Impact of the Career Opportunities Program on Curricular Innovations at Western Michigan University.

One of the major concerns of the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Advisory Council of the Career Opportunities Program (COP) is that traditional methods of recruitment and training are largely insufficient and leave much to be desired in quantity and quality of instructional staffs in low-income areas. As a result of discussions between the COP Project Director, the COP Advisory Council, and administrators and teaching staff from Western Michigan University, an on-site educational program was established for approximately 40 participants in Grand Rapids. This program included two interdisciplinary and intercollege experimental minors: language arts and intercultural studies. The objectives of the program were: (a) to train teachers who were better prepared than average teachers to teach language arts to ethnic minorities and (b) to help all children understand and appreciate the cultural diversities existing in the United States by providing content and experiences designed to create positive interpersonal relationships in a pluralistic society. (Included as appendixes are a breakdown of income and expenditures, extracts of opinions assessing the program, course descriptions, and a career lattice with related factors). (Author/JA)