JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL During fiscal 1955 the staff of the Office of Education gave considerable attention to the reorganization of secondary education and problems associated with the junior high school. Studies indicate that the reorganization of schools to include some form of junior high school has gone forward rapidly in recent years, especially since 1946. The number of seventh- and eighth-grade pupils enrolled in the secondary schools rose almost continuously from 142,000 in 1920 to 1,993,000 in 1952. During the same period, enrollments in these grades in the 8-4 schools fell from 2,778,000 to 2,025,000. This drop is due chiefly to the shifting of these grades to the new junior high school forms of organization. In 1920 there were less than 5 percent of the seventh- and eighthgrade pupils in the reorganized schools; by 1952 this proportion had risen to almost half (49.6 percent) of the total. The rapid increase in total secondary school enrollments coupled with the reorganization of secondary schools has necessitated the construction of many new school facilities. These developments have caused some educators to raise questions concerning the junior high school as a unit in secondary education. Has the junior high school been set up because of expedient administrative and building considerations, or is it the best organization to provide general education for early adolescents 12-15 years of age? Does it clearly demonstrate superiority over the traditional 8-4 plan? Have its purposes changed so much since its origin in 1909 as to suggest that the junior high school needs a new redirection? These questions have stimulated a surgence of professional interest in the junior high school. Because of the wide and growing interest in the junior high school, the critical demands for more buildings for youth of this age group, and the unavailability of recent data the office staff sponsored a National Conference on Junior High Schools. An analysis was also made of State department of education policies and regulations affecting the junior high school. As a result of these activities several national professional organizations and State departments of education are now making studies of this important segment of secondary education. 1 The number of elementary and secondary school teachers in public schools, in the fall of 1954, was 1,065,803 (Office of Education Circular No. 417 Revised). To this must be added the number in nonpublic schools (private and parochial), in model and practice schools of colleges and universities, in residential schools for exceptional children, and in schools operated under Federal auspices. The number of teachers in this group of schools was estimated as 136,000, on the basis of 1 teacher to every 33 pupils-the ratio prevailing in the Roman Catholic schools which enroll 88 percent of the pupils in this group. EDUCATIONAL TV At the beginning of fiscal 1955, there were 7 non-commercial educational television stations in operation. During the year, 1 of the 7 suspended operation pending reorganization, and 9 new stations went on the air, bringing the total of the educational television stations to 15. At the close of fiscal 1955, 11 additional stations were actually under construction, 16 more had already received their construction permits from the Federal Communications Commission, and applications for 13 more had been filed. A look at the 15 educational TV stations in operation at the end of fiscal 1955 reveals 5 distinct types of licenses. Six of the 15 are owned and operated by State universities. Four stations are owned and operated by non-profit educational television corporations formed specifically to serve educational and cultural needs of all elements of the population of the local metropolitan areas. Three of the stations are owned and operated by State educational broadcast councils financed from State appropriations. One station, KUHT of Houston, is owned and operated by a city university, the University of Houston. One station, WGBH-TV of Boston, is owned and operated by the Lowell Foundation, an endowed foundation serving educational and cultural needs of the Boston metropolitan area. On the whole, educational television station development, already involving an expenditure of more than $10 million for equipment alone, is showing a decidedly healthy growth. Now that educational station planners no longer feel themselves under compulsion to get their stations on the air immediately, lest locally reserved educational television channels be re-assigned for commercial use, more attention is being given to planning educational program services, and to developing sound bases for financing station operating and programing costs. In fact, the trend today seems to be to select and train the production staff first, starting actual production over closed circuit facilities on an experimental basis while funds for station construction and operation are being raised. The growth of educational television development seems in no way to have dimmed the interest of schools and colleges in radio broadcasting. In the year just ended, some 30 new educational FM stations have gone on the air, bringing the total of non-commercial educational radio stations in operation to 160. EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN During the year, the Office of Education continued to give leadership to the nationwide study on the Qualification and Preparation of Teachers of Exceptional Children. A study was made of the distinctive competencies needed by teachers of the blind, crippled, deaf, gifted, hard-of-hearing, mentally retarded, partially seeing, special health cases, socially maladjusted, and speech-handicapped. Included also was an evaluation of the competencies needed by special education personnel in colleges and universities, and in administrative positions in State and local school systems. Four publications have now come from the study and others are nearing completion. The results of the study were presented at various National, State, and regional meetings throughout the year. It is anticipated that the findings will form the basis for improved programs for exceptional children through the development of better in-service and pre-service preparation of teachers. CIVIL DEFENSE EDUCATION A delegation of authority by the Federal Civil Defense Administration to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare gave the Office of Education the responsibility for planning, developing, and distributing materials which will assist schools in teaching civil defense skills, knowledge, and fundamentals of behavior during emergencies. Contractual agreements were made with State departments of education in Connecticut, Michigan, and California to establish pilot centers for the development of civil defense instruction materials for teachers in various subject areas and at all levels. The Office of Education aided the State pilot center staffs by reviewing and evaluating technical reports developed by the Federal Civil Defense Administration and other government and non-government agencies. ASSISTANCE TO SCHOOLS IN FEDERALLY AFFECTED AREAS1 A major activity of the Office during the 1955 fiscal year was administration of the grant programs authorized for those school districts which have experienced a severe financial burden as a result of activities of the United States. The fiscal year 1955 was the fifth year these programs, authorized by Public Laws 815 and 874 of the 81st Congress, had been in operation. Public Law 815 authorizes financial assistance for construction of school facilities needed to house increased school enrollments resulting from new or expanded Federal activities, mostly military installations. Public Law 874, the companion law, provides Federal assistance for current operating expenses each year to take the place of local revenues lost primarily because of the nontaxable status of federally owned land on which the school children live or on which their parents work. Passage of these two Acts in September 1950 marked the first attempt by the Congress to establish a uniform policy governing the allocation of financial assistance to school districts seriously affected by Federal 1 For a more detailed discussion of the operations of this program under Public Laws 815 and 974 (81st Cong.), as amended, see Fifth Annual Report of the Commissioner of education concerning the administration of Public Laws 874 and 815. activities and to place the administration of this program in one administrative agency. The Laws also attempted to establish an objective method of determining the extent of the Federal financial burden and the amount of Federal assistance to which each district was entitled. Accordingly, each Act established specific requirements for eligibility, defined the categories of Federal impact for which payment would be made, and included a formula for determining the amount of assistance. In addition to grants to local educational agencies Public Law 815 recognized the necessity for and authorized the construction of temporary schools in certain situations and the Federal construction of schools on Federal bases where necessary in order best to serve the children. Public Law 874 recognized the necessity for and authorized the Commissioner of Education to arrange for providing free public education for children living on Federal enclaves when no State or local educational agency was responsible for or was able to provide suitable education for such children. The original Public Law 815 provided Federal assistance for increases in school enrollment which resulted from Federal activities which occurred from the beginning of World War II in 1939 to June 30, 1952. This program was extended in August 1953 by the passage of Public Law 246 to provide for increases in school enrollment occurring from June 30, 1952, to June 30, 1954. Early in the 1955 fiscal year, Congress again extended this program by the passage of Public Law 731 to provide for school enrollment increases occurring during the period June 30, 1954, to June 30, 1956. An appropriation of $70 million was made early in the 1955 fiscal year for allocation to projects filed by June 30, 1954, and for completion of that program. In April 1955 Congress made available an additional $70 million for the first year of the newly authorized program. Thus, a major activity of the Office during the year has been the analysis of applications submitted for the new 2-year period, an allocation of funds to approved projects, and the completion or moving toward completion of projects already approved from prior years' appropriations. By June 30, 1955, a total of $585,000,000 had been appropriated for construction of school facilities in federally affected school districts. In addition, an estimated $230,000,000 had been added to the projects from local funds. These funds were used or will be used to help build 2,700 school buildings in local districts and 134 federally constructed projects located on 83 Federal installations. It is estimated that this program will have helped provide approximately 25,000 classrooms and related school facilities which will be sufficient to house an estimated 750,000 children. During the fiscal year, 2,831 school districts applied for assistance under Public Law 874 for maintenance and operation of school plants. Of these, 2,700 were determined to be eligible for approximately $75 million. In addition there were 31 federally operated on-base projects under the provision of section 6 of the Act. The eligible school districts had an average daily attendance of 910,000 federally connected children on which payments were authorized and an estimated total attendance of over 5,500,000 pupils. While Federal activities, particularly those connected with defense contracts, have stabilized throughout the country there continues to be a number of new Federal impact areas resulting primarily from new or expanded Air Force installations, reclamation project activities, and atomic energy projects. Continued construction of housing for military personnel on or near military installations also increases school enrollment in the Federal impact areas. Thus there was an increase of 177 eligible school districts in the 1955 fiscal year over 1954 and an increase of about 3 percent in the cost per pupil resulting in an increase of approximately $10 million in the cost of the program. Another major activity occupying the Division during the year was securing compliance with the January 1954 order of the Secretary of Defense that no school located on military installations could be operated on a segregated basis after the fall of 1955. There were 24 schools located on Federal property operated by local educational agencies on a segregated basis during the 1954-55 school year. Compliance with the order of the Secretary of Defense required ascertaining whether local educational agencies operating on-base schools could in the 1955-56 school year operate those schools on an integrated basis or whether Federal operation under section 6 of the Act would be necessary and, if so, preparing the necessary budgets and arranging for such operation. Of the 24 schools located on Federal property 20 were federally owned schools located on military installations and operated by local educational agencies on a segregated basis during the 1955 fiscal year. Four of these have been discontinued, 8 will be operated on an integrated basis by local educational agencies in the 1956 fiscal year, and 8 will be operated by the Federal Government on an integrated basis. The remaining 4 projects are locally owned schools located on property leased by the local educational agencies from the Department of Defense. These schools will be operated on the same basis as are other schools in these districts. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION The Office of Education administered approximately $31,000,000 of Federal vocational education funds appropriated for allotment to the States and Territories for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1955. This was an increase of $5,000,000 over the previous year. The additional funds were used primarily to extend the program to communities not previously having vocational programs. 368636-56—11 |