Educational Television in New York State; Program Audit 3.1.73
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 084 832 EM 011 653 AUTHOR Roos, David E.; And Others TITLE Educational Television in New York State; Program Audit 3.1.73. INSTITUTION New York State Legislative Commission on Expenditure Peview, Albany. PUB LATE 6 Jul 73 NOTE 88p. EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS Cost Effectiveness; *Educational Television; Elementary Grades; Higher Education; *Instructional Television; Program Descriptions; *Program Effectiveness; *Program Evaluation; Programing (Broadcast); *Public Television; Secondary Grades; State Surveys; Statewide Planning; Television IDENTIFIERS ETV; ITV; *New York State; NYS; PTV; State University of New York; TV ABSTRACT The development, organization, operation, programing and financing of educational television (ETV) in New York State (NYS) are reviewed. Legislative intent and authorization for ETV--which includes both public television (PTV), open to the general public, and instructional television (ITV), usually designed for specific classroom instructional purposes--are discussed, and television's (TV) effectiveness in terms of educational purposes and potentials is evaluated. he report begins with a general review of ETV in NYS and then investigates the effectiveness, material sources, logistical services and productivity of classroom TV at the primary and secondary levels. Chapter iII analyzes classroom TV in the State University, including its development, administration, potential utilization, cost-effectiveness and reasons for its current underutilization. PTV in the state is surveyed, with attention devoted to its instructional services, public programing, program production services and statewide network. Chapter V studies PTV finances, especially PTV station expenses, and state and other sources of fundinr/ and the report concludes with an overview and look at the future of E.717, including both its ITV and PTV components. Eleven appendixes provide additional detailed data. (PH) 4 V FILMED FROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY 3TATE OF NEW YORK LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION ON EXPENDITURE REVIEW I 1 I-WASHINGTON AVENUE ALBANY. NEW YORK [22 ktt 101 IN I. MARC1II Dr, TROY R. WESTMEYEN 6 Chairman Director MEMBERS WARREN M. ANDERSON Temporary President, Senate PERRY B. I)URYEA, f R. Speaker, Assembly JOHN E. KINGSTON Assembly 'Majority Leader WILLIAM 'I'. SMITH Senate Majority Conference JOSEPH ZARETZKI Senate Minority Leader STANLEY STEINCUT Asset:1114y Minority Leader JOHN J. MARCHI Chairman, Senate Finance WILLIS H. STEPHENS Chairman; Assembly Ways and Means JEREMIAH B. BLOOM: Minority Member, Senate Finance BURTON C. HECHT Minority Member, Assembly Ways and Means JAMES J. HERKENHAM Vice President, First National citY Bank U S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION &WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE EDUCATION OF ireiSDOCUMENT" T.4.15 (TEEN REPRO DUCE° E %ACTL.YAS RECEIVED TrTE pr ws0^,OR ORGANIZATION CRON., A I INC; 1r ROINI rS Of VTI-V ORIGIN sin rl =O 00NOi NrcES5A,,0i OPuN IONS SENT or r /c(AL Foi Y ucpiei; NZ, TIONAL. iNSIi T1ON P051 T7oN TUT t7 OI ON IROLICY PROGRAM AUDIT SUMMARY EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION IN NEW YORK STATE Over thelast20 years, New York State has governmental sources business, foundations and invested millions of dollars to develop and improve public subscriptions,'Ile totalcost. of financing the capacity of educational television at public ETV in New York durii.g 1971-72 is estimated to schools, collegesand publictelevisionstations. be $29,500,000. Today, the State's ETV systems and facilities are a Chart 8-1 shows how i."1'Vis financed in Now valuable and extensive educational and cultural York. Schools and BOCES provide almost 38 asset, but one that is not utilized to its expected percent of the funding, the tItate about 27 percent, potential. contributions and subscriptions about. 25 percent., Educationaltelevisionconsists of two inter- and the remainder furnished 1om federal and local related often indistinguishable components, PTV government sources. and ITV. The former. PTV, refers to programming broadcast by tl-,e State's ten non-commercial tele- vision stations to the general public, but it may Chart S-1. also include open-circuit broadcasting of instruc- Financing ETV in New YorA State tional service programs. ITV, on the other hand, By Source, 1971-72 refers specificallytothe use of televisionfor (Millions) instruction,predominately in theclassroom, St mots aiI 301:17S whether broadcast by open-circuit signal or by institutional closed-circuit systems. State Ethic:a This audit reviews the development, organiza- nnn S 1I 10 (3/ 6.'I tion, operation, programming and finances of ETV Department in New York.It discusses legislative intent and authorization for ETV and evaluates television's effectiveness in terms of educational purposes and potentials. CAI,. dad The State's direct involvement in ETV began in 1 [iv, 1951 when the Legislature authorized the organiza- tion, construction andoperation of non-com- S I 25 !(11.rdt 124 mercialpublictelevisionstations.Funds were Funds provided for programming and experimentation; State and, the Board of Regents was authorized to University extendeducational tele- Slate Cutiticil opportunities through On Arts vision. After 1960, the State provided financial S.40 Contributions and assistance to stimulate ETV development in public schools and the State University and to operate Total Expitridittites S29.491,34;1 PTV stations. During the past twenty years, New York State has become deeply involved in both classroom and public programming components of ETV. INSTRUCTIONAL TELEVISION In the 1971-72 fiscal year, the State appropri- ated approximately $8 million for direct support The legislation which authorized aid for primary of educational television. Additional expenditures and secondary ITV stated that its purpose was "the were made by local governments for PTV station improvement of classroom instruction." The State support; .schooldistricts and BOCES for ITV University also proposed to develop campus televi- services, and, the federal government through the sion for improved teaching effectiveness and effi- Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Depart- ciency, ment of Health, Education and Welfare grants. New York has .adopted the medium of classroom Substantial funds were also received from non- TV as a valid instructional tool arid has provided S-1 direct financial support for its extension at primary ,)ortrayzil of accutate, quality material related to and secondary levels and at the State University. the general focus of a course. The series entitled Ifoi,vever, experience and research have shown that "The l'ilderwater World of Jacques Cousteau.- only when teacher interest. preparation. training "NationaltleographicSpecials." "Ripples- and and commitment cnalde TV to he integrated into "Masterpiece 'I'lleatre- are examples of programs the course sequence is the quality of instruction observedinuse as quality enrichmentinthe enrichedor fundamentally improved. After 20 classroom. years of use. classroom television at elementary, Integral course clement. The most demanding secondary andhighereducationlevelsisstill role for TV in the classroom is its use as an integral viewed largely as a fad. luxury or frill.It has not part of a course. In this situation the teacher uses significantlyalteredthetraditionalteacher media materials as a primary resource much like a textbook instruction techniques. textbook, film series or guest expert. This requires considerable interest, preparation and training on' PRIMARY AND SECONDARY the part of the teacher. Nledia material must. be "fitted" to the course and the classroom context. then reinforced via analysis, discussion or applica- Fivebasicrolesof primary and secondary tion. This process requires that the teacher not classroom TVwere observed during the audit. only solve problems of selection and scheduling Television was used in direct teaching. for general but also approach the uses of TV with a positive student enrichment. as an integrated course ele- and creative attitude, Our field visits have indicated nu for individualized student instruction and as that teachers willing to make the commitment to a medium for in-service teacher training. integrate TV into their teaching approach are still a Direct teaching. In the early stages of class:.00m distinct minority. This observation has been con- television, the effectiveness of TV in direct teach- firmed by TV media and other experts. ing was considered equal to or better than the Individualized instruction. This concept allows a traditional teacher-texthook method, Even given student to select audio-visual study materials on equal effectiveness, school administrators perceived demand in a learning carrel equipped with a TV set, a tremendous savingsineducation costs if one and earphones. One of the dial access systems teacher could instruct many more students via observed by the LCER staff had just six programs television. available, most of them taped off the air. Present In 1958, the Education Department undertook a technology makes a large selection (50 to 100 classroom TV experiment in Cortland, the Regents programs) prohibitively expensive and few schools Closed Circuit Project, in which teachers lectured can afford this expenditure. from studio to classroom. Problems were experi- Once the video cassette system is perfected, the enced in scheduling, administrative and technical potential of individualized TV learning promises to proceduresandequipmentmaintenance.The be one of the most important educational techno- school schedule and curriculum