in such a way that all of the regular educational undertakings may benefit from the experience it brings. It is possible for a relatively small-scale pilot project to point the way to desirable educational changes, but it is the State and local educational institutions that put them into effect. The last of the four principles set forth in The Pursuit of Excellence 1 puts this well:

4

1

It [a proposal for Federal support] should be based on a recognition that the Government inevitably exercises a certain leadership function in whatever it does. The effect of a Government scholarship program may go far beyond the immediate impact of the grants. The fact that the Government chooses to recognize high talent could have far-reaching consequences in the attitudes of young people. Any Federal support to education shall therefore be concentrated on certain strategic areas. The Federal Government should see its role as that of a pacemaker rather than as confirming traditional and often outdated attitudes.

Applying this principle to the institute program, its goal might well be to complement the efforts that colleges and universities are already making to train guidance workers by trying out some ideas not incorporated in ongoing programs. The fact that all enrollees are secondary school counselors, already practicing or about to practice, allows institute designers to focus their thinking on the needs of a clearly defined group and to try out some things that would not be possible in more diverse groups.

The emphasis on able students can also be a challenge to creative thinking about counseling. For many years the mental health professions were concerned almost exclusively with the prevention and treatment of mental illness. Influenced by this attitude, counselors have often defined their task in terms of problem behavior of various sorts. It is only recently that there has come to be a strong emphasis on positive mental health. We are coming to realize that it is possible to define mental health not as the absence of personality difficulties, but as the capacity for full productive living. The emphasis the National Defense Education Act places on the utilization of talents rather than on the overcoming of deficiencies can be an asset if applied wisely. It can provide a new look at what the role of the counselor is. In work situations there are always external pressures influencing counselors to help "problem" students. The institute program sets up a sort of counter-pressure upon them to assist unusually talented students to make the most of their lives. The emphasis on this part of the counselor's task in institute programs may have a pervasive influence on counseling philosophy as a whole.

In summary, title V(B) presented educational institutions where counselors are trained with an unprecedented opportunity, a challenge

1 Op. cit., p. 36.

to creative thinking. The short-term institutes held in the summer of 1959 were the first response to that challenge. In spite of the newness of the whole program and the limited time that was available for planning, 50 institutes were established and conducted. Taken as a whole, they present a rich diversified pattern. It is this picture, with its implications for all educational efforts in this area, that we shall now proceed to examine.

CHAPTER 3

General Information About the Institutes

Program

The Process of Contract Development

THE

'HE NATIONAL Defense Education Act, Title V(B), specified only that institutes were to be arranged by contracts. It was completely silent as to how these contracts should be brought into existence and administered. It became the responsibility of the U.S. Office of Education to build from the bottom up the policies and procedures upon which the structure would rest. To a considerable extent, the success of the whole program is based on the wisdom of these policies. It was decided that the whole process of developing contracts between the Office of Education and the participating institutions should be a cooperative undertaking. This turned out to be quite different from alternative plans that might have been adopted. It would have been possible, for example, for the Federal agency to draw up what it considered to be a desirable plan for the operation of institutes and simply offer a contract for this particular service to any college or university that seemed to have the necessary facilities for carrying it out. On the other hand, it would have been possible simply to ask the various colleges and universities to submit proposals, and then to accept some and reject others as they stood. Either of these alternatives would not have accomplished the same purpose as the procedure that was actually used.

In a very real sense the institute program represents the best thinking of the whole counseling profession. Very soon after NDEA became law, 14 educators who had been doing outstanding work in guidance were invited to come to Washington for a 2-day conference. The general policies we have been considering, and specific guidelines that could be used to evaluate proposals began to take shape at that meeting. From then on, outside consultants were used again and

again in an attempt to make sure that breadth of thinking went into each important decision.

The procedure of contract development consisted of several steps. As a first step, colleges filled out a registry form indicating that they might wish to sponsor institutes. (A copy of this form is shown in app. B.) The second step was for each institution to submit a proposal indicating what the particular goals of its institute would be and the kind of program that would be offered. The third step consisted of conferences and correspondence between representatives of the U.S. Office of Education and of the institution whose program was being considered. Major and minor changes were made during this period of negotiation. The sharing of ideas and the joint efforts to solve particular problems paid rich dividends in the improvement of plans. The fourth and final step was to draw up a plan of operation for each institute, which formed the basis of the actual contract. Typically, 5 months or more separated the first step from the last, and during this interval cooperative thinking led to the clarification of proposals and made them more workable.

In some ways this process of contract development is like the counseling process itself. Generally, the initiative was taken by the interested institutions, although on occasion the U.S. Office of Education would invite a particular college to submit a proposal. The final plan always grew out of joint thinking. Office of Education representatives presented information, made suggestions, and clarified the limits as to what could be done under the legal provisions of the act. Such a procedure left room for a great deal of diversity in final plans. There were many variations in programing that would not have been attempted had not the requirements specified by the U.S. Office of Education been held to a minimum.

The Basic Institute Plan

As has been said, there was a great deal of variation from place to place in institute programs. But there were some uniform features, and it is on these that the unique values of this form of counselor education seem to rest. The first of these distinguishing characteristics was an initial analysis of needs that a particular institute would try to meet, and a formulation of objectives based on these needs. The general objective of improving counselors is too broad and inclusive to generate workable plans for a 6- or 8-week session. The objectives that constitute the most solid foundation for an institute program "are best stated in terms of anticipated behavioral outcomes on the part of

enrollees," to quote from the Policies and Procedures Manual1 for participating institutions.

The second of the distinguishing characteristics was that enrollees were persons in positions where they could make use of what they learned. In the majority of cases they were already serving as counselors, with or without training for the task. A minority were teachers who were planning to take on counselor roles in the near future. No other categories of applicants were accepted. This led to a kind of serious motivation seldom encountered in college classes. These people really wanted to know.

The third distinguishing characteristic, related to the second, was that the curriculum was planned for a particular group of students, many of whose strengths and weaknesses were known in advance. Data about the needs, backgrounds, abilities, and interests of the selected enrollees were made available to the faculty members at institutes. The faculty was thus enabled to plan tailormade learning experiences. The topics selected, the level at which lectures were pitched, the reading lists and audiovisual aids could all be fitted to the enrollees. It is, of course, difficult to do this even when one has the most favorable opportunity, and the success with which it was accomplished in the institutes was less than perfect; but there was much more of this kind of planning than the customary teaching situation permits.

The fourth distinguishing characteristic was that an institute combined a number of kinds of learning experience, focusing them all on the same objectives. Lectures by regular staff alternated with lectures by experts from other places or professions. Small discussion groups made it possible for enrollees to take an active part in the educative process instead of functioning only as passive listeners. Laboratory and practicum experience alternated with course work. Because the enrollees spent the whole working day together thinking about matters related to counseling, the informal aspects of the program, and the changes in attitudes and ideas that arose from conversation and group interaction took on far more significance than in ordinary educational settings.

The fifth distinguishing characteristic, in some ways the most important of all, was that the institutes provided a full-time program. The stipends made it possible for the enrollees to give all their time and attention to the task of enlarging their own knowledge, increasing their own skill. Staff members also found that their time and energy were centered on institute activities. This concentration of

1 The National Defense Counseling and Guidance Training Institutes Program: Policies and Procedures NDEA Title V (B): No. 1. OE 25001, September 1959.