1. Percent of Supervisory Personnel Satisfied With the Competence of Recently Prepared Teachers of Par- tially Seeing Children in Their School Systems. . . . . 2. Amount of Student-Teaching With Partially Seeing Children Needed by Those Preparing To Work in This Area (Expressed in Medians).. 3. Amount of Classroom Teaching Experience With Nor- mal Children Needed by Teachers of the Partially Seeing (Expressed in Medians)... APPENDIX A.-OFFICE OF EDUCATION STUDY, QUAL- APPENDIX C.-STATISTICAL PROCEDURES AND RE- APPENDIX D.-EXCERPTS FROM INQUIRY FORMS. 4. Specialized Preparation of Participating Teachers: By 5. Specialized Preparation of Participating Teachers: By Time of Preparation (Before or Concurrently With Teaching Partially Seeing Children. 6. Visual Acuity of the Participating Teachers. 7. Percent of Special Education Personnel Indicating Number of Clock Hours of Student Teaching With Partially Seeing Children Needed by Those Pre- paring To Teach in This Area.. 8. Special Education Personnel Rate Amount of Teaching FOREWORD THIS HIS PUBLICATION is one of a series reporting on the nationwide study, Qualification and Preparation of Teachers of Exceptional Children, which for the past 3 years has been a major project of the Office of Education. More than 2,000 persons concerned with some aspect of the education of handicapped or gifted children have participated in the broad project. The manner in which this study has been conducted is an example of cooperative action among persons from many organizations, school systems, colleges and universities, and the staff of the Office of Education. Since the findings represent the opinions of many leaders in special education, it is hoped they will prove useful to teachers in their own professional development, to supervisors and administrators in the selection of personnel, to standard-setting agencies, and to colleges and universities preparing teachers of exceptional children. WAYNE O. REED Assistant Commissioner, Division of State and Local J. DAN HULL Director, Instruction, Organization, and Services Branch VII ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ON NLY with the aid of many persons engaged in special education throughout the United States would the project which this bulletin reports have been possible. Deep gratitude is expressed here to all who have given of their time and their ideas; we wish it were possible to thank each one individually. Special mention must be made of the following groups and persons who made major contributions: The members of the National Committee and the Office of Education Policy Committee who have aided in planning and guiding the entire study. The Association for the Aid of Crippled Children for their special cooperation. Mrs. DOROTHY BRYAN, chairman, and the other members of the Committee on Competencies who prepared a statement of the distinctive knowledge, abilities, and skills needed by teachers of children who are partially seeing. Their statement, identifying and describing these competencies essential to such teachers, makes up a major part of this publication. The 130 teachers of the partially seeing in various parts of the Nation who carefully filled out extensive inquiry forms. The information contained in these forms provides a second major part of the data upon which this report is based. The following educators who assisted in developing and pretesting items contained in the inquiry form: SYLVIA FISHER, JANE E. Hood, C. EDITH KERBY, Mrs. ETHEL KNIGHT, Mrs. E. LOUISE KRAUS, INGEBORG NYSTROM, EVELYN PLEISTER, GWEN RETHERford, Mrs. HILDA SHAPIRO, Mrs. SARA R. WEAVER, OLIVE WHILDIN, and MARJORIE A. C. YOUNG. Because of their understanding of educational programs for partially seeing children, their guidance was especially valuable. HERBERT S. CONRAD, Director of Research and Statistical Services of the Office of Education, for the part he has played in planning and executing this project, and for the services rendered by Mrs. MABEL C. RICE and other members of that staff in preparing some of the statistical data. PATRICIA ROBBINS and NAOMI NEHRER, of the staff, who had responsibility for collating and preparing the statistical data. INTRODUCTION IN the United States, education has been available for children with normal vision ever since colonial days. Special residential schools for blind pupils have been in operation for well over a hundred years. However, it was not until 1913 that public school provisions were made for partially seeing children. Educators were slow to recognize that partially seeing children need special educational provisions because they could not identify them by appearance alone. One partially seeing child may be taken for a blind. person because he wears very thick glasses and has a shambling walk. Another partially seeing child who does not wear glasses because he cannot benefit from them may be taken for a person who sees normally. At the same time he may be making full use of his limited vision. Gradually it was recognized that, since partially seeing children use their eyes as the chief channel to learning, they should not be educated as blind children, and since their vision was too limited to use many of the regular classroom aids, they could not be educated as normally seeing children. Generally speaking, a child is considered partially seeing if his visual acuity in the better eye, with correction, is 20/70 or less and he uses sight as the chief channel of learning. These visually handicapped children are identified through parents or interested friends, through reports from eye specialists, and through vision screening tests given by local school system personnel, by health department personnel, and by various organizations (such as Delta Gamma Fraternity) working in cooperation with local school systems and/or departments of health. When a child who has uncorrected low vision and who is not under appropriate medical care is found, he is referred to an eye specialist for diagnosis and correction. The opinions of both an ophthalmologist and an educator are usually required to determine whether the child's corrected vision is low enough to warrant special services. In the United States, the first educational provision for these visually handicapped children was the establishment of a class for partially seeing children at Boston, Mass., in 1913. No opportunities were available for the special preparation of teachers of the partially seeing until 1921, when Columbia University offered the first course. In the years that followed, teacher preparation courses were established in various parts of the Nation. The late Mrs. Winifred Hathaway, of the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness, gave much leadership to this movement.1 Growth in the program to serve partially seeing children and youth in all sorts of communities and cities, large and small, has brought about a variety of procedures for their education, depending upon the individual child, the particular school system, and the community resources. The development of the various types of programs and services for partially seeing children has increased the need for competent teachers. What should be required of the teacher of partially seeing children? What distinctive knowledge and abilities should she have? Because these questions were being raised, not only in the area of the partially seeing, but in all areas of special education, the broad study, Qualification and Preparation of Teachers of Exceptional Children, was undertaken. This project was conducted by the Office of Education in collaboration with leaders in special education throughout the United States.3 2 The findings in this study that have bearing on the qualifications of teachers of partially seeing children are reported in this bulletin. Specifically, it includes information on the following subjects: (1) competencies needed by teachers of children who are partially seeing, (2) opinions on the proficiency of some teachers of the partially seeing, (3) education and experiences for acquiring these competencies, (4) summary and implications, and (5) projects for further study and research. 4 Two techniques were used to gather information for this publication. One was the report of a committee of experts in the education of the partially seeing; the other was the use of inquiry forms. Through the inquiry forms, facts and opinions were gathered from 130 superior classroom teachers of the partially seeing, from 59 State and 81 local directors and supervisors of school programs for the partially seeing, and from 18 instructors in colleges and universities preparing teachers in this area.3 A large part of the information in this publication was provided by 130 superior teachers of partially seeing children and youth. Since these special teachers were currently in close daily association with partially seeing children, it was believed that they were in a position to make practical judgments about the competencies and experiences which make teachers effective. Throughout the Nation there are, of course, many more superior teachers of partially seeing children who would be qualified to participate 1 Mrs. Hathaway's book, Education and Health of the Partially Seeing Child (New York, Columbia University Press, 1943, 216 pages), has been a guide and inspiration to teachers and educators in this area. * The general plan of the broad study is described in Appendix A. 3 Committee members and consultants for the study are listed on page ii. 4 For further information about the 130 teachers, see appendix B. Excerpts from these four inquiry forms are reproduced in appendix D. |