tors may wish to give consideration to the nine competencies for inservice planning. College personnel may wish to review their efforts in preparing special teachers in these competencies. On the following 11 competency items teacher ratings of importance were lower than their ratings of self-proficiency: Rank order 1 76 78 Competency The ability to develop and use individual cumulative records of partially seeing The ability to teach partially seeing pupils to use a phonetic attack in word recog- A knowledge or understanding of type faces and sizes of print. A knowledge or understanding of differences in the functions and responsibilities of A knowledge or understanding of anatomy and physiology of the eye. A knowledge or understanding of causes of the various conditions which result in A knowledge or understanding of purposes, services, and locations of national or- The ability to do lettering. The ability to administer group achievement tests to partially seeing pupils. 1 These numbers represent the rank order of importance as shown in table I, page 18. The competencies listed above are mainly concerned with teaching skills, understanding the partially seeing child's eye condition, and parent-school relationships. The fact that superior teachers gave a lower rating to the competence than to their proficiency would appear to have implications for both preservice and inservice professional preparation. The findings seem also to have implications for directors of special education in local communities. Has too much emphasis been given these competencies in relation to the total program? Do special teachers have access to records, reports, and tests concerned with the partially seeing child, which are necessary to them in making the best use of their special competencies? Could directors of special education give inservice teachers more opportunities to use their specialized knowledge? For example, could the teachers of partially seeing children, during teachers' meetings of the school, explain certain phases of anatomy and physiology of the eye or the causes of various eye conditions? Could the teachers of partially seeing children be given, or encouraged to take, more initiative in parent-teacher activities? AS APPRAISED BY DIRECTORS AND SUPERVISORS 4 In response to a series of questions directors and supervisors from State departments of education and from local school systems expressed some opinions on the effectiveness of teachers with recent preparation in the area of the partially seeing. Their opinions are summarized in graph 1 on page 35. The 45 State and 62 local directors answered "yes," "no," or "undecided." The percentage of affirmative answers is shown in the graph and will be discussed briefly. Statistics on the number of negative and undecided replies are not included in this report. The reader may wish to know that about 20 percent of the directors and supervisors were "undecided" about the proficiency of their teachers on these questions. The questions centered on some of the competencies which the participating teachers rated, including orientation of teachers to other areas of exceptionality; understanding the child; developing curriculum and using distinctive teaching methods and aids; interpreting and using educational, psychological, and medical reports; identifying causes of social and emotional maladjustment; understanding of community agencies and services for the visually handicapped. Neither group, as reference to graph 1 shows, expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the proficiency of their recently prepared teachers, but the local directors and supervisors were somewhat better satisfied than the State directors and specialists. With one exception, the local personnel gave more affirmative replies than the State personnel. Only 34 percent of local personnel as compared with 51 percent of State directors thought that teachers of partially seeing children had adequate orientation to other areas of exceptionality. This relatively low evaluation seems to point to an area for further study, for it may reflect an inadequacy in professional preparation. It will be recalled that the committee report emphasized the importance of the special teacher's skill in working with partially seeing children who have other handicaps. While 76 percent of the local supervisors thought the special teachers had an adequate understanding of the basic principles of child growth and development, only 48 percent of the State directors agreed with them. The teachers' proficiency in curriculum development suited to the child's needs and the use of distinctive methods and aids of teaching were viewed more favorably by local personnel than by State personnel-with one For complete questions, see appendix D. (Inquiry forms EXC-1 and 3, question 4.) exception. Only about half of both groups (54, 90 and 56, 90) thought the special teachers were able to instruct at the appropriate developmental levels of their pupils. On the teachers' ability to interpret and use educational, psychological, and medical reports, there was fairly close agreement between the State and local personnel. On items 8, 9, and 10 from 42 percent to 53 percent expressed satisfaction. Neither the State nor the local group felt that the special teachers were effective in identifying causes of social and emotional maladjustment (18 percent of State directors and 33 percent of local supervisors). It will be recalled that although teachers considered an understanding of social and emotional problems of partially seeing children among the most important of all the competencies (table I), their self-appraisal indicated that they felt some lack of proficiency. Does this suggest a place for improvement in teacher preparation courses and the need for additional assistance for inservice teachers? Both State and local directors show a small degree of satisfaction (about 35 percent) with teachers' competencies in using community agencies and clinics that serve visually handicapped children. This raises the question: Do teacher preparation courses give sufficient emphasis in these areas, for example by means of field trips? Graph 1.-Percent of directors and supervisors in State and local school systems satisfied with the competence of recently prepared teachers of partially seeing children in their school systems. 'Only the affirmative replies are shown on this graph; the remaining replies were divided between nega tive and undecided. See appendix C, p. 59, for additional information. The findings presented in the earlier part of this publication (see table I, p. 18) indicated that all the competencies covered by the 14 questions were considered valuable for the teacher of the partially seeing. The fact that only about half of their directors and supervisors considered them sufficiently proficient in some of these competencies may be cause for concern. can be done to help the teacher in her efforts to become more effective? Much of her competency is acquired through her own initiative and resourcefulness and through the assistance of State and local supervisors of special education. Much is also obtained through the organized professional programs of colleges and universities. EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCES CONTRIBUTING TO PROFICIENCY as it is hoped, the most essential knowledge and abilities have been identified in the preceding pages, the next question is, "What kind of education and experience will help develop an effective teacher of the partially seeing?" In answer to this question this section reports opinions on: (1) The value of certain practical experiences in the professional preparation of teachers of the partially seeing; (2) the amount of student-teaching with partially seeing children thought to be desirable; (3) the amount of teaching experience with the so-called normal children thought to be desirable; and (4) professional background for teacher candidates most likely to succeed. 1 PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES IN PROFESSIONAL How do teachers value some of the practical experiences which are usually included in teacher education programs? A list of typical experiences 1 was presented in the inquiry forms to the 130 teachers of the partially seeing for rating as to relative importance. On an average, 104 of the 130 teachers rated each experience. These experiences, arranged in rank order according to average ratings of importance, may be found in table II on page 38.2 Teachers attached much value to all 18 practical experiences. They gave an average rating of "very important" to 5 experiences and "important" to the remaining 13. They recognized, as table II shows, that their professional preparation should include a wide range of practical experiences. Those which the teachers valued most highly were: planned observation in special schools or classes for partially seeing children (1)3; student-teaching 1 See appendix D, inquiry form EXC-4G, question 5. * The rating scale was identical with the one used by the 130 teachers in evaluating the competencies in table I: "very important," "important," "less important," and "not important." 'Numbers in parentheses are rank order of importance as shown in table II, page 38. 37 |