ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION AMENDMENTS OF 1973 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1973 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, GENERAL SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 9:40 a.m., pursuant to recess in room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Carl D. Perkins [chairman of the subcommittee] presiding. Present: Representatives Perkins, Meeds, Hawkins, Lehman, Quie, Towell, and Huber. Staff members present: John F. Jennings, counsel; Christopher T. Cross, minority staff assistant; and Toni Painter, secretary. Chairman PERKINS. The subcommittee will come to order. A quorum is present. The general Subcommittee on Education is today continuing hearings on H.R. 69, which reauthorizes the major Federal laws affecting elementary and secondary education, and H.R. 16, which authorizes a new program of Federal general aid. We are very pleased to have testifying before us today witnesses representing four groups which have greatly contributed to the success of the programs authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. We will begin the testimony with Mr. Alfred Z. McElroy, chairman of the National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children. Come around, Mr. McElroy. You may proceed in any manner you prefer. STATEMENT OF ALFRED Z. MCELROY, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ON THE EDUCATION OF DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN, ACCOMPANIED BY MRS. ROBERTA LOVENHEIM, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Mr. MCELROY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Each of you, I think, received copies this morning of the statement we are making from the National Advisory Council. I have my statement here that I will read and discuss, and also answer questions as the Chairman sees fit. Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of this subcommittee, I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to be here this morning. As Chairman for nearly 2 years of the National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children, as a senior member of the elected Port Arthur, Tex. Independent School Board, as the parent of four school-aged youngsters and as a taxpayer, I am grateful for the opportunity to take part in what promises to be the greatest national debate over the Federal approach to educating the disadvantaged since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act-ESEAwas passed in 1965. The National Advisory Council is the statutory, Presidentially appointed council charged with review and evaluation of programs under title I, ESEA and other federally funded programs serving disadvantaged children, including the poor, handicapped, delinquent, migrant, and other children found to be educationally deprived. Our council budget is drawn from title I, ESEA funds, and our 15 members include education professionals from every level of the education process, a juvenile court judge, civic leaders, businessmen, five women and significant representation from black, Spanish-speaking, Appalachian, oriental and other minority and ethnic communities across America. In the interest of conserving time, I have attached to my testimony a list of the NACEDC membership, including their occupational and geographic backgrounds and their terms of service. Chairman PERKINS. Without objection, these attachments will be inserted in the record. [The information referred to follows:] APPENDIX STATE-BY-STATE PER PUPIL COST FISCAL YEAR 1971. WITH 1960 CENSUS DATA USED (28 PROMISING PROJECTS) NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ON THE EDUCATION OF DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN, Washington, D.C. TITLE I PROJECTS THAT HAVE IMPROVED THE ACHIEVEMENT LEVEL OF The National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children must be concerned about how we can improve Title I and successes among all compensatory programs according to our statutory obligation. NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL SEC. 148. (a) There shall be a National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children (hereinafter in this section referred to as the "National Council") consisting of fifteen members appointed by the President, without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing appointment in the competitive service, for terms of three years, except that (1) in the case of initial members, five shall be appointed for terms of one year each and five shall be appointed for terms of two years each, and (2) appointments to fill vacancies shall be only for such terms as remain unexpired. The National Council shall meet at the call of the Chairman. (b) The National Council shall review and evaluate the administration and operation of this title, including its effectiveness in improving the educational attainment of educationally deprived children, including the effectiveness of programs to meet their occupational and career needs, and make recommendations for the improvement of this title and its administration and operation. These recommendations shall take into consideration experience gained under this and other Federal educational programs for disadvantaged children and, to the extent appropriate, experience gained under other public and private educational programs for disadvantaged children. (c) The National Council shall make such reports of its activities, findings, and recommendations (including recommendations for changes in the provisions of this title) as it may deem appropriate and shall make an annual report to the President and the Congress not later than March 31 of each calendar year. Such annual report shall include a report specifically on which of the various compensatory education programs funded in whole or in part under the provisions of this title, and of other public and private educational programs for educationally deprived children, hold the highest promise for raising the educational attainment of these educationally deprived children. The President is requested to transmit to the Congress such comments and recommendations as he may have with respect to such report. (20 U.S.C. 2411) Enacted April 11, 1965, P.L. 89-10, Title I, sec. 2, 79 Stat. 34; amended Nov. 3, 1966, P.L. 89-750, Title I, sec. 115, 80 Stat. 1197; redesignated and amended Jan. 2, 1968, P.L. 90–247, Title I, secs. 108(a) (4), 110, 114, 81 Stat. 786-788; amended and redesignated April 13, 1970, P.L. 91-230, Title I, secs. 112, 113 (b) (4), 84 Stat. 125, 126. In an effort to comply with this obligation, we asked State Title I Coordinators to bring documentary evidence of Title I successes in their states. As a result, we have enumerated twenty-eight programs that demonstrate promise. The Council will make on-site visits and other further studies to confirm the reports of State Title I Coordinators of the successful operation of these projects by April 1, 1973. Bernard Asbell in the "New Improved American"1 defines the disadvantaged child as a child of another world who eventually accrues increasing disrespect for middle class rules and values. Ability to play by these rules is necessary to academic success. "Teachers in first to third grade feel that the child is slipping away. By the fourth grade he has fallen behind. By the eighth grade he may be as many as three years back, his mind closed, his behavior rebellious. By high school he is more likely a dropout, headed for chronic unemployment, disdaining the outside world . . . a world that already disdains him, secretly contemptous of himself." 2 The schools have been asked to take prime responsibility for the growth of our nation's children by default. Failure of students to achieve the goals society sets for its children, therefore, is a reflection of the school's inability to assume responsibility from other societal institutions. The Elementary and Secondary Act of Title I was passed to assist school systems in becoming more able to meet the needs of educationally deprived children. The State Title I projects in this report were chosen because they display an effort to prevent failure and correct the problems encountered in their local school districts. These projects are diverse in nature and scope depending on the needs of the students. The educationally deprived child can be found in Harlem, a small town, the rural slums of backwood Appalachia, in the Spanish barros of El Paso, on American Indian reservations or on the fashionable streets of Scarsdale. Projects are designed to improve the cognitive domain and the affective domain. Cognitive skills are the basic skills such as reading and mathematics-the two primary areas of failure for the disadvantaged child. The affective domain involves changing the feeling, emotions, attitudes, values and personality of the child. Studies have shown that a child who has a poor self-concept cannot learn to the best of his ability. Therefore, it is pertinent that time, effort and money be utilized in the affective domain as well as the cognitive domain. Certain variables are to be taken into consideration when measuring the gain of the pupils. Many of the children enrolled in the projects are of low ability and some have severe learning disabilities. The average title I child has a history of gains in one year of less than a year; therefore, when the gains are evaluated, the prior level of achievement should be considered. For some children, the slightest gain can be considered a success. We want to share some of these promising programs with you to show how title I is working to prevent and correct the failure of our schools. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH "I like Operation Prime, it realy [sic] gives people a chance. When I first came to the seventh grade. I didn't no [sic] how to read very fast and even when I did read slow, I could not understand what the story was about. Now I can 1 B. Asbell, The New Improved American, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1965, pp. 82-83. 2 Ibid. 95-545-73-pt. 1- -16 read real good and understand what I am [sic] reading. I like this program, it is fun. And I wish the other schools could have this opportunity as we do." A student participating in a Utah title I project which offers reward in terms of skins (Special Knowledge Incentives) or free time to be used in the game room (Reinforcement Event Room) wrote the above paragraph. The skins are equivalent to half a penny and are exchanged for cash. Both the cognitive and affective domain are considered in the design of this program. To improve the reading skills there will be an increase in deceding skills and fact comprehension. The mathematic objectives are designed to cover the fundamental operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The students will be able to comprehend the beginning number concept of place values and understand the concept of fractions and decimals. Each student worked with a sophisticated flow chart that enabled him to work at his own rate and level. All material was designed or programmed into mini-assignments. Work was evaluated and rewarded immediately. No one was paid in time or money for less than 80% performance. Most of the students spent a full nine months in the program. According to this study, none of the students have shown a full year growth in a regular program, therefore, any growth of one year or more should be significant. The program started with 185 students. One hundred and seventeen completed the program. Results were reported for reading only using the Gates McGinitie test "D" form 1 and 2. Test results are reported as grade placement scores, raw scores are on file at the school. The pre-test was given in September 1971 and the post test in May 1972. In the seventh grade on the vocabulary section of the test, 38 students showed .1 to 9 years of growth. Sixty-four students showed 1 year to 4.9 years growth. Fifteen students showed a decline of .1 to 4.9 years growth. In the comprehension section of this test, 33 students showed .1 to 9 years growth and 76 students showed 1 year to 7.5 years growth. Seven students showed a decline. In the eighth grade on the vocabulary section of the test, 26 students showed .1 to .8 growth. Thirty students showed 1 year to 3.9 years growth and 12 students showed a decline. In the comprehension section of the test 20 students showed a .1 to 9 years growth and 42 students showed a 1 year to 7.9 years growth and 6 students showed a decline. The Salt Lake Tribune stated, ". . . the program is not only producing academic achievement but is shaping behavior patterns and eliminating discipline problems." Operation Prime, Granite School District, Central Junior High School, 3031 South 2nd East, Salt Lake City, Utah. EARLE, ARK. In an effort to recognize and select those students in the regular classroom with potential ability but whose performance level was below their capabilities, Earle, Arkansas, came up with one basic objective for its remedial reading program. On the basis of pre-testing and post testing, the individual student will advance in reading comprehension at least 1.2 years as measured by the Stanford Diagnostic Test. The remedial reading students were selected from the regular 4th, 5th and 6th grade classroom. These students were selected on the basis of their capabilities to perform at a higher level in reading comprehension than they had previously done. The classes contained 12 students and met 45 minutes a day. Sixt-eight students were assigned to the classes, but due to uncontrollable variables such as transfers and withdrawals only fifty-nine students completed the year's work. Parents of the students worked closely with the teacher. Teaching techniques consisted of a combination of methods in a basic schedule which included instructions in reading skills and comprehension. Materials used included the SRA lab, tapes, films, individualized reading programs of the school's library, etc. Instruments used in measuring the growth in this program were the California Achievement Test, SRA ending color level, teacher made tests evaluations and informal reading test. The results for this report were made on the basis of the post test of the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test. When the growth of all fifty-nine students was converted to a mean score, the gain was 1.0 years. The two reading teachers expressed feelings of satisfactory accomplishments in this program. The sense of accomplishment was also indicated by the student's attitude toward the reading program, greater interest in class assigned readings as well as outside readings, and a better attitude toward school work because of comparable improvement in other subject areas brought on by improved reading skills. Earle Special School District, Mr. Sam Bratton, Superintendent of Schools, CONWAY, ARK. Reports from Conway, Arkansas, show that pupils have developed more positive attitudes toward school and this positive attitude is being reflected by improvement in attendance and in participation in group activities. Children are showing less aggression during play periods and physical education. The objectives used for their remedial reading program 027 are: (1) Those selected in grades one through six will increase their performance level by one grade level during the 1971-72 school year as measured by the pre and post testing using the SRA standardized tests. (2) The selected students will show a change in self-concept, individual attitude toward school, and life in general. One fifth grade group as a whole met the objectives in every area and exceeded in its composite, mathematics, social studies, science and use of sources. This was a step forward in preventing failure before it began. The students were given the Blue Level SRA Multilevel Achievement Series which covers Reading Comprehension, Reading Vocabulary, Total Language Arts Mathematic Concepts, Computation, Total Mathematics, Social Studies, Use of Sources and Science. Listed below is the analysis of the SRA achievement scores for the title I class at Sallie Cone Elementary School in Conway, Arkansas for the school year 1971-72. The teachers felt that objective number two was met because the students attitudes changed from negative to positive after being placed in smaller groups where instructions were more suited to their level of performance. The teacher even stated that her attitude toward some of the children changed.1 Mr. Bill Abernathy, ESEA title I, Conway School District, Mitchell & Prince Streets, Conway, Ark. 72302. PHOENIX, ARIZ. This project was designed to raise the reading/communication skills level of 185 ninth grade Indian students by 1.0 or more years as measured by the Gates McGinitie Reading Test. The students were divided into four groups of approximately 47 students. Each group spent one hour daily for a nine week period in laboratories which were 1 Studies have shown that a teacher's perception and expectations of a student can produce positive or negative results in the classroom. |