ness through use of available research findings, while maintaining a realistic level of resources.

(f) Increased use of skilled group workers in institutional settings

Group living situations necessitate the use of a professional person who has knowledge of group processes and structures. Group workers have been found to be useful in such settings for leading small groups of disturbed youngsters, acting as consultants to housemothers and housefathers and, in general, helping to make use of the total living situation to aid in therapeutic goals. Extended use of such persons in a variety of institutional settings with accompanying evaluation of their effectiveness is greatly needed.

NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION PROJECT ON JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

The NEA project on juvenile delinquency represents another major service undertaking as a part of the association's expanding program. The study runs from September 15, 1958, to June 15, 1959. This project underscores the concern of the teaching profession with the spiralling problem of juvenile delinquency.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The general aim of the project is to help the school administrator and the classroom teacher in the education and rehabilitation of the predelinquent and delinquent student. This objective reflects a reciprocal pupil-teacher welfare concern.

More specifically the purposes of the project are listed as follows:

(1) To define the school's role and function in dealing more effectively with the nonconfirming, overt-aggressive youngster with particular concern for the extremely difficult cases who jeopardize the education of the class as a whole as well as the welfare and morale of the teacher.

(2) To suggest specific and desirable school practices and adaptations that will help prevent and control delinquent tendencies and which are based on firm theoretical concepts determined from a distillation of research-anchored theory as found in the various disciplines.

(3) To enable the school to do a better job of early identification of the potential delinquent so that preventive measures can be taken in school and community.

(4) To indicate how the school may cooperate in an all-out community effort designed to reduce inimical delinquency-producing factors and to replace them with positive forces.

(5) To indicate how the school can be more articulate in its effort to inform the public and to enjoy popular support of its program of prevention and correction.

Precaution. In view of the complextiy of the delinquency phenomenon, the limitations of time and funds available to the project, and the all-community involvement in the prevention and control of juvenile delinquency, the NEA project will be delimited to the above goals as practical and reasonable objectives. At the same time, care should be taken lest the project infer, for the school agency, responsibilities beyond its original and unique functions, or imply that delinquency is mainly the problem of this one community resource.

DIRECTIONS AND CENTERS OF INTEREST

Phase 1: Establishment of a sound theoretical concept or rationale concerning the meaning of delinquency as an aspect of adjustive behavior in school and society on which to structure preventive and corrective school action.This will involve a distillation of the best thought as to the definition of delinquency including causative aspects as seen in the interaction of personality and environmental forces using an interdisciplinary approach.

Methods and machinery.-Using a carefully selected three-or four-man team of experts who embody broad inter disciplinary experiences with the delinquent, a brief but comprehensive theoretical statement will be prepared. This document will then be circulated for comment and agreement through a wider circle of 10 or 12 delinquency experts representing different fields in the be havioral sciences.

Product.-Working Document I presenting a theoretical statement on the meaning and causes of delinquent behavior.

Phase 2: Determination by professional educators of desirable school practices and adaptations that stem as implications from the theoretical orientation in working Dacument I.-To suggest action programs or practical approaches without any frame of reference to research and theory, can easily result in impractical-practical programs which may actually be irrelevant to the delinquency phenomenon. Action implications would be sought under such headings as space, personnel, curriculum, special services, liaison responsibilities, etc.

Methods and machinery.-Three or four regional conferences to be held with selected school personnel who have been active in research or in servicing the predelinquent and the delinquent. Basic Document I will be made available to the conferees prior to the meeting which will be run on a workshop basis aimed to identify desirable school adaptations and practices.

Workshop sessions would also be conducted at annual meetings of such groups as Council for Exceptional Children, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, National Association of School Administrators, ParentTeacher Association, Department of Secondary School Principals, etc. The opportunity for working through some nonschool groups such as National Probation and Parole Association, National Conference of Juvenile Court Judges, Association of Training School Superintendents, and National Conference of Social Workers, will be explored. It may be particularly helpful to see what nonschool personnel who come in close contact with delinquency consider the role of the school to be in prevention and control.

Product.-Working Document II will incorporate the professional educators' statements of desirable school practices and adaptations aimed to prevent and control juvenile delinquency through the school agency. This document would be organized around such areas as: Early identification of the predelinquent and delinquent; study and diagnostic services; teacher as a person; teacher as a teamworker; teacher as a counselor; treatment and rehabilitation; curriculum implications; research and trends at the local level.

Through this participatory approach, centered around a prepared theoretical statement, it is expected that the project might lead closer to implementation at the local level through heightening of interest and through knowledge gained in the institutes and in meetings of departments of the NEA.

Phase 3. Description of school-community programs exemplifying many of the promising adaptations for prevention and control of juvenile delinquency.— This phase of the project will aim to locate, to describe, and to illustrate a number of specific school programs which have in the past years succeeded in denting the delinquency problem. An attempt will be made, at the same time, to gain insight as to how they got that way. This would involve questions pertaining to community understanding and support of such programs.

Methods and machinery.-A systematic search for school-community programs for delinquency prevention and control will be made by writing to all State school offices and executive secretaries of State education associations. At the same time, a careful check of the delinquency literature will be made to locate school programs that have attempted to help the teacher and delinquent. The officials in these centers will be invited to submit descriptions of their programs with any other pertinent material.

The working documents I and II, involving theory and suggested practices, will be checked against the experiences of these school systems as a part of a validation process. The same documents may be used ultimately as a guide for evaluation of local school effort.

Product.-Document III: Description of varied school programs in action reflecting the implications that have come out of documents I and II.

Phase 4. National Invitational Conference on Implementation.-A final invitational conference presenting a summary of the first three phases will be aimed at implementation of desirable practices for delinquency prevention and control at the local level.

Methods and machinery.—The core group will include school personnel drawn from representatives of NEA departments, practitioners in the field, and representatives from State departments of education and State education associations. Using the theme that delinquency prevention and control is everyone's business and that the most promising approach is to work through existing programs, the invitation conference would involve classroom teachers; school administrators and supervisors; special educators; teacher training personnel; physical education, health and recreation personnel; counselors; visiting teachers, etc.

The peripheral groups will include lay representatives from PTA membership, associations of school boards, and representatives of various private agencies and organizations such as National Probation and Parole Association, Association of Police Chiefs, juvenile court judges, Association for Psychiatric Treatment of Offenders, Family Service Association of America, etc. In addition, representatives of the National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Office of Education, and Juvenile Delinquency Services Section of the U.S. Children's Bureau would be included.

The conference plans, organization, and special themes will be worked out in greater detail with help from the association's advisory group. Date of the invitational conference: May 14-15, 1959.

Products. As one outcome of this conference, an appendix statement will be prepared as a guide to implementation including suggestions on how to stimulate local interest, how to plan, and how to make use of the NEA and supplementary materials.

Presentation of NEA project, recommendations, and findings via some national TV program such as "Omnibus," "Meet the Press," and through education TV outlets. The same approach could be taken through radio.

Feedback to annual national meetings of educators and other professional groups who come in close contact with the delinquent child and his family.

Publication of documents I, II, and III, together with the appendix statement. Thought should be given to outlining script material to interest some agency in the preparation of a series of films to parallel the major document as follows: Film 1, "Juvenile Delinquency-Meaning and Causes"; film 2, "Desirable School Practices for Prevention and Control"; film 3, "How It Was Done in X Town." WILLIAM C. KVARACEUS, Director.

REPORT OF PROGRESS JUVENILE DELINQUENCY PROJECT

GOALS

General

To help the school administrator and the classroom teacher in the education and rehabilitation of the predelinquent and delinquent.

Specific

To suggest specific and desirable practices in dealing more effectively with the nonconforming, overt-aggressive youngster who jeopardizes the education of the class as a whole, as well as the welfare and morale of the teacher.

PHASE 1

Using an interdisciplinary team, a working document is being prepared which distills the best current thought as to definition of delinquency, meaning, and causes. This statement will be used as a base on which to consider desirable and alternative school practices for prevention and control. Members of the interdisciplinary team of experts:

Milton L. Barron, sociologist, College of the City of New York, New York City. Edward M. Daniels, M.D., psychiatrist, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, and associated with the Newton, Mass., Public Schools.

William C. Kvaraceus, psychologist, director of NEA's Project on Juvenile Delinquency, Washington, D.C.

Preston A. McLendon, M.D., American Academy of Pediatrics, and chairman of the Conference on the Role of Pediatric Services in the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, Washington, D.C.

Walter B. Miller, cultural anthropologist, director, Special Youth Program Research, Roxbury, Mass., and lecturer in the Graduate School of Education, Harvard University.

Benjamin F. Thompson, criminologist, Youth Division, Department of Corrections, Lansing, Mich.

The last work session of the interdisciplinary team has been held and a first draft of the document is now ready for use in phase 2.

PHASE 2

A number of workshops involving educators and other youth workers have been planned to consider desirable school practices and adaptations that stem

from the basic document prepared in phase 1, which will be made available to the participants in advance of each of the workshops.

To date the following meetings have been arranged with the cooperation of

these groups:

SSP, Philadelphia, February 9-11.

Delinquency Conference, American Academy of Pediatrics, Arden House, N.Y., February 16 and 17.

AASA, Atlantic City, February 18.
ASCD, Cincinnati, March 4 and 5.

NEA Classroom Teachers, Salt Lake City, March 6.

University of Delaware, March 25.

NEA Classroom Teachers, Hartford, April 2.

CEC, Atlantic City, April 7–11.

HPER, Indianapolis, April 15-17.

Elementary Teachers' Delinquency Workshop, Lansing, April 22 and 23. Illinois Governor's Conference, Youth and Community Service, Chicago, May 7 and 8.

As a result of these sessions, a second publication incorporating desirable practices, or "guides for school action" will be forthcoming.

PHASE 3

A national survey is being made to locate, describe, and to illustrate school programs which have taken a delinquency focus and which have succeeded in denting the delinquency problem. This will result in a third publication in which a number of schools will tell their story. Programs will be selected which best illustrate the theory and practices evolved from the first two phases.

With the cooperation of State school officers and secretaries of State education associations and other agencies, we have to date received about 70 reports describing delinquency prevention and control efforts involving school personnel. These are being studied and analyzed with the cooperation of the Council for Exceptional Children.

PHASE 4

A National Invitation Conference on Implementation is planned for May 14-15, 1959. A summary of the three phases will be presented with a focus on implementation of desirable practices for prevention and control at the local level. The core group invited will consist of school personnel; the peripheral group will be made up of other youth workers, lay and professional.

PUBLICATIONS AVAILABLE FROM NEA

Glick, Selma J. "Spotting Potential Delinquents in the School," Exceptional Children, XX (May 1954), pp. 342–346. 20 cents.

Reviews the available data concerning the construction and validation of the Glueck social prediction table and indicates its potential use in a school program.

Hill, Arthur S., Miller, Leonard M., Gabbard, Hazel F. "Schools Face the Delinquency Problem," Bulletin of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, vol. 37, No. 198 (December 1953), pp. 181–221. 30 cents.

Discusses types of services schools might render the delinquent and predelinquent. Gives specific illustrations of school programs in action. Kvaraceus, William C. "If Your School and Community Want the Facts on Juvenile Delinquency," Exceptional Children, XXV (October 1958), pp. 57–67. 30 cents.

Kvaraceus, William C. Juvenile Delinquency: What Research Says to the Teacher, No. 15. Washington, D.C., Department of Classroom Teachers and the American Educational Research Association, 1958. 32 p. 25 cents. Presents implications for classroom teachers based upon research and theory. Moore, Bernice Milburn. "Juvenile Delinquency: Research, Theory, and Comment." Washington, D.C. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, National Educational Association, 1958. 64 p. $1.

Analyzes social problems related to delinquent behavior and examines the school's role in alleviating delinquency.

National Education Association. "Teacher Opinion on Pupil Behavior, 1955–56," Research Bulletin of the National Educational Association, XXXIV (April 1956), pp. 51-107. 50 cents.

Presents the opinions and judgments of 4,270 classroom teachers concerning the nature and trend of current misbehavior among children.

Schools Help Prevent Delinquency. Research Bulletin of the National Education Association, vol. XXXI, No. 3. Washington 6: Research Division of the National Education Association, 1953, pp. 99–132.

An overall look at the problem of delinquent behavior, with specific reference to what schools can do and are doing to prevent and control undesirable behavior.

[From General Federation Clubwoman, January 1959]

IF YOU WANT TO HELP THE DELINQUENT IN YOUR COMMUNITY

The modern clubwoman represents a strategic and powerful resource for child welfare in every community. As a woman she has a natural affinity and relationship with children that stem from her motherhood role. As a club member and a participant in many different associations, boards, committees, and commissions she is apt to concern herself seriously with youth legislation, with the quality of existing child and family-serving agencies and organizations, with gaps in community services, and with the improvement of environmental and social hazards to growth and development of youth. And, of course, as a motherparent she plays a dominant role in child rearing, especially in the early postnatal and preschool period, thereby shaping the personality of her own young by bending and sometimes pruning the tender twig.

Taken collectively, clubwomen, conceived as an organized and informed motherhood, could make a real dent in the nationwide delinquency problem-but only if their efforts are carefully guided, and only if their efforts show a certain quality. Poorly guided, or lacking certain qualities, the endeavors of women's organizations can prove more harmful than helpful. Hence, to insure help and to avoid hindrance, I would admonish the woman clubworker as follows:

Be willing to face the facts. In spite of the loud and irritated complaint that can be heard around the Nation concerning the delinquency surge, there is still much denial of any local delinquency problem, and much sticking of the head in local sands. Yet the amount of delinquency as measured by court appearances has doubled in the short span of years between 1948 and 1956. At the same time, more than a million youngsters have a police contact annually because of some behavioral episode. But there is something very peculiar about this segment of our noisy and sick youth at the local level. They are always anonymous. They never have individual faces or local addresses. But they are not just statistics in a table. They are children who live on any street, in any town. They have names, faces, parents, and teachers.

Against this awful reality of the delinquency phenomenon too many local citizens, when queried concerning any local delinquency problem, will deflect or deny it. They will point to the nearest large urban and industrial center, usually a safe distance away from home. The delinquent seems to inhabit only other communities or other neighborhoods. The glib answer, "We don't have much of a delinquency problem here, really," too often represents an evasion of the fact that no community is immune or free of the delinquency taint today. Delinquency has invaded all sectors of society. It can be found in favored suburbia, as well as in the depressed and blighted streets of the large and dirty city. If we are to help the delinquent, we must be willing to take the blinders off and to face the harsh reality of aberrant behavior that is taking place in our own town, on our own street, and even in our own backyard.

Don't get emotionally involved. The delinquent is a very irritated and irritating member of our society. He can be a pain in the neck and a real thorn in the tender side of the community (or any other part of the sensitive anatomy). It is hard to refrain from striking back at the young offender or at his neglectful parents, especially if it was your car that was marked up, or your purse that was stolen by some young hoodlum. True, the delinquent is generally a child full of hate and hostility. But he is met with equal hate and hostility on the part of the offended adult community. A good example of such strong venom can be found in Mr. Howard Whitman's piece of annoyance in last September's issue of Better Homes and Gardens in which he sounds the call for open season on the misbehaving student by urging the schools to "throw the rowdies out." But they are not garbage. These are children.