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This publication consists of the papers presented at the first national symposium of the Public Education Religion Studies Center (PERSC). The purpose of PERSC is to encourage and facilitate increased and improved nonsectarian teaching about religion within constitutional bounds at the elementary and secondary level. It emphasizes the natural inclusion of the study about religion within the regular curricular offerings such as history, art, English, music, and geography. PERSC also conducts workshops, maintains a resource center of available curriculum materials, publishes a quarterly newsletter, evaluates existing curriculum materials, and develops new materials when necessary. The papers presented at the symposium address themselves to the legal and educational dimensions of religious education in the past and near future. Titles include: (1) Religion Studies in the Curriculum, 1963-1983; (2) Personal Reflections on the Schempp Decision; (3) The Decisions of the Court; (4) The Definition of Religion; (5) Objectivity and Teaching the Bible; (6) Imagining Criteria of Curriculum Design for Learning about Religion in Public Education; (7) Religious Education versus Academic Religion Studies; and (8) Conclusion: Status and Prospects. Appendixes include criteria for evaluating curricular materials, guidelines for teacher education programs, and guidelines for teacher competency. (Author/DE)

This paper describes and compares the processes of economic and social planning in France and the U.S.S.R., with particular emphasis on national educational planning and how it relates to the overall economic plan. Chapter 1 focuses on various aspects of integrating the educational plan into the overall social and economic plan, with particular attention to (1) the major functions of the central planning bodies and (2) the development of the educational system and the fundamental balances of the plan. Chapter 2 focuses on relationships between the characteristics and qualifications of the active population and the development of technical vocational training. Particular attention is devoted to (1) the relationships between employment planning and the development of specialist training in the U.S.S.R. and (2) employment projection in France and the tendency toward second- and third-level technical studies. Chapter 3 focuses on political and administrative aspects of school and university planning, with particular attention to (1) the predominance of political decision-making authority and (2) the distribution of authority between the central planning bodies and the ministries responsible for educational planning. (JG)

The seminar on assessment and accountability in education was believed to be the first national conference concerned with these coordinate issues. The participants generally concurred that accountability is a many faceted phenomenon with varying interpretations. It was further agreed that the major obstacle to setting up measures of accountability has been a lack of knowledge: school personnel have not known what to do or what to identify in demonstrating and describing the effectiveness of the educational enterprise. Before school personnel can be held completely accountable, there must be a sharper focus on the goals and objectives of teaching and learning. (Author/WM)

This volume records the papers presented at a Northwestern University symposium concerning the articulation of cognitive psychology with mathematics education. Piagetian theories are described and extended to classroom applications in several of the papers; other psychological theories such as information processing are also discussed. All of the papers are concerned with students' learning mathematics in an active environment. Charles Smock's paper addresses the ways in which students organize mathematical ideas. Related to this question is Max Bell's paper on the role of applications in learning mathematics; Professor Bell explores the question of whether concepts must precede applications, or, conversely, application is a necessary part of the learning of concepts. Zoltan Dienes' discussion of finite geometries and Robert Davis' consideration of computer-assisted mathematics laboratories carry this theme further. The extension of Piaget's research to concepts ordinarily taught in the mathematics classroom, and to the development of children between the stages of concrete and formal operations is discussed by Leslie Steffe. The related issue of using Piagetian tasks in educational diagnosis is also discussed by Davis. An overview of psychological research as related to mathematics education, especially in the area of problem solving, is provided in Harry Beilin's paper. (SD)

The positive experiences of one disaffected teenager in an Experience-Based Career Education (EBCE) Program demonstrate the characteristics of an emerging program significantly different from the traditional high school; these characteristics include: a clinical mode of operation based on study and diagnosis of student needs; flexibility; cooperative analysis to select learning experiences for "goodness of fit;" individualization; a curriculum which defines only areas in which knowledge or proficiencies must be attained; a systemic approach which relates all the parts to the student's life-goals; use of media and technology; and a record system serving the developmental needs of the program. Community involvement, integrated guidance and counseling, and coordinated teamwork are other important characteristics of the program. Essential problems result from the fact that it is only a partial model, rather than a complete plan for the continuous education of children. The Comprehensive Career Education Model (CCEM) is not competitive with EBCE; they can exist within the same organization and can be mutually reinforcing, once several diverse problems are resolved. Chief among these is the stabilization of EBCE, and its incorporation into the public schools as the developmental stage is completed and the program enters phases of normal funding and mass participation. (Author/AJ)

In the rapidly changing educational scene, a school administrator is frequently forced to abandon old responsibilities and assume new ones. Often, yesterday's top priorities are suddenly replaced by others more relevant to constantly shifting educational demands. In order to manage school improvements, administrators face the continuous need for acquiring new abilities. To perpetuate effective leadership a school district must provide a program whereby each of its administrators has an opportunity to participate in an individualized and continuous program of self-renewal. This paper reports the results of an individualized continuing education, and school climate improvement program for school administrators. It is addressed to superintendents, principals, area superintendents, coordinators, assistant superintendents, and others interested in self-, and school improvement processes. It is also designed for school administrators responsible for developing inservice education or administrative renewal programs for school district leadership personnel. (Author/WM)

The Conference for Education in the South, which for 16 years has held its annual sessions at different places in the Southern States, is unique among educational conferences, in that its membership does not consist chiefly of teachers and school officers, but of farmers, professional men of all kinds, business men, and women of varied interests, and in the further fact that its discussions are not confined to problems of educational theory, school organization, and schoolroom practice, but include rather the broader problems of education in their relation to State, society, and industrial and commercial life. Its members are all interested in the upbuilding of the Southern States. Every question on the program is considered with reference to its practical application to life and conditions in these States. The program for the sixteenth conference held at Richmond, Virginia, April 15-18 of this year was unusually rich in matter of both local and general interest. This bulletin presents the abstracts of papers read at the sixteenth conference. These are: (1) The conference on cooperation (D. H. Hill); (2) Fundamental principles of cooperation (E. M. Tousley); (3) From the grower's standpoint (L. C. Corbett); (4) Typical cooperative enterprises (W. J. Shuford); (5) Seven obstacles to cooperation (W. E. Halbrook); (6) Cooperative credit: The American need (John Lee Coulter); (7) The pioneer credit associations in the United States (Leonard G. Robinson); (8) Cooperation and the rural schools (T. J. Coates); (9) Business men and the rural problem (Harry Hodgson); (10) Farm tenancy in the South (E. C. Branson); (11) The rural problem and transportation (L. C. Johnson); (12) A country life survey (P. H. Rolfs); (13) Man and the land (Henry Exall); (14) Origin and development of the work (Wallace Buttrick); (15) Demonstration work in Louisiana (Mason Snowden); (16) The boys' and girls' club work (O. B. Martin); (17) Social service and the country church (B. M. Beckham); (18) The rural church and public health (Ennion W. Williams); (19) The country church and good literature (P. P. Claxton); (20) Creed adopted by the country church conference; (21) The need for reform (C.L. Raper); (22) The principles of assessment (Lawson Purdy); (23) The local assessor (T. S. Adams); (24) Results of improved assessment methods in West Virginia (Fred O. Blue); (25) The conference on education of women in the country (D. B. Johnson); (26) An indictment of the rural school (H. L. Whitfield); (27) How to relieve the drudgery of women on the farm (Joe Cook); (28) How can the country school as it now is help the woman on the farm? (Susie V. Powell); (29) The qualifications of woman in the farm (I. E. Lord); (30) How can the girls' industrial club work be made a part of the rural school work? (S. V. Powell); (31) How the Department of Agriculture aids the home maker (C. F. Langworthy); (32) Plans of State supervisors for rural school improvement (L. J. Hanifan); (33) Rural school supervision (Albert S. Cook); (34) The need of a country unit (A. C. Monahan); (35) The educational awakening in Kentucky (T. J. Coates); (36) Teaching woodlot management in rural schools (E. R. Jackson); (37) Teaching agriculture in the one-room rural school (E. E. Sell); (38) Demonstration schools (T. J. Coates); (39) The conference and the rural schools (P. P. Claxton); (40) Changes in the normal school curriculum (L. J. Corbly); (41) Training rural teachers by means of high schools (Joseph S. Stewart); (42) Some general principles with regard to certification of teachers (T. J. Woofter); (43) The certification of teachers in the Southern States (E. E. Rall); (44) What has been done in Alabama (James S. Thomas); (45) The commission on accredited schools of the Southern Sates (N. W. Walker); (46) College extension work (E. D. Sanderson); (47) The trend in negro education (W. E. Aery); (48) Improvement in standards of southern colleges since 1900 (Elizabeth Avery Colton); (49) What should the bachelor's degree represent? (Eleanor Lord); (50) Public opinion and higher education of women (Edward K. Graham); (51) Keats for the kitchen (Lawrence F. Abbott); and (52) Concluding remarks on the conference (Walter H. Page). An index is included. [Best copy available has been provided.]

A certain amount of paper work is necessary in school systems, but it must be handled in a rational, planned, and controlled manner. Most problems begin and end with the lack of training for paper work and management systems. To avoid this problem, an operating procedures manual was developed for the Special Education Instructional Materials Center (SEIMC). A built-in change factor was incorporated in the manual in that the basic format remains the same but the working parts are constantly updated and revised by the clerical staff and management. The main idea of the manual is to apply proven business methods of administration to any type of school setting or project where paper work and training are needed. The possibility of using this approach with small school systems that do not receive extensive funding cannot be understated. (Author/MLF)

The relationship between the schools and the press who reports about them is the subject of this paper. It contains four speeches made at a 1973 meeting of the Council for Basic Education held in Washington D.C. Two school officials and two journalists offer their views on such subjects as training for educational writers, press bias, and the role of school officials and the press in disseminating information. A brief discussion among the individual participants is presented at the end. (Author/LD)

Four geography concepts illustrate the varied nature of the science and provide a pluralistic basis for uniting professional and pedagogical geography and for promoting communication with laymen. The spatial tradition, based on interest in geometry and movement, separates aspects of distance, form, direction, and position from events themselves. Ancient Greek sailing records first showed this perspective; school teachers and research geographers of central-place theory show it today. The second tradition, area studies, focuses on the nature and character of places, emphasizing literature and history. The academic community recognizes this second tradition, although technical vocabulary isolates professionals from lay teachers. The third tradition, the man-land interrelationship, initially had an environmental perspective and then changed to a cultural one. Today, its acceptance is seen in studies of resource use and conservation. Earth science, the fourth tradition, studies concrete aspects of the physical world. Although geology-based college courses overemphasize physical geography and some social studies curricula reject it, earth science does provide a unified view of the earth as man's habitat. (AV)

The document contains 18 presentations from Southwestern Region Deaf-Blind Center workshops held from 1970 to 1973 and covering the areas of assessment, vision, auditory training, communication, learning, family, and problems. Entries included the following titles and authors: "Methods for Assessing the Status and Growth of Preschool Deaf-Blind Children" (F. Elzey); "Audiologic Assessment of Deaf-Blind Babies" (A. McClatchie); "The Rubella Child: An Ophthalmologic View" (J. Donin); "What Do You See?" (E. Jackson); "Auditory Function and the Deaf-Blind Child" (B. Franklin); "Residual Hearing and Auditory Training" (B. Franklin); "Auditory Testing for the Multi-Handicapped" (M. Lowell); "A Parental Guide to the Auditory Training in the Deaf-Blind Child, Not So Much a Program--More an Attitude" (A. McClatchie); "Language: A Comprehensive Approach" (L. Anderson); "The Role of Vision in Communication with Deaf-Blind Children" (A. Galloway); "Total Communication and Conceptual Learning" (R. Howell); "Language--What Is It?" (S. Kirchner); "Basic Steps in Building Communication" (S. Meyer); "Play as a Learning Experience" (B. Gold); "Program Planning for the Multi-Handicapped Child" (C. Hatcher); "Psychosocial Problems of the Handicapped Child and His Family" (J. Call); and "Problems in the Raising of Deaf-Blind Children" (A. Nemon). (SW)

This publication presents the papers presented at the Proceedings of the National Citizens Conference on Education held at the Washington Hotel, Washington last May 19-21, 1920. The purpose of the conference is to capitalize for the new era the interest in education that is springing up in all parts of the country, and to organize it for effective action, to the end that it may come out of this conference Nation-wide in extent and influence. This publication contains the following papers: (1) Aims and purposes of the conference (P. P. Claxton); (2) Some facts about the schools and their teachers (Leonard P. Ayres); (3) Adequate preparation for an adequate number of teachers to fill the schools of the United States (William C. Bagley); (4) The source of supply of teachers (David Felmley); (5) Selling the idea of good schools to the people (William Harding); (6) Meeting new tests of rural and urban life (Albert Shaw); (7) A practical program for the development of the rural school (Thomas E. Finegan); (8) An adequate program of public education (Frank Spaulding); (9) Economies in education (Charles H. Judd); (10) Education and agricultural production (Raymond A. Pearson); (11) Education and the Army (William G. Haan); (12) Education and the wage earner (Matthew Woll); (13) Education in relation to invention and research (Charles R. Mann); (14) Conference on highway engineering and highway transportation education (Albert F. Woods); (15) The new interest in education in Great Britain (Auckland Geddes); (16) The new interest in education in France (G. Chinard); (17) The new interest in education in Latin-American countries (Jacobo Varela); (18) Education as a national interest (Horace M. Towner); (19) The rural school and the rural teacher (Robert A. Cooper); (20) Education for citizenship (Carl E. Milliken); (21) The interest of the churches in education (Robert L. Kelly); (22) Education and the suffrage (Maud Wood Park); (23) Education for citizenship (Thomas J. Shahan); (24) Education for human culture (Enoch A. Bryan); (25) Training the teachers for the rural schools (John A. H. Keith); (26) Cooperation of business and industry with the schools (H. E. Miles); (27) How women's clubs can help (Philip North Moobe); (28) The interest of patriotic societies in the promotion of education (George Maynard Minor); (29) The program of the national committee on chamber of commerce cooperation with the public schools (James T. Begg); (30) What musical organizations can do (Frances E. Clark); (31) Health education a duty of the schools (Emmett Holt); (32) A new policy necessary in dealing with the salary situation (George Drayton Strayer); (33) Will the people respond? (Hugh S. Magill); and (34) Extracts from Letters and Statements from governors of States; from State superintendents of public instruction; from heads of educational institutions; and from prominent persons to the United States Commissioner of Education. An index is included. [Best copy available has been provided.]

The objective of this paper is to sketch some emerging patterns of relationships growing out of the mutual desire of state departments of education, school districts, and research and development agencies to bring improvement and innovation to the schools. Two unpublished reports were used in preparing this paper. The first describes Research for Better Schools's relationships with nine different state agencies during 1971-73 and documents what states had done in the way of bringing research and development innovations to the schools. The second report summarizes the results of a questionnaire mailed to 116 state education administrators from 36 states during the latter part of 1973. In order to provide a base on which these emerging patterns can be examined, four types of findings have been selected: (1) some general characteristics of state departments of education, (2) some specific directions that states seem to be taking, (3) some ways in which states directly support innovation in schools, and (4) some state agency experiences with research and development agencies. Three patterns of interagency relationships are presented in order to describe linkage models that have been built to provide possible features of future relationships. (Author/IRT)

This paper presents findings and recommendations resulting from a study of the equipment and systems currently used to transport wheelchair-confined students. Objective of the study was to assist the California Department of Education in preparing specifications for loading and securement facilities used in transporting wheelchair-confined students. A total of 21 organizations, including school districts, school bus contractors and manufacturers, and a service agency, were visited to document and evaluate the types of loading and securement equipment now in use. Besides presenting findings and recommended specifications, the paper also raises several questions about the behavior of wheelchairs and associated hardware during an accident; the authors suggest conducting a dynamic testing program involving simulated accidents to provide answers to these questions. A number of photographs illustrate different types of wheelchair loading and securement equipment. (Author/JG)

This document contains 13 papers presented at a conference concerned with the role of geometry in present day mathematics teaching. Of the six papers written in English, one looks at the Euclidean tradition in teaching mathematics, the algebraisation of geometry, and transformation geometry, and concludes with a discussion of twelve topics which would be covered in a comprehensive organization of the teaching of geometry. A second paper discusses visualizing in mathematics, while a third reports on a combined algebra-geometry curriculum for Japanese secondary schools. A fourth looks at the solution of problems by geometrical methods, giving 14 examples of problems, and a fifth paper discusses the solution of polynomial equations. A sixth paper advocates that topics from topology, probability, and operations research be included in geometry. Among the seven papers written in German, one discusses recent trends in teaching geometry, a second is concerned with the role of intuition, a third looks at the place of descriptive geometry, and a fourth considers geometry at the primary school level. A fifth paper exhibits a variety of approaches to geometrical thinking through organized sets of problems, a sixth is concerned with a progressive pedagogy of mathematics, and a seventh paper reports on a problem oriented approach to geometry starting from combinatorial geometry. A final paper (also written in German) reports on the discussions in the working groups at the conference. (DT)

This paper gives an analysis of receipts and expenditures in a sample Kentucky school district and compares them with receipts and expenditures for the United States and for other school districts in Kentucky. Data have been obtained from the sample school district, the Kentucky Department of Education, and the January 1973 issue of "School Management." The information contained in this paper makes it possible to: compare on an average daily attendance (ADA) basis the receipts from the property tax in the sample Kentucky school district with the property tax receipts in the State of Kentucky; compare on a ADA basis the total local receipts in the sample district with the averages in the State of Kentucky; compare the sample district's overall costs with average costs in Kentucky and the United States; compare expenditures for such items as administration, instruction, pupil transportation, debt service, and capital outlay; and assess the ability of the sample district and the State of Kentucky to finance public elementary and secondary education. The document also describes the various classes of receipts and expenditures in a typical school budget. (Author/DN)

The learning resource center is a place where learning materials and students are brought together under some kind of human mediation. The instructional interaction is primarily between students and materials. In planning a learning resource center, the first step is to survey the needs the center should satisfy. In part this can be done by using the checklist included in this paper. This checklist is divided into categories that examine the physical characteristics of the learning resource center, the people, the functions, the materials, any special factors, and evaluation and revision. Each of the categories is subdivided into several sections, with each section covering a number of specific details. (TO)

This paper describes the Detroit Education Task Force and its efforts to develop a problem-solving agenda for the Detroit public schools. The paper describes the background and history of the task force and analyzes its relationship with the Detroit Central Board of Education and with administrators of the Detroit school system. The educational impact of "third party" groups in general is discussed, followed by a detailed examination of the Detroit Education Task Force and its function. A final section presents a number of observations and conclusions about the experience of the task force and discusses the possible benefits of developing similar "third party" groups in other school systems. (JG)

This paper models the educational process by a system of simultaneous equations. The endogenous variables (educational outputs) are a pupil's achievement, participation in a college preparatory program, need for achievement (aspirations), demonstrated motivation (effort), expectations, self-esteem, belief in his ability to control his environment (fate control), perceived parents' expectations, and perceived teachers' expectations. The 48 exogenous variables include pupil demographic and home characteristic measures, peer group characteristics, and teacher and school characteristics. The sample consists of over 14,000 pupils from the Equality of Educational Opportunity Survey (Coleman Report). The model is estimated by two stage least squares and ordinary least squares. The paper attempts to identify the determinants of each educational output and stresses the causal interrelationships among the outputs. (Author)

This paper discusses the history and effect of popular culture generally and of the adolescent formula novel specifically. Seven primary characteristics of art as popular culture are that the work is accessible, easy to understand, conventional in form, not shocking in content, expressive of common and appropriate values, relative to some element of immediate concern, and of a distinctive, recognizable shape. The formula for adolescent novels includes the following characteristics: (1) after the protagonist is introduced, the problem is dramatized by a brief episode; (2) some event destroys the precarious equilibrium of the protagonist and precipitates a crisis; (3) the protagonist reacts with increasing frustration and does not approach the solution to the problem; (4) just as a point of hopelessness seems to have been reached, an accident or the sudden intervention of a transcendent character brings illumination and insight to the protagonist; and (5) the problem is solved by the protagonist and appropriate action is taken. A brief synopsis and possible teaching approach are outlined for each of three adolescent formula novels: "Watership Down,""A Hero Ain't Nothing But a Sandwich," and "The Chocolate War." (TS)

This paper discusses the benefits of teaching literature through levels of understanding so that teachers can more quickly and efficiently determine the operational levels of individual students. The seven levels of understanding and some of the generic questions by which they can be determined are: (1) perceptual level: "What happened, when, where, and to whom?" (2) affective level: "How did you feel about a character?" (3) inferential level: "Why did the character act that way?" (4) generalization level: "What is the theme or central idea?" (5) symbolic level: "What allegorical, symbolic meaning is suggested?" (6) myth/archetype level: "What event or cultural hero does this work seem to parallel?" and (7) psycho-social level: "What kinds of people respond to this work?" (TS)

Sex role stereotyping is the process by which people are defined by their sex rather than by their thoughts, feelings, interests, and abilities. It is the portrayal of people in typical situations as determined by their sex and does not allow either males or females to express the totality of their humanity. This paper discusses the problem of sex role stereotyping in terms of school children and the sex role messages communicated to them through the schools. A brief summary of the findings of a study of sex bias in reading materials conducted by Women on Words and Images is presented. Numerous recommendations on how to deal with the situation in the schools and in children's reading materials are offered and include the following: complaining to publishers, principals, school boards, and so on; using outside materials more extensively in the classroom; revising teacher's manuals for existing texts; playing role-reversal games; and having children compare their images of the ideal woman to their images of the ideal man. (TO)

This paper discusses the use of ancillary personnel, professionals and paraprofessionals providing supportive services to the classroom teacher, and the skills and strategies teachers will need in order to use support services wisely. The contents include: "Working with Adults," which discusses the need for teachers to adopt an interdisciplinary approach to teaching in working with ancillary personnel, to communicate with specialists, to recognize the variety and types of contributions different people are able to make, and to concern themselves with the job satisfaction of those working directly under their supervision; "Organizing for Assistance," which looks at the importance of planning fully integrated learning experiences based on the total range of learning objectives and using a variety of activities and organizational patterns; and "Making Decision," which recommends establishing criteria for analyzing educational tasks based on broad social objectives and making effective decisions. (WR)

This booklet consists of two papers delivered by Patrick Haggerty, chairman of Texas Instruments, Incorporated, on the general topic of productivity in the American educational system. The first paper, "Education, Work, and Productivity," points out that while productivity per man-hour in the private sector of our economy has been increasing, productivity per man-hour in the educational sector has decreased markedly as educators continue to push for lower student/teacher ratios. The author suggests that this trend can be reversed by utilizing such technological advances as video cassettes and instructional television networks to extend education beyond the classroom and improve educational results while increasing student/teacher ratios. The second paper, "R & D and Productivity in Education," suggests that improved educational productivity can best be achieved by changing from our present teacher-oriented educational system to a student-oriented system. To achieve this shift will require an expansion of research and development efforts focusing on student-centered education, the author argues. (JG)

This booklet contains six short papers prepared for a symposium on collective negotiation in education. The opening paper presents a national overview of the subject, while the subsequent articles mainly discuss experiences under the Pennsylvania Public Employee Relations Act of 1970, which granted state and local employees full collective bargaining rights and a qualified right to strike. Papers included in the booklet are "Collective Negotiations in Education--an Overview," by Richard V. Solano; "Collective Negotiations in Higher Education and the Employer," by David W. Hornbeck; "Collective Negotiations in Higher Education and the Faculty Status," by William G. Pettibon; "Negotiability Issues in Public Education," by John J. Dillon; "The School Boards and Collective Negotiations," by Fred M. Heddinger; and "Collective Negotiations and the Teacher Status," by Robert E. Phelps. (Author/JG)

This paper describes a series of Urban Life-Population Education workshops held for city school teachers in Baltimore, Maryland. The workshops introduced teachers to basic demographic concepts and statistical techniques, provided the teachers with a knowledge base as a prerequisite for meaningful discussions of population issues, related problems of urban living to population processes, and developed curriculum materials suitable for teaching population education in grades K through 12. An evaluation of the program showed that teachers' knowledge of selected demographic concepts and facts increased between the pre-workshop period and the post-workshop period. High school teachers showed greater effective change in knowledge than lower grade teachers, although there remained widespread interest in population education among all teachers. The original program schedule was modified two times during the course of the workshop resulting in fewer formal presentations, more teacher discussions, and greater teacher involvement in the workshop program. (Author/DE)

This paper describes how some children with learning problems feel about themselves; points out some possible witches' tales regarding understanding and communication with such children; and discusses some clinical opinions that have been developed at the Child Center, Kentfield, regarding these children. The contents of the paper include: a discussion of the lack of generally agreed-upon data concerning the cause of reading problems; a look at some of the possible pitfalls for the physician who works with children who have reading problems; a discussion of factors that tend to make the low-imagery child feel dumb and inadequate; a discussion of data from the Child Center that suggest some ways to help the low-imagery child learn; and a look at the use of input via tactile, vibration, and motor pathways to help children with reversal problems. (WR)

This paper discusses the placement, remediation, and management of the learning disabled child. The procedure for a professional assessment of the learning disabled child includes: (1) noting potentially dangerous signs such as poor visual and/or auditory memory for words, consistent letter or number reversals beyond the primary grades, short attention span, inordinate disorganization, and the inability to shift from one task to another; (2) teacher referral of the child for a professional diagnosis which should include a general screening (in speech, hearing, and neurological functioning), a psychological evaluation, and an educational evaluation; and (3) the establishment of a remedial program which should include a variety of materials, emphasize language first, overcome the perceptual disturbance, and modify inappropriate behaviors. Also included is a list of suggestions for the teacher working with learning disabled children in the special or regular classroom. (WR)

This paper provides an outline of an evaluation schema designed to measure geographic concepts. A concept is summarized as a category of experiences defined by a rule and having a name, criterial attributes, and exemplars. Minimal requirements for such a schema are that it should measure the mastery of the rule, attributes, name, and exemplar identification for a given concept. Prototype items used to order questions that will measure nine different dimensions of concept mastery include 1) given the name of attribute, select the example of the attribute; 2) given an example of an attribute, select the name of the attribute; 3) given the name of a concept, select an example of the concept; 4) given the name of a concept, select a nonexample of the concept; 5) given an example of the concept, select the name of the concept; 6) given the name of a concept, select the relevant attribute; 7) given the name of a concept, select the irrelevant attribute; 8) given the definition of a concept, select the irrelevant attribute; and 9) given the name of a concept, select the definition of the concept. Field tests of this schema have demonstrated that it may be applied efficiently to the design of suitable measurement items for instructon and research in geographic education. (Author/DE)

ReQuest is a reciprocal questioning technique in which the teacher serves as a model of questioning behavior for the student. Following a briefing period by the teacher, the activity begins with the student and teacher silently reading the first sentence of a story. Teacher and student exchange questions on a sentence-by-sentence reading of the material, until the student can make a logical prediction of what is going to happen in the rest of the story. An expanded and specific set of directions for classroom use of the ReQuest system for preservice and inservice teachers is also provided in this paper. The processes of selecting appropriate material, giving rules, directing the questioning sequence, selecting appropriate questions, eliciting predictions of story content, directing silent reading, and comparing predictions are discussed in a procedural outline. (KS)

The proceedings contain the papers given and digests of group topics discussed at the 1949 National Conference on Citizenship held in New York. An introduction by the chairman of the conference committee identified the conference theme as "Responsible American Citizens" and noted that discussion would center on citizens in politics, in the world, and in their communities. Opening speeches focused on issues such as responsible roles in national, state, and local politics, good government, and common problems that beset political organizations on all levels. Speeches with a global approach have the following titles: "Today's Challenging Opportunity,""Our Job in the World Today,""Enriching America," and "What Should We Do about the Communist Threat in Asia?" Concluding speeches explored the role of the public schools in developing American citizens and described municipal political experiences in Cincinnati, (Ohio), Richmond, (Virginia), and Brunswick, (Maine). Speakers included the mayor of New York, educators, senators from Vermont and Minnesota, government officials, media representatives and spokespersons from citizens groups such as the League of Women Voters and chambers of commerce, Thumbnail reports summarize information presented in each of the major topic areas. (DB)

Three studies assessed the effects of behavioral objectives on the performance of remedial readers. Subjects were three groups of 16 pupils who were participating in a reading-center tutorial program. During the two-month instructional period, half of the students were given behavioral objectives and half were not. For the post-instruction assessment, two tasks were developed for each pupil. On one task, the pupil was informed of the specific behavioral objective; on the other, similar task, no information about objectives was given. Results indicated that pupils who had been informed of behavioral objectives during the two-month period prior to assessment performed at a high level on both tasks, whereas those who had not been previously informed of behavioral objectives did less well on the tasks for which no objective was given. This was interpreted as supporting the assumption that information about behavioral objectives increases pupils' performance. (AA)

Described is a systems analysis approach focusing on the use of objectives and feedback for teachers, administrators, and parents working with exceptional children. Terms such as "objective", "student performance", and "feedback" are explained as they relate to the systems approach. It is noted that parents, teachers, and administrators can use objectives and feedback to design programs for special students by engaging in conference activities which include discussion of the child's strengths, problems, and educational environment. Presented are two case studies, as well as sample worksheets, to illustrate application of the systems analysis approach. (SBH)

This document describes how a local district can prepare for the implementation of the community education concept. It proposes a planning system that utilizes community involvement in assessment, goal setting, and program design. Specific implementation strategies are presented. (Author/MLF)

This study analyzes the content of journal articles dealing with the principalship that were published from 1970 through 1973. A content analysis research method is used to determine the principal's functions in curriculum and instructional leadership and to indicate similar and unique functions at various school levels. Principal behavior is classified according to cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Frequency tables present the data. The study reveals 141 separate curriculum and instructional leadership functions. (DW)

An analysis of the findings of three studies that were the bases of doctoral dissertations completed under the direction of the author are presented. The basic source of data was a questionnaire sent to all school superintendents in Mississippi and to a sample of superintendents in Arkansas. Some of the findings included in the synthesis are: (1) research on the diffusion of innovations has progressed in recent years and is moving at an accelerated rate; (2) the largest number of innovation adoptions reported came in the last year, indicating an acceleration in the rate of adoption throughout the period of the study; (3) instructional innovations took place in language arts more than any other subject area, followed by mathematics, science, and social studies; (4) academic programs for the average and below-average ability students received more attention than did those for the over-average; and (5) in general, the data from other States show that both Mississippi and Arkansas are starting late but following the same general adoption patterns that have been set in other States. (Author/MLF)

Today's inclusion of semantics within the overall language design offers proof against the earlier mistaken view that semantics was irrelevant to the study of language. Sociolinguistics have reassessed language as a social matrix that encompasses the sum of linguistic variation present in a given community. Variability in language is described by sociolinguistic rules which specify the grammatical options a speaker may actually select, given a number of conditions. Common to these formulations is the notion of constraints--factors that may or may not prevent a speaker from making a certain linguistic decision. Sociolinguistics has a far reaching consequence for English instruction in our schools, bringing to our attention the idea of a cultural-linguistic continuum. No longer can the teacher's goal be that all children should speak alike. New educational goals should be subsumed under one main objective: the acquisition of communicative competence. Teachers must have the ability to assess unemotionally the nature of speech varieties that children bring to school and to recognize the value of code shifting within everyday speech events. (HOD)

This paper presents a model of an interactive mode for instructional research and development that might yield both curriculum products and scientific knowledge concerning learning and instruction. Curriculum development is discussed as an applied science and as an art, using specific research and development efforts conducted at the Learning Research and Development Center to highlight the present and potential character of the interactive model. Consideration is given to the roles of task analysis, diagnosis of learner characteristics, design of curricula and learning environments, and assessment and evaluation in the development of instructional programs. (Author)

The seven papers and four discussions in this publication present several perspectives on educational innovation and its adoption in the schools. Topics discussed include political and structural protection of innovations, change introduced from outside the school, ESEA Title III influences on change processes, local school district change strategy, and research. Generally, the authors agree that change is more effective when it is implemented from within the school, that research and development people should disseminate findings more effectively, and that too few data-based studies about effecting change reach school people. (DW)

Public uses of tests and testing include all those materials and practices in observation of human behavior that are intended to help administrators, school boards, legislatures, taxpayers, and others to evaluate their educational systems. Pedagogical uses of tests, on the other hand, cover all those materials and practices in observation of human behavior that are intended to help the teacher do a better job of teaching or the learner do a better job of learning, or both. The movement toward accountability affects public testing since if what legislators want students to demonstrate is reading and writing skill, then that is what the tests for public use will measure. Economic considerations dictate that tests of reading and writing skills be used to ascertain the general effectiveness of the whole organization of public education rather than that of single schools or individual teachers. Most important in the use of pedagogical tests is that they cover all the kinds of learning teachers hope to have the students attain. To accomplish this end, teachers can choose among standardized tests, teacher-made tests, and systematic observation of pupils. A good teacher who is also informed about measurement blends teaching and testing and learning so smoothly that it is often impossible to tell where one stops and another starts. (HOD)

Papers from a conference series initiated in the Aberdeen College of Education in 1968 and recently held in Golspie, Scotland (July 1974), address policy oriented recommendations relative to rural education. This conference report is intended to serve as a useful source of ideas; as background information on international rural educational thinking; as encouragement to others to associate themselves with this conference; and particularly this year, in the context of Scottish education, as a guide to the future for all concerned with problems in the enlarged perspective of the new Scottish Regions, especially administrative and professional staff in the Educational Offices and those in the Regional Education Committees. Designed to be of maximum relevance to the 1974 Scottish situation, conference themes are, nonetheless, applicable to rural areas in general. Themes include: (1) the educational implications of regionalization; (2) problems facing rural schools (primary, secondary, and administrative); (3) education and rural depopulation; and (4) problems of language and culture (special reference to Gaelic and bilingual education). Questions derived from these themes are presented in conjunction with individual working committee resolutions and/or recommendations (some 60 conference participants representing Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, and Wales). (JC)

Even though public school districts are structured with the expectation of responsive governance, most school boards are not particularly responsive to their constituents. School boards from politically contentious districts tend to be more responsive, but they have even less success challenging the dominance of the superintendent than do less responsive school boards. To make schools truly responsive, some means will have to be found to offset the dominance that results from the specialized knowledge and expertise of the superintendent. There is some evidence that schools are gradually becoming more politicized and less isolated from their constituents, but it is doubtful that the educational content or achievements of "responsive" schools would differ markedly from unresponsive schools. Even so, as long as people are committed to maintaining the trappings of democracy in education, the realities of democracy should be achieved; school boards should either govern or be abolished. (Author/JG)

This paper attempts primarily to establish the guidelines of a reference framework for studying educational inequality as it relates to ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic divisions within society. In his analysis, the author focuses mainly on inequality between different socio-occupational categories. The discussion is organized in two major sections. Section 1 is a study of the mechanism of inequality, based mainly on French statistical data, and section 2 is an analysis of explanatory factors that create and maintain educational inequalities. Because the analysis model is based mainly on research in western countries, it is pointed out that the model may be of limited value in studying educational inequality in other societies with different social systems. (JG)

This paper analyzes responses to questionnaires distributed to all teachers in the Alum Rock School District in the fall of 1972 and the spring of 1973. Major focus of the analysis is on the two-part question, (1) How do the experiences of teachers in voucher schools differ from the experiences of teachers in other schools? and (2) How do these different experiences affect the teachers' evaluations of the voucher demonstration? Secondarily, the analysis is concerned with a set of role conflicts involving professional autonomy and freedom versus a hierarchical organization, professional autonomy and freedom versus public accountability, and professional expertise versus demands for parent involvement and influence. (Author)

The Division of Program Evaluation and Research of the Los Angeles County Superintendent's Office provides program evaluation consultation services to all local educational agencies (grades K-14) in Los Angeles County. The three program evaluation services that are described are: (1) Educational Program Evaluation Planning Assistance, (2) Educational Program Audit Assistance, and (3) Direct Evaluator Assistance. (One section of the paper presents an introduction to the audit process through the use of a question-and-answer format). The program evaluation services have recently been provided to more than 40 elementary, secondary, and community college agencies. In addition, the progress or results of evaluations of: Early Childhood, Compensatory Education, Mentally Gifted Minors, Educationally Handicapped, Ransom Reading, Career Awareness, Community College Veterans' Recruitment, and Community College Children's Centers will be described. The assertion will be made that behavioral objectives as used in program evaluations are essentially research hypotheses and that data analysis and interpretations should recognize this through the employment of statistically derived confidence intervals. Another assertion that will be made is that three criteria should be used in judging program evaluation: (1) standards of behavioral science research; (2) utility; and (3) cost-benefit considerations. Finally, two program evaluation models will be compared to the one that has evolved in the County Office. (Author)

Communicative competence, the ability to use a language effectively in unrehearsed transactions with native speakers, must be the ultimate goal of language teaching. Drills and repetition of patterned phrases do not, in and of themselves, lead to real language use. We should begin giving students opportunities to use language in unrehearsed, unstructured situations much earlier than we currently do. The focus should be from communicative competence to linguistic competence, not vice versa. A research project revealed that a group of beginning French students who had been given systematic opportunities for creative use of French in a variety of unrehearsed settings far outperformed the control group in tests designed to evaluate communicative competence. A cultural context can be simulated to give authenticity to language learning and bring about emotional involvement on the part of the students. Games are as yet a relatively unexploited means for generating spontaneous language transactions. "Mais vous etes ma femme!" is an example which meets all criteria for a good language game. The primary concern of the language teacher must be authenticity in the classroom. Grammatical exercises and drills are most effective following, not preceding, the opportunity for free use of language. (CFM)

The author contends that in the past counselors have put an undue emphasis on describing students by their characteristics with a relative lack of emphasis on understanding them through their behavioral accomplishments. Career education challenges all counselors to correct this imbalance because it is action-centered and experience-oriented. The author proposes that the action orientation of career education calls for more "action-oriented" counselors. It also encourages the use of classroom resource persons from the business-labor-industry-professional-government community, and makes career guidance the proper business of the entire school, community, home and family. He concludes with remarks regarding the new role counselors must accept if career education is to be a success. (Author/HMV)

In comparing the written and oral English syntax of Mexican-American bilingual and Anglo-American monolingual students, this study sought to learn specifically whether these two groups of students represent the same speech population in English syntactic use. A total of 70 subjects were randomly selected for the four groups (bilingual and monolingual fourth and ninth graders). Each subject was taped in an interview to acquire a sample of oral language production--free speech--while free writings in class were used for written production. Oral and written samples were divided into T-units, and 20 T-units of each language production were randomly sampled for each student and then analyzed to test for central tendency, dispersion, and skewness. Results showed that the bilingual and monolingual students do represent the same language population in English syntactic usages, except in ninth-grade written average clause length. However, the study raises questions, and the subject warrant's further research. (JM)

This paper describes a research project which was designed to analyze the extent of functional literacy at different grade levels in Sweden. Functional literacy is defined here as the use of the mechanics of reading for different information purposes. A test battery was administered to 2600 students in grades six through twelve. The test battery was intended to represent a sample of important skills needed for functional literacy in a modern industrial society. The battery included comprehension tests of normal prose, tables, forms encountered in everyday life, difficult prose such as text from a home insurance policy, and a reading rate score. The tests were administered twice with an interval of one year between testing. Some results were an increase in reading comprehension from grade to grade at all levels, with the exception of the highest percentiles in grades eleven and twelve, and wide overlapping of scores between grades. Questionnaires were sent to 950 head teachers asking for their opinion of the value of the skills measured by the test battery and asking them to indicate a minimum score for satisfactory ability. Partial data results are discussed. A majority of the teachers who responded indicated that they felt the skills measured were important. (MKM)

The booklet contains 12 selected papers on equal educational opportunity for visually handicapped (VH) children that were presented at the 52nd biennial conference (June, 1974) of the Association for Education of the Visually Handicapped. Included are presentations on the following: the history and concept of equal educational opportunity (B. Lowenfeld), competencies needed by teachers of VH students who may also have specific learning disabilities (J. McCarthy), assessing the chronological development of VH children's spatial concepts (K. Szatlocky), a comparative study of cognitive development among blind and sighted students (K. Simpkins and B. Stephens), new directions in services for VH infants and preschoolers (J. Brown), preschool children's cognitive characteristics (M. Poulsen), methods and materials for teaching elementary school students to read with the Optacon (G. Lutz), closed circuit television as a low-vision reading aid (R. Schnur et al), the use of compressed speech and a listening skills training program with handicapped students (A. Connor), career education and the handicapped (K. Hoyt-also see EC 073 115), career education for the VH (J. Best), and the impact of the Supplement Security Income Program upon rehabilitation of blind or disabled individuals (F. Crawford). (LH)