932).

413. A. Wilkening, Adoption of Imnnond Earn Mines
Ag Belgtgn,tghfiggilx,Eggtgn§,.(Madison: Wisconsin Agricul-
tural Experiment Station Resepéch Bulletin 183, December

1953).

42Lionberger,.nn.£it., pp. 75-82.

40

the extensive research on the influence of social cliques
and reference groups. "Social cliques,” he stated, "are
composed of a small number of persons who accept each other
as social equals and associate as close friends, largely to
the exclusion of others near at hand. Basically they are
monkindred groups which, like neighborhoods, satisfy the
need for intimate association with other people." They...
"are important social structures in the diffusion of farm
information since as social systems they involve both
active and passive mechanisms of social control."43

In addition to family contacts as significant refer-
ents in individual behavior, Rogers and Beal44 also showed
that neighborhoods were most important reference groups in
the determination of the behavior of farmers, especially
those falling into the category of late adoptors.

Egg-ngfizg n Inflggnggg. The influence of formal
group contacts upon the individual is great in that they
enlarge the scope and variety of information available to
him. It is interesting to note that persons looked upon
as reliable sources of information are more likely to have
been exposed to formal group influence than those people

seeking the advice from them.45 Menzel and Katz46 indicated

 

43m0 a PO 82 0
44Rogers and Beal, on. £11.

45Lionberger, on. 911., p. 83.

46Menzel and Katz, an. m.

41

that the contacts made by physicians as a result of member-
ship in a formal group had a positive influence upon the
rate of adoption of a new drug.

Wm“

Culture contains the total accumulation of manVs inven-
tiveness represented in the many physical, concrete-tools
and the methods for using them that he has developed in the
process of adapting to his environment as well as the many
rules he has established for interaction with other people
and the value systems that govern his attitudes and aspira-
tions. Although many of his activities are motivated by
physiological considerations and drives, neverthelesb, the
manner in which he works and interacts with others in sat-
isfying those needs are determined by the abstract compon-
ents of culture, the complex and often devious pressures
of group approval or disapproval. These sanctiont are
expressions of the value systems developed through time by
that society.

The degree to which members of a social group are.able
to depart from more conformity in the sense of being able
to contribute to the growing edge of their cultural pat-
terns depends upon many factors. As mentioned earlier,

Barnett47 states that an innovation must meet physical,

 

"a. 6. Barnett. W: m Basis
‘Qhangg (lew'Torkz MbGrawbfiill Book Co., 1953 p. 6-9.

42

biographical and psychological needs better than established
techniques. Broseu,48 analyzing the economic implications
of social change states:

Primarily we are concerned here with the problem

of raising the technological level of backward

areas. A rise in the level means only a movement

towards the use of that set of techniques which '"

will yield the most of what the indigenous popula-
tion wants from.the use of available resources.

Homo sapiens has been able to build upon the progres-
sive benefits of the tothl previous experience of his kind
because of the ability to communicate. The degree to which
man is able to obtain information about better means of
meeting the rigors of environment influences the rapidity
of his progress. Lacking sources of new information he
tends to cling to techniques with which he is familiar, to
methods of proven effectiveness. Lionberger observes:

The more isolated a people in terms of communica-

tive exposure or contact with the outside world,

‘Ehirmore resistant to change they are likely to

be. Ihll seems to apply to both areas and to

people. Where people hahe had almost no contact

with the outside world, life may remain much the

same for centuries. However, when contacts are

many and varied changes seem to occur at an in-
creasing rate. 6

A study of the adoption of approved practices in celery
growing among farmers of Dutch descent in Michigan is an

interesting illustration of this point. The investigation

 

‘sTale Brosen,$.nl:1ll Implications of. W
Engage (Chicago: lorth western University Press, 1950
p. 145.

49Lionberger,‘np.sit., p. 92.

43

conducted by Charles R. Boffer showed that the reading of a
circular developed by the extension service had a mildly
positive influence upon adoption of the improved practices.
The investigator reported that it appeared that five cire

cumstances seemed to have prevented a higher percentage of

adoption:
(1) Conditions that may exist on any particular
farm,
(2) Expense involved in following a recommended
practice,

(3) Attitude of the farmer,
(4) Relative effectiveness of printed matter in
comparison to*hther influences that affect
human behavior, ‘ 0
(5) The factor of time.5

"offer concluded that:

AttitmdesCof the?farmer, therefore, as they are
developed'hy cultural heritage and experience
appear to be the chief influence in determining
the immediate acceptance of a recommended-praop
tice...Particularly is this true if the culture

he is identified with and the community influences
which surround him are favorable to such a change.
If they are unfavorable, then he may still fail

to follow a recommended practice, evgp though he
cannot logically question its value.

Was

The characteristics of the individual as well as the
psychological and social considerations which condition
the adoption process have been described. Little has been

mentioned about characteristics of the innovation itself.

 

5°Charles R. Hoffer, Acceptanns.n£ Earning
fraction Alana flame of Dutch Descent. East Lamina:
Michigan State College Agricultural Experiment Station

Special Bulletin 316, June 1942). p. 31-32.
51m... p. 32-33.

44

The North Central Rural Sociology Committees2 have indicated

that some characteristics affecting the rate of adaption
are:

991;. New practices of high cost are generally adopted
more slowly. However, those practices that produce high,
rapid return for money invested tend to be adopted more
rapidly than those yielding lower returns over a longer
period of time.

figlplgxity. low ideas that are easily understood and
simply used tend to be adopted more rapidly than complex
innovations.

Xigihilitx. Practices which are readily demonstrated
and visible in their operation seem to enjoy a more rapid
adoption rate.

Dixigihilitz. A technique which lends itself to¢
divisibility or use on a limited trial basis will generally
be adopted more rapidly than one which cannot be used on a
small scale.

lengtihilitz. An idea which is consistent with
existing values or beliefs of the adoptor will be acbepted
more rapidly than one which is not.

 

szJ. M. Bohlen, C. H. Coughenour, H. P. Lionberger,
E. 0. Moe and E. M. Rogers, Subcommittee for the Study of
Diffusion of Farm Practices, Adm“ of 39! [an lam,
(East Lansing: North Central Regional Extension Publica-
tion 13, Michigan State university, October 1961). p. 4.

45

IV. IMPLICATIONS OF DIFFUSION RESEARCH FOR THE
ADOPTION OF EDUCATIONAL INNOVATIONS

The driving motivation for conducting research is to
discover both conditions that may exist and the reasons for
their existence. In the concern to say only what hie data
indicates and no more, an investigator is careful to define
the limits of his research and in many instances adds the
thought that the findings are applicable only to the uni-
verse of his study or populations that are similar. On
the other hand there is the necessity to predict outcomes
of given circumstances. In order to do this with any faci-
lity it is imperative that one be able to generalize about
the unknown on the basis of knowledge obtained through
research.

The present study deals with organizational character-
istics. The largest part of the literature reviewed has
had to do with characteristics of individuals and the
environmental and psychological influences brought to
bear upon them. At this point the problem of the pertin-
ence and validity of research about the individual for
application to a unit of government arises. Is it poss-
ible to generalize and make predictions about the recep-
tion of future innovations on the basis of the information
provided by these many studies?

Because it is impossible to study something until it
is in existence, research into human behavior is frequently

ex post facto. Once a person has demonstrated a behavior

46

pattern he is studied and described.- Howeverr~themeame
kind of study of individuals must take place uhsmwthe roe
search is applied by the practitioner, except in this in-
stance it must he done in advance to find entrthm nature
of the population before any action is taken about intro-
ducing a new practice or idea. Presumeably it becomes
necessary to isolate the dissident and the broad minded
before knowing how to proceed. But the problem is com-
plicated by the fact that different individuals have
different potentials for adoption at different times and
under different circumstances. There are too many var
iables at play beyond oneVs control.

Furthermore, many individual characteristics simply
do not apply to organizations even though they may apply
to persons making up the organization. But when dealing
with a corporation, which individualOs age does one con-
sider when developing tactics? Whose kinship patterns or
wife's influence should be determined? Whose knowledge
and broad mindedness is important? In what ways does the
broad cosmopolitan experience of one cancel out the pro-
vincialism and ethnocentrism of another member of the
group?

On the other hand there may be some parallels be-
tween individual characteristics and those of organiza-
tions. It would appear to be possible to categorize a

group as being liberal or conservative. A group has

47

characteristics of size 9' operation, it has measurable
wealth, its efficiency can be assessed, it has a history of
previous adoptions, average group attitudes about an event
or practice can be determined.

The model developed by Nilkening and other sociolo-
gists, dividing the adoption process into its time seduenee
may have real value for the practitioner. For him.to know
that the adoption of new practices involves the steps of
awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and finally adope
tion will give him many clues about how to proceed under
given circumstances. The descriptive model described by
the North Central Rural Sociology Committee may also have
great merit and practical utility for the educator. It
‘ should be very revealing to assess a new educational prab-
tice in terms of its cost, complexity, visibility, divisi-
bility and compatibility.

V. EARLIER STUDIES OF THE DIFFUSION OF EDUCATIONAL
INNOVATIONS

We
‘Ezegig. Paul R. Hort and Francis G. Corne11533con-
ducted a comprehensive investigation of the adaptability

of Pennsylvania schools. They traced the extent bf the

 

53Paul R. Hort and Francis 6. Cornell, W
gin‘ngngitign (New‘Torkz Bureau of Publications, Teachers
College, Columbia university, 1941). p. 546.

48

diffusion of 183 adaptations in the school systems of that
state and chosc;mlne of them for special consideration:

(1) The public kindergarten. (2) Reorganized high schools.
(3) Special classes for the mentally handicapped. (4)
Homemaking for boys. (5) Adult leisure activities (6) The
integration of extracurricular activities. (7) Elimina-
tion of elementary final examinations. (8) Integrated
curricula. (9) Supplementary reading.

They concluded that the diffusion of these nine adap-
tations is a slow process, particularly in the early in-
troductory period. They reported that some parts of the
state were more receptive to adaptation than others, in-
dicating that in the case of some adaptations requiring
marked policy changes a clustering effect was apparant in
the diffusion patterns and that many adaptations were
first introduced in large metropolitan centers or in com!
munities lying in highly urbanized regions. The general
measure of cultural level of a community was shown to be
significantly related to adaptability: (1) Communities
on a high level are early adaptors, part of the influence
of size and tax leeway being explained by accidental or
causal relationships with cultural level, and adaptability
being shown to relate more to the percentage of the popu-
lation relatively high in cultural level rather than to the
average of the whole population. (2) Age of population
(percent over 21) within the ranges studied bore no signi-
ficant relationship to adaptability. (3) home ownership

49

was related to adaptability but adds nothing to what is
obtained from size and wealth. (4) Educational level re-
lates to cultural level, having significant relationship
to adaptability. (5) Population increase was more closely
related to adaptability than local nativity. (6) Occupa-
tional type, specifically reflected in the percentage of
white collar occupations, yielded the highest relationship
to adaptability. (7) The percentage of children in private
and parochial schools did not appear to be statistically
significant in the sample studied but was marked and nega-
tive in its impact upon adaptability.

In summary, the authors indicated that adaptability
is conditioned by: (1) The impingement of certain cultural
and economic characteristics upon the schools and the in-
terplay between them. (2) The characteristics of the
”super-community” of which the school district is a part.
(3) The nature of the part which a community plays ih the

super-community.

Of particular interest to the concern of this dis-
sertation were the chapters pertaining to the effects of
size, wealth and expenditure upon the adaptability of
school systems.

5113. (l) The early adoptors are relatively large
in the case of all the eight adaptations studied...Adap-
tation remains a large-district phenomenon through...the

diffusion up to twenty per cent of saturation. (2) Large

50

cossunities score significantly higher on the general
measure of adaptability. (3) The large districts have
higher tax rates for non-educational purposes, better
trained teachers, a higher combined index of community
life, better administrative services and leadership, and
nore ideas from the outside reported by teachers. (4)
There is no necessary identity between the 'urbanness"
factor and the size factor as studied. The explanation

of the influence of size lies elsewhere. The implications
are that large districts, regardless of urbanness, favor
adaptability. (5) Fran the analysis... it becones ap-
parent that the factor which as such as any other explains
the effect of size on adaptability is the clustering of
elements which sake up the cultural pattern...The larger
the district, the greater the variety of such factors.
This tendency becones particularly inportant when we find
that in a number of these factors it is not the average
level of the cos-unity that counts so much as the presence
in the community of persons ranking high in social intelli-
gence and responsibility.54 .

m m m m. (1) Wealth in an inportant
factor in the first stages (of diffusion) and a continu-
ing, though less important, factor as the diffusion pro-
cess unfolds. It is clear also that it seess to be a

sore important factor for some adaptations (e.g. kindergarten)

 

S‘lhido. pp- 137-138.

51

than for others...55 (2) It is clear fro. these studies
that com-unities of greater taxable valuation per class-
room unit or per pupil are nuch more likely to be early
introducers of new adaptations, but that no wealth group
is entirely ruled out. It is clear also that these cone
mnnities make more adaptations and make‘thes sooner than
those with limited resources.56 (3)‘Wbllth does not
appear to be predictive of adaptability. (4) Tax leeway
is not as predictive of adaptability as valuation per
classroon unit. The difference is small and unreliable
statistically.57 (5) The effpcts of tax leeway upon adap-
tability are to be explained not by econosic concomitants

alone but also by local professional and community cultural

elements which are associated with it.58

 

Bate-an59 traced the development of the countycunit
school district in Utah. He found that early adaptors
were districts that were snaller in area, located nearer
larger cities and colleges, and had had a higher percent-
age of increase in population. He reported that the tine

 

55M». p. 144.
5§Ihid.. p. 147.
571h1q., p. 165.
581h11., p. 166.
59Bdward A. Batenan, ngxg;ggnent,gz

Snuntzannit
W in M8 A will in Wo‘ New forks. hresu
of Publications, Teachers College, colusbia university, 194°).

52

lapse from indication of need to first adoption of the sys-
tem was twenty-four years and the‘period of rapid diffusion
lasted from 1905 to 1915, ten years. Bateman pointed out
the difficulty involved in isolating causal influences
operating upon a process of diffusion.

The causes of social change are so complex and

the possibility of studying single factors which
cause change, independent of the influence of

other factors, is so remote that it is seldom
possible to state with accuracy the extent to which
any single factor influences a particular adap-
tation. However, it is desirable to identify the
factors which are associated with a particular
process of change and to analyze probable relation-
ships existing between these factors and change
which has occurred. The completion of many studies
of individual adaptations may then reveal common
factors associated with these adaptations and per-
mit a valid formulation of principles and procea
dures that control certain types of change in
education.6 '

WWW
Volume II of the series Administration for Adapta-

bility organized research material of a twelve year period
under the two categories of (l) the adaptation process it-
self and (2) agencies in the process of bringing about
change. In part one they report:

One of the most significant of the facts that
have been established by adaptability research is
that the diffusion of defensible ideas in educa-
tion takes fifty years. Furthermore, the pattern
of spread of such inventions consistently follows
an ogive curve. Such change is much slower than
would seem tolerable, agencies have been set up

 

60
mos Po 68°

53

to deliberately speed up the process.61

In section two they describe the‘rolenwhich various
. people and organizations play, reporting extensively from
the research of Hort and Cornell.62 Administrators fire
the most potent influences in adaptation. Teachers have
small impact upon adoption, though they possess greater
potential than has been utilized. Pupils exert neglible
influence. Lay groups hold promise as agencies influenc-
ing change, though where community understanding is cor-
related with rate of adoption its specific role is vague.
The influence of state departments and teacher training
institutions is generally ineffective.

Ross et. al. conclude that certain administrative
efforts must be made: (1) A systematic attempt to iden-
tify educational needs. (2) A wider understanding of tech-
nological findings must be achieved. (3) There should be
widespread attempts to apply technology and empirically
established knowledge of the processes of education to
identified needs in education. (4) There should be pub-
lication of likely inventions for quick and wide testing.
(5) Every method of communication to spread use shouid be,
utilized.

 

61Donald H. Ross et. al., Administration £nz.Adsn- ‘
, Volume II. (New York: Metropolitan School Study
Council, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1951).
”a 19 85-190o

62M0rt and Cornell,.np.,git., American Schools,
ppo 199-3560

54

W
In a nationwide study of the introduction of educa-

tional practices, Cooking63 traced the diffusion of eight
educational practices through the six regions of-the coun-
try. He found no significant differences among the six
regions in the introduction of educational practices dur-
ing the early periods of diffusion. Furthermore, prac-
tices were diffusing throughout the regions at abont the
same rate. He reported that school systems in the metro-
politan districts were significantly more alert than iso-
lated cities in the early periods of introduction of an
educational practice. A greater proportion of these schools
were early introducers of a practice, whereas there was a
significant lag in introduction among school systems in
rural areas,
WW

Studying New York City and thirty other school sys;
tems, Brickell64 described the problem of change in New
York state and made recommendations to organize in a way

which would improve the situation. He felt that, "The

 

63mm“ Cockins. The Balm]. Introduction of. Educa-

mwmmmmamma
Leg lew‘York: Institute of Administrative Research Study

Number Six, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1951).

“Henry No BrickelI. Manning Hes luck it“: fax:
ghgngg, (Albany: State Education Department,

University of the State of New'York, December, 1961).

55

process of local educational change is determined by the
relationships of thebe two groups: the public and the board
of education as external, the administrators and the teach-
ers as internal.'65 Reiterating that teachers are not
strong agents for change but rather that administrators
take much greater initiative in introducing new programs
into the schools, the author described factors which con-
tribute to the reception of a new practice.

Professional suspicion is a strong inhibitor. The
most persuasive means to overcome such suspicion is to
visit and observe the new practice in operation. Here
the reaction of students to the innovation is the single
most highly relied upon measure of effectiveness. The
attention, encouragement and interest given to a teacher
involved is a powerful stimulus for success.

Brickell pointed out that the freedom needed to sti-
mulate the design of educational innovation is completely
irreconcilable with the controlled environment required
for its evaluation as well as the normality which is
imperative if the new idea is to be demonstrated effec-
tively. He suggested an organization of the state sys-
tem which would provide for an autonomous Research Agency
free to improvise and invent, a coordinated regional school
development unit which would demonstrate the proven pro-

" gram and disseminate information about it and a realignment

 

65m... p. 19.

$6

of the functions of colleges and universities which would
'islsiie“thewmmspmmsibility for training teachers to per-
form in the context of the changed schools.
W

A study of resistance to educational television is
being conducted by the Institute for Community Studies of
the University of Oregon.66 The intent of the research
project, sponsored by a grant from the 0.8. Office of
Education,

rests on the basic hypothesis that it is possible

to enlarge an existing educational television ‘

audience by elimination of the factors which gen-

erate resistance to this means of instruction.

The purposes of this inquiryIureg to discover

what these factors are; to ascertain their

relative importance; and to experiment with

their elimination.

Some of the initial findings of the inquiry indicate
that there is a more positive attitude towards and greater
use of educational television by (l) the more highly educa-
ted (post graduate level) professional people and (2) peo-
ple belonging to the blue-collar occupation category.
Where there is a general increase in positive attitude to-
wards educational television as scholastic achievement of
peeple increases, it seems to skip the ”white-collar”

occupational group which indicate a rather negative atti-

tude towards it. The data seems to indicate that

 

“Mar-hall N. Goldstein et. al., Minna]. ma-
l’misct Radium 3.2mm Mex: .ano (Eugene:
The Institute for Community Studies, Studies in Resis-
tancos to Cultural Innovations, The Universityafif Oregon,
1961 .

57

educational television has less appeal in large families
where greater conflict over program selection exists.
There is further indication that this medium meets greater
resistance from authoritarian personality types than from
more flexible people. The authors conclude:

. It is the person who is both flex-
ible and capable not only of making up his own
mind but of influencing others, who is fairly
well educated and has a respected occupation
who is the least resistant to educational tele-
vision as well as the most receptive to other
forms of culture and education. But this form
of composite portrait, which accumulates a
number of characteristics that so far as we know
from the descriptive investigation mightfimell be
unrelated to one another provides only the first
glimpse or introduction to resistance and tele-
vision.

A subsequent report approaches educational television
behavior as a political act within the microcosmic poli-
tical system of the family and indicates "that mass media,
(in this case the newspaper) can have a direct effect on
individual behavior...by legitimizing the discussion of
u68

new alternatives.

 

67m... p. 42.

68mm J. Hertz. seam . W 1 s n 2mm
Rgngrt Egghgg Sig. Eugene: The Institute for

Community Studies, Studies in Resistance to Cultural
Innovations, the University of Oregon, 1962).

CHAPTER III
THE STATUS OF EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION II'NICNIGAI
SCHOOLS

Earlier research studies reported in chapter two com-
stitute the theoretical framework upon which subsequent
portions of this dissertation will be built. This chapter
will begin with an application to television of the temp
poral patterns, already described, through which an inno-
vation passes on its way to becoming a commonly accepted
practice. An elaboration of the responses to a quehtion-
naire will further develop the sequence of televihionv«
adoption process as a means of providing both an outline
for the discussion as well as insight into the ways in
which the development of instructional television compares

to the progress made by earlier innovations.

I. PERIOD OF INTRODUCTION AND EXPERIMENTATION
MW

June 3, 1947 saw the establishment of WJ-TV, Channel
four, as the first television station in the Detroit met-
ropolitan area. A year later, two additional stations
joined the ranks of commercial broadcasters with the
establishment of WIYZ-TV, Channel seven, on October 9, and
VJBK-TV, shanaol' two, on October 24, 1948.1

;

8 1Dettelou Peterson, Detroi§_firggh£negg, October 19,
195 .

59

The educational uses of television were explored re-
markably soon after the nedium was available as a con-uni-
cation device in the Detroit area. "WU-TV approached the
University of lichigan with the request for a weekly one
hour educational television series. The first programs
meeting this request'were 'Conceived, written, cast and
rehearsed in Ann Arbor. All concerned were loaded into
cars and driven to Detroit. There the programs were staged

in IUD studies."2

In the years following, this educational
endeavor grew to become the University Television Center
in Ann Arbor. Their uses of television now include color
facilities at the University ledical Center, studio fac-
ilities for the Departnent of Speech and the English Lan-
guage Institute as well as other expanding activities.

A significant advance in the education utilization of
television came in 1954 with the establishment of Channel
sixty, VIAR-TV, operated by Hichigan State College of East
Lansing, MichiganVs first eduoational station and hmong .
the first in the united States. This ultra high frequency
station went off the air in 1958. The University resumed
its broadcasting in 1959 under the call letters of HMS! on

channel ten, an unreserved very high frequency channel in

Onondaga, sharing time with a oonmercial broadcaster with

 

2Orin‘w. Kaye, Jr., "University Television Starts '
Elevenzh Ygar', m WI m, Decenber 10, 1960,
”a 11 -11 e ‘

60

a separate license. The stateVs second educational station,
IT'S, Channel fifty-six, was established in 1955. It is a
cooperative enterprise of the Detroit public schools and
other agencies with educational responsibilities. The
teaching performed over these pioneer television stations
has well demonstrated the benefits to be gained by schools
who make the effort to participate. Several institutions
of higher learning as well as a few'public school systems
are using closed circuit television. Independently, many
schools are making casual or occasional use of television
programs which they are able to receive.

The Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruce
tion, a two channel, ultra high frequenty telecast of
instructional programs broadcast fron airplanes flying at
high altitude over Indiana, have contributed trenendeusly
to the volume of experimentation with television instruc-
tion in Iichigan schools. The numbers of schools report-
ing that they use the MATI signals far exceed the numbers
of schools that are officially Cfembers of the program.
Although this nay represent some loss in revenue for Mid-
west Airborne, this kind of experinentation is very valu-
able in creating an appetite for and in breaking down re-
sistance to the novel technique of teaching by neans of
television. When the Midwest Progran on Airborne Tele-
vision Instruction signals came on the air the number of

school districts using television increased substantially,

61

partly because of the availability of free signals with
which to experinent and partly because of the contribution
to variety in programs which these additional channels pro-
vided.

In order to assess this increase in the use of tele-
vision in schools the State Superintendent of Public In-
struction instigated a study of educational television in
Michigan in 1960. Institutions of higher learning and
najor school districts were visited. In addition, ques-
tionnairs were nailed to all public and private schools
districts in the state. Results of this research indicated
a generally positive attitude towards educational televi-
sion, a “real and increasing interest in the use of instruc-
tional television in schools and colleges in Michigan."3
In fact, out of 613 public school districts. 165 reported
current use of television broadcasts in their school sys-
tems, 105 of which used programs originating from the two
educational stations in the state. An additional thirty-
eight systens indicated that they received programs from
ma, Channel five, in Bay‘City. This evidence appears to
indicate a rather high involvenent of schools with a re-

latively new teaching device. The question night he asked

 

3James B. Tintera, MW in mm (Lansing:
Michigan State University, September 15, 1961.) p. 12.

62

as to whether this acceptance of television is not atypical.
Ilia—12W

‘. The studies by Mort and Cornell, Cocking and others,
described earlier‘, indicated that in nany instances a hun-
dred years elapses between the tine of the invention of a
device and its educational application. Adoption to the
three per cent level requires an additional twenty years,
with a lapse of seven years for subsequent ten per cents.
Has this been the case with the educational application of
the invention of television?

Paul Nipkow invented his image scanning disc in Ger-
nany in 1884, signalling the beginning of the age of tele-
vision. A period of fifty-five years passed, during which
the process was refined by the Zworykin iconoscope and the
Farnswerth image dissector tube, until the lew‘Tork world's
Fair in 1939 heralded the first regularly scheduled tele-I
vision broadcasts. The earliest educational stations did
not appear until the decade of the 19509s, although there
had been sone educational applications of comnercial tele-
vision in the few years before that time. The introductory
period of the invention of television, then, covered a tine
of fifty-five years instead of one hundred years. The per-
iod of initial educational application involved a fifteen
year span of tine which is a bit shorter than the twenty

 

fifiupra, pp. 47 ff.

63

years required by many earlier innovations. Subsequent
adoption to a diffusion level of approximately 26.9 per
cent (165 out of 613 using television in school) in 1961
took an additional seven years as contrasted to the twenty-
one years it night have been expected to take.

Actually, such rapid acceptance is difficult to under-
stand in that many characteristics of television nilitated
against its use in the classroom. Its complexities were
beyond the pale of experience of most school people. Early
equipment was of such marginal quality and small size that
its application as a visual aid was difficult to justify in
light of cost and inconvenience. And yet its pattern of
rapid acceptance resembles that of an earlier innovation
which revolutionized teaching methods, the blackboard.

The blackboard was rather slowly introduced in

America. Earliest reference to one was in an

arithmetic publication in 1809 in Philadelphia.

A footnote explained that ”the blackboard should

be about three feet square, painted or stained

with ink, and hung against the wall in a conven-

ient place for a class to assemble around it...”

In the 18309s educators stopped regarding

the blackboard as a curious innovation and began

to look upon it as essential to teaching. A

lecturer in 1830 listed it as one of the four

essential apparatuses every school should have.5

The blackboard was such a simple, inexpensive inven-

tion that a very little effort made it readily available

 

Saharnel Anderson. Qccooionel Enact: mm: on.

Hilton: of. Inctmctional.1°1cchnolozy_in
Ancnican Education. mum. (has Anseless NBA Tech.
Dev. Project, July 1961) p. 21.

64

to all. It is not difficult to visualize its general
acceptance within a twenty-five year period of time. But
television, though easily used by the teacher, is a com-
plex, expensive, electronic system. The acceptance of tele-
vision in the face of opposition and the complications in-
volved in its use must be explained in its contribution to
the art of communication upon which teaching depends.

II. THE SEQUENCE OF THE ACCEPTANCE OF TELEVISION

AS Al EDUCATIONAL DEVICE

Television has not been without opposition. Although
the preponderance of literature in the field is representa-
tive of proponents of the medium, nevertheless reactions
range from positive to the extremely negative. Pollock,
for example, has enthusiastically stated, '...television
offers the greatest opportunity for the advancement of
education since the introduction of printing by movable
type."6 Besvinick, on the other hand, declared, ”Direct
rv teaching - - a terrible evil stealing insidiously into
our schools, goes counter to many of our most cherished

philosophical tenets and research tested psychological

concepts."7 However, television does offer one kind of

solution to many problems which educators are facing

 

6Thomas c. Pollock, quoted in Alexander J. Stoddard,

Echoola.£on.1ononnous.AnHEduoatonic.Eluconinto (New York:
Fund for the Advancement of Education, 1957) p. 27.

7Sidney L. Besvinick, "TV Teachings Some Assumptions

and Conclusions,”‘§ghg91_ggg gogiggx, 88:30:32 (January
16, 1960).

65

whatever their beliefs about the medium may be. An early
critic of the textbook stated, "The temptation to manufac-
ture school books is just now very strong, but it must be
manfully encountered, like any other temptation.‘I Anderson
reacted to this comment by saying, ”This is reminiscent of
some modern day educators who vigorously oppose new tech-
nological innovations in education without oftering any
realistic alternative solution to the problem involved."8
But, if the rapid rate of acceptance of instructional
television is any indication, school'administrators in Michi-
gan have demonstrated genuine interest in the progress of
the device as an educational aid. The information obtained
from the interviews as well as the comments made in the
questionnaires of the State Television Study showed clearly
that information about educational television was being
sought. The high percentage of returned questionnaires
also reflected the interest shown in the topic of the
research. Much valuable information was reported about
participation in instructional television activities,
sources of programming, opinions concerning preferred ways
of utilizing television, attitudes of staff, administration
and community towards it and the kind and amount of equip-
ment in use across the state. In reading the report of the

 

8Anderson, Ibid., quoting from "School and College
Textbooks." Motion Basilica. Boston. 11112426
(November 1852 .

66

State Study one senses that educators have been exhibit?
ing caution in their approach to instructional television,
early attempts to use it in schools being on an exploratory
and limited basis.

But many unanswered questions about the acceptance of
educational television remain. Little is known about the
ways in which the educators in the school districts learn
about television or how they evaluate it before consider-
ing its use in their schools. Even less information is
available about the degree of utilization of television
or what is considered to be objectional or problematic
about its use. For these reasons a questionnaire was pre-
pared and sent to the 354 administrators of the school dis—
tricts able to receive television signals in the state of
Hichigan. The replies to that instrument are reported in
the remaining pages of the chapter. One hundred and sev~
enty-six or 74.5 per cent of the group returned the ques-
tionnaires sent to them.

Ihc_flcdcl

In the review of antecedent research it was pointed
out that individuals responsible for accepting or reject-
ing a new'method of operation, go through a series of
stages. In the case of school administrators, this process
may be a cumulative one, each new superintendent or princi-
pal building upon the accomplishments of his predecessors.
Though one may emphasize equipment and another building

67

expansion, generally speaking a newcomer begins with the
equipment, procedures and staff attitudes that he finds on
arrival and builds his activities upon them. Thus although
earlier research had to do with the attitudes of farmers
towards technological developments. and individuals at
that, and though it is difficult to know to what extent
it may be possible to generalize. there is nevertheless
some merit in examining the opinions and statements of
these administrators in terms of that research in that
these men wield a great influence upon the acceptance or
rejection of television as an instructional aid and may be
classed as adopting agents for that reason.
The text of pages 26 and 27 pointed out that an in=
dividual adoptor passes through stages of (1) awareness,
(2) interest. (3) evaluation. (4) trial and (S) adoption.
The questions in the instrument sent to the schools were
intended to elicit information which would indicate where;
Michigan educators stood in regard to these stageswascthey
apply to the innovation of broadcast television instruction.
W1 i ,
Intgnggt. Question number seven was the only attempt

 

in the questionnaire to find out the degree of interest
among community and educators in educational television.
And replies to that question were disappointing in that
none of the respondents gave any explanation for their

”yes” or "no" replies. This was no doubt due to the

68

unfortunately blunt wording of the question and the in-
clusion of the leading word "increased" which weighted any
answers that might have been given. However, one hundred
and fifteen or 65.3 per cent of the respondents wrote that
information brought to the public in magazine articles,
newspapers and special publieations had increased the int-
erest in the possibilities of instructional television but
failed to elaborate on why they thought so. Thirty-nine
districts, 22.1 per cent, thought that such information
had brought about no change in interest.

Exalnatign. Questions one to three of the instru-
ment sought to determine whether educators in the district
had thought about using television as an instructional aid,
how that thinking or evaluation was done and by whom.
Question three, though indicating results of the thinking,
elicited a substantial amount of spontaneous comment which
was more descriptive of the problems inherent in broadcast
utilization and will be reported with the responses to
question ten.

The administrative personnel of school districts, by
virtue of their office and responsibility, exert tremendous
influence upon the affairs of the schools. The citizens
of the community appear to be involved in the consideration
of use of new educational techniques only to a small degree.
Sixty-nine per cent of responding districts indicated that

the contemplation of use of television for instructional

69

purposes, or the evaluation of it, was performed by admin-
istrative staff. Almost half of the responding districts
indicated that such consideration or study of television _
involved teaching staff, whereas members of the school board
were participants in only one-third of the districts.

The replies to queslion two bear out the strong admin-
istrative leadership involved. ‘The basis upon which the
greatest number of school districts, 44.9 per cent, evalua-
ted instructional television was to have recourse to the
body of professional literature available to administrators.
An almost equally strong source of information to which
the educators turned, 43.7 per cent, was the opinion and
advice of administrators from neighboring schools. EIn many
instances this investigation of instructional television
was conducted by means of administrative study teams, 34.0
per cent, or through actual use of television programs in
school, 34.1 per cent. This sequence of orientation to
the possibilities inherent in a new technique is in harmony
with research reported earlier9 Which indicated that in the
"awareness, interest, evaluation and trial" stages of the
adoption process, individuals learn about a new practice
through mass media and publications and rely heavily upon
the counsel and advice of friends and neighbors.

It is interesting to observe that a relatively large

 

9Supra., p. 26.

70

percentage of administrators were making decisions about
the use of educational television on the basis of casual
opinion about the medium, 22.1 per cent. Consultants were
brought in by 19.9 per cent of the districts. Although, in
answer to question one, over fifty-one per cent of the re-
spondents indicated that teaching staff had been involved
in the consideration and evaluation of television, only
fourteen per cent reportbd that their staff had been in-
volved in formal study committees. Similarly, almost
forty-four per cent of the respondents said that board
members had evaluated television but apparently this was
not done in a formal context in that only a tenth, 10.8
per cent, of the districts wrote that the evaluation had
involved actual research as an official act of the board.
Citizens0 study groups had been organized in only a few,
5.7 per cent, of the districts that returned their
written documents.

1:131. Questions four, five, six, and eight were
directed at determining the degree to which educational
television was being used by school districts in Michigan.
Of the 176 districts that returned their questionnaires,
districts that were not using television in 1961, sixty-
two, 35.2 per cent, of them had started to use this in=
structional technique since that time. Although every
television station in Michigan and several from neighbor-

ing states were mentioned at least once as a source of

71

instructional programming, only four were cited by more
than three districts as a signal source. Thirty-seven

superintendents reported that they were using the instruc-
tion provided by the Midwest Program on Airborne Television
Instruction. This figure represents only those districts
that were not using television previously, in that the
Educational Services Division of Midwest Program Airborne
Television Instruction, Inc., reports that sixty-two com-
munities in Michigan have one or more schools that are
members of the program, making regular use of the airborne
telecasts.1° Many districts to whom questionnaires were
not sent because of the fact that they were using educa-
tional television between the Airborne signals were avail-
able, may have welcomed the new source of ”rams.

The second, most finmquently cited‘mource of program-
ming used in school was WWJ-TV (4), Detroit, followed
closely by WMSB (10), East Lansing, and WTVS (56), Det-
roit.

Over twice as many school districts in the sample
under consideration use television on a casual, incidental
basis then use it for regular instruction. The orbital
flights of astronauts, documentaries and public service
programs have been viewed in 129 of the reporting school

districts. Comments proferred showed that in many

 

10Letter from Ben A. Bohnhorst, Purdue University,
Lafayette, Indiana, November 1, 1962.

72

instances teachers brought their personal receivers into
the classroom so that their students could observe the
event being reported. One hundred and twenty-seven dis-
tricts, in many cases the same ones that had used televi-
sion, visualized an increase in their involvement with the
median» Forty-six anticipated no change and three districts
had become disenchanted and were going to discontinue using
television in their schools. I

lzggignggitign. Lionberger observed that where adop-
tion of one farm practice among cattlemen and dairy farmers
was a rather poor predictor of the adoption of another, it
was possible, nevertheless, to classify farmers on an
adoption continuum. He stated:

Also, occasional findings of scalability of adep-

tion suggest the existence of such a generalized

(adoption) trait. To the extent that this is

true, late adoption of one practice is likely to

be associated with late adoption of others...and

conversely, the higher his adoption score, the

more likely he is to be fated among those early

to adopt new practices.1

Question nine of the instrument sent to the schools
was designed to elicit some indication of the school dis-
tricth bias towards educational technology in general in

order to find whether this attitude might have meaning for

the adoption of the innovation of instructional television.

 

11Herbert F. Lionberger, Adoptigg g: Ngw‘ggggg gag
‘Enagtiggg. (Amesz The Iowa State University Press, 1960)

p. 41.

73

One fact became apparent as the tabulations were converted
to percentages, namely, that although no visual device is
used universally, those inventions which have the greater
tenure are used by greater numbers of schools.

Still pictures requiring a device for projection,
either in the form of slides or film strips, have been
used by educators for many years. "A general survey of
all schools and colleges by the United States Office of
Education and the American Council on Education in 1936
indicated that of the 8,806 schools reporting, 7,671 owned
equipment for the projection of pictures."12 Similarly,
the motion picture had been applied to inaschool uses as
early as 1930. The accompanying graphs (Figures 1 and 2)
show that slides, filmstrips, stillofilms and motion pic-
tures were being used by fifteen to thirtyafive per cent
of schools in the study. There is evidence that 3% inch
by 4 inch slides were used as early'as the turn of the
century.13 At the time of this writing, evidence from the
questionnaire indicates that over 95 per cent of the
schools polled use motion pictures frequently. The balance
of the districts stated that they use films occasionally.

Again, over 91 per cent of the one hundred and seventyLsix

 

”Ellsworth c. Dent» The Media 11ml. handbook.
(Chicago. Society for Visual Education, Inc., 1949) p. 15.

1 3D°nto 1.9.9.0 Site

7h

 

 

 

 

OCCASIONALLY

 

 

 

 

 

TQU‘PNT LY

R

 

F

 

 

FIGURE 1

US? OF VISUAL DTVICWS IN 114 MICHIGAN

SCHOOL DISTRICTS NOT USING YTV

75

 

 

M_. , H.

O .

D 4- H

v. H

S -ILIiI. -
_ .. .7
F. ii--.

L--. n ..
‘

 

I
‘ 1
|

OCCASIONALLY

 

‘UENTLI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

R__

F

an” II... I: li'w I' '5 Ills!
0
O 3 a O 0 o
1 O. C\ 7 6 5

 

FIGURE 2

US? 0F VISUAL DWVICWS IN 62 MICHIGAN

SCHOOL DISTRICTS USING ETV

76

schools in the sample are using slides and film strips
frequently, with all but one per cent of the balance mak-
ing occasional use of them.

Another early innovation in education circles is the
opaque projector. The patent date on an early 'Balopticon'
by Bosch and Lamb was June 14, 1910. A survey conducted
in 1941 by the United States Department of Commerce ven-
tured to state that in the vicinity of ten thousand opaque
projectors were in use is the United States.14 Out of the
group of Hichigan schools being studied here, a little over
36 per cent reported frequent use of opaque projectors,
and an additional 46 per cent indicated that they use them
occasionally. Very infrequent use is made of the opaque
projector by approximately 6 per cent of the districts
that returned the questionnaire.

The overhead projector is a relatively new device,
coaing into general use since 1950. DentVs Annig:!1gngi
lindhggk, published in 1949. makes no reference to their
existence. Response to the questionnaire of this investi-
gation shows that 27 per cent of schools in this lichigan
sample use the device frequently, 37 per cent use it occae
sionally and 7 per cent seldom use it.

reaching machines have been under scrutiny by educa-

tors since 1920 when Dr. Sidney Pressey invented an auto-
1earning device. However, they have not been considered

 

I‘Ibid, pp. 20-21.

77

standard audio-visual equipment until the present decade.
Only the more recent publications make any reference to
them. In spite of their recent application almost 10 per
cent of the school districts in this study use teaching
machines frequently. Almost 11 per cent report occasional
use and 7 per cent seldom use them. The balance of dis-
tricts in the sample either did not comment or indicated
that they were not using any auto-instructional device.
Adapting. The adaption pattern of instructional
television seems to conform.very closely to these trends
of adoption of other visual teaching techniques. However,
some inconsistency seems to become apparent when the use
of recent visual aids are compared with the use of broad-
cast television. In schools not'htilizing television
(Figure l)‘ihe degree to which overhead projectors are
used (21 per cent frequently and 25 per cent occasionally)
as well as the degree to which teaching machines are used
(3 per cent frequently and 6 per cent occasionally) is
distinctly less than amen schools using television.
Among this latter group (Figure 2) it can be seen that the
overhead projector is used frequently by 26 per cent of
the schools and occasionally by 36 per cent of them. Simi-
larly, teaching machines are used by 10 per cent of the
group frequently, 14 per cent occasionally. It would seem
that certain common factors influencing the rate of adop-

tion of novel instructional techniques exist. Furthermore,

78

the fact that a larger number of schools using newer educa-
tional devices also use television, may be indicative of a
predisposition or favorable bias towards innovation on the
part of the people involved. Other characteristics of the
school district may also be having an influence and will be
considered in detail in the next chapter.

Wmh
addition to information about the status of school disf
tricts in relation to television use, questions three and
ten were sost productive in providing useful data pertain-
ing to problems brought about by using, or attempting to
use, television in the schools. Administrators were asked
‘to rank a series of statements in the order they considered
to be the most negative influence upon television use.
The list was compiled as a summary of the factors prevent-
ing schools from using television as they were reported by
the administrators that responded to the 1960-61 State
Television Study. In addition to that list of factors.a
special space was provided for the inclusion of any other
factor which the respondents may have felt to be important.
Only one district named any additional obstacle to its use
of television, that they had "too many students.”

The data were tabulated on the basis of the rank
assigned to each factor by the district administrator. the
three factors receiving the greatest number of assignments

in all three ranks had to do with money. Thirty-nine

79

point two per cent of the districts in the sample indicated
that the prime reason for not using television was ”lack of
funds for receivers and other equipment.‘ (Figures 3, 4
and 5) The item receiving the greatest score as a secondary
negative influence (25.6 per cent) was "no budget provi-
sion for TV enrollment fees,” with “lack of funds" trail-
ing slightly (21.6 per cent).

Another troublesome problem for many districts was the
difficulty encountered in scheduling local classes to coin-
cide with the times of the telecasts over which they had
no control. Although many schools making use of broadcast
television have been content to rearrange their program so
that instructors could take advantage of televised teach-
ing, nevertheless, such a disruption of local planning
poses a distinct obstacle to the use of the medium in the
schools of many districts. Others making extensive use of
television seen to have less of a problem than those merely
using it occasionally, in that the local schedules of
classes are built around the times set by the originating
television stations, thereby reducing the problem substan-
tially. iflany schools are not willing to do this and’cope
with the difficulties as they ariie,

Whether problems in scheduling generate opposition
which spills over into the area given next priority in
importance is difficult to say. However, in the first and

second rankings the factor of "TV lessons do not readily

so_

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FIGURE 3

FACTORS RANKVD'FTRST IN NTGATIVV INFLUENCE UPON
USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL TELEVISION

81

 

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FIGURE 4

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INFLUENCE UPON

ONAL TELEVISION

,4

FIGURE 5

‘CT’

1.
V

TED IN NWGATI
USE OF INSTR

1L

ms

FACTORS RANKWD

83

blend intofour curriculus' merited substantial attention.
Interviews with a number of superintendents confirmed this
objection. Administrators in “non-using“ schools visited
were not antagonistic to the use of instructional television,
some merely had not thought much about it and others were
toying with the idea of using it on a limited basis. But
almost without exception they expressed concern about the
fact that television was different from other'vianal aids
in that one did not use it as a film within the natural,
om-going routine of a given class. Either the teacher
built his presentation around the television program or
he did without. From their perception, special events on
television posed no such problem in that ”oneashot” enrich-
ment programs could be seen independently from the class
presentations and remain a worthwhile learning experience.
Int direct television instruction presented at regular
times was not (sable is this way. And the likelihood of
the classroom teacher and television teacher teaching the
same subject and content at the same time was remote.
Therefore the scheduling not only, but actual subject
matter content differences between the local and televi-
sion instcuction existed as a problem for these adminis-
trators.-'

Factors indicative of actual opposition to the-inno-
vation were unexpectedly weak. Factors six, eight and tea

were assigned either as primary, secondary or tertiary

84

obstacles to television use by an average of less than

three per cent of the districts. There appears to be little
absolutely negative opinion concerning the usefulness of
television in education. Rather, some of the administra-
tors interviewed believed that the dominating influences
are those that require a realignment of financial and cur-
ricular arrangements within the district.

Responses to question three of the questionnaire pro-
videzsome additional insight into the opinions of educa-
tors about instructional television. One hundred and
sixty-two of the 176 school systems, included some re-
action to the question asking for the results of their
thinking or evaluation of instructional television.

Again, the replies were tabulated into groups making
statements similar to each other. However, the state-
ments were sufficiently dissimilar to prevent reporting
the results in percentage form. Twenty-three districts
stated that they were merely favorably inclined towards
the innovation, stating that it was "worthwhile”, ade-
quate", "interesting," or "fair”. Another group of over
fifty indicated that as a result of their evaluation of
the medium they were going to begin using it in their
schools. Typical comments were, "It is more important
for teachers than for chizflren,“ and "we are proceeding
with cautious enthusiasm,ac or simply, "Pleased.” A group

of eleven districts felt their study had produced evidence

85

which was ”inconclusive.” They were “indifferent“ to the
possibilities or "not ready' to make use of it. One felt
it had not developed adequately in that it had too nany
'bugsfl;in it. Twenty-four systems indicated that although
they favored its use, lack of funds prevented their parti-
cipation.

lany schools were negative in regards to participa-
tion. Six districts wrote, 'Don't like it”, or "Too many
problems“. three districts had tried to use television
and were giving it up. Twelve schools indicattd doubt re-
garding the value of instructional television when conpared
to regular instruction both on the basis of per unit invest-
sent and quality. One of these stated, foriexanple, awe
are satisfied with our present teaching nethods', and
again, ”Doubt value related to expense". Two districts
preferred other sedia and audio-visual devices, one saying
that for the sane cost sore was to be gained from using
eight sillinetre sound filn. Five districts had schedul-
ing problens, and fifteen were still considering the ned-
iun, saying that more study was needed, that they wanted
to observe other districts first. One said, "Not enough
schools in our area are using it for us to consider its
use". line districts indicated marginal reception and

poor signals were preventing their use of the device.

86

III. SUIIARI

Educational television is rapidly gaining a place of
prominence among the many technological aids used in the
schools to make the teaching process sore vital and the
learning experience more meaningful and beneficial. It,
enjoys a rate of adoption comparable to the scat quickly
accepted inventions put to educational use. It promises
great potential for the educational profession in its wide
search for more effective means'Of instruction.

Educators in Hichigan schools have encountered many
problems in the use of the medium. Although a majority
of them indicate that they are using television in their
schools in some manner, nevertheless, major problems still
remain to be faced. Administrators indicate that the cost
of televisioniinStruction is a principal difficulty. For
many, the high cost militates against their using televi-
sion, especially when this cost is viewed in the light of
the many other needs of the schools as they constantly
expand to meet the growing needs of an increasing populae
tion.

Another factor complicating the use of broadcast
television in teaching is the problem of scheduling sub-
ject matter presentations to coincide with the telecasts.
It is difficult to blend these televised naterials into

the local curriculum.

CHAPTER IV
we anuuonsnns sea-ween snu-zcnan scnoor. nxsmcr
CHARACTERISTICS AID THE USE OF EDUCATIOIAL
TELEVISIOI’II'IICHIGAI

A corporate organisation, though.sade up of indivi-
duals, each having his own personal characteristics and
motivations, nevertheless does not function as a cluster
of 'unorganised rabble“.1 .Iayo believes that the indivi-
duals cooperating within an organisation assume a group
identification and behave differently than they would as
individuals. Group, or organizational goals and sanctions
begin to wield an influence upon the membership, as they
work towards the cannon objectives. Over a period of time
the association takes on certain characteristics descrip-
tive, not of the individuals within it, but of the organi-
sation itself.

In an official entity such as a school district the
organised individuals also function within the boundaries

imposed by influences and factions beyond their immediate
control. For ample. the Sum]. $5119.91 Lana at m

m at W govern the range of the activities of a
school district and spell out the conditions under which

the association may exist and the powers it say assume.

 

121.... Kayo. m Ennis]. mun at an 1mm
(Boston: Division of Research, Harvard Gra-

mum
duate School,of Business Administration, 1945) pp. 110-112.

The geographic borders of the district are definitely pree
scribed many times unfortunately, in violation of consider-
ations of true patterns of natural com-unity. levertheless,
within these territorial limits are contained a population
with the physical buildings they inhabit and the land and
facilities with which they work to earn their livelihood.
furthermore, in addition to these tangible, measurable
physical characteristics are factors having their genesis
in social interrelationships. The people incorporated in
the association determine the degree to which they wish to
support the programs of the school distrct. This support
is reflected in their participation in the activities of
the schools and in the kind of school environment which
they sponsor. These activities, in turn, are determined
by the social context of the groups involved, their ethnic
backgrounds, as well aHJKheir educational achievement and
attitude towards formal schooling. All of these influences
serve to produce a school program within the district
which can be evaluated and compared with programs else-
'where. The organisation, then, has a reputation and
character which develops over a period of time.

I. SELECTION OF THE CHARACTERISTICS
This dissertation is concerned with the degree to which
school districts in Michigan have begun to nake use of a
particular educational innovation, that of educational

television. ‘The reasons for the acceptance or rejection

89

of this medium of communication lie within the needs,
aspirations, notivations, abilities and resources of each
community. Some of these motivations and attitudes have
been explored in the opinions of district leaders with
regard to the problems inherent in the use of educational
television shich were,reported in the last chapter. Eowb
ever, the environment out of which this body of opinion
came has not been explored. This environment has many
facets. There are a multitude of sociological influences
that require measurement. A whole universe of psycholo-
gical relationships of attitude and motivation need to be
studied within the school as a social organism. However,

in this chapter, the focus will be only upon the inter-

relationships between those administrative characteristics
that are descriptive of the school district as a political
entity.

These factors fall into the three categories of (l)
the physical, (2) the financial and (3) the educational
characteristics of school districts. School district
size, in terms of population density, and geographic
location are classified under the physical characteristics.
Resident membership in the schools of the district will be
used as a neasure of population density. Location, in turn,
will be described in terms of urban or rural situation.

In the second place the financial characteristics will
be explored. These are district wealth in terms of Equal-

ised Valuation, effort expressed in tax assessnent rate

90

and the factor of personal income level of the community.

Thirdly, the educational characteristics which are
indicative of the attitude towards education and its sup-
port will be examined. These are the factors of the median
level of educational achievement of the population, the
pupil teacher ratio and finally the quality of the district
as determined by its accreditation status.

II. POPULATIQI AID SAIPLE

In order to examine the relationships between the
characteristics of school districts statistically, it is
necessary to isolate a representative number of these dis-
tricts to form the statistical sample. Ideally one would
seek to include every district within the geographical
borders of the state of Michigan which were established
by definition as the boundaries of this investigation.
However, a substantial number of districts were eliminated
because they did not fall within the effective signal range
of a television station.” This process of elinination was
conducted by drawing circles on a map of Michigan which
represented the broadcast signal area which each station
might be expected to cover. School districts not falling
within this series of circles were excluded from the in-
vestigation on the premise that their failure to use tele-
vision in school was because they had no television signals
available to then. It was found that there were 354 school

systems in Michigan which were located within signal range

91

of at least one television station. Examination of-the
questionnaires available as a result of the State Televi-
sion Study showed that 118 of those uhoolsmausisg
television for instructional purposes during school hours.

Questionnaires were sent to the 236 districtswthat
were not using television in school. One hundredaid
seventy-six of the administrators returned the completed
questionnaires. Sixty did not reply. Out of the 176
school districts, sixty-two were reported to have begun
making use of television in their schools. f

In summary then, the schools represented in the same
ple to be examined statistically included 118 schools
which were using television previously, as well as sixty-
two districts which had begun using the device more re-
cently. Adding these two groups of districts together
gave.a total number of 180 of them which were using tele-
vision for instructional purposes.

Conversely, subtracting these 180 districts from the
total number of 354 districts in the sample gave a figure
of 174 districts which presuneahly did not use television.
However, it should be remembered, that sixty districts
did not respond to the questionnaire. It could be assumed
that they were negative as far as television use was con-
cerned. But their failure to return to the investightor
the documents requested of then, the data for statistical
treatment was not available and these sixty districts had

to be dropped from the study, leaving a total of 114
districts not using television in their schools.

The 294 school districts renaining in the study con-
stitute 83.05 per cent of the total nunber of high school
districts capable of receiving signals from a Michigan tele-
vision station and Midwest Program on Airborne Television

Instruction.

III. STATISTICAL HTPOTHESIS AND PROCEDURE

In comparing characteristics of individuals within a
given sample of population by means of a chi square stat-
istical procedure, the numerical values indicative of the
differences between the individuals are assigned to various
arbitrarily defined categories on an ascending scale.
”Frequency" or'bontingency' tables are then constructed
for the sample which show the number of individual char-
acteristics that fall within each category. These observed
frequencies are designated f1 , f2 ,-...fk where

.k ;
Sun of fi equals N
i a 1

Of concern are situations where a certain ”theoretical fre-
quency” for each category, F1 , F2 , ...Fk , where

3.4
oun.of F1 equals N

i a l
disagrees with the observed values recorded for that cate-

gory. The hypothesis to be tested is that which states

93

the value of the theoretical frequency in each instance.
The statistic used is

k

{2
Chi2 equals Su- Of 1 - l

in]. Lpi

and serves to test the independence of the characteristics
being analysed, in effect indicating that the distribution
of one characteristic is unaffected by variations of the
other characteristic. The procedure followed is to exa-
mine the proportions between frequencies to determine if
they are significantly different. If a significant dif-
ference exists, the hypothesis that the characteristics
are independent will be rejected. If there is no signifi-
cant difference the observed values in the sample will be
said to agree with hypothesis of independence. This chi
square procedure, used in comparing the proportions of a
population, is applied as follows:

(1) The number of observations that fall into each
category are recorded in their respective cells within
the table.

(2) The totals for each category are recorded in the
margins of the contingency table.

(3) The theoretical frequencies are calculated by
multiplying the respective marginal totals and dividing
the product by I.

(4) These values are applied to the chi square forsnla

94

and the calculation is performed.

(5) The degrees of freedom are obtained by multiply-
ing (r - 1), where r equals the number of rows, by (e - l),
where c equals the number of columns.

(6) The value obtained from the calculation is come
pared with the value given in a standard Chi Square Table.

(7) For the purposes of this investigation all of the
comparisons will be made at the five per cent level of
significance which indicates that the relationships under
consideration could have been attributable to chance in
only five out of a hundred instances. The chi square table
value at the five per cent level for the specific degrees
of freedom is recorded. If the value obtained from the
calculation is greater than the table value recorded, the

hypothesis of independence is rejected.

To facilitate analysis of the data, cards were pre-
pared with the name and address of each school district in
the sample. The information about each of these adminis-
trative units was then recorded around the edges of its
card. When all of the data had been obtained, the figures
from each card were transcribed as units to tally sheets,
their location in the tally depending upon where the value
for the particular school system fell within the ranges
represented by the various cells of the frequency table
under construction by this means. These tallies in turn

were summarised and recorded with each cell of the frequency

95
table from which the statistical analysis was performed.

IV. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA

The principal relationships of concern in this study
are those between the various administrative characteristics
of school districts and the degree to which those factors
influence the use of educational television. As stated
earlier the capabilities of the nediun make it an instruc-
tional tool which should have its greatest appeal among
those who stand to benefit the most from its use, the poor
and isolated school that does not have access to highly
qualified staff in special subject matter areas, and can-
not afford to bring a wide range of visual resources into
the instructional program. However, standing in opposi-
tion to that rationale is a large body of social research
which would tend to lend weight to the prediction that the
more cosmopolitan, progressive and wealthy schools are in
a better position to make earlier use of a technological
innovation. Although they have, in sone respects, less to
gain in the improvement of the quality of education because
of their already sore advanced status in that regard, their
progressive attitudes and stable financial condition would
sake their flight into the unknown and untried a more com-
fortable one then would be the case in a poor and very con-
servative situation. This would logically generate the
hypothesis of this investigation to be that which suggests

that the large, wealthy, progressive urban school districts

96

made up of citizens enjoying a higher level of education

and personal income would be involved in the use of educa-
tional television to a greater degree. In the subsequent
sections of this chapter, each of the characteristics of
the school districts will be examined separately in its
relationship to television use. However, in the interests
of interpretation it will become necessary to assess the
interrelationships between the characteristics themselves
as well. It is hoped that some patterns, descriptive of

school district types, will emerge as a result of this

process.
Wins
,§ghggl,21.tzigt,§izg. School district size has been

defined in terms of the resident pupil membership. Exams
ination of the ranges in the spread of population in
Michigan school districts showed that the large majority
of them were small. The relatively small group of large
districts, however, accounted for a majority of the stu-
dent population. For the purposes of the chi square
statistical analysis the range of 2,000 to 5,000 pupils
was taken to represent the category of medium sized school
districts. Those below 2,000 were considered to be small
and those above 5,000 were taken to be large districts.
an and W m. Of concern at the outset was.
the determination of whether or not any relationship existed

between the factors of school district size and its use of

97

educational television. To test the null hypothesis which
states that, "There is no significant difference between
the characteristic of school district size and the character-
‘ltic of in-sehoel television use,” the following con-
tingency table was constructed with the size factor on the
horizontal axis and the television use on the vertical
(Table I). Forty two districts fell into the cell of
large schools using television as well as thirty-eight

of the medium sized schools and one hundred of the small
ones. Conversely, there were six large systems among the
districts not using television, 27 medium sized schools
and 81 small schools. The marginal totals in each case
gave the number of observed frequencies for each respec-
tive category.

The hypothesis was concerned, however, with the value
of the theoretical frequencies which should occur within
each cell of the table if the characteristics were truly
independent of each other. To find the theoretical fre-
quency for cell (1) (A), for example, the total observed
frequencies for its column (1), in this case 48 school dis?
tricts, were multiplied by the total observed frequencies
for its row (a), in this case 180 school districts, and the
product was divided by the I of 294, giving a value of
29.39 which was recorded under the observed value on the
frequency table (Table II). The same procedure was fol-
lowed for each cell in turn. The final frequency table

98

TABLE I
OBSERVED VALUES FOR FACTORS 0? SIZE AND TELEVISIOH USE

 

 

(1) (2) ‘(3)
Large Medium Small Total

 

Use

Observed 42 38 100 180 (A)
Television
Do lot Use

Observed 6 27 81 114 (3)
Television

 

Total 48 65 181 294’

 

 

99

TABLE II

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS OF SIZE AND TELEVISION USE

 

 

Small Total

 

 

Large Medium
(over (2,000- (0 to
5.000) 4,999) 1,999)
Use Observed 42 38 100 180
Television Theoretical 29.39 39.80 110.81
Do Not Use Observed 6 27 81 114
Television Theoretical 18.61 25.20 70.19
Total 48 65 . 181 294

 

 

'1 00

provided the data which could then be applied to the
statistical formula. The calculation for the frequencies
recorded in Table II produced a value of 16.884. This con-
tingency table had two degrees of freedom as indicated by
the formula of '(c - 1) (r - 1) equals degrees of freedom‘.

Reference to the Chi Square Table for the five per cent
level of significance and two degrees of freedom showed a“
value of 5.991. The calculation for this contingency tdble
produced a value of 16.884 indicating a significant difé”
ference between the characteristics, causing rejection of
the null hypothesis. The characteristics of television use
and school district size are not independent.

Examination of Table II indicates the direction of the
dependence. Out of the total of 48 large school districts
in the sample, a relatively large group, 42, use television
as compared to the smalligroup not using it, 6. The trend
moves from this ”large school - - large use” end of the
scale through a gradual reversal in the medium sized group
to an obvious ”small school - - less use" figure on the
other end of the scale. The frequencies seem to bear out
the major hypothesis that larger schools would tend to use
television more readily than small ones and the chi square
verifies the fact that this relationship is statistically
significant.

Sin and mm. A relationship between large stu-

dent population and the use of television has been

101

established. But what are the older characteristics of a
large school district which may contribute to their earlier
involvement with this technological innovation?

Results of earlier research studies would lead one to
suspect that the’relative wealth of a school district would
be related to its size. To determine statistically whe-
ther such an interdependence exists a contingency table
was prepared for the factors of size on the horizontal
axis and wealth on the vertical axis. For purposes of
comparison, three categories of wealth were established
with $10,000 to $14,999 of State Equalized Valuation as
the medium range category, with the other two categories
falling above and below these amounts respectively
(Table III).

Applying the frequencies given in the table to the
chi square formula gave a value of 24.503. Reference to
the table of chi square values showed that the value for
the statistic of the five per cent level and four degrees
of freedom is 9.488. The null hypothesis, that I'There is
no significant difference between the characteristics of
a school district9s size and its wealth”, is rejected. A
high degree of dependence between variations of the char-
acteristics exists. The distribution of the frequencies
in the contingency table show a strong relationship bet-
ween greater¢hea1th and large size. Large schools tend

to be wealthier schools. This relationship will be

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS OF SIZE AID HEALTH

102

TABLE III

A

 

‘2,0004 o to

 

 

Over Total
5,000 4,999 19999
Over Observed 25 16 32 73
$15,000 Theoretical 11.92 16.14 44.94
$10,000 to Observed 11 23 63 97
$14,999 Theoretical 15.84 21.44 $9.72
30 to $9,999 Observed 12 26 86 124
Theoretical 20.24 27.42 76.34
Total 48 65 181 294

 

 

103

explored in great depth in the portion of the chapter
dealing with financial characteristics. Of concern here
is the establishment of understanding concerning a rela-
tionship between school district size and wealth.

Sin and mm £22m]. lam. Many things con-
tribute to the greater wealth of large school districts.
There appears to be a direct relationship between density
of the population and the level of personal income enjoyed
by people living in an area. However, some care must be
exercised in attributing a causal relationship between
these factors in that median income seems to have little
relationship to district vealth, as will be seen in the
next part of the chapter.

A frequency tally table for the observed incidences
of these characteristics of district size and personal
income appears in Table IV. Chi square for four degrees
of freedom at the five per cent level of significance
equals 9a488. The calculation for these observed fre-
quencies gave a value of 95.4168 which indicates some
degree of significance. A null hypothesis, "There is no
significant difference between the characteristics of
school district size and the median personal income in
the community", is rejected.

Size gnd,§£fignt. Large, urban school districts also
seem to put forth a greater degree of effort in supporting

their educational programs than do small, rural school

104

new 11
11139qu new you “cross or am up wanna mason]. moons -

a4 a J a; 4‘

A A... ._L
f

Over 2,000- 0 to Total
5,000 4,999 1,999

 

Below Observed 3 6 85 94
$5,000 Theoretical 15.35 20.78 57.87
$5,000 to Obstrved 4 27 32 94
$5,999 Theoretical 15.35 20.78 57.87
Above Observed 41 32 33 106
$6,000 Theoretical 17.30 23.44 65.26

Total 48 65 181 294‘

 

 

105

systems. The criteria of effort used here was that of the
amount of millage assessed by a school district to provide
the level of income by which the people in the district
wish to support their educational program. Three cate-
gories of effort are used: (1) over twenty mills, (2)
sixteen to twenty mills and (3) below sixteen mills. Chi
square for four degrees of freedom at the five per cent
level is 9.488. The calculated value for the data embod-
1.. in Table v 1. 39.0514. The null hypothesis which
states, "There is no significant difference between effort
of a school district and its size“, is rejected. There is
rather high dependency between the factors. Table V shows
that the departure fron the theoretical values occurs at
each corner cell, indicating that a greater number of
large districts support education at millage rates in
excess of the expected frequency and that the smaller
schools fall into the low’millage categories more fre-
quently than might be expected.

Another factor pertinent to the characteristic of
school district size is that of its quality. The larger
school districts have been shown to possess a higher
amount of State Equalized Valuation per membership child.
But What effect does increased size and wealth have on
the quality of a school system? This relationship also
will be explored in greater depth under the educational
characteristics of school systems but is reported here to

106

TABLE V

FREQUEICT TABLE FOR FACTORS OF SIZE AID EFFORT

 

 

2 9 000‘

Total

 

 

Over 0 to
5,000 4,999 1,999
Over Observed 28 22 39 89
20 Hills Theoretical 14.53 19.68 54.79
16 - 20 Observed 17 19 46 82
Hills Theoretical 13.39 18.13 50.48
’ 15.9 Mills Observed 3 24 96 123
and~below Theoretical 20.08 27.19 75.73
Total 48 65 181 294

 

107

indicate its bearing upon the factor of school district
size.

Frequency table number VI shows the factor of quality
on the vertical axis, defined in terms of whether or not
the school district under consideration was accredited or
not accredited by the North Central Association of Secon-
dary Schools and Colleges. The accredited schools, for
the purpose of this study, were assumed by definition, to
be of higher quality than the nonaaccredited institutions.

The "two by three” frequency table for this calcula-
tion (Table VI) has two degrees of freedom with a value
of 5.991 in the Table of Chi Squares. The calculation in-
dicated a value of 66.216 for this series of observations
causing a strong rejection of the null hypothesis which
states, "There is no significant difference between the
characteristics of school district size and quality".
Examination of Table VI indicates that the trend of the
significance is for the large schools to be accredited to
a much higher degree than small ones.

ngatign. The interrelationships between location,.
size and salaries seem to be consistent with expectation.
It would be expected that, by definition, the larger
school districts would tend to be located in areas of
Creator population density. However, this might not
necessarily be a universal truth in that district consoli-

‘dations in rural areas have created very large educational

108

TABLE VI
FREQUENCY TABLE FOR.FACTORS OF SIZE AID QUALITY

 

Over" f2,000- 0 to Total
5,000 4,999 1,999

 

Accredited Observed 39 49 $3 141
Theoretical 23.02 31.17 86.81

lot Observed 9 16 128 153
Accredited Theoretical 24.98 33.83 94.19

Total 48 65 181 294

 

109

units with high resident membership. Furthermore, the
characteristic of size has been defined in terms of re-
sident pupil membership, whereas the characteristic of
location is treated in terms of the Bureau of Census fig-
ures’thich are descriptive of the density of general pop-
ulation in political units with boundaries not necessarily
conterminous with those of the school district. To eli-
minate as much error as possible in the rural category,
the figures for the municipal populations were compared
with data pertaining to the general countryside surround-
ing them. Where the school district nap showed that the
school boundaries encompassed a wide portion of the rural
area around the town or village in which the school was
located, the county data was taken into consideration. In
many instances the population center for which the district
was named was too small to have been singled out for the
personalized attention of the census tabulators and there
was no alternative but to use the data descriptive of the
rural county area in which the school district was located.
In a few instances, two or more counties were involved
and the figures had to be averaged.

The factor of location, then, is defined in terms of
urban versus rural situation. This was determined by (1)
size in total population of the community and (2) distance

from.an urban complex. Although the census defines an

urban community to be one having, 2,500 population or

110

more,2 other studies have preferred to include only towns
of at least 10,000 people.3 Partly to provide a large.
enough group within each cell of this sample of Hflchigan
schools for statistical purposes, and to arrive at some
point of compromise in the direction of greater population
so that the chances of including “urban values" in turn
are greater, the figure of 5,000 population or more was
taken as the criteria for definition as an urban center.
Furthermore, if a district was geographically located
within five miles from the limits of a city of 25,000 or
more it was considered to be urban. _
L9ggtign_ann,§1z§, Our major hypothesis would post-
ulate the likelihood that the greater proportion of large
districts would be classified as urban. A frequency table
for these characteristics appears in Table VII. The value
for chi square at the five per cent level of significance
and two degrees of freedom is 5.991. The calculated value
for Table VII is 91.1479. The null hypothesis, “There is
no significant difference between the characteristics of
size and location', is rejected in that they are dependent.
It can be said that urban districts tend to have a propor-

tionately greater resident pupil membership than rural

 

211.5. Bureau of the Census. 11.5.. m of W:

19.60. fiennnalandfimial WW.
. Final Report PC l)m24C. US Govt. Printing
Office, thh. 1962.

3Supra., pp. 25 ff., Hort and Cornell.

111

TABLE VII

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS 0? LOCATION AID SIZE

 

 

 

 

Urban Rural Total

Over Observed 37 11 48
5,000
pupils Theoretical 15.67 32.33
2,000 to Observed 36 29 65
49999
pupils Theoretical 21.22 43.78
0 to Observed 23 158 181
1,999
pupils Theoretical 59.11 121.89

Total 96 198 294

 

 

112

districts.

.nggtinn‘gnfl,£1£nzfi. To determine whether urban_
school districts put forth greater effort to support edu-
cation a frequency table was prepared showing the observed‘
and theoretical frequencies of the incidence of the
factors. The null hypothesis, "There is no significant
difference between the charhoteristies of location and
effort", would be rejected as an outcome of the calcula-
tion of the data in the table (Thble VIII). At two de-
grees of freedos and the five per cent level of signifi-
cance chi square equals 5.991. The observed value equals
15.056. The characteristics are not independent. Urban
schools put forth a significantly higher degree of effort
than do the rural schools.

Least; 9 gnd.2nali§:. The accreditation factor alse
see-s to be closely linked to both sise and location. To
test the null hypothesis that, 'There is no significant
difference between a scheel district9s location and its
quality", the contingencies in Table II were constructed
free the raw data. This 'two by two' contingency table
has one degree of freedom. The Chi Square tables at the
five per cent level of significance give a value of 3.841.
The calculation for the frequencies of this characteristic
produces a value of 38.6086 which causes rejection of the
null hypothesis. There is a strong dependence between the
characteristics, a strong relationship between urban

113

TABLE VIII

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS OF LOCATION AND EFFORT

 

 

Total

 

 

Urban Rural
0 to 16 Observed 25 98 123
Mill! Theoretical 40.16 82.84
16.1 to Observed 32 50 82
20 Mills Theoretical 26.78 55.22
20.1 Mills Observed 39 $0 89
or more Theoretical 29.06 59.94
Total 96 198 294

 

 

114

TABLE II

FREQUEICT TABLE FOR FACTORS OF LOCATION AND QUALITY

 

ii

 

 

urban Rural Total
Accredited Observed 71 70 141
Theoretical 46.04 94.96
Hot Observed 25 128 153
Accredited Theoretical 49.96 103.04
Total 96 198 294

 

 

115

location and accreditation. _

W m him-1n m. Intern-tinny north.
the application of television for instructional purposes
also see-s to be a phenomenon sore characteristic of pro-
gressive, urban sitnations.. A series of three contingency
tables were constructed fro-.the tabulations to deter-inc
the relationships which sight exist between the factors of
location, quality and the use of educational television.’

' The calculation for Table I produced a value of 17.1411
which, at one degree of freedom considerably exceeds the
table value of 3.841, indicating a high dependence between
the characteristics. As a result, the null hypothesis I
stating that, "There is no significant difference between:
location and the use of educational television”, is E",
jected. Exasination of the percentages indicates that a
far larger proportion of urban schools are television
users. The figures for the rural schools show that almost
as high a percentage are nee-users as are users of educa-
tional television, 32 to 35 Per cent; whereas over three
fourths of the urban schools use television as opposed to
less than one fourth which do not.

These figures give no indication of the quality char-
acteristics of the respective urban and rural schools con-
cerned. When the total sasple was divided into two groups,
accredited and non-accredited, and contingency tables again
constructed with television on the vertical axis and location

116

TABLE I

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS OF LOCATION AND TELEVISIOI USE

 

 

 

 

Urban Rural Total

Use Observed 75 105 180
Television Theoretical 58.78 121.22

Do lot Use Observed 21 93 114
Television Theoretical 37.22 76.78

Total 96 198 294

 

 

117’

on the horizontal axis it was possible to derive two
additional null hypotheses:

(1) There is no significant difference between the“;
location of accredited schools and the use of educational
television.

(2) There is no significant difference between the .
location of unaccredited schools and the use of television.
by dividing the sanple in this way it was possible to
deteruine whether the qualitv factor is as influential
upon television use as is the location factor with all of
its inplications of geographic separation, effect of rural
valuce noon the adoption of a technological innovation '
and lower income per resident child.

Location.oi.Ass:cdited.§nhonla.aad.Tolezisinn. There
were 141 accredited schools in the sanple. Of these, 71-;
were urban and 70 were rural districts. The tally sheets
produced the data in a contingency table which, when
applied to the chi square formula, gave a value of 21.4183
(Table II). In the face of a Chi Square Table value of
3.841 for one degree of freedou at the five per cent level
of significance, it can be said that the characteristics
for accredited schools are significantly different and
highly dependent, thereby causing rejection of the null
hypothesis. In fact, the possibility of this relation-
ship occurring as a result of chance even at the 0.5 per

cent level is remote in that the Chi Square Table value

118

TABLE II

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR.FACTORS OF LOCATION AND TELEVISION USE
ACCREDITED SCHOOLS

 

 

 

Urban Rural Total
Use Observed 62 36 98
Television Theoretical 49.35 48.65
Do Not Bee Observed 9 34 43
Television Theoretical 21.65 21.35

Total 71 70 141

 

 

119

to be compared with the calculated value of 21.418 is
7.88 at that level of significance.

muwmmwm.
Similar examination of the data in Table III for the un-
accredited schools shows that out of 153 of them, 25 were
urban and 128 were rural districts. Again, where the Chi
Square Table value for one degree of freedom at the five
per centnlowel of significance is 3.84, the observed values
for these frequencies is 0.03075. The hypothesis of in-
dependence is accepted. Among the group of unaccredited
schools there is no difference in the degree of television
use between districts located in either rural or urban
areas. Our previous consideration of accredited schools,
however, indicated that among the proportion of the sample
belonging to the higher quality group of districts there
was a very strong disparity between urban and rural tele-
vision adoption rates. The general significance found in
the observed value for chi square in Table I, therefore,
derived its strength from the extreme relationships in
degree of television use of the accredited group of
schools. However, it is interesting to note that even
among the unaccredited schools over half of both urban and
rural schools belong to the group of television users.

The quality factor seems to be an integral aspect of
the adoption pattern of this technological innovation. The
factors which contribute to this element of quality will be

120

TABLE III

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR.FACTORS OF LOCATION AND TELEVISION USE
UNACCREDITED SCHOOLS

 

Urban Rural Total

 

Use Observed 13 69 82
Television Theoretical 13.40 68.60

Do Not Use Observed 12 59 71
Television Theoretical 11.6 59.4

 

Total 25 128 153

 

 

121

explored in greater depth later in the chapter. However,
in that it has been seen that a higher proportion of tele-
vision use exists among urban schools and that this pattern
is only strongly significant among that portion of the ease
ple belonging to accredited schools, another link that
should be examined is whether there is also a direct re-
lationship between the characteristics of quality and
television use. Again, a frequency table was prepared

from the data embodied in the tally sheets.

The null hypothesis states, "There is no significant
difference between the characteristics of school district
quality and its use of educational television". The factor
of quality is on the horizontal axis and television use is
vertical. Casual examination of the percentages attached
to the data indicates a higher porportion of television
use among the accredited schools, a ratio of 15 per cent
to 33 per cent. The numbers are rather‘utose in the un-
accredited group»and it is difficult to know whether these
differences are in any way statistically significant. The
chi square table value for one degree of freedom at the
five per cent level of significance is 3.841. The cal-
culation of this data within the formula is equal to 7.817.
The'null hypothesis is rejected. There is a definite
tendency for more accredited schools to use educational

television than unaccredited schools systems (Table XIII).

122

TABLE XIII
FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS OF QUALITY AND TELEVISION USE

arr-v

Accredited Unaccredited Total

 

Use Observed 9t (33%) 82 e (281) 180
Television Theoretical 86.33 93.67
Do Not Use Observed 43 (15%) 71 (241) I 114
Television Theoretical $4.67 59.33

Total 141 153 294

 

 

123

Location and Educational Loni. It ha- been shown
that urban schools, partly because of their size and greater

effort tend to be proportionately better in quality than
the more remote districts. Part of the reason for this may
lie in the higher proportion of people with greater educa-
tional achievement in the comnnity. Iort and Cornell felt
the key to progressive thinking and action lay in "the
presence in a community of persons ranking high in social
intelligence and responsibility'.‘ Although they seemed
to be referring to a small, select group of intellectual
leaders, people influential in forming public attitude,
the influence of greater education seems to be generally
beneficial to the‘eutablishment and use-of novel methodology
through experimentation.

The following frequency table (Table XIV) indicates
that the median level of education of the people in a
school district is definitely one characteristic in the
cluster of influences which effect a more positive attitude
toward technological innovation. The Chi Square Table
value at three degrees of freedom equals 7.815. Th; null
hypothesis states, "there is no difference between the

characteristics of median level of education of the people

 

4Paul P. Hort and Francis 6. Cornell,
in, (New York: Teachers College, Columbia Uni-
versity 1941 p. 138.

PREQUEICY TABLE FOR FACTORS OP LOCATION AND EDUCATIOIAL LEVEL

124

TABLE XIV

 

 

 

 

Urban Rural Total
9 Years Observed 7 69 78
8 below Theoretical 25.47 52.53
10 Years Observed 31 74 105
Theoretical 34.29 70.71
11 Years Observed 28 43 71
Theoretical 23.18 47.82
12 Years Observed 30 10 40
or More Theoretical 13.06 26.94
Total 96 198 294

 

 

125

in an area and the location of that area”. The observed
value equals 49.139 which shows a dependency between the
factors causing rejection of the null hypothesis.

. In the way of susnarizing the impact of urban location
upon the use of educational television it can be said that
a direct, positive influence of urbaniss upon the adoption
rate of this technological innovation exists. Although no
reliable inforsation was obtained in this study concerning
the actual degree of use, it would be interesting to find
whether television use was greathr both in degree as well
as in gross terms of 'use' versus "do not use' in urban
areas. Our statistics seem to indicate that there is a
rediatign, or spread, of television use from areas of high
population density to those of low density. The nap of
lichigan School Districts5 (Figure 6) shows the blocks of
greatest involvement with television to be in areas of
the state which are nest densely populated. The black
indicates districts using television, the lined areas
represent districts not using television and the white
areas on the sap are districts which did not respond to
the question.

WW
It has been hypothesized that districts having greater

wealth are in a sore favorable position to take advantage

 

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127‘

of benefits to be gained through the use of new nethods.

' They night be expected to have a sore flexible budget
which would allow for the experimental costs of a new
teaching technique. This would be even nore true in the
cases of technological innovations as costly as television.

Egglth. Our of the sample of 294 school districts,
124 fell into the category having up to only $10,000 of
State Equalized Valuation behind each nenbership child in
the district. linetybseven school districts made up the
group of nediun wealth systons having equalized valua-
tions of fron $10,000 to $14,999 per nenbership child and
73 districts with valuations in excess of $15,000 per
nenbership child were considered to be wealthy.

m M W m. Tallies taken of these
groups in conjunction with television use brought out the
frequencies described in Table XV, with the factor of
wealth on the horizontal axis of the table and television
use on the vertical axis. The null hypotheses suggest
that, "There is no significant difference between the
characteristic of school district wealth and that of the
use of educational television”. Chi Square at the five
per cent level of significance with two degrees of freedom
has a table value of 5.991. The observed value for the
relationship between these characteristics is 4.05354. It
is not significant and therefore verifies the null hypothe

esis of "no significant difference". Therefore, contrary

128

TABLE IV

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR.PACTORS 0P WEALTH AHD TELEVISION USE

 

 

 

 

$15,000 . $10,000- $9,999 Total
or more $14,999 or less
Use Observed 50 62 68 180
Television Theoretical 44.69 59.39 75.92
Do Not Use Observed 23 35 56 114
Television Theoretical 28.31 37.61 48.08
Total 73 97 124 294

 

 

129

to what might be expected in this case, there is no signi-
ficant relationship between television use in the school
districts and the anount of taxable wealth behind each
nembership child. The raw'data seens to indicate slightly
greater television use anong wealthier schools, but this
trend is not great enough to attribute a relationship to
dependence between the characteristics instead of chance.

m and W. The independence of wealth and
television use is even nore puzzling when the characteris-
tic is conpared to other district traits which are in-
dividually influential upon television use. For example,
it was shown in Table XIII that quality and television use
were dependent characteristics. Although wealth and tele-
vision use do not seen to interact, there is, neverthe- _
less, a very strong dependence between wealth and quality
of the school district.

Chi Square at the five per cent level of significance
for two degrees of freedon.has a table value of 5.991. The
observed value for theseuchnracteristics is 32.2531, in-
dicating great dependence even at the 0.5 per cent level
of significance. The wealthier schools enjoy a much
higher degree of accreditation than do the districts be-
longing to the less affluent categories. (Table XVI)

mm “:1 M W m. Wealthier schools
seen to be in a position to hire nore staff nenbers for

a given nunber of students to be taught. Where the value

130

TABLE XVI

FREQUENCY TABLE POR.FACTORS OF HEALTH AID QUALITY

 

 

$10,000- $9, 999 ’rotdl

 

 

$15,000
or more $14,999 or less
Accredited Observed 49 56 36 141
Theoretical 35.01 46.52 $9.47
Not Observed 24 41 88 153
Accredited Theoretical 37.99 50.48 64.53
Total 73 97 124 294

 

 

131

of Chi Square for four degrees of freedon at the five per
cent level of significance is 9.488, the observed value in
Table XVII is 31.70572. A null hypothesis stating that,
"There is no significant difference between the charact-
eristic of wealth and that of pupil teacher ratio', would
be rejected. The frequencies within the cells of.the con-
tingency table show that there is a strong tendency to
have fewer pupils per teacher in wealthier schools than in
schools with a lower taxable wealth behind each nenbership
child. In the section pertaining to educational character-
istics it will be seen that there is also a higher degree
of television use in schools with a low pupil teacher
ratio.

Table III demonstrated a relationship between wealthy
schools and larger size. It may very well be possible
that the size factor is one of the explanations for a
higher degree of television use. Though smaller schools
would have nore to gain proportionately, the large schools
think nore readily in terns of large group instruction, one
of the prime applications of educational television, sinply
because they have larger nunbers of students at each level
to teach. Because of this volune of pupils, the factors
of efficiency and economy in instruction are vital con-
cerns for the adninistrator who is seeking the best return
for every expenditure. In sone instances large group

instruction realizes actual econonies in reducing the

132

TABLE XVII
FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS OP WEALTH AND PUPIL TEACHER RATIO

 

 

$15,000 $10,000- $9,999 Total
or more $14,999 or less

 

Below 24 Observed 35 26 18 79
pupils Theoretical 19.61 26.06 33.32
24 - 28 Observed 32 50 66 148
pupils Theoretical 36.75 48.83 62.42
Above 28 Observed 6 21 40 67
pupils Theoretical 16.64 22.11 28.26

 

Total 73 97 124 294

 

 

133

number of staff required. let one must be cautiousin
interpreting these interrelationships in that the data
available is not explicit in its description of whether -
television is used primarily for enrich-est or in the in-
struction of dairy students simltaneously. In view of the
lower nunbers of pupils per teachers in the large, wealth-
ier schools, the economies effected may not be felt as
nnch in the reduction in numbers of staff members as in
the release of staff to devote tine for other functions
such as individual or snall group instruction and other
activities which contribute to the quality of the school
progran.

m m We The weight of the combined in-
fluences of the attributes inherent in wealth apply less
to the large nunber of rural school districts than to
urban associations. The value for Chi Square at two doe
grees of freedon equals 5.991. The observed valhe for
this sample was 29.0962. The characteristics are signi-
ficantly dependent upon each other. There is a strong
trend for the urban schools to be wealthier. This is
especially significant when the proportionately far
greater uunber of rural schools are seen to fall into the
lowest wealth bracket, a nunber almost as large as the
entire group of urban schools represented in the sanple
(Table XVIII).

£11223. Another concomitant explanation for the lack

134

TABLE XVIII

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR.FACTORS OF WEALTH AND LOCATION

 

 

 

 

$15,000 $10,000» $9,999 Total
or more $14,999 or less
Urban Observed 40 30 26 96
Theoretical 23.84 31.60 40.49
'Rural Observed 33 67 98 198
Theoretical 49.16 65.33 83.51
Total 73 97 124 294

 

 

135

of dependence between television use and wealth nay be
found in the observed relationships between the characteris-
tics of wealth and effort. The criteria taken to be indi-
cative of effort in a school district is that of the total
nillage approved by the voters of the district as the tax
assessment base for the support of the educational program
of the district. Four genera1.nillage categories were
used, although in at least one instance two of then had to
be conbined into a single category to provide enough fre-
quency of itens within each cell of a contingency table to
nake statistical analysis possible. The categories used
were: (1) More than 20 nills, (2) 16 to 20 nills, (3) 12
to 16 nills, and (4) below 12 nills.

Effgz§,gnd.1g1gzigign Egg. A table showing frequencies
of incidence of the characteristics of effort on the one
hand and the use of educational television on the other
was prepared (Table XII). The table value for Chi Square

at the five per cent level of significance and three de-
grees of freedom equals 7.815. The calculated value is

9.68818. The null hypothesis stating that, "There is no
significant difference between the effort shown by school
districts to support education and the use of television in
the school districts", is rejected in that a dependency
between the characteristics exists. There is a relation-
ship between the financial effort of a school district

and its use of television. The direction of the dependence

136

TABLE III
FREQUENCY TABLE FOR.FACTORS OF EFFORT AND TELEVISION USE

 

 

Over 16°20 12- Below' Total
20 15.9 12
Mills Mills Mills Mills

 

Use Observed 65 $1 $3 11 130
Television Theoretical 54.49 50.20 61.84 13.47

Do Not Use Observed 24 31 48 11 114
Television Theoretical 34.5 31.80 39.16 8.53

 

Total 89 82 101 22 294

 

 

137

is "greater effort - - greater use of educational tele-
vision". lowever, the relationship between the next face
tors to be considered, those of effort and wealth, is just
the opposite, nanely, one of the low effort identified
with high wealth.

Etlnztfllnfl,!§slth. The curious lack of dependence_

between district wealth and its use of educational televi-
sion nay be explained in part by the reversal of the dir-
ection of dependency between the two characteristics of
effort and wealth.

The calculation for frequency table number I! has four
degrees of freedon. At the five per cent level of signi-
ficance the Chi Square Table shows a value of 9.488., In
this instance the null hypothesis to be tested is that
which states, "There is no significant difference between
the theoretical and observed frequencies of the respective
characteristics of wealth and effort'. The value obtained
in the calculation was 20.4011 which is significant,
thereby causing rejection of the null hypothesis. There
is a demonstrated dependence between the characteristic
of wealth and that of effort. This dependence is all the
nore striking when the direction of the relationship is
observed. From.the low number of districts ranked in the
first cell, of high wealth and high nillage, and the high
nunber of wealthy districts in the last cell indicating

low effort, as well as the opposite trend among the poorer

138

TABLE XI

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS OF EFFORT AND WEALTH

 

 

 

 

Over 16-20 16- Total
20
Mills Mills Hills
$15,000 Observed 14 25 34 73
or nore Theoretical 22.10 20.36 30.54
$10,000 to Observed 20 30 47 97
$14,999 Theoretical 29.36 27.06 40.58
$9,999 or Observed 55 27 42 124
less Theoretical 37.54 34.58 51.88
Total 89 82 123 294

 

139

schools of the third column, indicates that this is a
strong inzgggg relationship. Higher wealth is associated
with lower effort and lower wealth with higher effort.
-This nay account in part for the lack of statintieally
"significant relationship'between'wealthNIndvtehevision
use discussed earlier.

m m m hm]. m. When this assoc-
iation of effort and wealth is expanded to the wealth
represented in the nedian earnings of the people in a dis-
trict there seens to be little relationship. The pro-
bability of the following frequencies occurring by chance,
at the five per cent level of significance and four de-
grees of freedos, is 9.488 (Table III). The calculated
value is 6.4359. The null hypothesis stating, ”There
is no significant difference between the characteristics
of income and effort', is accepted. The factors are too
independent.

Ignign‘lngggg. The financial backbone of Michigan
school systems is the incone received fron taxes on local
property in addition to the regular increnents of State
Aid. The presence of industry in a district provides a
larger base of taxable capital investments, serving to
increase substantially the incone of the school district
over and above anounts realized fron taxes on private
dwellings. Buildup of industrial activity in an area
contributes both to conmunity wealth and growth by providing

TABLE III

140

FREQUENCY nous Pan morons or SALARY an uproar

 

 

Total

 

 

Over 16-20 16-

20

Mills M1118 Mills
Below Observed 13 24 57 94
$5,000 Theoretical 28.46 26.22 39.32
$5,000 to Observed 19 30 45 94
$6,000 Theoretical 28.46 26.22 39.32
Over Observed 57 28 21 106
$6,000 Theoretical 32.08 29.56 44.36

Total 89 82 123 294

 

 

141

occupational opportunity and incone, which in turn attracta
new people to the growing con-unity.

Peraonal incone in not a direct aource of revenue for
education. Ita inpact would be reflected in peroonal in-
vent-onto in honea and consumer gooda whichminrturn would
ultiaately cone back in the for-.of achool-reveuuewfrou
property and aalea taxea. Aa aentioned earlier, in connec-
ticn with the analyaia of diatrict wealth, it in dangeroua
to aaauue a cauaal relationahip between any one apecific
col-unity characteriatic and the progreaaiveneaa of the
achool progran. There in a univerae of delicately balanced
factora exerting*their intangible, but nevertheleaa dia-
tinct influence upon con-unity progreaa. Poraenal incone
in one ouch atellar ceaponent in the galaxy of a cohaunity'a
culture, contributing to the Iratcmfla balance through the
pull it exerta on other coapoaenta in the ayaten.

m m m M m. Peraonal incone
ia aignificantly related to the degree of televiaion ace
in the achool diatrict in lichigan. The calculated value
of 11.0229 exceeda the Chi Square table value of 5.9991
indicating a aignificant difference between the charact-
eriatica. Con-unitiea enjoying a higher level of incone
tend to uae televiaion to a greater degree in their achoola.
Againat aiainterpretation, it aunt he reiterated that thin
in nerely one ole-eat indicative of con-unity 'peracnality'.
The deep cauaal factora operating here would he inpoaaihle

142

to isolate without going into a study in depth over a long
period of tine. Many influences suggest thenscives, one
of which night be the fact that urban people view cons;
ercial television to a greater degree, or.are*nore oriented
to naking television an integral part of daily life. vThese
kinds of influences nay have sane bearing upon television's
acceptance in school as an instructional device. Whatever
the cause, analysis of observed frequencies in this sanple
indicate a distinct dependency between the characteris-
tics shown in Table XXII.
mmmmm. Whereithu
been demonstrated that a relationship exists between ned-
ian personal income and television use, examination of
possible interrelationships between personal income and
the other factors being considered in the study may be of
value also in shedding sane light upon why such an interf
action exists. A frequency table was prepared for the fac-
tors of incone and wealth (Table XXIII). At four degrees
of freedon and the five per cent level of significance the
Chi Square table gives a value of 9.488. The calculated
value for the observed frequencies however, is 7.2122. A
null hypothesis stating, ”There is no significant differ-
ence between the characteristics of personal incone and
wealth”, would be accepted. There is not any interaction
between salaries and district wealth which cannot be attri-
buted to chance.

143

TABLE XIII

rangunlcr TABLE ran rncrons or SALAR! AID ranzv1510n use

 

 

$5,000- Over Total

 

 

Below
$5,000 $6,000 $6,000
Use Observed 49 53 78 180
Television Theoretical 57.55 57.55 64.90
Bo Hot Use Observed 45 41 28 114
Television Theoretical 36.45 36.45 41.10‘
Total 94 94 106 294

 

 

TABLE XXIII

144

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR.PACTORS 0F SALARY AID WEALTH

 

 

 

 

Below $5,000- Over Total
$5,000 $6,000 $6,000
Over Observed 15 24 34 73
$15,000
Valuation Theoretical 23.34 23.34 26.32
$10,000 to Observed 33 31 33 97
$14,000
Valuation Theoretical 31.01 31.01 31.14
Up to Observed 46 39 39 124
$10,000
Valuation Theoretical 39.65 39.65 44.71
Total 94 94 106 294

 

 

145

mmmmmm - It-Iisht. be
supposed that people enjoying a higher lexeL of personal
incone would be disposed to supporting an educational-pro-
gran which was striving towards superiority by basing

fewer pupils for each teacher. A contingency table-for

~294 schools in this study (Table XXIV) was prepared.

Applying the statistical fornnla to the observed frequene
cies for these school districts produced a value of 347419
as conpared to the Chi Square table statistic of 9.488 for
a calculation with four degrees of freedon at the five per
cent level of significance. There is no evidence of a
statistically significant relationship between the nedian
incone of a con-unity and the pupil teacher ratio in its

,
schools. ’

mmmmmmum. Asushtbe
expected, however, there is a very strong dependency be-
tween the nedian nunber of years of education acquired by
the people in a district and their’nedian salary. A null
hypothesis which states, ”There is no significant difference
between the characteristics of nedian incone and educational
level of a con-unity”, would be rejected as a result of the
conparison of the observed and expected frequencies in the
contingency table (Table XXV). Chi Square at the five per
cent level and four degrees of freedon.is 9.488. The
calculated value for the observed frequencies is 92.4417

which indicates a strong dependence between the factors.

146

TABLE XXIV

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS OF SALARY AND PUPIL/TEACHER RATIO

 

 

 

 

Below $5,000- Over Total
$5,000 $6,000 $6,000
Below 24 Observed 21 27 31 79
Pupils Theoretical 25.26 25.26 28.48
24 to 28 Observed 54 47 47 148
pupils Theoretical 47.32 47.32 53.36
Above 28 Observed 19 20 28 67
Pupils Theoretical 21.42 21.42 24.16
Total 94 94 106 294

 

147

TABLE XXV

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTOFS OF SALARI AID EDUCATIONAL LEVEL

 

 

 

 

Below $5,000- “Over Total
$5,000 $6,000 $6,000
9 Years Observed 56 18 4 78
or less Theoretical 24.94 24.94 28.12
10 Years Observed 27 38 40 105
Theoretical 33.57 33.57 37.86
11 Tears Observed ll 38 62 106
or sore Theoretical 35.49 35.49 40.02
Total 94 94 106 294

 

 

14g

ligher educational achieve-ant is a powerful contributor
to earning power. '

m M and mm- The relatieusbipbetween
the anount of personal incone one could expect-towearngand
the area of residence is very strong. Table XX¥lwshewe the
direction of the relationship to be 'urban lecetiin : ;
higher incone”. The calculation has two degrees of-free¥
dos. Chi Square at the five per cent level of signifie
cance has a table value of 5.991. The observed value is
101.5716. The null hypothesis, ”There is no significant
difference between the factors of nedian con-unity salary
and location', is rejected because of the dependence be-
tween the factors.

m lama: m1 m1 mm m. “up.“
there is no relationship between salary and the school
district quality index of pupil/teacher ratio, there does
seen to be a dependency between level of incone and qua-
lity of the district as detersined by accreditation.
Obviously, nany of the factors contribute to accredits;
tion, as we have already seen in earlier sections of the
chapter. Location, wealth and school district sise all
play their.part in providing the nany characteristics a
school district requires in order to achieve the accred-
ited status. Perhaps all of these factors operate to-
gether to bring about the dependence between incone and
quality. Analysis of the data cubodied in Table XXVI;

149

TABLE XXVI

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR THE FACTORS OF SALARY AID LOCATIOI

 

 

 

 

Below $5,000- Over Total
$5,000 $6,000 $6,000
Urban Observed 3 21 72 96
Theoretical 30.69 30.69 34.62
Rural Observed 91 73 34 198
Theoretical 63.31 63.31 71.38
Total 94 94 106 294

 

150

TABLE XXVII
FREQUEICY TABLE FOR FACTORS OF SALARY AID QUALITY

 

“-

Below $5,000- Over Total
$5,000 $6,000 $6,000

 

Accredited Observed 22 44 75 141
Theoretical 45.08 45.08 $0.84

Not Observed 72 50 31 153

Accredited Theoretical 48.92 48.92 55.16

 

Total 94 94 106 294

 

 

151

requires interpretation with two degrees of freedon.at
the five per cent level. The Chi Square Table value of
5.991 is conpared with observed value of 44.818. It is
significant statistically and the null hypothesis of "no
significant difference” is rejected.

Tha_£dnsatinnal_£haaasteriatina

In explaining a higher degree of use of educational
television anong the large, progressive, urban school
districts one night turn to an analysis of con-unity
attitudes towards various indexes of progress. A curri-
culun analysis could be undertaken to ascertain whether
newer approaches to teaching language, science or nethe-
natics were being used. Or it night be possible to find
sit whether various kinds of technological innovations
are being used in the adninistration of the school, its
physical plant, its library and instructional progress.
lhny studies need to be nade of the conplex interwork-
ings of the acadesic social systen and its inpact upon
the thoughts and attitudes of the people in the con-unity
being served.

nedian.L3131,gf,£dncatign. One neasure of con-unity
sophistication is the level of educational achievesent in
an area. The Bureau of the Census converts the data ob-
tained in their surveys to "Median School Years Conpleted'.
The data is taken fron individuals in all age groups but
is shown only for the population 25 years old and over,

152

nest of when.had conplotod their education. Plotting
those statistics against the frequency data of the char-
acteristics of the school districts in this sanple of
Iichigan schools under consideration produced the frequency
tables of the following section. It was hypothesised that
the higher level of educational achievesent contributed
to the general progress of a cos-unity both in the way of
creating a sore intellectually adequate citizenry, there-
by pronoting a higher level of oconeny and culture, and
in attracting other progressive people to the area of
greater opportunity and wealth. The interrelationships of
the characteristics which follow’ain at giving acne des-
cription of the factors which night contribute to the degree
of use of a technological innovation such as television
in the schools. .
fiflnggtigngl.Lg131,gnfl,§1;g. Large school districts
tend ,to be classified anong those located in urban areas
(Table VII). urban centers provide greater opportunity
for cnploynent and enjoy a wider range of resources in
the provision of services for the people living in the
con-unity. Business, industry and educational institu-
tions attract and in fact, require, individuals with bet-
ter than average educational achieve-out. Because of in-
fluences such as these, there is an interdependence bet-
ween the characteristics of nedian school years conpleted
and district sine. When conpared with the Chi Square table

153

value of 9.488 for four degrees of freodon at the five per
cent level of significance, the observed value of 29.055
is statistically significant. A null hypothesis stating,
'There is no significant difference between the charact-
eristics of educational level and school district aisef,
is rejected. The discrepancy between the theoretical and
observed frequencies (Table XXVIII) is greatest in the
category of highest education. It can be seen that a far
greater nunber of large schools fall into this group than
night he expected. Conversely, a fewer nunber of snall
schools fall into the category than one would expect.

Educational mu and flffnri- It in not “mi-ins
that the dependence between sine and educational level is

verified by a dependence between the characteristics of
educational level~ind effort. Larger schools districts
have been shown*to put forth greater effort. So too, a
contingency table for the factors of education and effort
gives an observed value of 30.0197 as conpared to the Chi
Square table value of 12.59 for six degrees of freedon.
(Table XXIX) There is a statistically significant depend-
ence between the characteristics of nedian school years
conpleted and effort. 8

W M]. m We Sinilarly, there is
a statistically significant relationship between the char-
acteristics of education and district quality. The null

hypothesis states, "There is no significant difference

154

TABLE XXVIII

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS OF EDUCATIONAL LEVEL AND SIZE

 

 

10 years 11 years

12 years Total

 

 

or less “ or nore

5,000 Observed 23 10 15 48
pupils or
sore Theoretical 29.88 11.59 6.53
2,000 to Observed 33 17 15 65
49999
pupils Theoretical 40.46 15.69 8.85
0 to Observed 127 44 10 181
19999
pupils Theoretical 112.66 43.72 24.62

Total 183 71 40 294

 

 

155

TABLE XXIX

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS OF EDUCATIONAL LEVEL AND EFFORT

A‘s

 

"‘:.|-.-_

' L in”.-

10 yrs. 11 yrs. 12 yrs. Total

 

 

9 yr. o

Over 20 Observed 12 25 26 26 89
Mills Theoretical 23.61 31.79 21.49 12.11
16-20 Observed 20 32 23 7 82
Hills Theoretical 21.76 29.28 19.80 11.16
Below 16 Observed 46 48 22 7 123
Hills Theoretical 32.63 43.93 29.71 16.73

Total 78 105 71 40 294

 

W

156

between the factors of nedian level of education and school
district quality as seasured by accreditation status". The
Chi Square table for two degrees of freedos.at the five per
cent level of significascc.givesra value of 5.991., The
calculated observed value is 41.0098. The null~hypothesis
is rejected. (Table XXX)

W Len], I“ m. The factor is wealth
in terns of State Bqualised Valuation per sesbership child,
seens to consistently divorce itself fros dependency with
other characteristics being studied. The distribution of
industry, cossercial properties, hoses and farss apparently
interacts with population density in such a way as to pro-
duce no seasureable patterns of dependency with these other
factors being exasined. The null statesent of independence
between the characteristics is accepted as a result of the
cosparison of the calculated value for the observed free
quencies of 5.5043 and the Chi Square table value of 12.592
for six degrees of frecdos at the five per cent level of 8
significance. There is no relationship between the level
of education of a cossnnity in terns of nedian school years
cospleted and the wealth of the cos-unity in terns of tax-
able real estate (Table XXXI).

Educational Loni and mm 121:. There in enouh
interaction between the various cossnnity characteristics
to bring about a distinctly significant correlation between
the nedian level of education in a cos-unity and the degree

157

TABLE XXX
FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS OF EDUCATIONAL LEVEL AND QUALITY

 

_

9 Yrs. 10 Yrs. 11 Yrs. 12 Yrs. Total
or less or sore

 

Accred. Observed 21 46 39 35_ 141
Theoretical 37.41 50.36 34.05 19.18

Net Observed 57 $9 32 5 153
Aocred. Theoretical 40.59 54.64 36.95 20.82

 

Total 78 105 71 40 294

 

 

158

TABLE

XXXI

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR.FACTORS OF EDUCATIONAL LEVEL AND NEALTI

 

 

 

 

======
9 Yrs. 10 Yrs. 11 Yrs. 12 Yrs. Total
or less or sore
Over Observed 19 29 10 15 73
$15,000 Theoretical 19.37 26.07 17.63 9.93
$10,000- Observed 20 35 29 13 97
$14,999 Theoretical 25.73 67.64 23.43 13.20
Up to Observed 39 41 32 12 124
$10,000 Theoretical 32.90 44.29 29.94 16.87
Total 78 105 71 40 294

 

159

of use of educational television in its‘schoolsWLTlee
mil). Although the .larger districts tend to be wealthier
in taxable property, they take advantage of the fact by
lowering tax rates, as conpared to high rateoflpoidmbywsany
ssall districts, at the sase tine providing onwaoooptable
educational progras with less hardship to the individual
tax payer. Even at that these districts tend to saintain
accredited schools with lower pupil/teacher ratios. lhe-
ther their greater use of television reflects awlar
effort to isprove instruction alonelor whether it reflects
an attespt to saintain quality at less cost per pupil is
difficult to detersine. However, the fact thatvthoméupil
teacher ratios are lower would seen to show that theécou;
corn is not in reducing the nunber of staff only, but roe
ther in providing greater educational resource and quality.

The null hypothesis for the statistical analysis 8f
the observed frequencies in Table XXXII states, ‘There is
no significant difference between the characteristics of
nedian school years cospleted in a cos-unity and theluse
of educational television“, is rejected in that the 8al-
culated value of 16.793 exceeds the table value of 7.815.

Innil.1ggghgnmflgtin. Ratios of nusbers of students
per teacher have been a concern of educators for a long
tine. Schools who assigned fewer pupils on an average to
8 sesbers of the faculty were considered to be wealthier

schools and were said to be better schools. Educators

160

TABLE XXXII

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR.FACTORS OF EDUCATIONAL LEVEL AND TELEVISION

 

 

 

 

9 Yrs. 10 Yrs. 11 Yrs. 12 Yrs. Total
or less or sore .
Use ETV Observed 38 64 43 35 180
Theoretical 47.76 64.29 43.47 24.49
Do Not Observed 40 41 28 5 114
Use ETV Theoretical 30.24 40.71 27.53 15.51
Total 78 105 71 40 294

 

 

161

speak of the ideal "one to one“ ratio of teacher to pupil,
nostalgically recalling the pair sitting side by side on

a log in natureVs classroos. The pressures of the tine,
the population explosion, the decay of old school build-
ings and the need for their replacement and expansion have
brought these notions of options class size into question.l
've now profess that sose things are learned as well without
a teacher, acne in large group situations. Still other
experiences require the guiding hand, the challenge, acti-
vation and inspiration that only teacher can provide, and
that in the setting of a ssall group or in a face to face
situation.

Although somewhat suspect as a seasure of institu-
tional quality, a low nunber of pupils per teacher is con-
sidered to be a virtue, indicative of institutional excell-
ence. As such it proved to be a disappointing index of
behavior in this sanple of 294 Mdchigan school systess.

hail leashes: Bahia and Me In attemptins to
establish basic relationships that say exist, a contin-

gency table of observed frequencies of the characteristics
of pupil teacher ratio and quality was prepared (Table
XXXIII). The Chi Square table indicates a value of 5.991
for the statistic at two degrees of freedon and the five
per cent level of significance. The null hypothesis to be
tested states, ”There is no significant difference‘between

the characteristics of the ratio of pupils per teacher in

162

TABLE 111111
FREQUENCY TABLE FOR.FACTORS OF PUPIL TEACHER.RATIO AID QUALITY

 

 

24 or 24.1 to 28.1 or Total
less 28 sore

 

t

Accredited Observed 38 69 34 141
Theoretical 37.89 70.98 32.13

Not Observed 41 79 33 153

Accredited Theoretical 41.11 77.02 34.87

 

Total 79 148 67 294

 

 

163

a school district and its accreditation status". The
observed value produced by the application of the data to
the chi square forsula for these frequencies is 0.31584.
The null hypothesis is accepted in that this value is not
significant. There is no dependence between accredita-
tion and pupil/teacher ratios in this sanple.

m W M19, inf m. The independence of
staff density and'district quality carried over into the
factor of effort as well. The tax rate assessed by a
school district for educational support is not reflected
by concositant changes in pupil teacher ratio. In the one
category of '24 pupils or less per teacher" (Table XXXIV)
“there was a trend for the high effort schools to be in---~
cluded in the category to a greater extent then low effort
districts. However, this trend was not acute enough to
produce a statistically significant relationship between
the factors. The calculated value was 7.51443 as conpared
with the Chi Square table value of 9.488 for four degrees
of freedcs at the five per cent level of significance.

hail Teacher Ratio and Educational Laxalo Althonsh
one might hypothesize that people with a higher degree of
educational attainsent sight seek to isprove the educa-
tional opportunity for their children by providing sore
teachers in proportion to student population, there seens
~to be no statistically significant relationship between
the two characteristics. The calculation for the observed

164

TABLE XXXIV

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS OF PUPIL TEACHER RATIO AND EFFORT

 

 

Total

 

 

Below 24-28 Above

24 28

pupils pupils pupils
Above Observed 33 36 20 89
20
Mills Theoretical 23.92 44.80 20.28
16 to 20 Observed 19 45 18 82
Hills Theoretical 22.03 41.28 18.69
Below Observed 27 67 29 123
16
Mills Theoretical 33.05 61.92 28.03

Total 79 148 67 294

 

 

165

frequencies in Table XXXV produced a value of 2.9367 as
conpared to the Chi Square table amount of 12.592 for six
degrees of freedos at the five per cent level of signifie
cance. The null hypothesis 'There is no significant dif-
ference between the characteristics of pupil teacher ratio
and nedian school years cospleted in a cossnnity', is
accepted. .

Basil W'Eiin 'and location- The observed
values for the characteristics of pupil teacher ratio and
wealth were dependent. The sore wealthy districts have a
lower nunber of pupils per teacher. But the dependence
between characteristics of wealth and urban location does
not apply equally to pupil teacher ratio and location.. A
contingency table (Table XXXVI) for these frequencies pro-
duced no significant value indicating dependence between
the characteristics. There was no indication that urban
schools assigned fewer pupils to their teachers than did
the rural school districts. The null, "no significant
difference", is accepted in the light of the insignifi-
cant value of 4.3529 for the observed frequencies.

.Innil leashes Bahia.asd §shaol.21ai£i£i.§iasm In
view of the relationship this characteristic has to wealth,
and in turn the dependence between wealth and size, it
night he expected that there would be a significant rela-
tionship between pupil teacher ratio and size. A null
hypothesis stating, "There is no significant difference

166

TABLE nxv

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS 0F PUPIL TEACHER RATIO m: m
wEnnr SCHOOL YEARS COMPLETED

 

 

Total

 

 

Below 24-28 Above
24 28
pupils pupils pupils
9 Years Observed 19 39 20 78
or less Theoretical 20.96 39.26 17.78
10 Years Observed 19 55 31 105
Theoretical 28.21 52.86 23.93
11 Years Observed 23 38 10 71
Theoretical 19.32 51.51 16.18
12 Years Observed 18 16 6 40
or sore Theoretical 10.75 20.14 9.12
Total 79 148 67 294

 

 

167

TABLE XXXVI
FREQUENCY TABLE FOR FACTORS OF PUPIL TEACHER RATIO 8 LOCATION

 

 

Below 24-28 Above Total
24 28
"pupils pupils pupils

 

Urban Observed 31 40 25 96
Theoretical 25.80 48.33 21.87

Rural Observed 48 108 42‘ 198
Theoretical 53.20 99.67 45.13

 

Total 79 148 67 294

 

 

168

between the characteristics of pupil teacher ratio and
school district size", is to be tested by the chi square
analysis. The frequencirs are given in Table XXXVII. The
Chi Square table indicates a value of 9.488 for four de-
grees of freedom at the five per cent level of signifi-
cance. The calculated value of the observed frequencies
in the sample is 9.684. The null hypothesis is rejected
in the light of the demonstrated dependence between the
factors. There is a sild tendency for small schools to
have a higher number of pupils per teacher. This might be
explained in part by the hesitancy of school administrators
of smaller districts to divide large classes, thereby
creating split level grade groups which are difficult to
teach and unpopular among teachers.

Emu mm mm andlclmginn Deco 1889.1...
of this lack of relationship between pupil teacher ratios
and other district characteristics, it is surprising to
find a distinctly significant dependence between lower
pupil teacher ratio and television use. The null hypothe-
sis stating, "There is no significant difference between
the characteristics of pupil teacher ratio and television
use", is rejected. The Chi Square table value for two de-
grees of freedom at the five per cent level of signifi-
cance is 5.991. The calculated value for the observed
frequencies in Table XXXVIII is 14.1908. Examination of
the table indicates the direction of the dependence.

169

TABLE XXXVII
PREQUEICY TABLE FOR FACTORS OP PUPIL TEACHER RATIO AID SIZE

 

‘Belov 24~28 Above Total
24 28
pupils pupils pupils?

 

Above Observed 16 18 14 48
5,000

pupils Theoretical 12.90 24.16 10.94

2,000 to Observed 15 29 21 65
49999

pupils Theoretical 17.47 32.72 14.81

0 to 1,999 Observed 48 101 32 181
pupils Theoretical 48.63 91.12 41.25

 

Total 79 148 67 294

 

 

170

TABLE XXXVIII

PREQUEICT TABLE FOR FACTORS OF PUPIL TEACHER RATIO AND THE
USE OF EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION

 

J

Below 24-28 ’Above Total
24 28
pupils pupils pupils

 

Use Observed 58 93 29 180
Television Theoretical 48.37 90.61 41.02

Do Nut Use Observed 21 $5 38 114
Television Theoretical 30.63 57.39 25.98

 

Total 79 148 ' 67 294

 

171

School districts with lower pupil teacher ratios tend to
use television to a greater extent. Such schools having
fewer pupils per professional staff member are able, pre-_
sumeably, to give sore personal attention to each student.
lot having to cope with an overload of students, teachers
in these schools might need the instructienal aid of tele-
vision less than their more heavily burdened counterparts
in other systems. And yet these are the very schools that
use television to a greater extent.
Ԥghg21.nigtzigt,Qnglitg. The characteristic of school
district quality has been discussed in the context of the
analysis of the other factors studied. The accreditation
status of the many school systems has been compared to
each of the characteristics in turn, ineiuding television
use. The only factor to which it has not been compared
is that of effort. The calculation for the frequencies of
those characteristics gave a value of 3.50778 which is not
significant for three degrees of freedom at the five per
cent level. (Table XXIII)

V. SUHHART
Data received from a sample of 294 school districts in
Michigan were tabulated for Chi Square analysis. The fre-
quency tables prepared from.the tally shebts of raw data
were used as the source of information to be applied to
the formula. Of primary interest was the determination of

interrelationships between school district characteristics

172

TABLE XXIII

FREQUENCY TABLE FOR.FACTORS OF QUALITY AND EFFORT

 

 

Accredited Unaccredited Total

 

 

Above 20 Observed 47 42 89
Mills Theoretical 42.68 46.32
16-20 Observed 41 41 82
Hills Theoretical 39.33 42.67
12-16 Observed 46 55 101
Mills Theoretical 48.44 52.56
Below 12 Observed 7 15 22
H1118 Theoretical 10.55 11.45

Total 141 153 294

 

 

173

and the use of educational television. In the interests

of interpretation statistical evaluation of all of the

interrelationships between every combination of the fac-

tors was undertaken.

combination are summarized below:

Table

lumber

II
III

VI
VII
VIII

XVIII

Factors

Size 9 Television Use
Size G'Uealth

Size 8 Personal Income
Size 8 Effort

Size 0 Quality

Location 0 Size

Location 8 Effort
Location 0 Quality
Location 8 Television Use
Accredited 6 TY Use
Unaccredited 8 TV Use
Quality 8 Television Use
Location 0 Education
Health a Television Use
'Wealth 0 Quality

Health 8 Pupil Teacher
Ratio

Health 3 Location
Effort O Television Use
Effort b‘wealth

5.991
9.488
9.488
9.488
5.991
5.991
5.991
3.841
3.841
3.841
3.841
3.841
7.815
5.991
5.991

9.488
5.991
7.815
9.488

The statistical results for each

Observed

IzTable Value

16.884
24.503
95.4166
39.0514
66.216
91.1479
15.056
38.6086
17.1411
21.4183
0.03075
7.§199
49.139
4.05354
32.2531

31.70572

29.0962
9.68818

20.4011

Signif.
Related

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
re-
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yet.
'a.,
Yes
Yes
he

Yes

Yes
Yes
Yes

Yes

Table
lumber

XXIII

55 95

I
XXVIII
XXIX

XXXI
XXXII
XXXIII

XXXIV

174

Factors

Effort 8 Personal Income
Personal Income 8 TY Use
Personal Income O‘Wealth

Personal Income 0 Pupil
Teacher Ratio

Personal Income 8
Educational Level

Personal Income 0 Location

Personal Income 0 Quality

’Eflucation Level 6'312e

Education Level 0 Effort
Education Level 8 Quality
Education Level 0 Wealth
Education Level 9 TV Use

Pupil Teacher Ratio 8
Quality

Pupil Teacher Ratio 0
Effort

Pupil Teacher Ratio 8
Educational Level

Pupil Teacher Ratio 0
Location

Pupil Teacher Ratio 8 Size

Pupil Teacher Ratio 8
Television Use

Quality 5 Effort

IzTable

9.488
5.991
9.488

9.488

9.488
5.991
5.991

12.592

5.991
12.592

7.815

5.991

9.488

12.592

5.991
9.488

5.991
7.815

Observed
Value

' 6.5.3 59
11.0229
7.2122

3.7419

92.4417

101.5716

44.818
29.055
30.0197
41.0098
5.5043
16.793

0.31584

7.51443

2.9367

4.3529
9.6844

14.1908

3.50778

Signif.
Related
No

Yes

lo

No'
’9-
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No

Yes
Ho
lo
we
a.
Yes
Yes

No

CHAPTER,V

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS_ _

The major goal of this study has beesmthewsmelysds of
the relationship between the certain select characteristics
of school districts and the use of educational television.
These characteristics of school districtsmharembeenwdefimed,
analyzed and assessed for their impact upcnthe degree of
use of television_in the schools. The interrelationships
between the factors themselves have been examined.w-The
number of schools using television in 1962 was determined
and the probless involved in television use in those schools
have been described.

Past research and experience have shown that formal
education is an expression of conservatism in many cases.
Pedagogues have resisted many things that would havefimade
their task more efficient and effective. Textbooks were
opposed and the blackboard was ridiculed in the days of
their early appearance. Today, television, one °fi the
newer technological innovations to be applied.to.8duosfiiom,
is meeting substantial resistance from people in the pro-
fession.

Although it must be true that each era of the past has
witnessed the existence of too many people requiring educa-
tion, we seem to be more acutely aware of the need for
universal education in our lifetime. The benefits of cul-

ture have increased longevity and the birth rate. Among

176

the problems facing use are those of the "population,
explosion" and ”teacher shortage". Lack of capitslmand
aging buildings combine to plague us with a shortage of
classroom space in which to teach the next generation.
Furthermore, the actual volume of information-youth has to
learn is increasing at compound rates so that~teachers,’
though fewer in numbers proportionately, must somehow
accomplish the task of teaching mere factm,to a greater
number of students.

Within the past decade, some educatorsmhsremseught an
answer to problems of over population, teacher shortage,
talk of space and facilities in the use of television. In
1963’it is an answer being used in every major country in
the world, from Lagos to Tokyo, from Paris to hagerstown.
Educators in the State of Michigan also have been interested
in this medium of communication. lany of them have stsrted
to use programs that are available to them as a publiciser-
vice. A fewer number of school systems have become involved
is an official way with educational television by making a

financial investment in this materials and equipment. i

There are many factors which influence the use of-alece
tronics in Michigan schools. In bringing the information
given in this study to bear upon the problem of the accept-
ance of television as an instructional aid, those character-
istics descriptive of the innovation itself as outlined by
the lorth Central Rural "Mlm Conitteel will be used

 

1Supra., p. 44

177

as a model for the summary discussion.

931;. New practices of high. costume» generally
adopted sore slowly. However, thosewpraetices
that produce high, rapid returns for themnoney
invested tend to be adopted more rapidly than
those yielding lower returns over a longer period
of tine.

lenlgxigy. New ideas that are easily understood
and sinply used tend to be adopted.nore rapidly
than complex innovations.

. Practices which are readily denoustrated
and visible in their operation see-Ito mndoy a ~
more rapid adoption rate.

. A technique which lends»itss1feto
use on a limited trial basis will generallgb
adopted more readily than one which cannot be:nsed
on a small scale.

. An idea which is consistent with
existing values or beliefs of the adopter will be
accepted more rapidly than one which is-not.-

Qflfli ,

Instructional television involves substantial cost at
whatever educational level it is being applied. At the
level of the small, local school, the purchase of one telee
vision receiver can be a natter of difficulty. For a school
system to establish a central antenna system to receivé off-
theeair telecasts is a natter of major financial concern.
The installation of a closed circuit studio and distribution
system is even nore complex and costly. ;

The school systems that pioneered the use of instruc-
tional television in Michigan, involving production of pro-
grass and procurement of equipment faced even greater cost
obstacles than administrators face today. Producing programs

for the few school systems that first used the nediun was

proportionately more costly per pupil viewer. At that early

178

adoption level the factor of wealth nust have been «most
influential in deterring television use. ldwever, there is
no empirical evidence to support that assnnption because no
analysis of television use in the state is available for
that period of time. It does seem logical that only schools
with large resources, or those who received outside «son'lst-
ance, could have been involved in the produetion~ef~teie~
casts for in-sehool use. Some relief might have been
available to the pioneers as in the case of Chemist 56 in
Detroit which was supported as a cooperative venture of
several agencies, and Channel 10 in Bast Lansing which was
able to lean upon university resources.

The lack of significant interaction between the “factors
of school district wealth and television use has been re-
ported in this dissertation. At-this time costs of teleé
vision production are being spread over a very largempopu-
lation base. the llidwest Progran ofhirboene- Mowinion
Instruction and the several instructional televisioe~eeuncils
and agencies in the state are bringing tele-lossons-to the
districts on a nonbership fee basis. When the volume bf
instruction provided by these organisations is conpared to
the per pupil cost, the return to the individual school for
the amount of investment is very high. lovertheless,
responses of school administrators participating in this
study, support the contention that cost still is a factor
of prime important in any consideration of the use of

179

television in school. The analysis sade idmthissinvestigp-
tion have shown that larger school». WWW-beneat-
ing earlier and greater use of television in school. i
because of the relatively great educational return
inherent in television use and the feet thatmits-oesfilis
being distributed over a wide population base, these,is
every reason to expect an accelerating adoption rate for
this technological innovation at every level of education,
including the smaller schools which stand to profit the
most from.its use. '
W

There are at least two levels of complexity which be-
comes apparent in the use of instructional television.
These levels of cosplexity are (1) those of production and
use, and (2) those of personality and attitude.

In the first instance, television production and trans?
missioa is an extremely complicated.preoessmineelsing a;
great variety of people and professional and technical
skills. At the present time very few school systems would
be able to master the personnel and physical resources -
required to produce television progress. This kind of coop
plexity could be a deterrent to school involvement in telli-
vised instruction. This would be the case if it were
necessary for each school to produce all of its own tele-
lessens. however, the pattern which has evolved is that of
the establishment of central production facilities in large

180

school systems, colleges and universities. full time_
courses of instruction, enrichment.progoamsmandegenoral,
cultural broadcasting materials are available~to~sohool
systems and individuals all over the state at very little
cost and can be obtained with little effort. All thdt.ie
required is for the teacher to turn on a receiver. klnemany
ways a television set is more easily operated than a mo-
tion picture projector, is that the physical complexities.
involved in television use in the classroon are relatively~
few. For those who night wish to be passive receiverthhe
process would involve little cost. For others who could be
called active participants, there would be the necessity for
preparation and followbnp activities in the classrooo in-
volving a financial commit-cut for the provision.of-adeance
lesson guides and supplementary naterials. ‘

This introduces the element of the second conplenity,
which is to be found in the attitudes of those using tele-
vision in school. Instructional television requires a toss
approach to teaching which in some instances has hadron
adverse effect upon the acceptance of the medium as a teach-
ing method.

Television has become an integral part of our culture.
It is heavily used by a large segment of the population.
Children spend hours each day viewing programs to the tele-
vision receiver at home. For then to accept teaching over

television is natural, there is little resistance to

181

instructional program-ing on the part of younger pupils.
Students on the college level, however, seen to be less
rcady to accept television teaching. And adults~whegdid
not receive any of their education over electronic congeni-
cation media have even greater difficulty acceptingwthg new
technique. Teachers report irritation in having«te sopopt
the change of their status in the classroon from one who
was insulated from.entside influence when the classroom
door was closed, to one who oust accept and actually help
the personality of the television teacher.1f the instruc-
tional goals of the lesson are to be achieved.

Because the most couples production aspects of tele-
vision are being performed by centralizing agencies, {class-
roemxuse of the device is relatively simple. This simplie

city no doubt has contributed to its widespread adoption in
lichigen school systems. On the other hand, negative~§tti-

tudes on the part of many teachers and administrators may
be having an adverse effect upon television use in other
school districts. g
M

Several developments have contributed to.educetional
televisionVs rapid growth, one of which is its visibility.
Potential users have been able to observe instructional
television in action at many locations, including their own
school systems in many cases. Broadcast prograsming has
been available from Iidwest Airborne, Channel 56, Channel 10

182

and other sources. Evidence concerning the inpaotmwhich .
this visibility has had upon adoption of educationelqtele:
vision cones fron school adninistrators. In response to the
questionnaire, educators indicated the‘high degree to which
they were influenced by the sharing of attitudoswend«ep&qions
of other neighboring school people who had tried to use the
programs. Furthernore, educational television hes~beeh the
topic of discussion at professional neetings and conventions.
Research reports have been abundant. Publications including
nany professional nngazincs have presented articles and: ‘
statements about the application of television to education.
Such statesents verify the fact that in many ways instrgc;
tional television has been one of the nost visible educa;
tional innovations ever to have become.available toteaohers.
W '

A technique which lends itself to use on a linited,
trial basis will generally be adopted noreqreadily~then~one
which cannot be used on a small scale. This-has~beenw£rue
of television in that teachers were.ablomtombringmtheinsown
receivers into the classroom for occasional inclusion of
television programs within a given daygs instruction.- the
fact that much of the instructional and enrichment prograne
sing was being broadcast, nade it possible for teachers to
receive the telecasts on their own sets with portable
antenna. Bone schools had to invest in receivers that had

Ultra High Frequency capabilities in that broadcasts were

183

in the upper frequency'ranges and could not be viewed on
standard equipment. Generally speaking, educational tele- A
vision was easily used on a linited and exporineutal‘basis.
‘QIInaiahilitz

The acceptance of educattonalwtelewisionwreeeivesmits
greatest resistance from the influence of incompatable
values, or the incenpatnbility between new procedures re;
quired and customs and practices of the past.

Inch has been made of the potentials inherent in the
use of television to effect economies in instruction. there
is an implication that fewer teachers can perform the same
service, teach the sane number of pupils, if television is
used. nany educators have expressed fear of being replaced
or relegated to unprofessional paper grading or attendance
checking. 'l'hese kinds of attitudes are being elininated by
reaffirnation of the fact that the classroon teacher.in,the
prtne influence in the learning situation and that unless
there is a tone approach,.maxisum utilisation of televised
instruction will not be realised. In situations where it
has been possible to enlist the help of the classroom.
teachers in the planning and development of the telen
lessons, teachers have been.nore willing to accept the
change in their role.

in observation coming out of the study of that node by
administrators who felt that a najor difficulty in using
television is the fact that it requires a change in district

184

policy in most cases. Use of the new device wasmsomawhat
incompatable with previous instructional and adninistrative
policy. Although the use of television in school night he
in harmony with theoretical goals of efficiency, edueetional
economy, standardization of high quality contentyminpncvee
nent of instruction or acquisition of greater-educational
resources, these theoretical goals were not always infihar-
nony with the facts of daily school life. For a school
district to obtain these theoretical benefits required a
concrete change in policy and financial investnent as well
as in procedure in adninistration and teaching. The
necessity for asking these kinds of official and operational
changes has been an obstacle to television use in nany
school districts.

On the basis of this study several conclusions can be
drawn concerning factors which influence the use of educa-
tional television in liehigan school districts.
W

"hen the rate of acceptance of educational television
as a teaching device is conpared with the adoption-patterns
of other educational innovations which have been studied in
the past, it appears that it is being accepted at a such
sore rapid pace. Although the time lapse between invention
and the first educational application of television was
fifty-five years, this is a short period of tine in com,
parison to some inventions which were not applied to teaching

18$

for up to one hundred years. Subsequent periods have also
been shorter than.might have been expected. If telenisien's
adoption pattern had followed those of earlier innovations-
the present adoption level of instructional.telesisienvin
lichigan, which by now exceeds 30 per cent, might not’have
been reached until 1990, counting from the date of itewfiirst
educational application. In other ways, however, the 1
sequence of adoption of in-school television seemirto fellow
patterns of adoption described by sociologicalnresenrch‘
studies reported in the review'of literatunov Leeddns in
the school districts approach acceptance of telesinion
through the sequence of awareness of the existence of the
nedium, interest in its use, evaluation through deterninac
tion of the opinions of neighboring school people and these
who have used it, trial on a limited, cautions basisqand
final adoption by seeking menbership in one or another of
the instructional television programs available in the
state. There are a few notable exceptions to thismpattern.
Some districts have found themselves with an educationhl
problen such as lack of space or teachers or resources, and
have attacked the problem.by'neans of deliberate use of
television. Excluding the'lidwest Airborne pilot schools
and Channel 56 participants in the Detroit area, such in-
stitutions as the huena Vista district near Saginaw, and
lolland High School have deliberately included television

as an instructional nediun in their progras. Others could

186

be neutioned.

Acceptance of television as an instructional technique
has diffused according to patterns dehcribed in earlier
studies. the earliest and nost-intense~use~ef«thewdeuice
took place in urban centers. Gradual acceptance by~other
districts has radiated outward free the nuclear points of
origin. Only in recent nonths is there indication of any
widespread, sporadic involvement by outlying school dis-
tricts in television prograns such as Iidwest Airborne,
Classroon 10, Channel 56 or the Central hichigan rele-
vision Council.

W

Responses fron the school districts indicating the
types of equipment being used by teachers brought outgthe
fact that technological items of greatest tenure-or~longe-
vity are those that are nost heavily used by the schools.
It would seem that some predisposition or favorable atti-
tude towards technological aids tempers earlier or-increased
use of newer inventions. this is borne out by themfact”
that schools using television use all types of visual aids
to a greater extent than non-television schools. Television
using schools use other newer devices such as programmed
learning or teaching nachines sore than schools not using,
television.

Wm
Data obtained in the study indicate that in the opinion

187

of school administrators in the State of lichigan, cost is

the principal problematic factor in adopting television'for"
use in school. Lack of funds, failure to includertelenisien

in projected budgets or the expectationwthat~telesisionE
would be too expensive have prevented«manymeduoetersnfirem
giving the medium serious consideration.

A second problem.of major inpontance to school admin;
istrators lies in the difficulty to pit telecasts into the
local schedules. Responses nade to the questionnaire and
verbal statements fren.many superintendents and principals
show'that even though statesents from educators who have
been successful in scheduling television into school pro;
grans have been widely circulated and even though-suggested
techniques have been publicised scheduling remains-as a
under problem for many schools. Hesitancy to change hard
won patterns night be having a negative impact here.

A problen of lesser concern is the dissimilarity be?
tween the content of the telecasts and that of the local
lessons being taught by teachers in the district.~ Many
educators are concerned that involvenent with television
will result in giving up local control and autonony. ¢8ome
would prefer to do without benefits inherent in television
use if it would require alteration in local lesson content..
Whine ‘

Bight administrative characteristics of school disc.
tricts were selected for analysis of their possible influence

188

upon the degree of television use in lichigan school_dis-
tricts: (1) quality expressed in tenant-Won
status of the district, (2) location expressed in terms of
urban versus rural situation, (3) size in terms of resident
pupil nembership, (4) nedian level of personal income earned
in the district, (5) ratio of the number of pupils per A
teacher, (6) the median nunber of years of school completed
by the adult population in the district, (7) effort expressed
in terms of the millage assessed by the district for the
support of education and (8) wealth expressed in terms of
State Equalized Valuation of property in the district.

fiize. Earlier studies have pointed out the influence
of size upon adoption of educational innovations. Size was
the only factor which interacted significantly with every.
other selected characteristic in this study. In the-way of
sunmarizing the pattern of its interrelationships it can be
said that there was a trend for larger school districts to
be wealthier, to be located in urban areas, and to be ;
accredited to a greater degree. The larger districtsgtended
to be those assessing a higher rate of tax nillage, having
a higher level of personal incone and a higher level of
educational attainsent with a lower ratio of pupils per
teacher.

A!§g1§h. this study has pointed out that cost was a
strong negative factor influencing television use. Operat;
ing funds of school districts are reallocated to new

189

activities only with great difficulty or when some expects;
tion of greater efficiency and econony exists. Therefore,
it must be renemhered that the element of actual operating
wealth from which television expendituresnwould:bemnade,

is different from total wealth of a school district-reprec
sented in state equalized valuation. Thero~wssrnoueignifi-
cant interaction between the factor of school district
wealth and the use of educational television inclichigan
schools. In fact the interaction of the characteristic of
wealth, defined with emphasis upon valuation, did not follow
strong patterns reported in earliereresearch, at least ;
where television use, personal incone and educational level
were concerned. (There was a strong interaction.between
wealth and the factors of size, effort, location, pupil
teacher ratio and quality.)

Zunilmlggghgn‘flgtig. The characteristic of-pupil
teacher ratio was generally disappointing as s nessnre of
behavior of the administrative unit. There was s nonsure
of significant interaction between this characteristic and
those of size snd‘wealth, the trend being towards a low
proportion of pupils per teacher in the large, weslthy~diso
tricts. There was no statistically significant relation-
ship between sny of the other characteristics and pupil
teacher ratio. Television use interacted significantly in
an inverse nanner, with schools having fewer pupils per

teacher using television to a greater extent. This would

190

tend to indicate that educational television in Michigan is
being used as an enrichnent technique and is not generally
serving to reduce the numbers of pupils per unit of staff.

mm. All of the characteristieeveeleeted-‘Iofor
analysis interacted significantly with the factor of telec
vision use except that of wealth, even though they did not
all interact with each other. In some cases the dependence
between the characteristics was very strong. A sumnary
statement of the direction of the interaction between use
of educational television and the selected characteristics
is given below in the order of intensity of interaction.

As a result of the statistical analysis undertaken in
this study it has been shown that there is s tendenchfor
school districts using television to be: (1) accredited
to a greater extend, (2) located in urban areas, (3) larger
in population of nembership pupils, (4) communities enjoying
a higher level of personslhinconeg (5) districts having"
fewer pupils per teacher, (6) areas in which the population
had cospleted a 1srger*nedian nunber of years of school,
and (7) connonities which supported their schools by means
of a higher nillage rate. The factor which interacted nost
strongly was that of quality in terms of accreditation
status. This is probably due to the fact that accreditation
itself represents a constellation of sdninistrative character-
istics. Urban location also interacted with great intensity

as did the accompanying characteristic of large size. The

191

factor of effort in terms of nillage was barely significant
in its dependence with the factor of television use.
Wises

It has become hppnrent during the course of this in;
vestigstion that one of the nest crucial contributing factors
to the acceptance of educational television in Michigan
school districts has been the ability of educatorsuto¢use
television in the classroom.ona low cost, trial.hasis. If
any recommendation can be made to television practitioners
concerning the stimulation of use of this teaching device,
it would be to plead foerrogranning'nethods which are so
flexible and generous as to sake it possible for anyone to
use the signals to profit. Ideally it.nh5u1d be possible
for new "customers" to obtain not only the telecast but also
the accompanying lessons and guides printed for the guidance
of the classroom teachers of nember schools. Though this
would increase the difficulty of elininating 'bootlegging'
of programs, this non-menbership participation would tend to
result in full affiliation in the long run and through knewb
ledge about the medium bring about sore rapid acceptance of
it in schools.

One of the weaknesses of educational television in the
state is its scope. Centrally located television personnel
are making the nsjor content decisions. But it is very
inportsnt for teachers to be able to react to their tele-

vision counterparts sbout the lesson content and procedure.

192

Because of distance and numbers of schools involved over a
wide geographic area this 1. usually impossible except, by
nail, which gives no assurance of action. Some neans'must
be devised whereby intercemnunication, feedback, is poss-
ible. Classroom.teachers should be involved inmtheuplan-
ning and evaluation of the content of the telecasts«uhere
possible. this night be done on the basis of district or
regional workshops scheduled regularly in which.loeal'
teachers could plan how‘best to use television inwtheir
classes. ‘

In order to elininate sons of the misgivings about the
content and scheduling of television prograns, it would be
profitable for school people to take a long, hardwleeficat
local curriculum in an attempt to arrive at.connenwgeals
for specific areas of learning. This would enhance tele-
vision planniug as well as curriculum develop-eat, and lake
the.nedium more immediately useful to the school districts.

A final observation resulting from the study concerns
the lack of knowledge about educational television pretalent
in the outlying districts which stand to gain the nost,pro-
fit from.its use. Adsinistrators interviewed plead lack of
size as a reason for not being concerned with broadcast
lessons. Others were unaware of the availability of educa-
tional telecasts in their area. Sons nerely indicated that
their board nembers would not be interested.

these kinds of responses, both in conversation and in,

193

the questionnaire point to the need for intensive dis-
semination of infornation about the nediun to populations
outside the imnediate influence of urban activity. Increased
knowledge about an innovation has been shoun to be a factor
which enhances adoption rates. This would be particularly
true of television which offers great benefitsmtomthemqaall
school system. Through its electronic abilitieswvast, new
resources can be tapped. A far wider range of inforndtien,
previously unobtainable skills and hunan abilities as well
as financial benefits can be nade available to the schools.
This knowledge nust be given to people in our rural areas.
It will have to be done by leaders in the field in a
deliberate attempt to achieve a wider understanding andLuse
of this valuable educational tool.

Some questions remain to be answered. As schools are
studied as social systems, the role of the school adminis-
trator requires penetrating ens-ination. The forces that
influence his decision naking need to be isolated andeunder-
stood.

In many respects the producers of television programs
for schools are running blind in that they nust sense the
values and goals of the schools they serve. Though very
difficult, it might be possible for educators in various
regions to assess the educational aspirations of their area
as a guide for internal as well as external-sources of in-

structional aid and content.

194

In explaining a higher degree of use of educational
television anong the large, progressive, urbannsehool
districts one night turn to an analysis of community
attitudes towards varieus indexes of progress. d curri-
culun analysis could be undertaken to ascertain uhether
newer approaches to teaching. language, science-on—néthe-
natics were being used. Or it night be possiblewtogfiind
out whether various kinds of technological inndhatieds
are being used in the adninistration of the school, its
physical plant, its library and instructional progress.
lany studies need to be made of the complex interwonk-
ings of the academic social system and its inpact upon
the thoughts and attitudes of the people in the community
being served.

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198

Ross, Donald R. ed. ‘ ‘
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Teachers College, Columbia University, 1951.

 

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mmmuwmw.
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to
A icultural Experiment Station Research Bulletin
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2.

3.

5.

APPENDIX
QUESTIOI‘IAIRE SENT TO ALL SCHOOL DISTRICTS 200

Has any evaluation of educational television, or consideration of any
use of broadcast television in your schools been made by your

Yes (explain if No (if your answer
administrative staff necessary) is no, skip to
teaching staff question 4)
members of Board
citizens in the community

 

 

Ill
Ill

was this evaluation, or consideration of use or non-use of ETV, made
on the basis of (check any that apply to your situation):

Casual opinion

Citizens Study Group

Review of professional literature
Administrative Study Team
Statements made by consultants
Research made by the Board
Opinions of educators in your area
Actual use of television programs
Teacher ETV Study Committee

Other (explain)

What were the findings of this evaluation?

Are you presently using any television broadcasts in the schools of
your district? Yes No

 

From what television stations are these broadcasts coming? If possible
indicate the call letters of the stations.

6.

7.

8.

9.

-2-

lave any broadcast television progress such as the orbital flights of
astronauts, sessions of the Constitutional Convention, documentaries,
public service programs, news casts etc. been used in your agoolg
during the school hours during the past year?

Res information brought to the public in magazine articles, programs,
newspaper statements and special bulletins increased the interest in
the possibilities of ETV in your district? Explain.

As a result of your evaluation or use of television in school, do you
visualize an increase ( ), no change ( ), or decrease ( ) in
your future involvement in educational television? Comment.

Do the personnel in your schools use other audio-visual devices for

instructional purposes? (Please check the spaces that apply)
Frequently Occasion- Seldom Never

ally

Motion picture projector

Slide and/or fihn strip projector

Overhead projector

Opaque projector

Teaching machines

Other devices such as:

 

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-3-

10. In your estimation what are the primary reasons for your 935 using
television for educational purposes at this time? (Please check any 0-
of the following that may apply to your situation end/or add a brief
description of other factors influencing your degree of use of instruce
tional television.)

Insufficient information about content and schedules
TV lessons do not readily blend into our curriculum

 

No influence over the content of TV lessons --
Lack of funds for receivers and other equipment

WW" I! d I TV

 

No budget provision for TV enrollment fees
Teaching staff Opposes the use of E'I‘V

Picture gualigy in our area is too poor to use
Community attitude opposes adoption of ETV

No Board policy about ETV has been formulated
Hg do no; 951; gnough slam“
Possible uses for ETV are too limited
Too expensive

Others;

 

 

11. Please indicate the three primary reasons among those you checked in
the above list by writing a l, 2, or 3 rank order of importance after
the pertinent items.

12. In your estimation what changes should be made in broadcast television
to make it more useful for you?

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