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It is held that the proposed Learning in Community (LinC) program, if introduced into Detroit high schools, will address the major concerns of Detroit citizens for educational achievement by significantly increasing the meaning and motivation the student brings to school. This plan was, it is reported, unanimously endorsed on November 7, 1973, by the Education Committee of the Detroit Education Task Force. There are, it is stated, three general goals to be fulfilled by LinC. The first of these is to increase the opportunities for high school aged youth to be involved in the solution of real problems in the real world as a recognized part of their education. The second goal is to modify the regular high school curricula to include options for field experience education in community development. The third goal is to link high schools with their respective attendance area communities in the type of creative interface which results in educational excellence and community development. LinC is said to be a program of single semester full time, fully credited intensive involvement in out-of-the-classroom guided learning experiences focused on those needs and problems of the community which touch youth. All LinC activities are said to be carried out in teams or groups. (Author/JM)

This report explores some issues in the distribution of educational services to students in the tri-county area and Michigan as a whole. Specifically, it examines the allocation of two important indices of educational opportunity measured by the State Department of Education's Educational Assessment Program: classroom teachers per 1000 pupils, and professional instructional staff per 1000 pupils. First, it analyzes disparities in the provision of services to white and minority students in the State and tri-county area. Secondly, it explores the Constitutional implications of the distribution of these resources. Analysis and data are presented, it is asserted, which indicate that the Michigan system for providing certain important public education services, specifically teachers and professionals, delivers those services in a way that produces significant disparities between minority and white students. The legal analysis is considered to clearly demonstrate that such a system is constitutionally defective unless the State can show the disparity is the necessary by-product of furthering some compelling State interest. Consequently, it is argued, the present system for providing educational services in Michigan most probably violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. (Author/JM)

This report asserts that counselors must become student advocates, working with students to assure that they get help to fulfill all their educational needs; guidance counseling has become a highly skilled profession. Most come into the profession full of promise, wanting to perform as student advocates. Student advocates are needed to fulfill the role of counselor. In addition, they are needed to work with teachers, administrators, parents, institutions, agencies, and other community people in helping them understand the counseling function. The Education Committee of the Education Task Force believes that the Detroit Public Schools cannot afford to have professional counselors function only as disciplinarians, record keepers and clerks. A survey of the counseling situation in the Detroit schools reveals, it is held, that in all but a few junior and senior high schools this intolerable situation is prevalent. The Education Committee and/or the Task Force staff has held discussions with counselors, the Superintendent of the Office of City-Wide Programs and Pupil Services, the Director of the Department of Pupil Personnel Services, teachers, students, dropouts, parents, and community folk. Staff has reviewed relevant literature, noted stories in journals and the popular press, and has examined previous studies, proposals, and contractual agreements between the Detroit Central Board of Education and the administrators and teachers. (Author/JM)