AN TNVESNGATTDN AND EVALUATION OF SPEECH EDUCATTDN TN PRESCHOOL AND EARLY ELEMENTARY PROGRAMS FOR THE DISADVANTAGED Thesis for the Degree of Ph. D. MECHTGAN STATE UNNERSTTY 'MTCHAEL VTNCENT DOYLE 1959 This is to certify that the thesis entitled AN INVESTIGATION AND EVALUATION OF SPEECH EDUCATION IN PRE—SCHOOL AND EARLY ELEMENTARY PROGRAMS FOR THE DISADVANTAGED presented by Michael Vincent Doyle has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Ph.D. degree in Speech and Theatre MajdLJJrofessor Date April 22, 1969 0-169 amhmc av ‘ in me 3. sm '6‘ am WM ~_. A . A! . . ABSTRACT AN INVESTIGATION AND EVALUATION OF SPEECH EDUCATION IN PRE-SCHOOL AND EARLY ELEMENTARY PROGRAMS FOR THE DISADVANTAGED by Michael Vincent Doer The purpose of this study was to investigate the pre-school and early elementary programs for the culturally disadvantaged. Using primarily Head-Start and Project Follow-Through, funded programs of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, this study focuses on speech and language arts improvement through the implementation of such programs. From the perspective of the social system, communication skills are a tool for achieving academic success. The culturally dis— advantaged child is defined in relation to the social class and generally lacks commication skills. Unable to relate to his peers, the culturally disadvantaged child cannot communicate with them, nor adopt their behavior patterns. Hence, he remains trapped by his in- ability to communicate. In compensatory pre-school and early elementary programs the scope of the varied programs is revealed in terms of quality, person— nel, finances, cost, academic emphasis, and parent participation. The programs document the need for intensive language arts training Michael Vincent Doyle for pre—school and early elementary Children. Verbal sophistication to meet the standards of our society is a primary objective of the programs. The programs documented in this study represent efforts in both large and small cities across the country. The study re— viewed.white, Negro, Spanish American, and Indian disadvantaged children. .A survey of 11” textbook companies was conducted to determine the availability of books and resource materials in three cate- gories: language arts materials for the teadher and administrator, language arts materials fbr the student, and general language arts sources. It appears that in their sources publishers focus upon oral language development--speaking, listening, and vocabulary. Further, it seems that the materials for the culturally disadvantaged language classes are sufficiently flexible am) that they can be used separately or in units combining language and speedh. The Bereiter—Engelmann structured language program whiCh is thoroughly reviewed in this study, was tested in a full year Head- Start program in Grand Rapids, Michigan, sChools. Preliminary statistical data, cited in this study, help to provide guidelines for educators to consider a national restructuring of pre-school compensatory programs. Major recommendations of this study document the need for in- service training programs in speedh education and language arts pro- grams for certified teachers, as well as the need for parent MiChael Vincent Doyle involvement in language arts in compensatory education. Resource centers for information concerning the culturally disadvantaged should be located in all fifty states. Finally, the speech educator should become involved in all phases of education involving the dis- advantaged, including developing materials for classroom use and directing research in speech and language arts programs. ‘I Accepted by the faculty of the Department of Speedh and Theatre, College of Communication Arts, Michigan State University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree . @11‘fiifvf/ KT Director of Thesst Guidance Committee: AN INVESTIGATION AND EVALUATION OF SPEECH EDUCATION IN PRE-SCHOOL.AND EARLY ELEMENTARY PROGRAMS FOR THE DISADVANTAGED By MiChael Vincent Doyle .A THESIS Submitted to Midhigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements fOr the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Speech and Theatre 1969 557.262, fine-47 © Copyright by : Michael Vincent Doyle 1969 ACKNOWLEDGMENT S During the course of my undergraduate and graduate program at Michigan State University there are many who have willingly given advice and aid to whom I will always be indebted. I express my sincerest appreciation to my doctoral committee. Dr. Gordon Thomas , Chairman and adviser for both my undergraduate and graduate studies; Dr. Jack Bain, Dean of the College of Communication Arts; Dr. David Ralph, Professor of Coxmmmication, and Dr. Kenneth Harding, Assistant Professor of Education. Also, I would like to thank Dr. Fred Alexander and Dr. Kenneth Hance of the former Speech and Theatre Department. I wish to admowledge Mrs . Lucille Thomas , Instructor in English, Grand Rapids Junior College for her superb job of helping me to edit the rough drafts of the thesis and Mrs. Ruth Langenbacher for typing the final draft of the thesis. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my debt to my parents Mr. and Mrs . Vincent Doyle for their unwavering loyalty to me though- out my academic pursuits. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii LIST OF APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii Chapter I INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the Problem . 1 Limitations of the Study . u Plan of the Study 5 Definition of Terms . 6 Culturally Disadvantaged 6 Compensatory Education . 6 Head-Start . . . 6 Follow-Through . 7 Bereiter—Engelmann Structured Language Program. . . 7 II DEFINING THE CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED . . . . 9 Toward a Theory of "Adjustment" . . . . 16 The Role of Speech in Academic Adjustment . . . . . . . . 21 The Role of Speech in Social Adjustment . . . . . . 23 The Role of Speech in Emotional Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 iii Table of Contents (contd) Chapter Page III COMPENSATORY PROGRAMS FOR THE CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Review of Selected Compensatory Programs . . . . . . . 36 Greater Cities Project--Washington D. C. . . . . . 36 Ford Foundation Projects in Bilingual Education--Dade County, Florida . . . . . . . H2 Speech Improvement Project-— Philadelphia . . . . . H7 Primary Education Proj ect-- Pittsburgh . . . . . #9 The New Nursery School Project-— Greeley, Colorado . . . . . . Sl Bilingual Readiness Project-- Hunter College, New York City . . . 56 Listening Skills--U.C.L.A., Los Angeles . . . . . . . . . . 61 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 IV BOOKS AND RESOURCE MATERIALS FOR TEACHING SPEECH AND LANGUAGE . . . . . . . . . 67 Books and Resource Materials for Teachers and Administrators of Speech and Language Arts . . . . . 68 Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) . . . . . 68 Educational Resource Information Center, Yeshiva University . . . 69 Promising Practices from the Projects for the Culturally Deprived (Great Cites Project) . . 7O Culturally Disadvantaged: A Bibliography and Keyword-Out- Of Context Index . . . . . . 71 The Bobbs-Merrill Series . . . . . 72 iv Table of Contents - Chapter IV (contd) Chapter V Page Bulletins fOr the Association for Childhood Education International . . . . . . . 73 Education Improvement for the Disadvantaged in an Elementary Setting . . . . . 73 English as a Second Language: A Comprehensive Bibliography. . . . 7H Language Programs for the Disadvantaged . . . . . . . . 7H Educational Testing Services . . . . 75 Science Research Associates (SRA) . . 80 Books and Resource Materials for Students of Speech and Language Arts . . . . 82 The Macmillan Company-—Bank Street Materials . . . . . 82 Scott Foresman Company--Open Highways Program . . . 81+ Follett Company--Great Cities School Improvement PrograMI . . . . 86 Harcourt Brace and world Company-- Language For Daily Use . . . 88 Houghton Mifflin Company--English For Meaning . . . . . . 89 Noble and Noble Company-~Try . . 9O Random.House Company--Sights and Sounds . . . . . 91 Audio-Visual Materials . . . . . . . 9n Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 AN ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF.A STRUCTURED APPROACH TO SPEECH AND LANGUAGE TEACHING IN PROJECT HEAD-START . . . . . . . . . 96 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . 96 Table of Contents - Chapter V (contd) Chapter Page Project Head—Start . . . . . . . 103 Procedure: The Grand Rapids Project . . . 106 Badkground . . . . . . . . . . 106 Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Basic Design . . . . . . . . . . 107 Testing . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Test Results . . . . . . . . . . 109 Curriculum . . . . . . . . . 112 Preliminary Findings . . . . . . . 11H Conclusion . . . . . . . . . 115 VI CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . 119 Further Research . . . . 120 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . 136 vi Table LIST OF TABLES Page Difference in IQ among experimental and control groups. 110 Differences on ITPA sub-tests among experimental and control groups. 110 vii LIST OF APPENDICIES Appendix Page A BRIEF OUTLINE FOR THE BEREITER-ENGLEMANN LANGUAGE PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem Like the weather, it is difficult to forecast the new kinds of communication that children of the twenty—first century will use. Already the world is very small. No nation can afford to have a large segment of population untrained in communication skills. Listening and speaking will probably remain the most frequently used means of ccnmunication. The articulate interchange of recorded ideas will demand higher levels of proficiency in reading and writing. The child disadvantaged in the language arts cannot cope with the world of the twentieth century, much less the one in which he will live as an adult. The disadvantaged child is one who is poverty striken. Today poverty is the main domestic problem in the United States. There— fore it should be the main task of the school to identify the child's problems to redefine those goals related to the educational needs, and to provide a balanced program.through which he can become an effective participating member of the community. Fbr a long time culturally deprived children have been described as antagonistic toward school and disinterested in learning. Recent writers have suggested that the apparent rejection of school and edu- cation is probably due to cultural differences and divergent points of View, which children acquire in their families and in their ethnic groups. 1 .L. 2 In the confusion of trying to reconcile diverse values, such children may appear hostile and indifferent toward school. They may challenge authority in unexpected ways. With minority groups, language sometimes becomes a weapon to exclude outsiders from invading their privacy. Wherever there is a congregation of people isolated for one reason or another from the main culture, language seems to become a wall for the preservation of dignity and self. The audible manifestation of language is speech. Because the children with whom.we are concerned represent a variety of populations, they produce a variety of different sounds when they speak: the Spanish of the Puerto Rican, and MexicaneAmerican children, the tribal languages of the American Indian children, and the dialects of the urban slums, brought in by the Negroes and whites from the southern and mountain states. Diversity of spoken sounds does not always re- flect a corresponding diversity of underlying language behavior or language structure, and what little we know about the verbal behavior of these populations suggests that many of their problems may well be similar. In our society, where the ability to communicate sentiments, thoughts, and characteristics through the verbal symbols of "standard speech" is one of the attributes of the educated man, to be inarticulate in English sometimes means to be unequal. It appears that some in- equality exsists for many disadvantaged children. A number of studies have compared the language of disadvantaged children with some of their more advantaged peers on such speech measures as sentence length, and 3 size of vocabulary, or on tasks of verbal comprehension. Such studies have consistently indicated the exsistence of a quantitative deficiency among the disadvantaged. On the whole, however, such studies would seem to indicate that low social status actually does not have a quan— titatively depressing effect on certain forms of language production. Adthough these Children know conventional names for fewer things whether objects or actions, and although they have a more restricted vocabulary and produce simpler sentences, language is more than sheer quantity and language behavior consists of far more than countable audible items. There have been some studies which examine various physical, social and psychological aspects of lower class home life for their possible effect on the verbal development, the overall intellectual develOpment, or the life style of the children involved. Considerable attention has been paid to the notion that a particular language style may reflect a particular attitude toward.social relationships or a class-defined authority structure at home. Some evidence exists to show that in.many lower-class homes there is less opportunity for adult-child verbal interaction than there is in the typical middle—class home. .Although it is often assumed, or at least hoped, that in some cases the disadvantaged child is getting a significant amount of "compensatory" language experience in school. This assumption may not be true in the regular classroom.where there is less verbal interaction between teacher and the disadvantaged pupil than night be expected. u Even without the school's intervention, however, language does exsist among these children. All too frequently, attempts to improve the verbal performance of these children have assumed a starting point of zero. These children are supposed to be "non-verbal," and therefore we must give them.language. The fact is that every mentally and phy— sically intact child grows up to be a speaker. While we may question the adequacy of his verbal range or flexibility, he learns to say things which, to him, seem important. .Although his language allows him.to communicate within his home environment, it is, nevertheless, inadequate fOr progress in school. Clearly, if the language forms of the disadvantaged are devel— oped to his environmental level and are inadequate to the abstract con- cepts of science, philosophy, and other complex intellectual disciplines, we have no choice but to intensify our efforts at language modification and substitution in.p0pulations which suffer this disadvantage. In view of this need, the purpose of this study is to identify some of the present compensatory programs and resources designed to meet the needs of the pre-school and early elementary disadvantaged child. An evalua— tion and sunnary of a structured approach to teaching language and speedh will be documented. Finally, conclusions will focus on recom— mendations and the need fOr further research in oral language develOpment for the disadvantaged child. Limitations of the Study Because the most extensive research regarding language and speech improvement has been done with pre-school and early elementary children, 5 this study is limited to programs fOr the culturally disadvantaged at these levels. Head—Start and Follow-Through government funded programs will be the primary sources used as examples of existing programs. Books and resource materials reviewed for this study include only those sources specifically designed for the compensatory education programs. The evaluation of the structured language program.uses the Bereiter— Engelmann approach to teaching disadvantaged children. Schools which have used the Bereiter-Engelnann.language program have provided the statistical data and analysis for this study. Plan of the Study The second chapter of the study will determine the background of the culturally disadvantaged child and relate the Child to the school setting. The role of speech.will be classified according to three areas of adjustment:‘ academic, social, emotional. Chapter III, which cut— lines ccmpensatory programs for the disadvantaged, discusses and de- scribes in detail seven programs. Chapter IV reviews books and resource material for the disadvantaged and classifies successful sources for administrators and teachers, and for classroom use. Chapter V evaluates the Bereiter-Engelmann structured language program.in comparison to the traditional method of early language learning. The final chapter of the study presents conclusions and recommendations. 6 Definition of Terms Culturally Disadvantaged "The term 'culturally deprived' refers to those aspects of middle class culture such as education, books, fonnal language, from which these groups have not benefited."l This term applies to those children who lack the opportunities and advantages available to the majority of American children and who are, therefore, in most instances unable to make satisfactory progress in a typical classroom setting. Compensatory Education Compensatory education is a term, coined by President John Fischer of Columbia University, to describe the efforts to improve educational opportunities and eliminate deficiencies that some pupils tring to the classroom. These programs are as varied as the needs of the children they serve. Compensatory education implies that schools shall provide necessary stimuli to make up for differences in pupils' experiences and opportunities. Head-Start Head-Start is an antipoverty pre—school program.designed to prepare disadvantaged children for successtl entrance into school. It has six major divisions: education, health services, social services, psychological testing, nutrition, and a parent participation program, lFrank Riessman, The Culturally Deprived Child (New York: Harper and Row, 1962), p. 3. 7 The educational aspects of the program help children not only to develop vocabulary and verbal skills in order to become familiar with school routines, but also to develop the desire to learn. The program stresses cultural enrichment . Follow—Through Follow—Through is intended to provide comprehensive services to facilitate the total development of disadvantaged children of primary school age--and particularly those children who have previously been enrolled in a full—year Head-Start program. Program approaches in Follow—Through may focus on different aspects of the toal program or on the procedures by which the program will be introduced into the community. In each case, however, the special program emphasis or variation will take place within the context of a more comprehensive program of educational , health, nutritional , social service , psycho- logical, and training activities for Follow—Through children, parents , and staff . Bereiter-Engelmann Structured language Program The Bereiter—Engelmann approach to language in the learning situation is that language is a self-consistent representation of reality that deals in true and false statements. There is no way of teaching basic concepts without presenting examples of the concepts . Consequently, the language of the teaching situation is primarily a- language that is cons is tent with the show-and-tell presentations . This language consists of two basic statement forms: "This is a B" 8 and "This B_is C," The first of these is the identity statement. The second statement introduces a.modifying concept that is compatible with B: These two statements are capable of processing all of the basic concepts as the program.progresses to more complicated verbal tasks. CHAPTER II DEFINING THE CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED In any attempt to define "cultural alienation" it is necessary to consider the concept of "culture." Culture has at least two kinds of meanings. The first of these is the broadest, where "culture" re- fers to the established pattern of norms and values of some majority group. Thus, those Who are "culturally alienated" are alien to (fOreign, outside of) the mainstream of their cultural milieu and, by definition, are minority group members-~sometimes in the more accepted use of £113.13 term too, but not always .1 In the second sense "culture" relates to things such as art, music, drama, and other such "cultural" trappings. These kinds of advantages are usually either unavailable‘UI30r unappreciated by the "culturally alienated." From this perspective, and at a very common sense level, cultural alienation is linked to "economic disadvantage."2 Economic disadvantage, is not nearly as serious a problem.as cultural alienation, which can be measured in dollars and cents. The only real concern here is to avoid any kind of rigid classification into specific states of deprivation. Each empirical instance must be measured in lNathan Gould, "Cultural Perspectives on the Education of the Poor," Perspectives in_the Education of Disadvantaged Children, ed., Milly Cowles (New York: World Publishl'n’g Co., 1967), p. 33. 2Ibid., pp. 3u—36. 10 comparative terms. Thus, the culturally alienated and/or economically disadvantaged child is delineated in comparative status terms. In comparison to others with whom the child must interact in the school situation (and, eventually, the larger social system) he falls at the bottom of any scale of those who have the knowledge, prior training, finances, and social skills to approximate the ideal values of the group. The phrase "approximate the ideal" suggests that no group of human beings lives up to the ideals that they espouse in full measure. However, every group does develop norms of behavior which specify more or less clearly the boundaries of acceptable divergence-and it is this norm.that the cul- turally disadvantaged must learn, if he is to be accepted. The concept of social "class" has played a large part in the history of social scientific concern in this area. Social "class" is probably the most misused and abhorred sociological cliche. It is, at best, a vague concept virtually devoid of definable parameters and, at its worst, a rigid stereotype which.does great injustice to the individ- uals pigeonholded within "class" categories. Nevertheless, it is equally apparent to the social scientist, the school administrator, or any other interested observer of the world around hinu that economic, educational, ethnic, and other differences do exist among men. These differences, furthermore, may be recognized as crucial variables in understanding the dynamics of many social situations. Social scientists may not agree on the precise meaning of social "class" or how it is best measured, but there is general agreement that sub—group differences will account fOr some of the variation in human behavior. At least four sociological ll classics have dealt with the relationship between social stratification and education. Major studies by the Lynds (1929), warner (1999), David (1998), and Hollingshead (1999) have been widely read and have had a major impact on critical thinking about education. From their study the Lynds drew two major conclusions: (1) all Middletown parents, regardless of social class level, recognize the value of education of their children, and (2) lower class children are penalized within the school system.since they do not come to school equipped with the verbal symbols, attitudes, and behavior characteristics valued by the dominant middle class group.3 Warner's conclusions were similar: (1) for all but the upper class in the community, the sChool may serve as the means to upward social mobility, by teaching skills essential for occupational advancement and the rewarded middle class values and attitudes, but (2) the child.from.the lower socioeconomic groups is penalized in the social life of the sChool because he does not conform.to the school's middle class standards and expectations.u David, in the 1998 Inglis Lecture delivered at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, briefly summarized warner's data on middle class and lower class subcultures and argued for the need to consider class influence upon children's learning- He argued that the schools cur— rently existing had a built-in bias in curriculum, teaChing methods, 3Robert s. Lynd and Helen M. Lynd, Middletown: .3 Study _in American Culture (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1929), p. 1. ”William L. Warner, Robert J. Havinghurst, and Martin B. Loeb, Who Shall Be_Educated (New.York: Harper and Brothers, 1999), p. 30. l2 and intelligence tests based on linguistic aptitudes which favored the Iniddle class child—-and worked to the detriment of the lower class child.5 Hollingshead also concluded that opportunities for attaining desired rewards varied positively with the Child's position on the social "class" ladder.6 MuCh criticism.can be (and has been) leveled at these studies for generalizing from relatively small communities to all of American society; and for the failure of their data fully to support the hy— pothesis that variations in sChool drop-out rates, curriculum selec— tion, sociometric friendship patterns, participation in extracurricular activities, achievement levels are wholly determined by social class position or unjust school policies which literally barricade the road to advancement for the lower class Child. Among many others, Charters (1953) and Hernandes (1963), writing a decade apart indicate that the subject of social class and education is still very much alive—~but the emphasis has changed. Charters questions the assumption that all individuals internalize, to the same degree, the values of "their" social class. He notes that the impact of social class may be profoundly altered by experience with other class groups and shifts in reference group identification. Implicit in Charters' arguments is the belief that the personality is a growing, changing plastic system that is Open to modification throughout life by changing social influences 5Allison David, Social Class Influences Upon Learning (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998), p. 68. 6August Hollingshead, Elmtown's Youth (New York: J. Wiley and Sons, 1999), p. 7. l3 and experiences. Charters also criticizes the "one factor" method of analysis which concentrates on the influence of a single variable such as social class.7 Hernandes bluntly proclaims that the concept of social class is being misused in the field of education and points to the dangers of pursuing social class as a fixed determinate of individual values. He concludes that "individual behavior cannot be predicted from socioeconomic status."8 One element common to the descriptions of "class" differences we have noted is the theme of deviance from some norm taken as a standard. "Deviation" has come to be a heavily value—laden term.connoting a general "badness," which may or may not be accurate. Deviance literally means different from some standard. Whether or not this is "bad" is a matter of judgment. Some kinds of deviance are obviously "bad" in that they would be so defined by agreement of all the members of a social system, Other kinds of deviances are consensually "good." Most kinds of deviance have no such clearly consensual definition as good or bad, and "bad fer whom or what?" becomes the central question. When they are defined as deviants it is explicitly assumed that such deviance is, for those individuals, "bad." That it is, in fact, bad for them becomes an empirical rather than a purely judgmental question when the goals are specified. In this case the initial goal of any individual in the school setting is twofold in that it involves some degree of personally 7werrett W. Charters, "Social Class Analysis and Control of Public Education," Harvard Educational Review, XXIII (Fall, 1953), pp. 1—6. 8David E. Hernandes, "Is the Concept of Social Class Being Misused in Education," Journal 9f_Educational Sociology, Vol. 36 (1963), pp. 332—339. 19 defined success in: (1) educational achievement, and (2) social ac— ceptance. Thus, any deviation from the accepted means of aChieving these goals within the group is bad, or, if you prefer, disfunctional. A second element which recurs in.almost all of the literature is that of the culturally alienated Child's typical problems centered in a lack of communication skills. Here may lie the key to both defining and understanding the culturally disadvantaged. To condemn as inad- equate any rigid definition in terms of social "class" does not imply that there is no typical pattern to be found in the background of cul- turally disadvantaged. The majority of the culturally alienated have an all too typical background! In general, the culturally alienated and economically disadvantaged youngsters come into the schools inad— equately prepared for the established programs of the educational system. They come from families in WhiCh the educational background of the parents is poor; the father (if there is one in the home) is often either chronically unemployed or works at an unskilled job; often the mother is employed outside the home in some relatively menial position; families tend to be large, highly mobile, and they are often minority _ group members. These children come from homes deprived of those cul- tural experiences which in other homes give children appropriate back- grounds for the typical school program, But it is possible to be even more specific in defining the cul- turally disadvantaged. Dr. Newton, the director of the Reading Skill Clinic at North Carolina College at Durham, points out that the founda— tion for the child's verbal development is laid subtly but inexorably 15 in (a) the general cultural level of his home, (b) his parents' language patterns, (c) language patterns of his peers, (d) level of culture in his community, and (e) educational resources available to him in school and outside of school.9 .Thus, the standard English usage of teachers, text- books, and more advantaged peers is virtually an alien tongue to the culturally disadvantaged. If the Child grows up in an environment which does not afford both breadth and depth of educationally stimulating activities, he will lack the background concepts with which to relate verbal symbols. .Newton catalogues the socioeconomic status, personal characteristics, and language patterns typical of "verbally destitute" children and in so doing supplies the specifics of defining a child as culturally disadvantaged: 1. He is usually a member of a family in which there is less than two full generations of literacy. 2. He is often the product of a small, sub—standard public school system located in communities barren of cultural opportunities; or of large, over-crowded outmoded public schools in ghetto—like urban areas. 3. Frequently, he is a racial or cultural minority group member and/or resides in a geographically isolated area. 9. During his formative years he communicated customarily through non-standard English, characterized by: (a) casual observance of standard inflections, (b) simple, monosyllabic words, (c) frequently mispronounced and uncorrected words, (d) rare use of descriptive or qualifying terms, and (e) simple sentences or sentence fragmentation in both oral and written expression. 9Eunice Newton, "The Culturally Disadvantaged Child in Our Verbal Schools," Journal'gpregro Education, Vol. 31 (Spring, 1962), p. 27. 16 5. He usually performs two or more years below grade expectancy on verbal tests, but frequently demon— strates adequate scholastic potential on non-verbal tests. 6. He is discenchanted with all types of book—centered learning which he displays through aggressive, defen- sive, or indifferent attitudes in the classroom. Toward a Theory of “Adjustment" To define adjustment to the school situation there must be a twofold criterion, analogous to the twofold goal of the child assumed earlier. In the first sense, failure to adjust to demands for scho- lastic achievement centers in the restricted background of the culturally alienated and economically disadvantaged child. The cul— turally disadvantaged will have difficulty when he is confronted with a formal communication—oriented curriculum, which.assumes that he has certain verbal skills and a fairly sophisticated awareness of the world beyond his immediate neighborhood. Our schools operate, fer the most part in terms of norms Which specify that the "good" student is not only expected to be capable in learning academic materials, but he is supposed to possess already a variety of social skills and attributes. Within the first.few years of his formal educational training, the cul- turally disadvantaged, unless he is exceptionally bright or there is a concentrated effort on the part of the educational system to broaden his experiences, will fail to adjust academically. (It is assumed that the culturally disadvantaged have, for all practical purposes, both the lOIbid., p. 29. 17 physical and intellectual capacities which are needed for social integration and scholastic achievement.) Unfortunately, however, the culturally disadvantaged child is the one who is most likely to ex- perience the lack of adequate support from teachers——and usually from his parents as well. The second criterion of adjustment relates to the goal of social acceptance among peers. Homans, among many others, notes that individuals interact more frequently when they share a common social fairground. When people from diverse backgrounds are forced into physical proximity from.Which they cannot withdraw--in this case, a schoolroome—only formal or problem.solving activity takes place. On the other hand, when similarly oriented people work together, general interaction occurs.11 At least two recent major works.have been aimed at a contem— porary overview of the culturally disadvantaged. Each of these emphasizes the significance of communication—oriented behavior. Riessman (1962), describes the general characteristics of disadvan- taged children in the school situation and seeks to present specific remedial approaches based on general principles derived from current knowledge. He claims that, in 1960, one in three Children in the fourteen largest cities of.the United States were "culturally de- prived," and that the number is growing. (He does not discuss those children who live in geographically isolated areas, e.g., dying fann 11C. C. Homans,.The Human Group (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1950), pp. 19-16. w‘ uv n 1“ '7‘ 1. 1 ll. 18 or mining communities, which might be assumed to add to the total.) He notes that the "culturally deprived" are ambivalent toward educa— tion. - They value "education" but are often antagonistic toward teachers and schools . The basis of this ambivalence is proposed to be a strong positive attitude toward vocational training. He also notes in the manner of counselors and teachers a "discrimination without prejudice." , (President Mary Bunting of ‘ Radcliffe has termed such people "the hidden .dissuaders." Riessman points out that the culture of the "underprivileged" typically values strongly masculine orientation and that the school is seen as essentially feminine in orientation .. Furthermore , the culturally deprived family tends to discourage the individualism and self—concern that contributes to the more advantaged.child's "know—how."12 Riessman's major point concerns the culturally deprived child's "Archilles' heel" of inepmess .in communication skills. This lack of skills Shows up in intelligence testing and in an unfamiliarity with formal language which is too often translated into a designation as "slow learner." Such children are presumed to have difficulty in concep- qualizing and are often placed in "special" classes (which frequently CELr‘ries with it the stigma of poorness) ‘or are passed over and ignored. R'iessman notes , however, that the culturally deprived child, usually Possesses a well developed symbolic communication system, but this System fails to correlate highly with the system he is expected to \— 12Frank Riessman, The Culturally Deprived Child (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1962), p. 10. 19 employ at school.13 Riessman's global classification system unfortu- nately can be applied to almost anyone who is not "middle class" and allows for some sweeping generalizations which simply are not true of all culturally disadvantaged. He has been criticized for his lack of a consistent educational theory or any overall conceptual framework with which to unite his "diagnosis" to his prOposals for "treatment." While his work may be an over-simplification of the problem and he may fail to differentiate adequately between groups, he does offer a significant insight into the problem of communication skills. Passow (1963) edited a compendium.of contemporary research and theory bearing on the problems of the culturally disadvantaged. His volume contains articles relating to five different, though inter- related aspects: (1) schools in depressed areas, (2) psychological aspects of education in depressed areas, (3) sociological aspects of education in depressed areas, and (9) teachers for depressed areas, and (5) school programs in depressed areas. Deutsch (1963) has con- tributed an article to this volume which emphasizes the interaction of social and developmental factors which have an impact on the intel— lectual growth and school performance of the culturally disadvantaged. Deutsch offers the theoretical framework that Riessman failed to supply. His thesis is that the disadvantaged child enters the school situation so poorly prepared to produce what the school demands that initial failures are almost inevitable. The culturally dis- 13Ibid., p. 79. 20 advantaged is seen to have a qualitatively different preparation for arising from stimulus deprivation (in terms of Piaget's developmental theories). Stimulus deprivation does not necessarily imply a restric— tion on quantity but, rather, a restriction in quality and variety. The culturally disadvantaged has access only to a limited segment of the spectrum of stimulation potentially available and the segments that have been made available to him tend to have poorer and less systematic ordering of stimulation.sequences,.and therebprrove less useful to the growth and activation of cognitive potential. (This does not, necessarily, limit eventual cognitive capacity, but implies problems of academic adjustment that demand special help.) Deutsch postulates that the culturally disadvantaged home is not verbally oriented, which implies a.restriction on.the Opportunity.for the de- velopment of auditory discrimination skills.l” 1He contends that the community, family, and school share the blame.but the school, as the institutionalized receptacle for the purveyor of social values must accept the major responsibility for correcting the situation. The school must be willing to engage in productive experimentation and innovation. The role of communication skill is seen as crucial to adjust- ment. Communication, particularly "interpersonal" communication, is the life-blood of interaction. From the perspective of the social 1” . Harry Passow .(ed.), Education i§_the Depressed Areas (New YOrk: Columbia University Teachers College, Bureau of Publica— tion, 1963), p. 163—179. 21 system symbols appear as instituionalized patterns in the form of language and shared value and belief systems. The.Role of Speech in Academic Adjustment From the perspective of the social system, symbols emerge as institutionalized patterns in the form of language. . The learning of language skills, then, is one of the.mcst important areas of educa- tional achievement for any school child, and especially so for the culturally alienated Child Whose verbal skills are apt to be severely delimited. However, the very lack of facility with the manipulation of symbols may strongly influence sCholastic achievement and trap the child in a vicious circle. The youngster who comes from an impoverished background is no less eager to learn and to discover than are other children regardless of their backgrounds. However, despite initial motivation and desires, the culturally disadvantaged will be the first to experience a dis— enchantment with our schools as he falls behind his peers who come from.more advantaged backgrounds. Malpass-C1953).fOund.significant correlations between 92 disadvantaged 8th grade pupils' perception of the school situation (on a five point scale from positive to negative) and their‘mean semester grades. He concluded that there is a positive relationship between the attitudes revealed by the culturally dis— advantaged toward school situations and their academic success. As achievement is retarded and he encounters failures and dis- appointments, the culturally disadvantaged will experience a change in his self-concept. He will become convinced that he can do no better 22 and that he is destined to fail in whatever’he attempts. Fink (1962) investigated the relationship between self-concept and academic achieve- ment among elementary school pupils. He hypothesized that an adequate self—concept (as defined by independent analysis of the data by three psychologists) is related to high academic achievement and that, con— versely, an inadequate self-concept is related to low achievements.15 One particular interest is the area of underachievement. Curry (1962) fOund that the socioeconomically disadvantaged child was par— ticularly prone to failume to achieve in the area of language skills. In his investigation of 360 randomly selected sixth grade pupils, Curry found that, as intellectual ability decreases, the effect of social and economic background conditions on scholastic adhievement increases greatly, and effect is most severely felt on the learning of language. Among conclusions, he notes: 1. Socioeconomic status seems to have no effect upon the scholastic aChievement of sixth-grade students when the students have high intellectual ability. High intellectual ability offsets any deficiency which may be created by lower social and economic conditions. (In other words, it is possible to overcome an initial lack of verbal facility and learn to take tests well!) 2. Social and economic factors have a significant effect upon language achievement in the medium intellectual ability group. The upper and.midd1e socioeconomic status groups both achieve a greater amount than the lower socioeconomic group. Likewise, in total achieve- ment, the upper socioeconomic group achieves a greater amount than the lower socioeconcmic group . 3. In the low intellectual ability group, social and economic factors have an effect on achievement in reading, language, and total achievement . . . . In lan— guage especially the upper socioeconcmic status group 15Martin B. Fink, "Self—Concept as it Relates to Academic Under— adhievement," California Journal of Education ResearCh, Vol. 13 (1962), pp. 57—62. 23 achieves more than the middle and lower socioeconomic status groups. .Also, in total achievement, the dif- ferences were statistically significant between the upper and lower, and middle and lower socioeconomic groups. Unless the culturally disadvantaged child is highly intelligent, he will find himself caught in a circle (or, more usually a downward spiral) from.which there is little hope of escape. His initial lack of verbal facility works to his disadvantage in sCholastic achievement efforts; lack of achievement may, over time, negatively affect his self— concept; a low self—concept is related to continued lack of achievement; and, for the lower socioeconomic child especially, this lack of achieve- ment is felt primarily in the area of language skills. Thus, the cul- turally disadvantaged is indeed apt to be left out in the dimension of academic adjustment to the school situation. The Role of SpeeCh in Social.Adjustment One critical dimension for the study of social adjustment among school children is the importance of the peer group. That the peer group is the most common reference group for school age youngsters is a well documented fact. Only one study will be cited here fOr illustra— tive purposes, and it was chosen because it deals with pre-adolescent youth. Sutton (1962) conducted a study among 90 fifth grade Children using the Syracuse Scale of Social Relations, supplemented by socializ- ing records kept by teachers. His results show that children tend to select their peers as sources of help (fOr both social and academic 16Robert L. Curry, "The Effect of Socio-Economic Status on The Scholastic Achievement of 6th Grade Children--Part I," British Journal gf_Educational Psychology, Vol. 32 (1962), pp. 96—99. 2H achievement goals) more frequently than either teacher or family. Another critical dimension, very much related to peer group influence , is that of interpersonal ccummication among individuals in the same behavior field. McClosky and Schaar (1965) point out the importance of comrmmication: One does not learn values and norms in precisely the way one learns facts: one is "socialized" into them through numerous interactions—~living , working, and talking to others-«repeated over time and in a variety of con- texts. . . . Opinions and values have a considerable effect on the way he is received by a community or group . . . Partical acceptance of the rules will get one into the club; once inside, the process of indoctrination and absorption can be carried much farther. . . . On the other hand, per- sons who fail to learn the dominant values of a group, or who hold beliefs and opinions not widely shared, are not likely to be well received by group members. This in turn reduces communication and makes socialization into the group even more difficult. A deviant lacks the intimate, vital experience of participation which is essential to full appreciation of the group '8 norms and values . His knowledge of these norms may be abstract and 'theoretical,‘ insensitive to subtle shadings of mood and meaning a caricature rather than an accurate portrait . 7 The culturally disadvantaged's deviance, and consequent rejection by the group, (in a situation such as that of the school where he cannot physically withdraw) may make him anxious. Parsons (1951) notes that insecurity in social relationships , and inadequacy in achievement oriented performance are the primary reasons for anxiety. In an environ- ment where the value-pattern itself places a special emphasis on achieve- ment as such (as in the school) the problem is accentuated. That anxiety has a crippling effect on the cognitive process is not only established in numerous experiments but is apparent as well from everyday observation. 17H. McClosky and J. H. Schaar, "Psychological Dimensions of Anomy," American Sociological Review, Vol. 30 (1965) pp. 21—22. 25 Intense anxiety sometimes leads its victims to withdraw from reality, or at least to retreat from contacts with the outside. Obviously, this reduces the possibility for communication Which leads to socialization and learning. Kitano's (1962) research findings indicate that, in specific situations Where role expectations are clear, where there is concensus, and where role expectations are readily enforceable (suCh as in the formalized structure of the sChoolroom) there is a relatively high degree of adjustment on the part of all_Chi1dren. However, if we generalize what we have seen of anxiety reactions to learning, we con— clude that the culturally disadvantaged is more apt to be anxious and this anxiety presents yet another barrier to his ability to achieve his social goal of learning the norms of his more advanced peers by focusing his attention more directly on his aChievement goal and leaving little room for incidental learning of social skills. Tuddenham (1952) points out that "the influence of other children constitutes a major component.of the social milieu to which the Child must adapt." He assumes that a Child's reputation with_his peers is of central importance.in assessing his social adjustment to_ his peers. Roles are learned through interaction with others. As a part of this learning process the Child acquires expectations of how others in.the group will behave, he learns to predict what others ex— pect of him, and how they will react to him, Bandura and Huston (1961) have noted the influence of peers on role learning. They hypothesized that identification (with reference person or group) is a process of 26 incidental.learning.and.subjects will more readily adept the behavior of individuals with Whom.they.identify.'.In.their experiment a reward was hidden in one of two boxes in'a playroom. The subject child was allowed to observe the behavior of a "role model" through a one-way mirror. He was then allowed to go into the playroom with -the role model. In some cases, the model was friendly; in others, he was one with mom the subject could not identify. . Bandura and Huston found that children conformed to the behavior of a friendly model in several task situations, including verbal tasks,.but they conformed to the behavior of the."cold model" only in aggressive behavior. Since inter— action leads to.assimilation of roles,.and friendly, rewarding situa- tions produce more interaction, it follows that friendly accepting situations would stimulate role learning. Field (1961), in a thesis concerned with the relationship of communication variables to the process of social interaction among freshmen women college students, found that the nature of the inter- personal relationships fermed tended to fit into a plausible pattern ci’crnnunication‘and interaction. It was hypothesized that the values which individuals hold are important in determining the success of communication and thus, the subjects preferences are initially based on simple indices of value agreement interpersonal relationships would disintegrate.' By.comparing sociometric choice ratings over an eight month period, Field feund strong support fer both hypotheses. Ckmnmss"(l962) study yielded nearly identical results among second grade sChool children who scored in the tOp and bottom quarters in sociometric ranking among peers. She found strong positive 27 relationships to exist between social status and (a) certainty in interpersonal relationships and (b) ability to communicate verbally. In a sociometric study of three classes in an elementary school, Potashin (1998) set up special discussion sessions fOr "friends" and "non-friends," i.e., those who had and had not made reciprocal socio— metric choices. He found that for friendly pairs uninterrupted dis- cussions were significantly longer than.among non—friendly pairs. He also found that members differed in the amount of talking eaCh did and the number of initiations of interaction each.made. Friendly pairs were much more homogeneous in these respects. These studies, and.many others like them, indicate the reciprocal process between cmmnmnication—interaction and interaction-social acceptance. The Role of Speech in Emotional Adjustment Evidence indicates that failure to aChieve academically may result in a lowered self—concept and that feelings of isolation and social rejection arise from everyday experiences whiCh indicate to the culturally disadvantaged that he is alone and leftout. If the Child holds his classmates in the position of a reference group, then failure to establish successtl interaction may have crushing repercussions on the Child's emotional adjustment to school. Of course, the culturally disadvantaged may not_hold his more advantaged peers in the position of a reference group. It is evident both logically and by only super— ficial observation that the "birds of'a featherrmay flock together." That this happens particularly in the adolescent period is beyond question and is the basis for our concern specifically with pre- 28 adolescent children. Among the age groups under discussion clique boundaries have not been rigidly drawn; the culturally disadvantaged can gain admittance to the majority group and probably wish to do so. Generally junior high school, and certainly by high school, programs aimed at integrating the culturally disadvantaged (either academically or socially) are doomed to failure. Egt_because the "personality" is permanently fOImed and not amenable to change, but because the cul- turally disadvantaged has so radically altered his goals that only with extreme difficulty, great patience, and many rewarding experi- ences could he be induced to revive the goals with which he entered the school situation. That social acceptance may be a significant influence on emotional adjustment and mental health in the school situation is indicated by the findings of Bedoian (1951). He tested 7H1 "socially over-accepted" (on a multi-criteria sociometric test) and "socially undersaccepted" 6th grade pupils, using Thorpe, Clark, and Tieg's Mental Health Analysis (Elementary Series, Form A) and found that the socially oversaccepted childten,had a significantly better average mental health score than did the socially underbaccepted. In discussing the mental health of the culturally disadvantaged, one must remember, that the perceptions of teaChers and counselors who are responsible for evaluating them.may be unintentionally influenced by the students' socioeconomic status. McDermott, et a1}, (1965) pre- sent the data from psychiatric evaluations of 263 children of "blue— collar" families Who were referred to the University of Michigan's Children Psychiatric Hospital during the year July, '61 to July, '62. 29 The children were further divided into two groups on the basis of their father's occupational status and are .subsequently referred to in the report in these terms, "skilled" and "unskilled." McDermott gave special emphasis to the clinical and social questionswhich are raised as the result. of. differential diagnosis between. the two groups. They found significantly more often in each case the "unskilled" group were seen to exhibit overthostility impulsivity, paranoid reactions , affective disturbances, and withdrawal while the "skilled" group were seen to exhibit anxiety, obsessive compulsive behavior, and somatic complaints. "Unskilled" Children were characterized ,by..the admitting staff as coming from "unstable, conflict—ridden homes" significantly more often than "skilled" groups. Families of both groups rated their children alike with respect to adjustment at' home (30% for both groups claimed to be "doing well at home") however, marked differences in the children's adjustment .to the academic standards .of the school were noted. The upper end of the weighing scale ("doing very well at school") was assignedgto the "skilled" group significantly more often and the lowest ("doing very poorly at‘school,‘ failing grades") to the "unskilled" group. In fact, general school maladjustment most fre— quently was considered the primary reasonfor referral to the clinic in the "unskilled" group. It was also found that there was a significantly longer delay in referral of the "unskilled" group to the clinic from the time their problems first became apparentl8 l8J. F. McDermott (M.D.), S. I. Harrison (M.D.), J. Schrago (M.S.W.), and P. Wilson ._(M.D.), "Social Class and Mental Illness in Children," American Journal 3f OrthoPsychiatry, XXXV (April, 1966), pp. 500-507. 30 In discussing the "whys" of these findings MCDermott notes that the heterogenity of the.blue—collar group made class distinctions dif- ficult to identify and follow. They.also.hypothesize that unskilled people, in our complex and rapidly changing social system.based on technical competence,.are increasingly more socially and culturally isolated. .They contend that clincial workers who appraise behavior as normal or abnormal unwittingly view the ."unskilled" group dif- ferently because of.their own values. .They point out that paranoid thinking, withdrawal, hostility, and impulsivity are, at least partially, the reaction of a Child who is.totally fbreign to the setting anduncomfortable.lg Thus, we.have come full circle to the significance for adjustment of communication skills and the temendous advantage the verbally facile person has over the verbally inept one. Summary ResearCh indicates that an essential.ingredient of all human interaction is communication, which may be considered from several points of view. First, from ,the perspective of the~ social system, communication skills are both a tool.for achieving academic success and.a desirable end in themselves.. The culturally disadvantaged child is defined in relation to his social class and generally lacks.communication skills. He is less likely than more.advantaged.Children to learn such skills. A.low self concept fortherzreduces the Chances of achieving particu- larly in the area.of communication skills. lgIbid., p. 508. 31 Second, communication can be viewed fromithe perspective of the individual. The culturally disadvantaged does not share the values of his peers; therefore, he is often seen aS'a deviant in society. Because of his deviation, he.may:rejecteeand be rejected by——his peers a condition Which would.reduce interaction and com- munication.and possibly lead to.anxiety;' Once he reaChes this point, the child's incidental role.learning is impaired. Unable to relate to his peers,.the culturally disadvantaged child cannot either communicate with them nor adopt their behavior patterns; hence, he remains trapped by his inability to communicate. Social acceptance and academic achievement.are essential ingredients of a healthy emotional.adjustment to the sChool setting fOr the disadvantaged child. CHAPTER III COMPENSATORY PROGRAMS FOR THE CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED The term "compensatory education" was coined by President John Fischer of Columbia University. He sees compensatory education programs as those which attempt to improve the educational opportunities and eliminate the deficiencies that some students bring to the classroom. These programs are as varied as the needs of the children they serve. Some consist of a single activity while others encompass a planned sequence of experiences and constitute an entire programt Head-Start is one such program” Compensatory education implies that schools shall provide necessary stimuli to:make up for differences in pupils' ex— periences and opportunities. Pre-school and early elementary programs for the disadvantaged are shaped largely by assumptions about characteristics of the group which underlie their inferior academic performance. Cognitive and affective deficiencies are assumed to exist which include "language facility, construction in dealing with symbols and abstract ideas, . . passivity and lack of curiousity, low self—esteem, and lack of moti- vation for achievement."1 Reports about these programs reveal other than differences of quality; principal differences among 'dmmn-have to do with duration, lClay V. Brittan, "Pre—School Programs for Culturally Deprived Children," Children, XIII, No. H (JulyeAugust, 1966),I>. 130. 32 33 personnel, finance and cost, academic emphasis, and parent participation. Clay Brittan has described program.variations in terms of the different underlying assumptions which the programs reflect about the deficiencies of culturally disadvantaged children. He suggested these categories of cOmpensatory programs: 1. Programs based on the assumption that differences between the culturally disadvantaged children and the middle-class child are matters of degree rather than kind. These programs would aim to provide supplementary experience. Programs based on the assumption that what cul- turally deprived children.mainly lack is familarity with school related objects and activities. These programs would aim.to provide academic—preparatory pre-school experience. Programs based on the assumption that the culturally deprived child differs fundamentally from.middle- class children in self—concept, language, values, and perceptual processes. The aim here would be to provide compensatory experience sufficient to modify environmental effects. Compensatory programs vary in length from a few weeks or months to several years. Summer programs of the kind generated by Head—Start are now funded in approximately 2,H00 communities.3 The time children spend in the programs varies from sessions of two and one—half hours a week to sessions of five hours a day for four or five days a week. Pre-school compensatory programs use more volunteers than other compensatory programs.‘ Many are staffed entirely by volunteers. The Educational Program for Migrant Children in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, is 2151a., p. 133. 3William‘Branziel, "Two Years of Head Start," Phi Delta Kappa, XLVIII (March, 1967), p. 344. 34 run almost entirely by volunteer aide." Government foundation sup- ported projects and school related programs use a concentration of paid professional personnel. Programs of this kind are expensive. Comparative data reported in the Philadelphia project are significant in preparing teachers for the disadvantaged. In one program, all teachers had at least one year of experience in teaching deprived children. In two others the staff included inexperienced teachers. Results indicated that experienced teachers have greater success in working with such children. Sources of finance for the compensatory programs include volunteer contributions, fOundation grants, local school district funds and government financing. It is estimated that pre-school pro- grams fbr the disadvantaged will become more numerous in the next few years and that Federal money will provide a powerful stimulus to their development.5 The academic emphasis in the compensatory programs varies widely. Deutsch's project in New YOrk, probably the best known of the pre—school programs, utilized a basic nursery school curriculum and added a variety of enrichment techniques.6 L'LansingState Journal, August 19, 1968. 5Joe Frost, and Glenn Hawkes (ed.), The Disadvantaged Child: Issues and Innovations (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. l966),p. 187. 6Martin DeutsCh, "Nursery Education: The Influence of Social Prtgramming on Early Development," Journal ofLNurseyEducation, XIX No. 3 (April, 1963). 35 These focused on the areas of cognitive learning, memory training, language develOpment and motivation. Olson and Larson focused on providing an abundance of field trips and language experiences for children.7 They assumed that by increasing the number of experiences of the Child he will accumulate concepts necessary for successful school achievement. The Baltimpre Early Admissions Project appears to be based on individual as well as cultural differences. Par— ticular attention is devoted to language development and the develop- ment of self-concept.8 Many pre-school compensatory education programs involve the home and parent. The possibility of altering the environment is assumed to be greater if parents participate. The compensatory education programs for the disadvantaged are reviewed here in terms of language arts focus. The selection of the "program models" was determined largely by the Follow—Through Planning Conference held in Kansas City, Missouri, in February, 1968. The Follow-Through Program.is intended to provide comprehensive services to facilitate the total development of disadvantaged children of pri- mary school age-~and particularly of those children who have been previously enrolled in a full year Head—Start of similar pre-school program.9 7James L. Olson and RiChard Larson, ALPilot Study Evaluating_ One Method of_TeaChingCulturallyDeprived Kindergarten Children. (Racine Wisconsin, August, 1962). 8Baltimore Public Schools, A2_Early Admissions Project: Progress Report, 1963-69 (Baltimore, Maryland, 1969). 9Guidelines for Follow—Through Program 1968—1969 (U. 8. Office of Education, Washington, D. C. 1968). 36 In accordance with this new direction for Follow-Through, the Office of Education and the Office of Equal Opportunity invited a number of communities to participate in a cooperative program.to ex- plore, develop, and evaluate the effectiveness of a number of ex— isting programs. Experts in education, Child development, and community organization presented their views at the organization meeting in Kansas City, Missouri for Project FolloweThrough. The results of the conference produced a number of significant programs to be considered for federal funding and evaluation for the academic year 1968-1969. The fOllowing programs were surveyed and selected for review because of their significant language and speech emphasis for pre-school and early elementary disadvantaged children. Review of Selected Compensatory Programs Great Cities Project--Washington, D. C. In the washington, D. C. Public Schools, an intensive language arts program is being conducted in conjunction with the Great Cities Project. Louis H. Kornhauser, director of language arts, is the co- ordinator of the project. According to Mr. Kbrnhauser: Our focus is on developing listening and speaking skills. .A concern for sensitizing Children in the use of the school English (in opposition to their use of nonstandard English) led to an Urban Dialect Study which is in its first year. This study is being conducted by the Center for Applied Linguistics, 1755 Massachusetts Avenue N.W., Washington, D. 0.10 10Louis Kornhauser,.A General Evaluation of the Language Arts Program.for Culturally Disadvantaged Pupils (Washington, D. C. Public Schools, Washington, D. C. April 1967). 37 The Washington, D. C. project completed its first phase in 1965 and was evaluated through an educational research project by George Washington University and the United States Office of Education. The success of the washington, D. C. program qualified it for con- sideration for the Follow-Through study. Specifically the project focused upon the kindergarten, junior primary, first, second, and third levels of the seven school units involved. .All are located in the central.section of washington, D. C. Within the area selected schools had a high turn-over of pupils al- though the families, more frequently, tend to stay within the general boundaries indicated in the study.11 The propositions tested in the washington, D. C. language project were (1) that pupil achievement can be accelerated when the school's program.is geared to meet the peculiar needs of the children of a specific community and (2) that realistic.working relationships between teacher, child and parents should be effected when the teacher gains improved understanding and recognition of the needs of the culturally deprived.12 Guidelines for the project indicates that personnel would: A. Employ a special teaCher, skilled in the language arts, fOr each school unit. B. Initiate a planned teaching program.employing a dynamic, dramatic conversational method to insure llImprovingEducation For Culturally Deprived Children Through An Intensive Language Arts Program Using Special Teachers Skilled Ig_ The Language Arts (washington, D. C. Public Schools, waShington, D. C. 1967), p. 2. lzIbid., p. 3. 38 that children acquire a rich, definitive vocabulary and facility in its use. C. Use life situations, actual and dramatized, as the content for classroom instruction, to overcome the language deficit characteristic of the culturally deprived. D. Sharpen and enrich the children's perception, concepts, and feeling for language quality through appropriate experiences in literature and the arts. E. Adapt audio-visual materials—-as tape recorder, opaque projector, teacherwmade slides and films—- to the special needs of these children. Illustration - Using teacheremade slides of class activities will: (1) stimulate oral discussion; (2) recall sequence and produce a story; (3) enlarge and enforce vo— cabulary; (9) motivate learning and sustain interest; (5) furnish content for controlled experience reading. F. Promote awareness of and sensitivity to the environment through.excursions into the community during and after school hours. G. Collect and record experiences leading toward the de- velopment of curriculum.materials for use with cul— turally deprived children. H. Expand faculty in-service education activities by having educational workshops and conferences in the following areas: 1. nature of disability in learning for culturally deprived Children 2. understanding the family structure and problems of low income areas 3. understanding problems children face in culturally deprived areas13 13John T. Dailey, fl Evaluation of the language Arts Program g the District of_Columbia, washington, D. C. (George washington University, 1965); p. 11. 39 The personnel of the project included: A. B. The Project Director The director, in cooperation with principals, participating teachers, and the special teachers skilled in the language arts will be responsible for initiating, developing, and evaluating the project. His specific duties were: 1. Provide dynamic guidance in selecting appropriate activities to be carried on in the project 2. Bring in consultants when needed and secure other part—time consultative and administrative personnel as pro— ject activities may require-—such as psychiatrists, community organizers and others. 3. Provide for the interchange of ideas among the seven school units involved in the project 9. Keep abreast of development in other cities associated with the Great Cities School Improvement Studies 5. Make.available to the selected washington, D. C. schools all materials, techniques, .services, and evaluation media that can be obtained from inter-city headquarters 6. Keep the community informed of the objec— tives and progress of the project 7. Insure continuous evaluation of procedures used, data gathered and outcomes leading to future planning 8. Screen requests forernds 9. Initiate plans leading to the formation of a sChool-community council .A special teacher, skilled in the language arts, was assigned to each of the seven (7) school units. His duties included: 1. Instruct children in the functional use of language. .. 2. Furnish.leadership through providing guidance and materials, and planning with classroom teachers fOr the exten- sion.of language instruction 3. Demonstrate fOr teachers no 9. Collect records and information based on project activities, leading to the de- velopment of curriculum materials 5. Serve as a resource person for parental involvement leading toward the extension of the language improvement program into the homelL+ The fOllowing results were determined by the Washington, D. C. project: .A. With Respect to the Child 1. Improved habits and skills in the language arts (both written and oral) and other academic areas 2. Increased power in language leading to earlier readiness for~reading 3. Increased interest in and awareness of the best in childrenis literature 9. Heightened sensitivity to and perception of the environment 5. Broadened and enriched experience in the community that will motivate learning 6. Greater understandings concerning living in the urban community 7. Greater knowledge and appreciation of the cultural facilities of the city 8. Increased self—respect, sense of belonging and worth, and respect for the rights and property of others resulting in prevention of juvenile delinquency 9. Increased desire to learn and greater ambition to be a worthy successful citizen B. With Respect to the Teacher 1. Better techniques fOr providing skilled instruction and guidance in the language arts 2. Improved techniques for evaluating children's progress in the language arts 3. Development of language arts curriculum materials for use with culturally de— prived children 9. Increased appreciation of the role of the lulbid., p. 3. 91 language arts as a basic factor in school success Deeper understanding of the.conflicting social mores, backgrounds, and problems of culturally deprived children C. With Respect to the Parent 1. u. 5. .A better understanding of the value of language for children, with increased appreciation of the role of language arts as a basic factor in school success Acceptance of the responsibility for reinfOrcing the efforts of the school by using improved language patterns in the home Establishment of socially acceptable values in the home Increased knowledge and intelligent use of existing community facilities Strengthening of family life15 Finally, the study was related to the central project for the culturally disadvantaged in Washington, D. C. and more directly to similiar Great Cities projects. A. The Big Ideas are: 1. Improved utiliztation of staff resources 2 The development of skills and techniques in teachers to meet the special needs of culturally deprived children 3. Strengthened parental responsibility The two propositions to be tested within this program are adaptions of some of the major propositions of the overall project. This project, characterized by an.enriched language program.tailored to specific needs and extended and strengthened through the addition of special lan- guage teachers, was marked successful in: 15ImprovingEducationfbr Culturally Deprived Children Through an Intensive Arts Program.Us' Special.Teachers Skilled in the Language AEts (washington, D. C. Public Schools, washington, D. CT_1967), p. 5-6. 92 l. .Accelerating achievement of culturally deprived children Developing their innate capacity 3. Elevating their values and aspirations, thereby changing their behavior 9. Promoting greater security because of increased parental interest and responsibility16 M 0 Ford Foundation Projects in Bilingual Education—-Dade County, Florida In the fall of 1962 the Dade County Public Schools in Florida received a grant of $278,000 to be used in the development of projects relating to bilingual education. This grant was presented by the Ford Foundation Projects in Bilingual Education. As originally planned, the projects were to have been as follows: 1. The preparation of language and reading materials for non-English speaking bilingual pupils entering the first grade. 2. The revision or adaptation of the books of the Fries American English Series for non—English speaking bilingual pupils who can read and write their verancular. 3. The preparation of guides and audio-visual materials fOr teachers of bilingual pupils. u. The establishment of a bilingual school.17 The grant went into effect on January 1, 1963, but the staff on that date consisted of two members only, the Coordinator and the Director who were at the same time responsible fOr the countyawide bilingual program. The Assistant Director took over his duties on 15Ibid., p. 7. 7 . . . . . 1 Paul Bell, Final Report Bilingual Education Dade Countyqublic Schools (Ford Foundation, Miami, Florida, 1966), p. l. (l‘ C!) .l 0‘ n \ x .r‘. ‘Y \ ,- ‘ 93 March 1, with instruction to begin by acquainting himself with the on- going bilingual program for Cuban refugee pupils and with Dade County schools in general. In the late spring it was decided that Coral way Elementary should become the bilingual sChool and that an in-service curriculum.worksh0p should be held there during the summer for the teachers who would teach the bilingual groups in the fall. This work- shop was to be held simultaneously with an in—service training work- shop for teachers of English as a second language in the county-wide bilingual program.for Cuban refugee pupils. By the end of the spring term.of the school year 1962—63, five teachers had been recruited to work as teacher writers on the materials project. The Assistant Director and the Coordinator and all of these teachers except one who already had plans for the summer participated full time in the in—service—training workshops and related activities. The Director participated part time in the Dade County workshops and spent approximately three weeks in Phoenix, Arizona; Tucson, Arizona; San Jose, Califbrnia; and Albuquerque, New Mexico visiting workshops and institutes on the teaching of English to Spanish-speaking pupils. On August 1, 1963, work began on the materials project and on September 3, 1953 classes began in the bilingual school.l8 By 1968 the number of Spanish-speaking pupils in the Dade County Public Schools reached almost 30,000. To serve the unique instructional needs of these pupils, three major programs have evolved from the 1963 experiments in bilingual education. 18Ibid., p. 2. ,- uv 99 Many pupils attending the Dade County Public Schools speak little or no English. .Because these pupils have educational needs which are quite different from.those of native English—speaking pupils, it is important that their needs be recognized and that the necessary provisions be made fOr meeting them.“ The challenge of making adequate educational provisions for non—English—speaking Children has been met by establishing special classes in English as a second language. During the.l967—l968 school year, approximately 6,000 pupils were enrolled in classes of English as a second language. Non—Englishespeaking pupils.at all levels are classified on the basis of their proficiency in English and grouped according to their language ability. PUpils knowing little or no English are classified as non-independents, those knowing some English but still needing special attention are classified as intermediate, those knowing English well enough to participate in the regular curriculum.are clas— sified as independents. The non-independents receive up to three hours ~of.special.instruction in English a day; the intermediates, up to two hours; and the independents, up to one hour.‘ Pupils assigned to one hour of English may be offered English as a second language or they may be given the regular English courses offered to Englishespeaking pupils. Schedules are flexible. Pupils are reclassified and trans- ferred as their progress dictates.lg The English instruction received by non-English-speaking pupils is English as a second language. Audio-lingual techniques are 19Dade County Public Schools Program ingilingual Education (Dade County Public Schools,TMiami 1968), p. l. r!" .. 0‘0". nA-‘F 4V-“ II».- tun. 0‘- 'V'v. o us emphasized, but reading and writing also receive attention. Ordinarily, non—Englishespeaking‘pupils spend approximately two years in progressing from.non-independent to independent, but some make faster progress and some slower. In the elementary sChool,'noneEnglish-speaking pupils spend approximately two years in progressing from non-independent, but some make faster progress and some slower.' In the elementary sChool, non-English—speaking pupils are promoted "or retained largely in terms of their achievement in English 8. L. and arithmetic. In—service pro- grams for training English 8. L. teachers are offered regularly-by the County In-Service Department and the Office of BilingualEducation.20 The elementary schools Which.have large numbers of Spanish— speaking pupils are offering special clasSes in Spanish fOr native Spanish—speaking pupils. These classes provide an instructional program in the Spanish language arts. . The program, Spanish—S, is designed to help the native speaker of Spanish develop and expand his level of literacy in his native language and deveIOp an appreciation fOr his cul- tural heritage. .At the secondary level, Spanish—S is assigned credit equivalent to the credit in Spanish offered tO‘English-speaking pupils. During the 1967—1968 school year almost 10,000 Spanish-speaking pupils were enrolled in Spanish-S classes. All classes are taught by native speakers of Spanish.21 2 . 0Ibid., p. 1. 21Ibid., p. 2. 96 Coral Way Elementary, one of the schools offering Spanish-S, is involved in its fifth year of bilingual instruction. During the 1968—1969 school year, all pupils in grades one through six are participating in this program, Approximately 65% of the pupils are native speakers of Spanish and 35% are native speakers of English. The professional staff of the sChool is made up of native speakers of Spanish. All teachers have received university level professional training in their native language. At the beginning of the year, first—grade pupils spend a small part of the school day with the teacher of the language fureign to them. The time in the fOreign language is gradually increased through the year until it is nearly oneéhalf at the end of the year. In grades two, three, four, five, and six, the pupils receive approx- imately half of their instruction in each language. Pupils of both language backgrounds in the lower grades are mixed for physical edu— cation, music art, free play, and lunch.22 The time allotted to the learning of the basic skills and con- cepts compares favorably with the time regularly allotted in Dade County in the monolingual schools, the only difference being that in the bilingual school the time is divided between the two languages. Skills and concepts, introduced in the first language of the child, are incorporated into the second language program as part of a language learning experience. In this way, the child reinforces the concepts 22. Ibid., p. 2. u? and skills and at the same time advances in his mastery of the second language. leroy D. Fienberg Elementary is in its second year of expanded bilingual instruction. Pupils in kindergarten through fOurth grade are involved. The pupils receive basic instruction in English and then receive instruction in either Spanish as a native language or Spanish as a second language, depending on their language background. Mae walters Elementary and Shenandoah Junior High are both entering the first year of an expanded bilingual program. SpeeCh Improvement Project--Philadelphia During the fall and winter of 1966 the Speech Improvement Project (Title I) of the Curriculum.Office of the Philadelphia Board of Education undertook a careful review of current curriculum materials which cover speech activities or oral language development and learning fOr the disadvantaged. The Speech Improvement Project is now being conducted at all levels of the Philadelphia inner city schools. Marion Street, Assistant Director, Speech Improvement Program, Philadelphia Public Schools is responsible for the project. Miss Street has indicated, "As a Title I Program, we are, of course, very tightly evaluated. Our school system has employed the Franklin Institute Research Labs of Philadelphia for evaluative study."23 Preliminary findings have de- termined the importance of speech and oral language development fOr the disadvantaged in the elementary school curriculum” 23Report on Philadelphia Speech Improvement Program. (Phila- delphia Board of Education, Philadelphia 1968), p. 1. 98 Members of the curriculum.staff in 1955 had at least a general knowledge of the work of linguists in the study of dialects. The staff, for the most part, had come to accept the premise that speech is so closely related to the individual that any approach to it necessitates the involvement of areas of knowledge and fields of competencies far broader than that of SpeeCh alone.2u Acting on this premise, the Curriculum.Office held many meetings with representatives from the public schools, and the university per— sonnel ill the fields of linguistics, sociology, psychology, and speech. Using as a base the plans fOrmulated by the Curriculum and Special Education Offices, the Philadelphia Board of Education incorporated several phases or approaches to speech.improvement in elementary grades: 1. Teaching the techniques of choral speaking to elementary school personnel. 2. Presenting, by way of television, a speech program for the early elementary grades, to be viewed by the pupils. 3. Completing the linguistic analysis, developing lesson plans, and training teachers in the linguistic approach to SpeeCh improvement. 9. Appointing teachers of English as a second language for children who spoke little or no English.25 Several different kinds of printed materials have been developed for classroom use. These include: 2L+Marion Street, "New Directions in Speech Education — Speech Improvement Program.in Philadelphia," Speech Teacher, XVII (January, 1968), p. 59. 25Ibid., pp. 61—62. 99 1. A series of lesson plans for using choral speaking techniques in the elementary school classroom. 2. Two television manuals to accompany the television series including suggested follow—up activities. 3. Thirty—two units for patterned drill exercises built around the major differences in standard and nonstandard and speec 6based on the linguistic comparative analysis. The Philadelphia Speech Improvement Program.was re—funded in 1967 for Title I funds and continues experimental use of oral language techniques. It also serves as a model program for other school systems. It appears that three years of testing and modification by the Phila— delphia schools have enabled their program to be a strong leader in the field of language arts curriculum development for the culturally disadvantaged. Primary Education Project--Pittsburgh The Primary Education Project is a cooperative undertaking of the University of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Public Schools and the General Learning Corporation. The project aims, over a five—year period, to design and implement an individualized curriculum and social environment fbr a heterogeneous urban population. The program will begin in the pre-school, with three year old children and will run eventually through the third.grade. The experimental work and developmental work for this program will take place in the Pittsburgh elementary school, chosen for its unusual degree, of economic and racial heterogenity. Ultimately the projects goal is to develop a program that can be implemented elsewhere at a reasonable cost and 251bid., p. 53. 50 without the continued support of an outside research team. The project represents a new departure in collaboration between educational and business institutions. Within the total structure, the Pittsburgh Public Schools remain legally responsible for children in the experimental school and also provide the projects general director. The Learning Research and Development Center of the Uni- versity of Pittsburgh is responsible for research and development ‘work, including curriculum design and preparation of teaching materials. The University's School of Education will be responsible for developing in—service and pre-service training programs fOr teachers in the program” The General Learning Corporation will design a computer—based informa- tion management system.to aid in individualization, in addition to providing the initial finding for the project.27 The content of the early learning program and curriculum includes three general classes of skills: (1) orienting and attending skills, (2) perceptual and motor skills, and (3) conceptual and linguistic skills.28 Of these, only the third group falls within the sc0pe of this study. The conceptual—linguistic category includes behaviors such as classification, reasoning, spatial relations, plan following, and memory, together with the language facility that supports and gives expression to competence in these areas. Compared with motor and per— ceptual skills, generally exercised in pre—school tasks, conceptual 27Laura Resnick, Design of_ag_Ear1y Learning Curriculum. (Learn- ing Research and Development Center, Pittsburgh, 1967). 281bic1., p. u. 51 and linguistic skills are still relatively underdeveloped as targets of early instruction. Psychologists interested in cognitive and linguistic development, who have studied some of these concepts and skills in great detail, have been mainly concerned with describing the behaviors involved and identifying stages of cognitive development through which children pass "naturally."29 There have been relatively few investigations of the effects of direct intervention on this development, particularly of sustained and systematic instruction. On the other hand, most pre—school projects, which are concerned with intervention, have addressed themselves to isolated pieces of con— ceptual and language behavior, without analyzing the entire range of such skills and preparing a carefully sequenced curriculum based on the analysis. Thus, the task of an analyzing and sequencing a broad range of conceptual and language objectives for young children con— stitutes a research undertaking of major importance. The New Nursernychool Project——Greeley, Colorado The Office of Equal Opportunity has recently assumed the financing of the New Nursery School at Greeley, Colorado. The project was started in October of 1969, by Dr. Glen Nimnicht, of Colorado State College at Greeley after the Boettcher Foundation of Denver gave him.$27,000 to start his project. NimniCht started by buying a small house at the edge of a low- income neighborhood in Greeley. Professors and students from Colorado 29Ibid., p. 6. 52 State College joined in helping remodel the frame building. They in- stalled fireproof insulation in walls, painted the interior with cheerful colors, constructed a red, white, yellow, and blue fence around the outdoor play area, and built observation booths inside the school where educators can observe children through one—way glass. The result was a nursery school for children and a behavioral science laboratory for educators.30 NimniCht calls it "The New Nursery School." It embodies the ideas of progressive educators like Maria MOntessori, Martin Deutsch, and Omar Moore. NimniCht describes the approach as, "Emphasis on learning rather than on teaching." Fifteen children attend each morning, and fifteen more each afternoon. The staff numbers one teacher for every five children, and is headed by an experienced nursery school teacher, Mrs. Oralie McAfee.31 Often, there are more adults than children at the school. Each term, Colorado State College trains 25 Head-Start teachers, who get practical experience at the New Nursery School. Graduate students at Colorado State College are conducting educational research at the school. A few parents have come to help the staff. All are welcome to visit, but most of them.hesitate to do so. The New Nursery School is entirely "self-directed" and "self- rewarding." Children learn to work on their own without instructions or advice from teachers. If a child wants to show his work to a 3OSundaijenver Post, March 12, 1957. 3lIbid. 53 teacher, she will smile and listen to What he wants to say. If he does not come to her, she will not interrupt him. As Nimnicht said, "The teacher responds to the child, rather than the children responding to her."32 Nimnicht and his associate, Dr. John Meier, have established goals for the school. The first is to develop alpositive self-image.33 They want the Child to learn who he is and to have confidence in him- self. They work toward this in several ways. Each youngster has his own cubicle at school, marked with his name and a photograph of himself, where he keeps his coat and boots and pictures and books. "For many of these children, it is the only place they have whiCh is theirs alone," Nimnicht said. The school's second objective is to develop the senses and per— ceptions. 3” Art activities help the Children see the differences be— tween colors and to learn their names. WOrking with paste and paper or modeling clay helps them learn about things which are sticky or smooth, thick and thin. In teaching perception staff members always use exact language. Blocks are not simply big or small, but are called longer, longest, shorter, shortest, or fully described--the smallest square. The school's third objective is to develop problemrsolving_and congept-formation ability.35 .At first, psychologist Meier was puzzled 32Greeley's New Nursery School (Greeley Colorado, 1967) (Mimeographed),p. 3. 33Ibid., p. u. 39 . Ibid., p. 5. 351bid., p. 5. 59 when the children did poorly on preschool tests which measure ability . A common question is about animals. A child is shown pictures of a cow, a pig, a dog, and a zebra. He is asked, "Which one is a zebra?" Meier said, "The middle class child will look at each picture and say, 'This is a cow, so it isn't a zebra . . . this is a pig . . . this is a dog. Here, this one must be the zebra.‘ For some reason, which we don't understand, the disadvantaged child would give no answer to the question, even if he was familiar with the first three animals. These children did not know how to solve problems by eliminating the wrong answers . " To help teach useful concepts, the school has a nature display which is changed weekly. The idea of "vegetables" is illustrated with loose peas, peas in a pod, peas in a can, loose beans, beans in a pod, beans in a can. Other displays show models or pictures of insects or small animals. In. speaking, teachers say, "These peas are vegetables. . These beans are vegetables." When a child asks "What's that?" about a picture in an animal book, the teacher does not reply, "A squirrel." She says, "That animal is a squirrel . . . this animal is a fox." The concentration on careful wording is related to the school's fourth objective——the development 52 lapguage skills.36 Teachers con- sciously use nouns instead of pronouns, 'so the three- and four-year olds will be able to understand directions more easily and so their English vocabularies will increase. Instead of "Roll it to me," the teacher 36Ibid., p. 5. 55 says, "Roll the ball to me." Instead of, "Find the one which matChes," she says, "Find the square that is the same color §§_this yellow square." When a child makes a mistake in talking, saying, "He done it," the teaCher gently echoes, "Yes, he did it." The school uses a device similar to a tape recorder to help the children hear how they speak. They start by recording their own names and listening to the machine play them back. The 3- and 9—year olds approach the big task of learning to read and write by using a variation of the "talking typewriter." The fully automatic, computerized "talking typewriter" developed by psy- Chologist Omar Moore of Rutgers University, costs $35,000, so the New Nursery School has substituted by employing $200 electric typewriters and college students and high sChool dropouts as "booth assistants." According to Meier, the first.two classes of New Nursery School "graduates" are doing well in the Greeley Public SChools, where they are in first and second grade.37 The school attendance areas in ' Greeley, a city of 35,000, include children from all backgrounds, so the ones from.disadvantaged homes are in classes with children from the business and college communities. Yet when teachers were asked to rate their pupils, almost every one of the New Nursery School children was ranked in the upper half of his class. The school will use stan- dardized tests and new methods of testing which Meier is developing to keep track of the Children fOr a ten year period. Meier'hypothesizes 37Head Start Newsletter, Vol. 2 (Office of Equal Opportunity, Washington, D. C. June 196*). 56 that if children "have successful experiences, they will stay in school until graduation, and some may go on to higher education."38 Nimnicht and Meier believe their twoeyear'program.of training will do more than give the youngsters an advantage in the first few grades. They believe the intellectual boost in the early years will actually increase the Child's ability to learn and make him.more capable through life. Because NimniChtand Meier are studying matched groups of children from traditional nursery schools and those with no nursery school experience at all, their scientific evaluation will not be complete fer years. Methods developed at the New Nursery School are being used as the basis for experimental programs in teacher education. One is sponsored by the U. S. Office of Education, under a National Defense Education Act; another is funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity. Bilingual Readiness Project-eHunter College, New York City The Bilingual Readiness Project of Hunter College of the City College of New York was funded by the Office of Education in February, 1969 for a period of three years. The project has been completed by Mary Finocchiaro, the principal investigator. The study is concerned with pre—sChool age children. The major concerns were: first, the need fer teaching English and enhancing the selfeconcept of speakers of other languages and dialects residing in the United States; second, the 38Ibid. 57 urgency of developing skills in using foreign languages among the native English speakers in order to meet our national and international re— sponsibilities. 39 The basic objectives of the study are: 1. 39 To develop bilingual readiness in English- speaking children. To promote among native English speakers positive attitudes toward the language and culture of other groups. To stimulate Spanish speaking Children toward comprehension of and communication in English as quickly as feasible. To motivate English speaking children to communicate in Spanish and to develop the skills needed to do so. To enhance the self-concept of native Spanish speakers by helping them feel pride in their language and culture through the status given the Spanish language by its use as one of the vehicles of communication in their classrooms. To foster the development of a positive self- image among Negroes as they participated in an experience infrequently offered to Negro children in the past in school situations. To utilize the natural pride in one's own cultural heritage and language as the springboard from.which to.make the transition to another culture and language. To develop bilingualism.and to enchance self—concepts of all groups within the framework of the existing curriculum.of the kindergarten and the first grade. Mary Finccchiaro, Curriculum.Deve10pment Project (Hunter College, New York, 1966), p. 91. 10. 11. 12. 13. 19. 15. 16. 58 To make contributions to the growing professional literature on the effects of bilingual training on learning. To develop an approaCh and methodology for an early childhood program in which two languages would be taught concurrently by one teacher. To adapt existing materials and/or prepare new ones for use in the program. Tb experiment with informal instruments of evaluation in order to measure children's growth in oral language development in English and in Spanish. To utilize teChniques such as sociograms, flow charts and role playing to note changes in attitudes or the enhancement of self-concepts. To bring about mutually accepting relationships among parents whose children would participate in the program. To encourage school systems to initiate foreign language programs in primary grades. To make colleges and state certification boards increasingly aware of the value of develOping a high degree of competence in a foreign lan— guage among prospective teachers Who would thus be better prepared to serve as teachers in similar bilingual programs."0 .A bilingual teacher (a native Spanish speaker) met with each class five times a week, fifteen minutes per day. The regular class— room teacher remained in the room during the bilingual lesson. The themes and centers of interest around which experiences and activities in the program were centered were those recommended for the regular early childhood program. The materials were selected from among those already used by the early childhood teachers. In addition, extensive 1+01bid., p. 93. 59 use was made of audio—visual materials related specifically to the culture of Spanish speakers. Stories and songs were of English or Spanish origin, translated and/or simplified for use with five and six year olds. Some stories and songs, about the circus, for ex- ample, were written by a curriculum.specialist or by the music spe- cialist. The stories selected were those with which children could identify and which contained repetitive motifs leading to extensive listening to and repetition of basic patterns of language. A.theme or center of interest was generally of two to three weeks' duration except fOr special holiday units (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Election day). Both target languages, English and Spanish, were used in the classroom. Spanish, however, was the language of communication about sixty percent or more of the bilingual class time. The Hunter College project had two major reasons for concentrating on Spanish: (1) They knew that children would hear English for the remainder of the school day; (2) The attention to Spanish would enhance the self- concepts of the Spanish speakers as they helped their classmates learn the new language. The introduction to a language learning ex- perience such as listening to stories, dramatizing stories or dia— logues, singing, engaging in finger plays or games was either in Spanish or in English depending upon the origin of the material and the supporting audio—visual materials available for associating con- cept and sound.l‘L1 ulIbid., p. 95. 60 In evaluation, several techniques were used. During the first year, the bilingual teacher was observed each day during every period. An observation form.had been prepared and was filled out each time. During the second year, frequent observations were made by the cur— riculum and music specialists who also served as observers. The observers were asked to note the ability of the children to follow directions, to repeat Spanish or English based on the teacher's model, to respond in Spanish or English to stimuli in Spanish or English. They were also asked to observe the length and growth of the children's span; the interaction among children; the carry-over of the climate of the bilingual classroom to the regular classrooms."2 Sociograms and flow charts were used to evaluate attitudes of the Children to eaCh other; and to the teacher. They were used also to indicate the oral expression of the children in either target language. The project observers, as well as members of the school staff, talked to parents and community leaders to seek their reaction. The project staff met with teachers and administrators to dis— cuss their findings with relation to the effect of the project on the children in the bilingual classes, other children in the school, other teachers, parents of the children involved and other parents. Children were tested individually at the end of each year of the experiment. They were tested in English and in SpaniSh, in com— prehension and production. u21bid., p. 99. 61 The results and conclusions are based on data culled from a testing program.at the end of the project: from sociograms, from observations made by trained observers, and from anecdotal records of frequently scheduled talks with teachers and parents. The infOrmal tests specially designed for the program concen- trated primarily on ascertaining the knowledge of Spanish gained by native English speakers. This emphasis resulted from.two factors: (1) Spanish was used about 65 per cent of the time during the bilingual lesson; and (2) it would be impossible to ascribe the growth of English skills in native Spanish speakers to the bilingual program since the rest of their school day-—approximately three hours--was conducted in English.L+3 Listening Skills--U.C.L.A., Los Angeles Emphasis on listening skills is the basis of the program.at the University of CalifOrnia's School of Education. The compensatory pro- gram was funded in January of 1966 and the evaluation of the project was completed in December of 1967. The specific program.was concerned with determining the value of the spoken response in teaChing listening skills to disadvantaged young Children through programmed instruction. The central purpose of the project was to determine how much kindergarten children can profit from speaking out loud during instruction designed to teagh_them.to listen and to understand orally-presented infbrmation. It appears from the results of the project many Head-Start centers have adopted the procedures and findings of the U.C.LLA. program. However, this funded project was clearly designed for short duration to determine ”3Ibid., p. 50 62 methods and materials for more established ongoing language arts compensatory programs. Both the experimental and the control groups were given instruc— tion in the use of certain logical concepts by means of audio-visual presentation of programmed materials over a twelve week-period. The experimental group was required, on each.frame, to answer questions orally as well as to respond to:multiple—choice questions. The control group was expected to answer only the multiple—choice questions; no oral response was required. At the end of the twelve-week period, both groups were given the three post-tests used as criteria. Approximately 50 subjects, each composed of kindergarten children who attended schools in areas which.have been characterized as socially- disadvantaged in Los Angeles, were chosen. All subjects were given a pre-test so as to screen out those individuals Who already had an adequate comprehension of the concepts to be taught."” The instructional program for Experimental Groups 1 and 2 were administered in groups of five to ten Children, using either the UCLA Group TeaChing Equipment developed for experimental purposes over the previous several years or, preferably, separate units of an individual device such as the General Electric "Show-and-Tell" unit. In either case, each child was seated in an individual booth constructed to reduce visual distractions. The child saw 2 x 2 35 mm. slides projected on a ”uEvan Kesilar and Carolyn Stein, The Value 9f_the Spoken Response in Teaching Listening Skills :p_Young Children.Through Programmed Instruc— tion (U.C.L.A. Los Angeles, 1967). 63 screen in front of him” Through his earphones he heard the commentary which had been previously recorded. When the child spoke into a micro- phone, a voice relay activated the response panel which then permitted him to register his answer to the multiple—choice question. Special wiring fOr the purposes of the experiment permitted the immediate electronic recording of the separate responses of every child. Objectives of the instructional program.are varied. The children in the experiment were taught to improve their use of language in that they were to use sentential connectives involving negation, conjunction, disjunction, and implication (not, and, or, if . . . then). Other aspects of the program.included such concepts as equality and in- equality, same and different, smaller and larger, etc. Among other things, one of the outcomes of this program was to develop an appro— priate language base for later academic applications such as in the study of mathematics in the primary grades. The program consisted of approximately 2,H00 frames, about forty frames for each daily lesson. Each lesson took about fifteen minutes, and the total program covered a period of 60 school days. The program consisted of a sequence of problems in story femm, each containing several frames. The same slides were shown to both the experimental and control groups. The children in the experimental group responded to each frame both by speaking aloud and by selecting one of the pictures. The ex- perimental subjects said aloud those words and phrases Which serve an important self-cuing function in the acquisition of listening skills. Bu Confirmation of oral responses were given experimental subjects by the recorded commentary on the tape. The control group saw the same pictures and heard the same commentary but they were not required to respond orally; they were only to select pictures. In this way, there was assurance that the subjects in the control groups were paying attention. Confirmation of the correct selection responses were made for all subjects by a green light, ccnments of approval from the tape, music, and other sound effects.”5 Three tests were administered to all subjects at the conclusion of the twelve—week training period using the same equipment and pro- cedures employed fOr the instructional program. All subjects responded to each test item.gnly_by choosing the correct picture. During these tests no confirmation will be supplied. The first test, The Program.Mastery Test, was limited to the examples of the concepts taught specifically in the program. This test assessed how well the subjects have learned the particular instances used in the program; it was at the level of rote learning. The second test, The Concept Application Test, provided new examples of the concepts learned in the program. The test measured the concept mastery and re— quired an understanding of the concepts. The third test, The Listening Skill Transfer Test, constituted a measure of generalization of the listening skill develOped by the program. The children listened to new information over their earphones and then were required to answer uslbid. 65 questions based on the orally-presented material to see how well they had understood what they had heard. On the basis of this test, it was deternined Whether the Children in the experimental group had profited from their speaking aloud training so as to be better able to process orally—presented information than children who had not had this ex- perience. Descriptive data for the subjects in eaCh of the groups on all of the variables were obtained from.the computing facilities. To test the major hypotheses of the study for each of the criterion measured analyses of covariance carried out adjusting post-test scores for initial differences in pre-test ability.”6 Most of the California project was conducted in local day care centers and neighborhood schools of Los Angeles. The unit was incor- porated into the regular language arts lessons of the individual classes selected. Summary Compensatory pre-school and early elementary programs were re- viewed in this chapter. The scope of the varied programs was revealed in terms of quality, personnel, finances, and cost, academic emphasis and parent participation. All programs were finances either by the Federal Government's Office of Education or by private foundations interested in the culturally disadvantaged. Many programs surveyed were part of the Project Follow-Through Programs of the federal government. u 61bid., p. 9. 66 These compensatory programs were considered to be the most successful early efforts at helping educate the culturally disadvantaged children. The program documents the need for intensive language arts training for pre-school and early elementary children. The purpose, objectives, and recommendations of the programs surveyed for this study have been indicated. Verbal sophistication to meet the standards of our society is a primary objective of the programs. The programs documented here represent the efforts in both large and small cities across the country. The study reviewed white, Negro, Spanish American, and Indian dis- advantaged children in compensatory education. CHAPTER IV BOOKS AND RESOURCE MATERIALS FOR TEACHING SPEECH AND LANGUAGE The real worth of language and speech development of the cul- turally disadvantaged child is contingent upon materials available to the student and his teacher in the classroom. The previous portion of this study described the compensatory programs fOr the culturally disadvantaged in terms of speech and language emphasis. This section will identify books and.materials fOr the classroom teacher and program.administrator of speech and language arts programs in pre—school and early elementary grades. Second, current publica- tions fOr the students' use in the classroom.will be identified and speech and language arts will be discussed in terms of content. A list of publishersand resource centers were complied for this study from a preliminary listing of Professors Paul Burns and Alberta.Lowe of the University of Tennessee in their book, The Language Arts _i_n_ Childhood Education. 1 A survey of‘ the 111+ publishers and resource centers yielded a response from 75. Many companies sent examples of their publications for examination. Others sent literature and specific suggestions for the instructor of communication. The addresses of the 114 publishers and resources are included in the appendix of this study. lPaul Burns, and.Alberta Lowe, The Language Arts i2 Childhood Education (Chicago: Rand McNally Co. , 1966) . 67 68 Books and Resource Materials for Teachers and Administrators of Speech and Language Arts Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) The Educational Resources Infornation Center in Washington, D. C.'s national infOrmation system.designed to serve the educational research community by making available to any user current educational research and research material. ERIC is based on a network of eighteen infbrb mation clearinghouses at documentation centers located throughtout the United States and correlated through ERIC Central in Washington, D. 0.2 Research reports available through the ERIC system are listed in a monthly abstract journal, Research.ip_Educationz Each monthly issue includes abstracts and documents. The resumes of the projects listed in the above document clearly identify many language and SpeeCh procedures used in Head.Start—Centers. The material is concise and is designed for new directions of Project Follow-Through. Complete copies of the Head—Start projects discussed 'in this'souroe are available to those who wiSh hard'cOVer'or1micro—film." reprints by writing to the ERIC clearinghouse. Another general source of projects fOr pre—school and kinders garten teachers and administrators is the resume of government sponsored projects from.the Office of Education. .A description of the study and a.resumé of the researchers procedures is detailed. Many of the 2"Bibliography of Project HeadeStart Documents and Head—Start Projects from ResearCh ip_Education, Nov. 1966 - Aug 1967." Eric Clearinghouse pp Early Childhood Education, Urbana, Illinois, 1967, p. l. 69 projects provide speech and language arts as the central research problem for the study. An example is the project by Dr. Evan R. Keislar of the University of California at Los.Angeles, "Preschool Language Instruction for the Disadvantaged Children." This project is concerned with studying the culturally disadvantaged in terms of language handicaps, programmed instruction, language instruction, logical thinking, and socioeconomic influences on these children. This study has been funded at $u0u,337 in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California for the period of 1965 through 1970.3 Educational Resource InfOrmation Center, Yeshiva University At Yeshiva University, New York City, the Educational Re- sources Information Center also provides an excellent resource center——a clearinghouse for documents and papers for those who are interested in the problems of the culturally disadvantaged. .A bi- monthly bulletin is published with excellent inforUation in the lan— guage arts area as well as other facets of the problem. .Articles of interest in selected issues include "Language Development in Dis— advantaged Children," and "Research Related to Language Development in Disadvantaged Children."u Important limitations of the user services of the ERIC are: 3"Current Projects Financed by the Office of Education in Early Childhood, Preschool, and Kindergarten August 1967," Eric Clearninghouse gp_Eaply Childhood Education, Urbana, Illinois, 1967, p. 11. uIRCD Bulletin, November, 1965, pp. 1-3. 70 Because the functions of ERIC clearinghouses will now be fOcused on information collection and analy- sis and documents will be made available in the ERIC collection and can be searched through ERIC indexes, the Center will provide only pre—packaged materials to users, beginning on May 1,1968. Any request for special assistance will be ferwarded to an appropriate agency which possesses the ERIC collection indexes. Subscriptions to the IRCD Bulletin and requests for back issues will be serviced by the Center. Since bibliographies and review papers will be announced.in Research in Education and.usually made available through the ERIC Document Reproduction Service, except for Bulletins, you do not write, phone, or visit the Center, but consult a facility near you such as your local Research and Development Center, locally established service agencies, or School Research Infbrmation Service (SRIS) Phi Delta Kappa 8th and Union Streets Bloomington, Indiana M7401‘ Center for Urban Education (CUE) The Library 105 Madison Avenue New York, N. Y. 100165 Promising Practices from the.Projects for the Culturally Deprived (Great Cities Project) In an attempt to answer questions of superintendents and Boards of Education members, the directors of the Great Cities Project for the culturally deprived began in eaoh city an investigation of promising practices. The directors met in Chicago to examine what could be considered promising practices. These were defined as those aspects of the progran 5Re ort on Limitation of User Service Eric Retrieval Center on the Disadvantaged (New York. Yeshiva University, 1968)} p. l. 71 which appear to have some degree of success and which can be sub- stantiated with data; hard data in terms of statistics, soft data in terns of anecdotes, and informal information-gathering techniques.6 The results were a category of promising practices to be discussed and published for interested readers. The nine areas under dis- cussion in the book, Promising Practices From the Projects for the Culturally Deprived, are: l. In—service education and recruitment 2. Reading 3. Sunmer programs u. Community-school aspects 5. Guidance activities 6. Early admissions programs 7. Team-teaching programs 8. Special placement classes 9. Job—retraining classes.7 Culturally Disadvantaged: .A Bibliography and Kgyword-Out-Of Context Index .A book just published by wayne State University Press provides another excellent general source book for the teacher and administrator. This source is entitled Culturally Disadvantaged: ALBibliography and Key- word—Out-Of_Context Index by Robert E. Booth, Theodore Manheim. Diane A. Satterthwarte, and Gloria L. Dirdarian. The source, which is both a bibliography of and an index to the literature on the culturally dis- 6Promising Practices From.the Projects fOr the Culturally Deprived (Chicago: Research Council of the Great Cities for School Improvement, lgeu), p. 1. 7Ibid., p. l. 72 advantaged, compiled by searching periodical indexes, tables of contents, monograph books, research reports, micro-film.and related informational sources of pertinent materials. As a bibliography, this book identifies about lHOO items drawn from a wide range of sources. As an index, it has between ten and twenty—five keywords or descriptions for each bibliographical item.8 All the items in the bibliography are from.the original sources; thus, they verify bibliographic accuracy and provide a base fOr indexing through the use of keywords taken from titles and the actual contents of abstracts, chapters, or full texts. The Bobbs-Merrill Series The Bobbs-Merrill Company has just made available for teachers the Personality Character, Guidance series of adjustment inventories and remedial suggestions. The series was tested in Detroit Inner City before printing by author, Harry J. Baker. The Bobbs—Merrill series includes four inventories to help find the adjustment problems of persons of any age. A set of remedial leaf- lets is designed for each form to be given to pupil or parent to assist in correcting the bad or weak habits revealed by testing. The Delta and Gamma forms are designed for ages three to eight. Some attention is placed on language and speech responses. They are designed to adapt to the culturally deprived child's language, home and community. 8Robert E. Booth and Others, Culturally Disadvantaged: g Bibliog— raphy and Keyword-Out-Qf_Context Index (Detroit: wayne State Universrty Press, 1967), p. l. 73 Bulletins from the Association for Childhood Education International The Association for Childhood Education International in Washington, D. C. prints a series of bulletins which focus on the needs of the culturally deprived. They are concerned with ages two through twelve. Many features of the bulletins include language, vocabulary, reading and speech training. The organization will provide fOr the teacher a comprehensive listing of its publications. .A small charge for the publication is made by the association for any books or pamphlets ordered. Education Improvement fOr the Disadvantaged in an Elementary Setting The text by Gordon Liddle, Robert Rockwell, and Evelyn Sacadot, Education Improvement for the Disadvantaged ip_§p Elementary Settipg_ is a case study approach to the teaching of the disadvantaged. The community is Quincy, Illinois. The discussion is limited to the pri- mary grades with specific suggestions to teachers from actual testing in the classroom. Language arts and speech are important components of the total teaChing program. Therefore, they will be of interest to those who will have similar programs. The major conclusions of the authors seem to indicate its need for more parent involvement in school programs and added enrichment classes for the disadvantaged.9 gGordon Liddle, Robert Rockwell, and Evelyn Sacadot, Education Improvement for the Disadvantaged ip;§p_Elementary Setting (Springfield: Charles C. Thomas, 1967). 74 English as a Second Language: A Comprehensive Bibliography» The Columbia University Teachers College in New York has recently published, Egglish.A§_ALSecond Language: ALComprehensive Bibliography, by Virginia Allen, and Sidney Fonnan. .A special library for English as a Second Language established within the Teachers College Library con- tains materials in various forms, including books, pamphlets, period- icals, films, filmstrips, phonographs, records, tapes, charts, maps, games, models, and flash cards. This computer-produced catalog of the special library is a listing by subject's category, according to a new classification system devised in the collection. The main categories are Linguistics, Lan— guage Cultural Areas, Language Learning, Texts and References. There are approximately 1,000 entries. Each item.includes author, title, edition, place, publisher, date, paging, illustrations, series note, price, and language. In the appendix are author, title and phblisher indexes.10 Language Programs for the Disadvantaged Pre—school and early elementary teachers and administrators will definitely want to read Language Programs For the Disadvantaged, published by the National Council of Teachers of English. The Council began its work in 1965, reviewing 190 compensatory programs for the disadvantaged both in urban and rural settings. The findings of these consultants is 10Virginia Allen, and Sidney Fornan, English A_s_ A Second Lang-85%;: A Comprehensive Bibliography (New York: Teachers College Press, 1967 . 75 vital to our present language procedures. The book is arranged and outlined in terms of pre-school, elementary, and secondary programs of language fOr the disadvantaged. The most interesting portion of the factual book is the recommendations and findings of the Task Force. Commentaries by Carl Bereiter, formerly of the University of Illinois, Sol Tax, University of Chicago, walter Loban, University of CalifOrnia, and Lee Pederson, University of Minnesota, are only a sampling of materials which place the problem.of the culturally disadvantaged into layman's perspective.11 This one source seems to be the best composite of problems and solutions which face the language instructor. Educational Testing Service of Princeton, New Jersey and Science Research Associates of Chicago, Illinois have developed testing ma- terials and services for the disadvantaged child. Both educational divisions have realized the importance of the language and verbal com— petency needed in our society. Therefore, the supplementary materials they have prepared for publication reflect the fact that language skills are the central point of the learning process. Educational Testing Services Educational Testing Services' Let's Look a£_Children was pre- pared with the aid of the New York Public Schools in an effort to help teachers of disadvantaged first grade children better to assess and foster the intellectual development of their children. The materials llLanguage Programs For the Disadvantaged (Champaign National Council of Teachers of English, 1965). 76 do not represent a highly structured program. While the materials are related by virture of underlying theory, they constitute a flexible package that can be used as a whole or a separate component piece. The philosophy and objectives of Let's Look a: Children are: First, the project assumes that educational evaluation is not an isolated process that occurs once or twice during the sChool year. Assessment and in- struction are continuous, interrelated processes that take place every day and actually define the teaching function. Often the line between them is thin and blurred. When a single experience provides the op— portunity for a child to learn and a teaCher to observe and evaluate his performance, then assessment and in- struction blend imperceptibly into one another. The Let's Look_ap_Children.materials are appropriate fOr both assessment and instruction. The theoretical notions underlying and relating may be Itated very briefly as follows. Intelligence is not assumed to be a unitary trait. Rather, it is conceived as the variety of thinking skills by which a person processes, organizes, and.manipulates infor- mation from the environment. Secondly, it is assumed that children learn to be "intelligent." By interb action with the environment, a child gradually de- velops the skills and understandings of logical thought that enable him to deal with the world rationally and creatively. This is not to deny any heredity in the ,development of intellect, but to focus attention on the importance of providing appropriate learning ex- periences for each child. A third assumption is that intellectual growth proceeds through a definite sequence of stages or steps. That section of the developmental sequence on which the project focuses is the transition from pre—logical thought to logical concrete thinking. This transition is of vital importance because it pro- vides the foundation for all future learning and in- tellectual development. The world an adult takes so fOr granted is not an orderly, logical world at all to the very young child. A.four—year—old, for example, who anxiously asks in the middle of the afternoon if "he's had lunch yet" is not deficient in memory. His behavior more likely reflects the inability to arrange a series of events along a time dimension in any meaningful way. Regardless of what level of intellec— tual competence a child may reach later on in life, 77 all children.mmat learn the fUndamentals of logical reasoning by appropriate environemntal experience. And it is assumed they all learn in the same general sequence of steps or stages. Let's Look a: First Graders is the central component of the project materials. This guide actually serves many purposes, but first and foremost it is a handbook for teaChers. Its major purpose is to describe in non-technical language the skills and understandings which characterize logical concrete thinking. The content is divided arbitrarily into six broad areas, with major subdivisions within each area. The major subdivisions, or concepts discussed within each area are most important for pinpointing various aspects of developing intellect. These concepts are organized into the six areas as follows: BASIC LANGUAGE SKILLS: Auditory Discrimination and.Attention; Listening Comprehension; Learning to Communicate; Language for Thinking. CONCEPTS OF SPACE AND TIME: Learning Shapes and Forms; Spatial Perspective; The Notion of Time. BEGINNING LOGICAL CONCEPTS: Logical Classification; Concepts of Relationship. BEGINNING MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS: The Conservation of Quantity; One-to-One Correspondence; Number Relations. THE GROWTH OF REASONING SKILLS: Understanding Cause and Effect; Reasoning by Association; Reasoning by Inference. GENERAL SIGNS OF DEVELOPMENT: Growing Awareness and Responsiveness; Directed Activity; General Knowledge; Developing Imagination.l3 12Let's Look a: Children—7A_Brief (Princeton: Educational Testing Services, 1966), pp. 7-9. l31bid., p. 10. 78 .A second function of Let's Look a:_First Graders is to serve as a practical assessment tool. Each aspect of development is not only discussed but also illustrated with concrete examples of behavior that are likely to be visible in the classroom. Thus, the teaCher is pro~ vided with behavioral clues to help estimate a Child's developmental level. Finally, Let's Look a:_First Graders serves as the primary integrating structure of the project. Besides discussing a particular concept or skill and giving concrete behavioral illustrations, it also refers to other evaluation materials of the project (the written Exercises and.Assessment Tasks) and provides specific instructional suggestions to help foster development of the particular skill or concept in question. The Written Exercises: A series of written exercises has been prepared in six areas, paralleling in part the areas of the areas of the Guide. These six are: SHAPES AND FORMS SPATIAL RELATIONS TIME CONCEPTS LOGICAL REASONING COMMUNICATION SKILLS UNDERSTANDING MATHEMATICS In each of these areas are five exercises. The first three are used fOr practice and instruction, while results of the last two may be recorded as objective measurements. This procedure provides the 79 child with an opportunity to become acquainted with the various re- quirements of the task and the exercise situation before he is called on to perform.for assessment purposes. All the exercises are of the paper and pencil (or crayon) type in which directions for each question are given orally by the teacher and the Child "answers" by marking a picture in the exercise book. These two approaches to assessment (the teacher's observations of classroom behavior and the Written Exercises), together with the Assessment Tasks described below, should provide a reasonably compre- hensive picture of the child's present pattern of intellectual devel- opment and should also suggest plans for future instruction. A teacher's mannual entitled Instructional and Assessment Materials fOr First Graders provides detailed descriptions of Assessment Task problems, the Sequence Cards Game, the Directions Card Game, and various other instructional suggestions mentioned in the guide, Let's Look a:_First Graders. This manual is intended as a supplement and companion piece to the Guide. The Assessment Tasks are special "gamelike" problems designed to elicit intellectual behavior. If the teacher is unable to see important signs of intellect in the spontaneous behavior of children, she may use these tasks to provide a special opportunity for them to demonstrate crucial skills and understandings. The tasks can be administered with readily available materials and may be used with individuals, small groups, or the whole class--as the teacher chooses. The Sequence Cards, instructional materials designed to help children think logically about various sequences of events, are ten 80 sets of small cards for each student and a duplicate set of large cards for the teacher. Each set consists of four cards showing various kinds of sequences. The Child's task is to put the cards in order to "tell a story." The ten sets differ somewhat in nature, purpose, and difficulty level, ranging from very short term sequences (a leaf falling from a tree) to long term sequences, reversible sequences, and cause-and—effect sequences. The Directions Card Game is a non—verbal instructional activity designed to help children develop the ability to follow directions, to abstract information, and to form logical categories. Materials for the game consist of a deck of twenty small playing cards printed with various combinations of colored squares, circles and triangles; a set of ten large Instruction Cards, each containing symbols that "tell" the child how to sort through his small playing deck; and an answer sheet that children may use to record their own progress through the series of ten games. Science Research Associates (SRA) The Science Research Associates of Chicago provide an excellent SRA reading series which recognizes the latest techniques in using the linguistic approach to teaching early reading in the elementary grades. The Words and Pattern series program is the best example of this approach. A distinctive feature of the program is its use of answer strips. As soon as a pupil answers a question, he is able to check his accuracy. The principle of immediate feedback is important especially in spelling and vocabulary development and these lessons from SRA expose the student 81 1” Although SRA does not publish its materials to this approach. specifically for one type of school system, the materials available to the teacher of language arts are easily adapted to the inner city sChool. Language and Vocabulary materials from Science Research Asso- ciates are printed for pre—school and elementary classroom use. In addition to books and resource materials for the teacher and administrator the Center for Urban Education at 105 Madison Avenue in New York City provides a "hot line" fOr the disadvantaged.15 A free "hot line" telephone service that will enable school administra— tions throughout the country to obtain instant information on ways of educating disadvantaged pupils will be available in February of 1969. When the service starts, a school principal or superintendent in any city will merely have to telephone the center to find out about techniques and programs that have proved successful in the class- room and are financially feasible. .A principal in Detroit, fOr example, might want to know what successful methods are being used in California or New Mexico to teach language to Spanish speaking youngsters. Or school officials in other parts of the country might want to learn what Detroit is doing. The Center is an independent, non-profit educational development agency and one of 20 regional educational laboratories financed by the United States Office of Education. 1”Elementary and Secondary Materials Catalog (Chicago: Science Research.ASSOCIates, 1968), pp. ll-HO. 15New York Times, July 1968. 82 Books and Resource Materials for Students of Speech and Language Arts The basic emphasis in the textbooks and related materials for disadvantaged students in pre—school and early elementary grades is oral language development. PubliShers are primarily concerned with Speaking, listening, and vocabulary development in their~materials. It appears that many of the publishing companies reviewed for this study do not see their'materials as "childish" publications. More— over, they regard most of the exercises and supplemental sources as "ageless" and believe they can be profitably used in working with 1anguage-—deficient youngsters in any age grOUp. The Macmillan Company--Bank Street Materials The Macmillan Company has just created its new Bank Street Early Childhood Discovery Materials. These materials were created pith the central idea that "Tell me" would be the approach to working with the disadvantaged child in speech and language development. The» program.is designed for use at the pre-school level, in kindergarten, and in the primary grades. The materials begin where the child is, with scenes and objects and people and happenings within his everyday ex- perience.16 The Bank Street Early Childhood Discovery Materials fall into ‘Umo categories: interrelated.materials and associated materials. 16Bank Street Early Childhood Discoverngaterials (New York: Mamnillan Co. 1968). 83 There are eight sets of interrelated materials, each designed to ex— plore a different theme: "In the Park," "On the Earn," “At School," "Playing in the Playstreet," "At the Supermarket," "By the Tall Houses," "In the Clinic," "In the Big Store.". A large folding picture (2' x H') starts the children talking about the various scenes described. Accompanying Name and Know Books offer enlargements and action drawings of objects children can find in the big city: for example, a tooth— brush opposite a drawing of a girl brushing her teeth. .A Put Them Back Board (in which every puzzle piece is a whole, recognizable person or thing) presents yet another story-telling scene in which the children can take an active part. Other material linked visually and con— ceptually to the large folding pictures include, Turn the Page Books, (open-ended stories), The What Comes Next Board (picture-sequence cards), The Read Aloud Books (a story book fOr the teacher to read to the children). Used separately or together, the eight sets of interrelated materials provide a year's program of language activities. Teacher's guide materials point out the many uses each item.will have and provide some questions the teacher can use as models in encouraging the children to "Tell me." The associated materials are not directly related to the eight themes. They include books, puzzles, and games designed to promote such skills as matChing colors and shapes, creating a whole picture out of parts, making associations, learning the names of things, learning pre— number concepts, and categorizing.l7 17Teachers Guide Bank Street Readers: Round the Corner (New York: Macmillan Co. 1968). Bu This program with the ”tell me" approach apparently helps children who are headed for failure to develop the specific skills they need to read, to understand the world around them, to succeed in school and in life. The materials are diagnostic in nature. The program enables the language arts teacher to assay a child's maturity-- to determine with accuracy the kind of work and help he can use and the readiness level he has attained at any point during the progran. Scott Foresman Company--Open Highways Program Scott Fbresman's Open Highways Program.for Grades 1, 2, 3 has adopted a similiar approach to the Macmillian Co. language series. The teaCher is given the range of approaches in meeting the divergent needs and capabilities of the language student. To prevent failure, rather than remedy it, is the aim of the newprimaryprogram.18 The stories in the Open Highway series are set in large cities and rural areas. Language drills and oral exercises are included in the Scott, Foresman multiemedia Resource Materials. These materials coordinated with the reading series provide a sound base fOr the language handicapped. The resource series which encourages oral responses from.the student are especially designed for language arts projects planned for Titles I and II, and Operation Head-Start programs. Highlights include: 1. The First Talking Alphabet——This audio-visual teaching tool provides practice in hearing consonant sounds in initial and final positions, and in associating those sounds with letters. Boxed set includes 20 records (#0 slides) plus 20 copies each of 20 different picture—alphabet cards, with lesson 18The Open Highways Program for Grades 1-2-3 (Glenview: Scott Foresman Co. 1968). 85 material on either side. The names of several ob— jects pictured in full color on a card illustrate one consonant sound; the initial consonant letter is printed large in upper- and lower-case forms and flocked to supply a tactile impression for children who benefit especially from this type of sensory stimulus. Instructions come with the set. Sounds I Can Hear--Four-volume set of records and visual aids gives children listening—looking experi— ences in several different settings: "Sounds.Around the House," ”Sounds Around the Farm in the Zoo," "Sounds Around the Neighborhood," and "Games with Sounds," "Sounds Around the School" (sound stories). As a record plays, children hear the narrator tell a simple story into which the special sounds fit naturally. There are pauses for talking and answering questions--identifying the whinny of a horse, trying to quack like a duck, or just enjoying an experience in retrospect. Besides the four seven-inch records (33 l/3 rpm), the set contains: ”2 sturdy Picture Cards (7" x 7")-—full—color photographs of each person, animal, and object heard on the records; 3 durable Picture Charts of home, zoo-farm, and neighborhood (21" x 28"), showing the Picture Card photographs in appropriate background setting. These visual aids, combined with the records, moti- vate children to keep their ears tuned in to a familiar sound. They stimulate eager conversation and extend a child's knowledge of household tools, school activities, sights around the neighborhood, and common farm animals. Match—And-Check—-Each set contains 5 two-sided boards (12 3/H" x 6 5/8"), making ten separate games in which children match colors, shapes, pictures of objects; pair pictures by beginning sounds or rhyming sounds; match words, capital and small letters. Youngsters work alone or in pairs, manipulating disks at the ends of each board to bring pictures or words into focus in two large frames. Moving a lever opens another pair of frames, a self—checking device showing whether the correct association has been made. Beginning the Human Story: A New Baby in the Famil —— Twelve full—color photographic charts, printed on sturdy 20" x 20" poster board, tell a warm and sensitive story of the arrival of a new baby in the home of an inner city family-—and help teachers 86 initiate a program.of family living and sex educa— tion for pre—schoolers. 5. Individual Letter and WCrd Cards-—With these two sets of cards, fun to manipulate and arrange in various combinations, first-graders work happily with letters and words. Orleach card (1" x 2 l/H") is printed either a letter,_a word, a punctuation mark, or (on larger cards) a sentence. The two sets, for use at successive levels, present different words and sentences and a different program of exercises and activities. Their primary purpose: to strengthen the concept of the correspondence between spoken and written language. Youngsters use the cards alone or with partners, independently and in teacheredirected activities. Follett Company--Great Cities School Improvement Program The Follett Company's Great Cities School Improvement Progran was begun in 1959. This originated with the Detroit sChools and the problems in that city with teaChing vocabulary and reading to the culturally disadvantaged sChool children. The City Schools' Reading Ektggamxhas been developed by Follett Company to provide materials for those youngsters who need specific help in pursuing verbal oriented skills and provides fOur unique differences fOr those students who use the series: 1. They provide children in big schools multi-racial schools and neighborhoods with an opportunity to iden— tify themselves with characters and situations that are familiar. 2. They prov1de vocabulary in the books more suited to the known language patterns of culturally deprived yOungsters. 19Multi—Media Resource Materials (Glenview: Scott, Foresman Co. 1968). 87 3. They provide shorter books, with.more repetition, to ensure more successful learning. u. They provide stories with a higher degree of humor or suprise content so as to emphasize the pleasure of reading. The program follows the basal reader-phonics methodology. Using a tape recorder, the conversations of culturally disadvantaged young- sters were captured, and analyzed. Based on extensive research by the Follett Company, the vocabulary in these readers was designed to meet the needs of the urban culturally disadvantaged children. In extensive testing of the City Schools' Reading Program, the following summary conclusions on the effectiveness of the series in promoting accurate oral reading were gathered: In tests of oral reading accuracy, Negro pupils did significantly better in mastering sight vocabulary using the City School Readers. White students scored somewhat better using the City Schools' Reading Fitrpxmn. In all areas of oral and reading skill, the City Schools' Reading Program was particularly helpful to boys and to culturally deprived Negro students (those generally needing the most help). Teacher evaluations paralleled these test findings.21 The Follett Publishing Company also publishes a series of Imaterials for those children who have special need for help to prepare them for success in visual perceptual skills and sensory Imotor skills. . 20The Citnychools' Reading Program (Chicago: Follett Pub— llshing Co. 1968). 21Detroit Public Schools, Appraisal pf_the CitnyChool Reading ffifiéggam. A Research Report prepared by the Language Division of DEtIYllt Public Schools (Detroit: Detroit Board of Education, 1960), PP- Il—2. 88 Harcourt Brace and World Company——Language For Daily Use Language For Daily Use makes possible the emphasis on listening as a basic elementary skill. The series is published by the Harcourt Brace and World, Inc. The listening process is reflected in the title of the first book in the elementary series, Let's Talk and Listen. At each grade level, practice in listening--whether to carry out oral directions or to appreciate the beauty of words, the sound of music or poetry is provided in this book.22 The speech program.in Lapguage For Daily Use begins with the sound—letter relationships and gradually advance in maturity until it focuses upon techniques such as those involved in speaking groups. Each book is filled with activities that give the pupil practice in developing the ability to say something worthwile and to express it clearly and effectively——both individually and as a member of a group. They range from informal conversations that are spontaneous to more specific discussions which involve the selection of facts in details,, choice of words, and sequence. There are stories and poems to drama atize, personal experiences to relate. There are reports to give and round table discussions to participate in. At eaCh level, articula— tion and enunciation exercises help the pupil develop clean and distinct speech.23 22Mildred Dawson and others, Let's Talk and Listen (New York: ftflncourt Brace and World, 1968). 23 . . "An Elementary Engllsh Program, Grade K—8," Language For Dally g§§ (New York: Harcourt Brace and World, 1968), p. 3. 89 The Harcourt Brace and World series has carefully planned illustrations and stories to provide a balance between urban and rural settings. Special linguistic features include a history of words and names, and sentence patterns based on the work of struc— tural linguistics. Houghton.Mifflin Compenyf-English For Meaning Effective communication is essential in all relationships between people. This statement prevails as the theme fOr.Houghton Mifflin Company and their series English For Meaning 1—8. The newly revised English For Meaning series offers special concern for the disadvantaged student in the urban centers. The series offers a systematic guidance in the development of the pupils' powers to talk and write effectively. Built around the major lan— guage activities that relate to everyday communication needs of children and adults, the Houghton Mifflin series provides practical speaking and writing experiences.2” Books 1—6 are divided into units based on the following lan- guage activities: taking part in conversations and discussions, making reports, giving reviews, writing letters, telling stories, and giving directions and descriptions.25 At each grade level the units provide appropriate instruction in how to carry out these language activities-~how to use words, sentences and punctuation to achieve effective communication. 2”Effective Communication Ie_the Goal (New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1968), p. 3. 251bid., p. u. 90 The Epglish For Meaning series provides a program of in- struction fOr the student that will lead him precisely to par— ticipating in fundamental language activities successfully. Further, all instruction in usage, grammar, vocabulary, punctua- tion, and capitalization is correlated with the instruction and practice in the language activities. Pupils, therefore, are not admonished to use correct English, but instead are led to an ap— preciation and understanding of standard English usage. This factor is the most crucial point for the disadvantaged student who comes many time from a bilingual language background. Noble and Noble Company—-Try Noble and Noble of New York have developed a program of sequential experiences, learning experiences that will encourage the Child to inquire, explore, and to better relate to the world around him. The latter statement is most pertinent to the culturally disadvantaged child who has not found sources which relate to his environment. The series is called Try. Try_develops oral language to help the pre-sChool child to prepare himself fOr growth later in reading and related skills. Try_provides an organized sequence of experiences. The child is guided through sequentially developed activities that progress realistically from Task I, where he dis— criminates basic geometric objects, by shape, size, and rotation, to Task II, where he makes more intricate design patterns and more 91 advanced discriminations.26 The teaChers' guides are an integral part of Try. The guides provide not only a day-to-day lesson suggestion and precise description of each experience but also reinforcing followeup activities that develop oral language and cognitive thinking, as well as imaginative expression. Dr. George Manolakes, professor of Early Childhood Education at New York University and noted elementary education expert, is one of the co-authors of the Try project. The Try_series seems to be adaptable to both the regular pre—school experience as well as more established Head-Start pro- grams. It does not appear to be a primary first source for the dis- advantaged pre-schooler because of the more complex procedures asked of the Child who first uses the Try_package. The language teacher of the disadvantaged may find this source more helpful later in the academic year as her class becomes more sophisticated in language development. Random House Company--Sights and Sounds A multi-sensory approach to early language and reading de- velopment is provided in the learning units from Random House and their instructional reading center. One of the most applicable units for the teacher concerned with oral language development is Sights and Sounds. These are carefully selected high interest books, combined with tapes of recorded narration to help students: 26m (New York: Noble and Noble, Inc: 1968), pp. 1-2. 92 1. Improve visual and auditory activity 2. Practice in fOllowing sentences left to right 3. Increase listening skills u. Strengthen word—sound associations 5. Experience the dramatic flow of stories in written form 6. Exercise student imagination when reading.27 Each of the eight units contains a tape recording of each story. A listening station with eight headsets and individual volume controls completes each Sights and Sounds unit. Each tape attempts to provide an interesting dramatic experience. Music, sound effects and appropriate voice characterizations highlight the reading of every story. Stories are read by Dr. Robert Kedder, Chairman of Speech and Drama, National College of Education. The Sights and Sounds units have been used in Title I programs in many states including Wisconsin, Georgia, and California. _In addition to the publishers and resource centers mentioned in detail because of their specific language arts focus, the following companies do provide some help for speech development of the disadvantaged, although their materials are not nearly as specific for the disadvantaged student. The Chandler Reading Program presents stories whiCh are based on experiences commonly shared by Children of many ethnic and socioeconomic groups at various age levels. 27Learning Units From Random House (New York: Random House Publishers, 1968). 93 The Chandler Reading Program.has been based on the premise that all language skills are closely interrelated, and that it is especially important at the beginning stages of reading to assure that a child's oral vocabulary is more advanced than the vocabulary he is asked to read. The Viking Press has produced a catalog of Viking books especially for the disadvantaged children and young people. This source provides a key to pre-school through high—sChool age readers. The subjects listed for each book and annotations give an indication {a of the book's appeal both to individual children and to specific groups. The average reading level of each book recommended for reluctant readers is indicated. The interest level of these books is generally considerably higher than the reading level.28 D. C. Heath and Company provided a list of books for elemen- tary school texts. They focus on English as a second language. The key language minority group under concern is the Spanish speaking. The American English Series for Spanish speaking people is prepared by the Department of Education in Puerto Rico, and publiShed in extensive editions for classroom use. In the area of reading, D. C. Heath offers the Miami Linguistic Readers. This series, prepared by the Ford Foundation project Dade County Public Schools, Miami, Florida, has books for first through sixth grades.29 28Viking Books for the Disadvanpaged Children and Young Pegple (New York: Viking Press, 1968), p. 1. 29Heath Educational Materials (Boston: D. C. Heath Company 1968). 91+ Audio-Visual Materials Large wall posters and photographs of urban centers are available to teachers by the John Day Company. These materials can be used to stimulate language development and discussion topics in the classroom. Other audio-visual materials, including films, _ Hit-1 Charts, slides and special aides fOr government funded projects, are detailed in the general catalog of Encyclopedia Britannica Education Corporation in Chicago, Illinois. Other publishing companies with some concern for language arts in the elementary grades, with a listing of materials for the teacher are Allyn and Bacon Company, Rockleigh, New Jersey; Portal Press Inc., New York, New York; Teachers Publishing Corporation, Darien, Connecticut; Garrard Publishing Company, Champaign, Illinois; and Franklin Watts, Inc., New York, New YOrk. Summary Within this chapter, language arts textbooks and resource Inaterials fOr the teacher and student have been reviewed. Content is the basic concern of these sources. .A survey of 11H textbook companies was conducted to determine the availabiltiy of books and resource materials in three categories: language arts materials for the teacher and administrator, language arts materials for the student, and general language arts sources. The results of the sur— very show that twenty companies have moved directly into producing printed resource materials in speech and language arts for the 95 culturally disadvantaged. It appears that in their sources publishers focus upon oral language development—;speaking, listening, and vocabulary. Further, it seems that the materials for the cul- turally disadvantaged language classes are sufficiently flexible so that they can be used separately in units combining language and speech. Many sources are interChangeable in teaching from primary to early elementary grades. MCst sources reviewed have been thoroughly tested in Head—Start and Title I and II government funded programs before national publication and distribution by the companies. CHAPTER V AN ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF.A STRUCTURED.APPROACH TO SPEECH AND LANGUAGE TEACHING IN PROJECT HEAD—START Introduction Project Head-Start has received considerable public attention, but, until recently, little has been done to determine whether the program is accomplishing its primary goals of improving the early educational experience of the culturally disadvantaged Child. This chapter will not attempt to evaluate Head-Start as muCh as to attempt to determine the effects of a structured approach in contrast to the more "child development" oriented language program.used in Head-Start. The Bereiter-Engelmann language program will be used as the experi- mental program.for the study. The BereitereEngelmann program.was begun at the University of Illinois Institute for ResearCh on Exceptional Children in Champaign, Illinois. Since 196u, Bereiter and Engelmann have worked together at the University of Illinois on projects in early Childhood education, which were supported by the U. S. Office of Education. Carl Bereiter, Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, is now professor at the University of Toronto, Canada where he is continuing his researCh in the area of language problems for the disadvantaged. Siegfried Engelmann, A. B. University of Illinois, developed the test and materials fOr the Bereiter—Engelmann program, continues his work at University of Illinois.1 . lCarl Bereiter—Sigfried Engelmann, Teaching Disadvantaged Chlldken in_the Pre—School, (Englewood Cliffs: PrentiCe Hall, 1966). 96 97 The Bereiter—Engelmann program.has been developed because: 1. Disadvantaged children fail in school; 2. School failure usually leads to occupational failure, since the child who fails in school usually does not have an opportunity to move up into the higher-status professions; 3. .A cycle of failure is thereby created--the children failing, later'moving into semi— skilled jobs, and raising children in an atmosphere that does not teaCh these Children the skills that will be needed for success in school. The Bereiter—Engelmann program is based on the idea that we must have the same set of educational objectives for all children. The same skills that middle class children have must be taught to the disadvantaged child. The techniques used to achieve this goal would be different from the traditional techniques used for middle class children. However, the long range objectives are the same-- teaChing the competence skills that potentially lead to maximum.up- ward social mobility. The objective of the Head-Start instruCtion is to take the first step in acquainting the Children with fOrmal instruction and in starting to work in specific content areas--reading, arithmetic, and language. The idea is to give them.a.head start in terms of those skills that serve as the foundation for what these children will be doing in school for at least ten years. The middle class child is not standing still; he is learning all the time. 2 . Ibld., pp. 1-8. 98 Unless the disadvantaged child is provided with the kind of instruction that allows him.to learn at a faster rate than the middle class child is learning, the disadvantaged child will never catch up, let alone achieve a head start. It is not enough to say that during the Head— Start year the disadvantaged child will learn academically related concepts. He must be taught enough concepts and taught thoroughly enough so that he will gain ground on his middle class peer. Proponents of the Bereiter and Engelmann program do not view the Head—Start year as a year of magic. They do not believe that if children are given a single year of instruction they will perform well for the rest of their sChool career. They will do better than they would have done if they had not received the intensive instruction; however, the first year must be viewed as just that--the first year of a continuing program that teaches these children at a faster rate than they would normally be taught using traditional approaches. Bereiter and Engelmann hope that the Head-Start effort will be coordinated with a Follow-Through program or a similar program.that takes advantage of the gains produced during the first year and builds on these gains. In the Bereiter and Engelmann program the children spend about one hour a day working on academic skills. They spend 20 minutes on reading, 20 minutes on arithmetic, and 20 minutes on language. During these periods, the Children work in small groups--one teacher to H—B children. The Children move from class to class as they would in a departmentalized high school. The teaChers specialize. One teaCher teaches language to all the Children; another teaChes arithmetic to all 99 of the children; and another teaches reading to all of the children. The material used in the study periods is programmed so that: l. The Children will not encounter tasks that they cannot handle; 2. The teacher receives constant feedback on the performance of the children. When a group of children has mastered a particular skill, the teaCher proceeds to the next skill. However, she does not pro- ceed before the children have thoroughly mastered the first skill. The reason is that the Children will use that skill in working tasks that are to be presented in the program. If they have not mastered the skill, they will have difficulty with the tasks that are to come. Since Bereiter and Engelmann want instruction to be enjoyable for the children, they make sure that they will not encounter tasks which they probably will fail. The children spend only about an hour working on the core academic skills. They spend the rest of the time in seat work activity, music, art, and less structured activity. Note, however, that this activity is included in addition to the academic work, not in place of the academic. The Bereiter and Engelmann program provides systematic rein- forcement in all activities, the teachers systematically reinfOrce those behaviors that are desired. The teaCher's use of reinforcers-— tangible reinforcers, enjoyable activities, praise, and so forth-—are guided by the principle that children will produce behaviors if these behaviors are reinforced. Bereiter and Engelmann program.gives the 100 child a "payoff" for those behaviors. Bereiter and Engelmann do not give a payoff for behaviors that are not desired. The child has a choice. He can either continue to produce the behavior that is not desired and receive no payoff. Children choose the stronger payoff. Teachers of young Children sometimes react negatively to the idea that one should "control" the child's behavior. However, a teacher controls a Child's behavior whether she intends to do so or not. If she gives the Child a great deal of attention when he throws a tantrum, she teaches him that there is a strong payoff fOr throwing tantrums. He will continue to throw them, and the teacher has helped strengthen this undesired behavior. If the teaCher consciously con- trols the payoff the child receives, she will ignore the tantrum and give the Child a great deal of attention when he does something that she desires, such as working well on a task. The Child will now learn a far'more productive rule about social behavior—~tantrums do not have a strong payoff associated with them, but on-task behavior does. Instructional materials used in the Bereiter and Engelmann program.include: l. The DISTAR reading program, a program designed specially fOr the disadvantaged child. 2. The DISTAR arithmetic program, Which relates basic arithmetic skills to counting operations. 3. The DISTAR language programu which concentrates on the language of instruction (the basic lan- guage that is used in any teaChing situation). H. The IMA.art program. a supplemental program.that relates drawing to language skills. 101 5. The IMA music program, a series of records that teaches songs that have instructional value . Implementation : Teachers must receive pre-service and in-service training both on the use of the material and on classroom management procedures and techniques for achieving the behavior that is desired. Pre-service training will take one of two forms: 1. Head-Start teachers and directors will be trained in connection with the Follow—Through teachers , during a two-week summer workshop . 2. Head—Start teachers and directors will be trained by using a training package, which consists of films, tapes, reading, and disucssion materials. (The materials for this training package are currently being developed.) The in-service training will be handled through regular con- sultant visits from a staff member of the project at the University of Illinois. The consultant will work with teachers, not as an overload but hOpefully as one who is very familiar with the program and pro- cedures and who can provide suggestions that work. The schedule for consulting will have to be tailored to the individual Head—Start program. 3 The basic assumption of the Bereiter—Engelmann language program is that a short—term pre-school program cannot be expected to produce above normal gains in all areas of development simultaneously. A well rounded language program is therefore incompatible with the goal of catching up; selectivity is necessary. 3Ibid., pp. 8-19. 102 All the tasks in the basic Bereiter-Engelmann language program revolve around two simple statement forms: "This is a " and "This is ."4 These two forms become a strong medium for trans— mitting a wide range of language and thinking skills. Through these two forms, the child learns first how to identify the things in his world and how to ask questions about them. He then learns how to com- pare one thing with another, referring to size, texture, and sound. The two basic statement forms then transport him to the level of'more sophisticated comparisons, where many things are grouped together ac- cording to a certain conceptual dimension such as position or color or shared Characteristics. In working with the two basic statement forms, he learns the rudiments of empirical investigation. He learns to ask himself certain questions and proceed according to the way he answers them after investigating the material before him. In other'words, he learns the basic of "if-then" reasoning. Through the basic statement forms, the child learns the funda- mental conceptual framework of logical thought along with the not-so- logical conventions that sometimes accompany these. He learns to un- scramble experience in a very mechanical and stereotyped.manner and reduce it to relevant questions and answers that express what something is and what additional statements can be made about it. The project, "A Study of the Effects of TeaCher.Attitude and Curriculum.Structure on Pre-SChool Disadvantaged Children,"5 undertaken L*Ibid., p. 168. 5W. T. Brazniel, "Two Years of Head-Start," Phi Delta Kappa, XLVIII, 7, March, 1967. 103 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the full school year 1967-1968, is an attempt to find out whether children exposed to a full year program, with an academically oriented curriculum, could make significant cognitive gains over children following a less structured curriculum. In the experimental centers , only the educational program differed from the recommendations for Head-Start. The children in both experi— mental and control schools received the benefit or health, social, psychological, nutritional, parent programs and filed trips. Project Head-Start In the summer of 1965 the Federal Government initiated Project Head-Start, a pre—school program for disadvantaged children. It was believed that by bringing children from low-income homes to school for 6 to 8 weeks in the summer or for a full year before they began the regular school session they would become better adjusted to school and would, therefore, be better prepared to learn and to compete with their more advantaged classmates when the regular session began. As of March 1967, 1.3 million children have been enrolled in Head—Start programs in 2,400 commlnities--561,000 in the summer of 1966, and 171,000 in the full year programs.6 The Head-Start Program of child development has six major aspects: an educational program, health services, social services, 6Edsel Erickson, "A Study of the Effects of Teacher Attitude and Curriculum Structure on Pre-School Disadvantaged Children," imual Progress Report I, August 1”, 1967. 10L.L psychological services, nutrition and parent programs.7 The educa— tional curriculum in Project Head-Start varies from location to location and from teaCher to teacher; the curriculum.in.most centers emphasizes social objective and broadening of experience with the world. Development of vocabulary, verbal fluency and spontaneity of expression through unstructured teaching is also recognized as important. A study comparing Head—Start and non—Head-Start children after six months of kindergarten in New York sChools is one of the most significant evaluations of Head-Start to date. Max Wolff and Annie Stein fOund that Head-Start children tended to be ranked higher in their kindergarten classes in.greater proportions than Children who had not had Head—Start, and they appeared with less frequency in the bottom deciles of the class than non-Head-Start children. However, in the mixed school, where Children from low-income homes were expected to compete with children from middle-income housing project, Head—Start children appeared with less frequency than non—Head-Start Children in the upper ranks and with greater frequency than non—HeadéStart Children' in the lower ranks.8 Although 23% of the parents sought Specific educational goals finn‘their children. only two of the teachers listed the actual learning (DI: concepts as being of first importance, and in some cases concept 7Project Head-Start--Daily Program.I_ (Washington, D. C.: Office Of Equal Opportunity, 1966), p. 12. DJ 8Max Wolff and Annie Stein, Six Months Later (Rockville, Md.: éiTIfiLonal Cash Register, 1961), p. u. 105 learning was not listed as an aim by the teacher. Of the ‘4 teachers interviewed, 9 felt that any initial advantage in social adjustment in school evidenced by Head-Start children had disappeared after the first few months of kindergarten. Of the four teachers who thought the ad- vantage had persisted, three had been closely associated with the Head— Start Program. A more objective rating indicated that 91% of the Head- Start children adjusted in a short time as against 69% of the non- Head-Start children. By the end of November most of the children, both Head—Start and non—Head-Start, were fully adjusted to school routines. In performance on the Pre-School Inventory 6 to 8 months after the summer Head-Start program there was no significant difference between the scores of Head-Start children and their classmates in kindergarten who did not have Head—Start. However, mean ratings of Head-Start children in the minority group schools (Negro and Puerto Rican) were slightly better than those of non-Head-Start Children. In the mixed school the performance of the non-Head-Start children was slightly better. The conclusions that can be drawn from the) Wolff-Stein study are that in the Head-Start centers investigated the children made social gains but that these disappeared a few months after the beginning Of the regular school session and that in cognitive ability as measured by the Pro-School Inventory, the children made slight gains but not enough to allow them to compete with children from middle-income homes. The study leaves open the question whether a program (that emphasizes C30g11itive goals rather than social objective will better prepare the disadvantaged child to compete in the academic environment.9 \_——_ 9Bruce Rush, A_n_ Evaluation o_f_ _a_ Six-Week Head-Start Program Using 106 Procedure: The Grand Rapids Project Background The Bereiter and Engelmann approach in teaching language to the pre-school Child was the method Chosen by the Grand Rapids, MiChigan Board of Education, and Western Michigan University's School of Education to conduct a study comparing two different language teaChing methods in Head—Start. The program was funded by the Federal Government's Office of Education for $u6,000 for a two-year period starting in the fall of 1967. .1 Adthough this project will continue into the 1969 sChool year, this study will be concerned with the first year only. Responsibility for thestudy was shared by the Grand Rapids Public SChools, Western MiChigan University, and the BereitereEngelmann Program at the Uni- versity of Illinois. The teachers and administrative staff employed were members of the Grand Rapids Public SChools. Neighborhood women served as aides and cooks. Additional staff consisted of a visiting consultant from the University of Illinois, Mrs. Jean Osborne, who conducted a pre—service teaCheretraining program.for teachers in the eXperimental program. Supervisors from the University Of Illinois aura western.MiChigan University consulted.with the teaChers and con- CfiJtrted the testing during the sChool year 1967—1968.10 M 5351 {fleademically Oriented Curriculum: Canton, 1967 (unpublished.masters eSis, University of Illinois, 1968), pp. H-S. 10The Grand Rapids Press, June 20, 1968. 107 Subjects A pre—sChool laboratory was set up in eleven inner~city Grand Rapids Public Schools. A total of 375 children who qualified for Head-Start were enrolled and 180 went through a year of pre-school under the usual Head-Start format. The other 195 students were ex— posed to the Bereiter-Engelmann structured teaching approaCh. Children were selected for the program by Dr. Joseph MaCMillian, Lurector of Inner City Schools for the Grand Rapids Board of Educa— tion, according to the socioeconomic standards recormended for Head- Start. Basic Design The study used groups rather than individuals as the units for pairing. There were eleven Head—Start sChools, five and one-half were designated as experimental. The remaining five and one-half'were designated as control. The five and one-half sChools were then matched according to socioeconomic level with five schools in the control group. The matChing was done by members of the Grand Rapids Public Schools before the pre-tests were administered.11 Testing Near the end of the Head-Start Program in the spring of 1968, ‘EEEDerimantal students and control students were individually tested (DWI ‘the Standford—Binet Intelligence Test and on three sub—tests of the M £3 11Interview with Dr. Jane Bonnell, Psychologist, Grand Rapids Card of Education, Jan. 20, 1969. 108 Illinois Test ef_Psycholinguistic Abilities: .Auditory Vocal Association sub-test, Visual Decodipgfisub-test, and Vocal Encoding sub—test. These tests were used to make preliminary and inferential estimates on the relative impact of the experiment on language development. It is important to recognize, however, that this is the first year's report of a two—year or possibly a three-year study of the ef— fects of a pre-school experimental program. On the basis of prior re- search findings it seems presumptuous to assume automatically that initial gains in pre-school are necessarily reflected in later language development in school; and the experimental impact on later intellectual and social adjustment skills is the primary interest of the present re- search. The results reported in this study are merely first findings. Therefore, conclusions beyond mere conjecture as to the efficiency of the experimental program.must be deferred until the end of the second year of the study. At that time the Grand Rapids project will have more valid criterion data on which to make an assessment of the impact. In addition to the above tests, all subjects in the experimental and the control groups were assessed by their teachers in the BEST School Inventory (Caldwell). In the fOIIOw-up of subjects in kinder— Efiarten and first grade, the Grand Rapids project will assess the pre— 1L.1I*ce. The most widely accepted books and reSource materials Were 1:1—1Ese which government supported projects have tested in more than one <2<:3I11£>ensatory program. Books and resource materials fOr administrators ‘0‘5335‘63 found to be available through.a.number of clearinghouses for the C1:i-Eséadvantaged, established at scattered points across the country. E3€E=