Pupils who have tried this method have not been as successful as those who have used a DISK for advancement.

Some students seek tutorial help in the subject area resource centers where teachers are available throughout the day. Others do homework, participate in sports, dance, art, drama, or some club activity. Some read, view filmstrips, or just sit and talk. Some go to the cafeteria which is open most of the day for snacks while others stroll about the campus, which they are free to do.

The Four And One Program

Another independent study program is the Four and One. Students may participate in an interneship program one day week which means they spend a full day in the courts, hospitals, other schools, museums, business or any place in the world of work. Seniors may sign up for a 7 week interneship which permits an interneship out of the school in one cycle and they come to school the next cycle. These students alternate cycles one in school and one out in interneships. No pay is given. They write reports on these outside of school experiences and receive an MI based on their performance at the worksite and their written projects. There are more than 100 students in each 7 week period doing this.

Independent Study Group Activities' main purpose is to provide another option for a student during their independent study time. At John Dewey High School about 25% of the students' eight hour day is unassigned. During this free time students may attend a variety of planned activities. These include demonstrations, slide-lectures, speakers, films, discussions, dramatic presentations, music concerts, debates and contests. Activities may be part of a regular series, repeated several times a day or be "one-shot specials." Students, teachers and outside groups plan and perform. They may appeal to small groups of ten or draw audiences of several hundred. These activities may be course-related, informational, special-occasion oriented (i.e. Martin Luther King's Birthday) or "entertainment-centered" (a necessary factor for some students in an 8-hour day). This program also relieves the pressure on the building's resource centers or library when large numbers of students have independent study at the same time.

What percentage of the students spend this independent time judiciously? Independent study has been designed for student-motivated acceleration, creativity, remedial work, tutorial sessions or homework-and most pursue these goals effectively.

These eight key factors provide the framework for a unique teacherstudent relationship at Dewey H. S. There is an openness in communication in which the students feel free to express their opinions about the learning process. "Can't we have more lessons like this one?" There is no hesitation to comment on whether a lesson was effective or not. Just as courtesy on the school's two-way staircases is spontaneous and easy-going, so is the criticism.

Students feel a responsibility to react honestly because they want the Dewey experiment to succeed. Most teachers everywhere know when a lesson falls short of its goals, but the difference at Dewey is that it is

discussed openly. The challenge from lesson to lesson is how we can do better.

Since students and teachers have new programs every seven weeks, there are frequent new faces for the teacher and a new teacher personality for the students. For most this has worked well. It is considered one of the strengths of the experiment. The curriculum for each 7-week unit is tightly packaged and there can be no lag in the momentum of learning. Final evaluations must be made within weeks rather than months.

Teachers get to know their students more quickly. There are "performance pressures" on both teachers and students. Several test instruments have to be used in a span of weeks. Most students prefer unit testing rather than end-term finals. On the other hand, there are some students who think that Dewey teachers are "test happy."

Who are the likely candidates for retention (not passing and moving on to the next unit) after seven weeks? Usually they are typical of those in other schools-the absentees, those with learning problems and the underachievers. However, there is a difference in what takes place once retention has been scheduled.

Retention is for seven weeks not five months. Our goal is to tailor repetition of work to individual needs, based on the detailed prescription forms (really profiles of student work) filled out by previous teachers. We are devising methods to do this more effectively and the students are responding well.

Key Features

What about other key features at Dewey? Here are some glimpses into major aspects of our program:

The flow of students in and out of the library changes every twenty minutes. Some students spend longer blocs of time there but the bulk of the traffic comes and goes 22 times in an 8-hour day.

The librarians are thrilled by student interest and use of the library. The learning atmosphere is most impressive as one sees students quietly absorbed in books while sitting in brightly colored lounge chairs.

The building also has a computer terminal, which produces a variety of print-outs; copies of student programs; class lists; a biographical student file in spiral book form; a master class program book arranged alphabetically; an alphabetical listing of teachers' programs; lists for guidance counsellors; and many more invaluable aids. What is more astonishing is that most of these forms are automatically prepared every seven weeks. According to those in charge of scheduling the seemingly complex organization at Dewey, "What used to take eight people two weeks to do can now be done in 45 minutes."

Class programs are ready the first day of each cycle. Five days before a new cycle begins there are about three trial runs of the master schedule which indicates course, teacher, number of students per class (also number of males and females) and remaining seats available.

A specific illustration will show what can be done. Each official class teacher has an alphabetical set of IBM cards-one for each student. Every morning the teacher removes from the pack the cards of all absentees and sends them to the attendance office. Information is fed into the computer

for those absent or late prior to 10 A.M. The computer automatically prints out post cards for the absentees which are mailed from the Computer Center. The computer also puts a cumulative record of absence and lateness on report cards every seven weeks.

Competitive sports are intra-mural and not interscholastic. All students are encouraged to be on a team and there is no emphasis on creating star athletes. Team playoffs occur during the school day. Students come rushing to their next classes buoyed by victory or crushed by defeat. Sometimes, when two teams with reputations as winners are scheduled opposite each other, anxious eyes in classrooms try to follow the game from nearby windows.

Each cycle is devoted to one sport exclusively, such as touch football for one seven week period or wrestling for another. The beginning of each cycle introduces the sport to be studied by demonstration lessons, followed by instruction and practice for development of the skill by all.

We have no grade advisors at Dewey. From the viewpoint of the Guidance Department, the major innovations of the Dewey system are working well. The flexibility, the individualization, the self-direction and self-discipline are all on the plus side for most of the students. More time is needed to read the Dewey prescription forms than would be the case with numerical grades. However, counsellors find some students who have not developed a positive approach to independent study and others who need intensive remedial work to succeed. For those who have reading and writing problems a Language Skills Center is in operation. With the multiple mechanical devices and teacher specialists the center has had excellent results. Some of these students are so motivated that they spend their independent study time there and obtain MIs for achieving higher reading levels.

Students have a choice of 16 different courses in art for each 7-week cycle. A student may try a variety of activities during a school year including film making, sculpture (wood and stone), fashion design, advertising, crafts, printing or painting. On the other hand, a student may specialize in one field. In art the ability to try another new area every seven weeks is especially satisfactory. For example, if a student tries a course in crafts and is disappointed in his aptitude, the following cycle he may try another creative experience.

In addition to the 60-minute art class sessions, students may spend extra time working independently or participate in one of the six art clubs which are programmed during the school day. In the future, modular scheduling may provide for even longer periods than an hour for art classes.

These classes are fully equipped and function more like professional studios than classrooms. Walking from one art room to the next, a visitor senses the steady flow of excitement and energy which are being transmitted to the clay, canvas or papier-mâché.

Changing teachers every seven weeks in the language department has a special advantage in tuning the students' ears to hear the language spoken at different rates of speed and with different accents. In the language resource center and the language "lab", students are further exposed to voices speaking the same language.

The 7-week cycle also helps to meet individual needs. For example, the unsuccessful student does not have to face defeat in a class for six months but can get a fresh start with a new teacher who has a prescription with information on his weak points.

The more gifted language students use the resource center for conversational opportunities. The language lab is specially useful for independent study. Students who shy away from a regular foreign language course may elect conversational Spanish or French.

Dewey has a Marine Biology course which is most stimulating for both the students and teachers. Frequent trips to the nearby beaches or Coney Island provide specimens to work with and first-hand knowledge of oceanography. They return to school for their next classes panting with excitement and bursting with the thrill of discovery. Modular scheduling provides adequate time allotments for these field trips and also for lab work.

At Dewey each student gets to dissect a frog. Those who need additional time to finish this or other projects may continue in independent study. Bells do not signal an untimely end!

One science room has been converted into an aquarium. Student volunteers feed the aquatic animals, monitor the filters and clean the tanks.

The Music Department finds the 7-week cycle satisfactory for required courses but not so convenient for chorus, orchestra, or instrumental classes. The band will never play if the students can switch in or out every 7 weeks!

Independent study is excellent for serious music students who wish to practice in individual rooms or consult with their teachers. The music resource center has attracted some students for recreational purposes. Sometimes there is a conflict of interest with those students who are aiming for serious careers rather than recreation. Problems such as these have been somewhat solved by the Madrigal Group which meets before 8 a.m. and after 4 p.m., thus partially freeing the center for intensive training purposes.

Typing is a required course for every student attending Dewey. Within a few months some students are typing assignments or reports for other subjects. Students who do not learn the keyboard by the end of seven weeks do not move into the second phase of the typing course. Since one skill builds on the previous one in mastering the keys, retention for 7 weeks is much better than foundering for five months on the keyboard. Those who fall behind have lessons planned to deal with individual deficiencies. Sometimes a student with a highly individualized problem is sent to the typing resource center.

Some students have taught themselves steno and accounting using a DISK, as well as special tutoring from teachers in the resource center. One student who did the introductory lessons in shorthand by himself during the first 7-week cycle and then joined a class in the following cycle led the class in performance. Accounting studied independently has proven very successful. Clerical practice and recordkeeping are not separate courses but are woven into the overall curriculum.

The business education resource center affords students extra time to

spend on developing speed and accuracy in typing and shorthand. The shorthand lab is open during the entire 8-hour day so that students may select pre-recorded lessons in either typing or steno. This department is a showcase in audio-visual materials and modern equipment, which includes electronically taped instruction for typing and diatype, a diagnostic machine which indicates individual "typing ills" plus instructions for correction.

Courses in mathematics at Dewey have been designed on the principle that no two students learn at the same rate. Algebra, for example, may be completed in three cycles, five cycles, seven cycles, ten or even twenty.

Students can move at faster or slower speeds of learning as this becomes advisable. No student need sit for more than a week or two in a course that he cannot follow or in a course that is below his level of competence. Improper placement can be rectified in weeks rather than month. Another advantage at Dewey is that two, 60-minute sessions a week in math provide for uninterrupted development of complex concepts.

Some 10th grade students are doing computer math, vector geometry, abstract algebra. logic or elementary analysis in independent study. Talented students can easily advance by working on their own. Two students who studied geometry for three months took the Regents in January-one got 100 and the other 95!

Students who are weak in math can reinforce or obtain help with homework on an individual basis during independent study time. Some students find that they can ask questions or admit difficulties more easily in the informal setting of a resource center rather than in the classroom.

Literature courses are ideal for independent study in English and there are usually over 100 students in one 7-week cycle working on the short story or modern novel DISKS. When they complete the required readings, students take a two-hour examination. While doing their reading independently, they also take another course in class. The reading pace in some English courses is a paperback a week.

Power reading is offered in every cycle for those who wish to improve their reading skills. Students have a choice of one of 27 courses in the cycle. Some courses are sequential, such as creative writing, journalism or drama.

Students who wish to pursue a highly specialized area of English studies will have the opportunity to take multiple workshops and advanced seminars. For example, a student talented in theatrical arts will be able to examine the genre in depth, learn dramatic techniques, participate in acting and speech workshops, and take seminars on play direction, film production and an interdisciplinary course with the Art Department in stagecraft.

Independent study in social studies is a modified version of the "ordeal" of Ph.D candidates. After the required readings are done, each student takes an oral comprehensive on the unit of work before a panel of three teachers, plus a two-hour written test. A research paper is another pre-requisite for mastery. These standards are high but most students have demonstrated an ability to learn well on their own. There are over 100 in one cycle doing very advanced work.

Reading in social studies is an integral part of the learning process.