Proposals for Developmental Activities

Since the authorization for institutes under the National Defense Education Act expires with the fiscal year ending June 30, 1968, except under very special conditions no proposal will be accepted at this time for programs planned for and to be held during the academic year 1969-70. Under such conditions the proposal would allow for prior development during 1968-69, the cost not to exceed $20,000 for activities, staff, and consultants required to develop the program. Since a grant cannot be considered apart from the proposed program, the proposal must delineate both parts equally. Although they are approved infrequently, such proposals usually plan a pilot academic-year program that would be unique and useful for demonstration purposes.

If such a proposal were approved, support for the second year would be implied, subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funds. The maximum period for which support could be expected would be the year of the developmental grant and the subsequent year during which the proposed program would be conducted. While in this and other instances the Office of Education may provide additional support beyond the second year in order to assure programs of exceptional calibre, nothing should be understood as agreed upon in advance regarding continued support beyond 2 years, as described.

Deadline for Receipt of Proposals

Proposals for institutes to be conducted beginning in the summer of 1968 or during the academic year 1968-69 should be submitted to the Division of Educational Personnel Training no later than May 26, 1967. Proposals bearing a later postmark will not be considered.

THE DESIGN OF AN INSTITUTE PROGRAM

A program should provide a concentrated experience for a carefully selected group of participants. Since experienced school personnel have special qualifications and needs, a mere assemblage of courses cannot be considered adequate or meaningful. Rather, the care with which a program is especially designed for the participants is its distinctive feature, vital to its success. The components of a program should be selected with the participants in mind and should be related and integrated so that each component will complement and reinforce the others. Only a program so designed can achieve its special objectives, which include giving the participants an opportunity to draw upon and develop their own professional capacities, experiences, and qualifications. Such a program can be of immediate use to them in their professional activities.

In scheduling the dates for proposed summer institutes, careful consideration should be given to the dates public schools close, which vary considerably from one geographic area to another.

The Self-Contained Program

Traditionally, because an institute program has been considered a separate entity, only the participants for whom the program was designed have been allowed to attend. Most directors may still consider this practice as necessary as it is convenient. But flexibility in this as in other matters is desired whenever the program can extend its usefulness. The Office of Education will encourage programs which, while they help to improve the qualifications of the individuals for whom they were created, also strengthen the bond between institutions of higher education and the schools which they are attempting

to serve.

Under certain conditions, at the discretion of the director, outside activities relevant to the formal academic program may be attended by the participants and others. Examples of this type of activity are lectures given by "outside" individuals who may be engaged by either the program or the institution.

In some cases, to function more effectively, academic year programs need not be self-contained, that is, they need not be composed wholly of participants receiving stipends from the USOE. Provided all students are treated equally and are attending full time, and provided proper fiscal arrangements are made by which institutional support is prorated in accordance with the total number of students involved, a proposed program may include regular college or university students in addition to participants who apply for and receive stipends. This exception applies only to an academic-year program where the combined and greater participation can be shown to provide a more effective program. The details of such a non-self-contained program should be spelled out carefully in the proposal.

Generally, short-term and inservice programs will be self-contained, but not necessarily isolated, units.

The Formal Program

Organized in various ways, programs may serve many purposes and a variety of participants. Usually the number of participants is relevant to the particular purposes. Programs may upgrade the qualifications of educational personnel engaged in a certain field by providing advanced study. They may bring together professional personnel trained in a given area for intensive study of a new development, such as new techniques or skills, or for study of a special problem or body of knowledge, or for a consideration of how new materials and media

may most effectively be used. They may introduce the "new" aspect of a discipline or provide an opportunity to rethink and redo "old" concerns. Throughout there is ample opportunity to offer substantive work of one sort or another within a framework of classroom applicability.

The Participants

Individuals, with a variety of titles and different needs may, with imagination, become participants without specific reference to a particular title and without being limited to the traditional bounds of a given profession. In a decade that has discovered poverty and the disadvantaged, neither the school system nor the college can continue to use old forms for new purposes without some stress or strain. The purpose of these programs is to widen, to open, and to create. Hence, they should bring together teachers and supervisors (who cover a multitude of administrative duties), specialists, including those in guidance and counseling and school psychology, regardless of the particular title they carry, and trainers of teachers and others responsible for teacher training.

Programs should be able to help prepare educational personnel at all levels to include another field or to operate on more than one level of specialization without fear. Just as team-teaching or nongradedness is helping to change environmental circumstances by taking the teacher out of the box of 30-odd children, so can these programs help to redefine and realign the academic relationship between teachers and specialists so that the one complements the other.

The Weekly Schedule

In general, a program should be organized so as to keep participants fully engaged without overpressing them. The number of hours in formal study will, of course, vary and will depend upon the content and the nature of the program. Sufficient time should be allowed not only for study but for informal discussions and other related activities. Usually, for all except inservice or part-time programs, shorter workshops, and some conferences, evening meetings should be kept to a minimum. It is more effective to schedule uniformly throughout the week, rather than intensively during a given day, so that time is available to absorb the materials presented and to supplement lectures with appropriate reading or informal discussion. For some programs reading may be less and work in practicums more. There is no formula, only the necessity to achieve a balance between method and matter, practice and theory, books and learning.

Except in the case of part-time programs, participants must devote full time to their work; they may not engage in employment or study unrelated to the program.

The Informal Program

Social and informal activities are necessary to the success of a program. While the value of the impersonal academic atmosphere of "lecture and run" is not denied, evidence speaks loudly to the point that it is necessary to increase, not to decrease, the amount of communication between teacher and taught. However designed, most programs become a seminar-like affair which allows for a continuous dialogue. A dialogue commenced in the classroom may be the booster; or communication outside the classroom may occur first. In any case, careful planning of informal activities is all but required.

The Environmental Requirements of a Dialogue

At the beginning of a program there are invaluable opportunities for becoming acquainted. Throughout, participants should be able to meet with one another and with members of the staff-during coffee breaks, at lunch, on field trips, in a practicum and, perhaps, in weekend activities involving the entire group. No program should be without a common meeting room, open at all times to participants, with extra library facilities provided there or nearby.

Since the staff and the participants are each equally experienced in the business of teaching and learning, they have much in commonfar more than thought at first blush and certainly more than has been accepted by the average college professor or schoolteacher. Here is a marriage of common interests. A successful program often has a relaxed air, with staff and participants meeting as colleagues.

The Director and His Staff

The director and the instructors should have an understanding of the problems which confront professional personnel in elementary and secondary schools and as appropriate to some programs-in junior colleges, technical schools, and institutions of higher education. The director must be a faculty member of the host institution and a specialist in the field for which the program is designed. Unless he is professionally competent in the area, a proposal-and the proposed program-is seriously weakened. A proposal will be judged on the assurance it provides that the director is able to use his competencies in the selection and direction of the staff as they relate to the program. A director should be acquainted with the needs and problems of the relevant educational level of his participants and their school systems and State educational agencies. He must be able to translate his knowledge and awareness into professional standards as epitomized by the related professional organizations which best express them.

As a distinguished professor wrote: "Of course, we must know our own fields but we can rely on the discipline of our professions and

the criticism of our colleagues to keep us up to the mark. But if we are to venture into the training of teachers who must function in environments very unlike those we function in-and I strongly believe we must assume this obligation-then we must set out systematically to acquaint ourselves with the realities of elementary and secondary school life."

The director acts as the liaison officer between his institution and the Office of Education. He must act with the advice of, and in cooperation with, his institution's contracting or grants officer who should be closely involved when financial negotiations are undertaken. Generally, the director writes the proposal for the institute and, if it is accepted, conducts negotiations with the Office which lead to the preparation of the contract or the grant award document. He is responsible to his institution and to the USOE for the conduct of all institute affairs.

The director designs the program, recruits the staff and is responsible for all local and regional publicity including the preparation of a brochure about the institute. He receives the applications from all prospective participants and alternates. He also arranges for the participants' room and board. Finally, he submits reports required by the Office of Education, and supervises any followup studies that may be undertaken.

A director may do some teaching in the institute in order to keep in close touch with the participants and the program of instruction. However, this should not be allowed to interfere with his playing the dominant leadership role in the program. If he does teach, he should have adequate assistance in handling the details of administration through appointment of an assistant or associate director or an administrative assistant. In order to permit the director to make arrangements for the program, the college or university should release him from at least one course, or as much as one-half of his regular teaching duties, during the preceding semester. He should be assigned full time for the duration of a short-term program. However, in some longer programs, it may prove feasible for a director to devote less time. In any instance he will need time to write the final report and to accomplish other tasks. Throughout the period of his service as director he will require adequate secretarial and sometimes additional clerical assistance.

An associate or assistant director would usually teach while assisting the director. The time he would devote to administrative duties would vary according to the program arrangements and the needs of the institute.