1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 233 13 14 EDUCATION LEGISLATION, 1967 3 such amount as is the same per centum of the total such "(3) The Commissioner shall make no deduction under 15 this subsection for any fiscal year in which the amount to be 16 deducted is less than $1,000." FACT SHEETS SUPPLIED BY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE "ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION AMENDMENTS OF 1967" I. National Teacher Corps. II. Comprehensive Educational Planning. III. Innovation in Vocational Education. IV. Expanded Educational Opportunities for Handicapped Children. V. Miscellaneous Amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Federally Impacted Areas Program. Background and Need 1. NATIONAL TEACHER CORPS The National Teacher Corps offers new hope for blighted schools, both in urban slums and in remote rural areas. It offers hope of increased educational opportunities for America's 8 million impoverished children, by training new manpower in the education of the disadvantaged. It offers new ways to tap idealism and motivation for public service, as a major factor in the national commitment to the elimination of educational deprivation through the partnership of governmental and voluntary action. Studies have shown that many of the economically deprived are also educationally deprived. Their schools are more likely to be understaffed and overcrowded. Their teachers are more apt to be poorly qualified for the difficult tasks they face. Curricular materials are less likely to be available and up to date. The children themselves face other limitations: impoverished family background and environment, lack of books and reading materials at home, absence of cultural experiences common to middle-class homes, low self-esteem. The problem must not be underestimated. Only one in four nonwhite children outside metropolitan areas is enrolled in school at age 5, compared with half the white children in the same parts of the country. In metropolitan areas, about three-fourths of all children, both white and nonwhite, are in school at age 5. Nearly a million Spanish-speaking children in Southwestern States are unlikely ever to get beyond the eighth grade. Many are only vaguely familiar with English and, since they attend schools where classes are taught in English and speaking Spanish frequently forbidden, they fall behind in the first grade and progressively further behind thereafter. In the metropolitan Northeast, the average Negro student is about 1.6 years behind the average white student in scholastic achievement in the sixth grade, 2.4 years behind in the ninth grade, and 3.3 years behind in the twelfth grade. In the South, both white and Negro students score below their northern counterparts. Severe teacher shortages have plagued school districts across the Nation. A recent survey of 39 States showed that last September, 20 had substantial shortages of applicants for teaching positions; elementary school teachers were most in demand. Shortages affected communities of every size: 37 States lacked teachers for rural areas; 33 lacked teachers for small cities, 22 for large central cities, and 19 for suburbs. Within a single system, however, the greatest demand for teachers occurs in impoverished schools; in these areas, school officials experience great difficulty in recruiting both beginning and experienced teachers. In Philadelphia, for example, the overall teaching staff vacancy rate was nearly 11 percent at the beginning of this school year; in elementary schools in poverty areas of the city, the vacancy rate was almost 20 percent. On opening day, New York City had to mobilize a 500-man substitute teacher force for full-time duty. The National Teacher Corps will help to meet these needs. It has, at present, 262 veteran teachers and 965 college graduate interns who are working to build professional careers in teaching disadvantaged children. They serve in 275 schools in 111 school systems, with the cooperation of 50 university training centers in 29 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. There are Teacher Corps teams in 20 of the Nation's 25 largest cities, among them: New York, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Cleveland, San Diego, Buffalo, and Memphis. There are Teacher Corps teams in Appalachian towns and in the Ozarks, in Spanish-speaking communities in New York, Florida, California, and the Southwest. Teacher Corps members serve at the request of the local schools in a program worked out by the State department of education, the school system, and a local university. They work in teams, with a veteran teacher serving as team leader for 3-10 interns. Part of a Corps member's time is spent in and about the schools in which he teaches, and part in study at a nearby university. At the end of 2 years, the interns will have earned a master's degree and will be qualified as specialists in the education of the disadvantaged. The Corps has had no problem with recruitment of persons to teach in slum schools and rural areas. On the contrary, 13,000 persons applied for membership in 1965. Those selected were all college graduates; they were chosen on the basis of teaching experience (in the case of team leaders) and of academic achievement (in the case of interns). They are paid at the salary rates in effect in the school district in which they teach. Since 70 percent of the projects deal with elementary school children, the National Teacher Corps should have substantial impact on a critical area of need-education of children of poverty in the early grades. Proposal The National Teacher Corps program would become a special part of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and would be extended for three years, through fiscal year 1970, plus authority to enable a teacherintern to continue his program of practical and academic training for a period of not more than one year, for those who begin such training during fiscal year 1970. Teacher-interns would be compensated at the lowest rate for teaching full-time in the school system in which they teach, as they are under existing law, or at the rate of $75 per week plus $15 per dependent, whichever is less. State educational agency approval of the local educational agency's request for Corps members and of the training program offered by an institution or university would be required. Teacher Corps members would be permitted to be assigned to a migrant group not in a regular school, who are taught by a public or other nonprofit agency, if the number of migrant children makes such an assignment feasible. The Commissioner of Education would be authorized to accept gifts on behalf of the Teacher Corps, in the same way as the Peace Corps is authorized to accept gifts. Teacher Corps members would be permitted to be assigned to schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The "Local Control" section would be amended to make it clear that no Teacher Corps member may be assigned to a local educational agency unless the agency finds the member acceptable. II. COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATIONAL PLANNING Background and Need Rational planning at all levels is essential if the Nation's educational needs are to be met. Reliable information concerning the effectiveness of existing education programs must be obtained and objectively evaluated in order to better coordinate and improve present programs and to develop new programs to fill unmet needs. Local educational agencies receive funds from three primary sources the local, State, and Federal Governments. Each school district must plan the use of those funds to meet local needs. However, almost all Federal funds and some State funds are earmarked for special purposes. The number of education programs designed to meet special needs has increased to the point that some districts have hired special coordinators to work the various programs together into a comprehensive plan adapted to local needs. However, neither the local schools nor the States have the resources to extend this local coordination and short-range planning to a long-range project of regional or Statewide planning and coordination. During the 1965-66 school year, $27 billion was spent on education by local education agencies. With expenditures of that magnitude, a program of systematic Statewide planning and evaluation must be established if duplication is to be avoided and maximum efficiency is to be attained. If the evaluation and planning of education programs is to be effective, it must be carried out close to the people to be served by those programs. The American system of education is founded on the principle of State and local control. The responsibility for educational planning, therefore, rests at the State and local levels. State educational agencies now set standards for our schools and qualifications for our teachers. Local schools are directly respon sible to local school boards. The best planning—that which will be most responsive to the needs of the persons to be served-must be carried out at the State and local levels. If State and local educational agencies are to continue to carry out their present role in educational planning and if the administration of Federal educational programs is to reflect the intent of Congress, the Federal Government must share some of the burden placed on those agencies. This can be done by assisting them in developing comprehensive systems of planning and evaluation which will aid them in meeting educational goals at all levels of education, from preschool programs through postgraduate education. Proposal Title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act would be amended to establish a 5-year program of grants to States by the Commissioner of Education for programs of comprehensive, systematic, and continuous planning, and for evaluation of education at all levels, except that the inclusion of the field of higher education would be optional with the State. Any State desiring to receive a grant would designate or establish a State agency to be responsible for carrying out, or supervising the carrying out, of the comprehensive planning, except that, if the State so decided, the planning for higher education could be carried out by a separate agency, provided that there was assurance of effective coordination between the two. To be eligible for a grant, the programs set forth in the State's application would include: setting educational goals; developing through analysis alternate means of achieving these goals; planning new and improved programs on the basis of these analyses; developing and strengthening the competencies of the States for conducting objective evaluations of educational programs; and collecting, compiling, and analyzing significant data concerning education in the State. State applications would be submitted to the Governors for their review and recommendations. Seventy-five percent of the funds appropriated would be apportioned among the States, the District of Columbia, and the outlying areas for grants according to State plans. The remainder of the appropriation would be reserved for grants to public and private nonprofit agencies, institutions, or organizations for special projects related to educational planning and evaluation on an interstate, regional, or metropolitan area basis. $15 million would be authorized for comprehensive planning for fiscal year 1968. III. INNOVATION IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Background and Need The changing character of the American economy and the resulting change in manpower needs require that our schools anticipate the demands which will be made of their students in the future. In the next few years, employment opportunities in the professional, semi-professional, and technical fields will increase more than 40 percent, while job opportunities for unskilled workers and agricultural workers will actually decline. Opportunities in public service, in business, and in the professional and personal service fields are expected to increase at a much faster rate than in other areas. These shifts in the structure of the American labor market impose ever-increasing demands upon high school students. They must make decisions about schools which affect their entire lives, when they know very little about opportunities which will be available to them. The jobs of our Nation's schools is particularly critical in view of the large number of workers under 25 years of age who will be continuing to enter the labor force. From 1965 to 1970, the number of persons 20 to 24 years old in the job market will be increasing by close to 500,000 or 4.8 percent per year-21⁄2 times the rate for the labor force as a whole. By 1970 there may be close to 12 million of these young adult workers, representing about 14 percent of the total labor force, compared with 10 percent in 1960. Overall, the total number of teenage and young adult workers (aged 14 to 24) is expected to increase by almost 700,000 a year, constituting about 45 percent of the increase in the labor force between now and 1970. More than one million students drop out of school each year. Of the students now in the fifth grade, approximately 80 percent will not complete college. A large number of these students will not receive the education or training which will prepare them to adapt to the jobs available ten or twenty years from now. If they are to develop to their greatest potential as wage earners and as citizens, school programs must be designed to keep them in school, and these programs must prepare them to function in an increasingly complex society. Failure to meet the needs of students in high schols results in lessened employment opportunities. The unemployment rate for high school age youth is more than three times that of the public at large. The unemployment rate among those who fail to finish high school is 50 percent greater than among those who complete high school-in spite of an expanding economy. The secondary school system of the United States must be strengthened to enable it to be more responsive to the needs, interests, abilities, and problems of all students and to the current and long-term demands of the world of work. This is especially true in the case of disadvantaged students. High school may be their last opportunity for formal education unless they are stimulated to continue on to college, and unless they receive training for employment they may be doomed to a life of unemployment. For students who do not plan to go to college, high school may be the last opportunity to prepare for, or receive training for, a job. Proposal The Vocational Education Act of 1963 would be amended to establish a 5-year program of grants to State vocational boards, local educational agencies, and public and private agencies, organizations, and institutions to support the planning, development, and operation of innovative occupational education programs which may serve as models for vocational education programs. Examples of the types of projects which might be supported are: Exploratory occupational education programs to provide practical and educational experiences essential to understanding the demands and complexities of our modern society and oportunities in the constantly-changing world of work. These programs would be designed to familiarize students with the broad range of occupations available to them and requisites for careers in the various occupations. Programs or projects to provide to students educational experience through part-time work to assist in their maximum development and to help in linking school and employment. Such programs would assist needy students to continue their education; promote a sense of achievement in school-related work experiences; enlarge educational opportunities; develop recognition of the value of work; and establish communication channels between education and the world of work which are not now in existence. Guidance and counseling to assure that all students' interests and capabilities are developed in relation to their career objectives and to ease in the transition from school to work by assisting them in initial job placement. Improvement of curricula to stimulate broad-scale innovative changes to provide more realistic vocational education programs for youth and adults at all skill levels. The currimulum changes would involve new instructional media; improved currimulum guides; and innovative techniques and services designed to meet the needs of youth and adults for entry into the world of work or for continuing education at the post-secondary level. The funds appropriated would be apportioned among the States and outlying areas as follows: $150,000 would be apportioned to each State and outlying area, and the remainder would be apportioned according to population aged 14 through 19. $30 million would be authorized for fiscal year 1968. IV. EXPANDED EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR HANDICAPPED CHILDREN Background and Need During the past decade, the foundation has been laid for a comprehensive program of support for educational programs and services for mentally retarded, hearing and speech impaired, deaf, visually handicapped, seriously emotionally disturbed, crippled, and other health impaired children. Beginning with the Cooperative Research Act in 1954, Congress has enacted legislation to provide assistance for research and demonstration projects and for personnel training programs in the education of handicapped children. Over 32,000 fellowships and training grants have been awarded in all areas of education for the handicapped. Last year 8,300 grants were awarded in the area of teaching programs for handicapped children. The Captioned Films for the Deaf program, twice amended since 1958, now includes research, training, production and dissemination activities which are reaching an annual audience of 1.5 million. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 offers direct educational benefits to handicapped children. In addition, it was amended to include State |